The State of the Economy

We are halfway through the first year of the Obama administration and are starting to feel the beginnings of the real "Change" that was promised prior to the election. What do you think? Are we changing for the better or worse? I, for one and an ever growing group do not believe we are heading in the right direction. In fact, Rasmussen reports that 62% of voters believe the same. This is up a point from last week and is the highest level since February of this year. Maybe we are starting to wake up?

The Congressional Budget Office apparently is among the 62%, as the Director's blog today states the following:

The current recession and policy responses have little effect on long-term projections of noninterest spending and revenues. But CBO estimates that in fiscal years 2009 and 2010, the federal government will record its largest budget deficits as a share of GDP since shortly after World War II. As a result of those deficits, federal debt held by the public will soar from 41 percent of GDP at the end of fiscal year 2008 to 60 percent at the end of fiscal year 2010. This higher debt results in permanently higher spending to pay interest on that debt. Federal interest payments already amount to more than 1 percent of GDP; unless current law changes, that share would rise to 2.5 percent by 2020. (click text to read full post)

Wow, That is a mouthful! What he is actually saying is that "Under current law, the Federal Budget is on an unsustainable path,". I guess that statement leaves us two alternatives, one is to change direction, and the other is to change current law. I believe that changing direction would be the best alternative for all concerned. This statement also hints at ridiculous inflation rates coming in the near future as a result of this, which will in turn make China and other governments that are holding all of this debt alot less patient than they have been, and they are already showing signs of getting impatient now. In fact, Economist Dr. Robert Shiller, one person who accurately predicted the housing bust before it happened, is now saying that we may remain in a "liquidity trap" similar to the one it faced during the great depression. That doesn't sound good at all.

The White House has already delayed the release of the midsummer budget update because they don't want us to see how far off their rosy predictions were prior to passing their Trillion Dollar stimulus package. My suspicion also is that their fear is this ridiculous mess of a "health care reform" bill would not stand a chance of passing at all if this budget report was released prior to congress taking their summer break beginning Aug 7. Rasmussen Polls state that 78% of voters believe this will lead to higher taxes for the middle class. The Congressional Budget office states that the house version of the bill would add 239 billion dollars to the deficit by 2019. From what i have read and looked at, this is probably a very conservative estimate. The real numbers, if this pig passes would probably end up 4 to 5 times that at least. That is, if you are able to get access to the types of treatment you need at the time you need them .

Part of the provisions of this bill allow the government to decide whether it makes sense for your 72 year old mother to have a mastectomy for a breast cancer issue. Is this really the kinds of decisions that the founding fathers had in mind when the constitution was framed? I certainly don't think so.

I believe it is time for us to find out what is going on and pay attention to what is being done before it gets so far along that it cannot be changed. I have placed links on this page to read the Constitution, the Federalist Papers (pretty darn dry) and many others that will allow us to keep tabs on our representatives. It is important to know how your congressman is voting on specific issues and if they are representing you properly. There is a link there that allows you to enter your zip code and look at exactly how your representatives are voting in the house and Senate. Send an email or call. I intend to have a link shortly that will allow us to have access to phone numbers for representatives to allow you to make a phone call at your convenience as well. If anyone knows of a good resource here and could forward it to me or post it in the comments, that would be great. Thanks and get involved.

What is Going on?

How about this? Mr. Geithner believes it is too soon to decide on a second stimulus package? It seems to be pretty clear to me that the first two were already a bad idea.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said it was too soon to decide whether the U.S. economy would need the help of a second round of government stimulus to recover from recession.

More Here

President Obama believes we are just not being patient enough? The unemployment rate is what?

WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Saturday more time was needed for his $787 billion stimulus package to work, predicting the spending would have a bigger impact on the economy later this year.

In an advanced text of his weekly radio speech, Obama said the stimulus plan approved by Congress and signed into law in mid-February "was not designed to work in four months -- it was designed to work over two years."

More Here

This is an article in TIME Magazine of all places that I found particularly interesting and strongly opposing Obama's bailout programs. I thought this was a great interview.

The Obama Administration should stop bailing out corporate disasters and abandon plans to move health care onto the backs of taxpayers.

Tough talk from Anna Schwartz, a financial sage who has seen it all, having lived through the crash of 1929 and co-authored with Nobel laureate Milton Friedman the highly acclaimed financial bible A Monetary History of the United States (Princeton University Press, 1963).

The financial matriarch has carefully tracked recessions, studied boom-and-bust trends and spent her life — all 93 years — mastering the intricacies of the monetary system and banking world. She's worked as an economist with the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1941 and now serves as an adjunct professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She recently spoke with TIME contributing editor Janet Morrissey.

More Here

What about Ms Sotomayer's appointment? Although I have no real doubts about the fact that she will be confirmed as our next Supreme Court Justice, I certainly believe she holds racial view points that should never be allowed on the US Supreme Court. It just so happens, however, that anytime the question is raised, the MSM (Main Stream Media) proceeds to dig and dig and just about fabricate stuff in order to try to tear the opposition to shreds. Hence this article from FOX News;

New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci, whose reverse discrimination claim is at the center of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's most controversial ruling, now finds himself in the cross hairs of the judge's supporters.

Sotomayor's backers are urging reporters to probe what one called the "troubled and litigious work history" of Ricci, according to McClatchy Newspapers.

More Here

Most of this you will find just a little bit nuts. It has been a crazy few weeks overall. Why don't we take a quick look at the rasmussen polls and see what the people are thinking. We will look a lot more at statistics over the next few weeks, but for now, suffice it to say that the presidential poll index finally shows Obama making a sharp downturn. I was beginning to lose my faith in people, for Pete's sake. Take a look for yourself, the Presidential Poll index shows him at a -7 as of yesterday.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 30% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of –7 (see trends).

View entire article and trends here

The Beginning

This happens to be the first real post on my new blog. There are a couple of things significant about starting a project like this right now.

Image by genetew via Flickr

The biggest issue is that the country that I love appears to be upside down and backwards. Nothing seems to happening right from a conservative prospective. Just yesterday our lame congress, led by miss Pelosi, has passed the "Cap and Trade Bill". http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJmY6ybgeKpU . Oh, I'm sorry, this is a climate change bill to deal with a non existent global warming scare that has been perpetrated by more bad science than the theory of evolution. Actually this, if it gets through the senate, will be the single biggest tax increase to all US households in a heck of a long time. I have read estimates ranging from $175 to $3,330 additional cost per family's annual household utility budget. I have a hard time paying my utilities now. This is another link discussing the bad science behind the global warming fiasco, http://michellemalkin.com/2009/06/26/epa-plays-hide-and-seek-suppressed-report-revealed/

Another reason I have for starting this right now is i just get so frustrated watching all this go on. I just don't understand how so many people don't seem to understand all that is going on around them. Or have just become so apathetic that they would just rather believe what the main stream media is telling them and not bother to investigate for themselves. I believe it is our responsiblity to investigate and have some idea what is going on in the world around us and not just blindly believe everything we read and hear. just because it is on TV or in the newspaper doesn't mean it is true. This is another reason why i believe newspapers are becoming a thing of the past, fewer and fewer people want to sit and read through a newspaper when it is filled with half truths and slants toward that particular publisher's political beliefs.



I have also list and posted links to a couple of other blogs i am following. Take a look around and come back often. i will be changing and adding to this site quite a bit as I develop momentum. If you have ideas or questions that we should address, send us a note or comment and i will try to get to it quickly. This is going to be a lot of fun!