The numbers are nearly all in now. What they show about what really happened during the eight years that Barack Obama was president is sometimes different from what politicians claimed.
- The economy gained a net 11.5 million jobs. The unemployment rate dropped to below the historical norm.
- Average weekly earnings for all workers were up 4.1 percent after inflation. The gain was 3.7 percent for just production and nonsupervisory employees.
- After-tax corporate profits also set records, as did stock prices. The S&P 500 index rose 166 percent.
- The number of people lacking health insurance dropped by 15 million. Premiums rose, but more slowly than before.
- The federal debt owed to the public rose 128 percent. Deficits were rising as Obama departed.
- Home prices rose 20 percent. But the home ownership rate hit the lowest point in half a century.
- Illegal immigration declined: The Border Patrol caught 35 percent fewer people trying to get into the U.S. from Mexico.
- Wind and solar power increased 369 percent. Coal production declined 38 percent. Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel dropped 11 percent.
- Production of handguns rose 192 percent, to a record level.
- The murder rate dropped to the lowest on record in 2014, then rose and finished at about the same rate as when Obama took office.
Critics of the President can complain that the numbers could be better, and that opportunities were missed, but they have to be reminded that everything the President accomplished he did with the Republicans attempting to obstruct him every step of the way.
I can hardly wait to compare this to the final numbers on the Trump presidency.
Source http://ift.tt/2g1fqTk
