# Making America Great Again: The Benchmarks (Economy)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-america-great-again-the-benchmarks-economy/807043>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 20, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-america-great-again-the-benchmarks-economy/807043 "2018-01-20T15:31:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-america-great-again-the-benchmarks-economy/807043/41 "2020-02-19T00:36:49Z")

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Bumping to add updates for 2019 performance.

Well, I nearly forgot about this but went ahead and added updates below (tardy as I am). The short story is all indicators appear staying on trend. Nothing is really jumping out other than the unemployment rate which seems good, and the debt which seems horrific…

Dow:

- 1/20/2017: 19,827
- 1/20/2018: 26,071
- 1/20/2019: 24,706
- 1/21/2020: 29,269

S&P 500:

- 1/20/2017: 2,271
- 1/20/2018: 2,810
- 1/20/2019: 2,671
- 1/21/2020: 3,321

Nasdaq:

- 1/20/2017: 5,555
- 1/20/2018: 7,336
- 1/20/2019: 7,157
- 1/21/2020: 9,361

Crude Oil/brl:

- 1/20/2017: $53.24
- 1/20/2018: $63.37
- 1/20/2019: $52.07
- 1/21/2020: $58.39

Gold/oz:

- 1/20/2017: $1,213.50
- 1/20/2018: $1,331.50
- 1/20/2019: $1,284.30
- 1/21/2020: $1,572.70

Unemployment rate:

- 1/20/2017: 4.7% (thru Dec 2016)
- 1/20/2018: 4.1% (thru Dec 2017)
- 1/20/2019: 3.9% (thru Dec 2018)
- 1/20/2020: 3.5% (thru Dec 2019)

National Debt:

- 1/20/2017: $19,962,092,000,000
- 1/20/2018: $20,612,109,000,000
- 1/20/2019: $21,947,856,000,000
- 1/20/2020: $23,224,000,000,000

Debt per Citizen:

- 1/20/2017: $61,364
- 1/20/2018: $63,022
- 1/20/2019: $66,841
- 1/20/2020: ~$70,000

Debt per Taxpayer:

- 1/20/2017: $166,773
- 1/20/2018: $170,351
- 1/20/2019: $179,464
- 1/20/2020: ~$188,167

Uninsured Rate (Health Insurance):

- 1/20/2017: 10.9%
- 1/20/2018: 12.2%
- 1/20/2019: 13.7%
- I could not find a reliable stat for 2019.

GDP Growth Rate:

- 1/20/2017: 3.5%
- 1/20/2018: 3.2%
- 1/20/2019: 3.4%
- 1/20/2020: 2.1%

Inflation Rate:

- 1/20/2017: 2.1%
- 1/20/2018: 1.9%
- 1/20/2019: 2.3%
- 1/20/2020: 2.5%

Federal Deficit:

- 1/20/2017: $587B
- 1/20/2018: $666B
- 1/20/2019: $985B
- 1/20/2020: $1.109T

Labor Force Participation Rate:

- 1/20/2017: 62.7%
- 1/20/2018: 62.7%
- 1/20/2019: 63.1%
- 1/20/2020: 63.4%

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**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-america-great-again-the-benchmarks-economy/807043/42 "2020-02-19T01:14:18Z")

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In an economy in which disasters can actually create and add value, it is hard to know what to make of these numbers. 2/5 Americans do not have a spare $500 for emergencies. If they did have $500 in the bank and bought a transit fare for $3, they would have spent more of their “wealth” than Bloomberg does buying $350,000,000 in ads.

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