>On some planet having U6 go from above 17% to just over 11% from 2009 to the present counts as "failed recovery" but I'm not quite sure how.
Agreed. I argue this point all the time, actually. I think it's interesting to go back through and look at how unemployment fairs in comparison to the political party of the president during that time. Looking at the U3 rate for the past 50 years, unemployment has only gone down once under a republican president (Reagan) and Carter is the only democrat in the past 50 years who didn't see unemployment drop from the time he took office to the time that he left office.
Agreed. I argue this point all the time, actually. I think it's interesting to go back through and look at how unemployment fairs in comparison to the political party of the president during that time. Looking at the U3 rate for the past 50 years, unemployment has only gone down once under a republican president (Reagan) and Carter is the only democrat in the past 50 years who didn't see unemployment drop from the time he took office to the time that he left office.