Numbers The President Can Brag About

During President Obama's term all indices are much higher - Dow +68%, S&P +78%, NASDAQ +113%

The Republicans have been barraging the airwaves with numbers, e.g., $16 trillion national debt, $5 gasoline, and 8% unemployment, and it appears from the latest poll numbers that the Obama campaign is withering under the onslaught.

But there's one set of numbers that the President can brag about. The stock market has moved substantially higher during his term.

It's surprising that Democrats haven't publicized this more. Perhaps the omission is because of the mistaken belief that only fat cats in the top 1% care about equities (vilifying the 1% is part of the Democratic strategy). But the majority of American households now holds stock market assets through 401(k) plans, IRAs, and regular brokerage accounts and has benefited from the Obama market.

If, for example, a household had $100,000 in stocks and mutual funds when President Obama entered office, that amount now is likely to be worth at least $200,000, assuming reinvestment of dividends and no withdrawals. This appreciation would have gone a long way toward mitigating the effects of the recession and fall in home prices.

Under most measures we wouldn't want the next four years to look like the last four....unless we're talking about the stock market.

If President Obama would give us a plausible reason that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would be another 68% higher when he leaves office in 2016, many disillusioned investors-voters would give him another look. © 2012 Stephen Yuen