in Obama's tribute to himself, also known as his farewell speech, he had a laundry list of the ways he made our lives better as president. Everything that he touched turned to gold and if a program/law did not perform the way it was intended it's because the Republicans fought him tooth and nail every step of the way. Never mind that he got almost everything he wanted whether it was through Congress or by executive action, the notable exceptions being most of his budgets which even the Democrats wouldn't support, never mind that the Republicans did not put up any kind of fight on most legislation. So if something didn't go as planned it was because, like Obama care, it was a piece of crap that could never work.
But are we truly better off now, especially economically, then we were when Pres. Obama took office? Let's look at a few facts that might help you answer that question truthfully.
When Glorious Leader took office our deficit was just over $10 trillion. While we will not have the final numbers for a while it is very clear that our deficit exceeds $20 trillion now. This is despite the fact that they have collected record amounts of revenue through taxes. That means the average amount of debt per person in the United States increased from $31,000 to $62,000 per citizen during his tenure. To be sure Congress helped with that but he is the captain of the ship.
The work force participation rate dropped from just over 65% down to 62%. There are more Americans of working age who are not working now than at any time in our history. The homeownership rate dropped from 67.3% down to 63.5%, again the biggest drop in history during any president's tenure.
The median household income in America dropped from almost $58,000 per year to just over $54,000 per year. And about that health insurance promise he made, the average family used to pay about $12,000 a year for their health insurance; now that cost is over $18,000 a year which means most people can't afford it and are now going without insurance, those are working families, the nonworking poor have theirs paid for by the rest of us.
The number of people receiving food stamps jumped from 32 million in 2008 to 42.6 million this year. And the number of people living in poverty in the United States rose from 38 to 45 million. Since the advent of the "Great Society" program by Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats, the program designed to eliminate poverty in America, we have never seen a jump in the number of people living below the poverty level like we saw under Obama's tenure.
Many of you will say that the rich got richer and you hate them for it. While that is the wrong place to vent your anger, why do you think so many rich people support the Democrats? Because they are the ones that have enacted the policies allowing the rich to increase their wealth significantly. But I don't think we've seen anything like the increase in wealth for the top 1 to 2% in America at the expense of the middle class like we have seen over the last eight years. Obama is correct, he is the best at what he did, enacting policies that hurt more middle-class American families than any other president in history. That is his legacy.
Let's hope Donald Trump can reverse the damage and deliver upon his promises. It is up to each of us to ensure that our elected officials don't continue conducting business as usual.