Posted: January-20-2010 at 12:29pm | IP Logged	Tweet

I have seen this on the Sunday news programs and was wondering what my RL friends think. Today marks one year in Office for President Obama. So lets see what kind of grade you would give him and why??? 

Please keep it nice so we can have a good thought invoking talk.

Posted: January-20-2010 at 1:29pm | IP Logged	Tweet

I'm going to give a F.

The reason I am going to give a F is because I just don't agree with the healthcare reform.  I am really happy with my healthcare insurance through my employer.  From I hear is that the healthcare package could force employers to do away with their healthcare package and employees go with the new government package.  I am afraid that my cost to participate, prescription costs, doctor visit costs, and everything else associated will go up.  I think that if this new healthcare goes into affect that it should be for the uninsured.  I really have a lot of concerns about this.

Also I do not agree with some of the bail outs.  These companies have taken the bail outs and are still giving their big execs huge bonuses.  Then the banks who received a bail out and issue credit card's still charge way too high interest rates, mail the bills so that you barely have enough time to get it paid before you accrue a $39.00 late fee.  They use our money to stay alive and then still charge us what ever they want.  Let's think about this, it is CRAZY!!!  That's us taxpayer's money and I think we should have been given a say so in who got what. 

I feel really sorry for the people in Haiti.  I have no clue what they are going through.  However, you have companies like GM ($100k), Wells Fargo ($100k), Citigroup ($2 million) and others that have received federal bail out to stay open for business contributing to the Haiti relief fund.  Also, the US government has sent $100 million dollars.  I agree we should help out some but I think this excessive.  Especially from the bail out firms.  You know we have homeless people and people who have still not got their lives back together from Hurricane Katrina.  However instead of helping these people lets go ahead and send the money to a foreign nation.  Then you have commercials asking for us to donate to the Haiti relief fund by sending a text message and $10.00 will be applied to our cell phone bill.  Hello, I think when the bail out firms sent money to Haiti that we have already donated because that money came from us tax-payers in the first place.  I think we should take care of our own first and take care of others second.  Also, did we stop and think that we have people still laid off from this poor economy and they need help too.  What I am trying to say is the US has a huge debt and our government should try repaying that and the bail out firms should repay their bail out loans.  If companies like Wal-Mart, Microsoft and others that are free and clear want to donate that is fine as well as individuals.

Also, Obama during his campaign came to Lebanon and said he was for the coal industry.  Then he gets in office and "changes" his mind and bails on us by going with this Cap and Trade bill.  He wants alternative energy like windmill farms.  That is all good and everything but what makes the steel that is transformed into these windmills?  COAL.  What provides over 50% of the US electricity? COAL.  Without coal this country would not operate. 

All Obama is good for is spending money that the US will never be able to pay.  Like his moto says, he is good for "Change" because he changes his mind on things that got him elected.  He likes to give bail outs to money hungry companies because he likes to bail on the American people.

Posted: January-23-2010 at 9:14am | IP Logged	Tweet

WOOWOO wrote: Only thing I'm gonna say is.... To bad the grade scale STOPS AT F!

AAAAAAAAAAAMEN! Woo-Woo!

We talk about "watered down" racing on here all of the time with regards to NA$CAR. If you want "watered down" healthcare, let the government handle it. With no competition and no incentive to get better, this nation will lose its edge. This nation is all about competition and getting better, and everyone has the same chance at that. We can be what we want to because we are a free nation. Socialized medicine will force us into mediocrity, not to mention shifting almost 25% of the GDP into the governments hands.

Obama really does believe that punishing achievement will actually help this nation. I'm going to share some figures from the IRS website with you and this may astonish you.

First, I'm going to make this statement...roughly HALF of this country's population does not pay income tax. Half of the people in this country get back all of their Federal Income Tax witholdings as a refund. The only thing half of this nation pays are Social Security taxes...that is what you're not getting back and that's why many have the misconception that they don't get all of their taxes back on their refund. Anyway, back to the points:

• 86% of ALL income taxes are paid by the top 25% of wage earners.
• The top 50% pay 97% of ALL income taxes, and
• the top 1% pay 39% of ALL income taxes. That is actually up 2% from 2000 when President Bush took office.

Why am I pointing this out? It's really simple folks...Obama cannot tax his way into prosperity because half of this nation...the half that makes the most money has already been taxed to the hilt. This is the reason why our government needs to do things like assist small business start-ups. Small business is the backbone of the nation. The GM's and AIG's of the world ain't where it's at people! Small businesses out-number these guys and government jobs by 10-1! If you give people incentives to open businesses, that creates employees and employees create...you guessed it...TAXES...more taxes mean more income for everyone, including the Fed.

The bottom line is he has it all backwards. 1/2 of this nation holds the financial key to our overall success! If you lower taxes, those guys and gals invest more into opportunities that help everyone because they don't have to pay the hated Fed. In order to make more you have to invest more and incentive to invest is what will bring us out of all of this. If the Fed continues to look to them as a tax and spend vehicle, they get scared and hang on to it for fear they'll lose it, and that is usually what causes recessions.

Now let's talk about banks and credit where he gets an F-:

The other thing Obama is doing is over-regulating. I've been in the real estate business. This banking thing is the other deal they have to fix right away. So how are they going about it? Have you tried to get a consumer or mortgage loan lately? Most can't, even the ones with money and good credit. Why? Because the banks are holding on to their bail-out money. The Fed has increased auditors to unbelievable levels, and now we have bureaucrats deciding who gets loans and who doesn't. This is keeping small business start-ups at a literal crawl! When the banks went bust it was not because of the self-employeed and small business owners...it was because if you could fog a mirror, you could get a loan! This had nothing to do with small business and had everything to do with irresponsible lending to people with bad credit. So how are they fixing this? By fixing what wasn't broken! By solving a problem where there is no problem. Let me explain:

The Congress and Senate politicized "liar loans", which were really known as "Stated Income Loans", and when it was all said and done, the major reason our economy was working so well. These loans were given out to self-employeed and small businesses that otherwise couldn't qualify under a full-blown documentation loan because of this animal called a "Schedule C", which outlines a businesses expenses versus their income. Although their expenses were more than you or I because they own a business, it directly affected their overall gross income, and that was not fair because of the risk involved in owning a business in the first place and them having more to lose if they were to default. W-2 employees aren't asked to show every expense in order to get a loan so whay should they? So, if they had excellent credit they could qualify for a loan just like you and I. These were loans given to small businesses based on their credit. Because of their excellent credit, they could qualify for such things as mortgages and other commercial business loans. These loans accounted for exactly ONE in FIFTY defaults and foreclosures when the banks went bust. Folks that's 2%. So guess what? There is now no such thing as a stated income loan and that is why we still have huge problems in the small business and mortgage markets.

The lion's share of foreclosures and defaults came originally from folks who's credit worthiness wasn't too good, but Obama has punished the folks with decent credit and income by eliminating low-risk loan programs that really helped or made them too hard to qualify for.

The banks probably won't end up being the ones to lead us out of the credit crunch. Instead, it'll most likely private mortgage firms that work with individual investors that are more willing to take the chance...in other words, it'll be the smaller businesses and individuals. It won't be near the risk the government is making it out to be and those guys and gals will really make some money. After all, you usually get better the second time you do something than you did the first.

Posted: January-24-2010 at 6:40am | IP Logged	Tweet

Foriegn affairs?

Besides bowing to people he shouldn't bow to, closing Gitmo and moving terrorisits in our back yard, the global warming scam, and allowing Iran to run free with their nuke technology, I think he's doing fine.

The only instance where he has done what he said he would do is bolster troops to defeat Al Qaeda and The Taliban in Afghanistan. This of course means that my kid gets to deploy and "help em out" over there, so I'm not really happy about that one either.

The Afghanistan and defeating the Taliban was a campaign promise, so that will bring his grade up to a D.

Posted: January-24-2010 at 3:18pm | IP Logged	Tweet

I give him an EF...

... as in EPIC. FAIL!

Posted: January-25-2010 at 2:44pm | IP Logged	Tweet

"epic fail" i like that one a lot!! hey if you could watch other people do things on tv and actually be good at it i might be running sprint cup, but you can't, and apparantly it does not work in politics either, you gott have sperience as DW says, and this guy just ain't got the sperience for the job of president, can we give a double f -, that would be my grade!

Posted: January-26-2010 at 11:20pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Well said "dirttracker63." I agree with what you said.

And "BugMan," I believe you need to consider becoming a political news writer. HA HA HA ... Seriously, after reading down through your first post for a second time, you've pretty much hit the nail right on the head.

"Van_84," I'll add to your letter I by saying it's INCOMPETENT. Incompetent might not be a letter grade, but I believe it defines Barack Obama.