The Obama Record: Do You Suppose Numbers Speak Louder Than Words?

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Were walking close at hand:

They wept like anything to see

Such quantities of sand:

“If this were only cleared away,”

They said, “it would be grand!”

“if seven maids  with seven mops

Swept it for half a year,

Do you suppose, “the Walrus said,

“That they could get it clear?”

“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,

And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), The Walrus and the Carpenter

September 6, 2012 -  I suppose it’s true.  Things could have been worse. We could have fallen into a depression.  GM could have gone into bankruptcy.  The ditch was deeper than we thought. Things take time. Wait it out.

I suppose I look at the glass half empty. I suppose I have sand in my eyes.  I suppose I think things could be better.  That’s part of being a physician.   You look at the reality of the numbers.   You don’t always listen to the rhetoric.   You hope for change to avoid the death bed.  When the numbers change for the worse, as they have for the last 4 years, you shed a bitter tear, you lose hope,  and you look for a change.

Here are the numbers, according to  yesterday’s Investors Business Daily.

• Median incomes: These have fallen 7.3% since Obama took office, which translates into an average of $4,000. Since the so-called recovery started, median incomes continued to fall, dropping $2,544, or 4.8%.

• Long-term unemployed: More than three years into Obama's recovery, 811,000 more still fall into this category than when the recession ended.

• Poverty: The poverty rate climbed to 15.1% in 2010, up from 14.3% in 2009, and economists think it may have hit 15.7% last year, highest since the 1960s.

• Food stamps: There are 11.8 million more people on food stamps since Obama's recovery started.

• Disability: More than 1 million workers have been added to Social Security's disability program in the last three years.

• Gas prices: A gallon of gas cost $1.89 when Obama was sworn in. By June 2009, the price was $2.70. Today, it's $3.84.

• Misery Index: When Obama took office, the combination of unemployment and inflation stood at 7.83. Today it's 9.71.

• Union membership: Even unions are worse off under Obama, with membership dropping half a million between 2009 and 2011.

• Debt: Everyone is far worse off if you just look at the national debt. It has climbed more than $5 trillion under Obama, crossing $16 trillion for the first time on Tuesday and driving the U.S. credit rating down.

Tweet:  The economic numbers have gotten worse over the last 4 years. Maybe they’ll get better. But maybe not. Maybe it’s time for a change.