Obama's actions have not really had much to do with it, to be honest. I would venture to say that the same principles and attitude that allows folks like him and me to take on projects like these, and bring them to completion in our driveways, are the same things that help us get ahead of others in the work force. Try it sometime. Find a 30+ year old heap, buy it cheap (got my vette for 3k), and then fix it up. You'll learn a lot, about cars and about yourself.
LOL, This was the first year I got a raise since Obama took office. Something like a whole $30 a month, wow.
I got my chevelle for $600 and a 350 motor for $300 with it, but I have always wanted a 454 SS, so I am building it into a SS Clone with a 454, I am even going with original bore and stroke on it. Since it wasn't an original SS but a Malibu, I can do all these additions of modern equipment without killing the value on it. Of course, I am having to do a frame off resto on it and will have to replace quater panels, at least one door skin. Since the body is off the frame, it gives me great access to do a lot of things without having to be under a lift all that time. I am estimating at least 5 years to complete it, but might be able to get it drivable in two. In the end, I end up with a durable car (ok, I will have to remember that coming off the clutch at 3500rpm just limits the life of the tranny and will cost me a lot in tires), that gets decent gas mileage for it's type and hp that I can maintain and parts are a lot cheaper for than these new ones for a lot less than I could get a new vehicle with that performance level. Heck, tools that I don't currently have to do the job is going to cost me a fair bit.
When fixing up an old one, just remember that it is very hard to do if it is your daily driver. Also, any car over about 10years old, especially where they salt the roads, you need to replace all wear parts, including all the bushings in your suspension, not to mention having to restore and refinish the whole under body. Plastics become brittle with age, so you will end up replacing a fair number of those also. But, if you want fuel efficiency, this is the best way to go. I was able to get a 85 Fiero to get 42 mpg, and that was with a non-overhead cam, throttle body injection, Iron block and heads and it used a distributer (ok, I cheated a bit and an MSD 6A plus high voltage MSD capacitive discharge coil got me a few more mpg). Unfortunately for building American made 4 Cylinder engines from that era, there are just not many parts available on the market to do upgrades to modern equipment.