In the final 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan famously ended with a question to the American public: are you better off now than you were four years ago?
The folks at the Center for Economic and Policy research wondered, what would our answer be today? So they pulled together a whole range of economic indicators and compared today’s numbers with the numbers from eight years ago, at the beginning of the Bush administration.
The results are … striking. Check it out:
| Economic Indicator | 2000 | 2008 |
| Unemployment rate |  4.0% |
6.1% |
| Inflation rate | 3.3% |
5.4% |
| Job Growth (preceding 8 years) | ||
| Total nonfarm employment | 21.4% |
4.3% |
| Private sector employment | 23.6% |
3.6% |
| Manufacturing employment | 2.9% |
-22.2% |
| Employment rate (% of population) | ||
| All, age 16 and older | 64.4% |
62.6% |
| Men, age 16 and older | 71.9% |
69.1% |
| Women, age 16 and older | 57.5% |
56.5% |
| Real wage growth (preceding 8 years) | 8.2% |
1.8% |
| Minimum wage (July 2008$) | $6.58 |
$6.55 |
| Family income | ||
| Median, 2007$ | $61,083 | $61,355 |
| Growth (preceding 8 years) | 14.7% |
0.4% |
| Poverty | ||
| Rate (% of population) | 11.3% |
12.5% |
| People in poverty (millions) | 31.6 |
37.3 |
| Uninsured (health insurance) | ||
| Rate (% of population) | 14.0% |
15.3% |
| People without insurance (millions) | 38.7 |
45.7 |
| Personal savings (% of disposable income) | 2.3% |
0.6% |
| College tuition (average per year, 2007$) | ||
| Private four-year college | $19,337 |
$23,712 |
| Public four-year college | $4,221 |
$6,185 |
| Gasoline (gallon, 2008$) | $2.03 |
$4.09 |
| GDP growth (preceding 8 years) | 34.2% |
19.6% |
| Productivity growth (preceding 8 years) | 15.9% | 21.9% |
| Trade balance (% of GDP) | -3.9% |
-5.1% |
| Federal debt (% of GDP) | 57.3% |
65.5% |
| Net foreign debt (% of GDP) | 13.6% |
17.9% |
It’s going to take more than a $700 billion blank check to Treasury to fix this. We need a new source of jobs and growth.
Hm … if only I could think of one!
