Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Right, Wrong, True, Fiction, Facts and Falsehoods

The American people seem to be in their own created state of malaise. The country is still trying to deal with the horrific economic mess, loss of jobs and financial uncertainty placed on its people by the failed policies of former President George Bush. President Obama is catching flax from all quarters, especially republicans who are on record as wanting to see his administration fail.

Voters who helped elect Mr. Obama are un-willing to give him more time to get the country moving again and some say they will return to vote republican. The public is fed all kinds of stories on the T.V. networks by those same people who during the Bush administration said every thing was going great guns for the economy and the people. They are still there every night and they still have the same wrong answers. Many go back to Clinton's time in office and were wrong back then also.

The most recent drum beat is that the stimulus is not working. The facts are the stimulus is working, not to the extent to put the country back to work at the needed level of economic activity, but it is working. Half of the stimulus has yet to be spent. Most governors are bitching not enough jobs have been created under the stimulus. Well lets do some comparisons.

Take the state of Louisiana for instance. Louisiana governor Jindal often talks about how well La. is doing, however Edward Ashworth, Director Louisiana Budget Projects, Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations pointed out, "that an array of Louisiana Tax Exemptions were projected in this years state budget at approximately $6.5 billion." Those exemptions are supposed to be a stimulus to put Louisiana people to work and create jobs. The latest unemployment figures in Louisiana prove otherwise. December 2009 unemployment was 7.2%, up from 6.4% in November and up from 5.6% in December of 2008. (Source: Louisiana Workforce Commission) All that Louisiana stimulus and unemployment in Louisiana is going up not down. Perhaps voters should hold their governors to live up to the same standard as their President especially when creating jobs.

President Roosevelt had to deal with the great depression and it took longer than a year to put the country back on track economically. It took many government projects and a world war and many sacrifices by the people and finally we emerged as a nation and people to see and live better days. Mr. Roosevelt had to put the country in debt to get back on track. But we survived and paid off that debt. President Obama was not as fortunate when it comes to debt as the last 3 previous republican Presidents added $9.5 trillion to the national debt plus trillions of dollars in interest paid on that debt. Mr. Obama is left to deal with that debt burden along with the other economic problems not of his making.

President Obama should be given a fair chance to turn things around and the people need to have the wisdom to see what is going on. Mr. Obama has 3 more years to create a record to be judged by. Until then his policies should be supported. The alternative would be worse. The people should also seek the truth for themselves and be better prepared when called on to vote.

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