The Obama Legacy

[Moiraine]

 

 

"What did you do while Trump stocked his Cabinet with racists and bigots, grandpa?"

 

"I was making sure Obama didn't use too much paper."

Not sure what you mean by this Knapp, but it isn't an either/or. I think a person can decry cabinet choices while also speaking out against over regulation.

Over regulation? What subjects did those regulations cover? What did they do, exactly? I ask because I'm betting you have no idea, and you slapped the term "over regulation" on it simply based on the sheer size - which, of course, is nonsense. For all you know, each of those regulations serve a laudable purpose.

I was about to ask about this. People talk about regulation all the time but I never hear specifics. China's air quality in big cities is an example of what comes from under-regulation. And Trump wants to deregulate energy production, regardless of the environmental cost.

 

This is more than climate change we're talking about. He doesn't have to believe in it to realize air pollution in big cities can be bad for health.

[knapplc]

This is the kind of outrageous overreach that we SHOULD be concerned about with Obama's administration. This sounds criminal.

Biden Forges President’s Signature On Executive Order To Make December Dokken History Month


WASHINGTON—In an effort to honor the “sweet-ass” legacy of a hair metal band that he said “totally f'ing shreds,” Vice President Joe Biden reportedly snuck into the Oval Office early Thursday to forge President Obama’s signature on an executive order that would officially recognize December as Dokken History Month. “Look, I’ve already asked Barry a thousand times because Dokken’s a goddamn national treasure, but he just wouldn’t get with the program, so now we’re doing sh#t Diamond Joe’s way,” said Biden, who took extra care to ensure the president’s signature matched previous counterfeit executive orders he had fabricated to implement directives that required strip clubs in the capital to stay open past 2 a.m., created a federal holiday for Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads’ birthday, and pardoned his buddy Blaze, who reportedly got into a “little dustup” with some bikers outside Carson City, NV earlier this year. “This is a no-brainer. If you crank up Donnie’s killer vocals and George Lynch is wailing on his ax on your car stereo, I guarantee a smokin’ hot metal chick will be ripping your stick shift out of the gearbox in zero seconds flat. Every lick on Back For The Attack is like a shot of adrenaline right in the babymaker. So sometimes you gotta take matters into your own hands to make sure we set aside 31 days a year to keep rockin’ with Dokken.” According to sources, Biden then photocopied a “big-ass” stack of blank executive orders and grabbed a handful of official presidential pens so he could practice his Donald Trump signature.

 

[TGHusker]

 

 

"What did you do while Trump stocked his Cabinet with racists and bigots, grandpa?"

 

"I was making sure Obama didn't use too much paper."

Not sure what you mean by this Knapp, but it isn't an either/or. I think a person can decry cabinet choices while also speaking out against over regulation.

 

Over regulation? What subjects did those regulations cover? What did they do, exactly? I ask because I'm betting you have no idea, and you slapped the term "over regulation" on it simply based on the sheer size - which, of course, is nonsense. For all you know, each of those regulations serve a laudable purpose.

 

They may be laudable. They may be an overreach. I don't think anyone on HB can say what all the regs cover. Some are needed and some are not - pandering to special interests.

 

 

And here are some articles from non-conservative sites.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/us/politics/obama-era-legacy-regulation.html

In nearly eight years in office, President Obama has sought to reshape the nation with a sweeping assertion of executive authority and a canon of regulations that have inserted the United States government more deeply into American life.

Once a presidential candidate with deep misgivings about executive power, Mr. Obama will leave the White House as one of the most prolific authors of major regulations in presidential history.

Blocked for most of his presidency by Congress, Mr. Obama has sought to act however he could. In the process he created the kind of government neither he nor the Republicans wanted — one that depended on bureaucratic bulldozing rather than legislative transparency. But once Mr. Obama got the taste for it, he pursued his executive power without apology, and in ways that will shape the presidency for decades to come.

The Obama administration in its first seven years finalized 560 major regulations — those classified by the Congressional Budget Office as having particularly significant economic or social impacts. That was nearly 50 percent more than the George W. Bush administration during the comparable period, according to data kept by the regulatory studies center at George Washington University.

An army of lawyers working under Mr. Obama’s authority has sought to restructure the nation’s health care and financial industries, limit pollution, bolster workplace protections and extend equal rights to minorities. Under Mr. Obama, the government has literally placed a higher value on human life.

The Obama Era

Over the next months, The Obama Era will explore the sweeping change that President Obama brought to the nation, and how the presidency changed him.

And it has imposed billions of dollars in new costs on businesses and consumers.

Many of the new rules are little known, even as they affect the way Americans eat, love and die. People can dine on genetically engineered salmon. Women can buy emergency contraceptive pills without prescriptions. Military veterans can design their own headstones.

In its final year, the administration is enacting some of its most ambitious rules, including limits on airborne silica at job sites, an overhaul of food labels to clarify nutritional information, and a measure making millions of workers eligible for overtime pay.

 

 

Other articles on the subject from a year ago

http://www.politico.com/agenda/agenda/story/2016/1/obama-regulations-2016

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/30/obama-sets-record-for-new-rules-in-2015/

[AR Husker Fan]

In other words, just as I suspected. You have no clue what those regulations address or what they do. None. You simply showed your inherent bias. Congratulations on rejecting any attempt to be open-minded.

[Danny Bateman]

 

This is the kind of outrageous overreach that we SHOULD be concerned about with Obama's administration. This sounds criminal.

 

 

 

Biden Forges President’s Signature On Executive Order To Make December Dokken History Month

 

 

WASHINGTON—In an effort to honor the “sweet-ass” legacy of a hair metal band that he said “totally f'ing shreds,” Vice President Joe Biden reportedly snuck into the Oval Office early Thursday to forge President Obama’s signature on an executive order that would officially recognize December as Dokken History Month. “Look, I’ve already asked Barry a thousand times because Dokken’s a goddamn national treasure, but he just wouldn’t get with the program, so now we’re doing sh#t Diamond Joe’s way,” said Biden, who took extra care to ensure the president’s signature matched previous counterfeit executive orders he had fabricated to implement directives that required strip clubs in the capital to stay open past 2 a.m., created a federal holiday for Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads’ birthday, and pardoned his buddy Blaze, who reportedly got into a “little dustup” with some bikers outside Carson City, NV earlier this year. “This is a no-brainer. If you crank up Donnie’s killer vocals and George Lynch is wailing on his ax on your car stereo, I guarantee a smokin’ hot metal chick will be ripping your stick shift out of the gearbox in zero seconds flat. Every lick on Back For The Attack is like a shot of adrenaline right in the babymaker. So sometimes you gotta take matters into your own hands to make sure we set aside 31 days a year to keep rockin’ with Dokken.” According to sources, Biden then photocopied a “big-ass” stack of blank executive orders and grabbed a handful of official presidential pens so he could practice his Donald Trump signature.

 

 

 

This needs to somehow wind up in the Biden memes thread. Come on, internet.

[knapplc]

Maybe instead of railing against regulations, which is a broad and overarching term with zero definition or specificity, we should be railing against a do-nothing congress who staunchly refused to work with the president, forcing his hand with regulations.

 

As the NY Times article TG linked says, Obama was against presidential decrees and only turned to them when every act he attempted was thwarted by congress.

[TGHusker]

Thanks Obama! No Sarcasm included. So let me toast him for all 3 of these developments.

 

This is all good news. All linked from the 'conservative' Drudge site to more left leaning websites. I did not see any opposing views expressed in these articles that might explain away the positive factual numbers.

Silliness aside, I appreciate this good news and as expressed in a previous post, Obama has been handling the transition very well, has spoken very graciously, and has set a good example on how transitions can occur

when the out going president is so different than the president elect. My esteem for Obama as a person has gone up over the past year(especially in comparison to the nominees of both parties) but esp during this transition time. Yes, many of my posts aren't in favor of his policies but I think he is truly a quality individual personally.

 

So here I give credit where credit is due. These are occurring while he is president.

 

 

Thursday showing first-time applications for unemployment benefits tumbling to a 43-year low last week

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-jobless-claims-hit-43-133902749.html

 

The U.S. divorce rate has fallen for the third consecutive year, to its lowest level in more than 35 years, according to data released Thursday.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-17/divorce-in-u-s-plunges-to-35-year-low

 

and finally - and so important for next week

Americans can thank a drop in the average price of turkey and general food deflation for bringing down the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner this year.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/17/thanksgiving-meal-to-gobble-up-less-money-this-year.html

[TGHusker]

Back to regulations. This organization, led by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office is much smarter than I to identify what is good and bad.

 

https://www.americanactionforum.org/insight/600-major-regulations/

 

One of their conclusions:

If 500 major regulations weren’t shocking to the administration, surely 600 will be another afterthought to them. However, for the American people, someone must pay the cost for more than $740 billion in regulatory burdens. Employees could pay through reduced wages or unemployment. Shareholders could pay through lower returns. Eventually consumers could bear this burden in the form of higher prices

 

 

This article provides data that shows how heavy regulation is a greater burden to small businesses than large. The large have the resources to adapt. In many ways regulations make it difficult for the small companies to be competitive with the large. One could say this

could be a form of crony capitalism - a tip of the hat to the large companies and stifling the growth of small businesses which employ the most workers.
https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/regulatory-impact-on-small-business-establishments/

 

The organization details how and what regulations may get cut under the next admin:

https://www.americanactionforum.org/insight/major-rules-congress-repeal-january/

 

The leaders of both branches are generally on the same page when it comes to the regulatory state. Congressional Republicans have posed a bevy of regulatory reform bills and attempted CRA resolutions in recent years, although they have universally met President Obama’s veto pen. (By the way, I didn't hear anyone saying Obama was being an 'obstructionist' by using his veto pen. Obstruction works both ways it appears.)

Republicans have the opportunity to enact regulatory reform on a scale not witnessed since President Reagan. CRA disapproval resolutions seem poised to be a significant part of those plans. Although it is unlikely that Congress will cash in all its political capital to this end, several high-profile major rules – and their sizable burdens – could go by the wayside in 2017.

[Danny Bateman]

Is there any strong evidence that focusing on curtailing the debt at the expense of other spending is actually by the merits the best fiscal policy? I mean that seems like common sense, but is there any strong empirical evidence that curtailing spending in other areas is a net negative on the economy, even if we cut into the debt?

I feel like this is one of those areas people probably just disagree on a lot. As I understand it there are a ton of different acceptable economic theories and not just one accepted theory of how things are done.

[TGHusker]

Yes, different theories are out there. In regards to the debt - it cuts both ways. Govt spending can and often does help the economy, in the short term. However, (and I am not an economics professor - just trying to rely on my Econ 101-102, 201 courses way back before Reaganomics came to us), one of the down size of the debt is inflation and interest rates. Our Fed policy has kept interest rates 'artificially low' for some time. Wt the govt having a heavy debt load, it typically removes a lot of money from lenders, makes loans more expensive and causes an unfair tax on all of us called inflation. I say typically because again we've been in a artificially low fed policy for some time - this may be creating a bubble that might be worse than 2008 - or so say some naysayers. Again, I'm not an economist (My opinion and $5 will get you a cheap coffee at Starbucks!). While Reagan was a supply sider, he also spent a lot on the military - which helped certain segments of the economy.

 

There are those who say the national debt is meaningless since we owe most of it to ourselves, we can continually print money, and the USD is the currency of foreign trade around the world - thus always in demand. However when you print money, the more you have of something the less value it has and that correlates into inflation. Inflation #s are artificially low in comparison to years ago. I understand that food and fuel are no longer figured into the inflation rate, thus the items that affect us the most, aren't in the #s. This is why inflation to many of us feels worse than what the numbers tell us. We've all see groceries go up. Fortunately, fuel has gone down over the past 1-2 years to offset some to the inflation pain.

 

If your are a real economics person out there- please either confirm or correct me where I'm wrong.

[knapplc]

In other words, just as I suspected. You have no clue what those regulations address or what they do. None. You simply showed your inherent bias. Congratulations on rejecting any attempt to be open-minded.

This is still true.

[HuskerNation1]

Here's a great example of why Obama has failed this country over the past 8 years. Sure, he's a nice guy and an avid sports fan, but he has zero leadership skills...but he is a great orator! In June he mocked Trump for even making the claim that he would be able to keep some of the Carrier jobs here. Obama laughed as though it was something that could never happen. Fortunately for America, they now have a President that gets it and is focused on getting results.

 

https://news.grabien.com/story-flashback-obama-mocks-trump-promising-keep-carrier-plant-us

[knapplc]

Obama has failed this country over the past 8 years.

 

 

 

 

 

What neither Trump nor the company has announced officially, however, is just what the Indiana government has offered as an inducement to stay. But you can assume, even with the pressure from the President-Elect, that Indiana paid up. Earlier on Wednesday, a source close to the company told Fortune that United Technologies would get $700,000 in state tax breaks for a number of years.

 

This is congruent from what we know about the sort of tax breaks Indiana and Indianapolis has already offered the firm. Back in 2011, the city gave the company a six-year property tax abatement, which allowed them to forgo paying $1.2 million in taxes, according to the Indianapolis Star. The company has also taken advantage of funds the state allocates for job retraining, and had reached a deal with Indiana to return several hundred thousand dollars for contributions it made to the company’s retraining programs as a part of the state’s Skills Enhancement Fund.

 

So do these deals make sense for the American economy? Economists have increasingly frowned upon the competitive offering of tax incentives by state and local to large companies in order to keep or attract facilities that create jobs. That’s because the majority of jobs are created by young companies and not the ones that local governments pay so much to keep. What’s more, most of the time companies are often just looking to move hundreds of miles, not thousands. And moving jobs to a neighboring state can be tough on local budgets and local politicians, but means little to the U.S. economy as a whole.

 

The result: These inducements often are just acts of lavishing tax breaks on companies that don’t need them, and don’t have the most potential for creating new jobs.

 

 

So, Trump is going to bribe companies with tax breaks to keep a portion of their jobs in the States.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Obama.

[Whistlebritches]

Since when is 7 million dollars in tax breaks "consequences".

 

[knapplc]

 

Thanks, Obama!