Party Like It's 1992

Now I've pointed out some truly dismal numbers when discussing the crushing policies of the Obama regime with regard to the economy but this is by far the the worst:

The Great Recession wiped out nearly two decades of Americans’ wealth, according to government data released Monday, with middle-class families bearing the brunt of the decline. 

The Federal Reserve said the median net worth of families plunged by 39 percent in just three years, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. That puts Americans roughly on par with where they were in 1992.

Note that the large portion of the misery is currently being suffered through by the middle class who watched their true nest egg--the equity in their house--tumble. Thanks to your favorite Democrat and his or her (or in Barney Franks' case both) unwavering support of the social engineering experiment that is Fannie Mae.

Think about this, in 1992:

-George H.W. Bush yakked all over the Japanese premiere;
-The IRA were still bombing Britain;
-The LA riots destroyed a bunch of Korean and Black businesses;
-The Ruby Ridge fiasco stoked the ire of many antigovernment types;
-Hurricane Andrew whacked Florida;
-Some chick named shine head Sinead O'Connor ripped up a picture of the Pope on SNL;
-Nirvana's Nevermind was #1;
-Slick Willy was elected to the highest office in the land, which he promptly disgraced; and
-US forces landed in Somalia to assist in feeding the starving people of that African nation, who quickly repaid that favor by attacking us in the first bin-Laden attack against the US that left Delta and Ranger forces dead.

That's where we find ourselves now, living to a standard I enjoyed when I was 24 and a third class boatswains mate in the good old US Navy.

If I were Romney, I'd hit Obama over the head with this repeatedly and daily.

Spitting Venom

Things that are currently pissing me off:

-If you are driving in the fast lane and doing anywhere south of 80 mph, you are a pussy driver so get the hell out of my way. I commute 162 miles round rip and you're blocking my way home.

-Obama is about to go on the air nationwide and talk about how he was on the BP spill from day one and then use the occasion of the worst environmental disaster to call for strict environmental regulations for global warming. In the midst of a long recession made longer by him he's going to essentially levy a brutal tax on businesses and expand government farther into our lives thus extending the never-ending economic nightmare.

-Obama has destroyed our longest-standing alliance in less than two years. For the record Nobama, they've fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffered casualties and death right beside us and you've spit in their faces repeatedly. Can't wait until President Palin or President Christie can hit the reset button on that one and mend the fences. hell, most people would like to have President Bush back.

-I'm especially pissed that Obama wants to spend another $50-billion to bail out unions that public employee's belong to. For crying out loud, they didn't give any ground when times were good, why should we when times are bad? Governor Christie has them by the short hairs in New Jersey and they are cowering.

-I'm really friggin' pissed that Obama has decided that we need an agency to force "lifestyle behavior modification". How about modifying your lifestyle by playing less golf while the country suffers and modify your behavior when it comes to spending money that my kids kids will be forced to pay back. You may know how to spend my money but stay the hell out of my diet and every other part of my life government has no right to be in.

-And finally, I'm pissed that the Phillies can't hit worth a damn lately. They have the YankMee's tonight and hopefully with Halladay on the mound they can get some runs off Sabathia's fat ass.

So Much For Good Economic News; 85K Jobs Lost Last Month

The Obama administration has been talking "green shoots" and other such nonsense about the economy over the last few months with no real data to support the claim. We all want to get out of this economic swamp and Obama knows that in an election year the only thing that will save the House and Senate is some kind of economic turnaround so they caress even the most gloomy numbers to make them better. They talk of a 2nd stimulus when the first has driven us deeper into trouble and other such magic potions and elixirs that will be the magic that will bring us back to where we were four years ago.

None of it works and the employment numbers get bleaker and bleaker:

(Reuters) - U.S. employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, confounding expectations the labor market was finally stabilizing and piling pressure on President Barack Obama to spur job growth.

The jobless rate held steady at 10 percent, the Labor Department said on Friday, but it would have marched higher if a surprisingly large number of discouraged jobseekers had not left the labor force.

November payrolls were revised to show the economy actually added 4,000 jobs rather than losing 11,000, as initially reported, breaking a streak of 22 consecutive monthly losses. With revisions to October, however, the economy lost 1,000 more jobs than previously estimated over those two months.

Unemployment remains the Achilles heel of the economy's recovery from its worst recession in 70 years, with job creation critical to sustaining the recovery when government stimulus fades.

Note the word "unexpectedly" isn't used in this assessment but usually whenever the MSM writes about a new jobs report, those of us living in the real world where Barack Obama is not the Messiah generally expect it to be worse.

Anyway, the recession grow deeper and we haven't even seen the effects that will follow once states realize that the feds can't quite prop up their budgets anymore and the easiest way to cut obligations is to clear the payrolls. How bad will that be? Way worse than even I can dare to fear. Look at this chart taken from a Rockefeller report:

I ask you, where is the money going to come from? States are being starved for revenue, the federal government can't afford anymore debt and if they try to buy more, who will buy with the Chinese growing wary?

That leaves only a massive increase in taxes by the states such as bumping up sales taxes thus stunting purchasing and further hurting jobs and manufacturing. States have no options but to start shedding workers and it won't be blue collar jobs because of union pressure so it will be the middle class management-type positions flooding the job-seeking market with many people who haven't worked in the private sector previously and probably willing to take any job available subsequently driving down earning power. A truly vicious cycle.

But it gets worse. States will severely curtail funding for municipalities and that will drive up property taxes--generally included in ones mortgage--leading to a new round of foreclosures and more bank failures. Again, a vicious cycle.

It's not all bad news, however. If the public pressure keeps up with Tea Party gatherings and people contacting their congressman about every vote, we may be able to cut the administrations legs out on everything from health care to a second stimulus. Incumbents are scared to death right now as are liberal bastions and they know that if we don't stop spending, Democrats will be sent to exile so far out they will see Sarah Palin's house from their front porch.
So how do we make this better? We start by voting out every incumbent who voted yes on the stimulus and health care. We also demand that those we choose to support are those who will not vote for another entitlement, pledge to reduce deficits and will cut spending instead of increasing taxes. We must then pay attention and hold them accountable and not just while in the recession but when we come out of it and start prospering again. We must find men and women--from both parties--who support low taxes on business and individuals and make raising taxes a thing of the past.

This is the time for action and the repercussions can be like ripples expanding for a generation. We can make fiscal sanity the norm instead of a rarity.

The Folly of Big Government

In the last seven months, we've seen government expand at a rate greater than at any time in American history including WWII. We've added "czars" for capping spending limits on private business and czars for health care. Hell, we'll be seeing a "czar" to oversee all the other "czars" before too long.

We've seen a stimulus program tank when the proof is clear it wasn't ever needed and the country didn't even want. When a European nation leads the way on escaping recession by not spending money, one has to sit up and take note.

Anyway, we're now seeing a simple program designed by this administration to spur auto sales become so burdensome and expensive that those it was designed to assist may end up losing money and the government is forced to divert staffers from another, much more important agency, to help keep it running. Note, The One actually said that the Post Office was a great example of a government-run entity that was efficient and would be a model for how health care would be run:



So let's sum up, shall we? Obamacare is on the ropes because Americans like what we have and the costs would be incredible so they protest and are treated like vermin plus get dissed by their elected representatives. A nation known for a socialist bent spends no money and allows the markets to work themselves out is out of the recession while we are still deeply mired. And finally, we have a test program of small scale and little complexity that the government has turned into a quagmire due to incompetence and pure planning and they still expect us to support the largest, single program the nation has ever seen.

Matt Welch has the last word:

After 11 months of federal bailouts and freakouts, Americans have become bone tired of panicky power grabs from Washington. It's the big government, stupid.

The message of the various Tea Party protests, which predated this summer's ahistorical media panic over town hall "lynch mobs," has been pretty simple, says Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, the nonprofit that has helped organize the protests, told Reason magazine this spring. "It was: stop spending so much money, stop borrowing so much money, and stop bailing out people who were irresponsible."

The Nightmare Continues: Unemployment at 9.5%

It was a disastrous day for the economy; the nation lost 467,000 jobs in June and the signs going forward are not promising despite what the Obama administration says or the rosy picture they are trying to paint:

The payroll decline was more than forecast and followed a 322,000 drop in May, according to Labor Department figures released today in Washington. The jobless rate jumped to 9.5 percent, the highest since August 1983, from 9.4 percent.

Unemployment is projected to keep rising for the rest of the year just as the income boost from the stimulus package fades, undermining prospects for a sustained rebound in household purchases, analysts said. As companies from General Motors Corp. to Kimberly-Clark Corp. cut costs, the lack of jobs will restrain growth.

“This will be another jobless recovery,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We may get positive economic growth driven largely by federal spending, but people on the street will say, ‘Where are the jobs?’”

And that will translate to continuing lower approval numbers for The One.

This is a bad recession and one we will not easily find our way out of. When Bush faced the recession in 2000, he cut taxes and Americans continued to spend. That's not happening now as people are downright scared. Bush didn't use scare tactics but reassured us to spend away and we'll be okay. The promises that came with the stimulus bill as laid out by the administration have not come to fruition and probably won't for another 8-12 months.

It's a meltdown of the likes we haven't seen since the depression and he's following FDR's plan to the letter even though it made things worse.

Looking on the bright side since I'm an optimist; this should prove once and for all that spending never, ever gets a nation out of economic turmoil.

Wednesday Night News & Notes

A tumultuous day to say the least. Unfortunately, the tryst by Sanford will get all the ink while the crackdown in Iran will get inside the paper coverage.

Here's what else is going on:

-Shocka! The Saudi's have deep ties with terrorist's. And to think not only did Bush hold hands with their leader, Obama debased himself by bowing to him.

-House Democrats are looking to stick the next nail into the coffin of capitalism in the US by re-opening all trade pacts including NAFTA.

-The Aussies may help America again.

-Bawnie Fwank is trying to create a new housing bubble. The dude never learns.

-Predictable. Dem tax laws close plant in Tampa built a hundred years ago and force production out of the US. Another 500 jobs not saved and lost by the Obama administration.

Let's Put Liberal Tax Policies to the Test

In every recession and the great depression, liberals have always called for higher taxes on the rich. It's been shown that such policies always fail. This recession, however, is different than others. In the current economic climate, we are seeing the so-called "rich" losing money just like everyone else. The meltdown of the mortgage and financial industries has reduced the number who can be considered wealthy dramatically. The press has also been loathe to publish anything that would be contradictory to Obama policies so the debate hasn't even been started.

That's not stopping some states from instituting confiscatory taxes on the segment of the population that government considers wealthy. Those states are the usual suspects including my own state of New Jersey, which has suffered a devastating loss in high-paying jobs due to the previously mentioned economic meltdown since a good amount of executives on Wall St. call the Garden State home.

So let's do a study and see which states make out best. We'll compare New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois and California with states like Alaska, Texas and Florida that do not raise taxes and keep policy on the conservative side. Let's see who comes out ahead and who falters. I know the answer as mush as you but it's well past the time we jam in down liberals' throats once and for all.

The Wall Street Journal has a great piece on just what happens when liberal governors and legislatures raise taxes and the response of those who are targeted by the higher rates. It's well worth the time.