A DNC Reality Check: Facts to Truth (Are you better off?)
This week during the DNC we will hear all kinds of soaring rhetoric not unlike that of candidate Obama from the 2008 campaign. We will even hear from President Clinton and when you do, remember back to March when he said this of Mitt Romney:
"I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say 'This is bad work. This is good work,'" Clinton said. "The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold."Clinton also went on to say that Romney's time at Bain Capital represented a "good business career."
As we begin a week of retread promises from Mr. Obama and his smiling surrogates, we need to keep this simple question in mind always:
Are you better off?
This week during the Democratic National Convention (and leading into the election), when you hear words like "invest" or any promised service or lower cost, ask yourself where they plan to get the funds for such "freebies" or subsidies. And remember that Mr. Obama and the Democrat congress currently do not operate from an approved budget, which means much higher deficit spending on top of Obama's spectacular record deficits since 2009. It is our hope that the following information will serve as a reference guide for you to anchor the DNC words in truth and fact.
- FACT: No incumbent president ever continued to blame his predecessor beyond the first year of his first term -- doing so is a sign of weakness in leadership. President Obama continues to blame President Bush all four years of his term as president, never taking responsibility for any of his failed decisions or actions.
- FACT: Candidate Obama stated it would take him three years (by end of 2011) to turn the economy around and if he didn't, his tenure would be "a one-term proposition." He failed miserably.
- FACT: Candidate Obama in July 2008 called President Bush "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic" for increasing the national debt by no more that $458B per year while Mr. Obama wracked up almost three times that level at $1.35T per year! (Candidate Obama ran on a platform of deficit reduction)
- FACT: The national debt when Obama took office in 2009 was at $10.6T and currently stands at $15.9T. By the end of Obama's four years as president, he will have increased the national debt by more than all prior presidents combined from George Washington to George Bush. The highest in world history.
- FACT: President Bush's proposed budget increase for fiscal 2009 was 3%; the budget approved and implemented by the Democrat majorities increased spending by 17.9% in 2009.
- FACT: When Obama took office in 2009 the unemployment rate was 7.8% and in 2012 it is at 8.2%. Obama promised that the stimulus would bring unemployment below 6%; the unemployment rate has been above 8% for 42 consecutive months with 23 million Americans currently out of work. No incumbent president in modern times has ever been re-elected with unemployment above 7.8%. The real unemployment rate is at approximately 16%. Unemployment is also being concealed by the between 3-4 million people who have been added to the Social Security disability insurance program since Obama took office.
- FACT: Hispanic unemployment is currently at 10.3%; when including those too discouraged to look for work, the unemployment rate is 19%.
- FACT: Median income when Obama took office was $54,983; three and half years later, median income has fallen by $4,019 to $50,964. There is no indication that median income will rise under President Obama.
- FACT: Gasoline prices at the time Obama took office were $1.85/gallon. Today, they are at $3.78/gallon.
- FACT: Average total federal spending as a percent of GDP under President Bush's eight years was 19.6% (this is also the approximate historical average as well). Obama's total federal spending as a percent of GDP is 24.4% and if you don't think that change is much, do the math. This is by far the largest spending since World War II. President Obama's proposed budget policies would bring the following levels of federal spending as a percentage of GDP to 30% by 2027, 40% by 2040, 50% by 2060, and 80% by 2080.
- FACT: At the end of Bush's second term, 24% of households received "means-tested" benefits such as welfare or food stamps. Not only has Obama increased these rolls to 35.1%, he has used marketing methods to encourage many more Americans to apply for food stamps. Additionally, about 50% of all Americans currently receive some type of government support according to the Census Bureau.
- FACT: Barack Obama has never run even a tiny business and therefore has no business sense at all. Any assertions he makes about business ring hollow. He has no clue how to take a business from concept to long-term profitability, which includes making payroll, month in and month out. Evidence? His completely out-of-touch diatribe of business owners: "If you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own! . . . If you've got a business, you didn't build that! Somebody else made that happen!"
- FACT: Obama has created over 150,000 new unionized federal jobs with median incomes exceeding $70,000 plus benefits, during a time of astounding unemployment in the private sector and while Republican governors have been cutting back public payrolls.
- FACT: Barack Obama never intended to keep the many promises he made in 2008. He is a man that has proven by inaction, that he is all talk. Mitt Romney has decades of experience driving to results. If he makes a promise, he will deliver on it. He is known for exceeding expectations relative to strategic goal setting.
As you listen to the many promises of largess this week, take a minute and reread each of the above bullet points to bring the oratory back to reality. Why should we even listen to Mr. Obama this time around let alone believe any promise or commitment he makes now?
Are you better off?
How does the old adage go? "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Let the deceit, betrayal, duplicity, and hypocrisy end with you. Mitt Romney is one of the most talented and skilled people to ever seek the Office of President of The United States of America. It is time to vote for a proven executive leader and tell Mr. Obama "it is time to go."
[Sources for above facts: 1) Forbes: President Obama: The Biggest Government Spender In World History (pushing 500,000 views), 2) Fox News: Five things you won't hear at the Democratic National Convention, 3) CNN, and 4) Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace]
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