Are You Better Off? Here Are the Numbers
By: Yuval Rosenberg, |Fiscal Times
Real (inflation-adjusted) personal income has climbed above where it was when Obama took office. Surprise! But median household incomes have fallen since the end of the recession in June 2009, according to Sentier Research. "Based on our data, almost every group is worse off now than it was three years ago, with the exception of households with householders 65 years old and over," Sentier's Gordon Green said in a statement released last month.
And household debt levels have come down significantly:
S&P 500, Mortgage Rates
Housing prices have stabilized, but remain well below their bubble-era highs:
While mortgage rates have fallen to historic lows:
Ronald Reagan famously suggested that voters ask themselves: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" The economy clearly isn’t firing on all cylinders, but are Americans better or worse off than they had been when President Obama took office?
