Obama’s Legacy

You probably have an opinion on whether or not President Obama did in his presidency well here is his scorecard from Market Watch.

Opinion: Here’s the verdict on that ‘terrible’ Obama economy
By Brett Arends
Published: Nov 30, 2016

I had thought we’d wait until Jan. 20 to draw the line under the “Obama economy.”

But seeing as Trumpists are already claiming credit for good economic news since the election, such as the rise in the stock market, I guess we can do it now.

And the picture is pretty clear.

That “terrible” Obama economy? That picture of U.S. economic and industrial decline? That image of malaise and an economy that is no longer “great” and “doesn’t win anymore” and “doesn’t make anything anymore”?

It’s total nonsense.

There’s no point in trying to have a rational argument — or even talking facts — to angry people who shout “libtard!” at their opponents and cite Infowars or Sean Hannity as sources.

But for all those who didn’t vote for Trump — and that’s about 70% of adult U.S. citizens when considering the eligible population — here are the facts. I’ve compared the third quarter of 2008 — just before Obama’s election — with the third quarter of 2016. (I’ve included links to the data, although Trump’s tinfoil army, most of whom wouldn’t know an actual source if it hit them over the head, will just cry conspiracy theory, as usual.)

The Obama Economy

	Third-quarter 2008	Third-quarter 2016	Verdict
Gross domestic product (2009 dollars)	$14.892 trillion	$16.713 trillion	Up 12%
30-year mortgage loan rate	6.46%	3.54%	Nearly halved
Nonfarm payrolls	136.3 million	145.0 million	Up 8.7 million
Uninsured (health)	45 million	27 million	Down 18 million
Exports (2009 dollars)	$1.766 trillion	$2.163 trillion	Up 22%
Un- and under-employed rate (U6)	11.8%	9.5%	Down 20%
Median household income	$50,303	$57,929	Up 15%
Manufacturing output per worker (2009 dollars)	$382,977	$436,776	Up 14%
Dow Jones Industrial Average	9,319	18,332	Nearly doubled

And I think his prediction will come true…

But here’s a prediction: At the first sign of trouble next year, President Trump and his cheerleaders, like Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones, will say it’s the fault of that “terrible” Obama economy that he inherited.

This is of course is not the whole picture, the budget deficit has been cut by a trillion dollars, the price of gas has dropped substantially and also there has been a lot of high paying manufacturing jobs that have left the country.

President-elect Trump saved 1000 jobs from leaving the U.S. from out 2100 jobs Carrier was planning on moving out of the country and we do not know what he promised in return.

So it should be interesting to see how the economy does under Republican controls.