Tag Archives: obama

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Profits Over People, Medicare Edition

09/11/2012 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

Romney’s Plan to Pad Insurance Company Profits

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s plan to end Medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher plan is bad enough on its face. It doesn’t do anything to actually rein in health care costs. It just shifts costs — potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars for future retirees — from the government onto the backs of seniors.

But it gets worse. We learned over the weekend that all the extra money out of our pockets is going to give insurance companies some extra large profits. Here’s President Obama, who was in Florida yesterday, describing the findings of a new study:

In fact, one report just said that by the end of the next decade, our opponent’s plan would mean as much as $16 billion to $26 billion in new profits for insurance companies. So basically, your costs would rise by the thousands so that their profits could rise by the billions.

How much more are you going to be on the hook for in order to pump up the profits on insurance companies? Check out this handy infographic to find out:

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed

In his defense, Mitt Romney cites five studies that actually just further prove his plan would raise taxes on the middle class.

In new stump speech, Romney suggests Obama is anti-God.

One hedge fund millionaire is trying to buy a seat in Congress.

Paul Ryan once touted defense cuts he now claims to not have voted for.

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) attacked Sandra Fluke.

Romney’s amazing and dishonest gymnastics on health care.

President Obama said Nikki Minaj’s “endorsement” of Mitt Romney was a joke — and she said the president was right.

Poll finds Obama surging after Democratic convention.

Obamacare has led to a record drop in uninsured young people.

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The stakes for clean air, clean water, and clean energy jobs …

09/10/2012 Nativegrl77

Here’s something Mitt Romney actually joked about with pride — and plenty of scorn — while formally accepting the Republican nomination for president of the United States:

“President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet.”

And the crowd went wild.

It is nothing short of terrifying to imagine a party that openly mocks climate change taking back the White House.

The contrast between our candidate and theirs couldn’t be any clearer.

President Obama has more than doubled the amount of electricity we get from wind and solar over his first term — and his plans for wind power are expected to help grow the wind industry to support 100,000 jobs by 2016. Both Romney and Ryan want to kill the wind production tax credit, which could come at the expense of 37,000 American jobs. Oh, but they would keep giving $4 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil every single year.

And just this week, while President Obama’s administration finalized historic fuel economy standards to double our vehicles’ mileage by 2025 and cut carbon pollution from vehicles in half, the GOP adopted a platform that could kill investments in clean energy, and calls on Congress to prohibit the EPA from moving forward with new greenhouse gas regulations.

Surprise, surprise — according to the Los Angeles Times, the platform “was written at the direction of the Romney campaign,” making it heavily influenced by Big Oil interests.

So there you have it — the stakes for clean air, clean water, and clean energy jobs couldn’t be higher. Make sure your friends and family know what we’re fighting for:

Thanks, and stay tuned.

Buffy

Buffy Wicks National Operation Vote Director Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

09/05/2012 Nativegrl77

Yes, We Are Better Off!

By ThinkProgress War Room

2008 v. 2012 in Six Charts

Four years ago, the economy was on the downslide and about to go into free fall. What became a painful recession and still-ongoing recovery could’ve been another Great Depression. And then President Obama and Democrats worked together to turn things around. Too many families are still struggling and more must be done, but it’s an undeniable fact that we’ve made a lot progress since 2008.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would implement the same conservative policies that crashed the economy in the first place — only on a much grander scale. Here’s six charts to remind us what happened when conservatives last ran the show compared to where we are today under President Obama.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed

Ten headlines from September 2008.

Ohio’s GOP Secretary of State is just ignoring a court order about early voting that he disagrees with.

Hypocrisy alert: Romney-Ryan robocall accuses President Obama of “changing [Medicare] forever.”

GOP Senate candidate: throw rape victims who get an abortion in jail for life.

Mitt Romney on whether we’re better off: “of course it’s getting better.”

Highlights from the Democratic Party’s official platform.

Exposed: the Tea Party’s deficit hypocrisy.

More questions about Mitt Romney’s highly questionable finances.

Trouble for Mitt Romney in Virginia.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Stephanie Cutter

09/04/2012 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Here’s just a snapshot of what Mitt Romney‘s platform calls for:

— Turn Medicare into a voucher program to buy private insurance,
forcing seniors to pay more out of pocket for their health care costs.

— Outlaw all abortions without exception for rape or incest
(including a “salute” to states like Virginia that have passed extreme
ultrasound laws).

— Ban marriage equality and reject civil unions of all kinds.

— Won’t protect the mortgage interest deduction for middle-class
families if Romney enacts his tax plan, even though it helps more than
30 million middle-class families.

— Kill investments in clean energy jobs and reject the wind
production tax credit, which would cost up to 37,000 American jobs.

“Intolerant” and “mean-spirited” sounds about right to me.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are in lockstep with this platform, but pay
close attention to what they’re saying up on that stage this week — I
guarantee you won’t hear a whole lot about any of that.

Instead, they’re filling their free airtime with false promises and
baseless attacks on President Obama. We can’t let them get away with it.