Interesting list of Promises and Reality
@whiteheather39 (24403)
United States
February 17, 2010 11:37am CST
Dear Fellow Conservative,
One year ago today, President Barack Obama signed into law the first major legislation of his presidency, the Congressional Democrats' so-called "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act." The Obama Democrats made many bold claims about what this $862 billion bill would do for America's ailing economy.
Let's see how their promises measure up to reality.
Obama Promised Unemployment Would Not Rise Above 8 Percent With $862 Billion Stimulus. (Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, "The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Plan," 1/9/09)
* REALITY: Unemployment Currently At 10 Percent. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 2/4/10)
Obama Promised His Stimulus Would Create 3.5 Million Jobs By End Of 2010. (President Barack Obama, Remarks At The Signing Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act, Denver, CO, 2/17/09)
* REALITY: Since Obama Signed Stimulus Last February, America Has Lost 2.8 Million Jobs. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 2/4/10)
Biden Promised Stimulus Would Create Construction Jobs. "Road projects, energy projects and construction projects are being started as soon as they pass review, contracts are competitively bid and reporting systems are in place." (Joe Biden, "What You Might Not Know About The Recovery," The New York Times, 7/26/09)
* REALITY: Since Obama Signed The Stimulus Last February, 712,000 Construction Jobs Have Been Lost. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 2/4/10)
Obama Claims Stimulus Created Manufacturing Jobs. "That's right -- the Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus bill. Economists on the left and the right say this bill has helped save jobs and avert disaster. But you don't have to take their word for it -- Talk to the window manufacturer in Philadelphia who said he used to be skeptical about the Recovery Act, until he had to add two more work shifts just because of the business it created." (President Barack Obama, Remarks In State Of The Union Address, Washington, DC, 1/27/10)
* REALITY: Since Obama Signed The Stimulus Last February, 847,000 Manufacturing Jobs Have Been Lost. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 2/4/10)
Obama Claims Stimulus Created Teaching Jobs. "Because of the steps we took, there are about two million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed -- 300,000 are teachers and other education workers." (President Barack Obama, Remarks In State Of The Union Address, Washington, DC, 1/27/10)
* REALITY: Since Obama Signed The Stimulus Last February, 55,000 Education Jobs Have Been Lost. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 2/4/10)
Obama Promised Recovery Act "Will Create Good Jobs That Pay Well And Can't Be Shipped Overseas." (The White House, "Remarks By The President And The VicePresident On The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act," 4/13/09)
* REALITY: Recently Distributed Stimulus Funds Going To Foreign Corporations Creating Jobs Overseas. "Nearly half of the $2.4 billion in federal grant money awarded Wednesday to stimulate the U.S. economy and boost the production of hybrid and electric vehicles went to six companies with ties to places as far away as Russia, China, South Korea and France. ... But because so few American companies have the necessary technology, much of the money will initially go toward manufacturing electric vehicle batteries overseas." (Jerry Seper, "Obama Sends Stimulus Aid To Foreign Firms," The Washington Times, 8/6/09)
Obama Promised Stimulus Would Have "Responsibility and Accountability." "'What I will need from [U.S. Mayors] is unprecedented responsibility and accountability on all of our parts,' Obama said. 'The American people are watching.'" (Michael D. Shear, "Obama To Watch Cities' Stimulus Spending," The Washington Post, 2/21/09)
* REALITY: GAO Says Transparency, Oversight Lacking When Keeping Track of Stimulus' Effectiveness. "The Government Accountability Office said in a report that increased transparency and better oversight is needed to track stimulus money being sent to state and local governments. -- 'Questions remained about how to count jobs and measure performance under Recovery Act-funded programs,' the report said." (Rich Edson and Joanna Ossinger, "GAO: More Transparency Needed To Track Stimulus Money," Fox Business, 7/7/09)
Barack Obama and his big-spending Democrat allies in the U.S. Congress, led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, have proven, their claims notwithstanding, that their kind of "Stimulus" will only run America's economy into the ground.
And this massive transfer of wealth to the Democrats' public sector union allies in local and state governments was just the beginning of Obamanomics -- soak the private sector to feed the never-ending growth of government.
In fact, as the Obama Democrats moved on from their bloated "Stimulus" Bill to take over the American auto industry, implement Cap-and-Trade energy taxes, and socialize private health care, they made it obvious to everyone not on their gravy train that they care not a whit for the millions of unemployed who simply want a chance to earn an honest living in the free marketplace.
Americans know that the Obama Democrats have no intention of doing what will really create new jobs -- reducing the punishing tax rates on American small business and investors to spur job growth and vitalize our economy.
So faced with the reality of the voters' backlash in New Jersey and Virginia, then Massachusetts and soon the entire country, they are cloaking their next spending boondoggle as a "jobs bill."
Sorry, Democrats, but the American people have had enough of your "Stimulus" -- they demand an end to the childish double talk and irresponsible wealth transfers. But no one expects the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Democrats to listen.
Thanks for your time
Sincerely,
Michael Steele
Chairman, Republican National Committee[b]
ANY COMMENTS? Agree or is it a bunch of lies?
[/b]
3 people like this
6 responses
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
18 Feb 10
I was just reading this.
and I still think the dumbheads ought to impeach him and get him out of ther and sort of go back to lowering some taxes on small businesses so they can come back in to all the abonded buildings around town .
Lots of places here empty for they couldnt stand up to the big taxes that was laid on them.
For they are very small.
Want to know whre all those jobs are that was promiced to be created.
Prez spent so much time on take over and shoving obama care down out throats that nothing has been dont o create jobs for the poeple .
Just wonder where the He** he thinks money is going to come from to build up America if things dont change back to something that is reasonable to the American people!
COngress need to clean up thier act too and start working for us not the other way around!3 people like this
@millertime (1394)
• United States
21 Feb 10
This is a very interesting topic. If you take a close look at Obama's campaign promises and how many of them he has kept or fulfilled, one would say he's either a profound liar or a dismal failure, or both.
What is amazing to me is that, even faced with these facts, a good portion of people still think he's doing a good job or are still not sure. I guess they're still basing their opinion on what he says and not what he does.
Any way you look at it, the economy has gotten steadily worse since Obama took office. His policies are anti-business so it's hard to imagine how he's going to revive the economy that way.
They claim to have created jobs but the only jobs that can be proven to have been created are government jobs and creating more government is not going to help, indeed it will do more harm than good. We need jobs in the private sector.
The Obama administration continues to spend money like it's going out of style and they think they can do so without consequence. This will lead to the total collapse of our economy, not just a recession or even a depression, but a total collapse.
Anybody that doesn't think this can happen is deluding themselves. Our present course, if we don't change it, will take us nowhere but down and the Obama-Pelosi-Reid team seem determined to stay on the path to destruction.
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
21 Feb 10
Excellent response. I think many of the die hard Obama supporters just do not want to admit they made a hell of a mistake voting this person into office. However they will suffer along with the rest of us.
2 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
18 Feb 10
The signature at the end says it all - Michael Steele, the same Michael Steele who said $1 million isn't a lot of money! I think rather than calling this all a bunch of lies I'd say it's a bunch of spin. Two different people from opposite sides can see a totally different picture from the same scene...or something like that! Before the stimulus we were losing jobs at the rate of 700,000 per month; now it's around 20,000. That's still 20,000 too many but it is an improvement. Over 100 members of congress who so vocally opposed the stimulus and claimed it wouldn't and then that it hadn't created a single job have sung a totally different tune in their home districts as they touted the funds "they'd" secured for their constituents which would create from hundreds to thousands of jobs depending on the lawmaker and the district. Many of these lawmakers wrote letters to various Administration agencies requesting funds. These letters have been obtained by the Wall Street Journal, hardly a liberal publication.
Annie
2 people like this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
18 Feb 10
Thanks Annie because it was an article written by Michael Steele it made me kind of wary on just how his perception of realities compare to mine. Especially after his million dollar remark.
1 person likes this
@sumofalltears (3988)
• United States
18 Feb 10
I agree with it all 100% and unless the average American Joe smartens up and starts voting the spendthrifts out then we may as well face the fact that the country is going to fall. In all honesty I think Obama is trying to make this country financially unstable so that a foreign power of his choice can take it over. I also think it is more than possible that Obama is being paid by someone to do this. In my opinion, things have just been too coincidental to be totally unplanned.
I have to admit I hate politics because it is NOT an honorable profession. Politics is all about abusing power and personal gain and as such I find it totally deplorable.
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
18 Feb 10
Ever since Obama appeared on the Presidential Campaign I have been very certain that Obama is backed by people who do not have America's best interests at heart. I agree with you 100% that politics is not an honorable profession and personal gain is the name of the game.
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
17 Feb 10
I have heard that only 1/3 of that money has been spent. I've also heard several mutterings on tv and on radio (conservative, of course, so it's biased) that a chunk of the remainder will be used to ensure the dems maintain a majority in 2010.
Unemployment is almost double what they say when you include the millions who have given up hunting for a job, those that have accepted part time jobs and those that have taken jobs at less than half their former pay that don't use the skills they are trained for--like the engineer that takes a stocking job at Walmart or the couple that each have two part time jobs to make ends meet.
2 people like this







