Baffle 'em with you-know-what.
If Washington D.C. has a credo, that must surely be it. The media isn't far behind.
But before I get into that, I'd like to take a moment to thank President Obama for saving us all from last week's swine flu pandemic (worldwide epidemic). Just think, if Bush was still the President, we'd probably all be dead now. Plus, Obama saved the country for the bargain basement price of $1.5 billion, which hasn't even been spent yet. Oh man, that Obama is GOOD.
The media was speculating today that the recession has bottomed out, because we only LOST 539,000 jobs in April. This rosy optimism came because the experts had predicted job losses of over 600,000. The media left out that the government hired 66,000 people to do the census, and the government hired many others as well (which accounts for almost the entire difference between the projections and the actual job numbers). Those government jobs are all on the taxpayer dime, of course, and add nothing to economic growth. The private sector is still hemorrhaging jobs as fast as ever, but I guess the media is looking for something positive to hand their hat on, because Obama is the president now, and that means CHANGE has come. Call me crazy, but I'll say the recession is over when we start CREATING jobs instead of losing them. The media's optimism comes in spite of the fact that GDP shrunk by 6.1% in the first quarter, and that we're $11 trillion in debt, and that we'll be running a $1.8 trillion deficit this year, and that we have massive deficits projected as far as the eye can see, and that Obama is projected to double the national debt in four years and triple it in eight years, and that unemployment is 8.9%, the highest in 25 years, and that we had a Treasury bond auction with demand so weak that we had to pay higher interest rates just to continue selling our long-term debt (which will raise Obama's deficit and debt projections even higher), and that our industrial base is vanishing, and that what's left of it is collapsing, and that we have massive unfunded entitlement liabilities looming on the horizon (growing at the rate of $2 trillion yearly), and that most of our state governments are broke, and that many banks failed the stress tests (they need $75 billion more bailout dollars, with more surely to come), and that credit still isn't flowing after $700 billion spent on TARP, and that companies all across the country are cutting back the hours of the workers they are retaining, and that if you add the folks who have fallen off the unemployment rolls to the unemployed numbers, unemployment comes out close to 15%, and that the federal government is spending dollars it doesn't have at an all-time record pace, and that the government is printing trillions of dollars out of thin air, and that the government has committed a total of $12 trillion thus far in fighting the recession, and that on top of that, Obama wants to raise energy prices through the roof and create lots more entitlements…………
I guess other than that, happy days are here again.
Oh yeah, and we're still fighting two wars, Obama has no idea what to do with the Gitmo prisoners, we're funneling money to Hamas, we're pondering whether to charge Bushco with war crimes, Pelosi's STILL lying about her knowledge of waterboarding even after the leaked CIA information proves she lied her butt off, Obama is looking for a Supreme Court Justice who is "empathetic" to certain groups as opposed to one who follows the law, the price index is rising in while we're in the depths of recession, Iran is almost certain to have nuclear weapons soon, the Pakistan government is in jeopardy (and Pakistan has nukes, which just maybe could be a problem if the Taliban gets their hands on)…
But other than that, everything's coming up roses.
Plus, Obama cut $17 billion from the budget. Golf clap for Obama. What the media left out of that story was that Obama isn't reducing the deficit by that $17 billion, oh no, he's going to use that money for OTHER government programs, so the net savings to taxpayers is ZERO. This is what passes for fiscal responsibility in the new Obama CHANGE era.
But it's all good. Thar's a new sheriff in town, and he reads that thar teleprompter REAL good.
Never mind that in order to avert fiscal armaggedon, Obama is going to have to come up with a tax increase of proportions never before contemplated in this country's history. By my reckoning, it will have to be at least $2 trillion per year to cover the deficits, interest on the debt, and the unfunded entitlements. It's either that or make drastic government spending cuts, and you know our new sheriff ain't 'bout to do that. Only them thar rightwing extremist fellas talk that kind o' crazy talk.
Welcome to the age of universal government.
I've gone on several rants on this blog previously about what a Ponzi scheme Social Security is. I now realize I've been thinking too small. It isn't just SS that is a Ponzi scheme. It's our entire federal government, and that Ponzi scheme is unraveling. The new funds required from the taxpayers can no longer keep up with the demand for funds the federal government requires. Like all Ponzi schemes, even one on as grand a scale as our government, it is destined to collapse.
But remember, put your hand over your mouth when you cough, and wash your hands frequently. Then everything should be fine.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
King, Craziness is the word. Here is another one. Oil prices have risen about $20 per barrel and gas has gone up 40cents. 24 cents in one day in my neighborhood. If they want to see another retraction in consumer spending, and confidence, let this hit $2.50 per gallon. Any gains made, which there aren't any outside of Obamaland , will be lost.
The long screed paragraph at the start of King's post was sponsored by the Patriotic Bush administration.
So it goes without saying that Obama is at fault.
Have you asked yourself why 65% of Americans approve of Obama's leadership? Is the answer because Americans have fell under a kind of "Dawn of the Dead" magic spell?
joe,
Maybe we won't see $4 gasoline this summer, because everyone's so broke. A silver lining ???? No, not really.
Rev,
Yeah, Bush sponsored the first paragraph in my laundry list of complaints, except that Bush ran deficits every year of his presidency, is responsible for about $4 trillion of that debt I talked about, the recession happened on Bush's watch, TARP funding was passed on Bush's watch, the bailouts started on Bush's watch, Bush added to those unfunded entitlement liabilities, millions of jobs were lost on Bush's watch, and the manufacturing base dwindled further on Bush's watch.
Yeah, other than that, I'm a regular Bushbot. Except that I was against the Iraq war too.
The amazing thing about you, Rev, is that after all these years of posting back and forth, you still don't have any idea where I'm coming from. If you think I believe in Bush on fiscal matters, you must be taking some kind of memory erase pill every morning.
But last time I checked, Bush wasn't the president anymore. Obama is, and he is making it all FAR, FAR WORSE. Stick your head in the sand all you want, but that will still be true. Keep comforting yourself with poll numbers as our country drives 100mph off an economic cliff. I'm sure that will make the impact less painful.
So I take it King, who would have preferred to see McCain win, and McCain would have been different than Bush, how? I get the sense that if we were writing together in late 1933/early 1934, you would be writing how FDR is making everything FAR, FAR WORSE.
King,
I share your frustration in warning that our present spending policies will result in this country becoming a third world country. Sadly we cannot seem to move beyond the who is more responsiible and which guy(s) is worse. Untill we change the popular beleif that society and government's primary function is to use compassion as the driving force in alll decisions and behaviour and ensuring that no one is confronted with a negative outcome it is only a question of when we implode from financial ruination. As long as policies and intentions are judged on this criteria our politicans will avoid the real issues and continue playing on the fringes and who can blame them.
Brilliant ac
jimmy,
If you can't see that $23 trillion in national debt is FAR, FAR WORSE than $11 trillion in debt, I don't know what to tell you.
I wasn't crazy about McCain, but I voted for him, because I thought Obama would do pretty much what he is doing. I have to say, Obama is managing to exceed my worst fears so far. I didn't think he'd be this irresponsible.
angryc,
I couldn't agree more. There's nothing wrong with compassion, but when it surpasses logic in formulating policy, it's no longer compassion, it's destruction. We are on the road to destruction. What amazes me is how many in our country are willing to close their eyes to it. How can anyone not see what's happening ?
King,
I have wondered all through these last months how so many people can't see what is happening and still support The Man so thoroughly. Do you suppose that the media polls are lying to us? I sure don't, since seemingly not one lib on the forums I write on has figured out that Bush has been gone for nearly 4 months. Somehow nearly 65% of our people just don't see what is happening and how fast it has been driven down our throats.
Seemingly these people really do want bigger and bigger government and somehow are willing to accept anything The Man crams down our throats.
jimmyjames, I would've been one of the folks complaining about FDR. There were quite a few of them, including the American Liberty League, formed by his fellow Democrats. He set America on the first steps toward socialism and helped create the mindset that our government needs to care for all our needs. That lead to the evolution of the mindset that the government should be our parents, tell us what to do with different aspects of our lives that shouldn't involve the government in the least.
Obama scared me more than McCain. Both are liberals, but Obama is more extreme. I think anything taken to the extreme creates problems. I wanted to believe in Obama so much, to be honest with you. But he is what he is, and I'm not feeling optimistic about him.
Yeah, that FDR….man did he screw everything up, huh? Social security and that lame-o FDIC stupidity, not to mention communistic unemployment insurance. I'll tell you who was not to blame for anything, and in fact, their names should be affixed to EVERY public building in America….Hoover, Reagan, and W.
Those three guys knew what in the hell they were doing.
I think we should all vote on removing FDR's visage from the dime. Crippled up old socialist bastard. And just think, lying Democrats have been insisting for decades now that he lifted us out of the Great Depression and led our country to victory in WW2…..lying, propagandistic scum.
………
"Untill we change the popular beleif that society and government's primary function is to use compassion as the driving force in alll decisions and behaviour and ensuring that no one is confronted with a negative outcome it is only a question of when we implode from financial ruination."
Goddamn right. The biggest problem facing us today is that our government has had way too much compassion, for way too long. That's why we have so many unemployed and uninsured and falling behind families. Too much wimpy-ass compassion.
Do you know who knows that we are making too many compassionate decisions? Those 100,000 dead Iraqis and those detainees we compassionately tortured. Yep, killed by compassion, they were.
Yeah good old FDR, he got us out of a pinch by getting 450,000 young American soldiers killed and over a million injured. You are right Rev he should be taken off of the dime. History should be changed to show what he really did and how he got us involved in WWII. Then we followed that with Truman that got another 40k killed and 100k wounded in Korea. Let alone killing 32M Japanesese with the bomb. Then Kennedy and Johnson followed that with another 60K killed and 700k wounded in Vietnam. Then Clinton didn't take care of business and look at the mess we are in today. It seems like war is only a good idea when the Dems are causing the deaths of our loved ones. It seems like the Reps are always cleaning up the Dems bloody messes. Then again they do not believe in the sacredness of life.
If FDR ended the Great Depression, why didn't it end until WWII, about 8 years after FDR took office ?
If the current recession lasts until 2018, would you say Obama ended it, or Obama prolonged it ?
Roy,
Well, it wasn't like we really need that Constitution thingy anyhow. It just gets in the way of people like Lord Obama.
Mr. King,
That Constitution thingy, or as Bush called it, "just a goddamned piece of paper", was pretty much in tatters when Obama took office. This recession will last a lot longer than 8 years if he doesn't undo the deregulation frenzy and "free" trade policies that have taken us here. Yeah, Bush is gone, but we will suffer the effects of his mistakes for long after Obama, just as we now suffer from the mistakes of Clinton. While we agree on the danger of deficit spending, I think the answer at this time is to undo the tax cuts that the rich have enjoyed, bring our troops home to defend our borders, and cast a much smaller shadow on the rest of the world.
Tory Bug and anghry conserv,
If FDR was taking us towards socialism, he failed. In fact, many economists believe that it was the elimination of FDR era regulations that caused Wall street to turn into a veritable casino.
The principal reason for any government is to provide for the common defense. To serve that function, government must protect us from more than invasion. Whether it defends us against another government, a pandemic, criminals, or unfair business practices, it is a legitimate function and shouldn't be considered to arise from compassion.
averagejoe5,
If you wish to believe that we would have been better off not entering WWII, then you are getting into tin foil hat territory. Believe it or not, back then conservatives were also isolationists, and for whatever merit the theory that FDR caused our entry into WWII has, by waiting to enter the war, we faced a stronger enemy and perhaps higher casualties.
Truman had to decide whether to use the bomb or accept an estimated 1 million casualties resulting from the invasion of Japan. The war in Korea was fought to contain communist expansion with much support from the Republicans.
Many believe that Kennedy was killed because he was going to get us out of Vietnam. Johnson was close to a treaty to end our involvement in Vietnam in 1968, but the talks were sabotaged by Nixon to help him get elected. This cost the lives of 26,000 US soldiers.
While I would characterize it as more the Dems cleaning up Rep messes, neither party is without its faults. I think it is time to realize that both parties are constantly jockeying for power vis-a-vis the other and that their concerns for anything else are peripheral to staying in power.