[wonderzombie]

The obvious rejoinder, of course, is: who was president when the crash happened in the first place? And I disagree with your characterization that it hasn't helped, either-- look at how many jobs have been added since the administration took office.

But this isn't a productive framing.

As much as we wish presidential administrations could make or break the economy -- it makes partisan sense, and it makes us think at least someone could run the show if they got their shit together -- it just isn't so. The current recession has its roots going much farther back than 2008. Depending on how you reckon, someone who's now 27 was either not yet conceived or in diapers when the bubble began inflating.

Likewise no amount of perseverance, hard work, temerity, gumption, or whatever the hell you want to call it, can wish the economy back to the '90s.

[hnal943]

I agree that politics is only a fraction of the issue. Washington affects the economy in complicated ways. Still, I recoil at an entire generation of people looking for others to blame for their failure. That's not productive either, and it has a creepy fascistic vibe to it.

[zecho]

It's an open question as to whether this is generation Y's failure, or the baby boomer's.