I just threw this together...shading highlights the recessions (though I hate using red for Republicans, it's what many people seem to expect, so I went with it):
It seems that those recessions like Republican times. To be honest, the most clear correlation is a Republican presidency.
Obviously, there are other factors, like people voting in Republicans when things are getting bad, but you have called me stupid, evil, or both, and I'm wondering which it is. ;-)
[BTW, I like Thomas Eleri's "SIDE" breakdown: Stupid, Ignorant, Dishonest, or Evil. It covers those intelligent folks who are ill-informed, or those who are more dishonest than evil (such as the totally selfish like Bill Clinton, who would toss aside evil in a heartbeat if it would benefit him).]