Tag Archives: government

Feb 4 2010

The Little Party Who Couldn’t Govern


Just over one year ago President Obama was sworn into office after a sweeping victory. His path to Pennsylvania Ave was dotted with huge enthusiastic, cheering, record breaking crowds who chanted “Yes we can!”. Accompanying President Obama was both houses of Congress solidly in the “D” category. One would have thought that with Congress and the White House in their pockets, Mr. Obama and the Democrats could really enact the “change” candidate Obama promised.

Now the boisterous left leaning crowds have quieted somewhat, a year is in the history books, and what has President Obama and the Democrats accomplished that is good? Um……………er………………….let me see…………….I can’t think of one thing. Oh, I remember, they say they have saved 2 million jobs. Using that logic the 911 perpetrators could claim they saved millions of New Yorker’s lives because they didn’t kill everyone in the city! Give us a break Mr. President!

(Before I continue I’ll make this disclaimer: Over spending has been our nations biggest problem since Nixon. That includes Reagan, the Bush’s, and Republican controlled congresses. Senators and U.S. Representatives love spending your money without restraint.)

What do Democrats have to show for their mandate to govern? I’ll offer some suggestions.

  • Tens of thousands of new U.S. Government employees, the largest growth of government since ’92 (Reagan).
  • National debt with numbers so high mathematicians can’t even grasp how much money is being projected as a short-fall.
  • Unemployed Americans in real numbers of 10 to perhaps over 15 percent.
  • Selected government bail outs of some banks and car companies that is yet is an unproven experiment paid for out of your grandkids bank accounts.
  • Less U.S. respect around the globe highlighted by the mad man of Iran thumbing his nose at President Obama’s deadline on nukes.
  • A President who has been nothing more than an official apologist for America’s historic greatness.
  • A military strategy in Afghanistan that looks as if it was designed by the Keystone Cops.
  • A shocking increase in attempted terror attacks on U.S. soil. (The current threat is “sure” according to security chiefs)
  • An attempt to take over the health care system in our country by the inept U.S. Government. (looked at the U.S. Postal Service’s P & L sheet lately?)
  • Historic tax increases are on the way to almost every American’s paycheck if the Democrats get their way.
  • China and Japan are increasingly being given more and more control of our future thanks to juvenile economic policy. (Their combined ownership of U.S. holdings and our debt to them is shocking!)
  • President Obama is a documented liar on the order of one William Jefferson Clinton. Need I lay out details?

I could go on but you get the picture. But, thank God for Democracy, the tide is turning. From the leftists from the insane Daily Kos crowd to the most liberal Representatives and Senators, liberals are seeing the writing on the wall. They are increasingly realizing that President Obama is not the man of their dreams while he might likely be the man of their nightmares.

President Obama’s approval ratings are falling like our national security and the Congress, well, lets just say the folks an’t happy with them. Unless things change drastically in the next few months President Obama will serve out the rest of his term with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress. That would be a good thing and it is the genius of the U.S. system, it tends over time to correct when on a course of destruction.

I’ll end this post with what irks me most about President Obama and his liberal friends, his and their disregard for the U.S.Constitution. When the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that limiting the free speech of corporate groups of U.S. citizens was unconstitutional President Obama rushed to the nearest camera to challenge the ruling. What an arrogant act!

It is not constitutional to tell a company how much they can pay an employee. It is not constitutional to tell any American he must buy health insurance coverage or pay a hefty fine. It is not constitutional to give the full rights of U.S. citizens to foreign enemy combatants. (It was wrong when President Bush allowed it and it is wrong now.) It is unconstitutional for the U.S. Government to infringe upon states rights. (the list is too long for this format)

This administration is characterized by the failed “Cash for Clunkers” program. Car owners traded in their gas guzzlers and received over valued trade in amounts as credits toward the purchase of more eco-friendly cars. The American people took advantage of the program. The problem was two-fold. Every consumer who traded in a clunker received $3500 to $4500 credit toward his new car. Each of these transactions cost U.S. taxpayers over $23,000 dollars (a low estimate given the latest available info)

Added to this debacle, U.S. used car dealers took a lump on the head due to much less inventory at their disposal and many consumers who would have done business with them went instead to new car dealers.

This sort of pooled insanity is typical of the government we have today. I am sincerely hoping for a better tomorrow. I am not very optimistic. Republicans are just about as bad as Democrats for spending other people’s money, the heart of our national problem.

May God bless America.

Royce Ogle

Aug 27 2009

Cash for Clunkers Misfires


The Obama administration’s “Cash for Clunkers” program misfires terribly! The clunkers deal is another example of how liberal policy makers short sightedness sorely miss the mark of actually being helpful to the American people

“Clunkers” misfired in several ways. Who was helped most? Was it the United States? If you guessed yes you were wrong. The Japanese and Koreans got top billing. Toyota, Nissan, and Hyundai outsold domestic brands in a big way. Ford trucks did well, but the Japanese and Korean brands beat the big 3 by a two to one margin in car sales.

Typical of government managed programs, dealerships have complained that the gov’t website where they were to submit the voluminous info needed to apply for rebates was constantly unavailable because the servers could not handle the volume. The deadline was extended by a day to help alleviate the problem. Dealers also report that they are still waiting for the bulk of rebate money with many of them having not received a penny to date.

The big idea as I understand it was to get gas guzzelers off the road, give an economic shot in the arm to GM, Ford, and Chrysler, and lessen the U.S. carbon footprint. Just how successful has the program been?

It is true that all the U.S. brands sold more units, and finance companies made out like bandits as well. That is good isn’t it? But, it is good for only one narrow segment of the U.S. economy. Scratch the labor unions backs and they will scratch yours at the polling place is the bottom line.

Has anyone thought about the thousands of used car dealers whose inventory source temporarily dried up? They are U.S. citizens too, small business men and women who have families to feed. 700,000 cars and trucks is a huge hit for secondary dealers.

How many of those 700,000 will be repossessed in the next year? I’ll wager the number will be staggering. Any time the government is throwing cash around, greed and ignorance overwhelms common sense and people do dumb things. There is no doubt that many people signed up for loans they can’t repay. So, the end result for them is that they will be off their rubber wheels and on their rubber heels in a few months. How’s that for helping the economy?

Then there is the pollution question. Experts agree that the “Clunkers” program’s impact on carbon emissions is so minuscule it is hardly worth doing the math, so much for solving global warming.

I predict that even more than the $3 billion already allotted will be needed before all the dealers are paid. Do the math, the numbers don’t work. $3 billion to one narrow segment of the U.S. economy and that is good?

Democrats are all about style over substance. To them, posturing is every bit as important as actually doing something worthwhile. Weepy Hollywood types make dopey speeches about some cause in a far away place and are praised by the salivating media as if they are actually doing something to help. Cash for Clunkers is only the tip of the iceberg. Hang on baby, it’s gonna be a rough ride.

Liberalism unleased is a dangerous thing.

Royce

Jun 19 2009

The Organizer in Chief


ObamaSmug

How is the Organizer in Chief doing?

He promised 4,000,000 jobs in his first two years as president. So far he claims to have created (or saved) roughly 500,000 jobs. The truth is he isn’t doing well in the jobs department. Just in one sector his brilliant organizing of the auto industry squashed multiplied thousands of jobs. He, like other liberals, doesn’t get it. The government only creates jobs that tax money pays for. If the jobs are government expansion or jobs with salaries paid for by government entitlements or grants, those jobs are a net loss to the country at least for the short term.

Jobs flourish and grow when government stays out of business. All you need do is study the track record of the U.S. government’s handling of finances and what you will observe is absolute failure. Government has never been efficient in the area of wealth management. Those facts do not stand in the way of those who believe government policy is the answer to every ill in America.

If at the end of Obama’s first term there is any growth in the private sector it will not be a result of government stuffed suits making brilliant decisions. America achieved its wealth and greatness because its people have historically had the freedom to create, imagine, and achieve their dreams of providing goods and services without government intervention. In every sector where the government has exercised more control that sector has suffered. The problems we face in the auto industry, health care, and the financial sector are a result of government policy gone airy.

After making a mess of the auto industry, now Obama has set his sights on the health care industry. Even liberals like Senator Chris Dobbs are squealing foul at this early stage. The prospects are scary to say the least.

I am not economist but I did graduate from high school. Obama plans to make health care cheaper and available to more Americans. Fine! How is he going to do it? He will spend just over a trillion bucks (far less than the Kennedy plan of $1.6 trillion) to save several billion. Brilliant huh? What do you suppose my wife would say if over dinner tonight I said to her, “Honey, I have a plan to make us financially secure. I am going to invest $100k of our money and that investment will save $75K. Isn’t that great?” That is the logic of the Obama plan for health care in our country. And, here is the worst part, the trillion or so bucks come right out of taxpayers’ pockets. There is no other source for the government to get money but your money. You, your children, and grand children will pay through the nose for this great savings plan and making health care available to more Americans. That is a huge reason to reject the Organizer’s plan.

Another huge problem is that Obama’s plan will still leave about 30% of Americans uninsured. It is a poor idea with gargantuan costs attached to it. I sincerely hope there will be just enough sanity in DC for this idea to go the way of Hillary care.

What American health care needs is pretty simple. Get government out and pass tort reform. While admittedly, drug companies are making tons of money on over priced products they are not the largest problem. Doctors spend a huge amount of money doing government paper work and paying for malpractice insurance. Most of the government required mountain of paperwork is not necessary. States should govern their medical complexes. And, if sleazy lawyers were unable to keep bringing lawsuits for lazy crooks there would be no need for expensive malpractice insurance.

Frivolous lawsuits are one of the largest industries in our country. There is a way to fix this cancer. There should be caps put on medical findings. And, there should be healthy fines and jail terms imposed on those attorneys who file frivolous law suits. A review panel of doctors, judges, and other citizens should be able to say to an attorney, “Squash this action or pay a find and or go to jail”. This is only a dream I am well aware. Almost every suit in DC is an attorney and the Trial Lawyers have most pols, Democrat and Republican, firmly in their pockets. I know this is off topic but I needed to say it. I know there are some good, honest attorneys; I’ve just never met one. If you are one or know one Great! The ones I have known will do anything for a buck and lying is as natural as breathing.

Blame America first. To date, this is the heart of Obama’s foreign policy. If there is an ill on planet earth, America and its policies are the genesis of the problem, but unbelievably his administration’s policies is the answer. Again and again, president Obama tries to appease our enemies by blaming the United States for everything imaginable. His problem is that even people in the Middle East aren’t buying it. His speech in Egypt did not set well with many leaders in the Arab world. They understand, as I do, talk is cheap. They want to see actual policy enacted that matches Obama’s rhetoric. To Obama and other liberals, talk is the same as doing something concrete.

Hollywood types with IQ’s of turnips make teary talks about hungry kids in some faraway place, or a rain forest in South America, and in their minds and the minds of the listeners, they have actually done something to solve the problem. The reality is that the only benefit of most celeb speeches is the confirmation of just how nutty and out of touch with real people they really are.

We will be able to better access Obama’s foreign policy success or failure near the end of his first term in 2012. It isn’t looking very good as of today.

The Organizer in chief, like other left wingers, has odd ideas about morality. If this were not so gravely serious it would be funny. Liberals from Hillary Clinton to John McCain decry water boarding as torture and it is horrible and unacceptable for a moral nation. Ok, that is a fair debate, I’ll give them that. For the sake of this illustration let’s assume water boarding is torture and immoral.

Water boarding involves one person and that person’s life is never threatened. No person has ever died from water boarding; they only think they might die. So, this method of getting information out of thugs is immoral and unacceptable. On this the liberals have declared the moral high ground.

Obama orders an unmanned drone to fly into a village in Afghanistan and bomb some terrorists and many innocent citizens into the Stone Age and this is moral and applauded by liberals. ( I approved too by the way..) The morality or immorality of bombing that includes innocent loss of life is not the question here it is the hypocrisy of saying water boarding of one individual is somehow less moral than killing scores of people including some innocents at one time. Logic and liberal thought are like oil and water, they don’t mix.

A majority of Americans (53%) are against abortion. Even candidate Obama declared that he was in favor of reducing the number of abortions. It is the exact same position of every liberal running for national office. “Reducing the number” of abortions is liberal speak for making abortion as widely spread as possible. Let me be clear, Obama and every other liberal like Clinton did not tell the truth on this front.

Obama didn’t waste any time making it so that your tax dollars will be spent to make killing unborn babies more possible around the globe, not just here at home. How is that for “reducing” the number of abortions? It was the first or second day of Obama’s presidency that I read on the Whitehouse web site that he had reversed a Bush restriction on spending U.S. money for abortions on foreign soil.

Abortion is the holy grail of liberal Democrats. There is nothing more entrenched in the political mindset of left wingers than abortion on demand around the world. Have you ever wondered why? In 2008 why is it true that no person can rise to the upper echelon of Democrat politics that is not in favor of birth control by aborting the unborn?

The answer is twofold. First, as a whole, liberals have no moral compass. Morality to them is as fluid as deciding where to “do lunch” on Tuesday. It is a morality of convenience. The result is a hodgepodge of stupidity and illogical policy that is taking our beloved America down the sewer.

The second answer is votes. There is no definable limit to what Democrats will do to insure they get and keep political power. If they could have illegal aliens, felons, and the inhabitants of grave yards vote in the mid-term elections in 2010 they would do it in a New York minute. History proves this 100%. Mr. Obama, Organizer in chief, got his political feet under him in the gutter world of Chicago politics. He is a product of that underworld of greed, corruption, vote rigging, and more.

Obama ran on one word, Change! We have change! Are you happy now? We are in for a bumpy ride folks. Tighten those seat belts and hide your wallets, you an’t seen nothin’ yet. The chickens will come home to roost and what a price we will pay!

Agree or disagree, this is the view from my front porch.

Royce

Feb 18 2009

Liberalism Unleashed…


How much better will your family be in the coming months with an additional income of $4 to $9 each week. I’m sure that for some Americans 9 bucks is very meaningful but to most Americans it will not significantly improve the quality of their lives. $4 to $9 per week is approximately what you can expect for your family’s share of the $750,000,000,000 (Billion. One billion is 100 million!) Stimulus Bill President Obama signed into law moments ago.

The American way of life throughout our history has been that each passing generation has left a more hopeful future, a future with more opportunity, for the coming generations. Today, we took the first of what is promised to be only the first step of assuring that our grandchildren and great grandchildren will pay dearly for our failures at the expense of their futures.

When any government spends money it doesn’t have on hand there are limited sources of obtaining funds. The first and most loved by liberals is tax hikes. That is not the answer today, not now. It will be the case, but not now, the timing is not right. The next option is to borrow the money and pay it back with interest. We have chosen the second option for the short term and some time down the road huge tax increases are as sure as death.

A small fraction of this bill will possibly create jobs. The overwhelming bulk of this unprecedented spending bill is an array of entitlement programs that have long been on the wish list of every Democrat. In fact this bill includes some only recently dreamed up that are astonishing. Today the tentacles of government have grown expediently and will start to tighten their grip on the American people squeezing out individualism, entrepreneurship, and self reliance in favor of dependency, socialism, and an entitlement society.

If this plan turns out to be good (as I’m sure all of its supporters and crafters sincerely hope) President Obama and Democrats in general are destined to be praised and reelected. But if it fails to achieve its lofty goals President Obama will be a one term President.

What should frighten every American is that by his own promise, President Obama has made it clear this bill is only the first of more to come. How much will prove to be too much? Only time will tell. My own sense is that we are sliding toward becoming a country akin to the European Socialist schemes that have been tried and have failed.

We have long been morally bankrupt, now we are moving at warp speed toward being owned by those who hold our national debt. “The debtor is slave to the lender” will sadly be more true than ever. I sincerely hope this boondoggle works, but I am not hopeful that it will.

For most of our 232 years as a nation the two party system has served us well. But when Republicans started to govern like liberal Democrats our nation took a nose dive and the control tower has not seemed to notice. Perhaps when whats left is smoke and ashes we will be shocked into reality. For that flight, reading the data from the black box is too late.

Royce