Editor, Ceres Courier,
Barack Obama's liberal supporters and allies in the media have attempted to put a rosy glow on the Obama economic record - but it is truly undeserved. And a very poor record.
When Obama entered the White House, the national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. Eight years later, it stands at $19.9 trillion. Obama added $9.3 trillion to the national debt - nearly as much as all 43 of his predecessors combined. He is truly in a league of his own for deficit spending and he fought for higher spending all the time.
Mr. Obama is the only president in American history never to have had even one year of three percent Gross Domestic Product growth. His recovery has officially been deemed the worst recovery in U.S. history. For eight recessions dating back to 1960, the average economic growth for the recovery has been 3.9 percent. Obama's annual GDP growth was a measly 2.1 percent. Compare that with one of the best records, President Reagan's 4.8 percent annual growth for his recovery.
According to a recent study by economics professors at Princeton and Harvard, 94 percent of the job growth during the past decade has consisted of part-time, temporary and contract jobs - hardly a staple of an economy that benefits middle-class families and young workers. If that isn't enough, the Obama economy features the lowest home ownership in five decades, the lowest labor participation rate since the 1970s (in other words, the economy is so bad people have given up looking for work), nearly 13 million more Americans on food stamps, and more than 43 million Americans living in poverty.
Only an Obama liberal could consider this economic record in a positive light.
Sara Blicharz,
Stockton
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