Obama's Latest Failure Plan

Someone made the comment after hearing Obama's "Jobs Plan" speech to the joint congress, "Why didn't he give that speech 2 years ago?"

I said, "He did."

Obama's stimulus package when he first took office was 800 BILLION dollars to be dispersed for building of infrastructure, schools, and "investments" in clean energy. That was when unemployment was still at 8%. By making these "investments," he promised to put people back to work.

Well, 2 years later, unemployment is over 9%, which his administration has said should be the new expected normal. He wants to throw 450 BILLION dollars at what? Oh yeah, infrastructure, schools, and "investments" in clean energy companies. I wonder if it will be the same kinds of companies like the one being investigated now for defrauding the government out of 500 million dollars by cooking its books. (And Obama's administration's blaming of Bush's administration since the application was originally received during Bush's term is so characteristic it's become cliche.)

Obama gave this speech 2 years ago, and his 800 BILLION dollar "investment" didn't pay off. Unemployment rose. Congress had to increase the debt ceiling to keep us from going into default on the 16 TRILLION dollar deficit. And the economy is less stable now than it was when he took office.

What makes him think throwing 450 BILLION dollars more at it will help?

Obama is a fool in the biblical sense of the word.

And, frankly, I'm tired of his lies. "It's paid for," he says. Then charges the "supercommittee" overseeing budget reform to figure out how. I want an iPad. I'm currently trying to figure out how to pay for it.Why? Because I don't have it paid for. If I had it paid for already, I'd have it already! Does this make anybody else mad? I mean, seriously. Why do I feel so alone in being outraged?

I hate to say this, but I had this impression 2 years ago. Obama considers money like many of the mentally ill clients I have worked with through the years. One of the basic principles of budgeting that I tried to teach my clients in community support work:

When creating a budget, you don't start by listing all of the things you WANT, and then try to figure out how to pay for it. You start with the amount of money you HAVE, and then figure out what you can afford.

I don't blame Obama solely for this. The government has been practicing this ack-bass-words way of budgeting since FDR. But at some point, the cycle has to stop. The government in general is driving this nation over a cliff. Obama is the latest in a long history of irresponsible managers. I will state Obama's has been the most agregious. He was blaming Bush when he came to office for the deficit Bush created in 8 years of office. Obama then created the same amount as Bush in 2 and a half years.

Obama's answer to the "revenue shortfall," increasing "government revenue." That means higher taxes, folks. Right now, the poorest 50% of people in the United States pay NO taxes. The top 10% pay over 80% of taxes. Obama wants to tax the rich.

Here's a simple question: How much out of every dollar that you make do you think you deserve to keep?

Follow up question: Why should that amount be any different for any other person?

I heard a statement recently that made sense to me: In the United States, the government is a collaborative work of the people. The government does the work the people have decided needs to be done. That requires the people to pay for that work. So I think we should take a step back from the debate about "cutting spending vs. raising taxes" and have a more fundamental discussion:

What do WE THE PEOPLE define as the work of government?

That's a question for another blog post that I will write soon. But for now, I can tell you this: the answer was adopted on September 17, 1787.