Quick Fact: On Limbaugh, Palin repeats dubious claim that Reagan faced worse recession than current one

Written by Matt McLaughlin

Published

On Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio show, Sarah Palin claimed that former President Reagan “faced a tougher recession than what we're facing today,” echoing a similar assertion made in her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life. In fact, as the Associated Press noted in addressing her book, “Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse.”

Palin: Reagan “faced a tougher recession than what we're facing today”

From the November 17 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

PALIN: Let's go back to what Reagan did in the early '80s and stay committed to those commonsense, free-market principles that work. He faced a tougher recession than what we're facing today. He cut those taxes, ramped up industry, and we pulled out of that recession. We need to revisit that.[The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/17/09]

AP: “Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse.”

In its November 14 "Fact Check" of Palin's memoir, the AP reported that Palin "[s]ays Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now." In response, the AP stated: “Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse. The recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month. The recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent, worse than the October 2009 high of 10.2 percent, but the jobless rate is still expected to climb.”