Category Archives: Economy

Obama lies from Stepanie Cutter, Obama campaign spokesperson lies about Obama job growth compared to Bush and Reagan, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Obama lies from Stepanie Cutter, Obama campaign spokesperson lies about Obama job growth compared to Bush and Reagan, Bureau of Labor Statistics

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“Propaganda must not serve the truth, especially not insofar
as it might bring out something favorable for the opponent.”
… Adolf Hitler

From News Busters August 26, 2012.

“‘Fact Checkers’ AWOL After Obama Spokesperson Lies About Jobs Created Under Reagan and Obama”

“Obama campaign spokesperson Stepanie Cutter, appearing on MSNBC earlier this week, claimed that “over the past, you know, 27 months we’ve created 4.5 million private-sector jobs. That’s more jobs than in the Bush recovery (or) in the Reagan recovery.”

A Thursday Investor’s Business Daily editorial plaintively asked: “Where are those allegedly unbiased fact-checkers when you need them?” As will be seen shortly, the answer is “AWOL.”

First, to debunk Cutter’s lie (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics):”


“Thanks to the graph, yours truly doesn’t need to bore readers with lots of numbers. Outside of very small blips, there is virtually no point on the above graph where the trajectory of job growth under Obama is as high as that seen under Reagan, even though the Reagan-era workforce was about one-third smaller. If done on percentage of workforce, the slope of the Reagan-era ascent would be even steeper.

For those who crave some numbers — In its first 37 post-recession months, the economy under Reagan added more than 9.8 million nonfarm payroll (NFP) jobs, over 7 million more than the 2.7 million added under Obama. To replicate the Reagan-era performance, the economy under Obama would have needed to add over 14 million jobs since the recession’s end; it has really added less than 20% of that. The Reagan-era private sector margin is over 5.7 million jobs.

And of course, there’s an obvious point to be made about the unemployment rate, as IBD noted:

What’s more, after 29 months of allegedly stellar job growth under Obama, the jobless rate is still 8.3%. By this point in the Reagan and Bush jobs recoveries, the unemployment rate was 7.2% and 4.9%, respectively.
If we were one of those fact-checking organizations, we’d give Stephanie Cutter the “Lying Liar from Liersburg” award.
A Google News search done this morning on “Stephanie Cutter Reagan” (past week, not in quotes, sorted by date with duplicates) returned six items (the final result listed pre-dates Cutter’s lie). The results are from American Thinker, Real Clear Politics (2), National Review, Washington Examiner, and United Liberty.

The same search at the Associated Press’s main site returned nothing.

AP’s “Presidential Campaign Fact Check” appears to be limited to what the presidential and vice-presidential candidates say. The wire service is currently carrying its interview with President Obama, naturally headlined “AP INTERVIEW: OBAMA CALLS ROMNEY’S IDEAS ‘EXTREME’,” on its “Top Story” page. Zheesh.

As to “fact-checkers” like PolitiFact and others, nothing demonstrates that they have turned themselves into just another tool of leftist bias than the “fact” that they haven’t called out Stephanie Cutter’s lie for four days and counting while trying and failing to nitpick the Romney campaign over its true statement about women’s job losses during the recession several months ago. PolitiFact falsely claimed it was “Mostly False.”

Oh, by the way, as James Pethoukouis noted in his second crucifixion of Cutter’s comment (his original post relating to Reagan is here), “both the Reagan and Bush recoveries were stronger than the current recovery under President Obama.””

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2012/08/26/fact-checkers-awol-after-obama-spokesperson-lies-about-jobs-created-unde

Obviously, congress is mostly at fault. The Democrats controlled both houses beginning in 2007 to create a “perfect storm” of failing liberal policies with the help of Obama.

Consider the following:

Reagan inherited an economic mess from Carter. Many of you remember the long gas lines and 18 percent mortgage rates from the Carter years.

In January 1983, 2 years after Reagan took office, the unemployment rate was 10.4 percent. In January 1989, when reagan left office, the rate was 5.4 percent.

When George Bush took office in January 2001, the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent. When the Democrats took control of congress in January 2007, the rate was 4.6 percent.

So, the impact of a Democrat congress with the addition of Barack Obama in January 2009 led to an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent in January 2011.

The Republicans took control of the house in January 2011. The stated unemployment rate is 8.3 percent but would be much higher if so many folks had not dropped out of the labor force.

Check for yourself:

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000

From the Ulsterman,  February 24, 2012.

For a bit of contrast check out thiscomparative chart detailing the Reagan recovery vs the Obama recovery. One president charged ahead with plans to greatly reduce taxes, lessen regulations, and pushes to increase domestic energy production in the United States. The other president – Barack Obama, called for more taxes, more regulation, and has fought increasing domestic energy production at every opportunity – such as his shutting down of the much-needed Keystone pipeline:”


“The truth is clear – the Obama presidency has been a near-complete disaster for working Americans.  This might explain a term growing in popularity of late – “ABO”  –  Anybody But Obama in 2012…”

Obama lies in NC print edition of Rhino Times, John Hammer truth about Obama, Obamacare huge tax increase on middle class, ABC News lies, Obama lacks economic knowledge

Obama lies in NC print edition of Rhino Times, John Hammer truth about Obama, Obamacare huge tax increase on middle class, ABC News lies, Obama lacks economic knowledge

“North Carolina currently has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the country and has stayed well above the national average through 2012.”…WRAL, August 17, 2012

“We tried our plan—and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”…Barack Obama

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984”

In print in NC, the Rhino Times August 23, 2012.

“Four years ago the stars lined up for Obama. He got into the Democratic primary in order to get name recognition and maybe a slot in President Hillary Clinton’s cabinet. Then the accidental candidate won Iowa and realized that with one more primary win – South Carolina – he could be president.

Everyone loved Obama because of his unlikely story, and he gave great speeches. Some noticed that he didn’t really say anything in the speeches, but those who noticed were mostly Republicans and nobody paid any attention to them.

The media went gaga. They reported only the good stuff about Obama. And the Republicans couldn’t have helped more. They nominated an old worn-out, politically compromised senator who had been in Washington for so long he actually thought he could run with the same running mate as former Vice President Al Gore. Failing that he picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who, as it turned out, was a brilliant pick for about two weeks. But then McCain turned her over to the political buffoons who were running his campaign, and Katie Couric in one interview completely destroyed Palin’s credibility. But there you have it, the news media stepped in and did what Obama needed to have done to make certain he would win.

Apparently this election is going to be different. Newsweek has come out with a cover that reads, “Hit The Road Barack. Why We Need A New President.”

I subscribed to Newsweek for about 15 years. I stopped my subscription recently, and even when the renewals got down around $10 a year I refused to bite because I was tired of reading about the messiah who we had elected president. There was nothing that Obama could do that wasn’t wonderful in the eyes of Newsweek. Since I already receive White House press releases, Newsweek seemed redundant.

Now, Newsweek has on its cover that Obama must go and it is a well-written, factual article. The very fact that Obama cheerleader Paul Krugman felt the need to instantly challenge the article is evidence of its damaging effect.

The article goes through the promises that Obama made at his inauguration and how he has failed to keep them. The economy is the big issue. But there are others, like promising no middle-class tax increase when Obamacare is a huge tax increase on the middle class, and we know it is a tax because the Supreme Court said it was.

, , ,

Usually you have to wait until after the election for the dirt to come out about campaign staffs, but there is already an e-book out about the 2012 Obama campaign and how it is beginning to fall apart.

One of the passages in the book is about how Obama doesn’t make big economic decisions because he doesn’t understand what he is supposed to be deciding.

Obama has no knowledge or experience that would indicate that he understands economics at an international level. Obama thought there was such a thing as a “shovel ready” government project when he signed the $1 trillion stimulus package. It was only much later when the money wasn’t being spent that he found out that shovel-ready projects are a lot like unicorns, people may talk about them but you can’t really put your finger on one.

If the Obama 2012 campaign kickoff is a foreshadowing of things to come it is going to be a long fall for Obama. The kickoff did exactly what a campaign doesn’t want to ever do: It put the candidate in front of thousands of empty seats. Obama just doesn’t have the drawing power that he did and the campaign realized too late that despite all of their efforts they weren’t going to fill the arena.

It’s not the way you want to kick off a campaign. A candidate is better off speaking to a crowd of 200 in an overflowing room than a crowd of 10,000 in a 20,000-seat arena. That is campaigning 101. It wasn’t such a bad mistake but it is a sign that Obama’s 2012 campaign is not going to be anything like his 2008 campaign.

, , ,

If you are getting your news from ABC, it’s time to stop. The networks other than Fox all tilt strongly left, but ABC is willing to lie, or else is filled with total incompetence. All of us in the news business make mistakes. Last week we managed to misspell sheriff, but ABC has taken mistakes to a new level. First, it reported that the Aurora, Colorado, shooter was a member of the Tea Party. He wasn’t, but someone with a similar name was. This is a huge story and you simply don’t make that kind of mistake in an election year by accident. Second, when ABC called the shooter’s mother she said, “You have the right person,” meaning she was the mother of the young man they were asking about. ABC managed to interpret that to mean, “Yes, my son did the shooting,” which is a really bizarre interpretation and sounds a lot like the leaps of faith that the News & Record makes.

Third, ABC reported that filmmaker Tony Scott, who jumped to his death from a bridge in Los Angeles, had inoperable brain cancer. He did not. ABC, sadly, is simply putting rumors and innuendo on the air as news. Any of the three mistakes could be explained away, but all three is a pattern. Nobody is watching the store.

If you get your news from ABC try Fox for a while, at least until there is a housecleaning at ABC. Until they clean house, including getting rid of the parking lot attendant and the custodial service, they are going to keep having problems.”

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2012-08-22-212929.112113-Under-the-Hammer.html

High jobless rates persist in NC, Greensboro News Record, August 25, 2012, Guilford county 5.3 percent when Democrats took congress 10.2 percent now

High jobless rates persist in NC, Greensboro News Record, August 25, 2012, Guilford county 5.3 percent when Democrats took congress 10.2 percent now

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“North Carolina currently has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the country and has stayed well above the national average through 2012.”…WRAL, August 17, 2012

“We tried our plan—and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”…Barack Obama

Are there 2 versions of the Greensboro News & Record?

One in print with the facts for the older generations and one watered down for the younger folks on the internet. One designed to protect Obama?

The print edition, to my surprise and delight, has for months been presenting the truth about the economy and Jobs in NC.

From the front page top of the Print edition of the Greensboro News & Record August 25, 2012.

“High jobless rates persist in N.C.”

“Unemployment rates dropped or remained the same in most of North carolina in July, but joblessness remains high throughout the state.

In Guilford County, the unemployment rate fell by 1.3 percentage points to 10.2 percent in July, compared with 11.5 percent in July 2011.”

“But while more people now have jobs, analysts say local labor market conditions are still in distress. John Quinterno, a principal with South by North Strategies, an economic and social policy research firm, siad the labor market still isn’t generating enough jobs for all of the people who need them.”
“Is it an improvement to what it was when it was 11 percent? Yes…but it still doesn’t take away that there’s still a 10 percent unemployment rate, which is extraordinary,” Quinterno said.”

“Consider this: The unemployment rate in Guilford County was at 5.3 percent in July 2007. It hit it’s highest level—11.8 percent—in July 2009 during the height of the recesion.”

Guilford County had a  5.3 percent unemployment rate when the Democrats took control of congress in 2007.

From the internet version of the Greensboro News & Record August 24, 2012.

“Local unemployment decreases”

“Unemployment in Guilford County fell by 1.3 percentage points to 10.2 percent in July compared with 11.5 percent in July of 2011.

The Greensboro-High Point metro area, which covers employees in both cities, also fell to 10.2 percent in July from 11.5 percent in July 2011.

The state overall reported good news compared with this time last year, according to a news release from the N.C. Department of Commerce – Labor and Economic Analysis Division.

“Rates either dropped or remained the same in most of North Carolina in July,” said N.C. Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Dale Carroll. “Compared to the same time last year, nearly all of the state’s counties have a lower unemployment rate.”

North Carolina had 34 counties that were at or below the state’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 9.8
percent. Unemployment rates decreased in eight of the state’s 14 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

The rate increased in two and stayed the same in four.

The number of workers employed (not seasonally adjusted) increased in July by 12,968 to 4,249,084, while those unemployed fell 1,362 to 462,255.

Since July 2011, the number of workers unemployed decreased 50,996, while those employed increased 60,772.

Currituck County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in July at 4.7 percent, and Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 17.6 percent.”

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/08/24/article/local_unemployment_decreases

From Citizen Wells August 24, 2012.

“North Carolina’s statewide unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) was 9.8 percent in July. This was a 0.1 of a percentage-point decrease from June’s revised rate of 9.9 percent, and a 1.1 percentage-point decrease over the year.

Over the month, the unemployment rate decreased in 47 counties, increased in 26 and remained the same in 27. Thirty-four counties had unemployment rates below the state’s 9.8 percent rate.

Scotland County recorded July’s highest unemployment rate at 17.6 percent, remaining the same as the previous month. Graham County had the second-highest rate at 15.2 percent. Currituck County had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.7 percent, followed by Chatham, 7.0 percent; and Orange, 7.1 percent.”

“Mecklenburg County, the home of the 2012 Democrat convention in Charlotte, has an unemployment rate of 10 percent.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/us-unemployment-claims-rise-4000-nc-unemployment-rate-9-8-percent-unemployment-rate-increased-in-26-nc-counties-charlotte-mecklenburg-rate-10-percent/

US unemployment claims rise 4000, NC unemployment rate 9.8 percent, Unemployment rate increased in 26 NC counties, Charlotte Mecklenburg rate 10 percent

US unemployment claims rise 4000, NC unemployment rate 9.8 percent, Unemployment rate increased in 26 NC counties, Charlotte Mecklenburg rate 10 percent

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“North Carolina currently has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the country and has stayed well above the national average through 2012.”…WRAL, August 17, 2012

“We tried our plan—and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”…Barack Obama

From the US Labor Department August  23, 2012.

“In the week ending August 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 372,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 368,000. The 4-week moving average was 368,000, an increase of 3,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 364,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending August 11, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 11, was 3,317,000, an increase of 4,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,313,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,311,500, an increase of 6,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,305,000.”

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm

From the NC Department of Commerce August 24, 2012.

“North Carolina’s statewide unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) was 9.8 percent in July. This was a 0.1 of a percentage-point decrease from June’s revised rate of 9.9 percent, and a 1.1 percentage-point decrease over the year.

Over the month, the unemployment rate decreased in 47 counties, increased in 26 and remained the same in 27. Thirty-four counties had unemployment rates below the state’s 9.8 percent rate.

Scotland County recorded July’s highest unemployment rate at 17.6 percent, remaining the same as the previous month. Graham County had the second-highest rate at 15.2 percent. Currituck County had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.7 percent, followed by Chatham, 7.0 percent; and Orange, 7.1 percent.”

http://www.ncesc1.com/PMI/Rates/PressReleases/County/NR_July2012CountyRate_M.pdf

Mecklenburg County, the home of the 2012 Democrat convention in Charlotte, has an unemployment rate of 10 percent.

Obama Vs Romney, What This Election Means For Investors, Companies do not pay taxes consumers do, Obama taxing and spending has ruined economy

Obama Vs Romney, What This Election Means For Investors, Companies do not pay taxes consumers do, Obama taxing and spending has ruined economy

“We tried our plan—and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”…Barack Obama

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s centre. With the feeling that he was speaking to O’Brien, and also that he was setting forth an important axiom, he wrote:

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

Here is your assignment:

For all the clueless, Obot, left wing, liberal friends in your sphere of influence.

Explain to them simply that companies, corporations, do not pay taxes. Consumers do.

Explain to them that the profit margin for oil companies is one of the lowest and not guaranteed.

Ask them if they drive a car.

Then ask them if they want to continue driving and eat. Remind them that high gas prices affect the price of many goods and services.

Intelligent people want the oil companies to succeed and make a profit.

From Forbes August 22, 2012.
“Obama Vs. Romney: What This Election Means For Investors”

“Campaign season is in full swing, and by tapping Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has made clear that his campaign will try to hit President Obama where he appears weakest: on the economy and the need for drastic fiscal reform.

For voters, the tepid recovery and high unemployment rate will be points of focus in the two months and change before Election Day Nov. 6, but for investors of every stripe – from those managing retirement portfolios to amateur stockpickers – there are plenty of differences between the candidates that are worth diving into.

That was what struck Tim Steffen, director of financial planning in Robert W. Baird’s wealth management business, and it’s why he put together a handy guide explaining where each candidate stands on issues ranging from income taxes and health care to just how big a cut Uncle Sam will take out of dividends and capital gains.

The latter points are critical for investors, and Steffen explains that the dividend debate will be particularly interesting to watch. Many investors play the income game by purchasing shares of companies that deliver profits back to shareholders in the form of dividends.

President Barack Obama has proposed raising taxes on dividend income for Americans that make more than $200,000 per year ($250,000 for couples), and keeping the current rates steady (0% on qualified dividends and 15% on carried interest) for those below that threshold.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney would maintain the current rates for those making more than $200,000 annually, and completely eliminate taxes on capital gains, dividends and interest income for any taxpayer with less than that in adjusted gross income.

“Dividends are a big [issue], both on the tax rates and what will happen to companies’ willingness to pay,” Steffen says. If the tax rate changes, some worry fewer companies will follow the lead of those like Apple, which initiated a quarterly dividend this year, or Cisco Systems, which recently hiked its payout by 75%, opting instead to buy back shares. “It’s a concern,” Steffen adds.

He argues that Obama’s plan would increase the cost to all taxpayers on investment income, and triple dividend taxes, but notes that there are likely to be differences between what the president proposes and what ultimately gets through Congress. For instance, the proposal to treat dividends as ordinary income has met resistance in a Senate bill passed that would call to raise such rate to just 20% on higher-income taxpayers, well short of the

While tax issues in the campaign may not be at the fore yet, Steffen believes they will crystallize if no action is taken by a lame duck Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts in some form. Americans will start to see bigger withholdings taken out of their paychecks, he says. “When that happens, people start noticing.”

Corporate taxes are another battleground for Obama and Romney. The President has said that the fat profits of oil giants like Exxon Mobil and Chevron warrant the elimination of subsidies for such companies, and would attempt to lower the overall corporate rate by eliminating many deductions. Romney would seek to drop the corporate rate and cease taxing corporations on income earned overseas, which some argue would eliminate the quandary posed by foreign profits being locked up abroad.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveschaefer/2012/08/22/obama-vs-romney-what-this-election-means-for-investors/

Capital is the engine of this economy and that is mostly money invested by small investors like the little old lady down the street depending on dividends for retirement income.

Raising taxes cripples the economy, as any lucid person has noticed and kills job growth.

Obama has stated:

“And when the price of oil goes up, prices at the pump go up, and so do these companies’ profits,”
“Meanwhile, these companies pay a lower tax rate than most other companies on their investments — partly because we’re giving them billions in tax giveaways every year.”

From Citizen Wells April 3, 2012.

“Let’s begin with profits.

Combined, US oil companies are huge and employ millions of employees. Of course their profits will be large numbers.

Also, we want them to make a profit so that they can keep the gasoline and other petroleum products flowing and people working. If they fail, so does our economy.

And how big are the oil company profits?

Net profit margins:

Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing 3.00 %

Oil & Gas Pipelines 6.00 %

Compare these profit margins to other industries.

http://biz.yahoo.com/p/sum_qpmd.html

What about taxes?

First, the corporate tax rate in the US is near or at the top in the world.

US oil companies pay enormous amounts of taxes. How does this compare to one of Obama’s pay to play buddies GE? Check this out for yourself.

Here is the really important point about raising taxes on oil companies and other companies.

Companies (corporations, LLC’s, partnerships, sole proprietors) do not paytaxes!

Consumers pay for the tax increases.

Taxes are part of the cost of doing business.

A tax increase to a company results in some combination of the following:

Product and service price increases.

Employee and hours cutbacks.

Reduced hiring.

Does any of this sound familiar?

The Obama administration has been responsible for rising gas prices and they are now trying to raise them more.

Of course this has impacted food prices and jobs.

Sound familiar?”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/obama-lies-on-oil-companies-taxes-profits-and-impact-on-consumers-obama-energy-policy-based-on-chicago-pay-to-play-politics-truth-team-notification/

Obama NC college economy in ruins, Tuition up, Healthcare almost doubled, Unemployment up, UNCG and A&T student cancellations, No college & no jobs

Obama NC college economy in ruins, Tuition up, Healthcare almost doubled, Unemployment up, UNCG and A&T student cancellations, No college & no jobs

“The hikes have forced more students to take on extra jobs to pay for school, or drop out altogether.”

“The state mandates that at least 25 percent of the money from the tuition dollars go toward financial aid for needy students. Some board members recently have spoken out about that requirement, saying it essentially calls for students, who themselves may be struggling, to subsidize the education of other students.”…Greensboro News record February 11, 2012

“The cost of health insurance will climb from a range of $61 to $77 monthly to a range of $118 to $133 monthly, according to a memo sent from UNC President Tom Ross to the UNC Board of Governors. On an annual basis, most students will pay about $500 to $700 more in 2012-13, depending on the campus.”

“Mallette said the insurance increases are due to the health care usage of UNC system students during the past couple of years, plus federal regulations on preventive care and pharmacy services issued in March. The process is complicated, he said, by the new provisions of the Affordable Care Act.”…Charlotte Observer May 1, 2012

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

Michelle Obama spoke at UNCG a few weeks ago.

“It means all of our kids should be able to go to college without a mountain of debt.”

“Because of this reform, our children can stay on our insurance until they’re 26 years old. (Applause.) So they don’t have to lose their health care when they graduate and they’re out there looking for a job, trying to build their lives.”

“I want you to tell them how many jobs he created. Tell them how much money he’s put back in the pockets of American people. You can tell them that more of our kids can afford college;”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/michelle-obama-uncg-speech-august-1-2012-obama-lies-job-lies-tax-lies-college-tuition-lies-health-care-lies-student-loans-and-records-hidden/

Obama lies versus Obama reality.

From the front page of the Greensboro News & Record August 20, 2012.

“Registration cancellations rising at UNCG, A&T”

“UNCG about two weeks ago canceled the registrations of about 1,300 students because they had yet to pay their tuition bills — the highest number of cancellations since fall 2009, university officials said.

N.C. A&T is also seeing an increase in the number of students facing cancellation. The schools’ officials attribute their numbers to a variety of factors, including tuition increases and cuts and other changes in state and federal financial aid programs.

“Every lost soul is unacceptable to me, and it really hurts when we have to cancel that many registrations,” said Steve Roberson, UNCG dean of undergraduate studies.

By Friday, UNCG had managed to whittle that number to just 500, according to preliminary data.

But administrators are concerned about the large number of students who are having trouble paying this year.

UNCG Vice Provost Alan Boyette said recently that some students ran into problems because they did not apply for financial aid on time, or their financial aid had not yet been packaged. So, he expected that initial number would be reduced.

He said enrollment this year is “really unpredictable.” The university is gauging payments and registration on a near daily basis to get a feel for what the final number will be, he said.

“We think the timing is clearly related to the current economy,” Boyette said of the number of students paying late.

Sarah Carrigan, UNCG director of institutional research, said Friday that UNCG canceled 1,300 student registrations between July 31 and Aug. 8.

That’s an increase of about 500 over last year at that same time, she said.

As of Friday, about 800 of those students had paid to register again, Carrigan said.

A&T has also had a slight increase in the number of students who risk having their registrations canceled, said Akua Matherson, the university interim associate vice chancellor for enrollment management.

As of late Friday afternoon, the university was scheduled to cancel the registrations of 541 students, Matherson said.

That’s a 2.5 percent increase from last year, she said.

Those students had until the close of business Friday to make some kind of arrangement to keep their registration.

Staff from both universities spent much of the summer reaching out to students who were eligible to return to school but had not registered to find out what their problems are and to offer solutions.

More than 80 percent of A&T students qualify for need-based aid. Staff members have talked to families whose financial situations have changed, such as one parent losing a job.

“Some of our students are looking at some real challenges,” Matherson said.

Deborah Tollefson, UNCG financial aid director, has heard similar stories of parents’ stretched incomes.

She said that counselors steer students away from private loans.

Instead, they inform them of such options as federal loans, part-time campus employment and tuition payment plans if they are having trouble paying.

Tollefson said that UNCG has received a lot of late financial aid applications this year. Students who didn’t have to take out loans two or three years ago are now having to but are unfamiliar with the process, she said.

A&T had 10,590 students enrolled as of Wednesday, the first day of classes.

UNCG’s latest enrollment figures showed an enrollment of 17,800. Students there start classes today.”

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/08/20/article/registration_cancellations_rising_at_uncg_at

With the Obama economic plan we get higher tuition, much higher health care costs and higher unemployment.

From Citizen Wells February 12, 2012.

“Amid chants of protest from about 100 students, the UNC Board of Governors this morning approved President Tom Ross’ proposal for tuition and
fee hikes over the next two years.

Ross’ plan would raise tuition by an average of 8.8 percent across the system and keeps increases below 10 percent on every campus.”

“Today’s vote caps months of intense debate over tuition, which the system has used in recent years to help make up for legislative cuts to its budget. The
hikes have forced more students to take on extra jobs to pay for school, or drop out altogether.”

“The state mandates that at least 25 percent of the money from the tuition dollars go toward financial aid for needy students. Some board members recently have spoken out about that requirement, saying it essentially calls for students, who themselves may be struggling, to subsidize the education of other students.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/unc-tuition-hikes-university-of-nc-system-raises-tuition-costs-in-dismal-economy-working-students-and-families-pay-others-tuition-income-redistribution-unc-tuition-hikes-university-of-nc-system/

I have met and talked with many college students. Recently a UNCG student, who is struggling to support his family and attend school, confided in me that the recent tuition and health care increases (mandatory health care insurance almost doubled) could force him to leave school.

From Citizen Wells May 2, 2012.

“The UNC system began requiring students to be covered by health insurance in the fall of 2010. Students must either prove that they have their own insurance or buy a plan offered by the UNC system. Before that, 11 campuses required insurance; rates and coverage varied significantly among the schools.

On top of rising tuition and fees, those UNC system students who buy the university-sponsored health insurance plan will face steep premium increases in the next academic year.

The cost of health insurance will climb from a range of $61 to $77 monthly to a range of $118 to $133 monthly, according to a memo sent from UNC President Tom Ross to the UNC Board of Governors. On an annual basis, most students will pay about $500 to $700 more in 2012-13, depending on the campus.”

“Mallette said the insurance increases are due to the health care usage of UNC system students during the past couple of years, plus federal regulations on preventive care and pharmacy services issued in March. The process is complicated, he said, by the new provisions of the Affordable Care Act.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/obama-lies-work-on-unc-students-unc-student-health-care-increase-tuition-increase-high-unemployment-obama-uses-orwellian-language-to-sway-students-occupy-white-house/

From Citizen Wells July 27, 2012.

“Unemployment Rates Increase in 84 Counties in June”

“North Carolina’s statewide unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) was 9.9 percent in June. This was a 0.4 of a percentage-point increase from May’s revised rate of 9.5 percent, and a 1.0 percentage-point decrease over the year.

Over the month, the unemployment rate increased in 84 counties, decreased in 11 and remained the same in five. Thirty-nine counties had unemployment rates at or below the state’s 9.9 percent rate.”

“Guilford County, containing both Greensboro and High Point had an increase from 9.6 to 10.3 percent.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/nc-unemployment-rate-9-9-percent-june-data-unemployment-rates-rose-in-84-of-100-counties-mecklenburg-home-of-democrat-convention-rises-3-percent-to-9-9/

What evidence do we have that Obama had any student loans?

Obama truth reported in NC by Rhino Times, August 16, 2012, Obama dismal failures result in negative campaigning, Mainstream media criticizes Romney in elect Obama mode

Obama truth reported in NC by Rhino Times, August 16, 2012, Obama dismal failures result in negative campaigning, Mainstream media criticizes Romney in elect Obama mode

“North Carolina currently has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the country and has stayed well above the national average through 2012.”…WRAL, August 17, 2012

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“Why did Obama switch to Harvey Wineberg’s firm to have his 2005 tax return prepared?”…Citizen Wells

The truth about Obama.

In print in NC from the Rhino Times, August 16, 2012.

“Four years ago President Barack Hussein Obama ran on “Hope” and “Change.” These are not policies and hardly qualify as slogans. When Obama was asked to flesh out the Change aspect of his campaign he provided the explanation, “Change you can believe in.”

In other words, Obama ran on pure charisma and won. If the economy had turned around, or if Obamacare were a popular program, Obama could run on his record. But the economy is still in the toilet and Obamacare is not popular with the majority of the American people.

It is such a radical program that Obama had a huge problem getting it through the Senate even though he didn’t need a single Republican vote.

And his new word, “Forward,” just doesn’t seem to be resonating with the American people.

Obama’s record of Change led to the Tea Party. And in the election of 2010 the Republicans beat the Democrats over the head with Obamacare, and the stimulus package with its shovel-ready sites. The results were a disaster for the Democratic Party. The Republicans won control of the House and came close in the Senate, which was a huge turnaround from the Hope and Change election of 2008, when Obama won a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Obama also managed to do something that no politician of either party had been able to do for 140 years. Obama’s policies resulted in the Republicans winning control of the North Carolina state House and state Senate.

Obama can’t run on his record, which is a dismal failure, so he has to go negative, and he has certainly done that. The ad where Mitt Romney is implicated in the death of a woman because her husband lost his job and his health care is over the top; but it’s going to get worse. That, of course, is not technically a campaign ad, but the campaign knew about it and it went forward.

It is incredible, but many of those who support Obama don’t seem to understand business any better than he does. If you are buying companies in distress and hoping to turn them around, sometimes it isn’t going to work. Bain Capital had some huge successes, which is why Romney is worth a couple hundred million dollars; but they also had failures.

If every company was a guaranteed winner, we would all be buying companies and making money hand over fist. There is a lot of risk involved. Sometimes a company’s assets are worth more than the company itself. In that case you split it up and sell off the pieces. The reason some companies are not making money is that they have too many employees. In his successful ventures Romney created a lot of jobs, look at all the people that Staples employs, just to name one company. But companies also fail and people lose their jobs. That is business.

Obama, evidently having virtually no business experience, thinks that business is like government. Once you get hired, you have a job for life, even if you never do anything useful. As long as you don’t get caught using drugs at work or assaulting a fellow employee you have a job until you finally accept the unbelievably lucrative retirement that is being offered. The private sector just isn’t like that.”
“Romney is a serious guy. It’s one of the reasons he didn’t do better in the Republican primary debates. The pick of Ryan as his vice presidential running mate is a serious one. By choosing Ryan, Romney is saying he believes this race is about the economic future of the country. It’s the last thing Obama wanted to hear because the one area where he is weakest is in the area of the economy – unless you consider his disastrous foreign policy, or perhaps his health care plan that even hard-core Democrats don’t like. What about Obama’s plan for Afghanistan? It’s the war he said we should be fighting. How is that going?

Well, of all the areas in which Obama is weak, the economy is one of them.

Ryan has thick skin, has a lot of experience articulating his ideas and, according to a colleague in the House, knows more about the budget than the congressional staffers whose only job is to know the budget.

Even Erskine Bowles, who was President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton’s White House chief of staff, had nothing but wonderful things to say about Ryan before he became the vice presidential nominee. Of course, Bowles can’t be too pleased with Obama right now. Bowles took the job of developing a long-range budget plan, did the job he was asked to do and Obama has ignored it.

For Obama to attack Ryan, Obama has to talk about the budget, about Obamacare, about the Obama plan to cut $700 billion from Medicare. Ryan is going to be running all over the country giving articulate speeches that people can understand about what he believes needs to be done to get us out of the economy we are in and what to do long term to solve the budget crisis. The country cannot borrow money endlessly.

Obama can’t talk about Romney’s income taxes forever, or maybe he can.”

“I heard Obama speaking about all the jobs that he has created while president. I guess small business owners who paid employees out of their own pockets to get through the rough spots of this so-called recovery didn’t create those jobs, the government did.

But jobs have been created during Obama’s term in the White House. Obama can claim any number he wants because the answer to the question how many jobs is, “not nearly enough.” The 8.3 percent nationwide who are unemployed and still looking for work know that not enough jobs were created. Here in North Carolina the 9.4 percent who are unemployed and still looking for work know that Obama has not created enough jobs.

The problem is that given four more years, or 24 more years, Obama is not going to be able to create enough jobs. It takes entrepreneurs to create jobs, and those guys who put everything they have on the line for an idea deserve to be rewarded. Some entrepreneurs lose money for years, and if Obama gets his way when they start making money it will get taxed to the point where there isn’t much reason to make money.

Obama doesn’t understand that. He doesn’t understand that some small business owners make a lot of money one year – they may make well over $250,000 – but they also may not have made any money for the previous five years, or made far below minimum wage. Obama has no idea how business works. He thinks the government creates businesses.

But it’s not Obama’s fault. How would he know anything about business? He has no experience. He has been a community organizer, a US senator and now president. There just isn’t much business experience there.”

“The New York Times from cover to cover is in elect-Obama mode. Look at the so-called articles, actually editorials in sheep’s clothing, about the economy. Between now and the election the business section of The New York Times is evidently charged with finding the good news in every economic announcement or indicator. I liked this one: “A Hopeful Sign: Job Openings Rise.” Of course unemployment is up, not down. But The New York Times is going to be looking past the horse manure all over the place and desperately trying to find the pony in this economy.

It is reminiscent of the 1992 presidential race between George Herbert Walker Bush, who was the sitting president, and that upstart from Arkansas, Clinton. The recession actually ended in the spring, months before the election, but it didn’t get reported in the mainstream media until November, after the election.

The news media is extremely powerful, and with the notable exception of Fox and a few conservative newspapers, it is going to be an all out push for Obama.

It is another area in which Ryan helps Romney. Ryan is just a much better communicator and he has the ability to go past the mainstream media. He can do it with local stations and the morning talk shows. Ryan has no problem handling a room full of rabid journalists out to get his throat. In fact, it appears he enjoys it, which is not a surprise because it also appears he comes out on the winning end of those debates.”

Read more:

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2012-08-15-212867.112113-Under-the-Hammer.html

** Note **

From above:

“Here in North Carolina the 9.4 percent who are unemployed”

Yesterday the number was reported as 9.6 percent. This, also, is a “smoothed seasonally adjusted rate.”

NC unemployment rate jumps to 9.6 percent, North Carolina fourth highest unemployment rate, 5 thousand more unemployed, Smoothed seasonally adjusted rate

NC unemployment rate jumps to 9.6 percent, North Carolina fourth highest unemployment rate, 5 thousand more unemployed, Smoothed seasonally adjusted rate

“North Carolina currently has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the country and has stayed well above the national average through 2012.”…WRAL, August 17, 2012

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“We tried our plan—and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”…Barack Obama

From WRAL News August 17, 2012.

“State unemployment rate could hurt Obama in NC”

“With less than a month before the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, the unemployment picture in North Carolina worsened in July with the jobless rate increasing to 9.6 percent – the state’s first uptick in a year.

The unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.4 percent for the previous three months. The July rate is the highest since 9.7 percent in March. It is down from 10.7 percent a year ago.

However, with the state set to be showcased on a national stage, Republicans are ready to hand President Barack Obama the blame for rising unemployment.

“I can’t speak for other states, but here in North Carolina, I do think it’s going to definitely hurt the president and help Romney,” Tom Fetzer, the former chairman of the state Republican Party, said.

North Carolina currently has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the country and has stayed well above the national average through 2012.”

“State-wide the number of people unemployed grew by just more than 5,000 at 444,694 from June.”

http://www.wral.com/news/local/politics/story/11442036/

The 9.6 percent is a “smoothed seasonally adjusted rate.”

The term smoothed reminds me of Metamucil.

From the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

“The North Carolina smoothed seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in July, increasing 0.2 of a percentage point from the previous month, and 1.1 percentage points lower than July 2011. Over the month, the number of persons unemployed increased by 5,321 (1.2%). The civilian labor force fell 8,412 (0.2%) to 4,646,975.”

http://www.ncesc1.com/PMI/Rates/PressReleases/State/NR_July_2012_StRate_M.pdf

The NC county unemployment rates for July 2012 will be released on August 24, 2012.

The June 2012 unemployment rates by county revealed that 84 of 100 counties had an increase in unemployment.

From Citizen Wells July 27, 2012.

“Unemployment Rates Increase in 84 Counties in June”

“North Carolina’s statewide unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) was 9.9 percent in June. This was a 0.4 of a percentage-point increase from May’s revised rate of 9.5 percent, and a 1.0 percentage-point decrease over the year.

Over the month, the unemployment rate increased in 84 counties, decreased in 11 and remained the same in five. Thirty-nine counties had unemployment rates at or below the state’s 9.9 percent rate.”

“Mecklenburg County, mostly consisting of Charlotte, NC, the site of the 2012 Democrat Convention, had an unemployment rate increase from May to June of .3 to a rate of 9.9 percent. Adjacent county to the west, Gaston, went from 10.2 to 10.9 percent.  Guilford County, containing both Greensboro and High Point had an increase from 9.6 to 10.3 percent.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/nc-unemployment-rate-9-9-percent-june-data-unemployment-rates-rose-in-84-of-100-counties-mecklenburg-home-of-democrat-convention-rises-3-percent-to-9-9/

Obama a Christian?, Media protects Obama slams Romney, Real economy numbers reported in late November 2012, John Hammer Rhino Times, August 9, 2012

Obama a Christian?, Media protects Obama slams Romney, Real economy numbers reported in late November 2012, John Hammer Rhino Times, August 9, 2012

“My whole family was Muslim,” …Maya Soetoro-Ng

“A light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come
down upon you, you will experience an Epiphany…and you will
suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama.”…Barack Obama

“There is no evidence that Barack Obama is a Christian”…Citizen Wells

Real reporting about Obama, in print, in NC,

From John Hammer of the Rhino Times August 9, 2012.

“The presidential campaign is still not officially underway – since neither candidate is the official candidate of their party until after the party conventions – and it is already ugly and is going to get worse. Obama, with an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent, cannot run on his record. He spent the $1 trillion in stimulus money to get the unemployment rate down and it didn’t work. If Obama talks about the $1 trillion in stimulus he opens the door for a mistake that he has admitted to making – there is no such thing as a shovel-ready project. So the $1 trillion that was for shovel-ready projects was for fantasy projects. It reminds voters how little Obama knows about how the government works, how business works or, really, how anything other than a political campaign works. And the indications are that he really doesn’t understand political campaigns either.

Four years ago Obama ran what appeared to be a flawless political campaign, but in retrospect it appears that he was running against a Republican that all the other Republicans had beaten when he ran in his campaign mode. It was only when he ran as Sen. John McCain that anyone could tolerate him. When McCain went back to being the Republican presidential candidate, instead of himself, he had already lost. Also Obama could have been caught in the act with a creature from outer space and the media would not have reported it. How many photos did you see of Obama smoking? Do you think the media would have run photos of Sarah Palin smoking if they had them? The media was only going to report good things about Obama and they did. It is why we still know so little about Obama.

The only real source of information we had about Obama was his own book, and then we found out that it is far from a memoir in that he has a composite girlfriend. If the press vetted Obama at all we would know whether or not he was really Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s protégé as he once said, or was he just someone who attended that church on occasion because of its political clout in the black community in Chicago. If he was a protégé then Obama needs to explain when he realized that Wright’s racist rants against white people in general and Jews in particular went too far and he decided not to be a follower.

If the truth is that he was never really a follower of Wright’s, and that is the only church he has ever been a member of according to his book, is he really a Christian? He wasn’t raised as Christian. Neither of his parents were Christians. If Wright did not bring him to Christ, who did? And why did he decide not to practice his religion in a formal manner while president.

These are the kinds of questions that you would expect to have answers to about the president of the United States, but evidently asking any question about Obama that he has not already answered is wrong.

, , ,

Along those same lines, it is no surprise, but worth noting, that the mainstream media have become even more liberal and partisan. Back in 2010 and even 2011, with the election at least a year away, the mainstream media were willing to be critical of Obama and to admit that whoever the Republican nominee was that he or she might have some redeeming qualities.

Now that the election is less than three months away, the mainstream media pundits are back to proclaiming Obama the messiah, and Mitt Romney is just some rich guy who inherited a bunch of money, has never really done anything and now wants to buy the presidency. Four years ago when Obama raised more money than any presidential candidate ever had it was because he had the support of the people. Now that Romney is raising more money month after month than Obama it is because Romney is rich. It’s amazing how things get reported.

, , ,

One thing that has changed in this election is that no one can argue that Obama doesn’t have the experience to be president. He now has more experience than anyone still in the game. He will soon be tied with both George Herbert Walker Bush, and James Earl Carter Jr., but it is unlikely that either one of them will decide to run for another term.

Experience was a good issue for Republicans in 2008, since Obama had not completed a full term in the US Senate and had never been the chief executive of anything other than the Harvard Law Review and his own political campaigns, both of which are a little different from being president. But this time around Romney’s experience running a business, running a state and running the Olympics are all good preparation but Obama has him beat when it comes to experience being president.

Now it is easy to argue that Obama’s experience as president proves that he shouldn’t serve another term, because he hasn’t been able to get the economy back on track. It will be interesting to see what the real numbers are for the economy when the election is over. It will be a real surprise if the figures released by the government are not revised in November after the election.

I have no doubt that the government in late November will reveal that the economy is in worse shape than the figures released earlier would indicate. Unemployment will turn out to be higher and economic growth will turn out to be lower, and not reporting it earlier was simply due to an unfortunate mathematical error.”

Read more:

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2012-08-08-212799.112113-Under-the-Hammer.html

Obama gas price facts August 6, 2012, Canadians embrace oil jobs, Canada unemployment rate falls to 7.2 percent, Canadians richer than Americans for first time

Obama gas price facts August 6, 2012, Canadians embrace oil jobs, Canada unemployment rate falls to 7.2 percent, Canadians richer than Americans for first time

“For the well-off in this country, high gas prices are mostly an annoyance, but to most Americans they’re a huge problem, bordering on a crisis.”…Barack Obama May 2008

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,”…Barack Obama May 2008

“Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”…Barack Obama 

Obama’s “energy policy”, aka Chicago style pay to play politics, is destroying this country’s economy and jobs. Citizen Wells has kept you informed about the impact of high gas prices.

From Citizen Wells July 29, 2012.

“Gas prices are going back up and currently average $ 3.49 in the US. One of the biggest reasons gasoline prices have not risen further is the downturn in the US and world economies.”

“In 2009 when Obama took office, gasoline averaged around $ 1.85 a gallon. Here is a chart of gasoline prices for the last 3 years.”

“The Obama administration, despite the nation’s economic woes, effectively killed the job-producing Keystone Pipeline last month. The Arab Spring is turning the oil production of Libya and other Arab nations over to the Muslim Brotherhood. Iraq is distancing itself from the U.S. And everyone recognizes that Iran, whose crude supplies are critical to the European economy, will do anything it can to frustrate America’s strategic interests. In the face of all of this, Obama insists on cutting back U.S. oil potential with outrageous restrictions.”

“Part of Obama’s apparent war against U.S. energy independence includes a foreign-aid program that directly threatens my state’s sovereign territory. Obama’s State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to the Russians. Yes, to the Putin regime in the Kremlin.”

“After Obama Blocks Pipeline, China Readies $15.1B Canadian Oil Deal”

“When President Barack Obama blocked the Keystone Pipeline, Republicans said the move would encourage Canada to pursue oil deals with China instead of the United States and cede a massive chunk of North American oil assets to the communist nation.

Now, with China’s state-run oil company CNOOC poised to cut a $15.1 billion deal–the largest ever foreign acquisition for a Chinese company–with Canadian oil company Nexen, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are in full backpedal mode.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/july-29-2012-gas-prices-up-obama-energy-policy-rewards-friends-punishes-americans-alaska-island-giveaway-to-russians-keystone-pipeline-canada-china-oil-deal/

Not only are Obama’s policies stalling the economy with the high price of gas, they are killing jobs in the oil industry. Our friends to the north are not so foolish.

From the Wall Street Journal September 12, 2011.

“Canada’s Oil Sands Are a Jobs Gusher”

“For all its soaring rhetoric, President Obama’s “jobs speech” last week didn’t demonstrate a lick of insight into why economies grow or how wealth is created. It was merely trademark Obamanomics: using government diktat to move money that’s over here, over there.

Having spent an hour the day before with Ron Liepert, the energy minister from the Canadian province of Alberta, I found it especially disturbing to hear nothing in the speech about reversing the administration’s anti-fossil-fuels agenda. Canada has recovered all the jobs it lost in the 2009 recession, and Alberta’s oil sands are no small part of that. The province is on track to become the world’s second-largest oil producer, after Saudi Arabia, within 10 years. Meanwhile Mr. Obama clings to his subsidies for solar panels and his religious faith in green jobs.

U.S. unemployment is high because capital is on strike. Short-term offers to coax investors into taking new risks aren’t going to cut it when they have been forewarned that the president intends to pay for it all by raising taxes in the out years. The market dropped over 300 points the day after Mr. Obama’s speech.

On the regulatory front the picture is even gloomier. Much of America’s vast untapped energy potential lies dormant because Mr. Obama’s regulatory watchdogs have spent the past three years throwing sand in the gears of the permitting process for exploration and exploitation on federal lands. Separately, TransCanada has been trying since September 2008 to get a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. The Environmental Protection Agency has so far blocked it.

TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline could mean 118,000 American jobs, if the U.S. government ever issues the permit.

A glimpse of what all this has cost the U.S. economy can be seen by looking north to Canada, where animal spirits have been unleashed in the energy sector. Canada’s close economic ties to the U.S. have traditionally meant that when the U.S. gets the sniffles, Canada gets swine flu. This time it’s been different. Part of the reason is that Canada’s housing market was not poisoned by a federal government push to put unqualified borrowers into homes they could not afford. After the 2008 collapse of the housing bubble in the U.S., the Canadian financial sector remained strong.

That alone was not enough to protect Canada from the effects of the U.S. recession. The manufacturing sector was hit hard, and in the first quarter of 2009 the economy contracted by an annualized 7.9%.

Yet Canada has outperformed the U.S. since then. In 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund, Canada grew at 3.2% versus 2.9% in the U.S. In 2011, the IMF estimates Canada will grow at 2.9%; unemployment is now 7.3%. The IMF’s U.S. growth forecast is 2.5% this year, and U.S. unemployment is 9.1%.

One explanation for Canada’s more robust growth is its strong commitment to energy, which has become more valuable in U.S. dollar terms under Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s inflationary policies. Alberta is now producing two million barrels per day but expects that number will grow to four to five million within a decade.”

Read more:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904836104576560933917369412.html

From US News  July 18, 2012.

“For the First Time, Canadians Now Richer Than Americans

The average Canadian household is worth about $40,000 more than their American counterparts”

“The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202.
While Americans might enjoy throwing politically-charged barbs at their neighbors to the north, Canadians now have at least one reason to be smug.

For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American, according to a report cited in Toronto’s Globe and Mail.

And not just by a little. Currently, the average Canadian household is more than $40,000 richer than the average American household. The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, compared to around $320,000 for Americans.

If you’re thinking the Canadian advantage must be due to exchange rates, think again. The Canadian dollar has actually caught up to the U.S. dollar in recent years.

“These are not 60-cent dollars, but Canadian dollars more or less at par with the U.S. greenback,” Globe and Mail’s Michael Adams writes.

To add insult to injury, not only are Canadians comparatively better-off than Americans, they’re also more likely to be employed. The unemployment rate is 7.2 percent—and dropping—in Canada, while the U.S. is stuck with a stubbornly high rate of 8.2 percent.

Besides a strengthening currency and a better labor market, experts credit the particularly savage fallout from the financial crisis on the U.S. economy and housing market, which torpedoed home values and gutted household wealth. According to the report, real estate held by Canadians is worth more than $140,000 more on average and they have almost four times as much equity in their real estate investments.”

Read more:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/18/for-the-first-time-canadians-now-richer-than-americans