This is crony capitalism, with potentially devastating consequences. If Mr. Trump appoints people to the antitrust division and the F.C.C. who are willing to wave through a Sprint/T-Mobile merger, he will do lasting damage to the economy that far outweighs any benefit from 5,000 jobs, jobs that might have been created even without the merger. Individuals and businesses will find wireless service costs a lot more when they have only Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile/Sprint to choose from."
Donald Trump, who explained his four corporate bankruptcies at the Fox News GOP debate by saying he’d “taken advantage of the laws of this country,” could turn a profit from the financial wreckage of a North Charleston manufacturing company his eldest son co-founded.
though the fact didn't seem to deter those who voted for him ., to many even more concern is the possibility that many who voted for the shyster didn't know he had conned and cheated so many .. to those gotta say why vote for someone whom? you don't know at all?
Furious Boston Man Confronts InfoWars "reporter" : You Son of a Bi***
LOLOL this guy is a ripper! .. watch him make the Trump supporter reporter for Trump supporter Infowars squirm like a cockroach in an intelligence briefing .. lol the video is inside the first
link there, which i bumped into on the internet just yesterday (it's 12:35am in Sydney du town now) and couldn't recall if it had been posted before .. chuckle...
President Barack Obama participates in an interview with George Stephanopoulos for ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 6, 2017.
President-elect Donald Trump accepts the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia engaged in cyber attacks affecting the U.S. presidential election and may take actions in response, his incoming chief of staff said on Sunday. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-cyber-idUSKBN14S0O6
On Sunday January 20, 2007, the day before the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, Senator Barack Obama delivers a speech to the congregation of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
Obama in Science: The Renewable Revolution Will Outlast Trump President Barack Obama delivers remarks on clean energy after touring a solar array at Hill Air Force Base on April 3, 2015. The president makes the case for his energy legacy in one of the nation’s preeminent scientific journals. Jan 9, 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/president-obama-in-science-trump-renewables/512519/ [with comments]
14 Facts About Obama's Presidency Most People Don’t Know
Updated on September 02, 2016
Jeff is a computer professional who takes a great interest in politics and tries to always distinguish fact from opinion.
President Obama visiting Iowa
Obama's Presidency: The Facts
People have many perceptions of how the US economy or the country as a whole has done in recent years. Depending on your political views, you may think the country is doing exceptionally well or is teetering on the verge of collapse.
Listed below are fourteen objective facts, without interjected opinion, about the state of America under the leadership of President Obama. Every statement is followed up with a link to a reputable source where you can verify the fact for yourself.
1. We've now had 78 straight months of economic expansion.
That’s right: For seventy-eight consecutive months, the US economy has gotten progressively better. That includes a new record for consecutive months of private sector job growth. Forbes magazine (which is no fan of President Obama) crunched the numbers and demonstrated how the economic recovery under President Obama has been better in just about every measurable way than the recovery under President Reagan.
2. We are currently enjoying the longest period of private sector job creation in American history.
This statistic also comes from the Forbes magazine article listed above. In fact, we've enjoyed 68 straight months of private sector job creation. That is the longest period of job creation since the Department of Labor has been keeping statistics.
3. Unemployment has dropped from 10.1% in October of 2009 to 4.9% by early 2016.
Not only has the unemployment rate dropped significantly, but since the recession ended, the US economy has gained over twelve million new jobs. (You can refer to the Forbes article above or check the article below.)
It is also worth noting that during the 2012 presidential election, Obama's opponent, Mitt Romney, promised to lower the unemployment rate to 6% by the end of 2016. President Obama succeeded at lowering unemployment to under 6% two full years earlier than Romney had promised.
4. The stock market continues to set new record highs since President Obama took office.
Since early 2009, there has been a steady upward trend in stock market growth. The Dow Jones Industrial averages reached an all-time high of 18,292 in May, 2015. Since most Americans have 401K retirement investments in the stock market, this growth benefits millions of middle class Americans.
5. The Federal budget deficit is shrinking. It’s been reduced by two-thirds since 2009.
The $1.4 trillion federal budget deficit that Obama inherited in 2009 was in a large part due to the high rate of unemployment. When millions of people were put out of work in 2008 and 2009, it resulted in far less income taxes and less economic activity to generate federal revenue. As eleven million people have regained employment, there have been billions more tax dollars generated. As a result, the deficit has been shrinking each year. The 2015 deficit was $439 billion, the smallest deficit since 2007, and roughly 70% lower than it was in 2009.
6. Under President Obama, government spending has increased only 3.3% annually, the lowest rate since Eisenhower was president.
You may have heard critics say that President Obama is spending money wildly and running up our debt. According to this article from Forbes, Obama has increased spending by 1.4% annually, far less than President Reagan (8.7%) or George W. Bush (8.1%). According to a more recent article from the Washington Post, Obama has increased spending 3.3% annually. In either case, Obama has increased spending less than any president since Eisenhower.
7. For 95% of American taxpayers, income taxes are as low or lower than they were at almost any point in the last 50 years.
After President Obama took office, thousands of Tea Party members all over the country held rallies protesting Obama’s tax increases. At that time, President Obama had actually passed several tax cuts to stimulate the economy. Most of the Tea Partiers who were protesting had only seen their taxes decrease under Obama, yet polls indicated that most Tea Party members wrongly believed their taxes had gone up.
In fact, the only people whose income taxes have gone up during Obama’s presidency are those making $400,000 per year or more. That's less than 2% of the population. Today, for the vast majority of people, tax rates are lower than or exactly where they were when Obama first took office. The article below from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains this in greater detail.
Source: Federal Income Taxes on Middle-Income Families Remain Near Historic Lows, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3151
8. Dependence on foreign oil has shrunk due to record domestic oil production and improved fuel efficiency standards.
While some claim that oil production has declined under President Obama, the truth is just the opposite. Oil production has reached record highs. The United States now produces so much oil that we export more oil and gasoline than we import.
9. At least 18 million more Americans now have health insurance than before.
Depending on whose numbers you use, anywhere from 12 to 18 million Americans acquired health insurance due to the Affordable Care Act. Now that those millions of Americans have insurance, the rest of us are no longer on the hook to pay for their healthcare when they get sick. This saves the American people billions of dollars in the long run.
10. The Affordable Care Act has added years to the life of Medicare.
The Medicare trust fund had been on course to run out of money by the end of 2016. But due to cost savings from the Affordable Care Act and lower healthcare expenses, Medicare’s trust fund will now remain stable until the year 2030 without cutting benefits.
12. We currently have fewer soldiers, sailors, and airmen in war zones than we did at any time in the last 12 years.
With the end of the Iraq war and the steady withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, we have fewer people in war zones now than we did at any time since 2002.
13. There have been zero successful attacks by al Qaeda on US soil since Obama became president.
Despite Dick Cheney’s warning that if voters elected a Democrat as president, we’d be “hit again and hit hard” by al Qaeda, we have actually been far safer from terrorist attacks on US soil in recent years than we were under the previous president. There have been several unsuccessful attacks against the US under both Bush and Obama, but under Obama, al Qaeda has been largely unsuccessful in striking the US on our home soil.
14. We now successfully catch and deport more illegal immigrants than ever before.
Despite the mythology being spread by President Obama's political opponents about our "open border" with Mexico, the numbers prove that President Obama has turned back and deported more illegal immigrants than any other president.
Politifact checked the claim that President Obama turned away more illegal immigrants than any other president, and they confirmed that under President Obama, the US has turned back or deported an average of 32,886 people per month. That's a far greater rate than any other president in history by far.
Additional Facts About Economic Gains with Obama's Presidency
Although all of the facts stated above can be confirmed through multiple sources, most Americans are not aware of these positive statistics. I invite you to do your own research and check these facts for yourself.
The truth is, most other presidents would envy President Obama’s record which has flourished despite the fact that he inherited the results of the worst economic crash since the Great Depression.
If you feel particularly ambitious, feel free to research these additional facts:
1. Since Obama became president, our economy has gone from losing 750,000 jobs per month to adding 250,000 jobs per month. That’s a net improvement under Obama of about 1 million jobs per month!
2. Before Obama became president, our financial system was in ruins and millions of people were at risk of losing their life savings. Now, the financial loopholes have been fixed and we are no longer at risk of another financial collapse.
3. In just 7 years under Obama, there were more than three times as many jobs created as there were in the whole 8 years under George W. Bush.
4. President Obama passed credit card reforms that protect consumers from excessive fees, rate hikes, deceptive marketing, and unreasonable due dates.
5. Thanks to Obamacare, senior citizens have saved billions of dollars on prescription drugs.
6. The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of collected premiums on healthcare. As a result, millions of Americans have received refunds from their health insurance companies.
Despite the unprecedented obstructionism and record number of filibusters used by Republicans to kill even the most routine legislation, the fact remains that the American people are profoundly better off today than they were before President Obama took office, in almost every measurable way. Note From The Author
For those of you who disagree with, or dislike this article and you want to leave a comment, please give some specifics or make some meaningful comment about what you disagree with. I have always kept all comments visible, positive or negative. But if all you are going to do is say this article is BS without elaborating or specifying what you disagree with, then I will no longer keep those kinds of comments.
Feel free to tell me this article is BS but put some thought into your comments and don't just waste time with pointless insults.
When we asked McConnell’s office where he got his figure of “about $3,000 or $4,000 a year,” we were given data for median household income (table H-8) from the Census Bureau. McConnell didn’t say “average household;” he said “average person.” But he’s wrong about average household, too.
Ungar questions who should get most credit for the recovery under Reagan. Reagan or Volcker.
Paul Krugman in a short piece, the end of it,
And yes, it is frustrating that the economic crisis is redounding to the political benefit of people who have been wrong about absolutely everything, whereas people like me may not have been right about everything, but have accumulated a pretty darn good track record over the past 5 years. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/reagan-obama-recovery/
suggests some agreement at least to the point that the two recessions were of very different making. Reagan's by Volcker's high interest rates to stop runaway inflation which were then able to be cut to help growth, and the Bush time recession brought about by private sector overreach in the housing bubble and financial sector greed and mismanagement which Obama inherited.
The Senate Has Confirmed Trump’s Pick for U.S. Trade Representative
"Left Caught Planning War With Russia To Stop Trump: 1/1/17 Full Show"
Reuters May 12, 2017
The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, a critical position ahead of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.
Delays in Senate confirmation of veteran trade lawyer Robert Lighthizer more than 100 days after his nomination have set back Trump's trade agenda, including the start of talks about revamping one of the world's biggest trading blocs.
Lighthizer won support from both Republicans and Democrats in the Republican-led Senate on Thursday, with an 82-14 vote to confirm his nomination.
The administration has had to wait for Lighthizer to be in place before triggering the formal process to begin renegotiating NAFTA.
It was not immediately clear when the White House would begin that process. To do so, the Trump administration must send a letter to Congress declaring its intention to launch negotiations in 90 days.
The Republican president has said the 23-year-old trade pact devastated U.S. workers and has vowed to tear it up if he fails to get a better deal.
Some Democrats, while critical of Trump's views on trade, said they were confident Lighthizer would work to help U.S. workers.
"He's a real pro," Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said before voting in favor.
Lighthizer 's approval came despite the objections of two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who said they were worried he did not appreciate NAFTA's benefits.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, in charge of trade ties with the United States, said she did not expect the administration would move immediately on NAFTA.
"I imagine that Ambassador Lighthizer may need to spend a bit of time in consultations prior to formally triggering that 90-day period," she said on a conference call on Thursday night.
While the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico has ballooned since NAFTA was enacted in 1994, U.S. farmers have profited from exports to America's southern neighbor, while automakers have cut costs by building cross-border supply chains that benefit from lower Mexican wages.
Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee and voted in favor of Lighthizer 's nomination, also urged the incoming trade representative not to put at risk the gains NAFTA had brought.
"There are definitely opportunities to update and improve NAFTA," Hatch said. "But it is important that the administration follow the spirit of the Hippocratic oath: First do no harm."
by: Shawn Donnan and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington, Jonathan Wheatley in London and Jude Webber in Mexico City
[...]
The Trump administration has wanted to start negotiations over an update of Nafta for some time but has been held up by the fact that Mr Trump’s nomination of Robert Lighthizer for US trade representative is wending its way through Congress. To begin negotiations it needs to provide 90 days’ notice to Congress. A Senate-confirmed USTR also needs to consult with Congress.
[...]
Both Canada and Mexico have said they are ready to renegotiate Nafta, which went into force in 1994 and has contributed to the creation of vast and complex North American supply chains that would be difficult to unwind. Officials in Ottawa and Mexico City have also quietly been expressing frustration with the slow progress the Trump administration has been making in getting its trade team in place and navigating the necessary congressional process. https://www.ft.com/content/6763a15c-2ad8-11e7-9ec8-168383da43b7
This is a repost to correct the original in which the first excerpt above was repeated. The intended second now sits above.
==
Trump assures PM: No NAFTA withdrawal for now THE CANADIAN PRESS First posted: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 01:49 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 11:39 PM EDT
[...]
The clock is ticking, in part because of the Mexican election. The Mexican government says it can’t conclude a NAFTA deal after the first quarter of next year, with an election in 15 months and the populist left on the move there.
Trump’s point man on the negotiation, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, has acknowledged that it gets harder if talks linger too much into next year. Which means the next few months might be the only window to renegotiate NAFTA — a key Trump campaign promise. http://www.torontosun.com/2017/04/26/white-house-trump-considering-nafta-pullout
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