Ten Truths about Speaker Pelosi

1. She's consistently supported raising the minimum wage. When the minimum wage meets or exceeds inflation, local economies benefit.

2. She's supported defense appropriations bills and others to help the men and women in the U.S. armed forces everywhere in the world.

3. She favored extending children's health insurance and unemployment benefits.

4. She's voted for virtually every law aimed at cleaning up air and water.

5. She supported No Child Left Behind and has consistently backed more help for public education.

6. She was all for a national AMBER alert system for kids.

7. She backed reform of campaign financing to lessen the influence of special interest money.

8. She talks constantly about expanding and protecting Medicare and Social Security.

9. When some House Democrats talked about impeaching President Bush, she said no.

10. She backed the president on health care reform so all Americans could get it and afford it.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/25/102405/commentary-pelosi-haters-havent.html#ixzz13Nqwp9KK

Let's Start With the Facts

1) Myth: President Obama tripled the deficit.

Reality: Bush’s last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama’s first reduced that to $1.29 trillion. The Federal deficit is $120B less this year than last according to the Congressional Budget Office http://bit.ly/a5Qord

2) Myth: President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.

Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the “stimulus” was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) Myth: President Obama bailed out the banks.

Reality: While many people conflate the “stimulus” with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be “non-reviewable by any court or any agency.”) The bailouts passed and beganbefore the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) Myth: The stimulus didn’t work.

Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Myth: Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.

Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Myth: Health care reform costs $1 trillion.

Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Myth: Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is “going broke,” people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.

Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Myth: Government spending takes money out of the economy.

Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on “welfare” and “foreign aid” when that is only a small part of the government’s budget.