45%: Obama’s Gallup Weekly Job Approval Drops to Second-Term Low

DO I HEAR 39%

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama’s job approval dropped to the lowest level of his second term during the week of July 29 to Aug. 4, when 45 percent of respondents told the Gallup poll they approved of the job the president was doing and 48 percent said they disapproved.

In the previous week, which ended on July 28, Obama's approval had been 46 percent in the Gallup poll and his disapproval had been 47 percent.

The last time Obama’s weekly approval dropped to 45 percent or below in the Gallup poll was the week of Aug. 27, 2012 to Sept. 2, 2012, when 44 percent said they approved of the job Obama was doing and 47 percent said they did not.

That 44 percent weekly approval rating came just two months before he was elected to a second term.

Obama’s approval rebounded in the lead up to the election, hitting 52 percent in the week that ended on Nov. 4. 2012.

This year, Obama’s approval has not been at 50 percent or higher since the week that ended May 5, when 50 percent said they approved of the job he was dong and 44 percent said they did not. Since then, his approval has been on a generally downward trend.

In Gallup’s latest three-day tracking period, which ended Sunday, only 44 percent said they approved of the job he was doing.

Last week's Gallup survey was based on interviews with 3,569 Americans.

Via: Gallop

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GM cuts plug-in Volt's price by $5,000

DO I HEAR $10,000??

General Motors Co. is slashing the price of its plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt by $5,000, making it the latest automaker to lower prices of electric vehicles in the face of lagging consumer demand.

The Detroit-based automaker said it will cut the base price 12.5 percent, from $39,995 to $34,995. The price cut comes just weeks after the automaker announced a $5,000 give-back on the 2012 Volt and $4,000 on the 2013 model.

The first Volt, a 2010 model, cost $41,000.

GM put a positive face on its decision to lower the list price.

“The lower price and cost savings from driving on electricity provide Volt owners an unmatched balance of technology, capability and cost of ownership,” said Don Johnson, U.S. vice president, Chevrolet sales and service. “We have made great strides in reducing costs as we gain experience with electric vehicles and their components.”

The 2014 Volt will arrive in dealer showrooms this month, GM said. It will be offered in two additional colors — Ashen Gray Metallic and Brownstowne Metallic — and as a leather-wrapped steering wheel. Otherwise, there are no changes.

GM expects the lease price will increase from $269 on the 2013 model to $299 for a 2014, said Michelle Malcho. The lease price is the product of negotiations with lenders.

The number one trade-in for the Volt is a Toyota Prius, she said, and the lower price is aimed at convincing more Prius owners to consider a Volt.

Volt sales in July were 3.3 percent lower than July 2012, totaling 1,788. For the first seven months of the year, they are up 9.2 percent from the same period in 2012, to 11,643. Sales jumped in June after GM introduced the new incentives

Via: Detroit News

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Obamacare: Taking Away Americans’ Health Coverage

In Indianapolis, married couple Rod Coons and Florence Peace are satisfied with their current health insurance coverage:

I’d prefer to stay with our current plan because it meets our needs.

Unfortunately, that’s not possible—because Obamacare’s government bureaucrats are forcing Coons and Peace off their health plan. As Kaiser Health News notes this morning, this couple’s current insurance won’t qualify as “government-approved” coverage under Obamacare, meaning they will have to find different coverage.

Coons knows that his current plan has a $10,000 deductible—and he’s comfortable with that fact. He says, “I’m only really interested in catastrophic coverage” in the event of a medical emergency like a heart attack. But Washington bureaucrats who think they know better will force him to change health insurance plans to meet Obamacare’s mandate to purchase insurance.

Sadly, many Americans find themselves in the same position. Kaiser Health News reports on the widespread outrage one online broker received when telling clients that their insurance does not meet Obamacare’s standards:

When online health insurance vendor ehealthinsurance.com began notifying people in non-grandfathered plans that they would have to change policies next January, they got so many calls that they shut down the planned week-long email campaign after one day. “The people that received the email were not happy at all,” says Carrie McLean, the website’s director of customer care. “They said, ‘What are you talking about? I thought I was already on an [Obamacare] plan.’”

And while Obamacare’s supporters claim the law will reduce costs, the additional mandated benefits included in the new “government-approved” insurance policies will actually raise overall health spending. The Congressional Budget Office concluded that for individuals buying health insurance on their own, the law’s mandates would lead to an “induced increase” in health spending, due to an “increase in enrollees’ use of medical care resulting from lower cost-sharing.” In other words, by increasing subsidies for health care, Obamacare will raise—not lower—both insurance premiums and overall health spending.

Via: The Foundry

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VIDEO:Obama administration is acting like 'a bunch of cowards' for closing 19 U.S. embassies in response to terror threat, blasts Texas congressman

The Obama administration has been accused of behaving 'like a bunch of cowards' after 19 embassies were closed in the wake of the Al Qaeda terror alert.

Louis Gohmert, a Republican congressman from Texas, recalled the September 11, 2012 terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Clinton famously suggested in a Senate hearing that it was largely irrelevant whether the attack was the result of a terrorist plot or - as the administration initially claimed - an outgrowth of a spontaneous anti-U.S. protest.

'It brings us back to the question that Hillary Clinton asked: "What difference does it make at this point?"' Gohmert said.

'The difference it makes,' he said, 'is that If you will bother to find out exactly what went wrong, why you didn't have security where you needed it, where you need security to shore up, what you can do to make sure that doesn't happen again, you don't have to close your embassies like a bunch of cowards that go running away.'

Some observers fear that the embassy closures are an over-compensation for the lax security in Benghazi where inadequate protection was in place despite warnings about the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. 

Meanwhile, conservatives on Capitol Hill have speculated that responding to al-Qaeda by shuttering diplomatic facilities hands a tactical victory to the terror organization

.

Texas Rep. Ted Poe, who chairs the House’s terrorism and nonproliferation subcommittee, told Foreign Policy magazine on Friday that the embassy closures are appear to be a post-Benghazi overreaction.

Via Daily Mail

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Amnesty Driven by Voodoo Economics

Voices calling for amnesty do not really understand economics or free enterprise. They offer garbled misconceptions -- with graphs. But they would be kicked out of the economics courses I took in business school. The pro-amnesty camp argues from "voodoo economics."

Amnesty will grow the economy, they argue. Well, if there are more people, technically the economy will be bigger. But each person may be poorer. A growing economy is only 'better' if the economy grows faster than the population increases. Otherwise, each individual is worse off among a larger crowd.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures total activity -- not household income for each individual family. Amnesty will create a worse economy for everyone, even if total GDP is larger. (Actually, amnesty just transfers workers from Mexico to the U.S.A., so there isn't really any growth in GDP, just a transfer.)

An estimated 30 to 40 million low-skilled workers will be added. The borders won't be secure. Millions more trespassers will invade. 'Blue card' holders can bring in their husbands, wives, children, parents, etc. to join them. Many who have already been deported can return.

Amnesty promoters insist that trespassers won't get a green card until the borders are secure. But, who cares? RPI status does everything a green card does except it just isn't green. 'Registered Provisional Immigrant' status will be granted 6 months after Obama signs a bill. Some are calling RPI status the new 'blue card' -- blue for States that vote Democrat.

Via: American Thinker

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