PUSHING BACK AGAINST THE SAINT REAGAN MEME

Sean Hannity regularly says on his radio show that Reagan had the best post-war economy and implies that Democratic Presidents are bad for the economy. We know this is crapola but it's still nice to see that the MSM comes out with the truth once in a while:

Economy has fared better under Dem presidents
Arthur L. Blaustein

Saturday, October 18, 2008
San Francisco Chronicle

Let's look at the record.

During the 20th century, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 7.3 percent per year on average under Republican presidents. Under Democrats, it rose 10.3 percent - which means that investors gained a whopping 41 percent more. And the stock market declined further during George Bush's two terms.

Moreover, according to research from Professor Larry Bartels of Princeton, real middle class wage growth is double when a Democrat is president, contrasted to that growth under a Republican president.

Since World War II, Democratic presidents have increased the national debt by an average of 3.7 percent per year, and Republican presidents have increased it an average of 10.1 percent. During the same time period, the unemployment rate was, on average, 4.8 percent under Democratic presidents; it was 6.3 percent under Republicans.

That's the historical record.