The Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota has an interesting interactive web page that allows readers to compare economic downturns and recoveries, both on the basis of output and employment.
The results are remarkable. Reagan focused on reducing the burden of government and the economy responded. "BushObama" tried the opposite approach, but spending, bailouts, and intervention have not worked.
The first chart shows economic output.
The employment chart provides an equally stark comparison. If anything, this second chart is even more revealing since employment has not bounced back from the trough. But that shouldn’t be too surprising. The federal government is subsidizing unemployment and penalizing production. And we already know the so-called stimulus has been a flop.
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