New census data from Obama’s final year in office showed that the former president raised median household incomes, lowered poverty and decreased the number of Americans without health insurance.
Here is a chart from the US Census Bureau:
Incomes went up, poverty went down, and the number of people with health insurance increased during Barack Obama’s final year in office. The remarkable thing about what the economy accomplished under Obama is that it happened with Republicans in Congress obstructing everything that he tried to do. No president deserves all the credit for a growing economy, but one can see in the census numbers, Obama’s policies at work, especially on healthcare.
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These are all trends that Donald Trump likes to pretend do not exist. Trump has constantly tried to sell the myth that he inherited a bad economy. The reality is that the economy has lost jobs and is showing signs of slowing down under Trump. The tax cuts for the wealthy that Trump and the Republicans in Congress are pushing will only make things worse.
Much like George W. Bush before him, Donald Trump inherited a good economy from a Democratic president and is in the process of turning it into a bad one.
By the numbers alone, Barack Obama did something that Republicans have consistently failed to do. Obama made life better for Americans in the middle class. The data doesn’t lie, and the Census shows that Barack Obama left office riding a wave of presidential greatness that Trump has yet to touch.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association