The American Spectator

Jeff| 8.18.11 @ 11:09AM

so what ?

you want perfect ? fisrt get a cross and some nails ...

I would bet it would be very hard to find a major comapny in Texas that didn't contribute to Perry ... Should he avoid doing state business with any of them ?

Casey Abell| 8.18.11 @ 11:21AM

The more conservative pundits draw attention to Perry's business-friendly policies, the more Perry likes it. The contrast to Obama's clueless hectoring and harassing of business couldn't become starker. Sure, a few libertarian types might get a little upset. But rank and file GOP primary voters? They WANT to hear that Perry fosters an favorable environment for business.

Is Carney on Perry's payroll? I'm starting to think Hillyer is. Malkin, too.

Oldefarte| 8.18.11 @ 3:46PM

Once again, IT'S THE DEMOCRATS, STUPIDS! and I hope everyone is now enjoying their HOPE & CHANGE:

'......Dow Falls as Public Fear Over Obama’s Economic Policies Hits Record High
Thursday, August 18, 2011 12:42 PM
By: Jim Meyers

A plunging stock market on Thursday and other troubling economic news can only reinforce Americans’ overwhelming disapproval of President Barack Obama’s handling of the weak economy.On Wall Street, the DOW was down more than 500 points at one point on Thursday morning, well over 4 percent. Meanwhile, Gallup reported that disapproval of Obama’s handling of the economy has skyrocketed to an all-time high of 71 percent.Morgan Stanley has slashed its growth forecast for this year and 2012, warning that the global economy is “dangerously close to a recession.”“The path now looks even more bumpy, below par and brittle than previously thought,” Morgan Stanley said in a statement on Wednesday.Thursday morning’s sell-off in the U.S stock markets comes after European equities suffered their biggest daily fall in two and a half years earlier on Thursday.Other reports have brought bad economic news on a number of fronts. Sales of existing homes fell 3.5 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.67 million homes, far below the 6 million that economists say must be sold to sustain a healthy housing market, CNBC reported.Adding to the woes, an index of factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region plunged to minus 30.7 in August, hitting its lowest level since March 2009. Investors also are disappointed with a Labor Department report that weekly jobless claims rose 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 408,000, the highest in four weeks. Economists had expected a rise to no more than 400,000.“People continue to get laid off,” David Semmens, a U.S. economist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York, told Bloomberg.“The uncertainty in the economic outlook is continuing to give hiring managers sleepless nights and is keeping businesses from expanding.”Another Labor Department report showed that the Consumer Price Index increased 0.5 percent in July, the largest gain since March. That, too, surpassed economists’ predictions of a 0.2 percent gain.
“Fears of a second recession, the loss of the nation’s top-notch triple-A credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe have inflicted damage on global stock markets,” CNBC observed.“That has hurt consumer confidence and may make businesses more reluctant to hire more workers.”The troubling economic developments coincide with increasing worries about President Obama’s performance. His disapproval rating of 71 percent on the economy is 11 points higher than in May and well above the previous high of 63 percent in November.Gallup also found that 76 percent of mericans cite economic issues as the most important problem facing the nation, the highest percentage since April 2009.
The most commonly mentioned specific problems are the economy in general, at 31 percent; unemployment or jobs, at 29 percent; and the federal budget deficit and federal debts, at 17 percent.Meanwhile, President Obama’s overall job approval fell to an all-time low of 39 percent over the weekend, Gallup reported.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a Hudson Institute senior fellow who served as chief of staff for President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, tells Newsmax that Obama’s low approval numbers are without doubt related to the nation’s economic woes.“He can’t really go on blaming Bush two years afterward, when President Obama was the one who called for the trillion-dollar stimulus, which has succeeded in raising the unemployment rate by almost two percentage points,” she said. “At some point you have to just step up and accept responsibility.”She asserts that Obama’s regulations and policies are weighing down the economy.“These are all costless changes in policy over which President Obama has complete control. He could be changing this, but he isn’t. Why? Because he’s indebted to his union and environmental base. As the saying goes, ‘You dance with who brang you.’ Who brang President Obama? The environmentalists and the hard-left activists. And he is doing their bidding.”Also commenting on Obama’s low approval rating on the economy, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who served as director of the Congressional Budget Office under President George W. Bush, told Newsmax: “I certainly think the administration has done a terrible job of economic management.“This is an era in which having good economic outlooks are at a premium, and their budgets have been dreadful. This is an era where growth is an imperative, and at every juncture, when they had to choose between a green agenda and growth, at the EPA they chose a green agenda. When they had to choose between a union agenda and a growth agenda with the NLRB they chose the union agenda. When they had to choose between social policy and growth in healthcare, they chose an enormous entitlement expansion, and hurt growth.“I think the American people recognize this.”.....'

Despite the nation’s growing economic woes, President Obama is going ahead with plans to leave Thursday for a vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., with his wife and two daughters.

“Obama was going ahead with the 10-day trip despite criticism that his choice of a vacation spot is inappropriate given the state of the economy,” The Associated Press observed. “The upscale island resort is a summer hangout for the wealthy and the well-connected.”