Obama has created more jobs than Bush's entire two terms.

Here's my second term wishlist:

1. Reclassify marijuana such that it is regulated the same as alcohol
2. Cut the military budget by 10% per year for four years
3. Put military procurement and deployment decisions back in the hands of the pentagon i.e. outside of congressional control
4. Continue military withdrawal from europe, the middle east, and asia.
5. Offer universal, government backed, single payer health coverage to all citizens.
6. Remove the cap from payroll taxes
7. Capital gains and carried interest taxed as income

Yea, blame all your problems on the President when the Republicans have filibustered practically everything he and the other legislative democrats have come up with to try and fix things.

Do you blame the roadblock, or the cars in your way? Republicans blame the cars

ManRay: Maybe you would like to tell me what things the Government has done that has sped up the recovery? Would you like to defend more regulation and taking more money out of the private economy in order to kick things in gear?

Here's a funny thing, the government takes money out of the private economy but that money doesn't disappear. It goes to wages for government employees and the military who spend it, it pays for upkeep on infrastructure which is a source of jobs, it goes to doctors who provide medical care to the poor and indigent, it goes to scientists who spend it researching the technologies of the future.

Government spending drives a significant amount of economic activity. Now you may think that too much economic activity is driven by government spending and that's a defensible position, I certainly don't agree with all the ways the government spends tax dollars, but don't pretend that the funds removed from the economy via taxation aren't plowed back into the same economy via spending.

Also, only a relatively small fraction of US debt is held by foreign investors so most of the service on US debt goes back into US accounts.

GoldSpider: I noticed that Obama continuing the Bush tax cuts isn't anywhere on your handy little graph there. Or did that never happen?

It happened all right. It happened because the GOP infamously held negotiations over other things hostage to keeping those tax cuts in place.

Thanks for reminding everybody.

Or were you asleep for all of that and are just finding this out now?

Either way come up lulz from my POV. ^_^

nevirus: IronTom: the tax code is too big.

Now imagine trying to shorten it, but you had to make sure that you stayed revenue neutral. For every loophole you closed, for every efficiency gained, you MUST cut taxes by the exact same amount somewhere else. Cut too much and the US is in even worse shape deficit-wise. If you cut too little, if you actually end up raising tax revenues by accident, Norquist gets to have his way with you. He would RINO you day and night. Which would probably end up with you getting primary'd. Your political career would essentially be over after being RINO'd by the big fella.

What do you do?

As far as I can tell the Republican plan is
1. Elect a Republican
2. Cut taxes too much
3. Change the message at Fox News back to "deficits don't matter"
(4. Profit)???

IronTom: MaudlinMutantMollusk: IronTom: 8%+ unemployment, is too high.

$4.00+ gas is too high.

Government does not create jobs

President does not control gas prices

/next idiotic argument

There are too many government workers, the tax code is too big.

Then you must love Obama.



/the blip is the census, mandated by the CONSTITUTION

IronTom: MaudlinMutantMollusk: IronTom: 8%+ unemployment, is too high.

$4.00+ gas is too high.

Government does not create jobs

President does not control gas prices

/next idiotic argument

There are too many government workers, the tax code is too big.

So laying off workers would lead to more jobs?

Do you ever think about what you type?

MaudlinMutantMollusk: IronTom: There are too many government workers, the tax code is too big.

OK, I gotta agree with you on the tax code thing... that's just ridiculous

/even as a pdf file

Sure. Let's start cutting all those deductions for millionaires. Maybe toss a bunch of those subsidies that are wasting money and complicating the code. Even a graduated flat tax, really get things simple while keeping a sane system.

Oh right, that's all socialism.

He should start with... Legalize It!

sinisterben: McPoonDanlcrat:
Strange, it is just a bunch of grey boxes on my end.

I just favorite them and put them in Grey1. Easy to not read but readable if I am feeling curious.

EWreckedSean: Actually Bushed worked quite a bit with Democrats on everything but tax cuts. Most of his big initiatives, Iraq War, Patriot Act, no Child Left Behind had broad Democratic support. Medicare D, while not widely supported by Democrats, only passed because of Democrat support.

So vote Republican, amirite?

Actually, Obama tried to work quite a bit with Republicans on everything, including healthcare reform. The Republicans refused to work with him because he was Obama.

EWreckedSean: Remember his "I won" and elections have consequences comments?

I do. Do you remember that he was quoting George W Bush at the time as a reminder to Republicans that what's good for the goose is good for the gander?

The Numbers: Obama being the 'Hope and Change' President, I'm sure we can expect his second term agenda to include:

Ending Bush tax cuts -- Tried, Blocked by Republicans
Ending Patriot Act -- Don't recall him saying this. Both sides generally love this POS.
Closing Gitmo -- Tried, Blocked by Republicans who shiat their pants because terrorists would focus on America... like they couldn't before
Prosecution of those involved in torture Don't recall him saying this, possible, but it they would have gone it would be after useless mid level yes men anyway.
Decent health care reform -- Tried, Blocked by Republicans due to socialist death panels, socialist taxes and extra socialism.

Perhaps he might even get round to implementing his 'sunlight before signing' promise. Somehow I doubt it though.

Obama is not perfect by any means. But many of his failures have been due to have needing to COMPRIMISE (a sign of weakness to Republicans) with a group of unmovable jackholes. These jackholes have as an agenda 'If'n he's a for it, I'm against it'. Even as a minority in the Senate before midterms, he had to face them fillibustering damn near everything that he supported. After midterms he now faces a Republican controlled House, so this make things even worse for him trying to get his agenda through. This will continue into his next term.

DozeNutz: you mean the wars still going on?

Yes. Bush's wars, DN, not Obama's.

How about the other wars he started?

Libya was an example of how to do regime change right and on the cheap without a single American boot on the ground. It's scope and costs are negligible in comparison to Iraq and Afghanistan.

How about no budget for the last 3 years?

Yeah, how about 3 years of historic obstructionism by the GOP instead of rational governing using compromise?

Why do you keep reminding people about how much the GOP sucks?

GoldSpider: quatchi: It happened all right. It happened because the GOP infamously held negotiations over other things hostage to keeping those tax cuts in place.

Of course that would be your answer. It's not your guy's fault even when it's his signature on the bill.

Four legs good! Two legs bad!

*claps hands in delight*

Sweet.

Now do the one where overturning key provision in Glass-Steagal wasn't really a Republican idear because Clinton signed it.

Always a hoot.

DozeNutz: hmm. All the Fark Obama lovers all over his cock again.

We all know the books are cooked in job numbers. if you were actually looking at U-5 or U-6 numbers, its ~12% and ~14% respectively. Count that with inflation, and people are earning less than they did last year. Seems spending money like crazy can have temporary benefits, but overall its bad for the economy.

As bad as two wars off the books and tax cuts?

Monkeyhouse Zendo: Here's my second term wishlist:

1. Reclassify marijuana such that it is regulated the same as alcohol
2. Cut the military budget by 10% per year for four years
3. Put military procurement and deployment decisions back in the hands of the pentagon i.e. outside of congressional control
4. Continue military withdrawal from europe, the middle east, and asia.
5. Offer universal, government backed, single payer health coverage to all citizens.
6. Remove the cap from payroll taxes
7. Capital gains and carried interest taxed as income

5. a puppy
6. rainbows and unicorns

Actually I agree w/ everything you said. But he will still have to deal w/ congress.

Lernaeus: The correct behavior for a President regarding job creation should be dismantling government barriers to employment and business development.

I really wish someone would confront this "job creating" President with a list of the numerous ways the government keeps people from working and hampers small businesses, and doesn't sit down until he says specifically what he intends to do about it.

Why not you? You got a list, bucko? Or just lame-ass complaints.

Hobodeluxe: Obama has created more jobs than Bush's entire two terms.

IronTom: 8%+ unemployment, is too high.

$4.00+ gas is too high.

You do know that the only solution to both of those is the collapse of the economies of China and India, and the total dissolution of OPEC, right?

Neither of these things are going to happen.

I remember when working remotely became a realistic thing - we thought it would make it possible for people to stay in the office and work 'on site' and skip the air travel. We didn't realize it would mean that the companies would fire their 80k$ engineers and hire 4k$ engineers from China and India.

And without those entry-level jobs for the fresh-faced college graduates , you don't get technically-skilled managers, so those jobs are lost as bosses go through attrition or layoffs, and are replaced by 20k$ managers in china and India. Then the whole level of work over there needs to be organized, and you need a 40k$ AVP-level manager whose only job is to be the telephonic boot that fits over the foot of the $250,000 + bonus executive over here in the US who just liquidated his whole department or division and saved 980 FTE salaries.

/my industry : Let me show you how it sucks

/ Millions of Jobs exported to countries who give 4+ more years of math and science to their kids starting in 8th grade, when they get to pick a 'track' (arts, writing, science or engineering) The children of the wealthiest ALL get massive tutoring the last two years of high school because all 1 billion of them are trying to fit into the 20,000 slots in the annual ITT cohort.

jso2897: Thirty 232 years of rich white boy incompetence - and that lazy black bastard has had three whole years to clean it up! What's keeping him? Those darkies are just so lazy.

Thirty years of rich white boy incompetence - and that lazy black bastard has had three whole years to clean it up! What's keeping him? Those darkies are just so lazy.

Mithiwithi: The belief that the rich are job creators is a delusion I call "job creationism".

Expect a bill in the mail for a new keyboard.

/Also, stealing that.

Hobodeluxe: Obama has created more jobs than Bush's entire two terms.

Done in one

Funny how the right wingers constantly bust Obama's balls, but are always sort of vague when asked how Mittens and the GOP would do things better.

It is funny how the right is scream about where are the jobs when they were the ones that supported the idea of firing adults and replacing them with children because they could pay the children a fraction of what they paid the adults.

Since you seem to have experience pulling a ton of things out of it, have you checked your ass Subby?

So laying off workers would lead to more jobs?

Do you ever think about what you type?