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Yesterday, President Obama told a crowd that the economy has “turned around” since he entered the White House.
“And if you think about where we are now economically compared to where we were when I first came into office, we were then losing 800,000 jobs a month. We now are seeing the lowest unemployment claim since 2006 — the largest drop this past year in unemployment in 30 years. We’ve seen the deficit cut by more than half. We’ve seen the stock market rise so that people fully recovered their 401(k)s. We’ve seen corporate profits booming … The housing market has recovered.”
Americans aren’t buying this. Last week, Americans’ economic confidence dropped six points – the largest one-week drop since October 2013. And these negative sentiments are more than just worry and emotion – they’re the byproduct of real, economic hardships.
-Since President Obama took office, there has been a 23 % increase in the number of the long-term unemployed. 2.6 million long-term unemployed at the beginning of his term has climbed to 3.2 million last month.
-There are 46.5 million Americans living in poverty. The number of Americans living at or below the poverty line has gone up by 6.7 million between 2008 and 2012.
-More than $7 trillion has been added to the national debt. Trillion equates to more than $61,000 per household! And when President Obama introduced his budget plan this year, he failed to address the debt and increase taxes for Americans.
-Americans are paying higher costs for nearly everything – and struggling to make ends meet. Energy costs in particular have nearly doubled under President Obama. A quarter of Americans reported they’re “just getting by” financially.
-In addition to paying more, Americans are receiving less. Since January 2009, median household income has fallen by $2,067 – dropping from $55,958 in January 2009 to $53,891 in June 2014.
-These lower incomes might be due to the 66% increase in involuntary part-time workers. There are 7.5 million Americans struggling to find full-time work – stuck settling with part-time jobs. That is more than double what it was in December 2007.
-The labor force participation rate is nearing a 30-year low. According to the most recent Department of Labor unemployment report, the share of the population participating in the labor force is at lows not seen since the 1970’s, at 62.9%.
So has the economy turned around? Definitely not. In fact, it’s doing worse. President Obama’s failed economic policies, paired with an out-of-touch understanding of real, Americans’ problems is putting too many families in stressful economic situations.
House Republicans have passed over 40 jobs-bills that will put Americans back to work and help them bring home more of their paycheck – too bad they remain stuck in a Democratic-controlled Senate. However, a do-nothing Senate and a stubborn President will not deter the House from continuing to work. We will pass more solutions for Americans – solutions to make life better and solutions to empower.
