Economic Achievements of Barack Obama

President and would-be Marxist/Fascist Dictator Barack Obama has made some progress in his agenda of “transforming America,” if he wants to transform it into a banana-republic type of third world country, abounding in government-dependent and docile citizens. Like Big Brother, he always has some super villain to blame for his failures, e.g., George W. Bush. It is obvious that Obama’s efforts have completely failed if the goal was to promote prosperity, but it’s hard to believe that prosperity has ever been his goal. His objective is government control of everything possible.

When he had Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, just waiting to rubber-stamp whatever he wanted, what did he use that for? To implement his socialist agenda, not to help the economy. The economy was strictly a back-burner issue except for some self-serving PR efforts. He claims to be trying to help the middle class, but when he’s finished, he will have gone a long way toward eliminating the middle class.

He promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, but so far, we’ve seen trillion-dollar deficits each year. He has added more to the national debt than all previous presidents combined. And what have we gotten for all this spending and debt?

Unemployment

We have had depression-level unemployment rates for well over 40 months.

We now have record numbers of unemployed and under-employed people. This represents many suffering families who just want an opportunity to earn a living.

Poverty

We are heading toward the highest poverty rate since the 1960’s. According to an Associated Press article,

Census figures for 2011 will be released this fall in the critical weeks ahead of the November elections.

The Associated Press surveyed more than a dozen economists, think tanks and academics, both nonpartisan and those with known liberal or conservative leanings, and found a broad consensus: The official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent. Several predicted a more modest gain, but even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest level since 1965.

(Via GOPUSA)

Out-of-Control Welfare Programs

We have the most Americans on food stamps ever. Over 100 million people in the U.S., including citizens and non-citizens, belong to a household in which at least one person receives federal benefits – largely food stamps and Medicaid – means-tested programs, not including Social Security or Medicare.

(See chart at top of this article. Chart was provided by Republican Senate Budget Committee staff. Via The Weekly Standard).

Green Failures

We have seen numerous green-energy fiascoes costing the taxpayers many millions of dollars, documented by The Heritage Foundation.

Kate Adams, a member of Heritage’s Young Leaders Program, and Heritage’s Rachael Slobodien compiled a list of the 12 members of the Green Graveyard—companies that received taxpayer money for green initiatives yet have filed for bankruptcy.

1. Abound Solar (Loveland, Colorado), manufacturer of thin film photovoltaic modules.
2. Beacon Power (Tyngsborough, Massachusetts), designed and developed advanced products and services to support stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid operation.
3. Ener1 (Indianapolis, Indiana), built compact lithium-ion-powered battery solutions for hybrid and electric cars.
4. Energy Conversion Devices (Rochester Hills, Michigan/Auburn Hills, Michigan), manufacturer of flexible thin film photovoltaic (PV) technology and a producer of batteries and other renewable energy-related products.
5. Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Marlborough, Massachusetts), manufactured and installed solar panels.
6. Mountain Plaza, Inc. (Dandridge, Tennessee), designed and implemented “truck-stop elec QUOT trification” technology…..

[Plus six more, including Solyndra]

Government Takeovers

We have seen takeovers and bailouts of auto manufacturers, and Obama wants to do the same in all manufacturing industries. An editorial in TheWashington Times points out that

At a campaign stop in Pueblo, Colo., on Wednesday, Mr. Obama touted the alleged success of his government-backed takeover of two-thirds of the domestic car business. “The American auto industry has come roaring back,” he said. “Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry.”

The article also mentions that every GM job “saved” cost taxpayers $780,000. GM stock is down significantly since its IPO.

Over-Regulation

There has been the most massive increase in regulations in history, choking out entire industries, with more on the way from such as the worse-than-worthless EPA and other useless agencies.

We have seen a company robbed of millions of dollars by federal authorities in such an episode as the Gibson Guitar raids.

The Administration has continued the disturbing trend of criminalizing more activities and figuring out ways to go after people who have done nothing wrong, simply on someone’s complaint. Obama is ready to take away freedom in the name of copyright protection for his Hollywood and media cronies. There are several efforts underway to take control of the internet.

The Administration has blamed businesses for the bad economic climate, when in fact it is government that has created such an atmosphere of uncertainty that many businesses are unwilling to expand or hire until they know what the rules are going to end up being.

The president appointed a debt commission in order to appear to be interested in dealing with the out-of-control deficits, then promptly ignored their advice.

By the way, commission co-chairman Erskine Bowles, a Democrat and former Clinton chief of staff praised Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), now GOP Vice-Presidential candidate, in 2011:

(Via Start Thinking Right)

President Obama has submitted budgets which no one in the Senate would vote for; yet the Senate itself has failed to produce a budget in three years, despite a constitutional mandate to do so.

Oh, and gas prices are up again, approaching that $4.00 level – about $3.60 per gallon as of now.

Obama has deeply undermined the rule of law in many ways through selective non-enforcement (Defense of Marriage Act, immigration laws, etc.), waivers (Obamacare, No Child Left Behind, for example), and executive orders that undercut statutes. He does not see any need for Congress or the Constitution. He and his little Communist gang members want to rule without interference.

How can unemployed people vote for Obama, knowing that under his presidency, high unemployment is a permanent feature of the economy? He appointed a jobs commission, but never meets with them, since they are only a PR gimmick. His dog and pony shows have accomplished nothing for the economy.

It is time to honestly attempt to evaluate Obama’s intentions in light of his record. In an Obama Administration, there will never be significant deficit reduction. There will always be calls for more taxes, bigger government, and more spending. He will always be OK with the Fed creating any amount of dollars that it pleases. When the inevitable collapse comes, he and his cronies may become even more powerful since people may lack the ability to resist.

The upcoming presidential election is America’s last chance to maintain its position as a world leader, restore freedom and prosperity, and even retain sovereignty. We cannot afford to get this one wrong. A Romney victory will bring some good changes quickly, but it will take time to solve the underlying problems. But with Obama in power, there is no chance short of divine intervention.

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Hey, Big Spender . . . America’s on to You!

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President Barack Obama’s claim to fiscal responsibility is nothing short of ludicrous, although he makes the claim in seriousness. Based on a report by MarketWatch columnist Rex Nutting, which is based on seriously flawed data, Mr. Obama claims to have presided over a period in which  “federal spending, since I took office, has risen at the slowest pace of any president in sixty years.” In fact, the Obama Administration has increased spending at a robust pace, and by the greatest amount ever by far (video here).

According to Brian Darling at Heritage Foundation, while Politifact rated Nutting’s article as “mostly true,”

What Politifact must have missed is a very important data point: President Obama signed most of the spending attributed to President George W. Bush’s last year in office, which was assigned wrongly to Bush in Nutting’s piece. (Heritage’s Emily Goff and Alison Fraser set the record straight on The Foundry.)

Nutting argues that President G.W. Bush’s second term spending bills from Fiscal Year 2006-2009 averaged 8.1% and President Obama’s annualized growth averaged 1.4%.  The reason why Nutting included FY 2009 is because it was “the last of George W. Bush’s presidency — federal spending rose by 17.9% from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion.”  This assumption is incorrect and dishonest.  This flaw in Nutting’s analysis is the reason why the Obama numbers are wrong and Nutting’s whole piece is based on flawed data.

Further, according to the article (citing Congressional Quarterly), Congress delayed the Fiscal 2009 Omnibus, hoping for a Democratic Congress, to avoid George W. Bush’s threatened vetoes, and to gain an opportunity for further bloated spending. So this spending is attributable to Obama’s watch, not Bush’s.

Also, the Nutting article mishandles the fact that TARP spending was under Bush and some TARP recovery happened under Obama.

A Wall Street Journal article dated October 13, 2010 includes a table that indicates that federal spending rose 21.4% from 2008 to 2010, with domestic items leading the way. Unemployment benefits rose 240.4%. Defense spending rose 12.1%.

The outrageous spending increases were a major factor in the GOP Congressional victories in 2010. But with Obama in office and Democrats controlling the Senate, not much has changed, and we are in line for trillion-dollar annual deficits for several years to come unless more serious changes are made. The current situation cannot continue without bringing on another recession at the least, and financial collapse likely later.

The Mitt Romney campaign is correct in saying 

“For the last three-and-a-half years, President Obama's liberal policies of wasteful spending and skyrocketing debt haven't lived up to his own promises to control our nation's mounting deficits. As president, Mitt Romney will finally change Washington and stop passing our financial burdens on to the next generation.” -Andrea Saul, Romney Campaign Spokesperson (Quoted in Chicago Sun-Times)

The Sun-Times quotes President Barack Obama in the same article as follows: 

President Obama, In 2009: “Today I'm Pledging To Cut The Deficit We Inherited In Half By The End Of My First Term In Office.” OBAMA: “[T]oday I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we've long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay - and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Washington, D.C., 2/23/09)

But that pledge apparently has expired.

Later, the White House came up with the pathetic excuse that they didn’t realize how bad the situation was when the president took office. I say they needed, and still do need, some competent economists.

What’s needed is not “slower growth” in spending, but rapid and serious cuts. Four more years of Obama in the White House will bring us four more years of out-of-control government in the Executive Branch. It is well established by now that liberals will never cut spending and will always want higher taxes. That’s just the way they are. This cannot be changed.

Recent polls show that voters are increasingly skeptical of Obama’s ability to improve the economic situation, and are more trusting of Mitt Romney. Examples:

Rasmussen, 05/15/12:  58% of likely voters trust Romney more on economy, 39% trust Obama more.

USA Today/Gallup poll 05/15/12:

In the poll, 55% say the economy would get better over the next four years if Romney was elected, compared with 46% who say it would improve if Obama were re-elected. Twenty-seven percent say the economy would get worse in a Romney first term, compared with 37% who say that of an Obama second term.

Mitt Romney definitely has the better economic plan, and now appears to have an advantage on economic issues with Americans.

Related articles

• Byron York: Dems want to blame Bush forever and ever (appeal-democrat.com)
• Mitt Romney Fights Back Against Obama's Claims That Policies Would Be the Same as George W. Bush (foxnewsinsider.com)

No Record to Run on, Just Fear and Loathing among Different Groups

Dreamstime.com

Barack Obama’s so-called "Forward" re-election strategy is the most un-presidential in memory as his policies are the most offensive and anti-constitutional.

The man who seemed to have all the answers in 2008, and convinced enough people that he was going to be the post-racial and post-partisan president, has turned out to be the “most-racial and most-partisan” president (as Rush Limbaugh described him), and he is doubling down on his class warfare themes that the evil rich should be paying a substantially larger share of income taxes, and the not-rich should have perpetual government-paid benefits from cradle to grave, starting with Head Start (which doesn’t work), and ending with Medicare (which he is going to be raiding further for the benefit of Obamacare).

Never mind that there is no mention of cutting anything except defense, with cuts which would gut our defense readiness and leave us more vulnerable in terms of national security. Any dollars cut from defense (or anything else) will never be used to reduce the deficit, but only to increase spending on liberals’ beloved, bloated social programs.

The president’s ideal of American life is pictured in the Obama campaign’s presentation “The Life of Julia” which pictures a woman relying on government help from age 3 onward, as though she could barely function if (shudder!) the awful Romney actually reduced spending on such stuff. She evidently must receive government-(i.e., taxpayer)-paid contraception, education grants, student loans, and healthcare lest she perish for lack of government funding. Obama nowhere hints of self-reliance or independence from the public trough. His ridiculous “War on Women” and “Buffett Rule” propaganda illustrate the class-warfare-based pandering to groups he hopes will support him as they did in 2008.

His support for re-election must come from hardened socialists, radical feminists and environmentalists, and other leftist fringe interests, and people who are not paying attention to economic realities, but like his “sincerity” and think his promises are somehow trustworthy.

President Barack Obama has no record that he can run on. He has empty promises, fear and resentment among various groups, the pathetic pleading of ignorance of the actual economic situation that existed when he took office, and blaming of George W. Bush, bad weather, an uncooperative Congress, etc., etc., for the continued bad economic and business environment characterized by continued massive unemployment and “growth” so slow it still doesn’t look like a recovery. But not to worry, increased government spending, more entitlements, more job-destroying EPA and Dodd-Frank-type regulations are his answer, along with more golf outings and vacations for the First Family.

Unemployment figures for April 2012 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics include the following: 8.1 per cent official unemployment rate; 115,000 jobs added in April; teenage unemployment rate 24.9 per cent; Number of unemployed persons at 12.5 million; number of people “marginally attached to the labor force” (not counted as unemployed) at 2.4 million (these had looked for work sometime in the last 12 months, but not during the 4 weeks preceding the survey, and their number includes 968,000 “discouraged workers” who had given up looking for work; persons unemployed for 27 weeks or longer at 5.1 million; persons working part time because their hours had been cut or because they couldn’t find full-time work at 7.9 million.

These numbers indicate a great deal of economic difficulty and misery for many American families. The Administration seems to have very little with which to improve this situation, and one must suspect that in the socialist/Marxist world, government dependency is a good thing, and people in economic distress tend to look to government for the help they need. In this case, they would be looking to a government that is more interested in restructuring American society to their socialist/Marxist model than in correcting the economy, which would actually recover quite well if left alone by government.

Mitt Romney is made out to be a villain because he’s (1) “rich,” (2) “out of touch,” and (3) planning to cut spending on some of Obama’s dear socialist programs, (4) and maybe even restore the defense budget so that it won’t be so deeply into the danger zone.

Romney is, politically, our only hope at present for any kind of “return to normalcy,” which we very urgently need. Four more years of Obama? More coddling of “Occupy,” more forced unionism, more illegal immigration, less freedom, and lots more spending until our debt has to be dealt with via cheap, cheap dollars, and savings and investment are all but wiped out, along with our currency. That could make Greece’s present situation look positively desirable by comparison. We won’t get another Reagan, but we can hope for a pretty good non-Obama. If Romney is half as good a president as Calvin Coolidge, we will be immensely better off than if Mr. Obama is re-elected.

With the recent hubbub about Obama’s dog-eating, and Obama’s desperate attempt to be all things to all people of the leftist extreme, I can’t help but be reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s proverb and its potential political applications: “He that lies down with Dogs, shall rise up with fleas.” (Poor Richard, 1733)

Related articles

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Don’t Blame Me, I’m Just the President

Image via Wikipedia

President Barack Obama

News item:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday he inherited many of the country's problems with high debt and deficits when he entered the White House, sounding a theme likely to dominate his 2012 re-election campaign.

* * *

President Barack Obama would have us believe that he’s doing, and has done, his dead-level best to get America’s economy back to where it should be. But he’s been obstructed by everyone else, especially those Tea-Partiers, GOP leaders, and European problems, not to mention the Japanese tsunami, and probably global warming.

There are numerous issues on which Obama and Company are so wrong that the U.S. economy is being wrecked, or, as Ben Stein mentioned a year or two ago, they’re standing on the economic oxygen hose and the patient is getting worse.

“A Theme Likely To Dominate His 2012 Re-election Campaign”

In 2008, Mr. Obama campaigned as one who seemed to have the answers, knew the best strategies, and, while criticizing the Bush Administration, offered no hint of thinking that they had created any problems that he couldn’t overcome. Yet now, Bush is going to be blamed as Obama runs for a second term? He’s going to have to spend eight years undoing Bush’s damage? Seems that will be his message, according to Reuters.

“Tea Party Downgrade”

A recent Democrat talking points memo had David Axelrod, John Kerry, and others putting forth the phrase “Tea Party Downgrade,” as though the intransigence of the Tea Party is what resulted in the credit rating downgrade of U.S. securities by Standard and Poor’s. The agency followed up on Monday, August 8, 2011, with downgrading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other federal institutions. The explanation for blaming the Tea Party for any of this is the ludicrous claim that they refused to “compromise,” and that, as Axelrod stated, the ratings agency was looking for revenues. Standard and Poor’s explicitly said that they weren’t addressing that aspect, but they were concerned with the increasing debt, and the lack of any viable efforts to get it under control.

I suppose it’s George W. Bush’s fault that the Democrats in Congress have not passed a budget in over two years, and that the budget Obama submitted would have accelerated spending and the deficit. Congress could not support it. Nor could they support a bill to increase the debt ceiling without regard to the deficit or spending cuts. Republicans, meanwhile, have submitted actual plans, Paul Ryan’s, and the Cut, Cap and Balance proposals, for instance. All of which were said to be DOA in the Senate and/or on the President’s desk. Tea Partiers were trying to do what they were elected to do, and in the end were influenced by Speaker John Boehner’s fear of allowing a default, and got into line to vote for the insipid plan that finally passed. But at least they held the line on taxes, a not-insignificant thing.

“The Grand Plan”

Obama wanted a “grand plan.” That way, he could put off any cuts until two years down the road (slowed acceleration of spending being regarded as a “cut”), get significant tax increases quickly, and spend several hundred billions more in “stimulus.” But of course he bears no responsibility for the credit rating downgrade. If you believe that he doesn’t, perhaps you’d be interested in a bridge for sale in Brooklyn. But even the “grand plan,” never saw the form of an actual proposal written down on paper. So of course the President couldn’t be held to anything he might have said.

If you listen to the president and his helpers, you get the idea that our economic problems would be solved if only those corporate jet owners and the “rich” would pay their fair share. Not mentioned is the fact that the top percentiles of earners pay the overwhelming majority of income taxes, and about 47 percent of American workers pay no income tax. But the problem is not taxes. The problem is spending. You can be sure that if taxes were increased today, Obama would quickly find ways to spend every cent of any increased revenue (and not toward retiring the debt), and soon revenues would actually be lower because the economy would shrink even more.  Liberals will never reduce spending and they will always want higher taxes. This should be axiomatic by now. Promises of future reductions are made, but never fulfilled.

So far, there have been no spending cuts, and the Democrats are calling for more spending. Somewhere, John Maynard Keynes is probably smiling. But most of us are not.

Fear Not, GOP, You Have the Initiative on the Budget

Dreamstime.com

President Barack Obama, after dissing Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, only to put himself in the position of receiving a stern and well-deserved lecture from said prime minister, is spending time traveling and seemingly trying to ignore the national debt and deficits.

It is to be hoped that Republican congressional leaders will stand firm on the idea of serious budget cuts, but this is far from certain. The best way forward, in my view, is to unite behind the Paul Ryan plan and not accept anything else, other than minor (and I mean minor) tweaking. This will require more political courage than some have seemed willing to show. And the Democrats are feverishly working to advance their weak position. Can the GOP rise to the challenge?

First, of course, the Democrats are already attacking the Medicare provisions of Ryan’s plan. Never mind that these provisions fall into the out years and won’t affect anyone who is now over 55 years of age. Even then, it will be a more efficient and means-tested plan that assures the likelihood that Medicare will still be around. If nothing is done, it will surprisingly soon be extremely difficult to fund Medicare and Social Security. The liberals would rather demagogue the issue and try to scare the recipients of these benefits, than face up to their responsibility to deal with reality.

The Democrats’ actions should be seen as a good political opportunity for the Republicans, assuming that the GOP doesn’t cower in fear of political risks. Whenever such challenges present themselves, there is going to be substantial risk to any person or group that attempts to responsibly take them on. Remember G. W. Bush’s Social Security proposals? He took extreme heat from the opposition, who couldn’t be bothered to suggest anything of their own. Here are some suggestions for the Republicans (which mostly they’ve already thought of, I hope).

1. Don’t fear a government shutdown. This may very well be the only way to effectively assert majority power in the House of Representatives, where the GOP has control of the purse strings.

2. Counter the Democrats’ fear tactics with the facts on the unsustainability of Medicare if changes aren’t made. The right changes will preserve it.

3. Understand that up to now there has been no serious proposal to effectively cut spending, other than Paul Ryan’s plan. Rep. Ryan seems to be the best defender of his work. GOP leaders should understand what he is proposing. They would do well to support it if they are actually serious about the deficit. Cutting a trillion dollars over ten years won’t help much when the debt is increasing well over $1 trillion per year. Someone should be doing the math.

4. Don’t allow any tax increases. This would stop the recovery. Point out the absurdity of raising taxes on the “rich” who earn $250,000 a year and still struggle to stay in business because of government over-regulation. Tax increases on the “rich” would hurt everyone.

5. Be aware that the Democrats want to increase the number of Americans who pay no income tax (currently about half), then count on them to support increasing taxes on everyone else. If possible, they will try to promote the entitlement mentality and encourage Wisconsin-type demonstrations by anyone who fears there may be a reduction in government benefits.

6. Help people to understand the problem: If serious measures aren’t undertaken now, there probably won’t be any, this side of a serious collapse that would make 2008’s financial crisis look like a minor downturn.

7. Understand the weakness of the Democrats’ position. They have offered little to nothing outside of demagoguery and scare tactics. But they can’t deny that there are serious fiscal problems.

It’s still possible to get on top of this debt problem. But it ultimately must include serious reform of entitlements if these programs are to be preserved at all. Paul Ryan has offered a credible approach. Certainly no Democrat has done that. The Democratic leadership sees no need to submit a budget proposal at all. They just demand tax increases.

Related articles

• Senate Shoots Down Paul Ryan Budget (blogs.abcnews.com)
• Paul Ryan Hits Back While Gaining An Unlikely Ally (virginiavirtucon.wordpress.com)

Would You Take “Investment Advice” from This Man? Or, Is This Our “Sputnik Moment?”

How do you make over-the-top, multi-trillion-dollar government spending sound good? Well, you can try calling it “investment.” That’s been President Barack Obama’s strategy for trying to sell what should be unsellable. In his State of the Union speech, he tried to appear more “centrist,” and some media figures said he was “Reaganesque,” and I think he just read a book about Ronald Reagan.

In the election of 1960, anti-Nixon forces came up with a popular slogan. “Would you buy a used car from this man?” My question is, “Would you take ‘investment’ advice from Barack Obama?”

“Investment” Advice
Mr. Obama wasn’t channeling his inner Reagan. He was giving us more of the same spend, spend, spend “investment” advice while still trying sound as though he was prepared to clamp down on spending. I suppose he thinks he can have it both ways. But after two years of record-smashing deficits with no end in sight, is he really the one to tell us we should be spending less, while at the same time urging us to spend more? Something here doesn’t quite compute.

When Mr. Obama starts advising us about the economy, we would do well to consider the obvious, as explained by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). The thing that’s been the worst problem for many people, unemployment, is the very thing that the least has been done about in terms of success. Meanwhile, we are quickly becoming a nation in decline as a result of the spending orgy of the Obama era, which makes G.W. Bush look like Mr. Frugal.

I suppose we received a lesson in how to do things like China, a nation much admired by our president. I know there are many fine people and admirable things in China, but the “successes” of their economy depend largely on the fact that there are no human rights in China, thus leaving open the use of child labor, virtual slave labor, and total ignoring of “environmental impact.” Probably to build a nuclear power plant in the U.S. would take decades by the time the required permits and processes were completed, and by then the technology would likely be obsolete. Not so in China. I’m not saying we should be like them. Not at all. But maybe a little less determined to stop this kind of construction before it starts. Similarly for oil refineries, etc.

As Glenn Beck explained on his Fox News Channel show January 26, 2011, The fuels we are now using are going to be the main ones for years to come. Right now, less than one percent of our energy is provided by either wind or solar power. Wood provides two percent. So these new energy sources aren’t going to be our mainstays any time soon.

What’s wrong with letting private industry develop these things when they can be made profitable, rather than throwing good money after bad with government “investment?” Of course it’s questionable whether we have any “good” money to throw at anything – just money hot off the printing press, created out of thin air.

Did I hear him right? Did he actually have some good things to say about America? After bowing to every despotic dictator he meets and apologizing for the U.S. at every opportunity; after wining and dining Mr. “Human Rights” Hu of China? Well, that’s supposed to convince us of his “new tone” and his turn toward the center. Well, not quite.

Our Sputnik Moment?
Here in our “Sputnik Moment,” the president wants us to “invest” (i.e., spend boatloads of government funds) in the following things, among others:

Biomedical research – for what? Cloning?
Information technology – I thought we had Google and Facebook, etc. Oh, I see – so we can give him an effective Internet kill switch….
Clean energy technology – see discussion above.
High-speed rail -- For whom? They can't get enough passengers to ride Amtrak. (As Glenn Beck mentioned, we'd have to lay a whole new track system. I say, not needed and not cost-effective.)
Infrastructure – ah, good old infrastructure, the area where everyone excels us. He may not have noticed, but infrastructure is being worked on all the time. In front of my house, we are getting new curbs and a resurfaced street, All over our city, you can’t go two miles without some major road or bridge construction going on and new buildings going up. Maybe some stimulus funds? And yet our country has 9.4 percent unemployment with the “real” unemployment rate getting worse because people have given up looking for jobs.
Education – he seems to want every American to get a college degree. He’s going to “invest” in education to help people pay for college, but when is he going to ask colleges and universities to make their tuition costs realistic by dipping into some of their multi-billion-dollar endowments? There really is no excuse for these rates being so high.

As others have pointed out, the government did nothing to help Edison or the Wright Brothers. Probably not much to help Facebook. Google, I don’t know. Since Al Gore is a prominent figure in that, maybe they got government welfare. Lots of companies do. But government is not the engine of innovation or invention, or the economy in general. It is almost always the impediment that keeps the economy from improving, due to high taxes and endless regulation.


I suggest that this is not our “Sputnik moment.” Yes, we need to compete in the global market. This will be not be accomplished by government “investing” in and controlling so many things. It will be accomplished by unfettered free markets in which entrepreneurs and large companies can be free from government intervention and allowed to pursue their self interest. And government could save a lot by cutting off the corporate welfare spending.

Obama still wants our students to spend more hours and longer school years in the classroom, and to focus more on math and science. Or else, saith he, we won’t be able to compete with the smart kids from other countries. Of course, in some of these countries, kids are taken away from their parents and given special training if they excel in some particular area. I say, get the federal government out of education, return it to local control, and see what happens. Probably, more vocational education, less spirit-strangling student debt, and generally a better economy.

G.K. Chesterton said that many people think they are members of the last generation simply because they can’t imagine the world getting on without them. I think that sort of thinking affects our government. It’s so involved in every aspect of life that it thinks life would simply fall apart if it pulled back. It wouldn’t, of course. Someday, we’ll get back to being a society willing to try it. Or so I hope.

Recommended Reading: R.J. Moeller, "State of the Union On My Mind," A Voice in the Wilderness.


Photo: Barack Obama official portrait by Pete Souza. Public domain.

Obama Blames Bush and Whines about the Economy, or Happy Labor Day to the Unemployed

Now President Barack Obama wants approval for a $50 billion “jobs bill,” that Republican leaders rightly point out would have little effect other than increasing US indebtedness when spending is already out of control. No new jobs would be brought about until next year perhaps, and the bill is hardly worth its price tag.

And Obama has turned up the volume, for campaign season, on his “Blame Bush” strategy, which by now is wearing quite thin. Obama, during his presidential campaign seemed to be confident about having all the answers, but since his economic policies have been a big failure thus far, he has to blame Bush, propose more stimulus, and do more whining.

An AP article reporting on Obama’s newest stimulus proposal includes the following about Obama’s statements to a “cheering crowd at a labor gathering” in Milwaukee:

Casual in brown slacks and open-collar white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, Obama took a populist tack in his speech, mixing attacks on Republicans with praise for working-class and middle-class Americans.

He said he'd “keep fighting, every single day, every single hour, every single minute to turn this economy around.” He said interest groups he has battled “talk about me like a dog.” [1]

I’m not sure if he meant that even during vacation times he’d keep “fighting.” Or when he could spare some time from whining about groups that “talk about me like a dog,” he’d “fight.” He did say every single day, hour, and minute. That doesn’t leave much time for other things. Such inspirational rhetoric from the Chief.

He talks about helping the middle class at the same time he is destroying the middle class. And young people trying to enter the job market are probably rethinking their devotion to the Messiah’s “hope and change” promises. There have been changes, but not what was hoped for. There are 14.9 million people still unemployed, and another 8.9 million underemployed [2], and still more who have given up looking for work, but Obama hails the “positive news” of 54,000 private sector jobs created.

Oh, and by the way, Obama wants to exempt companies from paying Social Security taxes on newly-hired people that were unemployed. And, he wants to continue R&D tax benefits. In the context of the employment and tax picture as seen by employers, these things are not enough to encourage hiring to any significant degree.

Further, the AP article reports as follows:

He also acknowledged that the past eight months of modest private-sector job growth hasn't been enough to bring down the unemployment rate. He said economic problems facing families today are “more serious than ever,” and seemed to ask the audience in Milwaukee — and voters nationwide — for patience.

“Now here's the honest truth, the plain truth. There's no silver bullet, there's no quick fix to these problems,” he said, adding that it will take time to “reverse the damage of a decade worth of policies” that caused the recession. [3]

He’s right about the problems getting worse under his administration. And his policies certainly can’t and won’t improve things much. He is wrong about “‘a decade worth of policies’ that caused the recession,” if he means something other than the real estate bubble and the misbehavior of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, resulting from actions and inaction of the Democrats and the Fed, and Bush’s ill-advised last-minute acceptance of (Democrat) Paulson’s demand for a $700 billion bail-out blank check.

Obama’s beloved health care bill ensures that there won’t be fiscal sanity for the foreseeable future, and his promotion of the cap and trade bill proves he doesn’t care. Obamacare and the impending EPA regulations on CO-2, plus the end of the Bush tax cuts, the double-dip, and the worsening of real-estate troubles, virtually guarantee that banks and businesses will keep holding on to their cash for some time. Economists who say the economy will improve around 2014 may be counting on Obama being out of office by then. If Republicans gain control of Congress this year and de-fund Obama’s main initiatives and overturn his regulations, and extend the Bush tax cuts, things could get better much sooner.

Meanwhile, the President stays in campaign mode, though his message now is far less appealing to his election supporters than in 2008. But he can campaign. He just isn’t good at governing.

[1] Darlene Superville, Associated Press, “Obama assails GOP, promotes new jobs program,” 09/06/2010. Yahoo! News.

[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The Employment Situation -- August 2010,” 09/03/2010.

[3] Superville, see [1].

Photo: Vintage 1956 postage stamp with Labor Day theme (Dreamstime.com)

Obama’s Agenda vs. Problems and Promises

President Barack Obama is experiencing some of the trials of the presidency that cannot be smoothed over by teleprompter eloquence or diplomatic initiative. An AP article by Tom Raum describes several major situations the President is dealing with, after his battle on health care: high unemployment, financial crisis, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Times Square bombing attempt, Middle East “peace process,” and a Supreme Court vacancy [1]. Also, we suppose, flooding in Tennessee.

After years of lambasting George W. Bush for the response to Hurricane Katrina, liberals are seeing the model of correctness in Obama’s public response to (1) the oil spill and (2) the flooding: (1) Remark on how long it may take to correct the problem, and put pressure on the rig owner to clean it up, and (2) (fill in Obama’s flood response here).

Everything is politicized these days. Probably, the government and BP will do the things expected of them toward cleaning up the spill, and there will be declarations of disaster areas and federal help for flood victims. In both disasters, there will be substantial private relief efforts also. I don’t want to criticize Obama for things beyond his control. He will probably take the appropriate actions. But he may not have a lot better success than G. W. Bush did with Katrina.

Meanwhile, our hearts go out to the families of those lost, and all who have been injured or are otherwise suffering as a result of these disasters.

On things that are proper subjects for political comment:

The economy is beginning to recover, mainly because there is still something of the structure of a free market, despite the government’s persistent meddling and manipulation, and outrageous spending. We should be concerned about the economic (not to mention freedom) effects of the new health care law when the changes take effect. Two other big dangers: Cap and trade, which would deal a serious blow to the recovery, and VAT, which Obama will likely try to have enacted. It has been suggested that Obama’s deficit commission is there to give him cover for massive tax increases, specifically VAT. This would annihilate Obama’s promise of no tax increase for families making under $250,000, a promise already pretty well done for.

Cap and trade would leave America and Americans poorer from new taxes and regulations, and would do nothing for the environment. This should be a no-brainer, but for some reason it isn’t. Mainly, it’s just a device for expanding government power and control over citizens’ everyday lives, like the health care law. It will make people more dependent on government since they’ll have less freedom and less disposable income.

Mr. Obama’s job in dealing with the current tough situations is made more difficult by the fact that his priorities are, I believe, misplaced. He is determined to get his socialist-fascist program in place, at the expense of other needs, such as reduced unemployment, increased private sector economic activity, and building any kind of national unity. His agenda is polarizing and goes against the wishes of most of the American voters, but he knows better than they, he thinks, and is determined to get as much of this stuff done as he can before the elections put a stop to some of it.

Several of his major campaign promises have been casualties of his agenda, notably the aforementioned no-tax-on-below-$250K and some others mentioned below.

Describing Obama’s recent “Nuclear Security Summit,” Susan Dale, of Human Events Guns & Patriots notes the following:

This meeting, oddly enough, did not include the nuclear and soon to be nuclear nations of North Korea and Iran, both of which are led by lunatics and which are the two countries that are primarily responsible for current international fears of rogue nuclear activity. No worries, here, however, as our fearless leader, in an impressive display of courage, determination and diplomatic mastery of international affairs, faced down Canada, Chile and the Ukraine from implementing their nightmarish nuclear scenaria. We can now rest easy knowing that warheads will no longer be heading our way from Ottawa, Santiago or Kiev. [2]

Also, she notes that the meeting, from which the press was excluded, violated Obama’s promise of transparency [3], which had already been destroyed by the antics of the Administration and Congress in the health care and cap and trade bill processes.

Another broken promise:
“Barack Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors…” [4]

Politifact lists 110 promises Obama has kept, most of which have been beneficial to special interests but not the economy, plus 19 which have been broken, 34 compromised, 83 stalled and 255 “in the works.” [5] Some of the promises kept have been fortunate, such as “Expand access to places to hunt and fish,” but many unfortunate, such as “Raise fuel economy standards.” Many of the “kept” promises relate to the healthcare law and “green” energy topics.

The main reason the economy has not rebounded more quickly is the misguided government response: Massive spending and new entitlements, ballooning deficits and rumblings about getting the spending and deficit under control via new taxes. Private sector businesses find this a difficult environment for investing and hiring, with several possible new laws to make things worse.

Right now, the economic outlook is slightly improved, but the horizon remains clouded.


[1] Tom Raum, Associated Press, “Analysis: Obama beset at once by multiple crises,” 05/04/2010, at Yahoo! News.


[2] Susan Dale, “Out Neronian Leader,” 05/04/2010, Human Events Guns & Patriots.


[3] Ibid.

[4] “Barack Obama’s Comprehensive Tax Plan,” PDF linked from Politifact.com, at BarackObama.com.

[5] Politifact.

Photo : Dreamstime.com. Obama in Prague

Is Obama President Yet?

Candidate Barack Obama spoke like a man who was very confident about solving America’s economic, social, and foreign policy problems. That’s the impression his silver-tongued oratory was trying to leave, and he succeeded enough to get elected by a majority. His speeches were long on platitudes and short on specifics, but, to many, he looked like the man with some answers, and they bought his message of “hope and change.”

When Does It Become Obama’s Presidency?
What we continue to see too much of is Obama’s willingness to blame all present problems on “the mess we inherited” from the previous administration, and to wish his critics would be silent. After all, they are, according to his statements, the ones who created the mess. To him, apparently, they have no right to criticize, or, for that matter, to even speak. George W. Bush is the great villain who caused all the trouble, the president and his people would have us think, and he is the one they continue to campaign and run against.





(See Jay Leno clip here.)

But Obama’s attempts to blame Bush for his (Obama’s) own situation is becoming tiresome to many of the American people, and possibly wearing thin among his supporters – certainly among many of his former supporters.

Every president inherits a situation of some great difficulty. A man who runs for president must accept this as a challenge. It is the height of bad form to blame your predecessor for everything when you’ve based your campaign on claims to understand and accept the challenges that are being faced, and claimed to have the desire and ability to deal effectively with them. Truman’s oft-quoted advice still stands: “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” (Biden explains to George Stephanopoulos how they “misread the economy” in video found here.)

Past Presidents Inherited Troublesome Situations, Too
Franklin D. Roosevelt faced a dire situation in 1933. He didn’t spend his terms of office whining about what a mess Mr. Hoover left him. While (in my opinion) his economic “solutions” prolonged the Depression, he at least took it as his responsibility to deal with it. Did he claim that everyone had “misread the economy”? I don’t think so. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Ronald Reagan inherited quite a mess from Jimmy Carter. But he didn’t repeatedly remind everyone of that fact as a political strategy in his White House. He didn’t waste time and energy blaming others for his troubles. He devoted his efforts to restoring prosperity and winning the Cold War.

Bill Clinton said there couldn’t be a middle-class tax cut because the economy was so much worse than they thought when they came into office. That kind of excuse was lame then, and it’s lame now. Get some competent economic advisers. Still, we didn’t hear Clinton harping on the problems left by the previous administration after he was well into his first term.

Can We Blame Everything on Bush?
Yes, Bush left an economic mess. Liberals would have us believe it was entirely Bush’s fault, when in fact there was plenty of blame to go around, most of which ought to be placed on Democrats. The housing crisis that led to the financial meltdown was anticipated long before it broke open. The warning signs were there. When the Bush Administration tried numerous times to get effective regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they were rebuffed by Congress, who wanted to attack the regulators. How dare they accuse these GSE’s of anything? They were surpassing their goals (after creatively adjusting the books) in providing affordable housing, i.e., buying mortgage loans made by banks under duress to people who were obviously unable to repay them. But the execs, mostly ex-Clinton people, got their huge bonuses. (See video about Congressional hearings here).

Then there’s the deficit. Bush left two wars, as well as “compassionate conservative” programs, such as a Medicare drug benefit, No Child Left Behind, and other costly items. OK. But: “Under President Obama, government will spend more on welfare in a single year than President George W. Bush spent on the war in Iraq during his entire presidency.” [1] Does Bush’s admittedly large deficit justify the astronomical deficits we’re already seeing under Obama, to be followed by even more? How much is too much? We may learn the answer.

Further Reading
I found three good articles on Obama’s insistence on blaming the Bush Administration, one by National Review’s Rich Lowry, one by Peggy Noonan at The Wall Street Journal, and one by William McGurn, also at WSJ. Polls have indicated that many Americans still blame Bush for the continuing economic problems, but they also show Obama’s support, especially among independents, declining. Maybe that reflects some significant reality about a president who obsessively apologizes for America and blames George W. Bush for his own lack of success.

[1] Robert Rector, Katherine Bradley and Rachel Sheffield, “Obama to Spend $10.3 Trillion on Welfare: Uncovering the Full Cost of Means-Tested Welfare or Aid to the Poor,” 09/16/2009, at Heritage.org.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/welfare/sr0067.cfm.


Photo: Dreamstime.com

Obama Still Blaming That Bad Ol’ George W. as Things Get Worse

1. Obama Keeps Complaining about His Predecessor.
In his July 22 press conference, Obama complained about the huge deficits inherited from the Bush Administration. Never mind that the last two years of G.W. Bush had a Democratic majority in Congress. The Bush deficits pale in comparison to Obama’s.
This debt will be there for generations to come. And we have yet to see the inevitable inflation. At some point, Bush can no longer be fairly blamed. I think that point is well past.

2. The Economic Problems Now Belong to Obama.
If Obama is trying to help the economy, it’s obvious that he and his congressional allies have no clue about how to do it. But it’s not quite that simple (See #5).

3. His “Remedies” Are Making Things Worse.
The “stimulus” (which could better be named the Pork and Earmark Cornucopia Act) has not stopped the steady increase in unemployment, with millions of jobs being lost. The Obama people are saying that their projections of unemployment figures were too low because they “misread” the economy. Of course, it’s that fiend Bush’s fault. In fact, they’d been ranting for most of the G. W. Bush years about how the sky was falling and it was the worst economy since the Great Depression. That was even before there was a recession. If they didn’t know the state of the economy when Obama took office, it could only be because they didn’t do their homework.

So how are we doing now? Here’s a clue:

Bernanke to lawmaker: Jobless recovery may loom
Thursday, July 23, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sees the possibility of continued high unemployment even after the recession loosens its grip, a key U.S. senator said on Monday after talking to him.
“It was a rather sobering meeting,” Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, said on CNBC.
“I said, ... ‘Could this be a jobless recovery?’ ... and he said it could be,” Shelby said.

Most recessions don’t last very long if left to the market. But Obama was on board with Paulsen, Bernanke and, of course, Bush in demanding an immediate “bailout” package that had to be passed so urgently there was no time for study or debate. After the government and the Fed had already spent billions for various bailouts, Obama and company took over GM and Chrysler, etc., which cost many more billions, led to bankruptcy anyway, cheated creditors, dealers, and stockholders, who were chastised if they dared complain. So here we are. Thirty-plus czars will work all this out, while making sure that financial company executive pay is kept in line.

4. Cap and Trade, and Health Care “Reform” Will Do Us In Economically.

Cap and trade will massively increase taxes and unemployment, sending many jobs and companies overseas and closing many manufacturers. It also will do nothing to help the environment. Even if “climate change” were a legitimate issue (which it is not), this law wouldn’t help. India and China aren’t on board and several other countries are realizing that this kind of law is counterproductive. Check the carbon results of the Kyoto signers.

Health care “reform” is as much of a nightmare as cap and trade. It will wreck our health care system, put insurance companies out of business, and greatly disincentivize health care providers and pharmaceutical companies. It will in a relatively short time have everyone on the “public option,” with rationed care. In his July 22 press conference, the President said that health care reform will decrease deficits. It will not decrease deficit levels and the only way to reduce the deficits it will produce will be rationing care.

Rather than making health care more affordable and more available, it will actually deny and delay health care in many cases and degrade quality in just about all. People will be required to purchase insurance. The problems in our health care system do not warrant such an overhaul. The government can address the actual problem areas by helping to, for example, provide affordable catastrophic coverage, and as I and others have suggested, provide tax incentives to employers providing coverage, etc. But the Administration wants to “pay for” their plan by increasing taxes. If you think we’re in a recession now, just wait.

Either of these bills would seriously deepen and extend the recession; both together would make it seem permanent. These are among the very worst laws ever considered in America.

5. It’s OK with Obama, Though; His Plans Are Really Working.
Obama is working feverishly to amass power, avoid scrutiny and reduce people’s ability to resist by making them more and more dependent on government. He wants to follow Rahm Emanuel’s advice and not let any good crisis go to waste. And believe me, there won’t be any shortage of crises. And, he has the mainstream media working for him. However, his popularity is beginning to fade.

6. It’ll Be OK for Us If Enough People Wake Up Before It’s Too Late.
How much loss of freedom and personal independence are the American people willing to put up with? Keep in mind that whatever Obama has done to others he can do to any of us. Obama wants as much control over the daily lives of Americans as he can get. He is working to put the Democratic Party in a perpetual majority by pandering (and lying) to the people and increasing Democrat voters by courting illegal immigrants and enlarging and perpetuating a dependent class.

How much of our Constitution are we willing to rip out as though it meant nothing? I don’t think Americans will stop being Americans. They will act once they see the errors that need to be corrected. Don’t re-elect these people! Contact your elected representatives! I’m still optimistic. Disappointed, but optimistic.