Are You Better Off Today?

And of course we are told that inflation is not a problem.  Wake up America!

-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 Source 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