When President Barack Obama took office in January of 2009, the world economy was reeling
from a global financial crisis.
The United States, in particular, had been shattered by the subprime mortgage bubble.
This period was considered the worst global recession since World War Two.
Just that month, nearly 600,000 jobs were cut by employers in the US, with an unemployment
rate of more than 7.5%.
In total, since the recession began, almost nine million jobs were lost.
In 2008, Obama ran for president on a campaign marked by promises to reel in big banks, stop
job loss, and address the widening economic inequality between the ultra-rich and those
in poverty.
To combat the disastrous economic situation, one of Obama’s first acts in office was
to sign off on The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which many have referred to as
“The Stimulus.”
It pumped roughly $830 billion dollars into areas such as infrastructure, education, healthcare,
and renewable energy.
It also provided tax cuts, unemployment benefits, and other countermeasures to the economic
freefall.
Although The Stimulus did manage to slow the Recession, many felt it was too paltry an
effort.
Economist Paul Krugman and the president himself stated so publicly.
By some accounts The Stimulus should have reached nearly $3 trillion dollars.
Instead it passed at only a third of that, with large cuts in education and health.
Many Republicans refused to pass such a large spending bill, doubting it would actually
result in a stronger economy.
Democrats have since pointed to this as a reason for the slow economic recovery, and
continued job losses throughout the year.
Another major step towards economic recovery was the passage of The Dodd–Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010, known as Dodd-Frank.
This was a regulatory measure in an attempt to prevent the resurgence of “too big to
fail” banks, which had to be bailed out with nearly half a trillion dollars in 2008.
Although Dodd-Frank imposed stricter oversight for banks, many criticized the measure as
being too soft.
Others, blamed the president for not prosecuting many of the executives who had supposedly
caused the crisis in the first place.
After several years, some have since thought the Act to have been a failure, as it placed
undue stress on small banks, and made it harder to get credit, while big banks have gotten
bigger.
While Americans suffered under an economic crisis, Wall Street was kept intentionally
healthy and stable, to avoid further decline.
In fact, although President Obama campaigned on battling inequality, economically, the
wealth gap grew during his time in office.
Though the economic situation was dire eight years ago, today, the number of jobs are up
8.4 percent over those in 2008, when Obama took office, well above George W. Bush’s
one percent growth.
Unfortunately for the president’s legacy, however, that is less than half of Reagan’s
17.7 percent, and less than two-and-a-half of Clinton’s 20.9 percent..
On the other hand, both Reagan and Clinton enjoyed economic booms.
According to Obama, the US managed its financial crisis better than any large economy in modern
history.
To his credit, the unemployment rate is now lower than when Reagan left office, and the
US is seeing roughly six years’ worth of sustained job growth, the highest recorded
rate.
Even the national deficit has dropped by about a trillion dollars, although the federal debt
has increased significantly, jumping from about $10 trillion dollars in 2009, to nearly
$20 trillion dollars in 2017.
In the end, thanks to opposition efforts in Congress, and a global financial crisis at
the outset, Obama’s economic legacy has been dampened significantly.
Many jobless Americans, or those who lost their homes and savings in the Great Recession
believe President Obama did not do enough to improve their quality of life.
Even though the economy is doing better today than it was when Obama took office, the president’s
economic legacy may not be one of his high points.
Although Obama’s economic efforts may be overlooked, they aren’t his only lasting
legacy.
Obamacare, wars in the Middle East, and other domestic and international efforts span his
term.
To find out exactly what the President has accomplished during his time in office, you
can check out this video here.
In 2011, Obama oversaw the mission to locate and eventually kill Osama Bin Laden.
He also authorized the final removal of U.S. troops in Iraq.
However, continued terrorist attacks in the region have prevented Obama from permanently
ending the war.
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