Throwing Good Money After Bad

The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 69,000 jobs last month, the lowest number since May of last year. Concurrently, the unemployment rate increased for the first time in eleven months. The “official” jobless rate rose to 8.2%. Additionally, it reported that in the past two months 49,000 fewer jobs were created than originally stated. The Bureau of LaborStatistics also revealed that in America, 766,000 fewer women are employed today than in January 2009, when the current administration first took office.

As a result, the U.S. Stock Market dropped. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called the news “devastating” and the White House blamed George W. Bush, claiming they “are still fighting back from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression”. The White House keeps insisting that their economic policies are helping America dig out of “the deep hole caused by the recession”.

Three years and five months into his term, barack obama still has no answers as to how to get America’s economy growing at anything faster than a snail’s pace. That’s bad for America. It could also devastate his re-election chances. That prospect is good for America.

Since he took office all obama has done is sign extreme, far left fringe, anti-business, anti-energy, anti-growth “progressive” legislation into law. Bills passed by the ilk of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd or farmed out to the likes of the George Soros funded Tides Foundation. His only personal efforts were appointment of the Simpson Boles Commission, whose suggestions he summarily dismissed, and his budgets, which for the past two years have yet to receive a single vote in the U.S. Senate, which is controlled by his own Party.

The ‘stimulus”, misrepresented as financing for “shovel ready projects”, was, among other wasteful ventures, redistribution of taxpayer’s money to his political cronies involved in mismanaged “green energy” companies. Or to States deep in debt due to over zealous, business killing regulations and historically discredited tax and spend policies. Those States were in desperate need of revenue to pay the bloated cost of pensions and benefits owed to their unionized government employed political campaign financiers and foot soldiers.

obama overstepped his Constitutionally limited power as Chief Executive by interfering in bankruptcy proceeding for GM and Chrysler. The Harvard Law School graduate “determined” that hundreds of years of bankruptcy court precedent would not sufficiently suit his political needs and thereby dictated that the financial interests of secured bondholders would be seized and transferred to his union supporters in the UAW.

his foreign policy has been an utter disaster. Yes, he was convinced by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta that it would be OK to “get” Osama bin Laden. Something for which obama has been most eager to accept sole credit. But that opportunity was set up by a number of people working within the U.S. intelligence community for close to a decade…not to mention the coordinated effort of U.S. Special Forces and other branches of the military involved in carrying out the operation. Since then, his White House has somehow managed to leak enough information about the top-secret operation to get a friendly Pakistani intelligence operative imprisoned for a few decades. That will certainly provide a most powerful recruiting inducement to potential operatives going “forward”, won’t it? Philosophically driven by a strong desire to shift America’s image in the world away from that created by his predecessor, obama enacted a new doctrine. One that focuses on systematically killing via predator drone rather than capturing the enemy and obtaining useful national security information by submitting them to enhanced interrogation techniques. Better to deprive people of life than to submit them to physical discomfort. Only “progressives” would consider that a move to the moral high ground.

If that’s not enough, his “most significant achievement”, obamacare, is about to be ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The list could go on and on and on…and on, but is it really necessary to list all the committed atrocities about which obama’s opponents are already aware? That his supporters will vehemently deny?

At this point it would be very profitable to play poker with those still donating to obama’s re-election campaign. They seem quite unaware of a mistake that accomplished gamblers vigorously and conscientiously avoid: “Throwing good money after bad.”

Choose Your Stimulus

The Spanish Economic Ministry denied there’s been a surge in withdrawals from the nation’s banks, while Spain’s Prime Minister warned that borrowing costs could reach “astronomical” proportions over fears about the weakness of Spain’s financial institutions.

Greeks have been taking their savings out of banks, with nearly a third taken out during this year’s first quarter. Since May 7^th, at least 700m euros have been withdrawn from Greek banks. Uncertainty over Greece’s exit from the eurozone is stirring global fears about Europe’s monetary future.

France’s new socialist government will not ratify the European Union’s fiscal pact unless it contains stimulus provisions. “The treaty will not be ratified as is and that it must be completed with a chapter on growth, with a growth strategy,” said France’s new Finance Minister.

With a number of European countries again in recession, with zero growth in parts of the eurozone this year, calls for stimulus measures within Europe are growing.

Europe’s ideas about stimulating the eurozone economy will only lead the continent into deeper trouble. Taxing the rich, hiring more government employees and lowering the retirement age is not the way to create sustainable, long-term economic growth.

No matter how much money is raised through tax hikes, a portion of those funds are lost before they’re re-injected into the economy due to the cost of government overhead. That puts the stimulus process on negative footing before the discussion even turns to how the money’s to be spent, be it sending out welfare checks, funding food stamps or repaying political supporters by rewarding them with “shovel ready” government contracts.

Not that America should be overly concerned with Europe’s fate. Thanks to their scrupulous adherence to the dictates of political correctness and secular multiculturalism, they’ll be slaves to Sharia law in a few decades anyway.

America must learn from Europe’s mistakes.

Following down the path of taxing the rich, creating a cradle to grave entitlement society and continuous deficit spending in attempts to sustain a socialist utopian fantasy will destroy any country, including America.

Punitive taxing of the rich is a non-starter. Class envy warfare might be effective, emotionally charged rhetoric able to stir up a politician’s voter base, but it’s illogical. Were “those evil rich who don’t pay their fair share” in the U.S. to be taxed at a 100% rate, the revenue collected by the IRS would fund spending in Washington DC for a couple of months. Not years, a couple of months. How then would the government propose to pay for the rest of the year’s deficit spending? And after taxes have destroyed the wherewithal of the well off, who would then be taxed? Besides, rich folks, especially those engaging in successful business practices (as opposed to achieving wealth through inheritance or by winning the lottery) didn’t succeed because they’re imbeciles. If a country’s tax rates are unfavorable to their business, they leave that country and take their businesses, jobs and money with them. It’s not exactly climbing out on a limb to predict that a 100% tax rate would fall within their unfavorable category.

Creating a cradle to grave entitlement society is the best way to destroy initiative. It’s said that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach that man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Imagine a group of one hundred people where only five know how to catch fish. In order to feed everyone every day, those five people would each need to catch twenty fish per day. How long would it take before some, if not all of those five fishermen grew tired of sharing their wealth with the other 95% and gave up fishing? On the other hand, if all the people were taught to fish and expected to catch their own, no individual would be responsible for catching more than one fish per day. If they managed to catch two fish per day, they will have created a surplus of wealth that benefits the entire group.

Continuing massive deficit spending obligates any nation’s budget to two unsavory alternatives. One is borrowing, which results in having to pay the money back with interest. Not only does being obligated to make those payments leave less money available to pay the cost of conducting regular business, it profits the lender to the detriment of the borrower. The other alternative is to devalue the currency by printing money, leading to inflation, which if left unchecked destroys the value of the country’s currency. Political instability caused by inflating the currency of the Weimar Republic led to the rise of Adolph Hitler. Shortages of hard currency led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

America has a choice to make. Shall it follow the smaller government design, complete with reduced spending, lower taxes, a growing free market economy and individual freedom preferred by the law abiding, peaceful Tea Party, whose lineage can be traced back to 1969, when the world joined Americans in viewing the pinnacle achievement of human history, the televised first moon landing? Or should America follow the design of the law breaking, violent Occupy Wall Street, who’s lineage can be traced back to Woodstock, the other big event of 1969, where unbathed people ingested copious amounts of drugs and rolled around in the mud having sex like animals?

As Conservative innovator and outspoken leader Andrew Breitbart said at the 2012 CPAC Convention in February: “I don’t care who our candidate is. I haven’t since the beginning of this. I will march behind whoever our candidate is because if we don’t, we lose. There are two paths: one is America, the other one is Occupy. Anyone that is willing to stand next to me to fight the progressive left I will be in that bunker, and if you’re not in that bunker because you’re not satisfied with this candidate, more than shame on you, you’re on the other side.”

Today’s Top Story

The “progressive” Party Pravda, in concert with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and with permission from their overlords at Media Matters for America, announced today that construction of a ladder to heaven is scheduled to begin next spring, immediately after the current administration begins its second term. Funding will require implementation of a 100% tax rate on all tax brackets, to be supplemented as needed with dollars printed by the Federal Reserve.

It has been confirmed that only unions donating sufficient funds to “progressive” re-election campaigns will be considered as potential labor for the project. Quintuple overtime union wages will be paid for the duration of the construction, which is expected to take five to six hundred times as long to complete as originally planned.

Objections raised by Conservative Americans about the negative impact this project may have on the national debt were met with ridicule from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who said:

“This Tea Party fueled overreaction to a shovel ready project that will put tens of billions of struggling middle class Americans back to work, by racist, hostile, demon extremists is clearly due to failed Republican ideas and lack of leadership by George W. Bush. We have to pass this bill in order to see what’s in it.”

The commander in chief was in Air Force One flying to yet another $500,000.00 a plate campaign fundraiser in Hollywood and thus was unavailable for comment.

Questions about how to cover the overhead costs of paying union members being taxed at a 100% tax rate were deferred to the Treasury Department. The term “sufficient funds” was not defined.

Film at 11:00

Why obama is Toast

 

 

 

This just in from the Associated Press:

The Commerce Department said Thursday new-home sales fell last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists say must be sold in a healthy economy.

About 302,000 homes were sold last year. That’s less than the 323,000 sold in 2010, making 2011 the worst year on records dating back to 1963.

http://news.yahoo.com/home-purchases-fall-2011-worst-ever-sales-152515874.html

This doesn’t bode well for the current White House occupant, who’s staking his re-election on a two pronged strategy of attacking Republicans and spinning the impression that, thanks to his policies, America’s economy is on the right track and on the road to recovery.

Numbers like these certainly won’t help him implement the second portion of this strategy. If the trend is up, as the White House, their surrogates in the “progressive” Democratic Party and the “progressive” Party Pravda keep telling us, why were there fewer new homes sold in 2011 than in 2010?

This speaks to the bigger reason why occupy Oval Office’s re-election changes are diminishing. People in America are not as stupid as the self appointed, self-imagined “intellectual elite” believe them to be.

Just because a bunch of self interested, self seeking snobs with highfalutin college degrees thumbtacked to their office walls altered the variables in the equation by which inflation rates are calculated doesn’t mean that people can’t and won’t see the truth. Bureaucrats in government can release all the doctored numbers it’s possible to cipher, desperately trying to convince people to deny their own cognitive abilities and take what they’re being told at face value…that there is no inflation. I guess them there fancy pants geniuses with them there Ivy League deeeegreeeees truly believe that average people, Joe and Josie six pack if you will, don’t see the cost of gasoline and food going up when they fill up their cars and go to the grocery store.

The “intellectual elite” keep trying to convince those dummies populating fly over America that thanks to massive big government spending and increased regulation through the stimulus, Dodd/Frank, and obamacare, unemployment numbers are going down and people are finding jobs. If you just happen to be one of the millions of folks who can’t find a job, haven’t been able to find a job after months or years of searching, live with someone who’s experiencing the same dilemma or hear from someone who just lost the good paying job with benefits they’d had for years, you’re absolutely, positively, definitely the exception to the rule.

The economic crash of 2008 was the direct result of the failed leadership of George W. Bush and failed Republican policies. The Tea Party is Astroturf. Tea Partiers are violent, extreme racists. The Tea Party spit on us. Occupy Wall Street is legitimate. Occupy Wall Street is a spontaneous grassroots movement. Newt Gingrich can’t win a general election. Mitt Romney’s a part of the isolated, evil rich 1%. Rick Santorum has no chance.

There’s no doubt about it. We have spoken, you will believe.  The world’s a safer place! The world’s impression of the United States is better now that we’re in charge! America’s more respected now! Believe us…trust us…we’re the smart ones (read: not you).  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ!

Oh brother.

State of The Union or Wishful Thinking?

The 2012 State of the Union address has come and gone with little change in the White House’s view of the world. This is unfortunate. America needs viable solutions, not more wishful thinking.

Most disturbing is the continued, steadfast insistence that doubling America’s corporate tax rate will somehow create middle class jobs. After repeated failures by the current Administration to productively invest taxpayer’s money in green energy companies like Solyndra, what track record exists to support the assumption that government can invest the people’s money more wisely than those who earned it? Why should Americans trust a White House that said no to the Keystone pipeline, a privately funded project that would create thousands of jobs while reducing American dependence on oil from the Middle East? Especially when the White House is still pushing a multi-billion dollar high speed rail project in California that will never have the projected number of passengers and will become just another taxpayer subsidized failure like Amtrak?

Why insist on ending taxpayer subsides for the oil industry while choosing to “double-down” on clean energy? Why should government subsidize any of the energy industry? Let the energy companies go about their business and may the best, cheapest, most efficient energy be provided to the public.

If the White House truly wants to have “an economy built on American manufacturing”, they should cut taxes on manufacturing so investors have incentive, and reduce regulations that are inflating the cost and reducing the efficiency of starting and growing a manufacturing business. Without the return of manufacturing, any economic recovery in America will be sluggish at best. Why continue to practice policies that discourage growth in this vital economic sector?

Yes, Congress appropriating funds for construction projects is a normal part of doing business. But don’t try to convince us that you’ve suddenly become an expert on recognizing “shovel ready projects”. Everyone who’s been paying attention remembers what a dismal failure your last attempt was with the “stimulus” bill.

Iran’s closer than ever to getting the bomb and you’re still trying for dialogue, while civil unrest runs rampant in Iraq thanks to your failure to secure a Status of Forces agreement before withdrawal. The Arab Spring is becoming a Muslim Brotherhood bonanza, and the Taliban is licking their chops in anticipation of our withdrawal from Afghanistan. Talking with the Taliban is simply allowing them to gain credibility while they stall and await our departure.

Enough with the divisive class warfare rhetoric. Americans aspire to be rich, not get a handout. Besides, the top 10% pays 70% of the taxes in this country. 47% of Americans pay zero income tax. Exactly how do you define “fair share”?

And while we’re at it, the healthcare law you, Pelosi and Reid jammed down America’s throat without our consent is a mass medical tragedy in the making that increases the already monstrous debt we’ll owe for the unfunded Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid mandates.

You’ve had your chance. Your policies have failed. Why don’t you see if Bill Ayers is available to write your memoirs?