Elections are unfair.

George W Bush left the country in an absolute mess. The sub prime crisis had brought property prices crashing, banks were left with massive bad loans and the US was involved in 2 wars, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Obama steadied the economy by recapitalising banks, restructured the car companies and got out of Iraq to concentrate on Afghanistan. He has succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and Anwar al Awlaki in Yemen but his reliance on drones has resulted in  indiscriminate killings, creating more terrorists for the future. The economy grew by 2% in the third quarter, up from 1.3% in the second quarter, and unemployment has fallen to 7.8%. Experts predict that growth will continue, the economy will be growing at 4% in the next 4 years and unemployment will fall to 6%. That makes this election a must win one. If Romney wins he is assured of a second term because no president has lost with a growing economy. That is why the Republicans are using every means, fair or foul, to win. Romney keeps saying that he will boost the economy by cutting taxes, increase military spending and balance the budget by cutting expenditure but he refuses to give any details or actual figures on how he is going to do it. He says that his presence in the White House will increase investment by increasing business confidence because of his experience as a successful businessman. He is content to be vague because he knows that economic growth, resulting from Obama's policies, will increase tax revenues and help reduce deficit and he will be able to claim credit for the recovery. The Democrats know that if Obama were to lose, the White House will be out of their hands for the next 8 years. Bill Clinton is especially conscious of that. He wants his wife Hilary to be President in 2016 and that is why he is working very hard to make sure that Obama wins. Obama cannot run for a third term so Hilary Clinton will benefit from economic growth. The BJP lost the general elections in 2004 in spite of a booming economy, due partly to reforms induced by the BJP and partly because of the excess liquidity in the global economy. The Congress thought that reforms would be bad for reelection and decided to bribe the electorate massively in 2008 to win in 2009. But economic crimes rarely go unpunished in these days of globalisation. India is now in the grip of rising inflation, rising fiscal and current account deficits and diving growth rates. With elections in 2014 the Congress is desperate to find more money to bribe the voters once more but the economy is in such dire straits that it will collapse if they commit the same crimes again. They have made a few cosmetic changes and are shouting that these " reforms " will increase growth. However, they need not worry. People are stupid and they will fall for the same lies every time. Only a few of us will suffer the agony of knowing the truth.