Folks, there are times, upon hearing some of the stuff coming out of DC, when any intelligent person can only sit back, scratch their head, rub their eyes, shake the head , then scratch the head again. It has become obvious that when the ‘best and brightest’ we send to Washington to oversee our best interests and desires cross over the Beltway, they immediately descend into a world where ‘re-election’ is the objective of the day. ‘Double-speak’, it appears, is another objective of the day and it is immediately obvious that all politicians have a firm belief that it works upon the electorate as they use if practically every time they open their mouths to answer a simple and reasonable question. ‘Double-speak’ to the electorate is just a fancy euphemism for a LIE, but for politicians who want to speak what they think whomever is listening wants to hear, it’s their method of ‘heading them off at the pass.’
Space here, of course does not allow any lengthy discussion of all the lies that go on in Washington, but for the sake of current events, we will hit on a few. Democrat or Republican, it makes no difference; we had deficits heading to the stratosphere under Democrats, and continued their upward journey under Republicans, so when all is said and done, who are the culprits? The answer is YOU and I. Think about it, while we as a nation are closely split down the middle, we do, as a nation, get the government we ask for regardless of which 51%, or more, voted for the government presently running the country. You get what you ask for, and if you insist that you didn’t ask for it, then, next time, you better call out some of the 40-50% of those poll no-shows that would have voted in your preferences. And keep in mind while you are at it, never fail to forget that you already have to overcome a 40% vote deficit before they even open the polls. That’s right, 40% and that’s a conservative estimate: when 40% of this country are content to live off the other 60, then they are going to vote for whomever promises to keep the gravy train rolling, and I’ll give you three guesses who makes those promises.
Ok, let’s see, budget ‘cuts’. Folks, there is no such thing. It’s all smoke and mirrors, but both parties and the MSM, use the word to make us all think that the austerity and intelligence going into the budget debates are actually accomplishing something:
From WAPO fact check: This has become a constant refrain by Democrats — that they have already gone some distance to accommodate the Republicans’ efforts to cut federal spending. We already awarded Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) two Pinocchios for this claim, but the talking point keeps popping up again and again.
The 2011 fiscal year began Oct. 1, but Congress, then led by the Democrats, failed to pass any of the annual spending bills that would fund the government. Instead, lawmakers have passed a series of stopgap measures, known as continuing resolutions, based largely on 2010 spending. The most recent one was approved this week, though it also included $4 billion in cuts based on proposals in Obama’s 2012 budget blueprint.
Yes, it’s a bit confusing. Lawmakers mix and match the three budgets in their rhetoric faster than any three-card monte player.
When Democrats say they are meeting Republicans halfway, they are talking about “cuts” from Obama’s never-enacted 2011 budget. By the White House’s math, they have proposed $41 billion in cuts from the 2011 budget, plus $4 billion in the latest stopgap measure, plus $6.5 billion in unspecified cuts annnounced Thursday, for a total of $51 billion. But there was no heavy lifting involved, and certainly little discrete examination of which programs to preserve and which ones to cut. It’s lot like saying you are running a 100-yard dash, but starting on the 50-yard line.
If lawmakers really want to ‘cut’ the budget, then Obama should set the 2011 budget exactly the same as the 2010 budget and then lawmakers can merrily ‘cut’ away, however, every succeeding years budget is proportionately higher than the last years. It’s basically automatic. It is not possible to ‘cut’ an imaginary budget, only ‘reduce’ the projected increases, so both parties get an ‘F’ here.
Barack Obama, the President of the United States and the ‘Commander in Chief’ of the Armed Forces. Folks, we elected a community organizer with absolutely no foreign policy experience, no experience in running the budget of anything he organized, no experience in bringing two warring factions together, no experience in anything except being elected senator by the Chicago code after he rode on the graces of affirmative action for his entire life to date. We still haven’t seen a certificate of birth for Obbie, except a Certificate of Live Birth, than can be had by any person walking into a hospital. The man has spent millions on lawyers keping him out of hot water on this issue, but this is for another day.
‘Humanitarian aid’, folks, this is the most ever maligned and misused con to dupe the American people into going along with the wishes of politicians standing in front of a background of American flags and tugging upon patriotic and ‘humanitarian’ heartstrings. ‘As your president, I will not stand back and wait until images of civilian atrocities begin coming out of Libya before we act.’ ‘Nato will take over operations’ (While we run things, as well as pay for them, in the background) ‘This is not about a regime change’. Well, apparently the president was unable to unlock the oval office door from the inside as every ‘spokesman’ for him says the exact opposite. ‘We will not have ground troops going into Libya’. Yeah, so far, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he signs a ‘secret’ order sending in the CIA. To do what? Well, they used to excel at ‘regime changes’ (or at least helping them along), as well as political assassinations, sic, so I stand breathless waiting to see what the obvious is.
But wait! You don’t have to fool all the people all the time….just most of them….
Steve,
I am in full agreement with you! While I’m sure by now some people are tired of hearing me say it, I have and will place the main blame for everything, be it the budget, the wars, the Socialist slant being taken by our leaders or anything else not only on the corrupt entrenched power mad scum that now occupy the halls of government, but even more so on the American electorate. As a whole, they refused to take their responsibilities as voters to heart. The electorate chose to listen to the lies of the entrenched morons. They refused to not only learn anything about the candidates but in fact ignored what was in front of their faces. No further proof of this is needed than what we are witnessing now as to the incumbent scumbags on the right side of the aisle who are fighting everything they can as to the budget or whatever.
As in Germany in the 40’s, the USSR or any other dictatorial style government, lying to and fooling the people is nothing new, especially with the current crop in D.C. It’s bad enough that we have officials who openly and purposely lie to their teeth in their mad lust for power. And let’s forget their complete ignorance as to the destruction they are causing as to the very soul of our country. However, it’s ten times worse that the American Electorate has it’s collective heads shoved so far up their asses that they not only refuse to learn what’s going on around them, but they in fact enable the rush to third world status that seems to be the agenda of the idiots now in power.
Well, we all know who wrote this little ditty regarding the people who read and watch the LSM:
Joe: Thank you very much. I’m not so certain the electorate has their heads up their butts, since they got their eyes wide open on the goose laying the golden egg. They know what they want and that’s the travesty of the thing: that 40% of the vote that the right has to overcome before the election even starts are those who go to the polls expecting the gravy train started by the left to continue ad infinitum, thus they are going to vote for anyone who has a ‘D’ after their name.
Why do you think the ‘D’s want all these illegals to be naturalized? Because each family will be worth about 15 votes once the kids come to voting age. You and I truly are on the way out.
I wish I could figure out a way to tap into that gravy train…..maybe open up a foreign bank……
Esd
John, spot on!
And as I was pointing out, the liberal objective is to get that first group continually increasing. They are rapidly becoming close to tipping the scales to the point that one could debate whether it even makes sense to have an election. The conservatives have to overcome what is now roughly 40% who vote Democrat regardless… they are vocal, and they turn out.
When you have elections, especially presidential elections turning on a few percentage points, those conservatives better get out , first, get the candidate people will vote for and get out and vote. Right now, do the Republicans have anyone to challenge Obama in 2012? I wonder…..I voted for McCain because Palin was on his ticket, otherwise I see him as just a shade south of being a RHINO. Gotta get someone to bring in those independents. Palin has, IMO, gotten a bum rap from the media because she frightens the left. She is just as qualified to be President as that freaking community organizer or VP Foot-In-Mouth.
Esd
I think you bring up a good point about the budget and I think maybe you understand that those who disagree with you and your political nature will hear your point (about the budget) if you are not insulting them personally and their beliefs. The budget should not be a partisan issue.
I spoke with a former congressman a while back, he told me that back in his time that being a republican or democrat did not mean they could not get along on their own time and this is not true today. The other day I was talking to a lady who decided I was a bad guy because I said I liked george bush. Not that I care, but seriously…. We should all get along enough to make a decision about the spending and that’s fact.
In modern russia people are still killing and imprisoning political opponents and that’s fact too.
Speaking of Palin and the derangement syndrome, I had an experience last week while enjoying the beaches. Talking politics, unions etc, I asked this friend about Sarah Palin. Well I guess the neighbors heard how much she hated Sarah Palin too. It was scary to see it in action. And her only answer was because Sarah was against abortion and gay marriage. That she was for getting our country back on the right track didn’t seem to be a matter to her.
Oh and as to the article above, it is spot on. Even the comments. Glad I fall in the third group, though I have no college background, I do know right from wrong and evil, and evil is what we have deciding our futures.
The President is not engaged or interested in Jobs, the Economy, or Foreign affairs. He’s already running for a second term. It was long ago evident that that’s about all he can do. He likes getting in front of crowds, reading speeches off teleprompters that have been written for him and managed/orchestrated by Jarrett and assorted handlers. He enjoys the trappings which the Office of The President provides, and he’s now going to do his best to win a second term so that when he leaves office he follow in the footsteps of Clinton, amassing hundreds of millions as monuments to himself. In the meantime, . . . . .
• Unemployment numbers are being falsified to appear positive – they persist in ignoring those (read MILLIONS) who have been unemployed for too long.
• Real median household income continues to fall and hasn’t grown since the mid ’90s.
• Inflation has outpaced incomes.
• Consistent long term rises in energy costs have fuelled food costs. Almost a third of household income goes to sustenance.
• The real GDP growth has come from increases in Government spending/hiring, NOT from corporate growth or spending or hiring within America.
• The Deficit spending is out of control and getting worse – NO ONE has the will to balance the budget. The President doesn’t care, and Congress is in majority too incompetent and incapable of making the hardest choices. In fact, Obama thought it a great concept to go spend more money on a war in Libya – how’s that for frugal fiscal diligence?
• Debt it now back page news as the Middle East gets our attention, money and our misguided politically correct and humanitarian “saviourship.” That attitude is doing so well in Afghanistan, surely it will work in places like Libya etc.
JOBS & DEBT – should be the number one and two concerns to be taken seriously, and the objective of political focus.
@James Raider: Unemployment numbers are being falsified to appear positive – they persist in ignoring those (read MILLIONS) who have been unemployed for too long.
No fooling when we look at the right chart, though:
The Scariest Jobs Chart Ever
Obama owns this chart’s red line from -13 month til now.
He even tanked it before that as it was at about -6 when we all knew he was going to win and started prepping for what he had in store for business.
Also,
Alexander Tytler.
Or Alexander Tyler.
Or Arnold Toynbee.
Or Lord Thomas Macaulay.
Or…
The quote is under dispute, but true.
Nan: You got that 100% right. The unemployment rate is another of those government paste-ups for those who want to look at the world through rose colored glasses, not to mention those who want to be re-elected in the next election. Let’s say the month before, 1 million people fell out of the “designation” of those “looking for work.” These people are no longer calculated in the unemployment figures. They are forgotten. Same thing happened the month before also. The figures are manipulated to make the best possible appearance for the administration. Of course, they do it in Republican administrations also, but right now it is very, very bad, notwithstanding.
http://www.smartonmoney.com/what-is-the-real-unemployment-rate-is-it-really-only-9-6-or-are-things-worse-than-that/
The quote you put up is exactly what worries me. Those people don’t care if they run the country into the ground as long as they get their “fair” share.
Esd
James:
Spot On!
@Zac:
Money makes the most straightforward person a rabid partisan, especially when the whole scope of the “budget” is to keep the party presently in power in power.
It is unfortunate, but the party on the left is so intent on getting back the upper hand that they completely blind themselves to the chasm the country is pushed up against due to that that every increasing 14 trillion deficit.
I don’t believe that there is a single person in Washington who can actually access such a deficit and get their minds around it, even those fools in the Fed.
Trust me, when it comes, the implosion will be fast. Much, much faster than the banking implosion we are still trying to recover from.
Esd
@dee:
The “Women’s Movement” is just another scam that exposes the hypocrisy of the left. “Women’s Movement” signifies all women, right? Wrong, only if the woman is a committed liberal and explicitly toes the leftist cause. Housewives do not apply, conservative women do not apply. She must put career as the overriding factor in her life, marriage and children, notwithstanding.
In fact, sometimes I believe liberal women, at least those who aspire for high political office, have a family to lure those more moderate voters. Take Hillary Clinton for example, in fact, I actually sympathize with Bill for once.
Palin is a very intelligent woman. The problem with the left and the MSM is that she is a very intelligent conservative woman. I would really like to see a woman president, the woman would bring a different perspective to the office. I daresay that there are probably at least 100 conservative women, at present, whom could be put on a short list and are better qualified to run the office of POTUS than the present occupant. Palin is in the top five.
Esdraelon very explicite POST , and beleiveble as I share your concerns
thank you
I am thinking that our elected representatives in DC, and those nominated for cabinet positions by the President, need to study and take an exam on the U.S. Constitution and the Federalist Papers. Anything less than 100% on the exam and you have to study and retake.
Some of you know what the Federalist Papers are, some of you do not. For those who do not, the Federalist Papers are a collection of essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, so as to convince the states to adopt the newly written U.S. Constitution. The authors of the essays delve into phraseology and meaning within the Constitution, so as to make clear to the states just what it is the Constitution states, and what it means.
To many of our elected officials now believe that the Federal government has the right, and ability, to do most anything it pleases. And, too many of the electorate has no clue about the Constitution, mainly because of the lack of in-depth study of it, with too much time in American History classes being spent on recent history, even including the late Michael Jackson.
For those who haven’t read the Constitution recently, I recommend doing so. And for those who haven’t ever read the Federalist Papers, I recommend at least glancing over the essays, so as to get a better feel of the original intent and meaning within the Constitution. It is not, and never was meant to be, a “living document”, as our liberal friends like to believe. Compassion and Empathy play no part in understanding the Constitution, and neither should they in who we choose to sit in judgement with it.
Amen to that john galt. Old trooper told me to read the federalist papers several months ago and that was a good decision. Most of it was very hard to understand, especially john jay. However I became a better patriot for doing so. Also they were so insightful as to why they did all they did, if a person can read that and not believe in freedom, they are crazy.
Esdraelon I spoke with a business man recently who was talking about what happens when a country defaults on its payments. After his trip to argentina he has become quite vocal on the subject. Argentina also has enough resources to be doing pretty well, a guy would think. Scary stuff.
@johngalt:
Spot on, John!
Yes, the objective of the Federalist Papers was exactly as you delineate: educate the colonies on the Constitution and convince them that it was in their best interests to ratify it. The colonies were 13 distinctly separate entities at the time, usually through religious charter, but they were united in their suspicion of a centralized government. The very thought made their hackles rise.
Of course, that was way back in the distant past and, and our self-styled intellectual superiors inside the Beltway today believe that the Constitution is a totally outdated document and are pressing behind the scenes for a change. Time is on their side.
Hey, Zac, thanks for your input….
I’m not quite certain I follow what you are saying, but nevertheless, a 14 trillion default is not comparable to a two-bit welsh by a country still praying for the resurrection of Eva Peron.
Especially when a good part of the most recent US debt is owned by Communist China, whom will not take to kindly to a welsh.
It is totally beyond me that the United States of America, whom is supposed to be morally superior to anything communist was so desperate to cover some of our debt that they had to prostitute ourselves to Communist China. Well prostitutes do ONE thing, generally speaking, and trust me, we are going to be expected to perform.
Sorry, I did not make myself clear. Yes I agree. The debt owed to china is a bad one, japan is now the largest holder of US debt which although we are not at military war with them (anymore), they are commiting acts of financial war against us, also is not a wise debt in my opinion. Argentina is an example on a smaller scale (95 billion) of what happens when public debt gets out of control and an example of why we need to have people on all sides willing to fight entitlement spending, now….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_economic_crisis_(1999%E2%80%932002
After understanding that, 14 trillion in public debt is a perfectly good reason to get rid of “cowboy poetry” among other things.
James Raider, hi, YES, and I was thinking that the people should insist to have the one who write the speechs of OBAMA, come in front of the people himself to recite it, without the teleprompter,
if he dare to do it
@Ms. Bees
All it would really take is one honest debate, non-structured or moderated, without the use of teleprompters, and the whole country would finally see what an empty suit Obama really is.
I could think of a dozen conservatives right now I’d like to see Obama in a debate with, including Sarah Palin.
johngalt, hi, I think SARAH PALIN, use some magic, did anybody notice how many apples she come up with to put in the opponant’s mouth?,
@ johngalt,
One seriously entertaining hour of TV would be a debate including Trump. Trump has a massive ego to feed, but unlike Obama, he has a load of experience, and he took the banks to the cleaners, . . . you’ll recall his recovery from bankruptcy – “I’m the only one who can fix this mess, so you’re going to pay me a third of million a month to manage myself out from under these hundreds of millions of debt that I owe you.” While he may not be genius, he’s still smarter than Obama and would eat his lunch. It would also make good entertainment because Trump seems to be unable to NOT speak his mind.
@ bees #20
I feel that Obama has no interest in policy. I also feel that what’s coming out of his Administration (policy, claims, strategy, ideology, etc.) is the product of the puppet masters whose roots are deeply planted in the Chicago machine corruption – people like Jarrett and the rest of the inexperienced, community organizers who seem to have a general distaste for all things American. I also think they hate both Clintons but use them to their advantage. Such people cannot tolerate different opinions on anything.
As you know, a great Chief Executive surrounds himself or herself with people who are not afraid to disagree. Not only is it obvious that there is little intelligence inside the White House, it’s evident that it is full of sycophants currying favour with Jarrett. She’s the one that Obama has abdicated to, IMHO.
Yes, Esdraelon, thank you for your thoughts. I think those lies in Wash. you mention are mostly not criminally motivated but by and large an attempt to conceal inability to change the system. I have been enmeshed in this for too long now as I try not to give in to frustration and despair of ever seeing things leveled out again.
My observations:
1) Americans (for whatever reason) appointed an Affirmative Action President (nothing racial implied) and while the warmth and fuzziness was in full bloom, the Nobel Committie decided to award the first Affirmative Action Nobel Peace Prize to the same man.
2) The two parties we are blessed/cursed with seem to feel that total polarization is what will best serve the country (or is it to court segments of the population determined by polls) rather than taking a position that might not be popular with the people or that they might have to change later. Being part of a crowd is the best defense against predators. What would happen if we had a third party?
3) The news media has largely adopted this polarization (for similar reasons- ratings) and makes any objective understanding of politics a painful process
4) It does not seem to matter who runs against who– we almost always seem to get someone who can not accomplish anything positive. The last man who I saw do great positive (along with a whole bunch of bad) was Lyndon Johnson with the Civil Rights Act and its immense necessary changes. Unfortunately, like all government programs, this has swelled immensely over the years and spawned thousands of ugly little hybrids created by pandering fools that need to be stamped out (ideally the hybrids AND the fools) by men who don’t possess the necessary fortitude.
5) We are indeed in dire straits when people say that we are stuck with someone with no statesmanship skills but in the next breath mention The Donald as a viable candidate for president as seems typical in the conservative media today.
6) There is always a golden time in memory when things were “normal”. Did this time ever exist? I suspect more and more that we are just on a gentler feast and famine cycle than that found in nature and there will never be any “normalcy” that lasts very long.
7) I am now retired and have pretty well played out my string but the people I tremble for are those several generations down the line who may only know feeling good about being an American from some history book. Politics, economics, global warming– the swelling population of the earth and its demands on the planet trumps all of them and the need to eat in a world with enough food for only 98% of its people supersedes any morality or religious tolerance doctrine. Would you like to die for a chance at a limp, moldy carrot?
Dink Newcomb, HI, I think that you are trying to say many words to cover which side you want to excuse, THE AMERICANS DON’T NEED THAT DOUBLE TALK FROM EXPERTS ANYMORE,
they just need HOPE TO A BETTER AMERICA THAN WHAT YOU DESCRIBE,
BECAUSE AMERICA IS THE JEWEL OF THE WORLD AND DESERVE THE BEST IN GOVERNMENT,
NO MORE HALF GOOD LEGISTLATION, NOTHING BUT THE BEST, AND BY THE WAY,
THE DONALD TRUMP THINK THE SAME WAY AS HE CAN DELIVER THE BEST, LOOK AT
WHAT HE BUILT AND SEE WHO HE IS, AND HE DEMAND THE SAME FROM HIS CHOSEN GROUPS
@ Zac #19
One caveat to your thought on the debt – America’s debt is astronomical, however, it is in U.S. dollars. That makes an enormous difference.
Neither Bernanke, nor Geithner have a clue, as they’ve shown for a decade, but they aren’t the problem. Almost anyone you put into The Fed, would do what Bernanke is doing. He doesn’t know any better. None of them do, nor do any of those clowns have any capacity for creativity.
This Administration is mismanaging the relationship with China. Actually, it’s mismanaging most international relationships, IMHO, including the M.E., . . . but back to China. It is quite happy to hold a sizeable portion of the U.S. debt, since it is also the source of imported goods. It’s even buying up Canadian natural resource companies, who also supply U.S. companies with raw materials. China knows that The Fed has no choice but to continue the steady increase in dollars, and knows that American companies, just as we’ve seen from General Electric, will NOT suddenly ramp-up significant manufacturing of products again in America. That era is over, very likely not to return. China is confident it will continue to be the supplier of products for the foreseeable future.
A principal reason The Fed will not rapidly accelerate the printing presses is that the scenes we are witnessing on the streets of M.E. countries, would suddenly become repeated on Main Street America. The debt interest will nevertheless demand a continuation of the dollar’s declining value, unless Washington finds a leader who is prepared to reverse America’s growing government, spending and debt.
James Raider, the next leader must be very good to deal with CHINA,
very business oriented, and have a crew of experts in their field that he or her can trust to be in his back,
and require excellence always. because of AMERICA’S STANDARDS ARE THE GREATEST IN ALL SHE COMMAND.
Actually, I wasn’t trying to excuse anybody. I was just trying to channel my anger at ALL of them by being rational and civil. I don’t see anyone there (government) now or in the wings who inspires me with their competency.
Rather than excuses, I would rather you think of what I was trying to say by reading the old maxim, “Never attribute to malice what can easily be explained by stupidity.” Or maybe I should say, most of em don’t deserve jail, just a swift kick in the jewels and a bus ticket home for wasting our time and resources.
I will stand by my despair of Trump ever being more than a guy with huge cojones who gets some stuff done. And being involved with construction in the Northeast, I am sure he has had plenty of dealings with the mob just to get things built. While this might give him plenty of experience with dealing with guys like Gaddafi, I think he lacks the subtlety to run a country. Chutzpah and bullshit aren’t all he would need.
My sad, cynical forecast of the future was not about just America but the way I see the world going, ala “1984” or somewhat like in “Terminator”. A man named Malthus wrote (around the end of the 1700s) about the natural checks on world population
so its not my idea or a new one.
Thanks for your comment and I agree whole heartedly that we do deserve the best in government and I have NEVER not loved America but there sure have been parts of it I could do without.
Of course you’re right. Alan Greenspan admitted that he was winging it most of the time.
I had an amazing thought after watching Glen Beck talk about the Fed and how it is a private bank with little accountability to the US Government. Those unelected guys actually seem to have more power than the president when it comes to shaping our future, with the possible exception of a guy like Obama who seems to be trying to set a record for spending what we don’t have. By and large they have tremendous impact on whether you eat steak or mac-n-cheese out of a box for supper or whether you have the ability to decide between central air or box fans in August. We have to rely on the fact that they are capitalist mad dogs engaged in guarding their bank/money and it may well be more important than the patriotism/lack of patriotism of our leaders. Forgive me if this sounds idiotic but Gordon Gekko might have been right and greed might just be what will save this country and the world.
Dink Newcomb, DID I MISJUDGE YOUR COMMENT, I APPOLOGYSE FOR IT,
I agree that you came in with smood and rational words, into angry some like I am,
yes GEITNER AND BERNANKE are well received by the BILDERBERG GROUP,making them quite suspicious as to their ADHERENCE to the UN WORLD ORGANISATION, with their own law and CONSTITUTION , and ULTIMITE GOAL to topple the USA by taking over
AMERICA’S OWN CONSTITUTION,REPLACING IT BY THEIR OWN, with the help of their AGENTS
already in charge of strategic positions,.
so to say finaly that you are on our side, and , you have to stay with us to bring some more of your views that we can agree or challenge some,
as we are all on the same side but all diffrent with the same goal
and love for AMERICA
@Zac:
Getting along is what got us here. Both parties have decided that retaining power is easier if you do not upset anyone and pass along goodies. The democrats are masters of this, but the republicans appeared to be catching on fast. Now the republicans are under notice that getting along is not the answer we need because the democratic party is based on handouts for power. You have to say no more no how no way and keep saying it even it if shuts down the government for years.
Getting along with a confirmed drug addict who does not want to reform or change in any way, but only wants more drugs is not possible. As seen recently in a small attempt to stem the growing tide of issues on the state level over public employees out of control, the democrats and their thug unions get nasty and threaten lives if any of their drugs are touched. To solve our problem we need to cut off the entire drug supply taking it back about 50 years to when the problems started. You remember those times when public employees were not allowed to have unions until the democrats and unions formed their incest relationship for mutual benefit across the country. And yes, before the time of additional distortion of the constution bundling on medicare to social security started under the socialist FDR by another socialist LBJ. When did healthcare start down an unsustainable path…yes, medicare and medicaid. Looke at everything in 1960 versus today, 50 years later.
In 1960, there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government. Fast forward 51 years and here is the result of big government, started under LBJ on a federal level and with state and local government, largely under democrat control, now shows nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). So for the entire history of our country until 1960 we grew to 8.7 million people working for local, state, and federal government. Then, the democrats and unions opened the doors to unionization of public employees and it grows from that 8.7 million in 22.5 million in 50 years or about a 250% increase. And salaries and benefits for all these workers went through the roof including massive pension plans. Of course during that same period, the unions continually pumped more money to those who would negotiate the use of your tax dollars. Also during this time frame, many of the projects were limited only to union labor which in many cases gave us bids without competition.
But wait, It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?
Every state in America today except for two—Indiana and Wisconsin—has more government workers on the payroll than people manufacturing industrial goods. Consider California, which has the highest budget deficit in the history of the states. The not-so Golden State now has an incredible 2.4 million government employees—twice as many as people at work in manufacturing. New Jersey has just under two-and-a-half as many government employees as manufacturers. Florida’s ratio is more than 3 to 1. So is New York’s.
But wait you say, some of the states are not heavy in manufacturing. Iowa and Nebraska are farm states, for example. But in those states, there are at least five times more government workers than farmers. West Virginia is the mining capital of the world, yet it has at least three times more government workers than miners. New York is the financial capital of the world—at least for now. That sector employs roughly 670,000 New Yorkers. That’s less than half of the state’s 1.48 million government employees.
Don’t expect a reversal of this trend anytime soon. Besides the incestuous relationship between unions and the Democratic Party, surveys of college graduates are finding that more and more of our top minds want to work for the government. Why? Because in recent years only government agencies have been hiring, and because the offer of near lifetime security is highly valued in these times of economic turbulence. When 23-year-olds aren’t willing to take career risks, we have a real problem on our hands. Sadly, we could end up with a generation of Americans who want to work at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
And in every industry, there have been massive gains in productivity per employee be it manufacturing, mining, or farming. There is of course one major exception to this trend which is government workers. Consider a core function of state and local governments: schools. Over the period 1970-2005, school spending per pupil, adjusted for inflation, doubled, while standardized achievement test scores were flat. Over roughly that same time period, public-school employment doubled per student, according to a study by researchers at the University of Washington. That is what economists call negative productivity.
But education is an industry where we measure performance backwards: We gauge school performance not by outputs, but by inputs. If quality falls, we say we didn’t pay teachers enough or we need smaller class sizes or newer schools. If education had undergone the same productivity revolution that manufacturing has, we would have half as many educators, smaller school budgets, and higher graduation rates and test scores.
The same is true of almost all other government services. Mass transit spends more and more every year and yet a much smaller share of Americans use trains and buses today than in past decades. One way that private companies spur productivity is by firing underperforming employees and rewarding excellence. In government employment, tenure for teachers and near lifetime employment for other civil servants shields workers from this basic system of reward and punishment. It is a system that breeds mediocrity, which is what we’ve gotten.
Most reasonable steps to restrain public-sector employment costs are smothered by the unions. Study after study has shown that states and cities could shave 20% to 40% off the cost of many services—fire fighting, public transportation, garbage collection, administrative functions, even prison operations—through competitive contracting to private providers. But unions have blocked many of those efforts. Public employees maintain that they are underpaid relative to equally qualified private-sector workers, yet they are deathly afraid of competitive bidding for government services.
Barry Obama says we have to retool our economy to “win the future.” The only way to do that is to grow the economy that makes things, not the sector that takes things.
Thanks for the book you just wrote me Greta, when I have half an hour I will read it. Really. Because you sent me that I will start looking into becoming a partisan hack, figuring out methods to solve the current problems is just not as “gretifying” as throwing shit at everyone who disagrees me.
Hey James Raider I hear what your saying. I hear what your saying and I would add that, I just about had a hernia when I saw the president in those pictures with Hu Jinto, after that I could not figure out who I like less; the guy ripping the US off, or the guy enabling him. What really makes me uneasy is that the media acts like the international relationships are so great… I’m sure you know all of this but just to add to what your saying; Now Russia has the start treaty, and why is a good relationship one where russia dictates how many missiles we have, that needs to come to an end. South Korea who seems to forget that the US did not let the entire country fall to the soviets and on top of that we have a base in south korea that keeps Kim jong ill at bay, they screw the US in trade, that needs to stop. After liberating Kuwait and buying overpriced Oil from the arab league why is the pressure on for us to take on Gaddaffi? Mexico is a big concern already for Americans, why not a trade agreement that benefits the US because of all the out-go to mexico? Then on top of that the US give aid to some strange places, to say the least. It makes no sense. The guy in office must be on drugs, because his position on international relationships make as much sense as Charlie sheen.
I like judo and I know some Japanese people through being involved in judo and I have great respect for them, they have a saying “business is war” and the US could learn a lot from the Japanese, most of the US does not even know they are at war.
Greta–
Great post. Bravo! Don’t worry about Zac not reading it; He’s kind of busy right now. His mom told him he has to clean his room.
Look at that. I have more comments from the partisan hacks…
Zac, AS I told you before that you are very smart, and If you dont see me commenting on your comments, It’s because they are exceeding my limited knowledge,
bye
John COOPER , HI, EAT YOUR PEACHES BUT DONT LET THE BEES SEE YOU,
BYE
Bees I laugh at your comments all the time and I like John Cooper, I don’t want to argue with him about the subject but my mom never told me to clean my room… She told me to get off the computer.
Bees, I work for an oil company and have had to read a lot of english writing by french people. I hope I don’t offend you by asking but, are you french?
@ Zac, # 33
At the time Bush Sr. liberated Kuwait, I advocated making a deal with those two kingdoms for 50 years of cheap and exclusive oil. That deal would have taken ONE DAY to conclude. The meeting would have gone like this:
“Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, don’t bother to sit down. Here’s the deal. Saddam Hussein is already in Kuwait raping and pillaging, and looting businesses and banks, with no one able to stop him. In fact he’s scaring the crap out of every single body in the region, and has declared he’s going into Saudi Arabia next. You both Agree to 50 years of oil to U.S. refineries, at $28.00 a barrel. Simple decision, it’s a YES or a NO.”
If you recall the politics and fears in the region at the time, the approach would have produced immediate and long term results. No such arrangement was negotiated, and today we sit at $150+ per barrel which is enriching our enemies.
@ Greta #31
I might add that the States you correctly describe as being in trouble, unlike the federal government, don’t control the printing press of American dollars. They are therefore in very serious trouble.
At the root of their problems are the unions that were allowed to infiltrate the ranks of government employees.
Unions in corporate America, much like most Democrats, hate “senior management” and the Boards of Directors of the companies they believe they are at war with. In government, unions hate whom? . . . . The TAXPAYER. The taxpayers are the ones which the government & government employees report to and work for.
Zac, hi, yes a FRENCH CANADIAN QUEBECER, SINCE 1634, WHERE MY ROOTS CAME FROM FRANCE.
NOW did you say you laught on my very serious comments too?
No bees, ha ha. I would never laugh at things like you telling someone that he talks out his smelly hole. Ha ha.
@Greta:
Fantastic post, Greta! We need some AVERAGE people to run things for a change. People who, day in, day out, have to sit down, figure out the budget, and hope for a miracle to make ends met at the end of the month cause they ain’t got no printing presses.
Esd
James Raider I agree, those Oil sheiks are some sheik’ey bastards, you and I see pretty eye to eye. I am more than a little irked at the arab league giving the US advice about where to use allied military, where’s the media on that issue? Iraq could spare some oil as of now too and I think that’s another big issue we should solve immediately. The US just liberated another country from Saddam Hussein, I call that “fair”, will they pay us with some kind of a “fair” trade agreement? I would see to it we have $28 a barrel oil for a long long time.
@Zac:
Sorry you found the post too long for you. It was aimed not as much as you personnaly as to the comment you hear from some like the one you made “We should all get along enough to make a decision about the spending and that’s fact.” I tried to show why it is very difficult to solve budget issues be they local, state, or federal and the unholy ties that exist with the example of the democrats ties to labor unions ties to public sector workers which translate into those negotiating contracts paid by labor unions to give favorable results and using our tax money to do so and then being paid by the same unions to get elected. The net result of this incest was shown in the post very clearly and its impact not only on federal, but local and state budgets. Another factor is the moral viewpoint of the two parties. How we make life better for the poor on the Republican side is to create an enviornment where there are more jobs using less government regulations and lower taxes. The democrats believe that creating big government with higher taxes and more regulations is the path to the future. The have increased public sector jobs by 250% in the last 50 years alone since they got unions into the picture and huge donations from those unions. They have increased the total amount of regulations from 1960 to now by over 6000% as we now control almost every aspect of life in some fashion. The believe in huge government ponzi scheme programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid with ever more takers and ever fewer givers into the system. It is killing budgets but any attempt to make changes is met with the evil republicans taking food from some poor kid or killing grandma. When Bush tried to fix Fannie and Freddie on six seperate occasions, the democrats blocked it swearing that nothing was wrong with these programs. During this time, democratic appointed heads of those organizations were being paid millions of dollars. When it all blew up, they would not even acknowledge their role in the problem and are still in denial on Freddie and Franie.
So how do you get along with evil and lies and play nice. And the republicans who tried to act like democrats for votes expanding medicare and spending on schools did us no favors. What needs to be done is massively painful for some and everyone needs to spend a few minutes to try to understand or the country is lost.
Sorry Greta, I just assumed you were attacking my opinion that public debt is a public issue, which did not make much sense to me. Yes I agree the incest between labor and government needs to come to an end. I’m not partial to political parties but corruption is corruption and I think we are going to need leaders that are stubborn on unions, trade and are not worried about reputation. Ill take the time to recognize that. I’m not a citizen but will be able to vote in the next election (god willing!). More than that I think the conservative value of personal responsibility is one that means each of us need to make a personal contribution to the economy. Very important in my opinion.
@ Greta, #46
“When Bush tried to fix Fannie and Freddie on six seperate occasions, the democrats blocked it swearing that not
This is in my view at the heart of the real estate bubble. Democrats have been given a complete pass on this by the MSM, . . . complete. They enabled the abuse that ensued and created the climate that Wall Street dove into with fervour. Bush had no chance of reversing the trend when even the head of The Fed was too blind to see the coming disaster.
This has to be one of the biggest stupidities ever perpetrated on the taxpayer. Those who created it are still in charge in Congress, or in the Administration, and a couple have moved on to even bigger posts like Dodd.
Not one single individual in that motley crew of Democrats has even been reprimanded let alone charged with graft.
@ Greta,
To add to your research, you might find this worrisome Inflation Calculating Engine from MIT Sloan useful.
The Fed with help from this clueless Admin. is seriously lying to the taxpayer.
@James Raider:
when you see massive increase in the price of oil, you double the price of gas and it also impacts the cost of plastic and all goods moved by transport. We are going to see the other part of the Jimmy Carter economy this year with inflation through the roof. The misery index of unemployment and inlfation is going to be very high this year and probably next. Remember under Carter it topped 20 for the first time. It shows only a little over 11 now, but the inflation is coming. I believe it is already higher than being reported and so is unemployment. I do not think the way we measure unemployment is near accurate. http://www.miseryindex.us/customindexbyyear.asp Look at what Reagan did to this index in his term. Everything he did is easily duplicated if Republicans take charge of both houses and the presidency.
In my view, what the democrats have done over the decades in blocking drilling and exploration in this country is criminal. We could easily have gas prices below $2.00 right now and much lower unemployment. If you tie in the massive increases in public sector workers nationally and their associated costs, and even more importantly the fact that all these employees of government have no real productivity gains or positive impact, it is criminal. It would seem like the job of Republicans would be easy as they have so many things to point out on trends. Reagan was a master communicator and could bring undeniable truth to the forefront through a hostile media because he used humor with a strong bite that cut through the biased media directly to the people and he kept it simple and always on message.