In a very public manner, President Obama has promised to cut the federal budget by $100 million. This is equivalent to asking someone that makes $60,000 a year to save only $6. But our president calls it “tightening the belt” and he thinks you’re dumb enough to fall for it.
It’s great that he is cutting the budget, but this $100 million is only about 0.0028% of the budget. Borrowing for February’s stimulus package alone will cost about $100 million a day for the next decade. Furthermore, much of the “savings” he demanded from his cabinet are already under way and are included in the calculation (and the budget).
If you look closer, the legitimacy of speculated savings is more than questionable. Will buying multi-purpose office equipment (such as a combined copier, printer, and fax all in a single unit) really save the Homeland Security Department $2 million a year? Also, an estimated $52 million will be saved buying office supplies in bulk. You mean it took our government decades to realize this is possible? Next Obama will be telling us that the public sector is more efficient than the private sector. Oh wait, he already did tell us that.
Multiple banks have tried to pay back their bailout money (with interest) but the Obama administration is refusing to accept it. Even banks that have reported profits since the bailout and have successfully restored investor confidence are being forced to sit on piles of borrowed cash. CNN also reports, “It’s likely the Treasury will not permit bankers to return taxpayer money for many more months.”
The reason for this is clear: the government wants to control these banks, just like they control GM and Chrysler. Why? Well for one thing, the Pay for Performance Act was just passed by the house. This legislation allows the government to dictate pay for anyone working for any company that accepted TARP money (in other words, it has nothing to do with performance).
If the government can fire the CEO of GM and mandate what comes off their production lines certainly they will take unprecedented authority over the banks as well. They will be able to regulate who can receive loans, ultimately determining which businesses in the US can stay open. Chairmen have already been threatened with “adverse” consequences if they persist in trying to pay the loans back.
While it’s disturbing that the government could have this much control, it’s even more disturbing who will now be running these banks… A man who couldn’t even figure out how to pay his taxes!
CNBC’s Rick Santelli said that Obama’s bailout plan is promoting “bad behavior” and correctly pointed out the American people do not support foreclosure bailouts. He even called for a “Chicago Tea Party,” since our elected officials clearly aren’t representing us.
CNBC did a poll and 90% of the 63,000 Americans surveyed said they agree: they don’t like Obama’s plan.
Politicians are not representing their constituents anymore; they are representing the lobbyists and special interest groups that keep them in power.
Even the high school students Obama visited this week realize his plan is a bad idea:
“The spending bill he just passed is just progressing the Democratic agenda rather than addressing the economic issues in the country.” said senior Maaike Albach.
“This puts us more into debt,” said Daudfar, 18. “It’s a horrible situation we’re in.”
“I think it’s cool he’s here,” said Miller, 18. “I just don’t believe all the things he’s telling us.”
During his campaign, Obama said he would run the most transparent government we’ve ever had. But the new stimulus bill is up for vote today, and the Republican congressmen still haven’t even seen it - let alone the general public!
The day after inauguration, our President said, “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency. Our commitment to openness means more than simply informing the American people about how decisions are made.”
Well at least we know how decisions are made… Congressmen will have only a few hours to read hundreds of pages of legislation before 9 AM!
What happened to the democrats’ promise that the new stimulus bill would be posted on the internet at least 48 hours prior to the vote? They flat out lied. Why are they are so afraid of letting the American people know what’s in this bill?
Furthermore, our President has been telling lies left and right to get this bill passed. According to Obama, the CEO of Caterpillar “said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off.”
But Jim Owens actually said the exact opposite! “I think realistically no. The reality is we’re going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again.”
Facebook staff has displayed an appalling lack of ethics this week.
An Ad from Facebook
It should be pretty obvious that the “Get Your Obama Check” ad campaign is a total scam. Basically you give them five bucks and they send you a pamphlet so that you can get a “$12,000 bailout.” Then after stealing your money they probably sell your email address to a spam advertising company.
Why is Facebook hosting a scam campaign? All ads are hand-picked by Facebook (I know because I’m applying to advertise another project), so why would they pick a company that wants to steal your money? Since Facebook has a vested interest in the success of the scam campaign to maintain their client base, Facebook is essentially trying to scam you. They’re trying to take advantage of people who believe in our President.
Mark deserves a swift kick in the nuts for this. Send the creator of Facebook a message to express your displeasure (he’s the one with no “add as friend” link). He already knows about this campaign because I’ve sent him multiple messages about it.
By the way, you won’t be getting a $12,000 bailout. Obama has consistently fought against putting tax cuts in the stimulus package. Likewise, he has fought against grants for small business to stimulate the economy. As a matter of fact, the only funding he has pushed will give the government (and himself) more power.
Over 70% of U.S. businesses have announced freezes on hiring and/or pay increases. My employer is included in this figure, which is frequently hailed as one of the most recession-resistant companies in the world.
And it looks like the freezes will be around for a while. In the words of ADP’s CEO, this will “likely continue [...] into 2010.” Why do businesses in the United States expect this economic crisis to last so long? Isn’t the government about to pass out an $800 billion stimulus package?
Well, the Congressional Budget Office says only 25% of the money will go out this year. Most of it won’t be spent until 2011 or 2012. How is this supposed to help the economy?
It won’t. An analysis by the Wall Street Journal indicates that only 12% of the stimulus package legislation could plausibly be considered an economic stimulus. No wonder CEO’s have said they won’t be hiring for awhile.
It sure is convenient for the politicians though, as their porkbarrel money will be spent right before elections. And if you still think your government cares about you, think about what will happen to the economy when we print $800 billion dollars and just put it into circulation as if it were mana from heaven. Over the next four years, we’ll see inflation skyrocket while we are stuck with stagnant wages. But we’ll save the economics lecture for another post.
As a side note, the stimulus package could fund all of the soup kitchens in America for about 15 years if we eliminated the wasteful spending. And considering the direction that our government is taking us, this would probably be a good investment.
In her conquest to nationalize every corporation in America, Nazi Pelosi is now pushing a massive bailout for General Motors.
Here’s a news flash: GM stock has been dropping for more than 10 years!
This company is not a victim of an economic crisis; GM is a failing enterprise that has proven it can’t compete with the market. Okay, so they had a huge loss this quarter. It’s not the first time. What about the $21 billion loss in first quarter 1992? What about the $10 billion loss in 2005? What about the $4.8 billion loss in forth quarter 2006? What about the $39 billion loss in the third quarter last year? Did the government consider buying them out then?
Let’s consider why GM consistently performs poorly in the market. A huge contributing factor is the outrageous healthcare and benefits package they offer to employees, which hikes up the price of their vehicles. GM is a company that spends more than $17 million on erectile-dysfunction drugs such as Viagra and Cialis every year. This is just a small part of their $5.8 billion dollar a year luxury healthcare plan. There are plenty of other reasons why GM is nose diving, but I’ll let you look into that on your own. This company doesn’t need a bailout… They need to get their act together!
But why is the government even considering this bailout when labor unions contracts have not been revised? There is no reason that American tax dollars should pay for Viagra. It’s pretty obvious that the union organizers just want to screw us.
