[vector]

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush’s last budget oct 2008 to oct 2009 had
a $1.416 trillion deficit.
Obama’s first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the “stimulus” was wasted
on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so
much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the “stimulus” with
the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by
President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs
CEO Henry Paulson.
(Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be “non-reviewable by any court or any agency.”)
The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn’t work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough.
In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office,
the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees
to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business
to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will
find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is “going broke,” people live longer,
fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust
fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and
cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit
(compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only
longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about
the same number of years as they used to.

8*) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on
We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that
builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things
that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that
all government spending is on “welfare” and “foreign aid” when that is
only a small part of the government’s budget.