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There’s an Obama Page on Facebook that has over 131, 000 likes from people, Americans or not. There are more than double that number of people that are ‘talking about’ the page by posting it on their own walls. A fan page (of sorts) dedicated to the President of the United States. But, not your normal fan page. It’s the ‘Obama is the Worst President Ever’ page.
By the time President Obama steps down from office, the USA will more than likely not be anything more than a shadow of its former self. That won’t be all due to the doing of President Obama, but the Chinese rise to glory as thefirst country in the world economically-speaking [18] by the year 2016, amongst other things of course (it’s not all the fault of the Chinese either, is it?).
So is President Obama the worst President in history? Does he really live up to his fan (?) page on Facebook [19]? How do you measure whether or not he is the worst, at any rate?
Obama said in 2009 ‘the recession is over’, but few believed him. Anyhow, when he said that the US was doing ‘better’ at the time than ‘the worst of the recession’, that couldn’t have been hard, could it? By definition, recoveries are always better than the worst of the recessions that we have gone through in history. Isn’t that the way they always work? But, it’s not the recovery in comparison with the recession that should be compared, it’s the recovery and the boom-times after those historical recessions that need comparison to see just where we stand today and if the US has got back on track with President Obama’s policies.
Unemployment
- According to the records of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, it took an average of just over two years (25 months, to be exact) to regain the level of employment prior to every one of the last ten recessions that the country has gone through.
- When the Great Recession [21] officially began in December 2007, there was an unemployment rate of 4.9%.
- Some analysts say that the US won’t reach that sort of level until at least 2023.
- Obama will be long gone by then, somewhere probably with Ben Bernanke [22] in a hide-out.
- The latest figures for unemployment stand at 7.4%, although admittedly if we look at real unemployment figures, then we are talking at least 14% since many of those that are classed as U6 (who are seeking full-time employment) are not counted in the figures if they are marginally employed (working for as little as just one hour a week perhaps).
- U3 people (but doesn’t include anyone who has not been looking for work for the previous four weeks) are the most used for figures to express US unemployment rates.
- It’s not about the numbers; it’s all about what you actually do with them that counts. It’s a bit like a game of poker. Get the cards and it’s what you do with them that’s going to make you come up a winner when the chips get thrown on the table. Obama has thrown his cards in already.
- It’s been 5 and a half years down the line now since the Great Recession began. It’s been over for over 3 years now that the Great Recession has officially been declared behind the US and part of history only to be remembered.
- We are still waiting to see a return to the job level of pre-2007. Time’s up, Mr. Obama.
- The six levels of unemployment are all published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but only one gets any coverage, and that’s not the real one.
- The US is still trying to make up for a shortfall of at least 2% on the pre-Great Recession unemployment figures. The US has 2.5 million fewer jobs today (but that’s not the real unemployment).
- The US has experienced the second longest period of unemployment above 8% ever between 1948 and 2013(the worst period being in 1981-1982).
- Unemployment may well fall to around 6% in 2015 as estimated, but that might well be only due to the fact that people who are discouraged fall out of the figures.
Growth
- In the past ten recessions before the Great Recession took place, Gross Domestic Product returned to levels seen prior to the recession within a period on average of 4-5 quarters.
- The Obama recovery took 16 quarters.
- GDP reached 1.1% in the first quarter of 2013 and then rose to 1.7% in the second quarter.
- It managed to reach just 2.8% in 2012.
- According to statisticians, if you were to take the real GDP growth under Obama and then double it (just for fun), Obama would still come out of it all as the worst president for the last 60 years.
Household Income
- Real median household income in the USA fell by $4, 500 under Obama’s first mandate, which is the average monthly salary.
- US middle-class households have lost a month’s salary, therefore; or about 8%.
- In comparison with 2009, real median household income has declined under Obama by 6% today.
- The decline in real median househould income during the official dates of the recession (2007 until 2009) only fell by 2.6%.
- Under Obama it has doubled.
Poverty
- Since 2009, the USA has seen the number of poor in the country increase by 31%.
- There are now nearly 50 million that are classed as ‘poor’ in the country.
- The Federal poverty threshold is an annual income of $23, 550 for four people in a family (subtracting or adding$4, 020 per person for additional or fewer people in the family).
- A single poor person has an annual income of $11, 490.
- The Census Bureau calculates in a different way, but the poverty threshold stands at $23, 283 (family of four).
- The levels of poverty and the number of people living in poor conditions have never been higher for the past 50 years.
Yes, granted the Great Recession has been the worst possible recession experienced in history by its speed and by its knock-on effects, so the past might not be a useful tool to equate the new-style of slumps that we will possibly experience from now on. But, the Great Recession officially only lasted a short while. Maybe they were too quick at getting out the flags and the bunting to announce that it was over. At any rate, the Great Recession has had no Great Recovery. Not, yet, anyhow.
But why have all of these points been the failures of a man elected on a promise to rush in a new era in the US? Obama increased spending when he got into office and brought it to record levels.
- The deficit was already nearly at $1 trillion when he arrived, to which he added the $830 billion stimulus program, plus the $1.7-trillion Obamacare, with the bailouts and the financial reforms to boot.
- The second reason why Obama has not managed to reduce unemployment is because the economy has not been relaunched. The tax proposal issued in April this year would increase taxation for 98% of those on incomes over $200, 000 a year in the USA. Increasing taxation will not bring about a revamping of the economy.
- Regulations have also increased under Obama and made doing business more difficult. The Code of Federal Regulations increased under Obama by more than 11 thousand pages. That means that businesses have to spend more money on complying with the regulations, at a time when they just don’t have it. Annual compliance has been estimated at roughly $1.7 trillion per year (all federal regulations).
Is Obama the worst President of the United States of all time? Who would you put forward as your worst candidate?
Originally posted Obama: Worst President in US History? [24]
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