Tag Archives: Politics

The Chairman’s Weekly Radio Address: June 6, 2009

Posted on June 8, 2009 | Leave a comment

Barack Obama’s Weekly Radio Address

June 6, 2009

Over the past few days, I’ve been traveling through the Middle East and Europe working to renew our alliances, enhance our common security, and propose a new partnership between the United States and the Muslim world.

You can call it that, in fact, many do.  I mostly call it an apology, but hey–that’s just ME.  Oh yeah, psst, when, umm, are the, you know, Muslims going to step forward and propose a new relationship with the United States?

But even as I’m abroad, I’m firmly focused on the other pressing challenges we face – including the urgent need to reform our health care system.  Even as we speak, Congress is preparing to introduce and debate health reform legislation that is the product of many months of effort and deliberation.  And if you’re like any of the Americans I’ve met across this country who know all too well that the soaring costs of health care make our current course unsustainable, I imagine you’ll be watching their progress closely.

Closely.  Yeah, that’s a word.

I’m talking about the families I’ve met whose spiraling premiums and out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy or forcing them to go without the check-ups or prescriptions they need.  Business owners who fear they’ll be forced to choose between keeping their doors open or covering their workers.  Americans who rightly worry that the ballooning costs of Medicare and Medicaid could lead to fiscal catastrophe down the road.

Okay, so really, turn down the lights and put away the mics.  Serious.  Medicare and Medicaid.  In a speech designed to convince me that we need to turn our health care system over to you, you bring up Medicare and Medicaid?  Maybe, just maybe, before you decide that you wanna add another program to our debt load, you would think that you would fix these two?  No?  how come?  Really, yeah….details….

Simply put, the status quo is broken.

Perhaps.  But I am SURE you have no clue as to why.

We cannot continue this way.  If we do nothing, everyone’s health care will be put in jeopardy.

Not true.  Not true at all.  See, people who continue to value health care will make sure that they have it.  Those that don’t, well, won’t.  But jeez, that would require that you have experience in the real world, and well, you don’t have that.  Do you?  My, how embarrassing.

Within a decade, we’ll spend one dollar out of every five we earn on health care – and we’ll keep getting less for our money.

Wanna talk about that whole “Less for our money thing”?  Did you know that the world’s wealthiest most powerful people come to America for medical care?  You know, King Hussein, you know, King of Jordan, traveled to a small farm town in the middle of Minnesota;s farm land to see a doctor.  Meanwhile, a small town teacher in the heart of the same farm community also drove to the Mayo for treatment.  Gotta hand it to those conniving merciless profiteers out there in Rochester.  Bastards!

That’s why fixing what’s wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve – it’s a necessity we cannot postpone any longer.

Postpone.  I suspect that’s a word you will get used to saying.  Perhaps not hearing.  Cause, well, you know, YOU won’t be expected to be covered by this crappy insurance.

The growing consensus around that reality has led an unprecedented coalition to come together for change.

Huh?  Flashback Presbo?  What in THEE hell are you talking about?

Unlike past attempts at reforming our health care system, everyone is at the table – patient’s advocates and health insurers; business and labor; Democrats and Republicans alike.

No one is at the table you crazy loon.  Just you.

A few weeks ago, some of these improbable allies committed to cut national health care spending by two trillion dollars over the next decade.  What makes this so remarkable is that it probably wouldn’t have happened just a few short years ago.

Right.  Along with the President of the United States firing a CEO, limiting executive pay and compensation and then just kinda shredding bankruptcy law.  But hell, who’s keepin’ score?

But today, at this historic juncture, even old adversaries are united around the same goal: quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

See, you politician speak on this one.  We all agree that “medical care” is high.  But you don’t wanna fix that.  Nope, no way.  What you wanna do is keep it high and then just make everybody pay for it.

Now, I know that when you bring together disparate groups with differing views, there will be lively debate.  And that’s a debate I welcome.

Welcome.  You keep using that word.  I do not think that word means what you think it means. /sexyspanishaccent

But what we can’t welcome is reform that just invests more money in the status quo – reform that throws good money after bad habits.

We must attack the root causes of skyrocketing health care costs.  Some of these costs are the result of unwarranted profiteering

See buster.  I KNEW you could do it.  Damn profiteers.  I mean really, who would think that modern economic theory was so so wrong!?

that has no place in our health care system, and in too many communities, folks are paying higher costs without receiving better care in return.  And yet we know, for example, that there are places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and other institutions that offer some of the highest quality of care in the nation at some of the lowest costs in the nation.  We should learn from their successes and promote the best practices, not the most expensive ones.  That’s how we’ll achieve reform that fixes what doesn’t work, and builds on what does.

Whoe nellie!  That’s not what you’re saying.  What you are saying is “Lets take this same crappy system and just nationalize it.  Let’s just make everybody buy insurance and then tax the hell out of ’em”.  You never once have mentioned innovation in terms of “medical care” delivery.  Never!

This week, I conveyed to Congress my belief that any health care reform must be built around fundamental reforms that lower costs, improve quality and coverage, and also protect consumer choice.  That means if you like the plan you have, you can keep it.  If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too.  The only change you’ll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold.

LOL

I also made it very clear to Congress that we must develop a plan that doesn’t add to our budget deficit.

Stop.  Serious.  Who is buying this?

My budget included an historic down payment on reform, and we’ll work with Congress to fully cover the costs through rigorous spending reductions and appropriate additional revenues.  We’ll eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in our health care system, but we’ll also take on key causes of rising costs – saving billions while providing better care to the American people.

All across America, our families are making hard choices when it comes to health care.  Now, it’s time for Washington to make the right ones.  It’s time to deliver.  And I am absolutely convinced that if we keep working together and living up to our mutual responsibilities; if we place the American people’s interests above the special interests; we will seize this historic opportunity to finally fix what ails our broken health care system, and strengthen our economy and our country now and for decades to come.

Good night.  I am done.

Leave a comment

Posted in Weekly Radio Address

Tagged , , ,

The Damage Done by Unions

Posted on May 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

I have long felt that Unions in America are not only hurting the companies, but they hurt the workers too.  In short, Unions are damaging to the economy as a whole.The current exhibit in this long list of such exhibits?  The bond market.

Reuters reported last week that the bond market has turned.  What once was a very well understood relation between companies, unions and bond holders has suddenly been turned upside down.  Or, if not upside down, it’s at least been turned to the point that no one knows which way is up.  See, the point of buying a bond is that the bond is considered “secure”.  This term, in legalize, is meant to convey certain rights in the event of bankruptcy.  As it is now being played out, this right is being denied, or attempted to be denied to the bond holders of the auto makers; Chrysler and GM.

See, Mr. Obama is trying to put the bond holders behind other, more politically advantageous groups, in this case, the Unions.

…the Obama administration is offering most of the recovery value of those companies to “a favored political class, in this case the United Auto Workers…

What does this mean?  It means that people buying bonds are no longer going to do so with the secure knowledge that they are going to “get theirs” in the event the company has to declare.  And, you may ask, what does THAT mean?  It means, for companies with bargained for employees, that they are going to have a harder time selling their bonds and raising the money they need to conduct business.  And that, my friends, is BAD for business.

The whole concept is a strange one.  Politically attractive, sure, but strange.  See, on one hand, almost ALL of America is upset right now with “investors”, “speculators” and other groups of people that might have been making money when the banking crisis hit.  Most people feel that somehow it wasn’t the individual home buyers or the government that caused this problem, but that it was the folks trying to make money by floating that money.  So, Obama has a huge lever in the court of public opinion.

Then, of course, those bondholders are not united or organized.  While they may trend to act as a group, there is not formal organization and certainly they don’t have “members”.  So, by helpin the unions out, you have helkped out a very organized outfit complete with mind numbing numbers of people who just wait to be told what to do.

The other area that this is so concerning is that we seem to have people who actually believe that money just flows.  From somewhere.  Just waiting to be picked up.  And that if I don’t have enough of it, well then, by gawd, someone must have my share of it.  So I am going to go take it back.  Sigh.  I get so tired of that mentality, so so tired.

However, in the end, I really think that it is this movement toward the support of the Union that is going to be the largest threat to NC.  I just wonder if anyone else sees it.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , , , ,

Mandatory Sick Leave, Vacation and Minimum Wage

Posted on May 29, 2009 | 3 comments

So, recently over at Applied Rationality we have been discussing legislating Mandatory Sick Leave.  Dave seems to be of the opinion that we should mandate paid sick leave to all employees while I maintain that such a benefit more resembles increased pay and would reduce the incidence of labor.  Minimum wage has long been a favorite of mine and this new legislation seems to be another version of the same.

I think it’s exactly this type of legislation where we as conservatives fall down and really fail to serve the public.  As champions of this type of legislation, it is the Left that is doing the PR job of getting out there and shaping the message.  They are in front of the cameras talk about laws that will help the “Average American”, the “Working Man” and “America’s Middle Class”.  They are getting the message out in the nightly newscasts, newspapers and magazines.  And they are doing it well.  They have been able to successfully shape the public opinion to the point that most of the nations feels that it is the Liberal Left and the Democrats who are standing up for the rights and well being of the average guy.

And we are letting them.

We don’t have anyone that is able to go out and change the shape of the conversation.  We don’t have anyone that is willing to take this law, conduct the research and bring the message into the homes of all people everywhere that this tpe of legislation HURTS the very people it is aimed at helping.  By mandating such demonstrably bad policies, what we are doing is legislating those of us who can least afford to be out of a job–out of a job.  We are building a scenario where employers are going to reduce the number of employees on their payroll.  And they are going to begin with the least skilled most marginal among their employees.  Rather than helping people, this law and others like it is destructive.

And we are letting them.

Now, I’m not willing to give the Democrats enough credit to come up with one of these Black Helicopter theories that says they are doing this on purpose in order to create a dependent Nation.  I really really don’t think they are that, umm, well, thoughtful.  I really do think that they are trying to actually help people.  I do.  But they are wrong.  They are taking the easy way out and, it just so happens, that this easy way out plays very well in the court of public opinion.  But the facts remain, this is horrible legislation and we know it.  Or should.  And we should be singing and shouting it out from rooftops all across America.  And we should be changing the tone of the conversation that it is Conservatives who are championing policies that actually DO help people.

Of course, we should then actually enact that policies…but thats another post for another day.

3 Comments

Posted in Economy

Tagged , , ,

My Japanese Carolina Experience

Posted on May 24, 2009 | 2 comments

So here I am, up well past my bedtime strolling through the internet when a friend of mine points me to this example of “Single Payer Health Care”.

It is the story of a man in Japan who is describing his experience with the Japanese style of health care; Single Payer to be specific.  In it, our hero is suffering from strep throat and is taking the time to describe to us how treatment went in Japan.  His story begins with a  fever and a sore throat and … well, I’ll let him take it from there:

I walked into the hospital and was seen by a bi-lingual physician almost immediately (maybe a 5 minute wait after showing my National Health Care Card)

Now, the sticking point with this whole Universal Health Care, Single Payer Health Care or Socialized Medicine is the concept of rationing.  Ya see, we have far far fewer medical practitioners than we have demand for free medical care.  Serious, imagine if any medical procedure or treatment were free, do you think the system would be overwhelmed or underwhelmed?  Right, me too.  So, we do what we do in all markets [well almomst all markets.  In most markets, we are much freer than in the medical care market, but that is for another post] and that is ration by cost.  That is, we let people determine, based on how much they are willing to pay, when they will seek medical care.  We ration the available care by allowing the consumer the choice.

So anyway, brother was seen almost immeadiately.  Well, maybe a 5 minute wait after showing his Nation Health Care Card.  While perhaps only a minor point, I would like to know how long it took him to show his card AFTER walking the door fot he facility.  Anyway, the drama unfolds….

examined my throat, asked when it had began and took my temperature. He decided that a throat culture was necessary and it was sent to the lab. In the meantime he prescribed a painkiller and antibiotic …..

Now, everything seems cool so far.  Doc, bi-lingual Doc at that, correctly concludes that a throat culture is required.  Good man.  AND we get drugs prescribed too.  So far, so good.

…and asked me to come back in 2 days.

Yowza!  And here is the rub.  THIS is the rationing.  THIS is what HAS to take place.  Because the demand for care out strips the supply of care, we HAVE to ration it.  And when we let people think that we are providing FREE care, we have to ration it by …… wait for it [pardon the pun] TIME.

When I went back to the hospital they informed me that I had a severe case of Strep throat and I needed a much stronger antibiotic, which was prescribed immediately.

So, the SECOND trip to the hospital found the cause of the trouble and they prescribed the correct drug to treat.  Excellent.  Though I should point out the catch phrase “prescribed immediately.   As if.  Actually, it was prescribed immeadiately AFTER a 48 hour [and five minute] wait.  So, how much did this most excellent of all services cost our protagonist?  Why, it’s FREE you say.  He doesn’t have to pay a thing!  Right?  Wrong!

Turns out our hero has to actually cough up [punny again, I know] the small small fee of ….. $385 a MONTH!  Let’s see, 385 bucks a month is $4, 620 a year.  A YEAR.  Now, the story doesn’t tell us if this is before or after taxes, so let’s just pretend that it ‘s before.  As in, just like a normal tax.  This means, that unless our hero makes more than $46k a year, he is paying more than 10% for medical care.  Oh yeah, he also has to pay a 30% co-pay.  Yeah……not so free, huh?  Oh, and his wife is paying too!  So, let’s not pretend that this is free or without costs.  This is, quite simply, mandatory health insurance.

Further, as I kept reading the post I found a picture of what looks to be our author.  He is the one on the right.  Looking at the pic, I am guessing the man is younger than, oh, say, 30.  He is younger than 30.  Now, when I was younger than 30, AND when I am queried by folks that I come across who ask me about this sort of thing, I tell them at age 30 all you need is catastrophe insurance.  Why?  Because at ages younger than 30, you DON’T GO TO THE DOCTOR!090523_141001

In any event, lemme tell you about MY strep throat story in the good ol’ US of A.

One day I woke up with a very soar throat and mild fever, it persisted and got worse the following day.  I decided to call my primary care physician who said that she could meet me that afternoon.  I decided to accept her offer and made an appoint at DUKE MEDICAL CARE!  However, after having some coffee and getting ready to go to the office, I decided that I wanted to stop at the grocery store to buy some fruit for the day.  As I left the grocery I noticed the pharmacy across the street.  I remembered that they have a clinic.  I stopped.  I also had about a 5 minute wait.  The Doc took my temp and swabbed my throat.  She said that I would need to have the sample tested; I said I would wait.  I asked how long, she said 10 minutes.  I browsed the store, bought some birthday cards, bought some supplies for my home office and even a present for each of my kids.  By the time I was done shopping, the results were in; strep.  The correct medicine was presented to me with zero wait and I was on my way.

I called DUKE MEDICINE to cancel and my doc said “That was good thinking.”

Total cost?  Zero dollars.  Of course I do have to pay about the same as Mr. Progressive Tokyo here, but, you know, that covers me, my wife and two young children.

Funny.  Capitalsim and the free market.

2 Comments

Posted in Health Care

Tagged ,

The Chairman’s Weekly Radio Address: April 25, 2009

Posted on April 28, 2009 | Leave a comment

Barack Obama’s Weekly Radio Address

April 25, 2009

Good morning.

Good morning.  But I bet it gets worse in about 3-2-1….

Over the last three months, my Administration has taken aggressive action to confront an historic economic crisis.

Yup, way worse.  Look, you keep sayin’ it, you Just Keep SAYIN’ it!  This is ONLY historic because it is the first time it has ever really affected YOU.  Stop.  And. Do. The. Math.

As we do everything that we can to create jobs and get our economy moving,

You know, I have tried.  I have read this line and then re-read it.  Like lots.  And I just can’t quite get over this whole part.  YOU CAN’T CREATE JOBS!  YOU don’t produce ANYTHING.  Sigh.

we’re also building a new foundation for lasting prosperity

You are not.  You.  Are lying.

– a foundation that invests in quality education, lowers health care costs,

Now stop, just stop.  You have no intention of lowering health care costs.  In fact, the opposite is true.  You want RAISE the total health care spend, you just wanna pull the cost from the wealthy and give it to the poor.

and develops new sources of energy powered by new jobs and industries.

See, I hear whatcha are sayin’, I just don’t think that yo know how to go about it.  You have to let these entrepreneurs loose in a “sandbox”.  Let them think and learn and invent FREE of government; not beholden to it.

One of the pillars of that foundation must be fiscal discipline.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA  -inhale- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Stop it.  Please.  Oh lawd, THAT is rich!

We came into office

How much longer are you going to continue to play that card?

facing a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion for this year alone, and the cost of confronting our economic crisis is high. But we cannot settle for a future of rising deficits and debts that our children cannot pay.

Umm, but you did.  Serious.  Check it out.  And, not for nothin’, but YOU did it.

All across America, families are tightening their belts and making hard choices. Now, Washington must show that same sense of responsibility. That is why we have identified two trillion dollars in deficit-reductions over the next decade, while taking on the special interest spending that doesn’t advance the peoples’ interests.

I’m feelin’ it!  I’m a feelin’ it!

But we must also recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking. So much of our government was built to deal with different challenges from a different era.

Amen!

Too often, the result is wasteful spending, bloated programs, and inefficient results.

I’ll say it again, AMEN!

It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington.

Hallelujah

To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient,

Yes Lord!

more transparent,

Yes Lord!

and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.

The demons have been purged and and we are on our way to fiscal heaven!  I feel, I say I FEEL the love!

Earlier this week, I held my first Cabinet meeting and sent a clear message: cut what doesn’t work. Already, we’ve identified substantial savings. And in the days and weeks ahead, we will continue going through the budget line by line, and we’ll identify more than 100 programs that will be cut or eliminated.

But we can’t stop there. We need to go further, and we need an all-hands-on-deck approach to reforming government. That’s why I’m announcing several steps that my Administration will take in the weeks ahead to restore fiscal discipline while making our government work better.

First, we need to adhere to the basic principle that new tax or entitlement policies should be paid for. This principle – known as PAYGO – helped transform large deficits into surpluses in the 1990s. Now, we must restore that sense of fiscal discipline. That’s why I’m calling on Congress to pass PAYGO legislation like a bill that will be introduced by Congressman Baron Hill, so that government acts the same way any responsible family does in setting its budget.

Second, we’ll create new incentives to reduce wasteful spending and to invest in what works. We don’t want agencies to protect bloated budgets – we want them to promote effective programs. So the idea is simple: agencies that identify savings will get to keep a portion of those savings to invest in programs that work. The result will be a smaller budget, and a more effective government.

Third, we’ll look for ideas from the bottom up. After all, Americans across the country know that the best ideas often come from workers – not just management. That’s why we’ll establish a process through which every government worker can submit their ideas for how their agency can save money and perform better. We’ll put the suggestions that work into practice. And later this year, I will meet with those who come up with the best ideas to hear firsthand about how they would make your government more efficient and effective.

And finally, we will reach beyond the halls of government. Many businesses have innovative ways of using technology to save money, and many experts have new ideas to make government work more efficiently. Government can – and must – learn from them. So later this year, we will host a forum on reforming government for the 21st century, so that we’re also guided by voices that come from outside of Washington.

We cannot sustain deficits that mortgage our children’s future, nor tolerate wasteful inefficiency.

Coulda fooled me.  Have you seen what you have been spending kind sir?

Government has a responsibility to spend the peoples’ money wisely,

THIS I know.  I just don’t think that you know it.

and to serve the people effectively. I will work every single day that I am President to live up to that responsibility, and to transform our government so that is held to a higher standard of performance on behalf of the American people.

Thank you.

Leave a comment

Posted in Weekly Radio Address

Tagged , , ,

Why We Have to Fight the Unions

Posted on April 23, 2009 | 1 comment

Certainly this last election was troubling for me here in Carolina.  We saw all the obvious, no need to rehash that here and now.  However, upon further reflection, I am perhaps most troubled by the increased influence of the labor movement here in North Carolina.  As a transplant, my history of struggles between the state and the unions is incomplete, but I understand that it has been brutal at times and even bloody.

Be that as it may, the impact of labor unions on the economic health of a state is dramatic and obvious.  And as the economic health goes, so goes the health of that state in general.  This includes the ability to create jobs, to keep those jobs, to balancing the budget and creating an environment that allows general and overall growth of that state.

This afternoon I came across this entry from Carpe Diem.  In it, Perry is showing that the highest ranking states in the “Economic Outlook Rankings” are almost all Right to Work states while the lowest are not.  Further, the net migration numbers are showing that people are leaving those Union Friendly states in droves.  And where are they moving to?  You got, Right to Work states.

But this is not news, it is just demonstrating what we really, already know.  That unions destroy economic progress.  And people, knowingly or not, vote with their feet and simply leave.  And typically, those that CAN leave are the ones that DO leave resulting in a continued downward spiral.  For example, see California:

California, which once lured Americans from near and far, is now driving out millions of the most productive residents – including high percentages of the most affluent.

“When California faced a Mount Everest-sized $14 billion deficit in 2003, one of the major causes for the red ink was the stampede of millionaire households from the state,” says a report called “Rich States, Poor States” by economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore. “Out of the 25,000 or so seven-figure-income families, more than 5,000 left in the early 2000s, and the loss of their tax payments accounted for about half the budget hole.”

So this is what has me concerned about this past year’s election; the increased influence of the labor movement.  And here is why:

Big Labor’s Top Ten Special Privileges

1.  Exemption from prosecution for union violence.
2.  Exemption from anti-monopoly laws.
3.  Power to force employees to accept unwanted union representation.
4.  Power to collect forced union dues.
5.  Unlimited, undisclosed electioneering.
6.  Ability to strong-arm employers into negotiations.
7.  Right to trespass on an employer’s private property.
8.  Ability of strikers to keep jobs despite refusing to work.
9.  Union-only cartels on construction projects.
10. Government funding of forced unionism.

Just take a look at this list.  While I always have had a good healthy distrust and dislike for Unions, I have never seen it laid out bare like this.  Not ONE of these things even passes the basic sniff test.  Now don’t get me wrong, I fully support the right of worker or workers to “unite” in their common goal to approach management and offer a bargaining position.  What I do not support, is this legal mandate that exists that offers this kind of protection to a single organization.

And this is what scares me.

1 Comment

Posted in Economy, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , ,

The Chairman’s Weekly Radio Address: February 21, 2009

Posted on February 25, 2009 | Leave a comment

Barack Obama’s Weekly Radio Address

February 21, 2009

Earlier this week, I signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — the most sweeping

Sweeping is a word.  Not the one I would have picked, but, hey, who am I?

economic recovery plan in history.  Because of this plan, 3.5 million Americans

How do you know?  Where did you get this number?  3.5 million…..

will now go to work

This is tricky of you Mr. Chairman!  Very very tricky.  You make it sound like these 3.5 million, of which 3.5 million are unemployed, will go to work.  Now.  Gotta hand it to ya sparky, sure got the Chicago style down pat, dont’cha?

doing the work that America needs done.

I’m grateful to Congress, governors and mayors across the country, and to all of you whose support made this critical step possible.

Lot less of them that ya thought, though, huh?  All this hope and change?  Yeah, me either.

Because of what we did together, there will now be shovels in the ground, cranes in the air, and workers rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, and repairing our faulty levees and dams.

Those things, those things should have been being done ANYWAY!!!

Because of what we did, companies — large and small — that produce renewable energy can now apply for loan guarantees and tax credits and find ways to grow, instead of laying people off; and families can lower their energy bills by weatherizing their homes.

Blink.  Blink.  Weatherize our homes?  Next you’ll be tellin’ me to inflate the tires on my car!  Hahahah–wait, what?  You already said that?  Oh my.

Because of what we did, our children can now graduate from 21st century schools and millions more can do what was unaffordable just last week — and get their college degree.

Whoa whoa whoa sparkey.  More money in the schools ain’t what keeping kids from graduation.  You got that!?

Because of what we did, lives will be saved and health care costs will be cut with new computerized medical records.

Awesome idea.  Really really is.  But not stimulative.  Just not.  Write it up in a bill and pass it.  But don’t lie to me.  Change my ass.

Because of what we did, there will now be police on the beat, firefighters on the job, and teachers preparing lesson plans who thought they would not be able to continue pursuing their critical missions.  And ensure that all of this is done with an unprecedented level of transparency

Cough  —bullshit— cough.  You didn’t even let Republican LAWMAKERS in the room when this was written.  You SAID daylight.  5 days.  For us to see.  Transparency.  “I don’t think that word means what you think it means!”

and accountability,

Right.  Forgive the disbelief.

I have assigned a team of managers to make sure that precious tax dollars are invested wisely and well.

Right.  Forgive the disbelief.

Because of what we did, 95 percent of all working families will get a tax cut — in keeping with a promise I made on the campaign.

This one you keep?  THIS one?  Awesome you “non tax cutter”

And I’m pleased to announce that this morning, the Treasury Department began directing employers to reduce the amount of taxes withheld from paychecks — meaning that by April 1st, a typical family will begin taking home at least $65 more every month.  Never before in our history has a tax cut taken effect faster or gone to so many hardworking Americans.

But as important as it was that I was able to sign this plan into law, it is only a first step on the road to economic recovery.

Aaaahhh, here comes the punchline.

And we can’t fail to complete the journey.  That will require stemming the spread of foreclosures and falling home values, and doing all we can to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes, which is exactly what the housing plan I announced last week will help us do.

Serious?!?  Are you F$%#ckin’ KIDDING me?  Do you read the papers?  Do you READ what is going on?  Do you have a CLUE as to what got us in this mess?  Home ownership?  Come on man!  Stay out of the way.  Let the market clear.

It will require stabilizing and repairing our banking system, and getting credit flowing again to families and businesses.  It will require reforming the broken regulatory system

Google “Mark to market” you regulatory guy you.

that made this crisis possible, and recognizing that it’s only by setting and enforcing 21st century rules of the road that we can build a thriving economy.

And it will require doing all we can to get exploding deficits

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Breath.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.

Thank you.

under control as our economy begins to recover.  That work begins on Monday, when I will convene a fiscal summit of independent experts and unions, advocacy groups and members of Congress, to discuss how we can cut the trillion-dollar

Pssst.    It’s now well over 3 trillion on it’s way to 7.

deficit that we’ve inherited.

It was the Senator YOU that gave this heapin pile of shit to the Blessed Leader you that is now talkin’ about it!  Dude.

On Tuesday, I will speak to the nation about our urgent national priorities.  And on Thursday, I’ll release a budget that’s sober in its assessments, honest in its accounting, and lays out in detail my strategy for investing in what we need, cutting what we don’t, and restoring fiscal discipline.

No single piece of this broad economic recovery can, by itself, meet the demands that have been placed on us.

This I agree with.  Nothin you do is gonna do the trick!

We can’t help people find work or pay their bills unless we unlock credit for families and businesses.  We can’t solve our housing crisis unless we help people find work so that they can make payments on their homes.  We can’t produce shared prosperity without firm rules of the road, and we can’t generate sustained growth without getting our deficits under control.  In short, we cannot successfully address any of our problems without addressing them all.  And that is exactly what the strategy we are pursuing is designed to do.

None of this will be easy.  The road ahead will be long and full of hazards.  But I am confident that we, as a people, have the strength and wisdom to carry out this strategy and overcome this crisis.

Careful.  We elected a no name Senator with zero experience and a past history of foolish policies.

And if we do, our economy — and our country — will be better and stronger for it.

Thank you.

Leave a comment

Posted in Weekly Radio Address

Tagged , , , , , , ,

CHANGE!

Posted on February 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

CHANGE

The word was the mantra of Our Blessed Leader’s campaign.  And it was wonderfully successful.  It served to distinguish that what we had was bad.  And further, that we were going to a place where what we had would not be.  That somehow, we would be in a different place.  Further, the assumption would be that it would not only be different, but better!

And so it was.  The Blessed Leader now sits enthroned in DC and things have CHANGEd.  We have CHANGE and the world is right again.  Perhaps Atlas shrugged, but we got him back under control!

Interesting thing, though, that CHANGE.  See CHANGE doesn’t really mean change see.  It just means, well, it means – The Same.  At least as far as Detainee Rights are concerned.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics

Paragraphs rendered:

President Barack Obama’s Justice Department sided with the former Bush administration on Friday, saying detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.

Shocker.  And while I think the Administration is right here, I am shocked, just SHOCKED I tell you.

“The hope we all had in President Obama to lead us on a different path has not turned out as we’d hoped,” said Tina Monshipour Foster, a human rights attorney representing a detainee at the Bagram Air Base. “We all expected better.”

Serious?  You did?

“They’ve now embraced the Bush policy that you can create prisons outside the law,” said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has represented several detainees.

Anything that pisses off the ACLU is good in my book.  Full CHANGE ahead for me, please!

Leave a comment

Posted in Politics: National

Tagged , , ,

I Wish We Had a Cool Governor

Posted on February 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I don’t have the same feel for the Good Gov’na Purdue that I have for Obama; not even close.  But how nice it is to listen to some of the best conservatives in the country talk about the stimulus package:?

http://www.wral.com/

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a likely 2012 presidential contender, has said he would reject a portion of the money aimed at expanding state unemployment insurance.

Notice the level of detail intimated by Jindal.  He is not rejecting all of the money, just that money that speaks to unemployment insurance.

Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., said he was considering a similar move. Taking the unemployment dollars, he said, would force his state to eventually raise taxes when the stimulus money runs out, putting in place what he called an unfair tax on employers.

“There is some (money) we will not take in Mississippi. … We want more jobs. You don’t get more jobs by putting an extra tax on creating jobs,” Barbour told CNN’s “State of the Union’ on Sunday.

Again, very detailed analysis of the package.  These guys know the good from the bad; almost as if they–you know, READ the bill.

Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm said there are other states that want and need the new money: “We’ll take it. We’ll take your money.”

States with unemployment rates significantly differ- ent from that of the U.S

States with unemployment rates significantly differ- ent from that of the U.S

Guess who’s state is that highest bar, just left of center?  Yeah, that’s right.  The Great State belonging to Gov. Jennifer Granholm.  That, by the way, is not an accident.

At issue for Jindal and Barbour is a provision in the stimulus bill that could allow people ineligible for unemployment benefits to receive them anyway. That could eventually force a tax increase on employers, both governors have said.

Nice.  So even if the state doesn’t want the money, the Federal Government forces them to take it anyway.  And they have to raise taxes as a result.  How is this legal?

Some Democrats took a harder line at a press conference arranged by the Democratic Governors Association to praise Obama for his leadership on the stimulus. DGA Chairman Brian Schweitzer of Montana and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley dismissed GOP detractors as “fringe” Republicans eager to score political points.

“All of us are committed to working with President Obama to pull our nation’s economy out of the ditch that George W. Bush ran it into,” O’Malley said. “If some of the fringe governors don’t want to do that, they need to step aside and not stand in the way of the nation’s interests.”

Sorry, but when you complain of “fringe” Republicans and then say “pull our nation’s economy out of the ditch that George W. Bush ran it into” you lose some all credibility in my book.

The line drew a rebuke from Sanford, the Republican Governors Association chairman.

“I think in this instance I would humbly suggest that the real fringe are those that are supporting the stimulus,” Sanford said. “It is not at all in keeping with the principles that made this country great, not at all in keeping with economic reality, not in keeping with a stable dollar and not in keeping with the sentiments of most of this country.

Finally, Republicans acting like Republicans.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Politics: National, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

They Will Never Learn

Posted on February 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

Okay, okay.  So I get it, I mean, who doesn’t?  In fact, who could miss it?  The whole world, literally, is in some form of economic downturn or another.  Much, if not all, of this can be laid at the feet of the real estate or housing bubble here in the United States.  It was, after all, the inflation of homes that caused banks and other lending institutions to over extend themselves and take on some really really bad investments.

Now, if you wanna get into any form of political blame game, you can.  Either it is the republicans for “de-regulation” or it’s the democrats for the Community Reinvestment Act.  Maybe it’s democrat ssenators refusing to reign in Frannie and Freddie.  Heck, maybe it’s republican senators failing to reign those guys in.  Whatever, the point is, some form of government “tampering” led the housing markets down the path they have taken.  And the result is, well, the result is where we are today.

So, the lesson?  The lesson, of course, is to just let stuff be.  Especially the housing markets!  Just don’t touch ’em right now!  For gawd’s sake, don’t touch ’em.

Right?

Anyone listening?

Cricket.  Cricket cricket.

Nope, they aren’t.  And here is the proof:

http://www.wral.com…

Paragraphs rendered:

A report being considered by Chatham County commissioners says that recent development trends have divided the county and priced people out of some areas.  In recent years, the eastern half of the county has seen a housing boom, with development springing up close to areas such as Cary and Chapel Hill. Meanwhile, experts say, the western portion of Chatham hasn’t seen that same growth.

This happens all the time.  Certain land areas experience higher growth than others.  As the demand for those land areas increases, that land becomes more expensive.  The county needed top study this?

“The homes that were being created were for people who were in a higher-income category,” Commissioner Carl Thompson said.

Ahh, well, maybe not.  Seems that that intuit what’s going on.  Good.

Real-estate broker Katy O’Leary said that weekly, she has to tell some customers that they can’t afford a home in the eastern part of the county. Home prices there run from $350,000 and up, she said.

I suspect the same is true of Jaguar dealers.  Some people can afford homes in expensive neighborhoods  Others can’t.

O’Leary said the disparity of housing prices has an easy explanation: “The dirt’s too expensive.”

High lot prices force developers to build mostly only higher-end homes, she said.

Amen sista’!  End lesson on Econ101.  Wait, what?  They aren’t happy with this?

We could “actually require developers, maybe, to set aside certain portions of their development as lots for moderate-income homes,” Thompson said.

So, here we are.  In the middle of an economic housing bust, one we are trying to fix by ridding ourselves of a housing glut, and we are going to ADD to the complexity by mandating builders build homes on property they otherwise wouldn’t.  The result?  Somewhere, someone will be paying more for a home than it’s worth.  Sound familiar?

Jeez.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , ,