Tonight President Barack Obama will probably announce that the state of the union is strong. OK. But exactly how strong is it? Last fall before the election Bloomberg Businessweek asked whether Americans were better off than on the day of Obama’s first inauguration, Jan. 20, 2009. We concluded it was a mixed bag. Here’s an update on some of the key metrics (using the most current figures available):
Unemployment rate THEN NOW 7.8 percent 7.9 percent Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq THEN NOW 173,900 66,000 Trade deficit THEN NOW $37.7 $38.6 billion per month billion per month Gross domestic product THEN NOW $14.1 trillion $15.8 trillion New home sales THEN NOW 336,000 per year 369,000 per year Median household income, adjusted for inflation THEN NOW $50,590 $51,088 Bloomberg U.S. Weekly Consumer Comfort Index THEN NOW -53 -36 Dow Jones Industrial Average THEN NOW 7949 14005 Budget deficit THEN NOW $438 billion $1.33 trillion
