The Obama people, have begun a new phase in their campaign
strategy, one that finds them denying
that promises were made limiting unemployment to 8% if the Reinvestment Act
(the stimulus) was put into law. We all
heard the man makes such claims, but, good
luck trying to find an existing copy of an Obama video in which he makes the
claim.
Midknight
Review did the necessary research to confirm what we already knew
to be true, that Obama, indeed,
told the American people his stimulus would prevent unemployment in
excess of 8%. Here is the Lie and the
truthful rebuttal (a Midknight Review
exclusive):
The
Democrat Lie
From the Liberal Values blog:
“One of Mitt Romney’s many lies on the economy is a false
claim that Obama promised to reduce unemployment to under 8 percent with the
stimulus. The
8 percent figure was based upon projections by staffers before the
final economic statistics were available. Eight percent unemployment was
projected when data at the time suggested that the GDP had contracted by
3.8 percent in the previous quarter under George Bush. When the final analysis
was done it was found that the GDP had actually contracted by 8.9 percent. In
other words, things were far worse because of Bush’s policies than was realized
at the time leading to staffers to make more optimistic projections. This was
not a promise as is being claimed by Romney.”
Now, the truth. First ,
The Chart
Understand
that this chart is a production of Obama and his Economic Council, chaired by Christiana Romer and Jared
Bernstien along with Timothy Geithner, Larry Summers, and others. That report, titled
The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is the
source for both the chart and all of the information used by Obama in his radio
address of January 10th. Both
are included, below.
Obama’s Radio Address of January 10th
Based on his January 9th Economic Report
Note that Obama begins with " . . . . an economic crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime." He knew the extent of the crisis. He just did not know what to do about it, him and his remaining horde of theorists. -- blog editor.
 |
 |
|
| The President-Elect's Radio Address |
|
We start this new year in the midst of an economic crisis
unlike any we have seen in our lifetime. We learned yesterday that in the past
month alone, we lost more than half a millionjobs– a total of nearly 2.6
million in the year 2008. Another 3.4 million Americans who want and need
full-time work have had to settle for part-timejobs. And families across
America are feeling the pinch as they watch debts mount, bills pile up and
savings disappear.
These numbers are a stark reminder that we simply cannot
continue on our current path. If nothing is done, economists from across the
spectrum tell us that this recession could linger for years and the
unemployment rate could reach double digits – and they warn that our nation
could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our
strength and standing in the world.
It's not too late to change course – but only if we take
immediate and dramatic action. Our first job is to put people back to work and
get our economy working again. This is an extraordinary challenge, which is why
I've taken the extraordinary step of working – even before I take office – with
my economic team and leaders of both parties on an American Recovery and
Reinvestment Plan that will call for major investments to revive our economy,
createjobs, and lay a solid foundation for future growth.
I asked my nominee for Chair of the Council of Economic
Advisers, Dr. Christina Romer, and the Vice President-Elect's Chief Economic
Adviser, Dr. Jared Bernstein, to conduct a rigorous analysis of this plan and
come up with projections of how manyjobsit will create – and what kind ofjobsthey
will be. Today, I am releasing a report of their findings so that the American
people can see exactly what this plan will mean for their families, their communities,
and our economy.
The report confirms that our plan will likely save or create
three to four millionjobs. 90 percent of thesejobswill be created in the
private sector – the remaining 10 percent are mainly public sectorjobswe save,
like the teachers, police officers, firefighters and others who provide vital
services in our communities.
Thejobswe create will be in businesses large and small
across a wide range of industries. And they'll be the kind ofjobsthat don't
just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the
world in the long-term.
We'll create nearly half a millionjobsby investing in clean
energy – by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the
next three years, and by modernizing more than 75% of federal buildings and
improving the energy efficiency of two million American homes. These
made-in-Americajobsbuilding solar panels and wind turbines, developing
fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can't be
outsourced.
We'll create hundreds of thousands ofjobsby improving health
care – transitioning to a nationwide system of computerized medical records
that won't just save money, but save lives by preventing deadly medical errors.
And we'll create hundreds of thousands morejobsin education, equipping tens of
thousands of schools with 21st century classrooms, labs and computers to help
our kids compete with any worker in the world for any job.
We'll put nearly 400,000 people to work by repairing our
infrastructure – our crumbling roads, bridges and schools. And we'll build the
new infrastructure we need to succeed in this new century, investing in science
and technology, and laying down miles of new broadband lines so that businesses
across our nation can compete with their counterparts around the world.
Finally, we won't just createjobs, we'll also provide help
for those who've lost theirs, and for states and families who've been
hardest-hit by this recession. That means bi-partisan extensions of
unemployment insurance and health care coverage; a $1,000 tax cut for 95
percent of working families; and assistance to help states avoid harmful budget
cuts in essential services like police, fire, education and health care.
Now, given the magnitude of the challenges we face, none of
this will come easy. Recovery won't happen overnight, and it's likely that
things will get worse before they get better.
But we have come through moments like this before. We are
the nation that has faced down war, depression and fear itself – each time,
refusing to yield; each time, refusing to accept a lesser fate. That is the
spirit that has always sustained us – that belief that our destiny is not
written for us, but by us; that our success is not a matter of chance, but of
our own courage and determination. Our resources may be finite, but our will is
infinite. And I am confident that if we come together and summon that great
American spirit once again, we will meet the challenges of our time and write
the next great chapter in our American story.
Citation: Barack Obama:"The President-Elect's Radio Address," January 10, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=85391.
Krugman’s
Critique
Paul Krugman thought much of this was too optimistic, and
registered his criticism of the plan in an article he wrote for the NY Times. If you read his article, linked below,
you should note that Krugman is nowhere critical of the assertion that
the Stimulus will keep unemployment at 8%,
only that the without the stimulus,
unemployment would, perhaps, rise
above the 9% mark. Words taken from that brief article include
the following:
"One more point: the estimate of what would happen to
the economy in the absence of a stimulus plan seems kind of optimistic. The
chart above has unemployment ex-stimulus peaking at 9 percent in the first
quarter of 2010 and coming down through the year; the CBO estimates
an average unemployment rate of 9 percent for 2010, so the Obama
people are more optimistic than the CBO, and a lot more optimistic than I
am."
The Krugman article can be found here
I think this is
humorous. Between the time I found, read and copied parts
of the Krugman Article, it was taken down. The link no
longer works,
proven, of course, my supicions that the Leftists are
busy cleansing the
web of the evidence disproving their lie. I intend to go back
and print
out the Economic Councils report, as well. No doubt it
will be a target
of the Left's deceit, as well. -- blog editor.
+ii____________.png)
![Thinking about economic issues, would you say your views on economic issues are -- [ROTATED: very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal (or) very liberal]? Thinking about social issues, would you say your views on social issues are -- [ROTATED: very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal, (or) very liberal]?](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_urobPjkHPfZZsZwEB9N9ad72Tyoort79w2GG7A7F_ZMHSUQvOBJwc4KOYHofcm4GfhhjRfgM3UQUnyIyvQa83opBD6nPy8v9n0Ueu7CD2BQQuazfYANRsYKEYNLOzsQ-xpp0hESRx-Y0-9p4z_7IrLLuIx9TKyaP4yRRRcQC6CuSv3LkQYlYjgTadTVAJ_8lvRoWw=s0-d)
