Excerpts from this website:
http://david_brubaker.home.comcast.net/FedIntRateChart.v3.htmDuring every four-year presidential term, there is a period of 24 months when the Federal Reserve Board's actions on interest rates will have the most impact on the state of the economy during the next presidential election.
During the periods when their actions will most affect the state of the economy during the next presidential election season, the Fed's actions are diametrically opposite depending on the party currently in the White House; but at other times their interest rate actions are similar regardless of the party currently in power.
During that sensitive period of time in
every presidential term since 1960, the Fed has acted to stimulate the economy if the incumbent is a Republican and to slow the economy if the incumbent is a Democrat. Through recession and boom, inflation and stability, deficits and surpluses, there is not a single exception to that partisan pattern.
All of Alan Greenspan's obscure statistics that no one else ever heard of are just a smoke screen to camouflage the Fed's blatantly partisan activity.