Bingo. In addition, stocks have been the only investment vehicle that has somewhat kept up with inflation. Cash - worth less. Real estate - worth less. Money in the Bank - earns way less than inflation - and with an expanding money supply is worth less. Ironically, the people Obama says he's trying to help don't generally invest in the Stock market - so even by his own stated hypocritical criteria he is failing.
Also, when you are looking at employment numbers, you have to look at the number of people of employment age and calculate the percentages. IF we have an increase in the absolute number of people working - it is probably driven by 1) an increase in work-age population, 2) people working longer because they can't afford retirement, and 3) people working in lower paying jobs. If that's what counts as success, then we might as well just choose our next President from a kennel.
“people working longer because they can’t afford retirement,”
I’ve seen a couple of bag “boys” lately who appeared to be in their late 80’s or early 90’s. One literally teetered when he walked. These people aren’t working because the want to.