leftish:

VIA OurFuture.org

Here are eight of the biggest myths that are out there:

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush’s last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama’s first budgetreduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the “stimulus” was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the “stimulus” with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be “non-reviewable by any court or any agency.”) The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn’t work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is “going broke,” people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on “welfare” and “foreign aid” when that is only a small part of the government’s budget.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE…

(Source: ryking)

inothernews:

think-progress:

Obamacare turns 2. Here are the facts about what Americans have already gained.

“WE DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR FACTS!!!”

— Republicans

alexanderpf:

‘$4 Gas?’ Source: Ed Stein Ink via plantedcity

dendroica:

I have been back and forth via email with some folks of a broad political spectrum (little or no party affiliation) about how bizarre the GOP primary has become. When Andy Borowitz tweets something hilarious: In Positive Economic Sign, Republicans Starting to Say Obama Wasn’t Born in US Again (full article below). Hahaha, very funny — except for the numbers. The NYT’s Floyd Norris, on a hunch, decided to crunch them to see if there is any math underlying the funny business. As it turns out, there is: Anyone can check the numbers to see if Borowitz was right — he is. The top graph shows the number of articles in Nexis, by month, in which the words “Obama” and “birth” appear within five words of each other. The bottom one shows the three-month average of jobs added in the economy. (via Birther Economic Index: Borowitz Is Onto Something | The Big Picture)

Ray Lodato for Congress!

reagan-was-a-horrible-president:

The last 3 years, explained in one cartoon.

(Source: saucylark)

Sweet victory!

The Obama administration has decided that it will not issue a permit before Feb. 21 for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, according to people with knowledge of the decision.

The announcement, which could come as early as Wednesday, comes in response to a 60-day deadline Congress imposed in late December on the decision-making process for the permit as part of a deal to extend a payroll-tax break and unemployment benefits for two months.  

Today’s decision, expected from the State Department, would make official what the administration has said from the outset: that under current law, it cannot accelerate the permitting process, especially in light of the need for additional environmental reviews of a new path for the pipeline through Nebraska.

(via Keystone XL pipeline: Obama administration to deny Keystone XL oil pipeline permit - latimes.com)

Wot’s this? A (decades) long-awaited peace dividend? Bring it on.

ryking:

Obama announces new, leaner military approach

The U.S. military will steadily shrink the Army and Marine Corps, reduce forces in Europe and probably make further cuts to the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the Obama administration said Thursday in a preview of how it intends to reshape the armed forces after a decade of war.

The downsizing of the Pentagon, prompted by the country’s dire fiscal problems, means that the military will depend more on coalitions with allies and avoid the large-scale counterinsurgency and nation-building operations that have marked the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Instead, the Pentagon will invest more heavily in Special Operations forces, which have a smaller footprint and require less money than conventional units, as well as drone aircraft and cybersecurity, defense officials said. The military will also shift its focus to Asia to counter China’s rising influence and North Korea’s unpredictability. Despite the end of the Iraq war, administration officials said they would keep a large presence in the Middle East, where tensions with Iran are worsening.

With December’s historic raising of environmental standards, yesterday’s military restructuring move, and today’s immigration reform, our Democratic president is finally moving to the left — and royally pissing-off the GOP to boot. Ah, what a difference a tough reelection fight makes; the Democratic Party’s base is important to the president again!

joost5:

Awesome. Nice to see instances of government policy having life-saving effects in practice…. you know, like every other industrialized nation. Still want to repeal Obamacare?

(Source: kelleyzbme-com)