Never had to work a day in her life, had everything handed to her on a silver platter, married to the president and she still complains and tries to stir racial tensions. I thought when the messiah was elected racism was going to end. Seems like this regime is doing its best to divide the country by race.
http://www.bloomberg.com/polit...in-graduation-speech
Replies sorted oldest to newest
How does a person that is half white, as white as he is black, yet denies his white half and claims black as his 'race', and is, along with his wife, as racist as they come and always attacking whites, end racism?
The two idiots in the warehouse are a good fit, both are hypocritical racist.
With a history to prove it. It's far from over and you ain't seen nothing yet.
Because of gullible ignorance the country was divided with his election.
The total package of the points obumer was told to accomplish hasn't
been completed yet.........
Never had to work a day in her life, had everything handed to her on a silver platter, married to the president and she still complains and tries to stir racial tensions. I thought when the messiah was elected racism was going to end. Seems like this regime is doing its best to divide the country by race.
http://www.bloomberg.com/polit...in-graduation-speech
"Never had to work a day in her life"? Sure. That is just as true as that silly old canard about the President never having any previous job except as a community organizer. You clowns just make this stuff up and then barf it out as though it were sacred anointed truth. Pitiful!
Never had to work a day in her life, had everything handed to her on a silver platter, married to the president and she still complains and tries to stir racial tensions. I thought when the messiah was elected racism was going to end. Seems like this regime is doing its best to divide the country by race.
http://www.bloomberg.com/polit...in-graduation-speech
"Never had to work a day in her life"? Sure. That is just as true as that silly old canard about the President never having any previous job except as a community organizer. You clowns just make this stuff up and then barf it out as though it were sacred anointed truth. Pitiful!
What's piitful is your ignorant support of the socialist muslim.
Never had to work a day in her life, had everything handed to her on a silver platter, married to the president and she still complains and tries to stir racial tensions. I thought when the messiah was elected racism was going to end. Seems like this regime is doing its best to divide the country by race.
http://www.bloomberg.com/polit...in-graduation-speech
"Never had to work a day in her life"? Sure. That is just as true as that silly old canard about the President never having any previous job except as a community organizer. You clowns just make this stuff up and then barf it out as though it were sacred anointed truth. Pitiful!
What's piitful is your ignorant support of the socialist muslim.
___
No. What's pitiful is your determinedly absurd and grossly ignorant characterization of the President of the United States and Commander in Chief of Her Armed Forces, the Honorable Barack Hussein Obama, as a "socialist muslim."
Why don't you give us a rundown of his and her illustrious work records and exactly what qualifies either one of them as the "know it alls" they purport to be?
Why don't you give us a rundown of his and her illustrious work records and exactly what qualifies either one of them as the "know it alls" they purport to be?
____
Why don't YOU document for the record where either or both of them has purported to be a "know-it-all"?
I don't have to document anything. That would be like trying to prove that you are a know it all. Much like trying to wrangle mercury. We all know how they act, and the comments that people like that make in conversation. He and she alike have thrown their hat into the ring when they should have kept their mouths out of it. Because of Obama's meddling, race relations are worse now than they were when he was elected. He could not stay out of the Martin fiasco. Because of her meddling, more kids are going without eating schools lunches than ever before. People who don't know what they are doing should best just stay out of the situation. Something you might want to hang your hat on as well.
The two idiots in the warehouse are a good fit, both are hypocritical racist.
With a history to prove it. It's far from over and you ain't seen nothing yet.
Because of gullible ignorance the country was divided with his election.
The total package of the points obumer was told to accomplish hasn't
been completed yet.........
_____
But he still has about 18 months left to round up all dissidents and ship them to FEMA camps and confiscate all guns now in private ownership.
Watch out for those menacing black helicopters! Stock up now, before the rush, on those freeze-dried foods; and above all, hide your guns!!!
The Horror! The HORRORRR!
I've not read anyone stating Obama's only work experience was as a neighborhood organizer. I know he was an instructor at U of Chicago on law, an state senator and worked at a hot dog stand, Whether it was the same stand his pusher ran, I am unsure, Most have commented upon his lack of executive experience, which still shows. Hamlet temporized less.
I don't have to document anything. That would be like trying to prove that you are a know it all. Much like trying to wrangle mercury. We all know how they act, and the comments that people like that make in conversation. He and she alike have thrown their hat into the ring when they should have kept their mouths out of it. because of Obama's meddling, race relations are worse now than they were when he was elected. Because of her meddling, more kids are going without eating schools lunches than ever before. People who don't know what they are doing should best just stay out of the situation. Something you might want to hang your hat on as well.
____
"I don't have to document anything."
Hm-m-m, that is a nice little evasive lead-in to dodging and deflecting.
Sorry, Contenduh, we ain't playing that game today. you started it. All I asked was for you to prove how someone like these two are qualified to tell us how to fix our problems.
Since so far I have not seen them do much except B & M about people holding them back. Heck, they are living the American dream, what more do they want?
Sorry, Contenduh, we ain't playing that game today. you started it. All I asked was for you to prove how someone like these two are qualified to tell us how to fix our problems.
Since so far I have not seen them do much except B & M about people holding them back. Heck, they are living the American dream, what more do they want?
____
Try these:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.c...s035755.php?page=all
(Also check out the main article, The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama, and the issue’s Editor’s Note.)
1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000 troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,000, with 23,000 slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next year.
6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.
7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.
8. Recapitalized Banks: In the midst of financial crisis, approved controversial Treasury Department plan to lure private capital into the country’s largest banks via “stress tests” of their balance sheets and a public-private fund to buy their “toxic” assets. Got banks back on their feet at essentially zero cost to the government.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
10. Toppled Moammar Gaddafi: In March 2011, joined a coalition of European and Arab governments in military action, including air power and naval blockade, against Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians and support rebel troops. Gaddafi’s forty-two-year rule ended when the dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost.
11. Told Mubarak to Go: On February 1, 2011, publicly called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus weakening the dictator’s position and putting America on the right side of the Arab Spring. Mubarak ended thirty-year rule when overthrown on February 11.
12. Reversed Bush Torture Policies: Two days after taking office, nullified Bush-era rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain “enhanced” interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush legal rulings supporting the use of these techniques.
13. Improved America’s Image Abroad: With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power&rdquo
during the Bush years. From 2008 to 2011, favorable opinion toward the United States rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent.
14. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Spending: As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. Starting July 2010 all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. Treasury will save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
15. Created Race to the Top: With funds from stimulus, started $4.35 billion program of competitive grants to encourage and reward states for education reform.
16. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards: Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025.
17. Coordinated International Response to Financial Crisis: To keep world economy out of recession in 2009 and 2010, helped secure from G-20 nations more than $500 billion for the IMF to provide lines of credit and other support to emerging market countries, which kept them liquid and avoided crises with their currencies.
18. Passed Mini Stimuli: To help families hurt by the recession and spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, signed series of measures (July 22, 2010; December 17, 2010; December 23, 2011) to extend unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes.
19. Began Asia “Pivot”: In 2011, reoriented American military and diplomatic priorities and focus from the Middle East and Europe to the Asian-Pacific region. Executed multipronged strategy of positively engaging China while reasserting U.S. leadership in the region by increasing American military presence and crafting new commercial, diplomatic, and military alliances with neighboring countries made uncomfortable by recent Chinese behavior.
20. Increased Support for Veterans: With so many soldiers coming home from Iraq and Iran with serious physical and mental health problems, yet facing long waits for services, increased 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 10 percent. Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans.
21. Tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran’s nuclear program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran’s petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran’s banks and with Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from Iran.
22. Created Conditions to Begin Closing Dirtiest Power Plants: New EPA restrictions on mercury and toxic pollution, issued in December 2011, likely to lead to the closing of between sixty-eight and 231 of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants. Estimated cost to utilities: at least $11 billion by 2016. Estimated health benefits: $59 billion to $140 billion. Will also significantly reduce carbon emissions and, with other regulations, comprises what’s been called Obama’s “stealth climate policy.”
23. Passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
24. Eliminated Catch-22 in Pay Equality Laws: Signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if that discrimination happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.
25. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court:Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and third woman to serve, in 2009; and Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to serve, in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.
26. Improved Food Safety System: In 2011, signed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which boosts the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expands its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the current food safety practices of countries importing products into America.
27. Achieved New START Treaty: Signed with Russia (2010) and won ratification in Congress (2011) of treaty that limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400), and reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009, through which each country can monitor the other.
28. Expanded National Service: Signed Serve America Act in 2009, which authorized a tripling of the size of AmeriCorps. Program grew 13 percent to 85,000 members across the country by 2012, when new House GOP majority refused to appropriate more funds for further expansion.
29. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection: Signed Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (2009), which designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers.
30. Gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco: Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009). Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled “light” cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
31. Pushed Federal Agencies to Be Green Leaders: Issued executive order in 2009 requiring all federal agencies to make plans to soften their environmental impacts by 2020. Goals include 30 percent reduction in fleet gasoline use, 26 percent boost in water efficiency, and sustainability requirements for 95 percent of all federal contracts. Because federal government is the country’s single biggest purchaser of goods and services, likely to have ripple effects throughout the economy for years to come.
32. Passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possessionfrom100 to1 to 18 to1.
33. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense: Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
34. Began Post-Post-9/11 Military Builddown: After winning agreement from congressional Republicans and Democrats in summer 2011 budget deal to reduce projected defense spending by $450 billion, proposed new DoD budget this year with cuts of that size and a new national defense strategy that would shrink ground forces from 570,000 to 490,000 over the next ten years while increasing programs in intelligence gathering and cyberwarfare.
35. Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission: Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
36. Invested Heavily in Renewable Technology: As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous administration, in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels.
37. Crafting Next-Generation School Tests: Devoted $330 million in stimulus money to pay two consortia of states and universities to create competing versions of new K-12 student performance tests based on latest psychometric research. New tests could transform the learning environment in vast majority of public school classrooms beginning in 2014.
38. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges: In effort to fight predatory practices of some for-profit colleges, Department of Education issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011 cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 35 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans and/or if the average former student spends more than 12 percent of his or her total earnings servicing student loans.
39. Improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food served to students.
40. Expanded Hate Crimes Protections: Signed Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), which expands existing hate crime protections to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin.
41. Avoided Scandal: As of November 2011, served longer than any president in decades without a scandal, as measured by the appearance of the word “scandal” (or lack thereof) on the front page of the Washington Post.
42. Brokered Agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to act, used moral authority of his office to convince oil company to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out without lawsuits. By comparison, it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the Exxon ValdezAlaska oil spill case to receive $1.3 billion.
43. Created Recovery.gov: Web site run by independent board of inspectors general looking for fraud and abuse in stimulus spending, provides public with detailed information on every contract funded by $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks partly to this transparency, board has uncovered very little fraud, and Web site has become national model: “The stimulus has done more to promote transparency at almost all levels of government than any piece of legislation in recent memory,” reports Governing magazine.
44. Pushed Broadband Coverage: Proposed and obtained in 2011 Federal Communications Commission approval for a shift of $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband Internet for lower-income rural families.
45. Expanded Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
46. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide: In 2009, EPA declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its production.
47. Expanded Stem Cell Research: In 2009, eliminated the Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, which shows promise in treating spinal injuries, among many other areas.
48. Provided Payment to Wronged Minority Farmers: In 2009, signed Claims Resolution Act, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who the government cheated out of loans and natural resource royalties in years past.
49. Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Appointed two envoys to Sudan and personally attended a special UN meeting on the area. Through U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful split in 2011.
50. Killed the F-22: In 2009, ended further purchases of Lockheed Martin single-seat, twin-engine, fighter aircraft, which cost $358 million apiece. Though the military had 187 built, the plane has never flown a single combat mission. Eliminating it saved $4 billion.
___
Have some more:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.c...a035754.php?page=all
This you consider great?
1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
The ACA was written in secret at the office of Harry Reid with cronyism in mind. To sell it to the American people, Obama lied in a manner and extent unknown in past administrations.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
The recovery, such as it is, is the worst since the 1930s. More businesses are failing than are started. The real unemployment/underemployment rate hovers above 10.5 percent. Job creation is below the population increase. Most of the jobs created are going to immigrants. More adults are unemployed than ever.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
The reporting requirements apply to all banks, no matter the size. Large banks can afford the extreme paperwork, small and regional banks can’t. The creation of such banks is decreasing and those existent are consolidating. Progressives encouraged people to move their accounts to such banks. Then, discouraged the existence and creation of such. Again, cronyism.
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
They’re back and a new threat, ISIS, make al Qaeda appear moderate, Thanks Obama!
Most of the so called greatness equals or surpasses the above ineptness and worst.
You are a whole new kind of stupid, aren't you? Good grief, please leave your head to science when you go. It would be interesting to see how one neuron can come up with so much BS.
How obama might get on Rushmore.
Or
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
The reporting requirements apply to all banks, no matter the size. Large banks can afford the extreme paperwork, small and regional banks can’t. The creation of such banks is decreasing and those existent are consolidating. Progressives encouraged people to move their accounts to such banks. Then, discouraged the existence and creation of such. Again, cronyism.
Then how do you propose to protect against the kind of catastrophe we had in 2009?
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
They’re back and a new threat, ISIS, make al Qaeda appear moderate, Thanks Obama!
There is no way the jihadists, having been stirred up by the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq, will recede any time soon. Don't blame that on Obama; he inherited the imperialists' mess.
______
So you don't like 4 out of 50? What about the other 46?
This you consider great?
1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
The ACA was written in secret at the office of Harry Reid with cronyism in mind. To sell it to the American people, Obama lied in a manner and extent unknown in past administrations.
There is no law regulating the location where legislation my be crafted. The lying part--you are entitled to your opinion, but the lies told that got us into war with Iraq outstrip any misrepresentations, intentional or otherwise, relative to the ACA.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
The recovery, such as it is, is the worst since the 1930s. More businesses are failing than are started. The real unemployment/underemployment rate hovers above 10.5 percent. Job creation is below the population increase. Most of the jobs created are going to immigrants. More adults are unemployed than ever.
Maybe "worst since the 1930s," but it IS happening and it takes a while to undo the mischief engendered by under-regulation of the enormous private financial enterprises that almost sunk the ship of state. Nothing at the scale of those thieving, corrupt enterprises was present in the 1930s.
How obama might get on Rushmore.
Or
I have no problem with Obama on Mt Rushmore - he can hike up it anytime.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
The reporting requirements apply to all banks, no matter the size. Large banks can afford the extreme paperwork, small and regional banks can’t. The creation of such banks is decreasing and those existent are consolidating. Progressives encouraged people to move their accounts to such banks. Then, discouraged the existence and creation of such. Again, cronyism.
Then how do you propose to protect against the kind of catastrophe we had in 2009?
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
They’re back and a new threat, ISIS, make al Qaeda appear moderate, Thanks Obama!
There is no way the jihadists, having been stirred up by the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq, will recede any time soon. Don't blame that on Obama; he inherited the imperialists' mess.
______
So you don't like 4 out of 50? What about the other 46?
_______________________
I took the first four as examples. I may well comment on the rest at my leisure. For you, Condie, this was a simple copy and paste exercise -- little time or mental effort required, I may be retired, but have much more interesting things to occupy my time as well as obligations.
This you consider great?
1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
The ACA was written in secret at the office of Harry Reid with cronyism in mind. To sell it to the American people, Obama lied in a manner and extent unknown in past administrations.
There is no law regulating the location where legislation my be crafted. The lying part--you are entitled to your opinion, but the lies told that got us into war with Iraq outstrip any misrepresentations, intentional or otherwise, relative to the ACA.
Sorry, but the Constitution clearly states that bills laying taxes and appropriating funds must originate in the House. Why this has not been contested is beyond me. `The lies that Obama perpetrated to sell Obamacare affects the most personal decisions a person must make -- his health, for the rest of one's life. Obama lied to each of us and those to follow. That is a tidal wave of lies.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
The recovery, such as it is, is the worst since the 1930s. More businesses are failing than are started. The real unemployment/underemployment rate hovers above 10.5 percent. Job creation is below the population increase. Most of the jobs created are going to immigrants. More adults are unemployed than ever.
Maybe "worst since the 1930s," but it IS happening and it takes a while to undo the mischief engendered by under-regulation of the enormous private financial enterprises that almost sunk the ship of state. Nothing at the scale of those thieving, corrupt enterprises was present in the 1930s.
Once more, how did deregulation cause the recession? I've repeatedly asked this question on this forum and other blogs. Have yet to receive an answer that will hold up. The disastrous recovery is a result of a combination of incompetence and doctrinaire progressive actions. Its nothing to brag about -- that the US is reduced to a European economy.
5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000 troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,000, with 23,000 slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next year.
Combat still ongoing. No definitive victory or assurance we won’t return to eliminate another nest of jehadim.
6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.
This may be the one item I agree he did right. Except, he gave the order to special operations forces, not special forces.
7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.
Ford turned itself around with no help from the government. Chrysler was forced into a marriage with Fiat, leaving Chrysler a minor portion of Fiat. Fiat now has a foothold on the US market that many substandard European automakers abandoned because they couldn’t meet US safety and environmental standard – notice any new Renaults or Citroens in the US. The bailout was a major lifeline to the UAW, UAW had the same claim as other unsecured creditors. Instead of obeying US bankruptcy laws, Obama made a gift of over $26 billion to UAW. One of many laws we would learn he ignored as time passed.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
The reporting requirements apply to all banks, no matter the size. Large banks can afford the extreme paperwork, small and regional banks can’t. The creation of such banks is decreasing and those existent are consolidating. Progressives encouraged people to move their accounts to such banks. Then, discouraged the existence and creation of such. Again, cronyism.
Then how do you propose to protect against the kind of catastrophe we had in 2009?
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
They’re back and a new threat, ISIS, make al Qaeda appear moderate, Thanks Obama!
There is no way the jihadists, having been stirred up by the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq, will recede any time soon. Don't blame that on Obama; he inherited the imperialists' mess.
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So you don't like 4 out of 50? What about the other 46?
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I took the first four as examples. I may well comment on the rest at my leisure. For you, Condie, this was a simple copy and paste exercise -- little time or mental effort required, I may be retired, but have much more interesting things to occupy my time as well as obligations.
You mean he wasn't posting "satire"?
And here I was laughing the entire time.
The biggest paradox of the so-called US recovery is that in the same report in which the US Department of Labor reported that the US unemployment has dropped to a depression-low 5.4%, a level suggesting near zero "slack" in the labor force, the BLS also indicated that the number of people not in the labor force rose to a fresh all time high of 93.2 million, keeping the participation rate at a level first seen in 1978.
How does one make sense of this glaring contradiction and paradoxical data, which one one hand suggest the recovery is fully in place, while on the other screams depression?
For the answer we go to the WSJ's report on the curious case of America's vanishing worker.
To be sure, this "curious case" covers nothing new for regular Zero Hedge readers, but may explain to casual observers how it is possible that America's labor metrics have devolved to such a Schrodingerian state in which the US labor market is both alive and dead, depending on whose propaganda one observes.
For the answer, the WSJ tracks the career, or rather lack thereof, of Denny Ryder of Decatur, Illinois, 47 years old, who is one of hundreds of thousands of (former) employees in the industrial Midwest who has been forced to move away, retire or give up on finding a job. As a result, the unemployment rate in this has fallen even as Denny is no closer to being able to provide for his family.
As the WSJ reports, "by one key gauge of economic health, this industrial city three hours south of Chicago is well on the way to recovery. Hit hard by the recession, when its unemployment rate topped 14%, Decatur over the past year has seen one of the swiftest declines in joblessness in the country, with the rate dropping to 7% in March from 10.2% a year earlier."
The problem: it's nothing but a statistical mirage, a lie.
[L]ook closer, and this city of 75,000 resembles many communities across the industrial Midwest, where the unemployment rate is falling fast in part because workers are disappearing: moving away, retiring or no longer looking for a job.
“In cases like that, the unemployment rate makes things look better than they really are,” said Karl Kuykendall, U.S. regional economist at IHS Global Insight. In terms of overall economic growth, he said, “a decline in population and workforce is devastating.”
[T]he falling unemployment rate doesn’t tell the full story of a recovery that remains uneven nearly six years after the recession ended. Among the 20 metropolitan areas where unemployment fell by at least 2.7 percentage points in the past year, 16 also saw their workforces shrink over the same period, according to Labor Department data. Half of those were in Michigan or Illinois, including Detroit, Decatur, Flint, Mich., and Rockford, Ill.
Most places saw at least some hiring and job creation. In Decatur, though, payrolls fell over the past year due to layoffs, attrition, transfers or other causes.
In other words, anyone daring to look closer behind the thin facade of the "recovery" uncovers a rotting, collapsing core: an economy not only not flourishing, but shrinking even as it creates the false impression of growth.
Behold the recovery "mirage" in four simple charts:
Back to Denny Ryder, who wasn’t looking to leave Decatur, where he was born and raised. But he was laid off from a Caterpillar Inc. plant here in late 2013 as the heavy-equipment maker faced a slowdown in demand from mining companies.
What happens next is a story familiar to millions of Americans who not only have no weekly paycheck, but whose plight no longer is even accounted for in the Labor department's monthly assessment of US economic health.
So Mr. Ryder and his wife relocated to Winston-Salem, N.C., last year where he found work at a Caterpillar contractor. While Mr. Ryder was confident he could find a job in Decatur, he didn’t feel it would match the wages and benefits at Caterpillar, where he worked for 19 years. “I probably could have lost a lot of money and found a job in Decatur,” said Mr. Ryder, who has taken to life in North Carolina, from enjoying the hills to swimming in the ocean for the first time.
"Probably." And perhaps, not. That's the magic of proving a negative: it's impossible which is why economists do it all the time.
What one can prove looking at the data, is that any suggestion of a wholesale economic recovery is nothing but Goebbelsian propaganda.
The fitful recovery in Decatur has laid bare challenges building for decades in many places in the Midwest and Northeast. Populations are shrinking, and the workforce is getting older. A historical reliance on manufacturing has hurt aging industrial cities as the U.S. economy continues its shift to service jobs. And the recession expanded the share of the working-age population who don’t have a job and aren’t looking for one.
In the Decatur area, the Labor Department’s rough estimates show falling unemployment, a shrinking labor force and declining nonfarm payrolls. But the data don’t explain why the workforce is smaller and where the unemployed are going.
There are clues, such as the lunch crowd at the Good Samaritan Inn, a soup kitchen where the Rev. Stacey Brohard is executive director. He said many people lack skills or face other barriers to jobs and have given up on finding work. The recession only increased their ranks, he said.
You mean soaring soup lines aren't counted as employed by the BLS? How is that possible when hookers and drug dealers somehow contribute to GDP in the UK, Spain and Italy? Surely someone at the BLS will promptly fix this oversight.
But it's not just the Labor department's blatant fabrication of a recovery narrative: what is worse is that America's aging workers have been left to fend for themselves even as their absence from any official counts is meant to signify America's fake economic renaissance.
Decatur’s population skews older—the metro area’s median age was 39.7 in 2013, compared with 37.5 for the U.S. as a whole. Some older workers were laid off or took early retirement during the downturn but remained in the labor force, looking for work. Now, with the stock market near all-time highs, their portfolios look healthier and they feel more comfortable retiring for good, said Ron Payne, a labor market economist at the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Decatur faces a dual challenge: getting older workers retrained so they can extend their careers, and keeping younger workers from moving away. Richland Community College increasingly is concentrating on people over 50 years old—many of whom haven’t been in a classroom in decades.
And it's doing a **** good job: as we also showed last week, the number of Americans 55 and older who do have a job has never been higher. Surely the basis of any solid recovery.
As for the younger ones, why they too are in luck: "City officials are courting young professionals with moves such as banning trucks from downtown, promoting outdoor dining and developing recreational opportunities around Lake Decatur." Speaking of outdoor dining, these are precisely the jobs the young end up getting because if there is one thing America has a record of in addition to jobs for old workers, it is a record number of waiter and bartender jobs as well.
It's not all bad:
Since the recession, the city has built a new water tower, replaced sewer lines and cut the ribbon on a new freight-rail terminal—all with the goal of retaining industrial employers and attracting new ones.
“First, it’s recovery, which is the phase we’re probably still in right now, but expansion eventually follows that,” said Ryan McCrady, president of city’s economic-development corporation.
Which is also known as "hope" which always dies last. Sadly, for the vast majority of Americans "hope" is all they have left.
As for the 1% of US society which has reaped the benefits of 7 years of ZIRP and QE, there we will admit: the recovery is all too real.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-11/americ...
Contenduh and the rest of the Obamanites are in a state of denial, when the people that really understand economic growth are contradicting their lies.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
The reporting requirements apply to all banks, no matter the size. Large banks can afford the extreme paperwork, small and regional banks can’t. The creation of such banks is decreasing and those existent are consolidating. Progressives encouraged people to move their accounts to such banks. Then, discouraged the existence and creation of such. Again, cronyism.
Then how do you propose to protect against the kind of catastrophe we had in 2009?
Easy. Revoke the reporting requirements for all but the largest 10 banks. They were the ones that might severely hamper recovery.
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
They’re back and a new threat, ISIS, make al Qaeda appear moderate, Thanks Obama!
There is no way the jihadists, having been stirred up by the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq, will recede any time soon. Don't blame that on Obama; he inherited the imperialists' mess.
The jehadim were already stirred up and had been for over a decade before 9/11 -- remember the first bombing of the Twin Towers. With the demise of Khadaffi their territory and access to weaponry expanded. Just as Bush inherited the problem from Clinton, so it goes to Obama,
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So you don't like 4 out of 50? What about the other 46?
Continuing review of Obama's greatness.
8. Recapitalized Banks: In the midst of financial crisis, approved controversial Treasury Department plan to lure private capital into the country’s largest banks via “stress tests” of their balance sheets and a public-private fund to buy their “toxic” assets. Got banks back on their feet at essentially zero cost to the government.
Well, whoopee! The Treasury required the 18 largest banks to retain more of their capital than in the past in order to ensure liquidity during a recession -- Tier 1 capital to be exact. Tier 1 capital is cash and common stocks -- kept in their vaults or at the Fed, at least at the Fed, the deposits earn a bit of interest. As to common stocks -- during a recession, how well does one think they will retain the value the bank purchased the stocks -- especially at today's inflated prices, And, how did the above attract new private capital, especially with so many bank instruments paying almost zero interest.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
OK, this may be a bit of fairness, I'm awaiting long term results, As gays make up about 3.5 percent of male population and lesbians about 1.5 percent of female population, its will not affect the military in major way. Not a greatness, sorry,. Considering Condie's opinion of gays, this is mildly surprising
10. Toppled Moammar Gaddafi: In March 2011, joined a coalition of European and Arab governments in military action, including air power and naval blockade, against Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians and support rebel troops. Gaddafi’s forty-two-year rule ended when the dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost.
This was one of Obama's major blunders, not a greatness. Probably, will eventually rank with invading Iraq. Libya had surrendered his nuclear weapons components and signed a treaty to destroy their chemical weapons. Libya, under Khadafi, was not prize, but was out of the business of supporting terrorists. After Khadafi fell, the place went to hell. It has two governments, which barely control the area they sit upon Militias run most of the place, with ISIS growing in influence and power. Much of Libya's weapons and munitions are now in Syria under the control of ISIS and al Qaeda. Central African mercenaries employed by Khadafi went south with their arms and more. Noticed the upsurge in terrorist activity in central Africa, now. As to no Americans died, add four to that one zero number. Also,the Egyptian Copts slaughtered by ISIS who fled to Libya in search of jobs.
Almost a disaster, no greatness here.
11. Told Mubarak to Go: On February 1, 2011, publicly called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus weakening the dictator’s position and putting America on the right side of the Arab Spring. Mubarak ended thirty-year rule when overthrown on February 11.
At best this is neutral. Mumarak was an SOB, but our SOB, The Egyptian people did wish his departure, but the replacement was not to their liking, either. The new ruling party was controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the progenitor of practically every 20th / 21st century Islamist terror organization including al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbo’allah. Again, the Egyptians rose up demanding their departure from power. The replacement, el Sisi, former general, was elected in as fair an election as may be found in the ME. Better than the last two, he has called for a reformation in Islam. He’s harassed by Hamas in the east and ISIS in Libya. If, the original party had continued, it would have been a disaster the size of the fall of the shah of Iran. Islamcists controlling the largest Arab population, the Suez canal and Israel’s western front. Obama lucked out on this thru no ability of his own.
12. Reversed Bush Torture Policies: Two days after taking office, nullified Bush-era rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain “enhanced” interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush legal rulings supporting the use of these techniques.
The major incidents of torture which occurred at Abu Ghraib, were not authorized. The perpetrators were prosecuted during the Bush administration. Obama replaced enhanced interrogations and most interrogations with summary executions, to include US citizens, by drone. While, personally, I have no problem killing non-US citizens involved with terrorism and even agree with killing el Awlaki. The result has been a dearth of Humint. The US has missed much of the happening in the terrorist ranks Remember Obama calling ISIS a JV team. No greatness here and a possible disaster in the future,
