Guess who the other "businessmen" presidents were.

[moobu2]

I looked at the Wikipedia page listing American President by occupation.

Every other American President was listed as a farmer, lawyer, diplomat etc... only these American Presidents were listed as Businessmen or investors.

So leading up to the Great Depression was,

The 30th President - Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929) a Lawyer, who was listed as a Vice President of Northampton Savings Bank.

The 31st President - Herbert Hoover (1929–1933) an Engineer, listed as an Investor.

(THE GREAT DEPRESSION 1929-1940 ish)


The 41st President - George H. W. Bush (1981–89) a Pilot a Navy Lieutenant and listed as a Businessman

(a mild recession started in 1991, lasting ?)

The 43rd President - George W. Bush (2001 to 2009) listed as a Businessman.

(THE GREAT BUSH RECESSION 2007-2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States_by_occupation

The argument that Romney could solve our economic problems because he has business experience doesn't fly.

[WCGreen]

1. Stellar examples of the mendacity of hope...

[JDPriestly]

2. Looks like most of our presidents were lawyers.

Excluding Washington, our first presidents were all lawyers. Did I count seven of them?

[rfranklin]

3. Even more telling is the Democrats versus Republicans "good for the economy" stats...

The rankings can also be used for performance comparisons of the two political parties. Conveniently, there are six Republicans and six Democrats, so if we take the average for Democratic and Republican presidents we can make a head-to-head party comparison. The Democratic presidents scored substantially higher than the Republican presidents, with a score of 26.95. Republican presidents scored -26.95.

Other statistical tests, including the so-called min-max method, which moderates the influence of extreme indicator values, produce similar results. These are consistent considering that the top three performers are Democrats and two out of the lowest three are Republicans. Five out of six Democrats reduced the national debt as a percentage of GDP, while four out of six Republicans raised it. The story is similar on budget deficits, with five of the top six performances recorded by Democrats and four of the bottom five recorded by Republicans.

With respect to GDP growth, three of the top four performers were Democrats and four of the bottom five were Republicans. In reducing the poverty rate, the top three were Democrats and two of the bottom three were Republicans. The Democrats also had a better record on employment.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-25/democratic-presidents-are-better-for-the-economy.html


When it comes to which party is better for the economy, Republicans talk the talk, but it's Democrats who deliver the goods according to an unusual 80-year study of the impact presidents have on growth, personal wealth, the stock market and even 401ks.

The bottom line, according to Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box: Of the five best economic presidents since Herbert Hoover, only one is a Republican. The paydirt finding: $100,000 invested during the 40 years Republicans had the White House would be worth $126,027. The same amount invested in the stock market during the Democrat's 40 years would be $3,912,210.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/80-year-study-democrats-better-at-economics/article/2505194

[brush]

6. Last paragraph

Your last paragraph says it all. Republican policies always favor the rich and business and "redistribute" wealth upwards which cause the economy to stagnate because instead of re-investing that wealth to help the economy they stash it (in Romney's case, overseas in tax shelters). Down economic times seem to always follow repug administrations with the dems having to dig the country out (excluding Eisenhower of course who had the good sense to invest in the building of the inner state highway system that propelled a record economic boom). Seems they would learn that government investment in infrastructure is an excellent way to jump start the economy. Actually, I think the present day repug leadership knows this but they don't want to do it because the economy will get better and President Obama will get credit for it. In other words, they've decided to obstruct and hold back the economy and the screw the country so they can get back in power. There's a word for that and it starts with "treas . . ."

[Cooley Hurd]

4. Truman's forays into business were almost all failures...

...yet he became a decent president.

[Scuba]

5. Government should not be run like a business. To suggest it should is naive.

[woolldog]

7. George HW Bush wasn't really a businesman.

He spent most of his life in public service/government: CIA director, Vice President, Congressman, Ambassador to the UN, envoy to China.

[moobu2]

8. I suppose he was given the "businessman" label because

of his involvement in running various oil businesses. Bush Sr. and some friends started a company called Zapata Oil in 1953 which became Pennzoil in 1963. Bush Sr. was President of that company until he sold his interest in it in 1966. He was running a business so technically he was a businessman.