For all the Obama Lovers

[llegend39]

Two years ago on January 20th, 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/ TODAY
% chg


Avg. retail price/gallon gas in U.S.
$1.83
$3.104
69.6%
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, ex. military (curr = 12/10 prelim)
2,779,000
2,840,000
2.2%
3

Real median household income (2008 v 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
2,600,000
6,400,000
146.2%
3

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

People in poverty in U.S. (2008 v 2009)
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 (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 prelim)
1,575.1
1,865.7
18.4%
13

U.S. money supply, M2, in billions (curr = 12/10 prelim)
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! This is a disaster!

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

[Let's Roll]

The accumulation of all the economic and cultural damage will be difficult to undo.Mission Accomplished !

[illinoisbred]

The accumulation of all the economic and cultural damage will be difficult to undo.Mission Accomplished !
This administration has been a total unmitigated disaster!

[lamboguy]

for all the bush lovers, obama is every thing you wanted bush to be and more!

[lamboguy]

these presidential administration's are all about HARVARD, PRINCETOWN, YALE...........BULLETS BOMBS AND BANKS

[Marshall Bennett]

for all the bush lovers, obama is every thing you wanted bush to be and more!
That's just dumb. Why would anyone want a president to turn out and perform as Obama's done. He's a complete disaster and it's not over.

[Robert Goren]

He has just been trying dig us out the hole of the last year of the Bush Adminstration. The trend was going down fast at the end. Obama put stop to the trend in about 4 months and slowly been digging us out. Compare Jan 2008's numbers to Jan 2009's numbers to see trend line. When Bush let Lehman go under the world changed for the worse. It is something republicans seemed to have forgotten.

[illinoisbred]

How has Obama dug us out of a hole (kind of a contradiction)? He must almost be reaching China by now with all the digging he's done.

[Tom]

He has just been trying dig us out the hole of the last year of the Bush Adminstration

Yeah, right - the way to save money is to spend it.
Uh huh.

Eams must be the one solving all those cases.

[lamboguy]

That's just dumb. Why would anyone want a president to turn out and perform as Obama's done. He's a complete disaster and it's not over.no different than bush was, and not only did bush bring plenty of diasaster here that is going to last for many years, he hit the moral of the people that live here. he insured lack of trust in government. if you happen to think that obama is a better man than bush that is only by osmosis. to me they are basically the same thing

[boxcar]

no different than bush was, and not only did bush bring plenty of diasaster here that is going to last for many years, he hit the moral of the people that live here. he insured lack of trust in government. if you happen to think that obama is a better man than bush that is only by osmosis. to me they are basically the same thing

When did Bush ever express his disdain for the U.S. Constitution or for American Values by promising to "fundamentally transform the face of America"?

When did Bush ever tell Americans that the Constitution is fundamentally flawed because it didn't grant enough power to the government, especially in terms of wealth redistribution?

When did Bush ever publicly express disrespect to the Judicial Branch of the Federal Government because he disagreed with a Supreme Court decision?

When did Bush ever go around the world apologizing for America non-stop?

When did Bush ever tell the world that America is no longer the leader of the free world?

When did Bush ever tell the world that America is no longer the economic leader of the world?

When did Bush ever tell the world that America isn't a Christian nation?

When did Bush ever take it upon himself to declare a law unconstitutional and use that presidential decree as an excuse for non-enforcement?

Bush, for all the wrongs he may have done (real and perceived), was still a saint compared to what is in the White House currently. They are not even close in terms of character flaws.

Boxcar

[newtothegame]

Does consistently comparing Obama to Bush somehow absolve him for HIS administration? Just saying because when something negative is said about him, it always leads back to bush. I could of sworn the op didn't mention bush in the opening. no different than bush was, and not only did bush bring plenty of diasaster here that is going to last for many years, he hit the moral of the people that live here. he insured lack of trust in government. if you happen to think that obama is a better man than bush that is only by osmosis. to me they are basically the same thing

[lamboguy]

everyone has to take an opinion and be one sided, i am not that way. i am calling it the way i see it. neither bush nor obama spent one minute in a war. both are sending american blood to war. they have plenty of problems in the world right now and when bush was in office. if iraq'a main exprt was broccoli you can rest assure that he would not have orchestrated a story to go to war there, just like obama and libya. barrain got problems right now, no troops. yemen, no troops, ivory coast got big problems, no oil just cocoa,no troops.

so if you guys want to remain hypocritical and think that one guy is better or worse than the other, keep on fooling yourselves

[Marshall Bennett]

he insured lack of trust in government.
This government hasn't been trusted since long before Bush showed up. Obama's careless spending is about to cost the trust of almost every nation with even a modest economy, including China which is in the process of selling off US dollars at a discount because they're overwhelmed. This process began after the installation of Obama and his need to mount huge debt which we obviously can't afford . The dollar's on it's way out, and Obama doesn't seem to get it. You don't right the ship by printing and spending more money.
Wait till inflation bites us in the ass for all his carelessness and tell me then how Obama's digging us out.

[newtothegame]

Hypocritcal my azz.
I'm sure there were more presidents then the@e two, who never was in war, yet had to put our troops in harms way. So why no comparisons to them?
Personally, i wasn't the biggest bush fan but, would take hom in a minute over this clown.
My point is its NOW OBAMA TIME. Bush jas been gone for over two years. Time he stops playing the blame game and accept HIS term. Or, is he just gonna get a four year pass? everyone has to take an opinion and be one sided, i am not that way. i am calling it the way i see it. neither bush nor obama spent one minute in a war. both are sending american blood to war. they have plenty of problems in the world right now and when bush was in office. if iraq'a main exprt was broccoli you can rest assure that he would not have orchestrated a story to go to war there, just like obama and libya. barrain got problems right now, no troops. yemen, no troops, ivory coast got big problems, no oil just cocoa,no troops.

so if you guys want to remain hypocritical and think that one guy is better or worse than the other, keep on fooling yourselves

[Tom]

When Bush had the door trouble, he was in a foreign country.
The moron Obama was on his own porch. :lol::lol::lol:

[Secretariat]

You guys forgot one thing.

The DOW Jones opened on Obama's inauguaration day at 8279.63. As of today it is 12220.59. That's 47.6% increase over the last two years.

If you'd simply bought a DOW indices Mutual fund when Obama was elected you'd be sitting pretty now.

Now looking at Bush's performance on the DOW over 8 years, let's see.

When GW took office the DOW was at 10587.59 and when he left office the DOW was at 8279.63. A loss of 21.80% over his eight years. A disaster.

Now I am not a fan of Obama, but his performance on the stock market indices tells just how deep a hole Bush actually had dug.

[Tom]

Obama said the market was not a good indicator and that we should not use it. Remember? :lol:

Oh, and when Bush took office, Kaddaffy had nukes. What if he had them today under President Shemp?

[Light]

Kaddaffy had nukes.

He never had nukes.

[boxcar]

He never had nukes.

Well...since you know that much, why don't you tell us of what the good Colonel repented in 2003 -- in the power of his "own free will"? :rolleyes:

Boxcar

[PaceAdvantage]

He never had nukes.What exactly does he have NOW that we are putting American boys and girls at risk for? Besides oil that is... :lol:

NO BLOOD FOR OIL!!! (See, I learned well from you guys through the years...you're not turning all hypocritical on me I hope...)

[singletax]

The economy went into the tank because of speculation in land. In the USA it takes about 18 years to run full cycle. The financial disaster was the result of cash being sucked out of the economy and directed to land values. The higher the values went up the more cash directed to land speculation. The economy was starved.

The bubble was in land value not housing or real estate or whatever term the experts use. This is the original cause of the financial collapse. This set into motion the fed interventions, casino mortgage chips, wall street gambling, etc.

Blaming who was on watch (Bush) is just as ridiculous as blaming other Presidents. Obama was dealt a bad hand just as Bush was. Both screwed up solving the situation but they really could not solve it because it would require the recapture of the rental value of land. No politician will do this.


We are talking huge numbers in the trillions regarding land value. Probably the largest asset group. Housing alone is 4-5 Trillion. What is interesting is land value is a result of the community not the landlord. The tax code in this country punishes productive human effort and rewards land ownership.

To put another way those who work, get a job, invest into a company, start a business are punished while those who do nothing are rewarded.