49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs Since Democrats' Stimulus
Every time Barack Obama, Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi say that the "stimulus" is working, they insult your intelligence.
From a post by Rep. Dave Camp, ranking Republican on the House Ways & Means Committee:
While the President recently claimed his February 2009 stimulus bill will "save or create 1.5 million jobs in 2010 after saving or creating as many as 2 million jobs thus far,” the table below compares the White House's original projections of state-by-state job creation with the actual change in state payroll employment through February 2010, using the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The data show that only Alaska and the District of Columbia have seen net job creation since the enactment of stimulus, and even those levels fall far short of what the White House originally forecast.
To see a state-by-state breakdown of job loses, click here.
Thirteen months later, the Obama/Pelosi "stimulus" package isn't doing much stimulating.
From the Philadelphia Business Journal:
Unemployment climbed to 11.4 percent in Philadelphia in January and to 8.9 percent across the state in February, levels not seen in more than 25 years, City Controller Alan Butkovitz said Thursday in his monthly economic snapshot.
Pennsylvania's unemployment rate was last at 8.9 percent in September 1984 and Philadelphia's unemployment rate was last at 11.4 percent in May 1983. The city's January unemployment rate, which is the most recent data available, increased nearly a full percentage point from December.
Can't wait to see the job loses once Obamacare gets roling.
On March 25, 1894, Jacob S. Coxey began leading an "army" of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington D.C., to demand help from the federal government.
It's time for another march on Washington.
The Obama Recession is in its 13th month and Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have given nothing but lip service to the 17 million Americans out of work.
On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered an address to the Virginia Provincial Convention in which he is said to have declared, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
If Patrick Henry were alive today, he probably would have said "Give me liberty, or give me debt!" in response to the trillions of dollars of debt that Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats have piled on the American taxpayer.
For the latest numbers on the National Debt Clock, click here.
Illegal Amnesty Would Further Undermine American Workers
With the government takeover of health care checked off their list, Democrats will now push amnesty for illegal aliens, according to FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform).
It's a good thing President Obama isn't in the private sector. If he was, the budget he just put forward for the next 10 years just might get him indicted for fraud.
Of all the promises the president made during the 2008 presidential campaign and last year's budget debates, none rings so hollow now as the pledge of "fiscal responsibility."
As a recent nonpartisan analysis by the Congressional Budget Office shows, our current budget path is, to use the euphemism du jour, unsustainable. It will leave a nearly insurmountable mountain of debt and spending to future generations.
Just last year, U.S. public debt totaled $7.5 trillion — a sum equal to all the indebtedness accumulated from our 225 years in existence as a nation. But by 2020, total U.S. public debt will be $20.3 trillion — an increase of 171% in just 10 years.
Read the full story at the Investor's Business Daily Web site.
How can you not read a column that begins with this premise: "President Obama is presiding over one of the most corrupt administrations in American history."
Read Jeffrey T. Kuhner's latest at the link below:
The unemployment rates rose in 30 states in January, according to the U.S. Labor Department, as the Obama Recession enters its second full year.
Five states reported record-high joblessness in January: California, at 12.5 percent; South Carolina, 12.6 percent; Florida, 11.9 percent; North Carolina, 11.1 percent; and Georgia, 10.4 percent, according to The Associated Press.
Michigan's unemployment rate is still the nation's highest, at 14.3 percent, followed by Nevada, with 13 percent and Rhode Island at 12.7 percent. South Carolina and California round out the top five, according to AP.
For a state-by-state look at unemployment rates, click here.
The Obama Administration is working overtime to put a positive spin on the dismal February employment numbers. The official government unemployment rate is 9.7% but that only counts people who are still actively looking for work. Millions more have given up looking for non-existent jobs as the Obama recession continues.
The Associated Press calculates that the real U.S. unemployment rate is closer to 17 percent!!!
From an "Unemployment by the Numbers" feature compiled by AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber:
UNDEREMPLOYED
8.8 million: Number of part-time workers who would have preferred full-time work last month
2.5 million: People without jobs who want to work but have stopped looking
16.8 percent: "Underemployment" rate in February if you include the above two categories
17.4 percent: Underemployment rate in October, the highest on records dating to 1994
So much for change. The most secretive and least accountable administration ever continues to break campaign promises ... and the lap dog liberal media just rolls over.
The Washington Times notes that Barack Obama has gone 215 consecutive days without a formal press conference.
From a Times' article by Joseph Curl:
President Obama, who pledged to establish the most open and transparent administration in history, on Monday surpasses his predecessor's record for avoiding a full-fledged question-and-answer session with White House reporters in a formal press conference.
President George W. Bush's longest stretch between prime-time, nationally televised press conferences was 214 days, from April 4 to Nov. 4, 2004. Mr. Obama tops that record on Monday, going 215 days - stretching back to July 22, according to records kept by CBS Radio's veteran reporter Mark Knoller.
The president has seemingly shunned formal, prime-time sessions since his last disastrous presser, when he said police in Cambridge, Mass., "acted stupidly" by arresting a Harvard professor who broke into a home that turned out to be his own. The off-the-cuff comment took over the news cycle for a week, overshadowing his push for health care reform, and culminated in a White House "Beer Summit," where the president hosted white police officer James Crowley and the black Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The list below is from an article posted at church-related Web site, but the same principles could apply to elected leaders.
1. Hesitating To Take Definitive Action 2. Complaining About A Lack of Resources 3. Refusing To Take Responsibility 4. Abusing the Privileges of Leadership 5. Engaging in Acts of Insubordination
Four of the five weaknesses apply to Barack Obama, don't you think?
From a column by Terence P. Jeffrey posted at CNSNews.com on Obama's reckless spending:
After he signed a law last week authorizing the U.S. Treasury to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion, President Barack Obama delivered a characteristically sanctimonious speech. It was about his deep commitment to frugality.
"After a decade of profligacy, the American people are tired of politicians who talk the talk but don't walk the walk when it comes to fiscal responsibility," he said. "It's easy to get up in front of the cameras and rant against exploding deficits. What's hard is actually getting deficits under control. But that's what we must do. Like families across the country, we have to take responsibility for every dollar we spend."
To put Obama's Olympian hypocrisy in perspective, one need only examine the federal budget tables posted on the White House website by Obama's own Office of Management and Budget.
They reveal these startling facts: When calculated by the average annual percentage of the Gross Domestic Product that he will spend during his presidency, Obama is on track to become the biggest-spending president since 1930, the earliest year reported on the OMB's historical chart of spending as a percentage of GDP. When calculated by the average annual percentage of GDP he will borrow during his presidency, Obama is on track to become the greatest debter president since Franklin Roosevelt.
From a new editorial at Investor's Business Daily:
Is the president right when he says the stimulus kept the U.S. from falling into a depression? No. In fact, too much government tinkering and spending, not too little, has given us the jobless recovery we have now.
Democrats in charge of both the White House and Congress are firing all their guns at once to tout the benefits of the $862 billion stimulus package passed a year ago this week. They've even planned a 35-city tour to support it. Their message?
"One year later, it is largely thanks to the recovery act that a second depression is no longer a possibility," President Obama said Wednesday. The stimulus act has created 2 million jobs, he claimed, predicting 1.5 million more this year from the program.
Is it just a coincidence that the 3.5 million jobs he is claiming is exactly what the White House predicted early last year? We doubt it. But whatever the case, Obama's claims are false.
Start with this: Stimulus didn't save us from an economic cataclysm. Obama himself said so back in March, noting that the economy was "not as bad as we think," and that he was "highly optimistic." It's clear he didn't think we were on the brink of a Depression.
If Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats don't make a mid-term course correction soon, they'll end up at the bottom of a steep canyon.
The latest "Right Direction or Wrong Track" survey by Rasmussen Reports finds just 28% of Americans say the U.S. is heading in the right direction.
From Rasmussen Reports:
Just 28% of U.S. voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. This marks the lowest level of voter confidence in the nation’s current course since one year ago and appears to signal the end of a slight burst of confidence at the first of this year.
The majority of voters (65%) believe the nation is heading down the wrong track, a figure that's held roughly steady since mid-November.
At the start of 2010, voters were slightly more optimistic, with 32% saying the country was heading in the right direction. Past polling shows that voters are typically more optimistic at the start of a new year.
Leading up to Barack Obama's inauguration a year ago, the number of voters who felt the country was heading in the right direction remained below 20%. The week of his inauguration, voter confidence rose to 27% and then steadily increased, peaking at 40% in early May 2009. Since then, confidence in the direction of the country has steadily declined.
Pat Meehan, a Republican seeking Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District seat, posted this commentary at his blog on the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama signing the so-called "stimulus" bill into law:
Today marks the one year anniversary of enactment of the federal stimulus bill, which Democrats promised would help reverse rising unemployment rates. Are you and your family better off today than you were a year ago?
According to the latest information from the Department of Labor, unemployment has only increased locally. As of December 2009, in Delaware County, unemployment has risen to 7.9 percent – a 39 percent increase in 12 months. Chester County has seen unemployment rise 32 percent over levels from a year ago while Montgomery County has seen unemployment rolls grow by 31 percent.
Where are the jobs we were promised as a result of the $1 trillion stimulus bill? With 30 to 40 percent more people unemployed this year compared to last, it is clear that the stimulus bill is not having the desired impact.
Instead we have witnessed what I call crony capitalism. Favored pet industries of legislators, questionable government programs, and numerous wasteful projects have been the beneficiary of the stimulus funding.
In December CBS News reported on various examples of some $7 billion in wasteful stimulus projects. Included in the report was stimulus money to fund a new martini bar, stimulus dollars to study rat sex on hard drugs, and taxpayer dollars funding a $9 million footbridge in Massachusetts that benefits a private developer, among many other projects. Is this realty the best use of taxpayer dollars? And how is this helping local small businesses that are struggling to make payroll or workers locally looking for jobs?
This type of waste and abuse is clearly not the best use of taxpayer dollars. We need to do more to stimulate consumer spending and encourage new business creation.
You can read more about my specific job creation ideas here.
The Obama Ministry of Propaganda is working overtime today, the one-year anniversary of failed "stimulus" bill, to convince Americans that their jobs were "saved" by massive government spending.
Ed Rendell, loyal Obama minion that he is, claims that 84,000 jobs in Pennsylvania were "saved" by the Obama debt package. Why stop at 84,000? Why not 840,000? It's just a number Democrats pluck from thin air.
Unemployment remains at a 30-year high in the United States with more than 17 million Americans looking for work. That's the Obama legacy.
Mixed results for Obama in latest F&M College Poll
Only 45% of registered voters approve of the way President Obama is dealing with the country's economic problems, according to February 2010 Franklin & Marshall College National Poll.
The poll also found that more Americans now say they would vote for the Republican candidate (39%) than the Democratic candidate (35%) if the midterm House elections were held today.
In September 2009, the Democrats led the Republicans, 43 percent to 30 percent, on this question, according to the poll.
Other poll findings:
* Only one in three (35%) citizens believes the United States is currently headed in the right direction. Most cite the economy and personal finances (64%) as the most important problems their families currently face, with healthcare-related issues a distant second (11%).
* More than one in three (37%) Americans say the current healthcare system meets their needs very well, and another two in five (41%) say it meets their needs pretty well, leaving about one in five (21%) who feel the system is not serving their personal needs. These figures remain largely unchanged since September 2009.
* The cost of healthcare and availability of health insurance coverage were significant problems for many adults during the past year. Nearly one in four (23%) adults report skipping a recommended test or medical treatment because of the cost, and one in five (21%) did not fill a medical prescription because of the cost. About one in five (19%) respondents say they were without health insurance coverage at some point during the previous 12 months.
Investor's Business Daily is still waiting for those "stimulus" jobs Obama promised to materialize.
From a new editorial:
How many jobs will the recovery bring? Not enough, if the latest forecast from the president's top economists is to be believed. So it doesn't go without notice, this is an admission that the stimulus has failed.
The mere mention of Barack Obama helps Republicans get elected these days. Will the Dems hide Obama in a secret underground location until after the November 2010 election?
If 'Unsustainable' Is New Normal, Collapse Is Closer Than We Think
Columnist and best-selling author Mark Steyn says Barack Obama doesn't know much about economics, which is not good news considering the shape the U.S. economy is in right now.
From his latest column in Investor's Business Daily:
Obama's spending proposes to take the average Bush deficit for the years 2001-08 and double it, all the way to 2020. To get out of the Bush hole, we need to dig a hole twice as deep for one-and-a-half times as long. And that's according to the official projections of his economics czar, Ms. Rose-Colored Glasses.
By 2015, the actual hole may be so deep that even if you toss every Obama speech down it on double-spaced paper you still won't be able to fill it up. In the spendthrift Bush days, federal spending as a proportion of GDP averaged 19.6%. Obama proposes to crank it up to 25% as a permanent feature of life.
But if they're "unsustainable," what happens when they can no longer be sustained? A failure of bond auctions? A downgraded government debt rating? Reduced GDP growth? Total societal collapse? Mad Max on the New Jersey Turnpike?
Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats are leading us over a cliff.
From Investor's Business Daily:
The proposed budget over the next decade would rack up $45.8 trillion in new spending, $9.1 trillion in deficits and more than $2 trillion in higher taxes on Americans. It will double the national debt held by the public to over $18 trillion, while raising taxes on 3.2 million small businesses and upper-income taxpayers — the very people the administration is counting on to pull us out of recession.
Based on recent estimates, the expected deficits are growing, not shrinking. Last year's proposed budget contained just $7.1 trillion in red ink over 10 years. This year, that's ballooned to $9.1 trillion. Higher spending is responsible for 90% of the increase. Total spending over the decade is expected to swell 54%.
During the decade, spending will average about 24% of GDP — compared with the 20% of GDP that has prevailed since shortly after World War II. This represents a permanent 20% increase in the real size of government — which explains why the number of federal employees has reached 2.15 million, the most ever.
If spending isn't brought under control soon, the U.S. will suffer the fate of all fiscally irresponsible nations — slower economic growth, lower standards of living, shorter lives.
Weekly GOP Address: Sen. Susan Collins on National Security Policy
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee discusses the Obama administration's failures in dealing with the Christmas Day bomber.
Sen. Collins expresses her incredulity that the bomber was interrogated for only 50 minutes before getting his Miranda rights.
Sen. Collins says, "The Obama administration appears to have a blind spot when it comes to the War on Terrorism. ... Theres no other way to explain the irresponsible, indeed dangerous, decision on Abdulmutallab's interrogation. There's no other way to explain the inconceivable treatment of him as if he were a common criminal. This charade must stop. Foreign terrorists are enemy combatants and they must be treated as such. The safety of the American people depends on it."
You get the feeling people have had enough of The Chosen One?
TV ratings for Barack Obama's first State of the Union address were down 7 percent compared to ratings for George W. Bush's first speech.
Doesn't make sense. The media keeps telling us Obama is the most popular person on the planet. There's more people in the U.S. than there were in 2002 and there's more TVs. You'd think Obama's ratings would go through the roof. Nope.
From The Associated Press:
About 48 million viewers watched President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address on 11 networks, with Fox TV drawing the biggest share.
The Nielsen Co. said viewership for Wednesday’s speech was 7 percent lower than for President George W. Bush’s first such address in 2002 but 5 percent higher than for President Bill Clinton’s inaugural State of the Union speech in 1994.
From 9-10 p.m. EST, more than 9.7 million people watched the hour-plus speech on Fox, with ABC drawing 7.6 million viewers, NBC 7.2 million and CBS 6.2 million, according to preliminary Nielsen figures Thursday.
Among the cable news networks, Fox News was the leader with 5.7 million, followed by CNN with 3.3 million and MSNBC with 2.4 million. The speech also was carried live on Telemundo, Univision, BET and CNBC.
The latest Franklin & Marshall College Poll has the answers ... and the news is bleak for Barack Obama and the Democrats.
Among the poll highlights:
1) Pennsylvanians continue to express pessimism about the economy. Four in ten (40% compared to 36% in October) say they are financially worse off this year than last, and only a quarter (27%) expects their personal finances to be better off a year from now.
2) Among registered Democrats, Senator Specter leads Joe Sestak (30% to 13%) in the primary race for U.S. Senate, although 50 percent remain undecided. In possible general election match-ups, Pat Toomey leads both Specter (45% to 31%) and Sestak (41% to 19%) among likely voters. Registered Pennsylvanians cite health care (29%) and the economy (24%) as the most important issues in their vote for U.S. Senate.
3) Nearly three in four (72%) Pennsylvania Democrats remain undecided about the primary race for governor. Tom Corbett leads Sam Rohrer (23% to 5%) among Republicans for the gubernatorial nomination, but seven in ten (69%) remain undecided about their preference. Registered Pennsylvanians cite the economy (26%) and taxes (13%) as the most important issues in their vote for governor.
4) Favorability ratings for President Obama have changed slightly since October. His unfavorable rating increased by 5 percentage points, and he is now viewed favorably and unfavorably by equal proportions (44%) of registered Pennsylvanians. Senator Specter's favorability rating has risen slightly to 35 percent (compared to 28% in October), and his unfavorable rating stands at 43 percent (compared to 46% in October).
5) President Obama's job approval in Pennsylvania is the lowest of his presidency, with only 38 percent (compared to 40% in October) saying he is doing an excellent or good job. Senator Specter's job approval has risen slightly to 34 percent (compared to 29% in October), and about three in ten (29%) respondents say he deserves re-election (up from 23% in October). Those who say Specter does not deserve re-election cite his length of service (25%) and party switch (21%) as the main reasons.
6) Pennsylvanians continue to express dissatisfaction with the direction of the state, albeit less so than in October. 53 percent now say the state is off on the wrong track (compared to 60% in October), while 39 percent say the state is headed in the right direction (compared to 32% in October). Nearly eight in ten (78%) registered Pennsylvanians feel state government needs reform, and a similar number (72%) would favor a constitutional convention to review the state's constitution.
7) The job approval rating of the state legislature remains very low with only 16 percent of registered Pennsylvanians indicating it’s doing an excellent or good job, while 74 percent indicate it's doing only a fair or poor job. These figures have changed little since October.
This story gets worse by the day. Obama's Ministry of Propaganda is not satisfied with controlling the Mainstream Media. It also has to manufacture "letters to the editor" to make it sound like real people support Obama's failing presidency.
Props for the President at His State of the Union Address
President Obama will need several props to get him through his first State of the Union address, including lifejackets, a box of teabags, a paper shredder, and a new "No Fly" list, says conservative activist Betsy McCaughey.
Charles Krauthammer is amused by the reaction of top Democratic Party officials and their media allies to the crushing defeat (and repudiation of Barack Obama) in Massachusetts.
From Krauthammer's latest column:
After Coakley's defeat, Obama pretended that the real cause was a generalized anger and frustration "not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."
Let's get this straight: The antipathy to George W. Bush is so enduring and powerful that ... it just elected a Republican senator in Massachusetts? Why, the man is omnipotent.
And the Democrats are delusional: Scott Brown won by running against Obama, not Bush. He won by brilliantly nationalizing the race, running hard against the Obama agenda, most notably Obamacare. Killing it was his No. 1 campaign promise.
Bull's eye. An astonishing 56 percent of Massachusetts voters, according to Rasmussen Reports, called health care their top issue. In a Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates poll, 78 percent of Brown voters said their vote was intended to stop Obamacare. Only a quarter of all voters in the Rasmussen poll cited the economy as their top issue, nicely refuting the Democratic view that Massachusetts was just the usual anti-incumbent resentment you expect in bad economic times.
Brown ran on a very specific, very clear agenda: Stop health care. Don't Mirandize terrorists. Don't raise taxes; cut them. And no more secret backroom deals with special interests.
What is "Plan B" for a political party with no new ideas?
Now that Bush-bashing has backfired for the Dems in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, what will the party run on in November?
It's now the Obama recession. It's now Obama's wars. It's now Obama's deficits.
From POLITICO:
After three consecutive losses in statewide races, some top Democrats are questioning a tactic aimed at boosting the party's candidates in each of those contests: Bush-bashing.
"Voters are pretty tired of the blame game," said longtime Democratic strategist Steve Hildebrand, a top aide on Obama's presidential campaign. "What a stupid strategy that was."
Daily Presidential Tracking Poll: 54% Disapprove of Obama Job Performance
What a difference a year makes.
Even before the humiliating loss in Massachusetts, where the Senate race was clearly a referendum on Obama's policies, the president's job approval numbers have declined steadily throughout his first year in office.
While 24% of Americans "strongly approve" of Obama, 41% "strongly disapprove" -- a negative swing of 17 points.
A year ago this week, 44% were in the "strongly approve" column while just 18% said they "strongly disapprove" of Obama. That was a positive swing of 26 points.
From Rasmussen Reports:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17.
Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve.
The Obama Recession continues -- 12 consecutive months of futility by the best and brightest the Democratic Party has to offer.
From The Associated Press:
Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market that illustrated nationwide data released two weeks ago. The rise in joblessness was a sharp change from November, when 36 states said their unemployment rates fell. Four states — South Carolina, Delaware, Florida and North Carolina — reported record-high jobless rates in December. New Jersey's rate, meanwhile, rose to a 33-year high of 10.1 percent while New York's reached a 26-year high of 9 percent. Analysts said the report showed the economy is recovering at too weak a pace to generate consistent job creation.
Tradition has it when Lord Cornwallis surrendered to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown in 1781, ending the Revolutionary War, a British band played "The World Turned Upside Down."
That may be just a legend, but it's appropriate to play the tune today as a Republican has defeated the heavily-favored Democrat for Ted Kennedy's former U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts.
The world has turned upside down for Barack Obama and the Democrats.
If Barack Obama didn't get the message from Virginia and New Jersey voters in November, he got it tonight in Massachusetts.
Who says there's no such thing as a recall election?
Voters in Massachusetts, the most Democratic state in the country, changed their mind about Barack Obama today by electing a Republican to the U.S. Senate seat held by the Kennedys for a half-century.
Stick a fork in Obamacare. It's done. Say goodbye to Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have retreated to a secret underground location.
Voters took the Democrats to the woodshed for a good old-fashioned whooping over uncontrolled spending and a health-care bill most Americans don't want or need.
We may be witnessing the biggest political upset since Truman defeated Dewey.
With 60 percent of the vote in, Republican Scott Brown is ahead of his heavily-favored Democratic opponent, Martha Coakley, in a special election to fill the remainder of Sen. Ted Kenney's unexpired term
The Massachusetts Senate seat has been held by the Kennedys since the early 1950s.
With 60 percent of precincts reporting, Brown has 53 percent of the vote to 46 percent for Coakley.
The Associated Press calls the race "a referendum on President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul and his first year in office."
From the wire service:
A loss — or even a narrow victory — by the once-favored Coakley for the seat that the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy held for nearly half a century in this Democratic stronghold could signal big political problems for the president's party this November when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.
More immediately at stake was a critical 60th vote for the Democrats' supermajority, which is needed to save their health care legislation and the rest of Obama's agenda. The Democrats can't afford to lose a seat because a 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate could allow the Republicans to use procedural maneuvers to block votes on legislation.
The election transformed reliably Democratic Massachusetts into a battleground state. One day shy of the first anniversary of Obama's swearing-in, it played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, industry bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care.
No wonder the Islamic terrorist keep slipping through
It's starting to make sense. The reason Islamic terrorists keep getting through U.S. security is because the Obama Administration is looking out for devout Christians and abortion foes instead of Islamic fanatics.
President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 46 percent, according to a new CBS News poll.
That rating is Mr. Obama's lowest yet in CBS News polling, and the poll marks the first time his approval rating has fallen below the 50 percent mark. Forty-one percent now say they disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance as president.
In last month's CBS News poll, 50 percent of Americans approved of how the president was handling his job, while thirty-nine percent disapproved.
CBS is a charter member of the Obama Media and it must pain Katie Couric and the rest of the far-left ideologues to report on the poll.
Read more about Obama's declining poll numbers here.
A comprehensive examination of "stimulus" spending on infrastructure has revealed "no effect" on unemployment, providing further evidence that the "stimulus" package Democrats rushed through Congress in February 2009 was nothing more than a massive pork-barrel spending spree.
From a report by Matt Apuzzo and Brett J. Blackledge of The Associated Press:
A federal spending surge of more than $20 billion for roads and bridges in President Barack Obama's first stimulus has had no effect on local unemployment rates, raising questions about his argument for billions more to address an "urgent need to accelerate job growth."
An Associated Press analysis of stimulus spending found that it didn't matter if a lot of money was spent on highways or none at all: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless. And the stimulus spending only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, the analysis showed.
With the nation's unemployment rate at 10 percent and expected to rise, Obama wants a second stimulus bill from Congress including billions of additional dollars for roads and bridges — projects the president says are "at the heart of our effort to accelerate job growth."
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the administration's recovery program Monday, writing on his blog that "DOT-administered stimulus spending is the only thing propping up the transportation construction industry."
Road spending would total nearly $28 billion of the Jobs for Main Street Act, a $75 billion second stimulus to help lower the unemployment rate and improve the dismal job market for construction workers. The Senate is expected to consider the House-approved bill this month.
But AP's analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed the strategy of pumping transportation money into counties hasn't affected local unemployment rates so far.
"There seems to me to be very little evidence that it's making a difference," said Todd Steen, an economics professor at Hope College in Michigan who reviewed the AP analysis.
And there's concern about relying on transportation spending a second time.
"My bottom line is, I'd be skeptical about putting too much more money into a second stimulus until we've seen broader effects from the first stimulus," said Aaron Jackson, a Bentley University economist who also reviewed AP's analysis.
The head of the nation's largest business advocacy group, Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has said publicly what most Americans have already figured out: Obama is bad for business.
And unless the Obama/Pelosi/Reid agenda is stopped. more Americans will be out of a job.
From POLITICO:
Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue gave a scathing assessment of the Obama administration’s business agenda on Tuesday — and delivered a clear threat to Democrats running for election in 2010.
"We are not in presidential politics," said Donohue. "But we're going to be in a lot of politics in the House and the Senate and the judicial politics in this country."
Donohue criticized proposals to reform health care, overhaul the financial system and cap the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, saying the Democratic agenda will undermine private industry and eliminate jobs.
"Congress, the administration and the states must recognize that our weak economy simply could not sustain all the new taxes, regulations and mandates now under consideration," said Donohue. "It's a sure-fire recipe for double-dip recession, or worse."
'We are a nation at war, and we should act like it'
Rep. Pete King (R-NY) delivers the Weekly Republican Address, focusing on the war on terrorism and the Obama Administration's anemic response to growing threats by Islamic fanatics. Rep. King:
"We are a nation at war, and we should act like it. We need to pull together, remain vigilant, and send a clear signal both to our friends and our enemies that this government will stop at nothing to protect our homeland. That's how America sets an example for the world."
America's third-largest political party has compiled a list of the 10 biggest blunders of Barack Obama's first year in office.
From the Libertarian Party, which also asks readers to note similarities to the Bush administration:
Top 10 disasters of the 2009 Obama administration (in no particular order):
1. Cash for Clunkers 2. War escalation in Afghanistan 3. Giant government health care expansion bill 4. Post office loses money hand over fist 5. Stimulus package 6. Expansion of "state secrets" doctrine 7. Big increase in unemployment 8. "Bailout" Geithner as Treasury Secretary 9. Skyrocketing federal spending 10. Huge federal deficits
Top 10 disasters of the 2001-2008 Bush administration:
1. Cash for Car Companies 2. War in Iraq 3. Giant Medicare expansion bill 4. Post office loses money hand over fist 5. Stimulus "rebate" checks 6. PATRIOT Act 7. Big increase in unemployment 8. "Bailout" Paulson as Treasury Secretary 9. Skyrocketing federal spending 10. Huge federal deficits
Wes Benedict, Libertarian Party executive director, commented, "Republicans and Democrats keep expanding government and creating more and more problems. We're encouraging as many Libertarians as possible to run for Congress in 2010. In Texas, the state with the earliest filing deadline, Libertarians have already filed for 31 of 32 Congressional seats."
For more information about the Libertarian Party, visit its Web site, http://www.lp.org/
Time is running out for Barack Obama and his socialist agenda. The American people want their country back ... and they're not taking prisoners. That's why some big-name Democrats are running for cover instead of facing the voters.
From POLITICO:
The grim outlook for Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections just got a little worse.
Four top Democrats — including veteran Sens. Chris Dodd and Byron Dorgan — all prepared to pull the plug on their campaigns in a 24-hour period that began Tuesday, and in the process, offered an unnerving glimpse at the perilous election year ahead.
With Dorgan's stunning retirement announcement Tuesday evening, Democrats are now facing their bleakest election outlook in years — and the very real possibility the party will lose its 60-40 Senate supermajority after the November elections. On the House side, the prospect of a 20 to 30 seat loss is already looking increasingly likely.
"It's not good news for Democrats," said Roy Temple, a Democratic strategist. "The reality is this is going to be a challenging year, and this is an additional challenge you would prefer not to have. Because of the success of the last two cycles, there are a lot of seats to defend. This is just an additional complication."
'Alleged Terrorist' Indicted for Attempted Bombing of Flight 253
The last line in the Obama Administration's press release on the indictment of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab for the attempted murder of 279 passengers and 11 crewmembers aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253 reads:
"The public is reminded that an indictment contains mere allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law."
Maybe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will ask for a change of venue ... to Yemen, perhaps ... because of all the pre-trial publicity.
Don't forget that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is now entitled to a trial by a jury of his peers since Obama decided to try him in a civilian court instead of a military tribunal.
Jennifer Loven, who has covered the White House for The Associated Press since 2002, wrote a news analysis a few days ago that was lost in the holiday shuffle.
In it, Loven asks if the failure of the Obama Administration to prevent the near tragedy of a likely terrorist bombing aboard a Detroit-bound passenger plane and Obama's subsequent downplaying of the incident could become Obama's Katrina.
The answer is "no" because Katrina and the Bush Administration's handling of the natural disaster was overplayed by the liberal media, which is anti-Republican and anti-Bush.
Regardless of how poorly Obama and his underlings did in response to the terrorist threat, the liberal media will cover up for one of its own.
Still, the parallels between Bush's handling of Katrina and Obama's failure to protect the nation from terrorists are there for all to see.
From Loven's analysis:
The Obama administration claim that "the system worked" after a failed aircraft bombing wasn't quite as jolting as President George W. Bush's "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" while New Orleans sank under deadly Hurricane Katrina. But both raised disturbing questions about presidential response in a time of crisis.
Bush's praise for his beleaguered FEMA director, Michael Brown, came while storm evacuees remained trapped in the Louisiana Superdome and victims' bloated bodies floated in the streets. It became a clarion call for all his administration did wrong during the 2005 calamity -- and a larger symbol of all that people disliked generally about Bush.
Loven focuses on the incredibly stupid comment by two high-ranking Obama officials that "the system worked" when it was fellow passengers who subdued the terrorist who was allowed on the plane by the same "system" Obama's people praised.
Loven writes:
Members of Congress -- Republicans, but some Democrats too -- were incredulous that "the system worked" was used in any context to describe what happened. "It is insulting that the Obama administration would make such a claim," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee -- who is running for governor in Michigan -- said in a campaign e-mail.
Republican Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl on Tuesday criticized President Barack Obama and his administration's response following the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner. McCain said Obama should have addressed the nation earlier about the botched attack. Kyl said he now doesn't feel "totally safe" with Napolitano as homeland security secretary.
Phrases do matter. Sometimes they come to take on a life of their own, with context and nuance forgotten, representing broader beliefs or fears.
For Bush, the "heckuva job" comment more than four years into his presidency fit into an already well-developed critical narrative, that he was loyal to lieutenants to a fault and hands-off on even important matters. It stuck.
For Obama, still short of one year in office, his narrative, critical or otherwise, isn't set yet.
Nonetheless, rumblings keep resurfacing about emotional distance, even coldness. Whether it's Wall Street bonuses or terrorist near-disaster, people wonder whether he feels as they do or ever acts out of passion. The comment may well stick.
The Democrats' Dirty Dozen Debacles of 2009 A Year-in-Review of Democrat-Controlled Government
The Republican Study Committee released the following list of disappointments from 2009, documenting the 12 most destructive actions, policies, and events of the past year:
1) January 22: Obama Announces Closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility In one of the first actions of his presidency, President Obama declared that international appeasement trumps common sense security by signing executive orders to shutter Gitmo. The facility has been used since 2002 to detain enemy combatants who pose a national security threat. As we learned on Christmas Day, releasing those held at Gitmo, as the President seeks to do, is a significant threat to the safety of the American people.
2) January 23: President Repeals Mexico City Policy, Freeing Up Tax Dollars for Overseas Abortions In a blatant flip-flop from the campaign trail, the President continued his use of the executive order, this time to funnel U.S. tax dollars to abortion providers overseas. As a candidate the President said he sought to reduce the number of abortions; instead, he put taxpayers on the hook for abortions outside our borders.
3) February 17: President Obama Signs the So-called "Stimulus" With promises of millions of jobs "saved or created" and unemployment under 8%, the President shackled generations of Americans to reckless spending by signing a 1.1 trillion dollar package of political pet projects and misguided fiscal policy. As Republicans predicted, the so-called stimulus has done nothing but stimulate unemployment, debt, and bigger government.
4) April 2: House Passes Budget that Borrows, Taxes, and Spends Too Much Casting aside even the appearance of fiscal restraint, Democrats passed a budget resolution that proposed a record deficit in every year and would likely put a balanced budget out of touch for more than a generation. The smallest budget deficit over the next ten years is a stunning 28% higher than the previous record deficit.
5) April 17: Administration Releases Interrogation Memos Opening the U.S. counter-terrorism playbook to our enemies and the world, the Justice Department released documents detailing the methods our intelligence community uses to extract intelligence from terror suspects. This action set the stage for a year full of CIA politicization, most notably when the Speaker of the House called the CIA liars with no justification.
6) June 1: White House Buys Car Company In what represents the culmination of the new political economy, in which Washington, not markets, picks winners and losers, the administration upped its investment to $50 billion and took a 60 percent stake in auto giant GM. It's become clear that taxpayers will not be seeing their money back any time soon, if ever.
7) June 26: National Energy Tax Passes the House After twisting and perhaps breaking enough arms, Democrat leaders cobbled together the votes needed to pass a massive national energy tax that would cripple the American economy. The bill contains 397 regulations and 1,060 government mandates, is projected to cost American families more than $3,000 a year and would reduce employment by more than a million jobs.
8) October 28: Unconstitutional Thought Crimes Law Hitches Ride on Defense Bill With truly stunning cynicism for our military, the President enacted a law that puts justice for one classification of people before others by attaching it to a bill that is supposed to provide resources for our men and women in uniform. The bill was a grave abuse of both policy and procedure.
9) November 17: House Passes a Government Takeover of Health Care With more than three dozen brave Democrats joining Republicans in opposition, Democrat leaders in the House rammed through a massive government intervention into the health care system that has been completely rejected by the American people. The package is chock full of government decision-making, huge tax hikes, slashes to Medicare without real reform, limited access to care, and cost increases for American patients.
10) December 1: Obama Delays and Then Tips Our Hand on Afghanistan After his top commander said resources were needed and time is of the essence, the President "deliberated" for nearly three months on the way forward in Afghanistan. When he finally made his decision, he somehow managed to declare the beginning and the end of a new operation at the same time.
11) December 24: The Integrity of the Senate Put On the Auction Block In an historic disgrace to the great legislators who have graced the Senate before him, Majority Leader Reid engaged in a brazen operation of political bribery to pass a health care bill that is growing less popular by the day. The handouts that greased the skids to pass the government takeover of healthcare on Christmas Eve will surely haunt this Congress for decades to come.
12) All year long: Missed Opportunity to Work Together and Change the Tone Despite hollow speeches and faux sincerity, Democrats set forth one of the most partisan and opaque agendas in American history. Rejecting Republican input, and shutting the minority out of the legislative process in an unprecedented manner, Democrats jammed nearly all of their major proposals through the House on near party line votes, often only releasing legislation just hours before it came to the floor. The American people were looking for a new day, however what they saw was old Washington (and Chicago) on overdrive and a government that is not responsive to the American people.
Obama signs debt ceiling increase to $12.4 Trillion
How high will the U.S. deficit go? Depends on how long Democrats stay in power. If you'd like to bury your children and grandchildren in debt, keep voting Democrats back into Congress. If you think it's time to stop the madness, vote Republican in 2010.
From Reuters:
Obama Signs U.S. Debt Limit Increase Into Law
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Monday signed into law an increase in the U.S. national debt limit to $12.4 trillion, the White House said in a statement.
Congress approved an increase in the debt limit from $12.1 trillion on Thursday, winning two more months of funding for a record U.S. deficit as Obama tries to stimulate economic growth after the country's worst recession in 70 years.
Critics say Democrat Obama is making the deficit worse, but the White House blames the recession and unfunded cuts in taxes and prescription drug aid, which were all inherited from his Republican predecessor George W. Bush.
The U.S. government posted a record $1.4 trillion deficit in the fiscal year ended September 30 and is on track during the current fiscal year to spend at least $1 trillion more than it collects.
The debt has more than doubled since 2001, thanks to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tax cuts and the recession, which has caused tax revenues to plunge and safety-net spending to rise.
It doesn't appear that Barack Obama's Muslim-heritage or his dazzling personality have won the U.S. many friends among the radical Islamic community.
Let's review what Obama has done in the past year to make life easier for Islamic radicals whose stated mission in life is to kill American citizens:
Obama has released dozens of terrorists from Guantanamo and plans to close the military prison entirely.
He intends to bring some of the world's most dangerous terrorists, captured on the battlefield, to United States soil for trial in civilian courtrooms.
He's traveled the world to apologize for U.S. foreign policy and has canceled major weapons system. The groveling hasn't worked, either.
The scheduled surrender in Afghanistan announced recently by our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president hasn't done the trick.
What's it going to take or how many Americans have to die before Barack Obama and his far-left cronies in the White House begin to take terrorism seriously?
From POLITICO:
The Nigerian man charged with the Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard Northwest Flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, reportedly spent time in Yemen after graduating from a London university in 2008. According to ABC News, Abdulmutallab has told authorities that, while in Yemen, Al Qaeda operatives crafted the explosive device which was sewn into Abdulmutallab's underwear.
"Yesterday just highlights the fact that sending this many people back — or any people back — to Yemen right now is a really bad idea," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. "It's just dumb… If you made a list of what the three dumbest countries would be to send people back to, Yemen would be on all the lists."
"I think it's a major mistake," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said about prisoner releases to Yemen. "I don't think Guantanamo should be closed, but if we're going to close it I don't believe we should be sending people to Yemen where prisoners have managed to escape in the past… Obviously, if [Abdulmutallab] did get training and direction from Yemen, it just adds to what is already a dangerous situation."
Read the full story, "Xmas bomb bid complicates Gitmo plan," at POLITICO.com
Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab ruins Obama's Christmas
Leave it to Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab to ruin Christmas (not to mention the vacation in Hawaii) for Barack Obama.
Democrats were expecting to bask over the holiday with their strong-armed passage of Obamacare, but a Nigerian terrorist spoiled everything by focusing America's attention on the ongoing War on Terror that the Obama Administration spent 10 months pretending didn't exist.
The Fort Hood terrorist attack and the attempted downing of a commercial airplane loaded with holiday travelers are a double-dose of reality in the Neverland that Nobel Peace Prize-winner Barack Obama and his far-left cronies live in.
I guess that plan to bring more than 100 of the world's most dangerous terrorists from Guantanimo to Illinois isn't looking so hot right now.
Poll: Just 29% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction
The American people left a lump of coal in Barack Obama's Christmas stocking this holiday season.
Just 29% say the U.S. is heading in right direction, according to Rasmussen Reports.
And the poll was conducted before the Senate approved the disastrous Obamacare bill that will raise taxes and increase insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans.
From Rasmussen Reports:
Just 29% of U.S. voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, the lowest level measured since early February, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
The percentage of voters who felt the country is heading in the right direction remained in the narrow range of 31% to 35% from July to early November. For the previous three weeks, however, confidence in the country’s current course has held steady at 30%.
The majority of voters (65%) continue to believe the nation is heading down the wrong track. The latest finding is up slightly from last week and has remained fairly consistent for months. In the weeks just prior to Barack Obama's election, more than 80% of voters felt that way.
This time last year, 17% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 77% said it was heading down the wrong track. Following Obama's inauguration in January, voter confidence in the direction of the country began steadily increasing, peaking at 40% in early May. Since then voter confidence has steadily declined.
Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans and 74% of unaffiliated voters believe the nation is heading down the wrong track, findings that have held roughly steady for months. Democrats are more closely divided on the question: 52% say right direction, 38% say wrong track. Just nine percent (9%) of GOP voters say the United States is heading in the right direction.
If Santa Claus represented the American people, he'd leave lump of coal under Barack Obama's tree this Christmas.
From Rasmussen Reports:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-six percent (46%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21 That's the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of men Strongly Disapprove along with 39% of women. Most African-American voters (58%) Strongly Approve while most white voters (53%) Strongly Disapprove.
Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republicans Strongly Disapprove as do 52% of unaffiliated voters. Forty-seven percent (47%) of Democrats Strongly Approve.
For the second straight day, the update shows the highest level of Strong Disapproval yet recorded for this President. That negative rating had never topped 42% before yesterday. However, it has risen dramatically since the Senate found 60 votes to move forward with the proposed health care reform legislation. Most voters (55%) oppose the health care legislation and senior citizens are even more likely than younger voters to dislike the plan.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve.
Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Fifty-six percent (56%) now disapprove.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Democrats approve while 88% of Republicans and 62% of unaffiliated voters disapprove.
For more analysis, check out Rasmussen Reports here.
If the growing national debt of $12.4 trillion doesn't scare you, add the cost of unfunded liabilities (currently $62.9 trillion) to that total and you'll get a sense of how close this country is to declaring bankruptcy under the free-spending Democrats.
From CNSNews.com:
While Congress has voted to raise the national debt ceiling to $12.4 trillion, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported that the federal government's unfunded liabilities – the costs of promised benefits through Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and several other programs – total $62.9 trillion in today's dollars.
When asked about these costs and the government's entitlement promises to the American people, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told CNSNews.com that it is "irresponsible" for the federal government to continue to spend money it does not have and that this issue will be the “most important thing” Congress will discuss next year.
"I said on the floor last night, American families can't spend more than what they bring in for 36 of the last 40 years," Boehner told CNSNews.com at his weekly briefing. "No business in America can exist that spends more than it brings in for 36 of the last 40 years, and certainly, our government can't continue to exist if we continue to spend money that we don't have."
Newspaper: Obama/Pelosi 'stimulus' the costliest fiscal failure in U.S. history
From Investor's Business Daily:
This year's $787 billion "stimulus" is now the costliest fiscal failure in U.S. history. Put bluntly, it didn't work — in fact, it made things worse. So what do you follow it up with? Why, "Stimulus, Part II."
Government is by its very essence wasteful, but it doesn't have to be stupid. Yet, with more than a year's experience under our belt and no real progress seen in ending our jobless recovery, you'd think Congress would be hesitant to pass another big-spending, job-killing failure like the last.
On Thursday, however, the House passed another $175 billion "jobs" bill. Given what we know, this is an act of either total ignorance or breathtaking political opportunism — or a bit of both.
It amounts to a third round of stimulus. In 2008, President George W. Bush tried one, handing out some $152 billion — a bit under 1% of GDP — to Americans and inviting them to spend it to get the economy growing again. Instead, they saved it or paid down credit cards.
This year's mammoth stimulus, we were assured by the Obama White House, would be different. It would cap unemployment at 8% and kick-start the economy. But the unemployment rate soared above 10%, and we've lost 4 million jobs this year alone.
So it's no longer debatable: Based on what was promised, the stimulus has failed. Even so, we now may get another one (called a "jobs bill" this time), which no doubt will be just as wasteful.
The U.S. government's unprecedented spending splurge, with no end in sight, is creating a mountain of debt that endangers both our economy and way of life. Can something be done about it?
Anyone who reads IBD knows we're not doomsayers. Sometimes, in fact, we've been chided for cockeyed optimism in the face of even the gloomiest prognostications. Our faith in America's resilient economy, the world's largest and most creative, and in the productive people who make it go, was reason enough.
That said, we face a rather stark fact today: The current path for U.S. debt is unsustainable.
Our $14 trillion economy is more than three times bigger than the next largest in the world. But our debt will soon surpass even the bloated level of WWII, when we were literally fighting for our lives and freedoms with a weak economy struggling to emerge from the Great Depression.
In just the last year alone, according to a report this week from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), total U.S. public debt has jumped to $7.6 trillion, or 53% of GDP, from $5.7 trillion, or 41% of GDP.
The latest edition of The George Washington University Battleground Poll offers some sobering news for Democrats, who are headed for major loses in Congress in 2010 if they continue to push a big government, higher taxes, massive deficit agenda.
The GW Poll finds a majority of voters (56%) believing that the country is on the wrong track.
Top areas of concern are the economy and jobs, health care costs, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the federal budget deficit.
More from the poll:
Looking ahead to the 2010 Congressional Elections, the Republican Party now enjoys a two point advantage (42%-40%) on the Congressional generic ballot.
However, voters are closely divided on their preference for a divided government (41%) or for a unified government (38%). In addition, a majority (68%) of voters disapprove of the job performance of Congress. This is an eleven point increase in Congressional job disapproval since the last Battleground survey was conducted in July.
President Obama has a job approval rating at 50%, while his personal approval rating is 67%, and he has a 56% favorable rating on name identification.
On other name identification scores, Republicans in Congress (41% favorable/46% unfavorable) trail the Democrats in Congress (43% favorable/49% unfavorable). Among other figures tested, Joe Biden is nine points net positive (49% favorable/40% unfavorable) while Sarah Palin is one point net negative (45% favorable/46% unfavorable).
A split sample series of questions asked the public to rate how well the Republicans in Congress and President Obama were handling a variety of policy issues. President Obama has an advantage on being honest and trustworthy (+15), promoting energy independence (+9), reforming health care (+8), turning the economy around (+6) and sharing your values (+1). Republicans in Congress enjoy an advantage over President Obama on controlling wasteful spending (+7), promoting a strong national defense (+15) and holding down taxes (+18).
On a series of health care questions, sixty percent (60%) indicate that they currently have private health care insurance, while thirty-one percent (31%) have government health insurance and seven percent (7%) do not have health insurance. Among those who have private insurance, ninety-one percent (91%) indicate that they are "satisfied" with the quality of health care they and their family receive.
For more poll results and analysis, follow the link below:
The Mercury is conducting an online poll, offering readers an opportunity to grade Barack Obama's first year as president. I've already cast my vote. You can vote at the newspaper's Web site.
The United States is running out of money to pay its bills. So what do the Democrats have in mind? Print more money, of course.
From POLITICO:
In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year's rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections.
"We've incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday. And the Maryland Democrat confirmed that the anticipated increase could be as high as $1.8 trillion — nearly twice what had been assumed in last spring's budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year.
The leadership is betting that it's better for the party to take its lumps now rather than risk further votes over the coming year. But the enormity of the number could create its own dynamic, much as another debt ceiling fight in 1985 gave rise to the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction act mandating across-the-board spending cuts nearly 25 years ago.
Tony Phyrillas is the city editor and political columnist for The Mercury, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa. Phyrillas has won several national and state awards for his columns. Phyrillas has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and in The New York Times and is a frequent commentator on radio and television programs. He co-hosted "Talking Politics with Tony Phyrillas & Mike Pincus" on WPAZ 1370 AM.
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