By: David A. Franklin
YOU BET YOUR SWEET
YOU BET YOUR SWEET
"YES"
Quite a seemingly innocent question, the answer to which is dependent on who you ask. In this culture of severe political gridlock and polarization, I dare say “Yes!” America is doing better across the board. There have been many real accomplishments of which the Obama-Biden Administration should be proud. Here are a precious few of those accomplishments:
OBAMA’S JOB CREATING PERFORMANCE – from 2009 to date, over 4 million private sector jobs created)
Obama has turned the “Jobs Lost” report from red (dismal) to green (road to recovery). It took him only one year after the Bush eight year calamity for this statistics to start on the upward/positive swing and the swing continues. And don’t forget, this is despite of Republican obstructionist mantra!!
How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in 2009?
• Jobs LOST 2009: -5,060,000
How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in 2010?
• Jobs ADDED 2010: +1,027,000
How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in 2011?
• Jobs ADDED 2011: +1,840,000
How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in 2012 to date (July 2012)?
• Jobs ADDED 2012 to date: +1,059,000
Molly’s Middle America - All Jobs & Unemployment Reports (2011 & 2012)
OBAMA’S JOB CREATING PERFORMANCE – from 2009 to date, over 4 million private sector jobs created)
Obama has turned the “Jobs Lost” report from red (dismal) to green (road to recovery). It took him only one year after the Bush eight year calamity for this statistics to start on the upward/positive swing and the swing continues. And don’t forget, this is despite of Republican obstructionist mantra!!
How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in 2009?
• Jobs LOST 2009: -5,060,000
How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in 2010?
• Jobs ADDED 2010: +1,027,000
How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in 2011?
• Jobs ADDED 2011: +1,840,000
How Many Jobs Were Created or Lost in 2012 to date (July 2012)?
• Jobs ADDED 2012 to date: +1,059,000
Molly’s Middle America - All Jobs & Unemployment Reports (2011 & 2012)
Bureau of Labor Statistics Report LNUO2000000
REPUBLICANS’ JOBS-IN-AMERICA POSITION AT END OF GEORGE BUSH’S TERM IN 2008
• According to CNN Money Report’s David Goldman, 2008 was the worst year for jobs since 1945. “Annual loss biggest since end of World War II…November (2008), in which 584,000 jobs were lost, and December marked the first time in
the 70-year history of the report in which the economy lost more than 500,000 jobs in consecutive months.” This is the hemorrhaging and tide of job loss that the Obama Administration inherited.
REPUBLICANS’ JOBS-IN-AMERICA POSITION AT END OF GEORGE BUSH’S TERM IN 2008
• According to CNN Money Report’s David Goldman, 2008 was the worst year for jobs since 1945. “Annual loss biggest since end of World War II…November (2008), in which 584,000 jobs were lost, and December marked the first time in
the 70-year history of the report in which the economy lost more than 500,000 jobs in consecutive months.” This is the hemorrhaging and tide of job loss that the Obama Administration inherited.
BENEFITS OF OBAMACARE – Yes he cares!!The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office lists the advantages of Obamacare:
1. It reduces overall healthcare costs for the 32 million who currently can't get insurance thus making healthcare available and affordable to these Americans. This starts in 2014.
2. For people who can't afford health insurance, the Federal government will pay the states to add them to Medicaid.
The income requirement is expanded up to 133% of the Federal poverty level - roughly $29,000 for a family of four.
3. Those who don't qualify for the expanded Medicaid will receive tax credits if their income is below 400% of the
poverty level ($88,000 for a family of four). States will be required to set up insurance exchanges to make it easier to shop for private health insurance coverage.
4. Insurance companies cannot deny children coverage for pre-existing conditions. This benefit applies to everyone in 2014. Insurance companies can no longer drop anyone from coverage once they get sick. If a company denies someone coverage, that person can go to an external appeals process.
5. Parents can put their children up to age 26 on their health insurance plans. As of 2012, more than three million previously uninsured young people were added. (Source: Department of Health and Human Services)
6. The Medicare "donut hole" gap in coverage will be eliminated by 2020.
7. People with existing health insurance will keep it. For those businesses preferring to offer a tax-free benefit like health insurance to attract good workers that won't change under Obamacare.
8. Obamacare does not apply to businesses with less than 50 employees. Larger businesses are required to offer health insurance, but receive tax credits to help employees pay premiums. In 2014, the tax credit increases to 50%.
9. The Act will lower the budget deficit by $143 billion over the next 10 years by raising some taxes and shifting more cost burdens. (Source: CBO CBO Report on Health Care Reform and the Budget; Wall Street Journal, What Health Insurance Ruling Means, June 28, 2012; NPR, Medicaid Expansion, June 27, 2012)
OBAMA ON EDUCATION
• Barak Obama has doubled Pell Grants.
• He has signed into law a bill that keeps interest rates on federal student loans from doubling this year. This would have hurt approximately 7 1/2 million students raising their loan payments by an average of $1,000.
• He has invested in universities and early in childhood education for research and development
The list is so long it will take pages and pages to complete:
• Osama bin Laden, and top Al Qaeda leaders, are dead! A lot of relevant Al Qaeda planning documents for future attack against American soil, and interests around the world, were recovered by the heroic SEAL 6 team. Obama can boast the “Mission Accomplished” sign so stupidly and dishonestly displayed by the Republican captain of the last failed presidency!!
• General Motors and the American Motor Car industry have never before been so alive and so well. The American
Auto Industry was saved. Mitt Romney tried to claim credit for such the successful recovery after shamelessly saying “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt!”
• The $787 billion Stimulus Package. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 spurred economic growth amid the greatest recession since the 1929 Great Depression. Many Republican Governors have benefitted from this although they continue to be their true hypocritical selves and bash the stimulus.
• The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was signed to re-regulate Wall Street. Their unchecked practices caused the Great Recession which started under the previous Bush-Cheney Administration. Positives stemming from this law are:
-Tightened capital requirement on large banks and financial institutions
- Mandated large banks to provide “Living Wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies
- Limited their ability to trade with customer’s hard earned money for their own profits
- Created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop abusive predatory products and companies.
• War in Iraq was ended with last troops leaving on December 18, 2011 on the orders of President Barack Obama.
• Equal Pay for Women signed into law
• Women’s Rights to choose how to care for their own bodies supported and laws passed to uphold this right.
• Afghanistan War - In June 2011, troops numbered 101,000 in Afghanistan. That is down to 91,000 and a further 23,000 leaving by the end of summer 2012. All combat missions “…will be over by next year 2013” according
to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
• “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!” The discriminatory policy repealed. This new policy enables gays and lesbians to
serve openly in the Armed Forces for the first time in the nation’s history.
• Colonel Moammar Gaddafi was toppled because of a joint coalition of American, European and Arab governments in a joint military action. The dictator’s 42 years of unchecked power was ended with his unceremonious overthrow by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost and Gaddafi was killed.
• The Arab Spring saw Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ouster on February 1, 2011. Obama publicly called on Mubarak to “accept reform or step down” which weakened and undermined the dictator’s position in, not only Egypt,
but the entire Arab world. February 11, 2011 saw Mubarak’s 30 year rule end with his overthrow and arrest.
• Improved America’s image abroad because of deft diplomacy, new pragmatic policies and lowering the caustic rhetoric employed by the Bush-Cheney Administration.
• All “enhanced” interrogation techniques reversed a practice not only lauded but applied by the Bush-Cheney
Administration. It is considered inhumane under the Geneva Convention.
• The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act of 2010 was signed punishing firms and individuals who aided Iran’s petroleum sector. In early 2012, America coordinated with our Western Allies to impose
further sanctions aimed at Iranian banks.
These are only a handful of major accomplishments by the Obama-Biden Administration. At this point in the
previous Administration, all was touted was “The War on Terror” forgetting everything else that was important.
Rome was not built in a day. For America to be where it needs to be, it will take a massive undertaking of epic proportions never before seen. What was destroyed and the devastation brought on the country in eight years by the
previous Administration cannot be rebuilt in four years. I doubt it can be fixed in even eight years. Barack Obama is human not a miracle worker or a messiah.
In conclusion, having witnessed the lies and pitiful desperation of the Republicans at their recent convention, it is time to dig deep and get the honest truth America. It is a bitter pill to swallow for the Republicans but, America is on the path of economic recovery. And it is the Obama-Biden Administration to be commended.
It’s time to go “Forward Forever, Backward Never”.
1. It reduces overall healthcare costs for the 32 million who currently can't get insurance thus making healthcare available and affordable to these Americans. This starts in 2014.
2. For people who can't afford health insurance, the Federal government will pay the states to add them to Medicaid.
The income requirement is expanded up to 133% of the Federal poverty level - roughly $29,000 for a family of four.
3. Those who don't qualify for the expanded Medicaid will receive tax credits if their income is below 400% of the
poverty level ($88,000 for a family of four). States will be required to set up insurance exchanges to make it easier to shop for private health insurance coverage.
4. Insurance companies cannot deny children coverage for pre-existing conditions. This benefit applies to everyone in 2014. Insurance companies can no longer drop anyone from coverage once they get sick. If a company denies someone coverage, that person can go to an external appeals process.
5. Parents can put their children up to age 26 on their health insurance plans. As of 2012, more than three million previously uninsured young people were added. (Source: Department of Health and Human Services)
6. The Medicare "donut hole" gap in coverage will be eliminated by 2020.
7. People with existing health insurance will keep it. For those businesses preferring to offer a tax-free benefit like health insurance to attract good workers that won't change under Obamacare.
8. Obamacare does not apply to businesses with less than 50 employees. Larger businesses are required to offer health insurance, but receive tax credits to help employees pay premiums. In 2014, the tax credit increases to 50%.
9. The Act will lower the budget deficit by $143 billion over the next 10 years by raising some taxes and shifting more cost burdens. (Source: CBO CBO Report on Health Care Reform and the Budget; Wall Street Journal, What Health Insurance Ruling Means, June 28, 2012; NPR, Medicaid Expansion, June 27, 2012)
OBAMA ON EDUCATION
• Barak Obama has doubled Pell Grants.
• He has signed into law a bill that keeps interest rates on federal student loans from doubling this year. This would have hurt approximately 7 1/2 million students raising their loan payments by an average of $1,000.
• He has invested in universities and early in childhood education for research and development
The list is so long it will take pages and pages to complete:
• Osama bin Laden, and top Al Qaeda leaders, are dead! A lot of relevant Al Qaeda planning documents for future attack against American soil, and interests around the world, were recovered by the heroic SEAL 6 team. Obama can boast the “Mission Accomplished” sign so stupidly and dishonestly displayed by the Republican captain of the last failed presidency!!
• General Motors and the American Motor Car industry have never before been so alive and so well. The American
Auto Industry was saved. Mitt Romney tried to claim credit for such the successful recovery after shamelessly saying “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt!”
• The $787 billion Stimulus Package. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 spurred economic growth amid the greatest recession since the 1929 Great Depression. Many Republican Governors have benefitted from this although they continue to be their true hypocritical selves and bash the stimulus.
• The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was signed to re-regulate Wall Street. Their unchecked practices caused the Great Recession which started under the previous Bush-Cheney Administration. Positives stemming from this law are:
-Tightened capital requirement on large banks and financial institutions
- Mandated large banks to provide “Living Wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies
- Limited their ability to trade with customer’s hard earned money for their own profits
- Created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop abusive predatory products and companies.
• War in Iraq was ended with last troops leaving on December 18, 2011 on the orders of President Barack Obama.
• Equal Pay for Women signed into law
• Women’s Rights to choose how to care for their own bodies supported and laws passed to uphold this right.
• Afghanistan War - In June 2011, troops numbered 101,000 in Afghanistan. That is down to 91,000 and a further 23,000 leaving by the end of summer 2012. All combat missions “…will be over by next year 2013” according
to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
• “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!” The discriminatory policy repealed. This new policy enables gays and lesbians to
serve openly in the Armed Forces for the first time in the nation’s history.
• Colonel Moammar Gaddafi was toppled because of a joint coalition of American, European and Arab governments in a joint military action. The dictator’s 42 years of unchecked power was ended with his unceremonious overthrow by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost and Gaddafi was killed.
• The Arab Spring saw Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ouster on February 1, 2011. Obama publicly called on Mubarak to “accept reform or step down” which weakened and undermined the dictator’s position in, not only Egypt,
but the entire Arab world. February 11, 2011 saw Mubarak’s 30 year rule end with his overthrow and arrest.
• Improved America’s image abroad because of deft diplomacy, new pragmatic policies and lowering the caustic rhetoric employed by the Bush-Cheney Administration.
• All “enhanced” interrogation techniques reversed a practice not only lauded but applied by the Bush-Cheney
Administration. It is considered inhumane under the Geneva Convention.
• The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act of 2010 was signed punishing firms and individuals who aided Iran’s petroleum sector. In early 2012, America coordinated with our Western Allies to impose
further sanctions aimed at Iranian banks.
These are only a handful of major accomplishments by the Obama-Biden Administration. At this point in the
previous Administration, all was touted was “The War on Terror” forgetting everything else that was important.
Rome was not built in a day. For America to be where it needs to be, it will take a massive undertaking of epic proportions never before seen. What was destroyed and the devastation brought on the country in eight years by the
previous Administration cannot be rebuilt in four years. I doubt it can be fixed in even eight years. Barack Obama is human not a miracle worker or a messiah.
In conclusion, having witnessed the lies and pitiful desperation of the Republicans at their recent convention, it is time to dig deep and get the honest truth America. It is a bitter pill to swallow for the Republicans but, America is on the path of economic recovery. And it is the Obama-Biden Administration to be commended.
It’s time to go “Forward Forever, Backward Never”.
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