Obama or Reagan? Who had the best economic record?

The Republicans will tell you that their hero Ronald Reagan did the best job of handling the U.S. economy and Obama has done the worst.  Sorry, Republicans.  Obama beats Reagan on unemployment, stock performance, the national debt and healthcare spending, just to take a few measures.

Let’s review the numbers.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

Obama inherited a worse unemployment rate and brought it down quicker than Reagan.

	REAGAN	OBAMA
START OF TERM	7.5%	7.8%
PEAK	10.8%	10.0%
AFTER 6 YEARS	6.9%	5.8%

Source: http://www.multpl.com/unemployment/table?f=m

STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE—S&P 500

On both Total Return and Total Return Adjusted for Inflation, Obama beats Reagan hands down on stock performance as measured by the S&P 500.

	REAGAN	OBAMA
TOTAL PRICE RETURN	78%	101%
ANNUALIZED PRICE RETURN	11%	13%
TOTAL RETURN (ADJ FOR INFLATION)	41%	127%
ANNUALIZED RETURN (ADJ FOR INFLATION	11%	18%

Note: Reagan (January 1981 to October 1986) Obama (January 2009 to October 2014)

Source: S&P Return Calculator at http://dqydj.net/sp-500-return-calculator/

PERCENT INCREASE IN GOVERNMENT DEBT

Government debt increased LESS and at a LOWER annualized rate under Obama than under Reagan.

	REAGAN	OBAMA
% INCREASE IN GOVERNMENT DEBT—6 YRS	190%	70%
AVERAGE ANNUAL INCREASE IN GOVT DEBT	23%	12%

Sources:

Average % increase in government debit

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/dec/04/reince-priebus/rnc-chair-reince-priebus-says-barack-obama-has-wor/

% increase in government debt over 6 years

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/12/08/does-obama-have-the-worst-record-on-any-president-on-the-national-debt/

AVERAGE ANNUAL INCREASE IN HEALTHCARE SPENDING
The average annual increase in healthcare spending under Obama was only a third of what it was under Ronald Reagan.

	REAGAN	OBAMA
AVERAGE ANNUAL INCREASE IN HEALTH CARE SPENDING	11.7%	3.8%

Source: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.html

VERDICT:  

OBAMA BEATS REAGAN ON EVERY MEASURE.