Wall Street Makes Successful 10k Run But Economic Ruin Awaits

   The Dow Jones hit the 10,000 mark at 1:19 p.m. The first time we had ever hit that mark was in March of 1999. Ten years ago. Since then the Dow exceeded that level but after the economic downturn of last year, we fell far below, not only those highs but also the 10,000 mark.

Today’s slight rise above 10K was a brief flirtation that was reversed in just minutes as it receded to 9989. Nonetheless, having seen the Dow Jones industrial reach the level that it did, was a positive psychological event. It would seemingly seem to be an indication that the economy is on the rebound.

Or so it would seem.

Other economic indices do not offer much hope. While games are played with statements touting that jobless claims occasionally drop, the actual unemployment rate continues to rise and many retailers are still posting lower than average sales. None of this bodes well as we enter the holiday season which is the traditional period of time that retailers make the bulk of their profits.

As we stand now, the market could actually close at or above 10,000 when the trading bells ring at 4 p.m.. If it does what will that mean. In truth, not that much. Whether we want to accept it or not, the United States is entering into a transitional economic era. In it no one is very sure about anything. Combined with looming congressional acts that threaten to have government transfer wealth at unprecedented levels and data that shows that the government is creating public sector jobs at a rate more than twice that of the creation of private sector jobs and what we have is a road to economic ruin.

As our government creates more jobs that cost us money money than they make and the growth rate of private sector jobs that generate revenue decreases, we are headed for a structural imbalance in expenses over profits. That is nothing new. We have been existing under government deficit spending for far longer than we would like to admit. The difference here however; is that the diverging growth rates of public and private sectors job is not a temporary spending policy. The type of policy that changes from one administration to another. The shift from private sector job creation to public sector job creation is a long term trend being built into our system. As such it is a structural deficiency that inevitably places the American economy on line to create more jobs that take money out of the government than jobs that generate profits which drive money into government through tax revenues.

This means that slowly but surely we are creating a public sector job market that will cost us more than the government has. That is what will happen if current trends continue.

What is the solution? Creating an atmosphere that allows for the creation of more private sector jobs than public sector jobs is part of the answer, an important part of the answer. But there is no indication that we are beginning to do that. In fact all indications are that we are doing just the opposite. The historic stimulus packages of late are designed to create jobs through government employment (the public sector). This is making the population become more and more dependent on government. In this case, government employment.

So does reaching the 10,000 in the Dow actually matter much?

Not really.

The Dow is based on an average of 30 different stocks. Today’ s spike is largely based on three stocks which fared far better than anticipated. The one most responsible for the better than expected earnings was Caterpillar. The heavy construction machine giant is certainly seeing a rise in business but it is not due to any expansion of the economy. It is based on federal stimulus dollars being thrown into infrastructure projects. This is not a long term source of income for Caterpillar. It is short term federal deficit spending. Hardly the type of financing that anyone can bank on.

So although pandemonium broke out on the floor of the stock exchange when the Dow briefly flirted above 10k, it was strictly a psychology boost based on no enduring indexes of reliable economic indicators.

The truth is that the trends behind the trends indicate that we are headed for economic troubles beyond any that we can imagine.

OFFER LEGISLATURE MERIT PAY LINKED TO THE ECONOMIES THAT THEY MANIPULATE

ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD MERKT

Assemblyman Richard Merkt recently proposed to slash the salaries of New Jersey lawmakers by 10%.However, the Assemblyman is a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination and the proposal could be viewed as an election gimmick. Then again, everything that any lawmaker does can be seen as a election gimmick.

In light of the recent pay raise of federal legislators, Merkt’s proposal is a noble one and worth looking at.

So his point is well taken. Times are tough and our representatives should be willing to make sacrifices and at least pretend to be empathetic to the people whose lives they affect.

Besides, lawmakers are partially responsible for any state’s economy including the one we are currently in here in Jersey so they should be more directly effected. I say they are partly responsibly because not everything is their fault. Nature, world events and human stupidity outside of Trenton politics, all play a part. But our lawmakers are elected to both steer us and our state economy in the right direction and to help our state better cope with the situations that we are dealt.

That being the case, it can easily be said that the current state legislature has not done a good job.

New Jersey has led the way in economic trouble over the past few years and under the direction of Governor Jon Corzine, the state legislature has been ill equipped at handling the situation. In fact, together the Democrat controlled state legislature and Democrat Governor have made matters worse.

Together they raised taxes, increased fees made it harder to do business in New Jersey and expanded opportunities for government corruption.

It could be said that Republicans bare no responsibility for this situation since they do not control any branch of state government. I can agree with that but it still doesn’t get Republicans off the hook.

Both parties have failed the people of New Jersey to one degree or another.

Democrats have failed to do anything right and Republicans have failed at convincing anyone that they could do better.

Given these circumstances, I have a more interesting proposal than Assemblyman Merkt’s.

How about we link state legislative and executive salaries to the economy and taxes of the state that they run.

Currently New Jersey State Assembly members and Senators make $49,000 a year.

I say let us reduce those salaries to a base of $41.000 a year and then use the following standard.

1. For every percent or portion of a percentage that any given legislature raises income and property taxes, their salaries are decreased by 2%. For every percentage or degree of a percentage that they decrease income and property taxes their salaries can be raise by half of one percent.
2. For every percent or portion of a percentage that they raise a sales or service tax, their salaries also decrease by that same percentage. Conversely, their salaries can be raised by half a percent for every full percent of a decrease in such taxes.
3. For any new tax created, their salaries are reduced by 2% plus the equivalent percentage of that new tax.
4. Every toll increase passed during any legislative session is matched by a reduction in legislative salaries that equal to the percentage of that increase.
5. And finally, state legislative salaries are further reduced by the same number of percentage points that the state’s unemployment rate is whenever it exceeds 4%.

To make it fair. Newly elected legislators would not be held accountable for the taxes and economic situation that any previous legislative session, which they did not have a hand in, was responsible for, and so they would start with the base pay of 41K.

Of course, such measures would not prevent rich people like Governor Jon Corzine from raising fees and taxes, misappropriating funds and offering sweet heart deals to sweethearts like Carla Katz. After all, Corzine took a $400 million golden parachute from Wall Street and doesn’t even accept his salary for Governor but this system could help to make less well off lawmakers work a little harder to address our problems and to fight the wealthy Governor. Having their own pockets linked to what they pick out of ours could just help to make them finally work together for the benefit of themselves as well as us. Maybe such a pay scale system will help to really create a sense of bipartisanship?

Perhaps if the lawmakers of New Jersey had their financial well being directly linked to the state’s financial well being and our own financial opportunities, maybe tax increases and increased fees for everything from driving to landscaping and joining a gym will be viewed as a last resort. Like it should be.

Perhaps by immediately linking their decisions directly to their own incomes, they may better empathize with the financial impact that they bring to bare on those they are representing .

You could say that it is not fair to those who vote against penalizing taxes or policies that drive businesses away and raise the unemployment in the state. That might be so, but, those who simply voted against something are still culpable. They have more than a responsibility to vote against such measures. They have the responsibility of leadership and the responsibility of making their case and doing it so well that a preponderance of people in the state as well as the legislature are persuaded by their arguments. They must convince people why others are wrong and they are right. Failing to do so is a failure that they share in common with those who support regressive economic policies.

So Assemblyman Merkt’s proposed 10 % reduction in salary is nice.

It is certainly going in a direction far better than the 2.8% pay increase that Congress is willing to take, at of all times, now. But the gesture Merkt is making could be made more meaningful and be more enduring. By linking legislative salaries to their actions we are adding a new incentive to politics and a new level of innovation……..political merit pay. If you do a good job and keep a good economy going you get paid better.

Is this crazy?

Maybe it is. Maybe it is as far fetched as a State Senator taking money from a no show job given to him by a school funded with state money that the same State Senator helped procure with tax payer dollars that he helped get through the state legislature. Maybe this political merit pay scale sounds just as crazy as that same corrupt State Senator getting his state funded pension after ripping the state off and being convicted.

But just like former *Senator Wayne Bryant, it may sound crazy but it could be true if like Wayne Bryant, we just did it.

__________________________________________

*Wayne Bryant pressured officials of University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey  to create a no-show job  that  allowed him to lobby himsef’ for taxpayer funds. Bryant also chaired the Senate Appropriations comittee which Funneled large sums of taxpayers dollare to UMDNJ.

 

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OF SENATOR BECK FOR LT. GOV.

I was talking to a friend of mine’s little girl the other day.

I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she replied, 

“I want to be President!” 

Both of her parents are liberal Democrats and were standing there. So then I asked her, “If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?”

She replied, “I’d give houses to all the homeless people.” 

“Wow – what a worthy goal.” I told her, “You don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where this homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward a new house.” 

Since she is only 6, she thought that over for a few seconds. While her Mom glared at me, she looked me straight in the eye and asked,

“Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?” 

And I said, “Welcome to the Republican Party.” 

Her folks still aren’t talking to me.

 Submitted by Dick, Williamsport, Md

CHRISTIE TELLS SUPPORTERS THAT HE WILL MAKE IT OFFICIAL

FORMER MORRIS COUNTY FREEHOLDER AND FEDERAL PROSECUTOR CHRIS CHRISTIE

This morning Chris Christie officially declared that he will make a run for the Republican nomination for Governor official during the first week of February.

 

With access to lists of Republican supporters and activists collected by Christie supporters such as State Senator Joe Kyrillos, the former prosecutor sent the following message.

Dear Friend,

This morning I am filing papers to begin the process to become a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey.

I did not take this step lightly. It was only after careful consideration and consultation with my family that I decided to become a candidate.

New Jersey is broken. New Jersey’s taxes have become so unaffordable that more families are leaving our state than moving here. Our state’s business tax climate is ranked 50th in the nation and has become so unattractive to employers that only government jobs are growing in New Jersey. Yet nothing in Trenton gets done to fix these problems.

We can change this. We can solve these problems if we’re willing to make the tough decisions.

In my seven years as your United States Attorney, I didn’t shy away from any of the tough decisions. I took on corporate greed, political corruption, terrorism and environmental polluters. Public officials from both parties were prosecuted for corruption – more than 130 were convicted, and not one was acquitted. Corporate executives who cheated their companies and hurt their workers were successfully prosecuted. Terrorist plots were disrupted; polluters punished.

Many didn’t believe we could win these battles. We did, and with strong leadership we will win the fight for Governor and change this state for the better.

My formal announcement for Governor will come in the first week in February and I hope you will join us (I will email you the details). With strong leadership now, we can fix our broken state and make it more affordable for all New Jersey families.

Sincerely,

Chris Christie

The filing of papers with the State Board of Elections to begin making his his candidacy for Governor of New Jersey a reality is about time.

For Christie to stall his decision to run or not run any longer would be detrimental to both his own success and our party’s success.

It is no secret that he would probably be running and to begin with a late, or later start than he already intends, only makes things tougher for the G.O.P. than they may already be.

From the message sent out by Christie, which essentially makes his intentions clear, one can see that the soon to be candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey is banking on a campaign that will play up his prosecutorial, clean government credentials and business interests.

Those are important issues however, Christie would be wise to highlight the damage done to the citizens of New Jersey due to the anti business climate that Corzine and Democrats have created in the state more than just the desire of businesses. The focus needs to be on the people. By simply making himself the “pro-business” candidate, Christie will fall into a trap that Democrats are great at. It is a trap that, in the minds of voters, Democrats perpetuate a sense that Republicans are the party for big business.

So Christie needs to carefully phrase his intentions to improve the environment for business in New Jersey.

 

One of the most encouraging comments in his email was a reference to the fact that only government jobs are growing in New Jersey. If Christie can hammer home the fact that Democrats have made government a business that they treat like corrupt Wall Street, ponzi schemers and profit from at the sake of taxpayers, he may be on to a winning theme in November.

But first he must get our nomination.

It is my hope that Chris Christie will work hard for that nomination. He just might have to with people like Assemblyman Richard Merkt and former Mayor Steve Lonegan on his tail.

The two, especially Mayor Lonegan are going to be innovative in their approaches to government and in a time when Americans were wanting “change”, New Jerseyans are really wanting change. Business as usual is not something that New Jersey residents want from government and people like Steve Lonegan are anything but business usual. Many can see that as a refreshing change from the business as usual that we have gotten from the current administration in Trenton.

So once Christie does become an official candidate and starts campaigning as one, it will be interesting to see how he distinguishes himself from the pack and from your run of the mill politicians.

And the sooner he starts trying to do so, the better.

 

Be Sure To Sign The Petition To

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POSTED EARLIER TODAY:  JACK KEMP – A POLITICAL ICON BATTLES CANCER

It has been reported that Jack Kemp has cancer.

His office released the following statement:

“Mr. Kemp has been undergoing tests to determine the origin of the disease and the options for continued treatment. He will continue to serve as Chairman of Kemp Partners and plans to remain involved in his business, charitable and politically related activities. Mr. Kemp and his family are grateful for the thoughts and prayers of friends and appreciate respect for their privacy at this time”……….

To Read More, Go To:

https://politics247.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/jack-kemp-a-political-icon-battles-cancer/

CORZINE TAKES NEW JERSEY FOR A RIDE….On the Hindenburg

 

Governor Jon Corzine

Governor Jon Corzine has declared that he is slashing New Jersey’s budget by as much as $812 million in order to close in on the state’s $2.1 billion budget gap.

Wow, a whopping $812 million dollars. That will do a lot. Well not really. But I guess Governor Corzine knows what he is doing. I mean after all, he is a Wall Street genius and we all know how smart those Wall Streeter’s are and he did have a golden parachute that earned him $4oo million dollars after he got pushed out of Goldman Sachs.

So maybe his $812 million in budget cuts are smart. I am not too sure though.

 When Jon Corzine first came to Trenton, in just six short months he increased taxes in New Jersey by almost $2 billion dollars. This happened after he ran for Governor promising to “control spending”.

Now Corzine is up for reelection and we have a budget deficit slightly larger than the total amount of revenue he raised in tax increases when he first took office.

I think we can safely say that Governor Corzine did not “controls spending”

Ponzi Schemer Bernie Madoff

In fact Governor Corzine has not controlled anything in New Jersey. What he has done is try to take his Wall Street experience and apply it to government. The problem is that his finance experience depends upon bailouts and golden parachutes. He has even delayed a presentation of New Jersey’s own annual budget till March in the hope that the federal government will come to his rescue. I bet you didn’t know that when we elected Barack Obama, he became the de facto finance chairman for New Jersey.

When it comes to budgets, Jon Corzine attended the Bernie Madoff School of Finance. It is located right next to the Jim McGreevey School of Ethics, where ,by the way, Governor Corzine also got a degree.

Disgraced Ex-Governor Jim McGreevey

His major in finance and minor in ethics both came in handy during his secret negotiations with his former girlfriend Carla Katz, as the two hammered out a lucrative state contract that greatly benefited the Communication Workers Union that Katz presided over. For the Governor’s efforts, Katz and the CWA made out like bandits and taxpayers got suckered out of more money than investors in Madoff’s ponzi scheme. More than a year later and we’re still trying to figure out how that deal happened and the courts are figuring out exactly why Corzine and Katz refuse to release the details.

But all is well. The Governor has promised to make $812 million dollars in cuts to the budget. Some of the cuts include $11,000 from adolescent illiteracy, $4 million from The turnpike and parkway, $15 million from aid to municipalities and $75 million from public schools.

Never mind the over 83 aides that the Governor has earning a hundred thousand dollars or more a year. Never mind the countless patronage positions that exist in every school district, municipal government, state agency and legislative staff. Never mind the endless array of programs that government should not be involved in in any fashion. No, none of those things add up.

Let’s face it. Like everything else Jon Corzine has said or dne, it is meaningless. It is just like his first gesture when he

Jon Corzine

 initially took office. With generosity and sincerity of purpose, Jon Corzine made it clear that he would not accept the $175,000 annual salary that comes with the job. Oh boy, thank you Jon. That is so,….. it is so,……. so kind of you. I mean with a personal fortune in excess of $400 million dollars those few thousand must really be a great sacrifice for you.

Sarcasm aside, it was a publicity stunt and like everything else, the gesture was meaningless. It was not a sign of sincere intentions and it did not make a difference. Much like his entire tenure as Governor.

To date, the only significant action that New Jersey has encountered under his leadership was the abolishment of the death penalty in New Jersey and the worthiness of that achievement is quite debatable.

Other than that, he has raised taxes every chance he has gotten and he has pushed for increasing tolls on our roadways every year for decades to come. He even pushed for putting tolls on roads that don’t have any tolls.

The Hindenburg Going Down In Lakehurst, New Jersey

Truth is, Jon Corzine is like the Hindenburg. He floats around like a big deal but instead of getting us from point A to point B, he explodes and unleashes a load of rubble allover the place. There is not a single problem that he has solved or improvement that he has created. All he has done is enter into shady deals, hire inept cabinet officials, tinker with budgets and raise taxes.

New Jersey really does need a change.

We need a leader who can take control of circumstances, not be controlled by circumstances. We need someone who can clean up the mess, not make a mess.

It is time for Republicans in New Jersey to get their act together.  The Republican Minority Leaders in the Senate and Assembly have better get on message.  They need to create and present their own budget, drop everything else and from High Point to Cape May, make that budget known.  They need to point to the empty list of  achievements that the Governor has accomplished and point out what the Democrat majorities in the legislature blocked.  Beyond pointing out what they did wrong and the right things that they didn’t do, Republicans need to make it clear what they would do and present New Jersey with their roadmap.

After that, we have to get rid of Corzine.

Ridding ourselves of him wont eliminate all of New Jersey’s problems but it will at least help prevent us from getting into more trouble.

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The rest of the world cannot understand how after bitter election campaigns…

…….American politicians can return to reality. For instance, Sarah Palin has invited to her great state of Alaska the men who defeated her, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

She has provided a moose hunting trip for their enjoyment and has hired two other prominent men to assist them. Dick Cheney will instruct them in safe gun handling, and Ted Kennedy will drive them back to their cabins in the evening.

What a gal! That Sarah is such a sport and thinks of everything!

Submitted by Bill, Ardmore, Pa.

THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE AND THE SARATIZATION OF STALE POLITICS

In 1968 the campaign of Hubert Humphrey was the first presidential election to use a television ad attacking the oppositions vice presidential nominee. It was used to make fun of Richard of Nixon’s selection of then Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew.

That election was won by Richard Nixon with 301 electoral votes to 191 electoral votes. Third party candidate, Governor George Wallace won 5 southern states and 46 electoral votes.

The ad on Agnew had little effect.

Today we face a much different electoral map, yet one thing that is not different is the use of Sarah Palin by the opposition in this election. Many private groups have taken it upon themselves to run ads, on behalf of Barack Obama, that focus on Palin.

Governor Palin will Saratize the stale political atmosphere

The great attention on Palin came within days of the boost that her addition to the ticket brought to John McCain’s candidacy. A sort of fear overcame the liberal extremists within the Obama camp and outside of it. They were caught off guard by the selection. They were offended by the presentation of a strong, accomplished woman that was not Hillary Clinton or who married into power.

When she was first announced as McCain’s running mate, the Obamakins stated that her only experience is as a small town mayor. They skipped right over the fact that she is a sitting governor. They immediately wrote off her experience because “some” of it, was rooted in a small town and from their perspective small town America doesn’t matter.

Since than, the left has attacked her family, her education and her religion. They have lied about her decisions and actions and claimed that she banned books that were not even published at the time and that she supported secession from the Union when she simply spoke against secession before groups that did advance that cause.

In other words, the left went nuts. They did not know how to deal with her candidacy and they still don’t.

As the vice presidential debate approaches I am sure that they are still at wits end when it comes to coping with her presence on the stage. They have more lies ready to hit to the stands. They have more distortions that they are ready to perpetuate on the internet and over the airwaves. They have plenty of mud to throw but they have little constructive commentary to replace their mud with.

During the course of the debate, I am confident of one thing, Sarah Palin will be a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale political environment. I am sure she will provide rational sectors of the electorate, with confidence in her abilities and beyond that she will instill a sense of confidence in her ability to bring about their desire for reform of business as usual, Washington, DC, politics.

You see, Sarah Palin does lack experience. She lacks the experience of Washington, DC and it’s go along to get along mentality. She lacks the experience of putting aside one priority for someone’s political favor. Palin lacks the experience of inaction and double talk. On the other hand she has the experience of standing up to the status quo, eliminating deadweight and defeating obstacles to progress. She has the experience of being able to make government work for the people, not against them.

The left can make all the false charges that they want but the truth of Governor Palin’s record cannot be changed. She has spent her time in public service tackling corruption and standing up to the powers that be, even when they were in her own party. She has developed economic policies that enrichened the pockets of Alaskans, not legislated money out of their pockets.

To the contrary, her debate opponent, Joe Biden, has never once opposed a tax increase, reduced the size of

Biden will use DC doubletalk to poluute the political atmosphere

government or stood up to his party and he is a longtime member of the liberal establishment. He is the type of Washington insider that gets hung up on politics and losses sight of positive progress. Biden is the politician who made the decision to hold a “trial” to determine whether, a decade earlier, Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had committed the outrages of remarking to Anita Hill that dirt on a can of soda looked like pubic hair. Biden is the man who recently touted that the answer to Iraq’s problem was splitting the sovereign nation up into thirds based upon religious sects.

Just as was the case in the 1968 election, this election will not hinge on the vice presidential candidates or their debate and the left’s attacks on Palin will make even less difference. Most people vote for the President, not the Vice President but what people, especially undecided and independent voters, will walk away with is a sense of which ticket is more suited to change the way Washington works. Change in the sense of reform that will take effect from the top down.

I believe that Sarah Palin will Saratize the stale atmosphere of DC politics and that her common sense talk will prevail over Biden’s DC doubletalk.

And for those of you who want to claim that when it comes to the vice presidency, Sarah Palin does not have enough experience but when it comes to the Presidency, Barack Obama does……..I suggest you take a look at this:

 

 

 

Top 10 Signs Your Presidential Candidate is Under-Qualified

1.- Promises to improve foreign relations with Hawaii.

2.- Runs a series of attack ads against Martin Sheen’s character on “The West Wing”.

3.- His #1 choice to work on his cabinet is “That Bob Vila guy”.

4. – Outstanding record as Governor of Rhode Island nullified by the fact that no one cares.

5. – Got his degree in Political Economics by bribing Sally Struthers with a chocolate donut.

6. – Anybody mentions Washington, he asks, “The state or the DC thingie?”

7. – At the debates, answers every question with a snarled, “You wanna wrestle?”

8. – Vows to put an end to the war in Pokemon and free the Pikachu refugees once and for all 

9. – Says the Pledge of Allegiance as quickly as possible, then shouts, “I win!”

                10. -On the very first question of the debate, he attempts to use a lifeline.

OBAMA and McCAIN NEED TO RESCUE ANY RESCUE PACKAGE

One will be President. Both need to show us why they should be.

Presidents must provide leadership that leads us away from crisis if they see it coming. If they didn’t see it coming, they must get us through it.

The current financial crisis that our nation is being warned of could have been avoided if we acted on some of the preventive measures that would have averted the recent need for a 700 billion dollar rescue package. Not avoiding it is something that I blame President Bush for. Note, I do not blame him for the problem but I do blame him and the administration for not seeing it coming. I blame him for not heading the advice of others who warned us about the mortgage lending practices which have inevitably threatened every other, major, area of the economy. People like John McCain who in 2005 proposed measures to correct our course and avoid the ice field.

Someone was asleep at the wheel on this one. It was akin to being on duty in the watchtower and still not seeing the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.

I will blame the President for allowing the issue to get to this point and requiring an historic, expensive hurried, solution to what should have been avoided, but I will not blame him for creating the problem that he did not acknowledge until it was too late.

Nat'l Homeoners Strategy led to crisis

This was a problem created, in part, by the Clinton era.

Under the Clinton administration mandates were created that forced FannieMae and FreddieMac to extend high risks loans to low income and minority applicants. Clinton‘s National Homeowners Strategy was a financial scheme that promoted insanely low down payments and coerced lenders into giving mortgage loans to first-time buyers with unstable financing and incomes. It was a way to increase homeownership. That is an admirable motive but as usual,the  liberal mentality, forced government to do that which it should not have done. Essentially, the Clinton era initiatives that forced government action on private sector interests led to the need for government to take over FannieMae and FreddieMac. This is not to say that private sector greed and bad business practices did not add to the wrong minded government policy, it did, but what happened here is that government solutions to one problem, created another . Now, ironically, the government which helped to create this problem is having to solve it.

There are many lessons that can be learned from this. Whether you refuse to learn those lessons is up to you but the lessons are there. The left , under Nancy Pelosi, want to point fingers at Republicans and blame the entire problem on their tendencies for deregulation. That could almost be plausible if it was true. Unfortunately for liberals, it is not true. Conservatives are not for no regulation. Conservatives are for less regulations. They are against government regulations such as the Clinton era housing initiatives which forced FannieMae and FreddieMac to enter into high risk loans that should never have had the opportunity to be defaulted on. Republicans are against the type of regulations that prevent reasonable growth of our economy that is based upon sound policy and business practices.

Such was the case in 2005 when John McCain sponsored the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act which was specifically aimed at reeling in the higher than acceptable risk taking of FannieMae and FreddieMac. It was also designed to reign in many of the shady recording practices that both institutions were conducting.

The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 was, as it’s name indicates, a bill of regulatory reform, a bill that would have reformed the regulations which have added to the creation of the current economic crisis. The bill was ignored and denied by Democrats and the Democrat chairmen of the committees responsible for the bill. Congressman Barney frank and senator Chris Dodd did not act on this corrective initiative. Yet today, they join with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in blaming Republicans.

Pelosi’s lack of ability to lead has been clear for many years. During the last two years, as Speaker of the House,her lack of leadership has been profound. It lacked the ability to get her own party in line and pass their own liberal initiatives. That is why this is one of history’s least productive congressional legislative

The most unaccomplished Speaker in history

sessions.

Between President Bush sleeping at the economic wheel and the house Democrat leaders’s lack of ability to accomplish anything, we need a leader to step forward. For me that leadership should come from the next President. It should come from the individual who will be steering our economic ship with whatever the burden of the solution to this crisis is.

Barack Obama and John McCain are incumbent senators. They have a responsibility to live up to in those capacities and they should not use a political campaign as an excuse for avoiding that responsibility.

John McCain was right when last week he suspended normal campaign activity in a stated attempt to deal with the legislative package aimed at rescuing the economy. He was wrong to back away from this original position. In doing so we are back to square one and Nancy Pelosi’s lack of leadership along with that of President Bush and Committee Chairs Dodd and Barney still leaves us crying out for effective leadership.

John McCain is no Nostradamus, but on this issue he has been ahead of the curve and his instincts have been right, at least since 2005 when he proposed measures that would have not allowed things to spiral out of control and bring us to this point. McCain should continue with those instincts and apply them in his capacity as a sitting senator.

Why did he reject the solutions before it baecame a problem?

I understand that neither McCain or Obama sit on the House Financial Services Committee or the Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee, which are the primary committees handling the bailout package. However, their involvement on the issue,along, with their colleagues can interject some much needed initiatives and direction into those committees. To believe that since they are not on the committee, they have nothing to do with it or no ability to influence it is absurd.

If either of these two men have the capacity to lead us that their individual campaigns would have us believe than now is their chance to show it.

Too late now to save the process he helped to sink

Now is the time for them to demonstrate their purported abilities to solve problems and unite people together to properly address our national concerns. If either of these men have the answers to our problems, than now is the time to provide those answers. If the economic dangers we are witnessing are truly a crisis, now is the time to answer their calls to duty.

Get off their high horses and get behind their legislative desks of responsibility. Do not politicize the crisis in stump speeches before adoring supporters in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Colorado.  Go to Washington, D.C. and rally the legislative geniuses of Capital Hill together behind appropriate, legitimate legislation that will address the crisis.

I want McCain and Obama to present their rescue packages. A package of legislative measures that:

A. – Produces an acceptable level of fluidity in the credit markets
B. – Prevent the abusive practice of an overextension of risky loans.
C. – Tightens the recording practices of all federal monetary institutions.
D. – Eliminates the Clinton era National Homeownership Strategy policies
E. – Levees a payback with interest on any and all monies invested in bailout packages
F. – Eliminate golden parachutes for executive officers responsible for insolvency

Obama and McCain may not sit on the committees charged with hammering out such a package but they are

Talk is cheap. Action is essential.

charged with the responsibility to create a package that the proper committees must address. Through their leadership they can create a plan that is good enough to garner support and strong enough to rally behind. If they cannot do this than they have no right to comment on the process and use it to advance their candidacies for President.

I want them to demonstrate through deed, not word, how good their abilities are to resolve problems and deal with crisis.

If either McCain or Obama want to demonstrate that they have the ability to accomplish things as President, now is the chance to show it, not just talk about it. The cry for leadership in this crisis is loud and clear and if Obama and/or McCain refuse to answer those cries, than neither one should be asking for the chance to lead our nation for the next four years to come.

Last Wednesday, when McCain embraced the issue and suspended his campaign, he was on track. It was the right thing to do. Since than he has strayed off this track and now we still do not have a rescue package in place. Now, more than ever he needs to get back on track, suspend his campaign and take the lead on the issue. Develop a plan that can win the day and help propel him to the White House.

A campaign is a great forum for ideas to be expressed but a time of crisis is a great forum for leadership to be practiced. McCain and Obama need to practice it now.

A Guide to U.S. Newspapers 

 

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The Washington Post is read by people who think they should run the country.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand the Washington Post. They do, however like the smog statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn’t have to leave L.A. to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country, and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who’s running the country either, as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure there is a country, or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority, feministic atheist dwarfs, who also happen to be illegal aliens from ANY country or galaxy as long as they are democrats.

10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.

 

BE REAL ABOUT THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

The Economy Is Sound Enough To Endure Bursting Bubbles

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the race for President heats up, issues are sometimes being discussed. At late, the topic of discussion seems to be the economy. As the economy has hit a bump due to the bursting of the bubble in the housing market, several financial institutions have gone or are on the verge of going bankrupt. As result the government is stepping in, in an attempt to head off the ripple effect that these collapses may cause.

It should be noted that the house flipping craze which caused many wide eyed risk takers to enter into over the past 5 years, have found out that they bit off more than could chew. The mortgages taken out on houses that they never intended to live in have come due and they could no longer afford the gambles that they made. The problem is that the housing market turned and after these house flippers invested tons of money into these homes in order to increase there values and sell them for a whopping profit, they find themselves without enough money to pay the mortgages that they used to buy the property in the first place.

Were it not for these risk takers willingness to overextend themselves the lending markets would not have overextended themselves. But because they have the chickens are coming home to roost and as result many innocent people who did not make such gambles are at risk. The lack of return to lenders from bankrupt gamblers have forced lenders to tighten up and the market has shrunk.

Now I do not presume to have the answers, I am not Alan Greenspan and I offer to you that Alan Greenspan did not have the answers either but I will say this, the American people did not enter into the risks that the house flipping, get rich quick, entrepreneurs did and although we are all suffering because of them, we should not be forced to bail them out.

If Joe Blow goes to the Kentucky Derby and places life savings on BushWonFloriduh to win and subsequently loses because Clinton-Lied came in first, should the federal reserve be forced to come in and subsidize Joe Blow?

Now of course the intricacies of the economy go beyond that analogy and there is a need for the government to step in and enact necessary measures that prevent the nation from entering into an economic unraveling due to a collapse that could lead to higher unemployment and a further shrinking of the economy and they are doing so. But this leads us back to this campaign for President.

Barack “America” and John McCain are now tussling over the economy. Obama blames Republicans, the current administration and John McCain for the closing of Lehman Bros., the takeover of FannieMae and Mac and the pending circumstances surrounding A.I.G… He wants more regulation. Given the circumstances I can say that I agree. And so does John McCain who unlike Barack Obama, called for regulations that would leave the national economy at less risk than it has been. The difference is the extent to which that the regulation goes.

I believe Obama’s liberal drive for control will lead to overregulation, which without his realizing or understanding, would lead to an eventual shrinking of the economy, just as it has done in the past when liberal overregulation killed certain market sectors and destroyed economic growth.

On top of this Barack Obama leads his charge by going on a political rant that accuses John McCain of being out of touch. He makes this accusation based on the fact that McCain believes our economy is sound.

Well I have news for Barack, McCain is right. Despite the collapse of a financial institution that overextended itself and a sector of the housing market that saw it’s over inflated market bubble burst , in September, the economy posted a strong gain of 3.3 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter. This was led by growth in consumer spending, exports, and the recent stimulus package. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the level of growth demonstrated the “resilience of the economy in the face of high energy prices, a weak housing market, and difficulties in the financial markets“.

On top of that, orders for durable goods have been rising in recent months and productivity growth over the past four quarters has been strong at 3.4 percent – above the averages for each of the past three decades over the course of the Administration.

What this amounts to is the fact that despite recent troubles in certain sectors, the American economy is sound. Sound enough to not fall apart due to crisis in anyone sector.

Unlike the house flippers who helped to bring on the problems that we are seeing unfold, the American economy and it’s people do not put all our eggs in one basket.

According to James Sherk, an analyst and expert in labor economics, macroeconomics, fiscal policy, and economic growth, politicians like Obama, in the case of the economy, “should not get away with spinning gold into straw to score political points. While the economy is not doing as well as it did at the height of the tech bubble, it is still growing strongly”.

In other words the economy is “sound” and over exaggerated claims that the sky is falling should not be made by a politician who has yet to demonstrate that he has the judgment to do what is right.

John McCain warned of the need to regulate against the type of activity that led to the headlines we are reading today, Barack Obama did not. Yet Obama comes before us to say that he can solve the problem and he does so by overreaching and offering the type of regulation that would take the word “free” out of “free markets”. What John McCain has offered are measures that would prevent the type of overextension that is causing the federal government to now step in and share in the burden of.

What John McCain is doing is telling the truth. He is not trying to create a national downturn in the economy so that he can come off as the messianic savior that Barack “America” makes himself out to be. John McCain is not trying to make things seem worse so that he can get elected. He is the telling the truth when he says “the American economy is sound”. Were it not, we would not be able to endure the headlines that we read today.