Posted on 05/14/2010 5:24:35 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Voters fed up with spendthrift Obama
May 14, 2010
STEVE HUNTLEY shuntley.cst@gmail.com
Passage of the massive health-care overhaul was supposed to repair the sagging political fortunes of President Obama, Congress and the Democrats. It didn't. That's not just because of the unpopularity of ObamaCare, though certainly it's a factor. No, there's something more fundamental at work.
In 2008, America awoke from a binge of profligate borrowing, notably in housing, with a pounding economic hangover that brought the country to the brink of depression. The lesson was clear: We have to live within our means.
This is a lesson that Washington has ignored. Yes, deficit spending has to be a part of government's response to a recession. But the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress have thrown caution to the wind by throwing money every which way, inundating the country in red ink.
The rescue of the big banks, justified by the necessity of preventing financial collapse, morphed into saving General Motors and Chrysler, spending billions of the taxpayers' dollars for the expediency of protecting union jobs.
That was just the start. Next came the stimulus bill. Besides failing to save or create enough jobs to keep unemployment below 8 percent, it also cost more than advertised. The $787 billion price tag soared to $862 billion, and the jobless rate is at 9.9 percent.
Then, during economic hard times, Obama and the Democrats rammed through Congress a new health entitlement and bragged the biggest expansion of government in four decades would save money. Americans aren't buying it -- 63 percent think ObamaCare is likely to increase the deficit, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll. With good reason. This week the Congressional Budget Office reported the health-care overhaul law provides for discretionary spending that will add $115 billion to its cost, pushing its 10-year cost to more than $1 trillion.
Other inconvenient reports found ObamaCare increasing national health-care spending by nearly a third of a trillion dollars over the decade, threatening private health insurance for millions of retirees, and hiring thousands of IRS agents to police its mandates.
We're learning that not only do banks fail -- so can countries. A European financial crisis has erupted over tiny Greece spending beyond its means, threatening to damage Europe's economy and to spread across the Atlantic.
Greece's debt stands at 124 percent of its gross domestic product. The figure for U.S. government debt is 92.6 percent of GDP. The trillion-dollar annual deficits Obama is running means it could breach 100 percent soon. No one expects America to end up like Greece -- our economy is too big and the dollar is still the world's currency. But Americans using common sense conclude government spending is out of control and threatens their well-being.
Obama ran for president as a centrist, and Americans elected him to fix the economy. Instead, he's governed to the left, pushing cherished liberal goals like health care and the costs be damned.
Polls pointing to Republican gains in November don't find enthusiasm for the GOP as much as distress with Obama policies. An event this week suggests further cause of the public's unease. An executive wrote Obama saying he had said false things about her firm. Chief Executive Angela Braly said his claim that WellPoint Inc. systematically drops insurance coverage of woman diagnosed with breast cancer "grossly misrepresents" the facts.
Obama campaigned to end the nation's bitter, cynical politics. As Braly's letter suggests, he's done nothing of the kind. He has pushed a blatantly partisan agenda, employed emotionally charged populist rhetoric in attacking industries such as health insurers and finance, and stooped to personal attacks against political opponents like Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell.
While personally popular, Obama's policies and the tone of his governance are out of touch with what the American people want in these troubled times.
Comment at suntimes.com.
Yet his poll numbers remain high. I don’t get the disconnect. I hate him but I’ve never been polled.
...the borrowing binge has made the country very nervous...that’s why gold and ammo sales jumped...that’s why the prepper movement attracts new followers daily...people have a gut sense that this insane level of government spending money we don’t have; will lead to the end of the country as we know it.
This may be wishful thinking. Americans have been conditioned to think that the “rich” are supposed to subsidize them. We ask for more and more benefits and when they cost more than the taxes we get from the “rich”, politicians are too gutless to man up and either cut spending or raise taxes on the middle class. This deficit spending is just pushing off the inevitable hard choices. Todays politicians, including the Republicans who are talking a good game but doing nothing, are going to be remembered as failures.
Careful what you wish for - ‘V’ has been renewed, I just saw.
The worse it becomes for us, the more he likes it.
He is intentionally devaluing our currency, so when we bottom out, he can step in and reconstruct (deconstruct) America to his own (Bill Ayers’; Reverend Wright’s, Bin Laden’s; _______________ fill in the blank) plan!!!
Can you say: WEIMAR REPUBLIC??
What? 46% is not high. He hasn't had poll numbers above 50% since 7-20-09...6 months after usurping the office.
This kind of talk, along with the author's stupid comment -- "While personally popular..." are the only reason the idiot's numbers are still in the mid-40's. If the enemedia, and FReepers, did a blitz on him as they did with President Bush, his numbers would be in the teens!
This is why:
Hot Searches (The top ten searches on google today)
1. better homes and gardens
2. supernatural season
3. flashforward cancellation
4. forever 21
5. supernatural series
6. lebron james knicks
7. the vampire diaries
8. grey s anatomy spoilers
9. eclipse tickets
10. young hollywood awards
You see, this is the top ten things that people want to know. Do you see anything of true importance in there?
I’ve wondered a bit lately if we’ve always been like this or are people are getting more vapid as time goes on.
Many around the WDC area don’t hate him. They are shoveling your tax money to government “workers”, “consultants” and “belt-way bandit” businesses like there is no tomorrow. Happy days are here again...so shut up, get to work and pay your taxes so we can PARTEEEEE in WDC!
No, it really doesn't. If you think things are bad now, wait until the Bush tax cuts lapse in 2011. No, the gov't could right this ship fairly easily by significant and permanent tax cuts in personal, corporate, and capital gains taxes. Permanent cuts means that, due to higher take-home pay, consumers could qualify and afford more durable goods (e.g., housing, cars, college education, etc), the increased demand from which would increase the demand for labor and reduce the unemployment rate. Oh...BTW Washington, lower unemployment also means greater demand and a jokable $600 rebate may make political sense, but it has no significant impact on aggregate demand in a way that would affect unemployment rates
Corporations do not make money using tax rebates...they make money by selling output to consumers. The more they sell, the more inputs (e.g., labor) they need, hence the need for a sustained, meaningful, cut in personal tax rates. Tax rebates have no affect at all unless the corporation is profitable. However, permanently cut the tax rate and long run investment becomes more profitable.
Cut capital gains rates and long term investment funds become more available. The Pelosi-Reid idea of taxing IRA and 401K's is just plain stupid.
Won't tax cuts increase the deficit? No. Washington wants you to think so, but look at the effect of the Kennedy and Reagan tax cuts. Also look at the research by Arthur Laffer (The Laffer Curve) and the similar experiences in England and India. Cutting taxes actually stimulates the economy.
So why doesn't Washington cut taxes? Because they get more political power by giving your money away than by letting you spend it.
"High" relative to what? Every poll I've seen talks about the difference between those who "strongly approve" of his policies and those who "strongly disagree". The last figure I saw said the difference was -17% saying significantly more people disagree with his positions than agree with him.
Wow!....from his hometown paper in Democrat Machine Central? And Mike Royko is long dead??
PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama appears to be slightly more popular with Americans at the start of his second 100 days in office than he was, on average, during his first 100. Gallup Poll Daily tracking from May 7-9 finds 66% of Americans approving of how he is handling his job, compared with an average 63% from January through April.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/118306/obama-approval-picks-up-may.aspx
Seems pretty high to me.
I agree, but then, Princeton is so far to the left you can watch their sun rise in the West.
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