Category Archives: Economy

Elon poll reveals NC residents blame oil companies, OPEC for gas prices, Obama orwellian lies working?, Obama and Democrats more blame than Republicans

Elon poll reveals NC residents blame oil companies, OPEC for gas prices, Obama orwellian lies working?, Obama and Democrats more blame than Republicans

“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

“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. “…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″

I posted the article yesterday about Obama lying about Oil Company profits and taxes after listening to his unceasing lies and knowing that the mainstream media      feeds them to the public Orwellian style. Right on cue a Elon University poll indicates that the NC public places more blame on the oil companies.

This is a teachable moment. Once again I refer to the concept of 6 degrees of separation. Our sphere of influence is powerful. Inform all of your friends and acquaintances and urge then to do the same. If they have questions I will be glad  to answer them.

From WRAL April 3, 2012.

“Poll: NC residents blame oil companies, OPEC for gas prices”

“Although Republican presidential candidates are blaming President Barack Obama for gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, a poll released Tuesday shows most North Carolina residents point the finger at oil companies and foreign countries.

The Elon University Poll surveyed 534 residents statewide last week and also found that people were evenly split on a controversial method of natural gas drilling being considered by North Carolina lawmakers. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.24 percentage points.

Nearly three-quarters of those polled blamed oil companies for high gas prices, while foreign countries that produce oil were blamed by 58 percent of respondents.

The poll asked people to rank how much blame to assign to each group on a scale of 1 to 5, and the percentages reflect the number who assigned a 4 or 5 to each.

Obama’s administration was cited by 42 percent, Democrats in Congress by 41 percent and Republicans in Congress by 35 percent. Forty percent said American driving habits were to blame, while 34 percent blamed environmental regulations.

Most respondents said the U.S. needs to rely more on solar and wind power for its energy needs. Eighty-five percent supported more solar power, and 80 percent supported more wind power.

Meanwhile, 72 percent said the country needs to be less reliant on oil, and 63 percent said coal use needs to decline. Respondents were split on nuclear energy, with 42 percent calling for expansion and 50 percent saying less nuclear power should be used.

Seventy percent of those polled said natural gas needs to play a larger role in the nation’s energy mix, but a majority say they don’t know enough about a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to determine if it’s good for North Carolina.

Fracking involves drilling horizontally into underground deposits of shale and then pumping a high-pressure mix of water and chemicals into a well to break apart the rock and release natural gas.

Opponents of the process say it would damage water resources and contaminate the environment, while supporters say it would provide an economic boon to central North Carolina.

The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources has said fracking could be done safely in North Carolina if the proper safeguards were put in place first. The agency is expected to deliver its findings to lawmakers next month.

Twenty-two percent of Elon poll respondents say they oppose fracking in North Carolina, while 21 percent say they support it.”

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10939859/

From Citizen Wells April 3, 2012.

“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/

What have been the 2 largest impacts on gasoline prices over the past 3 years?

Obama’s pay to play energy policy (Solyndra, et al) and the devaluation of the the dollar.

The Obama Administration has been directly responsible for the rising gas prices and subsequent crisis economy.

Obama has rewarded his cronies with unchecked corporate schemes and blocked efforts to increase oil production in this country. His record deficit spending has greatly devalued the dollar causing oil to cost more in US dollars.

The following graph, presented at Citizen Wells multiple times, says it all.

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 lies on Oil Companies Taxes Profits and impact on consumers, Obama energy policy based on Chicago pay to play politics, Truth Team notification

“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″

The Truth team was created to keep the candidates honest. Once again I am here to help the Truth Team in their efforts. One of the candidates, Barack Hussein Obama has been spreading lies about oil companies and where the blame should be put for high gas prices.

From Business Week March 29, 2012.

“Obama Says Oil Profits Justify Ending U.S. Tax Breaks”

“President Barack Obama said oil company profits justify abolishing $4 billion in annual oil and natural gas subsidies and shifting those savings to research on clean-energy fuels.

With the Senate scheduled to vote on the matter later today, Obama again urged Congress to repeal the tax breaks. The measure is opposed by Republicans, who have the votes to block the legislation.

“It’s not like these are companies that can’t stand on their own,” Obama said in prepared remarks delivered in the White House Rose Garden. Last year, the three biggest U.S. oil companies took home more than $80 billion in profit, with Exxon Mobil Corp. collecting almost $4.7 million each hour, he said.

“And when the price of oil goes up, prices at the pump go up, and so do these companies’ profits,” he said. “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.”

Energy company subsidies are a staple of Obama’s re- election campaign rhetoric, meant to highlight the differences between himself and Republican presidential candidates and cast them as defenders of such spending as they propose cuts in health and other social programs to reduce a deficit forecast at $1.3 trillion this year.

In his Feb. 13 budget, Obama said existing tax “loopholes and expenditures” for the oil and natural gas companies amount to an unwarranted “preference” of these industries over others.

Criticism of Republicans
At Ohio State University March 22, Obama ridiculed Republican presidential candidates as the “flat Earth crowd,” who’d “rather give $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies to oil companies this year than to invest in clean energy.”

“We have been subsidizing oil companies for a century. That’s long enough,” he said.

Republicans today cited a March 3 Congressional Research Service report that found repealing $22.8 billion in tax breaks over five years would reduce the tax breaks for independent companies and, on a small scale, “would make oil and natural gas more expensive for U.S. consumers and likely increase foreign dependence.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, in an e-mailed statement, said Obama’s proposal is a political gambit in an election year and called the plan a “tax hike on American energy manufacturers” that he’d oppose.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Republican Speaker John Boehner, said today in an e-mail that the president is giving a speech “with gas prices at $3.92 per gallon, calling for policy that would make gas more expensive and increase foreign dependence on oil. You wouldn’t believe it, right? Yet this is happening.”

Ending such breaks would reduce the deficit by $41 billion over a decade, according to Obama’s budget for fiscal 2013.

Subsidies were worth $24 billion for the five largest oil companies operating in the U.S., including Irving, Texas’s Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) (XOM) and Chevron Corp. in San Ramon, California, Senate Democrats said.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-29/obama-says-oil-company-profits-justify-ending-u-dot-s-dot-tax-br

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 pay taxes!

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?

Obama statements on capitalism echoed by Occupy movement and 1984, Obama Hyde Park Citizen 1995 interview, Income inequality, Orwellian lies

Obama statements on capitalism echoed by Occupy movement and 1984, Obama Hyde Park Citizen 1995 interview, Income inequality, Orwellian lies

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”...Karl Marx

“all animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”…George Orwell, “Animal Farm”

“I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody.”…Barack Obama

“The past, he reflected, had not merely been altered, it had
actually been destroyed. For how could you establish, even
the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside
your own memory?”…George Orwell, “1984″

From reading some of the “occupy” comments some of them appear to be in favor of a more pure Democracy such as in Switzerland. Switzerland is a much smaller, more homogenous society and it seems to work there, although one of my friends from Switzerland points out that referendums can be called for any reason and often are. Some form of capitalism is the only approach to have ever been successful in the long term. Examples of failed socialist societies are plentiful. Even Communist China is embracing capitalism. It just makes sense. You work hard and reap the fruits of your labor.

Excessive government control is the problem.

Capitalism is not the problem. It is what built this country and made it great. It is also what enabled us to help save the world from Nazi domination.

Here is how Obama’s view on capitalism emerged and why so many of his followers are anti capitalism.

From Breitbart March 21, 2012.
“In a newly-uncovered interview from the Hyde Park Citizen newspaper circa December 28, 1995, Barack Obama explains his philosophy on income inequality in the United States, especially in light of economic difficulties:

In an environment of scarcity, where the cost of living is rising, folks begin to get angry and bitter and look for scapegoats. Historically, instead of looking at the top 5% of this country that controls all the wealth, we turn towards each other, and the Republicans have added to the fire.

In that interview, Obama explains that his perspective on the “top 5%” was shaped by his experiences abroad:

It’s about power. My travels made me sensitive to the plight of those without power and the issues of class and inequalities as it relates to wealth and power. Anytime you have been overseas in these so-called third world countries, one thing you see is the vast disparity of wealth of those who are part of power structure and those outside of it.

These comments are reminiscent of both the most radical Occupy Wall Street rhetoric and Obama’s infamous comments in San Francisco in April 2008 in which he stated that Americans suffering difficult economic times “get bitter” and “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.””

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/21/Obama-Scapegoat-Five-Percent?utm_source=e_breitbart_com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Breitbart+News+Round+Up%2C+March+22%2C+2012&utm_campaign=Breitbart+News+Round+Up%2C+March+22%2C+2012&utm_term=More

From the Occupy Wall Street website:

“The right-wingers often talk about Capitalism being a system of “voluntary agreements” in which all people enjoy the fruits of their labor. Well this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Now, I touched upon the “fruits of one’s labor”- issue in the article “The Free Ride Society”, arguing that these “fruits” aren’t measurable and that we all get much more from society compared to what we contribute ourselves. Another thing that should be addressed in this regard is the issue of exploitation.

One of the hallmarks of capitalism is that the means of production are privately owned by some individuals, while others do not have this ownership. In other words, some own the means of production others are using. So it’s a system in which the ones using the means of production must sell their labor to these owners in order to have a decent life. The owners can then make a profit from other people’s work by just owning. This happens when the value of the worker’s pay is less than the value that was added thru his/her work in the paid hours. That creates a profit for the owner of the means of production who did not create the value, but still gets paid in the form of profit. This profit is hence capital for future investments and more profits. So, the capitalist is making money simply by just owning, not adding or creating value. Since a capitalist economy is based on the need for growth and profits for the investors and owners, this method of exploitation – profiting on other people’s work – is of course used by more or less all of them. This exploitation is in other words just a logical result caused by the capitalist system. And we see this all over the place, from poor indonesian girls working in Nike factories for 50 cents an hour, to people in America working for minimum wage for companies whose profits are skyrocketing.

http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-new-rulers-of-the-world

Now, the agreements taking place in this kind of system are of course far from being voluntary. In a capitalist / state-capitalist class society, you have some people with huge wealth and recourses – which on the national and global level are very highly concentrated – and others with very few or no wealth and resources. It is of course meaningless to talk about “voluntary agreements” in such a society, because the ones owning the recourses, the wealth and the means of production etc, have much more power in society. That includes of course that they have the advantage and overwhelming power in a job hiring, negotiations etc. So the non-owners – the workers – are trapped in a society in which they, in order to have a decent life or necessities in order to survive, must sell their labor to people who have much more power than they. This has very little to do with voluntary agreements, rather it’s submission to necessities.

So in reality we have a system in which some people, because of their wealth and ownership, have an overwhelming power in society, including in the labor marked. The owners, the employers, then have much more influence and power when contracts and agreements are being made, whether it’s in relation to working conditions, salaries etc.

This is intolerable. This exploitative unjust system must be dismantled and replaced with democracy in which the people are in control of their own lives, work and community.”

http://occupywallst.org/forum/capitalism-exploitation-and-involuntary-agreements/

Citizen Wells began warning in 2008 that the Obama camp and far left were employing tactics reminiscent of “1984” by George Orwell.

Another example from Orwell:

“But in among all this terrible poverty there were just a few great big beautiful houses that were lived in by rich men who had as many as thirty servants to look after them. These rich men were called capitalists. They were fat, ugly men with wicked faces, like the one in the picture on the opposite page. You can see that he is dressed in a long black coat which was called a frock coat, and a queer, shiny hat shaped like a stovepipe, which was called a top hat. This was the uniform of the capitalists, and no one else was allowed to wear it. The capitalists owned everything in the world, and everyone else was their slave. They owned all the land, all the houses, all the factories, and all the money. If anyone disobeyed them they could throw them into prison, or they could take his job away and starve him to death. When any ordinary person spoke to a capitalist he had to cringe and bow to him, and take off his cap and address him as ‘Sir’. The chief of all the capitalists was called the King, and —

But he knew the rest of the catalogue. There would be mention of the bishops in their lawn sleeves, the judges in their ermine robes, the pillory, the stocks, the treadmill, the cat-o’-nine tails, the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, and the practice of kissing the Pope’s toe. There was also something called the jus primae noctis, which would probably not be mentioned in a textbook for children. It was the law by which every capitalist had the right to sleep with any woman working in one of his factories.

How could you tell how much of it was lies? It might be true that the average human being was better off now than he had been before the Revolution. The only evidence to the contrary was the mute protest in your own bones, the instinctive feeling that the conditions you lived in were intolerable and that at some other time they must have been different.”

“He reached down and scratched his ankle again. Day and night the telescreens bruised your ears with statistics proving that people today had more food, more clothes, better houses, better recreations — that they lived longer, worked shorter hours, were bigger, healthier, stronger, happier, more intelligent, better educated, than the people of fifty years ago. Not a word of it could ever be proved or disproved. The Party claimed, for example, that today 40 per cent of adult proles were literate: before the Revolution, it was said, the number had only been 15 per cent. The Party claimed that the infant mortality rate was now only 160 per thousand, whereas before the Revolution it had been 300 — and so it went on. It was like a single equation with two unknowns. It might very well be that literally every word in the history books, even the things that one accepted without question, was pure fantasy. For all he knew there might never have been any such law as the jus primae noctis, or any such creature as a capitalist, or any such garment as a top hat.”

From the Occupy quote above:

“The right-wingers often talk about Capitalism being a system of “voluntary agreements” in which all people enjoy the fruits of their labor. Well this couldn’t be further from the truth.”

The actual truth is that left wingers in this country are the big government, anti capitalism proponents. They want to take from you and your hard work and give it to someone else.

 

Obama change in gas and food prices, Higher gas prices threaten economy, Jobs added?, Millions of jobs and job seekers lost, WON Whip Obama Now

Obama change in gas and food prices, Higher gas prices threaten economy, Jobs added?, Millions of jobs and job seekers lost, WON Whip Obama Now

“If you’re complaining about the price of gas and you’re only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know…you might want to think about a trade-in.”…Barack Obama
“This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people,”…Barack Obama

“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″

Obama Change

Gasoline and food price facts for Truth Team and interested Americans.

Pedestrians help push a motorist who ran out of gas Friday into a station in downtown Los Angeles, where prices topped $5 per gallon. / Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press

I have located several versions of an AP article on gas prices and the economy.

From the AP March 16, 2012.

“Higher gas prices threaten economy if they persist”

“Inflation remains tame throughout the U.S. economy, with one big exception: gas prices.

Those higher prices haven’t derailed a steadily improving economy. But if they surpass $4 or $5 a gallon, experts fear Americans could pull back on spending, and job growth could stall, posing a potentially serious threat to the recovery.

And the longer prices remain high, the more they could imperil President Barack Obama’s re-election hopes.

A few weeks ago, economists generally agreed that the economy was in little danger from higher gas prices as long as job growth remained strong. But fears are now mounting that gas prices could begin to weaken consumer confidence.

The average pump price nationwide is $3.83 a gallon. Energy analysts say it’s bound to climb higher in the weeks ahead.

“It’s a thorn in the side of the consumer and businesses,” said Chris Christopher, an economist at IHS Global Insight. The economy this year “would have been better and stronger if we didn’t have to deal with this.”

So far, higher prices aren’t undermining the economic recovery, which is getting a lift from strong job creation. It would take a big jump — to around $5 a gallon — before most economists would worry that growth would halt and the economy would slide into another recession.

That’s because an improving economy is somewhat insulated from any threat posed by higher prices at the pump.

The risk is that gas prices could eventually slow growth by causing some people to cut spending on other goods, from appliances and furniture to electronics and vacations. Gasoline purchases provide less benefit for the U.S. economy because about half of the revenue flows to oil-exporting nations, though U.S. oil companies and gasoline retailers also benefit.

Many American businesses suffer, too. They must pay more for fuel and shipping and for materials affected by high oil prices, such as petroleum-based plastics. Profit margins get squeezed.

Even if prices ease after the summer driving season, don’t expect gasoline to fall below $3 a gallon. The government estimates that this year’s average will be $3.79, followed by $3.72 in 2013.

Most economists accept a rough guideline that a 25-cent rise in gas prices knocks about 0.2 percentage point off economic growth.

Gas prices also have an outsize impact on consumer confidence, Christopher noted. It’s a high-frequency purchase. Consumers notice the price whether they’re filling up or driving past a gas station.

Along with the unemployment rate and stock market levels, gasoline prices heavily determine how Americans see their financial health.

That effect was evident Friday when a decline was reported in the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment. The result surprised some economists who had assumed that higher stock prices and lower unemployment would lift consumer sentiment.

The Michigan report showed that “gasoline worries … are outweighing stock market gains and job growth” when it comes to influencing consumer attitudes, said Michael Hanson, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The price of gasoline has climbed 17 percent since the year began — to a national average of $3.83 a gallon. That’s the highest ever for this time of year. A month ago, it was $3.52.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jCwE51Rb2hl34tObtft80XI1pKhA?docId=8d2a58e51da64b07b23f1f6bad04b2b6

From above:

“So far, higher prices aren’t undermining the economic recovery, which is getting a lift from strong job creation. It would take a big jump — to around $5 a gallon — before most economists would worry that growth would halt and the economy would slide into another recession.”

Which country are they referring to? As evidenced recently in NC and reported here, the NC unemployment rate was adjusted upward to above 10 percent.

Also as reported here several times.

Inflation has been downplayed as well. Anyone visiting a grocery store for the past several years has watched food prices skyrocket, mostly due to rising gasoline prices.

From America’s North Shore Journal March 17, 2012.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) keeps track of the average retail price for a number of common items as a U.S. city average. Let’s take a look at a few. We used the price for the month President Obmam was inaugurated, January 2009, and the last month of data available, December 2011. The items are sorted in descending order by the percentage increase of the price during the Obama administration.

    Obama Obama
Item Unit Jan 2009 Dec 2011 I/D Perc
Gasoline, unl reg gal $1.787 $3.278 $1.491 83.44%
Fuel oil, #2 gal $2.509 $3.777 $1.268 50.54%
Ground beef lb $2.357 $2.921 $0.564 23.93%
Sugar, white lb $0.569 $0.703 $0.134 23.55%
Bacon. Sliced lb $3.730 $4.550 $0.820 21.98%
Cookies, Choc chip lb $3.114 $3.682 $0.568 18.24%
Spaghetti & macaroni lb $1.131 $1.306 $0.175 15.47%
Eggs, A lrg doz $1.850 $1.874 $0.024 1.30%
Electricity kwh $0.126 $0.127 $0.001 0.79%
Lettuce, iceberg lb $0.944 $0.947 $0.003 0.32%
Milk, whole gal $3.575 $3.565 -$0.010 -0.28%
Potatoes, white lb $0.676 $0.666 -$0.010 -1.48%

CPI Food 2009-2011

http://northshorejournal.org/whip-inflation-now

WON (whip inflation now)

Whip Obama Now

CBO real Truth Team, Unemployment rate 15 percent, Obama deficits, 1.2 trillion 2012, Obamacare costs rise and causes millions to lose employer insurance

CBO real Truth Team, Unemployment rate 15 percent, Obama deficits, 1.2 trillion 2012, Obamacare costs rise and causes millions to lose employer insurance

“And so our goal on health care is, if we can get, instead of health care costs going up 6 percent a year, it’s going up at the level of inflation, maybe just slightly above inflation, we’ve made huge progress. And by the way, that is the single most important thing we could do in terms of reducing our deficit. That’s why we did it.”…Barack Obama

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt.”…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”

Real unemployment rate 15 percent.

From the CBO February 2012.

“The rate of unemployment in the United States has
exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, making the past
three years the longest stretch of high unemployment in
this country since the Great Depression. Moreover, the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the
unemployment rate will remain above 8 percent until
2014. The official unemployment rate excludes those
individuals who would like to work but have not searched
for a job in the past four weeks as well as those who are
working part-time but would prefer full-time work; if
those people were counted among the unemployed, the
unemployment rate in January 2012 would have been
about 15 percent. Compounding the problem of high
unemployment, the share of unemployed people looking
for work for more than six months—referred to as the
long-term unemployed—topped 40 percent in December
2009 for the first time since 1948, when such data began
to be collected; it has remained above that level ever
since.”

http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/02-16-Unemployment.pdf
Obama budget deficits

From the CBO March 2012.

“This report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) presents an analysis of the proposals contained in the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2013. The analysis is based on CBO’s economic projections and estimating techniques (rather than the Administration’s) and incorporates estimates by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation for the President’s tax proposals.1

In conjunction with analyzing the President’s budget, CBO has updated its baseline budget projections, which were previously issued in January 2012. Unlike its estimates of the President’s budget, CBO’s baseline projections largely reflect the assumption that current tax and spending laws will remain unchanged, so as to provide a benchmark against which potential legislation can be measured. Under that assumption, CBO estimates that the deficit would total $1.2 trillion in 2012 and that cumulative deficits over the 2013–2022 period would amount to $2.9 trillion.”

http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43083

Obamacare cost

From the Amrican Enterprise Institute March 15, 2012.

“CBO: Obamacare could cost $2.1 trillion through 2022”

“According to a new government report, it turns out that more people than first expected will end up getting healthcare through the subsidized insurance exchanges and Medicaid rather than through their employers:

In the original analysis of the impact of the legislation, CBO and JCT estimated that, on balance, the number of people obtaining coverage through their employer would be about 3 million lower in 2019 under the legislation than under prior law. As reflected in CBO’s latest baseline projections, the two agencies now anticipate that, because of the ACA, about 3 million to 5 million fewer people, on net, will obtain coverage through their employer each year from 2019 through 2022 than would have been the case under prior law.

The results acknowledge that if a business chooses not to offer insurance coverage under the ACA, some workers might enroll in Medicaid or CHIP or be eligible to receive subsidies through the insurance exchanges. And as a result, the cost of those programs would increase.

Right now, the updated baseline CBO forecast sees the gross cost of Obamacare through 2022 as $1.8 trillion, a number which includes this new estimate of employee coverage. When you include new taxes, the net cost is $1.3 trillion. (Back in 2010, the ten-year, gross cost was a mere $940 billion, as the bill was structured to back end spending. But now instead of six years of spending estimates, we have nine.)

But under one CBO-JCT scenario, the gross costs through 2022 could be $2.1 trillion if even more businesses than expected decide not to offer health insurance and more people need government subsidized coverage.

But no worry, say the government bean counters, $386 billion in addition taxes (for a total of $895 billion) will cover the difference. First, there would be higher penalty payments by employers and individuals. Second, since health benefits are generally not taxed but wages and salaries are, a shift in the mix of compensation would raise federal revenues.”

http://blog.american.com/2012/03/cbo-obamcare-could-cost-2-1-trillion-through-2022/

Obamacare causes millions to lose employer coverage.

From human Events March 16, 2012.

“The latest revelation, reported at The Hill, is that ObamaCare could cause up to 20 million Americans to lose their health care coverage. There is a “tremendous amount of uncertainty” in the forecast, which is just what our fragile Obamanized economy needs right now, but 20 million is the CBO’s worst-case estimate. Maybe it will only be 3 to 5 million people.

The CBO is actually being very, very conservative in its damage estimates, as industry groups think ObamaCare will nuke closer to 50 million employer-provided policies over the next decade. Amusingly, the CBO points to RomneyCare in Massachusetts as “one piece of evidence that may be relevant” to its projections, as “employment-based health insurance appears to have increased since that state’s reforms.” It will be super awesome to hear Romney debate this with Obama.

ObamaCare kills health insurance by dumping so many mandates on employers that it becomes attractive for them to escape by dropping insurance coverage altogether. Even the CBO’s worst-case projections are underestimating the effect this will have on health insurance, in years to come. What do you think will happen to insurance companies that swiftly lose millions of customers to the “public exchanges?” What will happen to the prices they charge to their diminished customer base… and how will that, in turn, influence other businesses trying to decide whether dropping coverage makes sense?

It is nevertheless significant that the Congressional Budget Office, with its typical static-analysis caution, is predicting that ObamaCare might create a number of uninsured that dwarfs the uninsured population it was ostensibly created to help. If Obama’s true agenda is to destroy private health insurance and clear the way for a socialized medicine takeover, everything is proceeding according to plan.”

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=50264

 

Truth Team unemployment facts, CNN Money Orwellian reporting, 8.3 percent unemployment, 227000 jobs added, How many jobs lost?, 476000 added to workforce?

Truth Team unemployment facts, CNN Money Orwellian reporting, 8.3 percent unemployment, 227000 jobs added, How many jobs lost?, 476000 added to workforce?

“The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon.
And since the party is in full control of all records, and in
equally full control of the minds of it’s members, it follows
that the past is whatever the party chooses to make it. Six
means eighteen, two plus two equals five, war is peace,
freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.”…George Orwell, “1984”

“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″

As I promised recently, I am here to assist the Truth Team in keeping the candidates honest by reporting the facts

The Labor Department, Obama Administration, Mainstream media and Truth Team would have us believe that the alleged influx of 476,000 extra people in the labor force was the reason for the unemplyment rate not dropping. Retirement timing is affected by birth date and other more random events such as the economy and length of service and should be somewhat evenly dispersed during the year. The biggest labor entry events are graduation from high school, college or other schools. So where did the big influx of employees come from? Illegal aliens?

CNN Money gives one of it’s best theatric, Orwellian efforts to make the 8.3 percent (already manipulated by Orwell math) unemployment rate look normal and explained by population growth.

From CNN Money March 9, 2012.

“The economy added 227,000 jobs in February, but the unemployment rate didn’t change at all.
Woe is the White House — which would love to have the lowest rate possible heading into the general election.

Before Obama even took office, America had lost 4.4 million jobs. Track his progress since then.

But why didn’t the unemployment rate change if the economy added jobs?

The unemployment rate measures the percent of the labor force that is unemployed.

The unemployed are individuals who have actively looked for work over the previous four weeks. Looking for work can mean having a job interview, sending out resumes, or even something as simple as calling friends or relatives in hopes of finding a job.

The number of unemployed is then divided by the total labor force. And in February, the size of the labor force increased — possibly as discouraged workers started looking for work again.

As the labor force swelled, so did the number of new jobs necessary to drop the unemployment rate.

Behind the jobs recovery

Just take a look at the last two months for an example of how this works.

In February, 227,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate didn’t change. Compare that to January, when the economy added 243,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped from 8.5% to 8.3%.

The difference?

In January, the labor force participation rate decreased by 0.3%. In February, it increased by 0.2%.

And that 0.2% increase in February translated to 476,000 extra people in the labor force, preventing a decline in the unemployment rate.

So it’s possible that an improving economy can actually cause the unemployment rate to remain static, or even rise, as more discouraged workers start mailing resumes.

Much has been made of how low — or high — the unemployment rate might be on Election Day, and whether a particular number will be enough to ensure a victory for President Obama, or sink his candidacy.

Of course, the unemployment rate is not the best measure of economic strength, but the number plays a large role in campaign trail rhetoric.”

“Assuming the labor force participation rate holds steady, and the population grows at the same rate it has over the previous year, the economy needs to add 149,288 jobs per month to get the unemployment rate to 8%.”

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/09/news/economy/unemployment-election/

“and the population grows at the same rate it has over the previous year”

The only population event aside from aging (and that was explained above) that affects the labor force is immigration. Legal immigration is monitored and controlled. Are they implying that illegal aliens affected the workforce numbers?

Reread the CNN report and other reports you have heard lately after reading the following from the US Labor Department March 9, 2012.

“Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 227,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Employment rose in professional and businesses services, health care and social
assistance, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and mining.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons, at 12.8 million, was essentially unchanged in February. The unemployment rate held at 8.3 percent, 0.8 percentage point below the August 2011 rate.”
“Both the labor force and employment rose in February. The civilian labor force
participation rate, at 63.9 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 58.6 percent, edged up over the month. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged at 8.1 million in February. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In February, 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,
essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)
These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.0 million discouraged workers in
February, about the same as a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)
Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in February had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)”

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

There is nothing in the above report that accounts for a 0.2% increase in  the labor force participation.

On February Citizen Wells presented an article on unemployment facts and used the graph from BarackObama.com

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/obama-jobs-lies-truth-team-facts-real-unemployment-picture-obama-vs-reagan-jobs-created-not-lost-touted/

I received an email recently from the Truth Team. I was pleased to see that they presented the same graph revealing the worsening employment situation since December 2007.

“Today we received some good news: Last month, American businesses added another 233,000 jobs. That means that after inheriting an economy that was shedding more than 750,000 jobs a month when the President took office, we’ve now had two straight years of job growth. While it’s certainly encouraging, we all know there’s much more that needs to be done.

If you haven’t seen it, check out this jobs chart, spread the good news, and encourage friends to stand with the President as he continues to fight for jobs:”

I am certain that the Truth Team will want the following important omission rectified:

The Democrats took control of congress in 2007. That is when the job situation began worsening.

Truth Team, no thanks necessary.

I just want to make certain that the candidates quote the correct information.

Also, I believe that CNN deserves at least 4 Orwells for their Orwellian presentation of Obama’s performance.

Obama jobs lies, Truth team facts, Real unemployment picture, Obama vs Reagan, Jobs created not lost touted

Obama jobs lies, Truth team facts, Real unemployment picture, Obama vs Reagan, Jobs created not lost touted

“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

A habitual liar will let something slip. They often can’t keep straight the truth from the lies. Such it is with Barack Obama and the Obama Camp. Here is an example from BarackObama.com  February 3, 2012.
“23 Months of Job Growth”

 

“According to new jobs numbers released this morning, the economy added 257,000 private-sector jobs last month, making January the 23rd consecutive month of private-sector job growth.”

http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/23-months-of-job-growth

They must believe that their followers will accept anything they promote as gospel truth. Anyone paying attention at all knows that the employment picture painted by this graph is not realistic. Here are the facts regarding this graph. Truth Team, pay close attention.

1. The Democrats took control of congress in 2007. That is when the job situation began worsening.

2. The job creation numbers Obama has used have always been suspect.

3. The jobs lost and discouraged workers dropping out of the workforce are not reflected.

Based on the lies and Orwellian attempts to mislead the public I am compelled to give this article 5 Orwells.

Ulsterman presented some interesting graphs on February 24, 2012.

“While the Obama administration and the mainstream media attempt to paint Americaas enjoying a current economic recovery – the facts tell a very different story.  After some 5 TRILLION dollars in deficit spending, job growth remains as stagnant as ever under the yoke of the Obama presidency:”

“There are a couple of interesting observations to be made from the above graphic from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One, the steep decline in American jobs correlates to when the Democrats took over control of Congress. Coincidence? Perhaps. But then recall that Barack Obama begins his presidency in 2009 and the decline very much continues well into 2010 where it at least flatlines. 2010 was when Republicans then took control of the House of Representatives and gained a number of seats in the Senate – which the Democrats still control.
$5 TRILLION in lost taxpayer deficit dollars is quite a sum for what that chart reflects – stagnant job growth. Millions who remain unemployed. Millions more who have dropped out of even trying to find work and are therefor not even being counted in the unemployment figures.

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…”

 
Excellent Ulsterman!
 
For more graphs and data:
 

NC A&T University debuts new website, 400k grant, 10 percent tuition hike, More spending like drunken sailors in UNC university system

NC A&T University debuts new website, 400k grant, 10 percent tuition hike, More spending like drunken sailors in UNC university system

“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

“…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher

Recently I wrote about UNCG, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and other UNC state supported schools spending like drunken sailors and raising tuition. Here is another example. NC A&T is a UNC school also located in Greensboro, NC. Here is another example of questionable spending in the worst economy here since the Great Depression.
From the Greensboro News & Record print edition February 27, 2012.

“A&T debuts new website”

“A $ 400,000 grant funds redesign for vibrant, informative recruiting tool.”

” The new site (www.ncat.edu) launches today, and Martin said it clearly tells the Aggie story and will help the community to better connect and engage with the university.”

“The website was redesigned using $ 400,000 in grant money that helped pay for consultants that assisted university staff on the project.”

From the Greensboro News & Record 19, 2011.

“A&T trustees approve tuition hike”
“N.C. A&T students will see their tuition bills rise over the next five years under a plan the university’s board of trustees approved Friday afternoon.

A UNCG tuition and fee committee this week also recommended increases on that campus.

The tuition increases at A&T represent a 10 percent hike for undergraduates and 12 percent for graduate students.”

“Next year won’t be the last time A&T students feel the pain of a higher tuition bill. Under a plan to phase in increases, undergraduates will pay an additional $200 a year for another four years. Graduate students will pay an extra $300 a year during the same time period.

The UNC system has a 6.5 percent cap in place on tuition increases, but system leaders are allowing campuses this year to propose increases above that cap to help make up for money lost through budget cuts.”

““Literally, schools are in a position where we’ve got to figure out something else to do,” Akua Matherson, A&T’s assistant vice chancellor for budget and planning, told the trustees’ business affairs committee Friday morning in explaining the temporary lift on the tuition cap.

Matherson said the increases will help A&T maintain the level of funding needed to compete with its peer institutions.

The tuition money will generate nearly $5 million for the university. It will be invested in need-based financial aid, academic and student support, institutional support such as safety initiatives, and graduate assistantships.

Trustees unanimously approved the increases, but not without concern.

Once the increases kick in, trustee Pamela McCorkle Buncum said she would like to hear how they are affecting students.

She said she wants administrators to compile information such as how many are having to drop out to work and earn money for tuition.”

http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/11/18/article/at_trustees_approve_tuition_hike

 

Obama economy equals higher gas prices fewer jobs and more debt, Obama lies continue, Obama blocked Canada Keystone XL pipeline, Offshore leases

Obama economy equals higher gas prices fewer jobs and more debt, Obama lies continue, Obama blocked Canada Keystone XL pipeline, Offshore leases

“Obama energy policy: Pander to the left, lie to the poor and working class and enrich his friends.”…Citizen Wells

From the Washington Times February 24, 2012.

“Sessions: Obama ‘defeatist’ on rising gas prices”

“President Obama’s indignant defense this week of his administration’s energy policies has done nothing to deter GOP critics, as gas prices continue to rise amid worries that their continued climb could throw the economic recovery off course.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said in a letter to Mr. Obama Friday that the president was taking a “defeatist view” when it comes to trying to reduce gas prices.

“I reject the defeatist view that says the nation that won two world wars, pioneered space travel, and overcame the Soviet empire is now helpless in the face of high prices at the pump,” Mr. Sessions wrote. “We are not at the mercy of dictators, cartels and events beyond our control.”

In a speech in Miami Thursday, the president blamed the current spike prices on Wall Street speculators reacting to instability in the Middle East, most notably in Iran — not the amount of oil drilled in the U.S.

“There are no quick fixes to this problem,” Mr. Obama said. “You know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices.”

In his letter, Mr. Sessions echoed the views of other Republican critics in arguing that lifting Obama administration barriers to drilling would go a long way in helping drive down the price at the pump.

“Powerful action to harness America’s untapped oil and gas resources would place downward pressure on prices and speculation in the short run, and, by surging global supply, would serve to keep prices low in the future,” Mr. Sessions continued. “Crucially, it would also provide millions of Americans with good-paying, private-sector jobs; produce substantial royalties for local, state and federal governments; reduce our enormous trade imbalance; and put an end to our huge wealth transfer from American to competitors overseas.”

Mr. Sessions offered a list of proposals, including restoring the bipartisan 2010-2015 offshore lease plan to ensure that the 31 pending lease sales are completed expeditiously, abandoning Mr. Obama’s proposal to increase taxes and fees for oil and gas companies, and approving the massive Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline and expediting its completion.

“Your administration only directed one lease sale in 2011 and has announced just one lease sale for 2012, far short of the number of sales that would have occurred over this period under the original 2010-2015 plan that your administration discarded,” he wrote.

Mr. Sessions also urged Mr. Obama to “take all necessary steps” to accelerate the leasing and permitting process for domestic shale oil production and maximize oil production from federal lands, which are now producing just 714 million barrels a year — a 16 percent decline from what was projected five years ago.

In addition, the Alabama Republican called on the president to direct the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and other federal bodies to grant all necessary waivers and approvals to oil and gas refineries to facilitate maximum production at minimum cost.

“Refinery expenses comprise 11 percent of the price for gasoline that Americans pay at the pump, but your administration has imposed numerous regulations that have driven refining costs up, not down,” he contended.

A White House spokesman said the president is particularly sensitive to the impact rising gas prices are having on family budgets across the country, but said there’s no silver bullet to solve the problem.

“If your answer to this challenge of rising gas prices is just drilling for oil, you’re not going to find a very good answer because an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach is required,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Friday. “So that also is why the president is pursuing a range of other things: investments in biofuels, in renewable energy, wind and solar.”

The Obama administration is also backing the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the U.S. in 30 years, Mr. Earnest added.”

Read more:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/24/sessions-obama-defeatist-rising-gas-prices/

Obama lies continue, Energy policy Political Platitudes, Gas prices, Truth team moment, No concern from Obama for poor and working families

Obama lies continue, Energy policy Political Platitudes, Gas prices, Truth team moment, No concern from Obama for poor and working families

“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

PP effluent from Obama and left.

Political Platitudes.

These are designed to appeal to Obama’s core support, the left, the elitists, the experts at spending other people’s money, like colleges and universities.

Obama PP in recent speeches.

In regard to the Republicans plan:

“three-point plan for $2 gas”

“Step one is to drill, step two is to drill, and step three is to keep on drilling.”

“not a strategy to solve our energy challenge.”

“It’s the easiest thing in the world to make phony election-year promises about lower gas prices,”

“What’s harder is to make a serious, sustained commitment to tackle a problem that may not be solved in one year or one term or even one decade.”

And straight from “1984” by George Orwell.

“In 2011, the United States relied less on foreign oil than in any of the last 16 years. Because of the investments we’ve made, the use of clean, renewable energy in this country has nearly doubled, and thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.”

Obama is speaking to his elitist, know it all support, such as the UNC University System, which recently raised tuition in a down economy.

This is a Truth Team moment.

While I agree that we need a comprehensive, common sense based energy program, we also need cheaper oil products in the short term. If Obama and his cronies really cared about poor and working class families, they would be concerned about rising gas prices which in turn raise the price of almost everything else, especially food prices. Obama appeases lower income folks with his lying rhetoric and the left with PP, Political Platitudes.

Obama states “not a strategy to solve our energy challenge.” in response to Republicans wanting lower gas prices. Obama’s startegy to help the economy and jobs has failed.

Obama, what is your stategy to help the poor and working families afford food.

More food stamps!

“phony election-year promises”

Obama is the king of phony election year promises.

Obama plan:

Tax

Spend

Promise

Blame

And in case you haven’t noticed, here is a chart presented here last year of the gas prices since Obama took office. I am certain you are aware of food price increases.