Obama??

[SpeedRacerXXX]

In 2008, for the first time in my life, I voted for the Democratic presidential candidate. Two reasons: (1) The U.S., and world, economy was in the ditch, and (2) the McCain-Palin ticket gave me no confidence at all.

In another thread, some have expressed their dislike for President Obama. The year before Obama took office, my 401k went down 25%. In 2009 it went up 20%, another 15% in 2010, and is up about 5% so far this year. We were given a 2% net pay raise by Obama when the Social Security tax was lowered from 6.2% to 4.2% (at least for 2011). The economy is recovering nicely. Unemployment is down. My company (Fortune 100) had record profits in 2010 and had great 1Q 2011 results. The housing market may be on its way back. Despite many concerns about the new Health Care plan, I have seen no problems.

So the question is, and I'm just asking for my own interest and not to argue with anyone -- For those who are anti-Obama, what policies that have been put in place during his administration have affected you negatively?

[WyldemanATX]

Out of control spending!

My taxes did increase under his watch and I make less than the 250K a yr.

Obama also has nothing to do with your 401K going up it is called cycles...

Unemployment has not improved much either most of which may only have gotten part time jobs that used to be in full time jobs. He has only increased more Government jobs like IRS. Those IRS jobs will get paid an incentive on how much they collect in fines if you do not have health INS.

I have been a Republican since I was in grade school. I am starting to lead towards the Libertarian side now. Less Government telling me what I can and can't do. If you like the way a total stranger spends your money give the government your pay check and I am sure it will always have a negative balance.

[BonerJams03]

Obama was supposed to give us all free money. Needless to say, I am very disappointed. Some Messiah he turned out to be!

[Lurker17]

Presidents are too often given credit for a good economy, and blame for a bad one.

Unemployment may have gone down a little, but the labor force has lost a lot of people. In my estimation, the actual unemployment rate is probably pretty understated.

Has anything for the healthcare plan really been put in place? I just worry about paying for it.

[WyldemanATX]

Another thing Obama has said on camera is expect the cost of energy to go up. Make Oil and Gas go up so it is more expensive than green technology. This is how you sell a new product or technology in the USA government intervention.

Gas to jump to $5/gallon by Memorial Day. Obama said to get used to it and "trade your car in for an energy efficient car." With unemployment above 10% in many states, can YOU afford a trade-in?

[lifeisgood]

I am probably the definition of an independent voter.

My logic is very simple.....the republicans screwed this place so badly that I will not give them my vote until they prove they can run the country.....they're just not capable; now they have lunatics running around as hopefuls. I will not re hire a contractor if they did such a bad job. Don't get me wrong I am not happy with democrats but (for me) they are the better of two bad options.

[SpeedRacerXXX]

Originally Posted by Lurker17

Presidents are too often given credit for a good economy, and blame for a bad one.

Unemployment may have gone down a little, but the labor force has lost a lot of people. In my estimation, the actual unemployment rate is probably pretty understated.

Has anything for the healthcare plan really been put in place? I just worry about paying for it.

I fully understand your statement on the economy but if you remember back to 1980, if you were around -- Reagan beat the incumbent Carter mainly by asking one question: "Are you better off today than when Carter took office."

Again, I can only talk about myself personally and how Obama has affected my wallet.

[BonerJams03]

I am hardly a bleeding heart liberal, but there is no excuse in this day and age to still be using oil.

Also you can get used to our debt and economy getting worsened. Our economy can only start supporting so many parasites before we either have to raise taxes or cut spending. This is why schools are closing in Austin and hospitals near the border are closing. "Tipping point" is right. Crime has been getting lower, but we are reaching a tipping point; we wont be able to afford to pay cops to take care of all the illegals and our own homegrown parasites.

You can expect America in the future to be very violent, very crowded, and if you wanna live in a decent neighborhood or send your children to a decent school, you will have to pay a LOT of money. Austin is a great place to live now, but things will change for the worse just as quickly as this city has gentrified.

In the future, 2011 will be referred to as "the good ole days".

[SpeedRacerXXX]

Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

Out of control spending!

Obama also has nothing to do with your 401K going up it is called cycles...

Can't speak for everyone but my 401k tracks closely to the stock markets. DJIA was down 4,000 points in calendar year 2008, and my 401k suffered. Went up 2,300 points in 2009 and about 1,700 points in 2010, and my 401k recovered with the market.

This, IMHO, had nothing to do with cycles. How the crash may have been prevented is a different subject. Mainly caused by money being too easy to get from banks.


From Wikipedia:

Main article: Financial crisis of 2007–2010

On September 16, failures of large financial institutions in the United States, due primarily to exposure of securities of packaged subprime loans and credit default swaps issued to insure these loans and their issuers, rapidly devolved into a global crisis resulting in a number of bank failures in Europe and sharp reductions in the value of equities (stock) and commodities worldwide. The failure of banks in Iceland resulted in a devaluation of the Icelandic Krona and threatened the government with bankruptcy. Iceland was able to secure an emergency loan from the IMF in November.[2] In the United States, 15 banks failed in 2008, while several others were rescued through government intervention or acquisitions by other banks.[3] On October 11, 2008, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the world financial system was teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown."[4]
The economic crisis caused countries to temporarily close their markets.

[BonerJams03]

Just because some people's 401k is doing well doesn't mean the country is going the right direction.

These are the same people who think illegal immigrant labor is great because we get our produce for cheap and gets shitass menial jobs filled. The downside is rampant violent crime, property crime, tax dollar drain, hard drugs, unsafe neighborhoods and schools, not to mention the nuisance of that godawful mariachi music.

Whats the point of having cheap food and your house cleaned for cheap if you have to shell out thousands of extra tax dollars, send your children to private school because public schools are violent cesspools, and pay extra money to live in a neighborhood far away from the violent subhuman filth that you've hired?

[WyldemanATX]

The reason we use oil still is because we have shit ton of it underground right here in the USA. My solution stop importing Oil and just use our own until we find the next thing to replace should only take 10 years to put it to mass use. All those green technologies have been found to not be cost efficient or to have less impact on the environment.

Subprime loans were a result of both parties being fucked up. 401k has nothing to do with who is in office and neither does the stock market. I wish they would have let those businesses fail. No more government bail outs.

Federal Government was never supposed to have this much power. It was supposed to go local then state then federal with the least amount of power. Oh ya taxes read the 16th amendment. Tax code has over 8000 pages of rules license to steal.

[Lurker17]

Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX

I fully understand your statement on the economy but if you remember back to 1980, if you were around -- Reagan beat the incumbent Carter mainly by asking one question: "Are you better off today than when Carter took office."

Again, I can only talk about myself personally and how Obama has affected my wallet.

I can understand that. My wallet got a lot bigger under Bush than anyone else, and he was no fiscal savior. It has been pretty stagnant since.

[RALPHEY BOY]

he let Congress ruin the mortgage industry,, I lost my house, I had to get a new job due to stupid policies that have killed the housing recovery!! Thank you' fuk stick' Barney Frank and Chris 'dipshit' Dodd

+1 on Stock Market,,hell it could go nowhere but UP and companies are showing profits due to the MASSIVE LAYOFFS IN 2008-2009...its easy to show a profit when you slash overhead!!!

[Yssup Rider]

Originally Posted by lifeisgood

I am probably the definition of an independent voter.

My logic is very simple.....the republicans screwed this place so badly that I will not give them my vote until they prove they can run the country.....they're just not capable; now they have lunatics running around as hopefuls. I will not re hire a contractor if they did such a bad job. Don't get me wrong I am not happy with democrats but (for me) they are the better of two bad options.

+1

(Though I'm probably a little more left leaning than the typical indy on most social issues...)

Also, though it is belief by some that this country was kicking ass and taking names before Obama was elected, you might want to consider how we went from a robust, growing economy in 2000 to the shitpile in 2007. If I'm not mistaken, it takes more than an act of "tearr" to bring down the world markets.

I'd like to think maybe it wasn't all Obama's fault, y'know?

[saj1000]

Barney Frank LITERALLY sucking the diseased cock of a Fannie Mae VP and pushing the agenda that, if you can fog a mirror, you qualify for a mortgage.

Faggot thinking has ruined Western civilization. Why did they need to come out of the closet? We should have left them in, too late to beat them back in where they belong.

Points coming, I guess.....