SCHILLER: Obama won't acknowledge responsibility for failed recovery - Washington Times

SCHILLER: Obama won't acknowledge responsibility for failed recovery - Washington Times Voter polls notwithstanding, this year’s election hinges on the economy. Everyone knows the economy is growing at a snail’s pace, keeping unemployment high and wages low. Whom will voters blame for this economic malaise? Mitt Romney hopes voters will blame President Obama for the sluggish economy and high unemployment. Mr. Obama defends himself by claiming we’re a lot better off than we would have been without his stimulus program — and light years ahead of where we would have been with “Bush-type policies.” He claims he averted another Great Depression and points with pride to 24 consecutive months of job gains. The Obama campaign pleads for more time — and more stimulus spending — to reap the full benefits of Mr. Obama’s economic stewardship. The magnitude of the recovery failure is breathtaking. Since the end of the recession in June 2009, the economy has grown by 2.4 percent, 1.8 percent and 1.6 percent annually. In no other post-recession period has output grown so slowly. In fact, Mr. Obama’s best year of gross domestic product (GDP) growth — 2.4 percent — is below the worst growth rate in every other recovery since 1930. Even during the middle of the Great Depression (1934-36), GDP grew five times faster than during the Obama recovery. In the wake of every one of the subsequent 13 recessions, GDP routinely grew at rates of 3 percent to 5 percent — even as high as 7.2 percent in a single year (1984). When economists such as Edward Lazear dub this “the worst economic recovery in history,” they are not kidding. Read more: SCHILLER: Obama won't acknowledge responsibility for failed recovery - Washington Times http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/11/obama-wont-acknowledge-responsibility-for-failed-r/#ixzz292YnbdoP Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter