Conservatives seem to think of the great recession and the ensuing financial meltdown like it was some kind slightly oversized speed bump in a 15 mph school zone which unduly bucks a driver who drove a mere 5 mph over the speed limit.
WRONG!
The hit to our economy was more like a huge pot hole in the middle of a turnpike. Therefore, it should be no shock to ANYONE that the damage to our economy was serious and will take several years to recover from. It wouldn't surprise me if it takes well over a decade. And what are we trying to recover from? In part, it's conservative supply side economics, massive deregulation which conservatives also championed, and globalization which was embraced by both political parties to help enrich the already rich who, by the way, are doing quite fine even as most everyone else is just barely getting by.
The economy isn't recovering, because you wont let it recover.
See the reason the free market is the best system out there is because it regulates itself. If people begin to be corrupt within the system it corrects itself with a downturn. And through the downturn people can fix the mistakes that created the downturn.
But as long as you keep handing power over to government to prevent us from having a downturn, the downturn gets 1) longer and 2) doesn't correct because you keep supporting the corruption that created the problem to begin with.
There is a reason the 1920 Depression, which was far more serious than the Great Depression and our Great Recession is barely remembered in history. It's because instead of turning to the government to "fix" it. The people had the government cut taxes, cut spending and got it out of the way so they could do as they please for their own benefit.
The problem is instead of a limited government, you've got the progressives of both parties pushing for bail outs which is just reinforcing corrupt business behavior and preventing the economy from reseting.
The longer we uphold corruption and prevent the reset, the more difficult it will be to reset. People are going to be hurting alot because the government keeps trying to prevent reset and instead rewards the people who are screwing things up.