The Obama Economic Recovery

President Barack Obama took over in January of 2009 in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression thanks in large part to the deregulation of the financial sector by Republicans (this cause of the economic crisis is what Wall Street Reform – supported by President Obama – hopes to correct.)

Wall Street: On March 9, 2009 the DOW was at 6,509 (it’s lowest point since 1997.) Yesterday it closed at 11,152. That’s an amazing gain of 71% in less than 14 months. The Bush economy was a drop of about 40% in 8 years. The Obama economy is an increase of about 70% in 14 months.

Jobs: As soon as Obama took office job losses began to reverse (after a huge trend upward during the Bush recession.) And now there are actually signs of job gains (the latest numbers will be out this Friday. The previous month there was a gain of 162,000 jobs.) Another sign of recovery can be seen in this chart of self reported “Underemployment” from Gallup.

Rising Optimism: When Obama took over most people thought the country was headed straight into the ground with little hope for a recovery any time soon. Now there is more optimism than pessimism when it comes to the economy.