Are these catastrophic economic events "All Bush's Fault"?

2015-11-07T21:31:26-05:00

I'm confused. Hasn't President Obama been disastrous for the American economy?

Since he was so bad for the America economy, can anyone explain the graphs?

http://www.electoral-vote.com/index.html

PS - Please don't tell me that the people who are running the website are "liberals" - I already know that and as far as I know a "liberal" 2 is identical to a "conservative" 2 (and that applies to any other number you want to name).

ElectoralVote

Track the election with a red/blue map of the US updated daily using the latest state polls.

Response by COL Sam Russell made Nov 7 at 2015 9:37 PM

2015-11-07T21:37:06-05:00

Perhaps an optimistic conservative would say, but imagine how much better those graphs would be if a fiscal conservative were president.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Nov 7 at 2015 10:08 PM

2015-11-07T22:08:22-05:00

Anyone who's read the numbers over the years knows Obamas been an amazing president with horrible PR (read: a Republican Jihad of disrespect and obstructionism). He's been ice skating uphill and still pulled off a gold medal...

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 8 at 2015 12:15 AM

2015-11-08T00:15:12-05:00

It is fairly common knowledge among those who really care and look deeper than the 30 second sound-bites that the Unemployment numbers are grossly under-reported, and the Dow Jones is being artificially buoyed by Quatitative Easing (QE) and sleight of hand economic tricks.

The real Unemployment rate is likely somewhere in the mid-20% or higher. UE numbers only report those who have applied for new benefits and those who are currently receiving benefits. It does NOT report those who have exhausted their benefits (and are still unemployed), nor those who have stopped seeking employment. You cannot honestly say the UE rate is somewhere lower than 10% when 35+% of Americans are unemployed. The math simply does not support that.

As for the economy, it only appears to be stable and positive. The truth is that the stock market is being artificially inflated by the Fed buying its own T-Bills (which are losing value), the Fed artificially keeping interest rates low, and currency manipulation that is done by continuously printing money that has no value. The only thing that sets our currency apart from Monopoly money is that the government has said that US Currency has value. Yeah, OK. I will continue to buy precious metals...

So revel in the LameStream Media's pronouncements that all is well and things are rosy and happy. Just pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. And don't be surprised when it all comes crashing down.

Response by Capt Walter Miller made Nov 8 at 2015 2:02 AM

2015-11-08T02:02:54-05:00

President Obama has done a very good job, all things considered.

Walt

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 8 at 2015 10:02 AM

2015-11-08T10:02:05-05:00

yes , he abused his power and spend billions on worthless contracts and wherever and in the middle east.

Response by 2d Lt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 8 at 2015 12:13 PM

2015-11-08T12:13:02-05:00

Pres. Obama has been far from "disastrous" for the American economy. It has improved significantly by nearly every metric used to evaluate the economy since January 2009 (unemployment, stock indices, housing market, gas prices, and the list goes on). Whether that has anything to do with the President's policies is up for debate but it'a incorrect to assess that he has been "disastrous" for the economy.

Response by SPC Rory J. Mattheisen made Dec 24 at 2015 12:53 PM

2015-12-24T12:53:17-05:00

Yes

Response by SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT made Dec 24 at 2015 3:03 PM

2015-12-24T15:03:40-05:00

No they are not after 7 years under this administration. They have cause a huge divide in the nation.
They have left us weak and vulnerable to attacks; worrying about gun control and global warming!
We need to instill fear by destroying terrorist cells without remorse or whimppy efforts.

Response by TSgt Kenneth Ellis made Dec 24 at 2015 11:43 PM

2015-12-24T23:43:01-05:00

So you are satisfied with one or two percent growth.

Response by Capt Walter Miller made Dec 25 at 2015 12:30 PM

2015-12-25T12:30:07-05:00

President Obama is the best president in 50 years.

Walt

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 25 at 2015 1:00 PM

2015-12-25T13:00:17-05:00

I think if you overlaid a graph of who was in the majority in Congress at what time, it would be very telling.
To answer the question directly, to say that the economy is a product of Bush's policies or President Obama's policies vastly oversimplifies a very complex model that has cycles and is affected by world events.
I can think of about a hundred people who have more of an effect on the economy than political leaders do. Politicians have large bearing on three segments today: Health care, government itself, and defense. and that power is not concentrated in any single person.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 25 at 2015 2:45 PM

2015-12-25T14:45:18-05:00

Sir, with all due respect, I don't trust any unemployment number coming from a government agency. The true numbers are never shown.

Response by COL Korey Jackson made Dec 25 at 2015 5:56 PM

2015-12-25T17:56:53-05:00

The charts have yet to fill in the last year of the Obama presidency. It is a little early to draw a good comparison.
I recommend extending these charts to the left, and compare the S&P 500 and unemployment rates with the years of the Clinton presidency. Remember the dot-com bubble crash of 2000?
I question if blame for the housing bubble and the associated sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008 should be directed at the President. It seems to me that much of the problems could be directed at world wide banking processes.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 28 at 2015 10:15 AM

2015-12-28T10:15:16-05:00

i think we need to stop blaming the presidents and remember the fact that we all said that we will support them just like the constitution. Lets leave all the blaming to the civilian sector.

Response by 1LT Aaron Barr made Dec 28 at 2015 1:43 PM

2015-12-28T13:43:03-05:00

Your first graph is of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U3. This fails to count people such as those whose unemployment has run out, who've given up looking for work and people who are working part time because they can't find full time employment, amongst others. That number hasn't gone below 9% since Obama's been in office. Moreover, the skyrocketing percentage of people working part time has inflated these numbers, especially since there are so many people working multiple part-time jobs that are being over-counted. NOTHING in that graph changes the fact that the employed, as a percentage of the total population, is at its lowest level since Carter was President.

Your second graph reflects money being dumped into the system by the Fed via 'quantitative easing.' Also, since when is it a good to make the rich richer at the expense of the poor?

Response by COL Jean (John) F. B. made Dec 28 at 2015 2:10 PM

2015-12-28T14:10:03-05:00

COL Ted Mc - Smoke and mirrors.
While there are some good stats that can be shown, there are many more that show the true status of the economy and it is not good, even with the erroneous/manipulated data put out by the administration.

Response by PV2 Scott Goodpasture made Dec 28 at 2015 4:30 PM

2015-12-28T16:30:50-05:00

It disregards 18 trillion debt. That graph is for wiping my ass

Response by Sgt Michael Rambo made May 20 at 2016 11:58 AM

2016-05-20T11:58:13-04:00

I would recommend reading Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt for a good insight on how our economy works and what it means. It's only 211 pages so its a short read but it is packed with good information.