Here are the main topics in this article:
1. Jobs
2. Energy
3. Foreign policy
Lets look at them in order.
1. Obama's Jobs record
For me to prove this point I must prove that Obama jobs record has been sub-optimal throughout his first term. I must prove there are less people in jobs now then there where at the beginning of his term.
When Obama first took office unemployment was 7.8% [1].
The unemployment rate is not 8.2% [2].
Although there is current drops in unemployment it can be misleading by the way we count actual unemployment. It does not count the people who have given up based on a poor market, so we can assume much of the decline is based on people leaving the workforce not being able to get a job. And even with this we see unemployment recovery has stalled and, as we see at the end of the graph, beginning to rise again.
Based on the BLS way of counting unemployment is misleading, we need to look at the U-6 unemployment rate. This accurately counts the people who have given up looking for jobs based on the down market. The U-6 is the only way to really get a sense of how the economy is doing.
When Obama entered office the U-6 unemployment was 14.2%
Now in 2012 it is 14.9% [3].
here is a U-6 graph:
We similar trend lines to the graph above, though the improvement is much lower and the rate is much higher.
How about the stimulus?
1. Obama promised it would keep unemployment under 8%, it isn't even at that point as we speak
2. Obama promised it would lead into an immediate increase in jobs
3. He said it would lift 2 million americans out of poverty
Results? Here:
We see the general trend lines did not change after the stimulus. This means the stimulus likely had little effect [4]. Further all of his promises have failed [5].
2. Energy Policy
Lets look at his failures:
He turned the offer down. How many jobs would it create? "TransCanada Corp. has released a detailed job breakdown for the Keystone XL pipeline and said it will create 13,000 construction employment opportunities and 7,000 in manufacturing for Americans."[9]
There has been a 100% increase in gas prices.[10] He is also responsible for the increase as he has failed to increase the needed supply, in other words has cancelled many new refineries and is only building the ones already planned in the Bush administration (they have a few year lag time).
3. Foreign Policy
Obama has failed to ease the struggle between Israel and Palestine, worsened the problem with Iran for not being assertive, and weakened US - Israeli relations.[11][12]
The new START treaty hurts us, not Russia. It reduces our stockpile by 20% and has little overall impact on the Russian one.[13] It hurts us, it does not help.
Conclusion:
There is a lot more I could add in foreign policy, but I am going to be brief here as the economy is and was the major concern. In short: Obama has failed in Foreign, Economic, and Energy policy.
Sources:
1. http://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/2011/12/02/take-look-unemployment-report-mixed-bag/
2. http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
3. http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp
4. http://www.redstate.com/congressman_jim_jordan/2012/02/17/the-stimulus-chart-obama-doesn%E2%80%99t-want-you-to-see/
5. http://www.debate.org/debates/Resolved-Obamas-performance-in-the-White-House-has-not-been-successful/1/
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra_loan_controversy
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ener1
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Power
9. http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/10/transcanada-details-keystone-xls-job-creating-potential/?__lsa=64c7d8ee
10. http://www.policymic.com/articles/5379/high-gas-prices-are-president-obama-s-fault
11. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576341212934894494.html
12. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-foreign-initiatives-have-faltered/2012/01/05/gIQAeCqAkP_story.html
13. http://csis.org/publication/new-start-agreement
1. Jobs
2. Energy
3. Foreign policy
Lets look at them in order.
1. Obama's Jobs record
For me to prove this point I must prove that Obama jobs record has been sub-optimal throughout his first term. I must prove there are less people in jobs now then there where at the beginning of his term.
When Obama first took office unemployment was 7.8% [1].
The unemployment rate is not 8.2% [2].
Although there is current drops in unemployment it can be misleading by the way we count actual unemployment. It does not count the people who have given up based on a poor market, so we can assume much of the decline is based on people leaving the workforce not being able to get a job. And even with this we see unemployment recovery has stalled and, as we see at the end of the graph, beginning to rise again.
Based on the BLS way of counting unemployment is misleading, we need to look at the U-6 unemployment rate. This accurately counts the people who have given up looking for jobs based on the down market. The U-6 is the only way to really get a sense of how the economy is doing.
When Obama entered office the U-6 unemployment was 14.2%
Now in 2012 it is 14.9% [3].
here is a U-6 graph:
We similar trend lines to the graph above, though the improvement is much lower and the rate is much higher.
How about the stimulus?
1. Obama promised it would keep unemployment under 8%, it isn't even at that point as we speak
2. Obama promised it would lead into an immediate increase in jobs
3. He said it would lift 2 million americans out of poverty
Results? Here:
We see the general trend lines did not change after the stimulus. This means the stimulus likely had little effect [4]. Further all of his promises have failed [5].
2. Energy Policy
Lets look at his failures:
- Solyndra. Was awarded over 500 million in tax payer money and 25 million in tax incentives. Went bankrupt.[6]
- Ener1, green energy company. 118 million dollars in tax payer money. Went bankrupt.[7]
- Beacon power, green energy storage company. Got 43 million dollars in DOE money from the Obama administration. Went bankrupt.[8]
- Proised 5 million energy jobs, now says created or saved 65,000 jobs. Broken promise much?
He turned the offer down. How many jobs would it create? "TransCanada Corp. has released a detailed job breakdown for the Keystone XL pipeline and said it will create 13,000 construction employment opportunities and 7,000 in manufacturing for Americans."[9]
There has been a 100% increase in gas prices.[10] He is also responsible for the increase as he has failed to increase the needed supply, in other words has cancelled many new refineries and is only building the ones already planned in the Bush administration (they have a few year lag time).
3. Foreign Policy
Obama has failed to ease the struggle between Israel and Palestine, worsened the problem with Iran for not being assertive, and weakened US - Israeli relations.[11][12]
The new START treaty hurts us, not Russia. It reduces our stockpile by 20% and has little overall impact on the Russian one.[13] It hurts us, it does not help.
Conclusion:
There is a lot more I could add in foreign policy, but I am going to be brief here as the economy is and was the major concern. In short: Obama has failed in Foreign, Economic, and Energy policy.
Sources:
1. http://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/2011/12/02/take-look-unemployment-report-mixed-bag/
2. http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
3. http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp
4. http://www.redstate.com/congressman_jim_jordan/2012/02/17/the-stimulus-chart-obama-doesn%E2%80%99t-want-you-to-see/
5. http://www.debate.org/debates/Resolved-Obamas-performance-in-the-White-House-has-not-been-successful/1/
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra_loan_controversy
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ener1
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Power
9. http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/10/transcanada-details-keystone-xls-job-creating-potential/?__lsa=64c7d8ee
10. http://www.policymic.com/articles/5379/high-gas-prices-are-president-obama-s-fault
11. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576341212934894494.html
12. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-foreign-initiatives-have-faltered/2012/01/05/gIQAeCqAkP_story.html
13. http://csis.org/publication/new-start-agreement
No comments:
Post a Comment