GOOD NEWS?

As the year 2010 comes to a close there was some "good news" issued from Washington. Just the fact that this 12 month time period is ending and there still exists a USA is good news but this referenced "good news" pertained to the on-going unemployment crisis in our nation.

Federal bureaucrats announced that last week's new unemployment claim figure reached only 388,000 persons.

Although this is still a big number, economists have indicated that if America can keep new weekly unemployment claims below 375,000 then there will be a consistent but slow reduction in the overall unemployment rate. Prior to this just released statistic, America was averaging right at 440,000 new unemployment claims every week

Remember that our overall unemployment rate stands at an unacceptable level of 9.8%.

But wait a minute, there is a footnote to this 388,000 figure. It seems that all government unemployment offices were closed for one day last week and that many were closed for 1 1/2 or 2 days. Taking this fact into consideration and applying some basic math, it would appear that the number of newly out of work Americans who would have sought first time benefits is closer to 468,000. This number, if it is correct, would cancel any indication that 388,000 was "good news".

On this same topic of "good news" but just a bit of a different approach , a recent article pointed out that some international leaders not well liked by America were getting "up in years". This list included Hosni Mubarak (81) of Egypt; Fidel Castro (85) of Cuba; Abdullah bin Abbdel Azin (86) of Saudi Arabia; and Kim Jing Il of North Korea who is only 70 but is ill.

With any luck, 2011 will bring "good news" to America in many areas.

TOUGH CHOICES

This past week there have been repeated warnings from diverse segments of our population that the financial situation of our nation is on the edge of disaster. Unfortunately, it is hard to argue against these doomsday prognostications.


The governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, won an upset election with persuasive comments that there would have to be drastic changes in how much money his State spent in all aspects of government programs. Funding, he explained, was just not available. He has stuck to his campaign rhetoric and most recently by law mandated that annual raises for the police force and for firefighters could not exceed 2% per year. Very aptly he commented that, "Everyone is going to have to make tough choices."



These "tough choices" are being ignored by our Washington law makers who insist on spending money that the federal government just does not have. The national debt continues to increase. It is obviously tough for Congressmen and Senators to curtail spending intended to assist the unemployed and other needy portions of our population. These are "tough choices" but it is clear that these lawmakers are just not willing to take the difficult, but correct, economic position and curtail the federal spending. They just are not brave enough to stop racing America toward bankruptcy.



On this same general point, through his political commentary, Dick Morris has expressed that there are a significant number of our states in the on-going process of "taxing themselves to death". Several different observers have exposed that the financial status of about a half dozen states is technical, if not actual, bankruptcy These are followed closely by at least another ten severely "upside-down" states.



Meredith Whitney, another well known and concerned economist, has touched on a subject that is almost unknown in our nation. As a result of the almost certain financial failure of American cities, she states that there will "massive unrests" across the nation similar to those recently seen in Greece. One of the points made, which supports the above stated Dick Morris fear, is that states are funding approximately 40% of the on-going operational expenses of municipalities. Clearly when the states no longer have the ability to hand over huge amounts of money to cities and counties, there will be budgetary shortfalls, termination of government services and "massive unrests".



Governor Christie is correct. Each American is going to have to make "tough choices" by limiting spending and "tightening the belt." If we all do this, America can experience a financial rebirth.

IT JUST DOES NOT STOP

Recently I expressed a concern that conservative Americans would focus on and hope for on-going negative news on the economy and on other national issues. The hidden but obvious desire of the anti-Obama groups is for America to, at best, remain stagnate and thus make the reelection of Obama in 2012 less likely.

I admit that I have a degree of desire for the continuation of these negative economic reports and am concerned that empathy for our millions of suffering citizens may take a back seat to ridding Washington of B. H. Obama. However, recently released facts appear to show that the lack of Obama economic success is just not going to stop no matter how much a part of me wants a upward turn of our national finances.

The federal fiscal year ended on the last day of September and during that period of 12 months the national debt grew by just over $2,000,000,000,000.00. The old debt amount was $11.456 Trillion and the updated debt was set at $13.473 Trillion. Estimates have been made by economic experts that this next year the national debt will grow at least another $1.0 Trillion and maybe even more with the recent passage of financial legislation by Congress.

Most recently the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in November of 2010 "mass lay-offs" alone accounted for 152,816 Americans becoming unemployed. Some good news was that these "mass lay-offs" events were themselves down by 65 from the total reported for the previous month. Even with this drop in "events", November saw a monthly increase, when compared to October, of 4757 of our citizens becoming unemployed in this manner.

On this same general economic subject, there recently has been publicity for a new book which addresses the economic woes of America. This quasi-historical work argues that our nation became a world dominating empire in 1945 as World War II ended and will cease being an such an entity in 2015 when the federal government declares bankruptcy.

There has to be an economic cure. Perhaps the new conservative House of Representatives taking its place in January 2011 will be joined by a conservative Senate and a conservative President in early 2013 and turn the economy around. If this does happen, the prognostication of government financial failure in 2015 will be avoided.

MIXED FEELINGS

The Christmas season is upon us and most Americans sincerely want peace and joy for our nation as well as for the rest of the world. This wish for "peace and joy" by its very nature requires economic stability, economic growth and readily accessible full-time employment for all citizens. Our country current has none of these attributes with unemployment very near 10%; growth at a level that screams stagnation; and a massive amount of government debt at the federal, state and local level. We all want these trouble areas to be corrected and hope that 2011 will see this occur.



Here is where "mixed feelings" raises its ugly head.



B. H. Obama and his followers, Democrats and those bureaucrats who can only be defined as liberal/socialist/progressives, control the federal government which in turn controls more and more of every phase of American life. The House of Representatives will become Republican dominated in January of 2011 but overall the federal government will for the next two years pursue the Obama goals. If the economy perks up in 2011 and continues to do so as the November 2012 Presidential election approaches, the chances that Obama will receive a second 4 year term have to be good. There is no way that the White House and its media allies will not focus on the claim that the Obama economic "stimulus" programs paved the way for and allowed America to recover and prosper.

The "mixed feelings" are comprised of pleasure that the economy has recovered and anxiety that Obama's chances for reelection have improved. Which of these conflicting positions should take priority? Do we, as concerned loyal Americans, embrace and reward the apparent engineer of this correction to the nation and its economy even though he is openly against so many other aspects of American life? Do we, on the other hand, strongly oppose all that Obama proposes so that the nation continues to suffer as November 2012 draws near?

There are many other issues impacting America and that must be addressed and corrected. These include the overseas wars and the huge (and growing) federal deficit. Obama has done nothing to resolve these items. However, the economy is the most important day-to-day area of concern and we must encourage its correction even if the correction means platitudes flow to Obama.

The hope must be that the voting population is educated and accepts that the Obama programs did nothing to stimulate growth and only the natural flow of events placed America back in good standing.

LIBERAL MEDIA

You have to give the liberal news media some credit. Although their political favorites suffered severe but not fatal set-backs in the just past November elections, these far left leaning political commentators have already licked their wounds and are focused on November 2012. The obvious goal is to insure the reelection of their leader, B. H. Obama.

Christopher Weber, a political writer, falls into this classification.

In a recent article published on the AOL news portion of the Internet, Weber had a headline that stated, "Obama In Good Shape For 2012". This is mild compared to the AOL index/feature page that used the headline "Obama Beats Any Republican In 2012". This story went on to report that a survey by the Wall Street Journal/NBC News has shown that Obama is in a favorable position to win the Presidential election in 2012 no matter who the Republicans choose to run against him.

The headlines are misleading, if not a lie, and the wording used by Weber in his article is heavily slanted.

According to Weber the said poll discovered that 42% of the respondents would "probably" vote for B. H. Obama and that "just" 39% would vote Republican. Looking at this selected language closely, there can be no justification for the use of the term "just" with the Republican voters since that group is only 3 points behind the reported Obama vote. Further, the use of the term "probably" gives the connotation that these pro-Obama folks are not really dedicated to the President being reelected.

Confusing the matter even more, Weber reports that 10% of those interviewed stated that they could vote Republican depending on who got the nomination. Simple math now tells us that if the correct candidate is put forward by the Republican Party then that person could received 49% of the vote compared to Obama's locked in 42%.

The headline for this news article should have been "Obama Weakness Extends To 2012". However, the liberal media is unable to report the absolute truth when that absolute truth indicates that B. H. Obama could well be a one term President.

Obama will not be reelected to lead our nation in 2012 and the only question is if there will be a USA in 2012. If the liberal/socialist/progressives continue to drive our country down there may well be little left for our conservative citizens to protect. This is a very pessimistic worry and most likely false as long as the US Supreme Court remains conservative and the new Congress upholds the promises that got them elected.

AN INITIAL WIN

A wise voice has arisen from, of all places, the federal bench. This new hero to the conservatives of our nation is Virginia based Judge Henry Hudson. In a most recently release opinion, Judge Hudson has found that a section of the Obama healthcare legislation is wrong, unconstitutional and is not to be enforced. The impacted section has to do with the federal mandate that all Americans have to buy health insurance.

By the standard operation of our federal court system, this matter is not over and there will be appeals to higher courts and perhaps even a direct appeal to the US Supreme Court. Dropping this case into the laps of the justices of the Supreme Court could well be a blessing for all of us "right" thinkers in that this branch of the federal government is, by a majority of one vote, a conservative group.

In response to this ruling by Judge Hudson, US Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) stated it best by expressing, "Congress must obey the Constitution rather than make it up as we go along. Liberty requires limits on government and today those limits have been upheld."

Hudson's federal court ruling could well be the beginning of successful efforts to reclaim not only Washington but also all of America from the Obama led socialist/liberal/progressives who today sit in power. This redefining of who is in control can not come fast enough and if the damage to the American way of life as contemplated by the "lame duck" Congress can be avoided, or at least limited, then in January Obama will lose that ally, the House of Representatives, and most importantly lose control over the federal check book.

Most recently there have been published reports that Obama appointees want to place into the grasp of the federal government additional aspects of American life. These newly focused upon areas include: 1) the nationalization of all IRA and 401K accounts so that Washington has control over these funds and, by a formula yet to be defined, allow disbursement to the citizens who over the years saved this money; 2) monitor and control the Internet with the goal of overall censorship and of taxing aspects of its use; 3) establishing interest rates that must be followed nationwide on every element of our economy that utilizes any type of interest; and 4) limiting all public school bake sales and give aways by mandating the ingredients that can go into the preparation of these items.

January will be here in just over two weeks and the House of Representatives will be lost to Obama. Also, November of 2012 draws nearer every day and hopefully the White House will then be also lost to Obama.

AMERICA'S OBSCENE DEBT

Spending by the federal government has to stop.

In the third quarter of 2010, the federal government sold $391,000,000,000.00 (that's right, 391 Billion dollars) of Treasury Bonds. These new obligations, included along with all the other debts of Washington, now put the total of the American government debt at just over $13.85 Trillion.

Of the above said third quarter bond sales, just over 60% of these transactions, which was in itself $245,000,000,000.00, were made with the "rest of the world". This is the manner in which B. H. Obama has decreed that Washington will try to hide from the American public that we are slipping further into debt to foreign nations and entities. Confirming this fear is easy in that another agency of the federal government has disclosed that as of the end of the September 2010 reporting period our government owed Communist China $883.5 Billion and Japan $860.0 Billion.

This debt to Communist China is at its highest level since April of 2010 and the American government's obligation to Japan is $100.0 Billion higher than it was at this time last year. Currently, foreign governments and foreign entities own 47% of the total of financial obligations of our federal government.

Obama's plans for the next 6 months will worsen this debt problem. Remember that he wants to issue at least $600.0 Billion in new Treasury Bonds for the funding of another "boost" in our economy. The buyer of these bonds has already been determined and it will be the federal government. Purchase will be easy since Obama has also directed that an extra $6oo.o Billion in US dollars be printed so that one federal agency can merely hand to another this huge amount of money.

Simply stated, this is a financial fraud that may well lead to inflation and a devaluation of the US dollar.

The solution is easy but the ramifications hard. Congress has to stop all but the most necessary of government spending. The liberal/socialist/progressives must be stymied in their efforts to renew and expand government programs. Most importantly, the citizens of America have to learn to exist without handouts from Washington.

Certainly there will be some financial difficulty for a huge number of our citizens but American resourcefulness can prevail and America can again be a financially independent nation.

MORE DEPRESSING NEWS

It is extremely difficult to ignore, even as we enter the wonderful season of Christmas, the almost never ending flow of bad economic news that falls on Americans from Washington. This time it is data pertaining to the housing market.

The Federal Reserve has most recently announced that national foreclosure rate on homes stands at 4.56%, which does not in itself shock anyone until the Federal Reserve explains that in "normal times" the foreclosure rate on houses in American is only at a 1% figure. Picture this numerical difference in the context of your "normal" income which would now be over 4 times greater than in the past. Or worse yet, picture your personal debt which would also be over 4 times more than its usual amount.

Continuing with its bad news report, this same Washington agency projected that there would be filed some 2.25 Million new foreclosure law suits on homes by the end of 2011 and another 2.00 Million during 2012. Currently, the Federal Reserve claims, FannyMae owns, that is has secured title to via a foreclosure action, over 240,000 residences all across our nation. It is most difficult to imagine how much money has been lost by FannyMae as a result of these defaulted mortgages or how much more money it costs FannyMae each month to maintain almost a quarter of a million individual pieces of real estate.

Last quarter foreclosure rates increased in 48 of our 50 states.

So what efforts do Obama and his fellow socialist/liberal/progressives undertake to address and solve this situation? The answer is nothing in that they focus only on methods to shift more power to the federal government and to continue to try to divide our population based on economic well being. Until just a few days ago, Obama and his allies considered anyone earning more than $250,000.00 a year as the proper target but have reconsidered because of an overwhelming negative response. Now the ones to be punished by higher taxes are those Americans who earn $1,000,000.00 or more a year.

The economic status of our nation is poor and the future is very clouded. There is a solution but it requires the federal government to back out of the picture including the elimination of all "stimulus" spending and it requires all Americans to "tighten the belt". The general population of the United States can address and reverse the economic status of the nation.

With any luck, in January the new Congress will redirect our nation and shift authority back to the people.

ECONOMICALLY STUCK

There is not a single patriotic American who does not hope that the economic data being released almost daily from Washington will carry good news. Unfortunately, the best description of these business figures is sad and weak.

The Obama Administration was quick to proclaim that last week's reduction in the number of first-time unemployment claims proved that the American economy, thanks to the efforts of the White House, was turning around. It is not surprising that today's disclosures have drawn only silence from Obama. The reason for the silence is not predicated upon time consuming meetings with members of the House and Senate on how to best utilize a "lame-duck" Congress but rather by the fact that the weekly first-time unemployment claims rose from last week's relatively low figure of 410,000 to the current figure of 436,000.

By federal figures, there are 8,909,882 of our fellow citizens (as of the week of November 13th) receiving unemployment benefits compared to the prior week's total of 8,532,502.

As is true with almost all items of numeric data released by Washington, it is almost impossible to confirm accuracy by adding and subtracting these various reported figures in that these data items are always subjected to federally imposed "seasonal adjustment". However, there is no doubt that far too many American are out of work and dependant on government funds to just exist.

Of our 50 States, during this most recent weekly reporting period only one, Indiana, showed a significant increase in employment while 19 States showed a significant decrease. Leading this "bad news" group was California, Pennsylvania and Kentucky which each had over 4000 of its citizens lose their jobs.

The obvious question is, "What are we as a nation to do to confront and cure this employment problem?"

There are really only two viable solutions. The first is to allow Obama to push Americans further into debt with federal programs of already proven limited benefits. These programs will continue to advance the not so secret desire of Obama to have all Americans totally dependant upon Washington with the goal of America being a socialist nation totally controlled by the federal government. The other choice is to stop all but the most needed governmental assistance programs and allow Americans to tighten their own belts and reverse the economy.

The fact that the House of Representatives will no longer be an Obama ally once January gets here gives credence to the ability and the desire of a majority of Americans to address and solve the economy by their own efforts.

UPDATE:

Today, December 3, 2010, Washington announced that unemployment had risen to 9.8% with 15,100,000 American out of work. Truly the efforts of the Obama Administration on the employment issue have been without real merit.

SAVINGS

In the world of politics, particularly when it comes to B. H. Obama, every action that is declared and promoted carries a hidden purpose. This truism is quite evident in today's White House announcement that the anticipated federal employee pay raise for 2011 of 1.2% is not going to happen. The Obama intent is to freeze these automatic raises for a period of two years but to exempt the military from any such freeze.

There could be as many as 2,150,000 civilian federal government employees impacted and all in the executive branch. This "lost" pay raise will, according to Obama, save the American taxpayer close to $6,000,000,000.00 in the next 24 months. This declaration sounds good but it is hardly a "savings". Logic requires that to be considered a "savings" there has to be less money spent than had been expended in the prior budgetary time frame. The Obama plan only holds the line on federal wages so no "savings" is realized. A roll-back on federal salaries would be a potential "savings".

The real purpose of this salary freeze is to give Obama some leverage with members of the House and Senate on the issue of extending only a portion of the Bush income tax rates. These reduced taxed rates are set to expire December 31, 2010. The line from the White House will be, "Look, I did my part and limited the wages of federal employees. This was not a popular move but it was in the best interests of America. Now it is your turn, Republicans and conservatives, to take a little flak, but only from the well-to-do, and cancel the tax breaks for those who make $250,000.00 or more a year."

Weak members of Congress will fall for this line and agree to approve the Obama initiative. Americans who earn $250,000.00 a year will be adversely impacted by a loss in spendable income. The federal employees will not only remain stationary in their income but will also, for the vast majority of them, continue to have a lower federal income tax impact.

Obama needs to be taught a lesson which is that Congress will no longer be his unquestioning ally. The problem is that the "lame-duck" Congress may force at least a pro-Obama compromise.

If our political leaders really want to attack the huge federal deficit, then a small but mandatory wage roll-back is needed which will impact all 2.8 million Americans who draw federal wages, including the military, and all 16.6 million Americans who are state and local government employees.

That would be a "savings", a very unpopular "savings", but a true "savings" for our nation.

TOUGH DECISION

It cannot be emphasised enough. The time has come for the Republicans to be resolute in their efforts to stop many if not all of the government programs of B. H. Obama. The first test will be on the issue of individual income tax rates.


On this question of income tax rates, all Americans well realize that the Bush Administration's reduction in tax rates is set to expire on January 1, 2011. If no action is taken by Congress then the old, higher rates will be reestablished and more dollars will fly out of the pockets of tax payers. That is, money will fly out of tax payers' pockets and into the coffers of the federal government. Obama has taken the position that he feels the reduced tax levels should remain only with the individuals who earn less than $250,000.00 per year.

There is a real dilemma.

Our economy remains weak and our indebtedness to foreign nations remains untenable. This fact alone suggests that more tax money is needed to reduce this international debt which is substantially held by Communist China. It is just not in the best interests of America to be heavily indebted to the most powerful Communist nation in the world. The obvious problem is that Obama has shown no interest in reducing this portion or any other portion of our national debt. Additional amounts of any tax income will be utilized by Obama to fund social/economic programs promoting liberalism/socialism/progressivism and not to lower what we owe other nations.

The dilemma continues.

The American economy stinks. It is not, hopefully, getting any worse but it is also not getting any better. To remove any disposable income via taxation from the wallets and purses of Americans can only cause a continuation of the to-near-to-bear economic recession we are currently living through. If there is no money to spend then there is no growth in consumer activity which then puts a halt on increased industrial production as well as new employment. At best we as a nation will stagnate.

This may already be happening in that Washington has announced that in the month of this just past September there was a total reduction in the amount of disposable personal income available to Americans. That reduction was in the amount of $16,800,000,000.00. Less money to spend means only that there is less chance for the economy to grow.

Back to the point. Congress must take the position that ALL tax levels remain the same and make no compromises on this issue with Obama. This Presidential Administration must be shown that when it comes to money, the House of Representatives runs the show. Congress can not surrender even a little to the Obama plans for it will show a weakness and a lack of strong intention to take the lead in national matters.

Most recently Dick Morris wrote, "... President Obama has not learned the lessons of 2010 and likely never will." The new membership of the House of Representatives has to be strong and firmly set the standards and guidelines by which BHO can lead America.

INCOME TAX WAR

It continues to amaze and irate me that our national newspaper commentators declare that "all are equal" in America and then do everything possible to erect barriers between economic groups. The most recent of these episodes appeared in a column written by a Washington journalist, David Broder.

In commenting on the income tax issue currently in the headlines, this issue being whether the Bush tax cuts will be allowed to stay in place or be modified or be just allowed to expire, Broder stated, "Only Republicans are holding out for the millionaires to be included." This statement was centered on the desire of Obama and his allies that there be an extension of these currently in place, relaxed income tax rates for everyone except Americans earning $250,000.00 or more a year.

Broder must feel that the national edict that all Americans are created with equal rights and all Americans are to be treated equally just does not apply to "all Americans" if that category includes the wealthy.

But what is wealthy?

The most recent statistics on individual income in our nation shows that only 5% of American workers earns more than $130,600.00 per year and that only 1% of our fellow citizens earns more than $355,000.00 annually. There is no way that an individual with an annual income of $130,600.00 could be rated as wealthy even if that American earns more than 95% of his fellow citizens. It would be just as hard, but maybe not impossible, to impose that "wealthy" label on someone earning just over $355,000.00. But Broder wants to set the "wealthy" standard placed on everyone who earns $250,000.00.

Now comes that threat.

Broder claims that if Republican leaders are not showing that they "are embarrassed by their roles" in trying to help the "rich" and are "in effect daring Obama" to allow the old rates to be revived on January 1, 2011. The point being that you either give in to Obama or you are to be individually blamed for for the tax increase.

So the final position of the liberal/progressive/socialists is for Congress to allow them to punish those Americans who earn more than $250,000.00 a year (class warfare?) with higher income taxes or soon accept the burden that you conservative Republicans caused income taxes to increase for all Americans.

Although it may be hard, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has to call Obama's bluff.

A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE

Is the state of Ireland's economy our future?

There are no national financial facts that show anything other than America is facing a terrible economic situation. The national debt is huge and growing daily; unemployment remains at a very high, unacceptable level; and the Obama government is preparing to "buy" some $600 to $950 Billion worth of new Treasury Bonds. These bonds will be purchased with freshly printed, unearned dollars and be used to "stimulate" business in America.

All of these same financial problems are currently being encountered by Ireland and the Irish are failing. The unemployment rate is at 13.7%, a 16 year high. Government bonds can be sold only if the offered annual interest rate is in the range of 8.89%. The leaders of Ireland have recognised the severity of the situation and are acting accordingly. But it may be too little, too late. Michael Mallon, a reporter on the Irish economy recently stated, "... passage of a brutal austerity budget and ongoing fears the Irish deficit and toxic bank debt are simply too huge for the country to handle."


While Ireland tries to implement programs to rejuvenate its economy, quasi-secret meetings are being held by it with representatives of the European Common Market and with agents of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Both of these entities may soon loan money to Ireland in exchange for control over economic matters. This rapidly approaching economic failure of another European nation (remember Greece) has raised a serious concern in Europe. Just six months ago European leaders were worried about PIIG and how these nations could force terrible consequences on not only Europe but on the whole world.

PIIG? Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Greece.

Recent newspaper headlines have proclaimed "Greek Economics Worse Than Ever" and "Ireland Teetering On Brink Of Ruin" and across the ocean "Argentina Default Narrowly Avoided". All of these statements point to the worsening of these economies. The general view of the impact of these failing nations has been the "... global economy rolling over into stagnation or even recession".

Americans need to quickly reevaluate their national economy as they recently reevaluated who would lead the nation. Washington must cut back on its spending; every state must follow suit; and every citizen must be prepared to "tighten the belt" on household spending. With a good faith acceptance of the reality of the situation, our nation can successfully weather this economic downturn and not jeopardise the basic ideas that have made our nation the envy of the world.

Ireland should be a "bad news" economic example not be be followed by America.

POLITICAL TRUTH

Election Day results gave conservative Americans the best news they have had in many months. The citizens of our nation had become weary of "good news" from Washington and sent a message to Obama. This message clearly was a promise that his days in the White House were numbered.

Other than the obvious opposition Obama receives as he pushes his socialist/liberal/progressive policies on our country, some conservative political leaders have initiated low-level Presidential campaigns designed to "test the water" for the 2012 elections. One of these individuals is Congressman Mike Pence, a Republican from the 6th district of Indiana.

Recently Congressman Pence spoke at Hillsdale College. In that address he spoke of Obama and stated, "The President is not our teacher, our tutor, our guide or ruler. He does not command us; we command him. We serve neither him nor his vision. It is not his job or his prerogative to redefine custom, law, and beliefs; to appropriate industries; to seize the country, as it were, by the shoulders or by the throat so as to impose by force of theatrical charisma his justice upon 300 million others. It is neither his job nor his prerogative to shift the power of decision away from them, and to him and the acolytes of his choosing."

There is no doubt that Congressman Pence well understands exactly what B. H. Obama is trying to accomplish and the very inappropriate manner in which Obama is pursuing these goals.

Obama is currently on a political tour of the far East, including India, and has again demonstrated his willingness to cater to the whims of foreign nations. Not too long ago while expressing its disapproval of certain American economic policies, Communist China demanded annual meetings with Obama to review what was transpiring in our economy. Obama humbled our nation; agreed to the conferences; and hosted the first one in Washington. One of the outcomes was that Obama promised to assist Communist China in being placed on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Now Obama has declared that India should be on the Security Council of the United Nations and he would work toward that goal.

Clearly Obama has chosen to ignore that India, like Communist China, may not be our friend and that India participated in a quasi-secret international conference whose only agenda item was how to remove the US dollar as the international monetary standard.

Obama has only one goal and will do anything possible to obtain that goal. If Americans have to suffer a decrease in freedoms and a decrease in their standard of living for that goal to be reached, then Obama is willing to impose those penalties. The goal Obama seeks is for America to be part of an international liberal/socialist/progressive coalition of nations.

The 2012 elections cannot come fast enough.

By the way, more Obama "good news" from Washington. Only 435,000 new applications for unemployment benefits were filed by Americans this past week.

QE2 IS WHAT?

The elections are over and the immediate problems being faced by our nation are programs that B. H. Obama wants to implement now before the US House of Representatives becomes controlled by the newly elected Republican members. One of these "programs" is QE2 which is formally called Quantitative Easing Part Two.



There was a QE1 and it cost America some $1.75 trillion and in the words of Washington officials it "helped the economy" and allowed the economy to "avoided a depression". Tell that to the millions of Americans who remained unemployed and the millions of Americans who have had their homes foreclosed. You had better be ready to duck.



This new QE program is scheduled to sell, between now and the end of June 2011, some where between $850 and $950 billion of US Treasuries. These funds are going to be used to "further" stimulate the American economy. The most bizarre aspect of this QE program is that the federal government is already designated itself to be the purchaser of these Treasuries. The immediate reaction has to be , "Where is Washington going to get as much as $950,000,000,000.00 to buy these QE2 ?" The answer is easy. The US Treasury is just going to print up those dollar bills.



Washington justifies the creation of this huge debt with the explanation that the QE2 will stimulate the economy; will lower federal expenses by putting Americans back to work; will cause there to be more received in federal tax income; and will thus allow a pay-off of these QE2 Treasuries. More realistic economists just don't see this happening and forecast that high unemployment will be a problem in America for several, maybe many, more years. Worse yet, many sources now have expressed that this QE2 program will accelerate the rise of the ever lurking inflation rate. Ben Bernanke has acknowledged that inflation will rise from 1.5% annually to 2.0% but other pundits are projecting a much more drastic increase of the inflation rate.



QE2 is guaranteed to do nothing but increase our nation's debt (even if it is to ourselves) and place the federal government in a position to exercise more control over more aspects of the American economy. You can be assured that every dollar given or loaned by Washington to a private business will include rules and guidelines that must be adhered to by the receiving businesses. Washington control over the more elements of our economy is further proof of Obama's desire that America be a socialist nation.



With any luck, a new House of Representatives can control these Obama goals but that will not be a reality until January 2011.

GRIDLOCK

Washington, and by that term I refer to B. H. Obama, was pleased to announce some "good" news today. Still a bit depressed by the results of Tuesday's election results, Obama contended that his efforts on the economy are working as evidenced by the creation of 151,000 new jobs by the private sector during the just past month of October.

Great news but little mention was made of the facts that unemployment remained at an official rate of 9.6% and that this past week 457,000 US citizens made first time unemployment claims.

Several experts on the economy are now projecting that it will take years, as many as a decade, to reestablish an acceptable rate of national unemployment. These estimates were predicted upon a continuation of the Obama economic programs.

Locally, one only has to read the The Courier-Journal to see evidence of the continued decline of the economy. In the Business Watch column of the November 4th edition there were three stories: 1) Papa John's lost $658,000.00 this past quarter; 2) The Courier-Journal laid off 7 more employees in addition to the 44 terminated in July; and 3) Churchill Downs, Inc. lost $689,000.00 last quarter and closed an operational division.

With the national election results still fresh in everyone's mind, a difficult future (the next 2 years) appears to be an unfortunate but accepted fact. Obama is already using the term "gridlock" as a poorly concealed threat. His position is that if the Republicans will be reasonable and compromise then cures to all national and international problems can be reached. His barely hidden sub-message is that all set-backs and even lack of progress in topics from the American economy to health care to international deployment of our military will be the fault of the Republicans. This fault will be because the Republicans refuse to accept even watered down BHO programs.

Conservative Americans must be prepared to "tighten the belt" for a little longer; lobby the Republicans to be firmly opposed to Obama's programs; and prepare for nasty, expensive and derisive political campaigns in 2012.

GOOD BUT NOT GREAT

The 2010 election returns have now been posted and for every conservative, patriotic, Tea Party citizen of our nation there have to be mixed feelings.

Locally, the Central Kentucky Tea Party secured its two goals with the re-election of Congressman Brett Guthrie and the victory of first time candidate Rand Paul to the US Senate. Both of these men are registered Republicans and conservative in their political views. Obama will find no support from these two Kentucky legislators.

Nationally there is good news from this election with the conservatives (Republicans) retaking of the House of Representatives from the Democrats and many new governors being of the Republican Party. There was so-so news in the form of an increased, but still minority, standing in the US Senate. Unfortunately there also was bad news with voters returned to office notorious Barney Frank and the ultimate liberals, Senator Reid and Congresswoman Pelosi.

Generally the election results gave conservative Americans good news but this new elected leadership will be quickly challenged. Of the three branches of the federal government, the Supreme Court remains conservative and true to the basic principals upon which our nation was founded. The Executive remains occupied by the ultimate example of a liberal/progressive/socialist politician, B. H. Obama. Congress is now divided with the Senate still in the Obama camp and the House firmly against the White House. This situation is absolutely perfect for the federal government to grind to a stop.

This lapse of federal governmental action could be useful in limiting the current level of deficit spending. As of today, Washington spends monthly $125,000,000,000.00 (125 Billion) more than it takes in. If the House stops funding Obama programs, this deficit will have to drop. But stationary government just cannot address and much less solve such issues as unemployment; as the value of the dollar; and the status of the housing market. Unemployment still floats near 10% and the dollar has lost 37% of its value in the past 8 years and since January of 2009 there have been 1,700,000 home foreclosures in our nation.

And then there is Obama.

Just a week ago (October 25, 2010) at a campaign rally our President stated, "We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us." These enemies, in Obama's mind, are not foreign terrorists but rather conservative Americans who have had enough of Obama's efforts to move our nation toward a Washington controlled socialist country. Every one of us who voted in yesterday's elections for one of the conservatives who ultimately prevailed can now officially consider themselves an "enemy" of B. H. Obama.

I wear that title proudly.

PROPAGANDA

The head line of the newspaper article and of the item published on the Internet addressed a lessening of the nation unemployment problem. It used such descriptive words as "plummeted" and "plunged" and "drop sharply". Without a doubt there must have been some wonderful news out of Washington.

Unfortunately it was not so. Again the liberal press has tried to misled the public in a desperate attempt to cast some favorable light on the dismal Obama Administration.

These are the facts.

Last month, September, some 455,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment compensation. This month's data is in and shows that another 434,000 Americans requested unemployment benefits. These were 434,000 new claims in October. This piece of information cannot be classified as "good" news but it is definitely a better report than than the one released for September. In fact the rate of new unemployment claims did drop at about a 5% figure. But consider this carefully. A drop of 5% could never be joined with the terms "plummeted" or "plunged" or "drop sharply".

It is impossible to trust any data that comes from Washington or that is published by the liberal mass media. Both Washington and the bulk of the national press are in the Obama camp. The sad fact that another 434,000 Americans found themselves in the unemployment lines during the past month.

Currently two of the three branches of the federal government (Congress and the White House) are Obama controlled. Next week Americans can remove all or at least part of Congress from BHO domination. This will not automatically reverse unemployment numbers but it will be a good start.

Our goal is simple. Reclaim Congress in 2010 and the White House in 2012. Technically this would add to the national unemployment but it would be well worth it.

ELECTION DAY

Election day is rapidly approaching and on that day, November 2nd, Americans will have an opportunity to register a vote against the Obama Administration and its allies. This group of so called federal leaders has done little if anything to help our nation during these past two terrible years. This is particularly true of the American economy.

The most important issue of this election is the economy. The raw data pertaining to our economy absolutely confirms that every candidate for Congress or Senator who has in any way supported the Obama economic plans must be denied office. The most obvious evidence of the failure of our national government in this area is the unemployment rate. Nationally the "official" percentage of Americans out of work in right at 10%; has been at that level for some time; and is expected to remain, at best, stationary.

There is more.

As of this third week of October, the nation debt was over $13,667,000,000,000.00. That is 13 trillion dollars and its growing. Making this matter even worse is that included in this debt calculation is the, as of August 2010, $868.4 Billion owed Communist China. Reports are that recently Communist China has increased its holdings but that will not be revealed by Washington until the end of the year. The federal government intentionally runs 60 day behind in its disclosure of debt to foreign nations.

Moving this financial concern more toward every day America, during the year of 2009 the federal government closed 140 general service public banks. These banks had failed financially and action was needed to protect the deposits of their customers. Taxpayers paid 100's of millions of dollars last year in serving this purpose. 2010 is no better. Through October 22 of this year, 139 more banks have been closed and last year's number of closures is expected to be topped.

There is more but I have already expressed enough bad news.

The real hope of all real Americans is to halt and reverse these types of terrible economic news items. It can be done and the first step is to rid Washington of the elected Obama allies.

We can do that on November 2, 2010.

ELECTION FOOLERY

In less than two (2) weeks the voters in America will have an opportunity to "send a message" to Washington. All conservatives and particularly the Tea Party Patriots are looking for a results that signal the termination of or at least a moderation of the policies of our socialist/liberal/progressive President, BHO. There are many close races and only the actual results will designate direction that our nation will lean in the remains of the BHO term.

With there being many close races and the Democrats fearing that they will be the on most of the losing ends, radical measures are being initiated to sway the voters. These said measures are all coming from the camps of the Democrats and their avid supports.

A couple of examples.

In Kentucky the Senate race between Rand Paul (R) and Jack Conway (D) has become, because solely of Conway, the prototype of an obscene, low life campaign. Conway is losing and no matter how many Democrat slanted poll results are published, Conway is trailing and will lose this contest. In desperation Conway's campaign attacks Paul on a non-political, decades old, college practical joke.

Simply explained, Conway must believe that there are no national issues that he can successfully address in order to sway the voters. Wallowing in his own created sty, Jack Conway's plan is that maybe some of his self-created mud will splash on and stick in the mind of the Kentucky voters. The exact opposite will happen as this mud adheres to Conway so that now and in all future all Conway public office campaigns will end in failure.

There is another group that needs to be ignored.

For many years, about 25, there has been a super liberal political group called the Institute For Research & Education On Human Rights (IREHR). It is lead by Leonard Zeskind and Devin Burghart who are recognized as and proud to be radical liberals and the authors of works that attack the American way of life. The IREHR pledges to "examine racists, anti-Semitic groups and far right social movements". They have decided that the Tea Party is one of these pre-damned groups.

In a weak and almost humorous attempt to belittle the national Tea Party movement and its millions of followers, the IREHR has, with the NAACP, declared that the Tea Party, or at least parts of it are racist. Specific allegations are made against six (6) very insignificant, self proclaimed Tea Party members as proof of this claim.

What does this IREHR claim really show?

The Obama Democrats and their followers and the leftist groups that long for a USA that is dominated by socialist/liberal/progressives are having nightmares that on November 2, 2010 the citizens of America will send a loud and clear message. This message that they fear is a loss of their majority in the House and Senate.

Get ready for the next two weeks will be full of these type of efforts by Democrats and their left wing allies.

HOUSING MESS

Only a few pieces of data are necessary to confirm that the housing foreclosure situation in America is bad and getting worse. This depressing portion of our economy is impacting families in a terrible manner.

Consider the following: in the just past month of September 102,134 residences were repossessed in our nation by mortgage holders; in the first 9 months of 2010 there were 930,437 new foreclosure actions filed in our nation's courts; and pundits have estimated that there could be as many as 25,000,000 home foreclosures in America before the housing/real estate market recovers some stability.


The worse three states in this foreclosure mess are Nevada, Arizona and Florida.


The idea of a mortgage is rather simple. You obtain legal title to a home and you borrow money from a lender for any number of reasons from actually buying or upgrading the home to paying other outstanding obligations. You use the home as collateral for the loan and you agree to pay the loan back in designated installments. The loan documents you sign direct that if the loan is defaulted upon then you could lose the home through a mortgage foreclosure action.

A very bad economy, the like of which we are currently experiencing, always comes with a rash of new and numerous foreclosures. This economic truth is part of the capitalistic system which is an integral part of the American way of life. Some liberals would point a finger at this unfortunate aspect and complain, "The rich get rich and the poor get poorer!" Although this may be true, few if any other nations in the world can favorably compare to the standard of living the vast majority of Americans enjoy much less to the percentage of citizens that own ( or are buying ) a residence. This is true even today as we face over 10% unemployment; massive debt to foreign nations; and an economy the is at best stagnant.

Here is the problem. The government is getting involved.


All 50 states and the District of Columbia have begun investigations into the mortgage foreclosure segment of court actions. The biggest gripe appears to be the execution of suit documents and maybe even the actual ownership of the sued upon mortgage and promissory note. Several major players in the national mortgage scene have announced a suspension of the prosecution of pending foreclosure cases but only until procedural issues are examined.

There is no question that some foreclosure actions have been loose and sloppy but the vast bulk of foreclosures are simple procedures and handled correctly. Additionally, the primary mortgage companies do not rush to reclaim the liened property. The mortgage industry has been allowing, on an average, over 400 days of default before a foreclosure suit is filed. Every foreclosure action is monitored by the judge assigned to the case and no Final Judgment of Foreclosure is issued until the presiding judge is satisfied that the case has been proved.

Our court system is far too competent to allow any abuse by the mortgage industry much less significant abuse.


The real fear is government involvement. Any time a government agency, be it local, state or federal, involves itself in a matter the situation always gets worse. Every court system has built into its operations various steps that force a full and fair "day in court" for every person facing a foreclosure and eventual loss of a place of residence. It will not help our economy for bureaucrats to create pages of new rules governing the foreclosure of mortgages. These type of restrictions can only lead to a further decline in real estate activity and the availability of mortgages.

Don't be surprised by the government efforts to get involved in this foreclosure aspect of the economy. It is still the goal of all liberal/progressive/socialists to control all portions of American life and this is just another aspect in their goal.

NEW RANDOM THOUGHTS

Even as November 2nd approaches with its real hope of altering the "powers to be" in Washington, some matters remain bothersome.

1) A while ago the Obama Administration, with great hoopla, announced and implemented a program by which adult citizens would each receive a stimulus check of $250.00. The idea was that this found money would help boost the economy. In fact, it did not. Now we learn that some $22,000,000.00 of this give-a-away was erroneously disbursed to dead people and to prison inmates. That's tax payers money, my money and yours, that was handed out to unintended payees. It is sad to note that there has been no information released by Washington on any efforts to recover these funds. Yet another Obama farce.

2) Washington has declared, and again with some hoopla, that unemployment for September 2010 remained unchanged at 9.6%. This, they said, was evidence that the Obama economic plan was working and the American economy had stopped sliding in a negative direction. Another political lie. The most respected, non-governmental watchdogs of our economy have reported that by following the accepted format for calculating the number of Americans who are unemployment, the September figure came to 10.1%. Obviously Obama has elected to use a false and alternate procedure. Or may he just lied.

3) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that it is calling an international conference to address the issue of exchange rates among national currencies. Its two main points were that the US Dollar is over valued and that the Communist Chinese Yuan is undervalued. Obama will send a delegation. What happened to the American idea of fair trade setting the relative value of national currencies? Don't forget that the head of the IMF is a French international socialist; that the IMF borrowed a huge amount of money from Communist China; that the IMF, along with Obama, has pledged to add Communist China to the controlling board of the IMF; and that the IMF has its own international monetary structure. One can't help but think that traditional America is again the target of the world centralists which include our own President, B. H. Obama.

4) Political ads are absolutely worthless. As November 2nd draws near, there are more and more TV and radio plugs for candidates. For the most part these messages of these spots are meaningless. It is conveyed to the public that the candidate is a good, religious man who is married and has a couple of wonderful children of whom he is fond and devoted. No mention is ever made of programs being championed that seek actual goals and desired projects.

5) There is a real drama and urgency being played out in the arena of home foreclosures in America. Thoughts on this matter are too long for this format so they will be addressed separately and soon.

No one is suggesting that these above cited matters will disappear if conservatives are elected in three weeks. However, without the conservative candidates, and that generally means Republicans, being placed into office, the topics for RANDOM THOUGHTS can only get worse.

SERIOUS AND SCARY APATHY

This past weekend a road trip to Cincinnati ended up supporting the results of a depressing national survey report I had just read. The survey question was, "How likely is it that you will vote in this upcoming election?" Of those asked who were Republican Party oriented, some 56% said they were certain that they would vote. Of those who identified themselves as Democrats, 38% indicated that they were certain that they would vote.

What terrible numbers! I had to do my own research.

My unscientific approach to confirm or contest this apathy was to look for political window and bumper stickers on cars and small trucks during the 5 hours I would be on the highways. My results were even worst.

Literally hundreds of vehicles were encountered over a period of two days. Obviously most carried Kentucky or Indiana or Ohio plates but I also saw cars from New Jersey, Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia and Kansas. Only two political stickers were spotted. In northeastern Kentucky an old, beat-up pickup truck sported a HUFF FOR CITY COUNCIL sticker and just east of Louisville a newer car showed in a window a sticker endorsing a candidate for Court Clerk.

Contested US Senate races had no presences at all among the spotted vehicles. The same was true for Congressional contests. However, I did see several American flag decals; a Mary Kay sticker and a boldly displayed VOTE PRO LIFE window sticker.

This apparent lack of interest in political races is unacceptable. Americans must vote! Every citizen should participate in setting the direction in which our nation is to be directed and this can only be done via the ballot box.

Selfishly, I see a low Democratic turnout as good news. Obama supporters will have less of a chance to hold on to or to gain more influence over the nation. However, the overall apathy is unacceptable and can only lead to greater centralized, and by that I mean Washington, control over everyone of us.

And yes, I have a rear window sticker on our family car. It endorses Rand Paul for US Senate.

POSITIVE VIEWS FOR NEXT MONTH

With the federal elections less than 30 days away, there have most recently been a series of prognostications that convey good news. The messages have been to expect the Republicans to carry so many of the races that the control of both the House and the Senate will shift away from the Obama supporters and to much more conservative pro-American legislative leaders.

In other words, political pundits are calling for a Republican victory next month.

In one article the author stated that the Democrats would get "whacked" in November with 11 of the 12 most closely contested races for Congress being won by Republicans. The only question that remained unanswered in the mind of that writer was just "how badly" the whacking would be. In reality it makes little difference if the conservative wins by 1% or 10% of the vote as long as he/she wins.

Citing an ever increasing trend of voters registering as independents rather than affiliating with a political party, a pollster found that this type of voter is currently pro the Republican candidate. This finding was primarily because these voters are anti-Obama and view his perceived allies, the Democrats, as individuals that must have their elected positions terminated. Think of the outcome of the Massachusetts Senatorial race and how the independent swayed that day for the Republican.

Another national poll has reported that 56% of the Republicans who were questioned indicated that they were "most likely" to vote in November. Of the questioned Democrats only, 38% gave the indication that they would "most likely" vote. The most favorable analysis of this data on these Democrat non-voters expressed that their intention to refrain from casting a vote was not an abandonment of the Democrat Party but was an expression that the voter could not and would not vote in a manner that could show pleasure with the Obama Administration.

Just today Dick Morris has announced that he believes that both the House and the Senate will be Republican controlled come January of 2011.

To make this change of power a little clearer, the old school Republicans, those who filled their pockets with tax payers' money and advanced their own selfish careers, are not going to last long. This year has removed and the next two Senate election contests will remove, some voluntarily and some by voter veto, the Republicans who did little when they had the majority and even less when the Obama allies took control.

Sharon Angle, the up-start Republican candidate from Nevada who could very well retire Senator Harry Reid, stated it well when she reportedly said the old GOP "lost their standards and lost their principles".

The new Republican Congressmen and Republican Senators will, with a little luck and lots of monitoring by voter groups like the Tea Party, not lose their standards and principle but rather promote only America and its best interests.

11-2-10 AND 1-20-13

There are two dates in the future that have captured my attention and upon which every concerned American must focus. Those two dates are November 2, 2010 and January 20, 2013.

Although there have been several very successful election results for the pro-American and anti-Obama segment of our nation - a segment that grows in numbers and influence and power daily, the first of the true tests is not quite one month away. November 2, 2010 will be the date when across America election booths open and action will take the place of rhetoric. The goals on the national level are only two in number and easy to define. Remove the liberal-socialist-progressives from the United States House of Representatives and from the United States Senate.

In other words, end the elected offices terms of all Obama allies.

The reality of the pending 2010 elections is that a large number of Democrat members of the House of Representatives will be retired but it is impossible to comfortably forecast that the Republicans will be the new majority. This is the same for the US Senate but with a greater chance that the Democrats will retain a majority. However, the magic number of 60 in the Senate will be lost to the Democrats.

Accordingly, there could be two time periods of great concern for conservative Americans. One for certain and one a real maybe. The first being the legislative term, lame duck, of the 2010 post election time period. The second being the two years following the January 2011 Congressional oath taking ceremony.

With any good fortune the conservatives can control the legislative process and limit any further damage to the American way of life. Fortunately time will tell and the time factor is less than 30 days.

By the way, the second date in the heading is when Obama's successor will be sworn in as President of the United States of America.

MORE OF THE SAME

Daily the American public views reports on how bad the financial situation is for the federal government. There is no question that the United States of American is literally trillions of dollars in debt. What does not get much publicity is the terrible financial condition of many of the individual states.

In a word, many states are broke.

There is an interesting statistic that shows how badly many states are doing. An economist has taken the known money debt of the individual states and compared that debt total to the state's annual budget. The results are far from positive. Worst of the 50 is Nevada whose outstanding debt is equal to 54% of its annual budget. Illinois was not far behind with a 41.5% figure and was followed by Georgia (26.2%); South Carolina (25.6%); California (21.6%); and Florida (20.2%).

Very simply these calculations demonstrate that the financial crises facing Washington is shared by many states. It has been estimated that as of June 2010 the 50 states owed a combined debt of $129,000,000,000.00. Yes, that is 129 billion dollars.

Making this realization worse is the news that during this year the unemployment rate in 26 of our states increased. Unsurprising was that the list of the worst 10 states in unemployment increases included 4 of the worse indebted states. Those four are California, Florida, South Carolina and Illinois.

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the constant mouthing from the White House that the nation's economy has "turned" and there will be "nothing but good news" in the future has to be classified as out-in-out political lies.

Fortunately the path to economic correction can be approached and actually embarked upon in just over a month. On November 2nd there will be local, state and federal elections. Of these elections the most important are the ones for federal positions. The outcome of these federal elections will be the establish an effective barrier, if not an outright bar, for the on-going efforts by B. H. Obama to project our nation toward a liberal/socialist/progressive way of life.

As proof that the current powers in Washington are concerned about November 2nd, just observe the ever increasing attacks made by the media allies of Obama on all conservatives from the Tea Party to Rand Paul to every other anti-Obama candidate.

Here is a wish - on November 2nd all their worse imagined fears become realities.

MORE IDIOCY

Great news!

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has announced that the recession is over. In fact, according to this organization, the recession ended in June of 2009.

What a farce!

Our nation is still locked in a terrible economy with little relief, if any, being realized by the billions of dollars that the Obama Administration has expended to bust, I mean boost, business in our nation. The NBER claims that certain of its calculations have shown that the America recession has been over for over a year. It further claims that any new reduction in economic figures will signal a new recession.

How about this for a sign of a new recession?

It was announced today by the federal government that new unemployment claims rose this past week to 465,000. Additionally, the National Association of Home Builders just announced that their Housing Market Index was at its lowest point since March of 2009. This index pertains to single family homes and has to reach 50 on the chart to be considered a good market.

Warren Buffet reviewed this NBER claim, discounted it and stated "the USA is still stuck in a recession". More interesting is what President B. H. Obama said. He is quoted as expressing that the recession "obviously for millions of people who are still out of work, who have seen their home values decline, who are struggling to pay the bills day to day, it is still very real for them".

The idea that the recession "is still very real" is true but is a tremendous understatement when you consider the unemployment picture and the poverty level and the number of foreclosed homes and the huge national debt.


The head of the NBER is a MIT economics professor. If he is an example of what college students are being taught about the American economy then I am certainly glad that all my children already have their college degrees.

CHECK THE FACTS

Without hesitation I often find myself agreeing with the anti-Obama charges that appear in
e-mails that find their way into my computer. However, a most recent BHO attack made me stop, research and discover a fraud.

The headline of the well done e-mail proclaimed SECRET NEW OBAMA TAX and went on to disclose that the White House is about to introduce and promote something called a transaction tax. This money raising gimmick would require each and every banking institution, from local Credit Unions to the largest of the New York Banks, to assess a 1% charge on all transactions. This would mean that each and every deposit, withdrawal or transfer would generate 1% of it face value as fee to be paid to Washington.

My initial thoughts were this is yet another attempt by Obama to interfere with the lives of Americans; to not-so-secretly monitor the financial accounts of Americans; and to generate income to finance his liberal/socialist/progressive ideas.

I decided to do some research so I could intelligently oppose this measure and I discovered the truth.

There is a Congressman from Pennsylvania named, and I kid you not, Chaka Fattah. He has for multiple terms represented the citizens of that State's 2nd district. Several times he has introduced a piece of legislation that would impose the above described tax. The first couple of times the idea was proposed, Chaka Fattah could not find a single other Congressman to back the bill and each proposal died. Recently he did find a supporter, just one, but no hearings were ever held and the act was never even considered.

His idea is to implement this new tax and cancel the current income tax law. The impact, according to Chaka Fattah, would be to fairly impose a real obligation on the rich and only a minor obligation on the rest of the American citizens.

Obama's Administration has no interest in Chaka Fattah's idea.

The point of this blog is to remind all patriots to look carefully at the attacks made on Obama before passing them on to others. Certainly there are enough real issues to be concerned about without having to invent one.

OBAMA ECONOMIC FAILURE

One of the headline articles in the September 17, 2010 edition of the New York Times stated, "POVERTY AT 15 YEAR HIGH". Truly an eye-catching title and truly an immediate cause to point a finger-of-blame at Obama.

The federal government (and please remember that since February of 2009 the term "federal government" is a euphemism for B. H. Obama) through the Census Bureau has announced that the current number of poverty embraced Americans is at 44,000,000. This is a 15 year high. An additional calculation reflects that 41,300,000 of our fellow citizens receive food stamps. The food stamp number is up by almost 2,000,000 in just the past year. Of our white citizens, 9.4% are in the federally classified poverty level while 25.8% of blacks and 25.3% of hispanics are similarly classified. Our minorities have not fared well under Obama.


What happened to the economic stimulus that Obama and his liberal/socialist/progressive allies so championed and pushed into law? To say it was and is a failure is only an understatement.

The above mentioned "stimulus" cost the American taxpayers $862,000,000,000.00 ($862.0 Billion) and for that sum of money we have an unemployment figure of 9.6% by Obama calculations and at 17% by more reputable sources. It is admitted by all sources that there are at least 14,900,000 unemployed Americans and that this undesired status has grown by an average of 450,000 per week during 2010.

Newt Gingrich made a recent point on unemployment. If our economy could create each week 292,000 more new jobs than the weekly number of newly unemployed, then in 2015 the unemployment figure would be down to an acceptable 5% level. Unfortunately we are no where near that number of net new jobs. In the month of August of 2010 there were only 67,000 new private sector jobs created but the federal government released about 114,000 job holders, mostly temporary census staffers. The result is that the monthly net figure of new jobs was a negative 54,000. By Gingrich's calculations Obama's stimulus efforts missed the mark by 1,222,000 for just this past August.

It is sad to say, but very true, we have not seen the light at the end of the tunnel unemployment and in fact have not even entered that tunnel of recovery.

Obama spent $862,000,000,000.00 of our money and America has nothing positive to show for it.

INTERESTING, BUT PAINFUL, POINTS

From time to time I become overwhelmed with the proof of Obama incompetency that I discover is coming out of Washington. The only catharsis that I have is to pass these items along hoping that this "pain" will convince others to change the leadership of our nation in the House and in the Senate and in the White House.

Here is the current batch:

1) In August over 95,000 homes in America were seized, that means taken away from the owners, by foreclosure litigation. This number represents a large monthly increase but Washington claims things are getting better.

2) Since Obama was sworn in as President some 3,000,000 Americans have lost their jobs.

3) When the "stimulus" bill was passed Obama declared that this effort would decrease unemployment to 8%. Unemployment today is at 9.6%.

4) Good news from Washington, according to our leaders. Only 450,000 new unemployment claims were filed this past week. This group of almost half-a-million Americans can now join the 14,900,000 other Americans who cannot find work.

5) One fellow who has a job must be grinning and must be anxious to vote for Obama in 2012. The Obama family has a dog named Bo and the grinning fellow I am talking about is paid $102,000.00 a year to tend and care for Bo. That is money coming out of tax payers pockets. By the way, Bo just got a private jet ride to join his owners on vacation. I guess that you and I paid for that also.

6) The federal government just announced that its research has shown that 23% of all traffic accidents are alcohol related. Three immediate thoughts: a) is the Washington message then to watch out for the other 77%; b) name me just one American driver who does not already know that driving and drinking don't mix; and 3) just how much money did it cost you and I for this "stunning" news to be researched, discussed and published. I can well imagine that there was a multi-million dollar national conference (paid for by tax dollars) to discuss this finding.

7) Obama is spending $192,000,000.00 via his stimulus program on highway signs. These signs, of an attractive green color, are special in that they proclaim that the road project just encountered was a "Project Funded By The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act". In other words, thank Obama and remember his name in November of 2012. An obvious campaign move paid for, again, with tax dollars.

I could go on but seven is a lucky number and I have made you suffer enough.

THE SOUND OF FEAR

The results of the primary elections that occurred on September 14th certainly resulted in outcomes that patted the Tea Party on the back for its efforts. Although it was important that the voters showed who were their favorites, the post-election outbursts by the liberal/socialist/progressives are greater evidence of how much the Tea Party is feared by a lot, if not all, of Obama backers.

Among the descriptive terms use by American leftists while attacking the Tea Party, the most common slur has been the use of the term "racist". It clearly appears that the Democrats are sending a message that "you are a racist if you don't back Obama". Panic is the only way to correctly describe the feelings of those expressing this negative sentiment.

Today an article appeared on a liberal Internet news site in which the Tea Party was called: 1) guilty of racism; 2) in total disregard of reality; 3) selfish; 4) gun ownership enthusiasts; and 5) really interested only in raising money. Trying to understand these comments, the only rational explanation is that the real issues facing our nation just cannot be approached without serious indictments being made against the efforts of Obama and the complete failure of these same White House actions. Obama fans cannot face the truth so they are restricted to slander.

More and more the advocates of the Tea Party are expressing that the status quo in the political arena is absolutely not acceptable. Both of the major political parties, Republican and Democrat, are slowly but surely learning that the desires of the Tea Party cannot be ignored. The penalty for scoffing at these loosely organized and very worried Americans waving Tea Party banners is an involuntary retirement from elected government positions.

The next group of goals that the Tea Party will face, and will win, are on November 2, 2010 as both Houses of Congress are reclaimed by conservative American voters. The only real worry is if the intensity of Tea Party interest and activity can be maintained until November of 2012.

THE TASK IS UPON US

It is already the middle of September and it is now prime time to focus almost exclusively on a task facing all concerned Americans. That task will be held on November 2 when the polls open to allow voting on who will lead this nation. It would not be wrong to express that these 2010 elections are perhaps the most important in American history. As important as they may be they will be seen as a full step below the Presidential election of 2012.

The message that must be sent by enough voters this November is that the goals being eyed by Obama will not happen. What better way to send this message than to take away from the liberal/socialist/progressives the control of both houses of Congress?

An article I read recently well set out the real issues. Do Americans want a free market economy or federally managed capitalism? Do Americans want limited federal government or an ever expanding state? Do Americans want an economy that rewards entrepreneurs or a system keyed at equalizing economic rewards? The answers are obvious and the correct answers can only be made realities by conservatives being elected in 2010.

It is not unfair to consider the goals of Obama and his Congressional allies in light of Castro's Cuba. Today it was announced from Havana that the jobs of 500,000 government employees would be eliminated by March of 2011 with a total of 1,000,000 government positions to be terminated within the following 12 months. Private employment via private business will be officially encouraged. As of today it is estimated that 85% of the Cuban work force is employed by the government with poverty being a state in which almost all Cubans live. America needs to avoid any possibility of mimicking Cuba which can be assured by terminating first the Obama allies and then Obama.

We do not want this Cuban situation for ourselves or for any following American generation.

Eyeing only this November, we should daily do some act to promote the candidates for the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives who openly favor the traditional ways of American life. The pro Obama politicians must be defeated. We will start worrying about November 2012 the day after these 2010 elections.

Quoting a recent e-mail I received, "November 2 is 'take out the trash day' with an emphasis on the mandate of 'don't recycle'."

ECONOMIC HALF TRUTHS

They are at it again.

The liberal media/press is determined to save the administration of B. H. Obama and therefore slants every item of news that it has in order to prove to the readers how well their White House hero is doing. Here is an example.

The headline stated, "Economy Improves". This is obviously good news for all Americans and serves as a pat-on-the-back for President Obama. Featured in this article were the facts that newly filed unemployment claims fell to a weekly number of 451,000 and that the American trade deficit for July 2010 was down 14% to only $42,800,000,000.00. That is $42.8 billion. The imports from Communist China had also fallen but only by 1%. Additionally there was a quote. A chief financial economist stated, "... things look better than they have in several weeks and there is no danger of a new down turn in activity."

No question that these are better, but far from good, statistics pertaining to the American economy. However, there was more information in the story. This more information better explained that America's economy is still in real trouble.

It was reported that in the second quarter of 2010 the American economy grew only at a 1.6% annual rate. The third quarter is seen by experts to be not much better with a projected annualized growth rate of 1.8%. All experts advise that a minimal acceptable annual growth rate is just over 3%. Buried in this same story was that our imports from Germany and Communist China were at their highest since October of 2008. In the first 7 months of 2010 imports from Communist China alone were up 18% but they did drop in July by 1%.

Finally, the article admitted that the US dollar was at a 15 year low against the value of the Communist Chinese yen.

There are two points that must be pointed out: 1) never believe the article caption and 2) the American economy remains in a terrible condition.

By the way the financial expert who was quoted in the article is an employee of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFL. Kind of makes you wonder if the reporter could find no American banker to have positive comments on the American economy.

DEPRESSING BUT A REMEDY APPEARS

It is hard not to be depressed and pessimistic when you think about America. Almost every aspect of our way of life is being altered and not for the good. These changes did not start when B. H. Obama was sworn-in as President but the changes are being strongly promoted by the current administration with majority allies in Congress, both Houses.

Need details?

The economy is not quite at a depression level but it is very weak and stagnant. The number of unemployed Americans remains very high. To say there are tens of millions of Americans seeking jobs is not an exaggeration. Government debt, local and state and federal, is so large and unsupportable that public sector defaults loom. Our federal government's biggest creditor, Communist China, has seen this and has begun to reduce its huge holdings in USA treasury notes. American servicemen remain in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, dieing daily, and the general population of those two nations is generally hostile to the efforts of our military.

Want more bad news? Obama will be our President for another 2 and 1/2 years.

There is, however, a glimmer of light appearing for our country and that light emanates from November of 2010. Our next national election holds strong promise that American weaknesses can be addressed and addressed in a manner that does not support the liberal/socialist/progressive goals of the current Administration and its allies in Congress.

It is hard to find any honest pollster or any non-partisan political commentator who has not expressed that the nationwide anti-Obama sentiments will eliminate or at least strongly weaken Obama's hold in the two houses of Congress. Weakening is not good enough. To save America, the House of Representatives and the Senate must both be restructured this November so that every legislative action desired by Obama can be closely examined and, if inappropriate, rejected.

The task is upon all American conservatives and even all middle-of-the-road Americans. The Democrats must lose in November with every American who is against the goals of these liberal/socialist/progressives actively promoting Republican candidates; voting for Republican candidates; and urging everyone else to do the same.

Even with these desired victories, there is looming before us the fear of what Obama and his co-hearts will do in a "lame-duck" Congressional setting.

For awhile our worries, of all kinds, will remain unresolved.

SO IT CONTINUES

New economic numbers concerning the American employment situation have been released by the federal government and as one commentator expressed it is basically "unchanged" and it is "just plain lousy".

Appropriately, this statement "just plain lousy" describes the efforts of our President B. H. Obama in every issue he has faced and not just the economy.

The actual updated figures:

1. Unemployment, by federal calculations, has risen slightly to a 9.6% figure
2. Underemployment, by federal standards, has risen to 16.7%
3. The private sector added 67,000 new jobs but the federal government eliminated 114,000 jobs, almost all being census workers.

Taking a longer look at these data items, the increase in private sector jobs is truly unchanged. If this number of new jobs is averaged out among the states, then each state added only 1340 jobs this past month. This is a correct average calculation but is also very misleading. The number of new jobs created this past month in Utah has to be a minute number compared to new jobs in California or Ohio. However, the point is that this number of new jobs is, for each state and the nation as a whole, just terrible.

Almost all economists are now projecting that the nation's unemployment figures will continue to slightly worsen monthly for the rest of 2010 and that in 2011 unemployment will remain in the range of 10%.

Topping off this "no change" in our ever stagnant economy was a report in a conservative authored article that the average wage of a federal government employee, including all benefits, is now $123,049.00 while the private sector average wage is only $61,051.00.

And so it continues - "just plain lousy" economy aggravated by a "just plain lousy" President.

IRAQ HALF TRUTHS FROM OBAMA

In a terribly delivered speech aired from the White House, President B. H. Obama addressed the situation in Iraq and declared to our nation that on August 31, 2010 "the combat mission is over".

What a unemotional, unpatriotic, uninspiring and untrue address.

It is hard to believe that "the combat mission is over" when there remains in the nation of Iraq some 50,000 American troops who are still stationed, fully armed, in that foreign land. Are we to believe that they are there for no purpose other than to promote public relations? Obama, as is his habit, also omitted several items that better reflect the actual situation in that far from secure Arab nation.

The Department of Defense has recently confirmed that some 207,600 civilian contractors are currently assigned to tasks in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The break down between the two nations was not given. These individuals are referred to as private military contractors (PMC) and will now, at least in Iraq, service such tasks as convoy security, disarming improvised explosive devices and policing the international zone. If the war is over why are such tasks necessary?

What about Iraq itself?

Six months ago a national election was held in Iraq and these self declared leaders, politicians one and all, have yet to declare winners. No a new government has been proposed much less formed. Daily if not hourly there is violence in the cities of such an extreme that it is not unusual for the innocent causality list to be over one hundred. Most telling, there has been absolutely no negotiated internal truce leaving in existence and at war with the establishment, whatever that may be, organized groups of radicals and extremists.

Recently I read a comment concerning the end of our "military" role in Iraq. It was stated, "We are leaving undefeated and unvictorious - we are leaving it to the Iraqis." An absolutely true but depressing observation.

We may never know what Obama's real reasons are for leaving 50,000 troops in a foreign country where we no longer have a military goal. Why does Obama not wish the return to the USA of these forces? Remember also that Obama has already set a somewhat firm date for the removal of most of the forces from Afghanistan. How many of our troops will he leave in that nation?

My paranoid friends whisper to me that Obama's plans for the future require most of our military not to be in the USA and therefore not readily available to assist the public in its opposition to his liberal/socialist/progressive efforts to radically change America.

The bottom line is that many American lives were lost and many Americans were wounded and very much of the tax payer's dollars were wasted in Iraq. Years ago we could have struck and destroyed the evil capabilities of Iraq and then have gone away "leaving it to the Iraqis".

August 31, 2010 will not be remembered as a proud day for our nation.

RANDOM FACTS

From time to time the wonder of mass media via the Internet produces some strange and often interesting items of information. Here are 10 of these items:



1) No Kentucky college made the list of the 15 most expensive schools in America. The closest was Vanderbilt and it was only #8. Few if any of what are considered traditional "Ivy League" schools broke into this top 15.

2) A listing of 20 recession proof cities was generated by a federal government agency (great way to spend our tax dollars) and no Kentucky city made the list. However, to no one's surprise, one of these cities was Washington, DC.

3) New home sales in America for 2010, listed by an annual rate of closed transactions, are at the lowest level since 1963. By the way, this index was first used in, you guessed it, 1963.

4) American used home sales for 2010 are anticipated to be at their lowest level since 1999.

5) Communist China has the second largest economy in the world. It is second only to the USA but China is gaining rapidly.

6) Communist China has currently in its nation 65,400,000 constructed but unoccupied apartments. The everyday Chinaman just cannot afford these units.

7) In July of 2010 Communist China had a trade surplus of $28.7 trillion. During June of 2010, the USA had no trade surplus but did have a trade deficit of $49.9 billion. Washington is still working on July's numbers.

8) In 1981 American government T-Bills were sold bearing an interest rate of 16.7% per year. Today the same, and I use that term loosely, T-Bills bear around 1% per year.

9) During the first half of 2010 there was withdrawn from American Money Market Funds (MMF) $509,200,000.000.00. Put another way, that is $509.2 billion. Economists believe this huge amount of money was not to a large degree reinvested but rather used to meet maturing debts and everyday living expenses.

10) The US government is today buying US government T-Bills with money printed by the US government. This process is referred to as quantitative easing (QE). What? How about out-of-control deficit spending?



Stay tuned for I am sure more of this dribble will emerge in the future particularly if quantitative easing becomes a common term.

ANOTHER IDIOT MARK FOR OBAMA

When it was founded, the United Nations was a noble and necessary international organization. The trauma of World War II had to be addressed and the world was rapidly becoming a "smaller", more interdependent place. The international leadership that the UN offered had at first a positive result but now this organization has become focused on its own importance with a poorly hidden desire to be Earth's governing force.

Recently our President Obama has shown a slight but obvious deferment to the superiority of the UN.

One of the internal rules of the UN is that every 4 years each member nation must file a report with the UN Human Rights Commission addressing the status of, obviously, human rights in the reporting nation. Most recently the United States of American submitted its report and mentioned the immigration situation of Arizona as a "human right" being addressed by Washington.

This Obama Administration report stated that Arizona law SB 1700 was the subject of "debate at home and around the world". It further stated that the "federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law" and that "parts of the law (SB 1700) are currently enjoined".

The governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, immediate declare how despicable this act of Obama was to her state and to the our nation as a whole.

Looking closely at this submitted report, Obama does not lie or even mislead on any of the Arizona points that are raised. There was debate at home and abroad. The federal government does have authority to regulate immigration and SB 1700 has in part been enjoined. However, the facts that are ignored are that Washington was doing nothing to control the influx of foreigners into Arizona; that foreign debate has no sway in the resolution of an American internal matter; and that the sections of SB 1700 there were enjoined were the parts most desired by a majority of Arizona citizens.

So why the report to the UN?

Obama is a liberal/socialist/progressive and by definition wants one organization to govern the world. This and other acts have shown that he would like the IMF to run the world's economy
and the UN to govern all other matters. Of course he wants to be a part of these world controlling groups.

Is it possible that, like many science fiction stories, the Earth will one day have a single governmental body? Yes, but not now and not in the foreseeable future.

Today Arizona is absolutely correct with its SB 1700 because and only because Washington has dropped the ball. The State of Arizona must take all necessary and reasonable steps to protect its citizens. SB 1700 is such a step. The attempt by Obama to make this situation an international human rights event just shows how desperate he is to find an ally, in this case the UN, to support his position.

So what is the worse that Obama's UN report can generate? A wild nightmare. The UN decides to act in response to Obama's report and sends troops from its member nation, Chad, into Arizona. These troops, each wearing a blue UN armband, are to insure that "international visitors" are not hindered in their crossing into America.

IMPORTANCE OF NOVEMBER 2010

Two recently published and unrelated news articles have strongly emphasised to me the importance of the upcoming November elections.

Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation has projected some very disturbing prognostications concerning the future financial status of the American government. He has stated that if the economic recovery efforts by Washington remain generally the same then the era of the federal government having a yearly total deficit of at least $1.0 trillion is here to stay. He adds further that by 2020 this same national yearly debt will be at the $2.0 trillion mark.

The Obama economic stimulus has failed, there is no question about that. However, we must not overlook the role that the Democrat controlled House and Senate has had in this and other national financial fiascoes.

The second article I read addressed in detail the idea that the ongoing liberal/socialist/progressive attacks on our immediate past President, George Bush, as the leader who set the ground work for the terrible condition of the American economy are all wrong. In an alternative and very logical approach, it was expressed that the real culprits for our national financial mess are the House and Senate, both of which were Democrat controlled as our economy faltered and failed. What was more intriguing were the references to the past 20 years of fluctuations in the American financial well being and which party, Democrat or Republican, had the majority presence in Congress during these times.

It turns out that when government spending is closely monitored and a financial surplus is realized, the House and Senate are in the hands of the Republicans. The Democrats run the federal legislative show during the times that deficit spendings are not only permitted but encouraged to an obnoxious degree. The party affiliation of the occupant of the White House is shown to be of little financial importance if Congress belongs to the opposition. Look at what the Newt Gingrich congressional era was able to accomplish even as a free-spending Democrat of questionable morals lived in the White House.

For the better part of the past 4 years the Democrats have controlled Congress and during this time period the debts of our nation have exploded. This fact alone has made the November 2010 House and Senate elections even more important. With a Republican controlled Congress, the undisciplined spending efforts of B.H. Obama can be limited and substantially curtailed. With the Democrats still in charge, the fear of an economic disaster will always be just around the corner.

Remember this in two months when election day arrives. We can stop Obama now by taking away the Congress and then completely retire him in 2012.

OBAMA LIES / THE ECONOMY SLIDES

As has become common, the federal government (this is just the nice way of saying Obama) releases a piece of data on the American economy and then a short while later quietly recants on that report with the excuse that "additional" information just became available. This time the impacted area was a report on quarterly economic growth.

According to Washington, there was a 2.4% growth in the American economy during the second quarter of 2010. This information was received with mixed feelings in that it was a drop from the first quarter growth statistic of 3.7% but when these two items were averaged there was a result of just over 3.0%. This 3.0% figure of growth is important in that it is believed by most economists to be needed to maintain the current level of the American economy including the current level of 9.5% unemployment. The bottom line was that things were not getting better but they were also not getting worse.

Not true.

Just now our nation has been informed that the second quarter economic growth was not at a nearly acceptable 2.4% but at a "bad news" 1.6%. The needed 3.0% factor was not reached and this updated news confirms that the economy is again sliding down hill.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke today and in his very reserved manner of addressing the public stated that the American economy was "inherently uncertain" and it was "vulnerable to unexpected developments". Bernanke also expressed that more federal stimulus was needed.

We are, in more direct language, in a dangerous situation and will not be able to sustain even this weak economy if any serious situation develops. These serious situations could be anything from a natural catastrophe to a significant terrorist act to violent internal unrest.

Obama has in the past 18 months proven that he does not have the ability to lead this nation much less lead it out of an economic down-swing. If there should be any "unexpected developments" don't look to the White House for any meaningful resolution.