Economy was in the tank from George W Bush years. Prior to George W Bush 8 years there were budget surpluses at least 4 years in a row and the economy was roaring away. In comes George W Bush / Dick Cheney and the economy went to the dogs. We had 2 recessions. George Bush erased all the budget surpluses that Bill Clinton created. Gas prices went down during the great recession because world demand went down big time. The US economy was losing 800,000+ jobs per month before President Obama took over. The Great Recession started in 2005-2006 and ramped up in 2007, and it was almost as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s. There was a housing market collapse in 2006 and a big stock market collapse as well. Actually there were at least 2 major stock market collapses during the Bush Cheney years. And don't forget we had 2 recessions under George W. Bush. We are now creating jobs, but there was the Great Recession of 2005-2007 so it takes some time to build back up. No president of the US has any real impact on gas prices anyway. Ask the execs of the big oil companies why gas prices are so high. Better yet, ask them if they are making $millions $ bonuses off the record profits.