A Tale Of Two Recessions

Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: In today's Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore pits "Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics." It is a very telling tale of how two men with very different ideas about government tackled two recessions with very different results. Here are some excerpts: "The two presidents have a lot in common. Both inherited an American economy in collapse. And both applied daring, expensive remedies. Mr. Reagan passed the biggest tax cut ever, combined with an agenda of deregulation, monetary restraint and spending controls. Mr. Obama, of course, has given us a $1 trillion spending stimulus.

"By the end of the summer of Reagan's third year in office, the economy was soaring. The GDP growth rate was 5% and racing toward 7%, even 8% growth. In 1983 and '84 output was growing so fast the biggest worry was that the economy would 'overheat.' …By the end of Reagan's first term, it was Morning in America. Today there is gloomy talk of America in its twilight. …

"The Godfather of the neo-Keynesians, Paul Samuelson, was the lead critic of the supposed follies of Reaganomics. He wrote in a 1980 Newsweek column that to slay the inflation monster would take 'five to ten years of austerity,' with unemployment of 8% or 9% and real output of 'barely 1 or 2 percent.' Reaganomics was routinely ridiculed in the media, especially in the 1982 recession. That was the year MIT economist Lester Thurow famously said, 'The engines of economic growth have shut down here and across the globe, and they are likely to stay that way for years to come.' The economy would soon take flight for more than 80 consecutive months."Ronald Reagan believed government is the problem. Barack Obama believes government is the solution. We've tried it his way for the past two and a half years, and the results are painfully obvious. What the left-wing naysayers said would happen under Reagan is taking place right now under Obama! Unemployment is above 9%. "The engines of economic growth have shut down." Today, GDP was again revised downward, to just 1%. Are you better off today than you were four years ago?

It doesn't have to be this way. The tale of this recession can have a happy ending too. To paraphrase Reagan, "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. Recovery begins when Obama loses his job!"

This "tale of two recessions" is a great story, particularly for younger Americans who may have fallen for the hype about hope and change. Share it with them. It's a story that cannot be told often enough throughout the course of the next 14 months.

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