Two years ago today, Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States .  Are you better off today than you were two years ago? Numbers don’t lie, and here are the data on the impact he has had on the lives of Americans: January 2009 TODAY % chg Source Avg. retail price/gallon gas in U.S. $1.83 $3.104 69.6% 1 Crude oil, European Brent (barrel) $43.48 $99.02 127.7% 2 Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel) $38.74 $91.38 135.9% 2 Gold: London (per troy oz.) $853.25 $1,369.50 60.5% 2 Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL $3.56 $6.33 78.1% 2 Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL $9.66 $13.75 42.3% 2 Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. fob $13.37 $35.39 164.7% 2 Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall 7.6% 9.4% 23.7% 3 Unemployment rate, blacks 12.6% 15.8% 25.4% 3 Number of unemployed 11,616,000 14,485,000 24.7% 3 Number of fed. employees, ex. military (curr = 12/10 prelim) 2,779,000 2,840,000 2.2% 3 Real median household income (2008 v 2009) $50,112 $49,777 -0.7% 4 Number of food stamp recipients (curr = 10/10) 31,983,716 43,200,878 35.1% 5 Number of unemployment benefit recipients (curr = 12/10) 7,526,598 9,193,838 22.2% 6 Number of long-term unemployed 2,600,000 6,400,000 146.2% 3 Poverty rate, individuals (2008 v 2009) 13.2% 14.3% 8.3% 4 People in poverty in U.S. (2008 v 2009) 39,800,000 43,600,000 9.5% 4 U.S. rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings 5 9 n/a 10 Present Situation Index (curr = 12/10) 29.9 23.5 -21.4% 11 Failed banks (curr = 2010 + 2011 to date) 140 164 17.1% 12 U.S. dollar versus Japanese yen exchange rate 89.76 82.03 -8.6% 2 U.S. money supply, M1, in billions (curr = 12/10 prelim) 1,575.1 1,865.7 18.4% 13 U.S. money supply, M2, in billions (curr = 12/10 prelim) 8,310.9 8,852.3 6.5% 13 National debt, in trillions $10.627 $14.052 32.2% 14 Just take this last item:  In the last two years we have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our entire nation’s history.  Over 27 times as fast!  Sources: (1) U.S. Energy Information Administration; (2) Wall Street Journal; (3) Bureau of Labor Statistics; (4) Census Bureau; (5) USDA; (6) U.S. Dept. of Labor; (7) FHFA; (8) Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller; (9) RealtyTrac; (10) Heritage Foundation and WSJ; (11) The Conference Board; (12) FDIC; (13) Federal Reserve; (14) U.S. Treasury