Obama - What is your opinion so far on his Presidency

Goober

Goober

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ironsides said:
We also have the highest use of non generic drugs. Contrary to popular belief generic drugs are not always as good as the original. The U.S. has more companies or is involved turning out more cures period than other countries. Canada is a major source of cheaper generic drugs, no question about it. (Japan used to turn out cheaper toys also.) Want to compare cure or remission for 5 years or more for cancer? (Just one for example) I would prefer to pay more for a better chance of survival. (better doctors, pretty much a better medical system)
Click to expand...
As I stated both systems need to be fixed - In Canada we know that but belive that all should be covered and not bankrupted for medical care -

I do not know that generics are substandard - generics are made to the same standards as the original - just the patent protection has run out.
 
A

Avro

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ironsides said:
We also have the highest use of non generic drugs. Contrary to popular belief generic drugs are not always as good as the original. The U.S. has more companies or is involved turning out more cures period than other countries. Canada is a major source of cheaper generic drugs, no question about it. (Japan used to turn out cheaper toys also.) Want to compare cure or remission for 5 years or more for cancer? (Just one for example) I would prefer to pay more for a better chance of survival. (better doctors, pretty much a better medical system)
Click to expand...

Keep picking them cherries.:lol:

Interesting how Cuba has the best survival tates for cancer isn't it?
 
Last edited:
mentalfloss

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Wow, this thread really went downhill... Anyway, to bring this back to some sort of realism.. here's a laundry list of what he has done.. Right now, I don't endorse or deny this list, I'm just putting it out there:
--


  • The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
  • The President announced the “Making Home Affordable” home refinancing plan.
  • The President launched a $15 billion plan to boost lending to small businesses.
  • The President and Secretary Geithner announced the details of the Financial Stability Plan.
  • President Obama played a lead role in G-20 Summit that produced a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis.
  • The President signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act which gives the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud, from lending to the financial system, and creates a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial practices that brought us to this point.
  • The President signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expanding on the Making Home Affordable Program to help millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures, providing $2.2 billion to help combat homelessness , and helping to stabilize the housing market for everybody.
  • The President signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act to protect Americans from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.
Civil Rights


  • The President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers.
Disabilities

  • The President issued an Executive Order repealing the Bush-Era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
  • The President signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, the first piece of comprehensive legislation aimed at improving the lives of Americans living with paralysis.
Fiscal Responsibility


  • The President signed an Executive Order on government contracting to fight waste and abuse.
  • The President launched Recovery.gov to track spending from the Recovery Act, an unprecedented step to provide transparency and accountability through technology.
  • The President wrote to the congressional leadership calling on them to pass statutory Pay-As-You-Go rules so that any new non-emergency tax cut or entitlement expansion offset in the budget.
  • The President signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act to stop fraud and wasteful spending in the defense procurement and contracting system.
Immigration

  • The President signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, which provides quality health care to 11 million kids – 4 million who were previously uninsured — and removes barriers preventing legal immigrant children from being covered.
  • The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides over $400 million in funds to strengthen security and infrastructure for ports of entry on the Southwest border.
Service

  • The President signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, a hallmark piece of legislation.
  • The Serve America Act will increase the size of AmeriCorps from 75,000 volunteers to 250,000 by 2017.
  • The Act also creates a Social Innovation Fund that will invest in ideas that are proven to improve outcomes and “what works” funds in federal agencies to promote effective and innovative programs
Taxes
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a broad range of tax cuts aimed at making the tax code more fair and supporting the middle class:

  • 95% of all working families will receive a tax cut
  • 70% of the tax benefits goes to the middle 60% of American workers
  • 2 million families will be lifted out of poverty by the tax cuts in the Recovery Act
  • More than $150 billion in tax cuts will help low-income and vulnerable households during the economic recovery
  • About 1 Million jobs will be created or saved by these tax cuts alone
Government
“To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative.”
-President Obama, April 25, 2009

  • The President issued a Presidential Memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies ordering them to compile recommendations for an open government directive on transparency, participation, and collaboration in government.
Urban
The President signed an Executive Order establishing the White House Office of Urban Affairs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included broad support for urban communities.

  • To broaden access to affordable housing, the Act provides for $1 billion in increased funding for the Community Development Block Grant; $4 billion in increased public housing capital funds; $2 billion in payments to owners of project based rental assistance properties to keep them affordable; $2 billion in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to purchase and rehabilitate forclosed homes; and $1.5 billion in Homelessness Prevention Funds to keep people in their homes;
  • To expand educational opportunity for low-income students, the Act provides for $13 billion in Title I funds to go to K-12 education in disadvantaged school systems;
  • To strengthen workforce development, the Act provides $3.95 billion in increased workforce investment training dollars to keep our workers skilled and to employ young people during the summer;
  • To improve energy efficiency, the Act increases the Weatherization Assistance Program by $5 billion, helping low income consumers save on their energy bills while simultaneously training more workers for a growing field;
  • To bolster our nation’s transportation infrastructure, the Act provides $1.5 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Transportation to fund projects of regional or national significance as well as $8 billion to jumpstart high speed rail and connect regions to one another; and,
  • The Act also provides $4.7 billion to provide broadband access to underserved areas.


So what has Obama done so far? Updated. | What is Obama doing?
 
ironsides

ironsides

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JLM said:
My understanding is the generic drugs have exactly the same chemical make up as the brand name drugs and the brand name drugs are just a ripoff. Let's hear from a pharmacist just what the truth is so we can put this one to sleep.
Click to expand...

That is what I thought till I was told that some generic drugs may have a similar result, but are not exactly the same thing the doctor ordered.

Generic Drug Equality Questioned - The People's Pharmacy®


Generic Drugs Not Always Equivalent to Name Brands | The Consumer Warning Network


 
Goober

Goober

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Jan 23, 2009
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mentalfloss said:
Wow, this thread really went downhill... Anyway, to bring this back to some sort of realism.. here's a laundry list of what he has done.. Right now, I don't endorse or deny this list, I'm just putting it out there:
--


  • The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
  • The President announced the “Making Home Affordable” home refinancing plan.
  • The President launched a $15 billion plan to boost lending to small businesses.
  • The President and Secretary Geithner announced the details of the Financial Stability Plan.
  • President Obama played a lead role in G-20 Summit that produced a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis.
  • The President signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act which gives the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud, from lending to the financial system, and creates a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial practices that brought us to this point.
  • The President signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expanding on the Making Home Affordable Program to help millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures, providing $2.2 billion to help combat homelessness , and helping to stabilize the housing market for everybody.
  • The President signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act to protect Americans from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.
Civil Rights


  • The President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers.
Disabilities

  • The President issued an Executive Order repealing the Bush-Era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
  • The President signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, the first piece of comprehensive legislation aimed at improving the lives of Americans living with paralysis.
Fiscal Responsibility


  • The President signed an Executive Order on government contracting to fight waste and abuse.
  • The President launched Recovery.gov to track spending from the Recovery Act, an unprecedented step to provide transparency and accountability through technology.
  • The President wrote to the congressional leadership calling on them to pass statutory Pay-As-You-Go rules so that any new non-emergency tax cut or entitlement expansion offset in the budget.
  • The President signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act to stop fraud and wasteful spending in the defense procurement and contracting system.
Immigration

  • The President signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, which provides quality health care to 11 million kids – 4 million who were previously uninsured — and removes barriers preventing legal immigrant children from being covered.
  • The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides over $400 million in funds to strengthen security and infrastructure for ports of entry on the Southwest border.
Service

  • The President signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, a hallmark piece of legislation.
  • The Serve America Act will increase the size of AmeriCorps from 75,000 volunteers to 250,000 by 2017.
  • The Act also creates a Social Innovation Fund that will invest in ideas that are proven to improve outcomes and “what works” funds in federal agencies to promote effective and innovative programs
Taxes
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a broad range of tax cuts aimed at making the tax code more fair and supporting the middle class:

  • 95% of all working families will receive a tax cut
  • 70% of the tax benefits goes to the middle 60% of American workers
  • 2 million families will be lifted out of poverty by the tax cuts in the Recovery Act
  • More than $150 billion in tax cuts will help low-income and vulnerable households during the economic recovery
  • About 1 Million jobs will be created or saved by these tax cuts alone
Government
“To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative.”
-President Obama, April 25, 2009

  • The President issued a Presidential Memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies ordering them to compile recommendations for an open government directive on transparency, participation, and collaboration in government.
Urban
The President signed an Executive Order establishing the White House Office of Urban Affairs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included broad support for urban communities.

  • To broaden access to affordable housing, the Act provides for $1 billion in increased funding for the Community Development Block Grant; $4 billion in increased public housing capital funds; $2 billion in payments to owners of project based rental assistance properties to keep them affordable; $2 billion in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to purchase and rehabilitate forclosed homes; and $1.5 billion in Homelessness Prevention Funds to keep people in their homes;
  • To expand educational opportunity for low-income students, the Act provides for $13 billion in Title I funds to go to K-12 education in disadvantaged school systems;
  • To strengthen workforce development, the Act provides $3.95 billion in increased workforce investment training dollars to keep our workers skilled and to employ young people during the summer;
  • To improve energy efficiency, the Act increases the Weatherization Assistance Program by $5 billion, helping low income consumers save on their energy bills while simultaneously training more workers for a growing field;
  • To bolster our nation’s transportation infrastructure, the Act provides $1.5 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Transportation to fund projects of regional or national significance as well as $8 billion to jumpstart high speed rail and connect regions to one another; and,
  • The Act also provides $4.7 billion to provide broadband access to underserved areas.

So what has Obama done so far? Updated. | What is Obama doing?
Click to expand...

What are the fiscal deficts projected for the next 5-10 years?

What is the % of debt compared to GDP

How will Obama regain control of spending - You cannot run deficts as the US has done for so long without eventually paying the piper - and the longer the debts rise the more the Piper is paid along with massive hardship for the average Us Citizen.
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

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Jun 28, 2010
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So we're talking about the federal budget first? Okay, let's stick with that and see if we can bang out something reasonable..

Goober said:
What are the fiscal deficts projected for the next 5-10 years?

What is the % of debt compared to GDP
Click to expand...

You tell me the numbers. What's our profit margin here?

Goober said:
How will Obama regain control of spending - You cannot run deficts as the US has done for so long without eventually paying the piper - and the longer the debts rise the more the Piper is paid along with massive hardship for the average Us Citizen.
Click to expand...

So, obviously we have to cut spending. I know the biggest expenditure, far and away, is on military resources. If we can get out of Afghanistan soon enough that would save us a bundle.
---

Taxpayers in the United States will pay $51.1 billion for proposed Iraq war spending in FY2011. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
7,895,550 People Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
30,857,488 Households with Renewable Electricity-Wind Power for One Year OR
774,096 Police or Sheriff's Patrol Officers for One Year OR
894,530 Firefighters for One Year OR
6,481,243 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
9,207,207 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
19,326,778 Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
6,723,313 Head Start Slots for Children for One Year OR
11,571,558 Households with Renewable Electricity - Solar Photovoltaic for One Year OR
782,542 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
6,550,929 Military Veterans Receiving VA Medical Care for One Year

Federal Budget Trade-Offs | National Priorities Project

Neat little site that looks at all sort of expenditures.
 
Goober

Goober

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 23, 2009
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mentalfloss said:
So we're talking about the federal budget first? Okay, let's stick with that and see if we can bang out something reasonable..



You tell me the numbers. What's our profit margin here?



So, obviously we have to cut spending. I know the biggest expenditure, far and away, is on military resources. If we can get out of Afghanistan soon enough that would save us a bundle.
---

Taxpayers in the United States will pay $51.1 billion for proposed Iraq war spending in FY2011. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
7,895,550 People Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
30,857,488 Households with Renewable Electricity-Wind Power for One Year OR
774,096 Police or Sheriff's Patrol Officers for One Year OR
894,530 Firefighters for One Year OR
6,481,243 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
9,207,207 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
19,326,778 Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
6,723,313 Head Start Slots for Children for One Year OR
11,571,558 Households with Renewable Electricity - Solar Photovoltaic for One Year OR
782,542 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
6,550,929 Military Veterans Receiving VA Medical Care for One Year

Federal Budget Trade-Offs | National Priorities Project

Neat little site that looks at all sort of expenditures.
Click to expand...


Nice site for info, Thank you

But my point is that the Politicians won't even raise taxes on income above 1/4 million dollars -

The US is headed towards a giant fiscal hole and it is getting much deeper.

Recent reports on the economy are talking about how the recovery will not be based upon old jobs reappearing but jobs where skill sets are in short supply - A major restructuring of the US economy could lay ahead - If that is the case then a significant unemployment problem will still be present with person with above average but not professionally accredited skill sets.

Spending cuts and tax increases are in order, in my opinion.

mentalfloss said:
So we're talking about the federal budget first? Okay, let's stick with that and see if we can bang out something reasonable..



You tell me the numbers. What's our profit margin here?



So, obviously we have to cut spending. I know the biggest expenditure, far and away, is on military resources. If we can get out of Afghanistan soon enough that would save us a bundle.
---

Taxpayers in the United States will pay $51.1 billion for proposed Iraq war spending in FY2011. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
7,895,550 People Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
30,857,488 Households with Renewable Electricity-Wind Power for One Year OR
774,096 Police or Sheriff's Patrol Officers for One Year OR
894,530 Firefighters for One Year OR
6,481,243 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
9,207,207 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
19,326,778 Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
6,723,313 Head Start Slots for Children for One Year OR
11,571,558 Households with Renewable Electricity - Solar Photovoltaic for One Year OR
782,542 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
6,550,929 Military Veterans Receiving VA Medical Care for One Year

Federal Budget Trade-Offs | National Priorities Project

Neat little site that looks at all sort of expenditures.
Click to expand...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/obama-announces-50-billion-stimulus-plan/article1697268/

A combative President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program Monday that will exceed $50-billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing Americans' hard economic times.





With the unemployment rate ticking up to 9.6 per cent, and polls showing the midterm elections could be dismal for Democrats, the president has promised to unveil a series of new measures on the economy.

Republican leaders instantly assailed Mr. Obama's proposal, which is also likely to be met with reluctance by many Democrats to approve additional spending and higher federal deficits just weeks before elections that will determine control of Congress.

That left the plan with low odds of becoming law this year. Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, cautioned, “If we are going to get anything done, Republican co-operation, which has been all but non-existent recently, will be necessary.”
 
JLM

JLM

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Just heard on the radio he's dumping another $2 billion into job creation. I would suggest if he's replacing worn out infrastructure, that has to be a good thing. That might create 100,000 jobs for a year. Probably just like p*ssing in the ocean.
 
Goober

Goober

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Jan 23, 2009
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JLM said:
Just heard on the radio he's dumping another $2 billion into job creation. I would suggest if he's replacing worn out infrastructure, that has to be a good thing. That might create 100,000 jobs for a year. Probably just like p*ssing in the ocean.
Click to expand...
He is going for 50 Billion over 6 years -
 
A

Avro

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ironsides said:
Where do you keep coming up with this?

Cancer Survival Rates Vary by Country
Click to expand...

Sorry, it was best for breast cancer survival rates....by bad.

Also it seems government systems in your study do just fine....and nobody goes bankrupt and the cost is less as a percent of GDP.

Interesting how survuvial rates of blacks is very low in the US as well.

Low income survival rates do not match ours nor do length of life or infant mortality rates.

Am I happy with our system?

No.

I'd rather it over yours though, I like what they are doing in France.

mentalfloss said:
I have absolutely no idea what you're on about.
Click to expand...

I'll tell you what he's on about.

When Bush was president everything that went wrong, including Katrina, was Clinton's fault and when the next Republican get's in anything that goes bad for him/her will be Obama's fault.
 
ironsides

ironsides

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Feb 13, 2009
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captain morgan said:
Look to India for generics and patent infringements.
Click to expand...
I wasn't referring to patent infringements, just legal generic stuff, and your right India makes them also.

Little to expensive for most Americans, lets not compare ourselves with these countries as good examples of who to copy for anything.

Current European tax rates:
United Kingdom Income Tax: 50% VAT: 17.5% TOTAL: 67.5%
Germany Income Tax: 45% VAT: 19% TOTAL: 64%
France Income Tax: 40% VAT: 19.6% TOTAL: 59.6%
Greece Income Tax: 40% VAT: 25% TOTAL: 65%
Spain Income Tax: 45% VAT: 16% TOTAL: 61%
Portugal Income Tax: 42% VAT: 20% TOTAL: 62%
Sweden Income Tax: 55% VAT: 25% TOTAL: 80%
Norway Income Tax: 54.3% VAT: 25% TOTAL: 79.3%
Netherlands Income Tax: 52% VAT: 19% TOTAL: 71%
Denmark Income Tax: 58% VAT: 25% TOTAL: 83%
Finland Income Tax: 53% VAT: 22% TOTAL: 75%
 
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