Yesterday I started a post with “Dude….seriously?” when I wrote about Obama being his narcissistic self. I could most definitely start this one with the same exclamation.
Faced with mounting national opposition to his party’s platform, the president reminded voters the real reason the trillion-dollar stimulus package still hasn’t reduced unemployment to 8 percent as promised: Bush did it, and it’ll take a lot of time to undo it.
“The country cannot return to the “dereliction of duty that helped deliver this recession,” Obama said. He added that the previous administration’s role in the economic meltdown was the “real outrage.”
Recall Jake Tapper asking the White House mouthpiece…isn’t it time for Obama to man-up and quite whining: Read the rest of this entry »
There’s something inherently sleazy and suspicious about an WH administration mouthpiece that unequivocally states that Toyota owners should simply “stop driving” their cars until they’ve taken them to a dealership. In the wake of such an unprecedented fear mongering campaign, the mud slinging began, and within days, Transportation Sec’y Ray LaHood, was softening his harsh blow.
But the Chicago thuggery style of this WH is abundantly clear when LaHood also revealed that the reason Toyota halted manufacturing and commenced the massive recall was at the insistence of the Obama administration.
Much seems to be overblown considering that the gas pedal sticking has occurred in fewer than 300 vehicles. Or, per an IBD op-ed, “Out of 1.8 million cars manufactured each year in the U.S., Toyota has 100 complaints, a handful of injuries, and in two cases deaths are alleged.”
In fact, the sudden acceleration events in both Toyota and Lexus models in the past decade resulted in 815 crashes since 1999… eleven years, averaged out at 74 annual events. Two resulted in fatalities. Of the 2000 complaints received in the same time, only five percent – or 100 of them – were attributed to gas pedals potentially sticking.
What’s more, NHTSA has conducted eight investigations into Toyota accelerator problems in the last seven years. None have been found to be a faulty sticking pedal as the cause.
“The way the sudden-acceleration problems are occurring in reported incidents doesn’t comport with how this sticky pedal is described,” said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, a Rehoboth, Mass., auto safety consulting firm. “We know this recall is a red herring.”
Global warming fanatics have an unwelcome new ally: Osama bin Laden. Unlike enviro-leftists, the terror master recognizes that the green agenda can cripple the U.S. economy.
In the Obama worldview, fighting climate change will “finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.” In the Osama worldview, it will “bring the wheels of the American economy” to a halt.
The president spoke those words to Congress last week during his State of the Union message; the head of al-Qaida was delivering his latest rant for broadcast to his followers.
The president and the Democrats running Congress fail to see the dangers that environmentalist extremism poses to the U.S. But bin Laden has concluded it is a powerful weapon that can destroy us.
Comedy gold. First we have David Shuster, the shill for all things liberal and scummy, inviting Andrew Breitbart onto MSNBC to discuss the O’Keefe story where Brietbart got Shuster to retract his allegations of wiretapping:
As soon as Breitbart forced Shuster into a corner by reading Shusters’s obviously biased tweets Shuster would not let Breitbart have any airtime, instead he continued to talk over him and lamely tried to change the subject. Andrew later re-printed the email Shuster sent to him alleging that he had “no horse in this race.” An obvious lie based on his tweets. Read the rest of this entry »
He already wanted to tax the banks for having the temerity to turn a profit with the bailout money (wasn’t that the point, to get the banks into the black again?), so the new plan to break up the banks is not different in kind. What IS different is the atmospherics.
The move, immediately after Obama’s election defeat in Massachusetts, seems to have been very sudden, catching even his closest allies by surprise. With no warning, the previously “indispensable” Timmy-boy Geithner was cast aside in favor of the Depression-era nostrums of Paul Volker. Obama didn’t even take the time to get the Congressmen who stood with him at the announcement on board:
Mr Obama’s more populist tack on Wall Street re-regulation failed to attract endorsement from Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, even though he was present when Mr Obama made the announcement.
American taxpayers should not read anything into today’s stock market supposed reactions to the President’s verbal and policy attacks on banks. Markets have little to do with realities of the broader world and its economics. The Presidential attacks, however, should be very troubling to taxpayers for more profound reasons.
Obama is vociferously attacking “risk taking,” that very human characteristic at the heart of America’s success. Observing his address, it is evidently something he doesn’t have a good grasp of. It is also very, very obvious that the President does not understand business, or economics, even at their simplest denominations. The economy and its future progress is very dependent on risk taking.
This post has written repeatedly against the abuse by Wall Street, and has called for the re-instatement of “the Glass-Steagall Act (except as it pertains to the Fed) that was for the most part repealed in 1999 eliminating the restrictions of affiliations between banks and “investment banks,” … and don’t listen to any bankers who tell you different with stories about diversification reducing risk, or banks being completely capable of regulating themselves.” There is no need for knight-on-horse-saving-the-day-grandstanding. Congress should restore the act, but in the meantime, we can sit back and enjoy the theatre as the President shows us how to distinguish market making from proprietary trading within the banks. Read the rest of this entry »
The Nantucket Massachusetts Cape Wind plans to built the first U.S. offshore wind park are blowing some toxic waste to the surface of the broad zeal to create “green” industries. These toxins are not of the materially harmful kind, but consist of all the pretensions at the core of too much human self-indulgence floating around the quagmire of the green energy movement.
The planned 130 wind turbine forest covering 24 sq. miles, which is intended to become a symbol of alternative energy on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, could also become an enormous subsidy magnet, sucking $731 million from taxpayers, before any long term costs are estimated. The “money” in such projects is in “building” these blights on the landscape, and then heading out of town because they have historically never proven to either work or be comparatively efficient when measured against other energy sources. Nevertheless, the irony of the Cape Wind debate rests in the reaction it has received from the wealthier Massachusetts residents, lead by the Kennedy family.
After the recent push from the White House and Congressional Democrats for Cap and Trade legislation, and for a Copenhagen Agreement, it is ironic that the Kennedy clan and its Massachusetts friends are campaigning against the Cape Wind project. It seems, quite justifiably, that the blue bloods don’t want any unsightly giant wind turbines disturbing their idyllic paradise, and would rather not have them distract from the expansive views visible from their oceanfront weekend mansions. The farm would be visible from Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. They are using the obviously suspect rationalizations for their dissenting views, including the concern for wildlife, and the danger to air and sea navigation. They would evidently be much happier if the windmills disadvantaged some other corner of the population, even as they profess support for them generally. Read the rest of this entry »
The average taxpayer has absolutely no comprehension of the national debt at any amount. It was previously around 11 trillion, give or take a few billion, and now its projected at 13 trillion if National Health Care is rammed through.
The politicians have put it out out of sight out of mind for the average gent because there is no feeling personal obligation in the comprehension of the debt.
Nevertheless, those taxpayers who struggle to send in their taxes quarterly, etc, say $2000 per quarter, certainly have a personal stake when they write the check but certainly it becomes non-personal and simply an accounting figure for the government. Nevertheless, it may make it a little harder for a family of four to get by.
On the other hand, let me give another example: Clinton did away with welfare, didn’t he? Saved us a TON, didn’t it? Yeah! Well, I got news for you. My friend manages Section 8 homes. He has one with a ’single African American mom,’ poor thing, who has FOUR children all by different fathers. For this, she gets MONTHLY from the government, $1600 in housing allowance, $600 food stipulation, and $600 utility allowance. $2800 a month free. She drives a late model black Chevy Suburban. Does not work. Aren’t we Americans generous?
The interest on the debt at 11 trillion is 26 billion million. Per Month. That’s over 300 billion a year that goes to our creditors, even though the debt is created by the Federal Government. It goes to places, like China , and other creditors instead of the common good of this country. The governments attitude is that, so what, it’s just money. Is this sustainable? Honestly now… Read the rest of this entry »
Obama’s systematic destruction of the
US job market and affordable energy.
It was only in the past week that the less than “stimulating” news from the Dec 2009 unemployment report hit the news. Economists are warning those numbers, when revised by the benchmark revision this month, will be even more startling.
From CEPR’s Dean Baker:
“The economy lost another 85,000 jobs in December, driven by continued job losses in construction and manufacturing. While the current data still show a 378,000 job gain for the decade, these numbers will be lowered by approximately 824,000 when the benchmark revision is incorporated into the data with the release of the January employment report. The data show a decline in private sector jobs of 1,549,000 for the decade. The benchmark revision will increase the private sector job loss for the decade to more than 2.4 million….. The employment to population (EPOP) ratio fell by 0.3 percent to 58.2 percent, the lowest level in more than a quarter century.
Economic Policy Institute’s Heidi Shierholz says the unemployment would have risen to 10.4% if the 661,000 workers were counted instead of being considered a labor force decline. 40% of all are unemployed for more than six months, and the average re’employment time… for those that don’t just give up… is over 20 months.
The Feb 17th passage of the ARRA was designed specifically to “stimulate” the job growth and funnel them to “shovel ready” projects. According to the 12/31/09 update on Recovery.gov…, $68.5 billion ( a quarter of the allocated $275 billion) has been funded for grants, contracts and loans. Additionally 42% of the $224 billion for entitlements had been funded.
I think we can safely conclude that 10 months and 24 days after enactment, and after disbursement of 1/3 of all ARRA funds, the “stimulus” is considerably less stimulating than advertised. After this most recent BLS report, apparently the POTUS and one of his spending cohorts in chief, Speaker Pelosi, concur.
I’m certainly no financial expert, and there’s plenty of opinions from such self-proclaimed, brilliant minds. But, I’m not sure they’re as important as what the average person is thinking about the economy. We are the people who matter the most when it comes to fueling the economy, and I wonder what other people are thinking 2010 is going to be like? Looking at the very clear charts in this post, it seems to me that unemployment is starting to level off at a bottom of about 11-12% in the next few months.
However, I don’t see how the economy as a whole can return to firing on all cylinders with consumer spending down. The wages to inflation ratio is all off, and people just aren’t spending like they did in the recovery phase of other recessions. I also don’t see what new boom is gonna be a driving factor: junk bonds, dot-com/internet, housing, these things came and went, but after each there was a recession, then a new boom to fuel the recovery. Does anyone see a new multi-trillion dollar boom or bubble on the horizon? I don’t. Lastly, I don’t see how the end of the Bush tax cuts, lots of tiny new Obama era taxes, and possibly more taxes on businesses ala cap-n-trade+healthcare will all make it MORE lucrative for businesses to hire and invest, and spend/buy? Put another way: why would a guy who runs a small machine shop buy new equipment and/or hire new machinists if he has less money because of new taxes?
Please, I am inviting/challenging all to post what they think 2010 will look like economically. Will things get better, stay static, or get worse? When? How? Why?
Nonfarm payroll employment edged down (-85,000) in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 10.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, while temporary help services and health care added jobs.
In December, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, were unchanged. At the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.7 million, and the unemployment rate was 5.0 percent. …
Total nonfarm payroll employment edged down in December (-85,000). Job losses continued in construction, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, while temporary help services and health care continued to add jobs. During 2009, monthly job losses moderated substantially. Employment losses in the first quarter of 2009 averaged 691,000 per month, compared with an average loss of 69,000 per month in the fourth quarter.
How can history be an accurate record when the elusive present is being recorded as wild distortions of reality? The mainstream media’s (MSM) record of the White House, which it reflects onto the American perspective, as well as it’s flaccid ruminations on the Obama Administration, commemorate Napoleon’s, “history is the invention of historians.” Obama is failing in his duty to country, and the MSM refuses to acknowledge the evidence.
The word history comes to us from the Greek word historia, which means knowledge acquired by investigation. The White House press corps is the supreme example of the current Fourth Estate’s inability to analyze, question or investigate as it panders to a President who was given a mandate to affect change in Washington. History is being distorted as it is being written.
The expectations of the taxpayers have not materialized, and anticipations have given way to disappointments, yet the MSM cannot bring itself to raise any serious questions. It’s not as if opportunities to question don’t exist. Obama has given a speech each and every working day of every week of his administration. Research should prove that no President in history will have made as many speeches, yet the Nation is stuck in anticipation of substance.
The latest sampling of this President’s systemic tepid engagement in his job as America’s CEO, came in the form of an unenthusiastic tropical response to the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253. Evidently the managerial capacities required to direct an administration were not part of the Obama tool-set when he moved into the White House. The blight from the dearth of experience, and the entrenched ideology in his Cabinet and czar brigade, has been unveiling endless failings from the outset, and yet, Obama can’t dismiss the likes of incompetents such as Napolitano. Admitting a mistake of posting would be a sign of confidence, rather than one of insecurity. Read the rest of this entry »
At the heart of our economic crash was the housing bubble. Conversely, any economic recovery requires a healing and improving housing market. There’s been a lot of rosy talk making the rounds about the housing “recovery” of late. The National Association of Realtors and many economists were just shy of ecstatic about November’s existing home sales numbers, thanks largely to the original deadline for the First Time Homebuyer’s $8K tax credit. But that happy bubble deflated somewhat on Christmas Eve when the US Commerce Dept surprised analysts when they released the seasonally adjusted figure of 355,000 new home sales, down over 11% from October’s figures.
Despite all the feel good reporting coming from govt mouthpieces and a willing media, a simultaneous event to the readjusted figures, *not* being splashed across MSM headlines, indicate the Obama WH, his omnipotent Treasury guru, Tim Geithner, and Fed Reserve powerhouse Ben Bernanke are privately not so convinced of their own talking points about a housing recovery.
The near term future of housing cannot be discerned by the trends of a few months… especially when the positives are directly traced to a housing industry supported by the federal taxpayers – holding up not only the banks, but the ever increasing in size mortgage giant FHA and Ginnie Mae.
“If a project doesn’t support our troops, we will not fund it. If a system doesn’t perform, we will terminate it. And if Congress sends me a defense bill loaded with that kind of pork, I will veto it”
-President Obama, Aug 17, 2009, VFW speech
