I've seen people here, and other places, make comments about how terrible the last 8 years have been.
I'm curious what, in particular, has been so terrible?
Lowest labor participation rates since the 1970s, with 95 million Americans out of the labor force, the forgotten ones who just gave up looking for work after their unemployment ran out.
The so-called recovery has been the weakest one since the 1940s. We have the lowest home ownership rate in 51 years – despite mortgage rates artificially kept at record lows.
Over 11 million more Americans are on food stamps since he became president and more than 43 million Americans now live in poverty. One of every six men between 18 and 34 are either in prison or out of work.
The estimated cost of regulations under Obama is a staggering $873 billion. That includes a shocking $344 billion cost in Environmental Protection Agency regulations alone. All told, the number of new regulations that been finalized under President Obama checks in at almost 3,000.
In the past eight years, America has lost more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs and, although Obama never mentions it, America had a global trade deficit of over $732 billion last year alone.
So what about foreign policy? Obama gave Iran, the No. 1 state sponsor of terror, $150 billion and allows them to continue to spin their centrifuges? And of course, he paid a ransom for four U.S. citizens Iran held prisoner, reversing longstanding policy and signaling to the world that there’s money to be made from taking Americans captive.
Obama drew a “red line” when he warned Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad not to use chemical weapons. When Assad did use them, Obama did nothing. Partly as a result, that country civil war continues and has created a massive worldwide humanitarian crisis.
In Egypt, Obama he gave Mohammed Morsi - the former Muslim Brotherhood head who became president but is now in prison for murder - F-16s, tanks and $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds.
In Libya, the president helped overthrew Qaddafi, and that country has since fallen into chaos, creating a hotbed for ISIS.
And speaking of ISIS, back 2014, President Obama called the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization the”JayVee” team. The next year, just hours before the horrific ISIS attack in Paris that killed 130 people, Obama assured us that ISIS was “contained.” ISIS was never a junior varsity team, and certainly was not contained. In fact, it seized vast parts of Iraq.
There's no doubt Obama's legacy is one of severe damage to the country.
He didn't have anything to do with the stock market going up -- that's basically been bc of the poor economy leading to extended low interest rates.
The Fed reserve is keeping the interest rates artificially low in order to simulate a "recovery," and try to keep the "misery index" under control. The result though is a massive bubble that when it bursts will make the 2008 "crash" look like childsplay. Consider - we have been pumping 30 billion every month of artificial stimulus into the economy, but only getting growth under 2 percent per annum. And you're right - every time the Fed even hints at raising that rate any substantial amount, Wall Street panics. Because the gravy train runs out either via a massive crash, or the Fed raising the rates.
