Economic performance and party type
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An initial analysis indicates superior performance of Unemployment Rate and Dow-Jones industrial average under Democratic control. This may be worth further investigation.

Here's a similar estimate relating political party to economic performance based on the Dow-Jones Composite Index (DJC).

The average rate of increase is about 20% per year under a Democratic government and 15% under a Republican government.

Start        End        # Years    Party          DJC    Change%    %/Year
01/20/61    01/20/69    8    Democrat      214.74    44.21    5.53
01/20/69    01/20/77    8    Republican    336.62    -6.52    -0.82
01/20/77    01/20/81    4    Democrat      315.36    15.79    3.95
01/20/81    01/20/93    8    Republican    369.42    106.28    13.29
01/20/93    01/20/01    8    Democrat      1207.33    89.6    11.2
01/20/01    09/01/08    8    Republican    3166.98    23.23    2.9
                                                           3999.39        

            Democrat            20.67
            Republican          15.37

The source of data is http://www.djindexes.com. Click on Indexes/Dow Jones Averages/Index Data and enter a date range to extract data.

The % changes is based on (startValue - endValue) * 100 / meanValue where meanValue is (startValue + endValue)/2. %/Year is %change / #years.

Republican performance is pretty weak except during the Reagan administration. A hidden cost of the 13.29%/year growth rate achieved by Reagan is the massive unemployment (up to 11%) required to yield this growth under the Republican economic system. What also needs to be considered during this period is the human suffering and misery caused by the high unemployment and reduction in low-end wages required to produce this result.

In an election you have only 2 choices - to spread money from the rich end of the economic spectrum to the poor end, or from the poor end to the rich end.
It appears that the former provides both superior economic performance and the greatest health, happiness and well-being for the nation.
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