Obama's Recession

During the pseudo-state of the union that Obama hosted this week, I played the game that I downloaded from the American Spectator - OBINGO. It was a bingo card with 'likely phrases' that Obama would work into his speech. One of the squares was "the trillion dollar deficit that we inherited." He said it three times.

I went to High School in a time when they still taught irony. As Obama is pitching the Pelosi pork plan , which will easily triple the deficit in 2009 and 2010, he was blaming his predecessors. Unbelievable!

Obama certainly inherited a recession, as did George W. Bush. And I would agree that Obama's recession is far worse. The difference is, Obama is making every move that will prolong the recession and worse.

He is raising taxes on the very people that create jobs and innovate. He is instituting the long awaited cap and trade policy, which will unilaterally cripple U.S. manufacturing and force more jobs offshore. And this is in spite of overwhelming evidence that global warming is not happening. He is creating a trillion dollars of government spending that will plague the U.S. economy for decades.

None of his actions will have any positive impact on economic activity in 2009 or 2010.

Does he care? Does Pelosi care? No and No. This is about social engineering. They are striking while the iron is hot. They know that they will have very few opportunities like this. A world-wide recession, panic and a democratically controlled country. Heaven help us!

In the end, two to three years from now, the economy will still be languishing. He will still be blaming George Bush. Hopefully, the public will stop buying it by then.

Submitted by D. B. Jackson

Red Ink As Far As The Eye Can See [Link]

Remember when the Democrats complained about $450 billion deficits in a wartime, post-911 budget? Try quadrupling that and you will have the deficit of the first Obama-Pelosi-Reid budget. This avalanche of red ink is just the beginning. Expect more and greater deficits in the future.

The budget that Barack Obama will submit to Congress has a projected $1.75 trillion deficit. When Obama made his grandiose promise to half the budget deficit by the end of his term, he was talking about a deficit in the $2 trillion dollar range. Even with his rosy predictions and under the best of circumstances, we will still be looking at a $800 billion to $1 trillion deficit in four years.

Obama's budget projections, like those of all Presidents, assume the best of all circumstances will occur. That never happens so that projections never pan out. A prime example of that is the money allocated for universal health care. Obama's 2010 budget sets aside $634 billion as a down payment for universal health care. This sum is alleged by Obama to be two-thirds of the 10 year price tag for a universal health care package that they say will cost $1 trillion. If any of you actually expect Obama's socialized medical coverage to cost only $1 trillion over 10 years, I have some prime swampland in Louisiana I'd like to sell you.

We are in serious trouble as a nation. When a nation casts aside fiscal sanity for the sake of ideological or political gain, we are heading down the road to third-world financial status. Certainly, Republicans, as well as Democrats, have contributed to this mess. The Presidency of George W. Bush, while commendable in many ways (and certainly patriotic), was not a time of fiscal conservatism. Because of that, Repubicans must regain their credibility to speak on fiscal matters. They can begin doing that by standing shoulder-to-shoulder in opposition to the Obama Democrat's attempt to turn American into a European socialist state.

Let's hope that someone in Washington will exercise some fiscal responsibility...and sanity.

--Submitted by B. Bryant

Going Hat in Hand to the Commies

In a dangerous world in which the United States is engaged in two foreign wars, the Obama Administration is sending a strong signal as to where its true focus will lie. In her first diplomatic venture as Secretary of State, Hillary was dispatched to Beijing to plead with the Chicoms to continue buying American treasury bonds, i.e., continue funding American deficit spending.

Many Americans ignore budget deficits. This is not surprising since the U.S. has balanced its budget only about 3 times over the past 60 years. We have budget deficits because the federal government spends more money than it takes in via tax revenue. Those deficits must be made up each year by either borrowing or printing money. Printing money devalues a currency and brings inflation so the federal government borrows money by selling treasury bonds to whomever will buy them.

Communist China is the biggest holder of United States debt. China currently holds $696 billion of U.S. debt in the form of treasury bonds. The Obama Administration needs for them to buy much, much more. According to the London Telegraph:

The Treasury says it needs to raise almost $500bn (£350bn) in debt in the first quarter alone. Estimates for 2009 reach as high as $2 trillion, a huge sum in a world starved of capital at a time almost all the major governments are launching fiscal rescue packages.

This need for cash has almost totally silenced any criticism on the part of the Obama Administration of China's human rights policies as pointed out here by the Times of London.

[Note: It is extremely sad that one has to turn to foreign newspapers to find any substantive criticism of the Administration of Barack Hussein Obama but I digress.]

The Telegraph also noted that Hillary Clinton's actions are completely contradictory to her statements while running for President.

Mrs Clinton's plea for Beijing to keep buying US bonds comes in sharp contrast to comments during the presidential primaries when she said Chinese ownership of US government debt had become a threat to national security.

Secretary Clinton tried to persuade the potential Chinese investors that the continued prosperity of both parties depended upon China's willingness to continue funding American debt.

"We are truly going to rise and fall together. Our economies are so intertwined, the Chinese know that to start exporting again to their biggest market the United States has to take some very drastic measures with this stimulus package, which means we have to incur more debt."

To be fair, deficit spending did not begin with Barack Obama. Republican as well as Democrat Administrations have engaged in it. However, it is unprecedented for the chief diplomat of the United States to be sent to a former enemy to beg for money in such a public, and embarrassing, manner.

Maybe this is what Barack Obama meant when he said, "Change is coming to America."

--Submitted by B. Bryant

Mileage Tax Reprieve...For Now

Ray LaHood, Transportation Secretary for the Obama Adminstration raised eyebrows last week with his suggestion of a mileage tax to replace gasoline taxes. In an AP article appearing on Yahoo.com, LaHood said that gasoline taxes can no longer be counted on to fund infrastructure needs.

He said:

"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled."

The article went into further detail on how such a tax would be implemented.

The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.

The device would tally how much tax motorists owed depending upon their road use. Motorists would pay the amount owed when it was downloaded, probably at gas stations at first, but an alternative eventually would be needed.

What is truly interesting is the culprits named for the shortfall in gasoline tax revenue...more efficient cars and a decrease in driving. The "shortfall" is expected to increase as motorists switch to electric and alternate-fuel automobiles. Of course, the term "shortfall" must be interpreted. "Shortfall" refers to the disparity between the spending that the Obama Administration wants to do versus the funds available with which to do it.

The Administration was quick to deny that they had any plans to impose a mileage tax. Their denials ring pretty hollow when you consider the extent to which this Administration seeks to control their message. What this actually sounds like is a minor Administration official floating a trial balloon so that administration can immediately shoot down. What makes the Obama Administration's denials even more questionable is the fact that a blue ribbon national transportation commission is expected release their report next week recommending the adoption of a mileage tax. In such a case, the Obama Administration could immediately say that they oppose such a tax but must consider it because the "experts" say it is needed.

The upshot of all of this is the old canard that "no good deed goes unpunished." American motorists have responded to high gasoline prices by doing what the Left has wanted all along. They have reduced their driving and switched to more fuel-efficient vehicles. This has resulted in something that the Left loathes far more than carbon fuels...lower tax revenues.

Be warned, dear readers, this is only the beginning. Just as Larry Holmes said that Michael Spinks threw punches from places he had never seen, this adminstration will bring new tax proposals in ways never anticipated by the public.

I wonder if the American people will continue to go along with the Obama Administration's radical plans to impose European-styled socialism on the most efficient industrial society in history.

We will have to wait and see but, for my take, like Rush Limbaugh, I hope Obama fails...miserably!!!

--Submitted by B. Bryant

Now She Tells Us

After years of media disparagement of George W. Bush and portrayals of him as being out of touch and inarticulate, a major news personality finally sets the record straight. In an interview with Lloyd Grove of The Daily Beast, CBS News anchor Katie Couric let slip a trade secret of the national news: "George W. Bush was not the ignoramus we made him out to be."

Couric said this to Grove:

I didn’t get a chance to interview President Bush all that often. I often went to lunches that I was invited to before the State of the Union, before they announced the "surge," and that was really interesting because I think President Bush felt a lot more relaxed and was a lot more facile with information and details and policy than I think probably the American people gave him credit for and were exposed to.

Couric's last statement..."were exposed to"...is the most telling statement. If the American people somehow drew the conclusion that George W. Bush was not intellectually up to the task (I'm not sure they did even though it was an article of faith among the American Left), it was because he was portrayed that way by the mainstream media.

I will be waiting with bated breath to see if Ms. Couric and Co. apply the same standard (or lack thereof) in reporting on President Barack Hussein Obama. Somehow, I think we will see a stark change in how the presidency is viewed.

Prove me wrong, Ms. Couric...please!

--Submitted by B. Bryant

Amateur Hour

"The bottom-line is, Obama has no idea what the hell he is doing." Mark Levin

"This is Amateur Hour!!" Dick Morris

We have confirmed two things this week. Democrats love to raise our taxes, but will do almost anything to avoid paying them themselves. Over half of Obama's nominees have had serious tax problems. Tom Daschle topped the list with over $100K of back taxes.

The other obvious conclusion here is...these jackasses have no idea what they are doing.

The trouble is..change is coming and the lemmings that elected Obama and those that did not are watching the conversion of our wealthy and moral country as it is being fed to the wolves of socialism and secularism.

Abortion is being forced down our throat and so is government run industry; complete with salary caps for the investment class.

Nothing that has happened should come as a surprise to his supporters or his detractors. If it does, you have been in a coma. He is a Saul Alinsky and Jeremiah Wright disciple and he is executing the game plan.

The good news is, the Republicans are standing up to him and the public is wary of some of the tactics and, certainly the specifics of the stimulus package.

We picked a bad time to fight. It is going to be a bad year to be a Catholic and a bad year to be a Capitalist.

Can we do more than slow things down? We'll try.

Submitted by D. B. Jackson