“Happiness and misery depend not on how high up or low down you are- They depend not on these, but on the direction in which you are tending.” (Samuel Butler, 19th century writer)
I know misery loves company but pardon me for just letting our liberal friends wallow in it all by theirself. They made this bed all by their lonesome.
Economy: When promoting the stimulus package, the President said if we pass the stimulus bill unemployment wouldn’t exceed 8%. Without it, unemployment would go up to 9%. Hello!! Unemployment is 10.3%. If a CEO missed his next two quarters projections by that far, he’d be fired.
At the time the ”Obama Stimulus” (maybe “Obama Albatross” is more accurate) passed, the Congressional Budget Office said that the “stimulus” would slow long-term growth. Thanks to the “Obama Albatross”, we now have the worst of all worlds- Bad short-term economy and long-term stunted growth and recovery. Doing nothing was really a better solution. Who wouldn’t want 9% unemployment right now?
Major reasons the “Obama Albatross” is bad for the recovery it was designed to stimulate: (Read this article (“Why No One Exects a Strong Recovery”) for more information. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704431804574537490451978558.html )
- Government borrowing competing with private borrowing (especially for businesses to prosper and hire employees): Bank Lending dropped 3% in the Third Quarter which is the largest drop in over a quarter century. This follows drops in all of the previous four quarters. At the same time, banks have been buying Treasury offerings necessary to finance the deficit almost equal to the drop in Lending. We had two choices: Have China fund this boondoggle or our banks. China owning our debt is bad for our long-term. Banks owning our debt is bad for the short-term. (FYI: this reallocation from making loans to people and businesses to Treasuries is actually official Obama policy. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703932904574511243712388988.html
- No new business and small business job creation: During the past decade (prior to 2009), the American economy created 30 million jobs. During the same period, small business created 30 million jobs. The past 12 months has been the lowest number of new businesses created since the Great Depression yet small business failures continue to accelerate. Nothing in the stimulus was designed to be conducive to small business creation or conducive for small business hiring to pick up. And, the impending impact of the Health Care bill and future tax increases to pay for all this spending only diminish the attraction to risk your life savings to start a new business. Until Obama and Co. get off the class warfare and tax the rich mantra, don’t expect any new small business or job creation and expect continued stagnation most adversely affecting the poor and lower middle class.
- Economic uncertainty about the future: I can’t say it any better than the Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704779704574556002170312732.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_opinion
“The panicked Democrats’ biggest problem is that Congress and the President have erected the biggest overhang of economic policy uncertainty that anyone can remember.
One big difference between Washington and private markets is that politicians think everything they do is free-standing. Markets, however, combine all the potential costs of Washington’s policies and then decide whether to invest, or not. Consider what private decision-makers see in their future:
A 2,074-page, trillion-dollar health-care bill to redesign 17% of the U.S. economy. A carbon tax—cap and trade—that remains an Obama priority ahead of the Copenhagen climate summit next month. A falling dollar and gyrating commodity prices, with no idea where those prices will go next.
Democratic liberals are talking about an income tax surcharge to pay for any commitment in Afghanistan. Card check, to expand unionization of the private economy, remains a priority. Domestic discretionary spending in fiscal 2010 is set to rise at 12.1%, with inflation near zero.
Nurturing a fragile economic recovery into a durable expansion requires policies that restore public confidence and reassure investors, risk-takers and employers. The Democratic agenda is doing precisely the opposite, which is how you get subpar growth and fewer new jobs.”
Deficit and impact on the future ability of our government to fund basic needs much less liberal spending priorities (http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politics/535-the-impact-of-trillion-dollar-deficits):
- From 2008 to 2019, federal revenues are projected to grow by $1.45 trillion, but extra interest payments on the public debt of $550 billion will soak up nearly 40% of those extra tax dollars.
- Consider that in 2008, Washington spent about half as much on interest payments ($253 billion) as it did on the nondefense programs that it budgets on an annual basis ($508 billion).
- Those nondefense outlays cover homeland security, education, job training, housing assistance, veterans’ health, science, workplace safety, transportation, the environment and foreign aid.
- But by 2019, interest costs would reach $800 billion under the Obama budget compared with $720 billion in spending on nondefense discretionary programs.
- From 2008 to 2019, interest costs are projected to grow more than twice as fast as the economy, from 1.8% of GDP to 3.8%. That extra 2% of GDP is roughly equal to the projected cost of Medicaid in 2019.
- Meanwhile, spending on those discretionary programs would shrink relative to the size of the economy as interest costs consume 20 cents for every dollar in tax revenue, up from 10 cents in 2008.
- All this is before the entitlement crisis turns really ugly in the following decade. And all this is in the president’s budget, which no one has argued presents a picture that is too pessimistic.
Global warning: Liberals told us “follow the science. Greenhouse gasses are warming our planet. Armeggedon is imminent unless we do something now!!!” (read Obama’s and Gore’s speech at the Democratic Convention) Now we know the “science” has been fabricated. The earth is not warming but actually cooling. Liberals couldn’t squash capitalism with the truth so they resorted to lies. Fortunately, the liars have been exposed. By the way, what they were doing isn’t science. By definition, science uses facts to find reality. Manipulating facts to distort or hide reality is lying. Like I said in another post, “To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible, credible we must be truthful” (Edward R. Murrow). Until there is a cleaning of the entire “global warming crowd” and diligent peer review of ALL the data, “solutions” to a problem that may not exist must cease to be considered.
Afghanistan: Obama said this is where the war on terror should be fought. After three months of dithering on what to do in Afghanistan, the American people now disapprove of his handling of it by a margin of 55%-35%. Military experts are now saying the dithering has diminished our chances of success. When the American people come to understand we are losing lives at a pace comparable to the worst days in Iraq, the call to bring the troops home when there are no prospects for success will be deafening. This is the war he wanted to fight and he failed before he got started. Efficient yes but not very inspiring. LOL
By the way, why aren’t we getting a nightly update on the deaths in Afghanistan like we got during the Bush Administration?
Hope and Change: Obama promised to bring a new attitude in Washington of transparency (while Health Care was developed in room with only Democrat Leadership), no lobbyists (while his administration has broken the record for the most lobbyists in senior positions), bi-partisan discussions (where when asked why Republicans weren’t at the table on his significant proposals, Obama said “We won”), and his leadership would be decisive (See Afghanistan), thoughtful (see Gitmo), strong (see Middle East policies). Ooops. So much for hope and change we can believe in.
Guantanamo Bay: Americans by 2-1 margins disagree with the President’s decision to close Gitmo. Republicans clamored for first devising a strategy of what to do with those at Gitmo before announcing a closure. Obama said he’d take the best ideas from each side during the campaign. Mr. President, I suggest you read some of your speeches (hard copy or over the teleprompter, I don’t care). This was not very well thought out.
Kalik Sheik Muhamed: Americans significantly disagree with the decision to try the 9-11 mastermind in civilian court on US soil. This single decision will probably result in the election of Rudy Guiliani the next Senator from New York. Personally, I believe by 2012, this will be the symbolic representation of the Obama Presidency similar to how the Iranian Hostages were for Carter.
Ft. Hood: Obama can’t even bring himself to call Hasan a terrorist despite the mounting irrefutable evidence. Failing to put a name on something doesn’t change reality Mr. President. “A rose by another name is still a rose” and a cowardly terrorist called “troubled” is still a terrorist. Your lack of courage and forthrightness will have long-lasting adverse effects on soldiers and their families. As Commander-in-Chief, when you sacrifice the respect of our soldiers, you don’t just hurt yourself. You hurt our nation. This will be the corollary and reinforcing to Kalik above.
Asia: The President travels to Asia for 10 days in the midst of the Health Care debate and increasingly troubled jobs situation and only embarrasses himself and our country. While many think we are better off with Obama out of the country, liberals probably preferred him here advancing their agenda. This said, you have done a good job of dooming health care so keep it up.
Cabinet: Republicans said at their confirmation hearings Geithner and Holder were not ready for prime time. Now Democrats are grumbling about both and their prospects for lasting are diminishing.
Geithner is in trouble because “Geithner’s Economic Plan” (it is really Obama’s) is failing to get results. (See Greg Craig below). He is also in trouble because we got in the financial crisis because we had too many big all-encompassing financial companies that provided systemic risk to the entire financial structure of the nation. Timmy has “solved” the problem by making the large institutions bigger and more pervasive. Really!!! I can’t make this up. Stupid is what stupid does.
Holder is in trouble for just being incompetent. When announcing the KSM decision, he claimed to have studied the KSM implications thoroughly before making his decision. When asked, “Can you give me a single example of an enemy combatant captured on the field of battle on foreign soil ever being tried in US civilian court with full American Constitutional protections,” Holder responded with “Uhhh, let me get back to you on that.” Or when asked why the terrorists who bombed the USS Cole are being tried in military court and KSM in civilian court, Holder couldn’t even give an answer. And I can’t make this up either. I think it was someone on liberal Huffington Post said Holder could be Obama’s “Rumsfield.”
Geithner made the news one day and one couldn’t imagine it getting worse. The next day, Holder announces the KSM decision. And, while this was happening, Obama was getting spun around like a top by the Chinese (Obama is lucky KSM dominate the news that day. Think about it, Obama is lucky his AG messed in his food tray and Democrats are calling for the resignation of his Treasury Secretary. Unbelievable).
On top of this, we get the news the unemployment is still going up, when one considers the total percentage of Americans unemployed it is almost 18%. These screw ups and bad news could have filled a season on the “West Wing.” With Obama, we get it all in a 48 hour period. Jack Bauer of “24” has better seasons than these two days for Obama.
Health Care Bill: Over half of Americans oppose his plan for health care despite hundreds of speeches and the full force of the Democratic Congress to pass it. The problem is made worse by the understanding of the phony numbers (The impact on the deficit over the next ten years by moving up the collection of taxes and fees and delaying implementation. When one considers the annual cost when the program is operational, the impact on the deficit will be over $300 billion a year and this assumes a 50% cut in Medicare/Medicaid).
Not to mention (OK, I’ll mention it), the health care bill only gets to be discussed because they had to bribe Landrieu with $300 million in spending for Louisiana. (See Deficit discussion above). In case you have been on a fishing trip to Canada for this past month, I swear I’m not making this up.
Taxes: Obama promised no tax increases on the middle class. I’m not sure they will give him a pass when they see their utility costs and health insurance premiums grow double digits to pay for Cap and Trade/Health Care as not a stealth tax increase.
Greg Craig: Craig was a former Clinton-ite who backed Obama early. He was thrown under the bus by Obama because he was unable to reconcile Obama’s ill-thought out plan to close Gitmo with a plan on what to do with those held at Gitmo. See Kalid Sheik Muhamed.
The Craig embarrassment gives (people, either in politics or close observers, who once held an unromantically high opinion of Obama) a new reason – not the first or only reason – to conclude that he wasn’t the person of integrity and even classiness they had thought, and, more fundamentally, that his ability to move people and actually lead a fractured and troubled country (the reason many preferred him over Hillary Clinton) is not what had been promised in the campaign.” (Liberal Elizabeth Drew)
Auto Bailout: After $50-70 billion (depends on how you count what as injected) injected into General Motors, billion’s more to bailout its lending arm, GMAC, GM still lost billions this quarter despite “cash for clunkers” and has no idea when it might be profitable. I spell “rat hole” General Motors.
2010 Electoral Prospects: Not only did Virginia and New Jersey replace Democrat Governors with Republicans, the following are not good for liberals:
- Formerly safe Democrat Senate seats would go Republican if the election were held today: Connecticut, New York, Nevada, North Dakota, Arkansas. Additional states like Pennsylvania, Missouri, Delaware, Illinois are Democrate seats in toss-up territory where just a few months ago they were considered safe. If another state (Colorado?) comes into play, you are looking at the Senate being 50 Republicans, 48 Democrats and two independents in 2011. Or California if continues to lead the country in economic morass making Obama-phyte Boxer vulnerable.
- In the Congressional Generic Vote, Republicans are now tied with Democrats. The last time it was this way was in 1994 and 2002 when Republicans increased their majorities significantly.
- Obama’s approval rating is now around 50%. No other President in 50 years except Gerald Ford had a faster and bigger drop than Obama. Ford fell because he pardoned Nixon. Obama’s rating has yet to catch up with the disapproval Americans have for his major agenda items. Americans believe the priorities should be the economy, unemployment, and the deficit. Obama’s priorities are health care, cap and trade, more government spending, more government control, and general liberal activism.
- American’s trust that government can be a positive instrument of “change” is at an all-time low (23%). Obama is all about government as an instrument of change.
- Independents were the biggest “swing vote” to elect Obama. They now oppose him 52%-30%. See approval rating above. Every Senate and Governor poll shows Independents flocking to the Republican candidate.
- Enthusiasm has shifted. During 2010, Republicans were cool to their candidates up and down the ticket while Democrats were red hot. Today, Republicans are enthused while Democrats are pondering all the things I point out above.
Friends, I pounded out the above in a couple of hours off the top of my head. (Sorry about the typos and bad grammar but I need to get home to my family) I’m sure if I’d have spent some time doing research, I could have made this post much longer. While we are enjoying our Thanksgiving Turkey, remember our liberal friends. They are not having a very good year. Maybe, they will gain some wisdom and ask us for some advice. At minimum, I hope they don’t react to this impending wholesale rejection of their ideas and become destructive like a petulent little boy sent to his room. I keep hearing rumors of this being a “Kamikaze Congress” willing to be roundly rejected in 2010 and 2012 if they can just get health care and cap and trade passed and signed into law.
Unless they do start asking for our input into solutions, in 2010, they will be looking at 2009 as “the good old days.” I just pray they don’t render too much damage in the meantime.
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Comments
“The earth is not warming but actually cooling.”
Look at the ice, bro, and then tell me if you really believe that.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=ice+loss&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g2g-m3
I give thanks for the globalwarmingalarmists, as it is fun to mock them. And I also like Dharmatweets.
Not to be a grinch, but future Thanksgivings are going to be marred by the Trial of the Century when the terrorists come (back) to New York. The next few years will be agonizing as these vermin put the United States on trial. But you know what? There is a silver lining. This ensures that Obama will be a one-term President, because Americans will quickly grow tired of and angry about what the decision to hold this trial in NY will to do the country.
You are good Troy. I would bet I am the only person here who travels to the Nunavut on a 1/4 basis. Their goverment laughs at all of this. The fact is Polar Bear numbers have never been higher. Maybe all you people who preach doom and gloom should go to one of the neatest places in the world…The Nunavut!
Churchill was scorned as he warned of a “gathering storm” in the 1930s. So too are conservatives who see nothing but calamity if we continue to borrow and spend recklessly at home and cozy up to tyrants and stiff our friends abroad. Conservatives must stand their ground. Liberty’s at stake.
I meant to say the earth could actually be cooling. Right now since we now know the data was manipulated and the peer review process manipulated in an attempt to decieve, nothing we think we know may be true.
Looking up some Middle Ages music for the holidays I found this ditty, which seems to apply to this topic.
Cuckoo Song
[Brit. Lib. MS Harley 978, f. 11v]
Sumer is ycomen in,
Loude sing cuckou!
Groweth seed and bloweth meed,
And springth the wode now.
Sing cuckou!
Ewe bleteth after lamb,
Loweth after calve cow,
Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Merye sing cuckou!
Cuckou, cuckou,
Wel singest thou cuckou:
Ne swik thou never now!
Although the season is wrong, “cuckou” and “verteth” is about right. “Verteth,” means “fart.”
Actually, Troy, a CEO who missed his projections by this much would get $100 million in stock bonuses and a $25 million pay raise.
It would seem the more the Government tries to ‘fix’ the ills of the United States the worse it gets. Maybe they should stop trying.
personally, I have always thought we win as Americans when the federal government has gridlock
Sven
CEO’s who miss there upcoming two quarters by this much either get bailed out by obama or are already Obama employees. See General Motors
Not too much to add.
My happiness does not come from a trend, or for that matter anything that someone else does or says, My happiness comes from within. Life is about choices, you can be miserable or happy. I have chosen the latter.
Happy Thanksgiving all.