Descending to Irrelevance

There has been only one other time America has witnessed a presidential meltdown, and that was Richard Nixon. Add to the list President Obama. Not only has he managed to disengage himself from the pulse of America, he has managed to combine it with the arrogance of Jimmy Carter, who also didn’t understand why America didn’t love him. Over the past few weeks, Obama has managed to piss off just about everybody…except the Muslims. Give him time. He will do that, too. Who is advising this guy?

Those of us who work for a living continue to look on with amazement. The surprise isn’t that the economy is so bad. The surprise is that it isn’t worse. While Obama goes traipsing off across the country spewing hatred against the “rich” who pay most of the taxes now, but apparently not enough for Barack, and telling African Americans to quit whining, the business community has quietly deserted him (except for Warren Buffett) and is cautiously making plans for the post Obama era, which will take years of recovery. Who wants to hire anyone when the President of the United States has hammered business with health care, added environmental regulation upon environmental regulation, saddled banks with all sorts of new rules, and refuses to drill for oil while loaning untold sums of money to a green energy company owned by one of his chief fundraisers that went belly up with your tax money? Hello!!! Are you listening?

Even the newspapers are backing away from this guy. The Washington Post is all of a sudden running critical editorials about him. The Chicago Tribune says he should not run for office again. Progressives are scared out of their minds. If Obama loses next fall, and loses big, the Progressive Movement in America will be dead. The grand experiment will be a failure with more poor than ever, and an economy at a complete standstill.  In order to survive, the Progressives will have to disassociate themselves from Obama.

Bill O’Reilly in his talking points on Monday night did an outstanding job of reviewing the history of the Progressive Movement in America. He framed the debate this way. Is this going to be an America built on capitalism and the Judeo-Christian ethic? Or is this going to be a society based on central planning by a secular, all encompassing government? It’s that simple.

Obama told you he wanted to fundamentally change America. He just didn’t tell you how. But if you had looked, you would have seen his friends, most of which were left wing, violent, sixties radicals. Look at where he went to church. Reverend Wright preached a radical religion rooted in violent social justice. That’s what counts to Barack Obama. That is what he knows. In the meantime, his wife is dancing wearing $40,000.00 cuff bracelets, and flying off to Spain for one of her own personal vacations.  Can you say "tone deaf"?

There are those who hoped he would move to the center. Not going to happen!!!! It’s not because he doesn’t want to. It’s because he doesn’t know what the center is. He has led a charmed life of privilege not fed by work, but by his appealing personality. He was the black guy the white folks could behind to show how tolerant they are.  No one taught him anything else.  He is truly living what he believes. 

His poll numbers have yet to reflect his speech to the Black Congressional Caucus. If you think they are bad now, you ain’t seen nothing yet. His class warfare themes are not ringing true to the American public. They know why there are no jobs and the economy is tanking: No energy. No money. Too much regulation. Too much uncertainty, and a hostile environment for business the likes of which this country has never seen before. 

America has stopped listening to him. Finally America is beginning to absorb what this man has done and who he is. He is descending to irrelvance. For a politician, that is a career death knell.

Here We Go a-Gerrymandering Among the Leaves So Green

Ohio’s new congressional district lines have been drawn. Democrats are howling and Republicans are cheering. It reminds me of Boss Don Hanni’s old line when people complained to him that he only hired his friends. His answer: Who am I going to hire, my enemies?

Unfortunately for the Democrats, Obama’s primary legacy is gerrymandered districts favoring Republicans all across the country. The statewide elections both parties definitely don’t want to lose are in the year of a census. In this case, the historic Republican sweep of state elections in 2010 will shape Congress for the next ten years, and help consolidate Republican power.

There is the usual pissing and moaning. The Democrats complain that we all need to work together for the good of the country. The Republicans retort that elections have consequences. Ironically, both parties were arguing the opposite points of view during the health care debate when the Democrats swept both houses of Congress, and along with a Democratic president, shoved an unpopular health care bill down the throat of an unsuspecting American public. The current Democratic redistricting debacle is a direct result of that sneaky Christmas Eve health care vote by the Democratic Senate. It’s not nice to fool the voting public.

Notwithstanding, it is what it is. The Republicans in Columbus have adjusted Ohio’s districts from 18 to 16 as a result of a stagnant population, and the Democrats are the big losers. Of the new congressional districts 10 are strongly Republican, 4 are strongly Democratic, and 2 are toss-ups but can be characterized as leaning Republican. If I lived in Akron, I would be furious. It was vivisected. God knows who represents whom in Summit County.

In this area, Tim Ryan’s 17th District is now the 13th District. District lines were expanded further into Summit County (Akron), Portage and Stark counties. It lost some of Trumbull County, but gained Boardman and Poland Village in Mahoning County.

The monster 6th District now goes all the way from New Middletown 315 some miles down along the Ohio river to the Southern-most tip of the tip of the state. There is major expansion to the west making it the largest geographic district in the state, and I suspect among the largest in the country. If anyone can figure out what New Middletown and Canfield have in common with Marietta, let me know!!! Nonetheless, there it is. Just so you know, within this monster 6th District, you can’t get there from here. You actually have to drive through West Virginia to reach the southern netherworld of the 6th district.

And to some extent this remodel of Ohio’s congressional districts has received “bi-partisan” support. Several Democratic members of Ohio’s House of Representatives voted to approve it because minority districts remained intact. At least 5 Republicans voted against it on principle opposing massive districts that cross the state like the Ohio 6th.

Next on the agenda is the redrawing of the Ohio state representative and senate districts. My understanding is the plan will be released sometime in October. Rumor has it Gerberry and Hagan’s districts will be combined leaving one of them out of a job. But I am not too worried. Both of these guys seem to have nine lives. No matter what…when they lose one government job, they always walk away with another.

The more things change, the more they stay the same!!!

Obama's Jobs Speech - Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt

Is anybody there? Does anybody care? These words taken from the musical 1776 most aptly describe President Obama’s long awaited job speech. As in all things Obama, his handlers tried to raise this speech to mystical heights by calling for a joint session of Congress. He ought to fire those guys. They scored the unassisted triple play against their boss.

1) The scheduling conflict with the Reagan Library Republican Debate was a political maneuver one too cute.

2) He had to talk fast to get the speech over before the NFL opener.

3) The news cycle was completely co-opted by a terrorist warning issued by Homeland Security simultaneously with the speech.

1-2-3 strikes… you’re out! What were his political advisers thinking?

At the end of the day, his speech contained nothing new. The Republicans demurred not offering a response. None was needed. Economics 101 says this will not work. All Obama is going to do is rob Peter to pay Paul…but then he did promise redistribution of wealth, didn’t he? This time next year we will be another year older and deeper in debt. Keynesian economics anticipates that stimulus is a temporary measure that will melt away in an economy in which the government has no permanent debt. Somebody forgot to tell that fine point of economics to the current administration.

In today's American, any stimulus to be successful has to come from unconventional sources that are not already in the economic bubble. For example, a massive relief of regulation to allow the energy industry to boom would generate billions of dollars of NEW revenue from NEW work and NEW private industry jobs. It also would allow money to stay in the country that is currently being converted into petro dollars as we import our oil. THAT would be something that would work.

Obama did have one idea I found appealing. He wants to prod lenders into allowing mortgage holders current with their mortgage to be allowed to refinance their current mortgage to a lower interest rate even if their house is “under water.” It wouldn’t reduce the amount of the mortgage, but simply allow borrowers to take advantage of the record low mortgage rates right now at about 3.75%. This would put hundreds of dollars a month into family coffers. THAT is stimulus not coming from the government, and one that would be helpful.

As for the rest…three years of unemployment insurance…really? And here we go again with shovel ready jobs. NOW he is touting those white blue collar construction jobs his last plan said we didn’t need any more of. I guess he blew that one.  But you know what?  With all of the new regulations, it will be years before most of those jobs get started.  Environmental impact statement, anyone?

In the last $800 billion stimulus package, less than 10% of the amount was actually earmarked for construction and hard asset projects…less than 10%. I haven’t seen the figures in the Son o’ Stimulus plan…$450 billion....but I understand that it is pretty much following the same configuration with much of the money allocated to state salaries. Here we go again.

True growth can be achieved through energy policy, calling off the EPA, putting a moratorium on Obamacare, quit promulgating regulations on everything from dust to salt, get off the union bandwagon and quit suing American companies and states, and dump the Keynesians!!! That's the ticket!

Unfortunately, to quote Michele Maklin, out ticket is on the Obama Express to bankruptcy. All Aboard!!!

Smothering America: 12 Reasons for Zero Job Growth

If you hold the pillow over the patient’s mouth long enough, sooner or later the patient is going to die. That’s what happened to the American economy. There is no doubt that President Obama inherited a mess. The financial collapse in September of 2008 was about as scary event as I have experienced. Obama makes claim that he “saved” the world from economic Armageddon, but the fact of the matter is the most draconian measures after the financial collapse were a bi-partisan solution orchestrated by the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama administration. Credit or blame belongs to both.

But after he assumed office, as Obama continued to administer the bi-partisan medicine to a very sick U.S. economy, his ideology simultaneously acted as a smothering blanket preventing the patient’s own natural recuperative power from restoring it to health. Think A Charlie Brown Christmas as he tried to decorate the little tree… “I killed it!”

Starting with Obamacare which has a more than 50/50 chance of being declared unconstitutional, Obama implemented a MASSIVE regimen of regulation and income redistribution. The American people cannot comprehend the massive amount of regulation percolating just below the surface. The amount is so massive it is taking the government years to promulgate the regulations. Some of them are so draconian that by design they are not scheduled to be implemented until after the election.

The more moderate, and I use the term loosely, of Obama’s advisors have deserted the ship leaving him with an uber left wing cadre of people who agree with him and his leftist views. If he appears conflicted, he has yet to figure out how to make the American people understand that he knows best, as polls and politics drag him kicking and screaming to a more left of center position, even if just by an inch.

His speech to Congress on Thursday evening will be a combination of recycled ideas plus a lecture to Congress and the American people. It will appear shrill and defensive and accusative as he wags his finger. It will not sit well with an America that is tired of words. Slowly they have realized the truth of the mantra of right wing pundits… when it comes to Obama, look at what he does, not what he says. They are two different things. The business community looks at the former. The mainstream media looks at the latter.

Let’s look at what he has done to stifle job growth:

1) His supplicants at the NLRB sued Boeing for building a plant in a right to work state. Do you really think Boeing, one of the largest employers and exporters in the United States, will ever build another plant here again?

2) Boeing may not have to worry about it as Obama’s good buddy Jeff Imelt, chairman of General Electric, has just announced a partnership with the Chinese to compete with Boeing with planes built in China. As in all things Chinese, General Electric will be transferring proprietary technology to the Chinese. Don’t forget that GE has closed down a significant portion of its medical imagery plants and is moving them to China. This from Obama’s chairman of his Job Creation and Retention Council.

3) He sued Arizona and other states from enforcing border protections not only from illegal workers coming across the Mexican border, but from the violent drug cartels which for all intents and purposes control northern Mexico.

4) In the process, he has implemented regulations to protect both legal and illegal workers in the United States, with assurances that the illegal workers will not be deported if they report work rule violations.

5) He has announced a policy that in effect gives blanket amnesty to illegals, ordering that only illegals who are violent felons will be deported. The rest can stay.

7) He has ordered the EPA to implement the terms of Cap and Trade even though both houses of Congress have overwhelmingly voted not to implement it. Even his own party is opposed to this.

8) Speaking of going against Congressional votes, Congress voted to defeat "card check."  This would allow unions to unionize shops by getting the signatures of 51% of the employees (think intimidation if you say no) rather than by secret ballot.  Nobody says no to Obama, so he is attempting to do it through new regulations from this Department of Labor and the NLRB.  Nevermind what Congress said. 

9) He has sued the major banks relating to “fraud” in packaging all those bad loans that went belly up and then selling them to Freddie and Fannie. But that’s only ½ the story. It was Freddie and Fannie that told them to do this, EXPLICITLY, with the advice and consent of Congress, specifically Barney Frank and friends. If he thinks he will make political points with this one, he should think again. There is lots of blame to go around on this one…reference people who live in glass houses!! All this does is make getting a loan even more difficult than it now is.

10) Obamacare was a lie. Even members of the Democratic Party are admitting that the “you can keep the health care you got” promise is not quite true. That is why he has granted exemptions from compliance to all of his friends. You will get the shaft AFTER THE ELECTION. Of course, as in all things liberal, the lie was necessary to promote the greater good. Meanwhile, employers are left holding their rears as they try to figure out what is going to happen.

11) He has done everything in his power to discourage the development of the energy industry in the United States, demonizing just about everyone and everybody associated with it. At the end of the day, alternative fuels need to be developed, but it will be the market that will determine when that will be. If he would call off his dog…the EPA… energy development will prove to be the stimulus which will revive America to greatness.

12) Finally, last but not least, he has intruded into the farm industry with massive regulations now forbidding anyone from under 16 years of age from driving a tractor (ridiculous to those who farm) to the amount of dust a farm can kick up…HE IS REGULATING DUST ON FARMS.

The last one pretty much says it all. This doesn’t even begin to touch new regulations on the banking industry. The regulation on the restaurant industry by food police is staggering. It just never ends with Obama and friends.  Would you open a business with this type of government activity swirling around you?  Would you hire more workers under these circumstances?

And you want to know why there are no jobs. Mr. President, take the pillow off the face of America and allow us to breathe again.