President Obama thought 2014 was a good year.
“As 2014 comes to an end, we can enter the New Year with new confidence that America is making significant strides where it counts,” he said in his weekly address.
Obama highlighted job growth over the course of his tenure: “Our businesses have created nearly 11 million new jobs.”
He also touched on on the positive effect the U.S. had on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the change in relations with Cuba and the conclusion of the war in Afghanistan — among other good domestic and abroad strides.
“Pick any metric you want — America’s resurgence is real. […] And I look forward to working together with the new Congress next year on these priorities,” Obama said before expressing his hope the new GOP-controlled Congress will work with him.
“Sure, we’ll disagree on some things. We’ll have to compromise on others. I’ll act on my own when it’s necessary,” he said, before adding that he will spend the last two years of his presidency “making sure we seize” the stage for “a new American moment.”
However, his claim that job wages are on the rise again can be disputed — by his own comments.
In an interview with “CBS Sunday,” Obama acknowledged that many Americans believed the country to still be in a recession.
“They don’t feel it,” he said of the recovery. “And the reason they don’t feel it is because incomes and wages are not going up.”
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in September showed that wage growth has been running just fast enough to keep up with inflation in 2014 and that median household incomes remain 8 percent below their level before the 2007 financial crisis.
