My friend Ben Day pointed this out, and I doubled checked his numbers to be sure: since the start of the supposedly pro-business Bush administration, the three major equity indices declined by 18, 33, and 43%, respectively.
January 22, 2001, Index Closing Values
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 10,578.24
Standard & Poor’s 500: 1,342.90
NASDAQ Composite: 2,757.91
December 31, 2008, Index Closing Values
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 8,776.39
Standard & Poor’s 500: 903.25
NASDAQ Composite: 1,577.03