World Politics

[Anonymous]

We may never recover from GWB... Thanks

Dubya's still the Prez? Where have I been.....?






It's June 1, 2011 Klink.

 

[redtreviso]

Dubya's still the Prez? Where have I been.....?






It's June 1, 2011 Klink.

and it is 1pm PT... a little early don't you think? Or is it just perpetual and residual with you?

 

[Anonymous]

and it is 1pm PT... a little early don't you think? Or is it just perpetual and residual with you?

Everyone's accountable Klink, even BO.

Time to wake up now.

 

[Bala Verde]

Edit: I forgot to add this.... Obama's 2012 Budget proposal failed in the Senate 97 - 0. Not a SINGLE vote for it.

Not to be a pedant, but it was the motion to move the Obama budget forward that was voted down. So in the real world, no Republican nor Democrat have actually disclosed their opinion of Obama's budget through a vote.

Roll Call Senate

 

[redtreviso]

Everyone's accountable Klink, even BO.

Time to wake up now.

Since when? You were the best kind of cheerleader 2000 2008...baaaaaaaaaaaa If not for your kind

 

[Anonymous]

Since when? You were the best kind of cheerleader 2000 2008...baaaaaaaaaaaa If not for your kind

Economy: Without a lot of fanfare, the Obama economic recovery officially turned 2 this month. Anyone think we're better off than we were two years ago?

On Tuesday, a trio of reports gave fresh evidence that the answer to this question is no.

Single family home prices dropped in March to their lowest level since April 2009; the consumer Confidence Index tumbled to a six-month low of 60.8; and regional manufacturing is slowing. In the Chicago area, it fell to its lowest level since November 2009.

Yet if you listened to President Obama and his cheerleaders in the press over the past two years, the answer should have been a resounding yes.

So Klink, is this Bush's fault or are we just being spun??

Obama promised way back in February 2009 that his $830 billion stimulus plan would unleash "a new wave of innovation, activity and construction" and "ignite spending by businesses and consumers."

Uh huh. Was W prez then? February 2009....

In June 2010, he announced that the recovery was "well under way" and that it "is getting stronger by the day." A couple months later, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner penned a New York Times op-ed headlined "Welcome to the Recovery."

BO's "mission accomplished" moment?

But the fact is that the Obama recovery is one of the worst ever. Certainly the worst since the Great Depression. It's so bad, in fact, that even 24 months after the recession officially ended there are few places beyond the stock market and corporate profits that have shown much, if any, improvement. A few examples:

• Jobs: The number of people with jobs has barely changed since June 2009 — up just 0.4%.

• Unemployment: While the unemployment rate has dropped a bit, the number of long-term unemployed is up by a third, and the average length of unemployment is now a staggering 38 weeks.

• Earnings: Median weekly earnings are down slightly between Q3 2009 and Q1 2011, after adjusting for inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Housing prices: The National Association of Realtors reports that median price for existing home sales dropped 10% since June 2009.

• Gas prices: Pump prices climbed 52% over the past two years, according to the Department of Energy.

Yet, incredibly, Obama continues to escape blame for this sorry state of affairs. A Rasmussen survey in May found 54% of the public still blames President Bush, while just 39% blame Obama's policies.

And you call me a poodle? Pffft

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/573836/201105311856/Feeling-Better-.htm

Admittedly, Obama was handed an economy "in crisis," as he put it in his first State of the Union in 2009, one that would take time to fix. And the effects of any economic policy changes don't happen overnight.

Still, the recession officially ended 18 months ago -- in June 2009. So it's not entirely unfair to gauge how the country has performed since Obama took the economic reins.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/25/opinion-state-of-the-union-are-you-better-off-than-two-years/

The latest edition of the POLITICO-George Washington University Battleground Poll finds that the political environment should continue to be a cause for concern for President Obama. Fully sixty percent (60%) of voters believe the country is on the wrong track, including a strong majority of Independents (61%) who hold this negative view of how things are going in the country. On a more qualitative level, the most common emotions that voters select to describe their views about the direction of the country are concerned (33%) and frustrated (21%). For many voters, their decision on re-electing a President is a referendum on both the direction of the country and their views about their personal situation. Right now, a significant amount of the electorate has a negative view on both of these metrics.

Man, it's hard to get to sixty percent. Gotta give BO some credit for that.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=F404F807-A646-1ABD-C6AC5256112555EC

Most Americans Say They’re Worse Off Under Obama, Poll Shows
The survey, conducted Dec. 4-7, finds that 51 percent of respondents think their situation has deteriorated, compared with 35 percent who say they’re doing better. The balance isn’t sure. Americans have grown more downbeat about the country’s future in just the last couple of months, the poll shows. The pessimism cuts across political parties and age groups, and is common to both sexes.

Granted, the poll was conducted in December... I'm guessing the results won't have changed much. Whadda you think, Klink?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4650364

 

[Anonymous]

Not to be a pedant, but it was the motion to move the Obama budget forward that was voted down. So in the real world, no Republican nor Democrat have actually disclosed their opinion of Obama's budget through a vote.

Roll Call Senate

In the real real world the dems were damned glad they were not forced to take a "yes" vote on that garbage back home to face the music (a la Nancy Pelosi's arm twisting and Health Care Reform legislation).

I'm quite sure the prez made no friends in his own party with that budget proposal.

 

[Anonymous]

i think that's citadel

It's usually more powerful when insulting someone's mental acuity to get the spelling sorted out, no?

Certainly we can all agree on this.

 

[patricknd]

It's usually more powerful when insulting someone's mental acuity to get the spelling sorted out, no?

Certainly we can all agree on this.

It does lose a little, doesn't it?

 

[redtreviso]

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/25/opinion-state-of-the-union-are-you-better-off-than-two-years/





Man, it's hard to get to sixty percent. Gotta give BO some credit for that.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=F404F807-A646-1ABD-C6AC5256112555EC




Granted, the poll was conducted in December... I'm guessing the results won't have changed much. Whadda you think, Klink?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4650364

So be first in line to vote for Sarah Palin.

 

[Anonymous]

So be first in line to vote for Sarah Palin.

I bet you are pretty agitated 'cause she looked good on that Harley.

 

[redtreviso]

I bet you are pretty agitated 'cause she looked good on that Harley.


after how many?

Boca de lamprea

 

[Bala Verde]

In the real real world the dems were damned glad they were not forced to take a "yes" vote on that garbage back home to face the music (a la Nancy Pelosi's arm twisting and Health Care Reform legislation).

I'm quite sure the prez made no friends in his own party with that budget proposal.

The presidential budget is nothing more than the President's wish-list. Congress doesn't feel like Santa right now, and I doubt it has ever felt like it. Checks an balances. The real budget, as far as I know from my limited experience in the US, is always formulated in Congress by the budget committees. Has there been any presidential budget in under recent Presidents that has received widespread praise and/or was adopted in both houses as proposed?

The dems didn't want to step in the same booby trap Ryan stepped into. It gave him a bad hangover and dem pick-up in NY-26 Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan.

Rookie/young gun mistake, no biggie. CNN Poll: Majority gives thumbs down to Ryan plan

"A majority of all demographic groups don't favor the GOP Medicare proposals," Holland adds. "That includes conservatives - 54 percent of them don't like the plan. As a result, rank-and-file Republicans are split right down the middle, with 48 percent favoring the GOP plan and 50 percent opposed."

 

[Anonymous]

The presidential budget is nothing more than the President's wish-list. Congress doesn't feel like Santa right now, and I doubt it has ever felt like it. Checks an balances. The real budget, as far as I know from my limited experience in the US, is always formulated in Congress by the budget committees. Has there been any presidential budget in under recent Presidents that has received widespread praise and/or was adopted in both houses as proposed?

The dems didn't want to step in the same booby trap Ryan stepped into. It gave him a bad hangover and dem pick-up in NY-26 Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan.

Rookie/young gun mistake, no biggie. CNN Poll: Majority gives thumbs down to Ryan plan

Ok, but 97-0? Had to chuckle over that one.

I think Ryan's plan was/is a pretty good place to start the conversation. Probably much better than the Presidents wish list.

BTW, wish list or not, it was embarrassing given where the Country is at the moment.

 

[redtreviso]

Ok, but 97-0? Had to chuckle over that one.

I think Ryan's plan was/is a pretty good place to start the conversation. Probably much better than the Presidents wish list.

BTW, wish list or not, it was embarrassing given where the Country is at the moment.

maybe he could just read aloud from Atlas Shrugs for you.

 

[Anonymous]

maybe he could just read aloud from Atlas Shrugs for you.

Ryan can read?

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

It's "Shrugged", red, just so you know.

As to Ryan's plan. The biggest problem is that just like the last x years, we're at this partisan impasse.

Something should seriously be done regarding health care in this country. Both through public care, be that universal, or working a way to prevent "ER Care" for the poor, to insurance issues. Much of which stems from bribery and corruption. But what we have are people like Ryan who want to make it to where it's so privatized the elderly are going to have to fight for their own care in a decade (good luck with that). Or we end up with the Democrats who have found traction fighting Ryan, and don't want to touch the sacred cow.

And yet, just a couple short years ago, Democrats were telling us how the system was flawed and needed an overhaul and the GOP didn't want to change it. The cycle repeated when Bush, and Clinton were Presidents, if you'll recall.

Instead of some sort of compromise, we continue to get nothing. Well, at least for a few more years or election cycles until the health care system collapses. Going to be interesting when a third of the country isn't covered at all, and another third is overwhelmed simply by insurance costs, all while the debt load is double what it is now.

 

[redtreviso]

It's "Shrugged", red, just so you know.

I know.. don't really care.. He can read from Pam Geller's blog too if he wants to. Such things being equal...

 

[rhubroma]

It's usually more powerful when insulting someone's mental acuity to get the spelling sorted out, no?

Certainly we can all agree on this.

In a moment of inattention, owing to a compulsive purpose,these things happen you know, but you are absolutely correct. How ridiculous and tasteless of me.

However, I'm still waiting for you to address the very serous issues I brought up regarding those points that you refused to read simply because being so against me, but which being clear-sighted from the beginning had exposed you.

Now chalking it all up to "that was then, but this is now" and "whose the president today?," only demonstrates the baseness of your argument, which those circumstances in my observations dissolved.

I think you need a vacation Scott. Perhaps you are working too much.

The narrowness of the conservative American, who lives to work, as they say, instead of working to live, and without ever pausing to wonder what work meant, soon gets on one's nerves, and you must draw the inevitable conclusion Scott. You need to get away from it. Marking time is not for you.
One must let fresh air into one's mind, I used to say, and that means letting the world into one's mind, day after day. At work we never let fresh air- or the world - into our minds.

 

[redtreviso]

The narrowness of the conservative American, who lives to work, as they say, instead of working to live, and without ever pausing to wonder what work meant, soon gets on one's nerves, and you must draw the inevitable conclusion Scott. You need to get away from it. Marking time is not for you.
One must let fresh air into one's mind, I used to say, and that means letting the world into one's mind, day after day. At work we never let fresh air- or the world - into our minds.

Rhub you just don't understand..Their very existence is unique, special and productive compared to others, in their mind. They can't get up and brush their teeth without thinking they are displaying some gd special form of responsibility that is absent in the unworthy around them. There is no time off..They deserve to be rewarded for every minute..This is why they are so angry. Their just due just doesn't come their way as they think it should.

 

[patricknd]

Rhub you just don't understand..Their very existence is unique, special and productive compared to others, in their mind. They can't get up and brush their teeth without thinking they are displaying some gd special form of responsibility that is absent in the unworthy around them. There is no time off..They deserve to be rewarded for every minute..This is why they are so angry. Their just due just doesn't come their way as they think it should.

looking in the mirror when you wrote this?

 

[Cobblestones]

Ok, but 97-0? Had to chuckle over that one.

I think Ryan's plan was/is a pretty good place to start the conversation. Probably much better than the Presidents wish list.

BTW, wish list or not, it was embarrassing given where the Country is at the moment.

The Ryan plan? Even the Repubs are running from it. Now they lost the NY 26 seat over this.

Making Medicare a voucher program to give even more welfare for the rich doesn't sound like a winning strategy to me. But if you or the Repubs think otherwise, keep forging ahead. Just don't complain when Pelosi gets her gavel back next year.

 

[Anonymous]

The Ryan plan? Even the Repubs are running from it. Now they lost the NY 26 seat over this.

Making Medicare a voucher program to give even more welfare for the rich doesn't sound like a winning strategy to me. But if you or the Repubs think otherwise, keep forging ahead. Just don't complain when Pelosi gets her gavel back next year.

I wrote "a good place to start the conversation".

Heck Cobbles, let's just run with the Obama budget plan.

 

[Anonymous]

In a moment of inattention, owing to a compulsive purpose,these things happen you know, but you are absolutely correct. How ridiculous and tasteless of me.

However, I'm still waiting for you to address the very serous issues I brought up regarding those points that you refused to read simply because being so against me, but which being clear-sighted from the beginning had exposed you.

Now chalking it all up to "that was then, but this is now" and "whose the president today?," only demonstrates the baseness of your argument, which those circumstances in my observations dissolved.

I think you need a vacation Scott. Perhaps you are working too much.

The narrowness of the conservative American, who lives to work, as they say, instead of working to live, and without ever pausing to wonder what work meant, soon gets on one's nerves, and you must draw the inevitable conclusion Scott. You need to get away from it. Marking time is not for you.
One must let fresh air into one's mind, I used to say, and that means letting the world into one's mind, day after day. At work we never let fresh air- or the world - into our minds.

I'd like for you to be honest for a moment. We now have the worst recovery (post recession) on record. 14 straight months of at least 9.5% unemployment... our national unemployment in "recovery" is significantly higher than it was during the recession. When adding the un and underemployed the number is over 17%.

Here is a chart from the Economist magazine. It takes unemployment data from 30 Countries from January 2009 to July 2010. 25 of the 30 Countries fared better that the US. The average for unemployment increase for the countries surveyed was 1.1%, or nearly 40% lower than our increase.

http://www.economist.com/node/16891781?story_id=16891781


A barrel of oil shot up from $83 to $110 from February to April this year. I can only imagine the howling coming from you if Bush had been in the White House and oil surged like this. Obama wants energy prices to rise. It's his mantra, so screw cap and trade, he can accomplish the same thing with stupid policy.

The treasury is flooding the currency market yet again putting more pressure on the dollar....

BTW, where are the jobs that Nancy Pelosi promised us "almost immediately" with the passage of Obamacare?? 400,000 jobs?? Wrong yet again.

Obama is not job friendly, not business friendly and misses the fundamentals horribly. At the end of the day, if private enterprise is not healthy and growing the social engineers that wind up in Washington don't have much play money.

Now, if you want to lie to yourself and continue to place all the blame on the previous administration for our current economic conditions then feel free. But I'll ask you, at what point does the current commander-in-chief become responsible for his administration and its' policy?

Hint? The answer "never" is incorrect.

 

[Anonymous]

It's "Shrugged", red, just so you know.

As to Ryan's plan. The biggest problem is that just like the last x years, we're at this partisan impasse.

Something should seriously be done regarding health care in this country. Both through public care, be that universal, or working a way to prevent "ER Care" for the poor, to insurance issues. Much of which stems from bribery and corruption. But what we have are people like Ryan who want to make it to where it's so privatized the elderly are going to have to fight for their own care in a decade (good luck with that). Or we end up with the Democrats who have found traction fighting Ryan, and don't want to touch the sacred cow.

And yet, just a couple short years ago, Democrats were telling us how the system was flawed and needed an overhaul and the GOP didn't want to change it. The cycle repeated when Bush, and Clinton were Presidents, if you'll recall.

Instead of some sort of compromise, we continue to get nothing. Well, at least for a few more years or election cycles until the health care system collapses. Going to be interesting when a third of the country isn't covered at all, and another third is overwhelmed simply by insurance costs, all while the debt load is double what it is now.

At the end of the day, at least for now, there will be no big change in the direction the country is headed. Nobody in Washington is serious about spending. As a nation we are spending about $4 Billion more per day than we are generating. The politics of this are so poisoned....

It does make you wonder what the future holds. If we were to just eliminate the borrowing for just one month the reduction in spending would be in excess of $100 Billion. So to hear the groaning coming from Washington just goes to show how little concern they have.

It's a huge dis-connect. Washington is about raising money for re-election and that's about it.