Ahhh, Rich-lotsa numbers - you just repeat the standard Republican party line...  Well, first, most of the positives mentioned aren't as reported.  Yep, no matter how good things might look, they are bad! And then you explain why...  The DOW is near 14k, but shouldn't it be? We've spent trillions we don't have to inflate the equities bubble  What this silly analysis ignores is the flood of outside money coming into the American economy, also. Many foreign investors are investing in the stock market (and American assets in general). Read about it here.  No matter what you say about how bad things are in the US, foreign investors believe differently and are investing in the US. They believe what you don't - that America is coming back!  Your day-to-day inflation rate has rapidly increased though. Have food prices gone up, or down? Gas...Up or down?  Let's just look a little deeper at these. Read about it here.  Food prices rise in response to high gas prices. That's because transportation is a large cost of food you buy at the store. When you notice prices at the pump rising, expect to see the same thing happen in about six weeks at the grocery store. High gas prices are, themselves, usually caused by high oil prices.  Your rising food prices and rising gas prices are related. Since oil prices are controlled by supply and demand in a world market, we don't have much control over those... or do we?  The USDA expected prices to rise between 2.5-3.5%. It based this on $100/barrel oil prices resulting from potential military action against Iran...  Republican war-mongering has more to do with increased food prices than what you blame the increase on.  Food Price Forecast for 2013Food prices are expected to rise three to four percent this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's because of the terrible Midwest drought in 2012 that withered crops in the field. As a result, prices for corn, soybeans and other grains rose. Since it usually takes several months for these commodities prices to translate to the food you buy, most of the drought's effect will occur in 2013.  Ah, that pesky government! How dare they cause a drought?  Things just aren't as simple as you make them out to be. But don't let any facts get in your way!  As far as jobs go, we have fewer employed people today than when Mr. Obama took office in terms of the labor participation rate. Our economy isn't producing jobs at a rate to even keep up with population growth.  Another Republican party line - one that was debunked when it cam out last year. From an article in the Washington Post, 05/04/2012:  Economists say the story is considerably more complicated. For one thing, the trend predates President Obama. And while part of the story is clearly that the labor force is shrinking because the bad economy is driving workers out, another significant factor is that baby boomers are beginning to retire early — a trend that has worrying implications for future growth.  The percentage of Americans in the labor force has been declining for more than a decade. In January 2000, 67.3 percent of Americans had a job or were actively seeking work. By 2007, just before the recession, that had fallen to 66 percent. In January 2009, the month Obama assumed the presidency, it was 65.7 percent. Since then, it has fallen to 63.6 percent...  But since 2000, the labor force rate has been steadily declining as the baby-boom generation has been retiring. Because of this, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago expects the labor force participation rate to be lower in 2020 than it is today, regardless of how well the economy does.  Once again, things just aren't as simple as you make them out to be. But don't let any facts get in your way!  Naw, in spite of the Republican spin, America is recovering. I know that just galls Republicans who based all their hopes for recovering power on a failing America, but it just isn't so!
Newt Gingrich – whose candidacy for president last year was helped enormously by a billionaire supporter – condemned a new effort to support more viable Republican candidates as “a bunch of billionaires financing a boss to pick candidates.”