Two Wins For America

The results are in:

The citizens of America - 2          The Republicans - 0

                                                                                                                     (and a few Demo-duds)

Two bad Republican ideas have been derailed, at least for the time being. One being the Internet censorship proposals of SOPA/PIPA and the other being the Keystone XL pipeline.

One of the big problems with both of these ideas is the Republican penchant of ramming legislation through Congress without due diligence or even a basic understanding of the issue. However, I can understand the Republican need for action since the party has done little or nothing in the last several years that didn't involve discrediting or destroying the Obama presidency - the only action item on their agenda.

As the 2012 elections draw near it would seem that the GOP, the party of 'NO', is getting desperate. And why not? Under the Obama administration the economy is improving: 

• Companies added 1.64 million employees in 2011, the best year for the American worker since 2006, after a 940,000 increase in 2010. 

• Payrolls rose 200,000 in December, double the gain in November, according to a recent Labor Department report.

• The December payrolls report capped four months of declines in the unemployment rate and six consecutive months of jobs gains of at least 100,000, indicating the labor market is gaining momentum.

• After a near collapse at the height of the Great Recession, the streamlined U.S. auto industry defied the odds and outperformed the greater economy in 2011 with solid sales increases, job growth and product innovations.

• Analysts and executives expect 2012 U.S. auto sales to grow 4 percent to 9 percent, the third consecutive annual gain.

• U.S. and foreign automakers are poised to add nearly 167,000 U.S. jobs by the end of 2015, according to the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

• It is predicted that U.S. stocks will return at least 10 percent in 2012, beating foreign markets for a third year, as the nation’s gross domestic product expands by as much as 2.5 percent. 

• GDP grew 1.8 percent last year, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News last month. 

• U.S. export orders rose in December to the highest level in three months, according to manufacturer reports compiled by the Institute for Supply Management in Tempe, Arizona. 

• Consumers have increased their borrowing in six of the past nine months. Americans are taking on more debt after seeing the unemployment rate drop and the economy improve.

• Since health insurance reform was signed into law this reform is already delivering real benefits to millions of Americans who otherwise would be left out in the cold by the "I've got mine, so screw you" Republicans and their Christian (?) conservative followers.

And, finally:

• TARP probably saved the world from a pre-Obama financial meltdown and did so in a manner that may cost the taxpayer less than $50 billion (as opposed to $475 billion), but may wind up costing the taxpayer nothing.

Here in Florida:

• The worst may be over for Tampa Bay's housing market. According to a recent article in the Tampa Bay Times, "The median price of a single-family home fell to $110,000 in January 2011, climbed steadily to $130,000 in August and has not dropped below $120,000 since."

• Unemployment is dropping, slowly and steadily, no thanks to Pink Slip Rick and his lackeys in Tallahassee.

• While the national jobless rate has now dropped to 8.5 percent, nearly a three-year low, Florida is enjoying some of the same uptick in job growth coming out of the Great Recession.

In the last three years the Republicans have accomplished...................................?