Check it out America: Obama is looking at raising your taxes to pay for the “explosion” in the budget deficit. Let’s be honest. To pay for all the bailouts, “Cash for Clunkers” money and health care reform your taxes will have to go up.  There is simply no other source of revenue for the government that is as easy to tap and as easy to increase as the income tax.  And Obama’s administration is not just taxing the rich.  No sir.  He’s going to hit middle class America with tax increases.  That’s you and that’s me.

The bottom line is that Obama has taken full advantage of a Democratic Congress and spineless Republican leadership to move America even closer to socialism.  He’s done it by spending money like a drunken sailor on shore leave in Thailand.  The good news is that now middle-class America will finally take its head out of its ass and realize that when Democrats will take only the rich, they are talking about middle-class America.  The bad news is that it may be too late to stop what is already in motion.  Let this be a lesson to you America.  Pay attention to what your government is doing.

(Side note: I think my favorite line in the article is this one “If we want an economy that’s going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it’s going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform,” Geithner said.  How does SPENDING BILLIONS on health care reform bring down a deficit?  It doesn’t!!!!  This is probably the worst attempt at working the party line into an answer in the history of politics.  It’s hard to believe that Geithner is the best person to head up the Treasury if he doesn’t understand simple economic concepts.  Spending creates deficits; it doesn’t bring them down.  I totally agree that deficits need to be eliminated for the economy to achieve robust growth.  But I disagree with the idea that spending outrageous amounts of money to make health care worse is the way to do it.)

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Get out your check books

Many people have offered their ideas as to how we can right the ship again.  Let the bad companies fail.  Set up the bad bank corporation, similar to the S&L struggles of the 80′s.  Government has even thrown its hat into the ring by passing out billions of our tax dollars in bailout money and promising to pass out billions more with their spending…er, stimulus bill.

And none of these will work.  They are all band-aids designed to merely stop the bleeding, but not cauterize the wound.  I ask you – what good does a band aid do when you’ve cut open your leg with a chainsaw?  Nothing.

But I do have a solution.  It’s pretty simple and it will be FAIR to everyone.

What is this magical solution I speak of?  The FairTax.  That’s right the way to solve our economic crisis is through the complete reform of our current tax system.

The reasons why the FairTax would get our economy growing again are to lengthy to post in one sitting, so I’ll be covering the FairTax, piece by piece in a series of posts over the next few weeks.  If you don’t know anything about the FairTax or THINK you know all there is to know, I encourage you to stay tuned and learn more about what I consider the greatest idea to come from a Congressman in a long time.

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Economic Growth

If you scream at the idiot masses, they react.  That is why less expensive car dealers use screaming commercials.  The louder it is, the better the deal must be… Unfortunately, with most Americans, courses are plotted based on reactive decision making, not proactive decision making. Why is this country as a whole buried in debt?  Lack of ability to plan and budget.  (Both are proactive activities by  the way)  The bottom line is this:  “If you scream at them, they will react.”  It’s the political equivalent of screaming “fire” in a crowded theater.

Now that Obama has what he wants, it’s time to calm the crowd down and make them think that he was the one that put out the fire.  Nevermind the fact that he was the one with the lighter fluid and the match.  Now, that sounds like a pretty blatant accusation that at least some of this is his fault.  Well, look at the stock market.  Since he has taken office the stock market has dropped 3000+ points.  Funny enough, it seems to take a major dive every time he or one of his cabinet members open their mouths.  More government control of banks?  WHOOSH! (that actually IS the sound that the stock market makes when it plunges due to governmental interference)

These idiots are making the most use of this down market that they can.  Why else would Rahm Emmanuel be talking about “not wasting a good crisis”?  How the hell is this crisis GOOD?  What kind of self-serving, politically agenda-driven ass would make such a statement??  Better question:  Why is he still White House chief of staff after uttering such a catastrophically STUPID sentence?  These people don’t CARE about you.  The market will come back, it always does.  The bad part is that they will (of course) take credit for having caused it.  Kinda like taking credit for saving a burning building by letting the fire burn out.

Well, I suppose that given the circumstances and the current state of American political prowess, I should just use the tried and true methods of reaching the majority.

THIS GUY IS A SOCIALIST AND WANTS TO MAKE YOU A DEPENDENT GOVERMENT WARD!!!

Did anyone react?  Nah, didn’t think so.  I didn’t use the word “Free”, the phrase “Zero down” or offer to take any trade, no matter what they owe…

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

We’re all gonna die!!!! Oh, wait… now it’s gonna be ok.

Uh, wait.  I thought this had to happen right away…

I wonder how many peope have lost their jobs over the weekend… if this is supposed to immediately help the economy, couldn’t the president have waited one more week to go on vacation?  The stink of this is that the bill only needed to get out of congress in a hurry.  If it hasn’t been passed, we can still do something about it…  Now that the only thing between it and us is one socialist and a pen (probably a bunch of pens actually) it doesn’t matter how long he takes.  Sickening.  This bill is a lie to the core, and it is being signed into law by a man who KNOWS that it won’t do anything real for the economy.  By the way, the bill will almost DOUBLE the current national debt and is larger by itself than the GDP of the WHOLE WORLD.  Are you getting this?  If every good or service produced by the whole world in one year were sold to pay down this debt we would still fall short.  Congratulations, America.  We are now nationally bankrupt.  Hope all you Obama fans know how to grow your own vegetables, because in five years time they’re gonna be so expensive that only the ‘evil rich’ can afford them.  To whom are you going to whine then?  Once more, history repeats itself.  Down we go into national poverty, global irrelevance and eventually, tyranny.  Wish I could be happier about it, but facts are facts.  Enjoy the long ride down, and do your family a favor, teach them how to take care of themselves.  Their own  goverment has shown that it doesn’t care about them anyway.

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Is anyone surprised?

Much like a corpse in the summer sun, the Barack Obama “Stimulus Bill” is starting to smell more and more rotten as it sits in the light of the day.  All last week and the beginning of this one, it was impressed upon us by PresBO that this bill must be passed NOW! If we don’t, the world will collapse.  Horsecrap as usual from a democrat mouth.  Now we are beginning to find out why…

Turns out that the longer this bill is exposed to the American public, the more socialist garbage we find stuffed inside.  Now it is being reported that there is to be a federal system to oversee your doctor and to “guide” him or her how to best treat you.  Uh, last I checked, my representative IS a doctor and voted no on this bill.

A quote taken from Bloomberg news article dated Feb 9th by Betsy McCaughey:

…National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”…

I am imagining a system whereby some mid-level, minimally qualified govermnment union worker sits at a desk in an overpriced building under the buzz of the sterile, mind-numbing energy saving light bulbs with a big manual of spreadsheets.  It will be his or her job to look at what you have had done recently, how old you are and then look across the spreadsheet to the corresponding “no” column.  THAT will be your doctor’s guidance.  Knee replacement?  Hell no, you’re 65.  That would be a waste of money.  What?  You want treatment for your emphesema?  But you’re 80.  You’ll be dead in 5 years anyway.  We’re gonna save the money for the indigent mothers of 6 that want to have 8 more kids.  They’re the ones that REALLY need it anyway, right?

I don’t think that there is anyone with one ounce of sense in their head that actually believes that this will improve the healthcare system of this nation.  The driving force is power people.  If you own someone’s healthcare, you own the person.  Now I’m not going to go as far as to say that people could or would be deprived medical attention based on their politcal views (although it’s a thought provoking scenario for a short story) but imagine the campaign slogans for years to come:  Democrats- Protecting your free health care since 2009!  … or perhaps… Vote Republican and your personal health care costs will skyrocket!

Are you getting the picture now?  They’ve been doing this for years with Medicare and Medicaid!  Now look at what has happened to the geriatric voting block… sorry, old folks.  We got what we want, now we’re throwing you to the wolves.  You don’t need all the healthcare you’re getting because you’re old and you’ll be dead soon anyway.  Just deal with it.

You have been betrayed.  Next up, the rest of us.  Starting with the stupid.  Oh, wait.  That’s already happened.  They thought that they were going to get their mortgages paid and their cars filled with gas because they voted Obama.  Well, ‘Change’ is here and ‘Change’ couldn’t care less about you idiots.  Go watch American Idol.  We’ll contact you when we need your votes again.  You’ll have forgotten about this by then anyway…

Ask yourself why this was stuck in the middle of a ‘stimulus bill’ that is 700+ pages long.  Why not shout this from the rooftops?  Isn’t this a democrat Utopian idea?  This is a platform issue for them!  Really, if this is so popular, it should be a stand-alone signature item for PresBO.

If this bill passes, health care is going to suffer horrendously and they know it. You had better call your congressmen and senators to ask why they aren’t crucifying this bill openly on every tv channel and the floor of the house and  senate.  This is a covert government power grab and it is a LIE.  Stand up and fight it or suffer the tyranny.

You have your orders.

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Presto, You’re Dead.

By the way, divide 1 trillion by 31,557,600… that gives you the number of years that it would take to pay off the stimulus at the rate of one dollar per second.  Don’t want to do the math?  Here’s the answer:  31,688.08 years.  Yes, that’s right, 32 THOUSAND years.  Now, does this still sound like a good idea?  How is it that these idiots that get elected to lead our nation get to make decisions on how much we spend using numbers that are so large that they may as well be theoretical?  This goes beyond fiscal policy.  This is insanity.  I intend to write my senators a very terse letter about this.  How about you?

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Now or Never? I’ll take Never, thanks…with a side of ‘stop lying’.

I should start off by saying that I have been adamantly against any sort of taxpayer bailout of the big 3 American auto makers.  That being said, Ford made me very proud today.  Instead of seeking aid from the government (and by extension, Joe Taxpayer), they have made some tough cuts in their expenses and tapped into available credit lines in order to dig in for the rough times in 2009. I applaud Ford for going against the grain and NOT taking our money to keep themselves afloat.  It is not the responsibility of the government or the taxpayer to keep poorly managed companies above water.  Ford has taken the stance that they are going to take the consequences that come with the sub-par management decisions they’ve made in the past.  I will be keeping my eye on Ford to see if they can turn the ship around or if they end up flushing our money down the toilet like Chrysler and GM.

The other item I’ve found that makes me proud comes from our new President.  For the most part, Obama’s politics don’t align with mine.  But today, I’ve found an issue on which he and I see eye to eye.  Obama issued a critique today of what can only be described as outlandish bonuses for CEO’s on Wall Street in these dire financial times. And I must say that I wholeheartedly agree with him on this.  It is despicable that these Wall Street fat cats needed taxpayer money to keep their companies from ceasing to exist only a few months ago and now they are raking in billions of dollars in bonuses.  The most disgusting piece of it all is that these Gordon Gecko’s of the world are getting billions of dollars in bonuses after RUINING THE COMPANIES THEY LEAD!!!! If you were to perform your job at such a level that it completely ruined your department/unit/whatever, you’d be fired.  These douche bags are getting rich by running companies into the ground then having you and I pay to fix their mistakes.  UNACCEPTABLE.

I really hope that Obama finds a way to combat problems like these in the future.  There is no doubt in my mind that 2009 will bring more taxpayer funded bailouts of companies and there need to be measures in place to prevent these CEO’s from receiving a billion dollar pat on the back for a job poorly done.

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Something To Be Proud Of

A couple of subject are under my microscope today.  Each of them is appaling in it’s own right.  First, we have Gov. Blagojevich in Illinois.  Is there anyone on the planet that actually believes this guy to be innocent?  Now in all fairness, I must give this man his due process.

Evidence toward his guilt: Audio recordings of the man saying that he is trying to profit off of the appointment and may actually appoint himself if nobody wants to pay him what he thinks the senate seat is worth.

Evidence of his innocence: He says that he hasn’t done anything wrong and that ‘they’ are out to get him in order to make it easier for the democrats in Illinois to raise taxes.

Verdict: Guilty as the day is long.

Now, what makes this amusing is that he is making the rounds today on all the lefty morning shows protesting his innocence and demanding that this is some sort of unfair ‘witch hunt’.  Then he says that he is being denied due process and makes the case that his being “railroaded” legally speaking is dangerous to all the rest of us because if the government can deny him his due process then they can do it to us.  As far as answering to the tapes:

“I can’t address what is on those tapes”.

Does anyone hear a tinge of “I don’t recall senator” in there?  In order to believe this guy you have to:

a) Disregard audio recordings of the man describing his intent to commit a crime and conspiring with someone else to do so.

b) Believe that he has a witness (any witness) that will be able to put any of that ‘back in context’ so that we can all understand what he really meant by “this think is f*ing golden, you don’t just give it away for nothing”.

c) Intentionally ignore the fact that he immediately shifts focus to this being a personal vendetta against him when he is directly questioned about any of it.

Blago has to be clinically insane.  Egomania and an ability to disregard the obvious truth on this scale is a sickness.  I think he honestly believes that he has done nothing wrong.  Either that, or he is working hard on a basis for a book deal later.  When the democrats are throwing their own under the bus, there’s a good chance that they are pruning ‘obviously diseased’ branches off the vine.  I say ‘obviously diseased’ because the whole liberal vine is infected with ignorance and arrogance on a lethal scale.  Kinda like a tapeworm.  Yeah, that’s a good analogy.

On to more lunacy!

Nancy Pelosi is at it again, opening her skeletal maw to spew forth stupidity on a grand scale.  Now we are being informed by her highness that government provided contraceptives will stimulate the economy.  Uh, well I suppose if we were all prostitutes that might be true.  The long and the short of this is that she is trying to cut costs on wards of the state by making less of them.  Good plan.  While your at it, why don’t we just put all of our seasoned citizens on old rusted out freighters that have no more use in the fleet, run them out in the deep water and sink em!  That would mean less Medicaid payments, less Medicare part ‘B’ costs, less stress on the medical industry, less frustration for the younger drivers in florida… the list goes on and on…

This type of idiocy is beyond words.  Almost.  I actually wonder why Nancy is trying to cut down on her voting base.  Poor, stupid, dependedent people vote for democrats.  It’s a fact.  The more dependent people there are, the better off the democrats are in terms of keeping power in DC.  So this seems a little counter intuitive.  I suppose that we have to consider the long-term effects of this program.  First, just because you hand ‘em out doesn’t mean that they’ll be used.  Second, if you give something to the dependent class and get them used to it, then you can use it as a threat in future elections.  “If you vote for them, they’ll take away your *insert entitlement here*.  Heck, they’ve been doing that for years with the old folks and medicare  (Which is probably why the frieghter thing I mentioned is a no-go).  None of what they have listed in the stimulus bill will to the first thing to lift the economy.  In fact, most of it will damage it further.  We’re talking about state and county-level projects that ought not be funded on that level by government, much less by FEDERAL government.  Art Programs?  Money for schools to teach Native American language classes?  How the heck does that help?  How about a tax cut, you idiots?  Here, check this out:

If congress sends ME the money, then I use it to buy things.  If they send me enough money for long enough (or let me keep my own money in the first place) then I am more likely to buy things like cars, televisions, movie tickets, dinner out… you get the picture.  All of those things are (guess what) part of the American economy!!!!  Giving money to local governments to build their pet projects does little to nothing for anyone but the contractor who gets the job.  But then again, he’s being taxed through the floor so that it can be built.  What I would LOVE to see is a local county or state government apply for a big chunk of the money (but not disproportionately large) and allocate it for a big fat tax cut to the taxpayers of that municipality.  Could you imagine the positive repercussions if, say,  the State of Georgia did that?  Suddenly, there would be a flash of monetary input for the market and the lending institutions as people pay down debt.  Either way, that helps my personal economy.  If we all do better, then so will the economy.  If the engine requires gas, why don’t they give us all a little gas and let us get the engine started again?  Well, that makes a little sense, so I guess that won’t be happening.  Perhaps I could get a billion or so in the meantimeto do a study on why my cat is snoring right now.  Loudly, in fact.  Yeah, a billion should cover it.  I mean, some of that has to buy earplugs for me and the dog… and buying earplugs stimulates the economy, right?

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Loony toons… every last one of ‘em.

“…But at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe.”

Um… No.  That is a lie and he knows it.  In fact, I am willing to wager that he is perfectly aware that the exact opposite is true.  The best fix to this both long and short term is to roll back taxes on businesses and individuals significantly and let the market roar back to its former strength.   The US economy has done amazing things before when allowed to run its course in an unfettered manner.  Look at what happened when Reagan took office after the Carter era… tax cuts across the board and the nation saw a decade of massive capital growth and success… not to mention crushing the oppressive communist regime of Russia at the same time.  You may say you hate capitalism, but even the Ruskies wanted a McDonalds close by.

Having government ‘control’ the manner in which this economy recovers is the absolute last thing that we need.  Why put a governor on the engine of capitalism unless you want to be the one to decide which areas will succeed and which will not?  A dangerous proposition at best…   Remember the axiom:  There is nothing that the government does that private business (or the free market) can’t do better.  Find me an  example of where government has been a boon to the citizenry of this nation OVER the private market in any sector and I’ll eat my keyboard.  I have deli mustard… not that I’ll need it.

Sure, these times are rough.  I ought to know, I got canned because of the housing market.  These are also the times when the American people are at their best.  Our nation is a continuous story of men and women overcoming adversity and trials to cobble together the strongest nation on the planet.  A small example you ask?  Paula Deen.  A single woman with a major clinical personality disorder and two kids to feed started a sack lunch business.  Now she has a wildly successful restaurant in Savannah, multiple TV shows, two successful children that learned hard work and sacrifice first hand and a legion of adoring fans that would pay to watch her melt a stick of butter.  THAT, my friends, is why the free market is amazing.   One part ingenuity, one part determination and the freedom under which innovation thrives…  A recipe for a rising tide of plenty.  One of my favorite quotes comes from a book that I read last year and that I will gladly extend as your first reading assignment from my corner of the H&B universe.  That book is John Adams by David McCullough.  You will learn more about the founding of this nation from the pages of that book than any class you take and all of the high school courses you’ve ever heard of.  The quote is as follows:

“It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”

That quote is taken from a letter between Abigail Adams (The second First Lady) and her son John Quincy.  Now, take out the last three words, replace them with “innovator and success story”  and apply it to your life.  It is the rough times in life that test the mettle of the man (or woman).  Got a passion?  Make it work for you.  Use your God-given talent and ability to make something out of what you have or go find someone that wants what you have and is willing to pay you for it!  Remember, necessity is the mother of invention.  If it is necessary that you feed your family, you will invent a way to make ends meet.  Take a part time job and learn something new in the meantime.  Expand your worth to the world and you will find it a more welcoming place.  Don’t rely on a Union boss to fix your problems.  They WANT you to need them.  Don’t rely on Barack or McCain or any other person in government… they are dependent upon you needing them for their own power.  Be an individual, grow a backbone and go drag home a paycheck.  In other words, be an AMERICAN.  Live up to the great station that is yours and that you are called to by your birthright.

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Who’s gonna fix all this?

We will NOT be leaving Iraq or Afghanistan anytime soon, no matter what Code Pink says or does.  This will be the biggest episode of  “not dancing with the one that brung you” that politics has seen in a while.  The wackos that bought all the anti war rhetoric will be sorely disappointed.  I expect that Barack will hear about it, but he won’t suffer too much for it because people will be too focused on the economy.

The economy will not be back anytime soon, much to my chagrin… and Barack won’t be doing much to help that.  Sure, there will be a whole new round of infrastructure projects to make jobs, but making jobs won’t lift the economy.  Not only that, but I can imagine that whatever he wants to do in this arena will sail by without the first glance at the budget, lest anyone should suffer the aforementioned racially-tinged lambasting.  Anyone want to bet on how many of these jobs go to union workshops?

So the future is not quite as bright as it could have been, but we still live in the United States.  If you don’t like the idea of a recession, in the words of a very wise man, “don’t participate”.  Make your own way.  Take another job, find a new and innovative way to support yourself and your family.  Make this year as bright and prosperous as you can.  If you and I both do our level best to better ourselves, the economy will be better for it.

All the best for you and yours in 2009!

Post from: Hellfire and Brainstorm

Happy New Year!