Originally Posted by kane

The difference is that when Reagan was in office he wasn't facing NAFTA and 20 years of bad policy making. The recession hit and when we started to rebound companies that were paying decent wages here in the US re-opened and ramped back up, but they did it overseas. Reagan had the luxury of having companies actually rebuild in the US.

I read not too long ago that when the recession hit 20% of the jobs lost came from the higher paying range of $25+ per hour. 20% came from the lower paying jobs of $13/hr or less and 60% came from the mid range paying jobs of $14-$24/hr. During the recovery 20% of the jobs created come from the higher paying range, 20% from the mid range and 60% are lower paying jobs. This is because those companies that create the mid paying jobs left the country. That is the result of 2+ decades of bad policymaking. does Obama deserve some of the blame? Sure, but he is not solely to blame.

Of course it doesn't help that after the initial bailouts/stimulus the republicans filibustered every single bill that had anything to do with the economy that was put forth by the democrats.