(Editors note: These facts have been taken from factcheck.org. Caution: no single number can tell the whole story.)
Biden and Ryan sparred over the effect of Obamas proposed tax policies on small business and job creation. Ryan: This one tax would actually tax about 53 percent of small-business income. Its expected to cost us 710,000 jobs. Biden: Let me tell you who some of those other small businesses are: hedge funds that make $600 million, $800 million a year. Thats thats what they count as small businesses, because theyre pass-through. Biden was right on that point. A $600-million-a-year hedge fund would indeed qualify as a small business by Ryans misleading definition.
Biden claimed that Ryan cut embassy security in his budget $300 million below what we asked for. Thats an exaggeration. The fiscal year 2012 funding was $264 million less than the administration had requested, and the funding isnt only for security.
Ryan was incorrect when he said, Thats how its (the unemployment rate) going all around America. The unemployment rate nationwide is now exactly the same as it was when Obama took office 7.8 percent (and has been going down since it hit a peak of 10 percent in October 2009).
Ryan: Was it a good idea to spend taxpayer dollars on electric cars in Finland. The first government loans to Fisker $169 million in loan guarantees went toward design, engineering, sales and marketing work done in the U.S.
Biden quoted Romney as saying that he would not move heaven and earth to get Osama bin Laden. Romney said Bin Laden wasnt the only one he would go after, and that the country should have an effective strategy to defeat global, violent Jihad rather than just trying to catch one person.
Ryan said that the actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services came to Congress and said one out of six hospitals and nursing homes are going to go out of business as a result of the federal health care law. Medicares chief actuary, Richard Foster, said his offices economic stimulation suggest that roughly 15 percent of Part A providers would become unprofitable within the 10-year projection period as a result of the productivity adjustments in Medicare payment rates. That could lead some providers to end their participation in the program. The House Republicans adopted the Ryan budget, containing the same reductions in the future growth of Medicare Part A spending as the Affordable Care Act. Hospitals that would go out of business because of the ACA would be just as likely to close its doors under Ryans budget. Ryan is being inconsistent, when he criticizes the administration on that point.
Ryan said that there was taxpayer funding of abortion in Obamacare. The ACA provides no direct federal funding of abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. Those are the same rules that have applied for many years to Medicaid coverage. Ryan was wrong when he said premiums had gone up $3,000 because of the health care law. The average premium for a family work-based policy has gone up $1,975 between 2010 and 2012, and the average single policy has gone up $566. The federal health care law was responsible for a 1 percent to 3 percent increase because of more generous coverage requirements. Ryan also exaggerated with the claim that 20 million people
are projected to lose their health insurance if Obamacare goes through. That comes from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that said it was likely that 3 million to 5 million would no longer get insurance through their employers, with some of those individuals dropping their insurance voluntarily to instead choose to obtain coverage from another source. Ryans $20 million figure came from a pessimistic scenario that the March 2012 report said relied on extreme assumptions. An optimistic scenario found that the number on work-based coverage would increase by 3 million.
Source: http://www.factcheck.org/
