If this doesn’t prove he’s a socialist, nothing will
by digby
Through Friday, since Mr. Obama’s inauguration — his first 1,368 days in office — the Dow Jones industrial average has gained 67.9 percent. That’s an extremely strong performance — the fifth best for an equivalent period among all American presidents since 1900. The Bespoke Investment Group calculated those returns for The New York Times.
The best showing occurred in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term, when the market rose by a whopping 238.1 percent. Of course, that followed a calamitous decline. When his term started, the Dow had fallen to one-fourth of its former peak. In 2008, the year before Mr. Obama took office, the Dow declined by roughly one-third.
After Franklin Roosevelt, the next-best market performances occurred under Calvin Coolidge, Bill Clinton and Dwight Eisenhower. These exceptionally strong markets helped all of them win the next election — and the stock market is undoubtedly helping Mr. Obama, too, even if he isn’t saying much about it.
“What I find most ironic about these numbers is that one of Obama’s weaknesses is said to be his economic record,” said Paul T. Hickey, Bespoke’s co-founder. “While the stock market isn’t a complete reflection of the economy, it is an important indicator, and the stock market is one of the great things the president has working in his favor. But it’s a sensitive subject. With Wall Street so despised by the average American right now, it’s probably something he doesn’t want to be too quick to trumpet. But facts are facts.”
But he called some rich guy a fat cat once. Let’s not forget that.