Conservative Failure by the Numbers

Jobs: Worst performance ever recorded. September 2000 to September 2008 has been the worst 8-year period for job growth since records were first kept in 1939. [MBG Information Services [1]] In just the past year, 2.2 million have joined the ranks of the unemployed, bringing the number of unemployed Americans to a 16-year high of 9.5 million. America has now been losing jobs for 10 consecutive months. Eleven percent of Americans are now under-employed, the highest rate of under-employment in more than 14 years. [Economic Policy Institute [2]]

Incomes: Worst record since World War II. From 2000 to 2007, the median income of working-age households fell by $2,000 (adjusted for inflation). In contrast, real median income increased by $8,000 during the Clinton Administration. [Jared Bernstein [3]] The annual rate of increase of real wages and salaries over the past eight years has been lower than it was during any period of economic recovery since World War II. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [4]]

Savings: Worst since the Great Depression. During the last three years, our nation’s personal savings rate has plummeted to its lowest point since 1934. [Department of Commerce [5]] The value of last year’s total household debt was the highest ever recorded. [Economic Policy Institute [6]]

Home Ownership: Largest collapse in values ever. Today, one in six homeowners is under water, owing more on their mortgage than their home is worth. [Wall Street Journal [7]] Americans have lost an estimated $5 trillion in the value of their homes, for most their largest investment. [Dean Baker [8]] Over the past year, the foreclosure rate has increased 71%. [RealtyTrac [9]] September was the second-worst month for housing starts since the Commerce Department began keeping records. [U.S. Census Bureau [10]]

Health Care: Costs soar, more go without. Since 2000, the number of Americans without health insurance increased by 7 million, growing from 14 to 15.3 percent of the nation. [CEPR [11]] Over the same period, the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance increased by more than 55 percent. [Kaiser Family Foundation [12]]

Foreign Debt: Worst in history. America is the world’s largest debtor, racking up $4.6 trillion in debts to foreigners over the last 8 years. [MBG Information Services [13]] We must borrow or sell off assets to foreign creditors at the rate of $2 billion a day, nearly twice the rate in 2000. [U.S. Census Bureau [14]] The manufacturing sector has been hit hardest, with 3.4 million jobs—or one of every five manufacturing jobs—shipped overseas during the past seven years. [Associated Press [15]]

Energy: More dependent on foreign oil than ever. The U.S. now imports 5 trillion barrels of oil annually, an increase of 17 percent since 2000. [Department of Energy [16]] The average price of regular gasoline—about $1.50 when George W. Bush took office—has more than doubled. [Oil Price Information Service [17]] The six biggest oil companies reported over $50 billion in combined profit for the 2nd quarter of 2008, their largest combined profit in history. Exxon Mobil’s $11.6 billion quarterly profit was the largest of any American company in history. [Associated Press [18]]

Poverty: Rising even when economy was growing. Between 2000 and 2008, the poverty rate increased from 11.3 to 12.5 percent and the number of Americans in poverty rose by 5.7 million. [CEPR [11]] This is the only period in American history when the poverty rate rose despite six consecutive years of economic growth. [CBPP [19]] Twenty-eight million Americans currently use food stamps, more than have ever used them at any single point in the program’s history. [New York Times [20]]

Security: Most terrorist attacks worldwide in a quarter century. Eight years ago, the nation was at peace and the world was relatively stable. Now we are mired in two wars, with the war in Iraq projected to cost more than $3 trillion. Yet, worldwide, suicide bombings have increased greatly since 2001, and 2007 was the worst year for such bombings in more than a quarter-century. [Washington Post [21]] According to the most recently declassified National Security Estimate, the Iraq war has had a “rejuvenating effect” on Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. [Washington Post [22]]