Obama’s Lowlights (7/16/12)

Economy – The economy remains stagnant as the private sector added a measly 80 thousand jobs in June and the unemployment rate stayed at 8.2%. The unemployment rate for minorities remains very high: Hispanics 11% and African Americans 14.4%. What’s worse, according the Social Security administration more Americans went on disability last month than found a job – 85 thousand. In fact, the number of new disability enrollees has climbed 19% faster than the number of jobs created during Obama’s presidential tenure – 3.1 million to 2.6 million. This is one way to keep the unemployment rate down and win votes. If that is not bad enough, in the 60 years prior to the Obama administration there have been 39 months of 8% or higher unemployment, under Obama we are at 41 months and counting. And Obama calls this “forward” progress. The White House has used the same one line in their response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics economic report the past 30 months "Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report."

Rules and Regulations - Tomas Lopez , 21, was fired by his supervisor for vacating his lifeguarding zone to save a man drowning in an unprotected area of the beach in Hallandale Beach, Florida. This is exactly what happens when the government places rules and regulations on companies and individuals – it eliminates commonsense in the decision making process. Fortunately, Lopez was reinstated a few days later.

Texas – Illegal immigration has gotten so out of hand on the Southern border the Texas Department of Public Safety has gotten gun boats to patrol the Rio Grande since the federal government is doing nothing.

Terrorism - According to a report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology’s Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences division, people with conservative or libertarian leanings fit the profile of an extreme right-wing domestic terrorist.

UN - Apparently the obscure UN agency ‘World Intellectual Property Organization,’ is being investigated by the State Department for shipping “computers and other sophisticated equipment” to North Korea and Iran - despite the fact that both the U.S. and U.N. have sanctions against the pariah regimes in an effort to halt the development of their respective nuclear weapons programs. In other news, the UN is proposing a tax on all billionaires around the globe to raise money for poor nations.

Occupy Movement – Their plan to publish a cookbook was scrapped because the effort was disorganized and discombobulated.

NOAA - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's website, from the Ocean Facts subheading, revealed your tax dollars, in latest effort by organization, was spent on verifying mermaids aren't real.

Romney – He set a GOP campaign fundraising record for June – over 100 million dollars.

Green - The U.S. Navy has started going green under the direction of Obama’s Secretary of the Navy Roy Mabus. They started using a special “green fuel” for their “Great Green Fleet,” which will be tested this month while completing its Rim of the Pacific exercise. The cost of the green fuel is $26 per gallon, a 622% increase over the current fuel price. In other news, the administration is outsourcing green jobs to Africa: The U.S. government is spending $20 million to “help clean energy projects in Africa get started.” Those projects include wind farms and solar panels, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced at the recent Rio +20 Conference in Brazil.

ObamaCare - The health care law "includes the largest set of tax law changes in more than 20 years," according to the Treasury inspector general who oversees the IRS. The changes will require new regulations, forms and publications, new computer programs and a big new outreach program to explain it all to taxpayers and tax professionals.