A little while ago, Iowahawk put out a Tweet that really got me thinking:
“You know who else inherited an economy from George Bush? Rick Perry.”
I thought it might be educational to take a look at a snapshot as of January 2009, when President Obama took over from President George W. Bush.
Unemployment: 7.9%.
Federal Debt: $10.6 trillion
Dow Jones Industrial Average (January 20): 7949.09
Price of gallon of gasoline (January 19): $1.85
United States Senate: 57 Democrats, 2 Independents (nominal Democrats), 41 Republicans
United States House: 256 Democrats, 178 Republicans
(Democratic majorities of just under 60% in each House)
Oh, and there was also a federal budget in place. A lousy one, admittedly (I don’t recall the last time there was one that wasn’t lousy), but a budget, passed by Congress and signed by the president.
No one denies that Obama was given a lousy hand to work with. But, two and a half years later, one thing is clear:
He found ways to take a crap sandwich and make it even worse.
