Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

Report Card on Obama's First Two Years
By K.E. Campbell ( with permision)

Two years ago today, Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States. Are you better off today than you were two years ago?

Numbers don't lie, and here are the data on the impact he has had on the lives of Americans:

January 2001/ Current/ % chg/ Source


Avg. retail price/gallon gas in U.S. (regular conventional)
$1.83/ $3.104/ 69.6%/ 1

Selected commodities:

Crude oil, European Brent (barrel)
$43.48/ $99.02/ 127.7%/ 2

Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel)
$38.74/ $91.38/ 135.9%/ 2

Natural gas, Henry Hub, $ per MMbtu
$4.85/ $4.48/ -7.6%/ 2

Gold: London (per troy oz.)
$853.25/ $1,369.50/ 60.5%/ 2

Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL
$3.56/ $6.33/ 78.1%/ 2

Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL
$9.66/ $13.75/ 42.3%/ 2

Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. fob
$13.37/ $35.39/ 164.7%/ 2

Consumer Price Index (for all urban consumers)
211.1/ 219.2/ 3.8%/ 3

Producer Price Index: finished goods
170.3/ 183.0/ 7.5%/ 3

Producer Price Index: all commodities
171.0/ 189.9/ 11.1%/ 3

Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall
7.6%/ 9.4%/ 23.7%/ 3

Unemployment rate, blacks
12.6%/ 15.8%/ 25.4%/ 3

Number of unemployed
11,616,000/ 14,485,000/ 24.7%/ 3

Number of fed. employees, ex. uniformed military (curr = 12/10 prelim)
2,779,000/ 2,840,000/ 2.2%/ 3

Real median household income (2008 vs 2009)
$50,112/ $49,777/ -0.7%/ 4

Number of food stamp recipients (curr = 10/10)
31,983,716/ 43,200,878/ 35.1%/ 5

Number of unemployment benefit recipients (curr = 12/10)
7,526,598/ 9,193,838/ 22.2%/ 6

Number of long-term unemployed, in millions
2.6/ 6.4/ 146.2%/ 3

Poverty rate, individuals (2008 vs 2009)
13.2%/ 14.3%/ 8.3%/ 4

People in poverty in U.S., in millions (2008 vs 2009)
39.8/ 43.6/ 9.5%/ 4

House price index (current = Q3 2010)
198.7/ 192.7/ -3.0%/ 7

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index: 20 city composite (curr = 10/10)
146.4/ 145.3/ -0.8%/ 8

Number of properties subject of foreclosure filings, in millions
2.82/ 2.8/ 1.7%/ 9

DJIA (12,403 on 6/3/08, date BHO clinched Dem. nomination)
7,949/ 11,825/ 48.8%/ 2

NASDAQ (2,480 on 6/3/08)
1,441/ 2,725/ 89.1%/ 2

S&P 500 (1,378 on 6/3/08)
80/ 1,282/ 59.2%/ 2

Global Dow
1,356/ 2,153/ 58.8%/ 2

U.S. rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings
5/ 9/ n/a/ 10

Consumer Confidence Index (curr = 12/10)
37.7/ 52.5/ 39.3%/ 11

Present Situation Index (curr = 12/10)
29.9/ 23.5/ -21.4%/ 11

Failed banks (curr = 2010 + 2011 to date)
140/ 164/ 17.1/ 12

U.S. dollar versus Japanese yen exchange rate
89.76/ 82.03/ -8.6%/ 2

U.S. money supply, M1, in billions (curr = 12/10 preliminary)
1,575.1/ 1,865.7/ 18.4%/ 13

U.S. money supply, M2, in billions (curr = 12/10 preliminary)
8,310.9/ 8,852.3/ 6.5%/ 13

National debt, in trillions
$10.627/ $14.052/ 32.2%/ 14


Sources:

1 - U.S. Energy Information Admin.

2 - Wall Street Journal

3 - Bureau of Labor Statistics

4 - Census Bureau

5 - USDA

6 - U.S. Dept. of Labor

7 - FHFA

8 - Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller

9 - RealtyTrac

10 - Heritage Foundation and WSJ

11 - The Conference Board

12 - FDIC

13 - Federal Reserve

14 - U.S. Treasury

Labels: Liberalism, Obama, Socialism, Spending

# posted by Mannning @ 3:48 PM