The Economy Under Obama
 

This forum is riddled every day with vitriolic criticism of President Obama's "management" of the economy. Let's forget whether this president or any president can really manage the economy. But it might be worthwhile to look at some of the numbers so commonly used in forming the criticism of the president.

Job growth is a measure commonly used to judge the effect of presidential policy on the economy. Presidents are somewhat disadvantaged, as they initially take office inheriting both an economy and a federal budget created under the administration of their predecessor. In the case of President Obama, he took office at the height of the deepest recession, maybe even a depression, since the 1930's. But even at that, during his short 3-year administration more jobs were created than during the terms of ten previous presidents. And that includes Hoover, Coolidge, Ike, FDR, Bush 42 and George W. Bush. In fact, George W. Bush holds the record during his second term as being the only U.S. president who left office with fewer people employed than when he took office. And for Bush's first term he had the benefit of the robust economy he inherited from Bill Clinton. (These are records kept by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

Unemployment Rate is another statistic commonly used to criticize presidents. Again, these statistics are created by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since the first six months after President Obama took office, the percentage of people unemployed in the U.S. has consistently declined. The number of people unemployed in the country is still at a level far higher than historic norms. But in fact, whatever policies adopted by the current administration is resulting in consistent, albeit slow, reductions in the rate of unemployment in the U.S.

Economic Growth is another measure commonly used to evaluate the effect of presidential politics on the economy. Economic growth is measured as a percentage change in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Gross National Product (GNP) from one period to the next. Since GDP bottomed out with negative growth during the six months after George W. Bush left office, there has been twenty-three straight months of growth in the U.S. economy, as measured by month-to-month GDP growth. GDP grew again in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 and is forecasted to continue that trend for the balance of the fiscal year.

There's nothing wrong with people opposing candidates of one political or economic persuasion or another. People can criticize how things were accomplished and at what pace--I have my own criticisms of the president along those lines. But at least when criticism is leveled, the facts used should be accurate. As someone here noted recently, people have a right to their own opinions, but not thier own facts.

Good summary VK, as usual. Most attacks on the president seem more personal than factual.

This a little off subject but not all that bad. Yes facts should speak louder but when a person ,president or not does not gain the trust of the people they work with or govern in this case it become very hard for that person in that environment. The job I have I always tell the people I hire to never give anyone a reason to mistrust you . I think with all the questions that have come up about obama is the biggest problem here. Also the tactics that are used. Good as he appears on the fact sheet will never out weigh trust.

Some substantiation from you would be nice.

I have a chart here that shows people rapidly being dropped from the labor force. If you are going to ignore the people dropping out of the job seeker pool I guess the remaining numbers are going to look statistically favorable.

1.2 million people dropped out of the labor pool in one month.

So, the civilian labor force tumbled to a 30 year low of 63.7% as the Bureau of Labor Statistics is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation.

Evidence is that high paying jobs are being replace with lower wage jobs in the employment that is being created as evidence by withholding taxes.

Sure does look rosy, doesn't it.

Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month, Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low | ZeroHedge

Things are looking better every day.

Richie: I pointed out when you first brought that up that the 1.2 million unmber includes those RETIRING. The baby boomers are now starting to retire and that's the biggest demographic segment we've ever seen in this country.

And this trend has been predicted for decades.

I do agree that people are entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts. The reality is that the recession ended 2009 and while a president cannot help an economy the president's policies can certainly hurt. Since 1950 every recession ended within two years and followed with substantial growth. Because of poor economic policies Obama has frustrated the economic recovery ObamaCare, Tax policy, Dodd-Frank, etc have left businesses questioning the future. hence they are using the cash on hand to repurchase their stock . Those people who have been unemployment for a good deal of this econmic downturn may well never return to the market place because of loss of skills, etc.

Obama and his Admin's math reminds me of that story about the enterpreneur that interviewed an engineer, lawyer and accountant with only one question for his new business. When he asked the engineer what 2+2 is the engineer responded 2+2 is 4 unequivocally absolutely and cannot be anything more. When the lawyer was asked he said 2+2 is 4, however, I can make an argument that 2+2 can be 5. And when he asked the accountant, the accountant got up out of his chair closed the door then went behind the enterpreneur's chair and pulled the blinds came back sat down and then leaned forward and said "how much do you want it to be":D

Wow! Never knew that a President's policies couldn't help the economy but could hurt it. Thanks for the enlightenment.

People have, and are, always leaving the workforce by retiring. This is an abnormal number no matter how you spin it. Because of your spin you even have Jan swooning. Come up with the amount of people in this 1.2 Million that are retirees. If it's as significant as you think, the BLS has documented it.

There are now almost as many people in the job pool as not. This is not a good thing. There are less jobs and more people.

Did any of you know there are people - including Fox Noise darling Rush Limbaugh -who have hoped Obama would fail? Terrible thing to wish upon your President.

I'm thinking that what you say is not the truth. You heard this.....where? You read this........where? You must have a YouTube video of Rush saying this; right?.............Did you have strange dreams last night?

I must have been thinking of something else or another time. The synapses in the senior brain were not firing all at the same time, maybe.

VK: You suggest President Obama has led the nation toward overcoming almost unprecedented economic odds, within the Constitutional and media manufactured limitations of the chief executive. You didn't even mention the even-handed foreign policy which has eliminated a number of terrorist leaders and tiptoed closer to withdrawal instead of running headlong to hell. You are not thrilled with some of his actions, but you don't mention anything particularly bothersome. But for as long as I can recall, you categorically reject voting for any incumbent.

May I ask whom you think is best qualified to be our next President?

I don't get to listen to Rush much anymore. I'm too busy now that I've retired. (It's crazy to say that, but true) I used to be able to listen to a transistor radio with earphones as I went about my day, but radio reception is one of the only things that suck in TV.

But, having listened to him for over 20 years, I know Rush would never say what you said. He may predict something based on events and his intuition, but he'll always clarify that he hope's he's wrong about the doom and gloom he sees coming, if indeed he did say something of the sort.

The only broadcaster, that I know, who I can imagine saying something like you said is, maybe, Michael Savage. But, I haven't listened to Savage in years.