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Monday, January 31, 2011

Report Card On Obama's First Two Years

By K.E. Campbell
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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