Obama Doubles Down on US Debt

Doubling Down on Government Debt

What does a $3.6 Trillion dollar budget buy?  Well first you have to pay for it with increased taxes, increased debt and less charitable giving.  For what?  More government programs, oversight and overreaching from Washington, DC.  President Obama is determined to double down on Government debt.   In fact, at this rate, his budget proposals over the next 5 years will double the US Government debt, that took 200 years to accumulate.

From the www.weeklystandard.com  “Well, it's about time. The Beltway is waking up to the realities of President Obama's budget plan, which taxes, spends, and borrows as far as the eye can see. The president's vast new commitments in the areas of health care, energy, and education have already spooked small-government Republicans and the foreign investors who help finance America's public debt. Now even some Democrats are beginning to realize that the president's fiscal policies are unsustainable in the long--and maybe medium--run. What took them so long?”   Lead paragraph: A Big, Fat Failure Obama's budget makes a bad situation worse. by Matthew Continetti

 US Senator Judd Greg (R-New Hampshire)  is leading the loyal opposition as the US Senate is debating the FY2010 US Federal budget. http://budget.senate.gov/republican/

Here are the comments of Senator Greg (ranking Republican on the US Senate budget committee) regarding the proposed Obama FY2010 budget on March 28, 2009:

“But what concerns many of us are his proposals in the budget he recently sent to the Congress that dramatically grow the size and cost of government and move it to the left. It is our opinion that this plan spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.”

Senator Greg continues:  “In the next five years, President Obama’s budget will double the national debt, in the next ten years it will triple the national debt.  To say this another way, if you take all the debt of our country run up by all of our presidents from George Washington through George W. Bush, the total debt over all those 200 plus years since we started as a nation, it is President Obama’s plan to double that debt in just the first five years that he is in office. He is also planning to spend more on the government as a percentage of our economy than at any time since World War II.

“His budget assumes the deficit will average $1 trillion dollars every year for the next ten years and will add well over $9 trillion dollars in new debts to our children’s backs.

 He also is proposing the largest tax increase in history, much of it aimed at taxing small business people who have been, over the years, the best job creators in our economy. And further, he is proposing a massive new national sales tax on your electric bill, so that every time you turn on a light switch in your house you will be hit with a new tax, and it averages over $3,000 per household.”     US Senator Judd Greg, R-New Hampshire

President Obama and his Democrat supporters in Congress are preparing to double down on spending and government programs, thereby doubling the US debt. Now is the time to write or call your Congressman.   And tell you friends that the overspending is out of control at the Federal level.

© 2009, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media   www.jasperwelch.org

Red Ink Forever

Red Ink Forever

It’s official.   The proposed Obama Federal budget will generate red ink and the US Government deficit will increase every year during the new President’s term.   In fact the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts US Federal deficits of $1 Trillion per year over the next decade.     The complete CBO report is linked here

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10014/03-20-PresidentBudget.pdf

The national debt is now $11 Trillion and counting.   With another decade of spend and tax being proposed by Obama Administration and being supported by the majority Democrats in the Congress, the colossal national debt could double in 10 years to over $20,000,000,000,000!       Here is a direct link for more on the deficit:

http://www.federalbudget.com/

According to the CBO, as report by the Associated Press www.ap.org  President Barack Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional estimates, significantly worse than predicted by the White House just last month.   The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated Press Friday, predict Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That's $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget.  Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy; figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.

The AP also reports that conservative “Blue Dog Democrats” are questioning the larger that life spending proposed by President Obama:

WASHINGTON (www.ap.org ) — “Conservative and moderate Democrats are flexing their muscles on Capitol Hill, demanding significantly lower spending for domestic programs as well as automatic budget cuts if tax cuts and new programs would increase the deficit.

A group of 51 so-called "Blue Dog" House Democrats released their roster of budget demands Thursday, calling for cutting more than $40 billion from domestic programs funded by Congress each year.”

In the Hill on-line version  www.thehill.com  concerns about the ballooning deficit all even alarming the Democrat majority, “The deficit level, which Obama expected to be 12 percent of gross domestic product this year, would fall to approximately 3 percent of GDP in 2013 and beyond under the president's policies. But the CBO estimated deficits in those years to be much larger, between 4 percent and 6 percent of economic growth.  The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) director Orszag said that a deficit that amounted to 5 percent of GDP would be "unsustainable."

The top Republican on the House budget committee Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), said that the new projections show that Obama's budget "will lead our nation into a far worse fiscal catastrophe" than the White House's own numbers suggested.

Janet Hook, in the March 20^th LA Times www.latimes.com reports:  “That bad (deficit) news, combined with other recent developments, portends a rocky road for the Obama budget, which was initially hailed by congressional Democrats for promoting such liberal priorities as expanded access to health insurance and curbs on global warming.

 

In the three weeks since the budget was unveiled, fiscally conservative Democrats have raised concerns about proposed spending increases. Leaders of the House and Senate tax-writing committees have criticized some of Obama's proposed tax increases on wealthier Americans. And influential Democrats are backing away from using a legislative shortcut that may be Obama's best hope for passing his far-reaching health and energy policies.

 

An additional multibillion-dollar bailout for banks and other financial institutions, which the administration will soon propose, is expected to add more pressure to the federal government's finances.  Into that tinderbox, a lit match has come from new deficit estimates.  Where Obama's budget foresees rolling up $7 trillion in cumulative deficits over the next 10 years, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) on Thursday pegged the deficits at $1.6 trillion higher over that period.”   www.latimes.com

As the FY 2010 budget debate begins on Capitol Hill, the majority Democrats in Congress are faced with the reality that the Obama budget is overspending and over committing the Federal government to programs that cannot be sustained, even if taxes on all of Americans are dramatically raised.    And while the President is only beginning his term, a number of US Senators and all the House members face an increasingly skeptical and angry electorate in November 2010.   It is becoming increasingly clear that for the majority in Congress to continue to blaming others, each other and past Administrations,  will not fly with the US taxpayers.    The November 2010 election may be the last chance to vote out the big spenders in Washington.   In the meantime, it is clear that the big spender in the White House, who doesn’t stand for election until 2012, won’t use the Obama veto pen on earmarks, pork, overspending or tax increases.   

For more details on the US Federal budget, click through to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget

© 2009, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org

 

Teleprompters & the President's Script

Teleprompters & the President’s Script

What happens to the President and his invited VIP head of state, when the teleprompter is working right, and the readers (the President and his distinguished Irish guest) read the other person’s speech?    Here is what Fox News reported on March 18th:

“But (when Irish Prime Minister) Cowen was 20 seconds into his second address when it dawned on him that he was giving word for word the speech that Obama had just read from the same teleprompter.  Prime Minister Cowen stopped and looked back at the president to say, "That's your speech."  Obama laughed and returned to the podium to offer what might have been Cowen's remarks. In doing so, President Obama thanked President Obama for inviting everyone over.”  www.foxnews.com/politics

A teleprompter at a White House dinner party, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day?    Have you even been to a dinner party where the hosts used a teleprompter?    Oh, that’s right, our humble dwellings are not the White House, which has access to these speechmaking aids.   But really, using a teleprompter for every public appearance?  

So where did the Teleprompter start being used by politicians?     Actually, the television industry began using these devices in the 1950’s.  As the technology improved, politicians began using the devices, with President Obama depending on his teleprompter in every public appearance.    According to http://en.wikipedia.org  Teleprompters are often used for speeches as well. In this application, they are called Conference Teleprompter Systems. In this case, the reflector is usually a piece of glass with a special partially reflective coating. It is mostly transparent so as to not block the view of the speaker by the audience or cameras. Usually, two of these are set up, one on either side of the lectern (if there is one), so that the speaker can look around at the audience and always be able to see one.    Key word: teleprompter

“This in part is why the teleprompter trope is taking off. Mr. Obama uses it more than previous presidents. No one would care about this or much notice it as long as he showed competence, and the promise of success. Reagan, if memory serves, once took his cards out of his suit and began to read them at a welcoming ceremony, only to realize a minute or so in that they were last week's cards from last week's ceremony. He caught himself and made a joke of it. One was reminded of this the other day when Mr. Obama's speech got mixed up with the Irish prime minister's. Things happen. But the teleprompter trope has taken off: Why does he always have to depend on that thing?”    Peggy Noonan,  Wall Street Journal  http://online.wsj.com  Editorial Page “Declarations Column”

Never to miss an Obama misstep, Rush Limbaugh www.rushlimbaugh.com  weighed in, “I have some questions for the teleprompter, since it engaged in behavior last night that embarrassed both the Irish prime minister and the president of the United States. I mean, when a teleprompter can get somebody who is as great an orator as the president to thank himself for having this party, you gotta love this prompter. So, "Teleprompter, do you have a name?"

In the American political humor tradition, there is now a web page on the Obama teleprompter, complete with video tapes (actually YouTube clips), transcripts and merchandise  http://www.teleprompterobama.com/

Oh, if you’d like to have a teleprompter for your every presentation and pubic speech, just go on-line and word search “buy a teleprompter”.   From a price range of several hundred to several thousand dollars, even you can never miss a word in your next presentation!  That is if you actually read the right speech.

© 2009, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media  www.jasperwelch.org

Is Barack Obama Competent to Govern?

Is Barack Obama Competent to Govern?

Obama Cabinet appointees who haven’t paid their taxes.   The Prime Minister of the most trusted US ally (Great Britain) is mis-handled by the White House.   The pork-u-lus Federal Stimulus bill waits 4 days to be signed, as the President is out of town, even though the world is told that the bill should be urgently signed.    The Dem operatives in the White House and DNC decide that Rush Limbaugh is public enemy #1.   The economy continues to fade and struggle, despite the Obama administration attempts to fix it with new policies.     Expanded health care, more government regulations, increased government spending, staggering Federal deficits, and questions from foreign governments on US debt.   All of these actions (or inaction) seem to indicate that the new President may be in over his head when is comes to governing.    Speaker Pelosi and Senate Leader Reid are known to be weak Congressional leaders, and combined with the rookie Obama administration, no one is quite in charge when it comes to really getting the economy back on track and for government to maintain supporting role that it has historically played.

            Even the Democrats and Obama supporters appear to be worried.   From the New York Daily News, in a column by Micheal Goodwin (March 15, 2009)

            “Not long ago, after a string of especially bad days for the Obama administration, a veteran Democratic pol approached me with a pained look on his face and asked, "Do you think they know what they're doing?"   The question caught me off guard because the man is a well-known Obama supporter. As we talked, I quickly realized his asking suggested his own considerable doubts.  Yes, it's early, but an eerily familiar feeling is spreading across party lines and seeping into the national conversation. It's a nagging doubt about the competency of the White House.”

For a direct link to the NY Daily News editorial  www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/03/15/2009-03-15_more_than_a_bad_day_worries_grow_that_ba.html

In an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor www.csmonitor.com , Linda Fieldmann writes on March 11, 2009:

“All the while, the nation remains gripped by its worst economic crisis in decades, and with no end in sight, the topic du jour has become: Is Obama trying to do too much?            The Obama administration itself has not hidden the fact that it sees a limited window to enact its agenda, almost like a game of “beat the clock.” As long as Obama’s job approval ratings are comfortably high – currently in the 60s in major polls – he has the political capital to address the pent-up demand for change that is inevitable when the opposition party takes over from an unpopular previous administration.  But, there’s only so much a White House and Congress can accomplish, given the deliberative nature of the process, and even members of Obama’s own party are raising warning flags about the magnitude of the new president’s agenda.”

For a direct link: http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/03/11/is-obama-taking-on-too-much/

Dave Krugman, Op-Ed columnist for the liberal NY Times  www.nytimes.com writes on March 6, 2009:   “Many analysts agree. But among people I talk to there's a growing sense of frustration, even panic, over Mr. Obama's failure to match his words with deeds. The reality is that when it comes to dealing with the banks, the Obama administration is dithering. Policy is stuck in a holding pattern.... Why do officials keep offering plans that nobody else finds credible? Because somehow, top officials in the Obama administration and at the Federal Reserve have convinced themselves that troubled assets, often referred to these days as "toxic waste," are really worth much more than anyone is actually willing to pay for them - and that if these assets were properly priced, all our troubles would go away.”

Finally, from the White House Press Corps web site  www.whitehousepresscorps.org  where the daily highlights between Mr. Gibbs (Obama press secretary) and the national press is featured daily.     The question of Friday March 13, 2009:

Question (by Jake) “Just as a quick follow-up, you guys have obviously started a campaign of trying to build more confidence in the economy and in the decisions that you guys have made. Can you just walk us through a little bit how this decision was made -- for the President's new language and Larry Summers' new language, talking about the economy and the investments you guys are making?”     Blogger translation:  You guys in the White House keep trying to change the conversation or campaign rhetoric, in an attempt to get the economy rolling again?   How did you decide?    i.e. Does anyone know what they are doing at the White House?

What we are seeing is “on the job training” with an inexperienced President, confident in his public opinion polls and protected by the White House Staff, trying to get a handle on the economy, while pushing his left leaning agenda items all at the same time.   And the result: mixed messages, a nervous business community, an American public that can see that their new President is in over his head, and a Congress that figures now is the time for the Majority (Democrats) to push every pet project, program and agenda they can.

The two times in recent US history a Democrat President tried to govern from the left, we experienced the policy fiascos of Jimmy Carter (gridlock, due to so many White House proposals) and a Republican resurgence in reaction to President Clinton’s health(s)care proposals and weakening of the US military.   How will the American people respond to President Obama as he moves as fast as he can to the left, in terms of governance?

We are beginning to find out, as the national debt skyrockets, the US government rapidly expands and personal liberties are being infringed upon.   A number of Americans are feeling uneasy and wondering just exactly what is going to happen next?  

© Four Corners Media, Jasper Welch   www.jasperwelch.org  

The President's Enemies List

The President’s Enemies List

The Democrats in and out of the Obama are desperate for a new villain from the conservative right wing, and they think they have the new person:  Mr. Rush Limbaugh himself.   Armed with an opinion poll, which says younger Americans don’t like Rush, the Democratic operatives have set out to paint El Rushbo as the new villain of the GOP right.    Gone are Bush, Cheney, and various GOP Congressmen who have since retired or gone back to private life.     And Mr. Limbaugh has even dared to criticize the Great One (President Obama), so that alone is worthy of the Dems fire and wrath.    Does this seem similar to the Nixon days of a Presidential enemy list? 

From the Politico: Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh www.rushlimbaugh.com as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.

The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with praise.  Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s.  The direct link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19596.html

And from the NY Daily News, (editorial by Michael Goodwin, March 8, 2009):

He hasn't called anyone an "evildoer" or denounced an "axis of evil." But make no mistake: President Obama is putting together an enemies list.

Strangely, though, those on it are not terrorists or foreign dictators. They are mostly Americans lucky enough to have succeeded through capitalism and democracy.

In the President's words, they are guilty of being "special interests" and "lobbyists." The Bush-era tax cuts were merely "an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy" and he will bring fairness by raising taxes on "the wealthiest 2% of Americans." His barbs flow almost daily, faulting corporate leaders for "greed" and shirking "a sense of responsibility." And sometimes he suggests the problem is criminal, as when he defended his plan for an expanded government push into health insurance as necessary "to keep the private sector honest."  Less than halfway through what should be a 100-day honeymoon, the Obama administration is on a war footing. Make that a class-war footing.

The direct link: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/03/08/2009-03-08_obamas_search_for_an_enemy_the_president.html

Class warfare?   Using Democrat operatives to slay the vocal opponents of the White House?   By the President suggesting that what made America great (free enterprise, freedom of speech, healthy criticism of government and limited self-government) are longer necessary in the United States, we run the real risk of making the predictable left turn to European and Canadian social(istic) democracy.   When the President attacks lobbyists, special interests and business leaders verbally, and his Democratic operatives attempt to make conservative radio talk show hosts into villains, we are seeing a slide into socialism Obama style.   Most of us thought that the enemies of the American way were countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and North Korea, not our fellow citizens who have succeeded in their business endeavors, conservative talk shows or represent special interests?

© 2009, Jasper Welch,  Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org

 

Chicago Tea Party: Taxpayer Protests

The Chicago Tea Party: Taxpayer Protests

“I think most Americans would rather come up with a way to give a major tax break or subsidy to a first-time buyer that qualifies, help them with their down-payment," he said. "I think the incentive is wrong here. … Really, at the end of the day the bait-and-switch on all these packages is they were originally about jobs, and then all of a sudden the stimulus plan turned into a spending package. If you want to help people … make it so it is [about] job creation because that’s what’s going to stop the slide and that’s all that’s going to stop the slide.”    Rich Santelli, CNBC reporter, on the floor of the CME.   For current business news: http://www.cnbc.com/

With an allusion to communist Cuba, and with Chicago traders around him voicing their support, Santelli said in late February on CNBC: "This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbors' mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? ... President Obama, are you listening?" 

Suddenly, Rick Santelli, who is a 10-year veteran CNBC reporter on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is becoming a folk hero of the American taxpayer.   As the US taxpayer stands in shock that the US Congress and their newly elected President has passed a Federal stimulus and related “bail out” proposals that threaten the very core of the American ideal of responsible and limited government.   Each week, more spending and bailouts, more government intervention and less economic freedom.     And the taxpayers are taking to the streets in protest.

News from http://rawstory.com  a progressive, and liberal leaning news blog site, based in Washington, DC.

Describing themselves as the spark of a "new conservative counterculture," several thousand anti-tax protesters took to the streets in over thirty cities on Friday to object to President Obama's plans to counter the growing economic crisis with government spending.   From Raw Story news blog, admitting that some protests are occurring throughout American, but discarding the dissent at trivial and only from a few.   Really?

Then we hear from Michelle Malken, the conservative blogger who recently moved to Colorado 

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/21/tea-party-usa-the-movement-grows/

This is her reporting in late February 2009 on the growing taxpayer protest movement to the Obama and Congressional Democrat spending fest going on in Washington, DC.

For official information on the Stimulus Bill and pork roll out:

http://www.recovery.gov/   In which the official Recovery.gov logo for pork and overspending is displayed at the upper left corner (of the home page).

But saving the best for last, the new Recovery.gov logo (for the US Pork-u-lous bill), has been redesigned with Photoshop by bloggers, of which Michelle has collected on her blog site:

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/03/03/obamas-new-mark-of-the-porkulus-beast/

May the pork with you, and may your grand children be in debt, even more than us.  But it is now time for the American taxpayer to say, “enough is enough”.  Quit the wasteful US government spending!

© 2009, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media   www.jasperwelch.org