Obama Cannot Escape the Facts

A story in the Christian Science Monitor today points out the standard of living for Americans has “fallen longer and more steeply over the past three years than at any time since the U.S. government began recording it five decades ago.” The average individual now has $1,315 less in disposable income than he or she did three years ago at the onset of the Great Recession – even though the recession ended in mid-2009.
by Peter Wehner
This news comes at the same time the so-called Misery Index — which is the sum of the country’s inflation and unemployment rates —rose to 13.0 percent last month, a 28-year high. Which shouldn’t be confused with the report that the number of underemployed people rose for a third consecutive month in September. Almost 9.3 million Americans are now considered underemployed (defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as working part-time for economic reasons, such as unfavorable business conditions or seasonal declines in demand), up from just over 8 million in July. And a staggering number of Americans, almost 26 million, are either unemployed, marginally attached to the labor force, or involuntarily working part-time—a number experts say is unprecedented.