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STATE OF THE UNION
2014
PALM
BEACH, Fla -- Well into his second term in the White House, President
Barack Obama will
deliver his fifth State of the Union address Tuesday night
from Capitol Hill.
http://www.cbs12.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_12821.shtml
* Special thanks to "Google Images", "wikipedia.com", "realclearpolitics", "CNN",
"whitehouse.gov", and "The Washington Post"
"whitehouse.gov", and "The Washington Post"
BLOG POST
By Felicity Blaze
Noodleman
Los Angeles, CA
1.31.14
The President issued his “State of The Union” address to
Congress Tuesday night; a tradition dating back to George Washington who
delivered his first annual speech to Congress on January 8, 1790.
Barack Obama and his party, The Democrats, are in crisis scoring low approval ratings in the polls as the country
prepares for our midterm elections this November.
It would seem that this annual event has turned into something of a media circus of late as the President speaks to the country via television speaking in half truths, making claims he will not be able to follow through on, appeasing the masses with rhetoric against the wealthy, and taking credit for progress long in the making such as fossil fuel (Petroleum) reduction, which began back in the 1970's. During most of the speech the President seemed to be short on substance and long on hopes for the future. (Maybe the President is thinking about his future with a bid for Jay Leno's job!) At any rate. we found ourselves wondering what was the Presidents "state of mind".
We also noticed that Vice President Joe Biden was having trouble keeping a straight face during the Presidents delivery Tuesday night! At times the VP seemed to be clowning around with Congress as he sat behind the President. (Photo: Smilin’ Joe Biden amuses some, creeps out others during SOTU [pics, Vine] Posted at 10:41 pm on January 28, 2014 by TwitchyStaff-http://twitchy.com/2014/01/28/smilin-joe-biden-amuses-some-creeps-out-others-during-sotu-pics-vine/)
It would seem that this annual event has turned into something of a media circus of late as the President speaks to the country via television speaking in half truths, making claims he will not be able to follow through on, appeasing the masses with rhetoric against the wealthy, and taking credit for progress long in the making such as fossil fuel (Petroleum) reduction, which began back in the 1970's. During most of the speech the President seemed to be short on substance and long on hopes for the future. (Maybe the President is thinking about his future with a bid for Jay Leno's job!) At any rate. we found ourselves wondering what was the Presidents "state of mind".
We also noticed that Vice President Joe Biden was having trouble keeping a straight face during the Presidents delivery Tuesday night! At times the VP seemed to be clowning around with Congress as he sat behind the President. (Photo: Smilin’ Joe Biden amuses some, creeps out others during SOTU [pics, Vine] Posted at 10:41 pm on January 28, 2014 by TwitchyStaff-http://twitchy.com/2014/01/28/smilin-joe-biden-amuses-some-creeps-out-others-during-sotu-pics-vine/)
SOME ISSUES WE FOUND
MINIMUM WADGE . . .
We found a number of issues in the Presidents speech to be of concern. Firstly; the President seems to contradict him self on the subject of bringing jobs back home to the United States. While he proclaims he is in favor and supports this and would like to see more products "made in the USA", his wage policy's of $10.10 as the new minimum wadge will in fact keep these vary jobs from returning to this country! Competing in the global work place unfortunately requires a complex wadge structure for the United States to be competitive with workers abroad. As these workers progress in the American work place they have the opportunity to advance to much higher paying jobs - Jobs which pay well in excess of $10.10; Jobs which pay any where from $12 and $14 per HR. and upwards with benefits!
Let's do the math on the President's proposed $10.10. With the current minimum wadge As of July 2009, the federal government mandates a nationwide minimum wage level of $7.25 per hour, while some states and municipalities have set minimum wage levels higher than the federal level, with the highest state minimum wage being $9.32 per hour in Washington as of January 1, 2014 according to wikipedia.com.
Lets choose $8.50 to work our problem with and a small restaurant foods supplier we will call "XYZ Brands". $10.10 would give a pay hike of $1.60 per HR., a good raise by any standard, with no justification by the employee for their raise. This wadge works out to $3,328.00 annually. Now let's consider an employer who has five employees now receiving this pay raise. "XYZ Brands" has now increased their cost of doing business to $16,640.00 a year just to meet their payroll not to mention the increased costs mandated by State and Federal Governments in with holdings. This is a big expense for any small business and it is highly inflationary for the country as a whole! It is very possible "XYZ Brands" would go out of business under the Obama Plan. The price of lunch might be going up in the future!
Secondly; are their other effects which could arise from such a radical increase to the minimum wadge? Very serious problems would affect those living on a fixed income such as Seniors on Social Security, the Disabled who are supported by Government Disability Payments, those living on Unemployment Benefits and those who must live on Government Relief & Food Stamp Programs. Many of these Americans are considered to be living below the poverty level by "HUD Definition". These Americans are also always last in line to receive any "Cost of Living" increase to their benefits.
ON CONGRESS . . .
We would like to speak out on the Presidents remarks on Congress and invoking "Executive Powers" to bypass the Constitutional process of the Federal Government. The fact is that the President is required to work with Congress and this process is part of the "Checks and Balances" of our Democracy! This behavior is very dangerous for a President. Without Congress, the Presidency becomes a Dictatorship. Is this how Barrack Obama sees his job? This serious grounds for Impeachment. Remember this Mr. President; Congress may replace you for just cause under the Articles of Impeachment; if they so choose. This is why "We The People" have sent our Congressional Representatives and Senators to Washington DC! There is no room in this Democracy for Kings and Dictators!
Barack
Hussein Obama "I Don't Need No Stinking Congress“
OCCASIONALLY
I RUN ACROSS AN IMAGE THAT REALLY FITS. YOU MUST ADMIT THIS GUY REMINDS
YOU OF SOME SUB SAHARAN DICTATOR. RECENTLY "THE ONE AND ONLY"
STARTED TO SIDE-STEP CONGRESS AND IN CAMPAIGN SPEECHES IS THUMPING HIS CHEST
AND TOUTING HIS EXECUTIVE ORDERS WHICH BYPASS THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF THE
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT. NOT ONLY DOES HE LOOK LIKE SOME THIRD
WORLD DESPOT, BUT NOW HE'S ACTING LIKE ONE.
http://totus-blog.blogspot.com/2011/11/barack-hussein-obama-i-dont-need-no.html
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA
We also found President Obama's remarks regarding the closure of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and it's Detainees to be inappropriate, especially with out offering any solution for this situation. This is an insult to the families and those who died on "9/11". Again; we feel this policy by the President should be considered under The Articles of Impeachment!
IMMIGRATION
The President spoke briefly about immigration and we wondered why he would bring up this topic in his address to Congress. We all are aware of the country's history with immigrants who came to the United States and the part they played in building this nation. With the exception of the American Indians we are the decedents of families who immigrated to this country. We had the feeling he might have been trying to refer to the illegal immigrants who have "come in the back door", so to speak.
Those who have entered the western US from Mexico and South America to spread through the country have been a drain on the country's resources and give back almost nothing back. They pay no taxes and breed poverty and crime. Are these the immigrants you we speaking of Mr. President?
HOW THE PRESIDENT RANKS
President Obama’s approval ratings are the lowest ever for a President in the fifth year of the Presidency. Prior to the President's speech Tuesday, polls put him somewhere between 43 and 40 percent range from the major polling sources. In a much wider range of polling data the President dips down to 38 percent of the country who approve of his job in the White House. What is even more disturbing is the approval ratings for Congress. The Legislative branch of government is scoring a low 10 to 14 percent of the country who approve of the Job being done by their Representatives and Senators in congress.
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
“Real Clear Politics” spells out the data on the President and the Democrats in Congress: in fact the approval ratings for Congress overall.
President Obama Job Approval
Job Approval on Economy | Job Approval on Foreign Policy
Poll
|
Date
|
Sample
|
Approve
|
Disapprove
|
Spread
|
RCP Average
|
1/12 - 1/27
|
--
|
43.5
|
51.8
|
-8.3
|
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl
|
1/22 - 1/25
|
800 A
|
43
|
51
|
-8
|
Rasmussen Reports
|
1/25 - 1/27
|
1500 LV
|
48
|
51
|
-3
|
Gallup
|
1/24 - 1/26
|
1500 A
|
41
|
52
|
-11
|
ABC News/Wash Post
|
1/20 - 1/23
|
RV
|
45
|
52
|
-7
|
FOX News
|
1/19 - 1/21
|
1010 RV
|
42
|
53
|
-11
|
CBS News
|
1/17 - 1/21
|
1018 A
|
46
|
47
|
-1
|
Associated Press/GfK
|
1/17 - 1/21
|
1060 A
|
45
|
53
|
-8
|
The Economist/YouGov
|
1/18 - 1/20
|
700 RV
|
44
|
54
|
-10
|
Quinnipiac
|
1/15 - 1/19
|
1933 RV
|
40
|
54
|
-14
|
USA Today/Pew Research
|
1/15 - 1/19
|
1504 A
|
43
|
49
|
-6
|
GWU/Battleground
|
1/12 - 1/16
|
1000 LV
|
41
|
54
|
-13
|
Congressional Job Approval
Poll
|
Date
|
Sample
|
Approve
|
Disapprove
|
Spread
|
RCP Average
|
1/5 - 1/25
|
--
|
12.9
|
80.6
|
-67.7
|
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl
|
1/22 - 1/25
|
800 A
|
13
|
81
|
-68
|
ABC News/Wash Post
|
1/20 - 1/23
|
RV
|
13
|
84
|
-71
|
FOX News
|
1/19 - 1/21
|
1010 RV
|
13
|
81
|
-68
|
Associated Press/GfK
|
1/17 - 1/21
|
1060 A
|
14
|
84
|
-70
|
The Economist/YouGov
|
1/18 - 1/20
|
700 RV
|
10
|
71
|
-61
|
GWU/Battleground
|
1/12 - 1/16
|
1000 LV
|
14
|
81
|
-67
|
Gallup
|
1/5 - 1/8
|
1018 A
|
13
|
82
|
-69
|
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html
All media sources reporting, polling and and especially their views are clearly skewed in favor of the Democrats and their policies and programs. Since Unions have long supported the Democrats who represent the bloated work force at every level of government, these Unions are the biggest financial problem in government. At the Federal, State and Local government payrolls are eating up tax dollars and budgets with their unprecedented levels for payrolls, benefits and pensions. For this reason we feel these polls could be much worse and not reflect the true loss of confidence in the President and his party
With both the Executive and Senate Branch's of government being controlled by the Democrats these low approval ratings could spell defeat for Democrats in November. Instead of a report from the President on the condition of the United States what he delivered on Tuesday night was something of a "Soft Soap Sales Job" for him and his party designed to hopefully stop the hemorrhaging disapproval numbers they are suffering!
The Internet was full of Fact Checking Wednesday morning and we are quoting "The Washington Post's" appraisal of the Presidents Speech. We also liked the CBS News Fact Check article and recommend it highly. Below is the CNN poll and article taken after the Presidents speech Tuesday night. CNN's poll seems to be in line with the Presidents current popularity numbers and seems to confirm that his State of the Union speech did not inspire Americans.
CNN Poll: Speech
Watcher Reaction Less Positive Than Previous Years
Posted by
CNN Political
Editor Paul Steinhauser
12:37 AM ET
Washington (CNN) – Less than half of those surveyed who
watched President Barack Obama's State of the Union address reacted very
positively to it, a new poll showed.
And a while the
President emphasized in his speech on Tuesday night that he's willing to bypass
Congress and take executive action to accomplish his goals, a CNN/ORC
International survey also indicated that only three in 10 said Obama should
make unilateral changes to deal with major issues.
Forty-four percent of
speech watchers questioned had a very positive reaction, with 32% saying they
had a somewhat positive response and 22% with a negative response.
The 44% who said they
had a very positive reaction is down from the 53% who said the same thing
following the President's 2013 State of the Union address.
And it's slightly
lower than the 48% who said they had a very positive reaction to then President
George W. Bush's State of the Union address in 2006, as he began his sixth year
in the White House.
During his address,
the President told lawmakers that "I'm eager to work with all of you. But
America does not stand still, and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can
take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American
families, that's what I'm going to do."
But two-thirds of
those questioned in the poll said that Obama should seek bipartisan compromise
when dealing with major issues, with just 30% advocating the President make
unilateral changes.
Obama spent much of
his speech outlining ideas to boost the economy, and unveiled a proposal for a
new type of account that allows Americans to save for retirement. According to
the poll, 59% said Obama's plans would improve the economy, down 6 percentage points
from last year's address.
Nearly seven in 10
said that the President's proposals would move the country in the right
direction.
"But
speech-watchers aren't certain that he will actually achieve most of those
proposals. Fifty-three percent said that it is very likely or somewhat likely
that most of the programs that Obama outlined on Tuesday night will be passed
into law, with 46% thinking that is unlikely," said CNN Polling Director
Keating Holland. "By contrast, in Bush's 2006 State of the Union address,
two-thirds believed that the President would win passage of most of the
programs outlined in his speech."
Nearly seven in 10
said it is likely that Obama's proposals would be effective at helping
lower-income Americans join the middle class, but only 18% said his proposals
would be "very effective" in reaching that goal.
"Tuesday night's
State of the Union audience is more Democratic than the nation as a whole,
which is typical for a President Obama speech and indicates that the speech
watchers were predisposed to like what Obama said," added Holland.
"When George W. Bush was President, his audiences were more Republican
than the general public at that time, and his speeches were usually
well-received for that same reason."
The CNN Poll was
conducted by ORC International after Obama's address, with 371 adult Americans
who watched the speech. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 5
percentage points. The sampling of speech watchers were 41% Democratic and 22%
Republican. Those numbers indicate that the sample is about 10-12 points more
Democratic than the population as a whole.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/01/29/cnn-poll-speech-watcher-reaction-less-positive-than-previous-years/
Fact Checking the 2014 State of the Union Address
BY
GLENN KESSLER - "The Washington Post"
January 28 at 11:13 pm
A State of the Union address is
often difficult to fact-check, no matter who is president. The speech is a
product of many hands and is carefully vetted, so major errors of fact are
relatively rare. But State of the Union addresses often are very political
speeches, an argument for the president’s policies, so context is sometimes
missing.
Here is a guide through some of President Obama’s more fact-challenged claims, in the order in which he made them. At the end, we also examine one fishy fact in the Republican response. As is our practice with live events, we do not award Pinocchio rankings, which are reserved for complete columns.
State of the Union address
“The more than eight million new
jobs our businesses have created over the past four years.”
The president is cherry-picking a
number that puts the improvement in the economy in the best possible light. The
low point in jobs was reached in February 2010, and there has indeed been a
gain of about 8 million jobs since then, according to Bureau of Labor
Statistics data. (Obama, saying “businesses,” appears to be referring to
private sector growth of 8.2 million; adding government jobs reduces the total
to 7.6 million.) But the data also show that since the start of his presidency,
about 3.2 million jobs have been created — and the number of jobs in the
economy still is about 1.2 million lower than when the recession began in
December 2007.
“A manufacturing sector that’s adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.”
The low point for manufacturing
jobs was reached in January 2010, and there has been a gain of 570,000 jobs
since then. But BLS data show that the number of manufacturing jobs is still
500,000 fewer than when Obama took office in the depths of the recession — and
1.7 million fewer than when the recession began in December 2007. The
gain in manufacturing actually has begun to stall a bit in the past
year. The only reason Obama can tout a gain in manufacturing jobs
“for the first time since the 1990s” is because, before the recession,
manufacturing had been on a slow decline for many years.
“Our deficits — cut by more than half.”
The federal budget deficit has
declined in half since 2009, from $1.3 trillion to about $600 billion, but
that’s not much to brag about. The 2009 figure was not just a deficit Obama
inherited from his predecessor, since it also reflected the impact of
decisions, such as the $800 billion stimulus bill, enacted early in the
president’s term.
Moreover, the deficit soared in the first place because of the recession, so as the economy has improved, the deficit naturally decreased. The United States still has a deficit higher than it was in nominal terms and as a percentage of gross domestic product than it was in 2008 and a debt much greater as a percentage of the overall economy than it was prior to the recession.
“Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled.”
Close readers of the president’s
speeches might have noticed an interesting shift in the president’s rhetoric.
Just in December the president gave a speech on
economic mobilityin which he three times asserted that it was “declining” in the
United States. But earlier this month, renowned economists Raj Chetty, Emmanuel
Saez and colleagues publisheda paper based on tens of millions
of tax records showing that upward mobility had not changed significantly over
time. The rate essentially is the same now as it was 20 years ago.
Still, the same study confirmed that income inequality had increased in the same period. “Hence, the consequences of the ‘birth lottery’ — the parents to whom a child is born — are larger today than in the past,” the paper said, offering the analogy of a ladder in which the rungs have grown farther apart but the children’s chances of moving upward from one rung to another had not changed.
Both Chetty and Saez are recent winners of the biennial John Bates Clark Medal, for distinguished economist under the age of 40, and it’s a mark of their esteem that their paper would lead to such a swift change in presidential rhetoric. Even so, some might argue that Obama is stretching the use of the term “stalled,” since the main point of the research was that the trend was constant, not that it halted.
“Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment.”
There is clearly a wage gap, but
differences in the life choices of men and women — such as women tending to
leave the workforce when they have children — make it difficult to make simple
comparisons.
Obama is using a figure (annual wages, from the Census Bureau) that makes the disparity appear the greatest. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, for instance, shows that the gap is 19 cents when looking at weekly wages. The gap is even smaller when you look at hourly wages — it is 14 cents — but then not every wage earner is paid on an hourly basis, so that statistic excludes salaried workers.
In other words, since women in general work fewer hours than men in a year, the statistics used by the White House may be less reliable for examining the key focus of legislation pending in Congress — wage discrimination. The weekly wage is more of an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does not include as many income categories.
Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis surveyed economic literature and concluded that “research suggests that the actual gender wage gap (when female workers are compared with male workers who have similar characteristics) is much lower than the raw wage gap.” They cited one survey, prepared for the Labor Department, which concluded that when such differences are accounted for, much of the hourly wage gap dwindled, to about 5 cents on the dollar.
“More than nine million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage.”
Obama carefully does not say
these numbers are the result of the Affordable Care Act, but he certainly
leaves that impression. But the Medicaid part of this number — 6.3 million from
October through December — is very fuzzy and once earned a rating of
Three Pinocchios.
The ACA expanded Medicaid to those who earn less than 133 percent of the poverty line — about $15,000 for an individual — to 26 states (and the District) that decided to embrace that element of the law. But no one really knows how many of the 6.3 million are in this expansion pool — or whether they are simply renewing or would have qualified for Medicaid before the new law. Indeed, the number also includes people joining Medicaid in states that chose not accept the expansion.
The private insurance numbers — about 3 million — are also open to question. The troubled federal exchange counts people as enrolled if an individual has selected a plan, but it does not know if a person enrolled and paid a premium because that part of the system has yet to be built.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/01/28/fact-checking-the-2014-state-of-the-union-address/
Finally in conclusion; The President seemed to be saying, "Look at all the good things which have happened is spite of me over the last year, so like me on Facebook"! I'm Felicity with the "Noodleman Group".
http://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/columnists/varvel/2014/01/27/cartoonist-gary-varvel-the-2014-state-of-the-union-show/4940699/
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