Jobs 

1 in 2 People are Poor or Low-Income:  While President Obama is busy touting a summer internship programs at government agencies, a new Census Bureau report shows that nearly half of all Americans are now classified as poor or low-income as a result of the Obama jobs crisis.  The 97.3 million Americans who fall into the low-income category combined with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line now equal 146.4 million people or 48 percent of the U.S. population. As the number of low income Americans breaks records, President Obama is still ignoring 28 bipartisan jobs bills stalled on Senator Harry Reid’s door step. 

Spending

U.S. Debt Now Exceeds GDP:  On November 15, 2011, the U.S. national debt eclipsed $15 trillion for the first time in our nations’ history. As of January 12, 2012, the U.S. national debt was $15.23 trillion, more than 100 percent of the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2011 (the most recent data) which was $15.17 trillion.  The national debt is now equal to $48,700 for every American or $128,300 for every U.S. household.

 Medicare

Fixing Medicare Takes More than Tweaks:  In his recent lecture “How to Think about Medicare Reform,” Heritage Foundation Scholar Stuart Butler suggests “Medicare’s financial condition is quite stagger­ing, as is its red-ink contribution to the country’s long-term fiscal picture.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary puts the program’s 75-year structural imbalance at $37 trillion.  This means we would have to find and put aside, today and in cash, $37 trillion in an interest-bearing account to honor the promises Medicare makes to today’s and future retirees.  Fixing that takes more than tweaks.”