Forget 100 Days – How’s The President Doing After 30?

It’s 30 days into the administration of President Barack Obama (D-USA). Unless you’re the most ardent of Obama fans, you’d be hard pressed to claim that his Presidency so far is anything other than a complete disaster.

To wit, as I noted in brief earlier:

• “Hope and Change” has given way to “politics as usual”. The biggest spending bill ever has passed with virtually no bipartisan support. Now, I think if I were trying to convince the American people to spend that much money, I would try a little harder to convince all of the American people, not just those on the left. In addition, the bill was rushed through with a proper review by Congress or the American public.
• His Cabinet appointments have been a joke:
• Bill Richardson (D-NM) withdrew his nomination for Secretary of Commerce after his alleged involvement in a pay-to-play scandal was revealed.
• Tom Daschle (D-SD) withdrew his nomination for Secretary of HHS after it was revealed he failed to pay taxes.
• Nancy Keillefer withdrew her nomination as Obama’s Chief Performance Officer after it was revealed that she also failed to pay her taxes.
• Timothy Geithner was confirmed to the position of Secretary of Treasury despite not paying his taxes.
• Judd Gregg (R-NH) withdrew his nomination for Secretary of Commerce because of fundamental disagreements with Obama.
• The candidate who campaigned on transparency has none.
• His White House has attempted to take over the 2010 census
• The Dow closed at its lowest level in 6 years.
• The process of finding a replacement for his Senate seat has been a joke. Now the person who was finally appointed may have to resign after corruption charges start to stick.

Clearly this is a man who was not prepared for the job he he asked the American public to give him. We knew that last year, but gave it to him anyway. “Does experience really matter?” we asked. Now we know the answer.

Ok RNC, You Were Right…

…but you’re still not getting my money.

For most of this decade, I have bemoaned how the Republicans in Washington had lost their way. They’d forgotten the principles that had gotten them elected, mainly small and limited government.

As a result, I became one of the many unenthused conservative voters in 2006 and 2008. The RNC warned me that I still needed to vote and support Republican candidates because “the Democrats are worse”.

I believed they were probably right, but how much worse could they be? I couldn’t keep on rewarding bad behavior.

29 days into the Barack Obama (D-USA) administration I know the answer, and it’s worse than I ever imagined. Worse than I ever thought possible.

• A 3.27 trillion dollar economic stimulus package that doesn’t stimulate the economy.
• A White House that seems completely inept, especially concerning Cabinet picks (see Richardson, Daschle, Geithner, Gregg et al.)
• The Dow Jones in freefall.
• The economic state, once thought to be bottoming, is worsening once again.
• Quite possibly, the most corrupt Congress in history (see Murtha, Rangel, Frank, Dodd, Burris)
• A White House Chief of Staff that appears ready to set new standards for corruption in the White House.

29 days into the Obama administration, and already I long for the days of 2004 with Bush and the Republican Congress.

Ok, RNC, I’m sorry I doubted you. The Democrats are far worse. And I now reserve the right to say “tax and spend Democrats” for the rest of my life without worry about the common reprisal of “Republicans can not criticize on fiscal discipline”.

A Guide to Republican Reform Rhetoric

Jon Henke at TheNextRight has posted this guide to Republican reform rhetoric

1. [BAD] Bargaining: "If you return us to power, we'll stop the Democrats! And behave better!"
2. [INADEQUATE] Apology: "We've learned our lesson"; "We lost our way."; "We need to return to principles."; "You can tell we've learned because we're voting against Democrats!"
3. [GOOD] Repentance: "I was wrong to [fill in the blank with specific votes, decisions and opinions], because [fill in blank with specific reason] and I pledge not to do that again."
4. [BETTER] Acceptance: "You have absolutely no reason, none, to trust our word or our actions at this point." - RNC Chairman Michael Steele, acknowledging the Republican Party's failures, lack of credibility and responsibility for same.
5. [BEST] Reform: "We abused the power we were given, and we should not be trusted with the majority again until we have taken steps to reform ourselves. To that end, we are unilaterally adopting transparency, ethics and procedural rules for the Congressional Republican Caucuses. What's more, the RNC, NRSC and NRCC are adopting strict accounting rules to protect donations and expenditures, and strict communications accountability rules, including disclosure of evidence for independent review and verification, that will ensure the integrity and accuracy of any message we communicate to the public. We hope the Democrats will join us in these reforms, but we will not wait for them to act before we get our own house in order."

Unfortunately, all I keep seeing is the first. This is what the RNC has been using on me for the last two years every time they call.

Until we see more of the last two, a lot more, Republicans will have an uphill climb. Fortunately for them, and unfortunately for us, Democrats seem hell-bent on giving back Congressional control to the undeserving. More on that to come.

Boortz on Change You can Believe IN

As seen here, and quoted pretty much in its entirety.

• The Dow at a 10-year low.
• A tax cheat running the IRS
• Another tax cheat as the Chief of Staff
• A trillion-dollar plus federal deficit
• Over one-half of voters relieved of any federal tax liability
• Government mandated limits on executive compensation
• Three failed attempts and still no Commerce Secretary
• Tom Daschle rides his free limo into the sunset - after paying taxes he evaded.
• The White House performance czar turns out to be a tax cheat also
• Lobbyists hired to work for the Obama Administration
• The census gets politicized
• Double government spending in one year
• The word "freedom" fades into obscurity
• Increasing home loan mortgage rates across the board
• Millions of Americans made dependent on government
• Moving unionization-by-intimidation forward
• Welfare checks become "tax cuts."
• Illegal aliens free to work on taxpayer-funded "stimulus" projects
• Welfare reform reversed, states ordered to increase welfare roles
• Move to silence critical talk radio shows
• Selling Senate seats
• Obama books in religious sections of book stores
• More government workers, not private sector jobs
• A government bureaucracy to intrude on doctor/patient relationships
• Stage set for medical services rationing
• Annual welfare checks for middle income families

Lest Anyone Think…

…that I do not realize that this is a significant moment in history, or that I somehow resent it, let me state what should be obvious.

I am thrilled that my daughters (now 2 and 5) will grow up in a world where a black man has been elected President. While that is a reason for celebration, a better reason for celebration would be that it’s non-news, and that no one cares whether the President is black or white or green with purple polka-dots. I don’t see that event coming anytime soon, much to my dismay.

Hopefully this does represent a milestone in race relations and a sign that one’s race is unimportant in America. I have my doubts, but will continue to have cautious optimism on that front.

And, since I realize that I never got around to it back in November, congratulations, President Barack Obama (D-USA). Your hard fought campaign and victory has earned my respect and admiration. Keeping them is up to you.

Good Luck, Mr. President

I was going to write a nice little post wishing President Barack Obama (D-USA) good luck for the next four years, but Ed Morrissey at HotAir has already said it much better than I could have.

People have asked me since the election how I will approach the Obama presidency, but it’s really not that much of a mystery.  I’m not going to be rooting for his failure, because I’m rooting for America. I believe most people feel the same way; Obama won the election and for better or worse, he’s our president.  But that doesn’t mean that any of us will sit quietly for the next four years or the next four days.

…

Best of luck, President Obama.  My prayers are with you, for support and wisdom as you assume the burden of this office and lead our country.  When you fail to provide that leadership or demonstrate wisdom, though, don’t expect me to be silent.  I’m rooting for America, not the coach.

I’ll finish the same way I finished my farewell to President George W. Bush (R-USA).

Good luck, Mr. President. God bless you, and God bless America.

2688

2688.

That’s the number of days since the last successful terrorist attack on American soil. Pardon me for repeating this earlier post, but it does bear repeating in my opinion.

Tell me you believed that possible on September 12, 2001.

President George W. Bush (R-USA) has not been my favorite President. I doubt he’s been anyone’s favorite President.

However, there’s that number. Look at it again, and remember how you felt on 9-12. There’s a lot to find fault for in our outgoing President. But his success in keeping our country safe from terrorism is undeniable. You may not like his methods, but it’s impossible to argue with the results. Try and I’ll respond by just repeating that number over and over.

2688.

I’ve avoided all of the Presidential “legacy” stuff over the last few weeks. I haven’t read a single post/article about it, nor have I written one. There’s no need.

Everyone will remember George W. Bush in their own way. This is how I’ll remember him. This, and 2688 are his legacy. Every other point written about him is at best a distant second.

Did I disagree with him? Often. However, there’s no doubt that the man has shown outstanding character and courage over the last 8 years while dealing with an incredibly difficult job with impossible expectations. He has stuck to his core beliefs, and acted on them. I respect that, even though I disagree with many of his core beliefs. I respect it, because that’s what leadership is all about. Or at least the biggest part. The next biggest part is getting people who disagree with you to buy into your vision. He often failed there. Sometimes spectacularly.

But he fought Congress and the media and an increasingly antagonistic public to pursue terrorists his way, and won his battles with Congress on this issue every single time.

The result?

2688.

Thank you for that number, Mr. President. It’s time for you to retire back to Texas. You’ve earned the rest.

Good luck, Mr. President. God bless you, and God bless America.

Solving the Economic Crisis In One Easy Step

I’ve been meaning to write this for about a month. I waited long enough and the Wall Street Journal wrote it for me.

Those of you who have kept up with this blog know that I’m no fan of corporate taxes, so my solution should come as no surprise.

Immediately cut the corporate tax rate to zero. Do whatever steps necessary to attempt to guarantee that they won’t be raised again. Ever.

This is far better than any bailout or any “stimulus plan”.

The only thing that’s going to stimulate the economy and keep it moving forward is job growth. The only way to guarantee job growth is to guarantee more money in the pockets of employers. The simplest and most effective way to do this is to stop taxing them.

Then they can hire more people, stay in business, give raises, produce more widgets, cut prices on their widgets, and in general become more healthy.

The WSJ says it better:

The positive impact on corporate-credit markets, the stock market, the attractiveness of the U.S. to foreign investors, and the willingness to take business risk and create new jobs would be immediate. Capital-gains tax collections would rise. Capital flows would be in the hands of those who are driven to build businesses and permanent jobs efficiently instead of pushing that capital through a government pipeline with endless amounts of friction. If the U.S. is to lead the international economic community out of this crisis, this is the place to start.

Yes, I realize there are some problems with this. Everyone in the country would immediately attempt to incorporate themselves. You’d have to make rules on incorporation more stringent, and you might even have to put some kind of a temporary moratorium on new incorporations (I’d hope not). And this is a problem in itself. Who would it hurt most? People trying to start up new businesses. So, there’s definitely a fine line to be walked here.

As the WSJ points out though, it’s not just jobs. It would create foreign investment, and reduce the oversea capital drain.

The AP is reporting today that 83 of the U.S.’s top 100 corporations have oversea tax havens. Frankly, I’m surprised it’s not 100 out of 100. If these companies didn’t have a need to bury their capital overseas, they could reinvest it here locally. And how would they reinvest it? Again, jobs, higher production, lower end costs, more purchases from other companies, etc. All the things that a growing economy needs.

When Daimler-Benz and Chrysler merged, there was considerable debate as to whether the new company would be headquartered in Michigan or Germany. We know the end result. Daimler-Chrysler moved to Germany. The reason? The unbearable corporate tax burden in the United States. If not for that, the company would’ve been Chrysler-Daimler, and might still be a growing concern.

As the WSJ correctly notes above, the corporate tax rate in the U.S. is the highest in the world. This is why companies keep moving overseas. This is why companies don’t want to move here. We have to do whatever is necessary to make the U.S. attractive to businesses again not only to get out of the current economic crisis, but to continue to stay a world leader and to have a high standard of living.

$1,200,000,000,000.00

That’s $1.2 trillion. The expected size of the deficit for 2009.

The mind boggles. I can’t even comprehend that many zeros.

What could you as an individual do with $1,200,000,000,000.00?

You could buy 600,000,000,000 gallons of gas at $2 per gallon. That’s too big to deal with too.

You could buy 240,000,000,000 McMeals at $5 each.

You could buy 30,000,000 cars at $40,000 each.

You could buy 6,000,000 houses at $200,000 each.

The most expensive car in the world is the Bugatti Veyron at $1,192,057. You could buy 1,006,663 of them.

You could buy 400,000 30-second Super Bowl XLIII spots at $3,000,000 each. Of course, that’s nearly 139 days worth of continuous ads, and the Super Bowl only lasts about 4 hours.

The purchase price for Alaska was $7,200,000 in 1867. You could have bought 166,667 Alaskas.

The purchase price for the Louisiana Territory was $15,000,000 in 1803. You could have bought 80,000 Louisianas.

The Hope Diamond has an estimated value of $300,000,000-$350,000,000. I’ll use $300,000,000 to simplify the math. At that price you could buy 4,000 Hope Diamonds.

The most valuable sports franchise in the United States is the Dallas Cowboys, worth an estimated $1,612,000,000. You could buy the Dallas Cowboys 744 times.

The B-2 bomber cost $2,100,000,000. The United States built 21 of them. You could build 571.

The U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier cost around $5,100,000,000. You could buy 235 of them.

If you won $1.2 trillion in the lottery and paid 40% taxes on it and had the payments spread out over 25 years, you’d get $28,800,000,000 every year.

Bill Gates net worth is in the $57,000,000,000 range. You’d be over 21 times richer than Bill Gates. Hey, that’s an idea. Seize all the assets of the Forbes 400. That’d pay off that deficit and then some. I’m kidding, of course.

Should Republicans Be Thinking about 2016?

While I think that 2010 has potential to be a very good year for Republicans, at least in the House, the White House seems likely to be out of reach until 2016. At this point, a 2-term Presidency for Mr. Barack Obama (D-USA) seems a near certainty.

How can I say that before he’s even taken his first oath of office?

It’s true that I don’t know what the future holds. His administration may be rife with scandal. He may be a foreign policy disaster. He may generate enough angst from the right that they’re able to rise up and defeat him. All of those things are possible.

Here’s what’s probable though.

What’s the #1 question in voter’s minds when they go to the polls to re-elect an incumbent or vote in a new President?

“Am I better or worse off now than I was 4 years ago?”

It’s hard to see how most people will answer that as “worse”. I certainly hope that most people won’t. That would mean that we really are in a “depression” and not a “recession”. Because otherwise, because of or in spite of Mr. Obama, the economy should have recovered to some degree by then.

I already said that this blog is not going to be a cheerleader for every little negative thing that will hit the Obama administration. I’m certainly not going to root for the kind of economic downturn that would benefit a Republican Presidential candidate in 2012.