Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics: Destroying the lies about trickle …

dancingczars.wordpress.com2/7/12

This entry was posted in Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics: Destroying the lies about trickle down economics and tagged conservative blog netowrk, Progressives are economic morons, Socialism doesn't, Trickle down works.

Another Record for Obamanomics | Wizbang

wizbangblog.com2/3/12

Another Record for Obamanomics. February 3, 2012 | Filed under Economics,Employment | Posted by Rodney Graves. And like all such records, it's not one that's doing the nation a damn bit of good.

President Obama has frequently justified his policies and judged their outcomes in terms of equity, justice and fairness.

All of which begs an obvious question,

How does our existing system and his own policy record stack up according to those criteria?

1) Is it fair that the richest 1% of Americans pay nearly 40% of all federal income taxes, and the richest 10% pay two-thirds of the tax?

2) Is it fair that the richest 10% of Americans shoulder a higher share of their country’s income tax burden than do the richest 10% in every other industrialized nation, including socialist Sweden?

3) Is it fair that American corporations pay the highest statutory corporate tax rate of all other industrialized nations but Japan, which cuts its rate on April 1?

4) Is it fair that President Obama sends his two daughters to elite private schools that are safer, better-run, and produce higher test scores than public schools in Washington, D.C. while millions of other families across America are denied that free choice and are forced to send their kids to second-rate schools?

5) Is it fair that Americans who build a family business, hire workers, reinvest and save their money—paying a lifetime of federal, state and local taxes often climbing into the millions of dollars must then pay an additional estate tax of 35% (and up to 55% when the law changes next year) when they die, rather than passing that money onto their loved ones?

6) Is it fair that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel and other leading Democrats who preach tax fairness underpaid their own taxes?

7) Is it fair that after the first three years of Obamanomics that the poor are poorer, that the poverty rate is rising, that the middle class is losing income, and some 5.5 million fewer Americans have jobs today than in 2007?

8) Is it fair that roughly 88% of political contributions from supposedly impartial network television reporters, producers and other employees in 2008 went to Democrats?

9) Is it fair that the three counties with America’s highest median family income just happen to be located in the Washington, D.C., metro area?

10) Is it fair that wind, solar and ethanol producers get billions of dollars of subsidies each year and pay virtually no taxes, while the oil and gas industry which provides at least 10 times as much energy pays tens of billions of dollars of taxes while the president complains that it is "subsidized"?

11) Is it fair that those who work full-time jobs, and sometimes more than one in order to make ends meet have to pay taxes to support up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits for those who don’t work?

12 Is it fair that those who took out responsible mortgages and pay them each month have to see their tax dollars used to subsidize those who acted recklessly, greedily and sometimes deceitfully in taking out mortgages they now can’t afford to repay?

13) Is it fair that thousands of workers won’t have jobs because the president sided with environmentalists and blocked the shovel-ready Keystone XL oil pipeline?

14) Is it fair that some of Mr. Obama’s largest campaign contributors received federal loan guarantees on their investments in renewable energy projects that went bust?

15) Is it fair that federal employees receive benefits that are nearly 50% higher than those of private-sector workers whose taxes pay their salaries, according to the Congressional Budget Office?

16) Is it fair that soon almost half the federal budget will take income from young working people and redistribute it to old non-working people, even though those over age 65 are already among the wealthiest Americans?

17) Is it fair that in 27 states workers can be compelled to join a union in order to keep their jobs?

18) Is it fair that nearly four out of 10 American households now pay no federal income tax at all, and is a number that has risen every year under Mr. Obama?

19) Is it fair that Boeing, which is a private company, was threatened by a federal agency when it sought to add jobs in a right-to-work state rather than in a forced-union state?

20) Is it fair that our kids and grandstands and great-grand-kids who never voted for Mr. Obama will have to pay off the $5 trillion of debt accumulated over the past four years, without any benefits to them?

What do you think? Was it fair?

Related posts:

1. Obama Owns The Economy Now
2. What’s The Tax Debate All About?
3. Would Cain’s 999 Have Beeen A Good Thing?

Daily Kos: What I said to Joe Biden and the Obama re-election …

www.dailykos.com11/19/11

In the past two days I have received emails from Joe Biden and Jim Messina of the Obama re-election committee asking me to contribute and become active in the re-election effort. I support President Obama (in 2008 and will …

Mitt Romney: Nuclear Iran Would Be Consequence Of Obama Re …

www.huffingtonpost.com11/13/11

Mitt Romney: Nuclear Iran Would Be Consequence Of Obama Re-Election. Romney Obama. KASIE HUNT 11/12/11 11:54 PM ET Associated Press AP. React. Important Funny Typical Scary Outrageous Amazing Innovative Finally. Follow …

More Than 80 Reasons to Elect a New President Worthy of a Great Nation: Not the Abomination of an Obama Nation

With very rare exceptions, everything on this site was written by me; but this one was too good not to promote.

Courtesy of www.rabbidov.com

(Based on an Idea and Initiative, and Built off a List, Launched by KRLA Radio Talk Show Host and Constitutional Law Professor Hugh Hewitt)

1. Obamacare – Attempting to federalize local state rights, extending federal control over massive components of the national bourse, extending federal control over individuals’ lives in violation of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.  Cynically lining up supporters in white doctors’ robes, while refusing to consult with much more prominent and predominant medical groups who oppose. Lying about the program’s cost and tax burden by subterfuging it with exorbitant taxes that begin several years into its anticipated roll-out.  Robbing $500 billion from Medicare that will destroy access for seniors, while lying about the Ryan proposal that would not affect people over 55.

2. The catastrophic $850 billion stimulus.  $700,000 to develop a robot that tells jokes.  $3.4 million for an underground tunnel for turtles to cross the road in Florida. $1 million to help smokers kick the habit by giving them Blackberry "smartphones."  $2.6 million for Chinese prostitutes in China to drink responsibly. Lying to Americans by claiming the money was going to "shovel-ready jobs" — and then joking about the falsehood. Lying by hiding the amounts transferred to favored liberal projects unrelated to job growth or economic stimulation.

3. Chronically high, persistent unemployment – His own staff said that he would bring it under 8% ; yet it remains over 9% thirty months into his one term, with real unemployment actually exceeding 15% as huge numbers of unemployed Americans withdraw from searching hopelessly for jobs. Lying about a Summer of Recovery (2010).

4. Gas prices – Now exceeding $4.50 a gallon in California, while he bars exploration in ANWR, restricts licenses to explore along the Atlantic coast or in the Gulf, but exports American dollars to help Brazil explore for oil in the Gulf even as Obama promises that America then will buy that oil from Brazil.  (See also #82.)

5. Failure to pass a budget. The abject failure by the Chief Executive to get any kind of budget adopted for 2010.

6. Multi-trillion debt free-fall. Turning the disastrous Bush deficits into a multi-trillion-dollar economic free-fall, now leaving the nation with a debt exceeding $14.3 trillion . . . and pressing for authorization to increase the free-fall.  His own latest mad deficit proposal was demolished in a House vote 97-318, as his own Democrats abandoned him in droves.

7. The seizure of GM and Chrysler. The illegal transfer of bondholder wealth to unions,  imposing his views on parts of the American auto industry, artificially trying to jump-start his favored companies with "Cash for Clunkers," only to find that American tax dollars were  used instead by people buying preferred Japanese cars to acquire them cheaper while being forced to destroy throughly sound used cars.

8. Dodd-Frank.  

9. Unremitting hostility to Israel.  Destroying the Mideast process by imposing unilateral burdens on Israel, forcing Israel to cease construction of Jewish homes, even in Jerusalem, thus compelling Abbas to harden several positions, all while publicly snubbing Prime Minister Netanyahu in the basement of the White House (the first visit) and trying to snub him on the second visit with a horrible policy speech as Netanyahu was flying en route to America.

10. Failure to support Iran‘s Green Revolution. A complete silence and abandonment of leadership when Iranians risked their lives for freedom, while backing the Moslem Brotherhood uprising in Egypt.

11. Failure to support the Syrian people’s revolution against Assad. Utter failure to lead until it was impossible to overlook the massacres by a dictator who actively finances and supports Iran and Hezbollah, America’s sworn enemies in Iraq and South Lebanon.

12. The Libyan Fiasco.  Entering Libya while failing to consult Congress.  No sense of whether we are supporting people just as bad as Qaddafi.  Remaining in the war more than 90 days without obtaining Congressional approval.  Lying about violating the War Powers Act by claiming there are no "hostilities" in Libya. 

13. The Gulf oil disaster. Bumbling in handling the Gulf oil disaster – refusing aid from countries with oil-cleaning vessels, failing to accept offers of boom to corral the spill, bringing in underwater filmmaker James Cameron as an expert.

14. Closing down oil exploration. The unnecessary moritorium on permitting oil exploration in the aftermath of the Gulf oil disaster, contributing to a massive explosion of oil prices, even leading a federal court to overturn him.

15. EPA interference. The shutdown of Shell’s Arctic oil exploration by EPA

16. Cap-and-Trade Fiasco. The push in Congress for a disastrous "cap-and-trade" plan that would stymie the coal, electric, and natural gas industries, while enormously raising Americans’ home fuel prices, leading even his own party’s U.S. Senator from West Virginia to film a TV promise to voters that he will shoot the proposal full of holes.

17. Use of federal agencies to bypass Congressional oversight. The attempt, after Congress refused to adopt his cap-and-trade nonsense, to bypass Congressional opposition and impose cap-and-trade undemocratically via the EPA.

18. Use of FCC initially to restrict free speech. The push for unconstitutional restrictions on free speech on his political enemies on Talk Radio while assuring protections for unions to spend money on campaigns via The Disclose Act.

19. The Disclose Act and cherry-picking. The attempt to unconstitutionally impose The Disclose Act on his political opponents but not unions via Executive Order.

20. Czars to bypass Congressional oversight. The use of unaccountable "czars" who effectively run huge segments of the American Government without being accountable to Congress and who are protected from Congressional subpoena power.

21. Boorish shaming of Supreme Court justices. The embarrassing and arrogant verbal assault on the Supreme Court while Court Justices courteously attended the first State of the Unionaddress, sitting in front of him, leading most to boycott the subsequent State of Union addresses.

22.  Boorish attempt to shame Paul Ryan. The similarly embarrassing and arrogant verbal assault on Rep. Paul Ryan when addressing the federal budget, with Ryan having been invited personally by Obama to attend the speech and sit in front of him.

23.  Boorish attempt to shame John McCain. The insulting, embarrassing, and arrogant gloating at John McCain during the televised sham negotiation over Obamacare, when he responded to McCain not substantively but by saying that Obama had won and McCain had lost the election — so there!

24.  Refusal to prosecute Black Panthers for Voter Intimidation. Obama’s and Attorney-General Eric Holder’s politicization of the Department of Justice, including refusing to prosecute the Black Panther voter-intimidation case in Philadelphia.

25. Marriage Act.  Obama’s and Holder’s refusal to defend the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, an act of Congress.  

26. Lies, Lies, Lies. The regular use of straw-man demonizations to try winning support for his unpopular legislation, like accusing doctors of performing unnecessary surgery so that they can enrich themselves by imposing misery on their patients.

27.  Throwing his grandmother under the bus. Using his grandmother as a foil to win points, calling her a racist like "typical white people."

28. Bowing to the Saudi King and the Japanese emperor.  Literally.

29. Treating our British alliance contemptuously. Shamefully returning to Great Britain the bust of Winston Churchill that they had given us and that had reposed in the White House, while insulting the Queen and the Prime Minister with inane gifts like DVDs.  The subsequent fiasco while toasting the Queen, continuing to talk during the playing of the British National Anthem.

30. Violating and abrogating long-standing promises to our allies.  Removing the missile shield from Poland and the Czech Republic to placate Putin.

31. Standing with the aspiring Honduran dictator. Backing the would-be dictator of Honduras when that nation’s duly convoked Supreme Court had removed him from office in careful compliance with law.

32. FTAs with allies. Failure to push for quick ratification of free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea.

33. Amateurish handling of Afghanistan military effort. The painfully over-extended indecision, for months, whether to authorize a military surge into Afghanistan, then exacerbating the indecision by announcing to our enemies a date-certain withdrawal timeline — a time coordinated with his reelection bid.

34. Incoherence on how to handle the anti-Mubarak uprising in Egypt. Having Frank Wisner despatched as his emissary, and then rejecting Wizner’s advice.

35. Radicalizing the NLRB outside Congressional purview. Appointing [Harold] Craig Becker, a radical unionist, to the NLRB through a recess appointment that otherwise never would have passed Congress.

36. Radicalizing FCC outside Congressional purview. Appointing FCC commissioners who are pursuing "net neutrality" without Congressional authorization.

37. Ecology gone wild in California. Wiping out much of the agricultural economy of California’s Central Valley by restricting full water deliveries to protect a small Delta Smelt fish

38. Gitmo debacles. Promising to close the Guantanamo Bay facility that interns terrorists, trying to close it, failing to close it, refusing to concede his error or assure that "Gitmo" will remain open.

39. Civil trials for terrorists debacles. Promising to move terrorist trials to civilian courts, then trying to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohammed in Downtown New York, only to be opposed even by the two ultra-liberal Democrat U.S. Senators of New York, then pressing to try another terrorist, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, in civilian court, resulting in the terrorist being acquitted on 284 of 285 counts.

40. Napolitano out of touch. The shameful failure of Obama’s Homeland Security chief, Janet Napolitano, to appreciate the Obama Administration’s security failures in the face of the near-catastrophe of the "underwear bomber" in the skies over Detroit, as she insisted "the system worked."

41. Student loans.  Government takeover of the student loan program

42. Border security. Cancellation of the "virtual border fence" project with no replacement, while deploying National Guard troops to do paper work at desk jobs and provide office assistance rather than stand armed along the border.

43. The "Beer Summit." In the aftermath of wrongly castigating and erroneously pre-judging fault regarding the Cambridge Police Department, tying up the country with a foolish spectacle on the White House lawn.

44. Immigration and Arizona. The Department of Justice’s attack on Arizona for that state’s exercise of its sovereign legislative authority on the issue of citizen identification rules.  Failure of his own federal government to execute the law on immigration.

45. The attack on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Attacking the Wisconsin governor and his state legislature for exercising their sovereign legislative authority on public employment issues, while Obama failed to acknowledge that the new Wisconsin rules are comparable to those that always have applied to federal employees.

46. Lying to McCain on their deal over campaign fundraising. Violating his pledge to John McCain to abide by McCain-Feingold limits for funding his Presidential campaign.

47. Downplaying American exceptionalism.  Apology tours. 

48. Implying that the Minnesota bridge collapse was the result of lack of infrastructure funding

49. Chicago Olympics fiasco. Shamefully inserting himself into a botched campaign to bring Olympic Games to Chicago, thereby exposing the Presidency of the United States to ridicule and formal rejection, and demonstrating early-on his overconfident sense of himself and his unpreparedness for the seriousness of his office.

50. Hypocritical attack on D.C. public school voucher effort. The attack on a voucher program for Washington, D.C. schools, even as his own children are protected from the educational failures that curse the Washington populace.

51. Associating with the murky.  Associations with convicted unrepentant domestic terrorists and eccentric haters of America: the Reverend Wright, William Ayres, Van Jones.

52.  Anita Dunn. Her war against Fox News and her boastfulness that the Obama White House has the "courage to speak truth to Power" — when it is the White House, not a cable TV station, that is "Power"; and her speech to schoolchildren, as a White House representative, sharing with the young and impressionable her idolization and admiration of mass-murderer Mao Tse-Tung.

53.  ACORN. 

54.  SEIU.  Having Andrew Stern, President of SEIU, as the man who has visited the White House more than any other person during the Obama term.

55. Teleprompters / White House for Dummies. A reliance on teleprompters to protect him from stumbling and bumbling speeches when, without scripting, he has spoken of his visits to America’s "57 states," has denigrated the handicapped, could not pronounce "corpsman," moronically said that Austrians speak "Austrian," referred to deceased war heroes adding that many were in the audience he was addressing, and has made more gaffes than Dan Quayle.

56.  Arrogance and Haughtiness. An extreme level of personal nose-in-the-air arrogance and lack of graciousness, from physical comportment to the way he addresses others.  The Roman columns. The arrogant temerity to tell Americans, God-like, that history will record his coronation as the moment that the rivers stopped rising and the planet healed.  

57.  Chicago Corruption. The house he corruptly acquired through Tony Rezko.

58.  The artificial shifting dialects. Affecting an artificial accent when speaking to unions, and to others with whom he allies in his "class wars," that belies his having grown up in Hawaii, reared by a Caucasian grandmother, his having spent years being schooled in Indonesia, and later attending school at Occidental College in California, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School.

59. Lack of transparency. Refusing to share his academic records or the sources through which he paid for private college and law school, despite his pre-election calls for transparency.

60.  Failure to lead on immigration. Not confronting the immigration issue when he dominantly controlled both the House and a filibuster-proof Senate, then mocking the GOP on immigration, saying they would not be happy with "alligators and moats" — when all they want is secure borders.

61. Fiscal irresponsibility on foreign relations with Egypt. Forgiving billions of dollars in Egyptian and related Mideast debt when we are past the 14.3 trillion debt line.

62.  Wasting billions on corrupt "Palestine" agencies. Pumping billions more into the discredited United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Authority that merged with the terrorist Hamas.

63. Radical judicial appointments.  Nominating a radical leftist, Professor Goodwin Liu, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit despite Liu’s contempt for constitutional imperatives towards limited government.

64.  Acceding to political bribery by cherry-picking waivers to Obamacare for favored donors. Forcing Obamacare down the throats of small businesses across America that cannot afford it . . . then approving politically correct and electoral pay-off waivers for his friends, donors, and rich boutique businesses. Granting 20% of all the country’s Obamacare waivers in Pelosi’s San Francisco district.  Buying off votes from Ben Nelson of Nebraska (the Cornhusker Deal), Mary Landrieu (the Louisiana Purchase) to pass Obamacare.

65. Using the White House to crush political opposition. Trying to force donors to his political opponents to reveal their contributions.  Using the White House official website asking supporters to report to the Government instances of people criticizing  Government policies.

66. Attempting to crush media opposition. Punishing a Boston newspaper whose editorial attacked him, having his White House conduct a war against Fox News, claiming they are an entertainment, not a news organization, and then boycotting Fox until that strategy backfired.

67. Encouraging cultural decline. Inviting "Common," a "poet" with disgusting lyrics of hate, to entertain at the White House

68. The Louis XVI Factor. Vacations and high-profile golf during the Gulf oil crisis, prompting even Democrat strategist and Presidential advisor James Carville to erupt in fury. More high-profile golf at Cape Cod while the country was losing its AAA credit rating for the first time.

69. The Marie Antoinette Factor. Michelle high-profile huge trips abroad, a la Eva Peron, with family friends and their children partying on the public payroll, at 5-star hotels in places like Spain.

70.  Al Sharpton. Launching his national presidential reelection campaign with a speech to Al Sharpton’s base.

71. Secrecy in Legislation. Failing to honor his pledge to conduct transparent governance, crafting Obamacare with Democrats behind closed doors barred to Republicans, leaving Obamacare as a massive document so convoluted that Nancy Pelosi had to tell the media: "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." 

72.  A philosophy of redistributing other people’s money. Trying to persuade "Joe the Plumber" that it is a beneficial national economic goal to "redistribute the wealth."

73.  Cynically blaming Republicans and Talk Radio for the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Blaming their rhetoric, while failing to address Democrat use of vile and violent language to describe Republicans and the Tea Party.

74.  Lying about a family connection to the Holocaust. Lying and falsely telling Americans that his grandfather was among those who liberated Auschwitz when, in fact, no American troops liberated Auschwitz.

75.  Failing to grasp the Israel narrative. Describing Israel’s right to exist as premised on the Holocaust, thus missing the entire point of a Jewish country built on the land where Jews have lived since Biblical times.

76.  Lying about a family connection to the Civil Rights movement. Telling Americans that his birth happened because his parents became amorous as a result of the 1965 Selma Civil Rights March — even though he was born in 1961.

77.  Collapse of the housing market. American housing prices lowest since 2002.

78.  Manipulating legislation by forcing votes on massive documents. Racing massive thousand-page legislation packages through Congress without allowing Congress or the American People time to read, comprehend, and absorb the bill — and thus breaking a major campaign promise.

79.   The Credit Rating downgrade. Presiding over the first credit-rating downgrade in American history.

80.  Timing military campaigns to coincide with election campaigns. Manipulating and sacrificing the lives of American soldiers, basing a withdrawal from Afghanistan not on strategic national security considerations but timed instead to coincide with the start of the 2012 Democrat Presidential Convention.

81.  NLRB.  Stacking the National Labor Relations Board with left-focused political hacks who are attempting to prevent America’s leading exporter, Boeing, from building a $1 billion manufacturing plant in South Carolina because that state permits employment of non-union labor.

82.  Cynically manipulating the national Strategic Oil Reserve. Releasing 30 million barrels of oil from the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to obtain the temporary political goal of lowering gasoline prices that have skyrocketed in the face of his severe restrictions on permitting exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, along the Atlantic coast, and in Alaska in his obsessive pursuit of "green jobs."

83.  "Operation Fast and Furious" debacle. Allowing Mexican drug lords to access illegal firearms, then losing track of the firearms while the drug cartels used the illegal firearms for crime including murdering Americans.

84.  Lying, lying, and more lying to voters.  Trying to create class warfare by telling people that Republicans’ refusal to raise taxes will cause youngsters to be unable to finance their college educations, while causing seniors to lose health care and social security payments.  Failing to admit honestly that Congress extended the Bush tax cuts and refused to increase taxes even  when Democrats had a filibuster-proof Senate and veto-proof control of both Congressional chambers.

85.  Investigating CIA patriots. The Holder investigation into CIA operatives’ interrogations of suspected Al Qaeda terrorists and their use of methods that had been approved in advance by the Justice Department.

If there’s anything that you believe should be added to the list, then please post a response.

And please post why you think any sane person would vote to have Obama reelected.

Related posts:

1. Will Youths Blacks And Hispanics Desert Obama?
2. New Poll Says Obama’s Base Is Crumbling
3. Obama’s Reelection Chances Don’t Look Good

Europe a dagger pointed at Obama's reelection « The Enterprise Blog

blog.american.com11/16/11

While Europe's problems aren't Obama's fault, voters would hold him accountable for an economy too weak to withstand overseas shocks. Perhaps, they … 24 Responses to “Europe a dagger pointed at Obama's reelection” …

Virginia – A Microcasm of Obama's Re-election Problems

michael-in-norfolk.blogspot.com10/21/11

Virginia – A Microcasm of Obama's Re-election Problems. The GOP presidential candidate line up continues to be a circus where the only sane candidates – Romney and Huntsman in my view – do not score well with the …

If Obama’s to get reelected, then he’ll need to overcome five major issues, and if he doesn’t, then he’ll lose, almost regardless of who is GOP opponent is!

His first and major problem is:

Jobs!

The single most important statistic affecting Obama’s reelection chances is the unemployment rate.

In April it stood at 9% which is up from 8.8% in March and that’s well above the historical norm for modern presidents who were reelected.

In March, a Wall Street Journal survey of economists predicted unemployment would be down to 7.7% by Election Day, but even that’s only just one-tenth of a percent lower than it was in November 1976, when President Ford lost to Jimmy Carter.

And, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis, that’s still higher than on two additional occasions when an incumbent president went down to defeat, in part because of high unemployment.

In 1980, President Carter lost to Ronald Reagan when unemployment was at 7.5%, and in 1992, a 7.4% unemployment rate helped Bill Clinton defeat George H. W. Bush.

In the post-World War II era, unemployment has only topped 7% four times on Election Day, and the incumbent has won only once and that was: President Reagan in 1984, when unemployment was at 7.2%.

The second problem is:

Obamacare!

A Rasmussen report issued on May 9 2011 found that support for repeal of the national health care law had rebounded after falling below 50% for the first time since it was passed by Congress in March of last year, and it now indicates that 57% of likely U.S. voters now favor at least a partial repeal of the law.

Just 36% oppose repeal, and those new findings include 44% who strongly favor repeal of the measure as against 26% who are strongly opposed.

If Romney is not the nominee, then the individual mandate is going to be an even bigger liability for Obama, and especially as the issue of its constitutionality works its way through the courts.

And in a bad piece of timing for the president, the case, or cases could reach the Supreme Court right in the thick of the 2012 campaign.

If the high court strikes down the individual mandate, or even the whole law, before the election, then that would be a huge embarrassment for Obama.

The third problem is:

Gas Prices

And I really wasn’t sure if I should make high gas prices the #1 issue because Americans hate them!

The fall in global oil prices at the end of the first week of May might well signal relief for consumers at the pump, but the spike in US gas prices to $4 a gallon, after a steady escalation in the cost of crude oil, remains a source of concern for the White House, both in its impact on consumers and the overall economy, as well as on Obama’s political fortunes.

Obama did say that, “that there’s no silver bullet to bring prices down”, and he did take very minimal action.

On April 21, he announced, “a Justice Department task force to monitor oil and gas markets for evidence of fraud or manipulation”, but it should perhaps be remembered that Obama has said that, “Gas prices at $4 would be OK”.

And the higher the gas price, the easier it will be for Obama to push his clean engergy agenda, but he’ll likely run out of time on that one.

The fourth problem is:

The Budget Deficit And National Debt

Obama ranks way down there when it comes to his handling of soaring deficits, and a dangerously high federal debt.

First, he kicked the can down the road by setting up a bipartisan fiscal commission, and after the commission came out with its recommendations, he ignored them!

And his proposed fiscal year 2012 budget, which was released in February, was widely panned for failing to address medical entitlements which are the biggest drivers of the looming crisis.

Then when Rep. Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee, put out a budget plan with dramatic cuts, Obama simply responded with a “framework” for deficit reduction that was notably vague on how it would achieve promised major savings in Medicare and Medicaid.

And the latest Gallup poll shows 61% disapproval and only 33% approval!

Finally And Fifthly

Home Foreclosures

The Obama administration’s efforts to alleviate the home mortgage crisis have fallen way short of expectations.

In data released May 6, the departments of Housing and Urban Development and the Treasury reported that only 670,000 homeowners have been granted permanent mortgage modifications since the inception of the Home Affordable Modification Program in 2009, and of those, 83,000 subsequently have been disqualified.

The plans goal was to help 3 to 4 million homeowners.

Persistent high unemployment continues to put homeowners at risk of foreclosure and home values continue to decline.

Nationally, home prices are down 20% from their 2007 peak, and they’re only expected to hit rock bottom in 2012.

And according to the real estate data firm Zillow Inc., “In the first quarter of 2011, house prices fell 3% compared with the previous quarter, and more than 28% of single-family home owners owe more than their house is worth”.

All of the above is very bad news for Obama, in spite of what you see and hear in the left wing dominated media, and the question begs to be asked, “Can he overcome the five problems?”.

And the honest answer is, “Probably not”.

If he’s lucky he may overcome one or two of the problems, but that most likely won’t be enough.

Related posts:

1. Our Economy – When Even The Ugly Looks Pretty.
2. Home Prices in U.S. Expected to Fall Through 2010
3. More Than Eighty Reasons Why Obama Shouldn’t Be Reelected!

The Obama Plan to Redistribute Housing | Libertarian Party

www.lp.org10/29/11

First Obama tried to redistribute wealth before he was President, by leading the charge to force banks to make loans to lower income Americans who could not afford to own homes (through the Community Reinvestment Act). …

Applying Obama's “redistribution of wealth” to school grades …

usamericanfreedom.com11/19/11

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan”. …

Obama and the liberals could perhaps have achieved both growth and redistribution, but they chose only the latter, and they will pay heavily for their error on Tuesday!

Will Obama change direction after the elections?

No He won’t!

During his election campaign Obama said:

“What people really want is fairness”.

“They want people paying their fair share of taxes”.

“They want that money allocated fairly”.

Redistribution Of Wealth

People thought it sounded good and they voted for him, but they didn’t know that he would immediately attempt redistribution of wealth, and he went for it full throttle in spite of the recession.

What the vast majority of Americans believe in however is economic growth, and they understand full well that the threat of having more and more money taken away as you get richer and richer is simply a demotivator.

The result, motivation went down, small businesses stopped hiring and unemployment went up and stayed up; and in some states it’s still getting worse.

Then Came ObamaCare

With motivation down, the Obama administration then committed another horrendous error of judgment – they rammed ObamaCare down a mostly unwilling nation’s throat.

Obamcare essentially subsidizes health insurance for low and middle-income groups and attempts to recover the cost by taxing high-earners even more, which in turn lowers motivation and causes people to hunker down instead of trying to grow their businesses.

And what makes it even worse is that low and moderate-income workers now feel no need to earn money because they can now maintain the same standard of living with even less effort.

Obama’s Response?

Seeing popularity wane both for him personally and for his policies Obama set out a stand and tried to sell the public his unwanted wares.

Expanding health care coverage was somehow going to somehow drive down costs.

Handouts to state and local governments became a stimulus package.

Climate change legislation became a “green jobs” bill, and so on.

When the voters didn’t buy his arguments his response was to tell them that, “They are confused and not thinking clearly” and that one statement will cost him dearly.

You don’t tell people that you want to vote for you that they are basically stupid if they don’t understand you, do you?

Harry Reid just said something equally stupid and it might cost him re-election in Nevada, “He saved the world economy!”.

Doesn’t he know that Oblamer is the One?!

Could Obama Have Played It Differently And Maybe Won?

Yes, he could have!

Obama could have embraced at least two policies that would have enhanced both equity and economic performance simultaneously, and some of them might well have bridged the ideological divide.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Loan guarantees should not have been provided for Fannie and Freddie because they shifted risk from participants in real estate transactions to taxpayers, and the caused capital to flow into the industry under very favorable terms.

Creating the guarantees allowed mortgage lenders, realtors, homebuilders, developers, securities traders and others to reap enormous gains during the boom, only to later dump their losses on taxpayers during the ensuing bust.

Cutting off all federal support for Fannie and Freddie would have sent a completely different message.

It would not only have greatly enhanced equity, but would also have helped steer investment away from ever more conspicuous McMansions and into productive endeavors like building newer, more-efficient factories, all of which would have stimulated economic growth.

* “McMansion” is an originally pejorative term used to describe a large house, particularly in the United States, that is constructed using modern labor-saving techniques and materials

The Tax Code

Another area that was ripe for reform would have been the loophole-ridden tax code.

Today, the proliferation of carve-outs means that only around 40% of personal income is taxed!

The loopholes should have been removed as much as was possible and the tax base broadened, after which the Obama administration could have slashed rates, enhanced equity, and provided a huge stimulus to the economy.

Instead, the administration did exactly the opposite; it added even more loopholes and promised to raise rates!

Right now we have a situation where similarly situated families often face vastly different tax burdens depending on their ability to game the system, and it also means that investment is steered away from companies that are adept at building better products, to those with the knack for lobbying.

Will Obama Move The Goal Posts?

Obama was a member of the New Party (communist) just 13 years ago, and he was no teen.

Michelle is a Black separatist of the worst kind as her Princeton thesis shows.

Obama is on record as saying that he’d rather be a great one term President than an ineffectual two termer, so we can sadly expect him and Michelle to continue to try and force their socialist/communist on America!

Related posts:

1. More Than Eighty Reasons Why Obama Shouldn’t Be Reelected!
2. The ‘Loan Modification Program’ Finally Gets Underway.
3. More U.S. Cities Are Bulldozing Abandoned Homes

According to the National Association of Realtors, whose records go back to 1979, the median U.S. price for an existing single-family home dropped a record 15.6% to $174,100 in the second quarter of this year.

But Home Sales Increased

Meanwhile, sales of new homes increased by 11% for new homes and 3.6% for existing homes, which suggests that it’s a buyer’s market, and that buyers are taking advantage of the falling prices.

The total dollar reduction was $27.8 billion, and the states that were hardest hit were Nevada (15%) and Florida (13%) and a quarter of would-be sellers lowered prices by around 10%.

Which States Reduced Had The Most Reductions?

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Illinois had the highest share of homes with price reductions of around 33%.

Then came,

Oregon 29%, followed by,

Washington
New Jersey
Minnesota
New Hampshire
Maryland.

Which Cities Were Worst Hit?

Jacksonville, Florida 38%
Portland, Oregon 35%
Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Boston and Seattle 34%
Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Chicago 33%
Detroit; 16%
Las Vegas 15%
Miami 13%
New York City and Phoenix 12%
San Francisco and Los Angeles 10%

* Undeveloped land and foreclosed properties were excluded from the above estimates.

Related posts:

1. Home Prices Higher In February Than In January
2. Home Prices in U.S. Expected to Fall Through 2010
3. U.S. Home Vacancies Reach Record High

Vast stretches of the U.S. can be now considered in a depression,
not a recession,with the unemployment
rates presently standing at,

Michigan at 15.2%
California 11.6%
Nevada 12.0%
Oregon 12.2%
Ohio 11.1%
North Carolina 11.0%
South Carolina 12.1%
Kentucky 10.9%
Tennessee 10.8%
Indiana 10.7%

The number of long-term unemployed in the U.S. (meaning those without jobs for 27 weeks or more) is now 4.4 million which represents 29% of the unemployed, and that’s the highest number since records began in 1948.

June unemployment reached 9.5 percent, which is the highest since 1983, and many parts of the country are suffering a depression and not a recession.

In total, more than 100 urban areas now have unemployment rates over 10%.

Adult male unemployment nationwide is already in double digits at 10%.

Black unemployment is 14.7%
Hispanics at 12.2%
Teenage unemployment is 24%
Black teenage unemployment close to 40%.

Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs in the automobile and construction industries, and many of those in the auto industry already feel that they may never work again, and those who were in construction say that it will take years to recover financially from the long-term unemployment.

For the last thirty years, a person that lost his job remained unemployed for an average of 15.8 weeks, but in the June average duration of unemployment was 24.5 weeks, and the number of people claiming jobless benefits reached a record 6.88 million in the week ended June 27.

There are around six candidates for every job that’s on offer, which is the highest since the government began keeping records, and the ratio was just over 2-1 just a year ago.

That figure of six candidates for every job is forcing people to lower their salary expectations, which in turn puts a squeeze on spending, and a recent survey suggests more than more than two-thirds of the unemployed have cut back on food expenditures.

Home-equity borrowing is a no starter for many home buyers, since house prices are down by about 25% from their 2006 peak.

Mortgage delinquencies rose to a record in the first quarter, and around one in one in every eight Americans is now either behind on his mortgage payments, or already in foreclosure.
Unlike the average European who has around six months of savings, the average American put aside only 1% of their disposable income in 2005-2006, compared with an average 6% during the previous 30 years, which leaves him or her very unprepared for long-term unemployment.

Related posts:

1. Unemployment In The U.S. Is Now Around 17.3%
2. April Retail Sales Fell As Unemployment Rose
3. Will Youths Blacks And Hispanics Desert Obama?

Those looking at a V shape believe that if the recession nosedived, which is one side of the V, then it should bottom out and quickly recover to its former glory, the other side of the V.

The U shapers believe that if a recession begins quickly, but then slows down, remains at the bottom for a while and then skyrockets back to its previous glory, that it is U shaped.

Which Are Right?

If you look at any of the previous recessions that were caused by the bursting of a huge speculative bubble, you will find that the recoveries took a long long time to come about, which suggests that the V shape believers are wrong in expecting a quick recovery from the present recession, because the economy cratered very quickly indeed.

Those that believe that we’re in a U shape right now are perhaps closer to the truth, because they believe that exiting from the present crisis will take a great deal of time.

U-shapers believe however, that what will drive the recovery is investors that slowly come back into the market to take advantage of the low prices.

This recession is so deep however, that it’s not investors that will have to bring about some kind of recovery, but consumers, and right now they’re not playing ball.

Consumers account for around 70% of the U.S. economy and they’re the ones that took a real beating this time, and until they start spending you can forget about any serious kind of recovery.

What, No V Or U Shaped Return To Former Glory?

The two chances of regaining what once was, are probably slim and nothing.

The question might be better phrased, “how will consumers start fueling the economy?”.

The growing line of unemployed won’t fuel it, and householders will have a major problem getting home equity loans and perhaps worst of all, those that do have a little cash are intent on keeping it, and we just saw consumer confidence take another dive.

The probable truth is that America has seen the end of its economic, and perhaps its military hegemony, and Obama for right or wrong, certainly doesn’t want a return to either them.

America is surviving on loans right now, and will be for the foreseeable future.

The Chinese have a two billion dollar surplus, and will soon demand higher returns on their investment in the U.S. because they see it as overburdened with debt and that will only increase the U.S.’s debt mountain.

Americans will replace worn out cars and appliances of course, but who will invest in factories and businesses that build those things?

The original question was;

Will the U.S. Return To Its Former Glory?

The answer is almost certainly ‘no’, and a Scottish historian by the name of Professor Alexander Fraser Tyler, who wrote in 1787 about the decline and fall of the Athenian Republic over two thousand years before, perhaps explains it best.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”

“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith
From spiritual faith to great courage
From courage to liberty
From liberty to abundance
From abundance to complacency
From complacency to apathy
From apathy to dependence
From dependence back again into bondage”.

Related posts:

1. The Economic News Is Both Good And Bad
2. A Meltdown Of The Euro Will Be Far Far Worse Than The Banking Crisis
3. Our Economy – When Even The Ugly Looks Pretty.

U.S. household wealth fell in the first quarter by $1.3 trillion, extending the biggest slump on record, as home and stock prices dropped.

Real-estate-related household assets decreased by $551.1 billion, which follows a $974.5 billion decrease in the fourth quarter, and mortgage borrowing was unchanged from January through March.

Retail sales did rise in May for the first time in three months, but the increase was solely due to people returning to automobile showrooms looking for bargains.

The economy contracted at a 5.7% annual rate in the first quarter, and consumer spending rose by 1.5%.

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1. $5.1 Trillion Decline In Household Wealth Is Almost Equal to Size Of U.S. Econcomy
2. Tarp And Its Tentacles Could End Up Costing $23.7 Trillion
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What do they mean “probably rose”?

Surely, they did or they didn’t.

Sifting through the reports the good news was;

Orders for goods meant to last several years increased 0.4% making it the second gain in three months.

Combined sales of new and existing homes probably advanced to a 5.02 million annual rate from a 4.93 million pace in March, but again the reports say “probably”.

If true, and not “probable” then the above is good new but a stabilization in housing and manufacturing would help the present economic slump since they are the two areas suffering the biggest contractions. It won’t be possible to maintain these gains however unless banks loosen their purse strings, if unemployment continues to rise.

David Resler, who is the chief economist at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York added to the “probables” and “expecteds” by saying “Evidence that the 16-month recession is coming to an end continues to build. Home sales and building activity seem to be stabilizing and manufacturing surveys point to smaller production cuts and smaller job losses”.

A spokesperson for Toll Brothers Inc., the largest U.S. builder of luxury homes, said last week, “That signs were beginning to emerge that the worst was over”, and “We believe the U.S. government’s forceful intervention in the capital markets has begun to restore some confidence that the financial system is on the road to stabilization”.

So the pundits are now telling us that the recovery is, “probable”, “expected” and “suggested”, and I hope that what they see is their glass balls is correct and that it will all happen soon, but I’d have liked to have seen more definitives.

Related posts:

1. U.S. Fixed Mortgage Rates Continue To Drop
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The “Jack Welch” Portfolio Algorithm « CSS Analytics

cssanalytics.wordpress.com10/14/11

Jack Welch is one of the most recognizable names in business as the former CEO of General Electric. His skills and leadership in running one of the largest companies in the world have been the source of numerous books …

Jack Welch Led Gossip Sessions « Leadership Freak

leadershipfreak.wordpress.com11/18/11

Jack Welch Led Gossip Sessions. With typical candor and color, Jack Welch said, “We always had one hell-of-ah gossip session after every meeting.” (ELP, 2011, NYC). At least two things happened at meetings Jack Welch …

Jack Welch, the former chief executive officer of General Electric Co., and author of “Straight from the Gut”, has been very busy on the talk shows and speaking circuit lately, and here’s what he’s been saying.

“The government has taken advantage of the economic crisis to get a tighter grip on the US economy, and this does not bode well for business”.

“There are so many things that bother me right now. Over the last couple of weeks, things have really gone south in the government relationships”.

“These guys, when they came in, said a crisis like this is impossible to waste. The government seems to think there’s a crisis and now we can get in here and do all the things that we dreamed about when we were at Harvard, when we were somewhere else”.

“The government now controls about 37% of the US economy, including health care, and this makes businesses uneasy, despite promises that the state’s role will shrink when the economy gets better. Now, these guys say they want to get out. Do you believe that? Do they want to get out?”.

“The Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds, with the conditions attached to them, are also something to be avoided by businesses. And the news that six insurers secured a green light from the Treasury Department to receive funds under the TARP is not good news”. Referring to Obama, Welch said, “I don’t particularly like where he’s taking us. To get the money he needs, he has to have a fake budget. He’s fooling people about how we’re going to have the top line support the programs in the middle without enormous taxes”. Asked about the restructuring of Chrysler, he replied, “I didn’t like the terms. The creditors’ rights were trashed and the unions got 55% of the company”. He did have a couple of good things to say though, “The president’s plan to implement the nation’s first national standard for greenhouse-gas emissions was sound. This emissions plan is not one that gives me great trouble’. And on the direction of the economy, “I want new housing starts to go down, down, down. It’s the only way to get housing prices stabilized, and we need to stabilize housing prices. While the market didn’t like it, housing starts going down again I like it”.

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1. U.S. Housing Starts Unexpectedly Fall To Record Low
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