God I'd tired of politics.
Partrly, I'm just tired, period. My wife's 50th birthday was this week, and our plan was to go to Vermont and attend a baking class. Long story short, we spent three days driving in a combination of freezing rain and whiteout conditions, had one fender bender, made it to Vermont but not to the class, and I was so stressed that I lost seven pounds in four days. The lesson learned- no trips to the Northeast in February.
But I'm also tired of politics- in large part because we've got two parties that are not only convinced they are right, but that if you support the opposite side there must be something wrong with you. And it's only gotten worse since the Inauguration. Trump and his team are making a lot of moves. And the friends who I have that support him since he's doing a great job and making the tough decisions, while the people who don't like Trump think he's destroying the country.
Fine. I'm an engineer. I measure things for a living. Let's set some parameters and then see the results of Trump's decisions. I'll try to be as fair an objective as possible. My goal is simple- come back in a year and check these same numbers, using the same sources, and compare the results.
I'll give the date and values of when I've started measuring, along with my sources
1) The current national debt.
Date Measured: 09/19/2025
Source: US Debt Clock
Current valve: $36.499 Trillion
Current ratio of US Federal Debt to GDP: 123.02%
2) US Employment Rate
Not the unemployment rate, which only accounts for people looking for jobs. This is the percentage of the number of people who have a job as a percentage of the working age population (people beteween the ages of 15 and 64)
Date Mesaured: January 2025
Source: US Employment Rate
Current Value: 60.10%
3) Consumer Price Index
This measures the 12 month change in prices
Date Mesaured: January 2025
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
All items: 3.0%
Food: 2.5%
Energy: 1.0%
All items less food and energy: 3.3%
4) National average fuel price:
Date measured: 02/19/2025
Source: AAA Fuel Prices
Current Value: $3.164
5) Average rent price in the US
Date Measured: November 2024
Source: Rentcafe
Current rate: $1,748
6) Average and Median US Income:
The average salary is the sum of all income devided by the number of workers. The median salary is the midpoint, where 50% of the population is above the line and 50% is below the line
Date Measured: Q4 2024
Source: SoFi Learn
Current Average Salary: $63,795
Current Median Salary: $61,984
7) Current population below poverty line
Date Measured: 2023
Source: American Progress
Poverty Threshold: $30,900 for a family of four
Poverty Rate: 11.1%
I welcome other parameters. They should be objective, easy to understand, and easy to check.
