This is Tom Vilsack:
This guy is exactly what’s wrong with the federal government today. He is the Agriculture Secretary. He is in charge of the food stamp programs. That includes WIC too. Now, he saw this data:
That is the number of people on food stamps. It has basically increased every single month since Tom Vilsack has been the Agriculture Secretary. This is his take on that data:
“The reason why these number have gone up is that we’ve done a pretty good job of working with states that had done a poor job in the past in getting the word out about this program,” he told MSNBC. “We’re now working with them to make sure that people who are eligible get the benefits.”
My take’s a little different:
See that spike right at the beginning of Obama/Vilsack’s term? That’s about 25% or so. I’m going to bet everyone of those people wound up on Vilsack’s tab.
Only in DC can someone look at a sharp increase of people living in poverty and not only call it a success, but actually try to credit for it.
However, I don’t think most people are going to give Vilsack credit for the horrid shape of the current economy.
14
Dec
I had this to say a while back:
Fair warning here folks, the next couple of years will suck if you’re an independent business owner
That was in reference to Ted Kennedy wanting to raise the minumum wage because Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over Washington. He got what he wanted. Unemployment increased more than 100% since that point. Obama has tossed trillions at the problem. We’ve had TARP, the bailouts, fights over taxes, fights over earmarks, everything you can imagine. But so far I’ve not seen one single person suggest we undo the single event that seemed to instigate the entire fiasco that SOME people knew would cause all this to happen. Make it cheaper to hire people and the jobs will come.
Heh! Trick question of course. It was never meant for you if you weren’t a construction project:
Raise your hand out there, how many of you thought Joe Biden was promising jobs?
Maybe a little more looking is warranted:
“We’ve gone from hemorrhaging over 700,000 jobs a month the first several months . . . to adding several hundred thousand jobs a month in the last several months.” He cited 2.3 to 2.8 million jobs saved or created by last year’s stimulus bill, and projected that the U.S. was on track to create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010, announcing, “The fact is, the recovery act is working.”……
“It means a lot more lunch breaks at the local diner . . . and a lot more trips to the barbershop, to the movies, to the department store — helping those businesses . . . maintain their employment base and increase their employment base.”……..
”The vast majority of those 2.2 million to 2.8 million jobs have not been Census jobs,” and reaffirmed his conviction that the private sector would make up the “vast bulk” of jobs stemming from the stimulus.
He accounted for the 9.7 percent unemployment rate — higher than the 7.5 percent the White House had previously predicted — asserting, “This recession was so much deeper, so much more profound than most people thought it [would be]. . . . We never thought that $787 billion was going to fill that hole. The purpose of it was to keep people from falling into the abyss . . . and begin to build a ladder to climb out of that hole.”…….
“make a distinction between . . . bailing out the banks, TARP [and] a funding program called the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The measurement is: Is it feeling better? Am I more confident?. . . They do not associate that with — nor would I expect to them to — ‘that was the Recovery Act [that] created those jobs.’ “
And Alex Wagner summed up her article by stating:
You know what, when it was expedient to take credit, Joe Biden was quick to jump on it. He jumped the gun tho. Now that it’s biting him the butt, Austan Goolsbee is the rube expected to cover Biden’s butt. Any effort whatsoever just makes Austan look like an amateur hack lying through his teeth. What exactly does Austan even mean? Sheez.
While employment still failed to gain any traction, businesses increased their inventories and invested in infrastructure. Usually when businesses invest heavily, you get employment. This time however, it all came from overseas by way of imports, which surged 28%.
The reason is simple, it’s so much cheaper to buy overseas than it is to try to manufacture this stuff here. And, with Obama making damn sure hiring people gets as expensive as he possibly can, it’s just going to get worse. There’s no law that tells businesses they have to buy domestic. Even with Obama’s Cash for Clunkers program, most of that money went to buy foreign made cars. Sure, some of them were manufactured in the United States, but a lot were not. And apparently a good deal of the current ARRA money is being sent out of the country. That just doesn’t really do us much good now does it? Borrowing money to give to other countries. Bad plan.
Rule #1: If you receive Recovery money, it has to stay here. That won’t solve the whole problem, but it will certainly mitigate the damage of these brain-dead stimulus programs.
And the next time Obama brags on the millions of jobs he saved, ask him which country they were in.
26
Aug
A few months or so ago, Obama hit the beach and started delivering his “economy is recovering, but not enough” message. Some think this was in response to the rather catastrophic forecast of the first Tuesday in November. Personally, I do. “It’s the economy, stupid.” Simple message, hard to debate. The message then was that the recovery was so obvious even his critics had to admit it. He wouldn’t say who they were, but you know who they are because they would go home and take credit for the successes. Well, as of today, it’s not being reflected on Wall Street. That’s who Obama blames for all of our problems.
When he gave that speech, the Dow had just topped 10,500. As of today, it’s 9,985. What’s scarier is some finance guys are forecasting 5,000 in less than two years. I won’t rule them out. I’m looking for that “critic” that has to admit that negative growth is an obvious sign of recovery.
In the time he gave that speech, new housing permits have dropped from historic lows. I don’t think anyone in housing construction is quite ready to admit that negative growth is an obvious sign of recorvery either.
In the time since he gave that speech, unemployment has dropped .2%. However, employment has dropped precipitously as well. It’s not that fewer are claiming unemployment benefits because they’re finding jobs, it’s that fewer people are even trying to at this point. I don’t think too many critics will admit that fewer people working is an obvious sign of recovery either.
Quite frankly, the speech he made on May 18, 2010 claiming his critics were going home taking credit for the obvious recovery is just a flat out lie. It looked bad then, it looks much worse now. I’d shout out “You lie!”, but then I’d be called a racist. So, I won’t. I’ll just type it very quietly here.
22
Jul
We got the news that unemployment claims have risen this week. That’s in July. That’s as in traditionally one of the busiest months of the year. That puts Obama on a course of distinction:
| President | Avg Unemp |
|---|---|
| Obama | 9.5 |
| Ford | 7.8 |
| Reagan | 7.5 |
| Carter | 6.5 |
| GHW Bush | 6.3 |
| Kennedy | 6.0 |
| GW Bush | 5.3 |
| Clinton | 5.2 |
| Nixon | 5.0 |
| Eisenhower | 4.9 |
| Truman | 4.2 |
| Johnson | 4.2 |
11
May
Yesterday we had two issues, among many, that demanded Obama’s attention.
Barack Obama, addressing an audience in Hampton, Virginia, said nothing. The government very quietly wrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac checks and that was the end of it. In his speech, Obama bemoaned modern technology providing too much information:
That’s $84.6 BILLION and counting the Obama administration has given Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to keep them going. They have announced they’ll need funding indefinitely, Obama didn’t say a peep. The private banks have cost the people nothing, Obama is all over them. The Dow did an odd thing last week, Obama was all over that too. Although Obama has found time to attack private sector banking, no one is allowed to touch Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Try to even get a Fannie Mae loan right now. Go ahead, I dare ya to call your bank and get a Fannie Mae quote. The closing costs are outrageous. You WILL be amazed.
However, The Obama administration did find time to address another truly demanding national emergency:
OK, ya get that? Obama’s administration, in this time of 9.9% official unemployment, found time to pretty much force airlines and trains to unionize those employees not yet unionized. Granted the rules were stacked against unions in their minds, since it previously required a majority vote of all employees affected. Now, it’s a simple majority of voters. Anyone can argue the pros and cons of this move. The problem I have is the move was made, period. Of all the huge issues ripping at the very fabric of this culture, Obama ignored a financial crisis, enabled unions, told people not to use their technology to listen to the news
Oh yeah, he did one other little thing over the last couple of days. He nominated a Supreme Court Justice candidate who has never been a justice who currently answers to him.
Here’s the headline story:
The headlines all explain what the problem is. So, what does Henry Waxman, one of the key supporters of all this have to say?
Here is the actual letter:
Bart Stupak harasses Samuel Allen
The implication from Waxman is this is a political stunt by AT&T and a couple of others. For some reason he’s ignoring Boeing:
The corporate tax bill for the health care overhaul rose some more today, with Boeing and Lockheed Martin announcing a combined $246 million in charges because they’re losing a deduction for some prescription drug expenses for retirees.
That’s from a completely different story. In fact:
Other announcements today included a $41 million non-cash charge announced by diversified manufacturer Ingersoll-Rand PLC, and $10 million charge for aerospace supplier Goodrich Corp.
Now, these announcements are not from off-the-cuff remarks or something, they come from what is called “guidance”. If something substantial affects a publicly-held and traded stock, they underline;”>have to warn people. That’s the law. So, what Waxman and Stupak are doing is either having them explain what people have been telling them for a year, or, they are singling them out. If they are singling them out, ergo discouraging them from filing tangible impacts on publicly held stock, they are in effect breaking the law. So, this committee hearing should be real fun, if anyone takes it seriously. And if anyone is, the first comments would be explaining how this is not discouraging other companies from stating publicly that the loss of a common business tax deduction will not affect the value of the public’s investment.
Otherwise, the hearing is illegal.
And if they puruse the hearing, Waxman will have to explain to those companies how the loss of a common tax deduction would NOT affect the public’s investment. That should be real fun.
But, that is what we’ve been told for a year now.
Really, this hearing should be on Comedy Central.
OK, so some economist said a whole bunch of people might lose their jobs. Then, the actual numbers came in less than what might have been.
Harry Reid was thrilled. You can see the excitement in his eyes. You can hear it in his voice:
Now, this is where it gets dicey. The immediate assumption by Harry and supporting media is that since things didn’t get worse, they have to be getting better. Yeah. History, please:
| Year | February | March | Change |
| 2000 | 4.1 | 4 | -0.1 |
| 2001 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 0.1 |
| 2002 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 0 |
| 2003 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 0 |
| 2004 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 0.2 |
| 2005 | 5.4 | 5.2 | -0.2 |
| 2006 | 4.8 | 4.7 | -0.1 |
| 2007 | 4.5 | 4.4 | -0.1 |
| 2008 | 4.8 | 5.1 | 0.3 |
| 2009 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 0.4 |
Six out of the last ten years, that’s 60 percent, March was worse than February. To put it in a little more perspective, since Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi took over the spending process in Congress, they’re 0 for 2.
That’s zero percent. Nevermind that, everyone should party since only 36,000 more people lost their jobs “today”.
16
Feb
This week we had Joe Biden assuring as that allowing a bomber on an airplane and the fact his bomb failed to explode is proof their anti-terrorism plan is working just fine. Then, we had him assuring a crowd of people their stimulus plan is working:
Not sure how well the crowd bought it. He was in Michigan. I’m sure next he’ll come to Kentucky to speak in Lexington how well its working since Toyota just shut down the largest auto plant in Kentucky.
This same week, Evan Bayh decided he had had all he could possibly stomach in DC and quit.
