An interesting statistic that tells a lot about the economic and political issues facing us.

In only four years since 1963 have annual new-home sales come in below 400,000 units. Barack Obama was president in each one of those years: 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The worst year for new-home sales under George W. Bush was 2008 at 489,000 units. Obama's best year seems to be 2009: 375,000. (The September 2012 pace of 389,000 is the highest of all of 2012. But when adding up the year until now, it's doubtful that new-home sales will hit the 2009 levels.)

Keep in mind how much smaller the economy was in the sixties, seventies and eighties, and that number becomes even more descriptive of how really bad the economy is right now.