‘When Did Americans Decide … That We Should All Merely Shrug And Get Used To The Country’s Diminished Expectations?’

 

“Obama will be the only U.S. president in history that did not deliver a single year of 3.0%+ economic growth. …Obama will leave office having produced an average of 1.55% growth. This would place his presidency fourth from the bottom of the list of 39, above only those of Herbert Hoover (-5.65%), Andrew Johnson (-0.70%) and Theodore Roosevelt (1.41%).” (“Barack Obama's Sad Record on Economic Growth,” RealClearMarkets, 2/1/16)

• FORMER PRESIDENT CLINTON: “The problem is, 80 percent of the American people are still living on what they were living on the day before the [2008 financial] crash.” (President Clinton, Remarks, 3/21/16)

 

Obama Economy ‘The Weakest Economic Expansion In The Postwar Era,’ ‘Barely Ducked’ A Recession Over The Past Six Months

BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: “Real gross domestic product … increased at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2016…” (Bureau Of Economic Analysis, “Gross Domestic Product: First Quarter 2016,” 4/28/16)

• “The U.S. economy sputtered in the first quarter, expanding at the slowest pace in two years....” (“GDP Report Shows Economy Grew In First Quarter At Slowest Pace In Two Years,” Marketwatch, 4/28/16)

• “The American economy edged further into the slow lane last quarter…” (“U.S. Economy Grew 0.5% in First Quarter, Slowest Pace in 2 Years,” The New York Times, 4/28/16)

• “US economic growth stumbled in this year's first quarter…” (“U.S. Q1 GDP Growth Rate Weakened To 2-Year Low,” Seeking Alpha, 4/28/16)

“When did Americans decide that 1% or 2% economic growth is acceptable, that puny wage increases are inevitable, and that we should all merely shrug and get used to the country’s diminished expectations?” (Editorial, “Make America Grow Again,” Wall Street Journal, 4/29/16)

• “The reality is that the first quarter is further evidence of what has been the weakest economic expansion in the postwar era. The 0.5% growth is subject to revision but it follows 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Growth over the last six months has averaged about 1%, and under 2% over the last 12 months. The usual definition of recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth, which we barely ducked.” (Editorial, “Make America Grow Again,” Wall Street Journal, 4/29/16)

• “All of this continues the slow-or-slower pace of this entire expansion that began nearly seven years ago. Each year has had a similar GDP dip, and growth has never exceeded 2.5% (2010). The American economy hasn’t grown by more than 3% since 2005 (3.3%), the longest such stretch of malaise that we can find in the Bureau of Economic analysis tables going back to 1930. Even the Great Depression saw a snap back to rapid growth from 1934-1936.” (Editorial, “Make America Grow Again,” Wall Street Journal, 4/29/16)

 

‘Middle Class Is No Longer The Majority In America’

“The middle class is no longer the majority in America.” (“America’s Middle Class Is No Longer the Majority,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/09/2015)

• “The nation's middle class, long a pillar of the U.S. economy and foundation of the American dream, has shrunk to the point where it no longer constitutes the majority of the adult population, according to a new major study.” (“Middle-Class Families, Pillar Of The American Dream, Are No Longer In The Majority, Study Finds,” Los Angeles Times, 12/09/2015)

 

Obama Economy: For Young Adults ‘The Race To The Basement Is On’

“The race to the basement is on. The coming graduation season will probably add to the rolls of so-called boomerang kids—young adults tethered to their supportive families. The percentage of millennials living with their parents is higher today than it has been in decades…” (“This Year’s Boomerang Kids Set to Return,” Barron’s 4/23/16)

• ST. LOUIS FED: “Nationally, nearly half of 25-year-olds lived with their parents in 2012-2013, up from just over a quarter in 1999.” (“Why Are More Young Adults Still Living At Home?” Federal Reserve Bank Of St. Louis, 10/26/15)

• PEW: “…the nation’s 18- to 34-year-olds are less likely to be living independently of their families and establishing their own households today than they were in the depths of the Great Recession. … the number of young adults heading their own households is no higher in 2015 (25 million) than it was before the recession began in 2007 (25.2 million).” (“More Millennials Living With Family…” Pew Research Center, 7/29/15)

 

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