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Would have been closer to 6 million without the stimulus bill. Somewhere out there, there are about 1,750,000 people with jobs who probably think he's doing a better job than you do.
Look for net exports to improve. Another boost to GDP.
Let's see, deficit for Feb 1 thru Dec 31 was $1,408 billion. Total debt increase in that time was $1,681 billion. Kind of makes you wish that the Bush people had been a little more careful with the economy, doesn't it.
No, that's just how it's worked out lately. A lot of people have noticed...
Why did Obama only save 2 million jobs? Hasn't he saved everyone? Aren't we all only alive b/c Hussein has salvaged us all?
The reality of the situation is that in order to pass a bill for health care reform, there must be compromises or there is risk of no bill at all. I believe the frustration with most Americans is that they believe the bill does not go far enough. Not the other way around as suggested by it's opponents. A majority of Americans (54%to46%) Health Policy favored a public option but compromise with Republicans eliminated that option. Should Obama not have compromised with Republicans on that issue? Personally I feel no. But I'd rather see some kind of reform than none at all.
I don't agree.
I think ANY reform, just for the sake of saying you enacted reform, can make things worse than they already are.
Yes - most Americans favored the Public Option, and the Medicare Buy-In, both of which were compromised away.
It's not the compromise I am so disappointed with - although I think Obama went way overboard in how much he compromised - it is much more the blatant favoratism and outright bribery - to states like Nebraska and Louisiana and to organized labor - all who got 'sweatheart' deals at the expense of all other Americans... The idea of picking winners because of their political support for you in the past, or of bribing senators with hundreds of millions of OUR tax dollars - just stinks... It is really that simple with me...
This system of crony-politics is every bit as rotten-to-the-core as Bush's blatant partonage of the rich and powerful and his Republican base (35% of the country) to the exclusion of all others... It should be opposed by the American public.
I was aghast to hear more political cronyism and political paybacks in the Health Care Reform debate today.
The Obama Administration is proposing that organized labor be given an excemption from paying the tax on Cadillac Health Plans until 2018...
All other Americans will be subject to the tax - and from what I see - it is NOT indexed to inflation - so as time goes by - more and more middle-class non-union people will fall prey to it..
This simply STINKS!!!
I am disgusted how bribes are being paid to special interest groups, or only certain states (like Louisiana and Nebraska) to BUY their support for this sham...
It is so watered down now that it will do nothing to contain costs, and the benefits under the plan will be heavily skewed towards Obama supporters.
Is this the kind of new government we were promised - one that would show no favoratism to special interest groups or the rich and powerful? Is this the kind of change we wanted???
I think not...
I urge everyone to write their US Senator and Congressman to vote against this partisan and worthless reform bill.
What a crock
if folks can not get it about Obama~~ gosh I just do not know what to think
Our current system is broken. Most everyone agrees. How can reforming a broken system do more harm than already exists? At least the current legislation includes coverage for Americans with preexisting conditions and for millions of Americans who can not afford insurance. That seems to me to be a big step in the right direction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HubbleRules
I don't agree.
I think ANY reform, just for the sake of saying you enacted reform, can make things worse than they already are.
Yes - most Americans favored the Public Option, and the Medicare Buy-In, both of which were compromised away.
It's not the compromise I am so disappointed with - although I think Obama went way overboard in how much he compromised - it is much more the blatant favoratism and outright bribery - to states like Nebraska and Louisiana and to organized labor - all who got 'sweatheart' deals at the expense of all other Americans... The idea of picking winners because of their political support for you in the past, or of bribing senators with hundreds of millions of OUR tax dollars - just stinks... It is really that simple with me...
This system of crony-politics is every bit as rotten-to-the-core as Bush's blatant partonage of the rich and powerful and his Republican base (35% of the country) to the exclusion of all others... It should be opposed by the American public.
Our current system is broken. Most everyone agrees. How can reforming a broken system do more harm than already exists? At least the current legislation includes coverage for Americans with preexisting conditions and for millions of Americans who can not afford insurance. That seems to me to be a big step in the right direction.
I fully agree that the current system is broken.
However, I see very little in the current compromised bill that will help. The main benefit of this bill will be to ensure millions of additional Americans - and that is laudable.
However, a public option was the only hope of doing that PLUS reducing costs by giving the insurance companies stiff competition... In addition to the public option, insurance companies should have been given the green light to compete across state boundaries - to further enhance competition.
Right now - the ONLY cost saving component in this bill will be to progressively lower the coverage level of Americans with the tax on 'Cadillac' policies - which will eventually ensnare MOST middle-class Americans - just as the AMT tax does - because health care costs are rising so much faster than inflation. Costs will go down in this bill as more and more Americans are forced to take policies that offer less coverage with higher deductibles and co-pays... This should NOT be the primary cost-containment strategy...
They could have also engaged in tort reform and implemented no-fault medical care laws - as we have for auto insurance in most of the country...
They chose instead to favor their political patrons - and as a result - most Americans oppose the current legislation...
That plus the total secrecy and closed nature of the debate - in spite of constant assurances from Obama that we would get exactly the opposite - has poisoned the public's impression of this legislation...
I supported Obama when he promised to end 'politics as usual', to enact meaningful health-care reform that would definitely include a public-option, when he promised no tax increases on anyone earning less than $200,000...
He has broken too many promises, and has engaged in far far too much crony politics for me to tolerate...
I believe McCain would have been far worse in his proposals - and I would have opposed him also...
I am NOT a partisan person - I do not owe my allegiance to either party. I believe it is time for politicians to start doing what is good for the country as a whole - not just those who give them the most financial contributions or support at the polls...
Actually - I think the fastest way to kill this bill is for Brown to beat Coakley in the special senatorial run-off election in Massachusetts next Tuesday...
But everyone who feels like I do should still write their Congressman and Senator and express their opinion.
I supported Obama when he promised to end 'politics as usual', to enact meaningful health-care reform that would definitely include a public-option, when he promised no tax increases on anyone earning less than $200,000...
He has broken too many promises, and has engaged in far far too much crony politics for me to tolerate...
I believe McCain would have been far worse in his proposals - and I would have opposed him also...
I am NOT a partisan person - I do not owe my allegiance to either party. I believe it is time for politicians to start doing what is good for the country as a whole - not just those who give them the most financial contributions or support at the polls...
I don't mean personal insult by this... but are you really that gullible? I applaud people for admitting that theyn were bamboozled by Obama, but find it hard to see how relatively well informed people (which you seem to be one of) took the bait in the first place. You're talking about a guy, in Obama, who is has been a left-wing-commie hack his entire career. He basically supported infanticide 3x in the IL state senate and voted present many times. He joined the filibuster to regulate Fannie and Freddie soon after entering the US Senate. He voted against two excellent legal minds, in Justices Roberts and Alito. His associations and influences need no rehashing.
I supported Barr/Root and abandoned McCain after he supported and engineered the TARP. I wouldn't consider myself partisan though I almost always choose the GOP over the (D)s. The reason I say I am not a partisan hack is that I don't oppose the (D)s just b/c they have (D) after their name. It's b/c the (D) party is now run by the commies who run MoveOn, DailyKos, Soros, Bing and others who call themselves 'progressives.' Hope and Change is Hoax and Change.
Actually - I think the fastest way to kill this bill is for Brown to beat Coakley in the special senatorial run-off election in Massachusetts next Tuesday...
But everyone who feels like I do should still write their Congressman and Senator and express their opinion.
They plan on cramming it down Americans' throats, anyway:
Quote:
Even if Democrats lose the special election to pick a new Massachusetts senator Tuesday, Congress may still pass health-care overhaul through a process called reconciliation, a top House Democrat said. That procedure requires 51 votes rather than the 60 needed to prevent Republicans from blocking votes on President Barack Obama's top legislative priorities. That supermajority is at risk as the Massachusetts race has tightened.
“Even before Massachusetts and that race was on the radar screen, we prepared for the process of using reconciliation,” Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said.
If Obama wants to screw Americans with his secret closed-door deals with big pharma and bribes to elected officials and the unions for votes, by golly, screw Americans he will! Losing the Mass. Senate seat will NOT stop him. If you're not in on one of Obama's sweetheart deals, you're screwed. Period.
You clearly have no understanding at all of the magnitude of what went wrong here, and likely not much of an explanation therefore for why governments all over the world suddenly launched stimulus programs at the same time we did. Thailand has a stimulus bill. Vietnam has a stimulus bill. Did Obama make them do it? Does he have Bill Ayers-like Chicago stooges cleverly positioned in Bangkok and Hanoi to force them into it?
LIST OF DUSTY PORK PROJECTS & SPECIAL INTEREST
PAYBACKS INCLUDED IN THE STIMULUS BILL...
Tax cuts for individuals = $237 billion
Tax cuts for businesses = $51 billion
Medicaid support = $87 billion
65% of COBRA Premiums = $25 billion
Local School Districts = $45 billion
Pell Grants = $16 billion
IDEA/low-$ school kids = $25 billion
Unemployment = $40 billion
Food Stamps = $20 billion
Direct aid to states = $9 billion
Roads, bridges, etc. = $51 billion
Green government programs = $30 billion
Home Weatherizing = $5 billion
Broadband/wireless = $7 billion
Smart Electrical Grid = $11 billion
All that and nothing to stimulate job creation, the lion's share went to government- state government programs, federal government programs, government, government and more government, it was a stimulus for government. Not to mention the "stimulus" was spread out over four years.
You also forgot to list the billions in dollars they cannot account for, and the billions that went to all those pork projects and special interest groups.
Michael Mann = $541,184
In June Michael Mann obtained $541,1854 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, for a National Science Foundation grant three-year project titled:
Award Abstract #0902133
Collaborative Research: P2C2--Toward Improved Projections of the Climate Response to Anthropogenic Forcing: Combining Proxy and Instrumental Observations with an Earth System Model
I'm sure there are many more, I'll even start a new thread, maybe we can find some more special interest groups feeding at the "stimulus" bill trough.
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