And, for all you racists and imbeciles that are incapable of reading a book, research paper or newspaper article, life in America has improved since Barack Obama became president. You aren't improving anything by hurling racial epithets and regurgitating disproven Sean Hannity talking-points.
In case you haven't noticed anything over the past four decades, supply-side/trickle-down economics has been disproven. Tax cuts and deregulation are no panacea. Government is not bad. Government is us. It's only as bad as our weakest link. The weak link in the U.S. is the Republicans, and their supporters, that keep pushing these debunked policies, along with inciting violence, hatred and racism.
For those of you supporting the orange buffoon, spouting your hatred and stupidity, take a deep breath, step back and put aside your preconceived notions that you wrap yourself in, like a blanket, and try to reasonably and rationally absorb what has taken place in the last 8 years.
Specifically, during President Obama's two terms, he has brought our country back from the brink of a second Great Depression. He and the Democrats have also (in the face of Republican obstructionism): regulated the banks, reformed health care, eliminated Osama bin Laden, signed a nuclear agreement with Iran, created over 13 million jobs (almost 7 straight years of expansion), gotten unemployment down below 5%, helped the stock market set record highs, reduced the Federal budget deficit by two-thirds, held government spending increases to only 3.3% annually (the lowest rate since Eisenhower was president), lowered income taxes - for 95% of Americans - as low or lower than they were at almost any point in the last 50 years, and shrunk dependence on foreign oil due to record domestic oil production and improved fuel efficiency standards, to name a few.
Can we actually try to be a sane, civil, reasoned country? How does demeaning minorities or women, or using ethnic slurs, or sticking your head in the sand and refusing to believe reality help grow the economy, create jobs, or improve education or health care?
Maybe these Republicans yearning for yesteryear, the old times, should remember the great years they are always memorializing were due to the New Deal - a progressive idea of shared prosperity, public work, public infrastructure and high taxes on the wealthy. As Paul Krugman
described, "An era of widely shared growth. Real wages rose 81 percent, and the income of the richest 1 percent rose 38 percent.
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It's sad the knuckle-draggers prefer the bluster and braggadocio from their representatives, rather than actual effective policies. Luckily, they, too, will be pulled further into the 21st Century by Democrats that are actually trying to make all of our lives, and the world around them, a better place.
Hillary 2016!
For Further Reading:
14 Facts About Obama's Presidency
Life Got Better Under Obama, According to Gallup
Republican Scapegoat Politics or Demeaning Government: Cutting Off Our Nose To Spite Our Face
