Obama's Historically Bad Economy
3:15 PM, AUG 08, 2016 | By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON
Credit: marcn/Flickr
The recent release of anemic quarterly economic-growth numbers for 2016 has revived the debate over the Obama economy. Some say it has been okay; some say it has been lousy. In truth, the economy under President Barack Obama has been historically bad. How bad? Adjusted for inflation, average yearly GDP growth under President Obama has been less than half of what it was under President Jimmy Carter, 1.5 percent to 3.3 percent.
According to figures from the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the source for all of the figures provided herein, average annual GDP growth in the post-World War II era has been 2.9 percent. By far the worst year in that stretch was the first, when in the immediate aftermath of the war, GDP declined more than four times as much (-11.6 percent) as it has in any year since. From 1947-onward, average annual GDP growth has been 3.2 percent.
But average annual GDP growth has varied greatly by president, ranging from a high of 5.3 percent under President Lyndon Johnson to a low of 1.5 percent under President Obama, as the following chart conveys:
Here is the complete list of average annual GDP growth ranked by postwar president (in descending order):
Johnson (1964-68), 5.3%Kennedy (1961-63), 4.3%Clinton (1993-2000), 3.9%Reagan (1981-88), 3.5%Carter (1977-80), 3.3%Eisenhower (1953-60), 3.0%(Post-WWII average: 2.9%)
Nixon (1969-74), 2.8%Ford (1975-76), 2.6%George H. W. Bush (1989-92), 2.3%George W. Bush (2001-08), 2.1%Truman (1946-52), 1.7%Obama (2009-15), 1.5%Obama's last-place tally of 1.5 percent doesn't even include the BEA's numbers for 2016, since the year isn't yet complete. Thus far, growth in 2016 has been 0.8 percent in the first quarter and an estimated 1.2 percent in the second quarter. So Obama will be lucky to finish his presidency at even half the postwar average of 2.9 percent growth. |
