What Has Obama Done to Help the Economy?

[Adam]

Obama supporters persist in claiming Obama "brought us back from the brink." As far as I can see, after 3 1/2 years we're no better off and we'd be better off had he done absolutely nothing. Can anyone point to what he's done to help the economy?

I apparently missed us being back from the brink

[B-Man]

Obama Tells Tall Tales About The Bush Years

Fri, Jul 20 2012

By JOHN MERLINE

 

 

A key attack line in President Obama's campaign stump speech these days is to claim that the country has tried Mitt Romney's economic policies already, and they were a dismal failure.

 

Romney, he says, wants to do two things: Cut taxes for the rich and massively deregulate the economy.

 

"The truth is," Obama says, "we tried (that) for almost a decade, and it didn't work."

 

Bush-era tax cuts and deregulation, he argues "resulted in the most sluggish job growth in decades" along with "rising inequality, surpluses turned into deficits, culminating in the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes."

 

There's just one problem. Obama's got his history wrong.

 

First, Bush was no big deregulator.

 

In fact, under Bush, the size and cost of the federal government's regulatory machinery increased dramatically, as Bush imposed dozens of major new rules.

 

Regulatory staffing, for example, climbed 44% during the Bush years , according to a study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and George Washington University.

 

By contrast, regulatory staffing was essentially flat under President Clinton.

 

Likewise, federal spending on regulations shot up 45% in real terms under Bush, compared with 26% under Clinton.

 

John Merline

.

[Koko78]

Bush-era tax cuts and deregulation, he argues "resulted in the most sluggish job growth in decades" along with "rising inequality, surpluses turned into deficits, culminating in the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes."

 

Is anyone really surprised that King Oblambam is still trying to run against Bush?

[IDBillzFan]

Not a big fan of posting stuff from Drudge since most of you visit the site anyway, but this is just too ridiculous to leave alone.

 

http://www.washingto...bermann-maddow/

 

Stimulus funds spent to air pro-Obama ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows

 

The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two popular MSNBC cable shows, records show.

 

The commercials ran on MSNBC on shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann in 2009, but the contract didn’t report any jobs created, according to records recently reviewed by The Washington Times.

 

Spending reports under the federal Recovery Act show $495,000 paid to McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, which the Labor Department hired to raise awareness “among employers and influencers about the [Job Corps] program’s existing and new training initiatives in high growth and environmentally friendly career areas” as well as spreading the word to prospective Job Corps enrollees.

 

Ultimately, the firm negotiated ad buys for “two approved spots” airing 14 times per week for two months on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” according to a project report, which listed the number zero under a section of the report asking how many jobs had been created through the stimulus contract.

 

I guess shovel ready wasn't as shovel ready as shovel ready was supposed to be.

[/dev/null]

I guess shovel ready wasn't as shovel ready as shovel ready was supposed to be.

 

The Stimulous® was a shovel ready project

 

It dug money out of people's pockets and shoveled into Democratic $upporters

[B-Man]

The Stimulous® was a shovel ready project

 

It dug money out of people's pockets and shoveled into Democratic $upporters

 

That it did..........................

 

Labor Department spends stimulus funds for ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows

 

Contract shows no new jobs were created

 

The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two MSNBC cable shows, records show.

The commercials ran on MSNBC on shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann in 2009, but the contract didn’t report any jobs created, according to records reviewed recently by The Washington Times.

 

 

 

 

Its all about saving one job.

Labor Department spends stimulus funds for ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows - Washington Times

[GG]

 

I guess shovel ready wasn't as shovel ready as shovel ready was supposed to be.

 

No. Those shows were truly shovel ready.

[BillsFan-4-Ever]

And hey, how about those gas prices?

 

Are you referring to those that Obama himself controls?

 

Or the industry and Wall Street speculation?

[Gary M]

Obama supporters persist in claiming Obama "brought us back from the brink." As far as I can see, after 3 1/2 years we're no better off and we'd be better off had he done absolutely nothing. Can anyone point to what he's done to help the economy?

 

http://startthinkingright.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/bush-vs-obama-on-gas-prices.png

[IDBillzFan]

http://startthinking...-gas-prices.png

 

Yes, but he wants it that way so more than 27 people will buy a Chevy Volt.

[Gary M]

Are you referring to those that Obama himself controls?

 

Or the industry and Wall Street speculation?

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/30/obama-administration-anno_n_745602.html

 

http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/18/news/economy/drilling-regulations/index.htm

 

Yes, but he wants it that way so more than 27 people will buy a Chevy Volt.

 

So, when he says his plan work he isn't lying?

[IDBillzFan]

So, when he says his plan work he isn't lying?

 

Nope.

 

http://washingtonexa...18#.UDTsCqllTnh

 

It botched the launch of its new Chevrolet Malibu by starting with the green-friendly Eco version, which pleased its government shareholders but which got lousy reviews. And it's selling only about 10,000 electric-powered Chevy Volts a year, a puny contribution toward Obama's goal of 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

 

"GM is going from bad to worse," reads the headline on Automotive News Editor-in-Chief Keith Crain's analysis. That's certainly true of its stock price.

 

The government still owns 500 million shares of GM, 26 percent of the total. It needs to sell them for $53 a share to recover its $49.5 billion bailout. But the stock price is about $20 a share, and the Treasury now estimates that the government will lose more than $25 billion if and when it sells.

 

That's in addition to the revenue lost when the Obama administration permitted GM to continue to deduct previous losses from current profits, even though such deductions are ordinarily wiped out in bankruptcy proceedings.

 

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that GM is bleeding money because of decisions made by a management eager to please its political masters -- and by the terms of the bankruptcy arranged by Obama car czars Ron Bloom and Steven Rattner.

 

Rattner himself admitted late last year, in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club, that "We should have asked the [united Auto Workers] to do a bit more. We did not ask any UAW member to take a cut in their pay." Nonunion employees of GM spin-off Delphi lost their pensions. UAW members didn't.

[Gary M]

Not a big fan of posting stuff from Drudge since most of you visit the site anyway, but this is just too ridiculous to leave alone.

 

http://www.washingto...bermann-maddow/

 

 

 

I guess shovel ready wasn't as shovel ready as shovel ready was supposed to be.

 

That was a waste of money, because nobody saw the ads!!!

[Chef Jim]

Nope.

 

http://washingtonexa...18#.UDTsCqllTnh

 

 

So if GM hit's $53 the government can recoup it's nearly $50bill investment? In order to do that they'll have to dump all their shares on the open market. Dumping 23% of a major companies stock is not going to do much for the value of that stock. So the government get's it's money back at the expense of the other GM shareholders? Nice, !@#$ing 'em over twice.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Chef Jim

[meazza]

So if GM hit's $53 the government can recoup it's nearly $50bill investment? In order to do that they'll have to dump all their shares on the open market. Dumping 23% of a major companies stock is not going to do much for the value of that stock. So the government get's it's money back at the expense of the other GM shareholders? Nice, !@#$ing 'em over twice.

 

Hint : Don't become a GM shareholder.

[Chef Jim]

Hint : Don't become a GM shareholder.

 

So I should dump all my mutual funds?? But seriously I don't own any individual shares but a lot of people obviously do. This is just dumb all around.

 

It's like he's trying to corner the entire frozen concentrated orange juice market.

[meazza]

So I should dump all my mutual funds?? But seriously I don't own any individual shares but a lot of people obviously do. This is just dumb all around.

 

It's like he's trying to corner the entire frozen concentrated orange juice market.

 

I'm simply saying that GM was a red flag after the bailout. If you have mutual funds holding GM shares, then I am sympathetic but I wouldn't touch this stock with a 10 foot pole. Anything Washington gets their hands on turns to ****.

Edited August 22, 2012 by meazza

[Chef Jim]

I'm simply saying that GM was a red flag after the bailout. If you have mutual funds holding GM shares, then I am sympathetic but I wouldn't touch this stock with a 10 foot pole. Anything Washington gets their hands on turns to ****.

 

It's a good thing GM's no longer in the Dow Industrials. Could you imagine what that would do to that index if the government dumped 23% of it's outstanding stock?

[meazza]

It's a good thing GM's no longer in the Dow Industrials. Could you imagine what that would do to that index if the government dumped 23% of it's outstanding stock?

I'd like to hear DIN's opinion on this matter...

[BillsFan-4-Ever]

The president DOES NOT control the price of oil. Keep thinking otherwise.

 

Might I suggest that you get off your fake horse and read what the locals have to say as many residents who live where the Keystone pipeline will go are AGAINST IT!!

 

Is Texas a good enough of an example?

 

http://grist.org/cli...stone-pipeline/

 

Almost exactly a year after we launched civil-disobedience actions in Washington to protest the Keystone XL pipeline, folks across Texas are doing the same thing today.

Or rather, they’re doing something bolder and more courageous — instead of trying to make a political point, they’re actually announcing plans to put their bodies on the line to stop the construction of a portion of the pipe.

 

The largest civil-disobedience action in the last 30 years — 1,253 arrests over two weeks — was enough to persuade the Obama administration to postpone approval of the border-crossing permit.

 

Is Nebraska a good enough of an example?

 

http://www.dailyyond...2011/09/30/3547

Local landowners spoke about the risk of putting an oil pipeline through the Nebraska sandhills, an ecologically sensitive area about 10 miles from Atkinson. A fifth-generation rancher said an oil spill would jeopardize her land and her children's future. The current route is "just wrong," she said.

 

Another landowner said he understood the union members' need for jobs, but added that the laborers could still build the pipeline if it was rerouted out of the sandhills. "On the other hand we Nebraskans are stuck with the consequences" if there's an oil spill, he said.

"The water in this ground is more valuable than all the oil" in the world, said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union.

 

Jane Kleeb, executive director of the anti-pipeline group Bold Nebraska, said 80 percent of the people in the audience were pipeline opponents, so it was only right that more of them should get a chance to speak.

Edited August 22, 2012 by BillsFan-4-Ever