Presidents, the Federal Reserve and Congress. How did they do for us?

The indices have different dimensions and scales but here they have been normalized to better expose relationships in trends. Move your mouse over the plots to obtain the individual values.

Graph Explanations

* U.S. debt as a percentage of U.S. GDP or dollar value of economic production per year. The higher the percentage of debt to GDP the weaker the economy. So low is good; high is bad.

** Jobs created during U.S. presidential terms - Average annual increase.

Presidents by Term:

1. 1945-1953 Truman (D)
2. 1953-1961 Ike Eisenhower (R)
3. 1961-1963 Kennedy (D) & 1963-1969 LBJ (D)
4. 1969-1974 Nixon (R)
5. 1974-1977 Ford (R)
6. 1977-1981 Carter (D)
7. 1981-1989 Reagan (R)
8. 1989-1993 H.W. Bush (R)
9. 1993-2001 Clinton (D)
10. 2001-2009 W.Bush (R)
11. 2009-Incumbent Obama (D)

Recessions:

1. 1929–1939 Great Depression (Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt)
2. 1953–1954 Recession of 1953 (Truman, Eisenhower)
3. 1957–1958 Recession of 1957 (Eisenhower)
4. 1960–1961 Recession of 1960-1 (Eisenhower, Kennedy)
5. 1980–1982 Early 1980 recession (Carter, Reagan)
6. 1990–1991 Early 1990 recession (HW Bush)
7. 2001–2003 Early 2000 recession (Clinton, GW Bush)
8. 2007–present Late 2000 recession (GW Bush, Obama)

Sources

inflation - Bureau of Labor Statistics, interest rates - Federal Reserve and U.S. Debt - Whitehouse.gov, Jobs created by presidential term - Bureau of Labor Statistics