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Subscribe to RSSPresident Obama delivers his third State of the Union address, laying out his agenda for the coming year: building the economy, bringing manufacturing back, and increasing infrastructure projects. He describes an America "where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded."
President Obama railed against dysfunction on Capitol Hill during his State of the Union address, blaming gridlock in Washington for the economy's sluggish performance in the past year.
The president demanded a series of reforms intended to address the poor function of Congress, which played out in a series of battles over taxes and spending over the past year, and drove public opinion of lawmakers to an all-time low.
"But no matter what party they belong to, I bet most Americans are thinking the same thing right now: Nothing will get done this year, or next year, or maybe even the year after that, because Washington is broken," Obama said. "Can you blame them for feeling a little cynical?"
Obama and lawmakers fought to the last minute on a variety of legislative matters throughout 2011. The biggest fight took the U.S. to the brink of defaulting on its national debt in August, while other battles between House Republicans and the administration almost prompted a government shutdown several times before last-minute agreements could be struck to extend government spending.
The freshest example came just at the end of December, when Republicans balked at a deal to extend an expiring tax-cut for two months, only to eventually relent and agree to pass the extension.
"The greatest blow to confidence in our economy last year didn’t come from events beyond our control. It came from a debate in Washington over whether the United States would pay its bills or not," Obama said in reference to those battles.
The administration has enjoyed some political traction in its battles with Republicans in Congress. Obama unveiled a comprehensive jobs plan last September, and subjected GOP lawmakers to votes on its individual components throughout the fall. While none of the initiatives came close to becoming law, Republicans were forced to go on the record on some of the Obama proposals, cherry-picked for votes in Congress based on their popularity.
Obama called for a series of government reforms in his address meant to curb the cynicism toward Congress, including a ban on insider trading by members of Congress, as well as new limits on elected officials from owning stocks in industries they impact.
The president also called for a ban on campaign bundlers -- party fundraisers who gather together donations for candidates -- cannot lobby Congress.
In terms of other procedural reforms, Obama called for the Senate to pass a rule ensuring judicial and public service nominees receive an up-or-down confirmation vote within 90 days of their nomination. A recent precedent in both parties of blocking nominees and subjecting them to a higher, 60-vote threshold has taken hold of the upper chamber.
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Obama is full of horsemanure.
He suffers from Chronic Diarrhea of the Mouth.
Will President Obama ever take off his skirt and man-up on his Administration? The answer is no.
Obama, how did that almost $900B porkulus bill work out for our economy and the average American looking for a job in the private sector? That's right....it would have been much worse. How so?
I forgot - you gave most all that away to local and state govts. so they could buy off more public union workers to vote for you in 2012. We all know how many jobs a teacher, cop or firefighter creates.
The Stimulus bill created 2m jobs according to the CBO (though none at all according to Rush).
Where Mark - do you mean saved public union jobs or private sector jobs? And the CBO is not always an accurate source. Provide a link that proves your post - and not one to the Huffy-Puffy Post or MSLSD.com/tv.
Fact: your 2M jobs are the result of the CBO using BS soothsayer math on courtesy of the auto industry and its suppliers. Fact: the auto industry would have survived just fine without govt. help by declaring bankruptcy reorganization.
Which OBama did not want - would kill his union voting block. So he funneled taxpayer cash to them.
I mean fire-fighters, policemen, teachers, construction, etc. http://www.factcheck.org/2010/09/did-the-stimulus-create-jobs/
CBO is a more objective a provider of facts than anyone else. Do you have links that say, objectively, that no jobs were created?
rebel?
Mark -
Saving jobs is not creating jobs - or don't you know the difference? Keep in mind that the money spent on public sector jobs does not work through the economy nearly as well as private sector does - especially when the bulk of those funds from the public sector ended up shoring up union retirement funds.
Obama's objection to raising the debt ceiling in 2006 keeps cropping up. Some corrective thinking needs to be employed.
2006 is not 2011. Obama opposed raising the debt ceiling in 2006 because it was a boom year in which a lot of money was being made by people enjoying the Bush tax cuts of 2001. Two unfunded wars were under way. The money to pay for them was being borrowed recklessly.
It was a year to rescind the tax cuts and share the sacrifice, which no one was willing to do. Obama and the others who opposed the increase in the debt celing were entirely right. The burden was selfishly being shifted onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.
2011 was different in many ways. The debt had ALREADY been incurred and needed to be paid. The alternative, which some pols like Michele Bachmann welcomed, was defaulting. It would "clear the air" if the US welshed on its debt. Suppose there had been no increase in the debt ceiling in 2006, when Obama made that statement. Suppose, instead of just borrowing it from the Chinese, the American people and their leaders had had to pay their bills on time. There would have been no need for a pointless fight over the debt ceiling in 2011.
Besides, we must know, if we think about it, why that very public argument took place in Congress when it did. There was never any real question of our defaulting. If we'd failed in our obligations, you couldn't have GIVEN US Treasuries away. Inflation would be through the roof. The dollar would have been kneecapped.
The point was to make the president look inept and spendthrift and undermine his influence and the likelihood of his being reelected. Let's not forget. The primary goal was to make Obama a one-term president.
"The point was to make the president look inept and spendthrift and undermine his influence and the likelihood of his being reelected. Let's not forget. The primary goal was to make Obama a one-term president"
That was fairly easy. He did most of that stuff himself.
Barb, by any objective measure we are far better off than we were 3 years ago when republicans left the WH.
Mark -
I'll call your bluff there!
Prove it!
You can't, can you? Inflation is out of control. Have you looked at the price of groceries lately" The price of gasoline? Home prices? The job market?
Only in liberal la-la land would today be considered 'better' than 3 years ago!
If I believed that "inflation is out of control," I wouldn't accuse someone else of living in liberal la la land.
Most indexes show the economy is slowly improving -- and this in the face of resolute GOP resistance to every attempt to help us out of the hole.
It's hard to "prove it", as you demand, because there are dozens of ways of interpreting the statistics. However, I'll give one example just because it comes easily to mind. The dow hit a high of slightly more than 12,000 at its peak in 2007. Then it plummeted. It lost half its value, dropping to about 6,500 in June 2008, a few months after Obama took office, and before any of his policies could have any effect. Today it closed at 12,756.
Well, I'll throw in another because it comes to mind. Bush took office with an unemployment rate of a bit more than 4%, a nice inheritance compared to what he left his successor. When Bush left office the unemployment rate was more than 7% and skyrocketing. It zoomed to 12% in the first few months of Obama's presidency, before the stimulus package and other programs managed to bring it under some kind of control and reduce it to a bit more than 8%, which is about where it is now.
As for inflation raging out of control, the CPI is expected to vary between 1.8% and 3.4% between now and next August.
http://forecasts.org/inflation.htm
If you define that as raging out of control, you don't remember the 1970s when it ran into the double digits.
The better half & I are truck drivers and despite being out the same amount of days that we usually do, our W2's show a drop of 12000. Don't tell me that I'm better off now that I was 3 years ago. And I do remember the 70's and not being able to find a job. But once Carter was defeated, it seemed to get better. But that was before the banks were made to push mortgages on people and before they got greedy and wanted more. Even I realize that there are more people & policies to blame than just Obama. But I still want him gone and his socialistic policies. What I find really amusing is the way he is now saying what the Republicans have been saying all along-guess the Republicans had it right all along, didn't they?
Robert Maxwell
In April, 2007 the Dow peaked at 14164.63.. It hit its low in April of 2009. 5 trillion was added to the debt after Obama took office which means that Obama added as much to the national debt in 3 years as Bush did in 8 years. What good is it going to do to blame Bush anyway? That is so over. Why can't Obama man up and run this country?
At what point does the hemmoraging of money need to stop. If it was you or I, it would have been say, 15 trillion ago before someone would have said "You are overdrawn and overextended". It is WAY over time to tell this administration "You are overdrawn and overextended" Quit borrowing your way to prosperity.
point-blank deceitful.
Obama proposed 3t in spending cuts last August if republicans agreed to 1t in higher taxes.
The offer was rejected.
Mark -
That's not the whole story, and you know it.
Why don't you also admit that after all of the details had been worked out and agreed to, Obama decided to double-down on the tax increases?
His actions were why the bottom fell out of the agreement.
He has no one to blame but himself, yet liberals cannot seem to understand that he is his own worst enemy!
The only good republican congressmen is one with a size 17 boot stuck in his backside, as they waddle out of Washington D.C., into permanent exile in GITMO, where they belong.
Yes,it was a self inflictedwoulnd where the 40 or so Republicans thought scoring points over the defict was more important than the country. what's worse is just 2 week before they had voted enmass for the ryan bbudget plan-that envisioned a 2 Trillion det increase and a $24 trillion det cieling.
The most one could say is hypocrasy lives in the repblican party-and they demostrated no concern for America's redit rating at all. IT WAS ALL BOUT POLITICS AND NOTHING ELSE.
How els can one explain going fron $2 trillion in the ryam plan to none at all. this is my way or the highway at it's best.
And it was democracy at it's worst-because what it said was they didn't care about paying America's debts at all. Call them irresposible is almost too good. They are congressinal anarachists.
What's really hurting the economy is the massive deficit spending that's gotten so far out of control. Instead of raising the debt ceiling how about passing a balanced budget? Obama wants to raise taxes but he doesn't care at all about reducing the massive deficit spending. That kind of tax and spend mentality has never worked and it never will work. If he wants to raise taxes then fine. But match the tax increases with enough spending cuts to balance the budget. Raising taxes without cutting spending will just make things worse. That's not opinion, that's fact that's been proven time and time again. Clinton figured that out which is why it's no coincidence that we saw a huge economic when the government balanced the budget. Why Obama is so unwilling to learn from Clinton is beyond me. I guess he wants to be a one term president.
Obama proposed $3t in spending cuts if republicans would compromise on $1t in additional taxes.
The offer was rejected without even a counter-offer.
BTW, Clinton and the economy prospered during the 90's from the huge growth of the internet. The balanced budget was a result not a cause.
Mark -
Repeating the lie doesn't make it any more true... It just makes you look deluded.
I guess it was really true that Democrats have all the really good drugs. That SOTUS put me out right through the TV screen.
I have a hunch that the debt ceiling fight cost the GOP not only the presidency in Nov. but just maybe the House AND Senate. A Pew Research soon after found that the GOP's disapproval rating soared to 59% while the DEM had a 47-47 split. In addition, 47% of Republicans disapproved of what their party is doing in Congress! I have said for months that the 2012 election may turn out worse for the GOP than 2008! I certainly hope Im right!
Maybe we can FINALLY begin to address the serious messes caused by the GOP without obstruction. We KNOW what the people want; we need only the chance to give it to them! I'll probly be more involved in this election than any other in my life! The GOP deliberately put us into this position and the survival of the nation as we know it depends on getting out of it, or at least making substantial progress! Hopefully, this will cause civil war within the GOP and destroy this version of the GOP which has proven to be so dangerous to the survival of the republic!
Tom The debt ceiling fight did not cause the economy to sink. It is the inability to deal with our long term deficits that caused the damage. And if the Dems have the White House , the house and a filibuster proof majority in the senate, we would see tax massive tax increases only on the wealthy and massive increases in spending. They could not be stopped from wrecking what is left of this nation!!!
Tom -
Excessive debt will destroy the republic, just as it does personal finances!
ummm....... The last 3 GOP presidents signed TWENTY deficit riddled budgets that added over $11T to the debt AND saddled Pres. Obama with a $1.3T deficit even before he took office! THAT is where this debt crisis came from. Notice that the "obama deficits" are almost the same as the deficit he inherited. They didnt just magically disappear!!
Republicans walked away from $4T in budgets cuts and elimination of the tax cuts for the rich and corporate loopholes. Finally, the GOP did this all DELIBERATELY!! They were following a plan started under Reagan that called for creating a debt crisis thru tax cuts and spending so they could privatize SS and Medicare! They called the plan "starve the beast". Go research it, it's a very good picture of what treason looks like!
Tom The "beast" needs to be starved! We cannot continue to spend as we have because there isn't enough money to raise taxes high enough to make a dent in the deficit!! And the left doesn't want to have private SS accounts because that would make it more difficult to confiscate my benefits! I have paid in the maximum for 30 years and the left wants to cut my benefits because I "don't need it". I'm sure you don't like it but SS wasn't designed to be a welfare program or a vehicle to redistribute wealth!
ummm.......what in the hell is the matter with you people? It does not matter what happened before, it has to stop NOW!!!
Same old BS from the master. I am surprised that it wasn't Bush's fault.
I'm sure the rotten economy had nothing to do with the oppressive costs of Obamacare to business, draconian regulations from a heavy handed EPA or NLRB stacked with Obama's big labor cronies. This asscrank is a master of playing the victim card. It's only thing he has mastered.
Obamacare hasn't even been implemented yet yabecoo!!! He's given states time to come up with insurance companies who will have the best plan available to the people of the united states first so Obama/Romney care shouldn't be part of this discussion right now!!! I just want to ask you just out of curiosity. If I came to you and said here yabecco I'm going to give you 1,000,000 dollars but I want you to invest 350,000 in charity (i.e. socialsecurity, medicaid, unemployment, and payroll tax cut) because it's the right thing to do, would you accept it or not??!!! That's what the President offered on the table to Speaker Boehner and the Republicans, and just think by now all this rebel rousing about the job creators wouldn't want to create jobs because of the small tax increase they will get would have been shown as a false hood.
It's the fear of unknown in Obamacare that is the problem. No, I wouldn't give it to you because you are addict who has no control over your spending habit. Giving heroin to a junkie is not the right thing to do.
Jeff - Obamacare has not fully been implemented yet. Those parts that have are already forcing some insurance carriers to no longer cover children.
If it weren't partially implemented, then why was it necessary for waivers to be granted (primarily to Obama's supporters)?
The GOP is almost exclusively COMBATIVE. That is the word for it.
Cantor, Boehner and co all looked like they refused to entertain even the simplest notion presented by the president and were just waiting through the hour so they could to Mitch Daniels who would make a pitch for them.
This is how I usually spot an unreasonable party in an arguement. Their ears are closed,....they are unable to concede even small unimportant facts of the opposing arguement are true,...and they are just waiting fortheir chance to verbally bludgeon the opponent.
Cantor's and Boehner's faces said it all.
From day one of Obama's presidency you could hear it clearly in ALLLLL of the conservative rhetoric from pundits and representatives alike. There was a united front to just SCCCRRREEEEAAAMMM,...."NO NO NO NO" over top of Obama's presiidency, because they were afraid what some social conscience and fairness would do to the profitablility of the corporations they serve.
THE GOP DOES NOT SERVE THE PEOPLE. They are elected by WE THE PEOPLE, but they are looking out for the top few percent only and the corporations and private interests that are in their pockets
If you vote for the GOP and are not a millionaire,...you have been sadly misinformed.
Thos ain't your father's GOP. They make Reagan look like a communist.
Beware. Look closer. These guys are playing by the "LETTER" of the law,..not the sentiment. They are not aiming to build a nation for the all of the citizens. They are just putting forth a unified front and concerted effort to get the vote by any means possible,...so that they can get back to maximizing profits for their wealthiest sharegolders. THIS IS WHAT THEY WERE HIRED TO DO.
The GOP are high pressure salesman using scare tactics,...half truths,....false charm,....and misrespresentation to get as many people as possible to distrust and disrespect their government.
The U.S. has been a TWO PART system for a very long time,....for a good reason,...and to good effect. No,..somehow,...any move to the left AT ALL is being characterized as "socialism". THAT is a misrepresentation,...a lie,...BULLSH*T".
This November vote for "WE THE PEOPLE". 99%ers UNITE. We need you at the polls. Speak with your vote.
Vote Obama in 2012.
Vote Obama in 2012.
maybe youve been in a sensory deprevation tank for the last 3 years? obamas got every one of his terrible policies through. Thank God we have the sober minded Republicans putting up some opposition . obama OUT IN 2012 obama OUT IN 2012 obama OUT IN 2012
I genuinely do not think so. Social media has changed the game. The inmates in the GOP's 1%ers prison are talking, and they are not happy with how they have been being treated.
Strength in numbers.
Conservatives may be belligerent, but beware "the hoard".
See you in November.
Concerning the debt ceiling, it is the law and the President is suppose to abide by it and not just assume that it is going to be raised. In 2006 Obama was against raising the debt ceiling. The President is our countries chief executive. It is his job to run the country in such a way that we avoid financial disaster.
The President said that deficit spending was bad and he vowed to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. The last full year of the Bush administration was 2008. The 2008 federal deficit was 458.55 billion dollars. If the President were true to his word then the 2009, 2010, and 2011 deficits should have been well below half a trillion dollars and the government would never have reached the debt limit. The debt limit problem should not have been an issue. For the President to keep his promise, the 2012 deficit cannot exceed 229.27 billion dollars but that does appear to be happening.
I do not think that the President really does not understands the meaning of the debt. With over 15 trillion dollars of current debt, I estimate that any more money borrowed will cost the tax payers 9 times the amount borrowed to repay in 170 years. So essentially using borrowed money, the tax payers are having to pay 9 times the going rate for goods and services that the federal government acquires. The situation is outrageous but it is getting worse. To date, under President Obama, the debt has increased by almost 5 trillion dollars with little to show for it.
Obama out in 2012, unless the Pinheads who voted for him want to see what the Second Change looks like.
Obama's spending spree hopefully will be over!
He couldn't run a Watermellon Stand and show a profit, let alone a Popcorn Stand.
THEN WE'LL TAKE THE MONEY TO ET ; now you're talkin son
dobi...... have you noticed that the "Obama defcits" are almost EXACTLY the same amount as the deficit left to him by Bush??? Coincidence eh???
The economy was already in the can when the debt ceiling limit came up for vote. The House was just trying to stop it before it leaked out of the can and into the sewer. You can never corral your debt by taking on more debt. This President and his Democratic controlled Senate to not seem to realize that. If they do and they are not telling it the way it is, then it is all about re-election and not about the welfare of America's citizens.
bmac... the economy in the can??? Since the Stimulus took effect, we have had 9 straight quarters of economic growth. I grant you it's not great, but it was growth nonetheless! And it was notying like the negative Obama faced when he took office and his first 9 months. The economy lost 8M jbos during the great recession. You forget, Obama inherited a $1.3T deficit from bush--- that doesnt go away! You blame Democrats with it was the GOP that walked away from $4T in cuts and the elimination of the bush tax cuts for the wealthy and closing the tax loopholes for corporations! THAT is why not much progress has been made and ALO why the DISAPPROVAL rating for the GOP SOARED to 59%.
You are entitled to your own opinions but NOT your own facts!!
THE TYPE OF REBUTTAL SPEECH MITCH DANIEL GAVE WAS IN CODES: It was not designed to dissuade rationally thinking human beings. Far from it. Sadly, it was aimed at the cluelessly confused young Republican voters, easily manipulated Senior Citizens who have historically trusted their party to honestly lead them, and mentally deficient Americans who can not/will not effectively discern fact from fiction. The message, guite frankly, went out to the more intelligently ignorant..
Why do I say that? Well now...let's look at the facts: The economy is improving. Unemployment rate is down. The average Joe on the street feels the economy finally turning for the better. Don't believe me? Ask somebody. We're finally getting jobs! People with common sense knows that if Obama did not spend monies when he did, in our hour of need, we could have very much well ended up with bloody riots in the streets.
Moreover, no leader in his right mind would opt to sit idly by while looking away (whistling Dixie) and allowing our once poweful Banking and Auto institutions to simply collapse--along with millions of jobs. So, would that have been a hallmark decision worthy of a great leader? I think not. That would have undoubtedly eroded our already fragile national peace of mind and security. People were angry and in the grips of abject fear and paranoia about the future of a slowly eroding Bush II economy. Frankly, people were beginning to panic. Courageously, Obama implemented necessary actions and policies that upheld a people and a Nation until better times! It worked...
What would your Republican party have done if they were in office? They would have sat on billions of available tax payers' dollars so that they could secretly dole it out to their wheathy constituents and business buddies in the form of tax breaks and perks while watching the rest of America spiral down the drain hole of economic disaster and dispair. Their inspiration and battle cry? BUCK UP!!!
Karma has a way of sending in the right man for the job when needed. So why did he give us Bush? Well, if you recall, we were riding a wave of prosperity from the Clinton era. Karma didn't mind letting Bush sitting behind the wheel with that HUGE SURPLUS in our pockets. Karma just could not imagine how much damage Bush could done in such a short period of time. KARMA TRULY APOLOGIZES TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. HE WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN. THAT IS WHY HE TIED UP THE TONGUE OF RICK PERRY. kARMA SWIFTLY GAVE HIM THE BOOT. NEVER AGAIN!
This blog is begining to sound like a bunch of crazies have been set free. Obama is the man. He is doing a good job inspite of all the back stabbing from Congress. Wake up America, Congress could care less about you and more about how they can prove they have the power to do whatever they want to. There are facts all over the place. The truth is that under the Bush Regime this mess was born. It takes a village to raise a child. America needs us to behave like a village. All this hate is going to destroy this country. Come on lower level Repubs. Try the new, it might work for you.
The debt will do many bad things to us. It will destroy our economy and , more importantly, our relationships within the body of citizens.
Presidents Bush, and to a greater extent Obama, have had all the fun already. They got to call out; "Drinks are on me! Get whatever you want, and some of those fancy appetizers too." And then they walked (or will walk) out leaving someone else with the bill. Now, it's not all their fault. No one said 'No thanks, I'm fine', I'll take a pass on all this free stuff'.
The bill does come due. But, guess what? NEW patrons have entered. Ones who haven't had the freebies and wonder what all the fuss is. But the bill is passed among all the patrons, new or old, gluttons or dieters. Fair is fair, isn't it? You're here so you must pay your fair share.
The debt must be paid. Either with the dollar we have now or with a new collapsed one worth ten cents or one cent. But it will be paid. The taxes will come from people who never received one thing from the borrowed money. And the taxes will come from everyone. Everyone. The 'rich' do not have enough TOTAL assets to pay off our debt. And if you raise their taxes too high they'll simply cash out, go live in the Bahamas, eat steak and watch the girls walk past.
The debt is absolutely real. Doubt it? Why is there all this talk about raising taxes if we can run the country by simply borrowing money? This is easy! Simply borrow more money and buy whatever you want. You can have it now. The big push for more taxes may be because the government knows we are close to our debt limit. China does not want to see its biggest customer fail. That will cause un-employment in China and unrest. But they also do not want to be stuck with a pile of US dollars devalued to the point where they can be shredded for mulch. They can stop lending us money tomorrow.
Our government is in the same corner many credit card holders face. They get the bill every month but cannot recall the items bought on credit. Those items were urgent then, but are forgotten now. And the bill persists. That knock on the door is the bill collector. Do not imagine he will bypass your house.
pacosperson,
If conservatives and liberals cannot understand what you posted then we are in big trouble.
Sadly barack has taken our AAA Rated country and made it AA. I get so embaressed when he is representing us, he is such a joke. Being inferior his whole life caused the chip against our country. His wife is so racist you can see it in her face, what a pig. Keep up the good work Citizens United we will beat back the charcoaled one.
pony,,,,Amen!
Debt ceiling fight contributed to poor economy? Well yes, that and a dysfunctional Congress along with poor leadership from the White House. Throw all of these selfish white collared crooks out for fraud and cronyism.
Some things never change........blame everything except your lack of leadership and out of control spending.
And obama is helping how? By giving away over $2 billion dollars to brazil to help them explore for oil so they can sell to china? All while stopping America from being an independent energy producer.
Close, Obama is giving it to his boss George Soros. Soros, has major oil investments there. The U.S. pipeline , was shut down as Obama, was told that major campaign funds, would be withdrawn by the tree huggers, if he let it go through.
Roosevelt took our national debt to 120% of GDP to win WWII. It was a good investment: our grandfathers paid for world freedom in blood, our fathers paid it down in dollars. Truman, Ike, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, and Carter all reduced national debt from its peak down to 30% of GDP by 1980.
If Reagan and the Bushes had kept their budgets balanced, Bush 2 would have celebrated paying it down to 0; instead, their gifts to the rich left a 65% run-up, for no good reason - and that will be the Reagan-Bush economic Legacy 50 years from now.
Clinton's 12% debt reduction is the lone offset to our Reagan-inspired run-up. Do any of us need reminding that the Republican congress was so mad at Clinton's "theft from the rich" (balancing the budget, then running surpluses to pay down debt) that they tried to impeach him? No, because in the long run none of us will care. But his brief stint at righting the ship will remain.
Right or wrong, history will not remember who was in congress, just who was president. Our kids won't remember a Congress that openly declared their only goal was to screw up the country so bad we'd cry uncle and give them back the white house. We will remember that Obama saw national debt exceed 90% for no discernable reason. Right or wrong, at this point, that's his lasting economic legacy.