Michael Ramirez for August 06, 2012

Well, at least he’s consistent.

Yes we need to elect a religious zealot who won;t tell us anything.

Is your point that 71% of small business owners don’t know what the definition of a recession is? That Americans pay less in taxes than any other country? That the GOP has no time to pass any laws creating jobs, but will pass over 100 laws about abortion and birth control and symbolically repeal Obamacare 32 times? That Romney’s plan would vastly increase the deficit while raising taxes? I agree with you on everything except the lie about the dollar — America can sell bonds now for LESS THAN ZERO INTEREST because the dollar is the safest place in the world to have your money. But thanks for making the other points.

GW Bush’s 8-year average unemployment = horrible 5.3%

If the REAL number were posted behind the POTUS, he could NEVER be re-elected.

it is hoover’s fault

Before they changed the “calculations”, unemployment under Reagan was around 7%, which it has been at various times, for a long time. The fact that “Reaganomics” that ran up the debt 13 fold under three Republican administrations, NOT just “Bush” and led to a collapse, in 2008, wasn’t Obama’s making. We HAVE added jobs, just not at a fantastic rate, under policies that have been largely blocked from being implemented, as the Republicons keep introducing bills, or riders, to further DEREGULATE and control inflation, and implement more true job LOSING actions.

Let’s make sure we’re talking about the same Congress, shall we? Harry Reid has already said that he will not honor any bill that comes from the House (aka passed by the Republicans). Every jobs bill, good or not, is Dead On Arrival with Harry Reid. He is only reinforced by Obama’s promise to veto any jobs bill that has Republican fingerprints on it. How is this working in a bipartisan matter? I’m not saying Republicans are innocent of grandstanding and having their own partisan agenda, but liberals have to agree that their side is obstructing as badly or worse than Republicans are. It is believed that Reid is not allowing these bills to come to a vote because he doesn’t want any chance of his liberal cohorts getting fired. @ Trout: You are right… we have added jobs. But we have added jobs at a pace slower than the growth rate of the labor force. Our unemployment numbers also don’t show people who have given up looking. 8.3% is the rosy version of the unemployment numbers. Depending on what paper you read, the U6 (which accounts for this, and underemployed people) is around 14-16%. This is the worst it’s been in two generations. And what’s problematic is that, when combined with the new regulations on banks (which include a tighter line of lending, higher capitalization rates, etc), you see people who normally would risk a new business when they lose their jobs not risk it because no bank will give them a startup loan. Jase: You clearly didn’t read the part where it was stated small businesses have pessimism about the economy. These businesses don’t ship jobs overseas. Government regulations and Obamacare are the two leading factors as to why small businesses aren’t forming or aren’t expanding. Look at it this way: Most small businesses are set up in one of two ways – LLC or Sole Proprietorship. In both of these setups, the income/revenue generated by the business is filed under personal taxes. What the problem with the Obamacare/Tax Code (and that 250k benchmark) is that it is factored on gross income, not net income. At least that’s how I understand it. That means if you have a high-volume/high-expense business, you are automatically bumped up to the “rich” category, even though their real earnings are closer to Earth than you think. But this is why many businesses are leery of all the changes that have happened in the last 3 years. They see this class warfare rhetoric that’s being slung around as attacks on them. And that’s without the comment about “You didn’t build that,” in or out of context.Look, I don’t buy any of this political crap being peddled by either Romney or Obama. Obama promised us the world, and America bought it hook, line, and sinker. I want a businessman/woman in the office, and someone with true leadership skills in the VP slot. I want a Congress that has the courage to stand for their convictions and vote, not pander to their base and stall so they can get re-elected. We are not better off today than we were 4 years ago. Unemployment is worse, and has not been below 8% since it breeched it back in 2009. And just like it did during the Great Depression, tinkering with the economy under the guise of helping the needy only exacerbated the problem. We need to leave stuff well-enough alone and let the free market heal itself. Keep poking at it with a stick and it will never heal properly.

The unfortunate fact is, if YOU are unemployed, the rate is 100%! It IS “the private sector” conservatives keep harping about that IS responsible for civilian jobs, SO WHERE have they applied all the tax breaks, subsidies, and “favors” the government has granted them for over 30 years? Right, the jobs went to China, and the profits went to the Caymans, which is why Mitt won’t show his tax returns.

Meanwhile in this corner:“You Olympians, however, know you didn’t get here solely on your own power,” said Romney.

The GOP has done everything in its power to keep the economy bad, and unemployement high so that they can blame it on Obama. GOP — domestic terrorism in action.

No, you had a lot of help from the Reeps!

Its gonna be funny seeing all the wealthy Dem politicians laughing and chanting Four More Years at the convention while the average American watching on TV is trying to figure out how to pay their next bill.