....from an interview with Marshall Loeb former editor of Fortune, Money, and the Columbia Journalism Review,
Q: What effects do you expect the national elections will have on the economy?
A: I believe the differences between the candidates in this election are as great as the differences between conservative Ronald Reagan and liberal Jimmy Carter in 1980. Historically, the economy performs better when a Democrat is in the White House than when a Republican is president. Here are some examples, by my calculations, for full four-year periods from 1948 through 2004: Unemployment has averaged 4.6% when a Democrat is in the oval office and 6.2% under a Republican administrator. The stock market has risen 46% under a Democratic president and 32% with a Republican in the Oval Office. The U.S. budget deficit has averaged $11 billion under a Democratic president, compared with $163 billion when the president was a Republican. The trade deficit has averaged $83 billion when a Democrat was in the White House and $117 billion under a Republican president. To the average person on the street, the economy feels and looks better under a Democrat. For a company, it is slightly better off under a Republican.