Maher Rips Republicans Over California’s Booming Economy

It’s The Economy (In Kansas), Stupid!

Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas

As we sit on the verge of another Presidential campaign, the fundamental consideration before Americans is how it will affect the state of the U.S. economy and consequently our daily lives.

Many pundits (most notably those of the Conservative persuasion) frequently point out that the individual states are a laboratory for policy prescriptions before they are adopted on a national level.

With that in mind, it is an object lesson in policy to look at the experience of the state of Kansas. Since the election of a conservative legislative majority and a staunch conservative governor, Sam Brownback, in 2010, it has adopted a full blown commitment to the principles of supply-side economics. 

U.S. Jobless Claims Drop to Lowest Level Since 1973

Bloomberg News

You gotta hate those "failed" Obama policies,
right a**holes?

Jobless claims unexpectedly decreased to the lowest level since 1973, indicating the U.S. labor market remains a pillar of support in the world’s largest economy.

New applications for unemployment benefits fell by 6,000 to 247,000 in the week ended April 16, data from the Labor Department showed Thursday. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 265,000 claims. The number of Americans already on benefit rolls declined to a more than 15-year low.

Obama Smacks Down Republicans With The Reality Of His Economic Success

Ken O’Brien

President Obama smacked down Republicans today by contrasting his record of economic success with the reality of their trickle down failures.

The president said:

Now, I want to return to the issue of the debate that we were having then because it bears on the debate we’re having now. It’s important to note that at every step that we’ve taken over the past six years we were told our goals were misguided; they were too ambitious; that my administration’s policies would crush jobs and explode deficits, and destroy the economy forever. Remember that? Because sometimes we don’t do the instant replay, we don’t run the tape back, and then we end up having the same argument going forward. 

Maybe He Was Wrong?

Ken O’Brien

During the 2012 presidential race, something you may still remember, wealthy Florida real estate person David Siegel got a bit of notoriety for sending his Westgate Resorts employees a maudlin form letter. He noted that while he couldn't "tell you whom to vote for," their jobs would be "endanger"-ed if the cruel President Barack Obama was not unseated by fellow wealthy person Mitt Romney. The ostensible cause was that his fragile empire could not possibly stand another four years of the sort of deeply onerous taxes that Siegel imagined Obama had been imposing, and that if he was going to be taxed anymore he was going to close his company and go be rich on a Caribbean beach.

Biggest GDP Growth in More Than a Decade

Ken O’Brien

Real gross domestic product -- the value of the production of goods and services in the United   States, adjusted for price changes -- increased at an annual rate of 5.0 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The number marks the strongest pace of U.S. economic growth since the third quarter of 2003. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also traded above 18000 for the first time on Tuesday. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 4.6 percent. 

Obamacare Already Benefitting The Economy

Ken O’Brien

Republicans have been proven completely wrong as the Affordable Care Act helped both personal income and spending increase in January.

On March 3^rd The Wall Street Journal reported in an article titled” Obamacare Effects Account for Most of Income, Spending Increases”:

The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature health law, is already boosting household income and spending.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spending rose a better-than-expected 0.4% and personal incomes climbed 0.3% in January. The new health-care law accounted for a big chunk of the increase on both                                                                      fronts.

Smoke Versus Clarity: Romney V. Obama Tax Plans

Ken O’Brien

It’s still the economy stupid.

In a run-up to Wednesday’s first Presidential debate it’s important to keep this in mind. And equally important, the issue is not the past but the future.

The core components of the economy issue are twofold – economic growth to provide jobs and the reduction in Federal indebtedness.

Kristol: Obama Turned Around Economy

Ken O’Brien

Bill Kristol, Editor of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard, told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, “Bush was president during the financial meltdown, the Obama team has turned that around pretty well.”

Mythbuster - NPR debunks "Job Creator" Catch Phrase

Ken O'Brien

Who can forget the rabid efforts by GOP forces in the Congress to defund National Public Radio earlier this year?

Further evidence of their motives for such an effort was provided today.

It has become axiomatic that any effort to raise taxes on the top 1% is met with the argument by Republicans that, "We can't raise taxes on the job creators."

In fact, Republicans have argued vehemently that tax reductions for  the rich don't have to be paid for because they pay for themselves in increased economic benefits (i.e. the gains to the rich trickle down to the 99%).