Obama says “Private Sector is Doing Fine”

Am I missing something???   The private sector is fine?  Tell this to the millions of Americans who have been out of work for 2-3 years.   Tell this to the millions of underemployed workers who went from $50,000 salaries to minimum wage jobs.  Tell this to the small business owners who have had to close their doors due to the burden of Obamacare and additional regulations on their businesses.  Tell this to the thousands of college graduates who accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in student loans and have no job prospects.  The list goes on….

(Via ABC News)

President Obama said today that the “private sector is doing fine” as the U.S. economy recovers from recession, but urged Congress to send more federal aid to states and localities to boost hiring.

The comment triggered an onslaught of attacks from Republicans, who pointed to dismal job growth and an unemployment rate lingering above 8 percent as a sign Obama is out of touch.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee running to unseat Obama, said the comment would “go down in history.”

Continue reading at abcnews.go.com.

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Unemployment Tricks: Jobs Claim Made by ‘Shrinking’ Workforce (via Newsmax)

Th White House manipulating numbers?  Say it ain’t so!!!

Par for the course, for this administration….

 

Last week, the White House claimed that unemployment dropped for the fifth consecutive month to 8.3 percent — the lowest it has been in nearly three years — after adding 243,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But financial experts are saying the figures may have been manipulated — and that the significant drop in employment was because of the fact that the federal agency charged with computing key economic data has significantly decreased the number of Americans in the workforce.

“If you hold the workforce participation rate constant over the past year, unemployment would be about 8.9 percent instead of 8.3 percent,” GOP economist Matt McDonald of Hamilton Place Strategies said Monday on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “So it is a weird number that is out there, and I think people have to be looking at that carefully.”

The same Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report that showed unemployment dropping to 8.3 percent showed total workforce participation — the number of people either working or looking for work — declining by 1.2 million people in one month.

The unemployment rate is determined by dividing the number of unemployed job-seekers by the total labor force. By reducing the number of workers in the overall workforce, the Obama administration can show actual unemployment dropping, when, in fact, improvement has been marginal at best.

Many economists feel the official statistics seriously underestimate how bad the unemployment situation really is. They maintain that the key measure is the number of people who would like to have a job, but can’t find one.

Read the full story here…

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Fact Checking the 2012 State of the Union Speech (via Washington Post)

A State of the Union address is often difficult to fact check, no matter who is president. The speech is a product of many hands and is carefully vetted, so major errors of fact are so relatively rare that they sometimes can become big news (think of George W. Bush’s “sixteen little words” about Iraq seeking uranium in Niger). At the same time, State of the Union addresses are very political speeches, an argument for the president’s policies, so context (or the perspective of opponents) is often missing.

Here is a guide through some of President Obama’s more fact-challenged claims, in the order in which he made them. As is our practice with live events, we do not award Pinocchio rankings, which are reserved for complete columns.

“For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.”

The killing of bin Laden, which Obama used to open and close his speech, is an achievement that few partisans would quibble with. But the story about Iraq and Afghanistan is much more muddled.

Yes, U.S. troops have left Iraq, in part because the Obama administration was unwilling or unable — take your pick — to extend a security agreement with Iraq. Since the U.S. departure, Iraq has descended into violence as the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has targeted Sunni opposition figures. The country at times appears to teeter on the edge of a new outbreak of sectarian violence.  Read more….

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President’s Jobs Council to President Obama: Adopt GOP Bills, Approach to Job Creation

Yesterday, on Fox News Sunday, Speaker of the House John Boehner noted that the House passed 30 jobs bills in 2011, which have never made it to the floor of the Senate, thanks to Democrat Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid.  While Obama constantly claims Republicans are the party of No, and that they are responsible for the lack of new jobs in this country, these facts speak otherwise.

On Speaker Boehner’s blog this weekend (www.speaker.gov/blog), the following article was posted, noting that Obama’s own Jobs Council has endorsed the approach to job creation that the Republicans have been pursuing all year, in order to get Americans back to work.   (Note how many bills have the comment “Senate has taken no action to date.”) Hmmm…who is the REAL party of No??

Yesterday, the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness released its year-end report, recommending how we can “create jobs in the short run and improve our nation’s competitiveness over the long term.” The recommendations focus on reducing regulatory burdens, simplifying our tax code, utilizing American sources of energy, and fostering private sector innovation and global competitiveness – the very approach House Republicans have advocated. As Speaker Boehner noted,  “With this report, President Obama’s own panel of experts has endorsed the approach to job creation House Republicans have been pursuing for more than a year.”  Not only does the report align with the approach Republicans have proposed, it reflects legislation already passed by the House and awaiting action in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The House has acted, and all we need now is a willing partner in the Senate to make many of the Council’s recommendations a reality.  That’s why Speaker Boehner yesterday urged, “the President to call on Senate leaders to take up these House-passed jobs bills so we can provide the solutions American job creators say are needed to put people back to work.”

Here are the ideas proposed in the Council’s report, followed by bills and ideas proposed by House Republicans.

President’s Jobs Council: Adopt an “All-In” Strategy on Energy – “In order to stay competitive, the U.S. must maintain access to abundant and affordable energy while reducing our reliance on foreign imports and moving toward cleaner energy sources.”
House GOP Solutions:

• Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, H.R. 1230 (Passed the House, Senate has taken no action to date)
• Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, H.R. 1229 (Passed the House, Senate has taken no action to date)
• Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act, H.R. 1231 (Passed the House, Senate has taken no action to date)
• Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011, H.R. 2021 (Passed the House, Senate has taken no action to date)
• North American-Made Energy Security Act, H.R. 1938 (Passed the House, Senate has taken no action to date)

Read more….

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Money Can’t Buy Happiness…..But It Might Get You a Job at the White House

President Obama is full swing into campaign mode….not that he ever left…and the contributions have been coming in fast and furious.  Oops…did I just say Fast and Furious?  Freudian slip?  But I digress…

Obama’s most recent fundraiser was at the private home of filmmaker Spike Lee, with invites going for $35,800 per plate.  During both of Obama’s campaigns, we have heard a lot about his massive contributions from various bundlers, fundraisers who bring in anywhere from $50,000 to $500,000 from multiple contributors, and we are all aware of the claims of crony capitalism associated with the current administration.

Now, the Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan group, has come out with some interesting facts regarding this very subject.  According to their studies, 68 out of the 350 bundlers, or their spouses, have received appointments within the White House administration.  In addition, 250 of those same 350 bundlers have been invited to various White House events, some to multiple events, and others who visit on a regular basis.  That’s a pretty staggering number.  There are also reports that 30 of the 2012 bundlers have ties to companies that either already work with federal agencies or hope to do so.  Read the full story here…

So, is this the appropriate behavior from a president who promised to do away with the special interests in Washington?  Who promised to change the politics in Washington?  Who promised hope and change and a unified America?  I think not.  But it’s par for the course with this current president.  Wasn’t he the one who talked about rewarding friends and punishing enemies?  He clearly rewards his friends, such as the unions, who give approximately 90% of their political contributions to Democrats.  A large percentage of the waivers from Obamacare have been given to unionized companies and other administration allies.  He clearly punishes his enemies, like Right to Work states, such as South Carolina, with the Boeing contract, and Tennessee, with Gibson Guitars.  His Justice Department also goes after states like Arizona and Alabama, for trying to enforce illegal immigration laws, laws that were written by these states, because the federal government is not getting the job done.  These examples are just a drop in the bucket.  This is consistent behavior by the current administration, the man who claims to have the most transparent administration in history.

Where is the public outrage?  Where is the media?  Ah yes, they’re too busy protecting the president, smearing the tea party, and speaking to ex-wives of Republican presidential candidates.

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Biden and Reid’s “Jobs Bill” Farce (via The Foundry)

If you listen to Vice President Joe Biden, the most effective way to prevent rape and murder is more federal stimulus spending. In the Vice President’s defense, at least this is a new argument, considering the others—jobs created, bridges built, energy generated—have all miserably failed. But this desperate argument, while fresh, is also incorrect.

The Vice President made the remarks first in a speech on Tuesday at the University of Pennsylvania, saying additional stimulus would put police on the streets and lower crime, adding that he wished conservative lawmakers “had some notion of what it was like to be on the other side of a gun, or [to have] a 200-pound man standing over you, telling you to submit.” On Wednesday in Flint, Michigan, Biden doubled down on those comments.

Biden was confronted on video by Human Events editor Jason Mattera and was asked: “And if the Republicans don’t pass this bill, then rape will continue to rise?” Biden angrily responded: “Murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, all crimes will continue to rise.” White House press secretary Jay Carney gave President Obama’s blessing to this message in yesterday’s press briefing, even as The Washington Post’s “fact checker” gave Biden “four pinocchios,” calling the claim “absurd.”

Biden also has the blessing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) who scheduled a vote yesterday on the $35 billion stimulus bill the Vice President was pushing, which was paid for with a new tax hike on wealthy Americans.

Read more….

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Las Vegas 2012 Presidential Debate

The 10th 2012 presidential debate was held last night, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  This was probably the most “fiesty” debate of the season, which is exactly what the CNN moderator, Anderson Cooper, was looking for.  As we’ve seen with the liberal moderators in several of the prior debates, Cooper presented questions designed in such a way to encourage the candidates to go after each other, instead of Obama, and that’s exactly what the audience got last night.

For the first time, Rick Perry actually had a little fight in him.  While I supported Perry getting into the race, fully expecting him to “wow” me in the debates, I have been quite disappointed in his performance.  Last night, he showed a little more fire, but I still can’t say I was impressed.  The juvenile exchange between Perry and Romney probably didn’t score him any points.  He was actually booed by the audience on more than one occasion.  While I agree with his energy plan, and he was strong on the border issue last night, he’s going to have to do more to win back his supporters.  He may be a strong campaigner and fundraiser, but his lackluster performance in the previous debates may have done irreparable damage.

Herman Cain was able to withstand the extensive questioning and criticism of his 9-9-9 plan.  Some in the liberal media said he lost the debate, when he failed to effectively explain how the middle class will NOT be paying more taxes under his plan.  I don’t agree that he lost the debate.  I do, however, think he missed an opportunity to sell his plan by giving a more detailed description of how it works, and reminding people that this will eliminate the payroll taxes.  It came across, not as a replacement tax, but as an additional tax, as they would be paying a state sales tax AND a national sales tax.

I have to applaud Gingrich.  He refused to take the bait and trash the other candidates.  He handled his questions in a very classy way, and he reminded the others that they need to remain focused on Obama, instead of going after each other.  While he made the point that Cain’s 9-9-9 plan would be a very tough sell in Washington, he also gave Cain a lot of credit for coming up with a new, bold plan, and giving the candidates something of substance to debate.

Governor Romney has been consistent and strong in the debates, but he seemed very agitated last night.  His comment about Perry being testy because he’s had a rough couple of debates, was totally uncalled for, and simply rude.  I, for one, have little patience for bickering and personal attacks on the stage.  On the other hand, it was kind of refreshing to see Perry and Santorum rattle Romney.

Ron Paul reminded us, yet again, why he will never be elected POTUS.  He commented that we should not give aid to Israel.  That’s all I needed to hear.  While he brings up a lot of good points, when it comes to over-reaching government and the Constitution, his foreign policy views scare me.  He doesn’t seem to care if Iran has a nuke, and he doesn’t want to support Israel with foreign aid funding.  And….we’re done.  I don’t care what else he stands for or against.

Michele Bachmann held her own last night…nothing overly impressive and nothing damaging.  That said, it will be difficult for her to regain the support she’s lost over the past several weeks.

Rick Santorum got into it with Romney on Romneycare, and got quite testy, constantly interrupting him, then telling him he was out of time.  That behavior doesn’t help anyone.  Someone noted, after the last debate, that he’s already at an “11″ when he comes on to the stage.  I would agree.  He’s just waiting to pounce, and gets worked up too easily.  He’s not getting through to voters, despite having some good ideas about getting manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

In my opinion, if anyone won this debate, which the idea of that alone is debatable, it was Speaker Gingrich.  He stayed above the fray, and I have to give him credit for that.  He’s also strong on policy, and provided clear, concise answers.  I don’t know that there was a clear cut loser last night.  For me, it was Santorum and Paul.  Santorum acted like a poor sport, and Paul is off the rails on foreign policy.  In a time with so much unrest around the world, we need a strong leader, who will defend American’s interests and lead with a “peace through strength” philosophy, as we saw in Ronald Reagan.  I don’t see any hint of that in Ron Paul.

The next debate will be held on Wednesday, November 9th, at Oakland University, and televised on CNBC.

What are your thoughts on last night’s performances?

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Cain Soars to 8-Point Lead in Iowa

The media has been ripping Cain apart, since his sudden rise in the polls just a few short weeks ago.  One of the many criticisms of Cain, by both Republican and Democratic strategists, is that he may not be a serious candidate for president, because he’s not spending enough time in Iowa like most other candidates.  Well, as it turns out, maybe he doesn’t have to.  Here’s the latest Newsmax story on Cain’s rising numbers in the Hawkeye State:

Herman Cain has surged into an eight-point lead over his nearest Republican rival in first-in-the-nation Iowa, an exclusive Newsmax/InsiderAdvantage poll released on Monday shows.

The former pizza magnate is supported by 26 percent of voters who say they will vote for him in the Hawkeye State GOP caucus, compared to 18 percent who opt for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The surprising numbers come just two months after the popular Ames Iowa Straw Poll where Cain ranked fifth among the top-tier candidates, taking 1,456 votes to winner Michele Bachmann’s 4,823 votes.

Cain also is running second behind Romney in New Hampshire, according to a separate Newsmax poll in that state.

Combined, the two polls confirm that with the clock ticking on the primary season, Cain is now the clear favorite among conservatives who are determined to defeat Romney for the nomination.

Read more…

 

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9 responses to 9 false attacks on the 9-9-9 plan (via Herman Cain/North Star)

Do you know why candidates for office tend to be reluctant to propose detailed plans? Because they know the plans will be flyspecked and picked apart by just about everyone. Inviting criticism doesn’t help you to get votes.

But fear of criticism prevents you from conceiving solutions to problems. So even if avoidance of criticism helps in propelling you to an election victory, how are you supposed to effectively govern? How are you supposed to fix the problems you told everyone you were going to fix?

That’s why I’m happy to see so much criticism of the 9-9-9 plan I’ve proposed. It shows that people are thinking seriously about a substantive idea. When people stop obsessing over “gaffes” and campaign strategy, and start honing in on fixing the country’s economic problems, we are getting somewhere.

This is not to say, of course, I’m going to leave poorly founded criticisms of the plan unanswered. Certain objections to the plan are circulating in the usual places, driven by the same kind of thinking that has left us with a stagnant economy, $14 trillion in debt and mounting entitlement obligations. These criticisms deserve responses, and here they are:

Read more..

 

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