From January 2008, the highest employment point,

The point at which the highest number of people were employed was July 2007. Total employment dropped from there through the end of 2009. Most of the job losses happened before the inauguration in 2009. (per BLS). By then we were losing jobs to the tune of about 800,000 per month.

This recession was far worse than the one Reagan inherited, and let's also not forget that Reagan also tripled the national debt too.

Republicans are branding themselves as the no-tax-increases-ever party while heaping blame on Obama for deficits. Never mind that the large increase in the deficit is largely the result of the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Great Recession. Before those events, there was a budget surplus.

Without the Jobs Act and fighting republicans toothn and nail.

Bush got us up and running again after 9/11

The only thing that recovered was the stock market. Maybe you're too young to remember.

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security,
unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you
would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a
tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these
things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional
politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible
and they are stupid."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, l952-----

I guess for NOW you can replace SS with Medicare. And all those things will be the current republican party trying to get a hold of our country. That occasional businessman will be Romney and hes Bain company.

LOL, nice try slick willie. Reagan had America on the upswing in 2 years.

The only one that got close was Reagan in one term. At least he had a plan going into his second and the REAL numbers were there. Not this bogus hocus pocus we get today.

Did you live through this period or are you spouting something you read in a book? Reagan's policies devastated the Midwest and East Coast, perhaps elsewhere, I don't know. I did not live in those places during the Reagan years.

The country was in chaos for most of them. One job would open and 5K people would show up and stand in line to apply--just as it was when Bush left office. There were empty buildings everywhere. Businesses went bankrupt left and right. It was a self expanding morass.

Reagan threw money at useless initiatives and funneled money up to the wealthy. He never appeared to have a handle on what was happening and many of his speeches made Clint Eastwood look brilliant the other evening.

The Reagan years were dreadful for Americans of middle to working class income. They were thrown under the bus.

I agree what Bill Clinton will say. I was laid-off in December 2006 ( new home construction) home builders knew way back in mid 2006 there is a problem. Jan.2007 mass lay-offs started all over our nation (all types of employments)..they say the recession started December 2007..that peeps is BS! The recession really started at the end of 2006 summer!

The only economic crisis deeper than this one took 10 years and a world war to get out of.

JustOlJoe

Republicans are branding themselves as the no-tax-increases-ever party while heaping blame on Obama for deficits. Never mind that the large increase in the deficit is largely the result of the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Great Recession. Before those events, there was a budget surplus.

Both parties are to blame for the deficit. Many Democrats point to the tax cuts and try to place blame with the Republicans for driving up the deficit, but that is not the root of the problem. The real source of our economic woes is the cancerous fiscal irresponsibility pouring out of our government by continuing to spend more than we take in. There is nothing wrong with a refusal to raise taxes. The pledge drafted by Norquist/ATR is a vehicle to finding creative ways to reduce spending, which in turn eliminates the need for higher taxes. Unfortunately, too many partisan hacks try to vilify that pledge because they don't want their spending limit capped. Not that higher taxes would solve the problem...the current culture in Washington is to see more income and consequently increase spending.

By the way...what budget surplus do you think Clinton had? Wouldn't that mean that at some point the national debt actually decreased? If you take a little time and do the research, you'll see that our debt never decreased under Clinton. The budget "surplus" is nothing more than an economic trick to help conceal spending by borrowing money from Social Security and other trust funds. There was never a real surplus, although Clinton did get very close to breaking even.

GermanGem

LOL, nice try slick willie. Reagan had America on the upswing in 2 years.

He did??? Not for everyone. Does this include the arms sales to Iran for his war in Nicaragua? or how about Reagan making it so everyone (including illegal immigrants) could receive emergency care even if they couldn't pay for it. yeah Reagan did such a great job.

Former President BILL Clinton is right. There's no way this country could have come back from 8 years of failed GOP economics.

Yeah, Clinton was the one that implemented NAFTA and mandated banks give home loans to unqualified buyers creating the housing crisis. Notice Clinton said "FULL" health? Keep the dem voting base by lying and giving everything away. We'll go bankrupt like Europe.

Since Democrats only want to blame Presidents and not Congresses for things that happened on 'their watch'...

...tonight's speaker Mr. Clinton signed into law the repeal of Glas-Stegall. This is commonly blamed for the 2008 financial meltdown, how ironic...

Randy

Your memory is faulty. The 2000 dot com recession was nothing compared to this one. Housing was unaffected in 2000, and job losses were barely noticeable.

bob douglas

Yes, Bush got us up and running after 9/11. By most measures he did a good job with the economy after 9/11. It was the wars that BOTH parties voted for that have had such a negative affect on us. But we usaully recover from those much quicker. I work in the aircraft industry and it was hit hard and has recovered to be stronger than ever. President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have had almost 8 years and we have seen nothing. Yes, Obama was in Congress before he bought the White House. They are FAILURES and need to go.

Looks like Mr. Obama's promise of "taking care of things" and cutting the deficit in half were just PIPE DREAMS or, better yet, SMOKE SCREENS. And the Progressives loved it.

Like Mr. Obama said, if he can't "fix" the economy, then he will be a One Term President.

Well.....I agree with Mr. Obama.....you are a One Term President.

All I care about is what he's been doing... that said, unless Mittens gets struck by lightning he's gonna win.

Maybe so Mr. Clinton,

But we only need to let Obama have another term to make sure we all get ensalaved to the Federal Government.

Oh Come on Mr. Bill.....All It Would have taken was for Barry Bush-Wacker to Have let a few of the Too Big To Fail Banks...Fail and instead focus on the Saving The Dollar and the Main Street Economy instead of his Wall Street Masters Welfare!

If Back Door Barry Had Focused on Hope and REAL CHANGE just Like We Sent Him To Washington DC To Do most of this Great Repression would have been a Distant Memory like Bear Stearns!

Talk about A Self Serving Disinigeous Statement...I haven't heard one that good since "I Did Not Have SEX With That Woman"!

BTW seen Monica Lately...Or Did Hillary Snip that little Bud? You Left Wing Hypocrites are always SOoooo...Hypocritical!

When is Enough Enough With These DemoRATS? Or are they all so "Color Blind" they just can't see RED like the rest of US?

I can not and will not make ANY exceptions to these Same Party Different Wing Politicians for they have proven over and over they all work for WALL STREET and NOT FOR OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE!

America..... Make a REAL Choice For Once....Refuse To Re-Elect ANYONE....One Term & Out They Go Until Once Again ALL Incumbents Have PROVEN They Work For We The People!

If the Incumbent is a Democrat Vote Republican.... If the Incumbent is a Republican....Vote Democratic!

NO EXCEPTIONS........

Hard to sit by and listen to these revisionist historians who doubtless weren't even old enough to remember Reagen. I do remember him, and he was the worst president ever (until Duh-bu of course). He gave us the largest deficit to date, if he "recovered" the economy he did it by borrowing from the future. The middle class has been in a slow motion free fall since his "trickle down" economics (read getting pis@ed on by the rich).

If repubs need to pretend Rayguns was a good president, they, in reality, have nothing to talk about.

Really if you think Willard will be elected president in 2012..I have a bridge to sell you in NYC!

OBAMA 2012

I played golf with a guy today who said it best. The Republican ass kicking started last night. It will get worse tonight when Bill Clinton takes them on. It will be even worse tomorrow with the Preaident's acceptance speech, and come November they won't have an ass left to kick.

Psst POMUS Obama to the Hague For Not War Crimes in 2013...And Don't forget those Other Wall Street War Criminals Bush & Cheney while we are at it!

Nobody could recover the economy in four years, and yet somebody promised to do just that while reducing the deficit by 50% by the end of the first term.

However, regardless of what Clinton is now saying, Obama claimed he would fix it in 4 years or shouldn't be re-elected. He also claimed if his stimulus was passed (which it was), unemployment would NOT go above 7.5 or 8 % (which it DID and still IS). So, which is he? A liar or incompetent? In my opinion, BOTH. Go ahead libs, start calling me vile names, that's how you distract from the issue.

What Clinton said was actually "right", nobody could do anything about the state of the union after Bush/ Cheney. To put it regally, their job performance as president and vice president was hmmmm...."not good". But you and I already knew that. It might appear that O. bama has not done much, but keep in mind he didn't have much to start with. Furthermore, none of the Republicans would work with Obama, they were dead set on opposing Obama no matter what.

No problem there JC..I call you a jerk..the party of NO stopped our country and what he wanted to do..in his four years!!!

Sorry Bill.... a lot of others could have done a better job than Barak Hussein Obama... including yourself! Can you say we would be $16 trillion in debt under your watch??? Can you? I didn't think so........... too bad for us....

I don't absolutely disagree with either political opposing sides.

I do think the best way to strengthen a consumer based economy is to strengthen the consumer therefore strengthening the job producers. I do disagree with doing solely on safety nets this won't work either. We do need to pick winners and losers of debt but the burden cannot solely be placed the consumer.

Look outsourcing ruins local economies and doesn't help with building strong markets to sell those products to.

Our economy isn't linear it is reciprocal.

@mike277 - for the record, the democrats controlled the House & Senate the first 2 years, and the Senate for the past 2 years. How was Obama stopped when his party controlled all of Congress for half of his term and he had Harry Reid & Co. all along so for?

Bill Clinton is who they are going to trot out to lend credibility to this failure as a president? Really? The biggest liar ever to sit in the white house? This criminal that sold missle tech to China for campaign funds, that lied to a grand jury, that obstructed justice so his involvement in Whitewater was never revealed?

Ok...take the crime out of it. Bill Clinton is the cause of this depression. Repealing Glass-Steagall, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac deregulation, NAFTA, and worse, WTO free trade agreements with China....

Where are our jobs? What happened to the housing market? Why did we have to spend a trillion dollars bailing out the banks? Clinton, Clinton and Clinton.

The Republicans were hell-bent since Election Night 2008 on ensuring this administration failed, while shortly following Inauguration Day 2009 the Democrats began fighting within their own party (particularly with embedded Republicans - er, ahem, "Blue Dog Democrats"); this resulting in squandered opportunities to pass more significant legislation.

That's one thing (among many) Republicans willfully ignore—Democrats have never had the share of Congress needed to pass their agenda during Obama's time in office, because Blue Dog Democrats are neither blue, nor Democrats, nor dogs. (Dogs help their companions!)

Bill Clinton is right, but Republicans do not want to hear it. They think that if they can just get their man, Romney, into the White House, he will wave his magic wand and everything will be sweetness and light. Such is the depth of the illusions that have been created in their minds. But they will find out otherwise if what they wish for comes to pass. They will have a new face in the White House, but they will still be unemployed. Only I suppose they will be happy just because it will be their man they are unemployed with.

Reagan was one of the worst president's we've ever had. He was the one that started the practice of taking on debt. I'm pretty sure he was a puppet for corporations.

game kid, so how did obamanation care get through?

Exactly right Stacey, they also had control a couple of years before, but Mike and the libs won't mention that, they just like calling people names, because after all, THEY are the party of TOLERANCE.

As far as his excuse that no president could get us out of the pit (he dug) in 4 years...maybe not....but Obama has made things worse, not better. There is no recovery in sight with the policies he has enacted or what he intends on doing.

What is Obama's platform? Tax the rich? That's all? So that generates another $70 billion...big freakin deal. That's not even enough to cover the additional expenditure of Obamacare for 3 months.

And how can you trust this spender with giving him another dime? What's he going to do with $70 billion? Give some to Solyendra, funnel some to China, pay Mexico, more aid for Pakistan, another high speed rail, more $120 school lunches, pay the attorney general to sue more states, send our troops to war again without congressional approval, pay off a few more unions, etc, etc, etc...?

WHAT HAS HE DONE? nothing...not a damn thing. Why would anyone in their right mind vote for another 4 years of that?

The only one that got close was Reagan in one term.

That is the biggest fib of the day. FACTS show otherwise.

@BLS - you think Reagan started the debt? Seriously?

The only time in the 235 years this country was not in debt was a short time during 1835. Both before & after the US has carried a debt. For 145 years prior to Reagan there had been a continuous debt.

Fixing the economy in 4 years was said before the true extent of the crisis was known.

Who could have guessed that Bush could sabotage the economy so effectively.

ps Stacy Reagan trippled the debt, most of which went to military spending and the rich.

This recession was far worse than the one Reagan inherited, and let's also not forget that Reagan also tripled the national debt too.

BS. I lived it. Look at what the unemployment rate was when Reagan took office. He just got it done faster.

9.7% in his second year which if you look, happened from the fall of Carter until then. From there, nothing but up. Obama went in at 7.8% and now it is supposedly 8.3. In Obama's 2009 it was 9.3 (average).

I reiterate, If the participation rate (those looking for work) was the same today as it was the very day he took office, the unemployment rate today would be 10.9%. Looks like a rise to me. Of course I guess you can't go back and count those folks who decided to take disability after they ran out of UE coverage. Stress indeed.

No one, who's unqualified, should have promised to restore the economy in four years, like Obama.

Politicians are making me sick.

JAS1,

Do you have reading comprehension problems? Clinton said the current economy. Or are you saying the current economy is not worse than the recession Regan presided over?

Clinton is dead right that the Right will take any comment and try to take it out of context and leave out modifiers that completely make their own comments completely stupid, like JoAnna's above.

JM California,

"No one, who's unqualified, should have promised to restore the economy in four years, like Obama."

I don't believe that restoring the economy was really one of Obama's campaign promises. As I recall it, the economy had just started going to hell in a hand basket in just the last few months before Obama was elected. The collapse of the financial sector and the bailout of the banks was just getting underway during Sep-Oct of 2008. That would not have allowed Obama much time for making promises.

The hypocrites like Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, Ryan, Romney, McConnell, etc...will tell you McCain and Palin would have a surplus by now, a surplus like President Clinton left "W" if they were elected, but we all know they are lying!!

OBAMA/BIDEN....2012!!!!

I can't believe Republicans and Americans in general. Anyone who has had a high school education should know that when Bush cut revenue (tax cuts) and spent more (2 wars, doughnut hole) was a loser. Now Obama got elected and he was forced by the right to adopt the same Bush agenda because the right filibustered every bill the Dems tried to get past that would help America get back to work and create more revenue. I know the right doesn't want to hear that but facts are facts, although the right have stated they will ignore the truths so they can make Obama a one term president. All Americans who believe in our country should spend a little time and research for the truth unless you are of the same mind set as your party.

Democrats had expected Republicans to be chastened after the 2008 elections and willing to compromise. But compromise never happened. The President never promised to restore the economy in four years, a flat out lie told by none other than, republicans!

"The way the Republicans organized to say no to everything, the way they did it so ruthlessly and effectively, it was just mind boggling."

The elections of November 2010 brought Republicans back to power in the House, with strong support from the tea party movement.

When the new Congress convened in 2011, almost everything on Obama's wish list that required legislative approval came to a grinding halt.

In addition to domestic policy, Congress kept the brakes on some of Obama's foreign policy initiatives. Most notably, Guantanamo Bay -- the detention center for terrorism suspects that Obama wanted closed -- stayed opened.

OBAMA/BIDEN....2012!!!!

And once again, I see the all knowing all seeing liberals have no rebuttal to what I stated. I kind of like the trend lately. If you make sense, they put you on ignore and don't bother trying to change your mind. Your desperation is showing. Oh and I know Seeking, DaNoid, Fisty, and the other minions (of course fisty does have to take a nap in the afternoon as all the libation that starts from FR's first post in the morning does get to the old gal), you just don't need to respond to what you think is not relevant. Typical libs.

Hey Winker, Obama had 44 days of a majority and instead spent his first full year on the ACA. Now that is what I call a dedicated leader. More like Panderman.

Apparently there is still plenty of tread left on the 'it's Bush's fault' tires.

When will they accept responsibility for their part?

This is the most dishonest president and administration ever.

At least it could be heading towards recovery. All I see is the hole getting deeper and deeper.

Sow your seeds, not mine!,

"All I see is the hole getting deeper and deeper."

Maybe that is because you are not looking in the right places.

Slick Willie is back!!!! He can lie with the best of 'em. Here's just one example:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bill-clinton-dnc-speech-fact-check-finds-president-claims-compromise-a-stretch-article-1.1153053

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman"

imnotlost,

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman"

As lies go, that is nothing compared to some of the whoppers Republicans have been telling. But you probably would not recognize that because you take those whoppers as truths.

Give me one of yours Mickey, and I'll have another for you.

BTW, if you caught your spouse in a lie about an affair and he/she still denies it, would you trust anything else they say? Just sayin'.

Reagan inherited an economy in 1981 that was plagued by rising gasoline prices and inflation. The Fed raised the discount rate to 14% to slow inflation that produced the recession that saw unemployment soar to over 11%.

Reagan did massive stimulus in the form of tax cuts and increased government spending mainly on military expenditures. Unemployment benefits were also extended while unemployment was high. The annual budget deficit from 1983 to 1986 was 2.5 times the budget deficit Carter left him. The national debt nearly tripled in his 8 years as President. And the economy recovered quickly.

The biggest difference between the 82-83 recession and the 2008-2009 recession was that in 82-83 the Fed's discount rate (rate charged banks) rose to 14 %. That meant that monetary policy of cutting interest rates could be used to promote growth in the economy. A series of interest rate cuts were indeed used by the Fed to spur economic growth. The discount rate was cut from high of 14% in May 1981 to 8.5% in Nov 1982 to 5.5% by Aug 1986 in a series of cuts. These cuts allowed our economy to recover quickly from the fed induced recession.

In the recession of 2008-2009, the discount rate stood at .5% when Obama took office. Instead of being able to cut the discount interest rate by 5.5% like they did during the 82-83 recession, the Fed could only cut .5% in 08-09 recession. Reagan's recovery had 11 times the interest rate cutting that Obama's recovery had. This is a huge difference.

I remember paying 20% interest on a line of credit our business had in 1982. Of course, we had to cut back our spending, but when the interest rate fell on our loan to 14% and then even lower, we were able to spend more again.

Contrast that with the situation in 2009. I paid an interest rate of 4.25% on my line of credit. Now, it's 3.75%. Not much of a difference. Thus, the tiny interest rate cuts have had little impact on my business spending in this economic recovery.

Obviously, the economy Obama inherited was in much worse shape than the one Reagan inherited.

shaak322,

"I remember paying 20% interest on a line of credit our business had in 1982."

Yes, interest rates were running very high back then. I bought my house in 1982 and had to pay 14.5% interest on the mortgage.

Factcheck.org people. Go now. Billy told at least a half dozen whoppers last night, the biggest one about the Romney/Ryan medicare/medicaid overhaul. Go check it out and put this post on every political forum in the home page. The overhaul will not destroy medicare and medicaid.

BULL S---! 70 years ago we won a World War fought on many diiferent fronts in 4 years. Government has placed far to many retrictions on Americans and Business as well. We can do this if Politicans would just quit restricting us with all the stupid Laws and Regulations.

I agree that the economy that Obama inherited may be worse than the economy Reagan inherited.

But....I see no signs of improvement after 4 yrs. In fact I see we are deeper in the hole than we were before. 16 trillion in debt and climbing, more talk of wasted stimulus spending and no real plan for the future.

I am a democrat (moderate). I cannot support BHO simply because he has done nothing in the 4 years he had in office with negative results. Plus I dont like the way he bypasses congress to enact laws. It should be up to the people, not the bought and sold politicians.

Sow your seeds, not mine!,

"....I see no signs of improvement after 4 yrs."

Perhaps you have not been paying enough attention. Yes, the recovery has been slow, but you only have to look at the stock market to see the economy has been improving. The Dow-Jones Industrial Average, one of the leading economic indicators, was in the 7,000's at the beginning of Obama's administration. It is running aroung 13,200 right now and still slowly edging its way up. That should tell you right there that the economy is improving. We still have a long way to go, but I don't think we are going to get there by putting another Republican in the White House. As President Clinton rightly pointed out in his speech last night, it was the Republicans who got us into this mess to begin with.

16 trillion and counting.............................

AND MITT ROMNEY AND PAUL RYAN WANT TO bounce back the economy ...HOW??? By giving the SUPER RICH MORE TAX BRAKES????

IT DOES NOT TAKE MUCH TO SEE WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR THE "recovery" The Middle class.

At least Romney knows how to run companies...Staples, Home Depot, etc.

Read this: LET DETROIT GO BANKRUPT
He only knows how to take from people.

MAW-1297690

It probably won't do much good to actually tell you what Romney's idea of running a company amounts to. The brilliance of the GOP strategy is that most of it's base don't have the education or sophistication to understand how they take something profitable, suck out the wealth and leave an empty husk as another person's problem.

I kind of feel sorry for you. I can tell by your comment you fall smack in the middle of one of those jobs that Romney likes to make go away so he can buy a new house or another Cadillac or a new horse for his wife. You'll vote for him and never get how you lost your job or why things got worse for you but it will surely be some liberal's fault.

You're like trying to save a drowning cat. You don't even understand people are trying to help.

"In a comma"??????? "Tax brakes"?????? Are you on drugs????

Irespond, If what you say is true then let's employ more middle class. How can you expect 3.5 million people to fund the other 345 miilion others. Let's leave the taxes structure alone, cut spending, reduce the regulations so more small businesses can start up, and encourage banks to responsibly loan money and get the country back on track, not try to recover by throwing more gov't money at the problem. Maybe Obama couldn't solve the problem in 4 years but he certainly hasn't helped it with his gov't spending and regulations, he has only created more uncertainty and fear.

GM did go bankrupt ,,, go buy a new Pontiac , opps thats gone

Ford didn't take a dime and is doing great.

most of the money blown to companies that can't compete.

GM stock is down from $39 to $21 since IPO way to go

btldriver - President Obama has made proposals to make it attractive for companies to bring jobs back from overseas and very unattractive to continue to outsource jobs. Those proposals died with the Congressional Republicans who refuse to even bring them to the floor.

People will get jobs if we can bring more manufacturing back. But when a group obstructs everything - for the benefit of their party and to the detriment of our country - it doesn't get done.

Put the blame squarely where it belongs - on the Republican party!

Obama/Biden 2012

11.2 TRILLION Passed from Bush to Obama. 1.3 TRILLION passed from BUSH to Obama for the illegal war in Iraq.

The GOP Socialist agenda of redistributing wealth from the low/middle class to the rich and corporations cannot continue. America can't afford it.

Bubba is right....GOP created too pig a mess....I mean...too big a mess.

16 trillion and counting

Thanks to W and VP Dick.

Obama – Biden 2012 - Still Cleaning up Bush’s Mess!!!

How many times will people state that running a profitable business is good training for running the government?
The goal of business is to earn a profit by producing goods or services that customers will choose to buy. Business can change its product line to find the most profitable products, those that people want.

The purpose of government is to provide services, security and infrastructure that people need, but that are probably not directly profitable in a strict economic sense, yet must be provided anyway.

How does knowing how to earn a profit for the business prepare a person for providing for the essential needs of everyone by running the government? The goals, responsibilities and methods of the two institutions are totally different.

Please people don't tell me you think either of the candidates will be any different than what we've seen for the past 12 years of Bush = Obama? Both big spenders. Neither taxing fairly.

It makes no difference. Instead of fighting each other of two losers why aren't we working together to reform the broken system?

BOTH big spenders???

BUSH 610 billion avg debt over 8 yrs

Obama 1.35 TRILLION per year and counting

Bush 4.886 TRILLION in 96 months

Obama 5.4 TRILLION in 44 months

Randy-840072

BOTH big spenders???

BUSH 610 billion avg debt over 8 yrs

Obama 1.35 TRILLION per year and counting

Bush 4.886 TRILLION in 96 months

Obama 5.4 TRILLION in 44 months

The National Debt as of 09/28/2001 = $5,807,463,412,200.06 ... as of his last budget year 09/30/2009 = $11,909,829,003,511.75 ... thats a little better than doubling it, or increasing by $6.1 Trillion

Off course you already knew that right? U dont count how much he spent the day he leaves office... there is still 8 months until the money he appropriated for that fiscal year runs out.

Bush leaves office and he leaves a 1.42 trillion deficit..
off course you already knew that...

The day Bush leaves office 3.517 trillion budget, Obama added 187 billion for ARRA to the 2009 Bush budget. We end up with 3.330 trillion total for Bush. Do the math below and you will see that in hes first 3 years Obama has spent only 1 trillion dollars.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals Table 1.3

2010 Obama budget 3.456 trillion

2011 Obama budget 3.603 trillion

2012 Obama budget 3.795 trillion

2012 Obama budget 3.803 trillion estimate.

You are really bad at math... i could go on and on about deficits, debt, and budgets...

No president could have fixed it Bill?! So with that mentality, no president could have prevented it. You are right about the economy being different for you- you had the dot.com boom, and you didn't do anything except chase Monica. War on women- The lion Kennedy they trotted out from the grave, killed a young intern and tried to hide it by swimming across the channel and going to bed in his hotel. Look it up- he was a slug. Obama voters are pseudo intellects with delusions of grandeur claiming to be tolerant when in fact they are the most hateful, ugly egotists when someone disagrees with them. Laughable- Obama is one and done and not rely on the idiotic Pelousy/Reid hate machine. Nov. can't come fast enough, too many people have run out of excuses and made to look stupid too many times to vote for the "hope and change" crap.

Romney/Ryan 2012- the end of an error

"to full health". Bill, really, no President has ever brought this country to "full health". I believe you are equivocating again. BTW: What is the definition of "is"?

You can spin the figures to fit your kool-aid diluted mind.

When running up TRILLIONS in overages the "budget" you give are meaningless

Also using Sept - Sept when the budget turns over is meaningless too.

ExampleS: FEB 2009 -- ARRA which is 831 BILLION in spending was signed into law on Feb 17th 2009 not Oct 1st

MARCH 2009 -- Public-Private Investment Program which contains provisions for buying up to $2 trillion in depreciated real estate assets -- 2 TRILLION can you read?? Does that math add up ???

Also in March 09 loans to GM and Chrysler

June 2009 -- Cash for clunkers

Obama spent and spent with off the books plans that weren't in the budget.

My Debt figures are from when a president enters office on Jan 21st +/- a couple days to when they leave office.

Bush Jan 01 -jan 09 = 4.886 Trillion

Obama Jan 01 - Today = 5.4 Trillion and counting

Those are facts

________________________________

on a side note -- the DNC said no donations larger than 100K , transparency , no corporate donations would be accepted. But instead they set up a sister non-profit to collect from corporations starting at 100K and UP. Anyone donations over 1 million would be rewarded by special signage and special rooms etc etc.

You can spin and spin but the DEMs are all smoke and mirrors just like saying Obama has only spent 1 trillion **rolls eyes**

Reagan almost tripled the national debt in his efforts to shorten the 82-82 recession and hasten the recovery. And the Fed was able to further stimulate the economy by cutting interest on lending to banks (discount rate) from high of 14% in May 1981 (which deepened the recession that came in 82) to 8.5% in Dec 1982 to 6% in July of 1986.

Yet, today this huge deficit spending increase is only 12% of our total national debt. 30 years have passed and Reagan's budget deficits which amounted to 2/3rds of all the national debt (in 1988) our nation had amassed in almost 200 years is now only 12% of our total now. Of course, as the years pass even a low inflation rate of 4% will reduce the magnitude of old debt. So, the debt Obama has added (almost all the result of Bush era tax cuts and spending increases) which amounts to $4 trillion at this point (3.5 years in office) is only 25% of our national debt compared to Reagan's 67% of our national debt at end of 1988.

Isn't it ironic that Reagan talked about a balanced budget amendment while using budget deficits to stimulate our economy. But, it did work. How quickly we forget.

as stated earlier its 5.388 trillion not 4 trillion since taking office

w ww.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Jan 20th 2009 = 10,626,877,048,913.08

Aug 31st 2012 = 16,015,769,788,215.80

TOTAL = 5,388,892,739,302.72

No value and not even close to funny.

Obama – Biden 2012 - Still Cleaning up Bush’s Mess!!!

Clinton says no one could have restored our economic health completely in 4 years but what about running up our debt by all of the other presidents combined. Any idiot can print money and give it away to stimulated the economy. We need some with financial sense to clean up Obama's debt so that our children/grand children can have a chance.

I was reading from an earlier comment that the "blame bush/cheney" tires still had tread on them. hmmm. What we need is for the last 4 presidents to do some explaining. Explain to me how we got into the mess were in today. Explain to me why this hopey/ changey hasn't gotten off the ground, explain to me the reasoning for the wars in Iraq and Afganistan, explain to me and the others out there the 16 trillion nat'l debt. Explain to me why it was neccessary for a large tax cut to the wealthy, and finally explain the politican polarization.

Bill Clinton is like Dracula to the GOP ... they keep trying to stake his heart, but there's always a sequel.

Make sure you have your popcorn, I'm sure this will be a good one.

Bill Clinton and President Obama have something that the Republicans LACK: COMMON SENSE AND THEY CAN talk, not just bark.

Mitt Romney was even mimicking the gestures and manerisms of Ronald Reagan. He is A PUPPET OF THE KOCH BROTHERS AND ALL THE LOBYYSTS AND the super PACS.

A better name is Republicans are a$$holes

Wow Job1...you really got him with that one.

Regarding post 5.3:

1) Turn the clock back 12 years

2) Replace all occurrences of "Obama" with "Clinton"

3) Replace all occurrences of "GWB" with "GHB"

... and it's deja vu all over again. You guys need to to get some new material.

I think most republicans would rather have clinton than obama I know I would.

At least he had enough smarts to go to the center, something obama doesn't have.

I think most republicans would rather have clinton than obama I know I would.

At least he had enough smarts to go to the center, something obama doesn't have.

The center of what? Monica Lewinsky?

Sorry, couldn't resist. I think Bill was great.

What, you mean with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act written by Republicans?

No I am talking the common sense assassin Larry Summers. You know, Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary and now Obama's senior Economic Advisor. Any wonder that he and Franklin "No-risk" Raines have kept the economy down? You remember, the same one's that assaulted anyone and destroyed their reputation if they dared speak against un-regulated CDO's.

Oops .. there goes those nasty facts liberals try to avoid. BTW, Phil Graham (r) Texas, his wife worked with Bill Clinton's BFF the CEO of ENRON did she not? Didn't Barney Frank's sweetheat make millions in bonuses working for Fannie Mae after Barney approved raising the leverage limit? In fact were not all leverage limits approved by the New York Fed Chairman Timothy Geitner?

Probably no one could have restored the economy as it was when Obama took office. Obama said in a couple of speechs that he would try and that he thought he could make major progress in 3 years and that if he could not we should elect a different president. Obama was handed a terrible mess and made it ten times more terrible. Obama had no business experience and limited political experience, yet the voters elected him anyway. Let's elect someone with some actual experience this time. Obama is way over his head and is completely clueless. If Obama is re-elected, we will all be on welfare by the end of his second term. The economy continues to be a mess and Mr Obama, YOU did that. It is Obama's fault and his alone that NO PROGRESS was made during his four year term.

@ proudamerican veteran

Clinton pushed to make it easier for low income people to get loans to buy houses. It's what the banks pushed for and got from Republicans that brought the house down. See the Gramm - Leach Bliley Act on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bliley_Act which repealed most of the Glass Steagall Act. It passed both houses with Veto proof majorities so it would become law no matter what Clinton did!

You have to look back to what Frank-Dodd wrote during the Clinton administration. The bill that forced Freddy and Fannie to loan to people who had no ability to pay for a mortgage. This was the proverbial snow-ball rolling down hill that got us to where we are today. Then you have to look at Congress as a whole for failing to reign in banks who took loan mechanisms such as "interest only" and let it out in to the public. Those types of mechanism were originally designed for "wealthy" people who had real money/collateral to back the loan.

People take the short-cut and blame "W" for this mess. The facts are clear that both Clinton and the Congress failed us. Worse, too many Americans bought into the lie that they could have whatever they wanted without worrying about paying for it. There is more than enough blame to go around.

This isn't to say that "W" doesn't own blame. He should never have bailed out any of the financial institutions. The same is true with the auto industry. We have a legal process for that and it should have been followed.

Now you bring Barry into the equation and all bets are off. His philosophy of government and control is fuel to a raging fire. This can't get fixed under Barry. He has no clue how an economy should run. He refuses to accept that the private sector and the consumer drive everything. Governmental influence is an oxymoron. It simply make matters worse. The energy sector is a textbook example. Who in their right minds cuts supply without a viable alternative in place? Who gets to pay the price for that? We do. All of us. It doesn't matter your politics, every American pays the price.

Well, enough of the dissertation. See you at the polls Nov 6 when we can finally say goodbye to this man.

Did Bill happpen to mention in the interview that it was he and his administration which de-regulated this the CTC and gave carte-blanche to the Bankers. Didn't think so. Democrats love authority they just hate responsibility and accountability.

You know very little about Bill Clinton, my friend. He has owned up to EVERY mistake he made in office and more than one he regrets mightily.

I make mistakes in my job and it's no where near as complicated as being the leader of the free world. However I can see by your post you are the first, last and only, perfect human born on planet earth.

MarkG - you're right. Hopefully when we reject Romney again on November 6th he'll get the picture and quit running for good and we can FINALLY say goodbye to him!

Obama/Biden 2012

DaNoid

What, you mean with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act written by Republicans?

Hmm let's look at the witches brew. Seems a The House and Senate had passed seperate versions and neither would budge in on the points. The day it was supposed to die, the democrats proposed adding another bill they wrote putting huge authority to the Fed to enforce CRA provisions on finance. The democrats would provide all the votes needed to pass the bill.

What the House and Senate were doing were recognizing what had been previously done for 11 years in giving some institutions waivers allowing them to merge Finance, banking, and investments back into one corporation or even one bank. Provision 2 of Glass-Steagall and a 1956 law regulating banks prohibited this. The Republican part is of little consequence to the crash other than it permitted huge banks, that if they failed could severly harm or even cripple the entire financial system.

The real problem was the CRA portion. This part put banks on notice to make loans to low income or they would be prosecuted by all Federal agencies, not just the one the offense was discovered by, or reported to. Under these revisions, the fed now could point to a bank and say we thing you are discriminating because you have too few low income loans (the number we decide you better have). Or the fed could say you don't have any or very many branches of your bank in low income neighborhoods, so we are suing you.

Accoriding to mortage companies and bank officers displaced when their jobs were eliminated or their bank closed from insolvency, The fed was pressuring them to make more low income loans and even encouraging them to be "creative" in qualifying people.

Now if you just made a bad loan are you going to do, keep them? If you do, how long until you lose your job because the bank board sees your degrading performance?

The bottom line is, the Crash was both parties fault. They wrote the bill and enough from both parties blocked any investigation From 2003 - 2008 in to where the resulting bad loans were going.

I've looked up many of these "bi-partisan" bills. They actually have a worse track record than many partisan bills.

Democrats are a$$holes your post is a bunch of BS! Your the A$$hole and everyone like you! What has Romney ever done besides rip people off! Bush and the Insane Clown Party featuring "DICK" did their best to destroy this country (2 Wars, Auto Industry Bankrupt, Wall Street Collapse, Unemployment Rising). How many millions did Romney pocket while he was CEO of Bain laying off thousands of workers! When President Obama wins his 2nd term I hope you & the rest of the Romney A$$holes learn a lesson! Thieves (Romney) and Liars (Ryan) have no moral values except f ing people out of money and getting away with it!

def get a hearing aid and the cussing makes you very childish. You need to grow up. mommy and daddy sure didn't do their jobs did they. If obama gets a second term you will get what you want, although I don't think you will like it.

Of course, he didn't. But it is a nice line of BS.

Buffaloes,

You arew wrong. Obama did promise to fix it.

1). Keep unemployment under 8% if gets stimulus

2). Reduce deficit by 50% by end of first term

3). Close Gitmo in first year of office

4). etc.

What part of the facts don't you guys get. HE MADE THE COMMITTMENTS. The Repubs, Independents, Democrats did not make those committments: HE DID. If he was not prepared to fullfill on such audacious promises then maybe he should not have made them.

Just like elections, broken promises and lies have consequences.

Obama will prove to be a "fad" POTUS in the history books. What is with you guys and accountability (or lack thereof)???

then maybe obama shouldnt have declared he would fix it and the world in one term...bottom line is he will say ANYTHING to get elected

Yup, you are correct. Obama did promise this and he was wrong. I'm wrong at least once a day. You?

Perhaps Obama will say anything to get elected but you might want to have a look a the other guys running, if that's your only criteria. I think when it comes to saying anything they may have Obama beat.

There is a big difference of me being wrong once a day and the President. There is a big difference when you're wrong about what you told an ENTIRE country to make you their leader...You can play it down but based on what Obama told voters prior to be elected he is a complete and total FAILURE.

Jeremy,

Let's face it: He flat out lied to all of us. And sadly, he continues to.

Right! Clinton and the Republicans got along so well thay impeached him because of a BJ.

We weren't expecting the economy to return to full health in 4 years, we just expected "some" recovery ...

And, did I hear that right? "President Obama's economic approach "is right" and will "pay off" if he's re-elected" Is Clinton serious? He can't be. He's saying that if Obama doesn't get elected then oour economy will not get better. Obama is not the only person in this country who can turn our economy around. We're still waiting for Obama to start doing that job he was elected to start doing in January 2009.

What's he waiting for? The second coming of Christ?

Health care reform is economic reform and a crucial component of the President's strategy to decrease the outrageous cost of health care care in this country while also reducing the deficit. We spend nearly 20% of our GDP on health care; compared to just 10% for most industrialized countries. Are we 10% healthier? Probably not. The President also wants to eliminate about $800b in waste and fraud from the Medicare program by punishing doctors, hospitals and insurance companies who cheat; not patients.

I can't stop laughing at the Obama critics who say that health care reform has nothing to do with the economic recovery and have the unmitigated gall to call the President "dumb".

When a Black President tells the REPs to get to the back of the bus then he has lost all respect.

When a VP talks about a party putting you in chains I lost what little respect for him

VOTE THE BUMS OUT

wolfe426

We weren't expecting the economy to return to full health in 4 years, we just expected "some" recovery ...

And, did I hear that right? "President Obama's economic approach "is right" and will "pay off" if he's re-elected" Is Clinton serious? He can't be.

Sure he can. Especially when the alternative is "Trickle-down" economics on steroids. Try to imagine 30 years of supply-side, trickle-down economics compressed into 4 years. That's enough to drive anyone but the very wealthy away form the Neo-Cons.

And speaking of Neo-Cons; welcome back to the Republican fold. Even though your boss wasn't invited to the party last week, we see you are well represented on Romney's advisory staff. And some people say the Republicans don't have a big tent. It should be interesting when the "final battle" between the T-publicans and the Neo-Cons unfolds (really interested in who the corporate masters back) and the loser is purged from the "new and improved" (and more pure) Republican.

Economics for Dummies that would be Romney's plan seeing that it been tried for so long and has done nothing but hurt this great nation.

Wow, the conservatives really have nothing.

Not content to simply slander Obama, they are now slandering Clinton and Ted Kennedy as well. Can you bring yourselves to say anything positive about your own candidate? Is there anything to say?

Memory lane, makes me pine for the days when the worst thing happening was the Presidents penis. I'll take that over our current problems any day.

So says Joe Soptic

yawn....

liberals don't care if people have sex.

it's just you conservatives that have a problem with sneaking into every bedroom in America.

Liberals need to use social issues and stupid logic that has no bearing to deflect the real issues. Their candidate has completely failed as a president, delivering us enourmous debts. He has failed on job creation. He has failed on his promise of ending the wars long ago. He has failed on his promise to leave CA cannabis clubs alone. He has failed the country. Not just Republicans or Democrats have felt his poor leadership. His policies have affected the world. He is a limp noodle when it comes to foreign policy. We have never looked weaker on the world stage. So keep drinking that koolaid of oblivion and enjoy his last few months.

two things, who provided the list of women and can it be proved, and what does any of it have to do with the truths Clinton shared at the convention, big pictures of economics isn't obviously important to you, you sound like a cry baby, "Clinton screwed other women", Bush and Carl Rove screwed every middle American , with job loses, higher expenses for health care, took regulations away for insurance companies, which in turn causes increased payments because the corporations raise premiums, well, because no one can intervene and stop them, same with the gas industry, raise the prices on Friday, lower it on Monday, why, cause they can....that's what Bush endorsed and that's 10 times more evil than getting a blow job. Clinton screwed himself, Bush screwed 98 percent of middle America, income lowered, because he believed if you make the wealthiest wealthier, it will somehow trickle down to middle America. Boy that really worked didn't it.

You still thing Clintons love life matters more than the welfare of 98 % of the American population.

Publius *

Publis, you sound jealous! I don't know about you and your friends but mine would think I'm a little "strange" if I kept track of another man's affairs...you are way scary. You know, in a previous post I mentioned the strange Republican obsession with other people's sex. Good to see you're here to confirm it.

Susanna1

Duh Mr. Clinton, we KNOW a hot wicked and vile mess cant be cleaned up "entirely" in one year egadz give us some credit LOL, YOU dont even agree with Obama, they're MAKING you agree cuz of the "democrat party" you have joined....C'Mon now....

Oh good, the RNC got their talking points from Rush. Boy that time delay was driving us nuts. By the way, Clinton didn't say one year...he said four years. You know, half as long as it took the Crawford village idiot to screw it up.

It's a good thing that no other elected officials had any hand in those things otherwise you might have to re-examine your slavish loyalty to political parties.

wow. we can't blame bush for anything that happened while was in office because that time has passed, but we CAN blame Clinton who was been out of office for 12 years.

Gotta love the Right. They can justify ANYTHING.

Bear in mind that it was posted by Pubis. He's been having a little trouble with proportion all afternoon. Bill must have really screwed with his head...."huh...huh...he said screwed" ...calm down Pubis.

Romney could.

How specifically?

Reagan did. And Romney's using the same model.

Reagan didn't. Not from this kind of recession.

Are you really saying that Romney wiould copy Reagan? After all of the Republican claims that they are going forward not backward? Good to know.

Ronald Reagan did it - after inheriting an economy very similar to this one. Obama's Cloward-Piven economics are doing exactly what they were designed to do.

I'd agree with Bill that no one could restore the economy in 4 years...but the trends we're seeing after 3.5yrs aren't the kind of markers we should be seeing to give us signs of recovery/ hope.

Really? I'm curious where you live. Because where I live there are all sorts of signs of improvement. The restaurants are full of people, new businesses are opening, people are painting their houses and doing new landscaping, the roads and bridges are being worked on... I want to point out that even in the worst case scenarios 85% of people who want a job have one.

where do you live?

donj1I'd agree with Bill that no one could restore the economy in 4 years...but the trends we're seeing after 3.5yrs aren't the kind of markers we should be seeing to give us signs of recovery/ hope.

Really? 28 straight months of job growth as compared to the ending months of the Bush administration hemorrhaging 750,000 jobs per month. So losing 750,000 jobs/month would be a better marker?

1TruthSpeaker

Ronald Reagan did it - after inheriting an economy very similar to this one. Obama's Cloward-Piven economics are doing exactly what they were designed to do.

How old are you anyway? Do you actually remember when Reagan took office? or did you hear about it on FOX news? The economy when Reagan took office was not even similar to what Bush left...not even close! So as long as we're referencing Reagan...how many times did he increase taxes to stimulate the economy? Seems like it was 6 or 8 times.