Believe me, while I have rested my keyboard-weary fingers for a few months, my mind has been going full-speed-ahead.  I have watched my stock portfolio take a hit that is reminiscent of 2008 (I cringed when I got my statement today), Congress has proven yet again their unworthiness to govern and President Obama  has demonstrated to all sensible  Americans that he is  as American born and Christian as the next   (only attends church on Easter and for funerals).  The economy is souring with unemployment still (20 months into this recession) the #1 problem.

But wait, there is more.  Iraq is no longer a combat zone for Americans (pity the poor Iraqii’s though), Afghanistan is ballooning into a Vietnam and a Korea all balled up into one awful nightmare, and the Mid-East situation is no better at all (despite the opening of Obama’s direct talks with Palestinians and Israelis) as the threat of Iranian nukes hovers ominously.

Hold on!  If you keep on reading you will get even more from CapitalistMarks in the coming days.  Health care reform is proving to be the opposite of the wonderful promises made  (Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Utah has cancelled my policy and forced me to take another with significantly less coverage/benefits coupled with added costs that could easily be in the tens of thousands of $$ each year).  I am told there are a bunch more like me out there that won’t be helped at all until at least 2014 when the new Obamacare/Democratcare plan kicks in.  Health care costs will continue soaring, and health insurance companies profits will bollow in lockstep.  But will I (others) live until 2014 with reduced coverage and costs that exceed average American family incomes?

Bailout spending?  Sure a few big banks have survived and some large Corporations  too . . . but only to the benefit of the CEOs and a few of their croonies . . . surely not you and I . . . the employees,  ‘head-shaking’ shareholders or the stunned taxpayers.

Stimulus?  Cost billions more than we were told originally and now Obama and his minions are talking about adding a few dozen more billions.  And, the Federal Reserve is out of arrows with interest rates at zero (of course they have quantitative easing left . . . but the Fed buying up government notes will add to the already enormous deficit).

Fiscal Policy?  Don’t look for any help in an election year.  Everyone in the country knows that the tax system needs to be reinvented.  But, don’t expect any politicians to offer  any credible solutions that would cost any votes.

Remember the old sage who said (roughly) ‘when 51% of the poor decide they want to live off the honest earnings of the other 49% then democracy will fail.’   Well, Obama’s democratic solutions of socialism at it’s worst are beginning to make that a possibility.  Wouldn’t it be something if he really is a Muslim or Communist ’sleeper’ who ends America’s greatness by destroying our economic/political system with old fashioned Marxist policies?  NOTE:  I do not believe this . . . but I can see why some bloggers are going conspiracy theory on us.

China?  Passed Germany as the #2 economy in the world and is only 30 or so more years of double digit GDP growth from passing the U.S.  Oh, yeah, don’t forget their military is growing faster and more aggressively than any other in the world, nor their efforts to grab natural resources from the rest of the world for their own good (sounds pretty capitalist to me).  Note that the ‘rare earth’ minerals used in so many high-tech products are produced primarily in China’s two mining/mineral centers, and that the costs of these crucial minerals have gone up over 1000% (yep, one thousand) in the last 10 years or so.

Iran?  I can’t even bear to talk about it.  Ahmadinejad is nuts!

Venezuela?  Run by a lunatic dictator who makes Castro (in his old days) seem like a kindergarten recess monitor.

Housing?  Millions of homes in foreclosure and the banks still won’t bend over to help anyone despite federal laws requiring them to do so  (wait until those very real writeoffs hit the books!).

Unemployment?  Some estimates put actual #’s as high as 20+% when underemployed and work-force abandoners are included but regardless there are at least 25 million Americans who want good full-time jobs and don’t have them.

Global warming?  Only the HOTTEST summer in history for our northern hemisphere.

I could go on but my moist, fearfuk and warm tears are clouding my eyes too much.

All I can say is it behooves you to stay tuned to this channel.

I will tell it like it is–give my answers to tough questions–offer solutions where needed.  I will be right-on most of the time and never wavering in pursuit of truth and justice.

But,remember this always:  the single biggest problem America has today is professional politicians.  They call D.C. home and they love living there and partaking of their un-American perks and benefits.  The new byword is ‘if you don’t like their perks, get rid of the jerks.’

Do NOT vote for incumbents . . . we need citizen leaders who leave their real lives to serve for 4-8 years and then go back to those same lives.  Guys like you and I who can listen to both sides consider the alternatives and decide what is really best for our country.   Our founding fathers intended it.  We really have to now.  Oh, and eliminate the guaranteed jobs, golden retirements and benefits for congress and government employees.  Make them live like the rest of us . . . they won’t want to stick around more than they are welcome if we can push that through.

I hope you will join me at the polls in November to oust the greedy, self-serving ‘pros’ and vote in our neighbors and friends who will do an honest job (particularly those who promise to go home after one or two terms).

I will post when impressed to do so and not just in order to get another word in.  You can count on that.  Also, due to some continuing health issues, I may not post as regularly as I would like.  I promise though, every post will be important, current, relevant and helpful.

While the accusations that were swirling around are serious, much of what is currently happening is pure political theater.

As an example take the Congressmen from Kentucky.  I don’t remember his name and it is not important, but his district is.  A district that is the North American headquarters for Toyota’s operations.  A district with thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of voters who either work directly for, or owe their job to the Toyota factory there.

While other Congressmen complained and threatened, this particular one spent his entire 5 minutes (the time alloted to each committee member) reading a lengthy document praising Toyota, their history, job creation impact and products (all more blatant than any SuperBowl ads).  It was such an obvious and ridiculous statement that all that Mr. Toyoda (I guess when they started doing business here they figured we couldn’t pronounce the name with a ‘D’) could do at then end was stare wide-eyed.

Politics.  The very word is beginning to disgust Americans.  Sure Toyota may have come culpability here but a recent study showed that the # of complaints by Toyota owners is substantially lower (per 100,000 vehicles) than for other major makers (including GM and Ford).

Nothing like a little product scare to bring out the thespians in congress.

Yet, tomorrow is an even greater stage.  Obama’s broadcast of open and honest ‘negotiations’ by democrats and republicans on the health care issue.  I suspect that this will turn into political theater too, but it would be nice if the Repubs would actually bring some legitimate ideas to the table (tort reform, true interstate competition) and then the dems would actually listen.

Don’t hold your breath . . . I think this issue is DOA.

I drive a Toyota and I am a lot more worried about what our legislators are going to do than I am about crashing into a telephone pole while behind the wheel of my wife’s Avalon.  I figure I will die a lot sooner from lack of decent and affordable health care if they don’t act.  So yeah I am worried.

You should be too.

Did I mention term limits?

Thanks to flickr’s hryck for the photo

We all know that Senator Kennedy was considered an icon . . . bigger than life and all that.  His stated goal for the last few decades has been to reform health care and that goal, which seemed so ‘given’ in the last month or so, is now in doubt.

The lowdown is this:  if the republican candidate, Scott Brown, wins then the entire balance of power in the Senate will change dramatically.

Obama’s entire economic/political strategy would have to change and he is getting worried.  He even went to Boston to push the dems to get out the vote.

you see, the democratic candidate, Martha Coakley, had a big lead until recently and there was no real issue other than the coming special election.

However, now that Scott Brown has stumped the polling specialists and pulled into a marginal lead the whole economic and political future is at stake.

If Brown is elected the dems will lose the critical 60 seat super-majority in the senate that made their idealogical dreams safe from a republican filibuster.

HELLO!

Yep, the dems much touted health care bill may be headed for the garbage heap of failed health care reform.  Sure, they are trying to put together a strategy that will avoid this by getting the House dems to just accept the Senate bill and send it to the President.  Then Obama could just sign it into law.  Game. Set. Match.  Ouch!

Ah, hemmm.  If a republican takes over the Kennedy senate seat an alarm will go out in Washington.  Dems have held the seat since the ’70’s.  A republican?

Shoot, all the dems in the House and the Senate will be scared . . . too scared to vote for a partisan health care bill that will be the primary reason for the (potential for now) change in Kennedy’s relm.

You mean they might even have to consider tort reform (doc’s paid $8 bill. in premiums last year)?  Or national competition for insurance companies?  Hck yeah!

What do I want?  The republican to win.  You should to.

A super-majority is dangerous.  The need for reasonable ‘across-the-aisle’ debate is out the window.  Whoever is in charge in such a case has an unhealthy (for Americans) control of developing legislation.

A change in Mass. politics would be good.  For everybody.

Would it kill the important health care legislation?

I really hope not because we need real change in this regard.  All the dems would have to do is start taking into account the opinions of others (including the angry electorate that want more effective health cost controls and not just ‘income transfers’ from the rich).

We can hope.

Tomorrow’s election will be real interesting.  I will be up late watching for the final returns.

Go change go!  Go change go!

thanks to david reece for the photo from flickr

But . . .

Some of these guys are NUTS and give hateful and ignorant speeches.  And America provides this forum.  Something is wrong with this picture.

I don’t know where Gadhafi and Ahmadinejad come up with their ideas.  I know that at least Ahmadinejad has a real education (Ph.d. in traffic management — well qualified to run a country heh?).  Others have less than a highschool degree.  Gadhafi, probably the national leader with the LEAST to contribute in this international forum, went on for ONE AND ONE HALF HOURS today.  I listened to part of this (on various news channels) and found nothing worthwhile, intelligent, or even realistic in his rambling and boring diatribe against western culture.

I just don’t get why we let this UN anti-American agenda go on in New York for crying out loud.

Many of the leaders are dictators, at best, and tyrants or worse in reality.  They do not represent their people (at least I hope not).  Those who speak who are elected in legitimate democratic countries generally have more intelligent and worthwhile speeches.  Those with less legitimate claim to leadership are usually paranoid idiots.

So, why do WE permit the dredges of the world’s leaders to get so much time (or any at all) in this forum that grants them TV and radio coverage throughout the world?

Why do WE allow UN diplomats to run up thousands of $ in traffic or parking tickets?  Why are they immune from civil or criminal prosecution while they are on our soil?  Why do we allow a killer (Gadhafi — as an accessory at least and probably directly if we were to know the facts) to erect his stupid and egotistical ‘tent’ anywhere on our soil?

The U.S. — the primary funder of UN operations for decades — has little or no real impact in the UN general assembly.  Small, insignificant and/or dictatorial nations have a completely unbalanced and far to significant impact instead and they contribute almost nothing to the budget.

If the UN is to continue there has to be someway to balance the status, population and contribution of the larger nations to UN decisions.

If I get a vote I would suggest we let the UN move to some other country and turn their campus into something worthwhile like an international University.  The money we spend on the UN and ancillary services (our regular assessment for UN operations is $425 million a year — but the cost to New York and the federal government for the hidden costs of having the UN here is probably twice that) to support operations and ‘bail out’ the diplomats that are part of it could be better spent elsewhere.

The UN in a perfect world could do a tremendous amount for world peace and diplomatic resolution of international disputes . . . but right now it is not even close to achieving that.  I think WE are better off dealing with nations on a direct basis and leaving the UN entirely.  Perhaps things can change but the one thing we should NOT do is give the UN so much credibility unless it is willing to alter the way they do business.

When it was created, the idealistic charter might have made sense.  However, today with instant communications from phone and TV to internet and teleconferencing makes the original format of the UN obsolete.

I am sure some other country would jump at the chance to build a whole new UN campus and I would love to see it happen (just not at our expense — we pay about 25% of the total Un budget).  There are many reasons I would like to see this move but one is that I just don’t like having knuckleheads like the leaders of Libya, Venezuela, and Iran show up in New York and take advantage of our hospitality to ‘rail’ on our political, economic, and social system.

Let ‘em do it in someplace hot and uncomfortable like say . . . IRAQ!

thanks to flickr’s stevecadman for the photo

When President Obama changed command there and picked General Mc Chrystal as his ‘man on the spot’ he indicated that he intended to follow the General’s recommendations.

Well, now he has them and the news is NOT good.

More troops are needed and right now.  Sadly even the additionally troops Obama chose to send to Afghanistan months ago are not all in place . . . can you believe that?  Now we need more.  Quickly, according to the General.

Obama and Sec. Gates must make a very difficult decision.

Are we to waste the lives of our young people in this terrible, drug out, non-conventional war (when is war ever conventional)?  That would be to continue as we are until we can arrange a planned withdrawal.

The other choice is to commit to this war and do our best to win it.

I am sure everyone with a loved one, or even a friend or acquaintance, serving there is waiting for the decision.  Trouble is Obama seems to be ignoring this critical issue.

Frankly I wonder if we should even be there any more?  The people don’t seem to want us and the government is corrupt beyond belief (I say that because it is OUR tax dollars that are supporting this government and not Afghani funds).  If we are going to stay, then the government should be chosen by us (and NOT include Karzai or his crooked brother) and under our control . . . clearly this country is NOT ready for democracy yet as I have already written about.

I do not believe we can say we won the war in Iraq . . . not with the thousands of people that are still being killed or critically injured in that country.  So, if we bail on Afghanistan then we will have a 0-3 record since WWII (it is sad that anyone, let alone me, is keeping track).

Is it our choice of wars or is it the way we chose to fignt them?

It is both.

What are we really doing half way around the world fighting this war in the year 2009?

If you can answer that intelligently and with substantial proof and evidence to support your response then you belong on Obama’s Cabinet.  No one that close to the President has made any kind of cogent statement to this affect since the election.

I repeat, I am frustrated.  Are you?

Obama is NOT keeping his campaign promises.  Well, what is new or different about that (don’t we all remember that Bush promised not to engage in ‘nation building’).

It is time to survey the situation there and make a decision.

General Mc Chrystal has done the survey and made recommendations.

Now I am waiting with bated breath for the decision.

Get out or get real.

Don’t wast any more of our time President Obama and sure as heck don’t wast any more of our precious lives!!

thanks for the photo from flickr to army.mil this photo deserves full credit:  it is of Sgt. Joseph Evans and was taken by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel — double thanks for your devoted service to our country!

This week I learned that two of my neighbors really believe that President Obama was not born in America and is not American.  Yikes, do I have to move?  Apparently they have not seen the numerous copies of his birth certificate that have been shown in various places on the web (see above) and on some responsible news channels (that seems NOT to include FOX, MSNBC or CNN).  I  wondered how anyone could believe that with all his history in government, education, and as a working lawyer.  Heck, his mother was American and that is not in question — so automatically he was born with citizenship.

But, The Economist (I think the best ‘news’ magazine around) wrote an article in their August 22 issue.  It was titled ‘Still crazy after all these years.‘  You owe it to yourself to read it.

As they say, there are ‘perils of losing one’s grip on reality.’

Obama’s detractors have gone overboard already.  ‘Birthers’ say he was not born in America.  The article debunks that with the best discussion so far (of course there is the birth certificate, but these nutzos counter with the fact that anything can be forged or edited to appear correct).

Whew!

Then there are those that say he is the anti-Christ.  Jeez  Louise (maybe that is not a good frustrating epithet to use here).  Apparently these folks (who have way too much time on their hands) claim that in the Bible Jesus is quoted as saying that ‘Satan will come down like lightning from heaven.’  Further they have found that the Hebrew words for lightning and heaven sound ‘a bit like’ Barack Obama.

This is crazy stuff and I wonder what good could come if the folk that cook  up with stuff dedicated their extra time to curing cancer or charting the course for the Fed to wind down the stimulus package.

Let me add some of my own thoughts on this.  I did the research in my Strong’s concordance of the Bible and Vine’s Hebrew and Greek dictionary.

First we should all remember that the New Testament (there are of course no quotes by Jesus in the Old Testament) was written in Greek not Hebrew.  But then I guess these ‘bored’ people forgot that or maybe they thought that since Jesus likely spoke in Aramaic that their conjecture is close enough.

Anyway, in the original Greek the works ‘lightning’ and ‘heaven’ sound nothing like suggested (roughly ‘as-trap-ay’ and ‘oo-ran-os’).  But if you did look to the Hebrew there is some similarity (‘baw-rauk’ and ’shaw-may-yin’).  Not very close, at least the suspect (?) Obama part.

Apparently in conspiracy circles being somewhat close on just one of two critical elements (still ignoring that Jesus did not speak in Hebrew) is close enough.

Well, enough of this craziness.  Ba-rack O-bam-a IS our President, he was born American, and he was born in America (The Economist points out that the day after his birth an announcement to the effect was in the Honolulu Advertiser) you can go to their archives and check for yourselves, but as for me I trust the nearly two-hundred year old Economist to get it right.

So, let’s put this nutty issue to bed and start working on health care, the public debt, trade deficits, term limits and looming tax increases (and that is just to start).  Anyone can be critical without being accurate, but it is better to be part of  ‘the loyal opposition’ and I stress the loyal part.  Our President deserves (and this President has certainly earned) our respect.

America has been the leader for, like ever, dude.

Not now.  The medal has been stolen transferred.

The Economist listed the the biggest corporations, by market cap, in their last issue.  Of the 7 largest four are NOT U.S. — They are Chinese.  Three are American.

The four Chinese have a market cap value of over ONE TRILLION $$!!

The four U.S. companies (Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, Walmart) have a value of $750 Billion.

Am I the only one that sees a problem here?

And, does the problem have to do with currency controls and imports/exports and fair trade?

Yes to all apparently.

Sure China is growing and has the fastest (in raw numbers) growing middle-class in the world, but are they really becoming the corporate giants this list indicates?

Sadly, the answer is yes, yes, yes.  The investors of the world value Chinese companies and Chinese prospects much more than they do American.

This is because the Chinese model of Communist control of central finances and the treasury allows them to artificially stimulate their own economy at the expense of others.  Keep the yuan low and force the dollar trade to favor them and what do you get?

Big trade deficits in America and tons (literally) of our $$ flowing into the Chinese treasury.

This has got to stop.

Bush allowed it because American’s wanted the inexpensive cheap products that come from China.  Yes, for their kids, for their living rooms and for their kitchens and everywhere else (except so far their garages — but that may be coming).

Obama is allowing it to continue because he and Giethner don’t have the ‘cahones’ to do otherwise.  Well, China does have nearly a trillion $$ of our government’s debt and another trillion or so of our corporations debt . . . and if they don’t keep financing us then the recently waning recession might just look like a beach party.

Still, we have to do something.  Those guys need us too.  If we stop importing and buying all their ‘goodies’ then their economy will crash like the Russians is doing (gosh, do I ever feel sorry for that humble and kind Putin chap).

The Chinese markets are up around 80% since the first of the year.  The U.S. markets are up (on average) about 10%.  Just for your additional, special bonus, information, the Russian markets are up over 50% (crap!!).

Do you think we are suffering at the hands of other governments who have the ability to control everything because they don’t offer fair and balanced voices to their hundreds of millions of citizens?  Because they don’t deal fairly with their trading partners?

Dang right.

So, stop it right now President Obama.  Turn you attack dog Giethner and his attack kitty Summers (Treasury Sec. and Economic advisor respectively) loose.  Let’s start setting some things straight here.  Let’s balance the scales of economic justice.

Free trade.  Fairly valued currencies.  Properly supervised and regulated industry and stock markets (think bubble here).

And a bunch of other things too.  Heck we imported $675 billion more than we exported in the last 12 months.  How long can that go on??  Too long already if you want to know.

So man up here ‘invisible hand’ of the economy (the invisible hand of intelligent trade policy anyway).  Set some new rules, Obama and team.

And take it or leave it Chinese dudes.  We don’t really need all your ‘junk’ flooding our markets (to be honest though I do own a few really quality Chinese-made  big-screen TV’s so that is just my sense of fair play breaking out).

Look, I did business in China for years.  Had to quit partly because I couldn’t stop the illegal knock-offs of my patented products from showing up in places all over the world.  I paid a steep price for their unfair competitive advantage (not to mention illegal).

I speak from experience.

This current system isn’t working and it isn’t fair.

Fix it Mr. Obama.

NOW!

ps: Gosh think of how many jobs a real solution to the trade imbalance might create!!

thanks to cliff1066 at Flickr for the photo

Much of this is smoke and mirrrors.  At least until we (the politicians) generate a bunch more confidence and get a handle on unemployment.

So, what gives?

The market this week was driven by three main stocks.  Goldman Sachs, Intel and IBM.  And you know what all of these have in common, and why you shouldn’t be raiding your mattress for $$ to throw at the market?  They have huge international components to their earnings.

If you take the time you can read all the press releases and you will soon discover that the gains are not a result of a change in perspective by the ‘all important’ American consumer.  These good earnings are a result of positive GDP (Gross Domestic Product — the value of all goods and services) in three of the so called BRIC countries.  Brasil, India and of course China.

These countries have a combined GDP of about $4.5 trillion.  The United States has a GDP of about $13 trillion.  But the U.S. is going to lose ground this year (negative GDP growth) and the BIC (BRIC less Russia) are going to have an average GDP growth of around 6-8%.  Their consumers are spending.  Their governments are NOT running up huge deficits (China even has a huge net SURPLUS — several $trillion).  Their governments are not trying to do too much with too little.

These countries have a population of around 2.6 billion people (the U.S. has 305 million) or about twelve times ours.  So they don’t ALL have to be buying computers, TVs and Toyotas.  But a bunch of them are.  Buying computers with Intel chips and IBM software or consulting.  Plus, because they are growing, the innovators in these countries are growing or starting companies and where do they get the money and financial savvy to do that?   Goldman Sachs and the boys.

DELL, the once dominant American PC company reported disappointing earnings and projections.  Starting to see the picture?

The bottom line:  The U.S. is not even close to being out of this recession.  Obama and his team of ghurus and knuckleheads have got to get a handle on unemployment and rising taxes.  Don’t expect this runup to continue.  If you have some good profits then consider taking some of them off the table in the next few weeks . . . you just might be able to get back in cheaper if and when the next wave of bad news hits (for the traders our there, and not the long-term investors . . . wait are there any of those left?).

By the way, historically the month of October seems to be when markets can take some awful hits–especially if things aren’t going well– and they aren’t and probably won’t be by then.

Too bad we are pumping out bad news all the time (i.e. full speed ahead with universal health care and damn the costs) and the BIC’s are pumping out real infrastructure projects, sensible energy policy (well at least Brasil), and actual economic growth.

Stay tuned.

This ain’t over yet baby!

thanks to epak at Flickr for the photo

Yet, I’ve got neighbors that don’t know how to make ends meet.? Their plates look pretty empty.? And there are about 10,000,000 others just like them out there!

What gives?

Unemployment, that’s what, you knuckleheads in Washington D.C.!? You give billions to Citi and AIG and Chrysler and GM (and a bunch others) to keep their low-powered but high-maintenance executives busy . . . but what have you done lately for my neighbors?? What about the guys and gals I see panhandling at nearly every freeway exit?? How about the poor folk that are living in tent cities (those that local governments haven’t kicked out so we don’t have the constant reminder)?

NOTHING.? Or at least that is how it seems.

Unemployment hit 9.4% today.? The real unemployment is 16.4% when you add in the frustrated people that have quit looking for jobs or taken part-time work just to survive.? That is 16.4% of our neighbors that are going begging.

What about all that vaunted stimulus money that Obama and Giethner and Summers keep talking up?? Hey, folks that stuff is mostly back end loaded.? We won’t see that for another year or so.? Our leaders are sleeping at the wheel.

It is great that BHO is off trying to assuage the hurt feelings of the thugs in the middle-east who have been holding us hostage to oil prices/supplies for the last forty years . . . sure we need some of their help and we need them to make nice.? BUT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD MR. PRESIDENT DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE UNEMPLOYMENT BEFORE YOU START TRAVELING FULLTIME!!!

Crap, why can’t you and Congress start rebuilding the 50% or so of our bridges that are ready to fail.? What about the dams and reservoirs that are weak and overburdened.? How about the 310,000,000 pot holes in our roads (at least one for every man, woman and child in the country)?? How about upgrading our telephone, electricity and water delivery systems?? What about our sewers (you know the ones that fail and create sinkholes big enough to eat an 18-wheeler for lunch)?

Put some people to work Obama.

Start handing out $$ to the middle-class Secretary Giethner (instead of the greedy bankers).

How about recommending that we clean up our lakes and rivers Presidential economic advisor Larry Summers?

Don’t tell me it takes two years to get some real money into the pockets of the women and men who want to work for a living?? China is setting the example with front loaded infrastructure projects.? Let the dang banks and financial institutions pay back the money we ‘loaned’ them, and start creating jobs.? Get the dang money and do some good with it, somehow, someway, somewhere . . . somesmart!

There is only ONE big problem in our economy President Obama.? The same one I have been railing on for, ohh about a year now!

Unemployment, unemployment, unemployement!!? Jobs, jobs, jobs!!!

Get home and get to work quick BHO or your artificially and unjustified popularity numbers are going to start looking like the unemployment stats.? That’s right in the freaking teens!!

The awful numbers will just keep climbing . . . and those are voters.

Do it and do it now!

Thanks for the photo from flickr to brandi666

But . . .

He is showing signs of missing the boat in the economic and social part of his growingly complicated and wishful agenda.

Two things worry my right now.? The first is his lack of attention to the single biggest economic and social issue of our era . . . Social Security/Medicare.? The second is his continuing lack of concern about unemployment.

Some words of wisdom on both.

I believe that BHO has it right when he points at NOW as the time to implement universal health care.? How can we even consider ourselves a great nation, let alone the greatest, if we fail to provide basic health care for every single one of our citizens?? We can’t.? So that is high on his agenda.? However, he is completely neglecting the pending failure of Social Security and Medicare and they are inextricably related.? Everyone in this country who is not in the highest tax brackets has a varying degree of reliance on these social programs.? Yet, we know they will fail.? Sooner rather than later in the case of Medicare (2017 or earlier).? Our governments unfunded liabilities in these two programs make the current bailout and stimulus package pale in comparison (in the tens of trillions of $$).

The problem here is that even the government has recognized this for a least a generation.? No one wants to do anything about it.? How is BHO going to implement a ’self-funding’ universal health care system if all retirees are bankrupt and living under the nearest freeway overpass? Frankly, I’m already staking out my spot.

This problem has to move to the forefront now.? We have to stop delaying the debate and move on it before it is a bigger crisis than energy independence.

Unemployment.? Jeez Louise, haven’t I said enough about this already?? China has the bulk of their stimulus package tied up in infrastructure projects that are creating meaningful jobs.? There economy is growing still.

And, remember there is a multiplier effect with any new jobs (as in every new job created by the government’s stimulus creates another? half a job or so in the service/retail sectors — the people with new jobs are going to eat and spend somewhere!).? What has BHO done.? Any infrastructure money is limited and mostly out at least 12-18 months.? He’s more worried about the money flow than who it needs to flow to!

Unemployment is 8.9% today (later this week I believe we will see it at 9.3% or even higher).? We have to do something.?

Bail out the banks? Done.? Bail out GM and Chrysler?? Done.? Bail out other financial firms that have close ties to Washington through their lobbyists (AIG, GE, airlines etc.)?? Done.?

Create jobs for the average Joe.? Haven’t even started.?

We are still sliding down that slippery slope with increasing speed.? At the bottom is one heck of a concrete wall and we are heading right for it.

Create jobs Mr. President.? Save our retirement? funds and medicare.? Help out the average American, not those knuckleheads who pay the most taxes but don’t shop at Walmart and the Dollar Store witht he majority of us.

There is an economic forest out there.? Real thick admittedly.? But look for the biggest and weakest trees in the economic and social food chain.? Social Security.? Medicare.? Unemployment.

Please Mr. President.? Please, Michelle.

Don’t care if the markets are taking off.? Don’t care if the future looks bright to Timothy Giethner or Larry Summers or the CEO’s of our corrupt banks.?

Do care if we won’t have anything waiting for us at the end of the 66 year rainbow.

Start with the issues just discussed.?

Then, in 4 or 8 years your legacy will be genuinely positive.? Give us all a future.

Thanks for listening folks, and keep those $$ pouring into the social tax buckets, I’m going to need them sooner than later.

And, you will too someday!

?

Thanks to flickr’s mgspiller for the foto