I can’t believe how the Dem. Strategist tried to say Obama’s plans are less intrusive than the original TARP plan. Obama has fired a CEO, banks have to ask to give bonuses, govt may soon own a majority ofcommon voting stock in major banks and GM. This is LESS intrusive? Wow. It’s hard to hit it all in a short TV seg.

Neither Obama, nor most of Congress has ever run a lemonade stand, let alone a real business. These are the guys who are going to save us?

I don’t think it’s so much Obama being too tough or too weak on Wall St. I think it’s him doing too much…and not enough. Here’s what I mean. 

• Obama has done too much: He has continued and expanded on what Bush did to get the government to bail out businesses that made horrible business decisions. This creates moral hazard and takes away many of the corrections in our free market system. We cannot have capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down. I’m against the bailouts, the wrong use of the TARP funds, government firing CEOs and forcing mergers, etc. The idea that banks are being told they cannot return the government’s money is ludicrous. Does anyone believe Obama and Congress should be running private businesses? Are they qualified to do this? Get the government out of business before it makes things much worse. 
• Obama hasn’t done enough: What Obama could do, without hurting the free market system is help increase the rewards for private capital to flow into our economy. He could call for making the Bush tax cuts permanent, cut the cap gains tax to zero for the next two years, cut the business tax from 35% to 20% and create two tax brackets in America - 10% and 25%. Then, get out of the way and watch the private investment roll in. 
• Obama and his team need to quit making it up as they go. Everyday it seems like they are coming up with a new plan. The instability spooks the markets.

GK

 I wish I’d had more time. I do understand people getting upset over their rates going up. However, you can opt to not accept the rate increase. That means you have to freeze your account and not charge anymore on that card. You can also pay off your cards each month and not pay any interest. You can switch cards.

We do need to look out for the unintended consequences. New, tighter rules are already set to take place in 2010. That’s one of the reasons they are cranking up your rates now. With credit card defaults at an all time high, they are making their credit tighter. Think maybe they learned the lesson of what happened to the banks when they loaned too much to too many people?

The White House press operation got off to a fumbling and stumbling start Thursday, with the day’s opening briefers insisting on being identified only as “senior administration officials,” followed swiftly by the new president’s spokesman accidently outing one of the secret aides less than two minutes into his first White House briefing.

The press is finally paying attention to the fact that Obama’s rhetoric doesn’t always match the facts. He made a big deal out of saying there would be no lobbyists in his administration in the number two guy defense was a big-time lobbyist. Whoops. Well, what he meant was if you work for him.  Now all you can be a lobbyist until he’s gone. Well whoop-dee-freakin’-do.

Hey, this is the type of hope and change I can get behind. Okay, not really change, but it shows that Obama might be serious about trying to keep us safe. Now we just need them to see some sense on Guantánamo Bay and enhanced interrogations.

This video only shows the happy talk. When they dared ask a question things turned.

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

“Ahh, see,” he said, “I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can’t end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I’m going to get grilled every time I come down here.”

Pressed further by the Politico reporter about his Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III, Obama turned more serious, putting his hand on the reporter’s shoulder and staring him in the eye.

“Alright, come on” he said, with obvious irritation in his voice. “We will be having a press conference at which time you can feel free to [ask] questions. Right now, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you guys - that’s all I was trying to do.” 

The president was quickly saved by a cameraman in the room who called out: “I’d like to say it one more time: ‘Mr. President.’ ”

Are news cameramen supposed to do that? Hmm. How long will the press allow Obama to control them? I know most of them voted for them. Many are afraid any real criticism of him will set them up for charges of racism. But they also have egos and don’t want to be seen as patsies. Right now they are going along with Obama giving them a list of which reporters he will call on during pressers. They put up with it and don’t even bother raising their hands or shouting out. Could you imagine if Bush had tried that? Wow.

How is it mean spirited to have a common language? If I move to China, I will learn Chinese. The city councilman pushing it is fluent in Japanese and married to a Japanese woman. Is he a bigot and mean spirited because he wants a common language and wants to make taxpayers don’t have to pay for translation services? There is even an exemption for health and safety purposes.

I don’t have a problem with her taking Obama’s blanket. I have a problem with her acting like there is no such thing as stealing now that we have a black president. Huh? Is that really what she meant? That sounds pretty racist to me. It’s a good thing Donna Brazil is black and has a D after her name or the media would be hounding her for that statement. The most offensive part of this for me is when Donna Brazil says we have an American president. She seems to be implying that this is a new thing. Hey, Donna, all 44 presidents have been American, whether you liked them or not.

Posted by MJ

Except the real St. Nick is you and I…

Posted by MJ

You can’t make this stuff up. It seems like no government anywhere can do anything right.

The prison authorities in Willich, near Duesseldorf, said the man, who was tall and broad-shouldered, had hidden in a box that was about 150cm by 120cm.

When the weekly express courier arrived to pick up several boxes of merchandise, the one containing the prisoner was also loaded into the back of the lorry.

Shortly after it had passed through the prison gates, the inmate made his dash for freedom by cutting a big hole in the tarpaulin of the lorry and jumping off.

A caller to my radio show said, “Obama is going to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans and only raise it on people making more than $250,000 a year. I don’t make $250,000 year, so it won’t hurt me. It will help me and it will be more fair.”

Right. Then a shaft of light will come down through the clouds and shine on THE ONE. We will have jobs for the jobless, homes for the homeless, the markets will rise, the oceans will fall, and we will begin healing the planet. Someone pass me a tissue.

It’s time for a reality check. Obama’s proposed tax increases and plans for our economy will hurt everyone, regardless of income level. They will stifle job creation, and they will most assuredly not be fair.

We tried raising taxes on the rich during a recession once and we ended up with the Great Depression. Hey, maybe this time it will work!

Ralph Reiland of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review interviewed a couple of plumbers who own their own companies. Both men stated the Obama tax increases would lead them to lay off employees. The average wage of their employees is $31,200 a year. Here is how the plumbers broke down the damage of the Obama plan:

Seven required sick days a year instead of the three they give now – one office worker fired.

Obama’s health care plan requiring 100 percent premiums paid by the employer or they face a tax penalty – three installers fired.

Increase in income taxes and Social Security taxes on their income as small-business owners – another installer fired.

That doesn’t even include how the disincentive to grow your business will affect how many new jobs are never created. How many people will decide it’s not worth it to take enormous risks and put in all the effort required to start and run a business when you’re going to be taxed this heavily when you finally succeed?

Raising taxes on capital gains and dividends will immediately devalue our stock markets even more than we’ve already seen and hurt people’s 401(k)s even more. About 50 million Americans currently own stocks. Most of them are not making $250,000 a year. Thanks, Obama.

Obama is very concerned about fairness. His supporters agree that “the rich” are not paying their fair share. Charlie Gibson of ABC News reminded Obama in a debate that every time we cut the capital gains tax rate we see an increase in tax revenues. Gibson then asked Obama, knowing this, why would you want to increase capital gains taxes? Obama’s response? Fairness. It seems Obama’s plan is that we all end up equally poor. I guess that’s fair.

The truth is “the rich” are already paying more than their fair share. According to the Treasury Department, in 2005 the richest 5 percent in America earned 36 percent of all the income and paid 60 percent of all the income taxes. The way I see it, “the rich” are already paying almost twice their fair share.

But 95 percent of Americans are going to get a tax cut, right? That’s a bit hard to do when only 40 percent of Americans currently pay income taxes. A lot of Obama’s tax cuts are really refundable tax credits. That means if you don’t pay income taxes, you still get a check in the mail. That also means that our government will be taking money from one group of people at the point of a gun and giving it to another group of people. If you don’t think it’s at the point of a gun, don’t pay your taxes and see how long it takes for the guys with the guns to show up at your door. What do you call that? Charity? Welfare? Oh, I know. Theft! Sorry, legalized theft.

Hey, we’ve always had a progressive tax code and it has always redistributed the wealth. But we have never had a president who articulated that the purpose of our tax code is to redistribute the wealth. That is certainly not what our Constitution says.

It’s interesting to see how Obama supporters react when their income is treated the way Obama wants to treat the income of the top 5 percent of America.

In Indianapolis, hundreds of people who were hired to canvass for Obama were not paid on time. Police had to be called in to handle the crowd demanding their money. One campaign worker yelled, “I want my money today! It’s my money. I want it right now!” I bet that gentleman would just love to have the government take more of his money to give to others who didn’t get the “opportunity” to work for Obama like he did.

This argument about taxes has taken quite a few turns. Joe Biden said the rich should pay more taxes to be patriotic. Obama said the Republicans have found new virtue in being selfish. There even seems to be some misunderstanding on compassion.

It is not compassionate and generous to give away other people’s money, yet that is what Obama and the Democrats want to do and what they want credit for. The American people are the most generous on the planet. They voluntarily give away billions every year. That’s true compassion.

I want to make everyone’s taxes low. I’m for a flat tax or a national sales tax. It would be fairer and more compassionate. Low taxes allow the economy to grow, more jobs to be created and for more wealth to be created for all.

That’s change you can believe in.