Obama's Economic Policies Have Been Successful

Remember, please copy your arguments from the original debate. I. Jobs When Obama took office in January 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.8%. Last month’s unemployment statistics (September 2012) showed the first time that that rate was at or below the rate when Obama took office. [1] It took Obama 44 months to get the unemployment rate back to where it was at the beginning of his presidency. However, there is an even more frightening statistic: the U-6 unemployment rate. The U-6 rate was 14.2% in January 2009 and as of September 2012, it is 14.7%. [2] Here is a graph showing this: The U-6 rate has increased .5% under Obama. But, are all recoveries this slow? Let's take a look at the performance of some other presidents in the past:"- 6,425,000 jobs gained in the 29 months following the end of the steep and long 1975 recession (221,551 monthly average) - 8,280,000 jobs gained in the 29 months following the end of the seep and long 1982 recession. (285,517 monthly average)- 2,584,000 jobs gained in the 29 months following the end of the short and lite 1991 recession. (89,103 monthly average). "[3]As for Obama:"215,000 jobs gained in the 29 months following the end of the 2009 recession. (41,896 monthly average)"[3]Obama's monthly average is less than half the lowest of the three previous recessions, and almost 1/8 as much as Reagan's 29-month recovery. But isn't this recession worse than the rest? Actually, the peak to trough contradiction was 16 for the 1975 and 1982 recessions and was only 18 for the one in 2009. [4]And on top of all of this, "An argument can be made that the steeper the contraction, the stronger the roar back needs to be. "[3] "Thus, for most of the sample, a more severe crisis means a stronger recovery. "[5]So actually, Obama is supposed to be producing above the par recovery, but is actually producing the worst recovery the modern world has ever seen. As a side note, Obama has had very bad jobs performance: [16]II. GDP Growth GDP growth has not rebounded very quickly. "Anderson noted that over the past 65 years, since World War II, America has experienced 10 previous recessions and 10 previous recoveries. He reports that average real GDP growth in the first three years after those recessions was 4.6%. In sharp contrast, 'During the Obama recovery…, average real GDP growth has been just 2.2% — less than half the historical norm. Of the past 11 recoveries, the Obama recovery has been the worst. '"[6]Here is a graph showing this: [7]"America's gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic output — grew 6.8 percent from the April-June quarter of 2009 through the same quarter this year, the slowest in the first three years of a postwar recovery. GDP grew an average of 15.5 percent in the first three years of the eight other comebacks analyzed. "[8] Again, as I said earlier, even though this recession was a “little” worse (by only 2 percentage points) that recoveries would be stronger, so Obama should be performing above, not below, average. III. Inflation In January 2009, the inflation rate was 0.03%. In August 2012 it was 1.69%NOTE: Most of the time between, it was in between the high 2 and mid 3 percents. [9]This is odd because recessions shouldn't have bouts of inflation. Heck, during the Great Depression, deflation, for a sizable amount of the years, was in the double digits. Stagflation indicates bad Government policy. And this has a lot to do with the Fed. Here is a graph of the money supply: [10]This is crazy. The money supply has more than doubled in the space of a little less than a year. This is going to lead to massiveinflation later on. And with QE3 (Obama-Bernanke policy) about to kick in, it will be even worse. However, “On the face of it, the government measure of consumer prices, the CPI, is just mildly alarming — with the governmentestimating prices to be rising at a 3.1 percent annual rate. [But] …what is the true inflation rate? Fortunately, the folks at the American Institute of Economic Research have resurrected the idea. Their Everyday Price Index (EPI) strips away the cost of big-ticket items, like homes and cars, and looks at the cost of things that consumers encounter on a daily or monthly basis, such as groceries, prescription medicine, and telephone and cable bills. By that measure, the Everyday Price Index shows inflation galloping ahead at an 8.1 percent annual rate, a reading that would put the current Misery Index at a Carter-like 16.4 percent…. ”[11] So, inflation is even worse than the government reports. IV. Other Measures i. Home Prices:"Investment in housing, which grew an average of nearly 34 percent this far into previous postwar recoveries, is up just 8 percent since the April-June quarter of 2009. "[6]ii. Consumer Spending:The average increase in consumer spending over the length of the last ten recession recovery periods was 11.1% For this current recession, it is 1.6%[7]Consumer spending is vital to GDP growth. iii. Keystone XL Pipeline Obama rejected the Keystone Pipeline, even though it has no major environmental hazards[12] and will create: "An independent study estimates that during the life of the project, the Keystone XL project is expected to stimulate: More than $20 billion in new spending for the U. S. economy; More than 118,000 person-years of employment; An increase of $6.5 billion in the personal income of Americans; Increased gross output (product) of $9.6 billion; and More than $585 million in state and local taxes in the states along the pipeline route. 'This project will also play an important role in linking a secure and growing supply of Canadian crude oil with the largest refining markets in the United States, significantly improving North American energy security', added Girling. "[13] Obama is rejecting economic benefit and growth for very small environmental issues. This shows a bad policy on his part. iv. Gas Prices Ultimately, Obama implemented a horrific policy for gas. In fact, there has been a 100% increase in gas prices since his inauguration. Hell, even Energy Secretary Steven Chu himself said, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe. "Obama has been both directly and indirectly influencing the price of gas by: performing actions to limit onshore and offshore oil extraction, blocking the Keystone XL Pipeline, refusal to build new refineries; refusal to permit new nuclear power plants, and refusal to limit burden on refineries to boost production. [14]This is ridiculous: [15]In general, Obama has been determinal to the US economy. Sources:[1]: . http://data.bls.gov... [2]: . http://portalseven.com...[3]: . http://www.americanthinker.com...[4]: . http://www.nber.org...[5]: . http://www.clevelandfed.org...[6]: . http://www.forbes.com...[7]: . http://www.investorsinsight.com...[8]: . http://news.yahoo.com...[9]: . http://inflationdata.com...[10]: . http://www.investorsinsight.com...[11]: . http://www.nypost.com...[12]: . http://www.platteinstitute.org...[13]: . http://www.pipeline-news.com...[14]: . http://www.policymic.com...[15]: . http://www.wakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com...[16]: . http://summiteconomics.com...;