Passage 1 Passage 2 In these passages, Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama present solutions for dealing with a recession. A recession is defined as a length of time when the economy slows, businesses struggle, and unemployment rates rise. Radio Address to the Nation on the Program for Economic Recovery April 3, 1982 by President Ronald Reagan I These aren't easy times for a great many of you. Yesterday we were told that unemployment has gone up another two-tenths of 1 percent-equal to the unemployment rate we had in 1975 as we began to come out of that recession. Which detail in Passage 1 introduces information irrelevant to Reagan's argument? "we're going to make further reductions in spending "you've been told by some that we should do away with the tax cuts in order to reduce the deficit." "we're going to come out of this recession not with a temporary, quick fix that leads to another recession down the road" "while the political process always requires some compromise, government this time intends to stay the course