from my blog at http://theatleeappeal.com

This is something else. Barack Hussein Obama, you have been in office for over 19 months. You have had control of the economy for over 19 months. Your economic policies have been in play for 19 months. Your Democratic majority in Congress has been in power for 4 years. You talk about George Bush as much as ABC News talks about Lindsey Lohan: neither of which are relevant to anything at this point in time. Our current economic state has absolutely nothing to do with what George Bush might have done 2 years ago, but everything you have done in response to what George Bush did. Get out of campaign mode sir, and start acting like the President of the United States.

While in Austin, TX yesterday, Obama took time to remind everyone that he is still campaigning against George Bush. "The policies that crashed the economy, that undercut the middle class, that mortgaged our future, do we really want to go back to that, or do we keep moving our country forward?" Interesting he should say that. It seems as though we are getting bad to worse news daily regarding the economic outlook. More jobs are being lost than expected. More people are filing for unemployment than expected. More people are using food stamps than expected. More people give up looking for work than expected. Pelosi claimed extending the unemployment insurance would be the "greatest boost to the economy" than any other policy offered. Safe to say, that's not working either.

Just how awful was the economy when George Bush lost power? Remember, the Democrats had control of Washington for Bush's last 2 years in office. So any spending bills that Bush signed were cleared through a Democratic Congress. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in January of 2007 (when the new Democratic Congress effectively took office) was 4.7%. I'd love to go back to that "failed policy". In January of 2009 (2 years of Democratic control and Obama's inauguration), the unemployment rate was 7.7%: It is now at 9.5%. According to Data 360, real GDP growth was projected at 5.41% in the beginning of 2007. In the beginning of 2009, real GDP was -3.99%: It is now at 2.4%. So we can see between unemployment and GDP, things weren't quite so bad with George Bush and a Republican majority in power compared to what they are now with Democrats being in charge.

What about our debt and deficits? Obama loves to tout that Bush turned a trillion dollar surplus into a trillion dollar deficit. Let's look at the numbers. According to Government Spending.com, the federal deficit as a percentage of GDP in 2007 was 1.14%. Currently, the deficit as a percentage of GDP is 10.64%. That is an 833% increase of the deficit to GDP since the Democrats have been in power! What about the national debt? According to TreasuryDirect.gov, the national debt in January of 2007 was at $8.6 Trillion - up $3 Trillion in six years. Now, the debt today since Democrats have had power-of-the-purse? $13.3 Trillion - up nearly $5 Trillion in 3 1/2 years!

When you look at those numbers, who wouldn't want to go back to the way things were when Republicans were in control compared to today? Now to be fair, the Republicans in the early to mid 2000s did not act like Republicans. Instead, they acted like Democrats being that they loved spending. We saw outstanding economic growth during the early to mid 2000s however after the 2001 Recession and Bush tax cuts. Yes, those same tax cuts that went to those evil, greedy, disgusting rich people. You know, the people that actually pay a huge chunk of the taxes. If liberals were truly about fairness, they would have no problem with the wealthy getting more of the tax cuts considering they pay the bulk of all federal income taxes. Never-mind that though, because that would require some common sense. Looking at Obama's and his fellow Democrats' record with the economy, who would you rather be in charge? A group of people that find the private sector to be "working behind enemy lines", and believe you are to stupid to know what to do with your own money. Or, a group of people like Conservatives who believe the actual business owners know what's best for their business and believe that you are capable of using your money the way you see fit. The choice is obvious.