Politicians Opposite World Meet Reality on November 2, 2010
October 24th, 2010It seems when a politician tells the American people what their legislation will do for them, Americans can usually count on the opposite result. Barack Obama’s promises are perfect examples. He is the leader after all, and if you can’t trust the leader, why would you trust his administration, counterparts, and congressional supporters? Wouldn’t all these people be complicit to the deception?
Just using two examples is sufficient to provide proof of opposite results, although there are numerous other arena’s of policy that could be used, let’s look at Obamacare first.
Here are the promises Obama made while lobbying for passage of Obamacare; it will drive down the costs of health care, it will lower your insurance premium on average $2,000 a year, if you like your doctor you can keep them, if you like your insurance you can keep it, it will reduce the deficit, and improve Medicare.
Health care costs continue to rise. Insurance premiums are projected to rise a total of 48% before the law takes full effect in 2014 to cover the added costs of covering everyone with a pre-existing condition, children until age 26, and the removal of limits on the cost for care.
Millions will lose their doctors and insurance after full implementation in 2014. Giant firms have calculated with the rising premiums they will stop offering company paid insurance benefits. It will be cheaper to pay the fine. The Principal Group have notified their 840,000 policy holders they are getting out of the health insurance business.
The CBO now says that the deficit will increase not decrease after further review. I feel sorry for the CBO. By law they can perform their analysis based solely upon the data they are provided, no matter how insufficient or flawed. It was used as a tool for political cover to pass this unpopular and destructive legislation.
A panel has been established to study where to cut the half trillion dollars from Medicare that was written into the bill. Already insurers are dropping Medicare Advantage affecting eleven million seniors. I guess by gutting the budget Obama believes that will improve the system of health care delivery to our seniors. Is cutting the same as reform? Or would real reform allow you to cut the budget?
The promises Obama made have proven to produce the opposite result in only seven months following the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which has already proven not to protect patients, and is anything but affordable. Good name bad results.
The second example is the infamous Stimulus Bill originally passed at $787 billion but increased to $865 billion within a year. Let’s look at the promises Obama made compared to the results. Just on a side note economists say the recession officially ended in June of 2009 only four months after the Stimulus Bill was passed as The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, before five percent of the stimulus funds were even spent. Yet we keep spending. Why? The recession is over.
Obama promise number one was that he could keep unemployment at 8% or below if the bill was passed. The result? The longest period of unemployment at 9.5% or above, now at fourteen consecutive months, since the Great Depression.
Obama’s second promise, I will create 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. This is October, 2.7 million private sector jobs have been lost, so Obama can still keep that promise if he creates 6.2 million jobs before the end of the year. Any bets?
Upon seeing the failure of the Stimulus to create jobs, which I think he actually believed would happen, Obama began telling Americans that he saved or created 3.5 million jobs. The only jobs created were government jobs. Maybe that’s why SEIU is the single largest dollar contributor of all in the midterm elections of any group to any party. If you believe the jobs saved rhetoric, talk to any economist outside the White House to learn that the ‘jobs saved classification’ does not exist and therefore cannot be quantified.
Obama’s next Stimulus promise was that this would put America back to work, and rebuild America’s infrastructure because the money was going to shovel ready jobs. That it would be a boon to construction workers and the economy.
Where to start? Anemic GDP growth of less than 3% that represents stagnation and not expansion? The 27% unemployment rate in the construction industry? That only 8% of Stimulus money went towards infrastructure projects? That Obama admitted this month that there really isn’t such a thing as shovel ready jobs? It appears the majority of Stimulus money went to friendly state governments to keep union workers in government employed instead of receiving pink slips. Not exactly what was promised, is it?
A quick look at Illinois. Governor Quinn promised to clean up the corruption. Enough said.
Quinn promises to raise taxes. Enough said.
Quinn promises to cut the budget while making back room deals with AFSME. Enough said.
On November 2 people will choose to vote for those in congress who support the Obama agenda. Why would Americans want to continue an agenda that is destroying the private sector, and free market economy? Why would anyone trust what Obama now promises; we are headed in the right direction, give us more time. This following strings of broken promises, and empirical evidence that his policies have failed and have in fact produced the opposite results from that he promised.
If the people of Illinois decide to trust Pat Quinn then I make this prediction. Illinois will go from the state that is third in the nation for (out-migration) people and businesses leaving the state to number one.
Please don’t ignore the lies of the politicians, and don’t deny the harm and misery they have foisted upon the people of America and Illinois. Vote them out. If the candidates that replace them don’t deliver on their promises make them one termers.
Our nation and state cannot afford to continue down this path and expect to survive economically, or culturally. Vote November 2, 2010.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of Fritz Pfister or identified sources, and not necessarily those of RE/MAX Professionals of Springfield or RE/MAX International.
