Published on OurFuture.org (http://www.ourfuture.org)

The Real State of the Union

Dateline: 
January 2007
Summary: 

President Bush's 2007 State of the Union address was, true to form, divorced from reality. We made sure the public knew the real State of the Union. We published "State of the Union -- By The Numbers," encouraged our supporters to write letters to the editor, and we developed an online video, "State of Delusion [1]."

President Bush's 2007 State of the Union address was, true to form, divorced from reality. We made sure the public knew the real State of the Union. We We published "State of the Union -- By The Numbers" (below), and encouraged our supporters to write letters to the editor, so America would know the facts. We also developed an online video, "State of Delusion [2]."

In his 2007 State of the Union address, President Bush will hail the state of the union as "strong," pointing to the growing economy, new jobs, and record home ownership. But for Americans worrying about how to make ends meet around their kitchen tables at night, the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Just look at the numbers, and how Bush's rhetoric has failed to match reality throughout his presidency...

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Education
Bush's Rhetoric
The Reality
  • 2005 State of the Union: We'll make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants.
  • 2004 State of the Union: I propose larger Pell grants for students who prepare for college with demanding courses in high school.
  • Average cost of a public four-year college in 2000, annual: $9,958
  • Average cost of a public four-year college in 2006, annual: $12,796 1
  • Maximum Pell grant in 2001 school year: $3,750 1a
  • Maximum Pell grant in 2006 school year (inflation adjusted): $3,558 1b
Healthcare
Bush's Rhetoric
The Reality
  • 2007 State of the Union: A future of hope and opportunity requires that all our citizens have affordable and available health care.
  • 2006 State of the Union: Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care. Our government has a responsibility to provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility. For all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and help people afford the insurance coverage they need.
  • 2005 State of the Union: we must make health care more affordable, and give families greater access to good coverage
  • 2004 State of the Union: To make insurance more affordable, Congress must act to address rapidly rising health care costs.
  • 2003 State of the Union: Our second goal is high quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
  • 2001 State of the Union: Many working Americans do not have health care coverage, so we will help them buy their own insurance with refundable tax credits.
  • Americans without health insurance, 2000: 38.2 million 2
  • Americans without health insurance, 2005: 46.6 million 3
  • Average monthly worker contribution for family coverage, 2000: $135
  • Average monthly worker contribution for family coverage, 2006: $248 4
  • Percentage of annual bankruptcies due to medical bills: 55% 5
Energy
Bush's Rhetoric
The Reality
  • 2007 State of the Union: Extending hope and opportunity depends on a stable supply of energy that keeps America's economy running and America's environment clean. For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil.
  • 2006 State of the Union: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology.
  • 2005 State of the Union: To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy
  • 2004 State of the Union: Consumers and businesses need reliable supplies of energy to make our economy run -- so I urge you to pass legislation to modernize our electricity system, promote conservation, and make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
  • 2003 State of the Union: Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment
  • 2002 State of the Union: Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy. This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil.
  • 2001 State of the Union: We can promote alternative energy sources and conservation, and we must. America must become more energy-independent, and we will.
  • Average price of home heating oil on January 3, 2000: $1.15/gallon
  • Average price of home heating oil on January 1, 2007: $2.42/gallon 6
  • Increase in average price since January 2000, percent: 110%
  • Average price of a gallon of gasoline on January 3, 2000: $1.31
  • Average price of a gallon of gasoline on January 1, 2007: $2.38 7
  • Increase in the average price since January 2000, percentage: 82%
  • ExxonMobil profits in 2000: $7.9 billion 8
  • ExxonMobil profits in 2006: $36.1 billion 9
  • ExxonMobil's profit during the second quarter of 2006, per second: $1,318 10
  • America's Annual Consumption of Gasoline (million of barrels per day) 2000: 8.472 10a
  • America's Annual Consumption of Gasoline (million of barrels per day) 2005: 9.125 10b
Stagnant Incomes
The Reality
  • Median household income in 2000: $47,599
  • Median household income in 2005: $46,326 11
  • Decrease from 2000-2005: $1,273
  • Salary full-time minimum wage employee without vacation, 2006: $10,712
  • Average time for top CEOs to earn that sum, hours: 2.06 12
  • Federal minimum wage in 2000: $5.15/hr
  • Federal minimum wage in 2006: $5.15/hr
  • Loss in purchasing power, full time worker annually: $1,562
Retirement Insecurity
The Reality
  • Workers without defined-benefit retirement plan at work, private sector 2006, percentage: 80% 16
  • Baby boom Americans approaching retirement: 76 million 17
Iraq War Fiasco
Bush's Rhetoric
The Reality
  • 2006 State of the Union: Fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning.
  • 2006 State of the Union: As we make progress on the ground, and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels -- but those decisions will be made by our military commanders, not by politicians in Washington, D.C.
  • 2005 State of the Union: As those [Iraqi] forces become more self-reliant and take on greater security responsibilities, America and its coalition partners will increasingly be in a supporting role.
  • 2004 State of the Union: Month by month, Iraqis are assuming more responsibility for their own security and their own future.
  • 2004 State of the Union: Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations
  • 2003 State of the Union: The British government has learned that Saddam
  • 2003 State of the Union: [Saddam Hussein] clearly has much to hide.
  • 2003 State of the Union: Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction.
  • Number of US troops killed in Iraq prior to "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003: 139
  • Number of US troops killed in Iraq as of January 22, 2007: 3,056 18
  • Number of Iraqi civilians killed in 2006, according to the United Nations: 34,452 19
  • Number of US troops wounded in Iraq prior to "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003: 542
  • Number of US troops wounded in Iraq as of January 10, 2007: 22,834 20
  • Total US military expenditures (including Iraq/Afghanistan) in 2006: $522 billion
    (Includes China, Russia, the UK, Japan, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Italy, and Australia) 21
  • US Federal Discretionary Budget spent on Military not including Iraq, in 2006, percentage: 48.7%
  • Amount spent on Education, percentage: 6.7% 22
Debts and Deficits Climbing
The Reality
  • US Trade Deficit, October 2000, monthly: $33.8 billion
  • US Trade Deficit in October 2006, monthly: $58.9 billion 23
  • US Current Account Deficit, FY 2000: $435.4 billion 24
  • US Current Account Deficit, FY 2006: $900 billion 25
  • Loss of value of U.S. dollar relative to the Euro, January 24, 2000-January 23, 2006, percentage: 23%
  • US Budget Deficit in FY 2000: $236 billion surplus 26
  • US Budget Deficit in FY 2006: $423 billion deficit 27
  • US National Debt in FY 2000: $5.7 trillion
  • US National Debt in FY 2006: $8.5 trillion 28
  • National Debt Increase 2000-2006: $2.8 trillion
Household Debt Surpasses Savings
The Reality
  • Personal savings, November 2000: $56.2 billion 29
  • Personal savings, November 2006: $95.0 billion 30

1 Costs include tuition, fees, room & board. MSN Money 2000/Associated Press. "The Real Cost of College: Going Down? [4]" January 14, 2005. College Board. Trends in College Pricing 2007.
1a US Department of Education. "FY 2003 Budget Summary. [5]" February 4, 2002.
1b Constant Dollars as taken from College Board. "Total Pell Grant Funding Declines for First Time in Six Years. [6]" October 24, 2006.
2 US Census Bureau [7].
3 US Census Bureau [8].
4 The Kaiser Family Foundation. "Employer Health Benefits 2006 Annual Survey. [9]" September 26, 2006.
5 Health Affairs Health Policy Journal. "Marketwatch: Illness and Injury Contributors to Bankruptcy. [10]" February 2, 2005.
6 United States Energy Information Administration. "U.S. Weekly No. 2 Heating Oil Residential Prices-cents per gallon. [11]" January 4, 2007.
7 United States Energy Information Administration. "U.S. All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices-cents per gallon. [12]" January 5, 2007.
8CNN Money [13].
9 CNN Money [14].
10 CNN.com "ExxonMobil makes more than $10 billion. [15]" July 27, 2006.
10a US Energy Information Administration. Annual Energy Review 2005. July 27, 2006
10b US Energy Information Administration. Annual Energy Review 2005. July 27, 2006
11 Constant Dollars. US Census Bureau, Table H-8. Median Household Income by State: 1984 to 2005
12 Forbes Magazine. "What the Boss Makes. [16]" April 20, 2006
13 The White House. "President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change. [17]" June 11, 2001.
14 New York Times, Blinding Ourselves in Space [18], January 21, 2006.
15 National Climate Data Center. US Department of Commerce. "Climate of 2006 ? In Historical Perspective. [19]" January 9, 2007.
16 Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States [20], March 2006.
17 The Seattle Times. Retirement of baby boomers may reverberate in workplace [21]. January 22, 2005.
18 iCasualties.org. "Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. [22]" January 17, 2007.
19 UN Assistance Mission for Iraq. "Human Rights Report. [23]" January 16, 2006.
20 iCasualties.org. "Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. [22]" January 17, 2007.
21 sCenter for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "US Spending vs. the World. [24]" February 16, 2006. (*latest available data for China and Russia are for FY 2004)
22 White House Office of Management and Budget. "Table S?3. Growth in Discretionary Budget Authority by Major Agency. [25]" February 6, 2006.
23 U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics. "Trade Deficit Decreases in November, 2006. [26]" January 10, 2007.
24 Economic Policy Institute. "Economic Snapshots. [27]" March 14, 2001.
25 Economic Policy Institute. "Current Account Picture. [28]" March 14, 2006.
26 White House Office of Management and Budget. Historical Tables [29]
27 White House Office of Management and Budget. "Table S-1. Budget Totals [25]."
28 Bureau of the Public Debt. "The Debt to the Penny. [30]" January 16, 2007.
29 Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Personal Income and Outlays. [31]" December 22, 2000.
30 Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Personal Income and Outlays. [32]" December 22, 2006.


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Links:
[1] http://ourfuture.chapterthreellc.com/video/state-delusion
[2] http://www.ourfuture.org/video/state-delusion
[3] http://www.ourfuture.org/files/z_historic/state-of-the-union-by-the.pdf
[4] http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/press/cost06/trends_college_pricing_06.pdf
[5] http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget03/summary/section-ii/edlite-D.html#2a
[6] http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/press/cost06/pell_grants_06.pdf
[7] http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p60-215.pdf
[8] http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/007419.html
[9] http://www.kff.org/insurance/7527/sections/ehbs06-6-2.cfm
[10] http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.w5.63/DC1
[11] http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/info_glance/distillate.html
[12] http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/ftparea/wogirs/xls/pswrgvwall.xls
[13] http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/snapshots/2000/496.html
[14] http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/496.html
[15] http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/27/news/companies/exxon/
[16] http://www.forbes.com/2006/04/20/ceo-pay-options-cz_sw_0420ceopay.html
[17] http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010611-2.html
[18] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21sun2.html?ex=1170046800&en=7a17301b4938684a&ei=5070&emc=eta1
[19] http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2006/ann/ann06.html
[20] http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebsm0004.pdf
[21] http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002185894_boomers21.html
[22] http://icasualties.org/oif/
[23] http://www.uniraq.org/FileLib/misc/HR Report Nov Dec 2006 EN.pdf
[24] http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/archives/002244.php
[25] http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/tables.html
[26] http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/
[27] http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_archive_03142001
[28] http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeat_econindicators_capict_20060314
[29] http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/pdf/hist.pdf
[30] http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
[31] http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2000/pi1100.htm
[32] http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/pinewsrelease.htm