By Ronald Austin
Barack Obama was elected in 2008 on a programme of change and prosperity. He convinced the American people that he would change the way the country was governed, reduce the deficit, create jobs and place America on a trajectory to prosperity. But the financial crisis, which was evident before he occupied the Oval Office, was so severe that it has overshadowed his plans for a better and more unified country. In fact, apart from the tumultuous passage of the Affordable Health Care Act, Obama has spent most of presidency trying to prevent the US economy from undergoing further serious deterioration.
The facts of this economic crisis are sobering, and the recession has proved as persistent as it has been damaging. It bears comparison with that of the 1930s which provoked a slump, the recovery from which was only occasioned
