Facts are stubborn things. So are Republicans, who always insist that they are the party of finance and business. The results are in for 2013;
The Standard & Poor’s 500 had its best year since 1997 [under President Clinton – Democrat], ending up 29.6 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average also turned in a stellar performance: It closed up 26.5 percent, its best gain since 1995 [under President Clinton – Democrat]. Combined, the indexes closed at record highs on 97 occasions.
It sure would be nice to see an improvement in unemployment and wages, but at least this bull market has goosed the pension funds and retirement portfolios of many hard-working Americans. While the Republican leadership may be excellent at lining its own pockets, historically their policies have left the rest of the country in the ditch.
Froma Harrop has the same message in today’s ProJo, “Obama may be the best American president ever for the economy”. She cites findings from financial expert Bob Deitrick — author of “Bulls, Bears, and the Ballot Box” — who has analyzed the economy of the last 80 years.
The best overall economic performance pre-Obama was that of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson (whom Deitrick put together because of Kennedy’s early death). No. 2 was Bill Clinton, with Franklin D. Roosevelt in third place.
Read the column for Deitrick’s enthusiastic assessment of Obama’s performance so far. And study up on the facts and figures and spread the news.
(Image of the NYSE from the Library of Congress)
Apparently the economy is very good for people who have $100,000 to invest when they are twenty-two – after they bought a house in a soaring real estate market that tripled over a couple of years, paid off their college loans, bought a new car, put all that money away for the kids’ college fund and with that little bit left over, shrewdly invested in GE, McDonald’s and Home Depot . It makes me love the Democrats so much more than the Republicans. I guess all it takes is a little foresight. Robert Rubin in ’16, he cares! Maybe he can get Frank Langone to be his running mate.
I cancelled my “Journal” prescription(I’ve opted for a newer psychotropic, one with a long term patent and prudently added the manufacturer to my portfolio, of course; Merck, I think) so I can’t read the article linked to but I found this account in the Daily Kos:
“if you had invested $100,000 of your money during the 40 years Democrats held the White House, you’d have multiplied your money more than 24 times over, with $2.4 million”
“Yep, that’s right, under FDR, Truman, JFK, LBJ, Carter and Clinton , you’d be rockin’ and rollin’.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/19/1121788/-In-Depth-Analysis-Proves-Purely-In-Terms-of-Your-Bottom-Line-Dems-Outperform-Republicans-By-Far/#
Whoa, Nellie!!! Power to the people!