The Obama Economy: 2008-2016.
There are some positive economic aspects in the Obama period, such as the 178% upswing in the stock market; a jobs increase of 9.8 million; and an average national home-value upsurge that has reached $231,000.00. As mentioned by Hillary Clinton, 2016 is the best year ever for the auto industry— which was bailed-out by Obama.
On the negative side, real wages—discounted for inflation— have remained stagnant and even decreased in historical terms, even after the economy has added jobs (Pew Research Center); student debt has increased by 70%; government debt has doubled to $19 trillion dollars; and the average GDP growth has remained around 2%- which is insufficient to compensate for other economic deficiencies that keep accumulating. This weak recovery relates to the lack of significant capital expenditure, because of high taxes on investment and corporations. The civilian unemployment rate is at 4.9%, but according to a George Mason’s University study of March, 2016, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Underutilization data, the real unemployment rate is closer to 10%. Similarly, the civilian labor force participation rate in 2016 is 63%, which is the lowest since the 1970s. Youth unemployment rate triples the national average at 15.9%.
Jaime Otero-Zuazo
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