The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: 07/28/2013 - 08/04/2013

Saturday, August 03, 2013

Fact Chek: Obama's Recent Deficit Reduction Claim Not True



In recent speeches, President Obama has repeatedly claimed that “our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.” The White House says he’s referring to the decline in the deficit as a percentage of the nation’s economy from 2009 to 2012. But that’s not the “fastest rate” of deficit reduction in 60 years. It fell at a faster rate from 2004 to 2007.

Obama has dropped the talking point into no fewer than five speeches focused on “Jobs for the Middle Class” during the course of a week.
July 30 in Tennessee: Our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.
July 24, in Illinois: And our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.
July 25, in Missouri: And our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.
July 25, in Florida: And our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.
July 27, weekly address: Our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.


The deficit as a percentage of GDP fell 31 percent from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2012. But there are two other four-year periods when the deficit fell at a faster rate — in fact, more than twice as fast:
  • The rate of deficit reduction was 64 percent from fiscal 1993 to fiscal 1996, when the deficit fell from 3.9 percent of GDP to 1.4 percent.
  • Similarly, the rate dropped 66 percent from fiscal 2004 to fiscal 2007, when the deficit went from 3.5 percent of GDP to 1.2 percent.
The deficit as a percentage of GDP has fallen more over shorter periods of time. For example, it fell 3.2 percentage points in 1969 (from a deficit of 2.9 percent in 1968 to a surplus of 0.3 percent of GDP in 1969).
This chart gives a fuller picture of deficits over the last 20 years. (Note: The years showing as negative numbers are years of budget surpluses.)

 
 
Read More Here:  FactChek.org






Obama’s 55 Worst Assaults on Civil Liberties



55 examples of Obama’s war on our liberties, freedoms and American way of life.

  1. Drone strikes and assassination of American citizens abroad (Salon – Why does Obama get a Pass on Civil Liberties – 2012  & Guardian – Drones are Coming – 2013)
  2. The promise that we have at least 10,000 drones spying on us to look forward to (Infowars – FAA Predicts 10,000 Drones 2013 & End Times Prophecy – 30,000 Drones Over America 2013)
  3. Homeland Security’s introduction and installation of street lights featuring surveillance cameras and loudspeakers (Natural News -Homeland Security streetlights include surveillance cameras 2011)
  4. TSA Groping: “Big Brother not only watches us in the nude, he can routinely molest us at will” (Kuhner: Obama’s Police State 2010)
  5. Turning Homeland Security into Obama’s personal SS (Conservative Action Alerts – Congress Must Defund Obama’s Growing Police State 2013)
  6. TSA and DHA rolling through your neighborhood with long-distance X-ray equipped vans to inspect your car and your person (Natural News – TSA, DHS plan massive rollout of mobile surveillance vans with long-distance X-ray capability, eye movement tracking and more & DHS via Epic.org – Bodyscans 2011)
  7. Homeland Security sending thousands of heavily armored vehicles to cities and towns around the country (Modern Survival – Latest Homeland Security Armored Vehicle 2012)
  8. Signing an Executive Order giving the Federal government the right to “commandeer” all domestic US resources, including food and water supplies, energy production and transportation, even in time of peace, with no Congressional oversight (Global Research – Police State America 2012)
  9. Federal push for states to pass law allowing Federal officers to arrest local law enforcement for failing to comply with federal law (Modern Survival – Federal Framework Being Set Up To Arrest Sheriffs 2013)
  10. Feds providing full urban combat gear to local police and funding the expansion of SWAT teams around the nation – “Policemen now kick in doors in the middle of the night dressed in black face masks and body armor head to toe.  The uniforms are just that, uniform around the nation.  The equipment and the tactics designed for an urban battlefield are being ‘uniformly’ spread to police departments and sheriff’s offices throughout the nation, and being funded with primarily federal funds. ” (Teaparty.org – Obama to Make America a Police State – 2013)
  11. Non-responsiveness to FOIA requests and lying about their transparency statistics (The Atlantic Wire – FOIA Advocates Skeptical about Obama’s Claims 2012)
  12. NSA’s creation of the “Perfect Citizen” program to install spying equipment on the computer servers of private companies. (Popsci – NSA Launching “Perfect Citizen” 2010  & WSJ – US Plans CyberShield 2010)
  13. FBI Spying on Google Users (PrisonPlanet – FBI ‘secretly spying’ on Google Users 2013)
  14. “Huge increase”…”exponentially increase” in the warrentless spying of Americans’ phone, email and internet communications (Reason- Warrentless spying skyrockets under Obama 2012)
  15. 13,753 Gov’t Requests for Google E-Mail Data in 2012, Most Without a Warrant (CNS News 2013)
  16. Spy agencies’ access to all Americans’ financial records (ActivistPost – Obama Says You Have No Right to Banking 2013RT – US Spy Plan 2013)
  17. Increased IRS audits (Fox – Why are IRS audits on Charities Up by 79%? 2013)
  18. Government cooperation with private data-mining firms (RepublicReport – CISPA NSA Lobbying 2012)
  19. “Aggressive” crackdown on government whistle blowers (Atlantic Wire – Obama’s War on Whistle Blowers 2011)
  20. IRS audits on Obama’s enemies (Heritage – IRS Labor Dept Audit Businessmen on Obama’s Enemies List 2012)
  21. Obamacare collecting patient data (House.gov-Huelskamp: Obama’s Gun Proposal Threatens Patient Privacy 2013)
  22. Drafting secret memos hidden from the courts (Emptywheel – How Good are DOJ’s Reasons for Burying its Case? 2012)
  23. Giving the military the right to arrest citizens in the United States; “Upending” the Posse Comitatus Act –   “Continued indefinite detentions at Gitmo, but also brought the policy ashore by signing the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, which authorizes the military to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone suspected of assisting terrorists, even citizens” (Salon – Obama’s Dismal Civil Liberties Record 2012)
  24. Law enforcement crackdown on protestors (Alternet – 5 Freedom killing tactics police will use to crack down on protests 2012)
  25. NSA building the Country’s biggest telecommunication interception center (Wired – NSA datacenter 2012)
  26. Ramping up the failed war on drugs & busting medical marijuana distributors despite state laws (Daily Caller – Speak No Evil 2010)
  27. Forcing Americans to buy insurance or pay a fine (Kathleen Parker: Obamacare & Civil Rights – Don’t Confuse the Two 2012 )
  28. Imposing books of new regulation  – over 10,000 in his first three years, costing the public over $32 Billion, possibly up to $467 billion (Weekly Standard – Cost of Obama’s Regulatory Explosion 2013  & Weekly Standard – Obama’s Regulatory Rampage – 2013);  Imposing an average of 63 new regulations per day (Real Clear Policy – Obama’s Regulations are Strangling America 2013)
  29. Blocking free market industrial activity, such as his oil drilling moratorium and his blocking the Keystone pipeline (Weekly Standard – Obama’s Regulatory Rampage – 2013)
  30. Defining the entire world as a battleground in the war on terror – effectively suspending habeus corpus (World Socialist Web Site – Obama signs police state legislation 2012)
  31. Approving of intimidation of voters by the Black Panther Party …in both election cycles (Freepers – Obama’s Black Panthers 2012 & Washington Times – Team Obama turn a blind eye to voter intimidation 2010)
  32. Closing the White House to the media on a civil rights award ceremony and attacking media outlets in general (Reason- Obama transparently disappointing 2012)
  33. Attempting to ban Fox News from the White House press pool and attacking and censoring political dissidents (Director Blue – Obama’s Admin tries to ban Fox 2009 & Whitehouse.gov – Working to Counter Online Radicalization)
  34. Covering up Fast & Furious, refusing to release documents to Congress, citing executive privilege (Boston Globe – Challenge to Atty Gen Eric Holder 2012)
  35. Withholding documents relating to the bailouts and the financial collapse (Reason- Obama transparently disappointing 2012)
  36. Obama’s push for gun control (Fox – Obama Moves to Shame Congress into Approving Gun Control Package 2013)
  37. Obama’s unprecedented push for welfare dependency  (Human Events – Obama Opts for Dependency 2012  &  Examiner – Obama my be intentionally destroying our economy – 2012 & Forbes – 165 M Americans are Dependents; is Tyranny Next? )
  38. Homeland Security providing local police with surveillance equipment (Infowars – Homeland Security Uses Local Police to set up surveillance buffer zones 2012)
  39. Homeland Security buying up (as of 3/11/13) 1.6 billion bullets – 20x more than the amount of bullets expended in the Iraq war – and refusing to answer why they are doing so  (Forbes -1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland Security? It’s Time For A National Conversation 2013 )  (Modern Survival Blog – DHS Bullets 2013)
  40. Signing an Executive Order giving the Federal government the right to “mobilize” domestic US labor for “national defense,” in time of peace, with no Congressional oversight (Global Research – Police State America 2012 & Executive Order- NDRP 2012)
  41. flag@whitehouse.gov (Examiner 2009)
  42. Federal targeting of “Domestic terrorists” aka local right wing dissident organizations (Modern Survival – You Might Be A Domestic Terrorist 2013)
  43. Appointing czars and granting them enforcement powers with no Congressional oversight; recess appointments (Free Republic – Obama’s Czars)
  44. De-facto nationalization of  the health care industry, the financial sector, the insurance industry, student loans and major automakers. (Kuhner: Obama’s Police State 2010)
  45. Referring to critics as “enemies” who “must be punished” (Kuhner: Obama’s Police State 2010)
  46. NATO promising to fire missiles at “hackers,” even “vigilante” hackers who attack enemies of the state such as North Korea (The Verge – Killing Hackers is justified 2013)
  47. Obama signing up for the UN treaty that is in clear conflict with our Bill of Rights (Washington Times- Second Amendment crumbling 2013)
  48. Obama’s campaign “spying on Americans” – with 150 techies “who do nothing but “peel back the layers” of the lives of citizens.” (Examiner – New information confirms extensive Obama spying on Americans 2012)
  49. Requiring spy agencies to keep information that normally would have been discarded if no terrorist links were found (Infowars – Obama Installs New Guidelines to Aid Spying on Americans 2012)
  50. Obama demanding that Internet Service Providers open their records of private citizens’ connections and internet histories (Dissident Voice – Obama Demands Access to Internet Records 2010 & DSL Reports – WH Pushes for Warrentless access to ISP Records 2010)
  51. Supporting and signing an expanded and extended PATRIOT Act – that was so disparaged under President Bush. (Fox News – Obama Signs Last-Minute PATRIOT Act extension 2011)
  52. The Feds and your child’s lunchbox (Breitbart – Obama School Lunch Standards 2012)
  53. TSA VIPR teams conducting searches wherever they want (Mother Jones – Surprise, TSA is searching your car, subway…)
  54. Obama’s push for a national Internet ID card (CBS – Obama Eyeing Internet ID card for Americans 2011)
  55. Power grabs by federal agencies, such as the EPA’s uncontestable “Compliance orders,” the FDA’s spy campaign against milk producers and the NLRB acting as a shill for unions (Cato – EPA Actions should be subject to judicial review 2012 & NaturalNews – FDA wages secret war on milk farmers & USNews – Obama’s Renegade NLRB 2012)
Read More Here: http://www.gall-holl.com/blog/2013/06/obamas-police-state-a-list-of-obamas-assault-on-civil-liberties/?goback=%2Egde_3667504_member_262831200