Obama's Reelection Chances By The Numbers

For now, Barack Obama is betting his reelection bid on two numbers: 1% and 10%.

The 1% are what those that the "Occupy Anything and Everything" refer to as this nation's wealthy. In lock step with the occupiers, Barack Obama has been hammering the wealthy; claiming that they should pay more taxes. Or, in his words, pay their fair share. Of course, this is an attempt to garner votes based on class warfare. But, the number that Obama should be paying attention to is 75%. That's the number of likely voters who believe that the top wage earners are already paying too much in taxes. This is based on a recent poll by The Hill online political magazine.

Then, there's that 10% number. That's the current approval rate of Congress. With Obama's own approval below 50%, he figures he can run against unpopular and "do nothing" Congress in order to win a second term. But, that 10% number is nothing in comparison to three other numbers: 7.2%, 53%, and 45%.

First off, no President has ever won reelection with an unemployment rate above 7.2%; and, the chances that this President will see anything close to that number in the Fall is plain folly. Gallup just reported that, through their normal monthly polling, the unemployment rate jumped to 9% in February. This after having reported an 8.6% rate for January. Usually, the Gallup reported changes in the unemployment rate presage the official, federally-reported number by a few months. That's why the current down-trend in the official, federally-reported unemployment rate might be coming to an end.

Then, there's the 53% number. Based on a new USA Today/Gallup poll, that's the number of voters, in critical swing state,s who think ObamaCare is unconstitutional and think it should be repealed. Of course, those voters understand that ObamaCare won't be repealed unless Obama is out of office.

Lastly, there the big enchilada. That's Obama's current Gallup approval rating. As of 2/28, it's just 43%. No President in modern history has been reelected with an election eve Gallup approval rating that was below 49%. Ford failed at 48%. Carter didn't do it with his horrible 31%. And, "no new taxes", George H.W. Bush, became a one-term President with a lowly 39% approval rating. If Obama's approval remains in the low to mid-40 percentile, he, too, will be a one-term President. (Note: The Presidential approval rate data comes from a January 2011 New York Times article written by Nate Silver: "Approval Ratings and Re-Election Odds").

Dems Undermine Their Own Argument Against Drilling

As I had previously noted in this blog, last Thursday, President Obama contradicted himself in his energy speech. First he noted that our dependence on foreign oil was due to increased supplies of domestic production. Then, he said we can drill our way out of high oil prices; as if the economic law of supply and demand doesn't apply to oil/gasoline prices. In fact, history has proven that just the announcement of new drilling dramatically lowers the price of oil. In 2008, G.W. Bush announced a lifting of bans on offshore drilling and the price of oil fell $13 in just a few minutes.

Now, three Democrats -- Reps. Ed Markey, Peter Welch and Rosa DeLauro -- are urging the President to increase the supply by releasing oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve (SPR). So, once again we have Democrats acknowledging that increased oil supplies will lower oil prices and, subsequently, lower gasoline prices at the pump. However, they seem to forget that, just last year, Obama released oil reserves from the SPR and the impact was tepid at best, and the price of oil returned to previous highs in just a short amount of time.

If we want lower prices on a permanent basis, we need to drill. But, it pains Democrats to tell that truth. They will do everything possible to avoid increased drilling. They will drag oil execs into hearings to make the public think that high prices are all due to manipulation by big oil. During the Bush/Cheney years, they blamed it on the fact that the President and Vice President were ex-oil people and cozy with the big oil companies. But, for all the hearings and all the blaming, oil prices remain high. Only when a recession hit America did prices go down and that was simply because demand fell.

One last thing. Now is not the time to release oil from the SPR. We have a bellicose situation in the Middle East. The potential for disrupted supplies is higher than at any time since the 6-Day War. But, this is an election year and the Democrats are worried that high oil could jeopardize their election bids in the Fall. So, as a consequence, they are willing to put reelection ahead of national security.

Obama: "We're Not Going To Drill Ourselves Out Of This Problem

Last Thursday, in President Obama's address on energy, he repeated a familiar refrain of almost all Democrats when it comes to high gasoline prices and calls for increased drilling: "We're Not Going To Drill Ourselves Out Of This Problem". In that same speech, he tried to take credit for the fact that our dependency of foreign oil has been reduce through -- yes, that's right -- increased drilling.

Back in 2006, the then-Senator Obama from Illinois, wrote this in his book The Audacity of Hope: "We cannot drill our way out of our addiction to oil." Yet, since then, U.S. oil supplies have never been greater. All thanks to new and deeper oil finds and major advances in drilling techniques. Not, because of our government. Because of persistent exploration by the oil companies. Now, we actually may have enough reserves to last us through the beginning of the next century. If Obama would allow those companies to drill.

Over 40 years ago, during the OPEC Oil Embargo, the Democrat-controlled Congress under President Carter, trotted out a bunch of hand-picked, environmentally friendly experts who said we would run out of oil in 40 years. But, now, more than 40 years later, with more than a tripling of the world's automobiles, we still seem to have enough oil in the world.

This "we can't drill our way out" is a tactic that is used, over-and-over again, by the Democrats to delay bringing any new sources of oil into the marketplace. It is driven by their all too cozy association with the environmental movement. Sadly, every time they win using that slogan, it's the working poor and the middle class who suffer as a result of higher gasoline prices. A problem that the Democrats never seem to understand.

Obama's Corporate Tax Proposal Could Force Companies To Leave the U.S.

A little talked about part of Obama's corporate tax restructuring proposal is his plan to go after the corporate profits that U.S. companies are sheltering in overseas locations. This despite the fact that those companies have already been taxed once by the country that those profits were made in. So, in essence, Obama is proposing a double tax on all of our multinational companies. In doing so, he would cripple our overseas business activity because he will be essentially hitting U.S. overseas operations with the highest corporate tax in the world.

I'm sure the small-minded people in the Obama Administration think that this will bring those overseas manufacturing operations back to the U.S. But, in fact, they just might find out that this tactic will force major U.S. corporations to leave this country and go to places, like Canada, where conditions are more favorable to business. We're already seeing this happen and the President's move on double-taxation will only accelerate the process of businesses leaving the U.S. Note this video from Fox News of just a day ago:

(Click for Video: "Concerns Over Businesses Moving to Canada").

Right now, U.S. multinational corporations are forced to leave their overseas profits, well, overseas. If they should bring those profits back here, they would be hit with a 35% federal tax. If Obama wants to better our American economy, he should propose that corporations are allowed to bring those profits back with zero penalties. This way the money would come back home, enter our economy and -- I'll bet -- create growth. Growth that would increase the tax base and, subsequently, increase federal and state tax revenues. It would be "stimulus" without any taxpayer money. And, even if those companies redistribute those profits as dividend, the IRS will collect taxes on the dividend and the money will go into the hands of U.S. citizens who will, in turn, spend it. Better yet, those funds could even help companies lower their prices on products they sell. Instead, his proposal will only punish business and potentially force them to move out of the U.S.

In Obama-land, there is this belief that U.S. Corporations are intentionally moving operations offshore to avoid taxes. But, in many cases, setting up production facilities in other countries is the only way a U.S. company can be competitive in that country. All too often, U.S. corporations are forced to set up manufacturing in a country as a condition of being able to sell in that country.

Obama is the most business unfriendly President in modern history. And, once again, he's proven this by trying to go after the foreign profits of our most profitable, tax-paying corporations.

Is Obama Lovin' Exxon-Mobil, Now?

Everyone in the world knows that Democrats hate big oil. Especially, Exxon-Mobil. But, in yesterday's speech on energy, Mr. Obama mentioned that we could substitute our demand for oil with fuel that is produced from algae. Of course, just last month, the President also said we should be powering our cars and trucks with natural gas. Nothing like a consistent energy policy. Right?

But, here's the thing. The world leader in blue-green algae research is Exxon-Mobil -- that nasty big oil company. I'm sure you've all seen this TV ad that has been running for quite a few years:



In fact, back in July of 2009, Exxon-Mobil announced a $600 million program to develop the production of fuel from blue-green algae. In the press release, they noted that, unlike oil-based fuels, algae-based fuels would be, at the very minimum, CO2 neutral. That's because the CO2 produced in the burning of any algae-derived fuels would be more than offset by the amount of CO2 being used up by the algae's own growth process.

I just find it interesting that this President is now -- in a backdoor fashion -- promoting Exxon-Mobil. A company that he just targeted for punishment by eliminating any tax loop-holes for big oil.

Obama Is Not Blameless On High Oil Prices

When Obama took office, West Texas oil was being traded at just above $36 per barrel. By the fall of 2010 -- before the Arab Spring and the Middle East turmoil that we are now seeing -- West Texas crude was selling just above $86 a barrel. This was despite slow, world-wide economies (except for China) and high world-wide unemployment.

The fact is that supplies were up and demand was down and the world should have seen a lowering of oil prices by the Fall of 2010. Not a doubling. But, you see, around the world, oil is only traded in U.S. dollars. And, if the dollar is weakened, then it takes more dollars to buy a barrel of oil. All that spending in 2009 and 2010 by Obama and the Democrats severely devalued the dollar as our national debt piled up. As a consequence, oil prices naturally rose. Not driven by demand, not driven by supply, but instead, driven by the spending policies of Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress.

On top of that, in April 2010, we had the BP oil spill . In response, Obama pulled all the deep-water drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico. Traders viewed this as a short and a potential long-term reduction in supply and they started trading oil prices even higher. Further, in December 2010, Obama re-imposed a 7 year ban on any drilling off the Atlantic or Pacific coasts; as well as in the wilderness areas of Alaska. Once again, traders saw this as a future reduction in supplies.

For Obama to blame high oil prices on events that are out of his control is just ridiculous. He's done everything possible to restrict oil production and drive prices up; and, in doing so, make expensive green technologies seem more reasonably priced. Eventually, the world-wide economic doldrums will end. Unemployment will lessen and economies will start to come alive. When that happens, years of pent-up oil demand will literally happen over night. If there isn't enough new supply to meet that demand, dealing with today's high oil prices will look like child's play. That's why Obama's policies are so dangerous for America's future..

Obama's Lower Corporate Tax Rate

Across the board, all the morning's headlines read something to the effect: "Obama to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 to 28 percent." Obviously, this sounds good because American corporations currently pay the second highest tax rate in the world and this makes them less competitive in the world marketplace. But, if one reads further, the new tax rate, along with the elimination of tax loop-holes and the addition of new tax penalties, will actually raise federal tax revenues by $250 billion over 10 years. This isn't a lowering of taxes. It's just another Obama scheme to rearrange the tax code to increase taxes; while, at the same time, giving green technologies the same kind of loop-holes that Obama plans to steal away from other businesses. Once again, the President is betting on losers like Solyndra and the Chevy Volt while punishing the real tax payers in our economy.

America's Workforce Ghosts

As a former Communications Manager for a Fortune 100 corporation and an active stock trader, my life has been immersed in statistical analysis. For that reason, it's no wonder that I get totally frustrated with how the employment rate is being reported each month. At the heart of that frustration is the reported size of our workforce. Since 2008, the workforce has stopped growing. It's as if, 15 or 20 years ago, Americans stopped having children because they knew their kids wouldn't have jobs waiting for them in 2008 and beyond. Obviously, that's absurd. But, not to the people who calculate the size of the workforce and unemployment rate each month: The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS).

In essence, the workforce has remained at or below approximately 154 million workers since 2008. Yet, if we assume population growth, the current workforce should be above 160 million workers with more than 162 million by the end 2012. Instead, the BLS has arbitrarily created a bunch of "ghost" workers who don't exist and who are not being included in their monthly unemployment calculations. As a result, we are seeing a declining unemployment rate when, in fact, it has actually increased. To prove this I present the following chart:


While I have calculated that the "true" unemployment rate as being over 13%, the number might be a little lower if I had been able to determine how many unemployed workers were able to take early pensions and, as a result, may never return to the workforce. Even so, the current rate is a politically advantageous distortion of the unemployment situation in this country which works nicely towards the reelection bid of Barack Obama. Sadly, the truth is not being told.

Greece Needs Some "Tough Love"

Most everyone can recognize a spoiled brat when they see one. The brat will kick and scream or threaten to hold their breath 'till death unless mom or dad gives them what they want. The European Union, has their own spoiled brat: Greece. The Greeks are kicking and screaming with riots and widespread public strikes and refusing any and all austerity measures. Usually, it's only "tough love" that can bring a brat to its senses. I say its time for the European Union to practice some very "tough love" and cut Greece loose and allow that country to sink or swim on their own with their own currency. Otherwise, the whole European Union will be taken down by this one country's bad behavior.

The Hypocrisy of the Democrat's Calls For No Spending Cuts

From President Obama and his staff to Congressional Democrats and a bunch of left-leaning economists, all claim that any cuts in federal spending could damage our fragile economic recovery. Yet, not one of those "economic alarmists" seems to mind that Obama intends to cut billions of dollars in military spending; starting this year. Billions that go to support thousands of American jobs.

This hypocrisy just proves that the calls for cutting military spending while refusing to cut liberal, governmental programs is all about a left-wing, anti-war ideology and not about what's good for this country's long-term economic survival and protection.

Stephanopoulos: A Pawn of the White House

All this week, the Daily Caller has been publishing a series of articles on how liberal attack dog, Media Matters, is taking its "talking points" and "attack directions" from the White House and, at the same time, using connected liberal journalists to push those talking points and attacks through liberal mainstream news media and journalists. Now, an alert conservative attorney, William A. Jacobson, may have just found proof that ABC's George Stephanopoulos is one of those news media personnel who may have taken direction from the Obama White House.

He points out that, in the January 7th GOP Debate on ABC, Stephanopoulos asked each of the candidates whether or not the States could ban contraception. At the time, contraception was neither a local or national issue. So, obviously, this out-of-the-blue questioning was a real head shaker. Now, we know that, just one month later, contraception would become a national issue with the ObamaCare mandate. In retrospect, it sure looks like coordination with the White House.

You can read William A. Jacobson article at this link: Remember when no one understood why ABC asked about contraception at the NH Republican debate?

The Chevy Volt: Obama's Tax Break For The Rich

For months, now, President Obama has been preaching about fairness and how the rich should pay their fair share in taxes. Yet, for over a year, Obama has been handing out $7,000 checks to a bunch of wealthy, liberal environmentalists who bought a Chevy Volt. Last year, those checks amounted to more than $100 million of tax payer money. And, for what? A car that must be recharged for at least 10 hours a day while using up enough electricity to continuously run fourteen 100 watt light bulbs over the entire period of the recharge. And, what's really laughable about these supposedly green cars is that most of the electricity used to recharge them comes primarily from coal and other fossil fuels. But, those buying the Volt aren't really concerned about that little "dirty energy" part of their Volt ownership. Instead, they want their Volts so they can proudly "wear" them as proof of how eco-friendly they are.

For sure, the Volt is no poor-man's car. With a $41,000 price tag and with the first year costs exceeding $4500 (sales tax, vehicle tax, and insurance), your talking about spending $2000 more than what the average American makes in a year. It also means that the typical Volt owner has to be making more than the $250,000 that Obama, himself, defines as being rich.

I just think that if you're rich, and that committed to being a show-off to all your environmental friends, you don't need a tax break. But, no, Obama wants a million electric cars on the road by 2015 and he will waste as much taxpayer money he needs to in order to make that happen. In fact, his latest budget ups the $7000 tax rebate to $10,000. That's because sales of the Chevy Volts are floundering and these "pigs" could really use another 40% "lipstick" boost to attract new buyers. I'm just waiting for Obama to declare the Volt a health benefit and force the insurance companies to give them out for free. You know. just like contraceptives.

With the Contraception Mandate, Price Consciousness Just Went Out the Window

As I had mentioned before, Planned Parenthood says that a woman on birth control spends between $15 and $50 a month. That, to me, says that women are being price conscious about what birth control method they choose. Logically, price is an issue because it affects the amount of co-pay or out-of-pocket expense that they must pay every month.

So, once you make all contraceptive methods free of co-pays, penalties, and deductibles under the Obama mandate, women will no longer be price constrained and they will naturally migrate to the more expensive methods that may have several advantages over their current, cheaper prescriptions. As a consequence, you can expect the overall expense for birth control in America to rise significantly in just a few years. For you and I, this means higher and higher insurance premiums to offset those higher expenditures.

Why Obama's Compromise On Insured Contraception Is Still Wrong

After creating a firestorm over his contraception mandate, Obama announced a so-called "compromise" that he said would allow religious institutions to sidestep the moral objection of providing birth control and still provide fully-covered contraception to its employees. That compromise was to place the burden for providing birth control onto the insurance companies. But, in all too many cases, the Catholic Church is the insurer. That's because, in 28 states, the Catholic Church had already been forced to become a self-insured employer to avoid state-mandated contraception insurance coverage. Now, the Church is being sandwiched in by both the State and Federal Governments and this is why the contraception mandate is still a violation of freedom of religion as specified in the Constitution.

Obama's Miscalculation On The Birth Control/Abortion Mandate

Unless you're a liberal Catholic, most of the political left hates the Catholic Church. They hate the Church's stand on both gays and abortion. Then, too, there's the results of a recent poll done by the Public Religion Research Institute that concluded that 98% of Catholic women used birth control. So, its no wonder that Obama went ahead with the ObamaCare mandate that any Catholic institution that hires non-Catholic employees must provide free contraception as part of their health insurance policies.

So, in one fell swoop, Obama thought he had scored a political double play. First of all, he decided that by making contraception free of co-pays and deductibles, he would be able to gain back many of the female voters who had turned away from him in the last 3 years. At the same time, he was able to secure his liberal base by forcing the Catholic Church to provide both contraceptive services and, even, abortion through free access to the morning after pill. And, I am quite sure that Obama calculated little or no backlash since most Catholic women and their spouses practice birth control.

But, what Obama didn't count on was the fact that his actions would be seen as a Constitutional challenge to the freedom of religion as specified in the First Amendment. Consequently, the Catholic Church, as well as other religions, blew-back strongly on this decision because they understood that if Obama is able to subjugate religion in this case, any and all other freedoms of religion would be at risk going forward. Furthermore, by adding abortion therapies to the mandate, Obama offended more than just Catholics who are strongly against abortion. At a minimum, Obama may have offended the 46% of this country who claim to be pro-life. Then, too, of the remaining 54% who claim to be pro-choice, more than a third of those only believe that abortion should be performed in cases of rape, incest, and to save the mother's life.

Obviously, Obama is now in an untenable position. He can't rescind his decision without offending his non-Catholic political base. If he allows his decision to stand, he may be in serious reelection trouble. Of course, there have been feeble attempts to defend his position by claiming that 98% of Catholics believe in birth control. But, with freedom of religion at jeopardy and abortion being thrown into the mix, it really doesn't matter how many Catholics practice contraception. Let's face it, Obama miscalculated this one from the get-go.

Obama: The Man Who Would Be King

In an interview on NBC's Today Show, President Obama said the following: "What's frustrated people is that I've not been able to implement every aspect of what I said in 2008. Well, it turns out our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes. "

Yes sir, Mr. Obama. Our founders developed a system of government that was based on a balance of power between the Executive, Congressional, and Judicial branches of government. They did that so that people like "you" wouldn't be able to act like kings and simply run roughshod over those in this country that don't necessarily agree with you. Ours is a system that forces compromises.

Let's not forget what Thomas Jefferson once said: "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." That's why we are a republic and that's why our system of government is the longest lasting form of democracy in the world today.

ObamaCare's Free Contraception Is More Than Just A Religious Issue

All last week, the news media's attention was focused on the Catholic Church's objection to being forced to provide free conception under the latest ObamaCare edict. However, there's a bigger problem for all of us regarding the free contraception mandate. That is how much your health insurance premiums will be increased as a result of forcing insurers to provide that free contraception.

Somewhere between 60 and 80 million woman will now become eligible for this latest ObamaCare handout. Planned Parenthood estimates that women spend between $15 and $50 a month for various contraceptive methods, devices and drugs. So, when you add it all up, the health insurance industry is probably going to have to cover $30 billion dollars a year or more in providing contraception coverage. But don't expect the insurance companies to eat that cost. You and I will pay that amount in higher premiums. My guess is that it could amount to $200 to $300 in higher family insurance premiums. Once again, Obama's promise of lowered health care insurance premiums fails to be a reality.

Already, the average family's insurance premium has risen from just around $13,000 a year to over $15,000 since Obama took office. I suspect that $20,000 a year is not too far off; especially, if the President keeps mandating freebee services under ObamaCare.

Romney Is Right About Automatic Increases Of The Minimum Wage

On Friday, Rush Limbaugh railed against Mitt Romney's comments of the previous day, where Romney said he would support an automatic annual increase of the minimum wage; indexed by changes in the cost of living. Rush even went so far as to say that Mitt's position was "not conservative".

Even though I detest the minimum wage because I think it hurts businesses and actually raises unemployment, I have to agree with Mitt on this one. I think Rush is ignoring reality by being so blinded by his strong conservative ideology. The fact is that the Federal minimum wage will never go away. So, what you want to do is minimize its impact on businesses. The trouble with the minimum wage lies in the fact that, when Republicans are in power, they hardly ever vote to increase the minimum wage. Then, when the Democrats take over, raising it becomes one of their first priorities. And, they don't just raise it incrementally in small amounts. Instead, they play catchup on all the years that the Republicans neglected it. So, as a consequence, businesses are hit with massive wage hikes. For example, in 2007, the Democrats decided to up the minimum wage for the first time in years. As usual, they wanted to make up for all the lost years. As a result, businesses were hit with 3 increases in just two years with the final total being a hike of a whopping 41%; going from $5.15 an hour to $7.25. For a company of just 10 workers, that increase was equal to the 2007 pay of 4.1 additional workers. What's worse is the fact that two of those increases came at the height of the recession. It is no wonder that unemployment soared in 2008 and 2009!

In my opinion, any businessman would prefer to count on small annual increases in theminimum wage over time rather than be bludgeoned to death with massive and infrequent payroll hikes. And, I think most conservatives would agree after hearing the facts. Romney's position is better for business and that makes him a valid conservative.

More Unemployment Magic

Once again the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) has reported another truly unbelievable unemployment report with the unemployment rate dropping from 8.5% to 8.3% in a single month. Quite the feat when you compare that to all the other abysmal statistics regarding our economy:

• January saw a drop in consumer spending by 17%. And, it's consumer spending that drives 70% of our economy and, ultimately, jobs.
• January's Mass Layoffs Report was the highest in four months.
• 2011 saw the worst economic growth (GDP) in 2 years at an abysmal 1.7%
  
• Each week, more than 360,000 workers continue to lose their jobs.

The fact is that the BLS has been able to lower the unemployment rate by using a little "trick" in the way they calculate the unemployment rate. That trick is to shrink the labor force and, in doing so, create the impression that the employment situation is getting better; when, in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is that, in January, 1.2 million unemployed workers were no longer counted by the BLS as being part of the workforce because those workers were so frustrated that they stopped looking for work. And, according to the methodology used by the BLS, a unemployed worker who stops looking for work is no longer a worker. When you really think about, that 1.2 million workers is an absolutely, astounding one-month number. It's as if the entire city of Dallas, Tx. (our 9th largest city) had been jobless and then, suddenly, in January, the entire population decided to stop looking for for work.

The truth is that, if the BLS wasn't able work its magic with the numbers, the true unemployment would be closer to 11% and not hardly at today's 8.3%. And, of course, Obama should be doing cartwheels over the fact the "his" Bureau of Labor and Statistic has been able to work all this magic at a time when Obama desperately needs a declining unemployment rate in order to get reelected in the Fall.

Will Obama Find A Job For An Unemployed Engineer?

Earlier this week, in a video town hall meeting, a woman told President Obama of her husband's failure to find a job for the last three years.



Now, while it is true that American corporations, especially in the high tech fields, are having trouble finding qualified engineering applicants, this exchange between Obama and this woman leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

First of all, we don't know why her husband was laid off in the first place. Obviously, companies faced with having to let employees go don't like to lose there most valuable employees. Second, change in high tech is fast paced. For an unemployed semiconductor engineer, every day that he is out of work is a day that technological progress is passing him buy. Companies aren't in the business of on-the-job training. When they hire somebody, they expect that person to hit the ground running. Third, we don't know what metropolitan area this woman's husband is seeking a job in. If, for example, that area is already knee deep in unemployed semiconductor engineers, only the cream of the crop will fill any job openings. Definitely, his being out work for 3 years has made him less and less valuable in the current, depressed job market. Lastly, many people who are unemployed are forever stuck looking for work in the area that they currently living in. Many might be able to find jobs elsewhere in the country but, because they are so underwater on their current mortgage, they just can't relocate without facing substantial penalties on their existing mortgage commitment.

This woman's husband is a sad commentary about the years of high and long-termed unemployment in this country. While I'm sure, for political reasons, Obama will definitely find this guy a job, others in similar situations won't be as lucky. Many "high tech" professionals may never find work, again, in their chosen profession. Some may have to start all over again by applying for an entry-level engineering jobs. But, knowing Obama, my guess is that he will use this woman's husband as an example of those "bad corporations" intentionally avoiding hiring the long-term unemployed. Again, he will call for tax penalties for companies who don't hire the long-term unemployed. Just mark my words.