Our 10 Trillion Dollar Man

The recent blog by Victor Davis Hanson, entitled "our ten trillion dollar man".

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/our-ten-trillion-dollar-man/

What a Difference an Election Day Makes

What a Difference an Election Day Makes


Election Day 2010 in the United States sent a message to Washington and respective state capitals: Enough! Stop the spending, repeal ObamaCare, create policies that encourage jobs and innovation. As US Senator Mitch McConnell said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org ,

"So the voters didn’t suddenly fall in love with Republicans; they fell out of love with Democrats. And while they may have voted to send more Republicans to Washington, they’re sending them here with clear marching orders: stop the big-government freight train and respect the will of the people who sent you there." Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky

So what happened? As we know, the President is still determined to push through his progressive (i.e., left wing Democrat) agenda. Despite the overwhelming Republican wins in the US Congress (60+ seats picked up by GOP, including the majority), some Democrats are attributing the resounding defeat at the polls in November 2010 as failure to communicate the American people. Instead of recognizing the rejection of ill-fated and wrong-headed policies of the Democrats over the past two years that were rammed through by the Obama-Pelosi-Reid trifecta, the President and his allies just don’t get it. Americans are sick of the spending, the overreaching of their national government and creation of America in the image of socialized Europe.

With excellent insight and with the power of a strengthened hand (GOP controlled House, a stronger Republican minority in the US Senate, combined with a weakened President, Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) stated:

"But, as I see it, the White House has a choice: they can change course, or they can double down on a vision of government that the American people have roundly rejected. If they choose the former, they’ll find a partner in Republicans. If they don’t, we will have more disagreements ahead.
“The formula is simple, really: when the administration agrees with the American people, we will agree with the administration. When it disagrees with the American people, we won’t. This has been our posture from the beginning of this administration. And we intend to stick with it. If the administration wants cooperation, it will have to begin to move in our direction.
“There is no reason we can’t work together to prevent a tax hike on small businesses. There’s no reason we can’t work together on energy independence, cutting spending, or increasing American exports by completing free trade agreements. And we can continue to work together to give our armed forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world whatever they need to accomplish their mission." Mitch McConnell

More info on the Republicans in the US Senate: http://republican.senate.gov/public

And for the policy wonks among us, the Heritage Foundation has suggested their Solutions for America http://www.heritage.org/Research/Projects/Solutions-for-America that summarizes the electoral mandate by the center/right American voters on November 2010.

© 2010, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org

The Best Political Writer

The Best Political Writer…Victor Davis Hanson

In this election season, and as a student of American (conservative) political thought, a must read on a regular basis are columns by Victor Davis Hanson.    Especially this week as he summarized the voter frustration with big government in the Washington and the Obama socialistic presidency.

His insight, wit and historical perspective (in terms of political history) are unique among the political writers of our day.

He is featured on Pajamas Media  http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson

Enjoy!

© 2010, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org   

Endowed by Their Creator

Endowed by Their Creator
What Article 2.1 of the Declaration of Independence actually says:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

What President Obama, in his recent speech to the Hispanic Caucus Institute said:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights: life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office Posted September 15, 2010    [3rd to last paragraph]

So, did the President just skip the critical reference that the Founder’s purposely included as a foundational principle of the Declaration of Independence, or did he purposely eliminate it (and any reference to the Creator) or did he miss the teleprompter? Probably reason number 2, as the full speech and context is posted on the official White House Web site (still up on the web as of 9.23.10).  Words matter.   And the words of the Founding Fathers really matter.   And the omission of words is a choice.   The President made the wrong choice.   And attempted to change what our Founder's said, "by their Creator".  

© 2010, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org

Governor Christie Unleashed

Governor Christie Unleashed

Finally, a governor, willing to be frank, and funny with firm conviction plus a tone of authority.    The mainstream media is being welcomed to the new politics, along the lines of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.    The reporter asked a question designed to trap the governor.   Governor Christie didn’t take the bait.  Instead he went after the reporter in a way that left the voters cheering.  And the folks in the room actually laughing.

It's true: Political media often focus on process and personality over policy, treating substantive and complicated issues as though they were political theater. So when a New Jersey reporter asked Republican Governor Chris Christie about his "confrontational tone," Christie unleashed a tirade on behalf of an entire nation tired of those media habits. The bipartisan consensus is that Christie's blunt response was, to put it simply, awesome.

Max Fisher The Atlantic Wire www.theatlanticwire.com  

Compare this to the President, who hasn’t had a give and take news conference since July 2009.    Instead of the rough and tumble approach taken by the present Governor of New Jersey, Mr. Smooth uses a teleprompter to stay on the sanitized message.     One problem: Mr. Obama is getting less believable by the day.  The American people are asking: What does President Obama really think?   Can he actually answer a blunt and challenging question from the White House press corp?

The President may want some lessons in public candor from Governor Christie.

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

Budget Cuts? 1/4 of penny?

Budget Cuts, Obama Style....

In this video clip  http://www.wimp.com/budgetcuts   the recent announcement by President Obama that Team Obama will cut $100 million from the budget is put into it's true perspective.       Even your kids and grand kids will understand that cutting $100 million from a $3, 500 million budget is really just 1/4 of a penny from $100 dollars of pennies.  When will Washingon really get serious about cutting spending?    When new Congress people, with a fiscally responsible mission, are elected to replace the big government tax and spenders!     At this rate, November 2010 elections cannot come soon enough.

(c) Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media   www.jasperwelch.org  

Spending + Borrowing = Higher Taxes

Spending + Borrowing = Higher Taxes

This week, Kansas Republican Lynn Jenkins gave the GOP response to President Obama’s weekly presidential address:  “The pace that Democrats in Congress and the White House are spending your tax dollars is simply staggering…know a thing or two about handling taxpayer dollars. I was the state treasurer in Kansas for six years before I came to Congress, and before that I practiced public accounting as a certified public accountant for nearly two decades.

So trust me when I say Washington’s books are a mess. 

It’s quickly turning into a symbol of everything wrong with Washington, D.C. – unchecked spending, no accountability and oversight, and more and more debt piled onto our children and grandchildren.

This week, we marked the president’s 100th day in office.  And while, like most of you, I like the president personally, I think the Democrats’ first 100 days running Washington can be summed up in three words: spending, taxing, and borrowing.” http://lynnjenkins.house.gov/

If you have had enough of overspending, taxing and waste in Washington, DC and throughout the Federal government, the next TEA Party Tax day will be Saturday July 4^th, as a TEA Party Day really near you.   With US national debt at $11 Trillion and counting, the TEA party organizers are reporting that 574+ rallies against higher taxes, excess spending and bloated government are planned for July 4^th 2009.  What does TEA stand for?   Taxed Enough Already!   http://www.teapartyday.com/ 

So just how much are US Taxpayers paying, as a percentage of their annual income in Federal taxes?   At the turn of the century, prior to income taxes at the Federal level, the US taxpayer burden was about 5% of gross income.   Tax Freedom Day®, as calculated by the US Tax Foundation  www.taxfoundation.org   occured in late January of the year.   By World War I, the US taxpayer burden was about 10% of gross income.   With the passage of the Individual Income tax and World War II (plus the New Deal), the US taxpayer burden rose to about 25% by the end of WWII.     It remained steady and rose slightly to top 30% by 1969.   It fell slightly during the Regan years (ranged between 29% and 31%), and then peaked again at a post WWII high of 33% at the end of the Clinton era.    The Bush tax cuts eased the US taxpayer burden back down to 29%, before slowly climbing back to 31% prior to the Obama election.     Here is the Tax Freedom Day® detailed history and tax law details: http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr165.pdf

Where did Tax Freedom Day® come from?   It was conceived in 1948 by Florida businessman Dallas Hostetler.  He originated the concept, calculations and copyrighted the intellectual property.  Upon his retirement in 1971, he deeded the intellectual property (IP) to the National Tax Foundation.

So when is National Tax Freedom Day® in 2009?   It occurred on April 13^th.  But if you add the deficit spending accumulated by the US Government (now at $11 Trillion), it will take American taxpayers until about June 1^st to pay for the ongoing and accumulated cost of the US government.

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

 

 

Saving Money the Congressional Way

Saving Money the Congressional Way

As the US Senate wraps up work on their version of the “pork laden” Federal stimulus bill, a group of moderate (aka “big spending”) Republicans and conservative (aka “we spend less than liberals”) Democrats met to recommend cuts on the package.   So what does saving money look like in Congress?

US government proposed spending in Federal Stimulus that was partially cut:

• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)

• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)

• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)

• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)

• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)

• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)

• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)

Source:  www.americanthinker.com   The Mighty Porkulus Oinks Along 2.09.09

For a complete PDF of the Nelson/Collins Stimulus recommendation (that still recommends spending more money than the US house version), go to the Senate Conservative Fund http://senateconservatives.com   and click on the Nelson-Collins Stimulus Summary.   The amounts of pork spending under the guise of creating jobs and jumpstarting the US economy will overwhelm the average common sense US taxpayer.    Or I forgot, less and less Americans actually will pay taxes under the Obama tax plans, so I guess government spending and the resulting taxes don’t impact the average American.   We save the tax increases for the rich!

Most Americans just don’t spend money at all, if they are trying to cut costs and save money.   As for jumpstarting the economy, a focus on tax cuts for small business, reductions in capital gains tax rates for investors and some actual infrastructure projects would go much farther that the “Porkulus Bill” in term of turning the US economy around.      Instead the Democrats in Congress and the new Democrat President are attempting to spend, then borrow, and then increase taxes on the “rich” to pay for their financial boondoggle.  

For more on a conservative free market approach and to see a financial reality check, click through the CATO Institute   www.cato.org/fiscalreality    While the legacy media, main stream Democrats, the left coast and east coast elite are pushing the financially irresponsible Federal Stimulus package, the rest of America is wondering what are these Congressional big spenders are thinking?      It is simple: The majority of the Congress and the President think that big government and massive spending is the answer.     However a majority of Americans do not support the Democrat Federal stimulus package.   Popular support is down at 37% approval, according the Rasmussen Reports    www.rasmussenreports.com      What will the US taxpayers say to their US Congressmen and US Senators when they get home to defend the Porkulus Package?      Time will tell.

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

GOP Takes a Licking at the Polls

GOP Takes a Licking at the Polls

Some straight talk.   The Grand Old Party (GOP) and the Republican brand took a licking at the polls in the November 2008 election.    At the national level, the GOP has lost Congressional seats in the past two elections.   The trend may continue in 2010, unless the Dems overreach the political center from their left leaning majority position in Congress and the Congressional Republicans get back to conservative basics.   The GOP positions during the later Bush years that tolerated bigger government, more spending and open-ended wars played to the Democrats strengths.  Why support Democrat-lite (GOP) when you can vote for the real thing (full-throated Democrats)?

For example, in the past two election cycles Colorado lost both Republican held US Senate seats (Campbell, Allard). These contested open seats were won by Democrats (Salazar, Udall).  And the Governor’s mansion in Colorado is now held by Democrat Governor Bill Ritter.    In New Mexico, the open US Senate seat due to the retirement of the legendary Republican Pete Domenici was picked up the other Udall (Democrat Tom Udall).   And both Republican Congress members from New Mexico (Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce) chose to run for US Senate, thereby leaving their US Congressional seats open, which were lost to Democrat candidates.   So New Mexico, like Colorado has 2 Democrat US Senators, a solid Democrat group of Congressional members (NM has 3 Dems, Colorado is 5 Dems, 2 Reps) and both states have Democrat Governors (Richardson, Ritter).    

Pundits, pollsters and politicos will dissect, deliberate and determine a variety of reasons.   From a campaign perspective at the national level, the GOP ran a traditional political campaign: fire up the Republican base, capture some independents and don’t worry about the Democrats.    The Obama campaign ran as a movement: The traditional Democrat party apparatus was only a part of the coalition.   Like-minded 527’s, complimentary organizations (like ACORN) and interest groups aligned their political resources as a team.    Add to that approach the electronic and web media, a favorable Main Stream Media (advocacy) and countless volunteers, supplemented by a well-organized Obama ground game.  The Presidential election result:  Blue states were even more blue, swings states went blue and some red states swung to the blue electoral result.   Congratulations to President Elect Obama, who was elected along with increased Democrat majorities in the House and Senate.

The Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton? years are finally over.   It is unlikely that a Bush or Clinton will ever serve in the White House again.    So what will we see?   It is likely that the Obama machine plans on running in 2012.   Why not see if the movement can dominate the weakened (and disorganized) Republican Party again?    Meanwhile, the GOP has to regroup, refocus and rebuild.    More of same (fuzzy on conservative principles, lack of out reach to independents, straying from the conservative message) by the GOP will yield a similar result (loosing elections).  

But shouldn’t we as Republicans be more moderate to win the middle?    This may sound like a logical approach, but it the best way to loose an election.   In Colorado, the voter registration is split three ways: Republicans, Unaffiliated and Democrats.     Assuming the party candidate (Democrat or Republican) can maintain their base (and loose the opponents base), the real battle in for the middle.   In a swing state like Colorado, not voter can be taken for granted; most voters will split their ticket; so the quality of the candidate and their campaign matters.    So can a conservative Republican win in a blue state or blue district?    Sure, it is more challenging, but if our approach is to look like a Democrat, then the voters will probably go for the real thing (vote Democrat).   Rather, a principled conservative approach that reaches out to the unaffiliated voter and the conservative leaning Democrat is the winning combination.  More on the common sense conservative approach that gets results (using La Plata County, Colorado example) in an upcoming Four Corners Media post.

© 2008, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org  

Bailout Root Cause: Social Engineering 10.5.08

Now that the US Senate has loaded up the 2008 financial rescue package with additional tax ‘extenders’ and increased the size of the Bill to 441 pages at a price tag of One Trillion dollars, it was the Democrat Majority in the US House who passed the “bail out bill”.    Over the past two weeks the US markets have been volatile, the credit markets hobbled and various experts scrambling to figure out exactly how we got here.    But the historical record is clear, the US Congress, particularly the Democratic members, have had their fingerprints on legislation to advocate a greater government role in housing and related targeted loan guidelines.    In fact, in 1994 Barack Obama (note his long time affiliation with ACORN) sued Citibank under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to legally pressure a leading US Bank to make risky mortgage loans.  (More below)

            Back in 2003, when some Republican members of Congress (who were in the Majority at that time), expressed concern about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Democrats rose to defend the government role in risky loans.  In the words of the esteemed Member of Congress, and chairman of the US House Financial Services committee Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.):   I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities (Freddie & Fannie) that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios . . . .

            Oops!   It looks like Representative Frank was exactly wrong.  For more on what the members of Congress said 5 years ago  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122290574391296381.html

Where did the Congressional fingerprints start?  In the beginning was the word, or in this case legislation passed by the US Congress.   

            During the administration of Jimmy Carter and a Democratically controlled Congress, the Community Reinvestment Act  (CRA) was signed into law in 1977.   This started the ball rolling whereby the government began to require banks to make loans for social engineering purposes.    For more info on the CRA legislation, impact on the housing and mortgage lending in the US, see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act

            So how did community organizers, like Barack Obama, use the CRA as a way to leverage their agenda?  Rush Limbaugh, conservative talk show host, put it this way in his early October 2008 show: "That has provided an opening to radical groups like ACORN ... to abuse the law by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in 'sub prime' loans to often uncreditworthy poor and minority customers.  Any bank that wants to expand or merge with another has to show it has complied with [these community redevelopment things] -- and approval can be held up by complaints filed by groups like ACORN.  In fact, intimidation tactics, public charges of racism and threats to use CRA to block business expansion have enabled ACORN to extract hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and contributions from America's financial institutions."  Think of ACORN as a thousand Jesse Jacksons, in terms of shaking down companies and institutions.  

            In the mid 1990’s, Democratic President Bill Clinton weighed in by expanding the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) roles in the housing marketing.  From the initial elimination red lining in targeted neighborhoods (a practice by banks that was less risky for underwriting but not socially acceptable in liberal circles) set forth in the CRA in 1970’s, the movement in Congress was to ramp up mortgage lending to targeted neighborhoods and populations (lower income, minorities and substandard housing). Social policies of home ownership were pushed onto the banking system using Freddie and Fannie (GSE’s), through lessening of credit standards and pressuring banks through community organizations like Accorn.

Ed Lasky, a blogger with American Thinker www.americanthinker.com  on October 4, 2008 noted:  Nine years ago (1999), Steven Holmes of the New York Times wrote admiringly of the way Bill Clinton and the Democrats could claim credit for "Eas[ing] Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending." It amounts to a map of how Bill Clinton and Democrats created this crisis.

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.  NYT, 1999.

            According to conservative research (see TownHall at www.townhall.com)

and Media Circus www.mediacircus.com) Barack Obama, as a left wing activist attorney sued Citibank under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in 1994.   This lawsuit, which was settled by Citibank, is part of the legal underpinning to force banks to make poor mortgage loans in order to meet CRA requirements   Here is the direct link on the details: www.MediaCircus.com/2008/10/obama-sued-citibank-under-cra-to-force-it-to-make-bad-loans    

            Social justice (ACORN) plus fiscal liberals in Congress equals risky mortgage polices resulting in a US government bailout.  Another experiment in government responsibility superceding personal responsibility, resulting in the Federal government stepping back in with taxpayer dollars (2008 Rescue package passed by Democrat majority House on October 3, 2008) to fix the mess.    And to realize that Barack Obama was one of those who pushed for this social engineering at the taxpayer expense.  No wonder he had a “hands off” approach during the crisis, and preferred to stay on the campaign trail as long as possible, while blaming Wall Street “fat cats” for the mortgage loan crisis.

 

© 2008, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org  

Sarah Palin Connects with America 10.03.08

The Main Stream Media (MSM) doesn’t get it.  While they cannot stand Sarah Palin, the American heartland and working people in the US are liking the Governor from Alaska.  As Sarah Palin stepped onto the national stage for the VP debate, the MSM and her critics warned America that she just wasn’t ready for prime time.  The legacy media, ABC News and CBS News took their turns with pre-debate “interviews” designed to dismiss and cripple Governor Palin as a serious Vice Presidential candidate.   Then the Obama campaign played the “she is a great debater” card, thinking that they could use elevated expectations to diminish her performance.  And Joe Biden, while well prepared and coached, attempted to use his 36 years of experience in the US Senate to overwhelm the American public with his knowledge and unwavering support of Barack Obama.    Governor Palin simply asked Senator Biden if she could call him Joe, and proceeded to speak directly to the American people.    In Governor Palin’s own words: “I may not answer the question the way the moderator or you want, but I’m going to answer and talk straight to the American people.”

Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin http://michellemalkin.com/ headlined her blog:  Sarah Rocks:  Sarah Palin is the real deal. Five weeks on the campaign trail, thrust onto the national stage, she rocked tonight’s debate.  She was warm, fresh, funny, confident, energetic, personable, relentless, and on message. She roasted Obama’s flip-flops on the surge and tea-with-dictators declarations, dinged Biden’s bash-Bush rhetoric, challenged the blame-America defeatism of the Left, and exuded the sunny optimism that energized the base in the first place.

            Meanwhile, back at the legacy media “round table” on CNN on Thursday night, the talking heads spent most of their time trying to explain why Senator Joe Biden won the night, and while attempting to dismiss Governor Palin’s performance.    For the MSM, Sarah Palin is so far outside their “Obama all the time” script, that they miss the obvious: that most Americans in the middle and in the heartland (and Alaska) like Sarah Palin.  CNN’s own poll showed that Palin was more likeable (54%) that Biden (36%).    However their media graphic focused on their biased poll that said Biden did the best job (51%) as compared to Palin (35%).   

            Sarah took the questions as Gwen Ifill (referred to as “Age of Obama” by journalist and media blogger Michele Malkin) served them up to the VP candidates.   Governor Palin used a direct approach, straight forward answers and ability to connect with the TV audience.  This was in contrast to Senator Biden’s left leaning rehearsed lines and Bush-bashing responses.   Sure, Senator Biden’s 35-year history and experince in the US Senate showed in the VP debate.   As a 6-term Washington insider, he should know the topics.   But Governor Palin, in a classic line said, “Say it ain’t, Joe!” You did it again. Looking backwards again!   Sarah Palin was alive, ready to go and gave the senior Senator from Delaware all that he could handle.

            My guess is that the Obama campaign is desperately trying to spin the VP debate as a win.  The MSM is doing all they can to help.  Meanwhile, the American people are wondering, “Why is this Alaskan Governor causing such heartburn and angst with the MSM, the Washington elite and Hollywood left?”  What a difference straight talk to the American people can make.    Harry Truman and Ronald Regan demonstrated that.  While Sarah Palin is only the #2 on the ticket, her support could make the difference for John McCain this race for President.

© 2008, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media     www.jasperwelch.org