Number of Americans living below the poverty line:
2007: 37.2 million
2009: 46 million (a 15-year high)
Source: Census Bureau
Price of a barrel of crude oil:
January 2009: $45
April 2011: $106
Price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline:
January 2009: $1.84
April 13, 2011: $4.10
Federal budget deficit:
2007: $163 billion
2011: $1.5 trillion
Source: Congressional Budget Office
Index price of food:
Jan. 2009: 128.
April 2011: 184.36.
A 50% increase in the cost to feed your family!
Source: Commodity Food Price Index (which measures the average international price of a basket of food, including cereal, vegetable oils, meat, seafood, sugar, bananas, and oranges).
Domestic terrorist targets:
2008: 0
2009-2010: 28
Source: “Muslim-American Terrorism Since 9-11: An Accounting” by Professor Charles Kurzman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
