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Monday, Sept. 17, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.
Another view?
View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:
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The federal government reports that since President Barack Obama took the oath of office in 2009, unemployment has risen from 7.8 percent to 8.3 percent nationwide. The median income has dropped from $55,000 to $51,000, national debt has risen from $10.6 trillion to $16 trillion (34 percent), and gas prices have risen from an average of $1.84 to $3.82 a gallon (110 percent).
The Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office statistics report that from President George W. Bush’s last year in office, 2008, until now, the budget deficit has risen from $458 billion to $1.29 trillion. That’s a whopping 283 percent! Statistics don’t lie. If a football coach were to have 3 1/2 years of failure, he would be fired. We need to fire Obama and let a new coach try to do better. It certainly couldn’t be worse.
Amen, Brother!
NO NET NEW JOBS SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE
23 million people unemployed or underemployed
GDP growth just 1.7%
Unemployment 8.3%
National Debt $16.9 trillion
Annual Deficit is over $1.0 trillion
Stimulus did not stimulate the economy
Dodd-Frank is not working small banks are going away
Healthcare premium are going up
People are losing their healthcare policies and doctors
GM stock is in the tank
7 of 10 GM cars and trucks are made out of America
June 2009, Cairo: Obama apologized to the Muslim world saying that post 9/11 "The fear and anger led us [America] to act contrary to our ideals." That would be Bush gathering intelligence and using drones against our enemies and keeping prisoners in GITMO.
Obama still gathers intelligence and uses drone and said he would close GITMO (didn't happen).
----
Obama-Biden are campaigning on Osama bin Laden is dead - AND - And - And - al Qaeda and the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi Islamist are alive.
Obama says "I have a plan and it's working"
Obama says his Muslium policy of disengagement is working
To foxlady:
Amen sister.
CarmineD
When Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981 unemployment was 7.5 percent. Four years later it was still 7.3 percent. And by the way under Reagan unemployment peaked at 10.8%. Which president had a more challenging set of problems? Obama wins this by a landslide. Statistics don't lie but fibbers will use statistics. Check out the unemployment records of your favorite president at the BLS. You just might discover that modern history shows that Democrats beat Republicans by a wide margin when jobs were at stake. If you have stocks in a 401k or IRA take note that since 1900 the stock market rose by 50% or more under three Democrat presidents, FDR, Clinton and Obama. Only once did this happen under a Republican. Guess who. Think back about 112 years.
Comment removed by moderator. Inappropriate
Mr. Griffin ignores Bush policies still in effect, which add to the deficit. Did he think Bush left a sqeaky clean Oval Office when he retired to Texas?
Median income drops when unemployment rises. Median incomes dropped during the Bush 43 administration. Not only is the world a more competitive place but higher income Boomers are retiring at a rate of 10,000 every day,3,100,000 each year so median incomes will be lower. Gas and oil prices are set at world market rates, not by American presidents. I'm sure if the Republicans asked Exxon and Shell to give us a price break they would be happy to cut a buck or two off the price of our gasoline. Statistics don't lie but fibbers will use statistics. The Bush 43 wars have cost us over one trillion dollars and his administration was the primary reason why the credit giver of last resort, the federal government under Obama, had to bail out the economy. The Romney/Republican response would have been - "just let it all happen." Really? Maybe they had a point. There's nothing like another Great Depression to shape up those middle class welfare scoundrels. On the subject of statistics "trickle down economics" doesn't work. Bush 43 proved this when he cut taxes below that of what Clinton proved works. Bush 43 and his administration knew going in that this tax cut would cost an additional trillion dollars in lost revenue over ten years and they did it anyway. I'm glad they did otherwise we would not have conclusive evidence that trickle down economics doesn't work. Thanks George!
Oops - Correction. Think back 90 years. Calvin Coolidge - the only Republican president to see the stock market increase by 50% or more during his term. The numbers don't lie 3 Democrat presidents did this and only one Republican and that's why more Americans now trust Democrats more on economics.
Ken. There is no statute of limitations on stupid. Bush caused this mess. The cost ot two wars kept off the books, unfounded Medicare entitlement,, tax cuts for the wealthy, on and on.
You thought it was an overnight fix?!
Lets bring back the party of trickle down socialism , continual war, environmental degradation, darwinian health care and no count elections- yeah poke me in the eye with a stick too !
Yeah, many countries in Europe are back in recession. Asia's falling off a cliff. Hundreds of factories in China are closing because of the lax demand in Europe. PIMCO puts the odds of another worldwide recession at 100%. Not only is the United States still growing at a modest rate but I believe it's the fastest growing economy in the developed world right now. What you describe is going on every place but at a slower rate here.
It's an absolute miracle that things aren't much worse here.
Well said zippert!
Democrats don't have any plans to grow our economy. Their anti-business, anti-capitalist rhetoric speaks volumes. The middle class grows with job creation and upward job(career)mobility.
Republicans oppose any Democrat plans to grow our economy. Their anti-Obama rhetoric speaks volumes.
If Ken Griffin bothered to check any real facts, it would be clear that Obama has done a great job from what was a disaster. If he wants to use a football coach analogy, Obama inherited a team that had lost every game and had no returning letterman. Building from nothing takes a long time and is done best by sticking with your coach and giving him the time needed to develop a long-term winning program - just as Bill Clinton proved.
Yeah thats right...Branco and zippert and willie tanner....let's blame Bush. Yeah, that'll work.
Why do so many people look at the work Bush and Obama have done as failure? Because most are brainwashed to think these two doorstops care about the People and this Country, THEY don't folks.
Obama was installed to stop the bleeding and calm what was projected to be some serious civil unrest potential. Something the Elite fear worse than anything. Why do you think we have a Black President? because we are cool with that? nope because a Black man would be better telling inner city folks to cool. That boys and girls is the exact reasoning behind why Obama is President.
Until you come to terms with the fact none of these Politicians has YOUR best interest at heart, you will continue to play the part of a compliant slave (their goal). Keep yacking it matters not a wit to them. If you get out of hand they will simply send in an army of Chinese hackers and destroy your soapbox.
The failure is in believing any of these clowns have YOUR interest at heart. They do not work for you dummy. They work for the Global Elite. Your Country, your Constitution and all the rest of it is CURTAINS now. They run things.
Ken forgets about the Bush tax cuts coupled with 2 wars that were not on the books of Dubya.
How come you are not in Iraq, if that is where you think we should be?
The middle class grows with job creation and upward job(career)mobility. Obama, unions and Occupiers do not create jobs, businesses do.
1. Employment/Unemployment is a LAGs both declines and recovery. That means that W Bush could leave office with employment higher than the course of his economy, which was then in free fall, and B Obama could leave office with employment lower than the course of his slowly growing economy will eventually provide.
2. The national debt has ballooned because we: (1) cut taxes during the W. Bush years and (2) waged war without raising taxes. Our problem is that we deliberately, as a matter of national policy mismatched our revenues with our expenditures -- and we insist on no new taxes, increasing our defense spending, and continuing domestic spending.
3. We can't isolate Iran, keep it from selling about 5% of the world's production on the world oil markets, threaten it with war when it could shut off the 35% of the world's oil that flows through the straight of Hormuz -- and then whine about high price of oil. But this is ever-longer and ever more Silly Season in America so Obama is to blame for the common cold which Ronald Reagan almost eradicated using "Conservative" principles. (Temporary lack of refining capacity is more to blame for high gasoline prices at the moment).
4. We could answer the question as to whether we would be better or worse off if we knew what the "new coach's plans for the team were. But he won't tell us. So it is really possible that we could change coaches and be worse off.
The Bush tax cut plan originally passed by Republicans benefited more lower and middle income wage earners including single mothers and the elderly than the rich. Are democrats willing to rescind the following tax cuts?
* 46 million married couples received an average tax cut of $1,716.
* 34 million families with children received from an average tax cut of $1,473.
* 6 million single women with children received an average tax cut of $541.
* 13 million elderly taxpayers received an average tax cut of $1,384.
* 23 million small business owners received tax cuts averaging $2,042.
* 3 million moderate-income families saw their income tax burden eliminated entirely.
Also, the Bush tax cuts brought in more tax revenue, not less.
Additionally, CBO predicted that a Recession in 2013 would be likely unless Congress acts on fiscal issues which includes the Bush tax cuts. Here is a quote from the CBO:
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Tuesday that unless lawmakers act to prevent scheduled tax increases and spending cuts at the end of the year, a recession will likely result in early 2013."
Early next year income taxes are set to go up when the Bush-era tax rates expire. Automatic spending cuts totaling roughly $109 billion triggered by last August's debt-ceiling deal are set to hit.
CBO projects that these and other elements of the so-called "fiscal cliff" will cause the economy to contract as demand dries up.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-cuts-r...
Cutting taxes for the wealthy does not generate faster economic growth, according to a new report. But those cuts may widen the income gap between the rich and the rest, according to a new report.
A study from the Congressional Research Service -- the non-partisan research office for Congress -- shows that "there is little evidence over the past 65 years that tax cuts for the highest earners are associated with savings, investment or productivity growth."
In fact, the study found that higher tax rates for the wealthy are statistically associated with higher levels of growth.
RefNV Sept. 17, 2012 3:10 p.m.
Additionally, CBO predicted that a Recession in 2013 would be likely unless Congress acts on fiscal issues which includes the Bush tax cuts. Here is a quote from the CBO:
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Tuesday that unless lawmakers act to prevent scheduled tax increases and spending cuts at the end of the year, a recession will likely result in early 2013."
Early next year income taxes are set to go up when the Bush-era tax rates expire. Automatic spending cuts totaling roughly $109 billion triggered by last August's debt-ceiling deal are set to hit.
CBO projects that these and other elements of the so-called "fiscal cliff" will cause the economy to contract as demand dries up.
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Sir,
I just noticed that the above comments appear to be identical to the comments posted on
August 31, 2012 3:25 a.m.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/aug...
I understand re-posting comments as I have done that same thing from time to time. So, I completely understand because most of the time, the data does not change or if it does, it simply needs an update.
However, I am still interested in that particular CBO publication (see request dates below) and am more confused than ever about the actual date of the CBO publication.
On August 31, 2012 and September 17, 2012, I believe you stated the following comment, "The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Tuesday that unless lawmakers act to prevent scheduled tax increases and spending cuts at the end of the year, a recession will likely result in early 2013."
"Tuesday" is the root cause of my confusion. Do you have an actual date, other than Tuesday, and a title of the CBO publication? Do you see my confusion? If I misread your comments, please let me know and I apologize for bothering you for additional information.
However, if you have a date, I would really like to see the report.
Thank You,
*********************************
Kepi: Aug. 31, 2012 9:22 a.m
Kepi: Aug. 31, 2012 5:32 p.m.
Posted on: Ironies abound with GOP
Kepi.
I'm not going to play the "prove your post" game with you. Google it.
The CRS report has not been released into the public domain as of yet, thus no direct link. These reports are internal research efforts used by Congress. These reports are released by individual members of Congress by public inquiry. I suspect due to this CNBC article a link is forthcoming very soon.
http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/
Ken.......
You republicans can't fool us here and you can't
fool the American voter.
Do you really think we forget what happened?
REPUBLICANS FAILED!
OBAMA IS FIXING REPUBLICAN FAILURE!
There's a good reason PRESIDENT OBAMA is ahead
in the polls.
AMERICANS KNOW THE TRUTH.
The majority of Americans DON'T TRUST republican
LIARS, THIEVES AND CROOKS.
FOUR MORE YEARS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!
RefNV......
Reuters poll....9/17/12.....
PRESIDENT OBAMA 48%
romney 43%
These are the numbers that count.
"The Bush tax cut plan originally passed by Republicans benefited more lower and middle income wage earners including single mothers and the elderly than the rich."
This is partially true. But Ref, how do you square this with the current GOP mindset that too few individuals pay income tax?
By reducing the rate on "lower and middle income wage earners" while keeping, or in some cases INCREASING, deductions, isn't it true that GOP policies actually created and exacerbated this "47%" of Americans who pay no income taxes that Mitt Romney and your party loathe so?
Romney himself says he wants to lower all tax brackets by 20%. If he keeps existing deductions, even FEWER individuals will pay income tax.
If you don't like getting kicked in the face, maybe you shouldn't kick yourself in the face.
Your party has quite the responsibility for creating the 47% that Mitt Romney hates.
"When Ronald Reagan signed into law the Tax Reform Act of 1986, he boasted, "Millions of the working poor will be dropped from the tax rolls altogether, and families will get a long-overdue break with lower rates and an almost doubled personal exemption."
"Both the initial Reagan tax cuts of 1981 and indexing income taxes to inflation in 1985 had a similar effect.
In the 1990s, the Republican-controlled Gingrich Congress passed a $500 per child tax credit that also wiped out the income tax liability of many low- to moderate-income households."
"George W. Bush expanded the child tax credit as president and also signed into law tax cuts that reduced the bottom marginal income tax rate from 15 percent to 10 percent. Both moves increased the percentage of people not paying income tax."
http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/17/the-re...
"PRESIDENT OBAMA 48%
romney 43%
These are the numbers that count."
No, Mr. Teamster. Still too early with 49 days left to the real poll that matters on Nov 6 and debates still ahead. There are still many independents who have not made up their mind yet. [BTW, they lean more in numbers towards Romney than Obama. A change from the 2008 election at this time when Indies leaned toward Obama more than McCain]. They will make up their minds between now and the election based on any number of reasons. I believe this percentage makes up the difference in the poll margin for the candidates that you cite and I excerpted.
CarmineD
Making energy prices "necessarily skyrocket" has been Obama's one resounding success. Enjoy, middle class!
Seems every Dem/Lib post has the name Bush in it. Bush did this and that. Its Bushes fault. Here's some news for ya. Bush ain't president. Bush has no say in the governing of the country. Blaming Bush whether he was wrong or right doesn't get it done. So you can point the finger and look for statistics but at the end of the day the country is in an economic downfall. President Obama said in 08 he would fix things. I don't want to hear that things were worse than expected. If thats what he's got then I say he got in over his head and like back then still doesn't have a plan to fix things.
The anti-business Obama failed to create an environment for economic growth in the private sector. Obama spent two years on his Obamacare when he should have addressed the top three American concerns which are jobs, the economy and debt/deficit spending. The Obama $861 billion dollar stimulus didn't create the necessary job growth predicted by Obama economists when the stimulus was passed. Below are the projected unemployment numbers given to us by Obama's economists with the stimulus spending applied. The unemployment rate has been above 8% since 2009 and now its 8.2%. What happened? Where did the stimulus money go and why did the stimulus not lower our unemployment rate as promised?
Obama and liberals want yet more tax payer dollars to spend ignoring the fact that the first stimulus didn't deliver promised reductions in the unemployment rate.
Projected Unemployment Rate with Stimulus
2009 Q3 = 7.9%
2010 Q1 = 7.7%
2010 Q3 = 7.5%
2011 Q1 = 7.3%
2011 Q3 = 6.9%
2012 Q1 = 6.5%
2012 Q3 = 6.1%
The comments here are so laughable and predictable. Should romney get elected we will have a recession bigger than the last within 2 years. And all you righties will be blameing the lefties. The righties have sent us into this ditch, beginning with the rights patron saint RR. Overall romney is an empty suit.
Those wishing to absolve Obama of all sins and lay 100% blame at the Bush doorstep are few and are wrong.
The blame belongs with the republicans who met and planned sedition, even traitorous behaviour the night of Obama's inauguration and President Obama for allowing them to continue to work in our government.
Obama has been clearly wrongheaded in trying to work with people who are only interested in your (Obama's) failure.
Time to remove the diseased republicans from power so America can move forward.
Willard 47% Romney told us all with his own mouth he wants nothing to do but pay lip service to the people who do the hardest work for the lowest pay.
Called em moochers.
Go mooch yourself Willard...
Sept 11, 2012 - 3 AM
Pres. Obama calls FBI Director
RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! "ahhhhhhh Halo?
"Yes, Rob...this is the President...I need a real-time brief on the situation in Libya"!
FBI Director Mueller:...(cough) "Well Mr. President, ummm...Kaddafi was captured and killed by rebel forces and we confirmed that with a DNA test and also I have...."
President Obama: "Robert, Godamit!!! I am talking about this pre-planned, military-style attack on our consulate and murder of our Ambassador Stevens!
FBI Director Mueller....Golly Jeeeez Willikers! When did that happen?
President: Oh forfook sake! This took months to plan! This involves 8 Muslim Nations, shoulder rockets, diversions and inside information! Where was the Bureau on this?
FBI Director: "Well golly Sir...all I can say is...Call NYPD and ask for their terror squad and I bet they can provide more of what information you are looking (cough) for...and I...
President Obama: Click........................................................................
Mr. Freeman's post regarding savings generated by the Bush tax cuts are dead on accurate. The problem is all of these ridiculous tax cuts are at least partially responsible for exploding deficit.
A little history on gas prices. The only reason gas prices have doubled is because they started off at artificially low levels when Obama took office. Before the Great Recession and several months before Obama took office crude was at $140 a barrel and headed much higher. Gas in some areas was five bucks at the pump. Had the recession not hit would be looking at seven dollars a gallon plus today. Stock prices also doubled. Why? The market collapsed from 14,400 before the recession to an intraday low of 6600 during the economic collapse. The doubling of stock and gas prices is a function of the recession and has nothing to do with Obama.
Bush had nothing to do with any of this. What we are going through is a function of decades of corruption on Wall Street, easy lending practices that allowed massive real estate speculation and a long-overdue correction in nearly everything.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/08/1...
At some point someone better step up to the plate and start paying taxes. Half the individuals pay no federal income tax. The majority of corporations pay no federal income tax even though they enjoy some of the best profits in history and are sitting on trillions in cash. People want lower lower taxes and at the same time record numbers of people are signing up for welfare. Savings and investment have been so dismal in the United States that record numbers of people can lay their hands and $1000. Half the countries on welfare and no one wants to pay any taxes. That's not a formula that works in the long all.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/10/pf/emerg...
I heard new Obamacare regulations take up 18 pages to define what a full-time employee is.
I guess "finish the job" means finish off the economy.
Carmine just doesn't get it! NO SURPRISE THERE!
Romney's campaign is now one big "damage control" exercise...
The poor guy can't open his mouth with out sticking his foot squarely in his mouth. It appears that he has a bad case of "foot & mouth disease."
A few days ago I called Mitt a "fat cat" and Carmine took exception to what I said. I guess I should say it again...
Carmine.....Your buddy Mitt Romney is a "fat cat." He has not a clue what the Average American family goes through on a daily basis..
Even more interesting is the fact that Romney doesn't want to know what the average American family goes through...Sort of a "out of sight, out of mind" thing.....
Yep! Carmine is still convinced that Mit is going to win come November!
Carmine reminds me of one of the ship captains on board the Titanic who refused to believe that the ship was actually sinking.....
He went right down with the ship, yelling to everyone around him as he disappeared under the waves:
"Everything is OK! Stay the course! Stay on board!"
Some one told me that the captain's last name was DiFazio but unfortunately I can't validate that....
El_Lobo......Great comment.
YES, romney and his campaign are on the Titanic.
And Carmine is below, trying to pump water out.
It too late Carmine.
It's going down.
The romney campagin is in complete disaster mode.
A complete meltdown.
This is easily the worst run republican campagin
I have seen in my lifetime.
And two of the most out of touch, crazy
republicans in history.
These two clowns are WORSE than bush/cheney and
worse than McCain/palin.
WOW!!!
RefNV and Carmine....
Wall Street Journal poll....9/18/12.....
PRESIDENT OBAMA 50%
romney 45%
Romney gets 53 percent of the popular vote. Do the math.
Only poll that counts is 48 days away on Nov 6, 2012. 3 presidential debates and 1 VP debate yet to come.
CarmineD
Your analogy El Lobo applies more accurately to President Obama and those who support him. The ship of state is going down and we need a new skipper and direction to right her. Romney-Ryan.
CarmineD
This article is 100% incorrect in that no one can accurately say Obama has failed. He has not. If the republicans had supported Obama's programs to create jobs and more, and the programs then did not work, only then could you say his programs have failed. When you have refused to support his programs to give tham any chance to succeed, then it is you, the republicans, who have failed. You cannot call someone a failure when you never give his programs and ideas a chance to prove otherwise. Obstructionism is, BY FAR, our biggest problem in government.
Allowing the tax cuts to expire means some of the earned income / child dependent refundable credits of taxes you never paid in will end--for some of the people who pay no federal INCOME tax. This means Congress wouldn't have to vote on curtailing endless welfare benefits in the tax code. And it would end or lower the amount of the ILLEGAL refunds fraudulently claimed. And, Congress can then vote new tax cuts to flatten the extreme curve in our tax code.