There are obviously a trillion and one different inputs into the economy, so one particular cause or another of a recession will always be hard to establish, but I don’t think it’s pure coincidence that the economy started to head south soon after the Dem’s took over Congress and as polls began to make it increasingly clear that they would soon take over the White House as well. I think business owners, investors and consumers all make decisions based on the available information about what’s coming down the pipe, and socialism is what they saw coming in 2007 and 2008.
Then maybe it’s also not a coincidence that GDP growth has slowly been declining since marginal rates have been trending down.