Reply #25: Economic Reality.... [View All]

[Bigmack]

Oil is $112 a barrel, gasoline is $3.50 a gallon, and the Euro is $1.58 today. Gold is $925

Oil was $27 a barrel, gasoline was $1.64 a gallon, the Euro was  92 cents, and Gold was $267 when Bush came into office. 
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Bush Would Use Power of Persuasion to Raise Oil Supply

WAYNE, Mich., June 27, 2000 -- Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.

"I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply," Mr. Bush, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, told reporters here today. "Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot." 

"...high gas prices are the sign of a failed presidency.." - DICK Cheney, 1998. 
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The national debt was $5.7 Trillion when Bush took over and over $9 Trillion today, with the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars not even in the Budget.  
In his last three years in office, Clinton not only balanced the budget, he began paying off the debt.. $355 Billion dollars worth.  

In his last three years in office, Bush added at least $4 Trillion to the debt.....and that doesn't include the cost of the Iraq War.   

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Stock Market:
Dow.....January 14, 2000: 11,722
Dow.......April 12, 2008: 12,325
That's a net gain of 603 points in 7 years.

But.... Taking inflation into account....
$11,722 in year 2000 dollars are now worth $13,725 dollars due to inflation. If you equate a share with a dollar, the Dow has therefore lost approximately $1,400 when adjusted for inflation.  (And remember... the government measure of Inflation doesn't include food or fuel!)

On January 20, 2001, 1 Euro cost $.92 USD. If you had spent $11,722 USD on Euros you would have been able to buy 12,741.3 Euros.  If you had put those Euros in a sack under your mattress, they'd be worth $20,131.26 USD.

That's right, you would have been better off keeping a sack of Euros under your bed for 7 years.