Shadow Boxing

Yesterday President Obama told us that growing the economy and creating jobs are his top two priorities.  "That's our urgent mission," said Obama, "That's what I'm fighting for every single day."  Great!  Swell.  So who's he fighting against?  Who's not in favor of growing the economy and creating millions of jobs?  He has blamed the Japanese tsunami, the Arab Spring, Greece, the debt ceiling fiasco, and now Hurricane Irene for creating "headwinds", bad karma in general really, for his weak economy and joblessness.  Has he identified a particular person or group that is working behind the scenes to destroy all that he images.  Republicans perhaps?  The Tea Party?

What the president supposedly fights against on a daily basis, when he's not golfing, raising campaign cash, or lounging with other millionaires and billionaires on Martha's Vineyard, are his own reckless policies.  Runaway spending, exploding debt, unrestrained entitlements, the constant threat of tax increases, and the ceaseless writing of new job killing regulations, are all hallmarks of his administration.  Singularly, each one of these can be a catalyst for economic doom.  In combination, they've combined to make a toxic elixir that has left or economy in tatters and is the true enemy of growth, economic solvency and shared prosperity.  Enough with the BS Mr. President.  The enemy you fight is yourself and your  stupid policies.  

The Only Thing You Need To Remember About School Reform

In a school building in Harlem in New York City, two schools share the same building.  Both schools draw from the same community and population of students.  PS 149 is a traditional unionized public school.  The other, Harlem Success Academy, is a non-union public charter school.  PS 149 spends $1,000 more per student, yet their students are only 29% proficient in English and only 34% in math.  Meanwhile at Harlem Success Academy, the students are 86% proficient in English and 94% in math.  The next time you hear the teacher's union bark about the need for more money, or more teachers, or more of anything, just remember PS 149 and the Harlem Success Academy.  

It's Our Fault

Lately, President Obama has blamed practically everything and everyone (but himself) for our lackluster economy even though he's been in charge for almost three years.  This week we were told "Over the last six months we've had a string of bad luck."  Bad luck, huh?  Was it bad luck that spent a trillion dollars on a "stimulus" that stimulated nothing but bigger debt?  Did someone in his administration walk under a ladder or break a window that led to the passage of Obamacare?  Did a black cat cross the path of Obama's dog Bo which in turn caused the first credit downgrade in America's history?  We all know the answer to these questions.  And we all know when we are being taken for a ride.  The truth of the matter is that America cannot recover while this man is in office, and for that we have only ourselves to blame, particularly those who voted for him in the first place.  Let's not repeat the mistakes of the past even though we have a president and a Democrat party who are determined to do so themselves.  Let's not get bogged down in their malaise, but instead try and rise above it, at least, and until we get the kind of real leadership necessary for growth and a return to prosperity.        

The President's Leadership is Missing

If you had a chance to catch Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's interview with Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday yesterday then you heard Mr. Geithner say, not once but twice, that a deal on the debt ceiling had to get done quickly so that "we can get Congress back to business in trying to figure out how to make the economy stronger in the short term and get more Americans back to work."  Anyone or anything missing from this statement?  How about any mention of the President or the White House?  Mr. Obama never fails to remind us that these two items, improving the economy and jobs for Americans, are uppermost on his mind from the time he awakes in the morning to the time he lays down at night.  Yet here, his own Treasury Secretary, a most trusted member of his cabinet, on national television, reveals to the world that those problems are not regarded as responsibilities of this president, but are in fact those for Congress to solve.  How's that for presidential leadership?    

  

Mid-Summer Dump

If you have been a regular reader of this blog in the past, and I thank you for that, you have obviously noted a discernible fall off in activity in the past several months.  As I told my brother earlier in the year, shortly after the Republican sweep last November, it's difficult to keep up the level of rage necessary for daily blogging.  On the other hand, given this president and the willingness of his state run media to manipulate the truth, how can anyone not remain consistently agitated.  I have listened long enough to the debate on the debt ceiling and can't remain silent any longer.  Like it or not, I have to purge.  Here are just a few thoughts I have had of late.

1)  The debt ceiling deadline.  Remember last winter's first prolonged debate on raising the debt ceiling?  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said it had to be raised by May 3rd or else all hell would break loose.   May 3rd came and went without a deal, and no fiscal calamity ensued.  Our nation officially hit its debt ceiling of $14.29 trillion on May 16th, at which time Mr. Geithner gave the the U. S. and the world economy a three week reprieve.  He set a new deadline of July 8th.  Remember what happened on July 8th?  I think I got my haircut.  His second three week reprieve extended doomsday to the current drop dead deadline of August 2nd.  While I don't think it's wise to continue to flaunt these deadlines, is there really anyone other than MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Obama, the Democrats, the NY Times, The Washington Post, Time magazine, Newsweek, The Nation, Mother Jones, et al, that really believe       fiscal Armageddon on the first Tuesday of next month?

2)  The debt ceiling.  Would someone please tell me the significance of breaking a barrier that has been broken repeatedly since its inception in 1917.  Seventy-four times since 1962 and ten times in just the last ten years.  It's a joke.  In theory, the ceiling is a mechanism of Congress to keep some semblance of control over our nation's debt.  Some theory.  In practice, however, the level of debt is a function of the budgets that Congress itself approves.  No other country has a debt limit separate from its budget process.  According to the General Accountability Office, Congress' own watchdog, credit rating agencies like Moody's and Standard and Poors view this disconnect between fiscal policy decisions (taxes and spending) and debt limit decisions as a "weakness in the U. S. budgetary framework."

3) Obama and the debt ceiling.  In 2006, when President Obama was just a lowly U. S. Senator he argued against raising the debt ceiling saying, "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's  debt limit is a sign of leadership failure."  He went on, "It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies."  "Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally."  He concluded that "America deserves better!"  You're damn right Mr. President!  Senator Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006.  He didn't even bother to cast a vote when the subject came up twice more during his term.  

4)  Democrats and tax increases.  If Obama and the Democrats think it is absolutely critical that we raise additional taxes on the so-called wealthy, then why didn't they raise them during the two years they controlled everything in Washington?  Why do we still refer to the tax cuts that President Bush pushed through in 2001 and 2003, and extended by President Obama in 2010 as the "Bush" tax cuts.  Mr. Obama has every right of ownership to these as anyone.  It is hyper hypocritical of the media or anyone else to continue to describe them as anything other than Obama's tax cuts.

5) Medicare, seniors, and memory loss.   What's with all the rhetoric about Republicans trying to eviscerate or kill Medicare.  Have we forgotten that not one Republican voted to pass Obamacare, yet the Affordable Care Act passed and signed into law by President Obama steals $500 billion from Medicare to help pay for this disaster?  Stop letting the president and his minions in the media rewrite history.  PAY ATTENTION!

6) Obamazilla.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is right.  I agree that "as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution (to our fiscal problems) is probably unattainable."  What evidence exists to the contrary?  The unmitigated disaster that is the Obama presidency will continue to destroy any hope of a sustained recovery.  

Unsafe At Any Speed

Ralph Nader, a progressive political activist and four-time candidate for President of the United States, became famous after publishing Unsafe At Any Speed, a book about the poor design and safety record of the Chevrolet Corvair.  A friend of mine just shared an email with me regarding the fiscal record of the Obama administration.  Seems that under President Obama's watch, over the last two years, our national debt has increased by more than $4 trillion dollars!  This rate of indebtedness is 27 times faster than in anytime in our nation's history.  By comparison, if you were happening to drive a car (hopefully not a Corvair) in the right lane going 65 mph, and a car rockets past you on the left 27 times faster, it would be traveling at 7,555 mph.  Just as the Chevy Corvair was determined to be unsafe for any American to drive, and subsequently taken off the market, so too should Barack Obama be deemed "unsafe at any speed" and subsequently removed from office.

Any of the Above

I watched the first Republican Presidential Debate on Fox News last Wednesday night.  I wasn't disappointed.  Despite the fact that some major potential candidates have yet to join the fray, those that did participate gave a good account of themselves.  More importantly, while any one of them may never eventually become president, any one of them would make a better president than the one we currently have.

While a great number of people who watched the debate scored businessman Herman Cain as the winner, I had him running a close second to Tim Pawlenty.  Governor Pawlenty has become more polished and "presidential" than when I first met him two years ago in Grand Rapids at a Republican state convention.  He has a tremendous record of achievement but to me he came off bit too coached and cautious.  Herman Cain tossed off some terrific lines, especially in defense of his lack of political experience.  When asked if that lack of experience would hinder his chances, he answered that we already have a lot of experienced politicians in Washington and replied, "How's that workin' for you?"

Ron Paul's libertarian message has made me think more about my own political ideology, but I still think his brand of politics is a bit too isolationist.  Governor Gary Johnson's brand of libertarianism comes closer to home.  I like his cost-benefit analysis approach to government spending and his call to end the failed war on drugs, but I fear he's too flakey for the big stage.  Former Senator Rick Santorum professed to be the tip of the spear for many conservatives on several social issues, but again, I don't think he's quite ready for prime time.

This month promises to mark the entrance into the race for perhaps some additional candidates including Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Mitch Daniels.  I suspect there will be others as well who eventually get into the race over the course of the next several months.  I'm not concerned that the Republicans don't have a favorite thus far, or that it's getting too late to compete against the Obama reelection monolith.  Nothing could be more absurd.  Whenever I hear on the news how some potential Republican candidates have too much baggage, or pose this problem or that for the electorate, I think are you kidding me?  Have you seen who's in the White House?