The Worst Recession since the 1930s?

Politicians love to estimate past recessions to suit their views. It comes in handy when they are running for office, when they need to paint a suitable economic picture.

In 2000, with unemployment about 4.0%, we were being told by Democrats out of office, that we had the worst depression since the 1930s. We actually were in the midst of a booming economy.

What about the mid 1970s, when President Reagan took office. We were experiencing a severe downturn that could be considered as bad, if not worse, than what we have today. The fall in GDP was 4.9%. Compared to a drop of 18.2% in 1937-38. That truly was the worst economic cycle since the 1930s.

What we can therefore correctly say is that today’s is the worst recession since 1973-75.