Where we were a year ago, are we better off today?

My mom and aunt sent me an email a few days ago.  It was a “Report card” of the Obama administration.  “Are you better off today then two years ago” (it is obviously a year old).  Someone, before they forwarded it on, took it upon themselves to alter some of the numbers.  Some of the numbers were slightly off, some of them were way off, so I found the original article posted on The American Thinker.

Many of  the numbers now are worse then they were last year.  I’m going to try to find a more updated list (I’m sure someone has compiled one).  .

While looking at these numbers ask yourself “I’m I better off then I was a year ago?

Here is the original article in its entirety.
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 2009
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
2.87
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)
805
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
       

One response to “Where we were a year ago, are we better off today?

  1. I wouldn’t cringe so much if I only had to pay $1.83 for a gallon of gas…the good ole days….