In an interview with the Economist, President Barack Obama heralded his role in saving the U.S. economy.
“Since I have come into office, there’s almost no economic metric by which you couldn’t say that the U.S. economy is better and that corporate bottom lines are better,” said Obama. “None.”
Obama’s comments stand in sharp contrast to the attitudes of most Americans. According to Gallup, 56% of Americans believe the U.S. economy is getting worse, versus just 39% who say it’s getting better.
Indeed, a new study by the Russel Sage Foundation finds that middle-class Americans are poorer today than they were in 1984.
Labor force participation has also plunged under Obama. According to CNS News, in July 92,001,000 people were no longer in the U.S. labor force, an increase of 11,472,000 since Obama took office in January 2009.
Food stamp enrollments have also soared, going from 31.9 million when Obama took office all the way up to 46,247,450 in April 2014 (the most recent date for which data are available).
Moreover, for 49 out of the last 50 months, more people have given up looking for work than found it, reports economist Ben Casselman of Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.
Still, Obama said his economic record of achievements includes a vast array of accomplishments.
“In fact, our policies have produced a record stock market, record corporate profits, 52 months of consecutive job growth, 10 million new jobs, the deficit being cut by more than half, an energy sector that’s booming, a clean-energy sector that’s booming, a reduction of carbon pollution greater than the Europeans or any other country, a housing market that has bounced back, and an unemployment rate that is now lower than it was pre-Lehman,” said Obama.
Obama added: “I think you’d have to say that we’ve managed the economy pretty well and business has done okay.”
Under Obama, U.S. debt has skyrocketed $6,666,142,606,010.53.
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