The Progressive Professor Says Barack Obama Produced an Economic Miracle

This web site points out that, during Obama’s presidency, the unemployment rate went from 10 percent to below 5 percent; the stock market went up 250 per cent.  Of course, since January 20, the stock market has continued to rise.  The point, however, is that the economy did well during Obama’s reign, starting from a serious recession (the worst in nearly a hundred years) to a consistently and significantly rising market.

At the same time, the yearly deficit in federal receipts went down dramatically, from a trillion a year to 400 billion.  That is as it should be; according to simple Keynesian principles, government should run at a significant deficit during bad times and at a surplus during good times.   Unfortunately, the Republican tax cut bill makes a $1.5 trillion plus hole in that principle, returning us to severe deficits at a time when we should be raking in surpluses to stock up for the next recession.  It is George W. Bush’s tax cut all over again– creating a huge deficit at a time when the economy was rising, which caused severe discomfort when the economy tanked in 2008.  Why do the Republicans hate economics?