When Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” was published in 1957, it was considered a work of science fiction. The theme of “Atlas Shrugged”, as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence." The book explores a number of themes that Rand would subsequently develop into the philosophy of Objectivism. She was sharply criticized for her ideas and her philosophy of “Objectivism” was denigrated as selfish and regressive in the light of the needs of the general public.
Despite these charges, “Atlas Shrugged” achieved enduring popularity and has maintained consistent sales in the following decades. In the wake of the late 2000s recession, sales of Atlas Shrugged have sharply increased, according to The Economist magazine and The New York Times. The Economist reported that the fifty-two-year-old novel ranked #33 among Amazon's top-selling books on January 13, 2009.
What is the new-found interest in this book? “Atlas Shrugged”, originally called “The Strike” by its working title, portrays an America much like we see today. Overbearing government regulations, distributive policies and a generally accepted point of view held by public officials that radical progressive action must be taken for the good of all and anyone opposed to those policies are disgraced and openly chastised.
In the book, one by one, leaders of industry were disappearing, leaving their businesses deserted and their workers displaced. The book does take an odd turn when those business owners begin to reappear as Objectivist pirates seeking to topple the existing system to establish a new government that promotes the virtues self-reliance for the good of their progeny.
No one really believes that pirates will begin raiding the United States in retaliation for government intervention and oppressive taxation but Atlas is apparently beginning to shrug. New York and California have been seeing a trend of wealthy citizens fleeing the latest round of taxes that have been unfairly levied on them. The computer age no longer necessitates that these people congregate in major centers of commerce since the internet itself, has become the lifeline. The point is, there is no longer any status associated with a Park Avenue address, particularly if that address comes with a personal income tax rate of nearly 60%, now that Healthcare Reform has actually passed. Is it really that bad? Well, the latest figures show that out of eight and a half million people in New York City, a little over forty-three thousand pay more than forty percent of the City's tax revenues. That is obscene by anyone's standards.
The tax exodus not a new trend; in 2006, the rate at which college graduates were escaping New York had risen 127% and the same problems plague California as job prospects evaporate and taxes climb skyward. The real problem for these two bastions of liberal politics and “social responsibility” is that the vacuum created by those that are leaving is being filled by people that do not possess the same earning power so state and city tax revenues have been steadily falling as well. Heaven forbid these states would re-evaluate their commitment to redistributive policy. No, they would prefer to find new revenue sources to fill the void.
The next tax adding to the burden is the so-called “millionaires tax” to fund part of the healthcare reform bill. The truth is the millionaires tax kicks in at income levels well below a million dollars and when combined with the existing tax burden experienced by New York residents, the top marginal rate will effectively be 57%. Since the exodus has begun, New York Governor David Patterson has been insistent that New York must adopt a tax system that is at least competitive with neighboring states and in fact, should consider tax incentives that encourage businesses to relocate to New York, not flee in fear. These ideas have not met with much favor among the more liberal members of the elected elite in New York and in fact, have cost Patterson his position as Governor of New York as the power brokers in NY politics pushed him out of the race.
Anyone looking at the unemployment figures knows that the stimulus plan hasn’t produced the economic results the government had hoped for. The first mistake was the stimulus money was doled out to recipients that understand job creation as poorly as the Federal government does; the Cities and States. It was spent in the worst possible ways with New York again, leading the pack. When comparing the number of jobs that were claimed to have been created directly through stimulus expenditures against the amount of money that was spent, the national average was seventy-three thousand dollars per job with New York reportedly spending nine million per job. As with any short term infusion of capital, the results are bound to be short term as well so we can imagine that those extraordinarily expensive jobs will disappear when the money does.
So why has the stimulus plan failed to deliver? Once again, Atlas is shrugging. Business owners are cringing as they look at the antics and bribes used in Washington to pass healthcare that are now being dusted off to pass the climate bill. Back door meetings and massive spending bills with threats of more taxes, penalties and mandates do not encourage small business to expand, let alone re-hire those that were laid off in last year’s economic downturn. Additionally, if the mandate for private business participation under the current healthcare proposal is fifty employees, how many companies with forty-nine employees will resist expansion and stay right where they are? How many companies with fifty-two employees will downsize to escape the mandates and worse yet, how many will decide that the benefits of operating a business in America just don’t make sense anymore?
The stock market hasn’t rallied yet either. Not only have the threats of increased capital gains taxes dissuaded participation, with the Federal Reserve running the printing presses on overtime, not even Treasury Bills look safe anymore. We also have a new ominous specter; the threat of direct government interference in business. 60% of General Motors is now owned by the Federal government, which should make any advocate of capitalism nervous. There have been executive salary caps placed on banks that received Tarp money and while the legality of that was still under debate, the government announced its plan to cap the executive salaries of all financial institutions since they fall under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Federal government. Following that logic, who is safe? After all, don’t all corporations fall under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Federal government at one level or another?
So what happens if Atlas truly does shrug? What would happen if owning a business became a liability as the Federal government placed more of the burden of America’s social programs on their shoulders in the form of new mandates? What happens if the wealthy decide that leaving New York or California doesn’t offer enough protection against confiscatory taxes? Will they leave the country? The “top one percent” that the Obama regime keeps targeting certainly has the means to do just that. In fact, many have the resources to pull out of the game entirely and live quite comfortably for the rest of their lives on what they have already accumulated. What would happen to the great plans of progressive politics if the top one percent stopped earning a taxable income and just started living? What would happen if the “top one percent” suddenly became people with incomes of one-hundred thousand dollars, eighty-thousand dollars or maybe fifty-thousand dollars when the real wealth in America decides they are not playing anymore?
Some argue that Europe has had massive social programs and progressive taxes for years and business still thrives there. Really? Greece is now on fire because the bills have finally come due and the rest of Europe is now teetering on the brink of fiscal disaster since all of their economies are tied together. The only real advantages Europe has is that European trade agreements favor those at home as does their patent process. Also true is that much of the European infrastructure is fairly new when compared to America’s. Don’t forget that much of Europe was destroyed and rebuilt after World War II. We don’t have that luxury and our older industrial centers find it continually harder to compete with our modernized competitors. Most of Europe has never embarked on the self destructive path of paying its people to stay home that began with Johnson’s “Great Society”.
We have created a new class of subsidized dependents. These are people that have been subjugated by an unfair social services system that demands that you either collect all from the government or get nothing. Fear of losing housing, healthcare and a meager cash allowance keeps them neatly enrolled in the system and insures that they will continue to vote for the people that promise the money will keep coming. After all, when you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on Paul’s support. As unemployment increases and the wealthy “shrug”, who will keep these programs in place? We cannot print much more money or the world financial institutions will lock American currency out of the global economy. What will we do if Atlas does shrug?
Paul
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Rome Falls and America Follows - part two
Yesterday we began drawing parallels between the fall of the Roman Empire and the path that America is now on. Because of the long list of complex issues, we only managed to get about halfway through the main reasons. Today we pick up where we left off and the remaining items on the list seem to have even more relevance to America than what was discussed yesterday. Those items are:
Failing Economy
Unemployment of the Working Classes (The Plebs)
The 'Mob' and the cost of the 'Games'
Decline in Ethics and Values
Slave Labor
Natural Disasters
Christianity
Barbarian Invasion
Failing economy: As the flow of captured wealth to Rome diminished, it became increasingly difficult to fund the Legions defending the far reaches of the Empire. There had always been a wide disparity between the elite and the poor of Rome which exacerbated Rome’s economic problems as opportunities for employment dwindled among those of the lower classes. Of course the Roman elite still expected luxuries from the Far East and an increasing amount of gold was used to purchase those goods, creating a shortage of gold to coin money in Rome. The resulting unemployment, high taxes and inflation placed the government at constant risk of bankruptcy.
Teddy Roosevelt lauded the idea of a progressive tax system and the redistribution of wealth although he never had the opportunity to put either into practice. Instead, we would have to wait until Woodrow Wilson for a progressive income tax and FDR to figure a way to use that money to advance an agenda that would culminate in today’s entitlement culture. By abandoning capitalist principals and punishing the attainment of wealth through the progressive tax system, we have seriously hampered the ability of our economy to grow in proportion to her population.
The increasing numbers of people that have been raised as second and third generation recipients of government support programs have created an entire class of people that rely solely on government instead of their own abilities, further depleting the treasury. Worst yet is that the number of people that pay the taxes are slowly becoming the minority with those that pay no taxes or collect government benefits now sitting at 47%. Our government has turned to high taxes and credit to continue funding these benefit programs rather than returning to our capitalist roots. The resulting debt has created a shortage of money in the private sector, further damaging our economic stability and creating an unsustainable trend of shifting economic activity from the private to the public sector.
Unemployment of the Working class: Since this title ties directly into the segment above, I will only add that the shortage of capital in the private sector and the threat of increased taxes and government regulation has severely impacted the job market in the United States. As long as business must compete with an out of control government for available credit and as long as business owners operate under the threat of increased government tax and regulatory liabilities, the unemployment trends will not reverse. Our bizarre trade agreements and aggressive taxes have done little to benefit the manufacturing communities within the United States and many of those jobs will never return as long as there is an economic advantage to manufacture overseas. The rest have been regulated out of existence or have been so seriously impacted that they are near collapse.
The 'Mob' and the cost of the 'Games': In order to placate the mobs of unemployed workers, the Roman government found increasing amounts of money going to fund gladiatorial games to occupy the masses. Of course this was only a temporary means to quiet civil unrest and more spectacular events had to be presented to keep the mobs occupied. The games would eventually consume more that a full third of the total income of the Empire.
Of course we don’t have bloody competitions to amuse the poor and unemployed but we do throw an awful lot of money at the problem through government entitlement programs. The problem is as the government spends more, they consume the monies that would ordinarily stay in the economy to create the jobs that would eventually, alleviate unemployment and poverty. There is a minor percentage of the population that would always be unemployed because of disabilities, poor life choices and yes, even because they were raised to be government dependents. Unfortunately, the addition of high unemployment to that base has stressed the entitlement structure to near collapse and it is reaching the point where our public outlay for these programs is nearly on par with the expense of the Roman games.
Decline in ethics and values: Do I really need to expand on this? I think anyone that has read the news lately would agree that the ethics and values of our nation are being seriously challenged. Not because the average American is so depraved, but rather because we are constantly inundated with legal challenges from our friends on the left to accept the unacceptable. There is even an ongoing full court press to introduce many of these radical and morally bankrupt ideas into our schools to infect our children before they have fully developed the moral armor needed to fend off the assault. Parents are being denigrated by these people and they are trying to convince our children that we are old fools that just don’t know any better. Once a society has lost respect for its elders it has lost its past and without its past, it has no future.
Slave Labor: Rome captured many people from occupied lands that would work as slaves for the Empire. Slave labor was essential to Rome because so many Roman men were under arms to defend this expansive Empire. Since slaves were disposable, slave labor added to the decline of morals and ethics as happens when people routinely treated other humans with such miserable disregard. Since slave labor replaced so many Roman men, Rome also suffered from technological stagnation as skilled labor was replaced with unskilled slaves performing a trained task.
Hmm. This is a difficult one. I could comment on our own spotted past but America was courageous enough to abolish slavery and even fought a bloody civil war to bring about abolition. Instead I will say that the oppressive taxation used to fund the distributive policies of Progressive politicians has effectively created slaves of anyone that pays taxes. The taxes are not fair and because they are easily attained, politicians have no compelling interest in reducing them. In fact, Progressives routinely vilify the wealthy to justify their acts of legalized theft just as slave owners dehumanized their human possessions to justify the harsh treatment of other men. Our wealthiest Americans now bear so much of this nation’s financial burden that they are fast approaching the point where not working and living on their savings is becoming increasingly appealing. Tell me that is not an induced loss of ethics and values?
Natural Disasters: Well, Rome faced them and so do we.
Christianity: Christianity not only challenged the established faith structure of the Roman Empire but the excessive and immoral practices of the ruling elite. The adoption of Christianity struck at the heart of the core of Roman culture and fundamentally changed the entire structure of Roman society.
Today we have a growing number of people that show open disdain of America’s Judaeo-Christian roots. This country was founded with deeply religious beliefs and without those beliefs; the tenant that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights suddenly rests on very shaky ground. If God did not grant our rights, who did; Government; The Constitution? If they were granted by an act of law then they can certainly be denied by an act of law. Contrary to popular belief, the largest threat to our religious foundation is not being waged by Atheists or Muslims; it is being waged by the ecological movement. They are actively engaged in a fight to protect “mother” earth to the detriment of her human inhabitants. So misguided are these new fundamentalists, that some have embraced a new age religious belief that earth has a soul and awareness that must be honored. Some have even proposed that mankind should cease breeding and bring about the voluntary self-extinction of man so that the earth can finally heal from our horribly destructive ways.
Finally, Barbarian Invasion: Rome had conquered almost all of Europe but was faced with Barbarian assaults on nearly every one of her new borders. The expanse of the Empire and the decline of their economy left them economically unable to fend off Barbarian attack and as the Roman Empire receded, the Barbarians followed their retreat.
We aren’t facing Mongol hoards or waves of Vandals but we are faced with an equally brutal enemy, partially because of our interference in their home lands but also because their religious beliefs do not tolerate any religious faiths other than their own. Of course I am referring to Muslim radicals. Like the Barbarians that the Roman’s faced, radical Muslims will not stop until we are dead, or they are. Unfortunately, they are in a race to obtain weapons that will make their attacks against us even more devastating.
So there it is. What truly frightens me is that none of my attempts to parallel the fall of Rome with the current actions of America are really a stretch of the imagination. So the question is “What do we do now?” Do we continue down the same path until our society collapses under its own weight and the Barbarians are at the gates or do we take the immediate and drastic steps needed to restore our culture and country to point in time before Progressive ideals began chipping away at our morals, economy and God given rights?
Paul
Failing Economy
Unemployment of the Working Classes (The Plebs)
The 'Mob' and the cost of the 'Games'
Decline in Ethics and Values
Slave Labor
Natural Disasters
Christianity
Barbarian Invasion
Failing economy: As the flow of captured wealth to Rome diminished, it became increasingly difficult to fund the Legions defending the far reaches of the Empire. There had always been a wide disparity between the elite and the poor of Rome which exacerbated Rome’s economic problems as opportunities for employment dwindled among those of the lower classes. Of course the Roman elite still expected luxuries from the Far East and an increasing amount of gold was used to purchase those goods, creating a shortage of gold to coin money in Rome. The resulting unemployment, high taxes and inflation placed the government at constant risk of bankruptcy.
Teddy Roosevelt lauded the idea of a progressive tax system and the redistribution of wealth although he never had the opportunity to put either into practice. Instead, we would have to wait until Woodrow Wilson for a progressive income tax and FDR to figure a way to use that money to advance an agenda that would culminate in today’s entitlement culture. By abandoning capitalist principals and punishing the attainment of wealth through the progressive tax system, we have seriously hampered the ability of our economy to grow in proportion to her population.
The increasing numbers of people that have been raised as second and third generation recipients of government support programs have created an entire class of people that rely solely on government instead of their own abilities, further depleting the treasury. Worst yet is that the number of people that pay the taxes are slowly becoming the minority with those that pay no taxes or collect government benefits now sitting at 47%. Our government has turned to high taxes and credit to continue funding these benefit programs rather than returning to our capitalist roots. The resulting debt has created a shortage of money in the private sector, further damaging our economic stability and creating an unsustainable trend of shifting economic activity from the private to the public sector.
Unemployment of the Working class: Since this title ties directly into the segment above, I will only add that the shortage of capital in the private sector and the threat of increased taxes and government regulation has severely impacted the job market in the United States. As long as business must compete with an out of control government for available credit and as long as business owners operate under the threat of increased government tax and regulatory liabilities, the unemployment trends will not reverse. Our bizarre trade agreements and aggressive taxes have done little to benefit the manufacturing communities within the United States and many of those jobs will never return as long as there is an economic advantage to manufacture overseas. The rest have been regulated out of existence or have been so seriously impacted that they are near collapse.
The 'Mob' and the cost of the 'Games': In order to placate the mobs of unemployed workers, the Roman government found increasing amounts of money going to fund gladiatorial games to occupy the masses. Of course this was only a temporary means to quiet civil unrest and more spectacular events had to be presented to keep the mobs occupied. The games would eventually consume more that a full third of the total income of the Empire.
Of course we don’t have bloody competitions to amuse the poor and unemployed but we do throw an awful lot of money at the problem through government entitlement programs. The problem is as the government spends more, they consume the monies that would ordinarily stay in the economy to create the jobs that would eventually, alleviate unemployment and poverty. There is a minor percentage of the population that would always be unemployed because of disabilities, poor life choices and yes, even because they were raised to be government dependents. Unfortunately, the addition of high unemployment to that base has stressed the entitlement structure to near collapse and it is reaching the point where our public outlay for these programs is nearly on par with the expense of the Roman games.
Decline in ethics and values: Do I really need to expand on this? I think anyone that has read the news lately would agree that the ethics and values of our nation are being seriously challenged. Not because the average American is so depraved, but rather because we are constantly inundated with legal challenges from our friends on the left to accept the unacceptable. There is even an ongoing full court press to introduce many of these radical and morally bankrupt ideas into our schools to infect our children before they have fully developed the moral armor needed to fend off the assault. Parents are being denigrated by these people and they are trying to convince our children that we are old fools that just don’t know any better. Once a society has lost respect for its elders it has lost its past and without its past, it has no future.
Slave Labor: Rome captured many people from occupied lands that would work as slaves for the Empire. Slave labor was essential to Rome because so many Roman men were under arms to defend this expansive Empire. Since slaves were disposable, slave labor added to the decline of morals and ethics as happens when people routinely treated other humans with such miserable disregard. Since slave labor replaced so many Roman men, Rome also suffered from technological stagnation as skilled labor was replaced with unskilled slaves performing a trained task.
Hmm. This is a difficult one. I could comment on our own spotted past but America was courageous enough to abolish slavery and even fought a bloody civil war to bring about abolition. Instead I will say that the oppressive taxation used to fund the distributive policies of Progressive politicians has effectively created slaves of anyone that pays taxes. The taxes are not fair and because they are easily attained, politicians have no compelling interest in reducing them. In fact, Progressives routinely vilify the wealthy to justify their acts of legalized theft just as slave owners dehumanized their human possessions to justify the harsh treatment of other men. Our wealthiest Americans now bear so much of this nation’s financial burden that they are fast approaching the point where not working and living on their savings is becoming increasingly appealing. Tell me that is not an induced loss of ethics and values?
Natural Disasters: Well, Rome faced them and so do we.
Christianity: Christianity not only challenged the established faith structure of the Roman Empire but the excessive and immoral practices of the ruling elite. The adoption of Christianity struck at the heart of the core of Roman culture and fundamentally changed the entire structure of Roman society.
Today we have a growing number of people that show open disdain of America’s Judaeo-Christian roots. This country was founded with deeply religious beliefs and without those beliefs; the tenant that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights suddenly rests on very shaky ground. If God did not grant our rights, who did; Government; The Constitution? If they were granted by an act of law then they can certainly be denied by an act of law. Contrary to popular belief, the largest threat to our religious foundation is not being waged by Atheists or Muslims; it is being waged by the ecological movement. They are actively engaged in a fight to protect “mother” earth to the detriment of her human inhabitants. So misguided are these new fundamentalists, that some have embraced a new age religious belief that earth has a soul and awareness that must be honored. Some have even proposed that mankind should cease breeding and bring about the voluntary self-extinction of man so that the earth can finally heal from our horribly destructive ways.
Finally, Barbarian Invasion: Rome had conquered almost all of Europe but was faced with Barbarian assaults on nearly every one of her new borders. The expanse of the Empire and the decline of their economy left them economically unable to fend off Barbarian attack and as the Roman Empire receded, the Barbarians followed their retreat.
We aren’t facing Mongol hoards or waves of Vandals but we are faced with an equally brutal enemy, partially because of our interference in their home lands but also because their religious beliefs do not tolerate any religious faiths other than their own. Of course I am referring to Muslim radicals. Like the Barbarians that the Roman’s faced, radical Muslims will not stop until we are dead, or they are. Unfortunately, they are in a race to obtain weapons that will make their attacks against us even more devastating.
So there it is. What truly frightens me is that none of my attempts to parallel the fall of Rome with the current actions of America are really a stretch of the imagination. So the question is “What do we do now?” Do we continue down the same path until our society collapses under its own weight and the Barbarians are at the gates or do we take the immediate and drastic steps needed to restore our culture and country to point in time before Progressive ideals began chipping away at our morals, economy and God given rights?
Paul
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Man of Change?
Well here we are just six days away from the much publicized summit on healthcare reform the President announced during the State of the Union Address. Some foolishly believed that his invitation to ranking Republican’s signaled his understanding of the message voters had sent in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections and finally, the Massachusetts special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. Apparently that assumption was premature and the election of Republicans to all three of these vital races is being dismissed as easily as the town hall meetings and Tea Parties have been.
It is bizarre that the Democrats can be this blatant as to their intentions. Behind the scenes work to reconcile the Healthcare Bill is still progressing even as the President continues to at least say, that he wants the best ideas from both Parties. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have both signaled their intention to “go nuclear” and rely on a reconciliation tactic to pass the bill with a simple majority, causing reasonable people to ask what kind of summit can this be if these negotiation are till taking place in secret and these kind of plans are being made before Congressional Republicans are even given the opportunity to present their ideas and compromises?
Scott Brown was not simply a message for the Democrats. His campaign was centered on the promise that he would be the 41st vote that would stop the race to pass a healthcare reform bill that the majority of American’s do not want. As support for the President wanes, the trust the American people have in the Democrat’s healthcare plan evaporates at an astounding rate. In recent polls, most Americans would prefer that the plan be scrapped and that the government turn its attention to the economy and the faltering job market.
Regardless of the loud and clear voice of the people, Congressional Democrats are standing firm because their President said they must move forward and also because the Progressive movement has been holding the Democratic Party hostage for decades. That is why Indiana Democrat Evan Bayh decided to throw in the towel and refuse to run for another term. He was bitter in his statements about the ineffectiveness of Congress and said that he could accomplish more as a private citizen than he ever could as a member of the Senate. Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith recently switched Parties for much the same reason. He joined the Republican Party because the Democrats under the Progressive assault had lost their way. They were no longer the Party of the people but some weird group of far left elitists that no longer cared to hear the people. That is why the President’s agenda is being propelled forward as the economy continues to crumble; they have been in effect, deafened by their own rhetoric.
To continue their push for healthcare reform and cap and trade they must convince you that the economy is already in recovery. As the President and the DNC struggle to convince people that the Recovery Act (Stimulus Bill) is working fine and has “saved or created” two million jobs, the U.S. Department of Labor’s own website says the job loss average for the past month has been 467,500 jobs lost in each of the last four weeks. Of course “saved jobs” is the new catch phrase since it is as impossible to disprove as it is to quantify. You know, that we might have even begun to believe some of that if Joe Biden hadn’t spilled the beans in an interview on Wednesday. As he spouted the administration line of “saved jobs” he added that the Recovery Act is a two phase program with the money for actual job creation loaded in the second half of the program. He explained that most of the funds spent in phase one had been targeted to offset the cost of State unemployment benefits and to provide tax relief.
Ok, I admit I’m a little confused here. The job creation funds have not been disbursed yet but the Recovery Act has already saved or created two million jobs? “Most of the funds spent in phase one were to offset the cost of State unemployment benefits and to provide tax relief” but the Recovery Act has already saved or created two million jobs? Is Vice President Biden saying that the act of collecting unemployment insurance is now considered a job? If so, is it a created job or a saved job? Maybe it’s both. If you had already been collecting benefits and are now drawing on an emergency extension then it is clearly a saved job but if you are one of the unfortunate 467,500 that are still losing their jobs every week; well, then that must be a created job.
All of this nonsense of saved jobs and created jobs flies in the face of the statements made by White House Economic Advisor Christina Romer in a Congressional hearing in October of 2009. Romer testified “Most analysts predict that the fiscal stimulus will have its greatest impact on growth in the second and third quarters of 2009 and by mid-2010 fiscal stimulus will likely be contributing little to further growth.” Of course when the economy did not respond as hoped, Romer was obviously asked by the White House to revise her assessment. While recently appearing on the February 17th edition of Good Morning America, Romer said in response to questions about the economy that the greatest effects of the Stimulus Bill have yet to be realized.
The inconsistencies aren’t something shocking. In fact, this administration is amazingly consistent in its inconsistency. If you speak with five different people in this administration you will get five different numbers of the jobs the stimulus bill has “saved or created”. What doesn’t change is the mindless defense of the actions they have already taken or are hell bent on passing into law. Regardless of every possible economic index you can look at, the stimulus bill is not only a failure but has resulted in a “job deficit” as the economy fails to respond. What they absolutely refuse to see is that they can have another five stimulus bills of equal amount and still not create lasting private sector employment. Business is not responding because as this administration continues to apply its short term fiscal Band-Aid, the threat of future tax hikes and new regulations are still part of the overall plan.
The Healthcare Bill is just one of those black holes that are making businesses apprehensive. We still don’t know what is being crafted in the dark up on Capitol Hill. What will the tax liability be? At what income level does it begin? How many employees can I have before the mandate to provide coverage hits me? Will the plan I already provide have an additional tax levied against it? How can responsible business owners make a decision to hire additional employees until they know if they can even remain profitable after the Bush tax cuts expire and the capital gains tax go up in 2011?
Cap and trade, if passed, will increase energy costs by 65% in the first few years and more that 100% by 2015. The only thing that has allowed American businesses to remain even marginally competitive against nations that pay their employees five dollars a day is affordable and abundant energy. Proponents of cap and trade claim the difference is pennies a day but California has already installed Smart Meters, a major component of Smart Grid, the key to cap and trade. California energy costs to PS&G customers have skyrocketed and they are ready to revolt at the increases they are experiencing. Bear in mind that the cost of purchasing carbon credits to produce their electricity aren’t even part of that increase yet. That is where the real kick in the pants will come from. There are estimates that claim cap and trade will cost America five million jobs or two jobs for every so-called “green job” it creates. Looking at Spain, I think that estimate is conservative if not overly optimistic. Spain was suckered into the whole plan of creating a green economy that Obama is trying to sell us and unemployment in Spain has already passed 19%.
So where is the change? The actions of this administration are bordering on criminal; there is no transparency other than a few carefully orchestrated photo ops and the President has broken every promise he made during his campaign. The legislative process itself has been hijacked by Progressive radicals and special interests and even Obama’s friends in the Community Organizing business have been writing key parts of costly legislation that Congress won’t bother to read before passing. If Progressive Democrats continue to ignore the impact their plans are having on the economy and force healthcare through while unemployment is still close to 10%, the backlash will cost them both the House and the Senate in 2010. The damage they are doing now has already insured a long and hard road to recovery and the measures that will have to be taken to right the wrongs will be painful and unpopular. I can only hope that the American people will wean themselves from the public teat so we can actually address the spending problems in Congress before the world economy forces even more drastic change against our will.
Paul
It is bizarre that the Democrats can be this blatant as to their intentions. Behind the scenes work to reconcile the Healthcare Bill is still progressing even as the President continues to at least say, that he wants the best ideas from both Parties. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have both signaled their intention to “go nuclear” and rely on a reconciliation tactic to pass the bill with a simple majority, causing reasonable people to ask what kind of summit can this be if these negotiation are till taking place in secret and these kind of plans are being made before Congressional Republicans are even given the opportunity to present their ideas and compromises?
Scott Brown was not simply a message for the Democrats. His campaign was centered on the promise that he would be the 41st vote that would stop the race to pass a healthcare reform bill that the majority of American’s do not want. As support for the President wanes, the trust the American people have in the Democrat’s healthcare plan evaporates at an astounding rate. In recent polls, most Americans would prefer that the plan be scrapped and that the government turn its attention to the economy and the faltering job market.
Regardless of the loud and clear voice of the people, Congressional Democrats are standing firm because their President said they must move forward and also because the Progressive movement has been holding the Democratic Party hostage for decades. That is why Indiana Democrat Evan Bayh decided to throw in the towel and refuse to run for another term. He was bitter in his statements about the ineffectiveness of Congress and said that he could accomplish more as a private citizen than he ever could as a member of the Senate. Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith recently switched Parties for much the same reason. He joined the Republican Party because the Democrats under the Progressive assault had lost their way. They were no longer the Party of the people but some weird group of far left elitists that no longer cared to hear the people. That is why the President’s agenda is being propelled forward as the economy continues to crumble; they have been in effect, deafened by their own rhetoric.
To continue their push for healthcare reform and cap and trade they must convince you that the economy is already in recovery. As the President and the DNC struggle to convince people that the Recovery Act (Stimulus Bill) is working fine and has “saved or created” two million jobs, the U.S. Department of Labor’s own website says the job loss average for the past month has been 467,500 jobs lost in each of the last four weeks. Of course “saved jobs” is the new catch phrase since it is as impossible to disprove as it is to quantify. You know, that we might have even begun to believe some of that if Joe Biden hadn’t spilled the beans in an interview on Wednesday. As he spouted the administration line of “saved jobs” he added that the Recovery Act is a two phase program with the money for actual job creation loaded in the second half of the program. He explained that most of the funds spent in phase one had been targeted to offset the cost of State unemployment benefits and to provide tax relief.
Ok, I admit I’m a little confused here. The job creation funds have not been disbursed yet but the Recovery Act has already saved or created two million jobs? “Most of the funds spent in phase one were to offset the cost of State unemployment benefits and to provide tax relief” but the Recovery Act has already saved or created two million jobs? Is Vice President Biden saying that the act of collecting unemployment insurance is now considered a job? If so, is it a created job or a saved job? Maybe it’s both. If you had already been collecting benefits and are now drawing on an emergency extension then it is clearly a saved job but if you are one of the unfortunate 467,500 that are still losing their jobs every week; well, then that must be a created job.
All of this nonsense of saved jobs and created jobs flies in the face of the statements made by White House Economic Advisor Christina Romer in a Congressional hearing in October of 2009. Romer testified “Most analysts predict that the fiscal stimulus will have its greatest impact on growth in the second and third quarters of 2009 and by mid-2010 fiscal stimulus will likely be contributing little to further growth.” Of course when the economy did not respond as hoped, Romer was obviously asked by the White House to revise her assessment. While recently appearing on the February 17th edition of Good Morning America, Romer said in response to questions about the economy that the greatest effects of the Stimulus Bill have yet to be realized.
The inconsistencies aren’t something shocking. In fact, this administration is amazingly consistent in its inconsistency. If you speak with five different people in this administration you will get five different numbers of the jobs the stimulus bill has “saved or created”. What doesn’t change is the mindless defense of the actions they have already taken or are hell bent on passing into law. Regardless of every possible economic index you can look at, the stimulus bill is not only a failure but has resulted in a “job deficit” as the economy fails to respond. What they absolutely refuse to see is that they can have another five stimulus bills of equal amount and still not create lasting private sector employment. Business is not responding because as this administration continues to apply its short term fiscal Band-Aid, the threat of future tax hikes and new regulations are still part of the overall plan.
The Healthcare Bill is just one of those black holes that are making businesses apprehensive. We still don’t know what is being crafted in the dark up on Capitol Hill. What will the tax liability be? At what income level does it begin? How many employees can I have before the mandate to provide coverage hits me? Will the plan I already provide have an additional tax levied against it? How can responsible business owners make a decision to hire additional employees until they know if they can even remain profitable after the Bush tax cuts expire and the capital gains tax go up in 2011?
Cap and trade, if passed, will increase energy costs by 65% in the first few years and more that 100% by 2015. The only thing that has allowed American businesses to remain even marginally competitive against nations that pay their employees five dollars a day is affordable and abundant energy. Proponents of cap and trade claim the difference is pennies a day but California has already installed Smart Meters, a major component of Smart Grid, the key to cap and trade. California energy costs to PS&G customers have skyrocketed and they are ready to revolt at the increases they are experiencing. Bear in mind that the cost of purchasing carbon credits to produce their electricity aren’t even part of that increase yet. That is where the real kick in the pants will come from. There are estimates that claim cap and trade will cost America five million jobs or two jobs for every so-called “green job” it creates. Looking at Spain, I think that estimate is conservative if not overly optimistic. Spain was suckered into the whole plan of creating a green economy that Obama is trying to sell us and unemployment in Spain has already passed 19%.
So where is the change? The actions of this administration are bordering on criminal; there is no transparency other than a few carefully orchestrated photo ops and the President has broken every promise he made during his campaign. The legislative process itself has been hijacked by Progressive radicals and special interests and even Obama’s friends in the Community Organizing business have been writing key parts of costly legislation that Congress won’t bother to read before passing. If Progressive Democrats continue to ignore the impact their plans are having on the economy and force healthcare through while unemployment is still close to 10%, the backlash will cost them both the House and the Senate in 2010. The damage they are doing now has already insured a long and hard road to recovery and the measures that will have to be taken to right the wrongs will be painful and unpopular. I can only hope that the American people will wean themselves from the public teat so we can actually address the spending problems in Congress before the world economy forces even more drastic change against our will.
Paul
Friday, December 4, 2009
On the Road Again - A President on tour.
Obama gave a new speech today and the taxpayers got to shell out millions for yet another trip. Earlier this week, the big “O” traveled to West Point, New York to outline his strategy for the Afghan war and today, he appeared in Allentown, Pennsylvania to speak on the new unemployment figures that were released this morning. Maybe I am out of touch with reality but I remember back when sitting Presidents made important State trips infrequently and speeches to the American people, especially on policy, were issued via a special broadcast from the Oval Office.
This President has been faced with harsh criticism for his handling of nearly everything from the war in Afghanistan through healthcare and most especially, his apparent inability to take meaningful action has affected millions of displaced workers in this fragile economy. Proving his lack of experience, rather than address the issues with real solutions, he does the only thing he knows how to do….he goes back on the campaign trail. People loved him back then and he longs for that excitement again. His speeches during the campaign were moving but campaign speeches merely points a finger at the problems we all know exist; they do not however, solve any of them.
Obama’s appearances are not only becoming boring due to the sheer number of them but also add to his list of distractions as pundits lambaste the President for his out and out waste of taxpayer money. After all, wasn’t it Obama that ridiculed Wall Street executives for their use of private jets? In fact, as the bailout money began flowing from Washington, Obama proclaimed that “The party was over” for Wall Street waste and opulence. The Pentagon estimates the cost of operating the President’s Boeing 747 at roughly $100,000 per hour to shuttle our rock-star President around the nation on his four year “Feel-good” tour. That is the figure for his air travel alone and it does not include the support aircraft that bring the advance security team, the President’s car, his staff and other needed equipment to the site of his newest speech.
The White House estimates the cost of Presidential trips at between $200,000 and just under $600,000 however, that figure does not say it all. The last multiple stop trip that Bill Clinton took cost the defense department (the DOD operates the Presidential and support aircraft) roughly $50 million dollars. That was just DOD expenses for the trip which incidentally, are not factored into the White House disclosures of the cost of Presidential travel. It would seem to me that since the National Debt has just topped $12 Trillion dollars, the Budget Deficit for 2009 was $1.4 Trillion dollars and thanks to the reckless printing of money by the Federal Reserve which has cost the dollar 17% of its face value, it is high time someone told Obama that “his party is over” and it’s time for this President to “telecommute” instead of boarding a jet.
Incidentally, Obama has added $1.4 trillion dollars to the National Debt in his first year in office. That is nearly as much as Reagan added in all eight years he was in office combined and more that Bill Clinton added during his eight years in office. The only President that rivaled Obama as a “spendaholic” would be George W. Bush who added just over $1 trillion dollars to the debt during his last year in office. The major difference between George Bush and Barack Obama is that Conservative Republicans blasted Bush for his spending policies and for turning his back on conservative fiscal ideals. Democrats just can’t bring themselves to criticize one of their own even when they bring shame to the Party as Bill Clinton and Charlie Rangel have, or when their fiscal policies are destroying what is left of a fragile economy, as Barack Obama is doing now. Democrats are forever in denial where their own failings are concerned and would rather find new ways to blame Bush for what is going on rather than accept the reality that they have held both houses of Congress way too long for Bush to have done anything without their express consent.
They just don’t understand that we already knew what Bush was and we were as angry with him as we are with Obama now. Perhaps the major difference, and what should scare the hell out of Congress, is that more Americans are finally realizing Congress holds the purse of the nation. A President can ask for anything he wants but Congress has to sign the check for it and that means that Congress bears the ultimate responsibility for every penny that has been spent or wasted since this nation was formed. That is not to say that the President’s overall agenda isn’t a disaster for America; it is, but we also recognize that his agenda would remain a Marxist pipe dream if it were not for the army of progressive socialists in Congress that are willing to scrap capitalism right along with Obama and his inner circle of union thugs and radical environmentalists.
Today, President Obama was nearly giddy as he proclaimed that the unemployment rate dropped a whopping two tenths of one percent. Woo Hoo! We only lost 11,000 jobs this month. You’re kidding ….right? I don’t need to remind people that we are weeks away from Christmas and most gains in the job market right now are temporary positions to meet a short term demand for labor and even that demand is far below what is usual for this time of year. The stimulus is such an unmitigated failure that Washington rarely mentions it now. The web site that tracks the jobs “created or saved” if rife with inconsistencies if not outright fraud and it is apparent that the only created jobs this White House can claim with certainty are Obama’s three dozen Czars and Michelle Obama’s staff of twenty-two “assistants” at an annual cost to the tax payers of $1.7 million dollars. Just to place that in perspective, the first lady with the highest number of staff members after Michele Obama was Hillary Clinton and she only had three assistants. But hey, that was only Hillary and she wasn’t doing the important work for America that Michelle is doing. After all, those magazine covers and appearances on Sesame Street are critical for American pride!
The unemployment figures Obama proclaimed victory with today are as false as his sincerity and as empty as his promises of hope and transparency. Once the shortfalls from this year’s holiday shopping season are fully reported, the temporary jobs will disappear along with a number of stores that needed a strong showing this Christmas to break even for the year. Don’t forget that the rise in jobs lost since the stimulus bill became law equaled roughly 3 million jobs and that brought us from 7.6% to 10.2% unemployment. What do you suppose will happen if the healthcare bill passes and the economy loses an additional 5 million jobs as forecast by independent analysis?
I would be wary of that unemployment figure anyway. It does not reflect the real jobless quotient otherwise known as the “U-6 Index”. The U6 index is the number of people collecting unemployment benefits plus those that have been permanently displaced and have resorted to taking several part time jobs or jobs that pay substantially less that what they were making before in an effort to remain solvent. That index places the actual unemployment figure at 17.6% and that is reminiscent of the economic conditions present during the great depression. Some people are generally appreciative that Congress has once again, extended unemployment benefits to states with high unemployment rates but I suspect that this too, is a clever rouse.
Consider this….Democrats know they are in trouble in the upcoming mid-term election. If unemployment does not begin to improve by then, Democrats face sweeping losses in the House and Senate. What if the extensions of unemployment benefits are timed to expire months before the election? Having the unemployment rate fall too early would give the Republicans time to react and adjust their campaign to new issues. But what if the 2010 campaigns are focused solely on the economy and there is a miraculous improvement in the unemployment figures just before November? I suspect Congress will pass more unemployment benefit extensions to continue the money flowing to states with high unemployment until the third quarter of next year and then end the extensions claiming fiscal necessity.
Ending the extensions of benefits certainly will not help the people that collect that money but it will have a drastic effect on the unemployment figures. As vast numbers of people begin to exhaust their benefits, they are dropped from the unemployment rolls. The index that the White House reports unemployment with would begin to show huge drops in the unemployment figures not because these people suddenly found jobs, but because they are no longer eligible for benefits. Since the main stream media hates to report anything that would detract from Obama’s image, it would be months before anyone realized the scam and saw that while those that collect unemployment had dropped to 7%, the U6 had skyrocketed above 25%.
I know that sounds like a stretch but are these honorable people I am talking about? When you look at the poll figures it is clear that most people have a serious trust deficit with the Washington elite and for good reason. In fact, if I were invited to a dinner at the White House or at the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I probably wouldn’t bring my wallet or jewelry, I wouldn’t let Desiree Rogers wave me through security and I certainly wouldn’t drink anything but water from a sealed bottle.
Paul
This President has been faced with harsh criticism for his handling of nearly everything from the war in Afghanistan through healthcare and most especially, his apparent inability to take meaningful action has affected millions of displaced workers in this fragile economy. Proving his lack of experience, rather than address the issues with real solutions, he does the only thing he knows how to do….he goes back on the campaign trail. People loved him back then and he longs for that excitement again. His speeches during the campaign were moving but campaign speeches merely points a finger at the problems we all know exist; they do not however, solve any of them.
Obama’s appearances are not only becoming boring due to the sheer number of them but also add to his list of distractions as pundits lambaste the President for his out and out waste of taxpayer money. After all, wasn’t it Obama that ridiculed Wall Street executives for their use of private jets? In fact, as the bailout money began flowing from Washington, Obama proclaimed that “The party was over” for Wall Street waste and opulence. The Pentagon estimates the cost of operating the President’s Boeing 747 at roughly $100,000 per hour to shuttle our rock-star President around the nation on his four year “Feel-good” tour. That is the figure for his air travel alone and it does not include the support aircraft that bring the advance security team, the President’s car, his staff and other needed equipment to the site of his newest speech.
The White House estimates the cost of Presidential trips at between $200,000 and just under $600,000 however, that figure does not say it all. The last multiple stop trip that Bill Clinton took cost the defense department (the DOD operates the Presidential and support aircraft) roughly $50 million dollars. That was just DOD expenses for the trip which incidentally, are not factored into the White House disclosures of the cost of Presidential travel. It would seem to me that since the National Debt has just topped $12 Trillion dollars, the Budget Deficit for 2009 was $1.4 Trillion dollars and thanks to the reckless printing of money by the Federal Reserve which has cost the dollar 17% of its face value, it is high time someone told Obama that “his party is over” and it’s time for this President to “telecommute” instead of boarding a jet.
Incidentally, Obama has added $1.4 trillion dollars to the National Debt in his first year in office. That is nearly as much as Reagan added in all eight years he was in office combined and more that Bill Clinton added during his eight years in office. The only President that rivaled Obama as a “spendaholic” would be George W. Bush who added just over $1 trillion dollars to the debt during his last year in office. The major difference between George Bush and Barack Obama is that Conservative Republicans blasted Bush for his spending policies and for turning his back on conservative fiscal ideals. Democrats just can’t bring themselves to criticize one of their own even when they bring shame to the Party as Bill Clinton and Charlie Rangel have, or when their fiscal policies are destroying what is left of a fragile economy, as Barack Obama is doing now. Democrats are forever in denial where their own failings are concerned and would rather find new ways to blame Bush for what is going on rather than accept the reality that they have held both houses of Congress way too long for Bush to have done anything without their express consent.
They just don’t understand that we already knew what Bush was and we were as angry with him as we are with Obama now. Perhaps the major difference, and what should scare the hell out of Congress, is that more Americans are finally realizing Congress holds the purse of the nation. A President can ask for anything he wants but Congress has to sign the check for it and that means that Congress bears the ultimate responsibility for every penny that has been spent or wasted since this nation was formed. That is not to say that the President’s overall agenda isn’t a disaster for America; it is, but we also recognize that his agenda would remain a Marxist pipe dream if it were not for the army of progressive socialists in Congress that are willing to scrap capitalism right along with Obama and his inner circle of union thugs and radical environmentalists.
Today, President Obama was nearly giddy as he proclaimed that the unemployment rate dropped a whopping two tenths of one percent. Woo Hoo! We only lost 11,000 jobs this month. You’re kidding ….right? I don’t need to remind people that we are weeks away from Christmas and most gains in the job market right now are temporary positions to meet a short term demand for labor and even that demand is far below what is usual for this time of year. The stimulus is such an unmitigated failure that Washington rarely mentions it now. The web site that tracks the jobs “created or saved” if rife with inconsistencies if not outright fraud and it is apparent that the only created jobs this White House can claim with certainty are Obama’s three dozen Czars and Michelle Obama’s staff of twenty-two “assistants” at an annual cost to the tax payers of $1.7 million dollars. Just to place that in perspective, the first lady with the highest number of staff members after Michele Obama was Hillary Clinton and she only had three assistants. But hey, that was only Hillary and she wasn’t doing the important work for America that Michelle is doing. After all, those magazine covers and appearances on Sesame Street are critical for American pride!
The unemployment figures Obama proclaimed victory with today are as false as his sincerity and as empty as his promises of hope and transparency. Once the shortfalls from this year’s holiday shopping season are fully reported, the temporary jobs will disappear along with a number of stores that needed a strong showing this Christmas to break even for the year. Don’t forget that the rise in jobs lost since the stimulus bill became law equaled roughly 3 million jobs and that brought us from 7.6% to 10.2% unemployment. What do you suppose will happen if the healthcare bill passes and the economy loses an additional 5 million jobs as forecast by independent analysis?
I would be wary of that unemployment figure anyway. It does not reflect the real jobless quotient otherwise known as the “U-6 Index”. The U6 index is the number of people collecting unemployment benefits plus those that have been permanently displaced and have resorted to taking several part time jobs or jobs that pay substantially less that what they were making before in an effort to remain solvent. That index places the actual unemployment figure at 17.6% and that is reminiscent of the economic conditions present during the great depression. Some people are generally appreciative that Congress has once again, extended unemployment benefits to states with high unemployment rates but I suspect that this too, is a clever rouse.
Consider this….Democrats know they are in trouble in the upcoming mid-term election. If unemployment does not begin to improve by then, Democrats face sweeping losses in the House and Senate. What if the extensions of unemployment benefits are timed to expire months before the election? Having the unemployment rate fall too early would give the Republicans time to react and adjust their campaign to new issues. But what if the 2010 campaigns are focused solely on the economy and there is a miraculous improvement in the unemployment figures just before November? I suspect Congress will pass more unemployment benefit extensions to continue the money flowing to states with high unemployment until the third quarter of next year and then end the extensions claiming fiscal necessity.
Ending the extensions of benefits certainly will not help the people that collect that money but it will have a drastic effect on the unemployment figures. As vast numbers of people begin to exhaust their benefits, they are dropped from the unemployment rolls. The index that the White House reports unemployment with would begin to show huge drops in the unemployment figures not because these people suddenly found jobs, but because they are no longer eligible for benefits. Since the main stream media hates to report anything that would detract from Obama’s image, it would be months before anyone realized the scam and saw that while those that collect unemployment had dropped to 7%, the U6 had skyrocketed above 25%.
I know that sounds like a stretch but are these honorable people I am talking about? When you look at the poll figures it is clear that most people have a serious trust deficit with the Washington elite and for good reason. In fact, if I were invited to a dinner at the White House or at the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I probably wouldn’t bring my wallet or jewelry, I wouldn’t let Desiree Rogers wave me through security and I certainly wouldn’t drink anything but water from a sealed bottle.
Paul
Saturday, September 5, 2009
***Special Newsflash****
The White House announced it will stand by Van Jones in spite of the overwhelming evidence of ridiculous and radical statements he has made that have recently come to light. Whether or not Mr. Obama knew about Jones’ background before he appointed him to a position of power within his administration is now a moot point as the White House certainly knows who and what his is now.
The decision to support Van Jones brings the President’s judgment into question. Now that he has chosen to keep the most controversial and divisive member of his team of advisors in such a sensitive position, one must question Mr. Obama’s true motives.
Mr. Jones must be fired and the rest of the special advisors must be carefully scrutinized to see if there are any other equally disturbing figures lurking in the back rooms of this administration.
While Vice President Biden declares victory for the Stimulus Bill, the jobless rate continues to climb. The economy shed another 216,000 jobs in August bringing the unemployment rate to 9.7%, the highest in 26 years. It begs to ask the question “What is the Federal Government using as its criteria for success? Hopefully the Secretary of Education will not suggest that the dictionary their definition came from is now approved for use in the U.S. public school system.
In line with President’s faltering approval rating, the Congressional approval rating has plummeted as well. A recent poll shows that only 29% of respondents were favorable of Congress while a whopping 57% would vote them all out and start over if the elections were held today.
Nancy Pelosi has suffered more than most in the recent flogging by pollsters with those that approve of her performance at an abysmal 19%. Her response was an equally bizarre “I don’t care”. She added “I think I am trusted” then implied that it didn’t matter if she was liked as long as long as she was trusted.” She must have consulted with Joe Biden on the definition of success to reach that conclusion with a 19% approval rating.
This was a special newsflash so please continue below for today’s real attraction, the First Amendment – Part Two; Freedom of Speech
Paul
The decision to support Van Jones brings the President’s judgment into question. Now that he has chosen to keep the most controversial and divisive member of his team of advisors in such a sensitive position, one must question Mr. Obama’s true motives.
Mr. Jones must be fired and the rest of the special advisors must be carefully scrutinized to see if there are any other equally disturbing figures lurking in the back rooms of this administration.
While Vice President Biden declares victory for the Stimulus Bill, the jobless rate continues to climb. The economy shed another 216,000 jobs in August bringing the unemployment rate to 9.7%, the highest in 26 years. It begs to ask the question “What is the Federal Government using as its criteria for success? Hopefully the Secretary of Education will not suggest that the dictionary their definition came from is now approved for use in the U.S. public school system.
In line with President’s faltering approval rating, the Congressional approval rating has plummeted as well. A recent poll shows that only 29% of respondents were favorable of Congress while a whopping 57% would vote them all out and start over if the elections were held today.
Nancy Pelosi has suffered more than most in the recent flogging by pollsters with those that approve of her performance at an abysmal 19%. Her response was an equally bizarre “I don’t care”. She added “I think I am trusted” then implied that it didn’t matter if she was liked as long as long as she was trusted.” She must have consulted with Joe Biden on the definition of success to reach that conclusion with a 19% approval rating.
This was a special newsflash so please continue below for today’s real attraction, the First Amendment – Part Two; Freedom of Speech
Paul
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