If we had a Republican president right now ...

[Amelia]

If we had a Republican president right now, unemployment would be under 8% yet Democrats would be screaming about how awful it was. As opposed to it being over 8% and Democrats thanking Obama for it.

Why would it be under 8%? Because a Republican wouldn't have done Obamacare. A Republican would have meant it when he said that his number one focus was on improving the economy, and wouldn't have spent an entire year stomping all over whatever stimulative actions he, the Fed and the Congress had agreed to take. A Republican would be approving oil leases and not stonewalling on other projects which would help free us from dependence on Middle East oil. Etc.

But basically, it wouldn't be what the Republican did. It would be more just him not even being tempted to do job-killing things that Democrats do. So the business climate would be more upbeat.

Of course the Democrats would be doing their best to talk down consumer confidence the way they did in 2004 when unemployment was 5.5 and falling. So it would still be trying times.

 

[Chris]

If we had a Republican president right now, unemployment would be under 8% yet Democrats would be screaming about how awful it was. As opposed to it being over 8% and Democrats thanking Obama for it.

Why would it be under 8%? Because a Republican wouldn't have done Obamacare. A Republican would have meant it when he said that his number one focus was on improving the economy, and wouldn't have spent an entire year stomping all over whatever stimulative actions he, the Fed and the Congress had agreed to take. A Republican would be approving oil leases and not stonewalling on other projects which would help free us from dependence on Middle East oil. Etc.

But basically, it wouldn't be what the Republican did. It would be more just him not even being tempted to do job-killing things that Democrats do. So the business climate would be more upbeat.

Of course the Democrats would be doing their best to talk down consumer confidence the way they did in 2004 when unemployment was 5.5 and falling. So it would still be trying times.

Bullshit.

You are living in a fantasy world. Let's review the last time we had a Republican president...

George W. Bush inherited a strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace.

Eight years later, he left Obama with a shattered economy, a trillion dollar deficit, and two useless wars.

Obama saved the country from another Great Depression, rebuilt GM, reformed healthcare, reformed Wall Street, doubled the stock market, created 7 straight quarters of GDP growth, created 20 straight months of private sector job growth, increased household worth by $9 trillion dollars, got Bin Laden, got Gaddafi, and got us out of Iraq.

And now with the automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, Obama has solved the deficit problem as well.

 

[imbalance]

If we had Ron Paul as president since the late 80s there would've been no dotcom bubble, no housing bubble, no financial crisis, and we wouldn't currently be engaged in preemptive foreign wars that bleed us dry.

just sayin

 

[TheDecepticon]

If we had a Republican president right now, unemployment would be under 8% yet Democrats would be screaming about how awful it was. As opposed to it being over 8% and Democrats thanking Obama for it.

Why would it be under 8%? Because a Republican wouldn't have done Obamacare. A Republican would have meant it when he said that his number one focus was on improving the economy, and wouldn't have spent an entire year stomping all over whatever stimulative actions he, the Fed and the Congress had agreed to take. A Republican would be approving oil leases and not stonewalling on other projects which would help free us from dependence on Middle East oil. Etc.

But basically, it wouldn't be what the Republican did. It would be more just him not even being tempted to do job-killing things that Democrats do. So the business climate would be more upbeat.

Of course the Democrats would be doing their best to talk down consumer confidence the way they did in 2004 when unemployment was 5.5 and falling. So it would still be trying times.

Yeah, giving the keys BACK to the guys who drove the economy into the sewage ditch always makes perfect sense.
In what way would John "The fundamentals of our economy are strong" McCain been better? It seems he didn't even GRASP the magnitude of the problem.

If a republican had been President, we'd be in a FULL BLOWN DEPRESSION right now.

Get on your knees and thank Obama for fixing the mistakes CONSERVATIVES made through their reckless deregulation and incompetence.

 

[Luissa]

Our unemployment rate is so high because we had a republican in the white house for eight years.

You don't destroy an economy then put all the blame on the President who has to come in and clean up the mess. Obama has made mistakes, but he got a shit storm to begin with. Get a clue, and stop being a partisan hack.

 

[Warrior102]

If we had a Republican president right now, unemployment would be under 8% yet Democrats would be screaming about how awful it was. As opposed to it being over 8% and Democrats thanking Obama for it.

Why would it be under 8%? Because a Republican wouldn't have done Obamacare. A Republican would have meant it when he said that his number one focus was on improving the economy, and wouldn't have spent an entire year stomping all over whatever stimulative actions he, the Fed and the Congress had agreed to take. A Republican would be approving oil leases and not stonewalling on other projects which would help free us from dependence on Middle East oil. Etc.

But basically, it wouldn't be what the Republican did. It would be more just him not even being tempted to do job-killing things that Democrats do. So the business climate would be more upbeat.

Of course the Democrats would be doing their best to talk down consumer confidence the way they did in 2004 when unemployment was 5.5 and falling. So it would still be trying times.

Bullshit.

You are living in a fantasy world. Let's review the last time we had a Republican president...

George W. Bush inherited a strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace.

Eight years later, he left Obama with a shattered economy, a trillion dollar deficit, and two useless wars.Obama saved the country from another Great Depression, rebuilt GM, reformed healthcare, reformed Wall Street, doubled the stock market, created 7 straight quarters of GDP growth, created 20 straight months of private sector job growth, increased household worth by $9 trillion dollars, got Bin Laden, got Gaddafi, and got us out of Iraq.

And now with the automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, Obama has solved the deficit problem as well.

Obama didn't "inherit" jack shit. He knew what was on the table, he campaigned for the job, won the election and has fucked things up since day one. And the "two" useless wars are now 10! We have our troops currently involved in TEN global conflicts, while Barry's out golfing. Need a list of the 10 conflicts, or have you stopped keeping track of "useless wars." Happy to bring you up to speed, asswipe.

 

[Avatar4321]

I have no clue where we would be if a Republican was President. And honestly, I wouldn't speculate. Because the President we would have is John McCain.

Ive never been a fan of McCain.

 

[Sallow]

If we had a Republican president right now, unemployment would be under 8% yet Democrats would be screaming about how awful it was. As opposed to it being over 8% and Democrats thanking Obama for it.

Why would it be under 8%? Because a Republican wouldn't have done Obamacare. A Republican would have meant it when he said that his number one focus was on improving the economy, and wouldn't have spent an entire year stomping all over whatever stimulative actions he, the Fed and the Congress had agreed to take. A Republican would be approving oil leases and not stonewalling on other projects which would help free us from dependence on Middle East oil. Etc.

But basically, it wouldn't be what the Republican did. It would be more just him not even being tempted to do job-killing things that Democrats do. So the business climate would be more upbeat.

Of course the Democrats would be doing their best to talk down consumer confidence the way they did in 2004 when unemployment was 5.5 and falling. So it would still be trying times.

Magical thinking.

McCain would have doubled down on Iraq and Afghanistan, and more then likely did a full on invasion of Iran.

 

[Sallow]

If we had a Republican president right now, unemployment would be under 8% yet Democrats would be screaming about how awful it was. As opposed to it being over 8% and Democrats thanking Obama for it.

Why would it be under 8%? Because a Republican wouldn't have done Obamacare. A Republican would have meant it when he said that his number one focus was on improving the economy, and wouldn't have spent an entire year stomping all over whatever stimulative actions he, the Fed and the Congress had agreed to take. A Republican would be approving oil leases and not stonewalling on other projects which would help free us from dependence on Middle East oil. Etc.

But basically, it wouldn't be what the Republican did. It would be more just him not even being tempted to do job-killing things that Democrats do. So the business climate would be more upbeat.

Of course the Democrats would be doing their best to talk down consumer confidence the way they did in 2004 when unemployment was 5.5 and falling. So it would still be trying times.

Bullshit.

You are living in a fantasy world. Let's review the last time we had a Republican president...

George W. Bush inherited a strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace.

Eight years later, he left Obama with a shattered economy, a trillion dollar deficit, and two useless wars.Obama saved the country from another Great Depression, rebuilt GM, reformed healthcare, reformed Wall Street, doubled the stock market, created 7 straight quarters of GDP growth, created 20 straight months of private sector job growth, increased household worth by $9 trillion dollars, got Bin Laden, got Gaddafi, and got us out of Iraq.

And now with the automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, Obama has solved the deficit problem as well.

Obama didn't "inherit" jack shit. He knew what was on the table, he campaigned for the job, won the election and has fucked things up since day one. And the "two" useless wars are now 10! We have our troops currently involved in TEN global conflicts, while Barry's out golfing. Need a list of the 10 conflicts, or have you stopped keeping track of "useless wars." Happy to bring you up to speed, asswipe.

He's hasn't fucked anything up. It was fucked up to begin with.

You see Lehman around anywhere? Oh right.

It's gone.

 

[Warrior102]

Bullshit.

You are living in a fantasy world. Let's review the last time we had a Republican president...

George W. Bush inherited a strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace.

Eight years later, he left Obama with a shattered economy, a trillion dollar deficit, and two useless wars.Obama saved the country from another Great Depression, rebuilt GM, reformed healthcare, reformed Wall Street, doubled the stock market, created 7 straight quarters of GDP growth, created 20 straight months of private sector job growth, increased household worth by $9 trillion dollars, got Bin Laden, got Gaddafi, and got us out of Iraq.

And now with the automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, Obama has solved the deficit problem as well.

Obama didn't "inherit" jack shit. He knew what was on the table, he campaigned for the job, won the election and has fucked things up since day one. And the "two" useless wars are now 10! We have our troops currently involved in TEN global conflicts, while Barry's out golfing. Need a list of the 10 conflicts, or have you stopped keeping track of "useless wars." Happy to bring you up to speed, asswipe.

He's hasn't fucked anything up. It was fucked up to begin with.

You see Lehman around anywhere? Oh right.

It's gone.

Yeah - Obama's doing everything right.
Unemployment, layoffs, foreclosures, ten wars - all Bush's fault.

 

[ShaklesOfBigGov]

If we had a Republican president right now, unemployment would be under 8% yet Democrats would be screaming about how awful it was. As opposed to it being over 8% and Democrats thanking Obama for it.

Why would it be under 8%? Because a Republican wouldn't have done Obamacare. A Republican would have meant it when he said that his number one focus was on improving the economy, and wouldn't have spent an entire year stomping all over whatever stimulative actions he, the Fed and the Congress had agreed to take. A Republican would be approving oil leases and not stonewalling on other projects which would help free us from dependence on Middle East oil. Etc.

But basically, it wouldn't be what the Republican did. It would be more just him not even being tempted to do job-killing things that Democrats do. So the business climate would be more upbeat.

Of course the Democrats would be doing their best to talk down consumer confidence the way they did in 2004 when unemployment was 5.5 and falling. So it would still be trying times.

Yeah, giving the keys BACK to the guys who drove the economy into the sewage ditch always makes perfect sense.
In what way would John "The fundamentals of our economy are strong" McCain been better? It seems he didn't even GRASP the magnitude of the problem.

If a republican had been President, we'd be in a FULL BLOWN DEPRESSION right now.

Get on your knees and thank Obama for fixing the mistakes CONSERVATIVES made through their reckless deregulation and incompetence.

$1.61 gas and $2.33 deisel December 29, 2008
$3.31 gas and $3.96 deisel November 28, 2011

Home Foreclosure rate 2008 1.19%
Home Foreclosure rate november 2011 4.29%

Underemployment December 2008 10.5%
Underemployment November 2011 18.40%
(long term average 18.81%)

unemployment December 2008 7.2% (average 5.8% unemployment)
unemployment November 2011 8.6%
(9.3% average unemployment in 2009, 9.7% average in 2010)

National Debt (2001-2008) $5 Trillion increase
National Debt (2009-2011) $4 Trillion increase

If you call all this a fix, I'd hate to see what happens when Obama screws it all up!

 

[Luissa]

If we had a Republican president right now, unemployment would be under 8% yet Democrats would be screaming about how awful it was. As opposed to it being over 8% and Democrats thanking Obama for it.

Why would it be under 8%? Because a Republican wouldn't have done Obamacare. A Republican would have meant it when he said that his number one focus was on improving the economy, and wouldn't have spent an entire year stomping all over whatever stimulative actions he, the Fed and the Congress had agreed to take. A Republican would be approving oil leases and not stonewalling on other projects which would help free us from dependence on Middle East oil. Etc.

But basically, it wouldn't be what the Republican did. It would be more just him not even being tempted to do job-killing things that Democrats do. So the business climate would be more upbeat.

Of course the Democrats would be doing their best to talk down consumer confidence the way they did in 2004 when unemployment was 5.5 and falling. So it would still be trying times.

Bullshit.

You are living in a fantasy world. Let's review the last time we had a Republican president...

George W. Bush inherited a strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace.

Eight years later, he left Obama with a shattered economy, a trillion dollar deficit, and two useless wars.Obama saved the country from another Great Depression, rebuilt GM, reformed healthcare, reformed Wall Street, doubled the stock market, created 7 straight quarters of GDP growth, created 20 straight months of private sector job growth, increased household worth by $9 trillion dollars, got Bin Laden, got Gaddafi, and got us out of Iraq.

And now with the automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, Obama has solved the deficit problem as well.

Obama didn't "inherit" jack shit. He knew what was on the table, he campaigned for the job, won the election and has fucked things up since day one. And the "two" useless wars are now 10! We have our troops currently involved in TEN global conflicts, while Barry's out golfing. Need a list of the 10 conflicts, or have you stopped keeping track of "useless wars." Happy to bring you up to speed, asswipe.

You do realize that Obama golfs less than most businessman, and men who run corporations right? My brother built up a very successful business golfing three times as much as Obama. I did the math, you couldn't even say Obama golfs every weekend.
Here is a cons article about it......On average he golfs 25 times a year, that might a lot of golf to someone who never golfs but that is nothing.....And the faux outrage from the right is hilarious.
So what the right is saying is every other week Obama cannot have a day off to golf. That kind of sounds petty and pretty stupid to me.http://aconservativeteacher.blogspot.com/2011/10/obama-golfs-for-73rd-time-while.html

 

[kwc57]

Bullshit.

You are living in a fantasy world. Let's review the last time we had a Republican president...

George W. Bush inherited a strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace.

Eight years later, he left Obama with a shattered economy, a trillion dollar deficit, and two useless wars.Obama saved the country from another Great Depression, rebuilt GM, reformed healthcare, reformed Wall Street, doubled the stock market, created 7 straight quarters of GDP growth, created 20 straight months of private sector job growth, increased household worth by $9 trillion dollars, got Bin Laden, got Gaddafi, and got us out of Iraq.

And now with the automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, Obama has solved the deficit problem as well.

Obama didn't "inherit" jack shit. He knew what was on the table, he campaigned for the job, won the election and has fucked things up since day one. And the "two" useless wars are now 10! We have our troops currently involved in TEN global conflicts, while Barry's out golfing. Need a list of the 10 conflicts, or have you stopped keeping track of "useless wars." Happy to bring you up to speed, asswipe.

He's hasn't fucked anything up. It was fucked up to begin with.

You see Lehman around anywhere? Oh right.

It's gone.

Actually, he fucked it even worse than it was. Look around.

 

[Warrior102]

Bullshit.

You are living in a fantasy world. Let's review the last time we had a Republican president...

George W. Bush inherited a strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace.

Eight years later, he left Obama with a shattered economy, a trillion dollar deficit, and two useless wars.Obama saved the country from another Great Depression, rebuilt GM, reformed healthcare, reformed Wall Street, doubled the stock market, created 7 straight quarters of GDP growth, created 20 straight months of private sector job growth, increased household worth by $9 trillion dollars, got Bin Laden, got Gaddafi, and got us out of Iraq.

And now with the automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, Obama has solved the deficit problem as well.

Obama didn't "inherit" jack shit. He knew what was on the table, he campaigned for the job, won the election and has fucked things up since day one. And the "two" useless wars are now 10! We have our troops currently involved in TEN global conflicts, while Barry's out golfing. Need a list of the 10 conflicts, or have you stopped keeping track of "useless wars." Happy to bring you up to speed, asswipe.

You do realize that Obama golfs less than most businessman, and men who run corporations right? My brother built up a very successful business golfing three times as much as Obama. I did the math, you couldn't even say Obama golfs every weekend.
Here is a cons article about it......On average he golfs 25 times a year, that might a lot of golf to someone who never golfs but that is nothing.....And the faux outrage from the right is hilarious.
So what the right is saying is every other week Obama cannot have a day off to golf. That kind of sounds petty and pretty stupid to me.A Conservative Teacher: Obama Golfs for 73rd Time While President

He should give up golf when we're at war - like G.W. Bush did.

 

[ShaklesOfBigGov]

Obama didn't "inherit" jack shit. He knew what was on the table, he campaigned for the job, won the election and has fucked things up since day one. And the "two" useless wars are now 10! We have our troops currently involved in TEN global conflicts, while Barry's out golfing. Need a list of the 10 conflicts, or have you stopped keeping track of "useless wars." Happy to bring you up to speed, asswipe.

He's hasn't fucked anything up. It was fucked up to begin with.

You see Lehman around anywhere? Oh right.

It's gone.

Yeah - Obama's doing everything right.
Unemployment, layoffs, foreclosures, ten wars - all Bush's fault.

Don't forget the biggest oil spill disaster in the United States over at the gulf, that he did nothing about except carry his teleprompter for a few blame speeches. Then there's Solyndra: advisors from the Bush administration warned that it was a bad investment. Now how many Bankrupt GREEN corporations are taxpayers never going to see a dime from? Let's see . . . . fast and furious, the Black Panthers' case conveniently dropped by Eric Holder of voter intimidation and banned from voting stations until 2012, etc.

 

[Amelia]

I have no clue where we would be if a Republican was President. And honestly, I wouldn't speculate. Because the President we would have is John McCain.

Ive never been a fan of McCain.

Most of my opinion about what numbers would look like now is based on my full conviction that no Republican, not even McCain, could have done anything as boneheaded as afflicting a massive program like Obamacare on our fragile economy. And certainly not if it meant taking a year to pound it into the law books, at the expense of attention paid to trying to make sure that stuff like the stimulus and HAMP were working.

But my prediction about the reaction by Democrats is based on the empirical observation of the contrast between how the improving economy of 2004 was spun by Democrats and how the anemic jobs numbers of the last months are being hyped.

 

[Navy1960]

According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $2.4 trillion dollars by 2017 when counting the huge interest costs because combat is being financed with borrowed money. The CBO estimated that of the $2.4 trillion long-term price tag for the war, about $1.9 trillion of that would be spent on Iraq, or $6,300 per U.S. citizen,

Financial cost of the Iraq War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In November 2003, CBO estimated that the Medicare Modernization Act (Public Law 108-173) would result in additional direct spending totaling about $395 billion over the 2004-2013 period. That amount was the net of a number of different types of expenditures and receipts that would result from the legislation. It included an estimated $552 billion in mandatory spending for Medicare Part D--consisting of $771 billion in payments for benefits and mandatory administrative costs, offset by $219 billion in premiums paid by beneficiaries and payments by states.
Projection of Spending for the Medicare Part D Benefit

The TARP program originally authorized expenditures of $700 billion and was expected to cost the U.S. taxpayers as much as $300 billion.[1] By March 3, 2011, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that total disbursements would be $432 billion and estimated the total cost would be $19 billion,.[2] This is significantly less than the taxpayers' cost of the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s but does not include the cost of other "bailout" programs (such as the Federal Reserve's Maiden Lane Transactions and the Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac).
Troubled Asset Relief Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

—>President Bush has approved a $17.4 billion auto bailout, with $13.4 billion in emergency loans to prevent the collapse of GM and Chrysler and another $4 billion to be handed out in February.
Bush Approves Auto Industry Bailout - The Consumerist

A couple of things come to mind here, first is this, the COST of war is first measured in the BLOOD of those young men and women who have given their life and limb for it which now reaches in the tens of thousands wounded and thousands dead. Second, the actual cost in terms of dollars already shown shows one factor towards this nations long march into second rate status. The reason being is when you start a War and do not engage the American people in it , and expect only the warfighters to bear the burden of that war and at the same time cut taxes then you help contribute to the situation we are in now. I submit that anyone who proposes cutting taxes while our young people are deployed overseas have very little standing when it comes to supporting those very same young people who are often laying their lives down for them. Our nation in the last 10 year's spent wildly , both Democrat and Republican and to suggest just one party will cure a problem that has come about because of the short sighted vision of both parties is simply incorrect. Perhaps the best thing to suggest is the RIGHT PERSON for the job rather than what party they belong too.