The Final Five: July 6, 2012

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Jim's Word:
Shouldn't our "post-partisan" President leave the country less divided than it was before his administration? Why are we more divided now than possibly ever before?

Tonight's Crazy Story:
Cat Interrupts Live TV Broadcast
FOX-17 reporter Nicole DiDonato was teasing an upcoming segment live when a cat climbed up her back and sat on her shoulder.

Topic One: The Unemployment Report
When you set low goals, it is difficult to not meet them. However, the June labor report did just that, coming in lower than economists predicted. Yet that report, showing the creation of a mere 84,000 jobs in June, is somehow a 'step in the right direction,' according to our President. The unemployment rate has remained steady at 8.2%. Unemployment is up for blacks (13.6% to 14.4%), women (7.9% to 8.0%), and youth (12.1% to 12.8%).

Daniel Horowitz analyzes at RedState: "It‘s hard to articulate just how terrible and ominous these numbers are for the future of our economy. Remember that just in order to break even with pre-recession levels, we need to create about 9 million jobs, at a clip of 300-500k per month. The deeper the recession, the more robust of a recovery that is needed to break even. Also, keep in mind that the population is still growing, so we must create even more jobs to accommodate that increase. The miracle of the American economy throughout the post-WWII era is that we have recovered from every recession stronger than we were before each downturn. At this point in the Reagan recover, we were creating over 300k new jobs each month – and that was when the population was much smaller."

Time for a Laugh:
"A group of protesters crashed a van into Microsoft’s headquarters in Athens. When they heard a van crashed, Microsoft was like, "We make vans?"
-Jimmy Fallon

Topic Two: Green Energy
California's carbon-rationing plan is hurting families and killing jobs: California families will be forced to pay $2,500 annually and lose $900 in earnings per year by 2020 as a result of the California Global Warming Solutions Act, according to a study released today. The costs to families will start to mount immediately in 2013. Losses to employers and the state's economy will be counted in the billions. ... The study also shows that by 2020, California will have 262,000 fewer jobs, 5.6 percent less gross state product and $7.4 billion less in annual local and state tax revenues."

Is there corruption involved in the awarding of green energy deals? "As we’ve seen with SolarReserve, and now with BrightSource Energy, the companies who get the government funding are those with inside connections that may be decades old, as in the case of Toon, or current, as in the case of John Bryson, who would still be Secretary of Commerce if not for the recent car incidents. Sadly, the widely publicized Solyndra story, SolarReserve and BrightSource Energy are just three of the many stories in the green-energy crony-corruption saga."

Debt Watch:
$15,876,652,312,551.29
( As of Thursday, July 5, 2012 )

Change: -$4,334,151,774
Your share as a citizen: $50,714.40
Share per household: $138,981.17
Debt since Obama inauguration: $5,249,775,263,638.19

Topic Three: ObamaCare
"If you like your health care plan, you [might be able to] keep your health care plan.": "Fewer U.S. adults aged 26 to 64 are getting health insurance from an employer in 2012, continuing a downward trend that began in 2008. The 55.9% who reported having it in the second quarter of 2012 is down from 56.7% in 2011 and is the lowest Gallup has found since 2008. At the same time, the percentage of 18- to 25-year-olds with employer-based insurance -- which also initially declined in 2008 and 2009 -- has since stabilized and appears to even up so far in 2012."

Socialized medicine in Romania: "In my other life in Communist Romania, I managed a large intelligence organization that, among other tasks, was charged with keeping alive a nationalized health care system which in the end bankrupted the country and generated popular contempt. That system, very similar to the Affordable Health Care for America Act, was a bureaucratic nightmare. And it still is a nightmare in the former Soviet empire. A European Union report on post-Communist Romania’s “Health Care System in Transition” stated that this system “devastated the country,” whose infant mortality rate (20.2 per 1,000) was among the highest in Europe and whose death rate was 70% higher that the EU average."

Watch your wallet next year: "While the individual mandate tax gets most of the attention, the ObamaCare law actually contains 20 new or higher taxes on the American people. These taxes are gradually phased in over the years 2010 (with its 10 percent “tanning tax”) to 2018 (when the tax on comprehensive health insurance plans kicks in.) Six months from now, in January 2013, five major ObamaCare taxes will come into force."

Tweet of the Day:
@kesgardner: Hey, Obama supporters, any of you want to explain why I should read more into Mitt's finances than the last 20 months of jobs reports? #p2

Topic Four: Student Loans
The American dream is becoming buried by debt: "New data released by the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education last month explain why, in the midst of this recession, student debts are becoming an increasing source of concern. The Fed report shows that growing student debt is weighing down more and more Americans, even as credit card debt is falling. Americans have — partially — learned their lesson from abusive credit card practices and pulled back.

"While student debt is rising, parents' ability to pay without resorting to debt is declining. Fed data show that the income of the typical American family, adjusted for inflation, declined from 2007 to 2010. Their wealth was down almost 40% — back to levels not seen since the early 1990s. Separate data show that household income is back to levels of a decade and a half ago.

"Meanwhile, the Education Department released data showing that during the period 2008-10, tuition at four-year public universities was up 15%, and in some states, such as Georgia, California and Arizona, up more than 40%. This is not a surprise: With states responding to slow growth in tax revenues by cutting back on support for higher education, universities had no choice."

Food for Thought - A Quote from our Founders
"A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species."
-James Madison

Topic Five: Voter ID
Demetrius Minor on the necessity of ID at the voting booth: "Showing identification is nothing new or complicated. It is something that is used consistently. However, there are some who hold a belief that voter id laws are not beneficial and deem it unnecessary.

"MSNBC’s talk show host Al Sharpton, who is no stranger to controversy and who always finds himself to be the subject of contentious debate, argued that voter id laws are a setback to blacks. Playing the race card, which was on top of deck and ready to be used, he said to MSNBC host Martin Bashir, “One has to conclude it's a deliberate attempt to try and suppress our votes in particularly minority communities that are disproportionately impacted, seniors and students.”

"Sharpton’s logic couldn’t be any further from truth. While Sharpton intends to play the role of victimization, it is imperative to point out that voter id laws are intended to prevent voter fraud and allow the process to operate smoothly and correctly. It is people like Sharpton who attempt to create an image in people’s minds that white people in the GOP are always out to keep blacks oppressed."

Tomorrow in History
July 7, 1981 - Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female Justice of the US Supreme Court.

Grab Bag - Interesting and Important Stories to Conclude Your Evening:
Was a murder in Egypt an Islamic attack?

Occupy Seattle dumps $5000 from hotel window

I agree with Obama: this election will determine the future of our economy for years to come

HHS pays $13.2 million to preserve Native American languages

Solve the unemployment crisis by instituting a 'Jobless Tax'

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