World Politics

Keith Olberman is back on his show today.:bolian:

Here are eight of the biggest myths that are out there pertaining to President Obama~

1.. President Obama tripled the deficit~
Reality Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first reduced that to $1.29 trillion~

2.. President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the ecomony~
Reality Obmama cut taxes 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been~

3.. President Obama bailed out the banks~
Reality While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were request by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson [Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency] The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.~

4..The stimulus didn't work~
Reality The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs~

5.. Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts~
Reality A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts~

6.. Health care reform costs $1 trillion~
Reality The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion~

7.. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke", people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc~
Reality Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit [compare that to the military budget]! Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die..people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to~

8.. Government spending takes money out of the economy~
Reality Government as we, the people and the money it spends is on WE, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid", when that is only a small part of the government's budget~

Source:The Official Newsletter of Democrats~
 
i agree with all your points entirely, just a couple of things to add to that really - and obviously as i know we agree none of these comments are directed at you, more at the people who believe the kind of myths you just posted...


1.. President Obama tripled the deficit~ - er, no, people, i think you'll find that was bush!

2.. President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the ecomony~ in addition to what you said, taxes often plough straight back into the economy, it's not like the government really have that many other choices when it comes to raising revenue, tax for someone has to go up. it's just a shame it's usually the people and not the money grubbing corporations.

6.. Health care reform costs $1 trillion~ well if you look at nations' spending on healthcare, it really doesn't. the uk has universal healthcare, with only prescriptions paid for by the consumer, and we have a far lower per capita/% of GDP spend on healthcare than the us does. the same goes for most european nations with universal health provision.

another thing: changing healthcare systems probably does cost money one way or another, but having a healthy, strong workforce ploughs tons of money back into the GDP, thus balancing it out. it's called the long game!


7.. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke", people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc~

life expectancy hasn't lengthened because of SocSec, it's lengthened because of huge advances in medical technology, healthier diets etc etc. but i doubt many people would condone not treating illnesses just to benefit the economy. oh wait, the USA already does... :rolleyes:

8.. Government spending takes money out of the economy~ 3 words: john maynard keynes.
 
Uh, these were not MY points just the facts and truths, if anyone wants to bring up all of Presidents accomplishments/achievements go to GOOGLE and put those words in and you will see that all of these are in fact.. facts, things he's done in a short two year period! ~
 
er, yeah, i know, that's what i said at the beginning, that i realised you'd already made points refuting the myths, i was just adding some extra points :)
 
I enjoy reading what's going on in the UK, it keeps us informed over here, but again these were not MY points just reality on what's going on here in the good old USA:bolian:
 
President Obama is back from his trip to Asia, and already he's got people down his throat.. A meeting between him and his "Republican friends" will take place on Nov. 18.. good luck Barack. Fidel Castro "slams President Obama", and who cares what an 84-yr. old Communist leader says anyway:rolleyes:plus other U.S. news about what's happening in our political world~

http://www.aolnews.com/category/politics
 
^ palin doesn't know what she's talking about anyway, she thinks USA and N Korea are on the same side!

lovely to see so many students and school kids turn out for massive protests against cuts and tuition fees across the uk today, a real shame (but very predictable) to see the cops employing heavy handed, borderline illegal tactics on them. there's another one planned i think next week, i intend to go this time.
 
talkingtocactus said:
^ palin doesn't know what she's talking about anyway, she thinks USA and N Korea are on the same side!

lovely to see so many students and school kids turn out for massive protests against cuts and tuition fees across the uk today, a real shame (but very predictable) to see the cops employing heavy handed, borderline illegal tactics on them. there's another one planned i think next week, i intend to go this time.
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:guffaw:On Sarah Palin, ya' got that right.. she's a idiot.. and I saw the protests on TV, wow, that sucks that their raising the tuition:(
 
as one of my friends put it "She makes Bush II look like a combination of Karl Marx and Thomas Jefferson - he's a political, social and financial genius compared to this specimen. Dark times ahead..."

the protests were, well, still are, they're ongoing, an interesting time. for the first time ever i think it wasn't just adults protesting, lots of school kids came out too, many marching alongside their teachers (which is a great thing), not only are the government hiking tuition for unis (thus making a uni education even harder for those currently at school), they're also scrapping measures that allow poorer kids to remain in school instead of having to go out and work at 16. so this really affects them. a couple of my friends were heavily involved in organising this and several people i know are still occupying uni buildings. i'm meant to be going to uni tonight (i have a migraine tho so i'll see how i feel) so it'll be interesting to see if i can show some support while there.
 
They just had the Sarah Palin North Korea/South Korea gaffe on the news here. Words actually fail me.

As for the tuition fees protests, I agree with the sentiment of the protest but the actions of a small minority disgust me. From the self-proclaimed anarchists who find it perfectly acceptable to not only damage police and government property to the complete and utter moron who put lives at risk by throwing that fire extinguisher off of a building.

I understand that it is a small minority who are hijacking the protests and it's unfair on the students who are trying to get their message across as they're all going to be tarred with the same brush by the government and the authorities.

Considering I've recently quit uni I can and do sympathise with the students, tuition fees are already too expensive IMO and to put them up to nearly £10,000 a year is, in my opinion, as good as robbery.
 
^ yeah, even my friends organising the occupations were disappointed by the few that got violent. that said, much of the violence was provoked/started by the police who used violence first, and that's even sadder.

article about protests in cambridge where police started the violence: http://badconscience.com/2010/11/25/cambridge-demo-policeman-punches-student-in-face/

and here are two excellent articles by laurie penny (new statesman, guardian) about how even the "non violent" police tactics, notably kettling (which is frankly disgusting, especially where kids are involved) just make the situation worse. laurie penny puts it very succinctly here: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny/2010/11/children-police-kettle-protest

Take a protest, one whose premise is uncomfortable for the administration - say, yesterday's protest, with thousands of teenagers from all over London walking out of lessons and marching spontaneously on Westminster to voice their anger at government cuts to education funding which will prevent thousands from attending college and university. Toss in hundreds of police officers with riot shields, batons, dogs, armoured horses and meat wagons, then block the protesters into an area of open space with no toilets, food or shelter, for hours. If anyone tries to leave, shout at them and hit them with sticks. It doesn't sound like much, but it's effective.

...I didn't understand quite how bad things had become in this country until I saw armed cops being deployed against schoolchildren in the middle of Whitehall. These young people joined the protest to defend their right to learn, but in the kettle they are quickly coming to realise that their civil liberties are of less consequence to this government than they had ever imagined. The term 'kettle' is rather apt, given that penning already-outraged people into a small space tends to make tempers boil and give the police an excuse to turn up the heat
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/24/student-protests-childrens-crusade

i guess my point is yes, it's a shame that some protestors resorted to violence (and the one last week that threw a fire extinguisher off a roof into the crowd was particularly shocking), but it's also a shame that a legal right to peaceful protest is treated with such heavy handed and violent (or at least violence engendering) tactics. we realise the government don't like people disagreeing with them, and some would say that's what voting is for, but when they are voted in on promises that they then go back on, what are people to do? the last schoolkid quoted in that 2nd penny article put it perfectly:

"I wish they weren't breaking things," says Leyla, "but this is what happens when they ruin people's futures."
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