@Vitaliy_Kiselev, Clinton came into the presidency at a time when the country was very much center-right in terms of the policies they supported. The Democrats had been in disarray for a while and needed to change in order to appeal the American public. So Clinton went along with some of the Right Wing proposals from the Republican Congress at the time. Those moves in particular NAFTA and continued deregulation of Wall Street helped to continue the problems we see today in terms of loss of jobs and the financial collapse.

The Issue with NAFTA was a loss in Unionized manufacturing jobs.

Maquiladoras (Mexican factories that take in imported raw materials and produce goods for export) have become the landmark of trade in Mexico. These are plants that moved to this region from the United States, hence the debate over the loss of American jobs.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/18/five-bad-clinton-and-bush-era-policies-that-caused-the-great-recession-2/#ixzz2KKwVIWDA

The expanded mandate of Fannie and Freddie - The housing collapse can very likely be traced back the Clinton administration’s pressuring of Fannie and Freddie to encourage more home buying. The Community Reinvestment Act, for example — in which banks were encouraged to people who normally would not be worthy of obtaining home loans Repeal of Glass-Steagall – Enacted by FDR after the Great Depression, a main provision of Glass-Steagall was seperating investment banking from commercial banking. But in 1999, the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (passed by a majority of Republicans and signed by Bill Clinton) repealed that provision. The problem, of course, is that this encouraged banks to be speculative — to take risks, knowing all along that the FDIC would insure their loss.

@Aria Good on you for shining the light on this history. You sound like a Thom Hartmann viewer ;)

if I remember correctly NAFTA was billed as an exchange with mexico and great for economy and American manufacturers. I was too young at the time to really look at the deeper politics of it, I remember some people rumbling about loss of jobs, but it always seemed even more Americans were asleep at the wheel in the late 80's and early 90`s, and as Aria mentioned liberals leaned more towards Center. I mean for fucks sake, that "Proud to be an American" song was in the top 40 for how long?

Due to their efforts we've seen added Manufacturing in the US for the 1st time in decades.

Chart and link, please.

An example is the Financial Rescue of the US Auto Industry which was opposed by the Republicans entirely. It turns out that Obama and the Dems were right and now we have many new jobs just from that act alone.

Same.

Obama also pushed for funding of renewable energy research and development that has also led to more jobs in Wind, Solar and Lithium Power Cell development and manufacturing. If not for the Republicans blocking such efforts we'd be back at full employment already.

Same, show me financial results and number of created jobs with references. Also list companies who got hundereds of millions and went out of business, please.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev, sorry I don't have a handy chart, but there are many reports that support what i'm saying about manufacturing.

http://www.esa.doc.gov/Blog/2012/08/06/us-manufacturing-continues-create-jobs-us

Earlier Friday, August 3rd, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released a report showing that the private sector added 172,000 jobs last month, and overall employment rose by 163,000. While there’s more work to be done, the economy is creating jobs on a consistent basis. The economy has added private sector jobs for 29 straight months, for a total of 4.5 million jobs. In fact, since the beginning of the year, the economy has added over 1.1 million private sector jobs. Today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Additionally, the BLS report also showed that the manufacturing sector continues to be a bright spot, which is especially important for middle class families, because these jobs pay high wages and provide high levels of benefits. The good news is that the U.S. manufacturing sector’s recovery continues: 532,000 new manufacturing jobs have been created over the past 30 months, with 25,000 being added in July. In terms of production, manufacturing output is up 19.8 percent from the trough reached in June 2009. A part of manufacturing that has been consistently strong is the motor vehicles and parts industry which has added 165,000 jobs since June 2009. Further, production of cars and trucks in the U.S. reached 10.5 million units at an annual rate in June, a sharp contrast to the shockingly low level of 3.7 million units witnessed in January 2009. To continue the revival in manufacturing jobs and output, it is crucial that we implement President Obama’s proposals providing tax incentives for manufacturers, supporting training for the workforce, creating manufacturing hubs, and ending tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas and provide tax incentives for companies bringing jobs back to the United States. One reason manufacturing has rebounded is because of the growth in U.S. exports. Between 2009 and 2011, manufactured exports jumped 36.4 percent ( $292 billion). Exports have increased in nearly all categories, and exports of motor vehicles and parts have reached all time highs. This increase in exports is due to several factors, one being that our manufacturers have become more competitive. One measure of increase in competitiveness is productivity. According to the Department of Labor, manufacturing productivity increased 15.1 percent in the past 3 years.

Solyndra was really not the whole story. There were far more successes than failures in that area.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/renewable-energies-weigh-in-on-obama-victory

Industry Experts Convey Renewed Hope Rhone Resch, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), shares Sklar’s optimism and calls Obama “a tremendous supporter of solar energy.” Resch foresees a continuation of support for solar power from the Obama administration, which he says has been greatly instrumental in the industry’s job growth. “Today, the solar industry employs more than 119,000 Americans at 5,600 companies, mostly small businesses, across all 50 states – this is more than double the number of Americans working in solar in 2009,” Resch said in a press release published today. Resch added that since Obama’s election in 2008, “the amount of solar powering homes, businesses, and military bases has grown by 400 percent – from 1,100 megawatts in 2008 to more than 5,700 megawatts today. The Administration enacted a policy allowing solar installations for the first time on public lands and set a goal to permit 10 gigawatts of additional renewable energy projects on public lands by the end of 2012, which has been a great driver of this growth.” Resch also cited figures that show U.S. solar power installations in 2012 will be “another year of record growth” for the solar industry.

IMO the only thing holding the US back is the Republican obstruction of what Obama and the Democrats are trying to do. If we had actually enacted Obama's "American Jobs Act", we would've seen a tremendous increase in jobs and the economy would be booming right now. There is literally no economist who can say that what Obama did since taking office has not helped to keep the US from slipping further down, but instead has shown moderate growth due to his policies. The Right wing can hate him all they want but he's been mostly right on his decisions for the country.

@jfilmmaker, I don't completely disagree with you about Obama being a bit too happy to move towards the Right and not being progressive enough in some ways, but before you get on him too much understand that what he did with the Auto Bailout and most importantly with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or Stimulus Plan as it's known, was in fact the most ambitious progressive social effort since the New Deal and NEVER has any president been able to do as much for the poor and middle class as Obama did in those moves alone. Do you realize that his actions will have ongoing impact on progressive programs for many years to come? $831 Billion for progressive programs from 2009-2019. No president has ever done this much progressive expansion.

Then add in Healthcare reform which no other president has ever been able to get passed thru. Not to mention Gay Rights and his efforts to push for Immigration Reform. You will look back in history at this president and realize that he will go down as one of the best US presidents of all time. Especially progressive presidents. He realizes that he had to take a more Centrist tack in order to appeal to the broader populace in general. No one can accuse him of being some hyper liberal president even tho the Republicans have tried. But it failed cuz the American people don't see him that way. They see him as reasonable.

Also keep this in mind. He doesn't always go for the whole bite and that isn't a bad thing. No overreach and once the programs are established they will only grow more progressive over time.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev,

I know things look bad to you but i've lived long enough to know that this country is amazingly resilient. The budget deficit will be solved. Also having a social safety net is not a bad thing. It's not like Obama caused all those people to be out of work or on food stamps. It's his policies that have started to bring this country back and provided for those who fell on hard times. If not for the obstruction of the Republicans we'd be back at full employment and the deficit issues would be resolved already. It's the Republican refusal to get rid of Tax breaks for the rich and corporations, Big Oil and Big Farm subsidies that are adding to the deficit.

Tell me what is wrong with investing in infrastructure, education and research and development? What was wrong with saving the Auto Industry and millions of jobs? What was wrong with reigning in Wall Street and protecting consumers from predatory lenders? I could go on about the many programs Obama has instituted that are already showing positive progress. The deficit has been shrinking every year under Obama. Jobs are coming back and should be coming back faster if he was allowed to do what he wanted. I'm very optimistic about the country's future.

the stability of a country far outweighs the numbers of a fake financial system.

I am not in love with Obama, and he has engaged in clear war crimes (nothing as bad as the former regime), allowed criminals in the financial industry to walk the streets when they should be locked up, and completely dropped the ball on the climate summits.

However his very bad decisions aside, the initial momentum he created which gave people hope, and the continued blockade he has placed against some of the most absurd right wing attempts to bring America to it's knees has been the difference between a fucked nation of peasants and a nation that can see the tides of change moving in the right direction, slowly, and not without turbulence and mishaps, but nonetheless. With Mitt the Twit, or the little old leprechaun, we would have went to a very very dark place in history. The US people are essentially the block that holds up the world. Like it or not, we are stubborn as shit, and if we bent over and took the Republicans BS the whole world would be working for peanuts very soon after.

There is no easy way to float a ship that so many are trying to sink, but the ship is afloat nonetheless.

The financial system has been unstable for a very long time. It is just out in the open now. Until crooks that create the instability are behind bars there will be no lasting confidence in this broken system. I have faith in people, not a game of monopoly where people hide cards under the table, and give their friends running the bank get out of jail free cards so they can all keep passing go and collecting $2trillion dollars.

Economies are an illusion that leads to destruction. Environment, Resources and Survival need to be the worlds true focus. Realizing most don't see it as simply, A responsible economic system aimed at keeping a stable environment while using as little natural resources as possible to ensure the survival of the planet needs to be our immediate goal.