It's Obama's Failing Economy

Despite liberal insistence to the contrary, we are living in Obama's failing economy, not Bush's.

I'm sure you've seen the stock market, so it's obvious what investors think of Obama's policies - he's record-breakingly bad:

** The stock market had its worst January in 113 years.
** The stock market had its worst February since 1933.
** The Dow has dropped faster under Obama than any other new president in 90 years.
** In March the dollar saw its worst drop in value in 25 years.
** And, today we found out that the stock market had its the worst first quarter since 1939.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the first quarter of 2009 down 13%.
The Wall Street Journal reported:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the first quarter of 2009 at 7608.92, down 13%. Although it rose 7.7% in March and finished with a 1.2% one-day gain on Tuesday, that wasn't enough to pull it out of its slump. The string of quarterly declines was the longest stretch since the six quarters that ended in June 1970 and the worst first quarter in percentage terms since 1939. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, meanwhile, lost 12% in the quarter.

Business leaders don't like what he's done, either:

Neil Cavuto pointed out earlier this month that the media was big on Carter but Wall Street wasn't and Wall Street turned out to be right. The media was not big on Reagan but Wall Street was and again Wall Street turned out to be right.

The O’Leary Report, in conjunction with Zogby International, conducted the first comprehensive survey of America’s business leaders to see what they think of Obama’s policies to date. The survey found that a clear majority of business leaders staunchly oppose the President’s actions over the past two months.

Below are some of the poll’s results. This was an online survey of 884 business leaders, who are also likely voters, and it has a margin of error of +/- 1.5 percentage points. To see more results, go to www.olearyreport.com.

Question 1: In regard to the bank rescue plans and economic stimulus, do you feel the Obama administration is trying to do too much, is disorganized, needs more time, or is right on target?

Fifty percent of business leaders think the Obama administration is disorganized, while only 10 percent think it is “right on target.” Twenty-eight percent think the Obama administration needs more time, another 10 percent think it’s trying to do too much, and one percent are “not sure.”

Question 2: How do you rate President Obama’s efforts to free up credit markets in his first 60 days?

Fifty-two percent of business leaders rate Obama’s effort as “poor,” while only 15 percent say it is “excellent.” Twenty-two percent give Obama a “good” rating and 10 percent say “fair” (one percent are not sure).

Question 3: Do you think the budget recently proposed by President Obama spends too much, not enough, or the right amount?

A solid 62 percent majority think President Obama’s budget spends too much, while only 13 percent say “non enough.” Only 16 percent of business leaders think it spends the right amount, and nine percent are not sure.

Question 4: The Employee Free Choice Act is a proposed bill that would effectively eliminate the secret ballot used by workers in deciding whether or not their plant, business, or small business should be unionized. Do you favor or oppose the bill?

Seventy-two percent of business leaders oppose this bill, which Obama supports. Only 19 percent favor the bill, and 10 percent are not sure.

Question 5: Do you agree or disagree that President Obama’s proposed tax hikes for those making $250,000 or more will hurt businesses, forcing them to lay-off employees?

Fifty-two percent of business leaders agree that Obama’s tax hikes will hurt businesses and increase unemployment, while 42 percent disagree (six percent are not sure).

Gateway Pundit observes that "[e]ven with an 11-point advantage among Democrats, Obama cannot convince a majority that the country is on the right track."

He also offers ten Tax Day tips for people attending the tea parties all over the country:

President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress have gone on a spending and debt spree that the country cannot afford. As a result, a spontaneous grassroots movement is emerging from every corner of the nation with a message for Congress and the president: Stop spending us into an inevitable spiral of debt and higher taxes … now!

To that end, groups of Americans will be meeting in towns and cities across the nation on April 15 for “Tax Day Tea Parties” (think Boston Tea Party, not biscuits and fine English china). These “Ten Tax Facts” are our effort to make sure the American people are well- informed as they gather together to express their concern about the direction Washington is headed.

#1 .Under the Obama budget, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the national debt will double over the next five years; and it will triple over the next 10 years to $17.3 trillion.

#2. Under the Obama budget, CBO projects that the national debt will soar over the next 10 years from 40 percent of GDP today to a shocking 82.4 percent. (Ronald Reagan left office with the national debt at 42 percent of GDP).

#3. The president’s budget also states that total federal borrowing will grow by $2.7 trillion this year alone, an increase of 27 percent in one year!

#4. The budget President Obama proposes for this year increases federal spending by an incredible 34 percent over the previous year, with a total of $4 trillion in federal spending, the highest ever.

#5. The federal budget deficit (not the national debt) would reach $1.845 trillion this year, according to the CBO, the highest ever. That would be more than seven times Reagan’s largest budget deficit of $221 billion, which caused so much consternation among Reagan’s critics.

#6. The CBO estimates that this Obama budget deficit will total an astounding 13.1 percent of GDP, more than one-eighth of the entire U.S. economy, for the federal budget deficit alone! Under George Bush, the federal deficit for 2008 was 3.2 percent of GDP. The deficit for fiscal year 2007, in the last budget adopted when Congress was controlled by Republican majorities, was $162 billion, or 1.2 percent of GDP.

#7. The Obama budget also includes $1 trillion in tax increases on the upper 5 percent of income earners, mostly tax rate increases. But the top 5 percent of income earners already pays 60 percent of all income taxes.

#8. The Obama budget projects that revenues from the corporate income tax will more than double in 3 years, increasing, in fact, by more than 124 percent.

#9. Another $645 billion tax increase comes from President Obama’s anti-global warming cap and trade system, which is essentially an energy tax on the production and use of carbon energy, such as oil, natural gas, and coal.

#10. While the Obama administration claims to have cut $2 trillion from the budget over 10 years, fully $1.5 trillion of those “cuts” actually represents the troop drawdown in Iraq, which was already scheduled to occur under the Bush administration. Of the remaining $500 billion in budget “savings,” fully $311 billion is categorized as “interest savings” but is actually an additional tax increase on upper income earners.

When is America going to learn that Democrats = taxes?

Not soon enough, apparently.

There's my two cents.