Sunday, January 23, 2011

Report Card on Obama's First Two Years

KE Campbell

Note: These stats do not include issues of foreign affairs, education, civil society, or national defense.
Can he turn things around enough in the next 18 months to ge re-elected? Or will the stats worsen?

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

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