Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Obama or Reagan? Who had the best economic record?

The Republicans will tell you that their hero Ronald Reagan did the best job of handling the U.S. economy and Obama has done the worst.  Sorry, Republicans.  Obama beats Reagan on unemployment, stock performance, the national debt and healthcare spending, just to take a few measures.
Let’s review the numbers.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
Obama inherited a worse unemployment rate and brought it down quicker than Reagan.




REAGAN
OBAMA
START OF TERM
7.5%
7.8%
PEAK
10.8%
10.0%
AFTER 6 YEARS
6.9%
5.8%

STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE—S&P 500
On both Total Return and Total Return Adjusted for Inflation, Obama beats Reagan hands down on stock performance as measured by the S&P 500.



REAGAN
OBAMA
TOTAL PRICE RETURN
78%
101%
ANNUALIZED PRICE RETURN
11%
13%
TOTAL RETURN (ADJ FOR INFLATION)
41%
127%
ANNUALIZED RETURN (ADJ FOR INFLATION
11%
18%
Note: Reagan (January 1981 to October 1986) Obama (January 2009 to October 2014)
Source: S&P Return Calculator at http://dqydj.net/sp-500-return-calculator/

PERCENT INCREASE IN GOVERNMENT DEBT
Government debt increased LESS and at a LOWER annualized rate under Obama than under Reagan.



REAGAN
OBAMA
% INCREASE IN GOVERNMENT DEBT—6 YRS
190%
70%
AVERAGE ANNUAL INCREASE IN GOVT DEBT
23%
12%
Sources:
Average % increase in government debit
% increase in government debt over 6 years

AVERAGE ANNUAL INCREASE IN HEALTHCARE SPENDING
The average annual increase in healthcare spending under Obama was only a third of what it was under Ronald Reagan.


REAGAN
OBAMA
AVERAGE ANNUAL INCREASE IN HEALTH CARE SPENDING
11.7%
3.8%

VERDICT:  
OBAMA BEATS REAGAN ON EVERY MEASURE.


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