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If I were Speaker of the House…
I would issue an ultimatum to President Obama. First, Mr. President, we need to stop spending on wasteful programs, and we can do this by eliminating some unnecessary departments by giving control back to the states. We don’t need the Department of Education, as the states can do more by regulating their own education system and increasing teaching standards, etc. Another department to eliminate would be the Environmental Protection Agency. Once again, the states can handle the regulating the environmental standards. (Oh boy, I am waiting for BSC responses from this idea or those calling me out for such a ludicrous idea.)
If you eliminated the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency, you would save a total of $78.5 billion (Source: U.S. Dept. of Education and EPA Budget). This would bring more money back to help the deficit.
Perhaps, it is time for the President to consider the solution at hand here. Unfortunately, I know this is not going to fly, since President Obama and the Democrats in Congress believe in expanding the size of government without thinking about the costs that come with the decision. At this point, no deals are being made, so I think we should head towards default. I mean we are headed that way regardless of what Congress or President Obama says in a flashy press conference or not.
Where's Obama? Brackets or Being an Effective Leader
With the recent events in Japan and Libya, one has to ask where is President Obama’s response in the midst of these events. No need to ask, all you have to do is look at the headlines. Obama has shown that he is more focused on predicting bracket winners for the NCAA Basketball tournaments (both men and women), rather than the global affairs. It is no wonder why Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks more Presidential than Obama, as she is pulling overtime work to address these issues. Meanwhile, Obama, who favors Kansas and Connecticut to win NCAA tournaments, is traveling on global missions to focus on economic development. I guess this is what you would call a “vacation,” in Obama terms.
Well, it’s obvious that Obama has shown that effective leadership revolves around vacations. In fact, he has traveled on more “vacations,” when troubled times have come about. The Washington Times wrote an editorial recently chiding Obama for his golf outings, basketball bracket selections, and his trip to Brazil, rather than handling the potential of a government shutdown and the crisis situations in both Libya and Japan.
The Mideast crisis is continuing, and Hillary Rodham Clinton has been the one taking the 3 a.m. phone calls. The secretary of state has been dealing with political reform in Egypt, a military crackdown in Bahrain and the continuing civil war in Libya. However, she is hampered by a chief executive who can’t make up his mind which course of action would best secure his place in history. It’s no wonder she took the opportunity to tell CNN she had no interest in continuing in the job in a theoretical Obama second term.
It’s 4 a.m., Mr. President, and you have obviously been hitting the “snooze” button since 3 a.m.
Side note: Since Obama has a penchant for bracket picks, let’s analyze what has happened to his bracket. Of course, everyone is feeling his pain, as the following picks have gone down to defeat: Michigan State, Louisville, and Georgetown. Basically, his bracket is the same as my bracket…not too shabby. This is coming from a hardcore NCAA basketball fan, but being an effective leader is more important than predicting winners in a sports tournament…don’t you think?
President Obama Releases Budget Amidst $14 Trillion Deficit
President Obama released his budget plan for fiscal year 2012 today, but it has not come without scrutiny, as it is a $3.7 trillion budget filled with tax increases and more borrowing.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Obama’s budget includes cutting defense spending by $78 billion over the next five years; cuts to programs, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance, while entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security would not receive any reductions. This budget would include a tax credit for purchasing electric vehicles and loans for nuclear power plant production.
With the nation’s debt amassing $14 trillion, Obama’s proposed budget is being welcomed by criticism. The U.S. House Budget Committee and the Senate Budget Committee found that the President’s budget has $8.7 trillion in new spending, $1.6 trillion in new taxes, and will accumulate $13 trillion in debt.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said, in a statement:
Today, the President missed a unique opportunity to provide real leadership by offering a budget that fails to address the grave fiscal situation facing our country. At a time when unemployment is too high and economic growth is elusive in part because of the uncertainty created by our skyrocketing debt, we need serious reforms that will help restore confidence so that people can get back to work. We need a government that finally does what every other American has to do in their households and their businesses, and that’s to live within our means. Instead, President Obama’s budget doubles down on the bad habits of the past four years by calling for more taxes, spending and borrowing of money that we simply do not have.
“President Obama has used tough rhetoric about the need to get our fiscal house in order, even assembling a bipartisan commission to address entitlement spending which accounts for more than half of our federal budget including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Unfortunately, the President again failed to put action behind his words by neglecting to even acknowledge these tough issues that everyone knows drive up our debt and must be reformed if they are to meet their obligations for younger Americans.
In fact, the deficit for this year is larger than all of Obama’s budget reductions over 10 years. Perhaps, Obama’s budget should focus on reducing government spending by cutting programs and entitlements to help address the nation’s debt.
McDonald's Health Plan in Trouble
Why would McDonald’s consider cutting their health care coverage? Could President Obama’s health care plan be the cause of the health plan’s demise?
According to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, there was a report that McDonald’s planned to cancel its health care coverage due to some of the provisions in Obama’s health care plan. However, this report was refuted by U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and McDonald’s officials. McDonald’s did not deny that some of the new provisions will affect their existing health coverage.
The problem is that McDonald’s (and other fast food establishments) offer lower cost benefits with higher deductibles to their employees, and Obama’s health care plan is designed to get rid of these programs.
I wonder how a certain McDonald’s employee is feeling about this. Remember Jose Osegueda, a McDonald’s employee, who wanted to know if Obama’s education proposals and health care plan would help him.
He must be feeling like the promised hope and change has deserted him too. This is just another consequence of ObamaCare.
"Is this my new reality?"
Yesterday, CNBC hosted a town hall meeting with President Obama. Obama said during the meeting that he sees the middle class as the country’s “bedrock.” While this meeting had an economic focus, there was a surprise question from an Obama supporter, who is not too happy with the President’s recent policy decisions.
This supporter said:
“I’m one of your middle class Americans. And quite frankly, I’m exhausted. Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for.”
“My husband and I have joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives, but, quite frankly, it’s starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we’re headed again, and, quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly. Is this my new reality?”
It’s pretty bad when your own supporters turn against you.
Just Another Sad Side Effect of the Economy
The Economic Recession (I would term it as the Second Great Depression) has impacted many families, as unemployment numbers continue to climb. The major side effect from the unemployment numbers is the number of those living in poverty. According to a recent article in The Washington Post, approximately 44 million people in the U.S. lived below the poverty line in 2009. These numbers are only going to get worse, as the 2010 numbers might be higher.
Currently, the numbers are not boding well in Virginia, as the families living below poverty have jumped from 8.6 percent to 10.5 percent.
When will Congress and President Obama wake up and address the economic decline? When will they wake up and work on getting Americans back to work? At this point, they are focused on excessively wasting taxpayer dollars on unnecessary programs (supposedly to combat those living at or below poverty) and partisan bickering, rather than addressing the important issues facing Americans.
Obama said:
“Because of the Recovery Act and many other programs providing tax relief and income support to a majority of working families – and especially those most in need – millions of Americans were kept out of poverty last year.”
The Recovery Act only provided temporary employment. There was nothing permanent created from this plan.
Clearly, we are doing something wrong if we are spending taxpayer dollars on programs to prevent poverty, yet people are still living in these conditions.
The America Obama Believes In…
Yesterday, I was on a flight back to Washington from Texas (a place I would much rather escape to at this point), when I caught President Obama’s speech in Cleveland, Ohio about the economy. My first thoughts were: Was Obama going to continue spewing false promises about how he plans to fix the economy? Will Obama find something or someone to blame for the current economic climate?
Throughout the speech, it appeared as if Obama could not stop blaming House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) for the current situation and citing about how his proposals will continue to add to the declining economy. The speech was filled with more blame than talking about solutions he could propose. False promises: Check, Obama blaming someone while not taking accountability: Check.
The speech (which you can find here) was filled with some hypocritical lines. For example, President Obama promised the following:
But I am absolutely committed to fiscal responsibility, which is why I’ve already proposed freezing all discretionary spending unrelated to national security for the next three years. (Applause.)
And once the bipartisan fiscal commission finishes its work, I’ll spend the next year making the tough choices necessary to further reduce our deficit and lower our debt — whether I get help from the other side or not. (Applause.)
Obama said he was committed to fiscal responsibility. Since he was sworn in as President in 2009, Obama has signed the Stimulus and Omnibus bills into law. Additionally, he wasted taxpayer dollars to bail out the failing automobile industry in Detroit and has spent excessively, forcing our country into a $13.5 trillion deficit. As for his claims to work across party lines, I think his blame game on the Republicans will not be very helpful.
There was another claim mentioned in Obama’s speech yesterday.
So, no, our job is not easy. But you didn’t elect me to do what was easy. (Applause.) You didn’t elect me to just read the polls and figure how to keep myself in office. You didn’t elect me to avoid big problems. You elected me to do what was right. And as long as I’m President, that’s exactly what I intend to do. (Applause.)
Ironically, the American people in 2008 should have looked at Obama’s inexperience before voting for him. After all, he has been showing signs of avoiding leadership at all costs. For someone who mentions, “You didn’t elect me to avoid big problems,” he has went on more vacations than his predecessors and avoiding our economic woes. Where has he been when unemployment numbers continued to climb or when the federal deficit continued to balloon? He has been out on golfing ventures, etc. He has also failed to set the budget, which could lead to gridlock.
It leads me to question: Could the America Obama believes in revolve around doing nothing? Could it be an America that avoids addressing the challenges faced on a daily basis?
President Obama should remember a line from a famous movie: “Attitude Reflects Leadership.” It’s true. In a time such as this, we need a leader not someone avoiding the issues facing the nation.
Auto Bailouts: Another Failed Obama Initiative
The so-called auto industry bailouts were supposed to help keep American automakers afloat. After news broke on Tuesday that U.S. auto sales hit a 28-year low, one would think that the United Auto Workers (UAW) would be pitching a royal sh!t fit over what the Obama Administration considered the grand solution to keeping them in operations. Now, it looks like Detroit will most likely collapse due to the lack of sales.
So, will the UAW continue standing behind their man, Obama? Of course, they are sympathetic to the President, and they believe that Congress needs to pass another bailout to keep them in business.
United Auto Workers President Bob King said Congress needs to pass a stimulus package that creates jobs and bolsters consumer confidence.
Auto sales “are not going as well as they should,” King told reporters Aug. 27 in Wayne, Michigan. “Consumers are not going to buy vehicles if they don’t have jobs or aren’t confident in their job.”
However, what does the Obama Administration think of them? According to the author of an upcoming book, Overkill (which for the full disclosure, I look forward to purchasing and reading), Steven Rattner, who was appointed by President Obama to be the “Car Czar” dishes out revelations that a top White House official (Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel) disparaged the unions, especially calling out the UAW by saying a derogatory statement. As I say to the UAW, it’s time for the sh!t fit to begin.
Is Obama going to consider yet another bailout to help them survive or let them eat cake to help his party retain control of Congress? Another bailout for a failing business would make the taxpayers irate, and if Congress considers this move, they will be voted out of office. So, Obama might tell his ardent supporters from the UAW to eat cake on this one.
