As speakers at the Democratic National Convention continue to endorse the reelection of Barack Obama as president, there is the difficult Republican-posed question Democrats are trying to answer: Is the nation better off since Obama took the presidency?
In his usual charisma, former President Bill Clinton insisted Wednesday night that as long as Americans reelected Obama, America can relive a job boom reminiscent of the era of when Clinton held office in the 90s.
"Are we where we want to be today? No. Is the President satisfied? Of course not. But are we better off than we were when he took office? The answer is yes,” said Clinton.
Clinton argued that while Obama inherited a “deeply damaged economy,” he has laid the foundation for a “well-balanced economy.”
That was a message Republicans at the Republican National Convention would strongly disagree with, claiming economic recovery has been excruciatingly slow and that Obama has barely worked with neither Democrats or Republicans in repairing the economy.
What is your view? Do you think America is better off now than four years ago? Why or why not?
http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves Note, we have 1.7% of the oil reserves that OPEC has. Where do you get your data from?
http://www.examiner.com/article/u-s-has-more-oil-reserves-than-any-other-nation
The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska 's Prudhoe Bay , and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion. 'When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea..' says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst. 'This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years' reports, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a formation known as the Williston Basin , but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' And it stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada . For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago.
- 18-times as much oil as Iraq - 21-times as much oil as Kuwait - 22-times as much oil as Iran - 500-times as much oil as Yemen - and it’s all right here in the Western United States .
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=f7bd7b77-ba50-48c2-a635-220d7cf8c519
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3021/pdf/FS08-3021_508.pdf It estimates a reserve of 3.65 Billion barrels of oil ... not 503 Billion. Those numbers are a wee bit different. And incidentally, the Bakken oil is being drilled. Aha, I see where you got your misinformation. One of those fake emails that get passed around like a communicable disease: http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/bakken.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/bakken.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/bakken.asp
http://www.aclu.org/blog/tag/ndaa It's from the ACLU. And this article is a little older but you should read it. NDAA is dangerous. http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/36-hours-left-tell-congress-pass-smith-amash-amendment-ndaa
http://artofthestem.com/tag/undeveloped-domestic-oil-resources/ Note, he does start out by picking on Gingrich and the Republicans, but he has words for the Dems too.
I believe the NATO rules of engagement prohibited Bush 1 from taking out Saddam. I believe Iraq violated many of the terms it had previously agreed to, justifying the Iraq war. Denying weapons inspectors access and shooting at our airplanes come to mind.