Obama, the numbers

Obama numbers
OBAMA, how he's done

OBAMA AND POVERTY
A Census report showed that although nearly 1.2 million fewer people were living in poverty in 2013 than the year before, the number still remains nearly 5.5 million higher than in 2008. The official poverty rate — meaning the percentage of the population living below the poverty line — dropped 0.5 percent in 2013, but it still remained 1.3 percent higher than in 2008.

OBAMA AND FOOD STAMPS
Meanwhile, the number of people receiving benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as "food stamps," bounced back up by nearly 400,000 since the period covered in our previous update. As of June, the most recent period for which the government has released monthly figures, the total stood at 46.5 million people. That's 2.7 percent below the peak reached in December 2012, but it's still 14.5 million, or more than 45 percent, higher than the month before the president was first sworn in.

OBAMA AND JOBS
Scars from the great recession of 2007-2009 remain. There were still nearly 3 million people suffering from long-term unemployment – out of work for 27 weeks or longer — a figure that was 255,000 higher than it was when Obama entered office. And the average number of weeks that the unemployed have been without work was 31.5 weeks — which was 11.7 weeks longer than the average duration of joblessness for the month Obama entered the White House.

OBAMA AND WAGES
The Consumer Price Index as of August had risen just 12 percent since the start of Obama's first term. For comparison, the CPI rose 9.1 percent during Obama's first four years compared with 10.6 percent during the previous four years.

OBAMA PROFITS AND MARKETS
Because banks are paying depositors unblievably low percentages on investment, the stock markets have soared.
Corporate profits (after taxes) reached a record annual rate of more than $1.8 trillion in the second quarter of this year, the most recent figures available.

OBAMA DEBTS AND DEFICITS
The federal debt held by the public is now nearly 103 percent higher than it was the day he first took office. The "total" debt, which includes money the government owes to itself, has gone up by more than 68 percent.