January 29th, 2010

A year into Barak Obama’s tenure as President, it doesn’t seem that much has changed. The economy is still stagnant and we are left with the same “business as usual” in the White House and in the houses of Congress. Quite a bit was heaped upon this man but at his own request. He campaigned on the premise of hope and change and on how he was going to change “business as usual” in Washington. The people of this country elected a man who pledged to give them something different. Mr. Obama promised reform in Health-care and on Wall Street. He pledged to us a new way of getting things done, free from red tape and partisanship; free from earmarks and with unprecedented transparency. I may be ignorant or just downright blind here but I just can’t seem to see it.

After watching his State of the Union Speech the other day, I was struck with something profound. He stated that because of the loss of a seat in Massachusetts, he was going to try to reset the tone. This is a man who had less than a single term in congress and stepped right into office as President with a full super majority in Congress. I guess he thought he would have it easy. Unbridled power, after all, is what dreams are made of for a President with an agenda calling for unprecedented fundamental change to the system. It seems that he no longer has the swagger and shiny mentality that he had on Inauguration Day back in January of 09′. What worries me is his feeling that there has to be a reset at all. If you can’t lead a country without a super majority in the House and Senate, should you be in the Oval Office at all? He stated that there was a lost sense of common cause that was previously present and seemed to blame it on everyone and everything else around him but his policies and rhetoric.

In a drastically down turned economy with massive unemployment, the last thing we need to occupy our time with is higher taxes and liabilities stemming from the passage of Cap n’ Trade and Health-care reform. Mr. Obama’s goal of creating green jobs is commendable and very well could be done if -no pun intended- the climate was right. Health-care reform is something I think all Americans wish for in one form or another. What is on peoples minds first and foremost though is unemployment and the seemingly impending collapse of our monetary system. 1 in 10 people in this country who are eligible for work can’t find it. People are losing their homes, their cars and their ability to provide all across America. The stimulus did create jobs but not the right kind. Aside from the jobs the Administration claims they “saved”, the majority of job creation has been in the public sector not the private sector where they are terribly needed. While the public sector jobs created have put some back to work, a large amount of the jobs surrounding infrastructure are temporary and create no product for the economy and no personal wealth. Private sector jobs tend to be a source of lasting employment for Americans and funnel money back into our failing economy by creating growth and personal wealth. In the end someone should really tell Mr. Obama that creating private sector jobs would, in the end, generate more revenue for the Federal Government than the current actions being taken from the White House. After all private wealth generates more tax revenue. Mr. Obama’s populist run to the center in his Address was merely a political ploy to try to save capital at a time when Democrats are hurting. He said some great things, namely his plan to get America back to work, but we have yet to see any details that look different from previous rhetoric from the last 12 months. His spending freeze is timid and claw-less at best when you look at the numbers.

Over the first 12 months of Mr. Obama’s term, he has increased discretionary spending by 115 billion dollars. His proposed freeze only eliminates 15 billion in future spending through the 2011 budget year. Not that anyone trusts those Wall Street types but someone might want to send Mr. Obama one of those fancy HP financial calculators. Spending 115 billion to save 15 billion doesn’t really add up and not even AIG would have taken that offer. While this freeze is projected to save taxpayers 250 billion dollars over the course of the next decade, the CBO is still projecting 6 trillion dollars of additional deficit spending. Once again, it seems a nice gesture but this freeze has no teeth and accomplishes nothing more than a great PR move for the Administration and the Democrats in an election year. 17% of the budget is affected by his proposal and this seems really to be just a drop in a bucket full of possibilities that will never see “bi-partisan support”. While cutting some programs, he is still increasing others in a time when this Nation has no money to spend. Congress is like a trust fund baby that still goes back to daddy for more when his 50,000 dollar monthly allowance just doesn’t seem like enough.

It’s time for a real spending freeze and a tax cut for corporations big and small. Private sector business is the backbone of this nations economy and we are crippling it with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It’s time to halt capital gains on small business investments and start working with those that create jobs instead of driving them either overseas or out of business.

We need to stop this insane game of unfunded mandates and entitlements that do nothing but keep the poor in their current situation and cause the fleecing of the more successful in this Nation. Being rich should not be a crime. This is America and everyone has the opportunity, some just choose not to take advantage of what’s in front of them. I have never received a job from a poor person and neither have you.

Balancing the budget is always a goal of every administration but seldom does it actually happen. A balanced budget constitutional amendment would guarantee to tax payers that deficit spending would become something of the past. I can’t spend more than I make so why should they? It’s OUR MONEY, not theirs and its high time they start thinking of it in this manner.

Now is the worst time in our recent history to raise taxes and create more deficit spending. Washington should be tightening their belt just as 95% of Americans have had to do over the last few years. While Mr. Obama spends more money than ever before in history with projected debt so high, our great grand children will still be paying for it, we tighten our belts, throw more in our savings than usual out of fear and pray China doesn’t own the whole country by 2012.

If Mr. Obama wants to lead this Nation, and I mean REALLY LEAD, I will support him 100%. But to lead a people in a Republic one must listen to those over whom they govern. If Mr. Obama wants to end his first term, and last by the looks of it, as a man who truly led and represented the people of America, he doesn’t need to spend most of his time campaigning to “convince” us that he’s right in his actions. He needs to listen to us so we can convince him that his actions should be representative of our agenda, what we need and what we desire. This country is by, of and for the people not the Oval Office or chambers of Congress. It’s about time Washington shows us some REAL leadership, shuts up and listens to the American People.