Posted on 07/06/2011 5:23:22 AM PDT by PSYCHO-FREEP
Energy: Gasoline was $1.67 a gallon then. It's now $3.79.
Food: Average cost of a gallon of milk was about $2.65. It's about $3.50 today.
Housing: The median cost of a home was $229,600. Today it's $217,900.
Budget deficit: We fell $438 billion short of balancing the federal budget in 2008. We missed it by $1.4 trillion this year—nearly four times higher.
U.S. debt: Total federal debt was $10.7 trillion then. It's $14.5 trillion now—nearly 50% higher.
Unemployment: Then, 7.3% of Americans were unemployed and 9.1% are unemployed today.
To be fair, not everyone has done poorly under Obama. Federal government employees have made out like bandits. Mercatus Center (George Mason University) economist Veronique de Rugy noted last January that "federal employment has grown by 98,000 employees since the start of the recession." And USA Today reported last year: "Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis."
Perry’s Record
A recent state-by-state comparison study by the Texas Public Policy Foundation found that Texas had a state tax burden of 8.4%, compared to a U.S. average of 9.7%. And the Texas gross state product grew 94.5% over 10 years, vs. 66.3% for the rest of the country.
Texas far outpaces other states in job creation. Michael Cox and Richard Alm, director and writer-in-residence, respectively, at Southern Methodist University’s William J. O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom write: “From January 2000 to June 2010 [Perry’s tenure], Texas had a net increase of nearly 1.1 million jobs—more than any other state by far. In fact, Texas’ outsized gains eclipsed the total of the next five job-creating states: Florida, Arizona, Virginia, Utah and Washington.”
More importantly, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Texas created 129,000 new jobs in 2009—a recession year. That was more than half of all the jobs created in the country.
The Brookings Institution published a study earlier this year looking at job growth in major cities. Texas had five of the top 10 cities, with Austin leading the country in job growth.
See why Obama is concerned about a Perry bid? Would you want to stand before the public in a presidential debate and defend Obama’s record compared with Perry’s?
Not being able to defend his own economic record, or attack Perry’s, Obama would try to paint Perry in a negative light. That wouldn’t be easy. Perry served three terms in the Texas House as a Democrat, and supported Al Gore’s 1988 presidential bid. That was when there were still some conservative Democrats. Perry switched to the Republican Party in 1989.
Because Perry is from Texas, Obama would accuse him of being in bed with the oil and gas industry. And yet Perry just signed a law requiring gas drillers to publicize the chemicals they use in “fracking” to extract the gas. As the Wall Street Journal reported on June 20, “Environmental groups said the law doesn’t go far enough, but they agreed it was an important step.”
Obama would also accuse Perry of being out of touch with most Americans. But Cox and Alm of Southern Methodist University’s O’Neil Center found in a different study that “Texas led all other states with a net in-migration of 500,000 people from 2004 to 2008.” People are voting with their feet and moving to Texas.
George Bush Clone?
And Obama would certainly try to accuse Perry of being a George Bush clone, perhaps because President Bush wouldn’t raise taxes and neither has Gov. Perry. But Perry’s conservative record in Texas, especially on holding the line on spending, would demonstrate clear distinctions.
Obama would be perfectly happy with a guy whose every utterance reminded voters of W.
I did not want George Bush and I don’t want Rick Perry.
“Gov. Rick Perry: The Candidate Obama Would Fear Most”
LOL!!!!!
If Obama feared Perry, he wouldn’t be practically handing him the nomination by complaining about our execution of the Mexican national tomorrow. Obama knows FULL-WELL that Perry has to let the execution take place (to stay viable in the primary), and that Perry looks like a REAL LEADER (which he’s not) by doing so...and thus Perry moves way up in the pack.
Obama’s DREAM is to run against Perry. He knows Perry is just as Open-Borders as Bush-43 was and he knows, once the word is out from Texans, that Republicans will sit out the 2012 election, just as they sat out 2008.
Good morning Psycho - good post.
First under GWBush and then Obama
But, Perry’s balance sheet reminds us of the good ole days. :)
You are exactly right! If having a good economy to brag about means being saturated in illegal aliens and dead cops ....I DON’T WANT A FRICKIN ECONOMY!
I havent made up my mind on Perry yet but - he cuts a certain profile when giving a speech and he will certainly look more like a man when standing next to Zero.
If you don’t want Rick Perry who is a true Social and Fiscal Conservative, just who do you want? Romney? Obama? Or are you one of those diehards that think Palin will still run? Well, guess what, if Perry runs, Palin will most likely stay out and endorse him.
Good morning to you FRiend! But they are still coming out with their arian rhetoric none the less.
Obama’s Expansionism:
There is one more area where a Rick Perry comparison would embarrass the President: government intrusion. Obama has tried to fundamentally transform our federalist system of government by transferring power and decisions from states to Washington and giving thousands of unelected bureaucrats the power to make decisions for us, controlling some of the most important, not to mention personal, aspects of our lives.
Just with respect to ObamaCare, the President has unconstitutionally demanded that every American have health insurance and has transferred decision-making power over countless health care decisions to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and her minions.
Perry, by contrast, has been a vocal leader for restoring the role of the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which asserts that those powers not enumerated in the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people.
President Obama has a terrible economic record and the White House and Democrats know it. Defending that record would be a little easier against, say, a Mitt Romney, who implemented a similar health care law in Massachusetts.
But comparing the abysmal Obama record against what Perry has done in Texas would shine a much-needed light on Obama’s failures and give the American public a real choice in 2012.
Related, worth the read:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265309/rick-perry-s-tenth-commandment-kevin-d-williamson
I think Perry and Palin are in close communication. Only one will get in the race and whichever one that is will win the Republican nomination. My gut tells me it will be Perry, not Palin.
I’m with you. The economy is meaningless without a nation.
Now be prepared to be called an “aryan” because that’s the bizarre line of attack being used against anyone who questions Perry.
I am outta here for the day folks but just one last thought that I agree with:
Obama spending vs. Perry spending would definitely tilt the scales in the conservatives favor..
Great post. I hope Perry jumps in the race.
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