Feature
Obama’s Hipster Hell
From economics to health care, the president’s policies hammer young people most of all.
ON OCTOBER
13, 2008, just one month after the collapse of Lehman Brothers,
presidential candidate Barack Obama delivered a speech in Toledo,
Ohio, outlining his “economic rescue plan” that would bring the
country out of the deepest recession since the Great Depression.
“It’s a plan that begins with one word that’s on everyone’s mind,
and it’s spelled J-O-B-S,” Obama said. He then rattled off a list
of initiatives that would later make up his $862 billion stimulus
package.
On November 4, 2008, voters hired Obama to fix the economy. But four years and $5 trillion in deficit spending later, the jobs haven’t come back. The unemployment rate rose to over 10 percent and rested in July (the most recent monthly figure available at press time) at 8.3 percent—all this despite a promise from the Obama administration that the stimulus package would keep unemployment below 8 percent. But if the Obama economy has been bad for the country at large, it has been disastrous for one cohort of Americans who provided the president with his decisive victory in 2008: young voters, who now face an unemployment rate 50 percent higher than that of the nation as a whole.
Kyle Peterson
Hell No, We Won’t Go!
Daniel Foster
Cap and Frown
Matt Purple
The Social Security Hangover
Helen Rittelmeyer
Moral Relativism, R.I.P.
Like the rest of the population in 2008, young voters were overwhelmingly concerned about the economy. According to the national exit poll, 61 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said the economy was their top issue, compared to 63 percent of all voters. But the young were much more bullish than their elders about Obama’s ability to get the job done. The race between Obama and McCain was actually a dead heat among voters 30 and older. But 18- to 29-year-olds broke 2 to 1 for Obama. In fact, although they only made up 18 percent of the electorate in 2008, they broke so strongly for Obama that they provided 6 percentage points of his 7-point margin of victory. Obama’s margin among the young was unusual compared to the two previous elections. In 2000, Al Gore edged George W. Bush among these voters by 2 points (48–46, with Ralph Nader nabbing 6 percent). In 2004, they backed John Kerry over Bush by a 54–45 margin.
To say the least, betting on Obama hasn’t worked out very well for the president’s biggest supporters. The unemployment rate among 18- to 29-year-olds is more than 12 percent. In a bad economy, those with the least experience are hurt the most. According to Gallup poll from this spring, 32 percent of 18- to 29-yearolds are underemployed—meaning either unemployed or working part-time but looking for full-time work. In comparison, 14 percent of Americans between the ages of 30 and 65 are underemployed. And those young workers who do have jobs are paid wages significantly lower than young workers earned a decade ago. According to a study by the liberal Economic Policy Institute, pay for college graduates is down 5.4 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. For young high school graduates pay has dropped 11.1 percent over the past decade.
The consequences of unemployment, underemployment, and wage erosion are battering the lives of young Americans. According to a survey conducted in 2011 by the Polling Company, 77 percent of 18- to 29-yearolds “either have or will delay a major life change or purchase due to economic factors.” That includes 44 percent who will delay buying a home and 28 percent who say they’ll delay saving for retirement. Nearly a quarter of young Americans say they will delay starting a family, and 18 percent will delay getting married because of the economy. The Obama economy has given rise to ever more “boomerang kids” who must return home to live with Mom and Dad after graduating from college without a job.
President Obama is obviously not to blame for the 2008 financial meltdown, but his economic policies have utterly failed to produce a normal recovery. Nearly every part of the almost $1 trillion stimulus package was a failure of big-government liberalism. Rather than forcing states to make the hard choices and necessary reforms carried out by Republican governors like New Jersey’s Chris Christie and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, billions of stimulus dollars provided a temporary reprieve to states’ health care and education programs. Infrastructure spending proved little more than a payoff to unions. Billions more were wasted on green energy firms like Solyndra and Abound Solar. Tax rebates in the stimulus package (which, to be fair, were doled out under the Bush administration, too) had little effect on job creation or economic growth. “I’m not a Keynesian, so I don’t think sugar-high economics works,” Rep. Paul Ryan said in the summer of 2011 amid renewed calls for even more tax rebates. “We’ve sort of proven this already, a number of times. Temporary tax rebates don’t work to create economic growth. Permanent tax changes do.”
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SIGNATURE legislative achievement—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare—will be a disaster for many young Americans. Although the president sold the plan as a boon to youth, who can stay on parents’ health insurance plans until the age of 26 (a policy of dubious merit that is already in effect in many states), Obamacare is ultimately a very raw deal for young people in simple terms of dollars and cents.
Most Americans will not be directly affected by Obamacare’s individual mandate, the requirement to purchase health insurance or pay the federal government 2.5 percent of their adjusted gross incomes. Those who are hit by the mandate will largely be the young and fit, who have judged for themselves that it is not in their economic self-interest to purchase health insurance. President Obama and other Democrats have argued that these individuals are “free riders” who are driving up the cost of health care by receiving uncompensated care—in emergency rooms, for instance. In fact, the “free rider” problem accounts for little more than 2 percent of health care costs in the United States, according to the Urban Institute.
Nor will healthy Americans be able to satisfy the mandate’s requirement by purchasing low-cost catastrophic insurance. Obamacare requires plans that cost thousands of dollars a year and cover “essential health benefits” and preventive services, including substance-abuse treatment, pediatric services, and contraception. During oral argument before the Supreme Court over the constitutionality of the individual mandate, attorney Michael Carvin, representing the National Federation of Independent Business, honed in on this fact: “The young person who is uninsured is uniquely proximately very close to affecting the rates of insurance and the costs of providing medical care in a way that is not true in other industries,” Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy said during oral argument. “That’s my concern in the case.”
“They’re compelling us to enter into the marketplace,” Carvin replied, but “they’re prohibiting us from buying the only economically sensible product that we would want, catastrophic insurance.” The individual mandate is much more about conscripting young Americans into the health care market in order to subsidize the health care costs of older Americans than it is about fixing the so-called “free rider” problem.
Even while it hits young Americans’ pocketbooks, it will surely hurt their job prospects as well. Obamacare not only forces individuals to buy insurance, it also forces companies with 50 or more employees to provide their workers with health insurance or pay a $3,000 per-employee tax. “It can literally shut many restaurants down,” Paul Demos, owner of Demos’ Restaurants in Nashville, told the Nashville Business Journal in June. The restaurateur is considering cutting hours for employees and closing restaurants to make up for the extra $500,000 he’ll have to pay. For employers who already provide health insurance, Obamacare’s “essential health benefits” requirements and the provision that all people must be charged the same for premiums regardless of pre-existing conditions will drive up health care costs, which will cut into employees’ wages and hinder entrepreneurs’ abilities to grow their businesses.
POLLING SUGGESTS that many young Americans just might not be willing to take four more years of Obamanomics. A poll of 18- to 29-year-olds conducted by Harvard’s Institute of Politics in the spring of 2012 found that only 41 percent approved of Obama’s handling of the economy. A higher number (52 percent) approved of his overall job performance, suggesting that a sizeable number of young people support him for reasons other than the economy. Still, if Obama can’t get more than 55 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds, he’s probably going to lose.
The Harvard survey suggested that kids these days have been misunderstood as economic liberals. Only 17 percent said they support Occupy Wall Street; 40 percent do not, and 43 percent were not sure. By a 12-point margin, they disagreed with the statement that “government spending is an effective way to increase economic growth.” Asked if they were more likely to vote for Obama or “the Republican party’s candidate,” young voters favored the Republican 42 percent to 21 percent. But asked to choose between Obama and Mitt Romney, they picked Obama 43–26.
What gives? Is Romney’s problem simply that he’s a businessman and straitlaced Mormon—the antithesis of cool? Perhaps. There will certainly be no hip YouTube videos in 2012 of a buxom “Romney Girl” pining for the former Massachusetts governor like there were of the “Obama Girl” in 2008. Hip-hop artist will.i.am will not be Auto-Tuning any of Romney’s speeches into songs.
Paul A'Barge | 9.17.12 @ 6:18PM
dude
tl;dr
Appleby| 9.21.12 @ 6:42AM
Right, the first comment on this thread is from a troll.
People over 18 are not children -- and shouldn't be addressed as "kids'. Although lots of them are Demanding "good jobs" and the like, and the Occupiers' message is the moral equivalent of "Waaaaaaah!", these people are adults who refuse to face reality and instead substitute their own reality which they Demand the rest of us not only provide, but finance. And as I turned on the news this morning, I noted that a huge number of TheKids are standing in line for the newest expensive Binkie. I don't think trying to reason with this lot is going to get you very far.
Aristocat| 9.21.12 @ 7:34AM
Forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions is like forcing auto insurers to cover pre-existing damage to your car.
Appleby| 9.21.12 @ 8:49AM
Today's Toronto Sun explains that the Average Family of Four in Canada pays $11,401 in taxes every year for "Free" health care. And you know what else? That entitles you to a spot on a WAITING LIST.
Harry the Horrible| 9.21.12 @ 9:37AM
A lot of folks don't get it. Insurance is a form of gambling.
You go to the bookie (the insurance company) and bet that something bad will happen. He comes up with a few rules and covers your bet. If you "win" the bookie pays off; if you lose (and you WANT to lose...) he keeps your money.
Now the idiots in charge want to FORCE the insurance companies to take losing bets. That model just doesn't work.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 10:00AM
You don't need a car ... you do need a body to live. This is just a tiny, tiny difference (sarcasm) don't ya think?
The Avenger| 9.21.12 @ 10:06AM
don't ya think? Well perp, it is obvious from the tripe you post that you don't.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 10:21AM
It's a false equivalence - your body versus a machine you can buy.
Insurance rates are based on risk.
The Avenger| 9.21.12 @ 10:29AM
True, insurance rates are based on risk. Why is it that your buddy O wants to force the young into expensive insurance plans when a catastrophic plan would better serve their needs and their pocketbook? Everyone should have the choice of taking the risk or not. It is like those who advocated against helmet laws for motorcycles. I think riders have every right to go without a helmet but if you splatter your brains on the pavement don't expect me to pick up the tab.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 2:58PM
They do have a choice - they do NOT have to have insurance. But they do have to pay something.
Why? Because if that motorcyclist is stupid enough to not have insurance OR a helmet and does go "splat" we all have to pay for him. He isn't just left to die.
Ah - why do we rebuild the Interstate Highway for rural and urban areas alike, when clearly the urban areas contain more people and pay more of the taxes?
Because we serve ALL the people, not just the elected, wealthy or connected.
We aren't just a collection of isolated individuals, we are all in this together.
As Benjamin Franklin said in a different time "If we don't hang together, then we will surely hang separately."
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:57PM
No PE, the "wealthy" support the "urban" welfare recipients [who collect, not pay]. If the latter had their legs dcuk-taped together, the former wouldn't have to financially support them for life!!!
topcat52| 9.22.12 @ 4:39PM
Let me see if I understand this. You understand that the cost of insurance is based upon risk. The insurance company makes money because in the large pool of the insured, they have determined that only x% will "collect" and they have set their rates accordingly. Now, they must set their rates without the benefit of such calculations. Therefore, logically, they must raise their prices for everyone to take into account those posing a high level of risk though they can't charge those folks more. So the young, who are predominantly low risk, must pay the same as the high risk both because they must buy a policy in the first place, and second because they must buy much more policy than they actually need or will use. This is not insurance. This is simply the redistribution of wealth from the young and healthy to the old and infirm. I am old, but I still see this as eminently unfair. Besides, the discussion should be about health care, not about health insurance. How can we create a better health care system. How can we lower the cost of health care, and enable more people to receive better health care. All the insurance in the world will do nothing in that regard. Obamacare is a health insurance plan, not a health care plan. And it isn't even insurance as explained above.
Nick| 9.21.12 @ 10:38AM
You KEEP blaming Ambassador Stevens for his own death.
You are a disgusting scumbag, Burp.
junkyard infidel| 9.21.12 @ 1:17PM
tell us perp-a-traitor, what's it like to have a live body and a dead brain ? (no sarcasm)
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 2:53PM
No, what these little snot-nosers NEED is a """J-O-B"""" which will provide them with either employer-furnished insurance or the money to pay for their won insurance; and they will never get a job is they """"""stupidly"""""continue sucking on Barry's teat of governmental dependency [which is his insurance plan]!!!!
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 2:59PM
There aren't that many non-workers in this country - not like you that lives off the government Fart - they work.
Stan Redmond| 9.21.12 @ 7:58PM
Fewest able bodied workers in 30 years under president downgrade. Most Americans ever on disability and food stamps. Well done.
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:49PM
PurpleExcrement, I've worked more years and paid more taxes that you'll ever see in your miserably inept lifetime. Oh and I'll compare bank accounts with you any day, moron, so go back to your governmental garbage collection job okay?????
The Avenger| 9.21.12 @ 8:05AM
So, the youth went 2-1 for Obama in 2008 and will probably go for him again in 2012. In their woeful ignorance, they will tear down the greatest country the world has ever known and replace it with a socialist utopia. Woo Hoo!! Freaking fools!!
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 10:22AM
They are far more brilliant than the Reagan sheeple that are gaga at Rush.
The Avenger| 9.21.12 @ 10:30AM
They vote for an entitlement society not even realizing that it is they who will pay for it. Like I said, freaking fools.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 11:58AM
Just pay your taxes so some rich boy can keep his. That's so much more intelligent.
Appleby| 9.21.12 @ 1:55PM
Purp, you sound like my youngest sister, who would be happy to die and go to Hell if a rich man went first. There's a reason why envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 2:58PM
YOU don't pay taxes because YOU don't work and earn income. HE works, supports his family and pays TAXES WHICH ALSO SUPPORT YOU. Aslo, why shouldn't he want his taxes returned SINCE HE WORKED AND EARNED THE INCOME ON WHICH THOSE TAXES WERE BASED IN THE FIRST PLACE AND THEREAFTER WAS FORCED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO PAY SAME IN ORDER TO SUPPORT YOU??????
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 3:00PM
You don't work Fart - so you're sucking off of America and are part of Romney's 47% !!!!
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:54PM
No PurpleExcrement, I retired at 55 after 35 years of continuous work, and the penneys I get from SS hardly provide my needed financial support. G-D you're a DA....go back to shoveling your namesake into a city garbage truck!!!!!
Nick| 9.21.12 @ 10:37AM
You KEEP blaming Ambassador Stevens for his own death.
You are a disgusting scumbag, Burp.
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 2:54PM
No they [and you] are whats referred to as STUPID!!!!!!!!!
RCV| 9.21.12 @ 1:39PM
Ah, if only they were smart enough to see that those of you on the right have their best interests at heart.
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 3:01PM
Ah if only they were smart enough to intellectually qualify for some of the few available jobs that employers offer, but they're no since they're stupid, lazy and not ambitious!!!!!
Alej| 9.21.12 @ 3:03PM
I damn sure don't have anyone's interest at heart, other than the future of my country.
Traitors, bums and slothful punks be damned.
Alej| 9.21.12 @ 3:01PM
The voting age should be raised to 30, and that qualification must be accompanied by evidence of paying taxes, a DD-214, or a combination of several other indications that one is a contributing member of the society that person wants to shape the course of.
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 3:03PM
I might also suggest a I.Q. test, but then they'd all fail and not be able to vote at all!!!
Alej| 9.21.12 @ 3:07PM
By definition, one-half the Caucasion population would score at or below below 100, that figure being the average as determined by decades of testing, and arrived at as the cutoff score.
That would leave about 5 % eligible Caucasian Democrats. Figure out the rest by yourself.
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:45PM
You mean to tell me that there are still Caucasian Democrats....shazam??????
RCV| 9.21.12 @ 5:29PM
We should just all be ruled by the elite class, consisting of you and similar right-thinkers, just like in the good old days.
Well, friend, that just ain't gonna happen.
Stan Redmond| 9.21.12 @ 8:02PM
The good old days, like our founding days, we were left alone by the government. Now, we're being told how much gasoline can be dispensed at a time with engine destroying E15. We're FORCED to pay for stupid windmills. We can't buy a toilet that isn't approved by some shmuch in D.C. Barry and crew have intruded in every aspect of our lives and economy like never before. Frankly I'd rather have the posters here run the country then the dictator wannabe Marxist we have running it like he's king.
RCV| 9.21.12 @ 10:32PM
You poor guy, it's a wonder you're able to survive. You live in the freest, most prosperous society in human history - able to travel anywhere, communicate your thoughts instantly to millions of people around the world. Instead of being satisfied and grateful, you're an incessant whiner, nostalgically reminiscing about those glorious days of old, when millions of human beings were held in bondage by others, when the only people who had a voice in government were property-owning white males. You're truly pathetic, my friend.
RCV| 9.21.12 @ 6:29PM
It's little wonder why the GOP effort is heading fast for disaster at the polls. The disdain shown by both the candidate and his supporters at TAS for the electorate is not hard for people to discern.
Hardcard| 9.21.12 @ 8:15AM
The progressives demanded and coerced the country to lower the voting age to 18 and this is the result. Stupid is as stupid does.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 9:01AM
Funny - but Obamacare is essentially a Republican, Conservative plan - including the individual mandate.
Having Conservatives and Republicans complain about it now rings hollow for anyone paying attention in the 1990's ... it's hypocritical and transparently just an attack on the President - and it isn't working.
Have a nice day!
Nick| 9.21.12 @ 9:14AM
During the past week, Burp has REPEATEDLY blamed the late Ambassador Stevens for his own death, the death of 3 other Americans, and the attack on the Libyan consulate. He STUPIDLY believes that an ambassador has more power than the president.
Burp will say ANYTHING to help the Foodstamp President cover-up his incompetence.
__________________
Purp| 9.19.12 @ 8:06PM
"Who is in charge of the Embassy in a country? Who decides what is or isn't done in the Embassy?
"It is the Ambassador. He loved Libya, he miscalculated and tragically is dead.
"But, why would a President bother appointing an Ambassador if you're not going to listen to his advice. [...]
"Sadly, we can't ask the Ambassador himself - but that was his job."
__________________
Purp| 9.19.12 @ 10:49PM
"Say it all you want ... Ambassador is the boss. If he wanted more security, he'd have had it. It sure isn't the President's fault. [...] Twist all you want. He was the boss, and he is now dead."
__________________
You KEEP blaming Ambassador Stevens for his own death.
You are a disgusting scumbag, Burp.
Von Mises Jr| 9.21.12 @ 9:16AM
Purp is just angry he was not there to sodomize the cute guy along with Omar, Nick.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 9:52AM
You didn't get that cream, did you? hahahahaha....
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:42PM
Is your dildo stuck on HIGH??????
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 3:07PM
No doubt you """""stupidly""""suggest same due to Romneycare, but you conveniently ignore that same was initiated in the most liberal state in the US and was demanded by its state citizens [and tub-a-lard Kennedy], did not involve the theft of $700billion from Medicare, didn't involve a mandate [ie "tax" ----SCOTUS], etc!!!!
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 3:09PM
PS: Oh I forgot that that state has no Medicaid either, since all of its citizens are Kennedys and don't needs same since they all live off DADDY'S bootlegging profits
Stan Redmond| 9.21.12 @ 8:04PM
Let's just destroy the whole damned health care industry because, as usual, liberals cried, "WELL the republicans did it."
Von Mises Jr| 9.21.12 @ 9:14AM
John, you are right on track and doing a good job, but here are a couple questions you and young people should consider.
- You say that Obama was NOT responsible for the 2008 Sub-prime housing and stock market crash. But he was "King of Affordable Housing" along with Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Maxine Waters, Bill Clinton, Janet Reno....You should read either of Charlie Gasparino's books and you will find out why he IS responsible.
- Obama has not only NOT fixed the financial crisis. He has NOT fixed the housing crisis. If Fannie and Freddie are the giant hole in the liner of your pool, sticking the hose in the pool won't solve the problem. Dodd Frank exempted Fannie and Freddie and they are leaking like an old wench.
- You sight the Obamanomics Unemployment rate of 8.3%. Then you site 32% for 18-29 year olds and 14% for 30 to 65. You got to check your math again son. If working age is 47 years and approximately 1/4 is at 32% and 3/4 at 14%; you can't have 8.3% as the solution. The correct answer is 18.5%. Look it up.
But again, you are doing the right thing teaching your peers. But you must question everything, including the premises if you want to help your generation find the truth.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 9:55AM
VM - Why do you look to the President to "Fix" anything ? Isn't that anathema to a market economy , free enterprise and the Conservative/Republican philosophy of "limited government" ?
I mean we have the lowest tax rates in over 60 years - why isn't that working?
Government IS the problem - it's funny you look to it for solutions - isn't that what they call hypocritical?
Have a nice day.
The Avenger| 9.21.12 @ 10:19AM
Dang perp, you are an obtuse fool. We don't want government to fix things. They can't, and every time they try they eff things up even more. Maybe they should try leaving the economy in the hands of the consumer.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 10:24AM
"leaving the economy in the hands of the consumer."?
Where do you think OUR government came from? "We the people" ...
The Avenger| 9.21.12 @ 10:32AM
You sir are the consummate fool. Public schools, eh?
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 11:41AM
No - Catholic ... your point is?
Von Mises Jr| 9.21.12 @ 11:06AM
Avenger, Caliban does not understand that fixing the problem is getting the hell out of the way. Instead we got Dodd Frank that super regulated everything but what caused the collapse: Fannie and Freddie.
And we get zero interest rates that mean that banks buy T-Bills funding inefficiency, waste and corruption while small business and individuals are not worth the risk premium.
Ignore Caliban. They obviously did not teach him to read no less finance in his Taliban cave.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 11:46AM
Stepping out of the way - you mean like taxing investment income at ZERO % rate and taxing working people 10-35% or higher rates? THAT's stepping out of the way?
Relaxing regulations that lead directly to the crash of 2008? THAT's stepping out of the way?
Or destroying guaranteed Medicare for Seniors and giving them VoucherCare instead with a wing and prayer? THAT's stepping out of the way?
Policing the World, regardless of cost? THAT's stepping out of the way?
Deciding who should marry whom? THAT's stepping out of the way?
You people are so full of it - limited government my ass - you want YOUR government, BIG and powerful ... you don't want limited government, just want it YOUR way.
Al Adab| 9.21.12 @ 1:44PM
Eliminate the income tax (a failed redistributionists dream at best) and allow people to keep, invest and grow their own money to provide for themselves. Why is that a difficult concept?
Medicare and SS need to be understood as a contract for those over the actuarial age (about 50) of necessity. Below that line one could retain the tax and allow the individual to place it in a self-selected 401, IRA, mutual fund, or whatever. That takes the government and its inability to control borrowing and spending these funds out of the equation.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 3:05PM
It's not - but employers will just drop your pay... you won't make any more.
Sounds like the same bullshit employers sold everyone the boondoggle of 401k and IRA self directed "pensions" ... got them off the hook and made us responsible for our own retirement funding (with no finance experience, you're on your own). And, when the market crashes - there goes your security... no thanks.
It's basically a guarantee vs the uncertainty of no guarantee when you are too old or sick to do it alone. It's different when you are young and strong and can do everything on your own.
So you pay all your life to have something secure in your golden years when you can least make it on your own.
Al Adab| 9.21.12 @ 3:36PM
Damn personal responsibility anyway.
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:40PM
Capital gains tax is a double taxiation on income [and should be eliminated], since corporations have already been taxed. The CRA of 1977 etc [and excessive government choking of capitalism] lead eventually to the 2008 crash. Vouchering of below 55 Medicare will save it from Democrats' destruction. Allowing Russia, China, and Iran to take over the world will put you into their jails. Go dildo whoever/whatever's """""ass""""" you wish, but that will never become the sacrament of MARRIAGE!!!!
Nick| 9.21.12 @ 10:36AM
You KEEP blaming Ambassador Stevens for his own death.
You are a disgusting scumbag, Burp.
Alej| 9.21.12 @ 3:09PM
WHY does everyone insist on feeding the youthful troll ?
Nick| 9.21.12 @ 5:50PM
I believe feeding the troll requires one to respond to Burp's asinine & moronic posts, Alej.
I'm not engaging this dope.
I consider what I'm doing to be a public service. I'm informing those who don't know how much of a disgusting scumbag Burp really can be, that it is not worth your time to reply to the childish loser.
It's a public service I've been providing here, at AmSpec, for almost 4 years now.
Stan Redmond| 9.21.12 @ 8:11PM
Hello. Do you need to see any more "O" logos on everything. Obama foodstamps, Obama bailouts, Obama Care, Obama Frank Dodd, Kathleen "Shall Determine" Sebelius, EPA mandates, Obama Amnesty, Obama Cronyism, Obama Motors, Obama Volt,Obama trillion dollar deficits.
Free market? Low taxes? All these regulations and requirements are direct taxes in and democrats are the biggest rapists of the free market this country has ever had.
How dense are you.
Von Mises Jr| 9.21.12 @ 9:15AM
John, Let me give you another issue to write about. Obama stole $716B from Medicare that was premiums supposedly for the contributor’s medical care. He redistributed some $60K of my contributions to poor and illegal aliens. You will pay in somewhere between $250K and $500K in Social Security and it is going broke. Good luck with that.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 9:58AM
What Social Security are YOU talking about? Social Security has 2.7 Trillion in the trust fund - hardly broke.
No Medicare contributors have lost a thing, in fact, they have gained the closing of the donut hole for medicine and preventive care is covered now by Medicare - so what are you talking about?
You need to study up before throwing out right-wing talking points. You can do better.
The Avenger| 9.21.12 @ 10:22AM
The 2.7 trillion in the trust fund are IOU's . The government spent that money long ago. It is on the debit side of the ledger now. The future taxpayers are on the hook for ALL of it and more.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 10:49AM
We owe China too, less than that ... so 2.7 trillion is part of the 16 Trillion debt, isn't it? and 8 trillion of debt is owned by Americans - so it's not so bad is it? We owe it to ourselves.
When it's time to cash in, we'll simply payback Social Security, won't we? That's hardly broke, is it?
Maybe you shouldn't have elected Reagan and the Bush Twins who racked up over 10 Trillion of the National debt during their terms, huh?
Stan Redmond| 9.21.12 @ 8:12PM
What color are the unicorns in your world?
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:25PM
Yeah, when the Chinese [majority holders of our debt] decide to sell/cash in our paper, can you spell BANKRUPTCY? Oh and Republicans spent money on wars that protected your rear, as opposed to the Democrats who provided welfare to their dumbars constituents. Republicans have tried to reduce welfare, whereas Democrats have resisted those efforts [but of course that what community organizing street hoes always do, right???????] !!!!
Von Mises Jr| 9.21.12 @ 11:10AM
Exactly Avenger. The taxes being paid this month is going right back out again to pay the checks. A year ago or so they had to tap into "General Funds" to get the checks out. Don't waste your time with a Sophist and a communist propagandist working for the regime.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 11:47AM
Gee, when were all the IOUs created? Hmmmm? Wanna know?
Von Mises Jr| 9.21.12 @ 11:54AM
I wasn't talking to you, Caliban. I was talking to a real human being named Avenger.
Are you a twelve year old kid? Or are you a retard? You seem to have the maturity of an adolescent.
The Avenger| 9.21.12 @ 12:16PM
VN, I think you nailed it. Perp is a teenager sitting in his mama's basement, using her computer, her internet connection, and no one's brain. Sadly he is not alone in his stupidity.
junkyard infidel| 9.21.12 @ 1:30PM
exactly...it sits in the basement drinking red bull and beats on a keyboard covered with cheetos crumbs thinking it's some kind of intellectual ! pathetic
Von Mises Jr| 9.22.12 @ 8:17AM
junkyard infidel, it is not Caliban's keyboard that he is beating on. For $10 per hour Soros cash (as opposed to Obama stash), you don't have many entertainment options.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 3:06PM
No, I'm just not a self-serving selfish full-of-himself bastard
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:10PM
Purp, quit referring to the POTUS like that!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:14PM
"when" is not as important as WHO, and the answer is DEMOCRATS that allowed them to fund their continuous GOVERNMETAL WELFARE of The Great Society, War on Poverty, Affordable Homes, Aid to Dependent Children, Rent Subsidizations, Hud, Fannie/Freddie, Unstimulus and Welfarecare [all at the expense of taxpayers and/or seniors]!!!!!
Nick| 9.21.12 @ 10:35AM
You KEEP blaming Ambassador Stevens for his own death.
You are a disgusting scumbag, Burp.
Purp| 9.21.12 @ 10:51AM
Einstein said "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" ... and you are expecting what? Haha, ROFL, LMAO you're so lame, you just don't get it.
Nick| 9.21.12 @ 10:59AM
You KEEP blaming Ambassador Stevens for his own death.
You are a disgusting scumbag, Burp.
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:09PM
Your definition describes you and your fellow looney-tune liberals to a T, since you're too stupid to learn your mistake of 11/4/08!!!!
Oldefarte| 9.21.12 @ 10:29PM
SS has had $2-3trillion stolen from its fund by Democrats funding welfare to the OWS crowd etc. Hitler-Axe, Nancy Piglet etc stole $700 billion from Medicare to fund their WELFARECARE with the intent to gut same and therefore transfer government health insurance from seniors to the snot-nosers for their votes!!!!!
Mike G| 9.21.12 @ 9:51AM
"...Romney has not fully made the case that a Romney presidency is in their economic interests."
Romney has yet to fully make a case for anything. He jabs, then backs off. He needs to start pounding on the idiot. Romney should be up in the polls by 25-30 points, even with the skewed demographics, but he's being too nice.
Stan Redmond| 9.21.12 @ 8:13PM
He's not obama and that's good enough for me...sadly
Who Knows?| 9.21.12 @ 12:05PM
Obama is bad for dogs and children---and, it’s ALL for the children.
You didn’t think that just because the earth has spun around the sun so many times since people were born that they’re NOT still children, when it comes to popularity contests, right up to and including the presidency, did you?
Hip for the kids! That’s Obama!
It’s starting to remind me of 2008, all over again, as the sickening realization that McCain didn’t have it in him to go balls out front to nail Obama—no exposure of ANY of the latter’s radical past.
Romney just doesn’t seem to me to have the will or the desperation to do a Mark Steyn on BHO.
He should simply harp on this----reelecting Obama is national suicide.
That would rock and roll the noosphere!
Got to shake, rattle and ROLL all the leg tinkling aspholes-- fire that mother up!
Intrade is all the way down to 30% for Romney.
I was worried when it was at 40% a week or two ago, and NOW look at this.
October 3rd---the first debate can’t come fast enough!
Al Adab| 9.21.12 @ 1:48PM
Perception trumps reality every time. The young seek excitment and "hip" if you will, to the exclusion of understanding that it is they who are being pawned to pay for the massive deficits and growing, ponderous debt this nation continues to foist on them. It is they who will one day pay either through massive, confiscatory taxes or through depreciated currency or, as seems likely, both.
Who Knows?| 9.21.12 @ 8:00PM
At 5 PM Pacific time, Intrade is down to 28.5% for Romney.
Stan Redmond| 9.21.12 @ 8:18PM
I have a feeling Mitt has some juicy stuff. Romney has had some great moments keeping Obama on the defensive. When he goes for the jugular he hits it hard. And the difference between McCain and Romney is Romney wants to win. All I got from McCain was he wanted to be in front of the cameras.
RCV| 9.21.12 @ 11:39PM
Yes, he's had some really great moments this week, really great. He'll be launching his real campaign any day now!
As David Brooks noted this afternoon, he's the first presidential challenger in recent decades who has negative likability numbers - not a good thing for a challeneger. He comes across as insincere because he has no ideological grounding, and people sense he's just faking his new-found conservativeness.
Ronsch| 9.21.12 @ 1:00PM
It is fitting...The young voters "broke" for NerObama and now they are broke...
NerObama as a State senator was right in the thick of the meltdown...he and every other Congresscritter knew what was coming as I am positive the budget and finance committees saw it and told both houses of Congress.
He does not get off the hook that easily.
Kwan| 9.21.12 @ 1:53PM
You wouldn't hire a guy passed out on a skid-row street with a bottle of Cisco Wine- Known as "liquid crack," for its reputation for wreaking more mental havoc than the cheapest tequila. Something in this syrupy hooch seems to have a synapse-blasting effect not unlike low-grade cocaine. Strawberry Cisco has a bouquet similar to that of Frankenberry cereal fermented in wine cooler with a hint of antifreeze. -in his hand to perform a heart transplant surgery for your father and then be shocked and surprised when dad ends up 6 feet under at the local cemetery. Then why should we be shocked and surprised when an unqualified nobody, who is politically to the left of Hugo Chavez like Barack Obama, has the nation on a bullet-train express to hell.
PolishKnight| 9.21.12 @ 1:56PM
My theory: Let's start off with demographics: About 2/3's of "kids" are in the Democrat special interest entitlement "equality" groups: Non-white males, gays, Man-hating feminists, and future government bureaucrats.
When faced with the consequences of the Democrat cronyist platform, they naturally are against it. But then when they have to consider any actual candidate and vote, and then giving up their particular goody, then they suddenly are squamish. It's like asking a child if they want to lose weight and become a fashion model and they'll say sure. Then ask them to give up sweets and exercise and they'll say they're too busy. It's simply a matter of their ID versus EGO. They want a society of caring and sharing and cumbayah, but someone else should do all that first and THEN they'll think about it.
obadiah| 9.21.12 @ 2:13PM
The kids know that ROMNEY will guarantee their future of employment by plutocrats for long hours at low wages untroubled by unions, OSHA or Social Security. Off to Walmart, boi. No videos for you, grrl.
PolishKnight| 9.23.12 @ 2:43PM
Even as that's true, partly, Obama and socialists are promising a Soviet/third world style system where cronies get unions and great healthcare and GUM stores and the rest work in hellholes. It's funny that his biggest supporters, illiterate non-whites, are often from such countries where the local police shake you down on the way to the market and then they seek to make the same thing here. I guess the white voters are little better since they preach about diversity while being limosine liberals...
Alej| 9.21.12 @ 3:14PM
The "kids" don't "know" crap. That's why they shouldn't be allowed to vote until age 30**, at which time they should have seen a little of the real world.
** Unless they have earned a DD-214, Honorable.
Martin kzovich| 9.22.12 @ 7:24AM
The points in this article are one of many issues that convince me of two things; The Communists are in desperation mode and almost if not all polls are lies. My advice to Romney is the following: Focus on the reality of the economy, the utter failure our foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere say with Russia for example .
And expose Obama's lies. Do not be shy in the debates. On the contrary, hammer Obama on his BS. But nicely.
As for trolls. It is time to declare our Declaration of Independence from engaging with those slime,stupid,assinine,creepy,dishonest.lying liars ,garbage and sabotage. Stop responding they do not care what you say. You are talking cult members who are programmed as robots.
RCV| 9.22.12 @ 4:23PM
Exhibit A on why the GOP has gone off the deep end.