I just saw a 5 min speech from Maxine Waters (D-CA), who talked about a version of historical facts that just simply don’t add up; and half way through it she said that she will be the upcoming chairwomen of the “powerful financial services committee”, where she announced that “I will do to you what you did to us,” quite possibly referring to employment and wage equality, house foreclosures, and a laundry list of other items she rolled out in her speech. This, from the same person who in 2008 told a bunch of oil execs in a speech that she would be in favor of the government taking over and running their companies; the same person who in 2004 as the ranking member on the Financial Services committee supported what were later found to be reckless actions at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, on the heels of the Clinton Affordable Housing Act aftermath, that imploded housing; the same person that back in June of this year told supporters to go out and harass Trump administration officials, “And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” This is the culture that threatens to now lead the house. But let’s revisit the first part about what the “we” she refers to have really done in the last 2 years: The jobs report came out 30 min ago. 3.7% unemployment. 250,000 jobs created, beating analysts’ projections by 60,000. SIXTY thousand. Lowest unemployment in decades. Lowest minority unemployment on record (in most segments). Most people don’t know that Federal regulations cost taxpayers over $1.9 trillion dollars (Investors Business Daily) – and to put that into perspective, the Federal Regulatory environment had almost 96,000 regulations on the books in 2016; by the end of 2017 it was already slashed to just over 61,000. And most people don’t know that most Federal agencies are on track to beat their savings goals (substantially) this year? Billions being saved, although spending is still too high – but that is on track to shift soon.
“The record regulatory siege under President Obama goes a long way toward explaining his poor economic performance. With growth averaging below 2%, his was the worst administration for growth in postwar history.
The Trump economy, by contrast, is today growing at just a nick below 3% a year (today now over 4%!!). Median annual household income stands at $62,175 currently, the highest level since 2000. Unemployment in June matched its lowest level in half a century. In short, the economy is operating on an entirely different level than during the Obama years.”
This is where economic growth starts. These are the roots of business growth, jobs growth, and yes, now we are seeing accelerating wage growth. I can site scores, and I mean scores of articles and analysis out there from 2010-2016 stating the recovery what the slowest ever, even slower than during the Depression. And they were baffled as to why. Ask me – I’ll provide them. The recovery did start in that timeframe, but it reacted like it had a leash around its neck, unable to really respond the way it should. Go research why that was. A huge chunk of that was businesses not returning to the US. A huge chunk was a massive trade imbalance that allowed most countries to pour goods into the US, while we were systematically and habitually closed off from their markets with our goods. Again – do your research!
The Healthcare debate is also out there as a huge talking point. But what’s not getting enough airtime is the reality of the Affordable Care Act: It was never…never financially sound. The talking points today are “Republicans are taking away your healthcare” … really? Then please tell me why only 4 out of 24 Obamacare co-op exchanges are the only ones left open? Tell me why insurers are fleeing most markets in terms of supporting an AFA option? Republicans did not do this – it started as soon as the pool of money started drying up that Obama stockpiled with taxes before they started draining it in the first years of AFA benefits rolled out. When you (the state) submit a $10M bill to the Feds for AFA reimbursement and you get ~$1M back, because it’s all they have left, what do you think will happen? True story. But don’t take my word for it, here are the facts:
The failed states, the amount of their loans and the number of enrollees who lost coverage are:
- Arizona – $93 million in a loan, 59,000 lost coverage
- Colorado – $72 million in a loan, 80,000 lost coverage
- Connecticut – $128 million in a loan, 40,000 lost coverage
- Illinois – $160 million in a loan, 49,000 lost coverage
- Iowa/Nebraska – $145 million in a loan, 120,000 lost coverage
- Kentucky – $146 million in a loan, 51,000 lost coverage
- Louisiana – $66 million in a loan, 17,000 lost coverage
- Maryland – $65 million in a loan, 9,000 lost coverage
- Maine – $132 million in a loan, a portion of 71,000 will lose coverage
- Michigan – $72 million in a loan, 28,000 lost coverage
- Nevada – $66 million in a loan, 63,000 lost coverage
- New Jersey – $109 million in a loan, 35,000 lost coverage
- New York – $265 million in a loan, 208,000 lost coverage
- Ohio – $129 million in a loan, 22,000 lost coverage
- Oregon – $61 million in a loan, 15,000 lost coverage
- Oregon – $57 million in a loan, 21,000 lost coverage
- South Carolina – $88 million in a loan, 67,000 lost coverage
- Tennessee – $73 million in a loan, 29,700 lost coverage
- Utah – $90 million in a loan, 56,000 lost coverage
- Vermont – $34 million in a loan – never licensed
This is not caused by the evil Trump. This is what was happening that GOT him elected. Plenty of other policy areas, like military spending, that has plenty of valid reasons to just simply “catch up” on spending that was slashed under the last administration. Just simple things like spare parts and operational readiness that were decimated that now must be over-invested in to bring our readiness back. I could go on..
So, I know few people that like the president. And my response is always the same: I am not fond of him, his bullying, his rhetoric, etc., either. But his results and the policies he’s promoting: They are appropriate, and they are working. Time to cast my vote.
