Report Card on Obama's First Two Years

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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