Post-War Liberalism to the Present
In 2008 the biggest stock market crash since the Great Depression occurred resulting from financial speculation in the U.S. housing market. This was in large part a result of the "deregulation" of the financial industry beginning in the 1980s, overturning laws established in the 1930. Unlike the Great Depression which began in the middle of a Republican administration and helped to discredit the Republicans for more than 40 years, this one exploded, or was timed to explode, shortly before a presidential election, the 2008 election which saw the election of Barack Obama.
The nineteen eighties were the times of the Regan administration. During which, deregulation on Wall St. made possible the exploitation of America's financial industries by the wealthy. Insider trading, false stock reports, and fraudulent accounting began to become the norm e.g. Enron. All of which enabled the wealthy to thrive. While on the flip side the poor and working class thrived in other regards; mass incarceration, unemployment/outsourcing of jobs, and the explosion of drug addiction. These events (plus the Bush wars and Clinton's NAFTA) are all the inheritance of the Obama Administration.
I agree with the articles description of "mixed results" for this administration efforts to bring balance to our country's people. President Obama was voted in on the idea of "Hope", which continues to meet with record opposition (the most non-productive congress in our nations history). For many it appears that the opposition to the President's efforts are racially fueled, but the truth is that we're all affected.
On November 23, 2014 CBS aired it's show 60 minutes. The first topic of the show was about America's dilapidated infrastructure's condition. The President made a proposal during his first term to put trillions of dollars into the needed repairs, which would've created many millions of jobs. The Republican congress voted against it.
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