Retro 5: Who Really Caused The Great Recession? Part 1 - "Duped America" Highlights

Given family engagements in town this week, we will be rerunning some of our most popular posts, posts that have garnered the most attention and which showed that we are currently enduring the worst set of politicians America has ever had.

MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

Who Really Caused The Great Recession? Part 1 - "Duped America" Highlights

One character flaw about President Obama that constantly bugs me and which we have discussed many times before in this blog (see:http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2009/08/blame-game-part-2.html), is his refusal to accept any responsibility for the failures of his administration. In his mind, the mostly non-existent accomplishments of his Presidency are due to a variety of external forces including:

- His favorite whipping boy excuse, the Bush administration. Never mind that the country's economy really started to come apart (soaring unemployment and soaring national debt and budget deficits when the Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid took over Congress in 2007 after the 2006 midterm elections), as the following graphs illustrate (double click on the graphs to get a bigger picture):

- The Japanese tsunami.
- ATM machines.
- Europe's financial woes.
- The Arab spring, which increased oil prices.
- Wall Street
- Banks
- Congress.
- Republicans, even though from 2007 through the end of 2011 the Democrats controlled 80% of the Federal government:

There is any old saying that goes as follows: "Don’t tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the darn ship in." Obama has never understood this concept. No one forced him to be President. Any good manager coming into a new job should assess what the situation is and then try to progress from that point.

That is what leaders do, they look forward. Obama continues to look back to blame anyone or any organization for the failures and inadequacies of his administration. Rather than focus on the future and how to get there, he wastes time and energy to cover his own shortcomings. Blaming others in the past does not calm the seas he inherited and does not bring in the darn ship.

But if he honestly did look into the past, which I doubt he is capable of doing, he would not like what he sees. In the next two days we will present an argument that says the Great Recession was not caused by the following factors:

• The Bush administration
• The Japanese tsunami
• ATM Machines
• Europe's financial woes
• The Arab Spring
• Republicans in Congress
• Republicans in general
• Wall Street
• Banks

What really caused the Great Recession and the destruction of wealth, high unemployment, and general economic malaise that still haunts us today, were Washington Democrats. It was not Wall Street, it was not greedy banks, it was not Bush, it was not Republicans, etc.

It was purely and simply the insistence of Democrats in Washington that home ownership in predominantly Democratic voting areas be made easier to accommodate. That was the single root cause of all of our current economic troubles. Sure, Wall Street banks took advantage of the situation for a while to make big profits. Sure, mortgage lenders made shady deals to close mortgages and make their money upfront.

But as we will try to prove over the next two days, based on experts in the industry, none of this happens without the aiding and abetting by Obama's fellow Democrats and Obama himself. His career profited politically by allowing the malfeasance to continue until the crash, an economic crash that wiped out banks, mortgage dealers, construction jobs, home building companies, housing equity wealth, stock market wealth, job growth, etc.

Today we will review the work of Richard Bernstein who has written a book called "Duped America." According to his bio on his website:


Author Richard Bernstein, a former lifelong Democrat, has organized this masterpiece into 31 short easy-to-read chapters. In each and every chapter Bernstein explains how the Democrat Party and their allies in the Mainstream Media have repeatedly attempted to dupe Americans. Each chapter is filled with enough facts to allow you to become more than just knowledgeable about each subject. Duped America is so thoroughly researched it has almost 1,000 footnotes.


Included below is a chapter from the book that he allows anyone to download from his website and thus, I am pretty sure he would not have a problem with me including it here. I am referencing his work since many of the statistics and historical facts he refers to I have already confirmed in previous posts in this blog, making me feel comfortable enough that he has his sources and statistics correct.

The chapter he allows people to download concerns the decades of housing policy abuses by Democrats in Washington that eventually led to the Great Recession. Let me list a few highlights/excerpts from the chapter before you read it in total and let me know what common thread Mr. Obama would realize if he read the chapter himself (the link to Mr. Berstein's website can be accessed viahttp://www.dupedamerica.com/):

• Democrats created the lax mortgage policies that precipitated the crisis while simultaneously stifling Republican efforts to prevent it.
• The history of the crisis started with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), signed into law by Democrat President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
• When Democrat Bill Clinton became President in 1992, he broadened the Community Reinvestment Act in ways Congress had never intended.
• When the Republicans attempted to restore fiscal sanity by paring back the CRA, they were stymied by Democrats.
• Democrats such as Barney Frank (D-MA), Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Maxine Waters (D-CA) allied with the Clinton administration to broaden the acceptability of these risky mortgage loans.
• In 1995, an unrestrained ClintonDemocratic administration announced a comprehensive strategy to push home ownership in America to new heights – regardless of the compromise in credit standards that this would require.
• Democrat Clinton legalized the securitization of these mortgages, which allowed Fannie and Freddie to finance everything by buying loans from banks, then repackaging and securitizing them for resale on the open market.
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were big campaign donors, with the bulk of their money going to Democrats.
• Between 1989 and 2008, the leading recipient of Fannie/Freddie campaign money was Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee Chairman, who collected more than $165,000. In second place was then-Democrat Senator Barack Obama, who, in just three years in the U.S. Senate, took in $126,000. Third, was MassachusettsDemocrat John Kerry, who received $110,000.
• Since the 1990s, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been run by Democrat appointees.
• From 1991 to 1998, Fannie Mae was led by James Johnson, a long-time aide to formerDemocrat Vice President Walter Mondale.
• Johnson’s successor as head of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, had previously served as a budget director to Democrat President Bill Clinton.
• In July 2003, Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and John Sununu (R-NH) introduced legislation to address regulation of them [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]. The bill was blocked by theDemocrats.
• But the legislation [which was reintroduced in 2005] didn’t become law for a single reason:Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the Senate Banking Committee.
• Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) now admitsDemocrats were in error.

Obviously, the common theme is that the seeds for the destruction of the housing market which led to the destruction in the banking industry which led to high unemployment was planted long ago and tended to fruition by Democratic Presidents, Congressmen, and bureaucrats.

But these are just the headlines. If you really want to be depressed, please read the following downloaded chapter from Mr. Bernstein. The details are far worst according to his research and writings. The political class selfishness, personal enrichment, and abuses of power make their duping of us even more egregious.

****************************
MORTGAGE CRISIS…

Americans wondering who was responsible for the mortgage crisis should ask themselves a question: is owning a home a privilege or a right? Despite the meltdown in 2008, the seeds for the mortgage crisis were sown much earlier by a Democrat Party long convinced home ownership was an entitlement.

As this chapter shows, once that basic premise became conventional wisdom, it was all downhill from there. If one listens to the mainstream media and many Democrats, the blame for the mortgage crisis rests with the Republicans and the Bush administration. They’ve convinced the public that Democrats had nothing whatsoever to do with our current financial woes.

Precisely the opposite is true: Democrats created the lax mortgage policies that precipitated the crisis while simultaneously stifling Republican efforts toprevent it. The history of the crisis started with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), signed into law by Democrat President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

The law was designed to foster home ownership in low-income communities by pushing banks to aggressively lend to low and moderate income people. At first, it was easy to comply with the CRA. Banks merely had to demonstrate that they did not discriminate in making loans in poor and black neighborhoods.

When Democrat Bill Clinton became President in 1992, he broadened the Community Reinvestment Act in ways Congress had never intended. In 1995, rather than submit legislation that the Republican-led Congress was certain to reject, Clinton bypassed Congress entirely, ordering the TreasuryDepartment to rewrite the CRA rules.

 As a result, banks were forced to fulfill loan “quotas” in low income neighborhoods. That wasn’t the only problem. CRA also allowed community activist groups such as ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), for whom Barack Obama once worked in Chicago, and NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) to file complaints that could affect a bank’s CRA rating.

Failure to comply with CRA or a bad rating meant a bank might not be allowed to expand lending, add new branches or merge with other companies. Banks with poor CRA ratings were also hit with stiff fines. This rewrite of CRA gave activist groups like ACORN and NACA unprecedented power. Protests often held in bank lobbies or in front of the homes of bank officials, coupled with threats of litigation, allowed these groups to extort huge sums of money from financial institutions.

In response, financial institutions began allocating more funds to low-income, high risk borrowers.Loans started being funded on the basis of race and often little else. CRA became an excuse for lowering credit standards.

Many Democrats have claimed that banks subject to the CRA represented few of the mortgages that led to our current problems. Not true. Nearly 4 in 10 subprime loans made between 2004 and 2007 were funded by CRA-covered banks such as Washington Mutual and Indy Mac. Many other subprime lenders not covered by the Act were, in effect, beholden to CRA mandates because they were owned by banks that were subject to it.

Since CRA only covered banks, the Clinton administration created a separate department at Housing and Urban Development to police “fair lending” policies at other institutions such as Countrywide and lending behemoths, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The result? Countrywide made more loans to minorities than any other lender, and not surprisingly, was one of the first lenders overwhelmed by loan defaults. As groups like ACORN ran their intimidation campaigns against local banks, they eventually hit a roadblock. Banks told them they could afford to reduce their credit standards by only a little – since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refused to buy up these risky loans for resale on the secondary market.

ACORN realized that unless Fannie and Freddie were willing to relax their credit standards as well, local banks wouldn’t make enough loans to individuals with bad credit histories or with very little money for a down payment. Democrats such as Barney Frank (D-MA), Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Maxine Waters (D-CA) allied with the Clinton administration to broaden the acceptability of these risky mortgage loans. When the Republicansattempted to restore fiscal sanity by paring back the CRA, they were stymied by Democrats — and by ACORN.

In 1995, an unrestrained Clinton administration announced a comprehensive strategy to push home ownership in America to new heights – regardless of the compromise in credit standards that this would require. Fannie and Freddie were given massive subprime lending quotas, which would increase to about half of their total business by the end of the decade.

Then came the single most catastrophic decision leading to the housing crisis: Clinton legalized the securitization of these mortgages, which allowedFannie and Freddie to finance everything by buying loans from banks, then repackaging and securitizing them for resale on the open market.

Thus, began the meltdown. In 1997, Bear Stearns handled the first securitization of CRA loans — $385 million worth — all guaranteed by Freddie Mac. Subsequently, a subprime market that had been a relatively modest part of the mortgage business with $35 billion in loans in 1994 soared to $1 trillion by 2008.

Regrettably, this massive bundling of subprime mortgages wound up poisoning the entire mortgage industry. Fannie and Freddie used their “affordable housing mission” to avoid restrictions on their accumulation of mortgage portfolios. They arguedthat if they were constrained, they wouldn’t be able to adequately subsidize affordable housing. As a result, by 1997, Fannie was offering mortgages witha down payment of only 3 percent. By 2001, it was purchasing mortgages with “no down payment at all.”

 By 2007, Fannie and Freddie were required by Housing and Urban
Development to show that 55 percent of their mortgage purchases were to low and moderate income borrowers, and, within that goal, 38 percent of all purchases were to come from underserved areas (usually inner cities).

Meeting these goals almost certainly required them to purchase loans with low down payments and other deficiencies that would characterize them assubprime or Alt-A. The decline in lending standards was also facilitated by competition. Fannie and Freddie were now competing with private-label mortgage lenders such as investment and commercial banks to fulfill the affordable housing requirements imposed by Congress.

The inevitable result? Everyone was scraping the bottom of the mortgage barrel in search of new borrowers. Once the looser lending standards were offered to low and middle income buyers, it was naïve to believe that they wouldn’t lead to more relaxed standards for higher-income and prime borrowers as well. This spreading of looserstandards to the prime market greatly increased the availability of credit for mortgages, and ultimately led to the bubble in housing prices.

Unsurprisingly, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were huge campaign
contributors to Congress, spending millions to ensure no reform would be implemented to restrict them. In all, 354 members of Congress receivedfunds. The bulk of the money went to Democrats.

Between 1989 and 2008, the leading recipient of Fannie/Freddie campaign money was ConnecticutDemocrat Chris Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee Chairman, who collected more than $165,000. Dodd opposed restrictions on Fannie and Freddie and pushed hard for the continuance of subprime loans. In second place was then-Senator Barack Obama, who, in just three years in the U.S. Senate, took in $126,000. Third, was Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, who received $110,000.

Since the 1990s, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been run by Democrats. From 1991 to 1998, Fannie Mae was led by James Johnson, a long-time aide to former Democrat Vice President Walter Mondale. Johnson made headlines in 2008 when Barack Obama picked him to chair his vice presidential selection committee. He had to resign in disgrace when it was revealed he had taken out at least five below-market real estate loans totaling more than $7 million from Countrywide Financial Corporation.

Johnson’s successor as head of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, had previously served as a budget director to President Bill Clinton. From 1995 to 2005, Raines pocketed nearly $100 million in compensation before leaving because of a scandal involving profit and loss reports manipulated to increase his annual bonuses.

Another well-known Democrat, Jamie Gorelick, served as vice chair of Fannie from 1998 to 2003. Prior to that, she was Janet Reno’s Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton years, when the Clinton Justice Department was aggressively compelling banks to make subprime loans to unworthy borrowers.

And Rahm Emanuel, current White House Chief of Staff, also served as a director at Freddie Mac. Most Americans are not aware that Fannie and Freddie, while lining the pockets of politicians, also funnels hundreds of millions of dollars to a host of leftist groups and causes promoting the Democrat agenda.

The grantmaking arms of Fannie and Freddie – specifically the Fannie Mae Foundation and the Freddie Mac Foundation – gives tens of millions of dollars each year to predominantly left-wing organizations such as the American Civil LibertiesUnion; the NAACP and National Urban League;pro-illegal immigration groups like the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the National Council of La Raza; pro-Democrat community activist groups like ACORN; and former president Jimmy Carter’s Carter Center.

The Republicans were not oblivious to Fannie and Freddie’s problems. Bush’s 2001 budget called runaway subprime lending a “potential problem”and warned of “strong repercussions in financial markets.” In July 2003, Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and John Sununu (R-NH) introduced legislation to address regulation of them.

The bill was blocked by the Democrats. 30 In September 2003 Bush’s Treasury Secretary, John Snow, proposed what The New York Times called “the most significant regulatory overhaul (of Fannie and Freddie) in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.”

Did the Democrats in Congress welcome reform? Here’s how Barney Frank (D-MA), the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee,responded:

“I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two government sponsored entities we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in crisis…. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury…. I believe that we, as the FederalGovernment, have probably done too little rather than too much to push them to meet the goals of affordable housing and to set reasonable goals.”

In 2005, Republican Senators Hagel, Sununu, Dole, and later John McCain reintroduced legislation to once again address regulation of Fannie and Freddie. In essence, the bill would have required Fannie and Freddie to eliminate their investments in risky subprime loans. According to Kevin Hassett, writing in Bloomberg.com, “if that bill had become law, then the world today would be different.”

But the legislation didn’t become law for a single reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the Senate Banking Committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democrat opposition, couldn’t even get the Senate to vote on the bill.

Had the bill passed in 2005, the mortgage meltdown would have been far less intense. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, approximately $1 trillion of these terrible mortgage loans were funded by Fannie and Freddie at a time when housing prices were at their highest. When housing prices fell dramatically, losses from those mortgages turned out to be tremendous.

Bottom line: if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac weren’t buying these subprime loans, the market for them would likely not have existed. Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) now admits Democrats were in error:

“Like a lot of my Democratic colleagues, I was too slow to appreciate the recklessness of Fannie and Freddie. I defended their efforts to encourageaffordable home ownership when in retrospect I should have heeded the concerns raised by the regulator in 2004. Frankly, I wish my Democraticcolleagues would admit when it comes to Fannie and Freddie, we were wrong.”

**********************************
Edward R, Murrow once eloquently stated: "Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions." I do not intend to tell anyone who to vote for in November. However, I do ask that any voter fulfill their major obligation to be as informed as possible and not be easily swayed by shallow slogans like Hope, Change, Winning The Future, Forward, etc.

Understand the root causes of our problems like Mr. Bernstein does above relative to the current economic situation we are stuck in. It takes some work but both our personal and national futures depend on understanding the motives of our usually selfish politicians and how their actions have caused so much pain and agony. Unless you understand the root causes and causers of our problems, we will never find the solutions to resolve them.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

February, 2015, Part 2 By The Numbers: Wide Spread Obesity, Stiffed Inspector Generals, and More

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering that phrase in the search box above. Yesterday, today, and at least tomorrow, we will look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

1) We have looked at the following set of numbers before but it is worthwhile to revisit the message. The Tax Foundation did a state by state analysis of how much $100 dollars was worth in each state on average. Obviously, if the state average was over $100, than you are getting more for your money in that state. If it is less than $100, than the cost of living, taxes, fees, etc. are making it less attractive financially to live in that state. 

They mapped out their results as follows:



The states that "offer the biggest bang for your buck” are:
Mississippi – $115.74
Arkansas – $114.16
Alabama – $113.51
Missouri – $113.51
South Dakota – $113.38

The states where $100 has the least value are:

Washington, D.C. – $84.60
Hawaii – $85.32
New York – $86.66
New Jersey – $87.64
California – $88.57

A few observations:

• The states where $100 has the least value tend to be states run by Democrats, just saying.
• The states where $100 has the least value also tends to be the states where they get the least bang for the educational dollar based on the map and numbers we looked at yesterday, especially in the northeast.
• Conversely, states that have the best value for $100 also tend to get the most bang out of their educational dollar.
• States that get the least bang also tend to have the highest state and local tax rates, e.g. D.C., N.J., N.Y., etc.

The numbers don’t lie, there are just some places in this country where the schools are good and the cost of living is low and those tend to be places where political interference in one’s lives is less.

2) Inspector generals in the Federal government are supposed to be the watchdogs of government operations. They are supposed to protect taxpayer interests, make sure government operations run as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and make sure laws are being followed within government entities. They are an important piece of government at all levels, acting as an independent watchdog.

Given their function and importance, it was discouraging to listen to recent Congressional testimony where what has to be a record number of inspector generals are complaining about the lack of cooperation and transparency they are receiving from high ranking administration and government executives. A whopping 47 inspector generals were present from a variety of government functions at the hearings.

You cannot claim that you are operating the “most transparent Presidential administration ever” like the President claims when almost four dozen trained and professional inspector generals accuse you of stonewalling their investigations. It is not like one or two are complaining, almost four dozen are complaining and frustrated.

3) The Gallup polling organization recently released some information and numbers that confirm what we have been talking about for months: despite what Obama says, the economy is not in great shape. Gallup had an interesting take and number analysis. They defined a “good job” as a job that has at least thirty hours of steady work a week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck. Seems reasonable as far as defining what a good job is.

Unfortunately, according to Gallup tracking, right now the U.S. economy is delivering a “good job” for Americans at a very low rate of 44% which is calculated as the number of full time, “good jobs” as a percentage of the adult population 18 years and older. In other words, more than half of the adult population today cannot find or do not want to find a good job. Gallup claims that the percentage has to be at least 50% if we are to ever create 10 million new, “good jobs” to restore and replenish the middle class in this country.

Very discouraging numbers relative to quality employment in this country. But we already knew that from previous discussions, this is just another way to prove our point. What is really discouraging and scary is that a few days after this analysis and these numbers were published, the head of the Gallup organization publicly came out and said that he was worried for his life since these numbers did not support the administration’s spin and position on the economy:

http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/unemployment-rate-big-lie-barack-obama-gallup/2015/02/08/id/623489/

When an American citizen is worried about dying relative to telling the truth in his mind on the performance of the government and the political class, then we are really in danger from a freedom and Constitution perspective.

4) Two more numbers before we finish today, we will finish up our “by the numbers” tomorrow. Numerous times in this blog we have proven that Obama Care will fail because it implemented a wacky health insurance program that did not address any of the underlying root causes of our country’s high health care costs. 

One of those unaddressed root causes of our high health care costs is the reality that Americans are overweight which leads to all kinds of related health care costs. How obese? According to a recent article in The Week magazine, fully one third of Americans are obese, not overweight, obese, and this obesity results in $147 billion in medical care costs every year.

Think about that number, $147 billion. If we could eliminate the obesity problem in this country, then we could take $147 billion out of the health care costs in this country or about $1,300 every year for every U.S. household. That would certainly be more savings for every household than what Obama Care failed to deliver. 

So what did the numbers tell us about reality today:

• Some states deliver far more value for $100 than other states.
• Four dozen inspector generals cannot do their job because of the stubbornness and cover ups of the Obama administration.
• A Gallup executive fears for his life for only revealing the truth about some economic numbers.
• And finally, root causes such as widespread obesity cause our health care cost problems, to the tune of almost $150 billion a year.

One more set of “by the numbers” tomorrow where we will conclude our review of reality, as defined by real numbers, as opposed to political fantasies as defined by politicians’ lies.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:


www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

September, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Part 7: We Do Not Have A Strategy ...Or Any Competence For That Matter Either

This will be the seventh and final update to our monthly series of political class insanity for this month. Not because I have covered all of the insanity but because it is just too depressing to go on. The overwhelming incompetence and wasteful spending of these politicians can get you very depressed after a while.

Thus, we will finish this month’s update with the following nuggets of idiocy and move onto other topics starting tomorrow. 

1) The fine website, Against Crony Capitalism, had a nice review of how rich American companies are the happy receivers of outsized taxpayer funded subsidies every year. Their review asserts that, on average, each of the largest 100 companies in the country receives $200 million from the US taxpayer, each year. Some more than others of course.

Examples of this crony capitalism from the latest year of data include:

• General Electric - $380 million
• General Motors - $370 million (as if the American taxpayer has not already given this company enough money)
• Boeing -$264 million
• Archer Daniels Midland - $174 million
• United Technologies - $160 million
• Others who got free taxpayer money include John Deere, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, Walmart, and American Express.

These are multi-billion dollar enterprises, their shareowners should be shouldering these expenses since they are the ones that benefit, not the American taxpayer. Unfortunately, these same companies and their executives contribute heavily to politicians’ election campaign funds so it is not a surprise that they get rewarded for such support.

2) The President stated this past week in a news conference that his administration did not have a strategy for dealing with the ISIS terror threat that is building up in Iraq and Syria. These terrorists are barbarians and a severe threat not only to the U.S. but also to humanity itself. 

According to recent news reports, this growing threat has been well known within this administration and this President for a few years. However, it has done nothing to combat it as the threat has gotten larger and more powerful. So little has been done that the President publicly admitted that “we don’t have a strategy yet” for defeating ISIS.

Despite this lack of focus and a strategy for dealing with this threat, the President did find time two weekends ago to attend multiple fundraisers in New York and Rhode Island and a wedding in that same area. Yes, possibly the biggest terror threat to the country can wait as this President attends what I believe to be the 401st through 403rd political fund raiser of his term in office, far exceeding the number of fund raisers attended by all previous Presidents. Since he has also played more golf while in office since Eisenhower, over fifty years ago, one has to really question the insane priorities of this President.

Since according to a recent Rasmussen poll, only 23% of the electorate think America is heading in the right direction, and 69% think it is on the wrong track, maybe Americans are finally actually questioning his priorities and his insanity.

3) According to a recent article on the Black Community News website, a Pew and USA Today opinion survey of 1,501 adults found that 69% say blacks and whites get along “very well” or “pretty well.” Apparently this finding represents a “modest” drop since 2009.

Thus, this President has failed so much as a leader that the first African American President has somehow managed to slightly degrade race relations in this country, not improve them as he promised. His administration has been divisive rather than inclusive, often using the “race card” for political benefit rather than racial and political harmony. The numbers prove it.

4) Staying with race for a while, according to a Wall Street Journal report that was summarized in the April 4, 2014 issue of The Week magazine, in 2008, the last year of the Bush administration, 8.2% of the Federal government’s Small Business Administration loans went to African-American business people. 

Since then, covering the first five years of the Obama administration, the first Presidential administration headed by an African-American, that percentage has dropped to only 1.7% of Small Business administration loans going to African-American business people in 2013. But the President’s supporters call people like me racist, who have an honestly different of opinion on policy, but ignore the fact that the support for African-American businesses is down almost 80% in just five years under this President. Insane.

5) Anemic economic growth, heavy fighting in the Ukraine, a large and growing terrorism threat from the Middle East, high unemployment, failing public schools, a failed war on drugs, a leaky border and associated illegal immigration crisis, etc. One would hope that all members of the Washington political class would be busting their tails to address and hopefully resolve at least some of these issues.

But seeking hope from these politicians is usually a fruitless search. According to a recent article in Business Week, once Congress returns from its five week summer vacation, The House of Representatives will be in session for only twelve days in September, twelve days in October, and then take off again, returning after the November elections to put in only fifteen more days until the end of the year.

If I counted correctly, over those four months there are 87 days on the calendar that are not weekends or holidays. Thus, despite the major issues facing this country, the House will only be working for 39 of those days or less than half of the working days most Americans will be working, assuming they are lucky enough to have a job. 

For this kind of pitiful dedication to their jobs, these people make more than three times the amount of money that the average household in American earns each year. They also have better benefits and working conditions and can obviously set their own schedules, which they obviously set very light. Pathetic excuse for public servants, no wonder nothing ever gets accomplished in D.C.

6) We will finish up this post and this monthly series update on political class insanity from the wonderful website, Bankrupting America: 

• According to the latest Congressional Budget Office analyses, Federal government debt hit a 64-year high this past fiscal year: “Federal debt held by the public will reach 74 percent of GDP at the end of this fiscal year—more than twice what it was at the end of 2007 and higher than in any year since 1950.” In addition, interest payments on the debt will total more than $799 billion in 2024 or almost $7,000 for every American household. Outrageous and dangerous debt numbers that may never be reached because the economy crashes far before these onerous levels of debt are attained.
• The Federal government announced that the U.S. economy grew at a 4.2% rate in the second quarter, which is good news. The bad news is that this follows a contraction of the economy in the first quarter, making the midyear to date economic growth only 1.05%, still leaving the Obama administration with the worst economic recovery record since World War II.
• In related news, the CBO has halved its 2014 national economic growth estimate down from 3.1% to 1.5%. These numbers continue to confirm that Obama and Congress still have no grasp of economic policy and theory and how to put forth economic polices that foster robust growth.
• Although the rollout of Obama Care was badly botched by both administration employees and contract employees, it turns out that the American taxpayer will be paying for their incompetence. The Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report showing that private contractors associated with and hired for the rollout of Obama Care exceeded their original estimated costs. The new report shows that one-third of the 60 Obama Care contractors examined are set to be overpaid, while seven companies are due to receive more than double their initial estimates.
• Sticking with Obama Care incompetence, Nevada insurance brokers are suing the Nevada Obama Care state health insurance exchange over unpaid Commissions. According to local news accounts: “Nevada’s health insurance exchange faces yet another big lawsuit. Six brokers filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Clark County District Court, seeking class-action status for their claim that the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange and its website contractor, Xerox, have failed to pay commissions on coverage they sold through the exchange’s Nevada Health Link website. Matt Callister, an attorney representing the brokers, said the six are collectively owed ‘a very significant amount well in excess of $200,000.’”

So many failures in so many ways. Crony capitalism, lack of a strategy or ability to think strategically, making race relations worse rather than better, the never ending disasters from Obama Care, skyrocketing national debt, a Congress and White House that take more vacations than deserved, etc. It is insanity, the worst set of politicians operating a broken Federal government at a very high expense with little societal benefit in return. Pathetically insane.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

October, 20013 Obama Care Disaster Update, Expert Review 2: It is Not About Health Care Reform, It Is About Control

We have spent the last week or so describing and documenting the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care. We cited numerous examples, expert opinions, and the realities that is turning this legislation into the worst piece of legislation  ever written by Washington. The first in this long series on the failures of Obama Care can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/10/october-2013-obama-care-disaster-update.html

The latter parts of the series are not my work, research, and analyses but the work and expert opinions of others in the field of health care that just happen to verify what a disaster Obama Care is. Rather than me trying to summarize their fine work, I felt it better to have their entire line of thought, reasoning, and analysis presented by themselves to preserve the validity of their conclusions.

The first expert opnion analysis and review can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/10/october-2013-obama-care-disaster-update_21.html

Today’s opinion piece is from a health industry expert, Jon Rappoport. He does an excellent job describing what is starting to happen already under the guise of health care reform as created under Obama Care: this is really not about health care reform, it is about the political class using government edicts and laws to control your life, not make it better. 

Of his many examples, I think the best one is how he documents how many people are unnecessarily killed each year by the current health care industry in this country. The total, over 200,000 Americans a year, makes it the third largest killer in the country, trailing only cancer and heart disease.

Obama Care does very little to change this status quo even though the status quo kills so many people every year. In fact, Obama Care reinforces the status quo, forces more people through this killing machine, and restricts choices regarding a person’s own medical treatment preferences and the alternatives available to them. It is an interesting approach and effective argument that casts another long shadow on the unfolding disaster that is care.

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The Devastating Truth Behind Obamacare
October 4, 2013 by Jon Rappoport 
Personal Liberty Website

I want my Obamacare! I want my Obamacare!

It’s vital to look at the real meaning of this sinister plan. It’s all about the toxic effects of mainstream medicine. That’s what the sold-out press is refusing to examine.

A year ago, I discussed the case of a young Michigan boy whose parents had been taken to court three times to force them to submit their child to intensely toxic chemotherapy treatments, despite these facts:

• The boy’s latest scans revealed no sign of cancer. 
• The drugs that would be forced on him can cause cancer. 
• The drugs have not been approved to treat children.

And I warned: This is what waits for you and your children, up the line.

The “share and care” humanitarian mask will be peeled away. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will create, as ordered, a complete list of approved treatments for every disease label under the sun. And everyone in the insurance plan will be forced to take what the doctor tells him to take.

For a bonus, unapproved treatments will be banned. People and practitioners who try to use alternative treatments will find themselves in trouble.

This is the hidden agenda of Obamacare. This is what it will morph into in the future.

I’m not dreaming or fantasizing. I’ve been following and reporting on the medical cartel for 30 years, and I know the mindset of these people, these doctors, these bureaucrats, these pharmaceutical string-pullers behind the scenes. Obamacare is right up their alley. It’s about control, so it’s an answer to their prayers.

So what do we know about their mainstream medicine, the hospital-based drug-addled modern version?

On July 26, 2000, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a landmark paper by Dr. Barbara Starfield: “Is US health really the best in the world?” In it, Starfield revealed what many people inside the medical establishment already knew: Every year, like clockwork, the medical system was killing huge numbers of people.

Each year in the U.S., as Starfield reported, there are:

• 12,000 deaths from unnecessary surgeries. 
• 7,000 deaths from medication errors in hospitals. 
• 20,000 deaths from other errors in hospitals. 
• 80,000 deaths from infections acquired in hospitals. 
• 106,000 deaths from Food and Drug Administration-approved correctly prescribed medicines.

The total number of medically caused deaths in the U.S. every year is 225,000 (a conservative estimate).

This makes the medical system the third leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease and cancer.

In the wake of Starfield’s devastating report, other facts came to light: 2.1 million people in America, every year, are hospitalized as a result of reactions to FDA-approved medicines. Annually, 36 million serious adverse reactions to those drugs occur.
So inclusive health coverage for many more Americans under the Obama plan means these horrendous figures will rise.

This is the dirty secret.

Obama and his allies are promoting a medical system that is the third leading cause of death in America. It’s that stark, and it’s that simple.

The Obama plan involves appointing an “expert panel” to decide what treatments Americans should be given for what diseases, under the new regime.

Only a certified idiot would assume that, over time, alternative non-mainstream therapies would survive such an ongoing vetting. Hope may spring eternal, but common sense makes it easy to grasp the realities on the ground.

In the long run, alternative therapies will be edged out. Those that remain will be permitted for a narrow range of conditions, or as adjuncts to standard drug treatments and surgery.

Chiropractors and acupuncturists, who are temporarily basking in the notion that Obama “really cares,” are in for a very rude awakening. Their careers and practices will be significantly reduced. Not today and not tomorrow, but it will happen.

Doctors, under the plan, will be telling patients they may not take nutritional supplements while in treatment. This will assume the status of an irreversible edict. In many cases, “while in treatment” will mean years.

What happens to a person, conscripted into the mandated Insurance plan, who is told by his doctor that he should/must receive a vaccine? Suppose this person says no? What are the consequences? Will he then be labeled a defector? What penalties will he suffer?

Does a diagnosis of cancer imply a patient must submit to chemotherapy, radiation and surgery? Can these treatments be forced upon him?

Perhaps, in the early days of the plan, nothing untoward will happen. But then, as time passes and the system assumes tighter and tighter controls, the hand of government will close around the recalcitrant patient’s neck.

“Take this vaccine. Take this chemo drug. If you don’t, you’re in violation of the rules.”

Doctors, who are an integral part of the plan, will surely be punished if they give unapproved (alternative) treatments to patients.

And in order to make the plan operate on a day-to-day basis, the records and bookkeeping data of every healthcare practitioner in America will eventually be tracked on government computer networks.

Every person in America will have a traceable and trackable medical ID package. Government-issued. There is no way around it. The monitoring apparatus can’t work without it.

Orwellian consequences lie up the road in the field of psychiatric practice. In case you hadn’t noticed, the invention of “disorders” by committee is the preferred method for “discovering” more and more mental illnesses.

Yet, the science is completely fraudulent. For evidence, consult the many works of psychiatrist Peter Breggin, who has done more than any other person to expose the guts of his own profession. Breggin establishes that mental disorders are not authoritatively diagnosed by a chemical or biological test. Conclusive tests do not exist. And, worse, in this undefined and arbitrary territory, the drugs that follow diagnoses are killers: for example, 300,000 cases of motor brain damage, as a result of the administration of major tranquilizers.

Under the Obama plan, you can bet your bottom dollar that psychiatric care will eventually become mandatory. A patient suddenly diagnosed with clinical depression or bipolar disorder will be told he must take the drugs — and suffer their adverse effects.

Very young children will be given more and more debilitating and dangerous brain drugs.

Under the Obama plan, it will be very convenient to declare new pandemics every few seasons, because these phony non-epidemics provide an opportunity to herd the sheep into clinics and remind them who is running the show. Go here, take this vaccine; go there, take that drug; the epidemic is endangering the herd, and you must help your brothers and sisters.

These are the figures on the past several “epidemics.” They are not yearly; they are grand totals, to date; global totals, except in the case of West Nile (U.S. only):

• SARS: 774 deaths. 
• West Nile: 1159 deaths. 
• Bird flu: 262 deaths. 
• Smallpox (terrorist threat): 0 deaths. 
• Swine flu: 18,500 deaths.

To give perspective, globally, 250,000 to 500,000 people die of ordinary flu-like illness every year. Yet this higher death rate accrues no interest as an epidemic. It is only the “teaching (brainwashing) moments” of the phony epidemics that are promoted by health agencies (e.g., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization) and their pharmaceutical allies, who rake in billions of dollars by manufacturing new vaccines.

Yes, under the Obama plan, there will be more declared health emergencies; and they will serve to cement the citizen to his new role as eternal patient in the medical march along bleak streets of the future.

Can you perceive the loss of individual freedom implicit in this universal system of health control?

The widespread (and false) assumption is that more medical care for more people is a good thing. That’s what the politicians and the press tell us. That’s what the medical bureaucrats and the drug companies tell us. This is the central piece of brainwashing.
It’s a bald-faced lie. It’s a death-dealing lie.

And now the American people are saddled with it.

Unless the current rebellion against Obamacare expands all over the country.

–Jon Rappoport

*******************************

It is not about health care reform, it is about control. That is what makes Obama Care that much more scary.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now:http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Help Wanted, Lawyers and Legal Resources, To Fight The Invisible Empire, Part 1: The Travesty Of Congress

Yesterday’s post could be considered the first in a series of what could be called “suing the government to make the government accountable” week. Yesterday’s post reviewed a massive, $43 TRILLION law suit that has been filed in the Brooklyn Federal court by the Spire Law group. The suit contends that entities and people within the Federal government and large banks conspired together for the benefit of both the banks and certain political elements.

This is the first time I have a judicial approach taken to use the legal system to force the political class in Washington to clean up the cronyism, criminal activity, the resultant wasteful spending (e.g. bailouts), and actually abide by the Constitution and existing laws. It is becoming quite obvious that the existing members of Congress are more and more unable, unwilling, or to wrapped up in themselves to fix the major issues facing America today. This law suit is a way to force these people to do their jobs properly, efficiently, and with integrity, traits that have been sorely lacking in Washington.

Today and tomorrow we will lay out why additional tactics like this are necessary to increase the pressure on our politicians to get to work in a corruption free manner. The day after tomorrow we will wrap up this proposed “suing the government to make the government accountable” line of reasoning with a call to action and a request for help in carrying out the action plan.

Given that the political class has stolen with our political processes and warped and twisted them for their own good, these types of approaches may be the only way to get Washington, its spending, and its cronyism corruption under control.

Okay, let’s get started with today’s discussion and background. The following blog post from October 26, 2012 contained the following condemnations of Washington politicians (along with the sources of these damning accusations):

http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/wastebook-2012-wasteful-government.html

• Congress is on pace to make history for the least productive legislative year since 1947.
• This Congress passed only about 61 bills in 2012.
• The current Congress will likely have the lowest level of legislative activity since statistics began being tabulated, according to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
• The inability and incompetence of Congress to get things done has resulted in the lowest public approval in the nearly four decades, as measured by Gallup.
• A whopping 83% of Americans disapprove of “the way Congress is doing its job.”
• The poor ratings given Congress are consistent across the political spectrum with approval from only 9% of Democrats, 11% of Independents, and 10 % of Republicans. In other words, Americans are divided on just about every issue in the world except the fact they mostly thing our Washington politicians are doing a horrible job.
• The Senate has cast fewer votes in 2012 far this year than any year in decades.
• More than 20 of the 100 Senators have not had a single amendment considered on the Senate floor in 2012. Certainly good work if you can get it. High salaries, great benefits, and no need to contribute anything of value to the country.
• And after blocking Senators from offering fixes to bills throughout the year, a major part of their job description, Majority Leader Harry Reid of what once was “the world’s greatest deliberative body” publicly announced from the Senate floor, “I will say this so it will save a lot of trouble for anybody. … Amendment days are over.” So much for intelligent debate and compromise, so much for democracy.
• A number of important committees within both the House and the Senate are failing to do the important work for which they are responsible.
• Perhaps the most striking disappointment is the Senate Budget Committee. Since the last REAL Federal budget was passed over three years ago on April 29, 2009, Washington has spent $11.2 trillion and added more than $4.8 trillion to the national debt.
• With the national debt now over $16 trillion, never before have taxpayers needed a budget blueprint more to guide our nation away from fiscal ruin and stop the idiotic spending on idiotic programs and projects.
• However, the Senate Budget Committee has failed to produce a budget, which it is required to do by law, in over 1,200 days.
• In addition to not producing a budget resolution, the Committee has also refused to hold many committee meetings, a key tool for Congress to conduct oversight, investigate problems, seek solutions, initiate conversation and debate, and advance an agenda.
• The Senate Budget Committee held a mere 12 hearings in 2012, fewer than all but five other congressional committees from both chambers.
• Likewise, the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees about three-fourths of the Federal budget including all of the major health care and retirement entitlement programs and the Federal tax code did very little in 2012.
• Despite its broad jurisdiction, the Finance Committee reported out and discharged only 11 legislative measures.
• These included a non-binding resolution supporting the goals and ideals of “National Save for Retirement Week” and a resolution authorizing the committee’s own expenditures, reducing any real, constructive output of the Committee down to no more than 9 legislative measures.
• The Senate Finance Committee held just 28 hearings in fiscal 2012 through September 1.
• Overall, the Committee's performance places it in the top ten LEAST productive of all Congressional committees in terms of approving legislation and the top ten Senate committees holding the fewest number of hearings. Again, this is probably the most important Senate committee and also one of the least productive.
• Despite the importance of small business to our nation’s economy and their recent struggles, the small business committees of both chambers tied for first place as the committee approving the least amount of legislation in 2012. No wonder that small businesses are not driving any kind of economic revival.
• The Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee held only FOUR hearings (An average of one hearing every three months) and passed out just three measures, one of which authorized expenditures for the committee itself. Thus, making its total output of any consequence a measly two actions.
• Likewise, the House Small Business Committee reported out just three bills and held 31 hearings, which is significantly more than its counterpart in the Senate, but fewer than most of the other committees in the House.
• Two other committees have been largely idle this year: the Senate’s Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee and Special Committee on Aging.
• The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry reported out and discharged just seven measures, one of which was to provide for its own budget, and held a mere nine hearings.
• The Aging Committee reported out a SINGLE measure, which was to provide for its own budget, and held just nine hearings. In other words, this committee’s only functions in 2012 was to authorize its own existence.
• Whether it was failing to hold oversight hearings, pass laws, cut unnecessary spending, or simply cast votes on amendments, the U.S. Congress let taxpayers down in 2012.
• Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution entrusts Congress with the responsibility to approve how money is spent out of the Treasury and to account for such expenditures. It is obvious that the current set of Washington politicians are in violation of this Constitutional responsibility.

Pretty anemic performance, overall and individually at the committee level and individual Congress member level. These are people whose salaries are in the top 3-5% of the nation, who probably have the best health benefits and retirement packages in the nation (since they voted themselves the packages themselves), and whose intermittent work hours make them part time workers at best.

And what is really scary, although we see from this October 26, 2012 post that the political class does very little work as required by the Constitution and existing laws, they cannot even hit the major deadlines that are required of them throughout the year, as highlighted (or lowlight) by our October 1, 2012 post:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-2012-political-class-insanity_1.html

According to the website, Bankrupting America, the current set of politicians in Washington are not only delinquent in setting a budget for 2013, they are also technically breaking the law. Consider the following missed deadlines and the laws/statutes they have violated:

• Missed Deadline #1: White House Fails To Submit Budget On Time. “The White House told Congress on Monday that its budget will be late this year, meaning President Obama once again will miss the deadline set in law. Congressional officials said the President now will send up his budget on Feb. 13, which is a week later than the usual date. The law requires the budget be sent by the first Monday in February.” (Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times, 1/23/12). The President Is Required To Submit His Budget Outline By The First Monday Of February. (Congressional Research Service, 1/28/04, p.2)
• Missed Deadline #2: Senate Budget Committee Fails To Submit A Budget Resolution. According to the Library of Congress website, the Senate Budget Committee failed to vote on a budget resolution. (Library of Congress Website, Accessed 9/9/12). A Draft Budget Resolution Is To Be Submitted To The Senate By April 1. (Congressional Research Service, 1/28/04, p.6; U.S. Senate, Committee on the Budget, Website, Accessed 9/9/12).
• Missed Deadline #3: Congress Fails To Pass A Budget. (Library of Congress Website, Accessed 9/9/12). The House And Senate Are Required To Pass A Budget Resolution By April 15. (Congressional Research Service, 1/28/04, p.6)
• Missed Deadline #4: House Appropriations Committee Failed To Report All Of The FY 2013 Appropriations Bills. The House Appropriations Committee only passed eight of the 12 appropriations bills by June 10, 2012. (Library of Congress Website, Accessed 9/9/12). The House Appropriations Bill Is Supposed To Report The Final Appropriations Bill By June 10. (Congressional Research Service, 1/28/04, p.6; U.S. Senate, Committee on the Budget, Website, Accessed 9/9/12)).
• Missed Deadline #5: U.S. House Failed To Finish Work On The FY 2013 Appropriations Bills. As of June 30, the House had passed only five of the 12 appropriations bills. (Library of Congress Website, Accessed 9/9/12). The U.S. House Is Supposed To Submit The Final Appropriations Bill By June 30. (Congressional Research Service, 1/28/04, p.6; U.S. Senate, Committee on the Budget, Website, Accessed 9/9/12)).
• Missed Deadline #6: The OMB Failed To Report Its Mid-Session Review On Time. “The Obama administration has missed another annual budget deadline, failing to send Congress a mid-session budget review before July 16. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) confirmed Monday that the deadline for the review, due every year on that date, was not met this year.” (Erik Wasson, The Hill, 7/16/12). The White House Is Supposed To Submit The Mid-Session Review By July 15. (Committee on the Budget, Website, Accessed 9/9/12)).
• Missed Deadline #7: White House Misses Sequestration Transparency Act Deadline. “The White House announced that it will not meet Friday’s deadline to make public what plans it will put into place to deal with the massive defense cuts coming at the end of the year. The announcement comes shortly after President Obama signed into law the Sequestration Transparency Act that requires him to submit a report to Congress detailing the impact of his ‘sequester’ on defense and non-defense programs – cuts that were triggered after the so-called Super Committee to come up with a debt deal last year.” (Fox News, 9/7/12).

As we said in that post, “Come on guys." One of your primary responsibilities as Federal government employees is to establish, pass, and execute a fiscally responsible budget. Besides passing laws, there is nothing as important as budgeting and protecting the integrity of taxpayer wealth. Other Federal politicians have been doing this successfully for centuries. Why are you so inept at doing the same? Without a budgeting process, expenses and costs get out of control which is probably why we now have a national debt of over $16 TRILLION.”

Disgraceful performance over the past few years. A performance of such low caliber that the major issues of our times (e.g. the lost war on drugs, failing public schools, skyrocketing national debt, the lack of a coherent national energy policy, etc.) are either never addressed or are so shoddily addressed (e.g. Obama Care, financial industry reforms, etc.) are done so poorly that they make a bad situation worse.

But to change this situation, to reverse this insanity, is very difficult:

• Despite breaking the law and violating their responsibilities as outlined in the Constitution, these same people control the justice processes in this country. Thus, they are unlikely to prosecute themselves for breaking existing laws on the books with regard to schedule and responsibilities.
• These same people control the political/election processes in this country via the gerrymandering of Congressional districts, handing out taxpayer wealth disguised as earmarks for political cronies and campaign donors, preventing the establishment of term limits, hobnobbing with and cutting deals with organizational entities such as unions, corporations, and PACs in return for political support, etc.
• These people have access to a lot of money to keep themselves and their political friends in control, control that will not be given up easily.

This does not mean we should stop trying to take back control of the political processes, using many of the steps and processes outlined in “Love My Country, Loathe My Government.” However, that is just one front in the battle to protect our wealth, our safety, our freedom, and our democracy. After more justification is laid out tomorrow, we will open another front the following day via the judicial system, ala the Spire Federal lawsuit.

To not do all that is needed to defeat the “invisible empire,” as coined by Woodrow Wilson, is an insult to legacy of liberty in this country and a surefire way to ensure our kids and grandkids' lives are not as rich or filled with potential as past generations.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w