His Supreme Arrogance

Obama just trotted out his economic team. President-elect Certitude says he has confidence in their "ingenuity" and in the "hard work and sacrifice" of the American people. Not the ingenuity of the American people but our hard work and sacrifice. We are his worker bees, his drones, his great unwashed proletariat. It is the ingenuity of the American people not his James Watt joke of an economic team that have made America the unstoppable engine of prosperity that feeds the world. My earlier post talked of justice which Obama characterized in today's press briefing as equalizing outcomes, whether he would allow Bush's tax cuts to lapse or repeal them. I benefited from the Bush tax cuts, but my net worth is about one-seventh of what it was just last year. Yet, the class warfare artist Obama wants to punish generations of my family for living within our means and actually accumulating something. If O-I'm so sorry so many were gulled into voting for him wants justice, how about ending the slaughter of innocents called abortion that has stolen the lives of forty-five million plus before they took their first breath. God forgive America.

Dead Cat Bounce

The markets on Friday experienced a bit of a rebound perhaps in part because Obama did not appoint a flaming radical to Treasury. But it is not Obama's cabinet that will make his decisions. His own radical ideas will shape national policy, and the markets will not be heartened by his massive government expansion plan broadcast over the weekend which does nothing but promise higher taxes on the private sector to pay for the Obama public works agenda.

Full Mexican Employment

Obama web cast his grand plan for economic revival promising 2,500,000 jobs by 2011. These make-work positions are destined to be filled almost entirely by Hispanics as Obama is offering school construction, roads, and bridges. With his open borders amnesty, even if it is called comprehensive immigration reform, the number of Latin Americans, who already dominate the construction trades, will only go up. Obama promises to green America with solar and wind power while using carbon trading credits to drive the coal industry out of business. On the destroying business front, I have no doubt Obama will make great strides. The old New Deal efforts will only prolong economic misery.

Straw Man Topples

World markets have plummeted; even oil, which was supposed to be past peak production with supplies on the way to drying up, has dropped under $50 per barrel. Demand has evaporated, not just for oil but for almost every consumer good. A cycle of deflation may prevail which the Obama tax plan would only worsen. When a luxury tax was passed on yachts and cars over $35,000, their sales contracted and the American boat industry collapsed. To stimulate demand and robust spending, taxes must be lowered. Unfortunately, Obama who does not recognize the dynamic nature of the economy does not have "tax cut" for the people who do the real spending in his vocabulary.

The Dole Dwellers

Obama swept to power on a tide of parasites. Many of his voters think he is Santa. One was interviewed and said now that Obama has risen, she will no longer have to worry about paying for gas or her mortgage. Come again? Obama captured the votes of 69% of unmarried women. They can not find a husband, so they voted for a grand government sugar daddy. No hope exists for sustained recovery if Obama institutes his campaign promises. Some commentators are saying Obama will curb his socialist impulse to save the nation. This is a pipe dream. A leopard can not change its spots.

Car Crash I

Obama has not the slightest interest in advancing the interests of US auto companies. He and the Democrats are only concerned with the automotive workers union. The bailout they craft will be a sop to the UAW. If they wanted to help the companies, they would have advocated relaxing CAFE standards and eased other regulation. Democrats have in the event done the exact opposite. The legacy costs and capitulation to UAW demands have created a situation where the bailout will only forestall the reckoning, and either the Big Three will be absorbed by foreign auto makers with union contracts ended, socialized outright, or owned by the workers.

Arrogance and Ignorance

Obama and the Democrats made much of American unilateralism-Bush the go it alone cowboy, during the campaign. Yet, when invited to the G-20 Summit with the world's most powerful economies gathered to work their way out of recession, Obama deigns not show up. Reportedly. he has sent two representatives including former Secretary of State Madeline Halfwit. Is Obama so almighty and infallible that he need not listen to the constructive ideas of other world leaders? Or could it be the case that Obama does not want to betray his ignorance on matters economic to so many luminaries? In either case, Obama and the US could benefit from solutions like the one offered by Gordon Brown-certainly no rightist Prime Minister, for global tax cuts to stimulate economic growth. Obama has no intention of listening to anyone who doesn't promote his brand of socialism.

Turmoil, Trauma, Treachery

Economic dislocation is already escalating. Unemployment numbers are rising. Obama has promised a $3000 tax credit for each job a business creates. Even at minimum wage, a full-time employee will make many times that and that does not include the expense of training and benefits. Once hired, Obama's infatuation with trial lawyers will make it problematic to fire anyone. Under Obama, unemployment in the private sector is destined to skyrocket. Government will try to offset this with massive make-work programs in the spirit of FDR's New Deal or Johnson's Great Society, both dismal and demonstrable failures. The taxes to pay for Obama's government leviathan will only cripple entrepreneurs that much more. Herbert Hoover raised taxes in a recession and did a brilliant job of pushing the economy over a cliff. If Obama follows the path of John Maynard Keynes or Lester Thurow, he will injure the nation irrevocably. He must embrace the supply-siders, follow the path of Milton Friedman and Arthur Laffer and allow private enterprise to grow us out of our current travail. But Obama's animus to capitalism and love of power will prevent this. He will not honor his pledge to lower taxes on 95% of the people. In all likelihood, he will betray many of his own high earning voters and raise taxes on everyone already paying them. This was the victory of populism, progressive prevarication, and power madness over patriotism and productive people.

Who is Paulson

Our prospective bailout was passed precipitously, without due deliberation by Congress, and was ill-conceived. The plan has not been implemented with Secretary Paulson today changing direction. Just who is this man given unprecedented budgetary authority and the reins over $700 billion in new spending? This is a figure that would make Midas blush, Croesus cry, and even get Bill Gates' and Warren Buffet's attention. Never in history has such power been left in the hands of one man, no matter how carefully vetted. And as today's events illustrated Paulson has an evolving position which only militates towards a greater erosion of confidence in the markets. But for far too long, it appears our economy has been in the hands of confidence men.

Told You So

An AP poll headlined this morning heralds that the public seems ready to wait on tax cuts. Obama was never going to cut taxes. His redistributionist nature is opposite of that. Now, Obama has the cover of this poll and similar manipulations to come that will indicate that the public is not clamoring for tax relief and recognizes the deep hole Bush left us in. This will be Obama's built-in rationale and excuse for massive tax increases and for the deep and prolonged recession that Obama will exacerbate and might turn into a depression. There is blame to go around-the bets on bets of the derivative markets that mocked fiduciary responsibility and duped buy and hold investors, executive compensation packages and golden parachutes that bore no relation to performance, and the aggressive hunt for redlining that forced banks to make loans that could never be paid back. Borrowers who overbought, developers who overbuilt, unions who made company breaking demands all fed the fire. There is no facile solution to where greed has brought us, indeed there may be no solution at all. Hang on C.W., it's going to be a rough ride.

Worst Case Scenario

Perhaps, Senator McCain will be happier in defeat than facing an unprecedented economic crisis that he or Obama or anyone else will find unmanageable. Pat Robertson reported that $300 trillion are at risk in the derivative markets-a figure of such an astounding magnitude as to dwarf the US, indeed the world economy. No actions by a single government or the world's governments acting collectively may stave off the collapse of currency. Stories abound of people with wheelbarrows of money going to buy bread in late Wiemar Germany. The same situation exists today in Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Don't be confident that a similar calamity could not happen here. Middle class families who have never known privation or hunger could face it soon. If someone does not grow there own crops, have a barterable skill, or have a tangible asset(gold, diamonds, something illiquid not fungible but with real inherent worth), they may not eat. Concerted action now to save banks or automobile producers may be necessary but who could be certain of the value of paper printed by governments that have overseen the avalanche of negative financial news and not been able to staunch it. Ultimately, we must follow the advice printed on our currency "In God we trust".Those who seek temporal satisfaction are too often blind to eternal truths. Those who cleave to God are never hopeless, for their faith is salvation.

Into the Abyss

Obama collected the support of voters who balloted on the basis of sharing his race. Other Obama backers are union members particularly SEIU members, teachers, and other government workers increasing their own power. Many of his voters were so ill-served by their education in government schools that they simply do not know the difference between capitalism and socialism. Others were young and naive. Obama won the blame America crowd including college professors. Trial lawyers by in large backed Obama. Obama did not run a masterful campaign. He was protected by an uncritical mainstream media. McCain and Palin were pilloried by them. Convicts, non-existent folks, and motor voter illegal aliens seemed to be universal Barry backers. Wasn't Governor Crist brilliant in Florida giving felons their suffrage back? We were told denying these criminals the vote was racist as they were largely African Americans. They were disenfranchised not because they were black but because they were lawbreakers. Now, my own re-elected Republican Senator speaks of creating universal health care and replacing fossil fuels to fight global warming. If the state of Tennessee had wanted ever expansive government, burdensome regulation, and infringement of our lifestyle Senator Alexander, we would have voted for Bob Tuke. Don't cross the aisle to betray your constituents. Fight for Tennessee values.

Recrimination and Regret

The author is dismayed to report the ascendancy of our leftist leader. He gratuitously included homosexuals in tonight's remarks supporting my contention in this blog that he intends to overturn traditional morality by force of law. He pretends inclusion, but his victory portends at the least, the marginalization of those with religious values who would bridle at the idea of gay marriage and privileges in employment for the practitioners of this profligate lifestyle. According to ABC's Brian Ross, Obama and his national security team (a sad oxymoron) intend a hasty draw down in Iraq to focus on Bin Laden. Bin Laden is a figurehead in whose name acts of terror will only increase if he is martyred or caught. The real enemy is expansionist Islam whether in its Sunni Wahhab incarnation or Iranian Shia form. Obama offers no answers either domestically or abroad, only demagogic platitudes and chants of collective delusion and hysteria. "Yes we can" bankrupt the Treasury, destroy business, and invite attack. God save America.

Caveat Emptor America

Obama is nothing more than a doctrinaire hyper-leftist, not a liberal in the American tradition. Obama views capitalism as a vice. The junior Senator is strikingly arrogant, dogmatic, but not really capable of understanding the economic dislocation his policies will cause. He aptly delivers a speech from a teleprompter or script and has been prepared by his Goebbels handlers to hide the degree of his Marxist leanings, a rhetorician who conceals more than he reveals. The major media is in sympathy with him and has protected him when he does make a fool of himself. If McCain had said there were fifty-seven(57) states, the lead story for days would have been this gaffe, with questions about his age and senility or Alzheimer's. Today, some of Obama's venom against business slipped out with his promise in San Fransisco recorded in January to bankrupt coal-fired plants. America leads the world in coal reserves and clean coal technology. Thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and West Virginia will be lost when Obama fulfills this pledge. Incumbency entrenches itself organically, and there is no guarantee that Obama will not bend the Constitution to his whim and stay in power ad infinitum or appoint a nominal replacement as Putin did with Medvedev and retain his hold on power. This hubris-filled peacock will alter America in ways we can't imagine now and may never be able to recover from.To paraphrase an author with whom Obama is well-versed-Americans-you have nothing to gain but Obama's chains.

Woeful Economic Ignorance

Obama says he will cure or economic woes. Generally, our Presidents are not responsible for our success or failure. They have under civil service very limited power to hire or fire, just a few patronage jobs, Cabinet level appointments, ambassadorships, and judicial appointments which all require Congressional confirmation (with the exception of the rare recess appointments to these positions). The Federal Reserve and Bernanke have vastly more influence typically than the President. Obama plans to change this. Like FDR or the Daleys, Barry envisions a voting public beholden to him for jobs. Massive patronage like in the old days of Daley Machine Chicago, huge new programs mimicking the New Deal, the WPA, the National Recovery Act, and even a national civilian force with duties that parallel the military. This is more akin to Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez than FDR, but somehow, our education system has failed so miserably that many Americans find this incredible expansion of government appealing. A full frontal assault on the investor class will take place under Obama. These risk-takers, already overburdened, may crumble under the weight of increased income and capital gains tax rates. Those who own businesses may be forced to sell with the return of the death tax. Obama will attack consumerism with tariffs and import barriers.Even investors who protected themselves with stop loss orders and hedge will not be able to save their assets from Obama's machinations. And while he ignores the needs of his aunt and hut dweller brother, the junior Senator calls us "selfish."

Something for Nothing

Obama has promised to lower taxes on those earning less than $250,000 per year. When he takes office, he will announce that though it rends his heart, the previous administration left the economy in such a dire state that no taxes will be lowered. No nation has ever taxed its way into prosperity. The ideas of John Maynard Keynes have been tried and discredited. The junior Senator has claimed to be all things to all people except the rich-for he and Biden a moving target that is now according to Joe $150,000. Barry still contends he will lower taxes on 95% of people when almost half pay no federal income tax now except withholding putatively for their own retirement (Social Security). This is not tax relief but welfare and in any event will not happen unless the government devalues the dollar creating massive inflation. Obama is playing sugar daddy-Santa with the confiscated earnings of the productive which will only diminish their initiative, thwart growth, and cripple the recovery. Obama is already known to break his promises as in his pledge to take Federal campaign financing. He merits no trust. Fear Obama-vote McCain.

The Final Furlong

The old warhorse and the colt are nearing the finish line. The feedbag of hope and change may overwhelm experience and wisdom. Hope for what and change how? Economies are cyclic and capitalism has served America well. A cascade of redistribution and ever more intrusive regulation will not cure our ills. Rationed care will stifle research and prevent expensive treatment and transplants. A cascade of bureaucracy and hiring of multitudes of government workers to administer it will break small business. The 143 day wonder will crumble if Red China moves against Taiwan and Putin will be able to assert Russian hegemony at will. If Barney Frank's 25% drop in the military budget is adopted (a peace dividend with no peace), reenlistment will dry up and volunteers will shy away. This will necessitate conscription. Jihadism will be redoubled by our precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. Our First and Second Amendment will be compromised with national laws against hate speech, mandating of hiring of homosexuals by religious organizations, silencing of preaching against alternative lifestyles, forced acceptance of homosexual marriage by the various and several states, and enough regulation of guns and ammunition to make protecting one's family next to impossible. Obama will introduce sentencing reform that will release thousands of prisoners and unleash them on the ever more defenseless public. Obama will end free, fair trade, alter NAFTA, and open our borders to hordes of illegal immigrants and inevitably some of those crossing will be terrorists and drug dealers. Fortunately, some of the foreigners will self-deport with America's rapid decline. Companies will move abroad or close, unemployment will skyrocket, and many working Americans will be forced on the dole and the ignominy of government rationing of food which will become more scarce with the mandated production of more ethanol to fight the global warming bogeyman. Our flagging education system will slip further into the realm of leftist indoctrination with charter schools and vouchers ending. On July 4, 1776, our forefathers brought forth our perfect union. On November 4,2008, try not to ruin it.

On Media Polemics

Last night, Obama aired his infomercial filled with sob stories and vacuity. This 30 minute cliche was greeted as holy writ by the paleolithic media. ABC's Terry Moran had a candy-eating grin as he waxed delight about Obama but turned dour when discussing McCain. Elizabeth Vargas behaved as a if a skunk had entered her tent with an expression of contempt on her face as she interviewed personable, approachable, earnest, and capable Sarah Palin. Network media flacks must sit in front of mirrors to practise the countenance of antipathy for Republicans and the smiling visage for Dems. President Bush is greeted with dripping sarcasm and overt hate by entertainers such as Letterman and his audience. For those who follow Judaism, the name Haman from the Purim holiday evokes hisses and the use of a rattle noisemaker to show him as the embodiment of evil. So, it is with Bush. There is a conditioned response that Bush is evil incarnate. The media has so poisoned public perception that the leader who has kept us safe since September 11 is regarded as a dunce. Obama who is hailed by Terry Moron-not a typo, Stephanopolous, and the rest is no genius. He said there were fifty-seven(57) states. He clearly does not understand that his tax increases will stifle any chance at economic recovery. He said in his ad last night that to improve education he will spend more and pay teachers better. What needs to be done to fix education is to restore discipline to the classroom and accountability to teachers. Allowing competition to government schools with vouchers will also help. Republicans are not perfect, but Obama is no Messiah.

Merchants of Menace

Democrats were reported this weekend to be attempting to block bonuses to executives of firms involved in the Wall Street bailout. This makes sense as they were culpable for the risky practices that led to the bailout in the first place, but Democrats also wanted the rescued companies to cancel dividends which often punishes investors who had no say in whether the companies delved in to exotic vehicles on the sub-prime market. Democrats have called investors "speculators" diminishing what they were doing and even President Bush has parroted them. Many of these so-called speculators were buying and holding their shares for decades relying on the dividends for large portions of their incomes. They were not casino-type gamblers in a get rich quick scheme. They too were misled by executives who suggested these companies were financially sound and not at risk. Weep not for corrupt executives but wail for your 401K.

Seats of Erudition

Pundits are dissecting the financial crisis and the responses likely to mitigate it. Many of the ideas they propound are useless. In the run-up to the Iraq war, many military experts were advancing the notion of a bloodbath in Baghdad. There would be a siege comparable to Stalingrad and thousands of US casualities. Thankfully, in the event, losses were light. In fact, less American troops have died in the occupation of two countries than the beacons of brilliance thought would fall taking Baghdad. Economists are no more capable of predicting the future than anyone else. Government over-reach, criminality in the mortgage industry, and a profound lack of personal responsibility by many borrowers have exacerbated the downturn. Not everyone needs to own a house. There is no shame in renting, and contrary to the Obama campaign, those foreclosed upon are not in most cases immediately homeless, with taxpayers already providing Title 8 and Section 22 housing subsidies. Even in hard times, the path to wealth remains working hard, delaying gratification, and hoping the government does not get in the way.