The Republicans have recycled Reagan's query, "Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?" The correct answer is yes. Some of the reasons--29 months of private sector job growth, avoiding financial collapse into a depression, the start of a rebound for the housing industry, the successful bailout of GM and Chrysler, closing in on universal heath care, the pull out from Iraq, winning in Libya without loss of life or treasure, greater national security through killing Osama bin Laden and most of the upper echelon of Al Qaeda, financial reform, the rebound of the stock market, and expanded civil rights for gays and lesbians. But the simple answer to the question is no. The unemployment rate is higher, and median income is lower, than when the president took office.
But it is like an alcoholic who goes on a binge. He walks into a bar and opens a tab. He has a couple of rounds of tax cuts and feels pretty good. So he switches to deregulation. Next he buys a round of pharmaceutical benefits for all the seniors in the bar. He proceeds to get into two bar fights that smash up the bar. The damages to the bar go on his tab.
He stumbles out of the bar gets in his car and proceeds to wrap it around a pole. Fortunately, on January 1 he stops drinking. But years later he is still paying on his credit card, hampered by his injuries, and paying his lawyer and court fines for his DUI. He even had to go further into debt to buy a car so he could get to work.
But as frustrating as a slow recovery may be, hitting the bottle is not the answer.
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