you broke it, you bought it

English: Protesters standing near the United States Capitol during the Taxpayer March on Washington. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“We want to fix it!” is the new outcry from Democrats that finally are beginning to admit that Obamacare is a real disaster. “Those nasty Republican’s don’t have a plan and don’t want to fix it” they claim. That’s all well and good except for a couple of things. The Republicans voted 100% against Obamacare and have pointed out since the beginning all of the issues the country is now facing: of increased costs, loss of jobs, loss of quality, and loss of our doctors and preferred insurance plans. No, the Republicans don’t have any obligation to fix this mess, so don’t lay that on them.

This Obamacare disaster is owned by the Democrats. This is their signature plan. They pushed it through by hook and crook, over the unanimous objection of the Republicans. When the Senate Republicans tried to vote to fix the regulations so that the President would keep his promise of citizens being able to keep our doctors and plans, the Democrats voted against that 100%. So, they own this, lock stock and barrel and don’t let them say anything other than to admit that they lied and misled and botched this up good.

And fixing this is a fool’s errand. There is no way to fix Obamacare. It is only going to get worse each year as the delayed aspects kick in more will lose their plans and doctors and costs will continue to increase, and the cost to the economy and taxpayers will increase. If the Democrats really wanted to fix Obamacare, they would agree to repeal it as soon as possible before it cancels more policies and does any more harm to hard working Americans. They would listen to the people crying out that have lost their policies, and lost their doctors. People are dying because of this. Is it out of arrogance? Is it because they don’t care? Do they care more about big government and statism, than the little people that get crushed under the boot of tyranny? I wonder.

Whatever you do, don’t let them try to fix it. The people that voted for this without reading it. That implemented it without worrying about the consequences and without understanding the complexity of insurance. That spent more than half a billion on a web site that still doesn’t fully work. These people can’t be trusted to fix anything. They are beyond incompetent.  They are dangerous. They need to be voted out and sent home. Let them try to get a real job in this economy. Let them try to start a small business and deal with all the regulations and red-tape and costs. Let them experience first hand, with the rest of us, what they have wrought.

a perfect storm?

Great Depression Food Line (Photo credit: Kevin Burkett)

Dark storm clouds are on the horizon and the winds are picking up, but no one seems to be aware of what is coming our way. Combine all of the following and what do we get?

• Federal Debt is now 17 Trillion with no real prospects for any serious reductions of spending in the future since the Democrats only want to increase taxes and continue to increase spending
• Federal Reserve has pumped the money supply to unprecedented levels and continues to play shell games with our economic system
• ObamaCare fiasco will push more people off their current insurance, increase ranks of medicaid users, decrease supply of Doctors and Nurses, increase costs dramatically, decrease quality of health care, and add to federal deficit
• Economy continues to limp with unemployment setting new records for longest lack of recovery since the Great Depression and with increasing numbers giving up even looking for a job
• Democrat Party has moved far to left and will not negotiate. Their leaders claim that we don’t have a spending problem and continue to push for more and more tax increases.
• Republican Party is led by wimps who capitulate to the big spenders, so it is likely that deficit spending will continue indefinitely.
• for first time in U.S history more people are getting some support from the government than have full time jobs
• despite Obama’s continuing efforts to redistribute wealth, the rich continue to get richer and the middle class is getting crushed
• Half of the country wants bigger government, while the other half understands that we are on an unsustainable path. Unfortunately, most of the country continues to want their benefits and are not willing to face the hard choices ahead.

So, where do we go from here? Our politicians lie to us and cannot tackle the important issues because enough of us don’t want them to. As a result, I fear all of these things are going to combine into a perfect storm, an economic collapse unlike any that we have ever experienced in this country.  I only hope that I am wrong.

reading between the lines of the 14th Amendment

Stock Photo of the Consitution of the United States and Feather Quill (Photo credit: Rosie O’Beirne)

Okay, several times today, I’ve heard multiple people in person, on radio and on TV, say that the President can legally just ignore the debt limit imposed by Congress because of the 14th Amendment. I didn’t remember reading anything like that, so I decided to check it again, myself. Here are the words of Section 4 and Section 5 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

Section 4.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Okay the second line of Section 4 was about the debt incurred by the South during the Civil War. That doesn’t say anything like the President can ignore Section 5 and the power of Congress to enforce article 14. The first line of Section 4 just says that the validity of our debt shall not be questioned. That doesn’t say anything about it either. I know some people like to read between the lines, but come on. Putting aside that fact, that reaching a debt ceiling doesn’t do anything to invalidate the debt, and contrary to what President Obama has stated recently, it doesn’t do anything to keep the government from servicing the debt.

The government can continue to service the debt regardless of the debt ceiling, at least until we reach the point where servicing our debt takes all of the government revenues. Yes, I will admit that it seems that this President and Democrat controlled Senate are bound and determined to do exactly that someday.  Since they refuse to decrease the rate of growth by even small amounts like in the sequestor, let alone actually cut, the federal debt. However, that day hasn’t come, yet.  If the Tea Party is successful and it isn’t already too late, that day may never come.

Despite the wreckless and unprecedented increase in the money supply, the Fed has managed, so far, to artificially hold down inflation. I fear that some stuff just hasn’t hit the fan yet, but it is coming someday.  At which point, the cost of servicing our debt could quickly grow perhaps to the point of no return.  Until, then, to those who think the 14th Amendment gives the President some magical power to consult with the Supreme Court and to ignore Congress. I’d appreciate if they show me which section and which line they are referring to. Because either my copy of the Constitution is missing some important lines or they are are reading something that just isn’t there and never was.

make it so, or maybe not

President Obama Announces Osama Bin Laden’s Death – 86600021-EndofApril_BeginningofMay_1200 (Photo credit: Phillip Stearns)

Benghazi represents a litany of mistakes and failures by our government at multiple levels.  So many questions are going to be left unanswered until the next Administration, I suppose. For example, how in the world did the State Department totally fail to provide the appropriate level of protection of our embassy and staff in Libya on that day of all days? What were they thinking and why hasn’t someone been fired for that?

The failure that really bothers me, though, is the total failure of leadership.  Which is underscored by the fact that we still do not know exactly what did, or didn’t happen, in the White House that tragic night. President Obama told us, later, that he gave the order to do whatever it takes to help his Ambassador. After which, we don’t know exactly what the President did, if anything. I guess he slept and prepared for his campaign trip the next day.

Regardless, one would assume that sometime the next morning someone would have to give the President the bad news of the death of his Ambassador and of three others. At which point, he would also find out that no action was taken to help them and that in fact orders were given to stand down. At that point, if I were the President, I would be very upset because I had given orders that were not obeyed. I would want explanations and, very likely, heads would roll. Figuratively, of course.

But that didn’t happen, President Obama has all but claimed that he has no idea what happened. No one has been held to blame. The President seems somehow inexplicably unaware that someone on his staff, perhaps the Secretary of Defense or in the military, disobeyed a direct order. This just doesn’t add up. The only possible explanation that I can think of is that, in fact, President Obama did not give any such order. Instead he ordered them to do nothing and have the military stand down. Then he went off, leaving the military, the departments of Defense and State to watch hours and hours of people calling for help and backup that never came. If I were him, I would want to cover that up, too.

don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for xyz

Old bumper stickers (Photo credit: Texas.713)

“Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for XYZ”,  is a popular bumper sticker in America. Sadly, we have no one but ourselves to blame, because in this country, we get the government we vote for and deserve.  I didn’t vote for Obama when he ran for President, although I preferred him over Hillary.  After all, Obama had less executive experience than the Republican Vice President candidate, Palin. He also had a rather non-distinctive and short career as a Senator with the most left-leaning voting record.   It was a little hard for me to understand why anybody voted for him, except that I didn’t like McCain either.

I don’t blame President Obama for turning out to be a sadly incompetent executive or for him focusing on trying to socialize the country and redistribute the wealth rather than actually improving our economic situation.  Based upon his record, that was to be expected and for two years he had both houses of congress and could really do whatever he liked.  So, he ignored the economy after his big stimulus and instead focused on Health Care.  However, I admit that I am a little shocked at the total lack of transparency and level of crony capitalism and corruption of this administration.  Aren’t you?

Still, after Obama was first elected, I had some hope that I was wrong about him.  He had promised to cut the deficit in half, after all.  I remember watching as the stock market fell and fell after his election as my fears for the future grew.  However, I continued to have some hope up until the stimulus package was passed, wasting nearly 800 billion dollars.  That was when I began to lose hope for this President to succeed and for our fiscal future.  And sadly, I was right.  His first term was a dismal failure.

On the other hand, I also didn’t like the alternative choice: big government, Rhino Republican, McCain and, sadly, the Libertarian candidate had no chance of victory.  I actually voted against McCain in the primary even though by the time we got to vote in California, there was no hope of stopping him and no alternative left on the Republican ticket that I wanted to vote for.  In fact, Sarah Palin‘s exciting speech at the Republican Convention was the only thing that gave me any impetus to even try and vote that year.

Of course, it is important to vote.  However, it is really disheartening when the major two party choices are both big government statists.  The choices become “tax and spend” versus “borrow and spend”.  “Grow the government a lot” versus “grow the government a little less”. And sadly, the system is constructed so that other parties don’t really have any chance.  The Libertarian party, like the Green party and others, didn’t even get to participate in the national debates.

Sometimes, I wish that our representatives were simply selected from the public at random.  And that government service was a duty, kind of like jury duty.  I don’t think random idiots pulled from the street could do any worse than our elected representatives, and perhaps they would actually care about the country and our future.  Perhaps, when they were sworn to protect and defend the constitution, they might actually take their duties seriously.  I certainly do every time I have been called in for jury duty. Of course, that’s not going to happen, so in the meantime, don’t blame me.  I didn’t vote for any of these people currently looting our future and driving our country to bankruptcy.  Did you?

Obama first term legacy

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At the end of President Obama’s first term, we can now begin to appreciate the legacy of the first four years of his historical administration.

Domestic Policy Achievements

• largest stimulus program in U.S. history which failed to meet promises of projected unemployment and included “shovel ready” jobs that turned out to not be so “shovel ready”
• largest increase to national debt in just four years of all Presidents in history
• first credit downgrade in U.S. history
• largest quantitative easing policy (money printing) in U.S history which fails to improve unemployment
• longest jobless recovery after a recession in modern history
• employment growth level sets new post WWII low
• federal welfare spending grows by 32%
• bypassed bankruptcy law in dealing with GM to give favor to labor union supporters
• without any bipartisan support, passed a health care law that will increase costs, will increase taxes and deficits, will not preserve existing insurance and will decrease quality of care for all Americans
• administration includes the first Attorney General to be held in contempt of congress
• the first President to ever have his budget proposal submission rejected unanimously by both the House and Senate, especially when the Senate, which also rejected his budgets unanimously two years in a row, was controlled by his own party
• failed to achieve major campaign promises to cut deficit in half, to close Guantanamo Bay, to fix the economy, and to increase transparency of government

Foreign Policy Achievements

• first ambassador killed in line of duty since 1979, others also killed while President failed to send in military rescue or backup
• first President to win Nobel Peace Prize during his first year in office (and perhaps the first person to win the prize with no actual substantial peace accomplishments to his credit)
• ATF scandal over a botched gunwalking effort against drug cartels in Mexico, resulting in hundreds of deaths including a U.S. Border Patrol agent
• failed to support critical popular uprising in Iran
• failed to achieve any goals in the “good war” in Afghanistan, but continued the loss of life
• made no significant progress in keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons or North Korea from advancing their missile technology and continuing their efforts at proliferation
• stood by, while popular uprising toppled governments in middle east, resulting in an ally like Egypt falling into hands of Muslim brotherhood
• directed Seal Team Six to kill Bin Laden, but failed to discourage spread of Al Qaeda all over the world
• increased distrust of America abroad with drone strikes in non-war zones, against non-combatants and without due process
• no major treaties signed and confirmed by Senate