Thanks Obama! Personal Income Down 3.2% Since Obama Took Office

I hate to think what it will be when he leaves office.

The Washington Times: Real personal income for Americans – excluding government payouts such as Social Security – has fallen by 3.2 percent since President Obama took office in January 2009, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

For comparison, real personal income during the first 15 months in office for President George W. Bush, who inherited a milder recession from his predecessor, dropped 0.4 percent. Income excluding government payouts increased 12.7 percent during Mr. Bush’s eight years in office.

“This is hardly surprising,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economist and former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. “Under President Obama, only federal spending is going up; jobs, business startups, and incomes are all down. It is proof that the government can’t spend its way to prosperity.”

According to the bureau’s statistics, per capita income dropped during 2009 in 47 states, with only modest gains in the other states, West Virginia, Maine and Maryland. But most of those increases were attributed to rising income from the government, such as Medicare and unemployment benefits.

I wonder how much personal income would be down if they only factored in private sector workers. The article goes on to point out how Obama mocked President Bush for the decline in “family income,” even though per capita income rose from$29,159 to $32,632 while Bush was in office. Oh, and there is no “family income” statistic. So Obama didn’t even know what he was talking about.