-------------------Energy
^Obama’s Clean energy programs have caused US wind power generation be 20% higher in 2012 than the forecasted generation for 2030. It also resulted in a 100% increase in solar panel installations per year.
^funding for oil speculation/more investigations/more regulations in April 2012 helps oil prices fall by 21%
^Rejected XL pipeline which would of increase gas prices in the Midwest by as much as .30$ per gallon
^Mandated that all government buildings reduce energy use by 30% by 2015
^2011 used 4 billion in energy savings to further improve energy efficiency for federal/private buildings will save 4 billion dollars yearly
^Loan Guarantees have created/saved 40,000 jobs
^More than 7 million homes have fitted with solar panels
^Added trucks and other transportation vehicles to be subject to MGP standards.
^Increased car and trucks fuel economy standards to 55 MPG by 2025 which will save consumers 1.7 trillion dollars.
^Increase fines for drilling and safety violations by 15%-20%
^Obama’s energy secretary has released 30 million barrels from the strategic reserve in order to lower inflated oil prices caused by unrest in oil producing countries. Empirical evidence from the early 90’s showed that releasing 30 million barrels caused oil costs to decrease by 1/3 or by $11 per barrel. The day of announcing this plan oil prices dropped 5%.
^Increased energy research by 125% once, and 5% a year
^A 10% tax cut for homeowners whom increase the energy efficiency of their home, and deductibles for energy efficient appliances.
^Cut solar panel, fuel cell, and wind turbine taxes by 30%
^Cut geothermal, micro turbines and CHP’s taxes by 20%
^New Federal government energy efficiency such as retrofitting residential buildings and a manufacturing grant created/will create over 600,000 thousand jobs over a 2 year period.
----1) BBI (better building initiative) would/will create 115,000 jobs and save 40 billion a year
----2) The Home star (cash for claunkers) program would/will create over 160,000 jobs over a two year period and save consumers .735 billion dollars a year, sand increased GDP by 120 billion, and lowered CO2 emissions by 850,ooo tons
----3) The Building star program which offers businesses rebate for energy improvements would/will create 190,000 jobs over a two year period and save consumers lots of money.
^Obamas DOI began collection 10 billion in unpaid fees from oil/coal companies.
^Obama’s DOE has mandated certain consumer items be more efficient saving the nation a net of 275 billion dollars over a period of 20 years (this will exponentially increase as time goes on).
^Obama increased the amount of energy; energy companies get from clean sources to 80% by 2035.
^Required all government vehicles to use clean energy by 2015; and he required that all cars/trucks have MPG standards up to 35 miles per gallon saving 61 billion and creating 250,00 jobs a year starting in 2020.
^Required government buildings to adopt the most energy efficient and water efficient standards. If these standards were applied to all buildings it would save the country a net of 20 billion a year.
^Required power plants to produce 15% of their energy from renewable sources.
^Stimulus grants for the DOE will create 170,000 jobs over two years by increase energy efficiency.
^Provided a 1,500 energy tax cut for goods that increase in energy efficiency,
^7 billion for increase energy efficiency at government buildings
^4.3 billion tax cut for increasing homes energy efficiency
^13 billion for renewable energy production a year for five years
^DOE extended battery efficiency saving consumers 0.16 dollars – 40 dollars on all types of batteries.
^Provided tens of billions in funding for energy efficiency programs.
^Increased light bulb energy standards saving consumer more than 12 billion a year.
^Began EPA regulations of greenhouse gasses
^Required states to provide people and companies with incentives for reducing energy consumption, and increasing energy efficiency
^Created fuel efficiency standards for tractors and other large vehicles saving at least 2.2billion a year by 2014
^Used the Military to construct enough renewable energy production to power .25million homes in 2012 alone
^Made it legal for states to have fuel economy standards higher than that of the federal govt
^Required states to provide utilities incentives to reduce energy consumption
---------------------Energy
-----------------------------Environment
^Lowered gasoline to have 60% less sulfur and 80% less nitrogen oxide saving 23bn a year by 2030 and creating 30,000 jobs within 3 years.
^Cut the time required for states to wait before issuing swimming advisories; and included water E. coli standards that only infect 32-36 out of every 1,000 people.
^EPA will set stricter water pollution standards; that reduce nitrate, phosphate and other chemical concentrations that cost Florida alone over 10bn a year.
^Lowered the amount of 4 cancer causing chemicals in drinking water.
^Required fracking companies to disclose the chemicals they dump into the environmental, water and in the ground
^Signed an executive order to put in place oversight on natural gas fracking
^EPA regulations to reduce hydraulic fracking pollution emissions by 95% (minus methane) methane emissions would be reduced by 40%
^New power production cannot have Carbon emissions over 1,000 pounds per megawatt.
^Coal ash pollution reductions to save 30,000 lives a year
^Rejected XL pipeline
^Removed loophole that prevented environmental review of drilling in the rocky moutains
^Reversed Bush era decision that prevented states from enacting tougher environmental laws.
^Required companies to get permits in order to increase CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, and SF^’s pollution
^New EPA boiler safety standards to save 6,500 lives and several hundred million dollars yearly
^Reduced smog pollution by 18% saving almost 100 billion per year by 2020
^EPA created a site that allows you to view who is polluting your air water etc.
^Required cement kilns to reduce their mercury and other toxic pollution which will save 2,500 lives yearly and created 19 dollars in benefits for every 1 dollar in costs.
^Banned Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon
^Blocked Keystone XL pipeline
^EPA Daily load regulations so far have created 40 thousand jobs
^New EPA regulations that limit Mercury and SO2 emissions will save 17,000 lives a year and create 140 billion in economic benefits creating 1.4 million jobs in the next 5 years.
----2) The Home star (cash for claunkers) program would/will create over 160,000 jobs over a two year period and save consumers .735 billion dollars a year, and increased GDP by 120 billion, and lowered CO2 emissions by 850,000 tons
^New EPA rules under Obama will provide a 4-1 to 22-1 benefit cost ratio and will create 1.5 million jobs over the course of 5 years.
^Fines for breaking environment rules such as dumping chemicals into drinking water increased by 10%
^Obama expanded EPA’s criminal investigators field, and increased environmental enforcement by 19 times the previous amount. EPA also is now requiring oil storage locations to implement prevention control measures.
^Obama’s EPA set new health/environmental rules that will save the country a net of over 120 billion a year. Such as limiting Benzene content, mercury emissions and hydrocarbon emissions.
^Increased the amount of rivers protected from pollution and development by 50%, and established new national forest/trails/parks equaling two million acres.
^Canceled and revoked permit of some coal companion’s mountaintop removal mining; creates 5 times the cost in health/environment damage then the benefits created.
^EPA now provide permits to NPDES in order to reduce waste overflow
^epa tightened soot standards by 20% saving $30 to $86 in benefits for every dollar invested in pollution control and save 8,000 lives a year
^EPA Sulfur Dioxide standards set in 2010 set to save at least 9bn a year and at most 50bn.
----------------------------Environment
--------------------------Discrimination
^Expanded minimum wage and other labor protections to direct care workers (2million people)
^Gay married couples now get same IRS treatment has straights, and gays now get same nursing home coverage and benefits as straights
^Reduced drug sentencing disparity between crack and cocain resulting in 16k less prission years and 500mn dollars saved in 2 years.
^allows U.S. servicemembers to wear their uniforms at gay pride marchs
^made it so children of same sex couples can also be on their parents health plan
^Made it so transgender people are protected from employment discrimination
^Paid Native Americans 1 billion dollars for past discrimination done by the government
^Made it so gay couples can visit each other in the hospital and decided the fate of their spouse.
^Expanded the legal definition of rape to include anal and oral sex and those done on men men
^Secretary Hillary Clinton will direct foreign aid funds to countries that do not abuse human rights and divert aid away from human right abusing countries.
^Ended Arizona’s policy of firing teachers for not sounding “white” enough.
^Ended ban on gay people from being in the military
^Ended a ban on other state being allowed to recognize gay marriages that have occurred in other states.
^Lilly Ledbetter act allows women to sue if they are discriminated against.
^Anti job discrimination laws for gays, Vets and the disabled.
^Reversed Bush era’s illegal hiring practices which hired people based on political ideology rather than merit.
^Extended nondiscrimination protections to gays and women who are pregnant.
^Restarted the justice departments and EEOC enforcement of employment discrimination laws. And expanded hate crimes to include sexual orientation.
^Made government agencies provide all federal employees with the same types of benefits.
^Expanded Medicaid benefits to same sex couples.
^Achieved a cash settlement to minority farmers who were discriminated by the government.
^Expanded non-discrimination policies for 1million people
^Made it so criminals possessing cocaine/coke/other similar products get the same punishment ending decades of discrimination.
^Required the FSA to direct a portion of its agriculture loans and funding for small and start up farmers.
^FMPP set to help fund farmers markets and small scale agriculture production
^Lowered cost to companies to be certified as organic
^Expanded military benefits to gays such as, life insurance, survivor benefits, hospital visitation, child care, joint duty assignments etc
^Made it so phone calls for prisoner (which cost 10 times the average rate (17$ for 15min) will now only cost 21-25c per minute
----------------------------Discrimination
-----------------------------------------Non-economic
--------------------------------Consumer protections/anti-fraud
^Consumers can now use electronics on airplanes
^Fined BP 4.5billion and charged several of its employees with manslaughter
^The CARD act which limits fees for credit cards and other similar actions has saved consumers around 21bn a year
^CFPB orders Discover to refund consumers 200million for duping consumers to purchase services that were worthless.
^cfpb simplified mortgage documents to 3-5 standard pages; force mortgages to show how fees/etc may change over time, and eliminated fees for early payments,
^the cfpb capital 1 ruling resulted in 140million in customer rebates, 25million payout to the govt, an end to its deceptive marketing of listed products, further disclosure/compliance with the bureau, repayments to protection claims denied due to discrimination(not counted in140m), and the company must pay for continued periodic audits because of the company’s deceptive marketing.
^in 3 years increased money recovered by healthcare fraud by almost 100%
^SEC fined Golden Sachs for illegal insider trading
^FEC sued large banks for causing the crisis
^The CFPB in its first half month with a director and half of its budget work force settled 9,000 consumer complaints (with its full workforce and extrapolated to a yearly sum the CFPB will settled 400,000 Consumer complaints)
^Required mortgage lenders to disclose proper information clearly and simply, about interest rate increases, fees to customers. Must tell customers in advance to interest rate rise
^Consumer protections on gift cards resulted in gift card losses due to hidden fees to fall by over 60% by 1.5billion yearly, and loss from expiration dates to fall by around 90% by 3 billion yearly
^Banned the sale of “light” cigarettes
^Created an agency to investigate oil/gas fraud and abuse
^Separated the MMS agency aimed at regulating oil companies from getting money form said oil companies
^Increased the FBI mortgage fraud program by more than 100%
^The NLRB ruled that corporations cannot take away workers’ rights to sue
^Made recess appointments for the NLRB
^Created a consumer protection agency and recess appointed its leaders and members
^Vetoed bill that would of made it harder to challenge foreclosure fraud
^Fined several banks related to mortgage fraud and abuse
^the CFTC will audit every large futures trading firm to verify that the firms are not committing fraud, not speculating and artificially pushing up commodity prices, or participating in activates that caused the housing bubble and the banking crisis.
^Made it so government staffers and personal have to wait a few years before becoming lobbyists or getting lobbyist jobs (Jack Abramoff who in 2006 was caught in a huge scandal including dozens of republicans said that he owned congress by offering staffers jobs.)
^The Labour board has ruled that employees must be notified of their rights in a viewable location
^Obama’s NLRB has rule that union elections must be done quickly and can’t be drawn out.
^Limited lobbyists access to government and ability of former government officials from becoming lobbyists.
^Made it so people who defraud Medicare/Medicaid would face criminal charges as well as pay fines.
^Made the NLRB pro-labor instead of pro-business overturned Bush era NLRB decisions such as banning employees from using any e-mail (even on their own time) for union activities; also daily compounded interest will be added to wage violations theft and back pay.
^Provided millions of dollars in funding for fraud prosecutors and investigators.
^Anit-trust fines have increased by 50% in Obamas first year.
^Made it illegal for airports to have passengers sit on tarmacs or airplanes waiting for a certain time frame.
^Obama made it so companies that work with the government have to disclose political contributions
^Obama has ordered the justice department to stop and prevent speculation increasing oil and commodity prices.
^Obama’s FCC established rules to protect net neutrality, meaning that internet and other corporations cannot deny individuals the use of websites and internet access.
^Required government agencies to submit and follow new standards to reduce fraud, waste and error.
^Increased penalties for violating gun laws.
^Made it so that renters must be warned if they are to be evicted due to their land lord foreclosing 90 days before their eviction.
^Made it legal for the justice department to sue private mortgage brokers and other non-bank lenders who commit fraud, and fraud involving future trading’s.
^Mandated federal agencies to follow the freedom of information act
^Reduced lobbyist access to white house personal.
^Made it so the justice department could press charges against financial institutions for violating lending practices.
^Fined Optiver 14million for high-frequently oil speculation
--------------------------------Consumer protections/anti-fraud
^Will not subject states that make weed legal to federal marijuana policies such as raids for growers and users.
^stopped deportation of law abiding illegals who were here before the age of 16 decreasing the deficit by over 2 billion through higher tax revenue and 15billion through lower govt spending
^Obama removed spill regulations for milk companies saving 150million dollars a year
^Obama removed third party screenings at airports saving 60million a year
^Obama’s National marine fisheries service administration set annual catch limits for all fish
^Banned cross-gender strip searches and pat downs in prisons; allowed people in prison an avenue to report abuse, and made it so employees must be trained to recognize abuse.
^Made it illegal for tobacco companies to market T-Shirts, baseball caps and advertising in musical events.
^Made it so tobacco companies cannot advertise on cigarette packages
^Forced tobacco companies to disclose the ingredients of Cigarettes
^Froze white house aide pay at 100,000 and banned all bonuses for white house aides.
^Reversed a Bush Era policy of using white house aides to rewrite environmental and science regulations that were originally written by scientists.
^Obama’s ICE will stop deporting immigrants who are in college or who are in the military essentially installing the DREAM act which the CBO says will reduce the deficit by 1.5 billion dollars and expand the economy by 1.4 trillion over 40 years.
^Lowered refinancing fees by 1,000 a year
^Reduced restrictions on travel and sending aid to Cuba.
^Obama has increased the deportation ate of immigrants who are criminals by over 52%
^Increased the ability and use of stem cells for research and health care treatments.
^Obama increased the Labour Department’s number of investigators by 1/3 to combat wage theft
^Under Obama the Labour Department has increased back pay for employee whose employers defraud them out of their pay by 400%
^Under Obama NLRB back pay reimbursements, cases and fines have increased by over 12%.
^The NLRB ruled that states cannot ban unionization through private voting
^SEC fines for corporate fraud and abuse have increased by 300%, while penalties requiring companies to pay back investors increased by 30%.
^Tripled the size of the AmeriCorps service program which is a community service type program; allow students who joined the AmeriCorps program to earn money for college.
^Ended DEA raids of medical marijuana facilities.
^ Ended deportation of DREAM children (immigrant children who are earning a college degree or who are in the USA military).
^Reduced restrictions on stem cell research.
^Increased energy research by 125% once, and 5% a year
^Increased medical research by 1200% once, 2% a year.
^increased agriculture research by 56%
^NASA research increased by 14%. Increased Science foundation funding by 50% once, and 2% a year. Increased OAA funding by 25%.
^Expanded Patent workers and funding to allow quick patenting. Before the new funding and employees it took 3 years for a patent to be compiled and finished.
^Blocked SC voter ID requirements
^Eased green car rules making it easier for foreigners with family members in America to apply and obtain a green card
^Increased park funding by 10%
^Leased 500gz of wireless space for companies to use
^made it so that only pro-marriage organizations that improve outcomes received funding instead of all pro-marriage organizations
^Doubled broadband spectrum waves
^Reduced criminal sentencing disparity between cocaine and crack from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1
^Ended federal mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent drug crimes
--------------------------------------------Non-economic
----------------------------------------Health care
^FDA banned artificial trans fats from food
^Provided 100million in funds to “map” the human brain.
^Required cigarette adds to have more warnings
^required tobacco companies disclose all ingredients in products
^Increased Vet access to mental health care by increased funding and increased psych visits
^Women who are raped may no use their health insurance to pay for an abortion
^The number of people investigated and later charged with health care fraud from federal prosecutors increased by more than 85% under Obama
^Increased NIH health research by 5% with a onetime influx of 1 billion dollars (every dollar creates over 2.21 in benefits in just 12 months)
^Removed restrictions on stem cell research
^Obama’s HHS rejected Indiana’s plan to defund Planned Parenthood, which for every dollar spent by PP it saves the government 6 dollars and save the private sector even more than that.
^Invested 40 billion into computerized medical records which is expected to save near 100 billion per year one fully implemented.
^lifted some restrictions that prevented Medicare from negotiating with pharmaceutical firms potentially save at most 10 billion a year.
^Investigated health insurance companines who increased yearly premiums (1 year) by above 35%
^^Obamacare.
^Insurance companies can’t discriminate
^Insurance companies can’t drop coverage of sick people
^Insurance companies can’t cap yearly or lifetime benefits
^Children can now stay on their parent’s health insurance till they are 26.
^Insurance companies must provide free preventative health care.
^Expanded health care to 35 million people while simultaneously reducing total health care spending by 0.1% per year.
^Lowered patent time on prescription drugs.
^Provided funding for comparative effectiveness research.
^Invested billions into community health care centers
^Requires insurance companies to decrease their loss ratio by 5%.
^Will save 35,000 people’s lives each year.
^Reduces the long term budget by over 200 billion.
^Put taxes on insurance plans that are inefficient.
^Changed Medicare payment system to a more bundled system that pays more on effectiveness of care then how much care is provided.
^Will create 250,000 jobs a year by 2020.
^Families overall premiums will be reduced by 1,500 over ten years (around 14-20%)
^Put a Pigvorian tax on tanning salons.
^Invested in comparative effectiveness research
^Required fast food and restaurants to provide viewable calorie and nutrition for the public to see as they purchase food (show to reduce caloric intake by 100 for every meal).
^Required health insurance companies to create a standardized summary to their consumers of their health benefits.
^Made it harder for insurance companies to tell your doctor how to treat you.
^New food labeling requirements for meat to save 80million dollars a year
^Simplified Medicaid’s eligibility rules to just include income as a percent of poverty
^Mandated that all health companies provide birth control without copays
^Expanded eligibility for Medicaid up to 133% of the poverty line
^Put a $700tax on non-poor people and business that don’t have healthcare
^Created a website where you can compare and contrast health insurance plans
^Increased nurse family partnership funding by 10 billion dollars creating 25 billion dollars in economic benefits.
^Provided health care for 9/11 respondents
^Funded over 20 grants for anti-malpractice implementation reforms.
^Provided grants for health facilities who inform patients of improper medial use, and grants to shield doctors who adhered to evidence based guidelines from being sued
^Obamacares coverage of birth control free of charge will reduce abortions by 40%, and could reduce teen pregnancies by up to 600%
^Increased CHIP (health care for children) funding to expand coverage to 4 million children.
^Placed fees on drug companies that over charge for medications
^Got drug companies to drop Medicare D costs of some drugs by up to 50%
^Removed all Bush era executive orders restricting access and funds for stem cell reserach
-------------------------------------Health care
--------------------------------Taxes
^required foreign banks to disclose American foreign bank accounts resulting in 1billion more collected tax revenue
^Provided tax write offs for electric cars.
^Provided businesses who hire people with a tax credit
^Made it so people/corporations who owe back taxes, use offshore tax havens and cheat on taxes cannot get federal contracts.
^Required the IRS to review contractor tax fillings to make sure the contractors are not committing tax fraud
^Revoked tax exempt status to several organizations that advocate and spend funds supporting discrimination.
^Provided college students with 2,500 in tax cuts
^Provided a 1,500 energy tax cut for goods that increase in energy efficiency,
^Every worked was given an 800 dollar tax cut a year.
^The IRS will require political donors to disclose their donations and will remove political donations from their nontax status, and tax them at 35%.
^Under Obama IRS audits on rich people increase by 110%. Obama increased the IRS budget by over 1.1 billion reducing the deficit by 7-10 billion dollars yearly.
^Tax cuts for small business that add jobs, and low interest loans to small business, and other tax extenders in 2010 created 1-2 million jobs.
^Small business tax cuts
--for every new employee small businesses will get a 5,000 tax cut
--provided 30 billion fund for small businesses to help with lending
--eliminated small business loan fees
--doubled maximum size of SBA loans
--In 2010 increased the amount a business could deduct on taxes by 50%
--Allows self0employed people to deduct health care costs.
--Small businesses may wright off new investments, and equipment
--Removed capital gains taxes for small businesses.
^A 10% tax cut for homeowners whom increase the energy efficiency of their home, and deductibles for energy efficient appliances.
^Cut solar pane, fuel cell, and wind turbine taxes by 30%
^Cut geothermal, micro turbines and CHP’s taxes by 20%
^Cut taxes for first time home buyers by 7,000
^Eliminated taxes on unemployment benefits
^Eliminated sales taxes on new vehicle purchases, and a 5,000 credit for electric cars.
^Increased taxes by 100billion on corporations shipping jobs overseas and using tax havens and used the new revenue to cut taxes for corporations who create jobs in America
------------------------------Taxes
-----------------------------Safety
^banned bpa in plastics/other goods
^mandated that all safety workers/volunteers such as firefighters be able to get federal government health insurance
^Allowed health and govt agency data to be used for background checks, require guns used in crimes to be traced, removed ban on gun research
^Obamas USDA expanded the strains of E Coli. That can’t be in meat/agriculture products
^Passsed FSMA
^^Exempted farms engaged in low-no contamination from certain safety regulations
^^Provide grants to companies to modernize food processing with the requirement that the modernization reduces food contamination/industrial loss
^^Exempts farmers from traceability/record keeping requirements if they sell directly to customers
^^Expanded the FDA food safety budget by 1.4bn
^New OSHA rule bringing toxic chemical standards up to international standards set to save 40 lives and
a net of .5billion a year
^New crane/Derelicts safety measures set to save 22 lives and 55million dollars a year
^Mining regulations reducing coal dust to save over 1 live and 13million dollars yearly
^OSHA truck operators rules to save 11 lives a year and several hundred million dollars yearly
^Removed third party scanning at airports saving 60million dollars a year and making it quicker to get through
^Mandate auto-companies make side airbags more efficient and window glass less accident prone sets to save a net 350 lives and 1 billion dollars a year
^FDA banned antibiotic use in livestock production
^FDA reversed decision to crack down in BPA a toxic chemical used in plastics
^Expanded and increased oil rig safety laws
^Obama’s OSHA has increased penalties and fines for serious safety violations by 300-400%
^Provided funding to prevent wildfires
^New OSHA regulation limiting Crystalline Silica levels in working conditions to help prevent at most 7,000 cases a year.
^New OSHA regulations updating fall and slip safety estimated to save 20 lives each year and prevent 3,500 injuries, saving over 130 million dollars a year.
^Increased fines and penalties for pipeline safety violations occurring at corporations by 250%
^Obama’s OSHA set new regulations that will save the country over 10 billion dollars a year and help prevent 400,000 injuries each year. An example is new regulations limiting repetitive motion injuries.
^Food safety legislation; increased FDA’s power and funding closer to pre-1990 levels to help reduce food borne illness and save 5-50 billion yearly. Increased number of food safety inspectors
^Obamas food safety expansion would of prevented the deadliest outbreak in American history saving near two dozen lives.
^Increased Federal funding and support wildfire prevention such as clearing brush and trimming trees and controlled burnings.
^Increased safety labeling and testing for children’s products
^expanded safety rules to include farms
^Closed loop holes that allowed importation of military weapons, and a loophole that allowed people to get machine guns without background checks by registering them via a corporation
^Expanded hate crimes to include crimes based on sexual orientation, gender and disability.
----------------------------Safety
---------------------------------Military/war/foreign
^Suspended aid to Egypt after protestors were detained and the military cracked down on protesting and democratic groups
^lifted ban on women in combat
^Secured 1.1tn from G20 nations to help stem the global financial crisis.
^Changed treaty on water from Colorado with Mexico. Now during times when the southern USA is in a drought America will get more water from the river and Mexico can now store water in America during wet years at Hoover Dam. The deal also funds 10million to repair damage irrigation lines.
^Burma released 452 political prisoners due to Obama visit to promote goodwill
^Got WTO to bar China from imposing tariffs on USA steel exports
^convinced Russia to stop sending weapons to Syria’s dictatorship
^Put sanctions on the Haqqani network
^Applied tarrfis to pipes, clean energy, washers, tires, meat, products from animals, shrimp, travelers, tires, rubber, and shoes which is good given Americas large artificial trade deficit due to the dollar being the reserve currency
^Expanded education benefits for veterans and current military service men by 78bn (over ten years)
^Made executive order allowing sanctions on foreigners who abuse human rights
^In 2012 directed 3 billion in foreign aid to help increase food production in Africa
^Used the Military to construct enough renewable energy production to power 1/4million homes in 2012
^Removed missile defense sites in Poland and eastern Europe in favor of putting them to defend missels from North Korean and Iran, saving 1.5billion dollars a year.
^Made it so the military has to provide military members food choices including veggies, fruits and whole grains
^Put tariffs on some Argentina goods because Argentina failed to pay payments it owed to US companies
^Required the DOD to tape all interrogations
^Made it legal for the media to cover the return of dead military soldiers from wars
^Removed 1/3 of American troops stationed in Europe in 2012
^Ended war in Iraq and Afghanistan saving 800billion over (includes interest) the next 10 years
^Cut Pentagon funding (not counting ending wars) by 50 billion per year in 2012.
^Secured 30 billion worth of military purchases from Saudi Arabia
^Will save over 50 billion a year due to ending the Iraq war
^Ended military deployment in Iraq
^Helped overthrow Libya’s brutal dictator.
^Foiled Iranian terrorists plot
^Put sanctions and limitations on Iranian airlines after a foiled terrorist plot
^Removed restrictions that made it illegal for Cuban Americans to visit Cuba and send money to relatives
^At the end of August 2011 Al-Qaeda’s new number 2 man was killed in Pakistan (months after its previous #2man was killed)
^Killed 6 times more Al-Qaeda members in Pakistan in 3.5years then Bush did in his whole term
^Caught more Taliban leaders in 1 month then Bush caught in 6 years.
^Supported a successful no fly zone and support of Libyan fighters to end Libya’s decade’s long dictator.
^Closed secret detention facilities in Europe
^Ordered special ops to take out Somalia pirates in order to free an American
^Suspended 350 million in aid to a country that killed peaceful protesters
^Suspended 3.1 billion in aid to Pakistan after they denounced the killing of Bin laden.
^Froze assets and funding For Libya Dictator and members active in oppression Libyan people.
^Froze assets, and property of Iranian and North Korean, and Somalian officials responsible for human right abuses.
^Provide soldiers with breaks so that they now don't have to serve multiple tours continuously in a row.
^Signed/passed START treaty
^Signed/passed new SALT treaty
^Shut down CIA secret presions
^Approved SEAL team mission to rescue 6 hostages of the Horn of Africa
^Visited more countries on diplomatic missions in first 90 days than any other president
^Lifted media restrictions on military dead affairs
^Negotiated with Switzerland in order to get information on 52,000 tax cheats
^Cut wasteful missile programs.
^Eliminated F-35 and 22 military spending funding the pentagon didn’t want saving billions of dollars.
^Eliminated presidential helicopter fleet saving 13 billion dollars.
^Obama secures 15 billion in military purchases from India.
^Banned torture.
^Order the rescue of people held by Somalia pirates and ordered the use of deadly force to deal with them.
^Killed Al-Qaeda’s senior leader Anwar Al Awlaki in the Arabian peninsula
^Supported the pro-democracy protests and movement in Egypt resulting in the overthrow of Egypt’s decade long dictatorship
^Halved the number of nuclear bombs in Russia/America
^Killed Osama Bin Laden like he promised he’d do.
^Froze assets of Syrian officials known for human rights violations.
^Passed GI bill for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan (education, housing, and health funding and aid).
^Allowed gays to openly serve in the military
^Established a new cyber security agency aimed to improve cyber security.
^Passed the Weapons system acquisition reform act which puts oversight into military purchases.
^put sanctions on Syrian and Yemen officials that abuse human rights
---------------------------------Military/war/foreign
------------------------------------Jobs
^Obama provided business with grants to upgrade their infrastructure creating around 50,000 jobs
^Increased the Import export banks loan limit from 100billion to 160billion. The Bank sustained 300,000 jobs before the increase
^2012 youth summer job program to create 90,000 jobs.
^The 10% drop in unemployment experienced in early 2012 was due to veteran’s stimulus measures implemented by Obama. Unemployment of veterans from recent wars went from 15.2% to 9.1%, while unemployment for other veterans went from 9.9% to 7.5%
^EPA regulations limiting coal ash pollution will create over 30,000 jobs and save hundreds of lives
^EPA Daily load regulations so far have created 40 thousand jobs
^Executive energy efficiency program creates 100,000 of jobs. 2011
^In total Obama policies have created over 11 million plus jobs
^Tax cuts for small business that add jobs, and low interest loans to small business, and other tax extenders in 2010 created 1-2 million jobs.
^Expanded funding for Head start by 4.3 billion creating 90,000 jobs and creating 9 dollars in benefits for every dollar invested.
^New Federal government energy efficiency such as retrofitting residential buildings and a manufacturing grant created/will create over 600,000 thousand jobs over a 2 year period.
----1) BBI (better building initiative) would/will create 115,000 jobs and save 40 billion a year
----2) The Home star (cash for claunkers) program would/will create over 160,000 jobs over a two year period and save consumers .735 billion a year, expanded GDP by 120 billion and reduced CO2 emissions by 850,00 tons
----3) The Building star program which offers businesses rebate for energy improvements would/will create 190,000 jobs over a two year period and save consumers lots of money.
^Required all government vehicles to use clean energy by 2015; and he required that all cars/trucks have MPG standards up to 35 miles per gallon saving 61 billion and creating 250,00 jobs a year starting in 2020.
^Stimulus grants for the DOE will create 170,000 jobs over two years by increase energy efficiency.
^New EPA rules under Obama will provide a 4-1 to 22-1 benefit cost ratio and will create 1.5 million jobs over the course of 5 years.
^Obama expanded EPA’s criminal investigators field, and increased environmental enforcement by 19 times the previous amount. EPA also is now required oil storage locations must implement prevention control measures.
^Obama increased the Labour Department’s number of investigators by 1/3 to combat wage theft
^Tripled the size of the AmeriCorps service program which is a community service type program; allow students who joined the AmeriCorps program to earn money for college, AmeriCorps has a cost benefit analysis of 1-2.
^Health care reform will creates 250,000 jobs
^Stimulus created 5 million jobs
^Management of Auto bailout saved 1.4 million jobs
^Two Anti Outsourcing jobs tax reform laws. Increased taxes on corporations shipping jobs overseas while reducing taxes for corporations creating jobs in America.
^Increased MEP (manufacturing extension program) funding which saves 32 dollars for every 1 dollar invested, creating over 72,000 jobs so far.
^Food safety legislation; increased FDA’s power and funding closer to pre-1990 levels to help reduce food borne illness and save 5-50 billion yearly. Increased number of food safety inspectors
^Invested 8 billion into expanding broadband access, which creates 160,000-800,000 jobs
^Chesapeake Bay protection act so far has created 40 thousand jobs and will create tens of thousands more
------------------------------------Jobs
---------------------------------Education/children
^Passed HHFKA
-increased number of eligible children for school meals by 115,000
-audits schools periodically for food standards
-increased federal subsidies for states by $.6 per meal
-Schools in high poverty get more funding
-Provides states money for implementing policies to increase breast feeding
^allowed states to get waivers releasing them from the obligations of No Child Left Behind 25 states have so far done so
^Removed government subsidies for for-profit-colleges with 35% of their students are unable to pay off their loans, or spends more than 12% of his/her income on paying of servicing charges on their student loans
^increased national park funding by 10%
^Capped monthly student loan payments and allowed 6 million students to consolidate their debts.
^Eliminated abstinence-only funding
^Limited food ads directed at children aimed to increase healthy choices and decrease the desired consumption of unhealthy foods
^Started race to the top; provides money to states for using methods to try to improve education.
^Obama’s education Department has made a rule that will cut off government funds going to low performing for –profit-college whose students leave with high debt ratios, and low job prospects.
^Eliminated private banks from federal student loans saving 100 billion.
^Expanded funding for Head start by 4.3 billion creating 90,000 jobs and creating 9 dollars in benefits for every dollar invested.
^Reformed school lunches to make them healthier; which has shown to decrease absences by 15%, increase test scores by 5% and decrease child obesity by 18%.
^Increased funding for upper education, by more than 70 billion a year.
^Singed in new tobacco regulations limiting tobacco companies’ ability to make tobacco products more addictive, advertise, and adding ingredients that make their products more attractive to kids.
^executive order notifying students of federal benefits they can get; new accrediting course more scrutinized; service members no longer punished for missing class due to military reasons
^lowered the cap on federal student debt to only be allowed to equal 10 percent of income
^extended child worker protections for farmers
----------------------------------Education/children
--------------------------------Economy other
^Extended COBRA by 6 months from 9-15
^Made free trade agreements include environmental agreements
^Updated US satellite capacity by creating first new Landsat satellites in near 25 years
^Passed JOBS act
^^Makes it legal for investors/entrepreneurs to solicit for funds on Twitter/kickstartr and other media outlets for startups at 1million or less.
^^Removed paperwork and disclosure laws to the SEC/govt. for anyone contributing 10,000 (or less) to a new business and companies with 501-1,000 shareholders instead of 500.
^^Exempted companies from SEC regulation that go public from 5 to 50million
-----As long as the companies all show investors plans and financial statements.
^increased SBA loan limit from 1million to 5, and increased the number of SBA loans by 100% from 2009-2011 (via stimulus, small business act and jobs loan act)
^provided farmers impacted by drought with low interest business loans
^provided states with matching funds when they expand welfare rolls.
^made it so states don’t have to implement welfare reform
^Put forth tariffs on foreign goods coming from countries whom have tariffs and “un-fair” trade policies (such as dumping, and predatory prices)
^Put tariffs on Chinese solar cells
^Freddie Mac will grant a 1 year mortgage payment breaks for homeowners who have become unemployed
^Extender minimum wage and overtime laws to include in-home care workers for 2 million workers.
^Eliminated the presidential coins which will save 3 billion every 10 years
^Expanded “federal marketing order/check-off program” to include Christmas trees, which creates $5.7-$14.4 dollars in benefits for commodious growers for every dollar spent
^Provided employers a tax cut of 230 dollars per year for workers who use public transportation.
^Expanded unemployment benefits
^Passed patient reform which reduced the time it takes to get a patient through.
^Provided around 10,500 in aid for 5 years to homeowners to refinance their mortgages.
^Created NEI to provide support programs for SME’s in exporting.
^Improved access to credit for small business, and exporters.
^Barred government contracts going toward firms who have violated tax laws.
^Included antitrust laws to include meat companies, and meat packaging companies.
^Invested 50 billion into high speed rail which produces a benefit cost ratio of over 2:1
^Obama increased AmeriCoprs spending by 4 billion a year creating 8 billion in economic benefits.
^Increased WIC spending by 500 million creating more than 1.5 billion in benefits.
^Reformed government contracting allowing bids saving 40 billion yearly.
^Mortgage restructuring which helps homeowners restructure their loans and payments to prevent foreclosures. Helping lower mortgage payments for 1,000,000 people.
^Extended the government national flood insurance program (30 times more efficient then private insurance).
^Reduced large salaries of government officials including Foreign Service workers, senior executives, and Judges.
^Reduce funding for inefficient faith based groups (have 25% more wasteful administrative spending then other government programs of equal skill)
^Signed into law Build America bonds which allowed states to invest 181 billion dollars into infrastructure projects and save around 3 billion on borrowing costs.
^Created “Pay-for-success bonds”, government bonds that grant private companies money for projects only if there are able to prove that they have improved people’s lives.
^Increased WAP (weatherization assistance program) by over 100%. WAP so far has saved the country a net of 3 billion dollars a year since 1975.
^Got BP to pledge 20 billion of its own money to help pay for the Oil disaster.
^Placed tariffs on Chinese tires and other products.
^Cut salaries of white house aides down to 100,000.
^Increased NASA funding by 5% and provide them with 4 billion in extra funds
^Put foreclosed properties owned by Fannie and Freddie onto the rental market.
^Increased the borrowing authority of the FDIC and NCUA by 106 billion.
^Created a broadband initiative to increase broadband internet to rural areas funded it with 8bn
^provided millions in grants to build/improve regional innovation clusters
^Created businsse.gov which allows small businesses owners to go to get expert advice and updated statistics
^Created an infrastructure bank (similar in structure to the import-export bank) that has an initial capital of 60bn of which is able to provide 35bn of stimulus yearly
------------------------------------Economy other
--------------------------------------Stimulus
^Stimulus
^Cut taxes for employees by 400-800 dollars
^Created 6 million jobs
^kept 12 million people out of poverty
^Provided 15 billion tax credit for college
^Provided 6.6 billion in tax credits for first time home buyers
^25 billion for energy efficiency
^13 billion in tax cuts for renewable energy production/ 10 billion in spending for renewable energy
^total tax cuts 288 billion
^Provided enough funding to transfer Americas health care system to a computerized system (saving 100 billion a year)
^10 billion for health care research
^2 billion for community health care centers which will create 34 billion in benefits
^1.1 billion for comparative health effectiveness
^1 billion for STD prevention which will create 6 billion in benefits
^Increased education Pell grants by 16 billion
^increased special education by 13 billion
^Increased head start spending by 2.1 billion (creates 9 in benefits for every dollar spent)
^Increased pre-school and other early education funding by 11 billion (creating over 100 billion in benefits)
^40 billion for unemployment benefits which will expand GDP by 72 billion
^20 billion to expand food stamp eligibility which will expand GDP by 34 billion
^4.5 for job training
^3.5 billion increase for WIC which will create 8 billion in benefits
^Provided 50 billion for transportation infrastructure
^5 billion for AmeriCorps which will create 10 billion in benefits
^18 billion for clean water fund
^Provided 25 billion for public transportation
^7 billion to improve power transmission
^11 billion for home WAP/M (creates 20 in benefits for every dollar spent)
^6 billion for energy research
^1 billion funding for NASA which will create 10billion in benefits
^8 billion for science research
^Provided a homebuyer/car tax credit that helped stem home price declines and falling home/car sales.
^Created a business tax cut for purchases of items aimed at increasing productivity such as computers.
^Invested 2.4 billion into MEP which created 77 billion in benifits
^Stimulus grants for the DOE will create 170,000 jobs over two years by increase energy efficiency.
^13 billion for renewable energy production a year for five years
^Removed tax cut given to firms who buy unprofitable banks
^Spent 5 billion to rebuild levees and to prevent flooding
^Spent 2 billion on research for car batteries.
^Invested in infrastructure for a smart power grid this could save up to 2 trillion dollars over the next 20 years.
^Spent 5 billion on Cash for claunkers which increased GDP by 120 billion saves consumers .735 billion dollars a year and reduced CO2 emissions by 850,00 tons.
^Expanded investments for small businesses up to 250,000 for a year.
The savings from the Stimulus act Over ten years (for computerized health records over a life time for others. This does not include the expansion of GDP done by the stimulus measures.))
^1 trillion computerized health records
^34 billion community health centers
^20 billion head start
^77 billion MEP
^8 billion WIC
^10 billion AmeriCorps
^10 billion NASA
^100b-1t billion electric smart grid
^7 billion cash for claunkers
^6 billion preventative medicine
^43-63 billion from public transportation
^22 billion WAP
^46-100 billion from alternative energy
^22b-1t(estimate) from comparative effectiveness/health research
^8-80 billion science research
^100 billion pre-school/early education
---The stimulus act will save the country in ten years a of Total 1.650 trillion-3.8 trillion, or 150%-500%
--------------------------------------Stimulus
------------------------------------Financial reform
^required atms to show people transactions, fees and options
^Forced banks to go through stress test to determine what financial condition each bank was in
^made it so govt housing officials who were paid.6million can only be paid .15million
^Made it so shareholders had to approve of a CEO golden parachute.
^Increased governments regulatory enforcement capacities
^Made it illegal to overvalue assets.
^Made it illegal to kick renters out of homes if the previous owner defaulted and foreclosure
^Expanded FDIC and NCUA loan capabilities by hundreds of billions
^The MHA program aimed at reducing foreclosures kept home prices up by 2%
^Made it so shareholders could vote to lower executive pay
^The CFPB required all mortgage lenders to adhere to the same rules as banks. These rules included rules that limit and provide incentives to not give out subprime loans
^Created Consumer protection agency and recess appointed its leader, the agency is already pressing charges for kickbacks to mortgage lenders
^Cut salaries to half a million for firms still using government bailout money.
^Obamas housing agency is set to sue and file suits against banking instructions for lying and committing fraud on mortgage securities
^Has fined banks tens of billions of dollars for false mortgage claims and other frauds that caused the financial crisis.
^Financial reform.
^Lowered the amount of speculative trading one can do in a time period for 28 commodities.
^Set regulations in order to prevent more financial crises and housing bubbles. Such as:
-Higher capital requirements for all financial firms.
-Banks can't make bets with taxpayer backed deposits.
-Expands FDIC into large financial institutions as an alternative to taxpayer bailouts. Money comes from banks.
-Banks no longer vote for who regulates them.
-A consumer-protection agency will be created that sets rules banks must follow such as giving clear information, and removing hidden fees.
-Limits arbitrations (corporate courts)
-Credit rating agencies were made more transparent for example they now must submit their data and methods to the public
-Credit rating agencies are now removed from giving advice and accepting payment from those they rate.
-Make its so banks cannot sell off all their risky loans (banks must keep a portion of their risky loans)
- Eliminate hidden overly high swipe fees.
-Creates a government agency that monitors and reports the risk of financial instruments, and helps ensure accurate portrayals of the costs of financial instruments,
-FDIC deposit insurance increased from 100,000 to 250,000
-Centralized financial regulators, removed overlapping duties, and assigned regulators certain tasks
-increased the reporting requirements for high dollar investment advisors/agencies, and hedge funds are no longer to leave out information in their reports.
-reduced ability of non-health insurance companies from discriminating against people.
-Reduced the ability of financial institutions from packaging safe investments with risky investments and then selling them off as insured safe investments.
-Expanding clearing houses to derivatives meaning institutions dealing with derivatives have to following their trade agreements
-Requires investors and sellers of investment products to disclose information regarding costs, risks and conflicts of interest.
-The GAO is now required to audit the FED
-Requires people making mortgage and real estate loans to make an effort to determine that the consumer will be able to pay back said loans.
-Limits financial entities from merging, acquiring, or become both commercial, insurance, credit unions, investment banks or other financial entities
-Makes it so entities that package and resell mortgages must maintain a percentage of that mortgage.
-Dodd-Frank increased transparency of hedge funds by requiring them to disclose how they make their money and how they operate.
-provides whistleblowers with legal protections and large monetary grants if the fraud is found to be true
^Credit card reform
-bans hidden interest rate increases.
-Cardholders can now decline new terms to their credit cards
-Companions can’t retroactively increase rates.
-Companions can’t change terms of contract arbitrary.
-Cardholders now protected by due date gimmicks such as companies mailing bills after their payment date is required.
^Managed TARP bank bailout which saved 5 million jobs and will provide the government with an 8.5% profit margin.
^Managed/started TARP auto-bailed out which saved 1-2 million jobs and which eventually will be paid back (some already so far).
^Made it so firms bailout by TARP could not pay executives over 400,000 until funds were repaid.
^Allowed the government to prosecute mortgage, foreclosure and other fraud
^Lowered fees for debit cards
^Helped over 2 million households refinance their mortgages 2012
^Made it so banks have to follow leases on renters who tenets foreclose and must provide 90 days’ notice for month-to-month leases..
^Doubled the FBI’s mortgage and financial fraud program
^Eliminated FHA fees for borrowing certificates
------------------------------------Financial reform
Accomplishments Hillary Clinton as secretary of state
-Libya democracy
-burma diplomatic ties
-iran colition
Democrat’s 110th congress accomplishments:
^made it illegal for commercials to exceed a certain loudness
^Fined and made it illegal for Airlines to keep people on the tarmac or waiting for too long
^Expanded the amount of land and rivers that can be used to fish and hunt
^Created the ATVM program which will create 100,000 jobs and has a cost benefits ration of 1-3
^Opened up DTV spectrum which will create 40 billion in benefits every 4 years
^Increased minimum wage
^expanded CHIP by 35 billion
^Implemented recommendations of 9/11 commission such as increasing inspection of cargo
^Made government more honest and transparent by:
Restricting gift giving to members of congress, increasing disclosure requirements concerning lobbyists, congress people can no longer influence hiring in private companies, etc
^Increased energy standards such as CAFE, and for light bulbs. Required government vehicles to be more MPG friendly, increased funding for biofuels. Required 25-200% more efficient lighting. Required government to only use energy/water sense products. Increased spending for energy efficiency research.
^Established a program for a smart electricity grid
^Invested in a modernized power grid; to help manage peak load.
^Allowed small business to take loans out in order to increase energy efficiency.
^Increased poll safety protections.
^Agriculture reform limited subsides to not grow crops, and put them into subsides to develop new crops. Increase access to healthy food information and programs.
^Banned discrimination based on genetics.
^Made is so Vets could get free education assistance.
^Expanded inclusions that prevent discrimination based on disabilities.
^Required health insurance companies to include mental health benefits.
^Increased funding for scientific, agriculture, energy and other research.
^Increased funding for alternative transportation, in locations aimed to reduce congestion.
^Mandated tamper resistant prescription pads.
^Created funding for disaster relief specifically for Katrina victims.
^Increased funding to maintain and rebuild Levees.
^Increased safety rules banning lead in toys and consumer products, and limits child accidents in certain product such as cribs. Also created a website were consumers can find safety information on consumer products.
^Required energy companies to produce 15% of their energy from clean sources by 2020 which would save more than 13 billion dollars and reduce pollution.
^required airlines to disclose the full cost of tickets and other fees
^Added sorghum to the commodity check off program which has a 6/14-1 benefit cost ratio
^Increased renewable energy funding by 20%
^Started the ATVM program which has created 100,000 jobs and as a benefit cost ratio of 1-3
^Started the Manufacturing extension partnership program (MEPP) which has created 32 dollar sin benefits for every dollar spent and created 72,000 jobs in 2009 alone
^Created the EPA’s WaterSense program which saved 300 million dollars a year
^Provided 150 billion in targeted tax cuts for poor Americans during a liquidy trap
^Increased Veterans health care funding by 10%
^Set benchmarks and goals for Iraq including making Iraq’s government less corrupt and more transparent.
^Created an insurance program for targets and victims of terrorism.
^Created a program that allowed American investors and people to divert money from businesses connected to genocide in Darfur.
^Expanded educational and business funding for people laid off due to jobs being shipped overseas.
^Included the FHA in reforms preventing them from giving people subprime mortgages and other risky loans
^Provided a 3 year window for debt payment relive for Americans facing a foreclosures.
^increased funding for research, science and technology.
^Expanded eligibility for the head start program by 14%
^Made it illegal for insurance companies to imposes penalties for people with mental illnesses
^Made it illegal to import build process or distribute asbestos
^Invested 18 billion in foodborne illness prevention
^Increased Amtrak spending by 40%
^Created the Do-not-call registry
^Removed taxes on mortgage forgiveness for over 5 years for primary residences
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