Yes-23 » economy

Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Crazy Times

RodZ — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:43:44 +0000

I have been watching the events of late and I can say that in my lifetime I have never seen our nation in such a confused state. I was very active during the health care bill process and much to my dismay it passed. We are now finding out what the impact of that bill is going to be. The financial reform act was also passed, so quickly I didn’t really have time to post much on what it was doing, again we are slowly finding out the impact of this bill.

I am watching with great dismay, the racial component that has once again become a mainstay of the political conversation. This is very discouraging to me because I believe it is a distraction, designed to sway public opinion away from the issues facing out nation.

The current administration and democratic controlled Congress are spending money at an alarming rate. This theory is based on something called “Kensington economics”. I looked at this theory and what really struck me was the fact that it states that you should spend and lower taxes during an economic crises and reduce spending and raise taxes during good times. What I noticed is that the Progressives want to raise taxes and spend during this crises. Wow! Seems to me they can even get this right.

I am very confused as far as our borders are concerned. What is the problem with stopping the invasion of foreign nationals coming into our country ILLEGALLY? Why is it tied to “comprehensive immigration reform”? Why are many Hispanics upset with those of us who want to stop this invasion? Our government is one of the largest promoters of racial profiling I have ever seen. Have you ever filled out a government form that did not ask you your race? What is the point of this practice? If you don’t know you really are missing the point. It is all about control and dollars. It is that simple. I believe that until we as a country stop dividing everyone into sub-groups, we will always have a cultural divide. All of this makes me wonder why second or beyond generation Hispanics are so emphatic about allowing this invasion to continue. I really just don’t get it, if you are an american citizen and you have lived here all your life, why aren’t you concerned with what this practice is costing Americans? The political “spin” is that the illegals do jobs Americans won’t do and our economy will be negatively impacted, tell that to the union construction worker who can’t work because he has been undercut by illegals and cheap pay. They other side says it’s a cheap labor thing, hmmm may be a little truth to both sides, but the argument should not even be happing because the illegals should not be here.

Our economy is in shambles and the stimulus did not work, PERIOD. I really don’t believe what this administration is selling. The market is so up and down it is a joke, unemployment is still very high and no new jobs are being created by the private sector. This is because they cannot get a clear picture of the tax increase that are coming or what impact all the new legislation is going to have on them. You can spin the stimulus results anyway you want but the facts are that the money has been spent on worthless BS that produced no new jobs. Don’t give me the political line that many teachers, cops and firemen are still working because of the stimulus money. They could have done that with a specific bill that spent much less and accomplished the same thing.

I guess in closing I will say that I am very confused. The President is saying we cannot return to the failed policies of the Bush administration. I contend we cannot move forward with the failed policies of the the Obama administration.

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President Obama, Tarp, Stimulus, Auto Bailout, Health Care Reform: Big Bill Coming

RodZ — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:46:54 +0000

It started with hope and change during the 2008 elections. He was a bright star rising out of nowhere, his speeches inspiring to millions of people. He convinced independent voters he was a moderate. He was elected to the Presidency of the United States of America. His popularity extended past Americas borders.

Around the world he was seen as changing America.The perfect storm was already hitting the shores of America. Years of special interests concessions, Representatives and Senators “helping” citizens get loans for homes they could not afford, bank regulators looking the other way and on and on. The previous administration had left with the economy on the brink of collapse and America involved in two wars that were not going well. The American voter had already voiced its displeasure with the Republican party and the Democrats controlled the Congress.

The main stream media appeared to be basically an extension of the Campaign during the elections and afterwards an extension of the White House. The majority of Americans were just plain disgusted with all things Washington. This man said he had a plan, he offered hope and change. He had his filibuster proof majority in the Senate and a major majority in the House, what more could he ask for?

The left wing of the Democrats appears to see his election and their control as a mandate by the people to implement every program they ever envisioned to make America into their vision of what is fair and better. They called his election further proof of this mandate. He did win the popular vote by about 9 million votes.

During the first months of his administration the economy was a mix of confusion, some said improving as the stock market began to climb and the GDP went up a bit, but unemployment was at 10% and climbing. Mircosoft laid off over 5000 employees for the first time in the history of the company.

What are our expectations of this President? In a divided country it becomes very difficult to define what the majority really wants. We as a people are driven by many different concerns and beliefs. We span the political spectrum from extreme left to extreme right. I do believe most Americans live more to the middle of the scale than in either direction.

The Democratic majority in both houses is moving forward with several bills “designed” to help the American citizen. Health care and clean energy are currently moving through the legislative process. We are still waiting for Card-check and the financial reform bill.

The Senate version of health care reform is currently being debated and as I watch, it struck me that both sides have very convincing arguments and it is very hard to discern what is accurate or what is misleading.

I don’t have an answer to the worlds problems. As I watch the debates, listen to the news, watch the Presidents speeches and read what information is available on these matters it becomes clearer to me the we are heading towards more government control of our daily lives and higher taxes. What is not clear to me is why.

I don’t believe that the TARP by was a take over of the financial system of this country by the Obama administration, I do believe that it was mishandled from the start by the Bush administration and Congress. The major financial entities should have had many restrictions placed on the public dollars they received. It struck me that every piece of legislation concerning any expenditure of public dollars typically comes with many pages of law governing how the money can be used and very harsh penalties for non compliance. The TARP did not appear to have many if any controls. It seems the Obama administration is continuing down the same path as his predecessor, wonder why?

While I think the auto companies should have left to succeed or fail on their on and let the bankruptcy court sort it out, I don’t believe this was a take over by the Obama administration either. I do believe it was a waste of money. I don’t understand how the auto unions got a piece of ownership in the companies but they did. That will make for some interesting contract negotiations won’t it?

The stimulus is an interesting subject. I read the Summary American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This is a very interesting document, I referenced it in a previous blog, Government Stimulus: “Political or real” http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf. This document clearly defines how the stimulus money was to be spent. If you read this document or the actual bill you will wonder how this administration can claim any of the stimulus has contributed to improving the economy. Yet they do and the claim is just ridiculous, it’s really to soon to make that claim. What are jobs saved? Why are most of the funds for government projects that are typically funded via the general fund? Here are some examples of questionable job creators from the stimulus bill , DTV Conversion Coupons: $650 million to continue the coupon program to enable American households to convert from analog television transmission to digital transmission. Medicaid Coverage for the Unemployed: Provides 100 percent federal funding through 2010 for optional. State Medicaid coverage of individuals (and their dependents) who are receiving unemployment benefits or have exhausted those benefits and have no health insurance coverage. Other optional coverage groups are individuals (and their dependents) who are involuntarily unemployed and uninsured and whose family income does not exceed 200 percent of poverty, and unemployed uninsured individuals who are receiving food stamps.” Compassion Capital Fund: $100 million for grants to faith- and community-based organizations to provide a critical safety net services to needy individuals and families. Most of the Recovery act job creators do have the potential to improve the infrastructure and will employ folks for perhaps a few years, none will create any permanent or lasting public sector jobs.

The money is being spent, contracts are be awarded and one would assume some folks are going to be employed to perform the tasks specified in the recovery act bill, so I guess you could say jobs will be created. I wonder why we are hearing rumors of another stimulus bill, what is left for the government to fix and how will we pay for it?

It has become clear to me that our country has diverse opinions and beliefs on many of the subjects we have been discussing. I firmly believe that the best form of government is the one that governs the least, to paraphrase a one of the founding fathers. We seem to have a segment of our population who believe the rich are evil, corporations are evil, insurance companies are evil, and anyone with millions of dollars made it off the backs of labor and should give back to labor. They also believe that the government is better qualified to provide them with the basic things in life they need.

This segment of the population also believes everything that the government has done wrong is a republicans fault, mostly a republican president. The following is taken from a comment to one of my blogs. It is typical of what I described in the previous paragraph.

“As for the economics, under “Reaganomics” we had an increase of trade and a loss of jobs in America. The workers got poorer and the business people got richer. Since WW II we have gradually, but steadily, lost our standing in the world as a nation that produces things that can be sold. (The one area in which we still excel is agriculture – thanks to foreign workers.) We are no longer the leader in steel production, textiles, automobiles, TV’s, etc., etc.. Part of the problem is our long-standing trade policies and part of it is the American proclivity to buy what is cheaper – not what is better. As a consequence, America produces less steel than Japan and about 20% of what is produced in China. There are no TV’s, stereos, or Levi’s produced by Americans. It has nothing at all to do with a free market. As for the energy suppliers of the world, you tell me what Saudi Arabia is going to sell us when their oil runs out. Sunshine?

What I find interesting is that the commenter never mentions Clinton and NAFTA, what’s more is his concern for Saudi Arabia. I would ask him what will Saudi Arabia sell when we have converted to alternative energy? Does he support a country who treats women as property, is a monarchy and has a court system that no way resembles the one we have and has punishments that he considers torture or inhumane?

It is clear to me that many people believe that this country should be changed to resemble the european model of government. I disagree and ask once again, Why would we want to be like the rest of the world when we have set the standard. It seems to me that the immigrants who are coming into this country are the new entrepreneurs. They are doing the jobs some Americans won’t do and then finding a way to succeed, start a business or get an education and excel. A lot of these folks left a place where the government was in charge of their lives so they came here and took charge of their own lives.

The segment of our population that wants all this government sustained entitlement also seems to believe that if you earned something they should be entitled to it also, but of course it should just be given to them. If they cannot have it you join the evil or lucky group of people they hate.

I guess my biggest concern is that we are amassing an unbelievable amount of debt to support all these programs. At some point I want the leadership to wake up and stop writing checks we can’t cash.

We started Yes-23 as a forum for discussion and it has achieve that end. We publish all comments to our opinions and enter into discussions with most of the commenters. It is an interesting exercise. I have learned that we as a people are more than simply disagreeing on issues, we are angry, both sides are very angry. There can be no civil discussion or compromise when both sides are out to discredit and destroy one another simply because they disagree on certain issues.

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Health Care Bill Still Looming

RodZ — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:23:32 +0000

119 Congressmen have signed a petition to promote and pass a public option, the Democratic leadership is still pushing for reconciliation to move the bill to the Presidents desk for signature, the proposed bipartisan meeting scheduled by the President to discuss health care reform appears to be more of an ambush than a true productive meeting.
I suggest to you that the lesson of Massachusetts has been discount by the Democrats and they think the American people will “get over it” once the bill is passed and we see how wonderful it is to pay more for our coverage and get less for it. (For those of you who don’t recognize it, that was sarcasm.) I subscribe that this is just another Washington slap in the face to the American people. We are concerned with the unbelievable debt this Administration and Congress is amassing. We are concerned with the coming crash of our economy because of that debt. We are concerned that a government that cannot manage their current health care programs wants to expand and control more heath care programs. Do they care, hell no!
I am also concerned that there is a Cap and Trade bill still waiting for the same process to completion. This bill will put this country at a serious disadvantage in the world economy and is base on questionable science.
I don’t think there is a way out. I don’t think that a shift in power in Washington will fix these problems. It seems to me that power still corrupts and absolute power still absolutely corrupts. These folks cannot relate to the common man nor do they want to. One cannot live the lifestyle they live and understand what middle Americans want or need.
The purpose of our government is to protect us not care for us. The purpose of our government is to govern not rule.

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Obama Administration Has No Clue.

RodZ — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:36:04 +0000

Deficit commission to be formed by administration to recommend cuts two years from now. Wow there’s a political cover if I ever saw one. Are you telling me that our elected officials have thrown in the towel and are admitting they cannot do the job they were elected to do? You know make the hard decisions, like cut spending and manage the budget of this government. Are you telling me that the solution is to form a so called bipartisan committee, with no authority to implement changes? This is the only answer? Yes, I remember the Grace commission, yes a lot of changes were implemented and had a very good effect. Perhaps this is the answer, perhaps the government is so dysfunctional a committee is required, but will any changes come in time? Will the government implement them?
Have you read last years stimulus bill? This administration is touting how wonderful it was, it saved 2 million jobs. Recovery.gov shows that North Dakota and Washington got some jobs, yes the Federal employment rate is reaching 3 million. This bill was loaded with money for liberal agenda items that do nothing to create jobs or an economic environment for business to create jobs. I have posted several examples of this bills waste of tax dollars and you can read the bill for yourself if you doubt me.
I believe this President is creating political cover when he speaks of nuclear power and an $800 billion loan guarantee, how do you guarantee a loan when you are broke, it’s like co-signing for someone when your credit score is 400. It’s laughable. A nuclear power plant will never be built in my lifetime, just look a the lefts reaction to this announcement. Look at the regulations, look at the problem with storing the waste and look at the water resources required for cooling. Never going to happen, just a nice political statement saying, well I tried.
The deficit needs to be reduced, the $500 plus billion not spent in the stimulus could cut that in about half, the waste fraud and abuse in the medicare, medicaid and social security programs could further reduce that deficit, new social programs need to be put on hold and current programs need to be eliminated or cut. This all could be done by our elected officials this year and followed next year by additional reductions in spending. Tax increases only go to further allow our elected officials to waste our money. If a politician sees a tax dollar they will spend it on new programs, therefore if any tax increases are implemented they must go to the deficit along with cuts, across the board. The deficit is a serious problem as is the total federal budget, both must be reduced.
The administrations shift to “jobs” is a political move, the administrations is not showing any real movement to improve the economy as demonstrated by its continuing support of liberal agenda items, such as the current health care reform bill and a new stimulus bill. I say you cannot BS the American public any longer.

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Financial Scam: Congress Back Room Deals With Special Interests

RodZ — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:36:35 +0000

Did you ever wonder how The United States got into such a deep financial hole? If you listen to the rhetoric you are lead to believe it is fault of George Bush, big business, the evil CEO’s, the banks, the insurance companies and the list goes on. It is never the congress or the administration. It is always the previous administration and the evil empire of the corporate world. It is their greedy ways and negligence that caused our problems.

Now lets face the facts, business is geared to make money, that is the sole function of a business. They are not benevolent entities who exists for the betterment of the people of this country and they are always looking for a competitive edge. The government is in business to govern the country. Under our system it should be an entity that exists for the betterment of the American people.

Government does not create jobs! Government does create an environment where business can flourish of flounder. It does this by the laws and regulations it imposes on all of us. It does this by how it manages the currency structure and the interest rates available to the financial segment of our economy and it does this by how it spends the public money.

We constantly hear, Its Bush’s fault, he crashed the economy. Yes, his administration was responsible for continuing the same economic policies and making deals with corporate America just like all the administrations before him. Yes, he started the uncontrolled economic bailout that put us on a path of extreme debt, yes he involved us in two wars that are draining the treasury and increasing the national debt. There is no doubt about these facts.

I contend there is more to our financial problems than George Bush. I contend that our financial problems are the results of many deals with the lobbyists made by our wonderful Congressmen and women and many administrations. There is no doubt that President Obama is letting the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democratic leadership in the Senate drive this countries policies. They are writing the laws that will effect this economy and the out come of our current recession. You might think that, well that’s their job and it is but, I think the president should have had a well defined plan and our lawmakers should be developing changes around that plan. You can argue that the President does have a plan but I don’t think so. I think he has a set of ideological values that they share and the plan and it’s details are being left to the extreme left progressive wing of the Democratic party.

If you really look at what drives our representatives you will find that it has become about power and staying in power. If you look at the legislation coming out of Congress you will see that we the people get a few crumbs to keep us satisfied but the bulk of the benefits usually go to the big money. I find it interesting that any lobby you can name will generally be funding both sides of the isle in order to assure the best outcome for them on any issue before Congress. There is no doubt that elected officials cannot get elected or re-elected without the help of big money and big money will not support anyone who will not provide them with a deal.

There are many things we don’t know about, many policies and regulations that allow many segments of our “private enterprise” to gain advantages not available to all. This is not a conspiracy theory it is a fact. We the people are now paying for results of many of these policies, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac come to mind.

You might say, but Obama got his campaign money from small contributions from the people on the internet, true but in the final push his money came from the usual suspects. If you look at his current fund raising you will see that the usual suspects are giving freely.

When the government does not have enough in tax revenue to even pay for the basic services it provides and must borrow TRILLIONS to cover the current bills, why are we creating more programs and services we cannot afford. Why are we continuing to fund stimulus that is not creating even temporary jobs?

We have many representatives writing legislation that they would have us believe will cure many of the problems. Reform of our financial system for one. I question how this can happen when the influence of big money will dictate the outcome. If you look at who is driving this legislation you will find Chris Dodd, hmmm didn’t he get a great mortgage deal from County Wide? This kind of shakes my faith in his credibility. There are many examples of our representatives and their close ties to corporate lobbies, even some extreme ones such as 90k hidden in freezer.

I don’t have any answers to these problems, I don’t have anything but questions. I can see that the more things seem to change the more they stay the same. President Obama came to us with a slogan of hope and change, I ask you where is it? Our current government policies are doing nothing to instill confidence in the small business community, they are faced with the prospect of higher taxes and more government regulations. Our unemployment is heading north and it could approach the highs of the the great depression if we continue to expand government. I can see that our income taxes will have to be raised to cover the current programs and the proposed new programs that are surely coming our way. I guess the big money will move more jobs to other countries and our small business community will continue shrink.

As I said I don’t have any answers to these problems but perhaps we should consider term limits and see who really wants to work for the American people and who is just there for the power and prestige.

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Obama vs Evil Insurance Companies?

RodZ — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:05:22 +0000

Oh come on! What’s next?

President Obama is threatening to kill the McCarran-Ferguson Act. About time, this should have been done along time ago. No business should enjoy exemption from antitrust laws.
If health insurance cost reduction is so important to our lawmakers why wasn’t this issue dealt with along time ago? Oh I know, it has become politically expedient, we need to threaten the evil ones to fall in line with our plan.

In his continuing effort to create an evil enemy the Presidents terms of reference have changed. Healthcare reform has become insurance reform and the entire crew of Reed, Pelosi and the Obama administration have begun an attack on the evil empire of the nations insurance companies.

I read an article in Reuters today that quoted our president, he said, ”that the insurance industry “is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest — to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo.”

“They’re filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads. They’re flooding Capitol Hill with lobbyists and campaign contributions. And they’re funding studies designed to mislead the American people.”

Why am I not surprised that they are employing the tactics of Saul Alinsky the “father of modern American radicalism. You can find these rules for liberals just by searching on his name. See for yourself if they apply or not.

I am not sure if reform is needed or not, I am sure that our economy is in deep trouble. These massive changes and stimulus packages are putting us in unimaginable debt. It is just commons sense that this is not the time to finance these ideological programs. Just a suggestion Mr. President, it might be time to focus on saving the dollar, the economy and some little problems in Afghanistan, not to mention jobs. It might be time to quit blaming Bush and just fix the damn problem.

I also know when the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you approach any situation with this mind set you are truly not aware of the concerns of others. You only can see your point of view. There will never be a bipartisan approach to any issue with this attitude.

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More Healthcare and Stimulus! Pelosi, Reed and Obama ruining the Economy!

RodZ — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:35:14 +0000

Well I took a week off to clear my mind, now I’m back and my brain is ready to explode. What are they thinking in Washington? The healthcare bills are exploding with cost. From what I can see the end results will further bloat the budget and debt of this country.

The stimulus is doing nothing to lower unemployment and is being spent in an irresponsible manner. The question is, what are we getting for our taxes?

I strongly suspect that those of us who pay taxes and have a good health insurance plan, will in fact, pay higher taxes and have a more expensive healthcare plan. It will also contain fewer benefits. Nice job Washington! I just want to scream. It seems to me that our wonderful leaders are bent on power and control. I listened to Speaker Pelosi give a little speech after the defense appropriations bill was past. It contained a little item that had nothing to do with the defense bill, but was forced through because no one want to cut off the financial support to our troops. Yes it was another social agenda item that had no business in the defense appropriations bill.

Pelosi stated in her speech that when she came to POWER this was an item high on her AGENDA! While we may have needed to afford these folks additional protections under the law, the defense appropriations bill was not the place to do it.

I wonder if Pelosi is driven by her obsession with POWER and an AGENDA. Perhaps she should realize that it is a privilege and an honer to represent the people of her district. Perhaps she should realize that she is not the queen of Washington.

I don’t know what our leadership is trying to do. Perhaps they should pull their heads out, open their eyes, clean out their ears, look around and listen to what “we the people” are saying. Perhaps they should stay out of the business of business and focus on creating an atmosphere where business could flourish and we the people can find jobs.

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The world war II generation

TomatoMan — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:36:37 +0000

My parents were members of the WWII generation. My dad was born in 1917, my mom in 23. They experienced the “great depression” at a young age and my dad served in WWII while mom was a “Rosie the Riveter”. The experience followed them for the rest of their lives. (Dad’s gone but mom is still alive and well) They, like so many millions of their counterparts of that generation, made one huge mistake in an otherwise brave and fruitful lifetime. Actually it was two huge mistakes closely related.

When the “great depression” hit America it scared and scarred the entire country. The economy grew much too fast and with much too little effort thanks to a greatly inflated money supply and a “bubble” was created, much like the housing bubble that started what could be the “greater depression” of today. When that bubble burst with the stock market crash of 1929 no one, including the Federal Government and the newly founded “Federal Reserve” knew what to do about it and lives by the millions were ruined almost overnight.

It is said that when a person is faced with an imminent threat he or she will choose between “fight or flight”. The former is to immediately stand up the threat and try to put a stop to it. The latter is to run from it and try to live to fight another day. Unwittingly, an entire generation chose flight when it came to a collapsed economy. The mistake made by that generation was in not making a firm determination why the great depression occurred and making the necessary corrections. Rather than being angry and putting up the necessary fight to restore the economic well being of a nation, they chose instead to follow Franklin Delano Roosevelt into the flight we all know as the “New Deal.” It was the beginning of socialist policy in the United States and the first real test of Keynesian economic thought which is that economies can be sheltered from economic downturn by large scale government spending which of course is made possible by the Federal Reserve and it’s money creation policies.

My father, whom I loved and respected dearly, went to his grave believing that Mr. Roosevelt and his big government policies “saved” America from ruin and was a lifelong Democrat largely for that reason. In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, he refused to believe that, not only did the policies not work, (a fact admitted by Roosevelts own staff in 1937) but they actually prolonged the depression until the beginning of WWII which is the event that actually did end the depression with the sheer magnitude of the war effort. Sadly, it was probably the great depression, brought on by the Federal Reserve and their European counterparts that gave birth to Hitler as Germany struggled to free itself from the same depression.

To be totally fair, it was my grandfather’s generation that was in the best position to put a stop to the Federal Reserve, but it was their children who had to opportunity to look back and seriously study the situation and conclude the US monetary policy was seriously flawed and demand change. Sadly, this generation was thrust into a World War that, for 5 long years, consumed every bit of it’s energy and when it ended, left many economic questions unanswered. Without even realizing it, this generation was brainwashed into thinking the Federal Government is the answer to all it’s challenges which started the United States down a slippery slope of greater and greater debt and more and more dependency by more and more citizens on the labors of others for their survival until we no longer need ask “if” the country will collapse under the weight of it’s government, but “when.”

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