In an interesting, recent release about a Bloomberg National Poll reveals that the majority of Americans do not realize that the Obama administration has not only reduced taxes to the tune of $240 billion, but that it has helped the economy grow over the past 5 years.
The growth in the economy is a key point as most investors believe that we are just now at the point of an economic recovery.
Despite the fact that the current administration has not done a good of communicating how well it has managed the crisis over the past few years, a lot of the reason why people do not appreciate the economic growth and tax cuts has to do with the very reasons the country found itself in the predicaments it has: unemployment and housing.
On the housing front, prospects remain fairly grim.
With foreclosures continuing to rise, home ownership in the States is nearing historic lows.
With a little more than 1 in 10 residential homes being vacant, it seems that many potential home owners are opting instead to rent.
And while this strategy might make a good deal of sense in the short-term while people reassess their needs and save for a downpayment, the risk is that house prices will start increasing and pent-up demand could push prices upward fairly quickly.
Regardless, until housing turns around, voters will continue to see foreclosure notices and neighborhoods riddled with distressed sales.
When it comes to unemployment, the rate of people out of work is also nearly 1 in every 10 people on a national basis.
However, in some of the largest areas, that rate is often double or even higher than the national rate.
When people are not working, they are not spending.
They are not able to see what else is going on around them and until their prospects improve, they will blame unemployment on bad fiscal policy and/or failed efforts to revive the economy.
And, realistically, that makes sense.
What people do not see in spite of these two very real facts is that the economy as a whole continues to grow, even at its low growth rate.
For most of us, exporting goods to China, India, Brazil or any of these hot, emerging markets does not get us back to work.
This activity is often isolated to a few key domestic manufacturers whose domestic work force might be highly concentrated in certain areas.
Regardless of the fact that the economy has improved, the administration needs to do a better job of highlighting some of the smart policies it has implemented that has helped taxpayers earn a gain on their bailout funds, put some people back to work and helped the economy grow as whole, even if that growth is muted against high unemployment and dozens of foreclosures in any given neighborhood.
The growth in the economy is a key point as most investors believe that we are just now at the point of an economic recovery.
Despite the fact that the current administration has not done a good of communicating how well it has managed the crisis over the past few years, a lot of the reason why people do not appreciate the economic growth and tax cuts has to do with the very reasons the country found itself in the predicaments it has: unemployment and housing.
On the housing front, prospects remain fairly grim.
With foreclosures continuing to rise, home ownership in the States is nearing historic lows.
With a little more than 1 in 10 residential homes being vacant, it seems that many potential home owners are opting instead to rent.
And while this strategy might make a good deal of sense in the short-term while people reassess their needs and save for a downpayment, the risk is that house prices will start increasing and pent-up demand could push prices upward fairly quickly.
Regardless, until housing turns around, voters will continue to see foreclosure notices and neighborhoods riddled with distressed sales.
When it comes to unemployment, the rate of people out of work is also nearly 1 in every 10 people on a national basis.
However, in some of the largest areas, that rate is often double or even higher than the national rate.
When people are not working, they are not spending.
They are not able to see what else is going on around them and until their prospects improve, they will blame unemployment on bad fiscal policy and/or failed efforts to revive the economy.
And, realistically, that makes sense.
What people do not see in spite of these two very real facts is that the economy as a whole continues to grow, even at its low growth rate.
For most of us, exporting goods to China, India, Brazil or any of these hot, emerging markets does not get us back to work.
This activity is often isolated to a few key domestic manufacturers whose domestic work force might be highly concentrated in certain areas.
Regardless of the fact that the economy has improved, the administration needs to do a better job of highlighting some of the smart policies it has implemented that has helped taxpayers earn a gain on their bailout funds, put some people back to work and helped the economy grow as whole, even if that growth is muted against high unemployment and dozens of foreclosures in any given neighborhood.