Print PDF

From Center for American Progress:

A reasonable question to ask in any election year is whether we are better off today than we were four years ago. This year, the question happens to be remarkably easy to answer. Yes, by almost any measure, we are better off now than we were in the fall of 2008. Today our economy is growing, but back then it was shrinking. Today we’re adding new jobs every month, but back then we were shedding them at an alarming and increasing rate. Today businesses are boasting record profits, but back then they were awash in red ink.

This is no accident. Over the past four years, aggressive actions taken by the federal government, including the economic stimulus package and the rescue of the auto industry, succeeded in turning our economy around and putting us back on the right economic path.

Much work needs to be done to ensure the current economic recovery gains better traction. But there is no doubt that the economy is on the right track and remarkably robust in the face of tremendous obstacles, among them the lingering European financial crisis, high oil prices, and continued massive household debt levels.

(9)