[WTFO]

Here was a great article I found. With numbers like these, a reelection is extremely unlikely.

--------------

The U.S. Economy By The Numbers: 70 Facts That Barack Obama Does Not Want You To See

Why is the economy going to collapse? Have you ever been asked that question? If so, what did you say? Sometimes it is difficult to communicate dozens of complicated economic and financial concepts in a package that the average person on the street can easily digest. It can be very frustrating to know that something is true but not be able to explain it clearly to someone else. Hopefully many of you out there will find the list below useful. It is a list of 70 numbers that show why we are headed for a national economic nightmare. So why does the title of the article single out Barack Obama? Well, it is because right now he is the biggest cheerleader for the economy. He is attempting to convince all of us that everything is just fine and that the economy is heading in a positive direction. Well, the truth is that everything is not fine and things are about to get a whole lot worse. Certainly others should share in the blame as well. Congress has been steering the economy in the wrong direction for decades, the "too big to fail" banks have turned Wall Street into a pyramid of risk, leverage and debt, and the Federal Reserve has more power over the financial system than anyone else does. Our economy has been in decline for quite a while now, and soon we are going to smash directly into an economic brick wall. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are in denial about this. A lot of people out there doubt that an economic collapse is coming. Well, if you know someone that believes that the U.S. economy is going to be "just fine", just show them the list below.

The following are 70 facts that Barack Obama does not want you to see....

$3.59 - When Barack Obama entered the White House, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85. Today, it is $3.59.

22 - It is hard to believe, but today the poverty rate for children living in the United States is a whopping 22 percent.

23 - According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities permanently shut down in the United States every single day during 2010.

30 - Back in 2007, about 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for 52 weeks or longer. Today, that number is above 30 percent.

32 - The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.

35 - U.S. housing prices are now down a total of 35 percent from the peak of the housing bubble.

40 - The official U.S. unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 40 months in a row.

42 - According to one survey, 42 percent of all American workers are currently living paycheck to paycheck.

48 - Shockingly, at this point 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be "low income" or are living in poverty.

49 - Today, an astounding 49.1 percent of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives benefits from the government.

53 - Last year, an astounding 53 percent of all U.S. college graduates under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.

60 - According to a recent Gallup poll, only 60 percent of all Americans say that they have enough money to live comfortably.

61 - At this point the Federal Reserve is essentially monetizing much of the U.S. national debt. For example, the Federal Reserve bought up approximately 61 percent of all government debt issued by the U.S. Treasury Department during 2011.

63 - One recent survey found that 63 percent of all Americans believe that the U.S. economic model is broken.

71 - Today, 71 percent of all small business owners believe that the U.S. economy is still in a recession.

80 - Americans buy 80 percent of the pain pills sold on the entire globe each year.

81 - Credit card debt among Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket has risen by 81 percent since 1989.

85 - 85 percent of all artificial Christmas trees are made in China.

86 - According to one survey, 86 percent of Americans workers in their sixties say that they will continue working past their 65th birthday.

90 - In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.

93 - The United States now ranks 93rd in the world in income inequality.

95 - The middle class continues to shrink - 95 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were middle class jobs.

107 - Each year, the average American must work 107 days just to make enough money to pay local, state and federal taxes.

350 - The average CEO now makes approximately 350 times as much as the average American worker makes.

400 - According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.

$500 - In some areas of Detroit, Michigan you can buy a three bedroom home for just $500.

627 - In 2010, China produced 627 million metric tons of steel. The United States only produced 80 million metric tons of steel.

877 - 20,000 workers recently applied for just 877 jobs at a Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama.

900 - Auto parts exports from China to the United States have increased by more than 900 percent since the year 2000.

$1580 - When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs more than $1580 an ounce.

1700 - Consumer debt in America has risen by a whopping 1700% since 1971.

2016 - It is being projected that the Chinese economy will be larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2016.

$4155 - The average American household spent a staggering $4,155 on gasoline during 2011.

$4300 - The amount by which real median household income has declined since Barack Obama entered the White House.

$6000 - If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.

$10,000 - According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

49,000 - In 2011, our trade deficit with China was more than 49,000 times larger than it was back in 1985.

50,000 - The United States has lost an average of approximately 50,000 manufacturing jobs a month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

56,000 - The United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001.

$85,000 - According to the New York Times, a Jeep Grand Cherokee that costs $27,490 in the United States costs about $85,000 in China thanks to all the tariffs.

$175,587 - The Obama administration spent $175,587 to find out if cocaine causes Japanese quail to engage in sexually risky behavior.

$328,404 - Over the next 75 years, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars. That comes to $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.

$361,330 - This is what the average banker in New York City made in 2010.

440,00 - If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to totally pay it off.

500,000 - According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.

2,000,000 - Family farms are being systematically wiped out of existence in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of farms in the United States has fallen from about 6.8 million in 1935 to only about 2 million today.

$2,000,000 - At this point, the U.S. national debt is rising by more than 2 million dollars every single minute.

2,600,000 - In 2010, 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty. That was the largest increase that we have seen since the U.S. government began keeping statistics on this back in 1959.

5,400,000 - When Barack Obama first took office there were 2.7 million long-term unemployed Americans. Today there are twice as many.

16,000,000 - It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

$20,000,000 - The amount of money the U.S. government was spending to create a version of Sesame Street for children in Pakistan.

25,000,000 - Today, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents.

40,000,000 - According to Professor Alan Blinder of Princeton University, 40 million more U.S. jobs could be sent offshore over the next two decades if current trends continue.

46,405,204 - The number of Americans currently on food stamps. When Barack Obama first entered the White House there were only 32 million Americans on food stamps.

88,000,000 - Today there are more than 88 million working age Americans that are not employed and that are not looking for employment. That is an all-time record high.

100,000,000 - Overall, there are more than 100 million working age Americans that do not currently have jobs.

$150,000,000 - This is approximately the amount of money that the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress are stealing from future generations of Americans every single hour.

$2,000,000,000 - The amount of money that JP Morgan has admitted that it will lose from derivatives trades gone bad. Many analysts are convinced that the real number will actually end up being much higher.

$147,000,000,000 - In the U.S., medical costs related to obesity are estimated to be approximately 147 billion dollars a year.

295,500,000,000 - Our trade deficit with China in 2011 was $295.5 billion. That was the largest trade deficit that one country has had with another country in the history of the planet.

$359,100,000,000 - During the first quarter of 2012, U.S. public debt rose by 359.1 billion dollars. U.S. GDP only rose by 142.4 billion dollars.

$454,000,000,000 - During fiscal 2011, the U.S. government spent over 454 billion dollars just on interest on the national debt.

$1,000,000,000,000 - The total amount of student loan debt in the United States recently surpassed the one trillion dollar mark.

$1,170,000,000,000 - China now holds approximately 1.17 trillion dollars of U.S. government debt. Yet the U.S. government continues to send them millions of dollars in foreign aid every year.

$1,600,000,000,000 - The amount that has been added to the U.S. national debt since the Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives. This is more than the first 97 Congresses added to the national debt combined.

$5,000,000,000,000 - The U.S. national debt has risen by more than 5 trillion dollars since the day that Barack Obama first took office. In a little more than 3 years Obama has added more to the national debt than the first 41 presidents combined.

$5,000,000,000,000 - What the real U.S. budget deficit in 2011 would have been if the federal government had used generally accepted accounting principles.

$11,440,000,000,000 - The total amount of consumer debt in the United States.

$15,734,596,578,458.59 - The U.S. national debt as of June 7, 2012.

$200,000,000,000,000 - Today, the 9 largest banks in the United States have a total of more than 200 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives. When the derivatives market completely collapses there won't be enough money in the entire world to fix it.
-----------------
Source: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch ... you-to-see

[KALKAM]

My favorite is the amount of 08 Obama voters that aren't happy with him...vs the amount of "not Obama" voters that he has won over.

[Bull]

$3.59 - When Barack Obama entered the White House, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85. Today, it is $3.59.

This is where I stopped reading. You can't claim it's his fault we're paying so much but then say he's got nothing to do with it when prices do go down. Although this recent spike in gas prices probably can be blamed on the white house, what with all those service men and women returning from Afghanistan. Perhaps we should make them stay a while longer so we can save a few pennies at the pump?

[thatmfguy]

$3.59 - When Barack Obama entered the White House, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85. Today, it is $3.59.

This is where I stopped reading. You can't claim it's his fault we're paying so much but then say he's got nothing to do with it when prices do go down. Although this recent spike in gas prices probably can be blamed on the white house, what with all those service men and women returning from Afghanistan. Perhaps we should make them stay a while longer so we can save a few pennies at the pump?

I stopped reading before that. however...which troops are returning from Afghanistan, and when? Not right now for sure.

Also, Afghanistan has little to no effect on our gas. The main source of oil for the US is....CANADA. then Saudi Arabia. I'm pretty sure Taliban fighters have little effect on either of their oil supplies.

Gas is rising right now because of ethanol. Major drought in central US where corn comes from. A large portion of our corn goes into ethanol. Less corn = less ethanol = more expensive gas.

[thatmfguy]

Here was a great article I found. With numbers like these, a reelection is extremely unlikely.

--------------

The U.S. Economy By The Numbers: 70 Facts That Barack Obama Does Not Want You To See

Why is the economy going to collapse? Have you ever been asked that question? If so, what did you say? Sometimes it is difficult to communicate dozens of complicated economic and financial concepts in a package that the average person on the street can easily digest. It can be very frustrating to know that something is true but not be able to explain it clearly to someone else. Hopefully many of you out there will find the list below useful. It is a list of 70 numbers that show why we are headed for a national economic nightmare. So why does the title of the article single out Barack Obama? Well, it is because right now he is the biggest cheerleader for the economy. He is attempting to convince all of us that everything is just fine and that the economy is heading in a positive direction. Well, the truth is that everything is not fine and things are about to get a whole lot worse. Certainly others should share in the blame as well. Congress has been steering the economy in the wrong direction for decades, the "too big to fail" banks have turned Wall Street into a pyramid of risk, leverage and debt, and the Federal Reserve has more power over the financial system than anyone else does. Our economy has been in decline for quite a while now, and soon we are going to smash directly into an economic brick wall. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are in denial about this. A lot of people out there doubt that an economic collapse is coming. Well, if you know someone that believes that the U.S. economy is going to be "just fine", just show them the list below.

The following are 70 facts that Barack Obama does not want you to see....

$3.59 - When Barack Obama entered the White House, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85. Today, it is $3.59.

22 - It is hard to believe, but today the poverty rate for children living in the United States is a whopping 22 percent.

23 - According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities permanently shut down in the United States every single day during 2010.

30 - Back in 2007, about 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for 52 weeks or longer. Today, that number is above 30 percent.

32 - The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.

35 - U.S. housing prices are now down a total of 35 percent from the peak of the housing bubble.

40 - The official U.S. unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 40 months in a row.

42 - According to one survey, 42 percent of all American workers are currently living paycheck to paycheck.

48 - Shockingly, at this point 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be "low income" or are living in poverty.

49 - Today, an astounding 49.1 percent of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives benefits from the government.

53 - Last year, an astounding 53 percent of all U.S. college graduates under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.

60 - According to a recent Gallup poll, only 60 percent of all Americans say that they have enough money to live comfortably.

61 - At this point the Federal Reserve is essentially monetizing much of the U.S. national debt. For example, the Federal Reserve bought up approximately 61 percent of all government debt issued by the U.S. Treasury Department during 2011.

63 - One recent survey found that 63 percent of all Americans believe that the U.S. economic model is broken.

71 - Today, 71 percent of all small business owners believe that the U.S. economy is still in a recession.

80 - Americans buy 80 percent of the pain pills sold on the entire globe each year.

81 - Credit card debt among Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket has risen by 81 percent since 1989.

85 - 85 percent of all artificial Christmas trees are made in China.

86 - According to one survey, 86 percent of Americans workers in their sixties say that they will continue working past their 65th birthday.

90 - In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.

93 - The United States now ranks 93rd in the world in income inequality.

95 - The middle class continues to shrink - 95 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were middle class jobs.

107 - Each year, the average American must work 107 days just to make enough money to pay local, state and federal taxes.

350 - The average CEO now makes approximately 350 times as much as the average American worker makes.

400 - According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.

$500 - In some areas of Detroit, Michigan you can buy a three bedroom home for just $500.

627 - In 2010, China produced 627 million metric tons of steel. The United States only produced 80 million metric tons of steel.

877 - 20,000 workers recently applied for just 877 jobs at a Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama.

900 - Auto parts exports from China to the United States have increased by more than 900 percent since the year 2000.

$1580 - When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs more than $1580 an ounce.

1700 - Consumer debt in America has risen by a whopping 1700% since 1971.

2016 - It is being projected that the Chinese economy will be larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2016.

$4155 - The average American household spent a staggering $4,155 on gasoline during 2011.

$4300 - The amount by which real median household income has declined since Barack Obama entered the White House.

$6000 - If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.

$10,000 - According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

49,000 - In 2011, our trade deficit with China was more than 49,000 times larger than it was back in 1985.

50,000 - The United States has lost an average of approximately 50,000 manufacturing jobs a month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

56,000 - The United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001.

$85,000 - According to the New York Times, a Jeep Grand Cherokee that costs $27,490 in the United States costs about $85,000 in China thanks to all the tariffs.

$175,587 - The Obama administration spent $175,587 to find out if cocaine causes Japanese quail to engage in sexually risky behavior.

$328,404 - Over the next 75 years, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars. That comes to $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.

$361,330 - This is what the average banker in New York City made in 2010.

440,00 - If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to totally pay it off.

500,000 - According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.

2,000,000 - Family farms are being systematically wiped out of existence in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of farms in the United States has fallen from about 6.8 million in 1935 to only about 2 million today.

$2,000,000 - At this point, the U.S. national debt is rising by more than 2 million dollars every single minute.

2,600,000 - In 2010, 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty. That was the largest increase that we have seen since the U.S. government began keeping statistics on this back in 1959.

5,400,000 - When Barack Obama first took office there were 2.7 million long-term unemployed Americans. Today there are twice as many.

16,000,000 - It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

$20,000,000 - The amount of money the U.S. government was spending to create a version of Sesame Street for children in Pakistan.

25,000,000 - Today, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents.

40,000,000 - According to Professor Alan Blinder of Princeton University, 40 million more U.S. jobs could be sent offshore over the next two decades if current trends continue.

46,405,204 - The number of Americans currently on food stamps. When Barack Obama first entered the White House there were only 32 million Americans on food stamps.

88,000,000 - Today there are more than 88 million working age Americans that are not employed and that are not looking for employment. That is an all-time record high.

100,000,000 - Overall, there are more than 100 million working age Americans that do not currently have jobs.

$150,000,000 - This is approximately the amount of money that the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress are stealing from future generations of Americans every single hour.

$2,000,000,000 - The amount of money that JP Morgan has admitted that it will lose from derivatives trades gone bad. Many analysts are convinced that the real number will actually end up being much higher.

$147,000,000,000 - In the U.S., medical costs related to obesity are estimated to be approximately 147 billion dollars a year.

295,500,000,000 - Our trade deficit with China in 2011 was $295.5 billion. That was the largest trade deficit that one country has had with another country in the history of the planet.

$359,100,000,000 - During the first quarter of 2012, U.S. public debt rose by 359.1 billion dollars. U.S. GDP only rose by 142.4 billion dollars.

$454,000,000,000 - During fiscal 2011, the U.S. government spent over 454 billion dollars just on interest on the national debt.

$1,000,000,000,000 - The total amount of student loan debt in the United States recently surpassed the one trillion dollar mark.

$1,170,000,000,000 - China now holds approximately 1.17 trillion dollars of U.S. government debt. Yet the U.S. government continues to send them millions of dollars in foreign aid every year.

$1,600,000,000,000 - The amount that has been added to the U.S. national debt since the Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives. This is more than the first 97 Congresses added to the national debt combined.

$5,000,000,000,000 - The U.S. national debt has risen by more than 5 trillion dollars since the day that Barack Obama first took office. In a little more than 3 years Obama has added more to the national debt than the first 41 presidents combined.

$5,000,000,000,000 - What the real U.S. budget deficit in 2011 would have been if the federal government had used generally accepted accounting principles.

$11,440,000,000,000 - The total amount of consumer debt in the United States.

$15,734,596,578,458.59 - The U.S. national debt as of June 7, 2012.

$200,000,000,000,000 - Today, the 9 largest banks in the United States have a total of more than 200 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives. When the derivatives market completely collapses there won't be enough money in the entire world to fix it.
-----------------
Source: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch ... you-to-see

And you REALLY think the average voter knows any of that? come on now...

[Bull]

I stopped reading before that. however...which troops are returning from Afghanistan, and when? Not right now for sure.

Also, Afghanistan has little to no effect on our gas. The main source of oil for the US is....CANADA. then Saudi Arabia. I'm pretty sure Taliban fighters have little effect on either of their oil supplies.

Gas is rising right now because of ethanol. Major drought in central US where corn comes from. A large portion of our corn goes into ethanol. Less corn = less ethanol = more expensive gas.

I heard on the news a week or two ago about how the withdraw of combat troops would speed up during August-September.

“August will be the heaviest month,” Allen said. “A lot is coming out now and a great deal will come out in August and early September. We’ll be done probably around mid-September or so.”

I wasn't saying Afghanistan had any effect on our gas, I was referring to all those combat soldiers returning .. heaver air traffic .. planes burn a lot of gas .. it was sarcastic so I get why you didn't get it.

Isn't that part of the reason why diesel fuel is so expensive? Because our troop transport vehicles, tanks, etc burn diesel? When I was 16-17 I remember diesel being a lot cheaper than regular gasoline. I'm asking because I really don't know, not being sarcastic this time.

[thatmfguy]

I stopped reading before that. however...which troops are returning from Afghanistan, and when? Not right now for sure.

Also, Afghanistan has little to no effect on our gas. The main source of oil for the US is....CANADA. then Saudi Arabia. I'm pretty sure Taliban fighters have little effect on either of their oil supplies.

Gas is rising right now because of ethanol. Major drought in central US where corn comes from. A large portion of our corn goes into ethanol. Less corn = less ethanol = more expensive gas.

I heard on the news a week or two ago about how the withdraw of combat troops would speed up during August-September.

“August will be the heaviest month,” Allen said. “A lot is coming out now and a great deal will come out in August and early September. We’ll be done probably around mid-September or so.”

I wasn't saying Afghanistan had any effect on our gas, I was referring to all those combat soldiers returning .. heaver air traffic .. planes burn a lot of gas .. it was sarcastic so I get why you didn't get it.

Isn't that part of the reason why diesel fuel is so expensive? Because our troop transport vehicles, tanks, etc burn diesel? When I was 16-17 I remember diesel being a lot cheaper than regular gasoline. I'm asking because I really don't know, not being sarcastic this time.

Well that's good that they are planning to bring em home. Hopefully they don't just end up going somewhere else, though I think a war in Iran is starting to look inevitable, unfortunately.

One thing about the gas...we complain so much about the prices here but they are nothing compared to what they pay in Europe.

[Bull]

Oh yeah, you're right. I remember watching Bill Maher on HBO sometime last year or the year before (perhaps it's been a few years longer) and he had a British actor on, can't remember who, I want to say the guy that played Gandalf but I can't be sure, anyway he was saying that the Brits have been paying these high gas prices for over a decade.

I think it's just something we are going to have to get used to. I still like the idea of doing research on how to make water into a fuel. I think I heard that idea on one of those "what if aliens have visited our planet in the past" type discovery channel shows. It was a hypothetical as to why, basically being something like 70% covered in water they would use our planet as a deep space fuel depot. Sounds good to simpletons like me anyway.

[KALKAM]

...though I think a war in Iran is starting to look inevitable, unfortunately....

That's the wildcard...
If we go to war with Iran then Obama will take the election...

[WTFO]

$3.59 - When Barack Obama entered the White House, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85. Today, it is $3.59.

This is where I stopped reading.

Right, God forbid that you actually learn something counter to your worldview.

You can't claim it's his fault we're paying so much but then say he's got nothing to do with it when prices do go down. Although this recent spike in gas prices probably can be blamed on the white house, what with all those service men and women returning from Afghanistan. Perhaps we should make them stay a while longer so we can save a few pennies at the pump?

By your own admission, you don't know how gas prices and how the military impacts it works. (I saw the sarcasm in asserting further risk to the military for a few cents off at the pumps, but it's not worth discussing).

Here's the point on the gas. The prices have remained high for a significant amount of time with only minor fluctuations. These small ups and downs have little to do with the POTUS. The ethanol problem from lack of corn is a real cause. No, the POTUS has no control of the weather and is not to blame. However, the govt (Congress and WH) mandating we use specific amounts of ethanol could and should be changed (if for no other reason than burning food while people are starving in the world is stupid). But, I do have more reasons:
It is more expensive:
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/ca ... Over-Time/
http://www.nacsonline.com/NACS/News/Dai ... 04113.aspx
Oh, and a few more facts about this "green energy":
- It takes as much farmland to fuel one American car with ethanol for a year as to feed seven Americans for a year. US Dept of Agriculture Report
- To fuel America’s cars with ethanol would require about 2 billion acres of cropland: more than 5 times all the cropland that is actually and potentially available in the United States. David Pimental, Cornell University
- The total energy input to produce one gallon of ethanol is 129,000 BTU. However, one gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 76,000 BTU: a net loss of 53,600 BTU. Pimental, Cornell U.
- Archer Daniels Midland, a giant corporation that manufactures ethanol, is one of the largest contributors of “soft money” to both the Democratic and Republican parties – ensuring that whichever party is in power, ethanol will be subsidized. By Oct 30, 2002, the company had contributed over $1.1 million to the Democratic party and $2 mil to the Republicans. Every dollar earned by ADM from it ethanol operation costs American taxpayers $30.
- Using a blend of corn ethanol and gas in a car causes MORE pollution than gasoline alone. Not only are you burning energy to make ethanol, but ethanol makes gas more volatile, so when it is blended, more pollution is caused due to evaporation. This is supported by the work done at the EPA and by other scientific groups. The Natural Defense Council & the Clean Air Trust have joined California in suing the EPA over requiring ethanol.
- Ethanol plants do not create more jobs. Minnesota’s Program Evaluation Division concluded that the increased taxes to support ethanol subsidies cause more loss of jobs in retail than those created by the ethanol plants.
- Ethanol plants have been releasing many times greater pollution into the air than previously reported. The ethanol industry will tell you the answer is to fit your plant with a thermal oxidizer – but check out the news articles in St. Paul about the thermal oxidizer on the Gopher State plant. The St. Paul City Council recently voted to support closing down Gopher State.
http://designer96.tripod.com/facts1.htm#

That's one cause of higher gas (not fully Obama's fault). Another cause for high gas prices is the fact that the price of gas is tied to the US $. Since the $ is weak right now, partly due to a poor economy but more largely due to quantitative easing 1 & 2 (QE1 & QE2) which were efforts by Obama's admin to flood the market with made up money. The more money the fed creates, the less each dollar is worth, thus raising the price of gas (yep, that's Obama's fault).
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/jborow ... -is-fallin

Another contributing factor is Obama's attack on drilling and the Keystone pipeline. By limiting drilling and the Canadian pipeline, he has ensured that gas will be in shorter supply in the future. This brings in speculators to buy stocks to gain a profit, thus driving the cost of oil even higher since the speculation also give the appearance of fuel shortages in the future.

If the POTUS opened up drilling, allowed the pipeline, and lifted the ethanol rqmts, then gas prices would fall significantly. If that were to happen (first, I'd look outside to see if pigs were flying) I would praise the President's actions because they would have benefited the country.

Maybe you should take the time to read the rest of it.

The bottom line on all of those numbers is simple. Regardless of how involved the POTUS is with any or all of those numbers, the fact remains that we are where we are and in election years, the President will get the credit/blame for the country's economic status. Consider this analogy:

an NFL team has a bunch of substandard players with bad attitudes and poor skills. Who gets fired when they have a losing record and don't make the playoffs? Yep, the coach.

Coach Obama...your team has a losing record. Numbers don't lie.