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