Which recession was worse, the double dip recession under Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s or the current one under George W. Bush and Barack Obama?

Sarah Palin says it was worse under Reagan, and that he “showed us” the way out, presumably with tax cuts and a massive arms buildup.

Now politifact.com, the nonpartisan truth squad, compares the two recessions on all kind sof criteria, including unemployment, long term unemployment, income, and the value sof stocks. It’s conclusion? The Bush-Obama recession is worse, and Palin is wrong.

“It's no secret that Republicans love Ronald Reagan. So it's no surprise to see Sarah Palin, in her new book Going Rogue: An American Life, burnishing the reputation of the Gipper -- and taking a shot at the current president while she's at it,” politifact says.

“`Our nation is facing great challenges, but I'm optimistic -- and I know there is a way forward,’ she writes. `Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession. He showed us how to get out of one.’’

The politifact report looked at several benchmarks, including:

--Length of recession: A wash;

--Economic growth: close;

--peak unemployment: worse under Reagan;

--rise in unemployment: worse under Obama;

--long term unemployment: much worse under Obama;

--personal income: worse under Obama;

--industrial production: worse under Obama;

--stock markets: worse under Obama;

--housing prices: much worse under Obama;

--foreclosures: much worse under Obama;

Bank failures: a wash so far.

Politfact did not include inflation, which was much worse under Reagan.

“A number of the conservative economists we spoke to believe that the high inflation of the early 1980s made Reagan's challenge worse.

“But we found significant disagreement with other economists about whether inflation is a good barometer of a recession. Some of them said it can be high in good economic times and low in poor economic times. So we're not rendering a verdict on it to compare the recessions.”

Still, the group said, inflation would not tip the balance.

“Even if we had decided to include inflation as a factor, the measurements would still indicate the current recession is worse. So we find Palin's claim to be False.”

The Senate, as well as people concerned about the fate of Congress' health care overhaul, are eagerly awaiting news about the next step. Majority Leader Harry Reid has said for weeks he's waiting for an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before proceeding. But that was expected last week; now it's nine days before Thanksgiving_and about a month before the target 2009 adjournment date.

So here's an update on how things are going from Reid's press conference earlier Tuesday:

QUESTION: Senator Reid, is it still your intention to hold a cloture vote on the motion (to proceed to debate on the health care bill?)

REID: We're going to hold it soon as we can.

QUESTION: Senator, when do you expect to hear from CBO? Do you still expect that to be later today or (inaudible)?

REID: We're going to be hearing from CBO very soon. I spoke to (CBO director) Doug Elmendorf today, a couple hours ago. Everything is moving along just fine.As soon as we get the bill, we'll share it with everyone.

QUESTION: What do you see...

QUESTION: Will you move to the bill soon?

REID: Yeah, I feel cautiously optimistic that we can do that.

QUESTION: Are you in on Saturday?

REID: The question is are we in on Saturday. We'll have to wait and see. I hope not, but it's possible.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd faces new problems in his bid for a new Senate term next year: By a 53-39 percent margin, Connecticut voters do not think he deserves re-elecction.

Those are among the findings of a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. The poll of 1,236 Connecticut voters was conducted Nov. 3-8, and margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

It found Dodd trailing former Rep. Rob Simmons, a Republican, by 49-38. He would also lose to former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon, 43-41.

Dodd has been a leading figure in crafting health care and banking system overhaul legislation this year.

But, said poll director Douglas Schwartz in a statement, "Healthcare is an issue that should work for Sen. Dodd. Voters who tell us it's the most important issue side with him. But voters who care most about the economy say the Republican candidate will be better able to deal with it. If the economy worsens, this will hurt Dodd."

Simmons leads GOP primary candidates with 28 percent; McMahon has 17 percent.

Here's the poll: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1296.xml?ReleaseID=1395

The House of Representatives should finish voting on the historic health care overhaul bill by 7 or 8 p.m. Saturday night, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Friday.

But, Hoyer warned, that timetable could slip is "there are delaying tactics or something interferes." He would not say he had the 218 votes needed for passage, but said "We're  very close."

The hangups are largely over abortion and immigration. Anti-abortion Democrats want it clear that federal money will not be used for elective abortion services, and Hoyer has been trying to include language in the legislation to make that crystal clear.

He also is trying to satisfy wavering members on immigration. There is concern that illegal immigrants will have access to government money to help them pay for health care; Hoyer insists that won't be the case.

The talks will continue, and at the moment, plans are to begin debate Saturday morning. Republicans are expected to be allowed an hour to debate their alternative, followed by a vote. There would also be three hours set aside for general debate, and an hour to debate the rules on how to proceed.

The House of Representatives may consider a tax on high-end insurance policies after all.

The Senate Finance Committee is considering a proposal to impose a 40 percent excise tax on most policies costing more than $8,000 per individual and $21,000 per family, to help pay for its health care overhaul.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday she would not rule out such a tax.

"We just have to see how much money we need for what," she said. "If we're taking the bill down in cost, there are other provisions in the Senate bill that bend the curve that might be more palatable. We'll see."

The House bill would impose income tax surcharges on the wealthy. Many senators have balked at that idea, proposing instead the insurance tax.

The Senate Finance Committee is to resume consideration  of the legislation Tuesday, with the hope of finishing its work next week. Its version of health care would then be combined with a bill written this summer by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the full Senate would then consider the legislation.

In the House, three committees have written bills, and they will be combined into one soon.

Eventually, if the House and Senate pass different versions, a negotiating, or conference, committee would combine them into one_which is why Pelosi's openness to the insurance tax idea Friday seemed to indicate a willingness to find common ground on one of the health care effort's most vexing issues..

    It looks like Congress will not pass any of its budget bills before the new fiscal year begins Thursday, so the House Friday passed legislation to keep the government running for a month.

    By a 217 to 190 vote, the measure also included federal money from going to ACORN,the grassroots community organizing network under fire after conservatives secretly filmed members giving advice to people who said they wanted to run a brothel.

    The bill also provides help for expiring highway programs, and helps the Postal Service ease a budget crisis. Most government programs will be funded at current levels, though veterans and census programs will see increases.

    The budget is supposed to be adopted largely in a dozen appropriations bills, but none have yet been passed.

    The Senate now has to approve the month-long extension_which is expected next week_or the government's non-essential services could shut down after Oct. 1.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., will remain chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and though he's staying put, his decision Wednesday set in motion several changes.

Dodd could have succeeded his close friend, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died last month, as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions panel. Dodd had presided in Kennedy's absence this year, shepherding a health care overhaul plan through the committee.

But he chose to remain at banking, explaining he was eager to work on a financial industry reform bill. "We've done already a lot of work on that committee, but obviously the major reform efforts of financial regulation are in front of us. I want to get that job done," he told reporters.

Dodd faces a tough re-election in 2010, and opponents have criticized his work on the committee, saying he did not aggressively challenge the financial industry as the economy teetered.

Dodd responded Thursday. He noted he took over the committee in 2007, and "these issues didn't spring up magically in 2007," but were created by years of Bush administration policies.

Replacing Kennedy at the health committee will be Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. Because Harkin chairs the agriculture committee, he'll give up that post to Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.

The nation's unemployment rate dropped slightly in July and though employment dropped by 247,000, those figures were less than expected, causing Democrats to offer cautious optimism. But not Republicans.

Their statements Friday rarely if ever mentioned the better news.

Some samples:

"While President Obama was taking a victory lap to celebrate the economy’s performance, more Americans lost their jobs and the budget deficit soared to a record $1.3 trillion in July. In the month of July alone 247,000 Americans lost their jobs, which means more than 2.8 million Americans have lost their jobs since the president took office," said Republican party chairman Michael Steele.

"The president said his stimulus bill would keep unemployment from rising higher than 8 percent. It hasn’t. Now he expects Americans to believe his trillion-dollar health care experiment will improve their health care? It won’t. America simply can’t afford more of the president’s costly experiments.”

Added  Brian Walsh, spokesman for the party's Senate re-election committee: “As (Majority Leader) Harry Reid and President Obama attempt to cast today’s unemployment numbers as a victory for the Democrats, the fact remains that our country’s deficit has skyrocketed under this Administration and hundreds of thousands of Americans still lost their jobs during the month of July."

And House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., weighed in with these thoughts:

“The American people have serious concerns about the economy, job creation and the unsustainable debt obligations incurred in the last seven months – and they don’t like what they see from the Administration and Congress.  The resolve of small business job creators, American workers and entrepreneurs is strong, and we believe that empowering them to succeed is a far better option than the path chosen by the Administration and Democrats in Congress.

"Beginning in January, House Republicans laid out a serious and substantive agenda that put jobs first," he said. "House Democrats, along with the White House, instead took an unfocused, ‘go it alone’ approach that has fallen well short of its goals and has failed to create jobs.”

      Two of President Barack Obama's top economic advisers Sunday refused to rule out middle-class tax increases as federal deficits continue to swell.

    Congressional lawmakers are struggling to find ways to pay for an overhaul of America's health care system, and Larry Summers, head of Obama's National Economic Council, was asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" whether taxes could go up for middle-class people.

    "There's a lot fhat can happen over time," Summers said. "It's never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what."

    He quickly added, though, that Obama "is not going to pursue any of his priorities -- not health care, not energy, nothing, in ways that are primarily burdening middle-class families. That is something that's not going to happen."

    Obama, though, has said he would not raise taxes on joing filers with income of more than $250,000 or single people making more than $200,000.

    But he has ballooning federal deficits to tame, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told ABC's "This Week" that higher taxes for the middle class could not be ruled out.

        "If we want an economy that's going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it's going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform," Geithner said. "We're not at the point yet where we're going to make a judgment about what it's going to take."

    Here's some of the exchange between Geithner and "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos:

   Stephaanopoulos: That is a very, very high level.  And I know     
you believe that passing health care is central for getting the  
deficit under control but independent analysts also say that even with     
that you are going to need to find new government revenues.  The    
former deputy treasury secretary, Roger Altman, said it is no longer a      
matter of whether tax revenues should increase, but how.  Is he right? 
                                     
      Geithner: George, it is absolutely right and very important
for everyone to understand we will not get this economy back on track,  
recovery will not be strong enough to sustain unless we can convince     
the American people that we're going to have the will to bring these  
deficits down once recovery is firmly established.  Remember, we      
inherited a $1.3-trillion deficit.  The cumulative consequences of the      
policies this country pursued over the last eight years left us with     
$6 trillion more debt than we would have had by making a bunch of     
commitments to cut taxes and add to spending without paying for those.
We are not going to be able to afford to do that, and it is very            
important that people understand that.             
                     
      Our first priority now, though, is to get this economy back on      
track, make sure this financial system is repaired.  Without that,   
we're not going to get our deficits under control.  And the necessary     
path to fiscal responsibility, the necessary path to getting this   
country living within our means again is not just health care reform,    
to bring down those costs, but we're going to a range of other things      
and that's going to be a very difficult challenge for this country.      
We can do this, it just requires the will to act.                 
                                  
      Stephanopoulos:  Including new revenues?              
                                           
      Geithner:  Well, we're going to have to look at -- we're
going to have to do what's necessary.  Remember, the critical thing is
people understand that when we have recovery established, led by the     
private sector, then we have to bring these deficits down very           
dramatically.  We have to bring them down to a level where the amount     
we're borrowing from the world is stable at a reasonable level, and that's going to require some very hard choices.  And we're going to have to do that in a way that does not add unfairly to the burdens        
that the average American already faces.                 
                                        
      Stephanopoulos:  But that's the dilemma, isn't it?            
                           
      Geithner:  That is the dilemma.
                         
      Stephanopoulos:  Because when you look at health care reform  
-- again, I know you believe it's going to bend the cost curve over    
time, but the Congressional Budget office says at best the health care      
reform plans out there are going to be deficit-neutral over the next      
ten years.  So to bring the deficits down, there is not enough money    
in the discretionary budget.  We all know that.  That means more         
revenues.  The president has said that taxes won't go up for any  
Americans earning under $250,000, but it doesn't appear that he's     
going to be able to keep that promise if you're going to bring the    
deficits down.                                
                                             
      Geithner:  George, we can't make these judgments yet about
what exactly it's going to take and we're going to get there.  But the     
very important thing -- and no one is going to care about this more
than the president of the United States -- is for people to understand     
that we do not have a choice as a country, that if we want an economy      
that is going to grow in the future, people have to understand that we    
have to bring those deficits down.  And it's going to -- it's going to
be difficult -- hard for us to do and the path to that is through        
health care reform.  But that's necessary, but not sufficient.  We're
going to do some other things, too.              
                           
      Stephanopoulos  So revenues are on the table, as well?           
                                        
      Geithner:  Again, we're not at the point yet where we're
going to make a judgment about what it's going to take...                                   
                                                    
     

It may not make much of a dent in the deficit, but Cabinet officials have followed through on the president's call back in April for them to come up with at least $100 million in cuts to their administrative budgets to do their part. Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, blogged on the results this evening. He says they came up with 77 cost-saving measures worth $243 million in savings including things like not repainting certain vehicles and making their own travel arrangements instead of using an agent.