Big Dogs House

Obama Fudges The Numbers

Apr 19, 2010 Political

The dirty little secret that is not so secret among many is that after all the hype and fear mongering, after the passing of the nearly one trillion dollar stimulus bill, the thing did not work. It is hard to measure because Obama has moved the goalposts a few times. He and Biden said that things would happen quickly and then not so much. We were told that unemployment would not go above 8% and then when it did we were given a bunch of excuses. One of the biggest distortions is the idea of “saved” jobs. The regime claims to have saved jobs but this is not measurable and the different tools given to employers all but guaranteed that Obama could claim a “saved” job. If the company spent one dollar on an employee and that employee did not lose his job, even if that job was NOT going to be lost anyway, it is a save.

Bogus math, bogus accounting, bogus results.

But wait, there’s more.

The most recent report from the White House is that they saved or created 2.8 million jobs. Wow! That sounds great but it is not the truth. The reality is that the regime had to trim 7 million jobs from an earlier estimate in order to claim that it saved 2.8 million.

Confused? Big Government explains:

Here’s the math:

Step 1: How many jobs does the Administration currently claim there would be, without stimulus?

129.7 million Current number of U.S. jobs

- 2.8 million Jobs currently claimed to be “created or saved”

126.9 million Jobs the Administration currently claims there would be without stimulus

Step 2: How does that compare with the number of jobs the Administration used to say there would be without stimulus?

133.9 million January 2009 projection of jobs without stimulus

- 126.9 million Current claim of jobs without stimulus

= 7 million Jobs removed from the Administration “baseline” to justify their latest stimulus job creation claims

The January information can be found here (page 5 of the document).

The Obama regime predicted that we would have an increase of almost 3.7 million jobs with the stimulus for a total of 137.5 million. At that time we were told that without the stimulus we would only have 133.9 million people employed.

Now that there are only 129.7 million people employed the Obama regime has changed the parameters. Based on Obama’s January 2009 projections, we are 7.8 million jobs behind. In order to make it look like he saved or created jobs the baseline was adjusted down. Original projection 133.9M without stimulus and now 126.9M. This is deceptive and shows without a doubt that the stimulus did not work. If it had worked we would have employment at or near the numbers he predicted and most certainly the numbers would not have to be manipulated. I don’t want to hear people whine about this being projections and that there is uncertainty involved because Obama used these numbers and said we had to act NOW.

If he had stuck to his original numbers it would have been one thing but the very fact that the projection was lowered shows that he wants to deceive us.

So let us review. Obama projected that with the stimulus we would have 137.5M people working and we only have 129.7. Using his original baseline, the one he sold the stimulus with and the one we must hold him to, he lost 7.8M jobs.

This is the only way to look at the numbers. Any other way is dishonest. Obama cannot change the baseline just to make it look like he created or “saved” jobs. Imagine what would happen to the CEOs of private businesses if they used these kind of accounting practices. Does the name Enron ring a bell? Those folks were given jail time…

So it looks like Obama has lost 7.8M jobs. The stimulus has been a failure.

Politicians do not have to lie about successful things…

As an aside, there was a big debate about the job loss chart at this very site in the comments section. Here is another take on the issue and it is something you should keep in mind when the regime tries to sell you on the lies involving job numbers. Commenter Mike, you will appreciate this.

Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: big government, job loss, job numbers, lies, Obama

Obama Wants Us to Sacrifice Our Lifestyle

May 19, 2008 Political

Barack Obama was in Oregon where he is expected to win the state’s Democratic primary. He held a rally where, according to reports, 70,000 mindless people showed up to listen to their new Messiah. There are still questions as to whether this was the “Walk on water tour” or the “Fishes and loaves tour” but whichever it was the Messiah of Socialism did not disappoint. Barry O told the crowd that America must lead by example. What example is that you ask? Is it by living in freedom? Is it by following the rule of law as laid out in our Constitution? Is it by demonstrating acts of kindness to everyone including our adversaries (like in China)? No, Barry wants us to lead by giving up things we have gained as a result of our freedom

Pitching his message to Oregon’s environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to “lead by example” on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.

“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added. AFP [emphasis mine]

In order for the world to embrace the myth of man made global warming Americans have to give up eating what they want, driving what they want or keeping their homes at the temperatures they want. How exactly Barry O expects this leadership to take place is unclear but it is a sure bet that some type of government intervention will be involved. Perhaps increased taxes on SUVs, heating fuel and food deemed to be in excess of what the government thinks is required. Regardless of the method, it will certainly be a denial of our freedom to choose. As for exporting technologies, where is the money for that going to come from?

Despite what Barry O says, Americans should be free to drive what they want, eat what they want and keep their houses at the temperature they want and if the rest of the world does not like that then tough. Al Gore certainly does not set any examples for the world to follow. He has a carbon footprint that is larger than many small nations. Barry O has not given up traveling all over the country in jets in order to preach to the minions. He has a huge house that uses energy even while he is on the road or living in DC. I am not sure what he drives but if he is like most Democrats in Congress he drives a leased vehicle that uses lots of fuel.

Americans need to be focused on their own lives and on living the way they want. We do not need to care if people in third world nations around the globe are living a life that is substandard to ours. If they want improvement then they need to rise up and change their own situations. If they are waiting for me to stop driving a jeep for them I hope they are not holding their breath.

Others:
The Astute Bloggers
Big Dog Salute to Always on Watch

Tags: big government, leadership, Obama, sacrifice, socialism

Democrats fail to control government spending

May 13, 2008 Political

The Democrats promised to have an open government and to clean up the mess left by Republicans after 12 years of control. The Republicans brought the mess on themselves by turning into Democrats and increasing the size of government and the associated spending. Now that the Democrats have taken control spending continues to escalate even with record revenue to the treasury.

April saw an increase in revenue fueled by the tax deadline, a date where Americans demonstrate their lack of freedom by paying the government the fruits of individual labor. A total of $403.8 billion dollars was taken in by the government in April but spending for the month was higher than in April of last year. The deficit will get worse in the coming months as rebate checks go out, many to people who paid no taxes to begin with.

The federal government does not have an income problem, it has a spending problem. The politicians simply cannot control their spending habits and that means they need to take more and more of our money. Record revenues cannot keep them from spending more than they take in.

When Republicans were in control everything was blamed on them. The Democrats are now in control and this increase in spending comes on their watch. The size of government continues to grow and the Democrats continue to spend. Their open government is filled with back room deals and shady tactics allowing them to hide what they are doing.

The fact that we pay taxes is bad enough but the idea that they keep taking more and fail to control spending is even worse. We are supposed to be a free country but Americans did not enjoy their own money until April 23^rd this year (it would have been later but the “rebate¹” checks moved the date to the left). Everything we earned up until that date was required to satisfy our tax bill for the year. That means Americans, in effect, belong to the government and are forced to work for the government. Forced. The money is taken, not given and that means we are anything but free. We ended the practice of owning people and forcing them to work for free. The government must not have gotten the memo.

Instead of being a government of the people we are a government that enslaves the people. If the average employer took money from his employees he would go to jail. We are the employers of those in government and yet they confiscate our money.

The Democrats are in charge and government is growing. That does not relieve Republicans of any responsibility because government got bigger under their control as well. The only way to fix this problem is to vote every one of them out of office and start with new people and fresh ideas. We need to vote in people, regardless of party, who will limit the size of government and cut government spending. Otherwise we need to abolish the government and start over.

The spending problem is not new but the Democrats made a big issue of all the things that happened with Republicans in charge (even though the Democrats were just as guilty). That being the case, it is now time to hold the Democrats responsible for what is happening on their watch. The price of gasoline was $2.19 when they took control and now it is approaching $4.00. All of the economic woes happened since they took control and they are to blame for them. During the 2006 elections the economy was not an issue and the Democrats trumpet that they won because people are fed up with the war. The economy was not a major part of their platform, it was all about Iraq. Since they took over the economy has slumped and their promises to the anti war crowd have gone unfulfilled (not that I’m complaining about that).

Congress has the power to control spending, it is their Constitutional duty. They can blame the president but he signs or vetoes what they come up with. President Bush certainly added to the problem by losing his veto pen when his party was in power and spending increased. While he has found that pen, little has changed since Democrats took control. They continue to spend like drunken sailors on shore leave (my apologies to sailors). They are spending even more than the Republicans they criticized.

It is time for all Americans from both parties to band together and vote every incumbent out of office. I did my part and my Representative lost his primary. He will not be in office again and can cause no further harm (and he was a Republican). If you care for this country then vote them all out of office and let’s replace them with people who will do the job and do it right.

They refuse to pass a law limiting their terms but we have the power to do that ourselves by voting them out.

If we stay the course and add more Democrats to the rolls without replacing those who are already there we will get more big government and more spending which will lead to more taxes and further erosion of the dollar. Filling the place with Republicans without replacing the ones who are there will not be much different.

Source:
Yahoo Finance

¹ The checks are not really rebates. A rebate requires a person to spend money in order to get a portion of it back. Many folks who are getting checks paid no taxes at all. The scheme is actually income redistribution.

Tags: big government, Democrats, Pelosi, revenue, slavery, spending, taxes