DRW Editor: Our debate-style column experiment continues. Each author was given
200 words at a time to make their point before the other had the opportunity to respond.
GARY LAZARUS for the left
ART WAGANHEIM for the right
ART The numbers are in. Unemployment is up. The stimulus plan did not create any meaningful number of jobs. The value of the dollar is an embarrassment to the nation. And although the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) did have a positive 3rd Quarter, it was mostly from car and new home sales pushed forward by the billions of clunker dollars and first time homebuyer credits. So it appears that Obamanomics has been a resounding failure. So the question is: What would I do if I could wave a magic wand to fix the economy? We again need to make the United States the preferred place for companies to source their labor and materials rather than seeing them outsource to less expensive countries. We can do that by following the model of Ireland and most former Soviet states which slashed their corporate taxes to attract
business investment. We also need to vote down Obama’s proposed carbon Cap & Tax program which will only chase more business overseas. And, as politically incorrect as it may sound, we need to get government out of many non-essential services and allow taxpaying private industry to handle those jobs as long as the cost to the taxpayer is low and the workforce remains sufficient in size.
GARY Respectfully, the idea that “any” President can fix the unmitigated disaster of “Bushonomics” in a mere 10 months is preposterous on it’s face. In fairness, George W. Bush was merely continuing “Reaganomics”, whose rallying cry was “Government isn’t the solution, Government is the problem.” This was the thinly
disguised “marketing ploy” of the corporate and financial elite, who perpetuated this “fraud” so that they can destroy the labor movement in this country through outsourcing, and with it, the middle class. Now, America is nothing more than a failing democracy which more accurately resembles a “plutocracy” or an “oligarchy”, evidenced by the fact that from 1983-2004, an astounding 94% of the wealth
accumulated in America went to the top 20%. Art, you correctly argue that we must return jobs to America, but I cringe at the notion that you want to reward the same corporate elite with even more tax cuts. The percentage of U.S. Government revenues coming from corporations has fallen from over 50% in the 1940’s to 7.4% in 2003, an historic low. That same year, 61% of US corporations paid NO taxes. Quite simply, the corporate and financial elite in this country, aka the “Gloablists”, have sold out America. Until we ALL unite behind this FACT, America is beyond repair.
ART I find it interesting that whenever the Left is asked for a solution to an economic problem, it always ends up first becoming an issue of class warfare. They always blame businesses and rich people for their greed in causing a declining economy. The only time they say that government may be at fault is when it did not tax those folks enough. As for Gary’s comment that corporate tax contributions are
low, it is because they moved many of their operations overseas where corporate taxes are much lower than they are in the United States. That process is no different than what the State of New York is realizing today when it increased taxes on their highest earning citizens and those folks simply moved to another state. The bottom line is that JFK, Reagan, and Bush got it right. If you lower corporate taxes as I have suggested, you will attract more taxpayers and economic activity with the end result being higher tax revenues. Our economy is fixable. Unfortunately with Obama-Reid-Pelosi in control of our federal government, their policies will only delay the normal business cycle recovery and may actually reverse it with their
quest for higher tax rates and regulation. And their plans for more government bureaucracy will cost – rather than generate – new revenues.
GARY Art, you are 100% correct. This is class warfare, which has been waged by the corporate and financial elite against the middle class for decades through outsourcing and off-shoring. Long before this “banking crisis” began in 2007, tens of millions of jobs had been sent overseas for one reason: Corporate Greed. America has lost its textile industry, furniture industry and much of its automobile industry. Even the defense industry is slowly being moved overseas. Boeing needs
parts from India to build a fighter jet. Sikorsky can’t build a helicopter without obtaining the tail motor from Turkey. Vital American technology has been sent overseas as well. Westinghouse Nuclear has gone to Japan, and Bell Labs – along with its research patents – has gone to France. IBM has moved its purchasing headquarters to China. In the last ten years alone, we have lost 1/3rd of our manufacturing jobs. America had more manufacturing jobs in 1941 than it has today. Art, we are not in a recession, we are in permanent decline which has been concealed for years by the “financial gang” on Wall Street through the use of Fraudulent Financial Bubbles. (Tech Stocks, Subprime Mortgages and Commodities.) The “Globalists” aka the “free traders” are destroying America.
ART It is not class warfare Gary. In a capitalist economy, money always flows to where it can most efficiently be utilized. If you want those American jobs back, then you need to make the cost of those jobs attractive to that money flow. And I will repeat again that lowering corporate taxes on manufacturers and service centers based in the United States is the best option for bringing back those jobs. The
only alternative is for the federal government to impose such high duties or limits on imported goods that our labor costs become attractive by default. Is that what you want to do Gary? History already proved that such actions can cause worldwide depressions. It was called the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930. I will also add that offering verifiable short-term new jobs credits to American businesses of all
sizes could spark the necessary hiring to get the economy roaring again. And such new jobs could prompt increased consumer spending levels which will generate the demand for those jobs to be ongoing. It is also important to note that American consumers benefit daily from the low prices available because of the benefits of lower-cost goods and services currently being imported. Gary, are you suggesting that
we force the public to pay more for those items to protect American jobs? I do, however, agree with you that any items dealing with national defense should not be allowed to be produced overseas and I would support any Congressional efforts to eliminate those current trends.
GARY Throughout history, whenever we defer to the elite, and allow them to operate without proper oversight and regulation, they destroy the economy. That was the lesson from the first “Robber Baron” era and that is the lesson today. Here are my solutions: 1) Repeal the IRS Code that gives incentives for corporations to off-shore and outsource. 2) Redraft NAFTA and all existing trade agreements until they are re-worded to better protect American workers. 3) Re-institute the Glass-Stegall Act so that our banking system no longer resembles a high risk casino. 3) Regulate ALL derivatives trading and stop the shenanigans on Wall Street, including the parasitic nature of private equity firms. 4) Have the federal government offer NO INTEREST loans directly to all small businesses that employ 100% Americans. That’s a
good start. However, I’m sorry to say that this is a pipe dream because it appears that both political parties are now wholly owned subsidiaries of the Corporate Globalists. Until public financing of all political campaigns is passed, very little will change.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Shining City Or Rotting Corpse? - October 2009
In his column last month, my esteemed opponent On The Left said our country was no longer the shining city on the hill that President Ronald Reagan called it. Instead, my opponent said the United States was now a “rotting corpse”.
Despite my initial shock, I have actually come to possibly agree with him but for different reasons. These United States are no longer the bastion of freedom and liberty envisioned and protected by our founding fathers. Political correctness has frozen unbridled free speech. For many citizens, more than half of their earnings now go to federal, state, and local governments. And the lack of civility and respect for our fellow citizens has never been worse in my lifetime.
Despite all of the campaign talk by candidate Obama about him being The One to heal the partisan and racial divide in our country, he and his team of community activists in his regime are actually taking us back to the troubled 1950s and 1960s when every social and economic challenge had a racial or class tinge to it.
Nothing gets me angrier than hearing that those of us who are against his big government radical plans only do so because he is a black President. Or that since we have money in the bank, we are immoral for not wanting the federal government to redistribute more of it to those of lesser economic means. The lefties in the national media even tried to discredit the recent wildly successful concerned citizens’ march on Washington as being motivated by hatred for Obama’s skin color and because of greed.
And of course, Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina was actually reprimanded by Congress at the urging of the Black Caucus for blurting “You Lie” when Obama gave another of his partisan speeches on healthcare during an unnecessary Joint Session of Congress. I think the Black Caucus would serve the country better by forcing the reprimand of Charlie Rangel, the long-time black Congressman from Harlem, who still heads the tax writing House Ways and Means Committee despite being investigated for tax fraud and misuse of rent-controlled apartments in New York City.
But our country’s current decline is from more than the Obama plague and its divisive fever. The overall political situation in Washington and in many state capitals is no longer focused on helping citizens but instead on rewarding clients of the biggest campaign contributors and lobbyists. Sadly, a Congressman’s number one job requirement these days is being able to raise enough money for their next election. Of course we always hear there is no “quid pro quo” for those campaign donations. Tell that to the head of the Service Employees International Union who has bragged about his easy access to policy makers these days.
Both of the primary national political parties in this country have mostly morphed into full time job machines for their politicians, aides, and favored vendors. Whatever happened to the belief in citizen legislators who go about their personal business most of the year and go to Washington as needed to debate and legislate. Instead, we now have many members of Congress who have served a majority of their lives on the public dole rather than staying grounded in reality with other professions as most state legislators still do. And we are asked to applaud these Congressmen upon their retirement or death. We need term limits for the Congress just as we have for the Presidency and its executive staff.
Our capitalist market system is also suffering from too much self-interest. Like when GE had all of the media outlets it owns focus on “being green” which implicitly helped its energy and lighting divisions. Or when AIG took billions of dollars of government bailout money, paid many of those same billions to repay its debt to Goldman Sachs, which then repaid billions of its own bailout debt from Uncle Sam so that Goldman Sachs could clear its account and be free to pay enormous bonuses to its top 2,000 employees. From my basic understanding of math, Goldman Sachs simply paid back the government with government money from AIG while keeping its original bailout funds for its own self-interest.
Despite my current Carter-like malaise about America, I still believe most of its people are vigilant about maintaining it proper course and will come out in droves in 2010 to get rid of most of the trouble makers in Congress so that our country can again be that shining city on the hill.
Despite my initial shock, I have actually come to possibly agree with him but for different reasons. These United States are no longer the bastion of freedom and liberty envisioned and protected by our founding fathers. Political correctness has frozen unbridled free speech. For many citizens, more than half of their earnings now go to federal, state, and local governments. And the lack of civility and respect for our fellow citizens has never been worse in my lifetime.
Despite all of the campaign talk by candidate Obama about him being The One to heal the partisan and racial divide in our country, he and his team of community activists in his regime are actually taking us back to the troubled 1950s and 1960s when every social and economic challenge had a racial or class tinge to it.
Nothing gets me angrier than hearing that those of us who are against his big government radical plans only do so because he is a black President. Or that since we have money in the bank, we are immoral for not wanting the federal government to redistribute more of it to those of lesser economic means. The lefties in the national media even tried to discredit the recent wildly successful concerned citizens’ march on Washington as being motivated by hatred for Obama’s skin color and because of greed.
And of course, Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina was actually reprimanded by Congress at the urging of the Black Caucus for blurting “You Lie” when Obama gave another of his partisan speeches on healthcare during an unnecessary Joint Session of Congress. I think the Black Caucus would serve the country better by forcing the reprimand of Charlie Rangel, the long-time black Congressman from Harlem, who still heads the tax writing House Ways and Means Committee despite being investigated for tax fraud and misuse of rent-controlled apartments in New York City.
But our country’s current decline is from more than the Obama plague and its divisive fever. The overall political situation in Washington and in many state capitals is no longer focused on helping citizens but instead on rewarding clients of the biggest campaign contributors and lobbyists. Sadly, a Congressman’s number one job requirement these days is being able to raise enough money for their next election. Of course we always hear there is no “quid pro quo” for those campaign donations. Tell that to the head of the Service Employees International Union who has bragged about his easy access to policy makers these days.
Both of the primary national political parties in this country have mostly morphed into full time job machines for their politicians, aides, and favored vendors. Whatever happened to the belief in citizen legislators who go about their personal business most of the year and go to Washington as needed to debate and legislate. Instead, we now have many members of Congress who have served a majority of their lives on the public dole rather than staying grounded in reality with other professions as most state legislators still do. And we are asked to applaud these Congressmen upon their retirement or death. We need term limits for the Congress just as we have for the Presidency and its executive staff.
Our capitalist market system is also suffering from too much self-interest. Like when GE had all of the media outlets it owns focus on “being green” which implicitly helped its energy and lighting divisions. Or when AIG took billions of dollars of government bailout money, paid many of those same billions to repay its debt to Goldman Sachs, which then repaid billions of its own bailout debt from Uncle Sam so that Goldman Sachs could clear its account and be free to pay enormous bonuses to its top 2,000 employees. From my basic understanding of math, Goldman Sachs simply paid back the government with government money from AIG while keeping its original bailout funds for its own self-interest.
Despite my current Carter-like malaise about America, I still believe most of its people are vigilant about maintaining it proper course and will come out in droves in 2010 to get rid of most of the trouble makers in Congress so that our country can again be that shining city on the hill.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Obamacare - September 2009
I have written several columns in the past few years about our country’s broken healthcare system. For those of you who may recall those columns, I opined that our healthcare delivery system needs to be improved and soon. I even remember stating that a properly designed single payer system with private industry management would be better than the current mess we have although such a system will never be my first choice.
So before I get labeled as “un-American”, “rude”, or “right wing wacko” as those who are against the proposed Obamacare program are being called by the White House spinsters and the national media, and before one of you sends my name to Obama’s new rat out your neighbor campaign being managed directly by the White House, let me explain why I am against the poorly designed government led nationalization of our healthcare system as is being proposed by the radical left of the Democratic Party in Congress and being sold to the American public by President Obama as the plan for which the country has been waiting.
To put it simply, the most recent 1,018 page version of Obamacare as passed by a key House committee is a joke. It is full of so many contradictions, ambiguities, and special interest provisions, that it will create more of a mess than we currently have and will seriously intrude on our privacy rights as citizens and will notably affect the doctor-patient relationship in ways not yet fully understood. Congress should not pass something just to say that it did so. We saw what happened with the $ 800 billion stimulus disaster which has not stopped 3 million more Americans from losing their jobs and even with the $ 3 billion cash for clunkers program which has mainly subsidized foreign car manufacturers.
With regards to House Bill 3200, aka Obamacare, you should be concerned about its passage for a number of reasons. First and foremost is its $ 1 trillion dollar cost. The last thing this country can currently afford is to take on more debt to pay for a program that even the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says will still leave nearly 20 million citizens uninsured! Wasn’t this the primary purpose of Obamacare? The second major reason for concern is the intrusiveness of this healthcare scheme into your daily lives. Were you aware that the legislation will authorize employees of a new Health Choices Administration to access your tax returns to ensure your compliance with Obamacare? Or that federal bureaucrats will be empowered to go to your home and tell you how to raise your children? And, of course, there has been much talk about Obamacare encouraging cost-saving “end of life” discussions with your doctor.
Where in the United States Constitution does it say the federal government can or should be involved in your personal health decisions by mandating your involvement in a healthcare program which it controls through its own proposed and subsidized insurance exchanges or by mandating coverage requirements for private plans? It is one thing if we voluntarily join Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA program but it is another thing to force us to ultimately join a government plan as will happen with Obamacare. No wonder the American public is delirious with anger and overwhelming Congressmen and Senators with pointed questions at Town Hall Meetings. It is amusing to see how few of these elected officials are even capable of answering the questions. Perhaps this is why our own Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has decided to not appear at any such public meetings here. Instead, she is promising to hold a conference call by phone during which she will be able to pick the questions.
Thankfully the tide is quickly turning against this attempt to ruin the best of our healthcare system by changing it completely rather than just improving what we have. The AARP has recently reversed its position from originally supporting Obamacare after tens of thousands of its members bombarded its headquarters with letters and emails saying they want to keep their privately run Medicare Advantage HMO plans which Obamacare will eliminate. And even the national media is starting to publicize the perhaps illegal, hardball tactics, which Obama tried to maneuver secretly behind closed doors with the American Hospital Association, big PhRMA (pharmaceutical industry), the American Medical Association, and other key stake holders to buy off their support with threats to hurt them economically if they did not. Yes, we can stop this proposed disaster!
So before I get labeled as “un-American”, “rude”, or “right wing wacko” as those who are against the proposed Obamacare program are being called by the White House spinsters and the national media, and before one of you sends my name to Obama’s new rat out your neighbor campaign being managed directly by the White House, let me explain why I am against the poorly designed government led nationalization of our healthcare system as is being proposed by the radical left of the Democratic Party in Congress and being sold to the American public by President Obama as the plan for which the country has been waiting.
To put it simply, the most recent 1,018 page version of Obamacare as passed by a key House committee is a joke. It is full of so many contradictions, ambiguities, and special interest provisions, that it will create more of a mess than we currently have and will seriously intrude on our privacy rights as citizens and will notably affect the doctor-patient relationship in ways not yet fully understood. Congress should not pass something just to say that it did so. We saw what happened with the $ 800 billion stimulus disaster which has not stopped 3 million more Americans from losing their jobs and even with the $ 3 billion cash for clunkers program which has mainly subsidized foreign car manufacturers.
With regards to House Bill 3200, aka Obamacare, you should be concerned about its passage for a number of reasons. First and foremost is its $ 1 trillion dollar cost. The last thing this country can currently afford is to take on more debt to pay for a program that even the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says will still leave nearly 20 million citizens uninsured! Wasn’t this the primary purpose of Obamacare? The second major reason for concern is the intrusiveness of this healthcare scheme into your daily lives. Were you aware that the legislation will authorize employees of a new Health Choices Administration to access your tax returns to ensure your compliance with Obamacare? Or that federal bureaucrats will be empowered to go to your home and tell you how to raise your children? And, of course, there has been much talk about Obamacare encouraging cost-saving “end of life” discussions with your doctor.
Where in the United States Constitution does it say the federal government can or should be involved in your personal health decisions by mandating your involvement in a healthcare program which it controls through its own proposed and subsidized insurance exchanges or by mandating coverage requirements for private plans? It is one thing if we voluntarily join Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA program but it is another thing to force us to ultimately join a government plan as will happen with Obamacare. No wonder the American public is delirious with anger and overwhelming Congressmen and Senators with pointed questions at Town Hall Meetings. It is amusing to see how few of these elected officials are even capable of answering the questions. Perhaps this is why our own Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has decided to not appear at any such public meetings here. Instead, she is promising to hold a conference call by phone during which she will be able to pick the questions.
Thankfully the tide is quickly turning against this attempt to ruin the best of our healthcare system by changing it completely rather than just improving what we have. The AARP has recently reversed its position from originally supporting Obamacare after tens of thousands of its members bombarded its headquarters with letters and emails saying they want to keep their privately run Medicare Advantage HMO plans which Obamacare will eliminate. And even the national media is starting to publicize the perhaps illegal, hardball tactics, which Obama tried to maneuver secretly behind closed doors with the American Hospital Association, big PhRMA (pharmaceutical industry), the American Medical Association, and other key stake holders to buy off their support with threats to hurt them economically if they did not. Yes, we can stop this proposed disaster!
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Cap & Tax - August 2009
When candidate Barack Obama was asked last summer his opinion of the then $ 4.00 per gallon gasoline, he responded by saying he was surprised it had risen to that level as quickly as it had. Obama never said he was concerned about its price or its impact on the American consumer. He seemed content that the American public was capable of adjusting to that price and changing their lifestyles to limit use of their automobiles and leisure travel on airplanes.
Well, you can get ready for gasoline costing that much or more in the months to come if the Obama regime’s Cap & Tax scheme is passed by the Senate this fall, is aligned with the House bill which already passed by only 7 votes, and is signed by a President who believes he is the person the world has been waiting for to lead the United States in a new direction to combat carbon pollution and global warming.
Of course Obama and his misguided political friends still think man is to blame for current climate trends rather than Mother Nature. Then again, maybe Obama is also capable of eliminating volcanoes, forest fires, sun spots and cow farts since they are among the leading sources of carbon in our atmosphere. But first he has to get the global climate to start warming again since it has actually been cooling for the past few years!
Too bad Obama wants to move one direction on global carbon control efforts while the world is already moving away from such Cap & Trade programs. In recent months countries like New Zealand - known for its strong environmental laws - and its neighbor Australia have scrapped their efforts while France and Great Britain and other European countries are rethinking their plans due to the fact that carbon emissions have not been reduced by their cap schemes and they are now dealing with the unexpected consequences of skyrocketing energy prices and lost jobs as businesses have moved manufacturing to countries with no carbon limits. And of course Obama failed miserably at the recent G8 Summit to get his fellow world leaders to agree on anything let alone carbon control issues.
I am not against the market realities of rising prices from high demand and limited supplies changing people’s consumption behavior. But I am very much against Uncle Sam forcing such a market reaction by playing God and saying we can only use a certain amount of oil, coal, or gas or be penalized or taxed to limit our use. Obama wants to force us to use alternate energy solutions now before they are perfected. He wants to make them economically feasible only by pricing traditional sources so high with his new cap taxes that we will want to use those other sources regardless of the overall impact on our economy of higher prices for all goods and services which have energy costs built into them.
As for the actual Cap & Tax bill passed by United States House of Representatives, it will not even accomplish what Obama wants to do – if he is really concerned about carbon emissions and not just getting the hundreds of billions of dollars of expected government fee collections - since the bill only starts to require notable emission drops many decades from now. But it sure will cost jobs and the American economy well before then. It is expected that hundreds of manufacturers based in the United States will move production and jobs to Asian countries which will not have similar carbon cap restrictions.
Worse is the need for more than 30 new and existing government agencies to help regulate the Cap & Tax process and the tens of thousands of newly hired bureaucrats to do so. And who do you think will be paying for all of that? Obama’s program will also crush the existing home market as one of the little publicized provisions included in the 300 pages of amendments to the House bill will require you to get an energy audit of your home before selling it so the buyer knows the energy efficiency of your house. And then local bureaucrats will be required to make sure the necessary changes to the existing home are made to bring it up to energy saving codes.
All in all, Obama’s Cap & Tax plan is nothing more than a new government money grab to address an alleged environmental issue which has already been debunked as phony science.
Well, you can get ready for gasoline costing that much or more in the months to come if the Obama regime’s Cap & Tax scheme is passed by the Senate this fall, is aligned with the House bill which already passed by only 7 votes, and is signed by a President who believes he is the person the world has been waiting for to lead the United States in a new direction to combat carbon pollution and global warming.
Of course Obama and his misguided political friends still think man is to blame for current climate trends rather than Mother Nature. Then again, maybe Obama is also capable of eliminating volcanoes, forest fires, sun spots and cow farts since they are among the leading sources of carbon in our atmosphere. But first he has to get the global climate to start warming again since it has actually been cooling for the past few years!
Too bad Obama wants to move one direction on global carbon control efforts while the world is already moving away from such Cap & Trade programs. In recent months countries like New Zealand - known for its strong environmental laws - and its neighbor Australia have scrapped their efforts while France and Great Britain and other European countries are rethinking their plans due to the fact that carbon emissions have not been reduced by their cap schemes and they are now dealing with the unexpected consequences of skyrocketing energy prices and lost jobs as businesses have moved manufacturing to countries with no carbon limits. And of course Obama failed miserably at the recent G8 Summit to get his fellow world leaders to agree on anything let alone carbon control issues.
I am not against the market realities of rising prices from high demand and limited supplies changing people’s consumption behavior. But I am very much against Uncle Sam forcing such a market reaction by playing God and saying we can only use a certain amount of oil, coal, or gas or be penalized or taxed to limit our use. Obama wants to force us to use alternate energy solutions now before they are perfected. He wants to make them economically feasible only by pricing traditional sources so high with his new cap taxes that we will want to use those other sources regardless of the overall impact on our economy of higher prices for all goods and services which have energy costs built into them.
As for the actual Cap & Tax bill passed by United States House of Representatives, it will not even accomplish what Obama wants to do – if he is really concerned about carbon emissions and not just getting the hundreds of billions of dollars of expected government fee collections - since the bill only starts to require notable emission drops many decades from now. But it sure will cost jobs and the American economy well before then. It is expected that hundreds of manufacturers based in the United States will move production and jobs to Asian countries which will not have similar carbon cap restrictions.
Worse is the need for more than 30 new and existing government agencies to help regulate the Cap & Tax process and the tens of thousands of newly hired bureaucrats to do so. And who do you think will be paying for all of that? Obama’s program will also crush the existing home market as one of the little publicized provisions included in the 300 pages of amendments to the House bill will require you to get an energy audit of your home before selling it so the buyer knows the energy efficiency of your house. And then local bureaucrats will be required to make sure the necessary changes to the existing home are made to bring it up to energy saving codes.
All in all, Obama’s Cap & Tax plan is nothing more than a new government money grab to address an alleged environmental issue which has already been debunked as phony science.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Gary Was Wrong - July 2009
My June column on the first 100 days of disaster thus far from Obama’s reckless regime turned out to be too kind to him. Events of the past month have already proved that his poor decisions since January have put the world in grave military and economic danger. More about that in future columns.
For now, I’d like to comment on many of the thoughts which my new opponent on the left, Gary Lazarus, wrote in his inaugural column last month. I was quite pleased to see Gary admit in his first column that the recent worldwide banking collapse was caused by deregulation efforts which started in the Carter years and picked up steam in the waning days of the Clinton administration. Of course he didn’t mention those names or that our country had Democratic presidents at that time. But I thank him anyway for his honesty and look forward to other similar admissions in the months to come.
On the other hand, Gary stated that “few Presidents in our history have faced the challenges that Barack Obama now faces”. I beg to differ and only need to remind him what our country faced that September morning in 2001. There have been few challenges of that magnitude facing any President of the United States. That one day changed the Bush Presidency and our country forever. Whether you liked Bush’s response or not, our homeland stayed safe for the rest of his Presidency. I still shutter to think what a President Al Gore or a President Barack Obama would have done.
Gary also stated that there is no more pressing challenge for Obama than the economy.
As any student of economics knows, the economy tends to move in business cycles in which every 7 or 8 eight years, the economy reverses it previous course and either retracts or expands. Obama happened to take office when a cyclical retraction was underway just as Bush did after the economy started to slide in 1999 from the bursting of the stock market tech bubble during Clinton’s final year. Certainly the banking and housing crisis add a level of severity to the current retraction but we must not forget it was Democratic protectionism for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their forcing of banks to loan in red zones which helped create the housing crisis.
The good news is that many economists believe our current recession is on the mend already no thanks to any of Obama’s planned multi-trillion dollar borrow and spend plans since even his own administration has admitted that less than 5% of those trillions have yet to be awarded or spent. And the American public understands this reality since recent polls already show that the Obama regime’s reckless economic plan has caused polls to again reflect a higher trust in Republicans than Democrats to manage our economy. But when that money starts to flow get ready for inflation we have not seen since the Carter days.
I do pity Gary for falling for many of President Obama’s campaign lies. Despite Obama promising to end the war in Iraq, Obama has already admitted that tens of thousands of troops may be needed indefinitely – just as candidate McCain had said – in order to ensure that this new beacon of democracy can be sustained. And Gary fell for media talking points that an Obama Presidency would result in an improved image of the United States around the world. So why have no other countries joined the Obama surge in Afghanistan? And why have France’s Sarkozy and Germany’s Merkel already expressed their concern for the direction Obama is taking our economy? And why have European voters recently moved many of that continent’s governments to the right while our country is sadly moving to the left?
Gary also made a point of mentioning a comment that radio entertainer Rush Limbaugh opined about wanting Obama’s policies to fail. I do not recall the Democrats rooting for George Bush’s tax cuts to succeed (thankfully the cuts did) or rooting for his efforts in Iraq to prevail (Democratic Senate President Harry Reid in an almost treasonous moment took to the Senate floor one day to say that we had lost that war). Recent polls are proving that the American public already does not like many of the actions which the reckless Obama regime is taking. Sounds to me that Rush was just reflecting what the American public has already come to think of Obama’s ruinous plans for change.
For now, I’d like to comment on many of the thoughts which my new opponent on the left, Gary Lazarus, wrote in his inaugural column last month. I was quite pleased to see Gary admit in his first column that the recent worldwide banking collapse was caused by deregulation efforts which started in the Carter years and picked up steam in the waning days of the Clinton administration. Of course he didn’t mention those names or that our country had Democratic presidents at that time. But I thank him anyway for his honesty and look forward to other similar admissions in the months to come.
On the other hand, Gary stated that “few Presidents in our history have faced the challenges that Barack Obama now faces”. I beg to differ and only need to remind him what our country faced that September morning in 2001. There have been few challenges of that magnitude facing any President of the United States. That one day changed the Bush Presidency and our country forever. Whether you liked Bush’s response or not, our homeland stayed safe for the rest of his Presidency. I still shutter to think what a President Al Gore or a President Barack Obama would have done.
Gary also stated that there is no more pressing challenge for Obama than the economy.
As any student of economics knows, the economy tends to move in business cycles in which every 7 or 8 eight years, the economy reverses it previous course and either retracts or expands. Obama happened to take office when a cyclical retraction was underway just as Bush did after the economy started to slide in 1999 from the bursting of the stock market tech bubble during Clinton’s final year. Certainly the banking and housing crisis add a level of severity to the current retraction but we must not forget it was Democratic protectionism for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their forcing of banks to loan in red zones which helped create the housing crisis.
The good news is that many economists believe our current recession is on the mend already no thanks to any of Obama’s planned multi-trillion dollar borrow and spend plans since even his own administration has admitted that less than 5% of those trillions have yet to be awarded or spent. And the American public understands this reality since recent polls already show that the Obama regime’s reckless economic plan has caused polls to again reflect a higher trust in Republicans than Democrats to manage our economy. But when that money starts to flow get ready for inflation we have not seen since the Carter days.
I do pity Gary for falling for many of President Obama’s campaign lies. Despite Obama promising to end the war in Iraq, Obama has already admitted that tens of thousands of troops may be needed indefinitely – just as candidate McCain had said – in order to ensure that this new beacon of democracy can be sustained. And Gary fell for media talking points that an Obama Presidency would result in an improved image of the United States around the world. So why have no other countries joined the Obama surge in Afghanistan? And why have France’s Sarkozy and Germany’s Merkel already expressed their concern for the direction Obama is taking our economy? And why have European voters recently moved many of that continent’s governments to the right while our country is sadly moving to the left?
Gary also made a point of mentioning a comment that radio entertainer Rush Limbaugh opined about wanting Obama’s policies to fail. I do not recall the Democrats rooting for George Bush’s tax cuts to succeed (thankfully the cuts did) or rooting for his efforts in Iraq to prevail (Democratic Senate President Harry Reid in an almost treasonous moment took to the Senate floor one day to say that we had lost that war). Recent polls are proving that the American public already does not like many of the actions which the reckless Obama regime is taking. Sounds to me that Rush was just reflecting what the American public has already come to think of Obama’s ruinous plans for change.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Obama's First 100 Days Distaster - June 2009
Elections matter. Issues matter. Voters matter. To all of those voters who stayed home last November because they were not happy with John McCain and Sarah Palin, I hope they are happy with the drastic downward direction our country is headed under the Obama regime.
From our federal government simply ignoring years of bankruptcy law when it gave control of Chrysler Motors to the unions while giving the company’s secured lenders pennies on the dollar for their loans; to dictating to the State of California that it could not fire certain employees or it would lose federal bailout money; to its attempts to mandate what salaries can be paid in the private sector; and to its desire to create a new nationalized health plan which will crowd out private plans, our federal government is going down the slippery path to socialism if not fascism.
When I tried to educate my friends and family of the potential danger of an Obama victory to our country’s core foundation, many said we needed “change” from the Bush years. Is having the federal government expand its tax base by billions of dollars by raising the price of your electricity and gasoline to fund its healthcare plans (as opposed to its initial lie about wanting to save the environment) the kind of change you wanted? Is having the federal government borrow trillions of dollars from foreign governments to fund its porkulas and bailout plans to allegedly stimulate the economy while burdening our future generations with unbelievable debt the kind of change you wanted? I don’t think so. But with Obama at the helm and Pelosi and Reid running Congress for now, historic change is coming our way.
To me, Obama’s potential presidency was easy to predict. The guy unfortunately grew up in a broken home, has admitted being envious of other kids whose family’s had material wealth, and has written that he felt unwanted by society because of his upbringing. If only the government could make things fairer for all seemed to be his goal in life. Well now he is having his chance. From having his first opportunity to put someone on the Supreme Court who supports his belief that the U.S. Constitution is wrong to focus on limiting the power of a centralized federal government instead of his preferred mandates on what the government must do for its citizens; to trying his darndest to penalize high income workers in order to redistribute their wealth through taxes and fees to less fortunate citizens, Obama is moving full speed ahead on his lifelong goals.
But I don’t blame Obama for any of his plans and intentions. He is simply living his dream. It is the shortsighted American voters and the enamored national media that I blame for this unfortunate predicament our 233 year old representative democracy is facing. And I am especially upset at the Republican representatives in Washington from when they controlled Congress and the White House for completely blowing their opportunity to show America how our country could be run with proper fiscal and ethical controls. Instead, they spent billions on the very pork they had previously criticized and got involved in more ethical lapses than the country could stomach (not that the Democrats are currently doing any better!).
So what other damage has Obama done to this country’s reputation and future in his first four months in office? Below are just a few of his many disasters:
* Obama went on a worldwide apology tour telling foreign leaders and audiences that he was not George Bush and that our country had been bad but he would make it all better. He then showed his humility by bowing to the head of another country and gladly accepting a book from Hugo Chavez which lambasted our country for its imperialistic ways. Pardon me for remembering that our country helps fund and staff the majority of humanitarian and security efforts around the world and has nothing for which to apologize. If the world does not want our help, stop asking us.
* Obama authorized the release of certain military documents to make his point that we had been tough interrogators of terrorists while that release endangered the lives of those military personnel and private citizens whose identities were in those documents. And his ridiculous stand on ending certain types of interrogation techniques has signaled to our enemies to just stay quiet if they are caught since we will not do to them as they do to our citizens and soldiers when captured.
* Obama pushed Congress to pass his $787 billion dollar porkulas plan with no time for citizens or Congressmen to review it (which he had promised), only to leave town for a 4 day vacation before coming back to DC to sign it which again proves that the Obama regime is perfecting the Gerbel approach to public relations by learning to just keep lying about its intentions until the public starts to believe it.
* Obama promised a new era of bi-partisanship only to tell his Republican adversaries in one of their first meetings that he had won the election and they had lost. And then he worked with the national media to make it seem as if the Republicans had no unified leader or voice. Of course erroneously making fun of Nancy Reagan at one of his first press conferences wasn’t a good show of bi-partisanship either.
* Obama has yet to ask Congress for fast track international trade negotiation authority since he does not think international trade is an important issue despite our country’s need to increase its exports and obtain affordable imports to keep our cost of living low. I suppose being the successful ACORN street thug that Obama was only a few years ago (I mean community activist), he just does not understand basic economics and the importance of being the salesman-in-chief for our business community to the world.
* Obama spent the first weeks of his regime continuing to talk down our economy in order to scare the public into wanting federal government help. Even former President Bill Clinton told Obama he was being overly negative. What Bill did not realize was that Obama was just following the teachings from avowed Chicago radical Saul Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicals which stated “They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future.”
* Obama picked numerous candidates for his cabinet and top administrative offices that had not paid income taxes for years which is proof that Obama must believe in Leona Helmsley’s credo that only little people have to follow rules. And despite pledging otherwise, he hired nearly two dozen former lobbyists to serve in his administration. If a Republican President had nominated so many tainted appointees as has Obama, the media would have simply continued its well-orchestrated mantra that Republicans have a culture of corruption. But they gave another pass to the inexperienced Obama.
If the first 100 days of this disastrous Obama regime is an indication of what we can expect for the remaining 3 years, 8 months of his days at the White House, our country’s core foundation will forever be changed for the worse. Let’s hope the American public shakes things up in 2010 and elects enough Republicans to stop this train wreck of a Presidency.
From our federal government simply ignoring years of bankruptcy law when it gave control of Chrysler Motors to the unions while giving the company’s secured lenders pennies on the dollar for their loans; to dictating to the State of California that it could not fire certain employees or it would lose federal bailout money; to its attempts to mandate what salaries can be paid in the private sector; and to its desire to create a new nationalized health plan which will crowd out private plans, our federal government is going down the slippery path to socialism if not fascism.
When I tried to educate my friends and family of the potential danger of an Obama victory to our country’s core foundation, many said we needed “change” from the Bush years. Is having the federal government expand its tax base by billions of dollars by raising the price of your electricity and gasoline to fund its healthcare plans (as opposed to its initial lie about wanting to save the environment) the kind of change you wanted? Is having the federal government borrow trillions of dollars from foreign governments to fund its porkulas and bailout plans to allegedly stimulate the economy while burdening our future generations with unbelievable debt the kind of change you wanted? I don’t think so. But with Obama at the helm and Pelosi and Reid running Congress for now, historic change is coming our way.
To me, Obama’s potential presidency was easy to predict. The guy unfortunately grew up in a broken home, has admitted being envious of other kids whose family’s had material wealth, and has written that he felt unwanted by society because of his upbringing. If only the government could make things fairer for all seemed to be his goal in life. Well now he is having his chance. From having his first opportunity to put someone on the Supreme Court who supports his belief that the U.S. Constitution is wrong to focus on limiting the power of a centralized federal government instead of his preferred mandates on what the government must do for its citizens; to trying his darndest to penalize high income workers in order to redistribute their wealth through taxes and fees to less fortunate citizens, Obama is moving full speed ahead on his lifelong goals.
But I don’t blame Obama for any of his plans and intentions. He is simply living his dream. It is the shortsighted American voters and the enamored national media that I blame for this unfortunate predicament our 233 year old representative democracy is facing. And I am especially upset at the Republican representatives in Washington from when they controlled Congress and the White House for completely blowing their opportunity to show America how our country could be run with proper fiscal and ethical controls. Instead, they spent billions on the very pork they had previously criticized and got involved in more ethical lapses than the country could stomach (not that the Democrats are currently doing any better!).
So what other damage has Obama done to this country’s reputation and future in his first four months in office? Below are just a few of his many disasters:
* Obama went on a worldwide apology tour telling foreign leaders and audiences that he was not George Bush and that our country had been bad but he would make it all better. He then showed his humility by bowing to the head of another country and gladly accepting a book from Hugo Chavez which lambasted our country for its imperialistic ways. Pardon me for remembering that our country helps fund and staff the majority of humanitarian and security efforts around the world and has nothing for which to apologize. If the world does not want our help, stop asking us.
* Obama authorized the release of certain military documents to make his point that we had been tough interrogators of terrorists while that release endangered the lives of those military personnel and private citizens whose identities were in those documents. And his ridiculous stand on ending certain types of interrogation techniques has signaled to our enemies to just stay quiet if they are caught since we will not do to them as they do to our citizens and soldiers when captured.
* Obama pushed Congress to pass his $787 billion dollar porkulas plan with no time for citizens or Congressmen to review it (which he had promised), only to leave town for a 4 day vacation before coming back to DC to sign it which again proves that the Obama regime is perfecting the Gerbel approach to public relations by learning to just keep lying about its intentions until the public starts to believe it.
* Obama promised a new era of bi-partisanship only to tell his Republican adversaries in one of their first meetings that he had won the election and they had lost. And then he worked with the national media to make it seem as if the Republicans had no unified leader or voice. Of course erroneously making fun of Nancy Reagan at one of his first press conferences wasn’t a good show of bi-partisanship either.
* Obama has yet to ask Congress for fast track international trade negotiation authority since he does not think international trade is an important issue despite our country’s need to increase its exports and obtain affordable imports to keep our cost of living low. I suppose being the successful ACORN street thug that Obama was only a few years ago (I mean community activist), he just does not understand basic economics and the importance of being the salesman-in-chief for our business community to the world.
* Obama spent the first weeks of his regime continuing to talk down our economy in order to scare the public into wanting federal government help. Even former President Bill Clinton told Obama he was being overly negative. What Bill did not realize was that Obama was just following the teachings from avowed Chicago radical Saul Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicals which stated “They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future.”
* Obama picked numerous candidates for his cabinet and top administrative offices that had not paid income taxes for years which is proof that Obama must believe in Leona Helmsley’s credo that only little people have to follow rules. And despite pledging otherwise, he hired nearly two dozen former lobbyists to serve in his administration. If a Republican President had nominated so many tainted appointees as has Obama, the media would have simply continued its well-orchestrated mantra that Republicans have a culture of corruption. But they gave another pass to the inexperienced Obama.
If the first 100 days of this disastrous Obama regime is an indication of what we can expect for the remaining 3 years, 8 months of his days at the White House, our country’s core foundation will forever be changed for the worse. Let’s hope the American public shakes things up in 2010 and elects enough Republicans to stop this train wreck of a Presidency.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Bye Bye Milt - May 2009
After many years of debating Milt Blaut's On The Left Column, Milt decided to retire from writing his column in April. In May, Milt was given the honor of one final column to share his parting thoughts. As such, I did not write a column for May. But I'll be back with a June column to be sure. Obama has me madder than heck with his banking, auto, environmental, and healthcare policies and plans!!!
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Our Broken Healthcare System - April 2009
Our nation’s healthcare system is broken. Do you ever wonder what happened to its simplicity of the past in which doctors made house calls, charged reasonable fees which most people paid directly, required very few forms to be filled out, and did not first need preauthorization to even treat you?
We have HMOs, PPOs, in-network, out-of-network, co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles, HSAs, “boutique” docs, and dozens of other code words to navigate to locate a healthcare provider and get them paid. And what can be most frustrating is when you have a hospital visit and some of the providers (radiology, anesthesiologists, ER docs) are out-of-network for your plan and you have no choice as to whether to use them and thus pay the higher patient contributions!
There is not enough space in this column to opine about whom or what I think is to blame for this mismanaged mess and, frankly, I would rather focus on the future than the past. But I have to mention my disappointment in government’s role during the past because with Barack Obama as President there is a good chance government’s role will become even bigger except for his recently announced plan to dump veteran care onto private insurers if a veteran is eligible for such care at their place of employment.
As the owner of a new small business, I am beginning the process of finding an appropriate group plan for my employees. It is not a pretty picture since we cannot benefit from the large risk pools that large employers use to their advantage in negotiating insurance fees. I have stated in the past, and I will say so again today, that small businesses should be able to pool their employee count with other small businesses nationwide through “association plans” to benefit from economies of scale. And we should be able to shop for a plan offered anywhere in the United States and not just from plans authorized by Tallahassee.
There is also legislative movement to give employees the option to take the value of their health insurance plan benefit and allow them to buy their own individual insurance. I strongly support such free market ideas. By having hundreds of millions of people with their “own” money to spend, affordable and innovative individual plans will be offered by insurance companies seeking the business. Such large pools of potential customers would also benefit those currently uninsured as the price of entry level policies will become more affordable for them. And the employers can get back to running their businesses.
But President Obama is considering taxing the value of any health insurance benefits provided to employees which are above a certain threshold. Such an intrusion of government into setting a reasonable threshold is akin to Uncle Sam dictating salaries. I am against such plans which will interfere with the privacy of an employer-employee relationship.
As for Medicare and Medicaid, I am against President Obama’s plans to study the possibility of determining what treatments should be offered to seniors and certain others based on their health and age. That should be kept private between a doctor and his patient. Would you want your parents refused care because the government says such an expense is not cost effective in terms of extending their lives?
We have HMOs, PPOs, in-network, out-of-network, co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles, HSAs, “boutique” docs, and dozens of other code words to navigate to locate a healthcare provider and get them paid. And what can be most frustrating is when you have a hospital visit and some of the providers (radiology, anesthesiologists, ER docs) are out-of-network for your plan and you have no choice as to whether to use them and thus pay the higher patient contributions!
There is not enough space in this column to opine about whom or what I think is to blame for this mismanaged mess and, frankly, I would rather focus on the future than the past. But I have to mention my disappointment in government’s role during the past because with Barack Obama as President there is a good chance government’s role will become even bigger except for his recently announced plan to dump veteran care onto private insurers if a veteran is eligible for such care at their place of employment.
As the owner of a new small business, I am beginning the process of finding an appropriate group plan for my employees. It is not a pretty picture since we cannot benefit from the large risk pools that large employers use to their advantage in negotiating insurance fees. I have stated in the past, and I will say so again today, that small businesses should be able to pool their employee count with other small businesses nationwide through “association plans” to benefit from economies of scale. And we should be able to shop for a plan offered anywhere in the United States and not just from plans authorized by Tallahassee.
There is also legislative movement to give employees the option to take the value of their health insurance plan benefit and allow them to buy their own individual insurance. I strongly support such free market ideas. By having hundreds of millions of people with their “own” money to spend, affordable and innovative individual plans will be offered by insurance companies seeking the business. Such large pools of potential customers would also benefit those currently uninsured as the price of entry level policies will become more affordable for them. And the employers can get back to running their businesses.
But President Obama is considering taxing the value of any health insurance benefits provided to employees which are above a certain threshold. Such an intrusion of government into setting a reasonable threshold is akin to Uncle Sam dictating salaries. I am against such plans which will interfere with the privacy of an employer-employee relationship.
As for Medicare and Medicaid, I am against President Obama’s plans to study the possibility of determining what treatments should be offered to seniors and certain others based on their health and age. That should be kept private between a doctor and his patient. Would you want your parents refused care because the government says such an expense is not cost effective in terms of extending their lives?
Monday, March 02, 2009
The Obama Economy - March 2009
With unemployment at 10.8%, the country’s Gross Domestic Product down by 7.8% and mortgage rates above 15%, it was certainly time for the Federal Government to do some to spur the economy. What did the President and Congress do to get the economy moving again? The year was 1981 and President Ronald Reagan slashed tax rates to put more money in consumers’ pockets. Within two years, an economic expansion began that would last several decades.
The fact is that today’s economic challenge is not as bad as what the country faced more than twenty five years ago. Despite the fear mongering of President Obama, San Fran Nan Pelosi, Las Vegas’ own Senator Harry Reid, and the media, the sky is not falling. But that did not stop them from capitalizing on the current economic misfortunes to authorize the federal government to borrow nearly $ 800,000,000,000 to fund projects which even the Congressional Budget Office said would have little short term impact on our economy.
Thankfully virtually all of the Republicans in Congress voted against this wasteful bill. Of course my favorite Governor, our Republican Governor Charlie Crist, passionately spoke in favor of the bill while giving a nice hug to President Obama in Ft. Myers a few weeks ago which I found interesting because he snubbed President Bush several ago at one of his own political events. More on that when Crist runs for office again in 2010.
Of course, the Obama-Pelosi-Reid money train does include a reduction in payroll taxes of about $ 13 per week which is good for a couple of McDonald’s Happy Meals. But that reduction will only cause the related Social Security and Medicare tax receipts to fall which will further endanger the long-term stability of those government entitlements. Unfortunately, much of the $800,000,000,000 in government borrowings will go for “shovel ready” pork projects which will mainly put Obama’s labor union buddies back to work rebuilding schools, bridges, and questionable local government projects.
I am certainly aware of the current down cycle in the economy. The bust of the real estate market is evident where I live and elsewhere throughout the area. I witnessed an empty Dillards a few days before Christmas. I’ve noticed that Home Depot frequently now has more employees than customers. And my retirement and rainy day funds have been notably reduced as the stock and bond markets have adjusted to today’s economic news. But I do not believe the Obama-Pelosi-Reid porkulus plan will be the proper strategy to get the American economy moving again. We needed job creation credits for private industry and lower corporate tax rates to bring jobs back to America.
After 911, President Bush led an effort to ask Americans to keep the economy moving by convincing them to not let the fear of terrorism change their purchasing plans. Instead of scaring today’s consumers into sitting on their wallets, President Obama should be doing the same. Government spending will never energize our economy like you and me going out one extra night for dinner or entertainment, or starting that home improvement project, or buying a new car to take advantage of today’s great deals. And with loan interests rates at near historic lows – as compared to the 15% rates which President Reagan faced in the 1980’s, now is the time to borrow and invest in your business to ready it for the coming economic recovery. Forget Obama. Let’s do it ourselves.
The fact is that today’s economic challenge is not as bad as what the country faced more than twenty five years ago. Despite the fear mongering of President Obama, San Fran Nan Pelosi, Las Vegas’ own Senator Harry Reid, and the media, the sky is not falling. But that did not stop them from capitalizing on the current economic misfortunes to authorize the federal government to borrow nearly $ 800,000,000,000 to fund projects which even the Congressional Budget Office said would have little short term impact on our economy.
Thankfully virtually all of the Republicans in Congress voted against this wasteful bill. Of course my favorite Governor, our Republican Governor Charlie Crist, passionately spoke in favor of the bill while giving a nice hug to President Obama in Ft. Myers a few weeks ago which I found interesting because he snubbed President Bush several ago at one of his own political events. More on that when Crist runs for office again in 2010.
Of course, the Obama-Pelosi-Reid money train does include a reduction in payroll taxes of about $ 13 per week which is good for a couple of McDonald’s Happy Meals. But that reduction will only cause the related Social Security and Medicare tax receipts to fall which will further endanger the long-term stability of those government entitlements. Unfortunately, much of the $800,000,000,000 in government borrowings will go for “shovel ready” pork projects which will mainly put Obama’s labor union buddies back to work rebuilding schools, bridges, and questionable local government projects.
I am certainly aware of the current down cycle in the economy. The bust of the real estate market is evident where I live and elsewhere throughout the area. I witnessed an empty Dillards a few days before Christmas. I’ve noticed that Home Depot frequently now has more employees than customers. And my retirement and rainy day funds have been notably reduced as the stock and bond markets have adjusted to today’s economic news. But I do not believe the Obama-Pelosi-Reid porkulus plan will be the proper strategy to get the American economy moving again. We needed job creation credits for private industry and lower corporate tax rates to bring jobs back to America.
After 911, President Bush led an effort to ask Americans to keep the economy moving by convincing them to not let the fear of terrorism change their purchasing plans. Instead of scaring today’s consumers into sitting on their wallets, President Obama should be doing the same. Government spending will never energize our economy like you and me going out one extra night for dinner or entertainment, or starting that home improvement project, or buying a new car to take advantage of today’s great deals. And with loan interests rates at near historic lows – as compared to the 15% rates which President Reagan faced in the 1980’s, now is the time to borrow and invest in your business to ready it for the coming economic recovery. Forget Obama. Let’s do it ourselves.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
My 2009 Concerns - February 2009
With 2009 still in its infancy, it is amazing how many things are already concerning me this year about my country, state, and town.
Of course, my lead concern is whether American voters really understood who and what they voted for last November. Were they so tired of President Bush that they turned over our federal government to the most liberal people to lead it in my lifetime? From the man in the White House to his cabinet and key administration figures, our country is now being led by a bunch of whiny, envirowacko, pacifists who truly believe Uncle Sam needs to dictate how we live our lives.
But the American people voted and I have to accept the new order in Washington – at least for the next four years. Given the amount of corruption and ethical lapses already surrounding the administration members brought to Washington by Obama, it will certainly be an interesting couple of years. I just hope our democracy and capitalist society can survive the tsunami of leftist change coming its way.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist concerns me because he has proven himself to be a smooth talking empty suit in his first years in office. His promised major drops in insurance and property taxes did not occur. His billion dollar bailout of a major Florida sugar company in the name of restoring the Everglades and his botched negotiations with the Seminoles over casino-class gambling will hit the state’s bottom line for years to come. Maybe he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2010, instead of another term as Governor, which will let an individual with a better understanding of reality move into the Governor’s House in Tallahassee. Since Jeb doesn’t want to run for that Senate seat, maybe he can run again to be our Governor and rescue our state from mediocrity.
The Town of Davie, in which I live, also has a concerning future. The March election will not simply be a vote for Mayor. It will be a straw vote for or against The Commons regional shopping mall planned for West Davie since both candidates have opposite opinions of that project and the winner will probably cast the deciding vote when it comes back to the Town Council for final approval in the coming months. And such a spotlight on a single issue will unfortunately overshadow many other equally important topics such as which candidate will better control the growing pension and healthcare costs of Town employees and keeping tax rates as low as possible.
I have not decided for whom I will vote in the Davie Mayoral race and I plan to carefully weigh all of the issues before I cast my vote. Since I personally know, like, and respect both candidates, I might just vote for Sarah Palin as a write-in candidate instead! A few winks from her and I am sure she could accomplish anything in my town including finally getting a fire station built to serve the Shenandoah area of West Davie near where I live.
Of course, my lead concern is whether American voters really understood who and what they voted for last November. Were they so tired of President Bush that they turned over our federal government to the most liberal people to lead it in my lifetime? From the man in the White House to his cabinet and key administration figures, our country is now being led by a bunch of whiny, envirowacko, pacifists who truly believe Uncle Sam needs to dictate how we live our lives.
But the American people voted and I have to accept the new order in Washington – at least for the next four years. Given the amount of corruption and ethical lapses already surrounding the administration members brought to Washington by Obama, it will certainly be an interesting couple of years. I just hope our democracy and capitalist society can survive the tsunami of leftist change coming its way.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist concerns me because he has proven himself to be a smooth talking empty suit in his first years in office. His promised major drops in insurance and property taxes did not occur. His billion dollar bailout of a major Florida sugar company in the name of restoring the Everglades and his botched negotiations with the Seminoles over casino-class gambling will hit the state’s bottom line for years to come. Maybe he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2010, instead of another term as Governor, which will let an individual with a better understanding of reality move into the Governor’s House in Tallahassee. Since Jeb doesn’t want to run for that Senate seat, maybe he can run again to be our Governor and rescue our state from mediocrity.
The Town of Davie, in which I live, also has a concerning future. The March election will not simply be a vote for Mayor. It will be a straw vote for or against The Commons regional shopping mall planned for West Davie since both candidates have opposite opinions of that project and the winner will probably cast the deciding vote when it comes back to the Town Council for final approval in the coming months. And such a spotlight on a single issue will unfortunately overshadow many other equally important topics such as which candidate will better control the growing pension and healthcare costs of Town employees and keeping tax rates as low as possible.
I have not decided for whom I will vote in the Davie Mayoral race and I plan to carefully weigh all of the issues before I cast my vote. Since I personally know, like, and respect both candidates, I might just vote for Sarah Palin as a write-in candidate instead! A few winks from her and I am sure she could accomplish anything in my town including finally getting a fire station built to serve the Shenandoah area of West Davie near where I live.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Obama's First 100 Days - January 2009
In the coming weeks, our country will have a new President. I have not been a big fan of Barack Obama, otherwise known as The One by his followers, and his selection of many Clintonites including Hillary to join his Cabinet does not change my opinion of him as someone who really believes that American society is not fair and that the federal government needs to ensure the nation’s wealth is more equitably shared.
So what can we expect in Obama’s first 100 days as our 44th President? Besides overturning of many of President Bush’s executive orders regarding the environment, scientific research, and reproductive rights, I wonder what he will do with the United States attorneys throughout the country including Patrick Fitzgerald who led the charge against Obama’s friend in the Illinois Governor’s office. Will Obama fire them all as was done by Bill Clinton or selectively terminate them as was done by George W. Bush?
Much has been written about Obama’s planned trillion dollar stimulus plan which he wants to sign on day one of his administration. I am sure it will be a major jobs program for his union buddies by focusing on building roads and government buildings. He may also give tax rebate checks to more Americans who do not pay federal income taxes.
Obama’s 100 day stimulus plan will also include his first effort to please Al Gore and other environmental wackos by subsidizing Detroit to build electric cars which the American public will not buy and are not profitable unless Obama gets gas back to his beloved $4.50 per gallon. If his plan includes federal or private research efforts for developing innovative wind, solar, and hydro solutions, I will support him as I value such alternative energy projects as yielding benefits similar to those reaped from the space program of the 1960’s.
But what about Obama’s less publicized promises? He is a big believer in the “card check” elections for rebuilding the unions without the need for traditional ballot elections. Obama also campaigned on closing Gitmo without telling us where he would send the prisoners. I fear if he brings them to the United States because his new Attorney General will be more concerned about their civil rights than focusing attention on utilizing the Patriot Act to keep us safe.
In an additional gift for environmentalists, Obama will push in his first 100 days to allow his EPA head to liberalize the definition of carbon pollutants under the Clean Air Act in order to eventually force a carbon tax or “cap and trade” scheme on American businesses of all sizes.
With Obama campaigning to show a softer side of the United States to the world, how will he handle Russian efforts in his first 100 days to reintroduce itself to Cuba while it expands its Latin American influence by teaming with Chavez and Morales? Will Obama also cave to Russian demands that we eliminate our missile defenses? And how will he bring peace to the Middle East while still proving he is a strong friend of Israel?
For the sake of our country, I hope that President Obama sheds his liberal leanings in his first 100 days and maintains our leadership in the world through continued military strength, capitalistic principles, and a belief in freedoms.
So what can we expect in Obama’s first 100 days as our 44th President? Besides overturning of many of President Bush’s executive orders regarding the environment, scientific research, and reproductive rights, I wonder what he will do with the United States attorneys throughout the country including Patrick Fitzgerald who led the charge against Obama’s friend in the Illinois Governor’s office. Will Obama fire them all as was done by Bill Clinton or selectively terminate them as was done by George W. Bush?
Much has been written about Obama’s planned trillion dollar stimulus plan which he wants to sign on day one of his administration. I am sure it will be a major jobs program for his union buddies by focusing on building roads and government buildings. He may also give tax rebate checks to more Americans who do not pay federal income taxes.
Obama’s 100 day stimulus plan will also include his first effort to please Al Gore and other environmental wackos by subsidizing Detroit to build electric cars which the American public will not buy and are not profitable unless Obama gets gas back to his beloved $4.50 per gallon. If his plan includes federal or private research efforts for developing innovative wind, solar, and hydro solutions, I will support him as I value such alternative energy projects as yielding benefits similar to those reaped from the space program of the 1960’s.
But what about Obama’s less publicized promises? He is a big believer in the “card check” elections for rebuilding the unions without the need for traditional ballot elections. Obama also campaigned on closing Gitmo without telling us where he would send the prisoners. I fear if he brings them to the United States because his new Attorney General will be more concerned about their civil rights than focusing attention on utilizing the Patriot Act to keep us safe.
In an additional gift for environmentalists, Obama will push in his first 100 days to allow his EPA head to liberalize the definition of carbon pollutants under the Clean Air Act in order to eventually force a carbon tax or “cap and trade” scheme on American businesses of all sizes.
With Obama campaigning to show a softer side of the United States to the world, how will he handle Russian efforts in his first 100 days to reintroduce itself to Cuba while it expands its Latin American influence by teaming with Chavez and Morales? Will Obama also cave to Russian demands that we eliminate our missile defenses? And how will he bring peace to the Middle East while still proving he is a strong friend of Israel?
For the sake of our country, I hope that President Obama sheds his liberal leanings in his first 100 days and maintains our leadership in the world through continued military strength, capitalistic principles, and a belief in freedoms.
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