From this item at the Wall Street Journal earlier in the week comes the graphic below depicting the course of the U.S. economy during President Obama’s first term. Naturally, starting out at the depths of the worst recession in four generation skews the data just a bit, but it’s pretty interesting nonetheless.
There’s lots to chew on above starting with surging corporate profits and rising debt that came at the same time that there was no net improvement in either the unemployment rate or real wages.
As for oil imports, after what we all saw in 2008 when the oil price surged to about $150 a barrel, it’s kind of shocking to see just how different U.S. energy markets are these days with the shale boom causing imports to tumble alongside domestic demand. Not too many people were predicting that four years ago.