Tag: george bush

Are our Expectations of an Obama Presidency Taking Fruition?

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To put it bluntly… “Oh boy.” It’s only been one week after the election has been over, and we’ve had one zinger after the other:

First, President Medvedev of Russia announced that he was going to try to have his presidential term extended by two years, giving him six, and the following President two terms of six years each. What’s expected to happen, is that Medvedev, the puppet of Vladimir Putin, will finish his term, allowing Putin to take his place. He would then have 12 years of Russian rule, which I expect would be influenced, heavily, by Putin’s KGB experience and love for Soviet Russia.

Second and at the same time, it had been realized by the United States, that Russia was deploying missiles near Poland. Medvedev claims that this is because he doesn’t trust the United State’s Missile Defense System in Europe, which would serve to protect Americans and it’s European allies from terrorists and those that would do them harm. They’re so paranoid to think that we have an ulterior motive in building a system in Europe to oppose them in some way.

These two instances occurred the day following Obama’s election, as reported by Fox News. Hrmmm, do they possibly think that Obama is a push over? They’re not even accounting for Bush’s remaining days as President, thinking of him as a non-factor. It seems that the Russians, and many other governments, feel that this is an opportune moment to make or design a strategy to move in their favor. I’ve feared for the past several months, since their invasion of Georgia, that Russia would try to move and implement a new unification of several states, under Russian rule. Possibly a return to the Soviet Russia, but maybe even a new Soviet Union? I suppose we’ll see what happens in the coming year or so.

The third event that occurred, and closer to home, is the sudden drop in the stock market. On November 5 (yep, a day after his election, again), as reported by Reuters the DOW dropped by nearly 500 points, marking the largest drop after a Presidential election EVER. Amazing, no? How’s that for Capitalism having faith in its’ newly elected President? I think that the majority of business people in this country realize that this guy is going to wipe out large/small companies with astronomical taxes and an enormous spending budget, which will create one of the largest deficits this country has ever seen.

This sudden drop of 500 points was followed by another drop of 400 points on the following day, November 6. That’s a drop of 900 points in two days, which occurred after a steady increase preceding election day. Yet again, more faith in our President-to-be. Something amiss here, isn’t it? Do you think somebody knows something we don’t? No… we all know it… about 17million Americans know it. The other half is drinking Kool-Aid and sticking their thumbs up their butts. Welcome to the new America, ladies and gentleman. Life vests and flotation devices are not available on this flight, so good luck and see ya’ in Hell! You can see the DJIA Greatest Daily Point Losses in this PDF. These two days are ranked #7 & #9 (Point Losses) and #6 & #7 (% Losses). Enjoy the misery that is to be!

Ok, so that’s an assault on two sides of the Barack Obama Presidency… but what else could possibly be at stake here? Well, how about this?

The fourth thing to consider, is that Obama has basically sworn to keep his promises to America… and by that, I mean he plans to spend like a maniac, while taxing the crap out of us. In just one week, he’s decided to go along with Nancy Pelosi’s proposal of a second stimulus package for consumers, to again… stimulate the economy. Like it worked before? I think not. Oh, but not only this, there’s more awesome news! It seems that Obama intends to bail out the Automotive industry, as well, since they’re a foundation of our economy… right?

Now, correct me if I’m wrong… but since when is a foundation of our economy a car company that can’t sell any cars? GM has dug themselves a nice hole to crawl out of, but the problem is… they don’t want to crawl out. They want to be carried out. Who do they want to carry them out? Oh, you know… the tax payers, of course! And who wants to allow that to happen? Well, Mr. Obama.. of course!

So, that’s two big spending bills in a row that the Obamanater would like to pass, bringing the tally to what? Well, we already dished out $25 Billion to the “big three” automakers in September. This new GM bailout would cost a measly $50 Billion and the stimulus package would cost anywhere between $60-$100 Billion, bringing the max potential cost of the new packages to $150 Billion, while already spending $700 Billion for the first bailout. Amazing, is it not?! I thought Obama was going to lower taxes for 95% of the country? Is that still going to happen? If so, is he going to tax small/big business 60-70%? Seems the only feasible thing to do, if he plans on balancing the federal budget. Just sayin’.

The fifth thing to happen is a trivial obstacle to most… but perhaps a problem of trust to some. In his first tet-a-tet with the sitting President Bush, Barack Obama talked about policies and current events. In an un-Presidential move, he actually leaked information (though, false) from the private and thought to be classified, meeting to the press. The result was an angry Bush and a new opinion of the worthiness of Obama. Is he truly acting like a “Chicago thug,” as President Clinton had claimed? I’d say so… it seems the only thing that Obama can keep a lid on, is anything damning to his personal reputation. Anything that comes out into the open seems to be beneficial or seemingly beneficial to him. As can be seen from his campaign and this recent event, he’s a liar… as Bush has made perfectly clear, when claiming the information leaked was false.

How can we take this President-elect serious? How can anyone trust him? I just don’t get it….

The sixth issue to come about is the cockiness of Iran. Apparently they felt it necessary to strut their political and military muscle along the border of Iraq, by testing missiles. Iran made it clear that their missiles could hit targets 1,200 miles away, and though used for defense, they could be used against opponents, such as Israel or America, in the case that one or the other attacks them. That being said, they claimed that they would attack American bases, even if Israel attacked them, of their own accord. Interesting…

What’s the relevance of this situation? Besides an increasingly militaristic Iran who wants to wipe the Israelis off the face of the planet? In a previous blog post of mine, I outlined the various countries/dictators/terrorist groups that supported Obama. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is one such person, and I see this as an act that shows he’s not afraid of a reaction from Obama. I believe he thinks that if he decided to attack Israel, we’d stand idly by, to allow Israel to fend for itself. Is this the message that Obama is getting across? If not, then why do these groups/countries/terrorists support him? I don’t get it.

The seventh issue is merely being planned and talked about… which is the closing down of Guantanamo Bay Prison and transporting the hundreds of war criminals/felons that are located there into the United States. Call me crazy, but that just irks me to no end. Not only this, but Obama wants to pretty much recreate the criminal system that these war criminals undergo… Who the hell does this guy think he is? He’s going to undermine every President preceding him and he’s going to change the criminal system for war, he’s going to tear down Capitalism, he’s going to negotiate and sit down with terrorists/dictators… I just don’t understand how it’s gotten to this point. Why in the world did you people elect this guy?

There’s more… in JUST ONE WEEK… but it’s getting late. I shall leave you with the thoughts on this page. Think about them… think about why Obama is President… think about what the next four years are going to be like and what you can do about it now. Oh, don’t worry… there’s much more to come. I assure you.

The Sky… er the Econo… er Wall Street is Falling! Right?

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If you live in the United States and you’ve purchased a house in the last year or so, then you probably know that the housing market has been on a downward spiral, leading to the inevitable “failing” economy, or what I had heard earlier… an economic mushroom cloud.  Very clever.  Even if you haven’t purchased a house outside of your means, you’re still feeling the bite of the insidious Wall Street snakes.  Your 401K may be in disrepair, the stock market has plummeted and 1% of Americans have failing mortgages…

Yep… 1%.  That is the approximate percentage of what’s causing this economic turnaround.  And no, they’re not wealthy people… they’re regular Americans who were raised with the idea that living outside their means was perfectly acceptible.  These bewildered citizens were given the choice to open a $0 down, interest only mortgage.  They jumped at the chance, thinking they could make double their money in the after market, since housing prices were skyrocketing.  Of course, a lot of these people were in disbelief that the infamous housing bubble had been reached, thinking that prices would continue to soar.  Well, this bubble burst about 6+ months ago and now people aren’t able to sell their homes, aren’t able to pay their mortgages and since that’s the case, these wall street companies are in trouble and the rate of foreclosures are at record highs.

The talk of another great depression is afoot, because of 1% of America!  Can you believe it?  I can’t.  I also can’t believe that the companies of wall street, especially the ones we’re talking about: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG, and Merrill Lynch & Co, are the cause of this recession “soon to be depression.”

Who’s to blame?  The Americans who bought into the idea that an interest only mortgage was ideal?  Or perhaps the companies even offering such a “deal?”  How about both?  Actually, let’s point the finger toward the people who foresaw this coming and actually jumped ship before chaos hit.  Let’s point the finger at the corrupt CEOs of these companies that first, thought it would be a great idea to pull one over on the American people, offering this phenomenal “deal,” and second, knew the outcome of their actions and ignored to warn America.

While we’re at it, let’s point some fingers over at the politicians in the government, since they had some dealings with these companies and assuredly (well, assumingly) had an understanding of what was going on.  Investigations are underway, so hopefully we’ll find out who, specifically (and truly) are/were involved and who were responsible.  I can say that the CEOs that left prior to their company’s destruction are completely negligent and unethical.  They should be charged, tried and sentenced.  Look at what happened to Enron… why should this be any different?

So, all said and done, many Americans are in trouble.  Personally, I am not… but many are.  Actually, I don’t really know anyone in trouble, per se, because I don’t know many ignorant or stupid people.  Just saying…  Most people I know are pretty responsible and not “corrupt,” as it were.  They also didn’t buy into the super $0 down, interest only extravaganza.

Anyway, with the 1% of the population in trouble, and the crumbling of these enormous financial corporations, leading to 100s of thousands if not millions of lost jobs (many employees, by the way… who are quite wealthy as a result of working for these financial institutions), the government wishes to deem this as an economic crisis.  Yes, I agree that it’s an economic crisis for many people in the United States, but not for everyone.  To top it off, they want to bail out the majority of these corporations, excluding Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch & Co (which sold itself to Bank of America to prevent their demise).

How would the government “bail” out these companies?  By offering up a $700 Billion bailout package, distributed between the companies.  Rumors are flying rampant about the Democrats in congress, who are also seeing to it that some of their programs be shadow-funded, using this bailout as a cover.  Awesome. ;]  If that turns out to be true, the verbiage will obviously be melded into the final document, so misconstrued that the everyday person wouldn’t even be able to figure it out.  That’s my guess, anyway.

What’s funny, is that the government, since at least 2005 can be held responsible for this catastrophe.  In 2005, the issue of placing a reform on these financial companies (namely Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) was being discussed and voted upon.  While most republicans voted to reform regulations to prevent the current devastation, Democrats voted against, saying that there was no evidence of a downward spiral.  It’s obvious that there were and are Democrats in Congress/Senate… government as a whole, that benefited from this decision.  While executives and politicians were making bank on these interest only loans and an increasing housing market, Americans were being taken from behind and finally lead to an economic downfall.

That, to me, is corrupt and some would say treasonous.  These politicians and executives, who got out at the last minute, before the crumble, should be held accountable and should face the consequences of their actions.

That being said, a free market system is a free market system, and we should leave it at that.  Government should not get anymore involved than they already have.  The tax payers should NOT have to bail these corrupt corporations out… and it IS more than a bail out.  These people will get even more wealthy as a result of this, while our taxes will more than likely rise, our debt will increase by about $1 Trillion… and it’s already at record highs (not that that’s far from typical).

The fact that President Bush is actually trying to push this bail out package is really disconcerting.  I’ve voted for him twice, in hopes that he’d do the right thing for this country.  My main reasons for doing so were because I believe in our cause for fighting terrorism and liberating countries that are under the rule of ruthless dictators, hellbent on demonstrating their power.  My other reasons had to do with securing our borders, keeping America(ns) safe and upholding the constitution from a conservative point of view.  I expected that he would remain strong and hold fast with his conservative values, even in the wake of a democratic congress.

President Bush has done a terrific job at handling the War on Terror and securing America… with the exception of securing our borders.  More and more illegal immigrants are plowing through our borders on a daily basis.  Regardless, his stance on social issues within the United States has faltered and I’m very disappointed.

The economy has remained strong for quite a while, even with a war going on and ensuing national debt being incurred, but now he turns a 180 and almost bends over for the democratic congress and Nancy Pelosi (who elected her to be Speaker of the House, anyway?!).  A conservative turned democrat, President Bush now poses that the government should take hold and rescue the economy, essentially ignoring the relevance of capitalism, which is the only reason we have one of the strongest economies in the world.

To say that I’m flabbergasted is an understatement.  Government needs to get its hands out of the pockets of corporate executives and they most certainly should not bail out a failing company.  How many companies are build up and eventually fail without government assistance?  Why should Lehman Brothers be excluded from the bail out?  If they’re going to do this, why make any exceptions at all?  We’ve heard of socialism and communism, right?  For all the talk that the United States does, concerning the disbelief in socialism and communism, and the fact that we cherish our constitutional rights and free market society, this is a real kick in the face to governments around the world, as well as the citizens of this great country.

Given the chance, the economy can and will turn around… the market will correct itself – it always does.  We need government to take a step back and let the people of this great nation (who absolutely make it great) fix it themselves.  We can do this…  trust me.  Don’t make the mistake of doubting the free market & the people of this nation.  When we set out to do them, we can do phenomenal things.  This is but one challenge in the course of many and we can overcome it.  Don’t let government play a role.  Call or E-Mail your congressman or senator.  Even if you support the bail out, make your opinion known.  Tell your representatives how you feel.

You see, that’s what they are.  Representatives of the people.  The government is of the people, for the people and by the people.  YOU have the power, but politicians want you to believe that THEY have the power.  Don’t let them control you.  These factors only come into play when their positions are threatened.  Tell them, when you call, that you won’t vote for them for a follow-up term.  America needs to take her country back, and that’s up to you!

Economy failing?  Bull… Corporations making wrong decisions leading to their demise.  That’s what’s happening.  America is full of entrepreneurs and self starters.  If you don’t like the way things are done or how a company is run, you start a better one up, you make changes, you compete… that’s our way.  The people losing their jobs will find new ones, they’ll start their own companies up, etc.

People losing their mortgages is no small thing, but these people knew what they were getting into.  Interest only loans?  Really?  Who thinks that’s a good idea?  Especially when you’re “purchasing” a house for $500,000 and only get paid a $60,000 salary… let’s think about that…  We should bail these people out, as well?  They’re living outside of their means, making a mistake… something they will certainly learn from.  Let’s have the people take some responsibility of their own for a change.  Let’s get the hell back on track.  If you ask me, these people… this 1% of the population deserves the outcome of their mistake.  That’s life… that’s the world.  Get real and live it.  So they have to live in an apartment for a few years… so what?!  I’ve done it, my family members have done it, friends of mine have done it…  Why is this 1% so deserving of a $1/2 million house?  Pah… such arrogance, or maybe I should use the recent hot word “hubris.”  There, now I feel like I fit in.

This will all turn out better in the long run, but a bail out is not the answer.  ‘Nuff said.