I have spent more than a month trying to figure out how an arrogant, egotistical, mean-spirited, incompetent has been reelected to the presidency following the worst economic four years since WWII.
I have the answer and it is tragically simple. I have asked many people why they voted for the man who brought them the worst economic environment in more than half a century.
The answer is always the same: 'the economy was Bush's fault'.
Unfortunately a very intelligent person would not have enough information to understand how wrong such a statement is. The Romney campaign never even tried to demonstrate that the worst four years were caused by Obama and strictly Obama and his veto proof Congress.
Here is the problem. There are two charts on this page. One shows recoveries of GDP for the post 1930 recessions (including the Great Depression). The Obama recovery is the worst. The other chart shows unemployment recoveries since 1960. Obama's employment recovery is the worst.
Only a few million people are capable of reading these charts if the charts were ever presented to them.
Even those few million would not understand that an independent agency, called the National Bureau of Economic Research has been measuring recessions for the entire postwar period. The NBER calls the beginning and ending of every recession and it has been universally accepted in the economic and financial worlds.
So the data in these charts is based on accurate numbers beginning with the point that the NBER defines as the end of the recessionary downturn and the beginning of the recovery.
The data in these charts is too hard for most people to understand and much too hard for them to comprehend at the level of reliability.
The financial crash in 2008 wasn’t caused by the Bush administration it was a housing bubble caused by several factors but mostly Fannie and Freddie who were protected by Democrats Barney Frank and Chris Dowd.
Financial crashes have occurred in many countries and the economic recoveries afterward were no different than ordinary business cycle recessions.
The stimulus package of 2009 was counter-productive and made the economy worse as did the regulatory uncertainty and the rule flaunting undemocratic Congress. Obama and the Democratic Party created a horrible recession that drove the median income down for the first time in 70 years.
It wasn't stupid people or ignorant people who elected the man responsible for the worst economic recovery in 60 years. They simply couldn't understand the data in the form that is available online and in financial newspapers.