February 28, 2009
Hope and Chains
In one of his first acts in office as President, Barack Obama turned over the future of America to one of the least effective House Speakers in U.S. history. He allowed her compatriots to compile a wish list of pet projects under the guise of stimulating the economy, which she and her counterparts in the Senate then rammed through Congress without any of them knowing fully what was inside.
After a three-day vacation less than one month into the job, Barack Obama signed this bill, the largest spending bill in world history, into law. . . without reading it.
Then President Obama placed Joe Biden in charge of this massive spending plan. This he did, even though his Senate peers thought so little of Biden's skills over the course of his 33-year Senate career that he was never given a leadership role not mandated by seniority.
Our new President taxes and spends, and the more taxing and spending he proposes, the more the economy nosedives.
Mr. Obama has now issued the first budget he has ever proposed at any level of government. This budget is nothing more than another deficit-spending spree one so vast, so expansive, that its kind has been unseen since the Second World War when we were bankrolling a fight for our way of life. . . a way of life our young President seems eager to reshape.
Obama and his allies in Congress plan to continue raising taxes and increasing both government growth and power, during a time that both history and economics tells us government should be slashing expenses, lowering taxes, and removing obstacles that keep businesses from creating more jobs.
It is horrific and painful to comtemplate, but barely a month in office, Barack Obama has made decisions that have rippled down to cause more damage to the U.S. and global economies than the terror attacks of 9/11.
Yes, I readily admit that sounds melodramatic, extremist, and shrill. And that is why, with somber hearts, we must fall silent in sad contemplation at the unquestioned, factual truth of the damage our new President has wrought thus far.
Our young and charismatic President, in his fresh and glowing glory, is trying to spend his way out of debt with one massive spending plan after another; an act as mad as drilling holes in the bottom of the ship in hopes of letting out the icy dark sea underneath.
We threaten to go under, and he still drills more holes, chaining our wailing children to the deck under the weigh of future debt he piles upon them.
I understand that our President sincerely wants to do what he thinks is best for our country.
But you can't make a nation's economy grow by taxing it into ruin, or spending it into oblivion, and it is madness to think otherwise.
". . . these are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang."
--Herman Melville, Moby Dick
I'm more convinced than ever that this is intended to destroy our economy so they, Pelosi, Reid and Obama can remake it in the EU image they want.
Posted by: amr at February 27, 2009 11:38 PMI understand that our President sincerely wants to do what he thinks is best for our country.
And he was elected with a mandate to try the path he thinks is the right way to go. The economy was the prime issue this Fall, his view won more support, and continues to have something like a 60-40 majority in the country. Perhaps you could take a deep breath and give the guy a year to see how it goes.
But you can't make a nation's economy grow by taxing it into ruin, or spending it into oblivion, and it is madness to think otherwise.
Which may be why he's going to lower taxes on all but about 5% of the wealthiest income earners. As for government spending during a recession or depression, it's a pretty commonly held approach among economists. And, as I mentioned above, it was the approach favored by most of your fellow citizens.
I'm sorry, but I don't share any sense that President Obama sincerely wants to do what is best for this country. Remember, this is the man who said--and I'm paraphrasing now--that America is the greatest country on Earth, so join me as we change it.
No marxist wants what is best for America. No marxist supports the Constitution and he surely will not defend it. Obama wants to do whatever is necessary, as quickly as possible, stealthily or overtly, to turn American into a European welfare state. In the process, his first priority is destroying productivity to establish a permanent state of crisis necessary to a permanent democrat majority.
Think I'm paranoid? What then is the effect of every policy he is promulgating? Of every appointment he is making?
Posted by: Mike at February 28, 2009 01:10 AMHow does it feel, hatemongers?
As I said earlier, it's time to pay the bill. It's time to pay reparations to those whom you oppressed, plundered, and exploited.
It's a new world now, and you racist hatemongers are not part of it. Your time has passed. President Obama rules us now, and he has not even begun to transform the world.
Crawl back into your holes, racist hatemongers. It's our world now.
I thought of this as I looked at the pictures of the Tea Party rallies. Nice effort, good people, solid message, but numbers in the hundreds. I thought "why is it when they're protesting for parasitic liberal causes, tens of thousands show up?"
And then it hit me: it's because of what we do. We work. We employ. We manage. We create. WE are the economy. I wanted to make it to Omaha's rally Friday but I was booked in conference calls all morning at work. Unlike the ever-available curiously under-employed Leftists who are always free for a rally, I still have a program to run for a global corporation that is managing to work through this (if it didn't, your credit and debit cards wouldn't work).
So how do we send the signal that we're done with greedy parasites sucking the life out of us? It was one thing when they just stole 1/3 of all we make. Now Barack, Pelosi and Reid are after 2/3. Are we screwed in that we don't agitate, blow people up and kill cops like Obama's best friend Ayers, and show up in huge rallies of thieves? No, that doesn't seem like our path. But what we do is the key to the action we create: we withdrawal our labor, effort and creativity.
That's when it hit me this morning. The continued decline in the market that confounds poor Obama's every effort to compel things to get better? That's the collective result of all of us striking. Unlike some, we got our bonuses, and I quickly retired all of my personal debt and stored a bunch away for inflation-free safekeeping. Oh, Ruger and Glock are also very happy with me. But other than that, our money has been taken off the table where the Democrats can steal it.
If Obama strikes harder, we'll do more to lower our taxable profile. Unlike some, I can afford to go teach at a University and give up my six-figure job. Unless Obama puts us in forced labor camps (at which he'll have the Midwest USA rebelling on him before hand), we won't give him anything to steal.
It's how many parasites die. The host gets sick, raising its temperature. It hurts the host for awhile, but it kills off the parasites. Obama and all that follow him, take warning. The continued decline of the market is the signal that we're done with your kind. Learn to be productive and stop stealing from us, or bear the consequence.
Posted by: HatlessHessian at February 28, 2009 10:40 AMPerhaps you could take a deep breath and give the guy a year to see how it goes.
Don't think we have a year. If the stock market continues to decline at its present rate, it will reach zero long before Obama celebrates a year in the White House.
Posted by: Just Askin' at February 28, 2009 12:07 PMYes We Did:
Are you actually insane? I mean, in all seriousness, did you actually type out that Obama rules us? Like a king? Are you completely mad? And, on top of that, you see this as a good thing? God help us all...
Posted by: ECM at February 28, 2009 03:07 PMMany "conservatives" now openly acknowledge that the leftward tilt of our nation's economic policy began under Bush's watch and leadership. At the same time that Bush was lambasting the soc-ialist policies of Chavez and Morales, he himself was throwing billions of dollars of gubment money to the private sector. Those of you who are hardcore conservatives no longer have a party that represents your beliefs.
It's easy to talk about being a free market capitalist. However, the proof is in the pudding. When the financial sector and the automotive industry needed a bailout (I'm not saying that I agree with bailing out either of them) the fact is, they got it from a Republican controlled Senate and a Republican President. Of course, that was just the beginning.
Are these huge deficits disturbing? You betcha! However, to be honest about it, under Bush's leadership the national debt nearly doubled from $5.7 trillion to $10 trillion in only 8 years. Who knows what it really is? They don't figure it as we must in our own households. The gubment calculates the debt as a percentage of the GDP.
Without further adieu I submit to you that the budget deficit currently proposed by the Obama administration is no more that it would have been had the Republicans won in November. To believe otherwise is to ignore the reality of the past 8 years.
You folks are going to have to form a new party to represent your views. The republican party certainly ain't going to do it!
the more taxing and spending he proposes, the more the economy nosedives.
This is sounding more and more like a pattern.
Exactly who is shorting the market just before Obama makes a speech or proposal ?
Posted by: Neo at March 1, 2009 12:02 AMDude
Well put. There are disturbing parallels between Bush/Obama and Hoover/Roosevelt in what you have states. While Bush started well enough with his approach to taxation, his weakness in stopping the Congress' extravagance and his own tendencies for big government solutions destroyed the conservative Republican party.
Posted by: iconoclast at March 1, 2009 01:50 AMWith Obama in the White House and the Democrats with a near dictatorial majority in both the House and the Senate, Al Qaida's feeble efforts to destroy the Great Satan become totally redundant.
This is classic Plato's Republic of government heading toward tyranny...
"Tyranny
The excessive freedoms granted to the citizens of a democracy ultimately leads to a tyranny, the furthest regressed type of government. These freedoms divide the people into three socioeconomic classes: the dominating class (read political..my insert), the capitalists and the commoners. Tensions between the dominating class and the capitalists causes the commoners to seek out protection of their democratic liberties. They invest all their power in their democratic demagogue (Barack Obama..my insert), who, in turn, becomes corrupted by the power and becomes a tyrant with a small entourage of his supporters for protection and absolute control of his people. "
I really don't think people understand the size of growth these spending and budget policies entail. Yes Bush was a spending president and that is one of the problems he had with his conservative base, but his spending was a pittance compared to that spent by Obama in his first months of office.
For those that say to give him a chance....that he has a mandate....that those that oppose him are racists...LOOK AT WHAT HE HAS DONE! Look at what he continues to do. There is nothing surprising, he is doing what his new deal ideology says he will do, but it is still painful.
Posted by: Mekan at March 2, 2009 03:03 PM
