Making America Great Again: The Benchmarks (Economy)

Politics & Elections
41

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%
42

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.