November, 2015, Part 1, Political Class Insanity: Lack Of Integrity Everywhere in Washington

It is the start of another month which means it is time for our monthly review of the latest political class insanity that continually spews forth from America’s politicians. Their actions, words, quotes, incompetency, and general ineptness continue to reinforce our theory that we are currently being served by the worst set of politicians in the history of the nation.

As you read about the latest shenanigans and ineptness of the political class, keep in mind what should be their priorities in these difficult times and compare this list to what they are actually working on:

• NBC recently reported that ISIS forces are getting larger and stronger despite the Obama administration spending billions of dollars on a failed air campaign and military strategy.
• The stock market is stalling.
• Job creation is barely keeping up with population growth.
• Wage growth is anemic, growing just .2% in the second quarter, the lowest quarterly growth since 1982.
• The labor participation rate is at the lowest level in decades because the Obama economy cannot generate enough jobs.
• Thousands of veterans are still not getting the medical care they were promised by the Federal government.
• A record number of police officers have been assassinated in the past week.
• 45 million Americans are still receiving monthly Federal food assistance.
• Our borders still leak and thousands of illegal immigrant criminals continue to walk our streets.
• Major programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are hurtling towards insolvency and lose hundreds of billions of dollars every year to fraud and mismanagement.
• Our kids are still getting lousy public educations at most public schools.
• The IRS and other government functions seem to be getting their computer systems hacked on a regular basis, exposing tens of millions of Americans to identity theft potential.
• Obama Care is a failure along so many dimensions as health care costs continue to soar despite the Obama promise that they would decrease.
• Annual Federal deficits, while down, are still about half a TRILLION a year meaning that even though the Federal government is collecting more in taxes than ever before, it still cannot run a balanced budget.

Again, keep these real crises in mind as you read what our politicians are actually doing, saying and wasting.

1) Given all of the problems listed above, given the number of homeless and hungry in this country, given how underserved our veterans are, given how poorly our schools educate our kids, one would hope that the Federal government would be prudent with our tax dollars and efficient in using those dollars to help struggling Americans. But prudence is never a good assumption when talking about American politicians.

Consider how the Feds are spending $70 million of our taxpayer wealth….overseas:

• Michelle Obama is sponsoring a $70 million program called Let Girls Learn.
• Nice concept except for the fact that the $70 million is not being spent to better educate American girls, it is being spent on educating girls around the world in such places as Pakistan.
• According to the program’s website: “We know that countries with more girls in secondary school tend to have lower maternal mortality rates, lower infant mortality rates, lower rates of HIV/AIDS, and better child nutrition. But too often, a girl who could change her world for the better is locked out of that future by the circumstances of her birth or the customs of her community.”
• Which raises the obvious question: couldn’t that description also apply to millions of American kids, especially African-American kids living in poor households across THIS country?

If American schools were flush with money and doing an excellent job of educating all American kids, than there might be a chance that spending an extraneous $70 million overseas might somehow make sense. But given the lousy education many poorer American kids are receiving, given the low graduation rate of our kids in inner city schools, given overcrowded classrooms, etc., it is difficult to believe that sending $70 million overseas where it MIGHT be used to educate other countries’ kids is anywhere close to being a good idea. In fact, it is an insane idea.

2) Integrity has never been an overriding attribute of American politicians, especially the current set in Congress, the White House, and the Federal bureaucracy. The current President has put forth more deceptions and broken more promises than we would have time to discuss in multiple posts. 

The latest spin or deception also concerns the First Lady and her kids’ obesity program, “Let’s Move.” Her school lunch program has generally been a disaster with kids going hungry because the food provided under the program under nourishes and is ghastly to taste and eat. As a result, kids go hungry, food gets wasted, and school budgets are devastated as kids stop buying school lunches.

These disasters and failures have not stopped the Federal government from trying to make this wasteful, failed program look good. Government documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that the White House was doing everything possible to misrepresent a 2014 American Medical Association (AMA) study about obesity rates in kids. The basis of the misrepresentation was to show that the First Lady’s obesity reduction efforts were working.

The FOIA request came across the following statement in an email from a Centers For Disease Control official, senior press officer Karen Hunter: “Well, our press release is skewed to highlight the good news per HHS request.” In another email she wrote: “This release will have a first lady quote and they are mainly wanting to focus on the decline among 2 to 5 year olds during the current administration.”

So, there is the smoking gun proof that the Feds are intentionally trying to “skew” the analysis’ results to make Michelle Obama’s efforts look better than they are. This disconnect is proven by a press release by the AMA which read as follows: “Obesity Prevalence Remains High In U.S.” No Significant Change In Recent Years.”

No wonder Americans view government and government officials as corrupt. Lies are their language of the day.

3) Harry Truman is known for the following famous quote: “The buck stops here.” What he means is that as President, whatever goes wrong, he is ultimately responsible. He is the leader, he is in charge, he should take the blame for anything that goes wrong.

Which is a great characteristic of any leader. They should be setting the tone of their organization, setting the guidelines of behavior for all who serve under them, accepting the consequences of anything that goes awry within their scope of leadership.

This is a characteristic that is certainly not a trait of the Obama administration. This President has always pointed fingers at others whenever anything went wrong. During his tenure in office, Obama has blamed Bush, ATMs, Republicans, the Japanese tsunami, Israel, and a whole host of other entities, people, and events rather than accept the Truman doctrine that the responsibility for success and failure starts and stops with the President.

And now we know that this lack of integrity and acceptance of responsibility also extends to his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In her recent Benghazi testimony, it was revealed that over 600 requests for increased security at the U.S. Benghazi consulate were made prior to the deadly attacks that killed four Americans including a U.S. ambassador. It appears that all 600 requests were ignored, resulting in the fatal consequences.

When questioned why she did not respond to the requests, she arrogantly and insensitively responded that it was not her fault since she never saw those requests. Not her fault. Certainly not very Truman-like. Certainly not a leadership trait. Not her fault even though she was responsible for the entire State Department operation.

Unfortunately for those who lost loved ones in the Benghazi terror attack, Clinton’s email history shows that she did receive and respond to over 150 emails from a friend, Sidney Blumenthal, someone who was not connected to the State Department or Federal government in any capacity. She did receive and respond to at least one email from actor Ben Affleck regarding his political interests. But somehow she did not receive or respond to over 600 request for increased security from her own experts and apparently, does not think that is a problem despite the loss of four American lives. Insanely pathetic example of leadership.

Her arrogance is on display at the link below:

http://www.mrctv.org/blog/watch-clinton-claims-she-never-got-security-requests-libya#.tqggic:oc5N

5) Fortunately, even if Clinton does not recognize her lack of integrity and leadership, much of America does. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 52% of those polled do not think she has been honest in her responses and position on the Benghazi attacks. Only 27% think she has been honest. In addition, the poll also found that only 37% of voters say they trust Clinton.

The real insanity her is in two areas:

1. First, why is she even in the running to be President when over half the country does not trust her?
2. In a country of over 300 million people, is there know one out there that has the integrity to be President and a true leader as opposed to one that refuses to take responsibility for their actions?

No integrity when it comes to wasting taxpayer wealth overseas, no integrity when it comes to lying about failed government programs, and no integrity when running for high office. A sad, sad commentary on today’s American political class. And that sad commentary will continue for the next week or so as the failures of today's politicians continue to far out number their success.

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

Why Today's Democratic Politicians Suck - Part 1

Before my liberal and Democratic friends and readers go crazy about the title of this post, take a breath and read the following realities:

• I am over 60 years old and have never voted for a Republican for President in my life.
• Up until 2010, I had never voted for a Republican for national office in my life.
• I wrote and published my book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," based on my disgust and frustrations with the Bush administration.
• Thus, I am not a diehard, or even lukewarm, Republican, conservative, or neocon.

I also have great respect for the accomplishments of previous Democratic Presidents:

• Democrat FDR led the country through the worse economic downturn in our history in addition to leading the country through the second World War and eventual victory over the Nazis and Japanese.
• Democrat Harry Truman  finished up the work of FDR by successfully bringing the war to a close and leading the country into a prosperous post war economy.
• Democrat John Kennedy energized the country with his youth, vision, and energy and prevented the next world war by leading the country through the Cuban missile crisis.
• Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson guided the country into a new age of racial equality by leading the country with the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

The commonality of these Democrats is that they all had leadership skills that applied to ALL Americans and just not their voting blocs or political supporters and financiers. There are none of that leadership traits or skills with today's Democrats, a hypothesis we intend to prove over the next two days. 

Today, we will re-present the dozens of examples of Democrats dividing the country vs. leading and uniting the country that we have discussed in previous blogs. These examples are not pretty. Democratic politicians today call their political opponents or anyone who dares to disagree with their views a whole host of childish and obscene names and then wonder why those people have hard feelings against them. 

This is not leadership, this is rank immaturity on the part of the Washington political class, especially Democrats, that has never been experienced in this country before. It divides the country, decimates freedoms, and reduces the quality of life of every American.

And the most immature, leadership deficient politician today is President Obama. As we go through the obscenities and insults that people in his party and his supporters have said to slander and demean other Americans, keep in mind that at no time did this President speak up and object to the vilification of these Americans. By remaining silent, he condoned and encouraged the verbal attacks, attacks that divide the country to no one's benefit.

So decide for yourself. Do the following Democratic quotes foster understanding, joint resolution of problems, and the celebration of diversity within our society or are they blatant attempts to slander and demean political opponents in the most crass and despicable manner:

• Democrat Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi called citizen opponents to Obama Care unpatriotic for simply having a difference of opinion with many politicians in Washington.
• Democrat Charles Rangel slandered millions of Americans who opposed Obama Care by calling them racists for simply having an honest difference of opinion with many politicians in Washington.
• Democrat Shelia Jordan Lee slandered millions of Americans who opposed Obama Care by associating them with the Ku Klux Klan.
• Union boss and Democratic supporter Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. stated that his union was at war with the Republicans and Tea Party citizens and that these people "need to be taken out."
• Democratic Congressmen Mike Doyle and Henry Waxman and Democratic Vice President Joe Biden slandered American citizens opposed to unfettered and destructive government spending and debt by calling them terrorists (those people that bomb and kill innocent civilians).
• When ordinary Americans objected to the building of an Islamic mosque near the World Trade Center property because of the sad memories of 9-11, Democrat Nancy Pelosi said THEY should be investigated for simply having a passionate opinion on the mosque.
• Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Walters said all Tea Party American citizens can go to hell simply for having a difference of opinion with her.
• The campaign manager of Democrat’s Gerry Brown’s gubernatorial campaign called his Republican opponent, Meg Whitman, a whore.
• Democratic White House czar Van Jones publicly called all Republicans a**h****s.
• Democrat Alan Grayson called all Republicans knuckle dragging Neanderthals.
• Liberal TV host Montel Williams publicly hoped that Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachman would commit suicide by decapitating herself.
• Ed Schultz, an on air commentator for the Democratic enforcers at the MSNBC news channel, called Laura Ingraham of Fox News a slut.
• Liberal HBO TV host Bill Maher, a major donor to Obama’s 2012 Presidential Super PAC (a $1 million donor), said on air that Republican Sarah Palin “would f*** Rick Perry if he was black.”
• Liberal Bill Maher called Republican Sarah Palin disgusting and derogatory body part names that I will not repeat here
• Playboy magazine’s online website offered a detailed analysis on why and how each of ten Republican women in politics should be hate raped.
• Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen likened Republican critics of Obama Care to the Nazis and their propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
• A liberal rap artist gave a Minnesota concert that was billed as the “F*** Michelle Bachman” concert (spelling out the entire f-word), a Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota.
• A Democratic operative insulted Ann Romney, and millions of other American women, by slandering and demeaning her as a stay at home mother.
• Martin Bashier of MSNBC News showed a video of Mitt Romney’s campaign bus that was interspersed with video clips of buses blowing up in balls of fire, explicitly wishing that the Romney bus also blow up and those inside die a fiery death.
• Liberal Professor Richard Parncutt of the University of Graz wants to execute other human beings that are global warming deniers for simply having a different opinion than his.
• Liberal newspaper columnist Donald Kaul wrote an article for the Des Moines Register where he called for the killing of gun owners and “dragging legislators who disagree with gun control behind pickup trucks until they get the message.”
• Liberal Erik Loomis, PhD, assistant professor of history at the University of Rhode Island decided that he wanted the death of National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre, branding the gun rights group he heads as a terrorist organization: "[I] want Wayne LaPierre's head on a stick."
• Liberal Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago Teachers’ Union had some violent rhetoric of her own to share: “Do not think for a minute that the wealthy are ever going to allow you to legislate their riches away from them. Please understand that. However, we are in a moment where the wealth disparity in this country is very reminiscent of the robber baron ages. The labor leaders of that time, though, were ready to kill. They were. They were just – off with their heads. They were seriously talking about that.”
• Liberal Elizabeth Ashack, an economist at the Department of Labor, thinks that all Christians are Nazis.
• Democratic Indiana state representative Vanessa Summers publicly stated that a fellow legislator’s 18 month old son is a racist.
• If you believe the reality of the sad state of the Social Security Administration’s dire financial straits, you are a liar according to liberal leaning U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.
• Republican Senators are too stupid to understand the multi-syllable words I am using, according to Democratic White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
• All men should die or get f**ked, according to Democratic activist Sarah Noble.

I am not saying that Obama should have responded to all of these degradations. However, it would be nice if once in a while he would publicly reprimand a liberal or fellow Democrat for calling other Americans a**h***s, Neanderthals, terrorists, racists, Nazis, etc. Also, he certainly cannot claim he is working hard for all of the women in the country when he allows half of them, those with a differing political view, to be called sluts, whores, worthy of hate rapes, and other terms too graphic too repeat here.

He should be a leader, he should be setting the tone of civil political dialog, not remaining silent. He is not a leader or a defender of women's rights when he does not represent the good name and integrity of women who are not Democrats. I cannot remember any time in my life when politicians had such a low regard for law abiding American citizens of a different political stripe, a time when citizens have been so degraded by those in government and their political supporters.

Even worse, recently the President has joined into this parade of mudslinging and degradation. We will cover his entry into this morass tomorrow along with other, more recent quotes from Democrats and liberals against anyone who dares to have a difference of opinion. 

You cannot expect to have a united nation, one that attacks the current set of problems facing Americans, when one side of the political spectrum is mudslinging and cursing out the other side of the political spectrum. And when the mudslinging is led by and committed by those elected to public office, then is there any wonder why not a single major, or minor issue, has been resolved in the past decade or so? 

Democrats are no longer the leadership, trailblazing party of FDR, Truman, Kennedy, or LBJ. They are the party of haters, childish name calling and temper tantrums when they do not get their way, with their words and actions leaving the country divided and bitter.

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

Part 2, American Politicians Are "Just Not Into You"

Today is the second in a three part series of posts where we prove what most of America already senses: American politicians do not care what our needs, sufferings, and requirements are, they are too busy catering to the needs of wealthy political contributors and their own selfish gains. Or as we summarized it yesterday, using an old movie cliché, they are “just not into you.”

Yesterday, we discussed an extensive statistical research effort from two political science professors who proved this point quantitatively. We also showed how the Obama administration is infected with high powered and wealthy lobbyist-types and how Nancy Pelosi has probably spent more time enriching her family with taxpayer wealth than enriching taxpayers with government programs that encourage economic growth.

This discussion continues below to show that politicians are more concerned about money and wealth, and how to keep it by sucking up to wealthy entities, than they are in resolving the problems facing the vast majority of Americans.

1) A recent article by the Independent Journal review had a fascinating graph, from the Business Insider website, that showed how much more money residents of the greater Washington D.C. area make over citizens in the rest of the country:



If you look at the vertical axis on the left side you see a scale that runs from 1.2 to 1.8. If a plot point is at 1.2, then the residents in D.C. earned, on average, 20% more than the rest of the country. A plot point of 1.5 means that for that year, D.C. residents on average earned about 50% more than the rest of the country. Other conclusions from the historical data in the graph include:

• From the 1950s through the late 1990s, the ratio stayed pretty constant between 1.25 and just under 1.40.
• However, as a new century dawned, the ratio broke through the 1.4 ceiling and started to accelerate quickly, with the rate of accelerating getting worse under the Obama administration. 
• In fact, all time highs were attained by the ratio during the entire Obama administration with the latest data still way above historical norms.
• The shaded areas in the graph indicate recessions and it appears that the ratio actually grew during recessionary periods, indicating that Washington took much better care of itself in tough economic times than it took of the rest of the country.
• The points of closest parity between D.C. and the rest of the country came under Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan while the largest disparities came under Democratic Presidents Harry S. Truman and Barack Obama. So much for the President’s false focus on “income equality.” 

So much for caring about the middle class. Washington takes care of itself first and foremost, they are “just not into you.”

2) Mary Barker, recently writing for the Deseret News on August 14, 2014, did a comprehensive review of how corporate cronyism uses its influence and dollars to get favorable deals for themselves at the expense of the American taxpayer. Disgraces from her research writing include the following:

• The bailout of General Motors cost American taxpayer over $11 billion that will never be paid back even though GM profits since the bailout have totaled $22.6 billion.
• The author quotes a research study which that between the years 2008 and 2010, 30 of the largest American companies paid more to lobby Congress (about $400,000 per day) than they did in Federal taxes. 
• During that time, only one of the 30 largest companies actually paid Federal taxes, despite these companies’ total profits of $164 billion. 
• Not surprisingly, most of them contributed to the financing of incumbents' reelection campaigns.
• Even though hundreds of bankers went to jail after the 1980s for their illegal actions and shenanigans during the savings and loan crisis, after the Great Recession, no bankers were prosecuted even though the major banks and investment companies were at the root cause of many of the factors which triggered the Great Recession.
• In this banking fiasco, they got bailouts and hefty bonuses rather than jail time, all courtesy of a needy American political class.
• The Government Accountability Office has estimated that the Great Recession cost the U.S. economy $22 trillion and much more in lost careers, foreclosed homes, stress, lost pensions, etc.
• However, a major perpetrator and player in the cause of the Great Recession, JPMorgan Chase, received a $25 billion taxpayer bailout while its CEO, Jamie Dimon, received a 74% pay raise, getting his annual compensation to around $20 million, according to the article.
• Another major bank, HBSC, freely admitted to laundering billions of dollars for the biggest, dirtiest Mexican drug cartels but once again no one was prosecuted. The bank paid a fine and its chief executive, however, said that the bank was “profoundly sorry.”

By the way, if you follow the money that is used to influence politicians via the Open Secrets website, you would find that:

• In the latest election cycle, JP Morgan's political contributions put them in the top .5% of all contributors to election campaigns and their $5.5 million spent on lobbying put them in the top 2% of all companies who had lobbying expense.
• In the latest election cycle, HSBC's political contributions put them in the top 10% of all contributors to election campaigns and their $3.4 million spent on lobbying put them in the top 4% of all companies who had lobbying expense.
• In the latest election cycle, General Motors' political contributions put them in the top 1.5% of all contributors to election campaigns and their whopping $8.8 million spent on lobbying put them in the top 1% of all companies who had lobbyin expense.

Still think that American polticians care about you in the face of these millions and millions spent by the banks and large companies to buy influence in Washington?

You break a law, you go to jail. Wealthy corporate types and bankers break a law, they get taxpayer bailouts and get to say they’re sorry rather than go to jail. Obviously, the political class is “just not into you” when it comes to bailouts and law breaking excuses.

3) But it is just not bankers that get to stay out of jail for illegal behavior. Recent news reports show that Regina Dugan, the former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has been implicated in a U.S. Inspector General’s report for improperly directing agency contracts that were awarded to a company she had previously founded and in which she still had a financial stake in.

She founded and still holds a financial interest in RedXDefense, a company which designs detection devices for drugs and explosives. She was the company’s CEO until 2009, when she left to take the head job at DARPA. According to the Inspector General, while at DARPA, Dugan refrained from involving herself directly in any contract-awarding process for which RedXDefense was a bidder. But the company nevertheless received major contracts which drew the scrutiny of the Inspector General’s office in 2011.

While Dugan has since left that post and government work to go work at Google, the Inspector General found that: “We determined that Dr. Dugan violated the prohibition against using her government position for the stated or implied endorsement of a product, service, or enterprise.” 

Certainly at least the appearance of conflict of interest, if not outright conflict of interest. Better to take care of her own personal financial gain than do the best thing to protect the taxpayers’ dollars.

4)According to a most recent Reuters poll, 70% of Americans believe illegal immigrants "threaten traditional U.S. beliefs and customs," and 63% believe "immigrants place a burden on the economy." However, both Democrats and Republican politicians in Washington are pushing for favorable treatment of illegal immigrants. 

Why? Democrats see them as future voters. Republicans and their business cronies see illegal immigrants as sources of cheap labor, current citizens’ employment needs be damned. On the one issue where both Washington Democrats and Republicans agree, it is because of their own selfish interests, votes and financial election contributions, not because of the will of the people that they are supposed to represent the vast majority of Americans who do not want more and more illegal immigrants coming into this country.

Why would our politicians have more interest in foreigners illegally coming here than existing U.S. citizens? Obviously, they are “just not into you.”

Our politicians make sure that they get paid first and more handsomely vs. the rest of the country, they make sure that their corporate and banking financial bankers serve no jail time and are rewarded for bad and illegal behavior via bailouts, they take no action when government employees enrich themselves and foreign illegal immigrants take precedence over existing citizens. 

So if we learned anything over the past two days is that when the November elections start to get closer and a politicians promises you that they are looking out for your well being and welfare, keep in mind that they are “just not into you,” you are nothing more than a vote and a subsequent ATM machine once they are in office.

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

March, 2013 Political Class Insanity, Part 4: Bottled Water Idiocy, Community Reinvestment Act, And More

This is the fourth in what is likely to be a record six post series of monthly political class insanity. In the three previous posts we reviewed such insanity as to what a corrupt U.S. Congressman (Jesse Jackson, Jr.) spends illegally obtained money on, how the political class flushed half a trillion dollars down the sink hole that is Afghanistan, how some politicians are using a Ulysses S. Grant era law to protect their mining company cronies, and other equally idiotic political doings.

Today’s latest insanity review starts with items from the April, 2013 issue of Reason magazine, a great publication in support of freedom and in opposition to political insanity:

1) Politicians and voters in Concord, Massachusetts voted to enact a law this past January 1, 2013 that banned the sale of water bottles less than one liter in size. The effort was a silly attempt to reduce the use of plastic and encourage the use of water from taps to improve the environment. Concord businesses caught selling these horrific bottles of water were subjected to fines.

So what has been the result of the environmental and political activist effort that restricted freedom of choice? Residents of Concord simply drive over to other nearby cities to purchase the bottled water in convenient sizes. Thus, the use of plastic bottles is not significantly reduced, if reduced at all, and the environment takes a hit as people burn more gasoline to drive to get their bottled water in convenient sizes. All the law did was reduce the revenue stream of local Concord businesses. Insanity.

2) The justification for the Obama administration to spend over $800 billion to stimulate the economy during the Great Recession is that somehow when government spends a dollar it miraculously results in more than a dollar of incremental economic growth. This so-called “multiplier effect” is measured to a breakeven basis of $1.00.

For example, if a government stimulus program had a multiplier effect of $1.50 it would say that the economy got a $1.50 increase in economic activity for that one dollar government investment, a 50% return and a good thing. If a government stimulus program had a multiplier effect of only $.50 it would say that for every dollar spent by the government, the economy got only a $.50 increase in economic activity, a net loss of $.50, a bad thing.

The flawed, theoretical reason behind this type of economic reasoning is that somehow the Federal government can take taxpayer wealth and spend it more efficiently than taxpayers. Given that antics, idiocy, and insanity of people like Harry Reid, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, et al, this is seems like a very foolish assumption.

And now there is hard data to actually prove this is a foolish assumption. A major study by economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the University of California at San Diego, and the Bank of Canada have definitively proven that in the United States, that government stimulus spending during recessions has a negative effect on the economy, i.e. the multiplier effect is substantially below $1.00.

This study entailed detailed analysis of economic activity from 1890 to 2010 and measured stimulus effects across various economic components including differing levels of unemployment. Their findings were worthy enough to be presented at the January meeting of the American Economic Association.

What were their findings based on real data and not political rhetoric:

• During hard times when unemployment was below 6.5%, government economic stimulus spending had a multiplier effect of only $.63 to $.78. In other words, in these periods, as much as $.37 was lost for every dollar spent.
• The interesting finding was that for unemployment levels higher than 6.5%, the multiplier effect was even worse, between $.54 and $.64. In other words, the higher the unemployment rate, the worst return the economy got on government stimulus spending.
• The authors’ main conclusion: “We find no evidence that multipliers are higher during periods of slack in quarterly U.S. date from 1890 to 2010.” In other words, the $800 billion that Obama spent in his economic stimulus program was an economic bust.

But Harry Truman could have told him that based on Truman’s handling of the economy after World War II. He proved conclusively that government spending does not make for a healthy economy, government shrinkage is the best way to grow an economy, the proof and details of which can be found at the following link:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/08/economic-policy-why-truman-got-it-right.html

3) In 2008, the Federal government was given unprecedented leeway to to secretly monitor Americans’ electronic communications without the fuss of getting a warrant and proving probably cause as a result of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or FISA. This law is an obvious intrusion and violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, a detail that was lost on those in Congress who voted for the legislation.

But the law recently came up for renewal and four Senators actually took the heroic effort to reduce the intrusion into our rights. Unfortunately, the common sense ideas form these four Senators were soundly defeated and this atrocity against freedom was renewed in the Senate by a vote of 73 to 23.

4) We have already proven in a previous post the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which was passed during the Presidency of jimmy Carter and used and abused by Democratic politicians since then, was the primary cause and driver of the Great Recession:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/05/who-really-caused-great-recession-part.html

Further verification of this conclusion has been proved by an article in Reason which summarized the analyses and findings of trained economists from Harvard, the Massachusetts of Technology, and the University of Chicago who took a detailed look at the impact and history of the Community Reinvestment Act.

Besides looking at the default rates of banks that made a lot of questionable mortgage loans as a result of the CRA, the article also documents how the Federal government, via Fannie Mae, was actually looking for and encouraging questionable loans via CRA requirements. In 2000, Fannie Vice Chairman Jamie Gorelick told banks that “We [Fannie] want your CRA loans because they help us meet our housing goal.” These CRA loans included mortgages with low down payments and questionable underwriting, i.e. bad loans.

Since 2000, Fannie Mae and its sister Federal entity, Freddie mac, have racked up well over $100 billion in taxpayer bailout expenses, Gorelick was forced to resign amid accounting improprieties at Fannie, the housing market collapsed, the Great Recession started, and the economy never really recovered.

Thus, politicians messing around with things they have no expertise in, mortgages, banking, and economics resulted in the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression, the effects of which (higher national debt, persistently high unemployment, anemic economic growth, etc.) that will be with use for years and decades to come.

Depressed yet after these four posts? Well, the insanity will continue to tomorrow where we will hear the actually words of the Washington political class, words that will confirm that the woes of the country and the insanity we as Americans endure every day are almost totally the result of the people that sit in Congress and the White House.

Their inane actions, their incompetence, their idiocy are the reasons why the country is in the state it is in today. Fortunately, we will also prescribe a set of steps that stop their voices of ineptness and fix what the ails the country, simply and easily with minimal pain to most Americans.

Day 5: Seven Days Of Logic and Sanity That Prove Raising Taxes On Any American Is Just Plain Stupid

This is a fifth in a eight part series that proves conclusively that there is no need for any politician in Washington to raise the taxes on any American, rich or poor, given how poorly the Federal government currently mismanages and wastes the taxes already being paid. Thus, President Obama’s insistence that the higher earners in this country pay more in taxes is ludicrous.

If the President, the executive branch of government over which he is in charge, and Congress were actually doing their jobs, the savings from making government more efficient, less redundant, and less subject to the massive criminal fraud we see today would overwhelm whatever funding shortfalls there are today to cover basic government expenses and costs.

Another major reason for not raising taxes on any American, because government will end up wasting it anyway, is that taking disposable income out of the economy via more taxation results in less economic growth. Given the high level of taxation in this country and the low economic growth in the country since Obama took office, maybe this correlation (high taxation = low economic growth) is actually a causation relationship.

Ask yourself: from an economic perspective, would you rather have higher earning Americans spending their hard earned wealth throughout the country on movies, restaurants, new cars, vacations, etc., contributing to real and meaningful economic growth or give it to Washington bureaucracies that will waste it on foreign consulate buildings that are never used, narrowly focused silly science projects that have no meaning in the real world, allow criminal elements to steal it from government agencies, etc.?

The answer is pretty clear, based on the first posts in this series. The amount of additional taxation the President wants to collect from higher earning Americans is minuscule relative to the massive government spending and deficits he has established for the bloated Federal government. It will make hardly a dent in the annual budget of the Federal government and an even smaller dent in our $16.3 TRILLION national debt.

The government has a chronic overspending problem, not an under taxation problem. Obama needs to reduce spending dramatically, not raise taxes that drain disposable income out of a struggling economy for no reason. He could surely learn a good economic lesson from a past President who understood this simple economic concept quite well.

The following post is a brief history of what Harry S. Truman did after World War II. President Truman realized that downsizing government from the massive Federal bureaucracy that was established to fight the war effort was best for the economy and the American people. He downsized government and reduced taxes, which resulted in balanced budgets, strong economic growth and low unemployment.

President Obama has taken just the opposite approach: massive increases in government spending, massive annual deficits, and now he wants higher taxes. His economic polices have resulted in persistently high unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, very low economic growth, and massive government inefficiencies, criminal fraud, and wasteful spending.

We know how wasteful government is, we documented it over the past four posts. Making government smaller and more efficient is a proven way to go for a better life for Americans. Truman already proved it, Obama is ignoring logic, sanity, and history by his insistence that any American give more of their wealth to voracious and ineffective government bureaucracy

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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Why Obama's Economic Policies Are Dead Wrong - A Real life Example In Pictures

We have talked about the many economic failures, in both strategy and execution, of the Obama administration over the past few years. These failures have resulted in heated and divisive class warfare rhetoric, skyrocketing national debt, high unemployment and underemployment, and abominable failures of economic programs:

•Failed economic programs and projects - these include, but are not limited to, Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Caulkers, Cash For Appliances, bank and auto company bailouts, the $800 billion stimulus program, Solyndra, and a number of other failed alternative energy programs.

•Regarding the massive and failed economic stimulus package, this administration claimed that unless it was passed immediately, the unemployment rate in this country could get as high as 8%. The package was passed and employment soared about 25% higher than 8%.

•Divisive class warfare - Obama constantly harps on the need to tax the wealthy in this country even more, blaming them for the skyrocketing annual trillion dollar deficits this administration has incurred. However, we have easily proven that even if you tax these Americans' earnings at 100% or confiscate all of their assets, it will have very little impact on the economic conditions in this country, quite possibly making them even worse while dividing the country along economic lines.

•Under the Obama administration, the recovery in unemployment and under employment after the last recession has been among the most anemic in the economic history of the United States.

•In the wake of of failed economic programs, divisive class warfare, and stubbornly high unemployment, the Obama administration has proceeded to run up the national debt much faster and much more dramatically, with little in return, than any President in the history of the United States.

All very good reasons to conclude that this administration has no clue when it comes to economics. Which is a shame since if you look back in our history, you will find a classic example of how to manage and grow an economy out of a crisis mode with favorable results across all major economic indices.

The example comes from the 1940s, when Harry Truman was President, certainly a time of major crisis where the United States and the rest of the world were involved in World War II fighting. Economies and lives were turned upside down as the country went into a war footing for the first half of the decade and then needed to convert back to a peace time economy in the second half of the decade.

Consider the following graph (you can double click on this and the following graphs to get a larger, more detailed view):

 

This is a graph of the size of the Federal government's annual spending volumes in the 1940s and 1950s. As you see, spending had to ramp up in the early 1940s to accommodate the massive war spending the Federal government needed to do to defeat the Axis powers.

However, look what happens when the war ends in 1945 (after the vertical line). Very quickly, Federal government spending drops dramatically (about 60%) as the government terminates its war spending. I do not believe in the history of the country have we seen such a dramatic and speedy reduction in Federal government spending.

If Obama was President in 1945, I doubt this would happen. Today, he and his political supporters refuse to seriously consider reducing government spending, insinuating that it would push the economy back into a recession. They have this misconception that unnecessary and wasteful government spending is necessary to keep the economy going. [Note: recall that our extensive analysis in this blog's past posts has shown that at least $500 billion in Federal spending a year is lost to waste and criminal fraud in government operations such as Social Security, Medicare, etc.]

What happened to the economy in the late 1940s when the Federal government made such drastic reductions in government spending? According to Obama's economic strategy, that would have had catastrophic effects on the economy.

Let's first look at the unemployment rate (double click on the graph for a larger view):

Yes, at the same time that the Federal government dramatically reduced spending, the unemployment rate did kick up a bit. This would seem to add some credence to Obama's theory that government spending needs to stay high and wasteful to keep the economy strong and growing.

In fact, there were some leading economists of the time that urged Truman to keep the war factories humming via government spending, making munitions and weapons for no purpose, just to create busy but useless work for people. This activity would create no viable economic progress since the output of the munitions and weapons factories would never be used, the war was over, but these economists, like Obama today, had this misconception that spending and wasting government money for no reason was good economic policy.

But consider a few facts from the above chart:

•Although unemployment did rise at the end of the war, it did not get above 4% for the immediate years after World War II and probably averaged 4-5% over the ten years after the end of the war, despite an initial, massive slashing of Federal spending.

•In 1945, the U.S. population was only about 139 million and at least 10% of that population was coming back into the civilian workforce after serving in the armed forces. Thus, the economy was able to absorb a very large number of new workers in the face of slashed government spending with an unemployment rate of less 5%, an extraordinary accomplishment.

Was this wonder of employment gains immediately after the war a result of massive government spending? Obama says we cannot reduce spending and have to run up horrendous deficits in order to keep the economy out of a recession. See what happened to deficits in the 1940s:

After the massive deficit spending during the early part of the 1940s that was needed to finance the war effort, Truman's Presidency not only slashed government spending, and the taxes that went with it, Truman also managed to very quickly go from a deficit riddled Federal government to a Federal government that was generally in balance, revenue about equal to spending, actually running a budget surplus in some years.

So far, Truman was able to succeed doing the exact opposite of what Obama is doing: dramatically reducing government spending and taxes, running a balanced Federal budget, and absorbing millions and millions of workers into the civilian part of the economy with minimal increase in unemployment.

One final view: did all of these efforts and results negatively impact the economy health of the country? Consider this last graph:

This GDP graph is over time, during and after World War II. As you can see, there is a little flatness in economic growth in 1946 as the nation adjusts back to a peace time economy but very shortly begins a strong growth pattern into the 1950s. Thus, dramatically slashing and reducing government spending did not negatively impact the growth and size of the nation's economy. In other words, we do not need a giant Federal government bureaucracy to have a healthy and growing economy.

So let's review:

1.Truman slashed taxes and government spending after the war ended, Obama wants to continue to raise taxes and government spending.

2.Truman ran a balanced Federal government budget after the war ended, with some budget surplus years, Obama runs massive Federal government deficits.

3.Truman's economic policies absorbed well over ten million workers into the economy that was much smaller in a nation with far fewer people, Obama's economic policies have resulted in long term unemployment and under employment for well over twenty million workers.

4.Truman's economic policies resulted in strong overall national economic growth, Obama's economic polices have resulted in weak overall economic growth.

5.And most importantly, Truman's economic polices severely reduced the role of government in our lives and economic well being, Obama's policies have dramatically increased the Federal government's involvement in our lives and economic well being, resulting in lost freedom and liberty.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration and his supporters have not looked at this simple pictorial representation of a real life economic success story. It continues to cling to the false hope and faulty economic assumption that government has to be the center of economic activity and growth in this country, an assumption that is becoming increasingly viewed as wrong when you consider our anemic economic growth, failed economic polices of this administration, and long term chronic unemployment.

An old saying goes as follows: "When you are in a hole, stop digging." Obama needs to stop digging with his failed economic policies, programs, and strategies and borrow a ladder from Truman to get us out of our ever widening, ever deepening economic hole. Just look at the pictures.

On final note: as an FYI, all of the underlying data that went into the above graphs comes from official U.S. government sources. At no point were Republican Party, Tea Party, Fox News, or any other data sources used.

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We keep coming back to the same conclusion: we need to execute Step 1 from “Love My Country, Loathe My Government,” a step that would reduce government spending across the board by 10% a year for five years. This would get us to a balanced budget, force out redundant and stupid spending expenses, reduce criminal ripoffs of government programs, increase economic freedom and personal freedom by allowing Americans to retain more of their wealth, and get government focused on a much smaller set of priorities.

Government today is unfocused on a lot of things, doing none of them well, efficiently or to completion. Step 1 would force them to do far fewer things which may allow the political class to finally accomplish something worthwhile. Truman understood economics and his polices of smaller government, reduced taxes, and more freedom allowed the post World War II America to thrive. It is a simple economic lesson that Obama should consider before he raises taxes and expands a failing government bureaucracy even more.

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

61 Reasons Why Jimmy Carter Is Off The Hook, Part 2 - The Legacy Of Failure Of The Obama Administration

This is the second of a two part discussion that lays out my belief that the Obama administration is likely the worst Presidential administration of the past century or so, clearly replacing the Presidential administration of Jimmy Carter. Before we review the final 31 reasons for my conclusion and summarize all of the findings, let me set the stage:

• Until the midterm elections in November, 2010 I had never voted for a Republican for national office, President or Congress, in my life.
• I have voted for very few Republicans for local, county, and state elections in my life.
• Thus, I am not a long term Republican voter or conservative.
• The reason I wrote and published my book, “Love My Country, Loathe My Government” was because of the insanity I witnessed during the Republican Bush administration. The waste, stupidity, and corruption of that era was something I found unacceptable in a democracy and wanted to do my part to fix our ailing democracy. It had nothing to do with the Obama administration and its failures.
• Thus, I am not out to do a hatchet job on the President, I would do a similar assessment on any other person with the same dismal track record.
• I am not saying that John McCain would have been more effective than Obama has been. We will never know, given McCain did not get elected.
• I am not enthusiastic about Romney by any stretch of the imagination and I am not saying that Romney would be more effective than Obama has been.
• My information sources for my conclusions almost never include Fox News and never conservative/Republican blogs or forums. Most of the time my sources are unbiased or liberal leaning organizations that tend to portray the Obama administration in a more favorable light than it deserves.
• I believe that in sports, politics, and life, the old saying that “you are only as good as your record” should be the only guide to reality. Saying you tried hard or claiming the failure was not your fault are easy to do. But results are the only things that count in the final assessment. Excuses are a sign of weakness and immaturity when it comes to leadership in life. However, they are an ongoing trait of this administration.
• Some of the points of failure listed below might be viewed as petty and unimportant in the big picture. However, this assessment is meant as a comprehensive view of the Obama Presidency and one person’s view of pettiness and unimportance might be viewed as a failed opportunity at leadership by someone else. That is why everything was included.
• Harry Truman once eloquently stated: “The buck stops here.” He realized he was the overall boss so that anything that went wrong on his watch ultimately was his responsibility, a responsibility he was willing to accept. The Obama administration should not be held to any lower standard of excellence.
• For the first two years of his Presidency, Obama’s Democratic party held a majority in the House of Representatives and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. His approval ratings were sky high. He could have done anything he wanted. He wasted that historic opportunity and as a result, he does not now get to blame Bush, the Arab Spring, the Iranians, the Japanese tsunami, ATM machines, Congress, the Republicans, or anything else for his failures. The buck stops at his desk, he accepted the job and both the glory and the blame that goes with it.

The following 31 reasons complete the list of why Jimmy Carter is now off the hook, replaced by the failed legacy of the Obama administration:

31) Failure to provide a national energy strategy, a void that has seen the price for a gallon of gas rise about 100% since his inauguration.

32) Failure to run a tight operation when it comes to national security leaks from the highest levels of his administration, leaks that appeared in the New York Times and elsewhere that have endangered our national security and the lives of our fighting forces around the world.

33) Failure to represent the rights, integrity, and humanity of about half the women in this country when he remained silent in the face of demeaning, sexist, and disgusting comments about Republican women:

• When the campaign manager of Democrat’s Gerry Brown’s gubernatorial campaign called his female Republican opponent a whore, Obama was silent.
• When TV host Montel Williams had publicly hoped that Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachman would commit suicide by decapitating herself, Obama was silent.
• When Ed Schultz, an on air commentator for the Democratic leaning MSNBC news channel, called Laura Ingraham of Fox News a slut, Obama was silent.
• When HBO TV host Bill Maher, a major/million dollar donor to Obama’s 2012 Presidential Super PAC, said on air that Republican Sarah Palin “would f*** Rick Perry if he was black,” Obama was silent.
• When Bill Maher called Republican Sarah Palin a disgusting and derogatory name that I will not repeat here, Obama was silent.
• When Playboy magazine’s online website offered a detailed analysis on why and how each of ten Republican women in politics should be hate raped, Obama was silent.
• When a rap artist gave a Minnesota concert that was billed as the “F*** Michelle Bachman” concert (spelling out the entire f word), a Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, Obama was silent.
• When a Democratic operative insulted Ann Romney, and millions of other American women, by slandering and demeaning her as a stay at home mother, Obama was silent.

I am not saying that Obama should have responded to all of these degradations of Republican women. However, he cannot claim he is working hard for all of the women in the country when he allows half of them, those with a differing political view, to be called sluts, whores, worthy of hate rapes, and other terms to graphic too repeat here. He should be a leader, he should be setting the tone of civil political dialog, not remaining silent.

34) Failure to represent the rights, integrity, and freedoms of millions of citizens when he remained silent when his Democratic Party allies demeaned, slandered and slammed Americans for simply expressing their freedom of speech and having a difference of opinion:

• When Democrat Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi called opponents to Obama Care unpatriotic for simply having a difference of opinion with many politicians in Washington, Obama was silent.
• When Democrat Charles Rangel slandered millions of Americans who opposed Obama Care by calling them racists for simply having an honest difference of opinion with many politicians in Washington, Obama was silent.
• When Democrat Shelia Jordan Lee slandered of Americans who opposed Obama Care by associating them with the Ku Klux Klan, Obama was silent.
• When White House czar Van Jones called all Republicans a**h****s, Obama was silent.
• When Democrat Alan Grayson called all Republicans knuckle dragging Neanderthals, Obama was silent.
• When union boss and Democratic supporter Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. stated that his union was at war with the Republicans and Tea Party and that those people "need to be taken out," Obama was silent.
• When Democratic Congressmen Mike Doyle and Henry Waxman and Vice President Joe Biden slandered Americans opposed to unfettered and destructive government spending and debt by calling them terrorists (those people that bomb and kill and innocent civilians), Obama was silent.
• When ordinary Americans objected to the building of a Islamic mosque near the World Trade Center property because of the memories of 9-11 and Democrat Nancy Pelosi said they should be investigated for simply having an opinion on the mosque, Obama was silent.
• When Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen likened Republican critics of Obamacare to the Nazis and their propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Obama was silent.
• When Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Walters said all Tea Party American citizens can go to hell simply for having a difference of opinion with her, Obama was silent.

You cannot say you are the leader of the entire country when political allies attack citizens for simply having an opinion or political opponents are called terrorists, a**h****s, racists, Nazis, or Neanderthals and you remain silent. That does not celebrate our freedom and celebrate diversity.

35) Failure to respect the tenets of religious freedom in this country by forcing certain organizations to conform to government mandates that are at odds with these organizations’ religious tenets, not realizing that in many parts of the world when government dictates religious terms and conditions it is called the Taliban.

36) Failure to respect the Constitution and rule of law on many occasions including, but not limited to:

• Violating the Constitution and War Powers Act by unilaterally involving U.S. armed forces in the Libyan conflict in order to protect the flow of oil to Europe.
• Violating the rule of law by ignoring a judge’s explicit order to lift the moratorium on Gulf oil drilling.
• Violating the rule of law by unilaterally refusing to enforce DOMA requirements (a law that needs to be repealed in the name of freedom but cannot be ignored by a President until that Constitutional process is completed).
• Violating the rule of law by making high ranking government appointments while Congress was still in session, bypassing the checks and balances inherent in the Constitution.
• Violating the rule of law by unilaterally trying to change welfare requirements as established the welfare reform legislation signed by the Clinton administration.
• Violating the rule of law by allowing his Cabinet department heads to actively and openly campaign for his reelection, a gross, unlawful violation of the Hatch Act.
• Violating the rule of law by selectively deciding to enforce or not enforce parts of current Federal immigration law relative to his dissatisfaction with the state of Arizona.
• Violating the rule of law by allowing thousands of guns to illegally walk across the border into the hands of violent Mexican drug cartels under the Fast and Furious program.
• Violating the rule of law by selectively deciding to enforce or not enforce parts of the current Federal welfare law.
• Establishing a shadow government of czars, bypassing Constitutionally mandated reviews, vetting, and debate of all high ranking government officials.
Bypassing Constitutional checks and balances by implementing a long string of executive orders, the latest of which, gives the executive branch control over all forms of communications whnever it desires for whatever reason it wants, hardly a behaviorf conducive to liberty.

37) Failure to reduce the repugnant practice of cronyism in Washington by continuing to hand out taxpayer wealth to political cronies and campaign donors with little regard for what value the American taxpayer may get in return, with the most egregious examples including the alternative energy companies (e.g. Solyndra) and alternative auto companies (e.g. Fisker, Telsa, GM), wasting billions and billions of dollars in the process.

38) Failure to respect the right of American citizens to have a fair trial by their peers by authorizing the first official assassination of an American citizen in the history of our country and establishing a formal process to determine what other American citizens deserve to be assassinated by the Federal government in the future.

39) Failure to adopt more stringent safeguards to freedom when he automatically renewed the Patriot Act as is along with failing to appoint members to a panel, as prescribed by the Patriot Act, which is supposed to ensure that freedom and liberty are not destroyed by Patriot Act usage and abuses.

40) Failure to veto the NDAA legislation which could lead government officials to legally hold American citizens in custody without trial and without cause for as long as desired by the same government officials as long as those officials claim it is in the name of national security.

41) Failure to respect freedom of the press, trying many times to directly or indirectly shut down news outlets that hold and broadcast a contrary view of reality to their users and viewers.

42) Failure to approve the construction of the Keystone pipeline solely for political reasons, ignoring the fact that thousands of jobs would be created, without taxpayer support, and that the “dirty” crude oil from Canada will be burned somewhere in the world. If not in North America than likely in China so that environmental impacts will not be affected with or without the Keystone pipeline.

43) Failure to understand basic business mentality in that uncertainty is the greatest inhibitor to business, employment, and economic expansion and his approach to the economy has created tremendous uncertainty due to the following:

• His insistence that tax policy be changed on a short term, ad hoc basis has added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.
• His 2,500 page health care reform legislation and its dozens of new taxes and thousands of new rules and regulations has added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.
• His 2,000 page financial industry reform legislation and its hundreds of new rules and regulations has added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.
• Thousands of other regulations from all Federal departments during his administration have added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.
• His continued class warfare rhetoric has added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.

No wonder we have suffered through the worst post recession period in a very long time, the uncertainty this administration has introduced into our lives has led businesses and entrepreneurs to be cautious and conservative and the resultant economic growth to be anemic.

44) Failure to recognize that small business owners are hardworking, risk taking heroes when he unbelievably asserted at a campaign stop in Roanoke, Virginia that business owners are not responsible for the success of their businesses, slamming the very people who provide benefits to society and jobs and benefits to fellow citizens.

45) Failure to understand that great leaders (FDR, Churchill, Lincoln, Washington) unite their people during times of stress and challenges with this President constantly trying to divide, and conquer Americans with his class warfare rhetoric that pits rich against poor, liberal against conservative, pro life against pro choice, unemployed against employed, etc.

46) Failure to speak out when Daniel Adkins, Elizabeth Hutchenson, and Ladarious Phillips were killed, electing to speak out only in the Trayvon Martin killing because it was politically advantageous for him to do so for the Martin case but not the other cases.

47) Failure to give individual Americans recognition and White House photo opportunities for great teaching, heroic police and fire fighting acts, outstanding job creation, compassionate acts of charity, etc., instead, saving photo opportunities for untold numbers of college and professional athletic teams.

48) Failure to stop Iran from being three and a half years closer to having nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them.

49) Failure to stop North Korea from being three and a half years closer to having nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them.

50) Failure to establish a peaceful process to resolve the long standing Palestinian/Israeli problem.

51) Failure to foresee the Arab spring, resulting in an unpreparedness that has considerably weakened the American influence in the entire Middle East region.

52) Failure to establish the necessary civilian and military platforms in Afghanistan, wasting American lives and wealth in the process, a failure that will lead to the reestablishment of a Taliban and terrorist state once NATO combat troops leave in two years.

53) Failure to understand what just about every other country in world understands: that airport security should be trusted to trained private sector companies, with appropriate government oversight, rather than another gigantic, ineffective, bumbling, and groping set of government employees in a bumbling, crime infested bureaucracy.

54) Failure to understand that a Presidential political “enemies list” is a bad, anti-freedom idea when Nixon put the first one together and the concept has not gotten any better with this President’s issuing of his own enemies list and the ensuing harassment of innocent Americans.

55) Failure to lead on these previous topics relates to his inability to build consensus, to seek diversity of opinions, to consider other approaches, to be inclusive. When he does not get what he wants in the way he wants it, he gives up and blames the Republicans or someone else, That is not leadership, that is ego. Great leaders are inclusive and unifying, non-leaders are selfish, divisive, and inwardly focused.

56) Failure to understand that “Great leaders give the credit and take the blame.” This President gets it backward, taking credit when things go right, always inserting himself and his ego into the center of positive attention while backing away from the spotlight when things go wrong.

57) Failure to protect our embassies and sovereign soil in other countries when our embassies were attacked and their security sometimes breached.

58) Failure to protect our consulate in Libya despite warnings from Libyan and American security experts that a terrorist attack was highly likely, resulting in the needless deaths of our Libyan ambassador and three other Americans, a security failing so atrocious that it was native Libyan citizens that took the dying ambassador to the hospital, not U.S. security personnel.

59) Failure to be truthful with America immediately after the terrorist attack in Libya, claiming that a poor quality anti-Islam YouTube video caused an ad hoc attack when the administration knew it was a coordinated terror organization siege.

60) Failure to attend more than half of his daily security briefings, including the security briefing the day after the fatal attack on the our consulate in Libya even though he had enough time to fly to Las Vegas for a campaign fund raising event.

61) Failure to clear his calendar to honor a meeting requested from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu to discuss the rising nuclear weapon crisis with Iran but who had enough time to hold dozens of fund raisers over the past few months.

I may be wrong but I do not remember Carter coming anywhere close to this number of failures during his entire four years as President. I do not think he set anywhere near the number of records that the Obama administration has set as far as the weakest economic recovery ever, the most failed economic programs, the most consecutive months of unemployment above 8%, the most Americans ever on food stamps, etc.

I do not remember Carter having nearly as many negative firsts as Obama such as the first government sanctioned American citizen assassination, the first ever U.S. credit downgrade, the first ever TRILLION dollar annual government deficit, etc.

I do not remember Carter having nearly as much disdain for individual Constitutional rights, Constitutional tenets, or the rule of law.

I do not remember Carter having so many excuses for the dire economic conditions that his administration put the country through, unlike the Obama administration which has an excuse for everything.

I do not remember Carter having so much disdain for freedom of the press, political opponents, American women, individual freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and small businesses.

So, in summary, why does this President deserve a second term, based on the list of failures from above:

• His understanding of micro economics, how businesses think, work, and succeed, is non-existent, resulting in a high degree of business uncertainty and anemic economic growth.
• His understanding for macro economics, how the overall economy works, has been abysmal, resulting in failed, short-sighted economic programs.
• His lack of respect for the Constitution and the rule of law has been disgraceful, endangering personal freedom and liberty.
• His inability to lead has been disappointing.
• His foreign policy successes are minimal.
• His ability to divide the country with class warfare actions and rhetoric has been surprising, based on the promise of his 2008 campaign: “The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party.”

I truly believe that the President does not “get” America:

• He does not get that American families are losing their homes at record rates to foreclosure.
• Even though the unemployment rate is still around a morale crushing 8%, he does not get it and is so out of touch with America he thinks that the private sector is “doing fine.”
• He does not get it or understand of how American small businesses owners struggle, scrimp and save, make sacrifices of time, energy, and family but in his mind do not deserve the credit for building successful businesses, creating value for society, expanding  the economy, and providing jobs for others.
• He does not get or understand Americans who live outside of major cities, considering them “bitter” as they “cling to their religion and guns.”

But most of all, Obama’s inability to take personal responsibility for his actions and the ineptness of his administration is most distressing. When a so-called leader keeps looking backward and blaming Bush, ATM machines, the Euro crisis, the Arab spring, the Japanese tsunami, the Republicans in the House, wealthy Americans who do not pay enough in taxes, and other aspects of life, he ceases to be a leader and becomes a dead weight on the future.

Leaders look forward, leaders care about more than their self image, leaders unite, leaders give credit and take the blame, leaders understand and obey the rule of law agreed to by all within the democracy. This President and this administration have none of these leadership traits. And that is why Carter, in my opinion, is now off the hook for the most inept, ineffective, and destructive Presidency of my lifetime, being replaced by the Obama administration.

We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

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.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/