Fact Check: Claims from the latest presidential debate

President Barack Obama listens as Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks during the second presidential debate at Hofstra University, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, in Hempstead, N.Y. Photo by The Associated Press.

CALVIN WOODWARD and TOM RAUM, Associated Press

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Video

2nd Presidential Debate, Oct. 16, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the rough-and-tumble of a town hall-style presidential debate, the facts took something of a beating Tuesday night.

Mitt Romney wrongly claimed that it took 14 days for President Barack Obama to brand the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya a terrorist act. Obama yet again claimed that ending the Afghanistan and Iraq wars makes money available to "rebuild America," even though it doesn't.

A look at some of their claims:

OBAMA: The day after last month's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, "I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime."

ROMNEY: "I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror."

OBAMA: "Get the transcript."

THE FACTS: Obama is correct in saying that he referred to Benghazi as an act of terrorism on Sept. 12, the day after the attack. From the Rose Garden, he said: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. ... We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act."

But others in his administration repeated for several days its belief that the violence stemmed from protests over an American-made video ridiculing Islam. It took almost a month before officials acknowledged that those protests never occurred. And Romney is right in arguing that the administration has yet to explain why it took so long for that correction to be made or how it came to believe that the attack evolved from an angry demonstration.

OBAMA: "Let's take the money that we've been spending on war over the last decade to rebuild America, roads, bridges, schools. We do those things, not only is your future going to be bright, but America's future is going to be bright as well."

THE FACTS: What Obama didn't mention is that much of the money that has been paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was borrowed. In fact, the government borrows nearly 40 cents for every dollar it spends. Thus, using money that had been earmarked for wars to build schools and infrastructure would involve even more borrowing, adding to the federal deficit.

ROMNEY: "As a matter of fact, oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land, and gas production was down 9 percent. Why? Because the president cut in half the number of licenses and permits for drilling on federal lands and in federal waters."

OBAMA: "Very little of what Governor Romney just said is true. We've opened up public lands. We're actually drilling more on public lands than in the previous administration and my — the previous president was an oilman."

THE FACTS: Both statements ring true, as far as they go. Obama more correctly describes the bigger picture.

According to an Energy Department study published in the spring, sales of oil from federal areas fell 14 percent between 2010 and 2011 and sales of natural gas production fell 9 percent, supporting Romney's point. The lower oil production was a result mainly of a moratorium on offshore drilling imposed by the Obama administration after the April 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

According to the same report, though, oil production from federal areas is up 13 percent since Obama took office despite last year's dip, and analysts say Gulf oil production is expected to soon exceed its pre-spill levels.

Natural gas production from federal areas has been declining for years because drillers have found vast reserves of natural gas in formations under several states that are cheaper to access than most federally controlled areas.

OBAMA: "For young people who've come here, brought here oftentimes by their parents, have gone to school here, pledged allegiance to the flag, think of this as their country and understand themselves as Americans in every way except having papers, we should make sure we give them a pathway to citizenship. And that's what I've done administratively."

THE FACTS: His administrative actions do not provide a pathway to citizenship. The administration is allowing as many as 1.7 million young illegal immigrants to apply to avoid deportation for up to two years and get a work permit. And the government has begun a policy of prosecutorial discretion under which illegal immigrants with longstanding ties to the U.S. and no criminal history are generally not arrested and deported by immigration authorities. But these steps do not extend legal status or a process resulting in citizenship.

ROMNEY: "I know he keeps saying, 'You want to take Detroit bankrupt.' Well, the president took Detroit bankrupt. You took General Motors bankrupt. You took Chrysler bankrupt. So when you say that I wanted to take the auto industry bankrupt, you actually did. And I think it's important to know that that was a process that was necessary to get those companies back on their feet, so they could start hiring more people. That was precisely what I recommended and ultimately what happened."

THE FACTS: What Romney recommended did not happen, and his proposed path probably would have forced General Motors and Chrysler out of business. He opposed using government money to bail out the automakers, instead favoring privately financed bankruptcy restructuring. But the automakers were bleeding cash and were poor credit risks. The banking system was in crisis. So private loans weren't available. Without government aid, both companies probably would have gone under and their assets would have been sold in pieces.

OBAMA: "And what I want to do is build on the 5 million jobs that we've created over the last 30 months in the private sector alone."

THE FACTS: As he has done before, Obama is cherry-picking his numbers to make them sound better than they really are. He ignores the fact that public-sector job losses have dragged down overall job creation. Also, he chooses just to mention the past 30 months. That ignores job losses during his presidency up until that point. According to the Labor Department, about 4.5 million total jobs have been created over the past 30 months. But some 4.3 million jobs were lost during the earlier months of his administration. At this point, Obama is a net job creator, but only marginally.

ROMNEY: "The proof of whether a strategy is working or not is what the price is that you're paying at the pump. If you're paying less than you paid a year or two ago, why, then, the strategy is working. But you're paying more. When the president took office, the price of gasoline here in Nassau County was about $1.86 a gallon. Now, it's $4 a gallon. The price of electricity is up. If the president's energy policies are working, you're going to see the cost of energy come down."

THE FACTS: Presidents have almost no effect on energy prices; most are set on financial exchanges around the world. When Obama took office, the world was in the grip of a financial crisis and crude prices — and gasoline prices along with them — had plummeted because world demand had collapsed. Crude oil prices have since risen even as U.S. oil production has soared in recent years because global demand is reaching new heights as the developing economies of Asia use more oil.

Other energy prices have fallen during Obama's term. Electricity prices, when adjusted for inflation, are down, and homeowners are finding it much cheaper to heat their homes with natural gas. That's because natural gas production has surged, reducing prices both for homeowners and for utilities that burn gas to generate electricity.

OBAMA: "What I've also said is, for (those earning) above $250,000, we can go back to the tax rates we had when Bill Clinton was president."

THE FACTS: Not exactly. The Bush tax cuts set the top income rate at 35 percent. Under Obama's proposal to raise taxes on households earning more than $250,000, the president would return the top rate to the 39.6 percent set during the Clinton administration. But he neglected to mention that his health care law includes a new 0.9 percent Medicare surcharge on households earning over that amount — and that tax would be retained. The health care law also imposes a 3.8 percent tax on investment income for high earners. So tax rates would be higher for the wealthiest Americans than they were under Clinton.

ROMNEY: "I'm going to bring rates down across the board for everybody, but I'm going to limit deductions and exemptions and credits, particularly for people at the high end, because I am not going to have people at the high end pay less than they're paying now."

THE FACTS: Romney is proposing to cut all income tax rates by 20 percent, eliminate the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax, maintain and expand tax breaks for investment income, and do it all without adding to the deficit or shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle class. He says he would pay for the tax cuts by reducing or eliminating tax deductions, exemptions and credits, but he can't achieve all of his goals under the budget rules presidents must follow.

The Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group, says in a study that the tax cuts proposed by Romney would reduce federal tax revenues by about $5 trillion over 10 years. The study concludes that there aren't enough tax breaks for the wealthy to make up the lost revenue, so the proposal would either add to the deficit or shift more of the tax burden onto the middle class.

Romney's campaign cites studies by conservative academics and think tanks that say Romney's plan will spur economic growth, generating enough additional money to pay for the tax cuts without adding to the deficit or shifting the tax burden to the middle class. But Congress doesn't recognize those kinds of economic projections when it estimates the budget impact of tax proposals.

ROMNEY: "A recent study has shown that people in the middle class will see $4,000 a year in higher taxes as a result of the spending and borrowing of this administration."

THE FACTS: Romney's claim is based on an analysis by the conservative American Enterprise Institute that examines the amount of debt that has accumulated on Obama's watch and in a potential second term and computes how much it would cost to finance that debt through tax increases. Annual deficits under Obama have exceeded $1 trillion for each year of his term.

However, Obama is not responsible for all of the deficits that have occurred on his watch. Most of the federal budget — like Medicare, food stamps, Medicaid and Social Security — runs on autopilot, and no one in a leadership position in Washington has proposed deep cuts in those programs. And politicians in both parties voted two years ago to renew Bush-era tax cuts that have contributed to the deficit. Even under the strict spending cuts proposed by Romney, the debt would continue to rise, just not as quickly.

Associated Press writers Jonathan Fahey, Tom Krisher, Stephen Ohlemacher, Andrew Taylor, Bradley Klapper, Matthew Daly, Matthew Lee and Alicia A. Caldwell contributed to this report.

More like this story

newone 7 months, 1 week ago

This country is so scr*wed, but I have to say the most BS line of the night was from Romney: " I care about 100% of the American people"....ummmm did he forget about the 47% comment he said behind what he thought was closed doors???

spelchek 7 months, 1 week ago

What a horrid comment indeed. ummmmmm did you forget the "clinging to their guns and religion" (what % of Americans would that be?) or "need to spread the wealth around a little" (50% pay fed taxes) or promises to close Guantanamo or cutting the deficit in half by 2012 or have the most transparent administration in US history or promise to kick the lobbyists out of DC or keeping unemployment under 6% or US citizens slaughtered in Benghazi by a YouTube video...........Romney's comment seems pretty docile contrasted with this administrations failures and broken promises that you just can't seem to get enough of.

newone 7 months, 1 week ago

Sorry but saying I don't give a damn about 47% of american's when you are running for president is far worse than anything Obama has ever said or done. And please name me ONE president who kept every promise or even 1/2 of the promises they made during an election, everyone knows they say what the public wants to hear until they are elected and then they do what they want, sorry but Obama is not the only president to do this and I will bet my life that if Romney gets elected most of what he is saying now will never be done.

connor 7 months, 1 week ago

How about the money not going to "White Male Construction Workers?" That's a pretty big chunk to say he doesn't care about as well. Hypocrite until the end.

TickledPink 7 months, 1 week ago

Link?

connor 7 months, 1 week ago

You want a link for that line of Obama's speech dealing with the Stimulus plan from 2008 that was played over and over again on the radio?

I tell ya what. Google "No Country for Burly Men" and see what pops up then read it.

TickledPink 7 months, 1 week ago

I saw what popped up. Obama didn't say that - Robert Reich did. The other thing I see are articles talking about how "feminists" have skewed stimulus plan. The trend I'm noticing is that far too many men have a problem with strong, capable women. Get over it. The more you push us, the more we're going to push back. For the record, I'm not a feminist in the new sense of the word. This movement started out with lofty goals and pure intentions. What it's mophed into is just another self interest group. I AM, however, a stong, independent woman and I will demand my rights, even if the boys don't like it.

connor 7 months, 1 week ago

Your correct about who said it although it did come from Obama's administration and was not denounced by Obama afterwards, unless he did well after I was keeping tabs on it.

The problem is not with Strong women the problem is with biased legislation and minority benefits for what is actually a majority number. However if you keep voting yourselves benefits like feminist have been doing it won't matter as we go broke. Then we will see just how strong and capable you feminist really are.

TickledPink 7 months, 1 week ago

My kids have me ready for the zombie apocalypse - I think I'll be ok. ;)

connor 7 months, 1 week ago

An economic collapse due to overspending and monetary inflation would make a zombie apocalypse seem like a day at the beach. Zombies at least don't have a cohesive strategy and lack in the cunning and intelligence departments.

Austerity blows and once the empowered government you feminist have supported pushed and voted for begins to get hungry from lack of funds it will make a pack of zombies look like preschoolers playing with barbie dolls.

eileen10 7 months ago

My grand kids tell me I'm so old I pedo dust. (had to use the Spanish word cuz the English word wouldn't go through.) I sure get bleeped a lot.

asb 7 months ago

Of course he cares, he's human, sane, and a religious man raised to care. But he does not work for them. He works for the banks, the CEOs, the investment gamblers, and above all, the tax dodgers at the top.

JCLifer 7 months ago

Yep, and he is damn good at his job. That is why we need him working for us the taxpayers. We sure don't want a loser who has not accomplished anything but a wake of distruction for our country's leader!

TrueStory 7 months, 1 week ago

He was speaking about those on dependent aid that were encouraged by Obama to stay home, relax a bit, and stop looking for work. The idea is to have them give up on our american attitude of "ameri-CAN" and stop us from getting up and working to make this better. Then his unemployment numbers go down, makes him look better, but we cannot not support 47% non workers with the rest of us working our bums off for them to watch tv and play video games all day.

newone 7 months, 1 week ago

And if you really think 47% of the people are really sitting on their butt's doing nothing because Obama allows them too than you are about as ignorant as Romney is, do you not realize how many of those people are hardworking people who paid their fair share for years and are not able to work, or the elderly getting government benefits that they are entitled to? That comment by Romney sealed my vote for Obama, he is a fool and is so out of touch with the middle class it isn't even funny, he doesn't know what it is like to live pay check to pay check, he doesn't know what it is like to decide if you are going to pay the electric pill or feed your child, the only decision he has to make is if they should eat prime rib or lobster for dinner.

Crcknup 7 months, 1 week ago

MIDDLE CLASS?? Is there even such a thing? What a joke!

muleman 7 months, 1 week ago

Todays middle class is yesterdays lower class

Crcknup 7 months, 1 week ago

Guess what...Obama has no idea what is like to live pay check to pay check, either. Who are you kidding? And a lot of those so-called 47% are generation welfare families or unwed mothers who spit out a new kid about every 16 months by a different baby daddy so they can up their "entitlement"! GET REAL! Oh and before you go and spout off a reply...let me make this clear...I AM ONE OF THE 47% (who works every day and struggles every minute) and I will NOT BE VOTING FOR OBAMA THIS TIME AROUND!!

RobHunterJohnson 7 months ago

Crknup, Thats sad! you should because you will need the very programs that Romney/Ryan will be cutting, you commented that you were licensed Health care professional, earning $25,000., you are living pay check to pay check. No one can save anything in this economy, so just think where you will be with things you have paid into your entire working career, Social Security, Medicare, and Health Care, if you lose your job tommorow, can you keep up with COBRA payments? Probably not at $25,000 and two teenagers, or if sadly you take ill and cannot work. If you think those two Rich Boys will even think about you, you better re-evaluate your position? There is a lot of things wrong with Goverment, for as long as I can remember, but there are programs which are good. The goverment needs to clean up the fraud, but it has given access to so many. I learned to Weld on the CETA program in the late 70s at Linn Tech. The unemployment office told me I could collect $90.00 a week or I could go to Linn tech and learn to weld for 10 weeks at $135.00. a week. Construction was down due to the housing market had just failed, (imagine that) and it was the best choice for me. That move set me on to career that has had it ups, and downs, but I have made a good living since then! I can look at the calender, and also match all those up, and downs with political affiliations as well. Unless you are planning on hitting the Lottery, I would think long and hard about your decision, you just declared. ROB

Crcknup 7 months ago

Oh man Rob...you caught me on an even worse day than normal considering I get into my car this morning and it won't start, which means that I have to worry about even getting to the JOB that I go to EVERY day with NO $$ to fix it! I'll go easy on you...I promise! IF the two RICH BOYS get rid of all the entitlements then at least all the ones who TAKE it now will be in the same boat as the rest of us!!! Lunch for me today...free crackers at work! Thanks for your concern!

eileen10 7 months ago

Crcknup, I feel really bad for you. Days like that are horrible not to mention having to worry about getting your car fixed. At 62 years old I'm probably the oldest poster and I've been in your position countless times. Still going through it in fact. Keep a stiff upper lip and I hope things get better for you.

Crcknup 7 months ago

eileen10...Thank You!! And I hope things get better for you, as well! I'm a 50 year old white female who works, tries to do things the "right way" and get nothing from our fearless leader in the way of "help" because he is too busy handing it out to people who don't even PUT INTO THE SYSTEM IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM!! I guess I just don't understand why SOME people are ENTITLED to government assistance and others are NOT!! In my eyes, I'm ENTITLED because I have WORKED all my life, PAID TAXES and haven't sit around waiting for someone else to take care of me and my children!! Sometimes, I think...hey, maybe I'll just quit my job and get free food, healthcare and a monthly check...I mean, why not? I sure wouldn't be any worse off than I am now and I could save on GAS and CAR INSURANCE because I could just sit at home all day!! Boy, if everyone did that...what a world this would be!! STOP REWARDING PEOPLE FOR NOT WORKING!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! :)

connor 7 months ago

Minority entitlement programs and training that I am willing to bet Crcknup doesn't even qualify for and never will with the victim coalition in charge. Why is it minority and female enrollments are up so high above White men in trade schools and colleges? Way above population ratios. Health care costs and education prices are high because of government programs inflating the overall cost and adding cheap easily printed money to the wealth the non-protected CLASS (singular since there is only one) has to shell out.

Of course construction boomed under Clinton when the community reinvestment act and victim politics brought the government into housing just like education and healthcare so the inflation and over priced values with the cheap loans skyrocketed. Child support became income as did other welfare type spending and guess which groups then became the largest growth groups for new housing loans? I will give you a hint it's the same ones that are the majority of foreclosures now.

Your political affiliation is very selective in who they help.

Crcknup 7 months ago

connor...of course I will NEVER qualify for any "entitlement" programs because the 5 families at the check-out line in Walmart, WITH THEIR 7 KIDS who either can't speak english or are wearing their house slippers are more in NEED than I am...even though MOST of them have never worked a day in their lives (at least that they have not been paid cash under the table for). I HAVEN'T SHOPPED FOR GROCERIES IN 5 YEARS!! Yet, they all have MOUNDS of food in their carts!! Inflation of every kind (food, healthcare, education costs, electricity, everything) can be blamed on ALL of the dead beats who leach off the government! I wear hand-me-down clothes to WORK, drive a car that was totaled 2 years ago (by no fault of my own), eat once a day, don't visit a healthcare provider, re-use paper plates, don't have a winter coat, am behind on all bills, cut my own hair, etc. and can't even get ACKNOWLEDGED by the "system"! IF YOU DON'T PAY TAXES...YOU SHOULD GET NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

connor 7 months ago

You are seeing the problem Crcknup. You are living under it's effects and seeing some of the people who benefit but look deeper. Look at who really benefits the most. Once you do that the whole game board falls into place.

Crcknup 7 months ago

And, who exactly "benefits" the most connor?

JCLifer 7 months ago

DEMOCRATS.

Crcknup 7 months ago

BAM!! :)

TickledPink 7 months, 1 week ago

Where do you get 47% non workers? Show me where we have 47% of our population not working. Geez people - try thinking for yourselves for a change and stop vomiting back the completely inaccurate right wing talking points.

JCLifer 7 months, 1 week ago

I think the number you are referring to is the Labor Force Participation rate, which is currently at 63.6%. That means that 36.4% of the population is not working.

When Obama took the office (with Pelosi and Frank and a democrat majority in both the house and the senate) the Labor Force Participation Rate rate was 66.2%.

The Labor Force Participation Rate is at its lowest level for over ten years. It has been falling for quite some time, and there is no indication that it will be increasing anytime soon. Four more years at the current trend will not be a good thing for this country.

Wishing and lieing may make democrats feel better, but the cold hard facts tell quite a different story than the DNC spin doctors want us to hear.

data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000/

newone 7 months, 1 week ago

Romney said "These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people.". I am sorry but the job of the president is to worry about ALL of the american people, you can't say that 47% of American's feed off the government and pay no taxes and that it is not his job to worry about those people and then come to the debate and say " I care about 100% of the American people" FLIP FLOP!!! That is what Romney does, he say's what is best at the time, and you truly want someone like this running our country?

RobHunterJohnson 7 months, 1 week ago

Romney will say anything to get elected President! He will change his position to satfy whomever he is speaking with whether it is the NRA, Coal, Tea Party, Rich, and 47%. Last night showed this the best yet! Vote Obama 2012. Rob

him 7 months, 1 week ago

THE FACTS: 47% of american's pay no federal income tax. The top 10% paid 70% of all federal income taxes. Don't seem fair.

newone 7 months, 1 week ago

Of those 47%, MANY are both DEMs & GOP, 28% pay payroll taxes (which means they work), 10% are retired, middle class elderly (on SS, you know the thing they paid into all their lives), 7% make under $20,000 a year, which means they work they just do not make enough to have taxes taken out, 1% others.

He’s included people such as Retired Veterans, Veterans on GI Bill, Seniors, College kids, Children and the disabled using food stamps are leeches on the society, when in fact everybody pays some sort of tax, whether it is on the Federal or State level.

him 7 months, 1 week ago

I have read and researched. I did quote it wrong though. It is supposed to be 47% of "Income earners" pay no federal income tax. Yes they pay other taxes.

RobHunterJohnson 7 months, 1 week ago

Him, Break that 47% down, and tell us about it, its out there do the reasearch? Rob

spelchek 7 months, 1 week ago

Says the commenter not doing the research.

RobHunterJohnson 7 months, 1 week ago

Mother Jones the transcript, go read it yourself! Rob

RobHunterJohnson 7 months, 1 week ago

I read it, Im not smart enough to put a link, so when someone want to tell you they did not say that, when the good old NT, or Google says to the otherwise! Time for the other posters to read it for themselves, you still have to think, because not all print is true! Rob

RobHunterJohnson 7 months, 1 week ago

Conner if you think that Romney is concerned about the construction worker you are wrong, They are after a national right to work for less law? The Unions have helped set the tone for all wages, and benefit! They brought you the weekend, as well as Holidays, and Vacations. Whose computer are you on right now? The other day you had 20% of the posts. You seem to be on here all the time, I happen to, have some free time at the moment, I guess I will see if BIG BIRD IS ON? You wouldn't know what channel? Rob

connor 7 months, 1 week ago

I am currently being forced to take some vacation time thanks for noticing though. Actually I am worried about that as well many of us were talked to about our vacation build up and that has been an indicator of layoffs and bat swing terminations in the past. So you have this week for sure to put up with me during the day. That is when I decide to get moving.

connor 7 months, 1 week ago

Rob - Ya know I am sitting here running three monitors (well two and a little twitter feed monochrom thing) flipping through multiple tabs as I usually do when I am not working. I googled Big Bird and didn't see what channel he might be on for you around here. Since I don't have cable and haven't bothered to watch television I have no clue what channels are offered these days. However I believe you can see most of the "Sesame Street" episodes off their official website.

Hope this helps.

Crcknup 7 months, 1 week ago

I'm still torn between the two...the only thing that I do know is that I am sick and tired of working every day of my life and paying taxes, just to not even make enough to get by yet, last evening in the local gas station (where I stopped to buy some FUMES) there was a woman there (with her 5 rugrats running around the store) purchasing CUPS OF ICE WITH AN EBT CARD!!!!!!!!! I'm sick and tired of working to be sure OTHERS have a BETTER life! Well, what about mine?? I can't get medicaid, food stamps, government assistance of any kind because I make too much! Really, $25,000 a year is TOO much!! WELFARE AND ENTITLEMENT HAS BROUGHT THIS ONCE GREAT COUNTRY TO IT'S KNEES!!! If you can't feed your kids this week, quite frankly that's NOT MY PROBLEM...I have enough of my own, thank you!!

TrueStory 7 months, 1 week ago

Did you know that Obama care is going to tax medical care. Yep its true! They will tax anything from knee replacement parts to syringes. If that doesn't raise prices for medical care I don't know what will! The y have never been taxed before.

eileen10 7 months, 1 week ago

Okay. I must be out of touch but did you mean debit card? Or if it's an ebt card I don't know what that is and I like to suck any kind of knowledge into my brain.

Crcknup 7 months, 1 week ago

Food stamps used to be on paper vouchers that came in a booklet. The $ now gets deposited on what they call an EBT card (because the vouchers were offensive to the people using them because people would know they were on food stamps) and they can swipe it just like a debit card! Also, they could only buy cold food items with it...no hot, already prepared foods. NOT ANYMORE!! They can even get CASH off it!!!!

TickledPink 7 months, 1 week ago

If you only receive food stamps you can't get cash from the card and you can still only buy cold, unprepared foods with it. Getting cash off an EBT card means they're receiving TANF and is no different than getting a check in the mail and depositing it in your bank account, which is how TANF used to be done. All this information is available on the DSS website for anyone who cares to look it up.

connor 7 months, 1 week ago

Working people wouldn't know all that of course. welfare has gotten so complicated with so many different and cross used programs that you constantly have to research it to keep up. Now That's Progress.

eileen10 7 months, 1 week ago

Thank you. Now I know what an EBT card is. Earlier I had to ask connor what some initials meant to.

PatsyDecline 7 months, 1 week ago

GO TIGERS!!

asb 7 months ago

YES! I assume you mean Detroit . . .

Crcknup 7 months, 1 week ago

Well, I'm actually a licensed health insurance agent and no very well what Obamacare is and ISN'T going to do!! People really need to get the facts!

TrueStory 7 months, 1 week ago

I happen to know the facts too because I am very involved in the practice of medicine. I am disgusted at what Obama care is going to do to our country. The tax starts Jan. 1. The full extent of the thousands of rules and changes, which is hard to read with boundless pages, Thanks Nancy "we will read it after we pass it" P! will not be done till 2014. And NO insurance itself will not be effected by the tax, just the whole medical system itself.

Crcknup 7 months, 1 week ago

I have sat in on countless meetings with insurance carriers and people have NO IDEA! The rules/changes consist of over 2000 PAGES!!! Get ready for MANY community hospitals and providers to GO UNDER!! The other thing people don't realize is that EACH state gets to decide if they are going to expand Medicare and if they choose not to, all these OBOZO supports will be SOL just like the rest of us!! Group plans will drop off the radar because businesses will just lower employees to under 30 hours a week and then not have to worry about paying the 50% of the employee premium or the fine!! After that Americans will get to choose from 3 worthless healthcare plans ONLINE! Good luck American! People really need to wake up on this healthcare issue!!

JCLifer 7 months, 1 week ago

All I know about ObamaCare is that my health care flexible savings account now has a limit of $2500 for my family. That means that I am going to have to pay income taxes on the $2000 or so that isn't covered any longer by the health care flexible savings account. Since I am in the ~28% tax bracket, OBAMACARE WILL COST ME $560 MORE IN TAXES NEXT YEAR! After hearing the debate last night, I now hear that I am not even middle class, but lower class, although I cannot get any of my tuition, food, housing, cell phones, etc. etc. etc. paid for by the government because I make way too much money, even though I am barely able to feed my family and pay the bills each month.

Folks who think ObamaCare will lower our medical care costs are farting in the wind. I have never understood how anyone could think that paying for everyone to have health insurance coverage would make my costs go down. That is just a pipe dream democrats have sold to the sheople who are so eager to have everything taken care of by the government. What a bunch of stink...

PatsyDecline 7 months, 1 week ago

Two chihuahuas....yapping in a circle....around a fat lady shussing them to be quiet and behave....

What a joke.

connor 7 months, 1 week ago

I just noticed Romney is wearing a blue tie and Obama a red one.

Crcknup 7 months, 1 week ago

Well thanks for the clarification there Pink...in any event, food stamps, welfare, medicaid, government assistance of ANY KIND was not meant to live on for a LIFETIME! How about this idea...we base "entitlement assistance" on the amount of time you have WORKED and paid taxes the same way as unemployment. You get back what you put in! Bet that would get a lot of people off their front PORCH!! Drive over to a certain area of town and see how many people are sitting on their front porch with their refrigerator and couch outside, drinking beer, while some of us are out working all day/night to pay our way!!!!! Or, how about we employ some "personal shoppers" in every city/county across the country and allow them to go and buy the FOOD these poor people need so badly to feed their 6 kids by 6 different baby daddy's and hand deliver it to their door! Not only will it stop the abuse of the system, but would put a few people to WORK! Interesting concept, huh? NO MORE HANDOUTS AND FREE RIDES! Good Lord...America has made "not working" a job in itself! WHY BUY THE COW WHEN YOU CAN GET THE MILK FOR FREE!! WAKE UP!!

JCLifer 7 months, 1 week ago

How about not basing benefits on HOW MANY CHILDREN YOU MAKE?

The world is plenty crowded already, and yet our goofy government wants to keep paying more money and subsidize people to keep making babies. It should also be illegal for employers to pay more of the insurance benefit for family coverage than they do for employee-only coverage.

Stop promoting people to make babies!

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