Krugman: Why Republicans Are Ferocious Liars About What Makes the Economy Work @alternet

Krugman: Why Republicans Are Ferocious Liars About What Makes the Economy Work @alternet

"Why does the economy do better under Democrats, and why do Republicans tend to lie about that fact? Despite Carly Fiorina's fallacious claims to the contrary, Hillary Clinton was right to say that the the country has had better economic times with a Democrat in the White House.

It's an ironic and inconvenient truth. All Republican candidates do is talk about economic growth. And then they pursue and peddle policies that have been demonstrated not to produce it, with tax cuts for the wealthy front and center. Krugman digs deep into the facts of matter:

The arithmetic on partisan differences is actually stunning. Last year the economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson circulated a paper comparing economic performance under Democratic and Republican presidents since 1947. Under Democrats, the economy grew, on average, 4.35 percent per year; under Republicans, only 2.54 percent. Over the whole period, the economy was in recession for 49 quarters; Democrats held the White House during only eight of those quarters.

But isn’t the story different for the Obama years? Not as much as you think. Yes, the recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-2009 has been sluggish. Even so, the Obama record compares favorably on a number of indicators with that of George W. Bush. In particular, despite all the talk about job-killing policies, private-sector employment is eight million higher than it was when Barack Obama took office, twice the job gains achieved under his predecessor before the recession struck."