14 facts about the Obama presidency that most people don’t know
(Some of which many of us wish weren’t true, plus some more cool facts and links for verification and discussion.)
14 Facts About The Obama Presidency That Most People Don’t Know
Via Robert Sezak of RE-BOOKS https://www.facebook.com/REBOOKS3, quoted directly:
Source: President Obama visiting Iowa
People have many perceptions of how the US economy or the country as a
whole is doing in recent years. Depending on your political views, you
may think the country is doing exceptionally well or on the verge of
collapse.
Listed below are 14 objective facts, without interjecting any opinion,
about the state of America under the leadership of President Obama.
Every statement is followed up with a link to a source where you can
verify these facts for yourself.
1. We’ve now had 63 straight months of economic expansion.
That’s right, for 63 consecutive months the US economy has gotten
progressively better. That includes 54 consecutive months of private
sector job growth. Forbes magazine, no fan of President Obama,
crunched the numbers and demonstrated how the economic recovery under
President Obama has been better in just about every measurable way
than the recovery under President Reagan.
2. We are currently enjoying the longest period of private sector
job creation in American history.
Again, this statistic comes from the Forbes Magazine article listed
above. In fact, we have now had 54 straight months of private sector
job creation. That is the longest period of job creation since the
Department of Labor has been keeping statistics. See the link below.
3. Unemployment has dropped from 10.1% in October of 2009 to 5.9%
and projected to reach 5.4% by summer of 2015.
Not only has the unemployment rate dropped significantly, but since
the recession ended, our economy as added over ten million new jobs.
You can refer to the Forbes article above or check this article on
PoliticsUSA.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/09/05/jobs-report.html
4. The stock market continues to set new records since President
Obama has been in office.
Since early 2009 there has been a steady trend in stock market growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial averages reached an all-time high of 17,098
in August, 2014. Since most Americans have 401K retirement investments
in the stock market, this stock market growth benefits millions of
middle class Americans.
http://www.macrotrends.net/1358/dow-jones-industrial-average-last-10-years
5. The Federal budget deficit is shrinking. It’s been reduced by
two-thirds since 2009.
The $1.4 trillion federal budget deficit that Obama inherited in 2009
was in a large part due to the high rate of unemployment. When
millions of people were put out of work in 2008 and 2009, it resulted
in far less income taxes and less economic activity to generate
federal revenue. As ten million people have been put back to work,
there have been billions more tax dollars generated. As a result, the
deficit has been shrinking each year. The 2014 deficit is projected to
be around $500 billion, the smallest deficit since 2007 and roughly
1/3 of what it was in 2009.
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_deficit_chart.html
6. Under President Obama, spending has increased only 1.4% annually,
the lowest rate since Eisenhower was president.
You may have heard critics say that President Obama is spending money
wildly and running up our debt. According to this article from Forbes,
Obama has increased spending by 1.4% annually, far less than President
Reagan (8.7%) or George W. Bush (8.1%). In fact, Obama has increased
spending less than any president since Eisenhower.
7. For 95% of American taxpayers, income taxes are lower now than
just about any time in the previous 50 years.
After President Obama took office, thousands of Tea Party members all
over the country held rallies protesting Obama’s tax increases. At
that time, President Obama had actually passed several tax cuts to
stimulate the economy. Most of the Tea Partiers who were protesting
had only seen their taxes decrease under Obama. Yet polls indicated
that most Tea Party members wrongly believed their taxes had gone up.
In fact, the only people whose income taxes have gone up during
Obama’s presidency are those making $400,000 per year or more. That’s
less than 2% of the population. Today, for the vast majority of
people, tax rates are exactly where they were when Obama first took
office or lower. The article below from the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities explains this in greater detail.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3151
8. Our dependence on foreign oil has shrunk due to record domestic
oil production and improved fuel efficiency standards.
While some people claim that oil production has declined under
President Obama, the truth is just the opposite. Oil production has
reached record highs. The United States now produces so much oil that
we export more oil and gasoline than we import.
http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=us&v=88
9. At least 7 million more Americans now have health insurance than
before.
Depending on whose numbers you use, between 7 and 10 million Americans
acquired health insurance due to the Affordable Care Act. Now that
those 7 to 10 million Americans have insurance, the rest of us are no
longer on the hook to pay for their health care when they get sick.
This saves the American people billions of dollars in the long run.
10. The Affordable Care Act has added years to the life of
Medicare.
The Medicare trust fund had been on course to run out of money by the
end of 2016. But due to cost savings from the Affordable Care Act and
lower healthcare expenses, Medicare’s trust fund is now stable until
the year 2030 without cutting benefits.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/medicare-social-security-headed-in-different-directions-1406564712
11. Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, we are seeing the
slowest rate of increase in healthcare costs since 1960.
Contrary to the predictions from Republicans, health care costs have
increased at a much slower pace since the passage of the ACA.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/healthcostreport_final_noembargo_v2.pdf
12. We currently have fewer soldiers, sailors and airmen in war
zones than any time in over 10 years.
With the end of the Iraq war and the steady withdrawal of troops from
Afghanistan, we have fewer people in war zones now than any time since
2002.
13. There have been zero successful attacks by al Qaeda on US soil
since Obama became president.
Despite Dick Cheney’s claim that if voters elect a Democrat as
president, we’ll be “hit again and hit hard” by al Qaeda, we have
actually been far safer from terrorist attacks on US soil in recent
years than we were under the previous president. There have been
several unsuccessful attacks against the US under both presidents, but
under Obama, al Qaeda has been largely unsuccessful in striking the US
on our home soil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_al-Qaeda_attacks
14. We now successfully catch and deport more illegal immigrants
than ever before.
Despite the publicity from busloads of children who illegally entered
the country, the numbers prove that President Obama has deported more
illegal immigrants than any other president.
All of the facts stated above can be confirmed through multiple
sources, yet most Americans are not aware of all of this positive
news. I invite you to do your own research and check these facts for
yourself.
The truth is, most other presidents would envy President Obama’s
record despite the fact that he inherited the worst economic crash
since the Great Depression.
Here’s a bonus. If you feel particularly ambitious, feel free to
research these additional facts.
1. Since Obama became president, our economy has gone from losing
800,000 jobs per month to adding 200,000 jobs per month. That’s a net
improvement under Obama of about 1 million jobs per month!
2. Before Obama became president, our financial system was in ruins
and millions of people were at risk of losing their life savings. Now,
the financial loopholes have been fixed and we are no longer at risk
of another financial collapse.
3. In 5 years under Obama the economy has created twice as many jobs
as were created in 8 years under George W. Bush.
4. President Obama passed credit card reforms that protects consumers
from excessive fees, rate hikes, deceptive marketing and unreasonable
due dates.
5. Thanks to “Obamacare”, senior citizens have saved billions of
dollars on prescription drugs.
6. The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to spend at
least 80% of your premiums on health care. As a result millions of
Americans have received refunds from their health insurance companies.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/24/health-insurance-rebates_n_5614570.html
Despite the unprecedented obstructionism and record number of
filibusters used by Republicans to kill even the most routine
legislation, the fact remains, in almost every measurable way, the
American people are profoundly better off today than they were before
President Obama took office.
[Are the facts liberal? Happy Halloween, voters!]
River of Asymmetry 