WASHINGTON — “That’s not change,” said President Obama on the 2008 campaign trail, “that’s more of the same.”
Barack Obama has been re-elected President of the United States of America. Winning a second term, he defeated Republican nominee Mitt Romney in a close election. Obama earned 303 electoral votes to Romney’s 206 as of Wednesday, with Florida’s vote counting still in process. On Tuesday evening, Romney called the president to concede the election and said he would pray for the president’s success.
When Obama took office four years ago, the national debt stood at over $10 trillion; the annual deficit was set to top $1 trillion; and the unemployment rate stood at 7.8 percent. Four years later, the national debt has increased nearly 60 percent; the deficit has topped $1 trillion for four years in a row; and the unemployment rate is unchanged. And everyday Americans? Their average net worth is 40 percent lower.
So what’s in store for the next four years? Tax increases and Medicare cuts are set to take effect in 2013. In 2014, the individual mandate required by Obamacare kicks in. And more government spending lies ahead: in 2010, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Obamacare would cost $944 billion in government spending over 10 years. By July 2012, that estimate had increased to $1.9 trillion — and by 2015, it’s expected to top $2.5 trillion.
Four years ago, only seven percent of Americans were satisfied with the way things were going in the country, and they voted for change. This election year, two-thirds of Americans remain dissatisfied — but most of them voted for more of the same.
Sources: Gallup; Forbes; Polit
StandUSA 