Einstein and "Insanity"

We've heard a lot of discussion about job growth during the Bush Administration's years under its economic policies (including deregulation and lower taxes for "job creators"). Many of those same policies are currently being touted by the Romney/Ryan team as the "be all and end all" for continued economic recovery and growth. But a close look at the data suggest that the years of lower taxes and less regulation (particularly with respect to the financial services industry) didn't, in the past, bring the nirvana the Republicans now say will occur with the same lower tax and deregulation policies. As Albert Einstein has been credited as saying, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

The chart below shows the non-farm jobs growth under Clinton (when taxes were higher), Bush (with lower taxes and less regulation) and Obama (with continued lower taxes and less regulation in the early period of his administration) ...