Be sensible. You're all are talking about correlations, not economic relationships. The Dow (by the way, just one measure of the Nation's economic prosperity) was at about 8,500 when Bush assumed the Presidency. It had been over 11,000 during the final year or so under Clinton. Under Bush, the Dow climbed to over 14,000 in early 2008. So, both Clinton and Bush presided(?) over significant declines in the Dow during their final year or two in office. So what!