I like looking up facts so I thought I would compare George W. Bush's 8 years with Barack Obama's 45 months in office regarding some key economic data. I wish I were clever enough to make a fancy chart, but that is beyond my computer skills so this will be pretty basic.
Why compare George Bush to Barack Obama? Partly to see where each started and where we are today. But more importantly, because many of President Bush's economic and foreign policy advisors are advising Mitt Romney, so it is an object lesson as to where we will be if we do not GOTV and re-elect President Obama.
First, the stock market.
When Bush took office on Jan. 20, 2001, the Dow Jones average was 10587. Four years later on 1/20/05 when he was sworn in again, the DJ was at 10471. Four years later when Bush left office, the Dow was at 7949, a decrease of 25% under Bush. Today the Dow closed at 13102, an increase of 65% under Obama.
The Nasdaq stood at 2770 when Bush was sworn in in 2001, dropped to 2045 by the time his second term began and had fallen to 1440 when he left office, a drop of 48% under Bush. Today the Nasdaq closed at 2990, an increase of over 100% under Obama.
On Jan. 20, 2001, the S&P was at 1342; four years later it was at 1175, and on Jan 20, 2009, it closed at 805, a decrease of 40% under Bush. Today it closed at 1413, an increase of over 75% under Obama.
Unemployment was 4.2% when George Bush first became President; by the beginning of his second term, it was 4.9% On Jan. 20, 2009, when Bush left office and President Obama took office, unemployment stood at 7.8%, an increase of 86% under Bush and as we know, it is 7.8% today.
Looking at the net number of private sector jobs created or lost, on 2/1/01, there were 111,623,000 people with private sector jobs. On Feb.1, 2009, there were 110,260,000 people employed by private companies, a loss of 1,363,000 private sector jobs under President Bush. As of Oct. 1, 2012 there are 111,603,000 people with private sector jobs, an increase of 1,343,000 private sector jobs created in the last 45 months under President Obama. That is a net number so it takes into account the number of jobs lost during the first year of the President's tenure.
As to the Federal budget deficit, when George Bush took office there was a $236.2 Billion surplus. When he left, his last budget has a $1.2 Trillion deficit. The deficit for FY 2012 is $1.1 Trillion, so the deficit is actually smaller than Bush's last deficit.
As you can see from the figures above, President Bush's term was not just hunky-dorey until the crash in 2008. In fact, economically, it was mediocre at best with declines throughout. In contrast, President Obama's term has been an improvement throughout.
If the same Bush policies are instituted again - and that is what Mitt Romney is running on - we can expect the same result. In fact, we can probably expect a worse result because of the damage done under the Bush administration.