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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Chu: We Don't Want to Lower Gas Prices

RUSH: "White House Wants to Keep Gas Prices High." Heard about this? Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning energy chief for Obama. "White House Wants to Keep Gas Prices High." Chu actually said so! And he said it before but he said it in congressional testimony. He said they liked the prospect of high gasoline prices because if furthers the development of alternative fuels. They just came out and said it! "With the national average of gas prices hitting $3.65 a gallon, nearing $6 in some parts of the country, and poised to head even higher, America's families are wondering when the bleeding at the pump will stop. But for Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu, those steep prices aren't even a concern. In fact, he says his goal is not to get the price of gasoline to go down."
You know what his goal is? The price of batteries to come down. That's what he said.
And they're investing in companies in Korea, Japan, and the United States to come up with new battery technology for your automobile. They want to get the price of a battery down from $40,000 to $25,000 or $30,000. (interruption) What do you mean, "What the hell difference does it make to me?" This isn't about you! It's not about the American consumer. It's about the regime. It's about their transformation of the question; it's about their transformation of the country. They don't want the gasoline price to come down! They like it being high, and he actually admitted it yesterday. His goal is not to get the price of gasoline down.
"Chu delivered those stunning remarks in testimony before Congress yesterday. When Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) asked Chu whether it's his 'overall goal to get our price' of gasoline lower, Chu said, 'No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil, to build and strengthen our economy.'" So, no. The "overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil," and that's why we're not gonna okay the pipeline and that's why we're not gonna increase drilling or reduce the moratoriums in the Gulf and that's why we're not gonna drill in Alaska. Because we don't want more oil! We don't want an-oil-based economy. We don't want an energy policy based on oil. We want it based on batteries, which means they want an energy policy based on coal. Because what do you charge a battery with but electricity, which is generated by coal at your neighborhood power plant.
This is who we are dealing with.

Obama Cabinet Secretary: 'The Private Market is in a Death Spiral'

(CNSNews.com) – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday that the days of private health insurance are coming to an end in the United States.
“The private market is in a death spiral,” Sebelius said, contending this would be the case whether or not President Barack Obama's health care law had been enacted.
At the Ways and Means hearing, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) asked Sebelius about the administration’s assurances that people who liked their current health insurance plan would be able to keep it under the new law.


“How about when the president said you can keep your health care coverage, if you like it?” Roskam said. “And yet, the reality is, according to Bloomberg (News) at least, 9 percent fewer businesses are offering medical coverage than in 2010. There the rhetoric didn’t meet the reality, did it?”
Sebelius did not contest the numbers.
“Well again, congressman, what you’re seeing, it wouldn’t have mattered if we had passed the Affordable Care Act or not,” she said. “The private market is in a death spiral.”
Under President Obama's health-care law, all Americans will be required to purchase a government-approved health-care plan and those earning under 400 percent of the poverty level will be eligible for a federal subsidy to do it.
Later on Tuesday, in an address to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, Sebelius discussed the “broken” health insurance system that Obamacare aims to fix.
Sebelius said that the next “important step” in implementing the president's health care plan is to establish “essential health benefits”--the basic package of coverage that the federal government will order all health insurance plans to cover.
The Affordable Care Act outlines 10 areas of basic coverage, including preventive services, prescription drugs, pediatric care and hospital services. The "preventive services" area is the one under which the administration has already ordered that all health insurance plans must cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that induce abortions, without charging any fees or co-pay to insured workers and their dependents

Harry Reid to promote Media Matters Book against Fox "What a Hack"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared Tuesday night that he would “promote” a new book by Media Matters founder David Brock that continues the organization’s drumbeat of attacks against the Fox News Channel.
Politico’s Ken Vogel, who was in attendance at the invite-only party, reports that Reid told the assembled that he was “looking forward to the book,” that he felt good having someone assisting him in “beating up on Fox,” and that he would help “promote” it. (RELATED: More stories in the ‘Inside Media Matters’ investigative series)
“I will do anything I can to make sure it’s a success,” he said.
Reid celebrated Brock by saying that he “has changed the political world as we know it.”
As Politico’s Dylan Byers notes, this warm embrace could be construed as “evidence of collusion between the Democratic establishment and Brock’s liberal watchdog group.”
Reid was among other notable Democrats featured on the gathering’s invitation including Minnesota Senator Al Franken, former Center for American Progress head John Podesta, former White House communications director Anita Dunn, and Democratic strategists James Carville and Paul Begala


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/29/harry-reid-to-promote-anti-fox-news-media-matters-book/#ixzz1np20brDW

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/29/bill-gates-obama-told-me-energy-consumption-tax-makes-sense-video/

Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates said that President Barack Obama told him he supports a two percent national energy consumption tax, though the president said it likely could not be implemented because of gridlock in Congress.
“We certainly need a price on carbon,” Gates said at the Energy Innovation Summit in Washington on Tuesday. (RELATED: Full coverage of the energy world)
“What’s key is the carbon tax in the 20-to-50 year period, and can politicians do something today that would make it crystal clear to a risk-taker that there’s going to be a substantial carbon tax during the relevant time period,” Gates said. “If I’m innovating in power plants today for people who buy power plants ten years from now, [the goal is that] their equation will favor the clean technology.”
The former chief executive of Microsoft, currently rated by Forbes Magazine as the second-richest person in the world, said that President Obama was receptive to his views on energy policy.
“What we said is that, by putting a two percent tax on energy consumption, you could fund this additional scientific investment, and it would have a very good payback,” Gates said.
“The president was great,” Gates continued. “He met with us and said of course this makes sense, but with the gridlock that we have today on this, the likelihood of that kind of allocation — including the tax revenue that would support it — is very low, and that is deeply unfortunate.”


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/29/bill-gates-obama-told-me-energy-consumption-tax-makes-sense-video/#ixzz1nozIh1B5

Monday, February 27, 2012

Chuck Schumer wants more oil output?? WHY? To lower prices? What a Hack

Sen. Schumer tells Clinton to pressure Saudi Arabia to pump more oil

By Ben Geman - 02/26/12 11:59 AM ET

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to press Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s dominant oil producer, to boost output as rising prices are hitting consumers at the gasoline pump.
A letter to Clinton on Sunday from Schumer, a top political strategist for Senate Democrats, comes as Democrats are trying to blunt constant GOP attacks over soaring gasoline prices.

“These skyrocketing fuel prices are directly linked to the global energy market, particularly Iran’s recent efforts to manipulate oil prices and the worry of impacts on supply from an escalation of regional hostilities,” Schumer writes.
“To address this situation, I urge the State Department to work with the government of Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production, as they are currently producing well under their capacity,” adds the letter, which was first obtained by Reuters.
Tensions over Iran’s nuclear program have helped to push crude oil prices sharply higher in recent weeks. Oil is trading at its highest levels since early May, and prices rose again to close at $109.77 per barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Regular gasoline prices are now averaging $3.69-per-gallon nationwide, and are already above or nearing $4 in some markets, according to AAA.
The cost of gasoline is tethered to global oil prices, and Saudi Arabia is the only OPEC producer with significant spare production capacity.
The kingdom has the capacity to produce over 12 million barrels per day. Schumer’s letter notes that current production is in the 10 million barrel range, and presses Clinton to urge the Saudis to ramp up output to 12.5 million barrels.
Schumer’s letter to Clinton argues that Saudi Arabia’s production levels have a “negative impact” on global markets.
“When paired with recent actions by Iran in halting sales to French and U.K. companies, and threatening to stop sales to countries such as Italy, already fragile markets are unduly roiled. These market shifts are now hitting Americans at the pump, reverberating throughout the rest of our economy, and threatening our recovery,” he writes.

Republicans continued to hammer the Obama administration Sunday over prices at the gas pump, which loom as a political threat to the president's reelection despite good news on the economy and jobs of late.
Republicans on Capitol Hill and the party’s presidential candidates argue Obama is keeping too many areas off-limits to energy production.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), speaking on CNN Sunday, said that in the 2012 presidential election, gas prices and energy will be a “big issue,” arguing that voters will see that “every time you go get your car filled up, it's going to be because of President Obama's inaction.”
President Obama, in a major speech last week, sought to rebut GOP attacks.
The president and aides, warning there’s no quick fix on gasoline prices, have accused Republicans of playing politics with the issue while touting Obama’s record on domestic energy production, auto efficiency rules and development of alternative sources.
Click here for what to watch in the gas price battles going forward

An unfriendly Liberal donation request

Get a Load of This Slightly Threatening Email From the Obama Re-Election Campaign


Quick question: if you received the following email from, say, your local church or some other charitable organization, would you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable?
Courtesy WZ [emphases added]:
As you may have noticed, we’ve asked you for a donation a few times now.
But according to our records, you haven’t yet made an online donation to this campaign at this email address. (If our records are wrong, I apologize and thank you!)
I’m not writing to ask you for money again. I’m actually writing to ask your opinion about why you haven’t given, and what you think would inspire you or other Obama supporters like you to decide to take the leap and donate.
We have two quick questions for you. Can you take a minute to answer them?
There’s a good reason we’re asking for your feedback: The kind of organization we all decided to be a part of only works if people like you pitch in to build it.
It’s also the reason no other candidate has been able to match our level of grassroots support. This isn’t the easiest way to run a campaign — but we know it’s the right way.
That’s why we want to know what you’re thinking.
Thanks so much,
Rufus
Rufus Gifford
National Finance Director
Obama for America
As mentioned in above, if this email was sent by a charitable organization such as the American Red Cross, we would feel uncomfortable. But to receive an email like this from a national political campaign, well, that would make us feel downright nervous.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

High Gas Prices Might Save Your Life!





The fact Obama has been getting a free pass on high gas prices throughout his presidency has been getting on my nerves over the past few weeks as the prices have skyrocketed. Of course I am upset over the prices in general, but my main issue is how the media threw G.W. Bush under the bus as the sole reason for the rising prices during his presidency. We got to hear about how Bush owned oil companies, fought wars for oil, failed to implement an energy plan and purposely forced prices to go up to please his evil, capitalist friends. Well, I haven't seen Obama do anything to stop the wars, and you could argue he has actually increased the tension in the Middle East. I would also say, while Bush failed to implement an energy plan, Obama has failed to HAVE an energy plan. He can definitely tell us what not to do, but he can't seem to put together anything reminiscent of a plan to bring us closer to energy independence. As far as Bush's oil ties go, I simply don't buy that argument, but Obama's ties to people with extreme political agendas for green energy and basic political power definitely seem to play a role in his energy decisions.



My plan was to write something showing how the media had blamed Bush for every cent gas prices raised, while giving Obama a free pass, but as I began to research the topic, I came across this video that already does the job while taking it one step further. Not only do they show how none of the blame is being placed on Obama, they also show how some members of the media are now claiming higher gas prices can benefit our country.


I don't think there is much left to say on that issue, as the video does an excellent job tackling the topic, but there are a few other things I want to address from the video.

1) The speech at the 1:54 mark...I have seen this before and I believe at one point I actually posted the video to the blog. If this was the only footage I had ever seen of Barack Obama, I would have no different feelings about him than I do today, knowing all I know about him. In this 60 second segment, Barack clearly displays his arrogance and elitism. He does not care about the American people and believes he knows what is better for individual families than the families themselves. He believes in a government that can not only control what car you drive, but how many children you have. The look on his face alone tells you how awful he thinks it is that a family would dare to have ten children. Obama is out of touch with the average American. He has no idea what it means to work for a living. He most likely never saw rural (the majority) America until he campaigned. He doesn't understand what it takes to own your own business, be a farmer, construction worker, landscaper, mechanic, or to do any of the tasks that make his life so simple. A Toyota Prius doesn't work for everyone, and if it did, perhaps his motorcade wouldn't be a line of Suburbans getting 8mpg.

2) 2:40 into the video...I want further explanation on how high gas prices are creating jobs. Living in Michigan, I got to see 8 years of Jennifer Granholm using similar math. She would fly to China, convince a company to bring 50 jobs to Michigan, and claim she ADDED 50 jobs. That may be true, but the state also lost thousands of jobs while her small business tax and other policies were killing American owned businesses. I'm sure high gas prices ADD jobs in the green energy sector, but is this reporter considering how many people are being laid off by companies that can no longer afford to operate with the high gas prices? Jobs are always being ADDED, that is if you don't subtract the jobs being lost at the same time.

3) Reasons to be optimistic? 3:05 in...2,220 people in the past year and 1,000 a month as long as prices remain at $4.00 will have their lives saved by the reduced emissions. Let's set aside the fuzzy math, because I refuse to believe anyone, especially a Time Magazine reporter, can actually calculate something like that. Their calculation puts us somewhere around 110,200 people saved in a 10 year span (2,200 + 1,000 x 9 years). I'm sure they would also throw some figure out there on how much money the reduced health problems would save us, but let me give an alternative option. Abortion kills somewhere around 1,200,000 people per year. We would need to have gas remain at this high level for 100 years to have a result similar to outlawing abortion for 1 year. Add in the reduction in government spending from no longer funding abortion and the massive savings from no longer having millions of young adults in need of counseling due to their abortions (If I was a Dem, I would make up a big dollar amount just to make this look more important), and outlawing abortion will save significantly more lives and money that high gas prices without the negative affects on families.

4) 4:35..."I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage." Do we really want four more years of this mentality. It's time we start holding people responsible for their own actions. People like this woman are why I support anyone but Barack...including Mitt Romney. We need to start turning things around now. Don't sit around another four years because the perfect candidate hasn't come along. Step 1, get rid of Barack. Step 2, make sure our new President hears the concerns of real Conservatives and hold this President to a higher standard. Step 3, restore hope and faith in the Conservative party.

http://www.thebitteramericans.com/2012/02/high-gas-prices-might-save-your-life.html

Wow.......what an Idiot

Clinton to Muslims: Pay No Attention to GOP Campaign Talk


Clinton to Muslims: Pay No Attention to GOP Campaign Talk
AP
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience of Arab students in Tunisia on Saturday to not pay any attention to the rhetoric and comments made by the Republican candidates vying for President Barack Obama’s job, saying their rhetoric does not reflect U.S. policy.
According to CNN, Clinton’s remarks came in response to a question from a Tunisian student in the audience who asked about the pro-Israel stance of nearly every American politician — Democrat or Republican — when they run for office.
“You will learn as your democracy develops that a lot of things are said in political campaigns that should not bear a lot of attention,” Clinton said. “There are comments made that certainly don’t reflect the United States, don’t reflect our foreign policy, don’t reflect who we are as a people. If you go to the United States you see mosques everywhere, you see Muslim Americans everywhere. That’s the fact. So I would not pay attention to the rhetoric.”
“I would say watch what President Obama says and does. He’s our president. He represents all of the United States,” Clinton added, saying she was surprised people in Tunisia and other countries “pay more attention to what is said in our political campaigns than most Americans.”
She also predicted Obama will win a second term in the fall.
“He will be re-elected president,” Clinton said. “I think that will be a very clear signal to the entire world as to what our values area and what our president believes.”

Friday, February 24, 2012

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/24/lightsquared-ceo-made-curious-max-donation-to-dnc-while-seeking-white-house-audience/

US President Barack Obama speaks on energy use and the economy following a tour of the Industrial Assessment Center at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, February 23, 2012. The center teaches students about industrial energy efficiency as they help small and mid-sized companies reduce energy costs. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Broadband company LightSquared‘s CEO made a maximum-allowable political donation to the Democratic Party on the same day his lawyers were trying to arrange a meeting between him and top White House technology officials, records and emails obtained by The Daily Caller show. Those same records also show a questionable inconsistency, listing the CEO’s employer as a company he hadn’t worked for in a decade.
The requests and donation came soon after President Barack Obama’s Federal Communications Commission successfully propped up LightSquared, and subsequently demolished its competitor GlobalStar with regulatory muscle.
Nine days after the FCC denied a waiver-extension request, effectively disabling GlobalStar from being able to continue operating in the field, LightSquared’s attorney Henry Goldberg emailed Obama’s White House science and technology chief of staff Jim Kohlenberger to request a meeting. Goldberg wanted Kohlenberger, White House chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra and Tom Kalil, the White House’s deputy director for policy in the office of science and technology policy, to meet with LightSquared’s new CEO, Sanjiv Ahuja.
In the September 23, 2010 email, Goldberg points out that Ahuja would be attending a fundraiser for Obama in the following week.
“In any event, Sanjiv will be at fund-raiser dinner with the President on September 30 and would like to visit with you, perhaps Tom Kalil, and Aneesh Chopra, if it is at all possible,” Goldberg wrote to Kohlenberger, after explaining the status of LightSquared’s network.
Later that day, one of Goldberg’s law firm partners, Dave Kumar, emailed Chopra himself to reiterate the request for a meeting between him, Kalil, Kohlenberger and Ahuja. Kumar also points out how Ahuja was “going to be in DC next week for a fundraising dinner with the president.”
Also on Sept. 23, 2010, Ahuja made a $30,400 donation to the Democratic National Committee. Though he had been LightSquared’s CEO since July of 2010, the Daily Caller has learned that Ahuja’s occupation and employer were curiously listed on the official Federal Election Commission records as “President & CEO” of “Telecordia [sic].” According to a BusinessWeek profile, Ahuja was the president of “Telcordia Technologies” only from 1996 to 2000. (RELATED: Full coverage of LightSquared)
It’s unclear how Ahuja’s decade-old employer and company made it onto those records, but donors aren’t legally required to provide that information. Collecting such information and presenting it to the FEC is the responsibility of the candidate or committee that’s receiving a donation. The Democratic National Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Interestingly, that’s the only known donation Ahuja has ever made to Democrats. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Ahuja donated $350 and $250 to the National Republican Congressional Committee in 1998 and 2000, respectively. In 2002, those records show Ahuja also donated $1,000 to now former New Jersey Congressman Mike Ferguson and $1,000 to support former South Dakota Sen. Larry Pressler’s bid for a U.S. House seat. Both Ferguson and Pressler were Republicans. None of those donation records list Telcordia as Ahuja’s employer.
On Oct. 28, 2010, a mere month after he made the maximum possible donation to the Democratic Party, Ahuja made a $30,400 donation to the NRCC. On that donation record, though, Ahuja’s correct title and occupation, the CEO of LightSquared, are listed.
LightSquared spokesman Terry Neal told The Daily Caller that the inconsistencies about Ahuja’s employment on FEC donation records didn’t come from him. “Mr. Ahuja did not provide the name of his employer on the campaign contribution, which is not required by law,” Neal said.
As for the gap in political contributions before he suddenly made the maximum allowed donation to Democrats after records show he never had before, Neal said it’s because his boss, Ahuja, just returned from living overseas. “He had been living outside of the country for eight years, and made no contributions during that time,” Ahuja said. “He was happy to give equal contributions to both parties when he returned.”
Amid the series of political donations, it’s unclear if Ahuja ever secured the meeting his lawyers were pursuing with Obama administration officials. Visitors records released by the White House show no visits by Ahuja during the timeframe shortly before and after that Sept. 30, 2010, Obama fundraiser.


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/24/lightsquared-ceo-made-curious-max-donation-to-dnc-while-seeking-white-house-audience/#ixzz1nLt9uEGj

David Patrick "proud" of his subprime mortgage work

Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, President Barack Obama’s friend and campaign co-chair, told The Daily Caller that he’s proud of the work he did for Ameriquest as it pumped up the nation’s mortgage bubble.
“I served on the board of the holding company for that company, and it was work that I was asked to do with some of their fair-lending issues, and I’m proud of that work,” said Patrick, who was appointed Feb. 22 by Obama as one of his 2012 campaign’s co-chairs.
Patrick served on the five-member board of Ameriquest’s holding company, ACC Capital Holdings, from 2004 to 2006. This was when the mortgage bubble rapidly inflated under pressure from President George W. Bush, 1990s regulations, numerous Democratic-affiliated housing groups, as well as executives in Fannie Mae and Wall Street companies.
Ameriquest was a leading cause of the bubble, in part, because it began the practice of selling mortgages to people that were deemed by other mortgage companies to be a bad credit risk. For example, the company pioneered the practice of selling mortgages to people without asking for documentation of their income, greatly raising the chance that each loan would go into foreclosure.
In turn, Ameriquest sold the flawed mortgages, dubbed no-doc subprime mortgages, to Fannie Mae and Wall Street, and profited from the processing fees.
The subsequent foreclosure of many risky mortgages dragged down Wall Street and the national economy. Since then, the street unemployment rate has remained well above 10 percent, and the nation’s formal debt has risen by $5 trillion. The median wealth of African-American households fell by 53 percent, according to a 2011 Pew study.
Obama tapped his long-time friend for the campaign job, despite Obama’s routine criticism of mortgage company executives. (RELATED: Obama campaign co-chair tied to subprime mortgage crisis)
“There is something wrong when board of directors or senior managers don’t understand the implications of the risks assumed by their own institutions,” Obama said in a March 2008 speech in New York. “As the subprime crisis unfolded, tough questions about new and complex financial instruments were not asked… the public interest was not protected,” Obama said.
“The American people must be able to trust that their government is looking out for all of us, not just those who donate to political campaigns,” Obama added at the speech, delivered at the Cooper Union building in New York.
Patrick acknowledged the harmful economic impact of those unverified mortgages, but insisted that other companies also issued mortgages without verifying the likelihood of repayment.
“I don’t think anyone is proud of that part of the housing crisis, which was caused by those so-called liar loans,” he said, adding that “a certain number of them were done by a number companies.”
NEXT: How the mortgage bubble hurt the economy



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/24/gov-patrick-proud-of-his-subprime-mortgage-work/#ixzz1nLrpfQq1

Obama and his College speeches

He gives these speeches at colleges because its a guarenteed packed house! Kids are in school, they will go. Whats sad is It looks like Obama does not have the balls to give speeches in arena's for adults, They will probably be  like the Romney speech in Detroit. Not a big crowd, He lost his luster.
 Also the kids don't know any better and believe all the B.S. he shovels to them.

Obama and the oil reserves??

If tapping the oil reserves will temporarily bring down prices....how does that work??

I wonder if drilling for more oil to flood the market would have the same effect for a long term? Then we reduce our dependency for foreign oil!!
 Why do these Hacks in this admin keep saying it wont work??   They are idiots!! They want to go green. How long will it take to go green economicaly? 
  I work for a fuel driven company. This will hurt its bottom line. This is cutting in to peoples budget, while they take time to go green!
  Iran stops the straight or tries, watch the price of oil shoot up,,,when we could be getting our OWN oil!

Geithner: Rich Should Pay More for "Privilege of Being an American (what a Hack)

 


 
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Moving on to CNBC Squawk Box, this is the Geithner bite, Timothy Geithner. The senior economics reporter Steve Liesman. And Liesman says, "You have proposed, $2.1 trillion dollars in gross revenues the president has through 2022 in the budget, and yet it seems like almost all the additional revenue is taken up with additional spending. Where is the real deficit reduction?"
GEITHNER: If you don't try to generate more revenues through tax reform, if you don't ask, you know, the most fortune Americans to bear a slightly larger burden of the privilege of being an American, then you have to -- the only way to achieve fiscal sustainability is through unacceptably deep cuts in benefits for middle class seniors or unacceptably deep cuts in national security.
RUSH: If you don't ask the most fortune Americans to bear the slightly larger burden of being an American. So they're gonna put a price now on the privilege of being an American. All you had to do was be born to be an American. That's the regime for you. Remember Joe Bite Me, it is our patriotic duty to pay more in taxes.

Click here to find out more!

55 Interesting Facts About The U.S. Economy In 2012

 


How is the U.S. economy doing in 2012? Unfortunately, it is not doing nearly as well as the mainstream media would have you believe. Yes, things have stabilized for the moment but this bubble of false hope will not last for long. The long-term trends that are ripping our economy and our financial system to shreds continue unabated. When you step back and look at the broader picture, it is hard to deny that we are in really bad shape and that things are rapidly getting worse. Later on in this article you will find a list of interesting facts that show the true state of the U.S. economy. Hopefully many of you will find this list to be a useful tool that you can share with your family and friends. Each day the foundations of our economy crumble a little bit more, and we need to wake up as many Americans as we can to what is really going on while there is still time. We have accumulated way too much debt, we consume far more wealth than we produce, millions of our jobs are being shipped overseas, our big cities are decaying, family budgets are being squeezed more than ever, poverty is rampant and we have raised several generations of Americans that expect the government to fix all of their problems. The U.S. economy is at a crossroads, and the decisions that the American people make in 2012 are going to be incredibly important.
The statistics listed below are presented without much commentary. They pretty much speak for themselves.
After reading this list, it will be hard for anyone to argue that we are on the right track.
The following are 55 interesting facts about the U.S. economy in 2012....
#1 As you read this, there are more than 6 million mortgages in the United States that are overdue.
#2 In January, U.S. home prices were the lowest that they have been in more than a decade.
#3 In Florida right now, some drivers are paying nearly 6 dollars for a gallon of gas.
#4 On average, you could buy about 10 gallons of gas for an hour of work back in the mid-90s. Today, the average hour of work will get you less than 6 gallons of gas.
#5 Sadly, 43 percent of all American families spend more than they earn each year.
#6 According to Gallup, the unemployment rate was at 8.3% in mid-January but rose to 9.0% in mid-February.
#7 The percentage of working age Americans that have jobs is not increasing. The employment to population ratio has stayed very steady (hovering between 58% and 59%) since the beginning of 2010.
#8 If you gathered together all of the workers that are "officially" unemployed in the United States into one nation, they would constitute the 68th largest country in the entire world.
#9 When Barack Obama first took office, the number of "long-term unemployed workers" in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is sitting at 5.6 million.
#10 The average duration of unemployment in the United States is hovering close to an all-time record high.
#11 According to Reuters, approximately 23.7 million American workers are either unemployed or underemployed right now.
#12 There are about 88 million working age Americans that are not employed and that are not looking for employment. That is an all-time record high.
#13 According to CareerBuilder, only 23 percent of American companies plan to hire more employees in 2012.
#14 Back in the year 2000, about 20 percent of all jobs in America were manufacturing jobs. Today, about 5 percent of all jobs in America are manufacturing jobs.
#15 The United States has lost an average of approximately 50,000 manufacturing jobs a month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
#16 Amazingly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been shut down since 2001.
#17 According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.
#18 During the Obama administration, worker health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent.
#19 An all-time record 49.9 million Americans do not have any health insurance at all at this point, and the percentage of Americans covered by employer-based health plans has fallen for 11 years in a row.
#20 According to the New York Times, approximately 100 million Americans are either living in poverty or in "the fretful zone just above it".
#21 In the United States today, corporate profits are at an all-time high. The percentage of Americans that are living in "extreme poverty" is also at an all-time high according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
#22 In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
#23 The poorest 50 percent of all Americans now collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.
#24 The number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent since 2007.
#25 According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4% of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1% of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6% of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6% of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.
#26 Since Barack Obama entered the White House, the number of Americans on food stamps has increased from 32 million to 46 million.
#27 As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.
#28 In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger. Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
#29 If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.
#30 After adjusting for inflation, U.S. college students are borrowing about twice as much money as they did a decade ago.
#31 According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, total student loan debt in the United States will surpass the 1 trillion dollar mark at some point in 2012. If you went out right now and starting spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.
#32 Today, 46% of all Americans carry a credit card balance from month to month.
#33 Incredibly, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.
#34 The average interest rate on a credit card that is carrying a balance is now up to 13.10 percent.
#35 Of the U.S. households that do have credit card debt, the average amount of credit card debt is an astounding $15,799.
#36 Overall, Americans are carrying a grand total of $798 billion in credit card debt. If you were alive when Jesus was born and you spent a million dollars every single day since then, you still would not have spent $798 billion by now.
#37 It may be hard to believe, but the truth is that consumer debt in America has increased by a whopping 1700% since 1971.
#38 At this point, about 70 percent of all auto purchases in the United States involve an auto loan.
#39 In the United States today, 45 percent of all auto loans are made to subprime borrowers.
#40 Mortgage debt as a percentage of GDP has more than tripled since 1955.
#41 According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.
#42 To get the same purchasing power that you got out of $20.00 back in 1970 you would have to have more than $116 today.
#43 When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs more than $1700 an ounce.
#44 The number of Americans that are not paying federal incomes taxes is at an all-time high.
#45 A staggering 48.5% of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.
#46 The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.
#47 During 2012, the U.S. government must roll over nearly 3 trillion dollars of old debt.
#48 The U.S. debt to GDP ratio has now reached 101 percent.
#49 At the moment, the U.S. national debt is sitting at a grand total of $15,419,800,222,325.15.
#50 The U.S. national debt is now more than 22 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
#51 During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.
#52 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.
#53 If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.
#54 Right now, the U.S. national debt is increasing by about 150 million dollars every single hour.
#55 Spending by the federal government accounted for about 2 percent of GDP back in 1800. It accounted for 23.8 percent in 2011, and according to former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, it will account for 36.8 percent of GDP by 2040.
Bad news, eh?
But it isn't just our economy that is decaying.
We are witnessing a tremendous amount of social decay as well. As I wrote about the other day, America is rapidly decomposing right in front of our eyes.
When the water level of a river drops far enough, it will reveal rocks that have been hidden from view for a very long time. Well, a similar thing is happening in America right now. For decades, our debt-fueled prosperity has masked a lot of the social decay that has been going on.
But now that our prosperity is evaporating, a lot of frightening stuff is being revealed.
Unfortunately, another major financial crisis is rapidly approaching and economic conditions in the United States are going to get a lot worse.
So what is our country going to look like when that happens?
That is a very good question.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Here is a link of Pelosi still blaming bush... What a Hack

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/02/pelosi-challenged-should-you-reid-and-obama-take-ownership-of-the-economy-video/

She is so full of shit!
I would like to see proof of all the millions of jobs created. Their stimulous was all temp JOBS!
If the are counting those the they are HACKS! (idiots)

Always blaming someone else!

Obama and Lightsquared scam

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 01: U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski speaks to the media on the importance of net neutrality December 1, 2010 at the headquarters of the FCC in Washington, DC. Genachowski outlined a framework for broadband internet service providers that would prohibit them from blocking or limiting lawful online content. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The Daily Caller has obtained documents, emails and communications showing how President Barack Obama’s Federal Communications Commission demolished wireless broadband company LightSquared’s competition through a pattern of regulatory decisions apparently aimed at establishing an “open-access” Internet in the United States.
The FCC successfully green-lighted LightSquared’s corporate formation in 2009 by allowing Wall Street hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners to purchase majority ownership in satellite company SkyTerra. A major obstacle that still remained in LightSquared’s way was competitor GlobalStar.
GlobalStar had a similar operation to the one LightSquared was building at the time. A major difference, though, was GlobalStar’s already-orbiting satellites, and the broadband Internet access it was already providing to Americans in rural areas of the country.
GlobalStar leased terrestrial spectrum to Open Range Communications, a company that provided broadband Internet access to customers in underserved parts of rural America. Open Range’s business model depended on a 2008 loan, worth $264 million, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service.
In 2008 the FCC gave GlobalStar a 16-month waiver from so-called “gating” rules, which required it to guarantee that its satellite service would be continuously available everywhere it offered broadband service, and also required it to maintain spare satellites in case of an urgent need. GlobalStar had said the issues its system faced would be fixed when it could launch 24 new satellites, which it planned to do by July 1, 2010.
The waiver was meant to allow GlobalStar and Open Range to continue building their networks while GlobalStar fixed those issues. Open Range depended on GlobalStar for its continued operation.
Then, the unthinkable happened: On April 6, 2009 an earthquake struck L’Aquila, Italy, damaging a factory that made component parts essential to GlobalStar’s satellites. The factory closed, reopening eight months later in early December 2009. (RELATED: Documents: LightSquared shaping up as the FCC’s Solyndra)
Citing the earthquake and disruptions because of the global financial meltdown, GlobalStar filed a request with the Obama administration’s FCC on Dec. 14, 2009, asking for an additional temporary waiver from the agency’s requirements so it could continue building its network.
The FCC didn’t acknowledge receipt of the extension request until March 5, 2010, and didn’t open it up for public notice until four weeks later, on April 2.
During the months while GlobalStar’s request languished in the FCC’s slow-moving bureaucracy, the agency was helping to finalize the sale of SkyTerra to Harbinger. That company would ultimately become LightSquared.
On Feb. 26, 2010, one week before the FCC acknowledged GlobalStar’s request, Harbinger and the FCC agreed on conditions that would forbid LightSquared from selling to Verizon and AT&T any spectrum it would later acquire.
Verizon and AT&T are the nation’s two largest wireless carriers.
FCC spokeswoman Tammy Sun did not answer when The Daily Caller asked her to explain why GlobalStar’s waiver extension request was delayed for 75 days, during the same time the FCC was finalizing its deal with LightSquared executives.
Also during those late spring months in 2010, several advocacy groups funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros were advocating for the adoption of “open-access” Internet rules. Soros’ Open Society Institute has donated more than $1 million to the four organizations that comprise the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition. He is reported to have invested $200 million personally in Harbinger.
Public Interest Spectrum Coalition member groups hold the position that spectrum “belongs to the public” and should be subject to as little corporate influence as possible. Their goal is to create a community-oriented, taxpayer-subsidized and highly regulated broadband system, essentially making Internet access a public utility.


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/22/documents-show-obamas-fcc-used-regulatory-muscle-to-destroy-lightsquareds-competition/#ixzz1nA7eTbTB

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Senate Barber Shop Bailout Causing a Stir

WASHINGTON, DC -- Many Americans may feel like pulling their hair out because of a barber shop that was bailed out by the U.S. Senate.

The barber shop is visited by senators, and received a taxpayer bailout after slipping almost $300,000 into the red.

Employees at the government-operated shop are paid well for their services, with yearly incomes ranging from $54,000 to $81,000. They also have access to 401-K plans, health care, and paid vacations.

Central Ohio businessman Al Novoa is one of many Americans who thinks taxpayer dollars should be spent elsewhere.

"With a bailout like that, we as taxpayers are getting stuck with the bill. It might mean pennies in some respects," Novoa said. "But it's still pennies we can utilize elsewhere, as opposed to a bailout of a business that's there to make a profit."

ABC 6/FOX 28 asked Ohio Senator Rob Portman about the barber shop bailout.

"I think it should be self sustaining. It shouldn't be something that's subsidized," Portman said.

There are talks of privatizing the shop, which would most likely lead to salary and benefit reductions.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Maxine Waters is a Racist Hack!

She is one of the most disgusting, nastiest, racist Hacks I have heard every time she opens that hole on the front of her face!
   To call people demons and Ironic they are both white??
If you went away tomorrow I am sure no one will miss you!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/15/maxine-waters-calls-republican-leaders-demons/#content

Monday, February 13, 2012

Obama's new budget is the same B.S.

I am not a wealthy individual nor am I poor. I don't care how much the Libtards want to raise the Rich taxes, IT WON'T HELP pay DOWN the debt! Look at Illinois We were stuck with tax hikes and look at us now. We are worse off than we were a year ago! So Obama's shared sacrifice crap is old re-chewed bullshit. Find something new that will grow the economy. The only thing he is doing is supporting unions jobs AGAIN with his crap. Again I will say the 18 to 25 year old noncard carrying unemployed workers don't have a prayer to get a union job with this clown. I hope both house and senate vote this spending crap down!

Pat quinn is still an Idiot

He is trying to defend his ways instead of the true economic health of Illinois! Cat Ceo had a commentary and Pat Quinn says it lies? I would believe any business owner before I would believe him!

CAT CEO Blasts Ill. Political Leaders In Published Column

Mon, 02/13/2012 - 9:33am
Michelle Janaye Nealy, Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn defended the state's business climate Sunday after the head of Caterpillar Inc. blasted state political leaders in a published column for not doing enough to grow business and jobs in Illinois.
The comments from the head of the Peoria-based heavy equipment maker came on the heels of the company's decision to bypass Illinois as it looks to build a new plant — and create 1,400 jobs — to handle work being relocated from Japan. Quinn also recently named Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman to an export advisory council.
Quinn — who touted an improved business climate earlier this month in his State of the State address — said he was disappointed in Oberhelman's comments and that Illinois has enacted reforms and tax credits to create jobs. He said Caterpillar officials told him the facility would need ocean access.
"We don't have any ocean front property in Illinois, so with that particular facility we weren't in the ball game to begin with," Quinn said Sunday at an unrelated news conference. "We met with the Caterpillar people and they made it pretty clear that the logistics would drive the decision."
In a column he wrote for Sunday's Chicago Tribune, Oberhelman said logistics were a factor. But he also said Illinois needed to do more for business.
He said Illinois legislators didn't do what was needed to balance the state budget, credit agencies have downgraded Illinois' bond rating and Illinois is among the most expensive states for workers' compensation rates. He said an internal study by Caterpillar showed that when factoring in those compensations rates, it was cheaper for the company to do business in neighboring Indiana, a claim that has recently been echoed by other companies.
Oberhelman said he wrote a letter to Illinois political leaders last year outlining many of those problems, which included complaints about Quinn signing off on an income tax increase in an attempt to ease the state government's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.
"Illinois must act now, with a bipartisan sense of urgency, to position itself for future job creation that is being discussed in board rooms all across this country," Oberhelman wrote in the column.
Oberhelman noted that Caterpillar hasn't opened a new factory in Illinois in decades even as it's opened factories elsewhere. Company officials have said the new factory would likely be built near a division headquarters in North Carolina.
"Caterpillar is not threatening to leave Illinois," Oberhelman said. "Rather, we want to grow our presence here. For Illinois to really compete for new business investment and growth, the state must address these matters."
Quinn said that while Caterpillar has voiced complaints about Illinois' economic climate, Chrysler last week announced it was adding 1,800 workers at its plant in Belvidere. The Democrat said that since Oberhelman's letter, Illinois has enacted worker's compensation reform and passed a Caterpillar-backed tax credit for research and development costs. He also said exports in Illinois are up.

Jack Lew flat out lied.....Libs new norm I guess

Jack Lew Lies, Blames GOP


 
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, one of Obama's guys, Jack Lew, chief of staff, he went out there and said -- this is crazy. He said, "But we also need to be honest. You can’t pass a budget in the Senate of the United States without 60 votes and you can’t get 60 votes without bipartisan support. So unless Republicans are willing to work with Democrats in the Senate, Harry Reid is not going to be able to get a budget passed. And I think he was reflecting the reality of that that could be a challenge."
That's Jack Lew, chief of staff, State of the Union CNN yesterday.
Has he never heard of budget reconciliation? The one thing in the Senate that does not require 60 votes is the passage of a budget because it's constitutionally mandated. You cannot filibuster the budget. This is why the regime tried to get health care passed via budget reconciliation where they didn't need 60 votes. They couldn't get that done and they thought about deeming it to be passed in the House, which would facilitate it in the Senate. And Henry "Nostrilitis" Waxman, "We're not gonna deem it." Even he knew that that wouldn't fly. So here's Obama's chief of staff... In fact, folks, you don't even need 50 votes. You just need a simple majority. A budget resolution is one of the few things not subject to a filibuster. A bill based on reconciliation instructions cannot be filibustered, and that's what a budget is.
Now, is this guy stupid, idiotic, or lying when he's on CNN yesterday? Frankly, I don't care because his whole point was to blame the Republicans for the fact that this dead-on-arrival budget wasn't gonna get passed. That was the whole point, make sure the Republicans get blamed for this by refusing to work with Harry Reid. The Democrats don't have 60 votes in the Senate. But they don't need them. A blatant, brazen lie on CNN. It was so bad even the Washington Post had to call 'em on it, and that could not have been easy.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, this Jack Lew guy, the chief of staff, he said this twice over the weekend, not just one time where it could have been a mistake. He said it twice, it wasn't an accident, and the White House backed him up. And what he said was that you can't pass a budget in the Senate without 60 votes, and you can't get 60 votes without bipartisan support. "So, unless Republicans are willing to work with Democrats in the Senate, Harry Reid is not going to be able to get a budget passed. And I think he was reflecting the reality of that that could be a challenge." He said it twice. Means it was on purpose. The White House has backed him up. It is an out-and-out lie.
So, it's clear what this regime has decided to do. In fact, this report, they got a fact checker guy, Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post who reviews this stuff, and his technique is to award up to four Pinocchios for people who are found to be lying or dead wrong, and in this case, Jack Lew gets four Pinocchios in the Washington Post for this. So it's clear. Obama is going to use his association with the media and just lie. Just going to lie for the consumption of his voters who he's acknowledging know so little about how this country works, how the government works, that whatever he says is what they'll believe.
So he's presented a budget that has no prayer of being passed, and he wants his voters to understand it's the Republicans' fault, right in line with this do-nothing Congress that he's campaigning against. So he sends Jack Lew out there to lie even to these people that host the shows on the networks, who also know this is a lie, but they didn't have any kind of reaction that would indicate they knew it was a lie, maybe a cocked head, but they didn't challenge him, certainly not enough to cause any change with what's been said. So, it's a flat out and out lie.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Just remember, folks: When Jack Lew goes on television and lies that the Republicans won't vote on Obama's budget, it's Harry Reid. It is Harry Reid who is gonna keep Obama's budget from ever being voted on. Make no mistake about this. Republicans aren't going to have a thing to say about this. Harry Reid's going to take care of that. It is Harry Reid that doesn't want that budget voted on. By the way, also in this budget... Little things keep being discovered here. Obama now proposes raising the tax on dividends all the way to 40%. He was talking originally about raising it 15 to 20%. Now he's gonna double that, up to 40%. It's not gonna see the light of day, but it's in there as a proposal, as a window into his mind.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Ryan: Medicare Going Bankrupt Under Obama

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said the payroll tax cut extension is stalled in Congress because “the president’s party leaders are more or less not engaging” in conversations with Republicans about paying for the measure.

“If you just extend this without paying for it by cutting spending, then you’re accelerating the bankruptcy of Social Security,” Ryan said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “I do believe this will get extended, but when we make offer after offer…yet they still insist on not coming to agreement, it’s difficult to see exactly how this is going to pan out.”

Ryan also talked about Medicare and said his plan to reform it will “save and strengthen” the nation’s health-care program for seniors.

“Medicare is going bankrupt,” he told host George Stephanapoulos. “We’re showing that there’s bipartisan consensus in Congress on how to preserve the Medicare guarantee, how to save and strengthen the program.”

He said Obamacare will gut Medicare by taking a half a trillion dollars from the program to spend on the new health-care law. Further, he said Obamacare “puts a board of 15 unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of cutting Medicare.”

Addressing the controversy surrounding the requirement that Catholic institutions provide contraception coverage in their insurance plans, Ryan accused President Barack Obama of “doubling down” by shifting who must pay for the coverage.

“To paraphrase the bishop’s letter, it’s a distinction without a difference,” Ryan said. “It’s an accounting gimmick or a fig leaf. It’s a real teachable moment for America. They’re treating our constitutional First Amendment rights as revocable privileges from our government, not as inalienable rights from our creator.”


Read more on Newsmax.com: Ryan: Medicare Going Bankrupt Under Obama