Obama's "Progress" To Date

But it ain't what I'd call progress...

Government-Controlled Life

By The Heritage Foundation

• Stimulus: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 significantly grew the size and scope of government, doublingthe size of federal agencies—including Education and Energy—and moving America toward a government-mandated health care system, all while placing future generations further in debt.

• SCHIP: The State Children's Health Insurance Program was recently expanded to include wealthy adults in a government health care program designed for low-income children. The expansion is funded by a tobacco tax paid for predominantly bythe poor and dependent on future smokers.

• Health Care: President Obama has made a significant downpayment on a national health care plan that would force millions of Americans out of their private plans and into a government-run monopoly, providing lower quality care at a higher price to all.

• Housing: The Helping Families Save Their Home Act of 2009actually destabilizes neighborhoods by allowing bankruptcy judges to unilaterally renegotiate your neighbor's mortgage principal and interest rates, causing an unstable mortgage market and incentives for individual bankruptcy.

• Welfare: The stimulus bill abolished the welfare reform under President Clinton, adding nearly $800 billion in new means-tested welfare spending over the next decade. The cost amounts to over $10,000 for each family paying income tax.

• Land Use: President Obama wishes to impose federal "smart use" regulations on local zoning, housing, and transporta­tion laws so American cities will be developed by his standards, causing housing prices and foreclosures to skyrocket.

Government-Controlled Business
• Card Check: The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would eliminate the secret ballot in union organizing elections and create a federal arbitration board made up of bureaucrats in Washington who will tell private businesses how to operate.

• Auto Bailouts: After nearly $100 billion of taxpayer dollars has been distributed to two automakers, neither company is recovering. Meanwhile, the President and Congress dictate which cars they must build and who runs the companies.

• War on Paychecks: After fewer than 100 executives at AIG collected excessive bonuses for poor work, Congress retaliatedby passing a bill that would eliminate bonuses for thousands and set broad-based wage ceilings. But the President did not think it went far enough, adding that the government should regulate wages nationwide.