Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Let My People Go!

"Never underestimate the difficulty of changing false beliefs by facts."
-Henry Rosovsky

Rhetorically speaking how can you not love President Barack Obama:

"
The answers to our problems … exist in our laboratories and universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure." (PBO)

How can logic, and reason and good old common horse sense compete with all of these promises?

As my daughter watched the speech last night (and I twittered) she was so angry with me. She couldn't understand my skeptism. I had to call to her remembrance our trip to Arizona and New Mexico a few years ago. On this trip she was fascinated with the whole concept of Indians being placed on reservations and asked "Why don't they leave?". On these reservations the Indians get free health care, education, housing, food, etc. all from the government. Their lives didn't appear to be easy -- nope, no Utopia there. (Yeah, I know that wasn't the best example but I had to think quickly)

Here are Elements of A Responsible Budget Proposal complements of the Heritage Foundation:

Keep the “Stimulus” Temporary - The President should pledge to oppose any attempts to make permanent any stimulus provisions that are not fully offset by lower-priority spending cuts. This spending was sold to the American people as temporary, and that promise should be kept. Extending this spending would require permanently raising taxes by nearly $3,000 per household.

Resist False Promises of a Free Lunch - Some have suggested that Obama can expand Medicare drug subsidies for seniors as well as add millions of Americans to government health care rolls without increasing the health care budget. This is completely unrealistic. Such government expansions are totally unaffordable in today’s economic and budgetary climate.

Address Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid - These three programs already comprise 40 percent of all spending and are growing 7 percent annually on autopilot as 77 million baby boomers begin retiring. There is no way to bring the federal budget under control—or even close to balance—until these programs are reformed. To bring honesty back to Washington, President Obama should incorporate the massive long-term unfunded obligations of these programs into his budget and require Congress to focus on the long-term fiscal implications of their policies.

Support Spending Caps - In each of the past two years, Congress has passed budgets expanding discretionary spending by 8 percent. On top of that, they enacted $333 billion in “emergency” spending in 2008 and passed a $1.1 trillion “stimulus” this year. Clearly, the budget process created to help lawmakers set priorities and make trade-offs has collapsed. Enforceable spending caps can provide the structural rules necessary to make the difficult but necessary budget choices.

Avoid Harmful Tax Hikes - Higher tax rates discourage work, investment, saving, and entrepreneurial activity. Though Obama may propose that he will not raise taxes until 2011, the fact is the threat of these higher taxes is already depressing economic activity in the middle of the recession. Businesses are already foregoing investments in equipment anticipating Obama’s inevitable tax hikes. If all of the tax cuts enacted during the Bush Administration expire, families would see a tax increase of $2,000 per year on average and an additional loss of $1,800 per year due to slower economic growth. The average job growth for each congressional district would be reduced by over 2,000 jobs.

The character traits Obama invoked last night - personal responsibility, hard work, sacrifice, entrepreneurial creativity, resiliency, decency, and fairness - are the key to our economic recovery, not massive new government intervention in the lives of Americans. Our government should be pursuing policies that free the American people to pursue their dreams, not suffocating the American people with new spending, taxes and government mandates.

11 comments:

Zabeth said...

“As my daughter watched the speech last night (and I twittered) she was so angry with me. She couldn't understand my skeptism.”

Don’t worry CBW she’ll learn. I was once in her shoes, but then I got out of the academic bubble and into the real world where I had to pay taxes and Mommy wasn’t there to help bail me out and augment my finances. It was only at that point that I converted :-)

Ron B said...

I agree with Zabeth. My oldest was under the protective bubble of Daddy for 4 1/2 years in college. Now she has her own taxes to contend with and no longer thinks that she knows more than this old man. No more bailouts for her unless of dramatic circumstances.

I too was skeptical because it continues to sound like a campaign speech and not a "I am the leader of the free world now watch me work" speech.

When the underachievers in this country start to get their bailout monies they will not leave the reservation either. We will need to send in Moses to bring them out of bondage. Government assistance as a way of life is killing the American spirit.

DJ Black Adam said...

Oy Veh...you people are a live trip, you all gave that buffoon Bush a free pass for at least 6 and 1/2 years because he says he is a "Christian" and would ban gay marriage and abortion (which he of course DIDN'T) and NOW you have something to say about a guy whose been in office little more than a month?

Fascinating....

JudyBright said...

Winston Churchill

Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.

Brian said...

DJ Black Adam-
We true conservatives never gave Bush a free pass. He spent to much, did not use his veto power as he should have, helped sign an education bill that was horrible and he started the whole bail out spendathon. Whats funny is that you liberals hate Bush but he reached across the aisle more time then I want to remember and worked with you miscreants. He signed I don't know how many liberal bills for the sake of military spending. What we gave Bush a pass on is the fact that he promised us he would fight terrorism and never let up...thats exactly what he did. You libs call republicans War Mongers but most of the wars in the 20th century were engaged in by democrat presidents. WWI, WWII, Vietnam

Brian said...

And another thing, Adam. The president cannot ban Abortion...thats up to Congress.

DJ Black Adam said...
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DJ Black Adam said...
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DJ Black Adam said...
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DJ Black Adam said...

@The B:

You wrote: "Whats funny is that you liberals hate Bush..

First off, I am not a liberal. you have to get over the false dichotomy you present, the choices are not only "liberal" or "conservative". I am an aristocratic elitist, partially because I find the silly and inane ideologies of the so-called left and right put out there simply to control the masses intellectually fraudulent, scientificlly fiction and philsophically hypocritical, but that's me.

You all can jump through those hoops if you want to, I like actually being able to utilize critical thinking to arrive to my OWN conclusions, outside of those cookie cutter models you use to decide where you stand.

Then you wrote:

"And another thing, Adam. The president cannot ban Abortion...thats up to Congress"

Well, since you had a REPUBLICAN congress for 6 years and a REPUBLICAN President all 6 of those years, stands to reason that they didn't keep their promises to so-called "Evangelical Right Wing Christians" no matter how you slice that bread. They merely manipulated the so-called Christian right.

That's why I reject the Republican / Christian false equivalence, all they do is manipulate Christians, Christians who should be using their God given discernment as opposed to allowing politicians to manipulate them when it comes to RIGHTLY dividing and understanding what they are really facing.

In any case, save that party line prattle, it ain't moving me.

February

brotherkomrade said...

"Don’t worry CBW she’ll learn. I was once in her shoes, but then I got out of the academic bubble and into the real world where I had to pay taxes and Mommy wasn’t there to help bail me out and augment my finances. It was only at that point that I converted :-)"

That's interesting, Zabeth because I pay taxes. I'm angry that my taxes don't go to the right things such as healthcare for all, decent books, and school programs - instead it went to bullets, bombs, and other playthings weapons of choice used by the ruling class. But speaking towards the small percent of my taxes that still do the good that counts, I pay them, yet I'm still a human being. What's your excuse?