Assessing the Obama Administration’s First Thirty Months...

I received an interesting email from Captain (FDNY-retired) Bob Howell the other day and I added to it. This email really shows how far we've fallen!

	January 2009	TODAY	% chg	Source
Avg.. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S.	$1.83	$3.44	84%	1
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
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
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	2,779,000	2,840,000	2.2%	3
Real median household income	$50,112	$49,777	-0.7%	4
Number of food stamp recipients	31,983,716	43,200,878	35.1%	5
Number of unemployment benefit recipients	7,526,598	9,193,838	22.2%	6
Number of long-term unemployed	2,600,000	6,400,000	146.2%	3
Poverty rate, individuals	13.2%	14.3%	8.3%	4
People in poverty in U.S.	39,800,000	43,600,000	9.5%	4
U.S.. Rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings	5	9	n/a	10
Present Situation Index	29.9	23.5	-21.4%	11
Failed banks	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	1,575.1	1,865.7	18.4%	13
U.S.. Money supply, M2, in billions	8,310.9	8,852.3	6.5%	13
National debt, in trillions	$10..627	$14..052	32.2%	14

Just take this last item: In the last two years we have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our entire nation's history.

Over 27 times as fast! Metaphorically speaking, if you are driving in the right lane doing 65 MPH and a car rockets past you in the left lane, 27 times faster, it would be doing 1,755 MPH!

Sources:

(1) U.S. Energy Information Administration;

(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

Those ARE some very frightening numbers, but we are where we are because the current administration has not only continued to follow the “Pelosi-Reid agenda” (the bulk of G W Bush’s non-military overspending came over his last few years...his “Pelosi/Reid years”) it’s accelerated those failed policies!

Accelerating those poor policies merely accelerated the poor results.

These figures are a good snapshot as to where we are.

AND for all those who’d harken back to Reagan, claiming that, “Reagan didn’t turn the economy around overnight,” au contraire, when the Reagan administration came into office in January of 1981, the Misery Index (merely the INFLATION and UNEMPLOYMENT rates added together) was appx. 21 (20.76)! By the end of 1981 the Misery Index had fallen to 17.97, by 1982 it had fallen further to 15.87 and by the end of 1983, the end of his 3^rd year in office, it had fallen even further to 12.82.

The Reagan administration saw the Misery index fall by OVER 30% in its first three years!

When the Obama administration came into office in January of 2009 the Misery Index stood at 8.92. By the end of 2010 it stood at 11.29 and now, midway through his 3^rd year (2011) it’s averaging 12.16 for the year 2011 (so far). Find the U.S. Misery Index month to month and from 1948 thru the present at; http://www.miseryindex.us/

The Obama administration has seen the Misery index rise by over 25% midway through its 3^rd year!

Look at those two sets of Misery Indexes, Reagan reduced the record-high Misery Index he inherited by over 30%, while Obama has increased the Misery Index he inherited by over 25% during the same time periods of their respective administrations – we’re clearly heading in the WRONG direction!