Not being negative.
Just making an observation.

an observations that’s negative….. and critical of the journal.

Criticism is part & parcel of life on journal.ie.
I’d say the powers that be have a thick enough hide to handle it!!!!!

Are you involved in writing government spin? You’re doing a good job of defending a pointless comment on what you feel is a pointless story!!!?!

Maybe I’m missing the point, but I thought that commenting was how this whole thing worked
If we are going to start criticising each other for commenting then where will it all end……,

Then yes, you are missing the point. The point is to “Contribute to this story” – the hint is that at the end of every story it says: “Contribute to this story”

Every comment is a contribution.
Just because you don’t rate it means nothing or do we have to have our comments vetted for worthiness by you?

I would never presume to have the right to authorise your comments Justin. You keep defending them if you think they’re worth it – I don’t – and just like you, I’m entitled to my opinion.

I respect that you’re entitled to your opinion – but you’re wrong….

Tony,
That’s the great thing about forums like these
People like you & me get the chance to air our views, be right & be wrong.
Good luck to you.

The unemployment rate is exactly the same as it was when he took over, despite him adding billions to the debt pile, so maybe not.

Obama took over just as the USA’s economy was heading downwards into the abyss. The fact that he halted the decline, prevented a depression and turned the economy around in 4 years is some feat. Fair play to the man!

My God Limofax do you really believe that. Santa will be along soon as well

@limofax you really do love looking through those tinted glasses don’t you. Obama has been a nightmare, and should be called Bush in his third term.

War, debt and entitlements.

I find it hard for his supporters to defend him without playing the pity and race cards.

I thought the facts spoke for themselves.

Limofax you want to talk about facts?

-23 million people unemployed
-Healthcare premiums up
-Average median household income down $4,000
-Petrol prices at a record high
-$5.8TRILLION added to the debt (despite promising to cut it in half in his first term).

These are the facts his policies have failed and his time is running out.

Let’s see…….. He has addressed the unemployment problem, numbers are dropping. He has ended an unjust war and is about to end a second war. He caught/killed Bin Laden. He rescued the auto industry, all without the help of his congress. Fair play to him. He’s not perfect but he’s the best available on the ballot. All Romney offers is a return to the super duper failed policies of Bush. Try changing the channel Cian, too much Fox news will rot the left side of your brain.

and the 16 trillion dollar debt? He came into office promising to half it, he then proceeded to spend more money than every other president in the history of the sates combined adding a whopping 5.8 trillion dollars to it! He had full control of both houses for 2 years but chased healthcare (which has caused premiums to rise for ordinary working people in the middle class) despite being elected to tackle a financial crisis.

Hope isn’t a strategy and Change isn’t a destination.

5.6 trillion dollars is quite a lot alright. It’s a shame that the two expensive wars that Bush launched head first into combined with his ridiculous tax cuts for the ultra rich ensured that the debt would rise regardless of whoever became president. As for healthcare, every tax paying citizen of any first world country should be entitled to free adequate healthcare. It’s one of the simple little things that tells you how much progress a country has made. I imagine you just hate Obama for the same reasons your Chelsea captain does. Why the anger and hatred Cian?

Everyone in Ireland knows who Obama is. Not many Americans know who Enda is. Simple.

I wish – if that was the case then our two biggest parties wouldn’t be conservative. It just shows how extreme the US Republican party is when FF and FG supporters wouldn’t touch them. I bet that the 5% who would vote for Romney are fundamentalist Ronan Mullen types.

Hahahaha “Conservative”

They are centre at best

Stephen – totally agree with u. He spends less than a day here, gives one of his sweeping generalisations laden speeches, has a pint in Ollie Hayes’ and meets the relatives, has a bit of ‘craic’ with the locals and everyone loves him. Reagan did much the same in ’84, though politically he would be diametrically opposed to Obama. Strange, but then this is Ireland.

I thumbed upwards for Steven O’connell….. totally agree … its about time we find someone to admire here at home, and not a figure head to make statements about because its recognised as being cool to do so !! Perhaps if we had a strategic plan to look after our small population and stop taking on board policy’s from far bigger countries we’d all be a lot happier. Mind you I can’t think of anyone suitable……….

Clint Eastwood got it right with his Skit on Obama.The man is a complete empty suit,The irish would love to see him set up a nanny state,full of handouts,thats the liberal way.In the 80s Ronald Regans America let in thousands of irish “refugees” fleeing Haugheys Ireland,least we forget.

Thank Fox ‘News’ for that…

24 hour Republican propaganda machine!

“Loved around the world” is putting it a bit strong

Isn’t it the same thing here with our government? Admired abroad, despised at home.

Yes, but European media outlets focus their US politics coverage disproportionately on social issues (e.g. abortion and gay marriage), possibly because they sell more. Obama and the Democrats obviously have more in common with Europeans on these issues, and it leads to the crux of why Europeans struggle to understand why Romney has such a good chance of winning.

However in the US, voters are more likely to decide on a candidate based on their perceived competence on the economy. And if you look at the unemployment rate as one economic measure, it is now exactly the same as when Obama took over – after rising in his first few years and declining since then.

To sum up, I think there is a big gap between the reporting of European media and the actual reasons US voters vote for candidates.

Free Bradley manning for telling the truth Mr Obama

Well you have to look at it this way

Obama – useless, liar, continue the wars, economically mental tax and spend liberal , religion – moderate

Romney – useless, flip flopper, continue the wars , economically responsible , low tax conservative , religion – nuts

So if your voting on economic grounds it has to be romney , if your voting by a persons morals and views on humanity it has to be obama.

Since most of the people who even took the poll would be quite economically ill informed , and that religion is a big thing in ireland , its hardly surprising they went for obama

Well, I don’t think that Irish people are economically ill-informed so much as the US economy doesn’t seem as pressing as social issues when you don’t live there. I’m an American outside America and as a result, the economy isn’t nearly as important to me as basic human rights for people I love who are members of the LGBT community.

@Stephen Sorry but there’s a few bad inaccuracies there first categorising Obama as a liar and not Romney is ludicrous, through this campaign both have been less than truthful at times but the scale of lies coming out of the Republican camp is far and away beyond those coming out of the Obama campaign.

Ref: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/08/29/mitt-romney-tells-533-lies-in-30-weeks-steve-benen-documents-them/

Also how exactly is Obama economically mental his stimulus package worked to an extent, analysis showed it simply wasn’t big enough, american jobs were recovering above the rat Romney is now promising before the Republicans held the gun to the nations head over the debt ceiling which destroyed international confidence in America.

Additionally Obama’s tax policy relieves the tax burden on lower and middle class people whose spending is the engine of economic growth while Romney’s blanket cut is hugely regressive, and can either achieve one of two things, explode the deficit (something he criticises Obama for even though he has heavily reigned in the rate of deficit increase from what it was when he took office) or eliminate tax loopholes which largely benefit the middle classes hence increasing their proportional tax burden and stunting any hope of economic recovery by further stomping on consumer demand.

If you could explain how this is responsible I’d be interested to hear because as far as I can tell the Ryan budget’s fiscal responsibility is more myth than legend

@ciaran t , clicked that link , went to some nutter left wing blog, didnt even read your post after that

@Stephen Sound man

@ciaran

Interesting. Obama doesn’t see that it’s his stimulus that is hurting the low/middle class the most, regardless of the lies of “cutting taxes for the middle class”

I know it’s great to sit atop the high progressive horse, but facts are facts, he’s been a nightmare, except maybe his foreign diplomacy.

The US is in serious trouble.

@Michael

How exactly did the stimulus hurt the low/middle class, it was a cash injection that help saved many jobs and prevented businesses from going under (auto-industry).

If facts are facts could you please cite some of them so that we can discuss them, unemployment down below 8% seems pretty good, yes the debt is quite large but they could likely support one much larger and once they hit full recovery they can work to bring that down. What am I missing? I’m open to being convinced.

Ok Ciaran, I’ll bite.

First thing is, stimulus money IS inflation. It is the liquidation of that market, much the same as we bailed out the banks here at home.

The US should have let them fail, and the companies should have gone out of business. The assets could have been bought up, if they were worth anything, in the private marketplace. Nowhere in the constitution does it state that the government should pick winners and losers in the marketplace. Ford never received any bailout money, and they are nearly breaking even?!

Next, we’ll talk unemployment. The last unemployment numbers were only 49 states out of 50, with an unknown “large state” not declaring their numbers. Interesting timing. If we look at u-6, you’ll see that unemployment is close to 15%.

It is the inflation that’s causing these problems. It’s good for the people that spend it first but yet again we see higher oil prices (regardless of lower demand) and Gold approaching an all time high. This is not by mistake.

So by devaluing their currency, and having very low interest rates, they are beginning to reinflate the bubbles of past mistakes. The fed also being the perpetrator of all of these problems.

Nobody can call this a recovery, and with 16tn in national debt, imagine the damage that rising interest rates would do? Bank of America, GM bankrupt again.

I’ll leave the next decision up to you.

1) Continue on the current trend of 1tn deficits and the 66+tn in obligations around the corner. As we are.

2) Raise interest rates to fight inflation, but cause another market crash

3) Print more money to keep interest rates down, but crush people on low to fixed incomes as well as pinch the middle class further (the voting majority)

4) Cut government spending, cutting services and student loans and the affordable care act as well as the military and defence budgets to bring govt spending and revenues closer together (attrition).

5) Raise taxes on business and the rich, which makes business less able to hire, raising unemployment further and having an even larger burden on the state of the unemployed. You’ve also shipped a lot of jobs overseas

6) Raise taxes on the middle class. (But you’d do that with inflation anyway). Feel their political wrath, and a career of being a failed politician after losing in a landslide.

7) Realise that the whole thing is a poisoned chalice and step down from the highest office in America.

TL;DR? The party is over for the US as it was for the Romans. Economics.

Damocles you should know better,most contributors here make Trotsky seem like a right wing Conservative.

Thanks for that Oisín. Have updated now.

yeah, they probibly would….