Two words: "Republican Congress."
One main reason the dems lost both houses of Congress in '94 was the moribund economy under the Clinton administration. Bubba had to be dragged kicking and screaming into budget-trimming legislation, for which he laughably later took credit.
But Bush-42 had republican congress, and I did not make any money in stock market. Another era which gave me a start in the markets was during LBJ. Even during Carter I made money on high interest treasury bonds. They paid me 12% interest!