Five Easily Debunked Economic Claims From The Obama Campaign

By way of Glenn Reynolds comes this article from Investor's Business Daily showing how the Obama campaign is based upon 5 phony economic claims, all easily debunked.

Obama's claims:

The Bush tax cuts and deregulation caused the recession.

I stopped a second Great Depression.

My policies are working.

A slow recover was inevitable.

Nobody could have done any better.

Let's take a look at two of my favorites, being the first and last claims on the list. First, the first claim:

The Bush tax cuts and deregulation caused the recession.

It's a standard Obama talking point. But it's not true. Bush's tax cuts did not cause the last recession.

In fact, once they were fully in effect in 2003, they sparked stronger growth — generating more than 8 million new jobs over the next four years, and GDP growth averaging close to 3%.

Those tax cuts didn't explode the deficit, either, as Obama frequently claims. Deficits steadily declined after 2003, until the recession hit.

Most of the deregulation that Obama blames on Bush took place during Clinton administration. If anything, regulation grew during Bush's time in office. Obama needs to retire this phony claim as it's too easy to prove it's false.

In regards to the last claim – Nobody could have done any better – I have only this to say:

I could have done better than you! I have a modicum of understand about how an economy works, how improper and overreaching regulations can hurt businesses large and small, and that punishing success and rewarding sloth and failure get you less of the first and more of the second, neither of which helps the economy. My wife and I have actually run a business, dealt with the headaches such a thing entails, worried about paying the bills and taxes, meeting a payroll, and dealing with an ever increasing litany of more intrusive (and expensive) regulations that affected our business. While you, on the other hand, haven't run so much as a lemonade stand. (But you did manage to piss away $110 million in Annenberg Foundation funds with nothing to show for it.)

And if you need even more ammunition to debunk the claims made by The One, there's this graphic that does a pretty good job of explaining why none of his claims are anywhere near the truth.

'Nuff said.