Prosperity grows under Republicans
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"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness," said Charles Dickens (1812-1870) in one of the most celebrated passages in English literature. "It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
"A Tale of Two Cities" illustrated how starkly different were the views in London and Paris of the French Revolution. There's a similar gulf between Democrats and Republicans on economic policy.
To get the economy moving again, increase spending, bail out failing businesses, invest taxpayer money in "green" technologies and redistribute wealth, Democrats think.
Reduce government spending and debt, lower tax rates, slash government red tape, Republicans think.
What is Light to Democrats is Darkness to Republicans, and vice versa. Both approaches have been tried. They've produced very different results.
The economy grew 1.7 percent in 2011, down from 3.1 percent the year before, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Jan 27.
The recession officially ended in June 2009. It took until last August -- 15 quarters -- for the gross domestic product to exceed pre-recession levels. That's three times longer than the average for the recoveries following the 10 previous recessions since World War II.
This recession was very bad, Democrats note. The only one comparable was in 1981-82.
Usually, the more severe the recession, the more robust the recovery. In the first 10 quarters after the 1981-82 recession, GDP grew 15 percent. The president then was Ronald Reagan. His economic policies were the opposite of Mr. Obama's.
The most dramatic difference is in job creation. About 790,000 jobs have been added since the Obama recovery began. In the first 10 quarters of the Reagan recovery, the economy gained 7.5 million jobs.
The unemployment rate declined from 9.5 percent when the Obama recovery began to 8.3 percent in January. But there'd have been no decline if the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted discouraged workers. Even though the working age population has increased by about 4 million, the labor force, according to the BLS, shrunk by 850,000. If the labor force were the same size as when Mr. Obama was inaugurated, the unemployment rate would be 10.9 percent.
First Published February 5, 2012 12:00 am
