By The Numbers, Part 1: What Is The Reality Of America Today - Afghanistan, Millenials Pessisim, Obama's Approval Numbers Plummet and More

We have done the following analysis, “by the numbers,” on a semi-regular basis in the past, an effort to take a look at the current state of the world, the country, and our government using the latest polling and reputable statistics that come across our desk. I used to work for a boss whose favorite saying was: “There is nothing more devastating to an opinion than the right number.” Numbers help us define reality and are much more reliable than opinions and emotions that are often based more on personal prejudices than stark realities.

Unfortunately, as with today’s numbers, the analyses and numbers and graphs we have looked at in the past are almost always not favorable to our nation’s health, no matter how you measure health (e.g. financial, hope for the future, etc.). I attribute this constantly negative outlook and reality to the lousy job that our current set of politicians due in their capacity of being so-called leaders, a title that they fail to uphold in almost all of their actions.

On an annual basis we send trillions and trillions of tax dollars to our politicians and the government entities they overlord. But we are constantly shortchanged on the services they fail to provide efficiently and effectively due to their incompetencies, their lack of ability and intelligence, and their lack of will to often not even try to be effective.

Take a look at the current set of numbers and see if you do not agree, that the numbers, graphs, and realities of our political class performance is still severely lacking and deficient, if not downright embarrassing.

1) If the so-called “millennials” are the future of this country, then their attitudes and outlook do not bode well for both their futures and the future health and vitality of America: 

• According to a recent poll conducted by CNN and ORC International, a whopping 63 percent of Millennials, aged between 18 and 34, now say the American Dream is impossible to achieve.
• More than 480,000 people under the age of 25 left the workforce in April, frustrated in their inability to land a decent job.
• About 40% of college graduates are unable to find work.
• At least 29 percent of Millennials have chosen to stay home and live with their parents.

And these attitudes and realities have occurred during the so-called economic recovery from the Great Recession. Wait until the next recession hits, one that is overdue by historical standards, and the pessimism of our young people will take an even greater hit. 

Which raises an interesting question: if the American Dream ceases to exist as shown by these nunbers, especially in the eyes of our kids, does America cease to exist?

2) When Barack Obama became President backing early 2009, his approval ratings were very high, usually in the 70-80% range depending on what study or poll you looked at. He had sol America on his vision of improving life in America and the vast majority of Americans bought his line.

Over five years later, those lofty approval ratings have been replaced by some pretty abysmal ratings once America saw what this President was incapable of doing. According to a very recent CNN poll:

• In the latest poll across a wide range of issues, the President failed to get at least 50% approval rating on all of the major issues reviewed.
• "Environmental policy" was the only issue where more people approved than disapproved of Obama's performance nut even here is approval rating was less than 50%.
• Terrorism: 49% approve, 49% disapprove
• Environmental policy: 49% approve, 45% disapprove
• The situation in Afghanistan: 42% approve, 56% disapprove
• Foreign affairs: 40% approve, 57% disapprove
• Helping the middle class: 40%, approve, 58% disapprove.
• The economy: 38% approve, 61% disapprove.
• The situation in Ukraine: 38% approve, 53% disapprove.
• The situation in Veterans' Affairs hospitals and medical facilities: 37% approve, 58% disapprove
• Health care policy: 36% approve, 63% disapprove.
• Illegal immigration: 35% approve, 61% disapprove.
• Gun policy: 33% approve, 64% disapprove.
• The federal budget deficit: 31% approve, 67% disapprove.

Basically, in no major area that affects a large number of Americans do people think that Obama is doing a good job. Given that he has been doing this job for about five and a half years but has seen his once high approval ratings slip down so far, it is doubtful that he will be able to come up with the right strategies, plans, and energy to turn around any of these issues in his remaining time in office.

Now, two things might have happened. Some liberals will probably declare that 30-40% of American became racists form the time Obama’s ratings were in the 70-80% range vs. the 30-40% range they are in now. Or. More likely, he stinks at being President and the numbers do not lie.

3) One of the President’s main campaign callouts in 2012 was that terrorism was declining and that we were winning the war on terror, all because of his policies. Well, according to the numbers, that may have been another gross deception on his part. According to a study recently published by the RAND Corporation the number of jihadist terrorist groups around the world are not on the run and declining, their numbers have actually increased 58% over the recent past.

Not only are the number of terror groups increasing rapidly, the number of terror groups fighting numbers have also increase by over 50%. These trends have resulted in a tripling of terrorist attacks around the world. More troubling was the doubling of jihadist fighters, a drastic increase. Finally, the report notes a tripling of jihadist-related attacks worldwide.

If you believe RAND’s numbers, then the Obama campaign claim that terrorism was declining is really not true. Not only are the number of terrorist groups, fighters, and attacks increasing significantly, the whole Islamic terror effort has splintered into at least four major groups, making its abolishment even more difficult:

“Control is diffused among four tiers: (1) core al Qa'ida in Pakistan, led by Ayman al-Zawahiri; (2) formal affiliates that have sworn allegiance to core al Qa'ida, located in Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and North Africa; (3) a panoply of Salafi-jihadist groups that have not sworn allegiance to al Qa'ida but are committed to establishing an extremist Islamic emirate; and (4) inspired individuals and networks.”

Thus, while campaign victor Obama might brag about his successes in the war on terror, the numbers, again, do not back him up and given this President, the numbers are probably less likely lying then he is.

4) Another false victory on terror claimed by the President is that he is getting us out of Afghanistan. He is trying to position himself as the one that solved the crisis, not Bush.

However, what a lot of people do not realize is that much more money and many more U.S. soldiers died under Obama’s Afghan watch than under Bush’s watch. If the military excursion into Afghanistan was so bad, as claimed by Obama and his political friends, why was so much damage to lives and the U.S. Treasury done under Obama? He could have gotten us out of the country five years ago, why didn’t he? 

According to a recent Associated press story:

• 86% of the U.S. troops who have been wounded in the war in Afghanistan incurred their injuries after the start of 2009 when Obama became President.
• This compares to the eight years when Bush oversaw the war effort vs. only five years when Obama was in charge.
• 1,629 U.S. military personnel, or 74.1%, of all U.S. servicemen deaths have died since Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009.

I am not defending Bush by any stretch of the imagination. I believe that history will sow that our full fledged incursion into Afghanistan was much too expensive in wealth and blood for the negligible returns we are likely to see. I just want to point out how the numbers show that much more financial and physical damage was done under the Obama regime than the Bush regime and both regimes bungled the job badly.

That will do it for today. The numbers do not lie:

• Our kids are pessimistic about their futures and the future of the country. 
• Americans do not think Obama is doing any kind of a good job on any major issue, giving him negatives ratings that are low and trending lower.
• Terrorism is accelerating under the Obama administration.
• And much more dmage has been done to America as a result of Afghanistan under Obama than under Bush.

Not saying who is right and who is wrong and who has been given a bad deal, just giving the the numbers and the realities of what the Washington political class, both in Congress and in the White House, has done to the country.

And the saddest part, is that we will have more numbers tomorrow and they are not good either.

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