“Welcome to the Recovery” said then-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in a New York Times op-ed published in August 2010.  In Geithner’s view back then, credit for the “recovery” rested squarely with the Obama Administration’s stimulus and related economic policies: 

“The economic rescue package that President Obama put in place was essential to turning the economy around. The combined effect of government actions taken over the past two years — the stimulus package, the stress tests and recapitalization of the banks, the restructuring of the American car industry and the many steps taken by the Federal Reserve — were extremely effective in stopping the freefall and restarting the economy.”

Fast forward to July 2013.  It’s now a full four years after the Obama Recovery officially started in June 2009, and almost three years after Geithner penned his now infamous op-ed.  Looking back, what sort of recovery has it been?  As the charts below reflect, it’s the weakest ever.  So have the Obama Administration’s actions been “extremely effective in…restarting the economy” as former Secretary Geithner suggested?  You be the judge.
 
Worst Recovery Ever: GDP

Worst Recovery Ever: Long-Term Unemployed

 
Worst Recovery Ever: Decline in Labor Force Participation

Worst Recovery Ever: Rise in Dropouts from the Labor Force