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.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, December 10, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
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.
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.
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