What would the economy be like if McCain had been elected president?

[SteveG1]

@joebuck20

On conservative message boards I see a lot of griping about “Obamanomics” and how unemployment and the deficit has skyrocketed during his administration.

But would McCain have been able to do much more to fix the economy? Other than not pushing through HCR, would he have been inclined to do much different from what Obama has done?

My opinion is that it would be exactly the same as it is now. The problems we are seeing did not happen overnight, no matter who says what. The problems and the overall cycle of boom/bust were a long time in the making, and varous business and government actions (and inactions) in the recent past only made it more sure that it would happen.

[A_Dodgy_Dude]

An important point to keep in mind: the Congress has more say in the day-to-day running of the economy that the President does.

[Farmer_Jane]

The same.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@CitizenPained

The same.

Spare us your deluded fantasies!
It would only be about the same.

[septimus]

@Saint_Cad

Obama has actively encouraged raising the deficit in the name of Keynesian economics and that the stimulus package passed before he was President is only a part of the increased deficit.

Any recovery (and I would argue that in real terms there has been no recovery) is minor and there is no way to link it to Obama’s economic policies as opposed to normal economic fluctuations. Even if you could definitively link whatever recovery we have to Obama, it is far below what he predicted he would do. Therefore you can blame Obama for either implementing a failed economic plan or being unrealisticly optimistic. Either way, Obama was elected to fix the economy and he has failed to do so.

@Saint_Cad

To be pedantic, what proof do you have that the deficit spending has reduced unemployment and that it was not a natural rebound once the economy hit bottom?

A few points:

1. A mere glance at housing prices, the failures of major financial houses, and crises in countries like Greece should make clear that the crisis of 2007-2008 was no ordinary glitch. Many objective observers are surprised that the U.S. economy isn’t doing worse, not that it isn’t doing better.

2. Since business and consumer confidence is one of the most important ingredients in economic recovery, it is correct for a leader to express and encourage confidence whether he fully believes it or not. With one exception all American Presidents have known this and followed it. (The exception is GWB who quickly predicted recession in January 2001 to make sure Clinton was blamed for it.)

3. Right-wingers often speak of “Keynesian economics” the way fundies speak of Evolution, as though it were some half-baked unproven theory. Instead, a good rule-of-thumb is that anyone disparaging Keynes has learned their economics, if any, from crackpot websites. (Most amusing is that Keynesians do balance budgets on average since they collect taxes in times of prosperity. The real crack-pots are Repubs who cut taxes for recession, and then cut taxes again for prosperity, or even war.)

4. Scientists give half the guinea pigs a placebo when testing their theories, but there’s only one America and it was given TARP rather than a placebo. Using Mr. Cad’s criterion, no economic policy will ever have “proof;” to repeat that cliche over and over becomes vacuous. Instead one listens to expert analyses. I read Nobel Prize Winners; you may prefer Glenn Beck; whatever.