First, let's begin by saying this is going to be a very colossal post, so those with no patience or attention spans for that matter, need not proceed further.
Next, I'm going to show you a meme circulated by Occupy Democrats supposedly showing how much Obama has made America better, with a few corrections for chronological relevancy:
Unemployment (Official U3):
Last year of Bush (as of January 2009): 7.8%
Today under Obama: 5.0%
Unemployment (Actual U6):
Last year of Bush (as of January 2009): 14.2%
Today under Obama: 9.9%
Cost of a gallon of gas:
Last year of Bush (as of July 2008): $4.12
Today under Obama (as of yesterday): $1.97
Uninsured rate:
Last year of Bush: 15.6%
Today under Obama (3rd Quarter of 2015): 11.6%
Teen Pregnancy rate per 1,000:
Last year of Bush: 34 per 1,000
Today under Obama (as of Dec 2014): 24 per 1,000
Iranian Centrifuges:
Last year of Bush: 19,000
Today under Obama (as of March 2015): 10,000
GDP growth:
Last year under Bush: -0.3%
Today under Obama: +3.7
Dow Jones Industrial Average:
Last year of Bush (January 20, 2009): 7,949.09
Today under Obama (as of yesterday): 16,516.22
What this graphic also leaves out is that we're $8 trillion in more debt since he took office. Obama has more than passed Bush in debt accrued in two terms in office. He has done well to cut the existing budget deficit by three quarters, but he has done nothing to address the nearly $19 trillion national debt we're already in. And it continues to grow.
Right now, our national debt is at 103% of our overall GDP. If it goes any higher the government will quickly get to the point where all of the money it gets has to be used to pay the interest on the debt. In other words, no money left to run critical government programs and agencies. In order to get people to continue to hold the debt you have to pay higher and higher interest rates and that leads to run away inflation.
U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time
But here's what those Occupy Democrats aren't telling you. Let's go down the list:
First, the 5.1% unemployment rate. There are two types of indicators of unemployment in the US, the official (U3 unemployment) and actual (U6 unemployment):
As you can see, the U6 unemployment rate right now is 9.9%. The real truth of the matter is far worse than you are being led to believe.
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
The labor participation rate is the lowest it's been in almost 40 years, at 62.6 percent:
Bureau of Labor Statistics Data
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, 94,103,000 Americans are currently not in the workforce, not looking for work or intending to look for work. More people have left the workforce each year of Obama's presidency.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Data
Beginning in the first full year of his term up until last month, 14 million Americans have left the workforce completely.
In all of Obama's term, nothing seems to have been done about anything regarding the economy or employment. A slew of factors led to the collapse, not specifically Bush. The U.S. economy is very complicated. Taking it to the point of collapse takes a great deal of cooperation. To say one person or thing was responsible for it is dishonest:
Who Caused the Economic Crisis?
The price of a gallon of gasoline
The cost per gallon of gas right now is about $1.97 a gallon. On January 19, 2009 (the last day Bush was in office) gas was $1.78 per gallon USD. The graphic only tells you what gas was right or around the time of the collapse, in July 2008 gas was 4.12 a gallon, but then sharply fell afterwards going into inauguration day.
The uninsured rate
It has in fact dropped. But don't expect that to last long. Obamacare is quickly disintegrating. The state co-ops, or the "non-profit" exchanges, offering a cheaper alternative government insured plan, are collapsing. Currently 11 of the 23 co-ops have collapsed. When the co-ops collapse, anyone on the plans offered by that co-op will be left without insurance. That could number in the thousands. The government made nearly $2 billion dollars in loans to startup insurers in the exchanges that it couldn't pay back, putting taxpayer money at risk. Even still, the co-ops manage to collapse, one by one.
ObamaCare’s Cascading Co-op Failures
Oil Imports
It is true we are importing less oil from abroad, but that has been in no way influenced by either Bush or Obama.
Bobby Scott: Low gas prices are the result of Obama policies
Teen Pregnancy
This statistic only goes to show you what happens when teenage girls a) show more abstinence regarding sexual intercourse, b) use birth control, or c) recognize the consequences of having an abortion. Another factor here is that abortion rates and pregnancy rates have been dropping since the 1990's. What bearing this has on a successful presidency I will never know.
Iran's Centrifuges
The Iran Nuclear treaty did get the country to reduce the number of centrifuges it had spinning. However, it blatantly violated the treaty by test firing short to mid range ballistic missiles. It doesn't matter how many centrifuges it has running. A breach is a breach. It is quite clear the treaty failed in its aim to tamp down Iran's nuclear ambitions:
Iran tests another mid-range ballistic missile in breach of UN resolutions | Fox News
America's GDP
As far as GDP growth is concerned, if you calculate the average GDP growth per quarter a president has been office, Bush averaged higher GDP growth per quarter in office than Obama has during his term:
Which Presidents Have Been Best for the Economy?
The Dow Jones
The movement of the Dow Jones Industrial Average can be affected by a number of things, such as the Federal Reserve Interest Rate, or the interest rate at which a depository institution lends funds maintained at the Federal Reserve to another depository institution overnight, which can cause gains or losses depending on whether the government raises the rate, lowers the rate or keeps it the same.
Another factor here is the world economy. While the US economy is the main stabilizing factor for the rest of the world's economies, it too is reliant on the stability of the worlds economies in turn. China right now is on the verge of a collapse. When China's economy goes, our markets will be adversely affected as well. No one president's policies can singlehandedly affect the movement of the stock market, though they can and will play a significant but equal role.
Final Thought
All in all, despite the many supposed achievements liberals will no doubt post in response to this thread in their defense of Obama, the reality is that America hasn't really changed much and if it has, it changed more in the sociopolitical area than anything else.
So what did Obama do for America during his term?
Next, I'm going to show you a meme circulated by Occupy Democrats supposedly showing how much Obama has made America better, with a few corrections for chronological relevancy:
Unemployment (Official U3):
Last year of Bush (as of January 2009): 7.8%
Today under Obama: 5.0%
Unemployment (Actual U6):
Last year of Bush (as of January 2009): 14.2%
Today under Obama: 9.9%
Cost of a gallon of gas:
Last year of Bush (as of July 2008): $4.12
Today under Obama (as of yesterday): $1.97
Uninsured rate:
Last year of Bush: 15.6%
Today under Obama (3rd Quarter of 2015): 11.6%
Teen Pregnancy rate per 1,000:
Last year of Bush: 34 per 1,000
Today under Obama (as of Dec 2014): 24 per 1,000
Iranian Centrifuges:
Last year of Bush: 19,000
Today under Obama (as of March 2015): 10,000
GDP growth:
Last year under Bush: -0.3%
Today under Obama: +3.7
Dow Jones Industrial Average:
Last year of Bush (January 20, 2009): 7,949.09
Today under Obama (as of yesterday): 16,516.22
What this graphic also leaves out is that we're $8 trillion in more debt since he took office. Obama has more than passed Bush in debt accrued in two terms in office. He has done well to cut the existing budget deficit by three quarters, but he has done nothing to address the nearly $19 trillion national debt we're already in. And it continues to grow.
Right now, our national debt is at 103% of our overall GDP. If it goes any higher the government will quickly get to the point where all of the money it gets has to be used to pay the interest on the debt. In other words, no money left to run critical government programs and agencies. In order to get people to continue to hold the debt you have to pay higher and higher interest rates and that leads to run away inflation.
U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time
But here's what those Occupy Democrats aren't telling you. Let's go down the list:
First, the 5.1% unemployment rate. There are two types of indicators of unemployment in the US, the official (U3 unemployment) and actual (U6 unemployment):
As you can see, the U6 unemployment rate right now is 9.9%. The real truth of the matter is far worse than you are being led to believe.
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
The labor participation rate is the lowest it's been in almost 40 years, at 62.6 percent:
Bureau of Labor Statistics Data
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, 94,103,000 Americans are currently not in the workforce, not looking for work or intending to look for work. More people have left the workforce each year of Obama's presidency.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Data
Beginning in the first full year of his term up until last month, 14 million Americans have left the workforce completely.
In all of Obama's term, nothing seems to have been done about anything regarding the economy or employment. A slew of factors led to the collapse, not specifically Bush. The U.S. economy is very complicated. Taking it to the point of collapse takes a great deal of cooperation. To say one person or thing was responsible for it is dishonest:
Who Caused the Economic Crisis?
The price of a gallon of gasoline
The cost per gallon of gas right now is about $1.97 a gallon. On January 19, 2009 (the last day Bush was in office) gas was $1.78 per gallon USD. The graphic only tells you what gas was right or around the time of the collapse, in July 2008 gas was 4.12 a gallon, but then sharply fell afterwards going into inauguration day.
The uninsured rate
It has in fact dropped. But don't expect that to last long. Obamacare is quickly disintegrating. The state co-ops, or the "non-profit" exchanges, offering a cheaper alternative government insured plan, are collapsing. Currently 11 of the 23 co-ops have collapsed. When the co-ops collapse, anyone on the plans offered by that co-op will be left without insurance. That could number in the thousands. The government made nearly $2 billion dollars in loans to startup insurers in the exchanges that it couldn't pay back, putting taxpayer money at risk. Even still, the co-ops manage to collapse, one by one.
ObamaCare’s Cascading Co-op Failures
Oil Imports
It is true we are importing less oil from abroad, but that has been in no way influenced by either Bush or Obama.
Bobby Scott: Low gas prices are the result of Obama policies
Teen Pregnancy
This statistic only goes to show you what happens when teenage girls a) show more abstinence regarding sexual intercourse, b) use birth control, or c) recognize the consequences of having an abortion. Another factor here is that abortion rates and pregnancy rates have been dropping since the 1990's. What bearing this has on a successful presidency I will never know.
Iran's Centrifuges
The Iran Nuclear treaty did get the country to reduce the number of centrifuges it had spinning. However, it blatantly violated the treaty by test firing short to mid range ballistic missiles. It doesn't matter how many centrifuges it has running. A breach is a breach. It is quite clear the treaty failed in its aim to tamp down Iran's nuclear ambitions:
Iran tests another mid-range ballistic missile in breach of UN resolutions | Fox News
America's GDP
As far as GDP growth is concerned, if you calculate the average GDP growth per quarter a president has been office, Bush averaged higher GDP growth per quarter in office than Obama has during his term:
Which Presidents Have Been Best for the Economy?
The Dow Jones
The movement of the Dow Jones Industrial Average can be affected by a number of things, such as the Federal Reserve Interest Rate, or the interest rate at which a depository institution lends funds maintained at the Federal Reserve to another depository institution overnight, which can cause gains or losses depending on whether the government raises the rate, lowers the rate or keeps it the same.
Another factor here is the world economy. While the US economy is the main stabilizing factor for the rest of the world's economies, it too is reliant on the stability of the worlds economies in turn. China right now is on the verge of a collapse. When China's economy goes, our markets will be adversely affected as well. No one president's policies can singlehandedly affect the movement of the stock market, though they can and will play a significant but equal role.
Final Thought
All in all, despite the many supposed achievements liberals will no doubt post in response to this thread in their defense of Obama, the reality is that America hasn't really changed much and if it has, it changed more in the sociopolitical area than anything else.
So what did Obama do for America during his term?
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