I beg a differ, when Obama became president the economy was already going down; and during the first 3-4 monthes of presidency Unemployment went down about 2% then in the monthes following that the unemployment went back up 3%. Besides laissez-faire is basically what the U.S. Government is using. The Economy is actually run by the Federal Reserve and other private companies, but since Obama's the president he's what the public blames for the economy, what's really bringing the economy down is the public, if the news states that the economy is bad then the U.S. citizens don't buy any goods/services which in retrospect trully is the sole reason why the economy is doing how it is.