Posted on 07/29/2014 11:39:24 AM PDT by Kaslin
Barack Obama's approval polls slipped precariously closer to the 30 percent range this week, as many more Americans expressed deep dissatisfaction with his failed presidency.
As Obama frantically runs around the country trying to find a motivating message that resonates with the base of his party, it's obvious that he's in over his head, without a serious, substantive agenda, or any workable idea of how to get America moving again. He's still peddling the same shady shell game to raise the minimum wage, an idea the Congressional Budget Office says would kill up to one million jobs. The Gallup Poll Sunday reported that barely 40 percent now approve of the job he's doing, as more Americans (41 percent in its recent survey) point to a sluggish economy, stagnant incomes and the dearth of good paying, full time jobs as their biggest concerns.
There are other signs of the economy's weaknesses that are getting a lot more attention lately in the national news media than they have in the past.
Last week, for example, the New York Times' economic analyst Neil Irwin focused on the lack of capital investment in the still-uncertain, risk-averse, Obama economy. Yes, "businesses are making record profits, cash hoards are strong and borrowing is exceptionally cheap," Irwin writes. "But companies aren't plowing much money into big-ticket investments for the future."
Indeed, "what businesses spend on equipment, software buildings and intellectual property... still hasn't bounced back to its pre-crisis share of the economy, let alone made up for lost ground from the record lows of 2009," he says.
"What has this got to do with me, or my search for a job or one that pays more than the one I have now," you ask?
Higher capital investment translates into more jobs and in the process more productivity and a stronger economy
But it isn't just businesses who are leery of reinvesting more of their income. Consumers have been just as risk-averse, too, according to recent reports. Americans are stashing away more money in their bank accounts and other holdings than at any time in the past two decades, according to a report by Moebs Services, an economic research firm.
That's a sign that wary consumers, worried about the economy or losing their jobs, or the lack of any raises in the future, are cutting back on spending, the report says. In yet another sign the Obama economy is hurting mid-to-low-income Americans -- people he says he wants to help most -- look no further than what's happening to Wal-Mart, the king of America's retail industry.
Over the past five quarters, foot traffic and sales growth have fallen in their U.S. stores whose once-loyal customer base was heavily made up of low income consumers. Last week, the company's board replaced its CEO. Wal-Mart is "very exposed to the low-end consumer, and that consumer has really suffered a lot," says Faye Landes, a managing director at Cowen and Company, a major investment banking firm.
Earth to Obama: When it gets tougher to make ends meet at Wal-Mart, something is seriously wrong with this country. The people your policies are hurting the most are low-to-middle class Americans. Last week, the administration received more bad news on the economic front: New home sales fell 8.1 percent in June, and May's sale rates were also revised significantly lower, the Commerce Department said.
Realtors are reporting slower home sales, a further sign of a weak economy where the housing industry continues to struggle in in many areas of the country. Meanwhile, in debt-ridden Washington, the government is still spending as if there is no tomorrow.
The Congressional Budget Office projected last week in its long-term budget outlook that the government expects to rack up deficits of at least $7.6 trillion over the next nine years. Gulp.
When was the last time you heard Obama call for reining in spending? His entire presidency has been made up of a wish list of higher spending for an unending line of special pleaders.
Instead of cutting, consolidating and shrinking the size and cost of the government, making it more efficient, the president has been rapidly expanding it with one program, bureaucracy and federal regulation after another, from Obamacare to the ill-named Consumer Protection Agency. Under the former, health insurance premium costs have risen dramatically ever since Obama signed it into law. As for the latter, six years of monster federal budget deficits and increasingly costly government regulations have given consumers higher prices for just about everything we buy -- from food to gasoline.
A U.S. Labor Department report last week said a surge in gasoline prices drove inflation higher in June, with gas costs accounting for two-thirds of the increase.
When Obama was sworn into office on Inauguration Day 2009, regular gasoline was selling for $1.90 a gallon -- and soon after more than doubled. The price hikes were in large part the result of Obama's oil drilling moratoriums, blocking the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada that would have sharply boosted America's oil supply, reducing gas costs in the process. Struggling Americans, with families to feed and home mortgages to pay, were forced to foot the bill. In little more than three months, the voters will have a chance to send a message to Washington about what they have endured over the past six and a half years under this president and his accomplices in Congress.
On just about every domestic and economic policy level, Obama has made things worse. The average length of every recession we've had over the last several decades has lasted about two years or so. Under Obama, many states, including some of the largest, are still in recovery. On Nov. 4 we will get a chance to tell him directly what we think of his presidency and his policies.
Yep just like 2010.
And just how is (R) supposed to be better?
Take a look at what they allow and what they do and there's so little difference from (D) as to be the same party.
(Practically, this is to ask how would things be different/better under the other party?
and the honest answer is it wouldn't. Oh sure they may package it up nicely and loosen some of the restrictions, but they'll keep the essential building-blocks and constructs — look at their reactions to ObamaCare, F&F, NSA, and IRS for proof of this — they honestly don't care so long as they can look like the good guy
.)
Once you grant [some] people realize that (R) and (D) are essentially the same it allows you to extend the benefit of the doubt to the general population WRT their intelligence.
It is cruel of the racist Republicans to deny him this easy out, don't you think? (Providing they are smart enough) BTW, Democrats 2016? Why Joe Biden, of course. I predict he'll be a lot more front and center '14-16. Beware. He is a vicious and effective partisan.
O wait. Isn't there supposed to be another party?
I guess you didn’t see what happened in 2006, 2008, and 2010. All three elections happened as a result of voting against the unpopular President in office. I’m betting that 2014 will end up just like 2010.
All the anaylsts are saying its likely that when gnp numbers come out tomorrow—they’ll show growth at or above 3%.
If this happens, I can guarantee you that the democrats will game economic narrative a lot.
Of course most of the growth in the economy will be mid continent where the farm economy enjoys high prices and the oil patch if fomenting a revolution.
This might have been "obvious" in the first six months of his Presidency. But almost half-way through his second term there is zero reason any more to hope this on-going depredation on this country and our Constitution and freedoms and liberty are anything other than deliberate "malice aforethought".
If this were incompetence, he would have accidentally gotten maybe a few things right, like that buffoon Jimmah Chawtah. But everything he has done has been bad and he continues to double down and strike even harder against America and our institutions.
"Malice aforethought" is the only thing that can explain it. It is about time those who should know better start averting their gaze and stop excusing it as "being in over his head".
He's not in over his head. He is putting us in over our heads and shoveling in the dirt as fast as he can!
I saw — I just think that much voter apathy is because neither of the two [main] parties actually cares about the citizenry.
The Republican party is particularly loathesome because it has absolutely no intention of carrying out any of its stated platform planks; if it did how would McCain or Romney possibly be the face they endorsed for President? Seriously, those guys were chosen because either (a) they were Democrat in all but name, or (b) they were the only ones able to lose; neither choice is 'good' because the only conclusion from them is that the (R) party is complacent and/or complicit.
This sort of citizen-apathy/political-elite-superiority-complex is a direct result of The American Caste System.
Nope, there isn't.
But on the upside, and there is an upside, even liberals are getting the message.
Had lunch with a far, far left lib friend last weekend. She’s a changed woman. ADAMANT about getting Republicans elected next time. The mess at the border opened her eyes.
In Romney's case, I could never be quite sure. Has anyone ever held a mirror under his nose? See if he makes noise when kicked in the cullions?
Now McCain is another story. Him, feel free to condemn. In the AF when he was in the Navy, I can tell you it is very unusual for a Navy pilot to become famous in the AF. But everyone knew Lt. McCain.
"Did you hear about the Navy guy who keeps getting lost ... over the Chesapeake?" "5 American aircraft and several probables doesn't make you an ace, McCain." "AWOL" "Drunk and Disorderly" "Fighting in bars," "Improper Uniform." etc. ad nauseam. The instructors who tried to wash him out of flight school were never heard from again. Sure helps to be the black sheep in a family full'o'admirals!
When he was shot down and captured, maintenance officers throughout the fleet breathed a sigh of relief. Had the NVA known about him, they would have shipped him back the next day. Instead, becoming a POW was the highlight of his "career." Otherwise, he would have wound up after 28 years, as the Lt. Commander in charge of soldering old mess kits at Twenty-nine Palms, or in the Brig at Portsmouth. Wadda bozo! Perfect Republican Candidate ... right up there with Bob (Viagra) Dole.
Yeh its gong to get worse before it crashes completely. :-)
Thanks for the info and pic.
I always operated with the assumption that he was Obama's clone — because of this I'm not surprised about what he says/does.
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