Whenever socialism is attempted, it fails miserably. See Cuba, Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe for further information. The US was built on economic freedom and that is why it has always been the largest, most prosperous economy. Countries that are relatively free in economic terms tend to grow much faster. So, do any of us think that more Obama style crippling progressive regulations will help any time soon?
These are really tough economic times. Job losses are almost as bad as during the Great Depression, and there appears to be nobody at home in the government as far as helping private industry create jobs. A plague of fiscal irresponsibility is gripping the nation and it won't let go because at least 67 Senators from the 111thCongress have yet to face their public. Like the 33 that felt the deep roasting breath of the people, these 67 will have their day, but they seem to believe that they are immune.
The public did a reasonable job of cleaning the House in 2010 but even there, we still have work to be done. Pennsylvanians should be proud of the work we did to help stop the slide to socialism in the House. One thing is for sure with socialism, no jobs are necessary.
Millions of Americans today worry about simple things like how to pay their mortgages, feed their families, and heat their homes. Washington, like Nero while Rome was burning, is fiddling its way in a sea of inexperience and / or just plain incompetence. If there were smart men in Washington doing what they are doing on purpose, it would be criminal! We would put them all in jail! Wouldn't we? Yes, we would!
Obama still says that his huge economic stimulus package created new jobs. And, Allahu Akbar is an Irish prayer. The stimulus, aptly nicknamed porkulus, created nothing but debt. Where are the jobs? They do not exist! You can't spend all your time on Obamacare as the Congress and the President did in 2010 and expect that adding a trillion or two in expenses will create an uptick in the economy. There are fewer and fewer jobs each week. The finest administration lies cannot change the facts. And yet the government continues to lie about how bad the situation really is, while doing nothing but giving meaningless reelection speeches.
Jobs Essay Side Trip – Obamacare and Bart Stupak
Is that why the Obama Administration focused on Obamacare, instead of the economy, while the economy was turning from flame to embers to ash? Is it because nothing they have tried has worked? Or, have they tried nothing? The last good thing that happened in Washington regarding jobs was that Democrat Bart Stupak announced he was turning in his keys at the end of this ride. Honest Bart is gone, and we thank him for the fact that he took his last ride. He gave up his job as you may recall after giving up his soul for Obamacare. The people saw a real job opening in 2010 as Stupak stepped down. They filled it with a good person, for sure! Why isn't Washington concerned enough to be working to get the economy back on track, and to get people into jobs? The Cat in the Hat would see this as a real puzzlement. Why Stupak did not see it that way is between him and his maker.
Some things in life happen well. For example, on November 2, 2010 Michigan elected a pro-life representative to Congress to replace the infamous, “Black Bart Stupak.” This newcomer was a physician by the name of Dan Benishek. It did not matter that he was a Republican but he was, and with Michigan a mostly Democratic state, his election suggests the people did not condone Stupak’s behavior in Congress. Nor do you and nor do I. Sometimes people vote with their hearts and minds and not with their stomach. Though Bart Stupak sickened a lot of Michigan, the voters did not vote with their stomachs, even on the negative side. They knew what they had to do, and they did it.
As we noted previously, Stupak announced his retirement from Congress a month after exchanging his vote for the national health care reform law for an executive order from President Barack Obama that purports to ensure that public funds will not be used to subsidize abortion. But, all those who have respect for life know that Stupak gave it up for Obama.
Stupak’s deal with the President outraged most pro-life groups, which had been supporting the stand Stupak and a cadre of pro-life Democrats had taken for months that they would only vote for the law with an added statute that prevented all abortion funding.
After Stupak’s much-decried decision to vote for health care, Benishek’s little-noticed campaign took off in a working class, Roman Catholic district that has only elected pro-life Democrats since Roe v. Wade. Stupak knew he would never be invited back. Viva America.
For its part, the Michigan Right to Life group pulled their endorsement of Stupak and gave it to Benishek, while local Tea Party groups also rallied to Benishek’s standard to defeat the paper tiger candidate McDowell. The people won big time and have been winning ever since in Michigan. Long live Bart Stupak, someplace far away from Washington D.C.
Let’s get back to the issue at hand. Let me ask again -- How can adding a trillion dollars to the federal budget for a new entitlement, Obamacare, one which siphons the good will of small businesses and large alike, along with their precious capital, be good for the economy? Obamacare will postpone or kill economic recovery for you and me. Caterpillar, John Deere, Verizon and others are openly discussing the devastating effect of trying to battle the bad economy and Obama's schemes at the same time. This scheme will cost jobs and it will cost a lot of regular people their insurance policies and their ability to stay well. The number of Obamacare exemptions granted by Obama’s Heath and Human Serices Department (HHS) is in the thousands. What does HHS know that neither Congress nor Obama knows about? If Obamacare is so good, why the exemptions? Don’t worry, this essay is not about Obamacare, it is about Jobs, so we’ll take that up someplace else. Ina nutshell, however, businesses are getting exemptions to Obamacare now so they will still be inclined to donate to Obama for his 2012 election campaign which formally began inauguration day.
Was this the law of unintended consequences at work or was it the Obama plan? Is having the economy in the tank also part of the Obama plan? If it is, it sure is working mighty fine. The debt and deficit are at such record levels, a wise man would have to go along with Rosetta Stone's recommendation to learn a language that will help your future. They say Rosetta Stone has a pretty good course in Chinese. If future and past Obama's are equal, it is time that we all learn to speak Chinese. If there is such a language called the language of deceit, that too would help as we would understand the President’s inner self much better as he speaks the “truth.”
“Jobs” was never on the Obama government agenda. It still is not. Who do they think they are kidding? Jobs will not ever be on the agenda because people with jobs do not need a socialist / progressive state. Team Obama lied about “jobs” for over a year, and then affirmed their lie during the first big State of the Union address. They have done nothing but spend huge sums of money from day one. Did you see the shift in emphasis from Healthcare to Jobs when Obamacare passed? It was either nonexistent or imperceptible! I know I missed it. If they cared about jobs, my guess is we would have seen something by now. They are not that dumb. Because we do not assign evil motives to them, we do not really know how smart they are.
Your elected officials have been busy doing everything but helping the economy get back on track. They have been destroying jobs by spending and creating debt while debating the takeover of energy and healthcare, beer and soda, Sangria, shaving cream, toilet paper use, chocolate candy, other sweets, and whether the Russians are good for their word on NUKES. They just don't get it!
They are too busy trying to destroy small businesses and Medicare with their healthcare takeover to actually try to create real jobs. Once they destroy all entitlements, then even you, the American people who think all of this does not affect you, will be affected. If you are not entitled to anything, then the government decides what, and how much of what, you get. That’s their game.
Oh, and election season is well underway so that too will be a big “but” worthwhile distraction for almost everybody but Bart Stupak. Bart is gone. Congress stopped paying even lip service to jobs. And when the President was supposed to be finished with healthcare, back in 2010, he was heading to Asia, Indonesia etc. with his family for some R and R. Why Indonesia? He grew up there. Is that why? Was it because of jobs? Only Donald Trump knows for sure and I thank him for his interest. Did Obama plan to bring a few jobs back or give a few million jobs away? None came back when he came back. Maybe the job counters were “on holiday.”
Maybe Mr. President had a few billion dollars in his “stash” to give away to Indonesia? By executive order early on in his regime, he upped foreign aid from $25 billion to $50 billion. Who reported on that? Then again, maybe he was going to continue his apology tour and apologize that the US had been so successful prior to the day that he had become President? I know I can’t figure out if he really loves America or not. Maybe you can.
There must not be a good school in which Congress can get educated so they know how to represent the people. By 3 to 1, the American people if given two choices (all incumbents are defeated or all incumbents are reelected) polled to throw all the bums out. Many of the scummiest scum were expelled in 2010. The Senate had fewer opportunities so more of them survived and they persist to hurt US. People want the rabble in government excommunicated because they have weakened America economically and they have permitted the President to weaken America even on the foreign stage. He may have caught a bin Laden, but there is more to the story than victory laps, and spiking slobbery acclamations for the King, Obama.
As Sarah Palin calls them, the "Lamestream Media" offer not one negative word for the damage Obama did to the economy by his three prong recovery strategy ”– 1. Spend, 2. Spend, and 3. Spend.” Though extremely innovative, a guy in the balcony suggested he knew an even better approach. He screamed out at the top of his voice, “4. Spend!” What an innovative idea?
The complicit press looked upon the "ram-job" of Obamacare on the public as if the President just had won the Decathlon. The President could not be photographed taking more victory laps on Obamacare because there was a Pelosicare rally going on and the track was occupied by a fit Nancy Pelosi and her gavel running in victory fashion and pounding the gavel on cue to let the people of America know who the real boss really is. In San Francisco, even today, when they hear Obamacare, the people are confused. They voted for Pelosicare.
When this Congress touches anything, through gamesmanship, gimmickry, or downright corruption, they always make it worse. But, the lying media make it seem like they are the real deal and for the real people. Real people know differently. We can do much better with real people in office. Would it not be nice if a few conservatives bought a few media outlets?
Washington just doesn't get it. Actually, they don't get much, and it is time we send them all packing. There are a few who maybe we should keep but those are few and far between. Get rid of them all and we will be better off as a country! Congress is killing jobs with heavy tax burdens and they are killing America by shackling generations in a pile of inescapable debt.
They kept breathing life into a dead healthcare bill rather than helping the American people keep part of their American Dream. Then, like thieves in the night, to keep it alive, they throw in an artificial heart, and it still is dying. Yes, instead of the economy rebounding and everybody having jobs, the Congress created something unreal through an unconstitutional processes. They created what any of us would call a m-o-n-s-t-e-r! Conservatives are thrilled that the m-o-n-s-t-e-r is dying because that means America may live. The name of the m-o-n-s-t-e-r is obamacare, and the first letter does not deserve to be capitalized.
When the dust was almost clear, it looked like despite the gimmicks, they were never going to get this monster to ever gain life. Then, out of nowhere, Barack Obama, who is clearly more powerful than the energizer bunny, jump-started the monster's artificial heart and within seconds, the monster began to call on members of Congress, one by one. If there were another brave soul in Congress, on that day in March on the 21st, 2010 -- it would have been lonesome. Nobody challenged the monster and instead of gaining jobs, we now have the potential to lose another 4 million jobs while Speaker Pelosi, speaking to America, chose to claim just the opposite. The people know better.
The Speaker did not choose to discuss new taxes that were required for her massive entitlement Pelosicare, a.k.a Obamacare, which had just passed. Yet, the bill raises taxes by over $600 billion. Where will these funds come from? The fact is that most jobs come from small businesses while the Democrats and Republicans over the last 30 years have let the big jobs go offshore. Another inconvenient fact is that the bulk of these Obamacare tax increases will fall on small business owners. And, of course Medicare also takes a big hit to satisfy people who never contributed to the system.
An entry course in economics helps any college student know that less money with which to work reduces capital and limits economic growth and hiring. No wise business person thinks about hiring more people while the cost to hire is being increased by any outside source, even the government. Congress and Obama either really do not get it at all, or they have a more insidious agenda in store for us. Can it be socialism?
Who are the perpetrators of this particular fraud on Americans? It is the same group of bums who are the perpetrators for just about all of the hoaxes we have endured over the years. The difference this time is that we have their names. So, we can all blame nobody but Congress for putting America on the Sci Fi Channel. The artificial heart of the Obamacare monster, in full view of the public, was jumpstarted on Sunday March 21, as if it was a good thing for America. Au contraire, this is just about the worst that could have happened and the Congress at the time, the 111thwas the worst the US had ever produced. Moreover, it came complete with an equally ineffective and misguided President. Mattel has all the packaging notions it needs to make a hit product.
Each day in which the 111thCongress passed some bill, there were inevitably over 1000 pages in the legislation, and this Congress was in such a hurry, there was never time to give time to members to read the bills. One conservative commenter referred to Speaker Pelosi’s comments leading up to the passage of Obamacare as a “stunning demonstration of political condescension on the health care front.” While speaking at the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi showed her lack of respect for the American people when she said, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.” The ultimate practitioner of the “greater than though” philosophy of governing a group of stupid people, Speaker Pelosi let the American people have it with both barrels, and she was “too stupid” to even know she was talking down to US.
Each time the 111thCongress passed legislation, it placed the country in further peril. As bad as that was, because the President’s hurry up offense did not get all of what he wanted done before he created the need for replacement players in the House, and the Campaigner in Chief had to begin campaigning again in 2011, the President began to choose to do a lot of things by executive fiat to avoid the influence of the new Congress. In so doing, the President has taken more power than he is granted under the Constitution but since Harry Reid still controls the Senate, Obama gets a pass on his unconstitutional attempts to govern by Executive Order (EO). So, faced with an antagonistic House of Representatives, Obama simply writes an Executive Order when he needs it. These orders are his prerogative as long as they are Constitutional. Each time, however, there are many questions about whether the President’s behavior is appropriate or inappropriate in light of the declarations of the founders.
Each time Obama makes a direct order, things get worse for US. However, with his leadership structure consisting of so many czars handling vital areas of US interests, he does not have to issue EO’s to effect legislation. His regulators do that for him.
The best example of that is the Cap and Trade legislation which passed the House through Pelosi manipulation in the 111thCongress. The Senate, concerned about reelection, would not pass it. So, the czars decided they could make it happen without Congress.
It bears repeating that this legislation could not make it through Congress and so to respect the separation of powers as defined in the Constitution, the executive branch should have stood down. Obama never stands down as he has little respect for America and its Constitution. The EPA decided it would put into regulations what Congress chose not to put into law, and despite the White House having stipulations in place that the impact of jobs must be considered with all new regulations, as expected, the EPA chose to pay no attention to the impact of their regulations on jobs in America. I suspect it is because they knew the regulations for energy were job killers and so why bother looking for bad news when their boss wanted green, though even the White House jets and the limmos run on fossil fuels.
When confronted about the impact that their energy regulations were about to have on the country, this way too powerful agency, the EPA, showed a deep myopia and major indifference towards the needs of the jobless in America. During an Environment and the Economy Subcommittee hearing, EPA Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus in March 2011, admitted to U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner during direct questioning that the EPA does not account for jobs when they issue regulations. In other words, Team Obama simply does not care about the impact of jobs-killing regulations on the public. Did you expect to find something different?
Why is this? Perhaps they need sensitivity training. Perhaps they are merely trying to please their boss and they knew he cared more about their regulations than the jobless situation.
A few of my good friends suggest that it is time for those who make such rules to find out what it is like to be without a job! What is it like to not be able to pay your mortgage? What is it like to not be able to feed your family? What is it like to not be able to heat your home? There is a simple way for them to gain top-of-the-line sensitivity training by living the example.
In simple terms, it is time for them all to go! The Germans would say,raus, heraus, or aus, all of which, in one way or another, mean “get outta here!” Whereas we can get rid of Congress simply by voting them out, these regulatory czars of Obama’s can only be disposed of by electing a new President or by calling them out by name as with Van Jones, the former “green czar, whose baggage was too much for even the Obama Administration to defend. Let’s send all the bums in Congress and the bums in the administration home in 2012 in one last ride. Then, let’s have a party!
The raw statistics do not lie. Congress does. Our Congress would like to think that their message to Seniors about no increase in Social Security benefits is simply because there is no inflation. We could only forgive Congress for saying that there is no inflation because they do not shop for groceries and they do not drive to the store. As the elite, they do not have to know the plight of “Every Man.” But, these are smart people. They really do know who is feeling the pain. They have served their constituencies poorly with each running for office from the day they were sworn in. It is time to send any representative, who has a campaign going on the day before, the day of and the day after being sworn in, to the pool of the never again to be elected. When they campaign for themselves from day one, and even minus day one, they are not representing us from that day forward. They are running for reelection. We must stop that.
But, when gas is increasing steadily at the pumps, and electricity is going up by 30% in just one jump, and city and state taxes and fees and real estate taxes are increasing faster than the bills come in, and drug prices and just about everything else is skyrocketing, how is it that the Seniors are supposed to believe there is no CPI increase? No CPI increase is supposed to mean there is no inflation. Simply put, it is a carefully crafted lie to which everybody in Congress pays homage. Where is the breakaway congressman willing to admit the government is stiffing the Seniors? Is there a person in either chamber of Congress willing to blame themselves for no SS increase for Seniors.
Who will admit that the whole CPI is a lie and the theft of $600 billion from Medicare to help Medicare be sustained is an even bigger lie. And the over $600 billion in new taxes for Obamacare that are “not really taxes,” what is that if not a lie. A Congress that chooses not to prudently manage the fiscal house of America is a Congress that should be sent home for good. A parting gift for their constituency would be to tell the truth.
As the economy has worsened, the number of private sector jobs has been decreasing at a rapid pace. Unemployment is in the 9% bracket, fudged as low as possible by the administration. Until a few months ago, government jobs somehow had been increasing. The latest statistic that I saw is that during this meltdown, the federal government added over 160,000 jobs, including 16,000 to 17,000 new IRS agents being trained to make house calls in your neighborhood. These guys will make sure you have health insurance but there is a mandatory four year training program. When we actually see them, it will be way too late. Why are times so good that Washington is hiring using IOU's to our grandchildren's children to pay the new bureaucrats? Perhaps Washington has not heard of the recession!
To add insult to injury, the number of federal employees earning more than $100,000 has jumped from 14% of all government workers to 19% this year. Government employees make at least 25% more on the average than private sector employees. How is it that OK in this dire economy,? Are you telling the American people that politicians cannot reduce the government employee salaries by even a small percentage or reduce their ranks even a tad to help us all out of our economic dilemma?
Even at the local levels there are no reductions. I am afraid it is because that would be against the politician's prime directive: "cause no harm to reelection chances." Yes, nobody in government will be asked to share the pain. You can bet on that because at least at the local level, these are the votes that are assured each election and this set of voters cannot be disappointed.
Lower Wages/Fewer Jobs
The Heritage Foundation research shows that low-skilled and low-income workers will be the ones most clobbered by the weight of this huge healthcare bill. They will lose their jobs first. Obamacare will impose tons of new taxes and "fees" on businesses and the prospects of this have already discouraged companies from hiring or continuing to employ those at the lower wage scales. Expect more and more pink slips.
The bottom line here is that Obamacare's higher taxes on all employers (not to mention the EPA energy tax consequences) equates to fewer jobs and lower salaries. This is not good for any working people?
Inept Administration
The reason this recession, with no jobs, is more than the typical 11 month recession is that there is no remedy in place to fix it. When nobody is working on something, chances are the something will not get done. Small businesses have been waiting for a sign by this inept administration that it is about to reduce their tax burden. And the sign they get is Obamacare. That is a bad sign!
Only the spirit of Charles Bronson may be able to solve this death wish. It is that bad. This is a huge burden for businesses who are already struggling and there will be little capital to reinvest after paying the government tolls.
How good is it if after you pay all the government tolls and you arrive at the stockyard, and the pickins is the best there ever was, and you check your wallet, and all funds have been used for the tolls? What good is it if you get there and cannot buy the livestock necessary to keep your cattle business alive? Does Obama care? No! Nor does Obamacare care! So, rather than rushing to market and hiring all the hands necessary to take care of the herd, (that would mean real jobs) most businesses are holding their cards in place, hoping the Obama administration folds, or better yet, they quit the game or are replaced by pro-business replacement players.
Obamacare is just one of the many taxes that small businesses have been concerned might fall on their opportunity to grow their business or stay in business. Surviving in business is not so easy when government is on your back instead of paving the way or even mowing the grass in front of you. From energy to immigration, there are lots more axes to fall on the public and on US businesses. Neither Obama nor Congress plan to help Americans other than to make them all dependent on the progressive welfare state that is being created. There will be no jobs. That is the Obama jobs plan. Thankfully, the President will be campaigning from now until November, 2012 so hopefully, he won’t be able to hurt US more in the interim. But, if you are a real American, don’t expect any help.
Government is not a facilitator. It impedes and prevents business and industry from conducting business. Get out of the way Uncle Sam! When government prepares to punish business as they do so often for political reasons, it needs to be stopped. Yet, without the consent of the American people, the Obama Administration, and the Congress have been ramming badness down the throats of all Americans. We have been on the precipice of a huge energy tax and the huge healthcare tax has just arrived. Businesses have already reacted and continue to react by cutting jobs and / or farming jobs overseas. Government is not our friend and it is not the friend of businesses that we the people rely on to survive ourselves. The jobs are gone and Obama is learning how to play the fiddle.
Remember these words, "this nation cannot survive on government jobs alone." Somebody has to do real work.
When somebody decides to really work on this problem, it can be solved, but not until that day comes.