Obama's Alternate Universe on the Economy

Last Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the unemployment rate had fallen to 4.9% -- the lowest since the recession -- and President Obama could hardly contain himself celebrating this feat and taking credit for it.  Then, he went on to claim that, contrary to the GOP predictions of gloom, the economy is "durable".

Putting the 4.9% unemployment rate aside as a mere quantitative number, the issue that bothers most Americans is the "qualitative" status of our economy.  In that area, Obama appears to be living in an alternate universe where his reality is much different than ours.  A reality that seems to forget that he promised that we would see a 5% unemployment rate by July of 2013 if we passed the stimulus package. Not the more than two years later when, in October of 2015, 5% unemployment was finally achieved.

While he was quick to jump in front of the microphones to take credit for the 4.9% unemployment, I have never seen this President come out and lay claim to the following:

• A record 47 million people in poverty and 45 million needing food stamps to survive.  
• The fact that real median household incomes are back to where they were in 1989.  
• That the real unemployment rate is actually 9.9% when you include people, who (1) in frustration, have stopped looking for work; or, (2) are forced to work part time for for a lack of full time work; or, (3) are underemployed and working at jobs they are overqualified for.

In addition, Obama seems to ignore that realityh that the economy had grown by just seven tenths of a percent in the fourth quarter of last year, and overall, under his presidency, has only grown at a rate of 1.78%. Well below the average economic growth in this country since World War II, and before he too office, of 3.24%.

There are many more statistics I could quote, but these are the ones that really impact the average American.  They are the ones Americans feel and that are mostly in direct contradiction to Obama's "good economy" claims.

References:

Obama Celebrates 'Durable Economy' As Unemployment Drops Below 5 Percent: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/05/465686010/u-s-added-151-000-jobs-in-january-unemployment-dropped-to-4-9-percent

Record 46.7 Million Americans Live In Poverty; Household Income Back To 1989 Levels: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-16/record-467-million-americans-live-poverty-median-houshold-income-back-1989-levels

Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 46,000,000 for 38 Straight Months: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/food-stamp-beneficiaries-exceed-46000000-38-straight-months

Record-breaking 11M receive Social Security disability benefits: http://nypost.com/2014/05/21/record-breaking-11m-receive-social-security-disability-benefits/

2013: Where’s that 5% unemployment rate Obama promised by now?: https://www.aei.org/publication/wheres-that-5-unemployment-rate-obama-promised-by-now/

Real Economic Growth: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/A191RL1Q225SBEA

United States GDP Growth Rate - Trading Economics: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth

Which Presidents Have Been Best for the Economy?: http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/10/28/which-presidents-have-been-best-for-the-economy