|
A friend of mine told me..."Nick Romney is for the rich." "Why is he for the rich?" I asked. "Because he didn't grow up in the hood, he doesn't know what is like to be poor like Obama" she responds. My friend went on to say how the Affordable Act law provides her with better health-care service. While listening to the radio, a man talks about who he is going to vote for..."Nick Romney is the type man that would slash benefits, layoff people (describing a company which took over a struggling company)...wages haven't gone up in 25 years, that is why I'm voting for Obama," he said. Within those 25 years, Bill Clinton was President for 8 years and almost 4 years of President Obama which almost equals to 12 years! This means he was building a straw man's argument to say the least which we will dive into a bit more detail. One thing I have noticed about various President Obama proponents, they do not hold him accountable to his promises nor his comments. This is why political figures tend to promise you the moon and tell you what you what to hear rather than telling you how it is. They have a sizable loyal following which will vote for them no matter what they do, clinging to old bumper sticker sayings and just repeating them like parrots not even knowing much what the other side has to offer along with vital details on why they would be against that offer. This makes swing votes all the more critical in an election! President was elected in 2008, like every President before him, they get judged on their record and how the economy has produced within that framework which indicates if they did a good job or not along with his promises. When Obama was running for office, he has attacked President Bush's record a number of times, comparing Bush to John McCain who he was running against. The slogan, "hope and change" was created and it was promised that he would turn things around by a different method. So let's take a look at some of the more common promises and attacks along with a comment made by President Obama and his deficit. Economics 1) Before President Obama was elected, he promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. David Jackson, from USA TODAY, writes... "Now that his $787 billion stimulus bill is law, President Obama plans to spend this week promoting a budget plan designed to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term," then reports... "White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed that the administration pegs the current deficit at $1.3 trillion, or 9.2% of the overall economy, and projects that in four years the deficit will be down to $533 billion, or 3% of the economy as measured by the gross domestic product." In 2012, he made another promise, to cut the deficit by 4 trillion dollars. How close was this promise? More than three years after the stimulus bill was voted into law, a deficit of 1.3 trillion dollars a year! When Bush left office, the deficit was 400 billion dollars a year which was considered a lot back then which was not that long ago. The jury is still out on the 4 trillion, but there are red flags about this promised plan and here is one of those red flags to give you an idea, the costs of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq were considered a savings that would be used for a new stimulus package to build and repair more roads, similar to the first stimulus. However, the costs of those wars was borrowed money so borrowing one area in government and shifting it to another part of government doesn't constitute a "savings" by definition. If you had 4 credit cards full of debt on them and you decided to switch cards and spend it on another store, the remaining balance of debt is picked up by the new card in addition to the new spending! So the only savings that can occur in that situation is the interest rate. But in the government's case, the interest rate remains the same for all its debt! The federal reserve devalues the dollar in order to keep interest rates down which has an affect on goods and services based on the dollar. If the President is re-elected, one has to predict given the policies already put into place and seeing the results, it is highly unlikely that President Obama will cut 4 trillion off the deficit but rather we will see a national debt of over 21 trillion dollars. A progression of deficit spending that leads American toward bankruptcy! 2) Before President Obama was elected, he called Bush's deficit "un-American." This sounds good at first and there is truth to that. The deficit became his responsibility in 2009, when the stimulus bill became law, the national debt has grown from slightly over 10 trillion to slightly over 16 trillion dollars and counting! That is nearly a 60 percent increase in just 3 1/2 years in office. With the possibility of the deficit reaching over 21 trillion by the end of his second term, would that be considered "un-American too?" 3) In 2010, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner declared, "Welcome to the Recovery" President Obama said, "We are beginning to turn the corner." And Biden said there would be, "job gains of 500,000 a month." How did the recovery turnout two years later? Not much job creation, last month's (September) job reports was 114,000 which is down from the previous month in August of 2012. It has never reached 200,000 or more in a month. So it wasn't even close to 500,000 a month and the economy remains sluggish. 4) In 2008, Obama promised, "I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year." One of his advisers clarified, saying that promise was meant for the total cost, not just the premiums. What became known as "Obamacare" was passed and then signed into law by 2010. So the first part of the promise was fulfilled. But what about reducing the typical family's costs for health-care? The Department of Health and Human Services was contacted and was unable to provide any information that says those health-care costs would go down.Congressional Budget Office said premiums would barely change for anyone who currently has employer-based health care coverage. This comment touched me personally, my heath-care costs have went up, mainly the deductible (500 dollars). And my premium went up. I don't consider that change marginal at all especially if I require above average medical care. So the verdict on creating cheaper health-care through government law as promised by President Obama, the costs have maintained its pattern, going up! No cut for the typical family! 5) President Obama claimed that higher gas prices meant a better economy and cheaper gas prices meant a poor economy, but "according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the price of a barrel of oil has nearly tripled from the a barrel it cost when President Obama took the oath of office in January 2009. But that's not from economic growth, they say. Oil costs more because of instability in the Middle East and the decline of the dollar - the currency to which oil prices are pegged." At 92 dollars a barrel (which is when this was written), gas remains high for that price around $3.30 per gallon. Foreign Policy 1) In 2008, Obama said, "Bin Laden is innocent until proven guilty and must be captured alive and given a fair trial." How did this statement stand the test of time? In 2011, President Obama said, "I authorized Seal Team 6 to kill Bin Laden." 2) In 2008, Obama said, "Guantanamo is entirely unnecessary, and the detainees should not be interrogated." In 2011, President Obama said, "Vital intelligence was obtained from Guantanamo detainees that led to the location of Bin Laden." 3) Libya: The President said on 60 minutes which wasn't aired to a month later only his attacks on Romney were previously aired, he said this about Libya..."You're right that this is not a situation that was exactly the same as what happened in Egypt, and my suspicion is, is that there are folks involved in this who were looking to target Americans from the start." While terrorists were giving themselves responsibility within the first two hours of the attack, it didn't mean President Obama knew for sure it was a terrorist attack. On the other hand, there was no convincing evidence that would prompt his administration to inform the public that it was merely a protest as a result of a movie that got out of hand which resulted in the deaths of four people! More reports about how the CIA was told to stand down after hearing shots being fired at the embassy. The whole Libya incident was a debacle, one of which is the responsibility of the President. Now let's take a look at some future policy that will affect the future of the United States and that is, taxes! Under the Affordable Health-care plan there is a provision to start taxing medical devices such as things like new X-rays, MRI machines and anything else related to the medical field that would be considered a "device." The biggest problem with this tax, it's not taxing the profits but rather taxing the sales of that product! For example, if a company sells 5 million MRI machines and makes 1.5 million in profit, the company gets taxed at 5 million dollars! For bigger companies it will hinder innovation but they have enough capital to survive. Small businesses with new ideas trying to break it, will struggle greatly to make it and in many cases will not survive such taxation. The major Bio-Tech companies didn't make a profit for ten years before they became huge! Would have they survived if taxed on their sales rather than profits? Most likely not! The new tax on medical devices would greatly reduce innovation and cost many jobs that would have been created otherwise. The tax would also increase the cost to consumers who are already burden with many other costs of health-care! If President Obama gets re-elected, it would mean a debt crisis shortly after his second term. Perhaps within a few years. Mitt Romney I believe is not the greatest choice for President because he has problems too, but with him running the country, it would slow down the slide of the American economy and turn it around for some prosperity for awhile which would create more jobs, retain our freedoms from massive debt that we could never payback (Greece would be example). He would be tougher on China which economy is now bigger than the United States. Perhaps oil independence in ten years with the new technologies that has increase production greatly with better built cars! So be sure to vote on November 6, 2012 or earlier!
Related Articles -
Obama, election, Mitt Romney, President, economy, ,
|
