Quote Originally Posted by Aloha_Shooter View Post
Rucker61, here's a place for you to practice your Google-fu. Look up "misery index". There's a reason the term arose during the Carter administration and was never used during the Bush administration. Figure out what today's misery index would be if used -- but use 1979's definition of "unemployment".
It wasn't used in the Bush Administration because the economy didn't start to fail until the very end. Both Bush and Obama put extreme measure in place to avoid the worst-case scenario. Since we never saw rock bottom, it's difficult to compare "what was" with "what could have been". No one knows what would have happened. Not even with hindsight. You can only assume.