Today, Mr. Blunt and Cranky shall beat the living crap out of one of the biggest Romney/Ryan lies – that Obama has been bad for business, bad for the economy, and that we were better off four years ago than we are now. And we’ll do it in a way that is actually somewhat unfair to Obama (that’s OK, though, because the unfairness shall be bipartisanified tomorrow): comparing the numbers on Day One of his term to those of yesterday at, say, 4:00 PM Eastern Time.

Whaddaya know, Obama has actually been REAL good for Wall Street (which makes you wonder why they oppose his re-election); this year’s deficit will be lower than what Dubya handed off; jobs numbers are up, pretty much everything is pretty much looking pretty damned good (all numbers from the US Gummint and Wall Street, so shove all of your wingnut sources):

Date: Inauguration Day (End of Dubya’s Reign) 1/20/2009 Today (3 + Years of Obama) 9/5/2012
Unemployment Rate

7.8 % (rising)

 8.3 % (fluctuating, down from 10.0 % in 2009)
Dow Jones

7,949.09

 13,045.46
Nasdaq

1440.86

 3069.27
Stanford & Poor’s

805.22

 1403.45
Inflation Rate

0.1 %

 1.4%
National Debt

$10.6 Trillion

 $15.9 Trillion
Budget Deficit

$1.2 Trillion (8.3 % of GDP)

 $1.1 Trillion (7.6 % of GDP)
Job Expansion/Contraction

527,000 Jobs lost  from 1/1/09 to 1/20/09

 163,000 Jobs added in July 2012 (latest figures available from BLS)

So, it is pretty clear that we are better off (as a nation) than we were four years ago. In fact, even asking the question is useless, because the numbers (except for the debt) are quite conclusive. Repubs like asking the question and cherry-picking out-of-context stats to help them peddle their lies, but we can see that they are lying. And using all three tools from yesterday’s post to do so.

It is a fair question to ask whether we could be even better off than we are now. Indeed, we should ask that question, and see what path we should take to improve our individual and national fortunes. Tomorrow’s post should help with that.

Mr. B & C