During this five years and five months period of time from March 6, 2009 through August 13, 2014, Democrat Tom Harkin was an Iowa US Senator and Democrat Bruce Braley, who is now running for retiring Iowa US Senator Tom Harkin's seat, was an Iowa US House of Representatives Democratic member. Also, the Democrats controlled the US Senate during this same time period.
I found 17 Companies Headquartered in Iowa in Google or Yahoo's superb Finance websites with current Total Stock Market Capitalizations of at least $100 mil and which also had their common stocks trading on each of the following three dates:
- On December 31, 2007 during President Bush's second term.....before the 2008 financial meltdown
- On March 6, 2009, which was the lowest point for the US stock market due to the spillover effects resulting from the 2008 financial meltdown, and
- also on the most recent date August 13, 2014
These 17 Iowa Companies had their equally-company-weighted average stock market prices decline by a massive 59% from December 31, 2007 during President Bush's second term to March 6, 2009, which also the very lowest point for the overall stock market due to the spillover effects resulting from the disastrous 2008 Financial Meltdown.
But in the five years and five months since March 6, 2009 through August 13, 2014, when Democrat Tom Harkin was an Iowa US Senator and also when Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Braley was an Iowa US House member, the equally-company-weighted average stock market prices of these same 17 Iowa Companies have increased by a spectacular 434%.
Below here are the stock market prices of each of these 17 Iowa Companies on August 13, 2014, on March 6, 2009, and on December 31, 2007, along with the related Stock Market Price Percentage Changes:
| Market | Market | Market | ||||||
| Price | Price | Price | ||||||
| % | % | % | ||||||
| Change | Change | Change | ||||||
| Market | Market | Market | 3-6-09 | 12-31-07 | 12-31-07 | |||
| Price | Price | Price | to | to | to | |||
| Iowa Company | HQs | 8-13-14 | 3-6-09 | 12-31-07 | 8-13-14 | 3-6-09 | 8-13-14 | |
| $s | $s | $s | HARKIN | |||||
| & BRALEY | ||||||||
| FBL Financial Group | West Des Moines | IA | 44.66 | 2.55 | 34.53 | 1651% | -93% | 29% |
| Lee Enterprises | Davenport | IA | 4.02 | 0.29 | 14.65 | 1286% | -98% | -73% |
| Principal Financial Group | Des Moines | IA | 51.12 | 6.08 | 68.84 | 741% | -91% | -26% |
| Winnebago Industries | Forest City | IA | 23.46 | 3.23 | 21.02 | 626% | -85% | 12% |
| American Equity Investment Life | West Des Moines | IA | 22.79 | 3.19 | 8.29 | 614% | -62% | 175% |
| Flexsteel | Dubuque | IA | 32.15 | 5.17 | 12.00 | 522% | -57% | 168% |
| HNI Corp | Muscatine | IA | 37.25 | 8.16 | 35.06 | 356% | -77% | 6% |
| Meredith Corp | Des Moines | IA | 46.10 | 11.28 | 54.98 | 309% | -79% | -16% |
| Casey's General Stores | Ankeny | IA | 68.66 | 18.81 | 29.61 | 265% | -36% | 132% |
| MidWest One Financial Group | Iowa City | IA | 23.87 | 7.00 | 16.99 | 241% | -59% | 40% |
| Heartland Financial USA | Dubuque | IA | 24.21 | 8.84 | 18.57 | 174% | -52% | 30% |
| West Bancorporation | West Des Moines | IA | 14.90 | 5.64 | 13.04 | 164% | -57% | 14% |
| Rockwell Collins | Cedar Rapids | IA | 74.84 | 28.35 | 71.97 | 164% | -61% | 4% |
| Heartland Express | North Liberty | IA | 23.12 | 12.19 | 14.18 | 90% | -14% | 63% |
| United Fire Group | Cedar Rapids | IA | 29.13 | 17.54 | 29.09 | 66% | -40% | 0% |
| EMC Insurance Group | Des Moines | IA | 29.99 | 19.03 | 23.67 | 58% | -20% | 27% |
| Ames National Corp | Ames | IA | 22.60 | 15.71 | 19.50 | 44% | -19% | 16% |
| Average % Change all 17 | 434% | -59% | 35% |
In addition to the above 17 Iowa Companies, Ames-based NewLink Genetics, a biotechnology company, filed an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on November 11, 2011 with an Initial Offering Price of $7.00 per share. Its stock market price has advanced 235% to $23.44 on August 13, 2014.
In like manner on the employment front, from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Iowa's State unemployment rate increased from 3.7% in December 2007 to 6.9% in October 2009, which was the very lowest point for the US Labor Market due to the lagging spillover effects resulting from the disastrous 2008 Financial Meltdown. But in the four years and eight months since then, when Democratic Iowa US Senator Tom Harkin and Democratic Michigan US House member Bruce Baley were both in office, the Iowa State unemployment rate has declined 6.9% in October 2009 to 5.0% in the most recently reported June 2014.
Iowa Citizens must be very pleased with both the outstanding performance of nearly all of their Iowa Companies as well as the very significant drop in the Iowa Unemployment Rate, both occurring during the most recent roughly five years when Tom Harkin and Bruce Braley were both serving in the US Congress for the interests of their Iowa constituents.
More Details to come.
