Thou Shalt Not Steal Unless You Think It’s A Good Idea

Hide your wallets.  The quirky old avowed socialist and atheist Bernie Sanders spoke at Liberty University last Monday proselytizing his “vision” for America that includes a spending plan requiring an estimated $15T for a government-run (single payer), universal healthcare system.  Billions more would be spent on infrastructure, Social Security expansion and free tuition at public schools—totaling $18T (matching our already obscene national debt).

Just seven years ago when The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer took office, total debt stood at $10.6 trillion, which means it now has increased by almost $8 trillion—roughly 70 percent—during his tenure as president.  Have we seen any results from the debt increase?  Why yes, yes we have.  His bundlers, like Solyndra, have been handsomely enriched. 

Getting back to Bernie, as he spoke to the Liberty students, he recalled Pope Francis’ remarks about the “idolatry of money” and the “need for financial reform along ethical lines…Money has to serve, not rule.”

Smitten by what he described as profound words from the Pontiff, Bernie went all biblical musing, “We are living in a nation and in a world, and the Bible speaks to this issue, in a nation and in a world which worships not love of brothers and sisters, not love of the poor and the sick, but worships the acquisition of money and great wealth.  I do not believe that is the country we should be living in.  Money and wealth should serve the people.  The people should not have to serve money and wealth.”

Sanders’ Policy Director, Warren Gunnels said, “The programs are so expensive because they would address an array of festering problems.  Sen. Sanders’ agenda does cost money.  If you look at the problems that are out there, it’s very reasonable.”

To pay for his plan, he will see to it that the government crushes you with stifling tax increases.  People who can afford to pay more will pay more, until they can't afford to pay more. People who pay less will see their world of services decrease until only basic services are available on demand. 

Hey Bernie, I’ve got a news flash for ya; conservatives give more money to charity than liberals.  Overall, the states in which people gave the highest percentage of their adjusted gross incomes were also states that voted for Romney, while states in which people gave the lowest percentage of their adjusted gross income went for Obama. The top 17 states for rate of giving all went for Romney.

The Ten Least Generous States in the U.S.

The Ten Most Generous States in the U.S.

According to a published report by The Washington Post, Bernie donated $8,350 to charity from the sale of a book whose contents were nothing more than a transcript of his nearly 9-hour filibuster on corporate greed and the decline of the middle class and an honorarium for an appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.  On his Vermont tax return, the ‘ol geezer donated a mind-numbing $150 divided between four causes:  at-risk children, endangered wildlife, military veterans and the environment.

U.S. Senators aren’t required to disclose their exact net worth, so the closest anyone can get to Bernie Sanders’ net worth is to dig through disclosure forms and do the math.

Figuring his lowest possible debt with his highest possible assets gives a net worth of as much as $769,002. Combining his average assets with average debts gives an average Bernie Sanders net worth of $528,014.

It was Margaret Thatcher who famously said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

“I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”—Thomas Sowell

For a comprehensive breakdown of Bernie Sanders' economic plan, ask a 5 year old how to distribute cookies

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) September 16, 2015

The Fierce Urgency Of Now

I foolishly believed that a government shutdown would never materialize.  Yes, I was naive.

I know many believe that the partial government shutdown proved that federal workers can disappear without being missed.  I would have to agree with you.  None of the furloughed workers in my agency were missed.  They were genuinely non-essential.

Now, we are learning that some federal workers applied for, and received, jobless benefits while they were furloughed.  Some of them will likely get paid twice for not working.  According to the Labor Department, several states are expected to allow these workers to keep both their jobless benefits and the back pay.  Must be nice.

Unlike those furloughed federal workers, I am considered “key and essential personnel and a first responder” and I was ordered to report for duty each and every day of the shutdown without being paid.

I am furious that the furloughed workers will receive back pay for what amounts to a paid vacation.  They didn’t work one day, one hour, one minute, one second during the shutdown.  I think it is an outrage.

For sixteen days, my bills continued to come in my mailbox with the expectation that they be paid in full and on time.

I have spent the last few years of my life working feverishly to become debt-free in preparation for my “golden years”.  With only nine months left before I can retire, my home is paid off and my car is eleven years old.

I pay for everything with cash, check or debit card. 

On October 9^th, a memorandum for distribution from the Chief Human Capital Officer was issued.

“On October 1, 2013, many federal agencies were partially shut down due to a lapse of appropriations.  As a result, many Department of _________________ employees were subject to furlough, which places them in a non-pay status until Congress passes an appropriation.  In addition, even these employees who are reporting to work to perform excepted functions will not receive pay until an appropriation is passed by Congress.” 

“Because these employees will not receive pay during the lapse in appropriations, some of our employees may have difficulty in timely meeting their financial obligations.  This lapse in appropriation is expected to be a temporary situation and one that is beyond our employees’ control.  We appreciate your organization’s understanding toward _________________ employees until this situation is resolved.” 

“Our employees will be returned to pay status as soon as possible,  We hope this letter helps explain the furlough process for our _________________ employees, and we extend our thanks for your patience and compassion towards our employees during this time when they may be negatively impacted by the lapse in appropriation.”

Seriously?  How many creditors do you think would respond compassionately to a bullshit letter like this? 

I didn’t apply for jobless benefits, I didn’t ask my friends to lend me money and I didn’t apply for a loan to sustain me during the shutdown.

Last Monday, on my day off, I decided to sell some of my silver coins and old gold jewelry in order to pay for the replacement of the evaporation leak detection pump that was causing an idiot light to remain illuminated on the dashboard.  That light would prevent my car from passing its safety inspection which is required in my state.

This year, my state requires that your vehicle property tax be paid simultaneously with your vehicle registration renewal—none of which can happen without passing the safety inspection first.

The week before, I was driving home from work when my power steering gave out.  Over the course of the last two weeks I’ve spent a little more that $600 to keep my car running so I can get back and forth to work.

I was planning on selling some of my cherished baseball memorabilia today had the shutdown continued.  I’ll hold those things in reserve if, on January 15, 2014, the spittle-laced barbs of the children of The Beltway return to their sickening antics.

Randy-g recently posted a comment saying he hoped “all is well…You are missed.”  I guess Randy noticed that it’s been two weeks since I last posted something and wanted me to know that he was a teeny bit concerned.

I’ve eaten more than my fill of bologna sammiches and PB&Js.  I’m sick of drinking just plain water.  I’ve cut corners in every way I know how.  I’m going to make it, but honestly, this has taken a toll on me.

I haven’t slept well because of the worry.  When I have slept, I’ve had nightmares.  All in all, I’m pretty lucky because the Good Lord provided a way for me to make it through all this.  I am thankful and humbled by His blessings.

One final thought…I despise this Congress whose indifference to how I and others may have suffered through their stupidity and whose only thought is to orate in sound bites suitable for consumption on television and I despise the mainstream media which ignores the decay of a free society.

I am reminded of the sagacious words of Cicero, one of Rome’s greatest orators:

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.” 

“For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men.” 

“He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. A traitor is the plague.”

One Love

The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer belonged to a “Choom Gang” and was a truly committed pothead.

So here’s my suggestion for solving the current government shutdown and the looming debt ceiling debate:  Let’s get Ray the Dealer to bring some quality buds to the West Wing.  Let TWMDCO fire up a doobie and I’ll bet he negotiates with the GOP.

Can’t you just picture it—Bob Marley playing on the Preezy of the United Steezy’s iPod, smoke rolling around his face, glazed-over eyes—good times. 

Cue the music—

Detroit: The Mirror Tells Its Tale

“If it weren't for the Chicagos and Detroits and Toledos, terrible things would spread out across the whole country and make trouble for everybody else. Such places are collectors of badness in the way hospitals are collectors of the sick and damaged.” ― Stephen Dobyns, Eating Naked: Stories

Consider this:  right now there are 78,000 abandoned homes in the city of Detroit, roughly 1/3 of its 140 square miles is derelict,  downtown is pocked with at least 60 abandoned buildings, some of which stand in the shadows of hotels and stadiums, nearly half of all Detroiters can’t read, much of the city’s population still consists of children living in poverty, the murder rate in Detroit is 11 times higher than that of New York City, police solve less than 10 percent of the crimes that are committed and crime has gotten so bad that even the police are telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk".

Detroit is so mired in debt and beholden to the mistakes of the past that it amounts to little more than a “daisy chain” of disaster.  The city, or rather it leaders, had been spending $100 million more than it took in with each budget.

The city, for 51 years (1962 to present) had a one-party government (Democrat) that grew fat, corrupt and incompetent. But year after year, even decade after decade, the voters kept re-electing the same crooked politicians.  Not even crash test dummies are that stupid.

A long-time mayor went to jail after The Detroit Free Press spent years piecing together his trail of corruption.

Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted of 24 federal crimes including racketeering, extortion and bribery.  He used the mayor’s office to enrich himself for years through shakedowns, kickbacks and bid-rigging schemes.

Another newspaper, The Detroit News, revealed how officials robbed city departments of funds so thoroughly that inspected fire hydrants routinely failed to produce water and police couldn’t answer 911 calls. In one terrible example, firefighters responding to an apartment fire had to watch pleading residents die, because the ladders on their trucks didn’t work. Yet the officials were re-elected and federal money poured in, only to disappear.

Below, is the list of mayors who created and/or managed the decay of Detroit.

Jerome Cavanagh 1962-1970

Roman Gribbs 1970-1974

Coleman Young 1974-1994

Dennis Archer 1994-2001

Kwame Kilpatrick 2002-2008

Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. 2008-2009

Dave Bing 2009-present

Former NBA star turned mayor, Dave Bing seemed to be aboveboard when elected in 2009, however the blight and corruption that is Detroit overtook his office. 

When the city fell under state oversight following Governor Snyder’s appointment of bankruptcy attorney Kevyn Orr as its emergency manager, he became the final say on all city financial matters.  That action was clearly the impetus for Bing to announce in May of this year that he would not seek reelection. He was angered that his executive team would not remain intact to move his initiatives forward.

Detroit is only just the beginning.  When the next major financial crisis strikes, we are going to see a wave of municipal bankruptcies unlike anything we have ever seen before.

Under the current administration, we have seen our federal government pile up $17 trillion dollars in debt and over $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

What’s past is prologue.  Was Ayn Rand prophetic?  Take a look at her fictional Starnesville from Atlas Shrugged.  It is Obamanomics taken to its fatal conclusion.  And as Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP for South East England warns, we should tremble.

And They Will Dwell In The Poor House For Generations To Come

Reblogged from Mark Helprin’s pithy “Psalm 23, Newly Revised According To Modern Principles”

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of debt, I fear no bankruptcy, for Obama is my shepherd. He prepareth a table of food stamps before me, and maketh me lie down beside waters He hath cleansed and seas He hath made recede, even though the bad Republicans wisheth the earth to be burnt unto a cinder, and will not buy the electric car that is good, for it hath zero emissions, and receiveth its power from a power plant, which hath not zero emissions, but the ways of the President are mysterious. 

He hath told the stubborn Israelites, evil builders of apartments, that they know not their own interests and He does, and know not what they do, when they fear the nuclear weapon of the Persians. The ways of the President are mysterious. He alloweth the Persians to get the nuclear weapon (unless He hath something up His sleeve), for He knoweth that when they behold Him they will stay their hand, and not burn the Israelites unto a cinder, as they pronounce. 

Yea, though Bernanke maketh funny money that will not compute, Obama prepareth a statistical table in front of the bad Republicans that showeth it will, if only they have faith. Fear not the Hellenes and the path they have trod. Though for sure we shall follow them, the President will be our sword, and our shield. His Hillary Rodham and his staff, they comfort us. 

Fear not the Chinois, whose power waxes as ours wanes, for someday thy children's children shall journey over the sea that Obama hath made recede, west of the land of Geffen and Famous Amos, to build railroads for Beijing. Then the Third World will have inherited the earth, and the strong will have been laid low, which is good, and which is also the Democratic platform. 

Verily, we should be like the meek of the earth, and follow the commands of the President, the Amalekites, the EPA, and the IRS, which taketh our money, which is good, for we know not what to do with it. And Obama does, for you did not buildeth that. Once, we were slaves in the land of Reagan (and if you attributeth the "Reagan" deficits to increased military spending and lowered tax rates, tryeth accounting for the changes in military expenditure and tax revenues in the Reagan years, for, lo, when combined they yieldeth a surplus). Then, we were sinners, in spending our own money for what we thought was our own good. But now we are free, for the President spendeth it for us, and He maketh miracles, for, lo, He roasteth invisible chickens, and, lo, He spendeth money that existeth not, that Bernanke printeth. And, lo, it buys us stuff, for now. 

Yea, though I accumulate debt higher than the mountains of Gilboa, and the deadbeats skip like rams, I shall not want, for Bernanke maketh funny money, and the President smiles upon the land, but not upon the bad Republicans. For they wisheth to live within their means, which surely must be evil. And what would you expect from people who are suspicious of Social Security? And wisheth to burn the earth unto a cinder. 

But arithmetic notwithstanding, I will dwell in the house of Obama all the days of my life. (Why not four terms, and what about Michelle? For the Constitution liveth.) And, the earth having been purified, surely it will be good when—and where do I apply for—government assistance will be the only thing left.

Captain Queeg And His Hallelujah Chorus

Can we take a moment to pull back the curtain?

Today is the day when the trigger is pulled for sequestration. On February 19^th our perfumed potentate stood in front of first responders to inform the nation that across-the-board cuts would be calamitous if sequestration takes effect.

Since then, he has backed off the Armageddon rhetoric and reclassified the sequester as “not a cliff, but a tumble downward.”

Beginning with his February 19^th gloom and doom speech we heard how deep “spending cuts” would affect programs in every state only to have his ploy to scare the hell out of every American roundly criticized on the Left and Right.

Once the Republicans began reminding us that sequestration was the president’s “solution” for budget cuts, the West Wing vehemently denied that fact.  Enter a voice from the past:  the man who took down a president.

Bob Woodward wrote:

“The finger-pointing began during the third presidential debate on Oct. 22, when President Barack Obama blamed Congress. ‘The sequester is not something that I've proposed," Obama said. "It is something that Congress has proposed.’" 

“The White House chief of staff at the time, Jack Lew, who had been budget director during the negotiations that set up the sequester in 2011, backed up the president two days later.” 

"’There was an insistence on the part of Republicans in Congress for there to be some automatic trigger,’ Lew said while campaigning in Florida. It ‘was very much rooted in the Republican congressional insistence that there be an automatic measure.’" 

“The president and Lew had this wrong. My extensive reporting for my book ‘The Price of Politics’ shows the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors—probably the foremost experts on budget issues in the senior ranks of the federal government.” 

“Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011, according to interviews with two senior White House aides who were directly involved.” 

“Nabors has told others that they checked with the president before going to see Reid. A mandatory sequester was the only action-forcing mechanism they could devise. Nabors has said, ‘We didn't actually think it would be that hard to convince them’—Reid and the Republicans—to adopt the sequester. ‘It really was the only thing we had. There was not a lot of other options left on the table.’"

Then he asserted the unthinkable and unforgivable when he wrote, “So when the president asks that a substitute for the sequester include not just spending cuts but also new revenue, he is moving the goal posts. His call for a balanced approach is reasonable, and he makes a strong case that those in the top income brackets could and should pay more. But that was not the deal he made.” [Emphasis mine]

Uh oh.  You can’t say that.  You can’t correct President Panic.  Bad. Very. Bad.

Now the White House is trying to destroy the Pulitzer Prize winning author.  The West Wing is in panic mode worried sick that Woodward’s charge “that the emperor has no clothes” may encourage others to finally begin to do the same.

Jonathan Tobin succinctly surmises:

“The rules may be different for Barack Obama, and there’s good reason to believe his charmed existence—in which he is never held accountable for any disaster or lie—may continue. But eventually even he may find himself subject to the laws of political gravity. It could be that by blithely assuming that the public will always back him against the Republicans, he is setting himself—and the country—up for a great fall as we head back to the brink on the budget.”

When the White House is attempting to discredit Bob Woodward, again, it's not a good day for them, huh?
— Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) February 23, 2013

Watching Woodward last 2 days is like imagining my idol Mike Schmidt facing live pitching again. Perfection gained once is rarely repeated.
— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) February 28, 2013

On January 19, 2013, Australian author Hal G. P. Colebatch wrote “His Queeg Moment” about our president.  I believe after re-reading it that is it an accurate metaphor.

In Herman Wouk’s classic World War II novel, The Caine Mutiny, there is a moment when a group of the ship’s officers are getting away from the increasingly eccentric Captain Queeq by relaxing ashore.

Colebatch hypothesizes:

“In fact Queeg is not insane, at least not at that time. He is simply grappling, more and more disastrously, with a job too big for him. Come the crisis of a typhoon, he becomes paralyzed and nearly sinks the ship by failing to give the obvious orders. At the subsequent court-martial he appears quite normal until he breaks down under the pressure of cross-examination. Before this, the officers have searched the regulations for guidance, but the regulations refer only to a captain who is clearly and unmistakably insane, not one who is merely guilty of eccentricity and bad judgment. At a lower level of responsibility, Queeg might have performed adequately, but with Keefer’s question, the remaining respect for Queeg’s office has gone.” 

“Obama’s second inauguration speech may be his Queeg moment—an undeniable demonstration that, in an emergency, he is incapable of grappling with reality. For all his unceasing invocation of the word “change,” the outstanding thing about Obama has been his apparent inability to react, even to an imminent crisis.” 

[SNIP] 

“Faced with the worst looming fiscal cliff-fall in world history Obama, like Queeg in the typhoon, has done nothing at all, but has, increasingly, resorted to meaningless words. His pseudo-Keynesian fiscal notions and a mantra-like repetition of old and failed ideas, suggest a serious lack of mental versatility.” 

[SNIP] 

“The dancing is still there, the golf, the celebs, the multi-million dollar holidays, but behind them it is possible to detect a desperate emptiness, a interconnected mosaic of failure.”

It is important to point out that the Navy initially objected to The Caine Mutiny’s depiction of a mentally unbalanced man as the captain of one of its ships and the word "mutiny" in the film's title.  The epigraph which followed the opening credits informed the audience, "There has never been a mutiny in a ship of the United States Navy. The truths of this film lie not in its incidents, but in the way a few men meet the crisis of their lives."

So as America struggles to meet the crisis of its existence, created by a newer version of Captain Queeg, the mainstream media allows his disingenuous arguments to go unchallenged and chooses instead to devour Bob Woodward.

Bob Woodward must be a raaaaacist. 

See also:  Hail Armageddon

Follow Me: We Can Be Like Greece

“If we’re going to be serious about deficit reduction and debt reduction, then it’s going to have to be a matter of shared sacrifice—at least as long as I’m president. And I’m going to be president for the next four years…”

While appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Home Depot Founder Ken Langone gave his dire prediction:

"…we don't know when the storm is going to hit.  It has to happen. If you look at our debt to GDP, eventually you reach a point where there's no turning back."

He used an analogy to make his point. "If you had one meal left, and you had your grandchild with you, would you eat it or give it to your grandchild?"

He said all people would say "give it to my grandchild."

But pursuing the president's vision, he argued, "[Is] eating the grandchildren's breakfast, lunch and dinner right now. And the [grandchildren] haven't been born yet."

Photoshop™ Of The Day: The Crisismonger-In-Chief

As the “Whores Of Babble On” celebrate themselves with the usual back-slapping and lavish party to present a few gilded eunuch statuettes to their most favored members, viewers of the 85th Academy Awards will be subjected to names being read from a series of dramatically opened envelopes during a long-winded 4-hour marathon designed to rid the glitterati of their ego-poverty.

It’s much ado about nothing, of course, but let’s not forget that Democratic activists in Hollywood are solidly behind ‘Ol Jug Ears having given at least $30 million to his 2012 campaign.

Its sequestration now, sequestration tomorrow, sequestration forever and the current occupant of the Oval Office deserves to win an Oscar for Worst Actor In A Miniseries.

Americans Are Starved For Leadership

The video of Dr. Benjamin Carson speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast has, as of this posting, garnered 2,031,215 views on YouTube™.

Dr. Carson’s speech reduced to ashes the policies of the current administration.  Not one word was uttered that was critical of this president, but persuasively centered on individual responsibility, the corollary effects of moral decay, an exploded national debt, the destructive effects of political correctness and class warfare.

As you watch the 27-minute video, it becomes obvious to the viewer that it was infuriating for our perfumed potentate to have his policies contested by a black man of such incomparable character and overwhelming accomplishments.

Dr. Carson believes that doctors who have "learned how to make decisions based on facts, empirical data, rather than on ideology should be involved more in politics.”

That speech created a firestorm on the Left.  Flyover country fell in love with him and many are calling on him to run for president.  Asked if he would consider running, Carson said he’d run only "if God grabs me by the collar and sticks me in that arena."

"I have so many emails from people saying that, I could probably finance my campaign if each one gave me a nickel."

Jack Kelly, a columnist for The Pittsburg Post-Gazette wrote, “Dr. Carson has never held public office—a yellow light, if not a red flag, for many. But you can learn what a president needs to know without holding office, and we've ample evidence that holding office is no guarantee you ever will.”

The juxtaposition of a famed pediatric neurosurgeon on the dais at the National Prayer Breakfast standing just feet away from the community-organizer-turned-emperor-with-no-clothes vividly declares that Dr. Carson is everything Obama is not.  This phenomenon strongly suggests that Americans are starved for leadership.

Just imagine, as I have in the Photoshop™ I created for this post that Dr. Carson would run.

The strong reaction to Carson’s speech tells us a lot about how abysmal this regime has been and will continue to be over the next four years.  The Left sees Carson as the GOP’s “Great Black Hope.”

The 2008 Presidential Medal of Freedom winner is a threat to the destructive ideology of progressives and as one crackpot blogger wrote, “The problem of course is that the Republicans are not really looking for a black candidate; they’re looking for a shill for bad policies. They’re looking for a puppet that will stand at the podium with a Koch brother hand up his ass. So on goes the search for someone to stand up there and look black (Herman Cain) or brown (Mario Rubio) but espouse the policies of old, white men.”

Mark my words, liberals will attempt to muzzle Dr. Carson, but he appears to be prepared to be “Palinized”.

“There are a group of people who would like to silence everybody and have everyone go along to get along,” Dr. Carson said, “but that’s not going to be very helpful for us in the long run in terms of solving our problems, and someone has to be courageous enough to actually stand up to the bullies.”

Does This Obama Lapdog Have Alzheimers?

Washington (CNN) —Less than two weeks after one of the nation's deadliest school shootings, the No.2 Democrat in the U.S. House, Steny Hoyer, compared Republican tactics for dealing with the nation's debt limit to someone threatening to shoot a child hostage. 

"It's somewhat like taking your child hostage and saying to somebody else, 'I'm going to shoot my child if you don't do what I want done.' You don't want to shoot your child. There's no Republican leader that wants to default on our debt that I’ve talked to" Hoyer said at a Capitol Hill press conference.

Obviously, the image associated with this post is a Photoshop™ of the profoundly foolish 73-year-old addlebrain bonehead dimwit pinhead cretin who’s been representing the Great State of Maryland for 31 years.  Hoyer provides the perfect argument for term limits and regular tests for signs of the onset of Alzheimers and, perhaps, an IQ test. Never take your eyes off the mumbling, bumbling bum.

I’m certain the parents in Newtown find Hoyer’s comments revolting.  I know I do.

Here’s A Pen, Sign Your Surrender

I loved that line so much; I pinched it from John Gordon Steele’s piece at Commentary Magazine for the title of this post.

Steele concludes his post with this pearl of wisdom: 

“Obama’s utter disdain for any ideas but his own is going to be the ruin of this president and that ruin might not be that long in coming. Too bad it is the country, along with his place in history, that has to suffer for his hubris.”

Obama’s budget plan is “mainly tax hikes,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters today in Washington. “We’ve got some serious differences,” he said. During a phone call yesterday, Boehner said, he and the president were “frank” about “how far apart we are.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), said Obama’s focus on higher tax rates for top earners has made a deal tough to reach.  “The president and his allies have taken so many things off the table the only thing left is varnish,” McConnell said.

When I conceived this Photoshop™, I considered Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol because he loved money more than life itself.  Obama loves money; your money—my money—our children’s’ and our grandchildren’s money.

The second character in the ‘shop is of the bitter, grouchy, cave-dwelling Grinch who had a heart two sizes too small.  He’s there because Obama “seems to think that if all he talks about are taxes, and that’s all reporters write about, somehow the rest of us will magically forget that government spending is completely out of control.”

The third character, Uncle Sam wearing handcuffs, represents a helpless country unable to fend off the significant negative economic, employment, and social consequences of going over the fiscal cliff—the effects of which, in many cases, would mean long-lasting if not permanent damage.

And finally, the errand boy sent by grocery clerks himself, laughing his ass off as he warns Republicans against using the debt ceiling as a bludgeon in this debt battle.  In the spring, when the Chicago Messiah seeks to raise the debt ceiling, we can only hope they refuse to pay him any attention.

Bring Me The Head Of Bill Kristol

In a tersely worded blog post, BigFurHat wrote, “Hey Kristol, this is not a TAXATION PROBLEM, you goddamn moron. And to allow the left to frame the debate as if this is the problem means that you need to go away now. We need people on The Tee Vee that know how to properly converse AT, not WITH, the left.”

His fiery post was prompted by Bill Kristol’s comments on Fox News Sunday’s panel discussion in which he predicted that “Republicans will have to give in much more than they think” because of President Barack Obama’s overwhelming electoral defeat of Mitt Romney.

The comment which has drawn fire across the dextrosphere was, “The leadership in the Republican Party and the leadership in the conservative movement have to pull back, let people float new ideas. Let’s have a serious debate. Don’t scream and yell when one person says, ‘You know what? It won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires.’ It really won’t, I don’t think.”

“I really don’t understand why Republicans don’t take Obama’s offer to freeze taxes for everyone below $250,000—make it $500,000, make it a million. Really? The Republican Party is going to fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires, half of whom voted Democratic and half of them live in Hollywood?” Kristol insisted.

To dissect his logic one needs to refer to the exit polls on Election Day.  Question:  Should income tax rates increase for all?  52% Obama, 44% Romney; increase only on income over $250,000—70% Obama, 29% Romney; not increase for anyone—23% Obama, 75% Romney (Sample:  5179 respondents).

Then we need to check the veracity of his assertion that half of the millionaires voted Democratic and half live in Hollywood.  According to Roll Call, here are but a few millionaire Democrats:  John Kerry (D-MA) worth $193M, Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) worth $81M, Mark Warner (D-VA) worth $76M, Jared Polis (D-CO) worth $66M, Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) worth $55M, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) worth $53M, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) worth $46M and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) worth $35M.

Some of the more notable titans of business who donated to our re-elected emperor, according to Forbes, include:  Microsoft’s Bill Gates at $61B, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett at $44B, Oracle’s Larry Ellison at $36B, NYC Mayor Nanny Bloomberg at $22B, Obama Puppetmaster George Soros at $20B and Facebook mogul Mark Zuckerberg at $17B.

We would be remiss if we didn’t include the richest African-American actors like Samuel L. Jackson with a healthy $150M,  Morgan Freeman worth $90M, Chris Rock worth $70M, and James Earl Jones with a tidy sum of $45M.

How about those Hollywood types who always presuppose to tell the great unwashed how we should think?  Glad you asked.

Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have a combined net worth of $100M, the nubile Roseanne Barr worth $80M, Alec Baldwin worth $65M and let’s be sure to include in our list Steven Spielberg whose net worth is $80M and Angelina Jolie is worth $23M.

And last, but not least, One-Percenter and corpulent movie-maker Michael Moore has $50M in the bank.

At first blush, it would be magnificent payback to the loudmouths with all the loot to feel the pain of higher taxes.  Admit it, it would.  But it wouldn’t stop there.  This regime is hell-bent to continue spending money like its water.  Without cutbacks on spending, raising revenue from taxing “the rich” won’t even put a dent in our national debt.  Moreover, once the Republicans agree to “reach across the aisle” they will undoubtedly become accomplices in the fiscal calamity.  They must avoid the “poisoned pawn” gambit.

In effect, Kristol is calling for Republicans to take the offered chess piece creating what could easily become a fatal mistake and thus, I say, bring me the head of Bill Kristol.

Democrats: Big Bird In Danger, Propose New Big Bird Food Stamps Program

During Wednesday’s first presidential debate, Mitt Romney said, “We shouldn't borrow from China to pay for Big Bird.”

When asked by moderator Jim Lehrer what non-essential items he would trim from the federal budget, Romney said, "I'm sorry Jim. I'm gonna stop the subsidy to PBS. I'm gonna stop other things. I like PBS, I like Big Bird, I actually like you too."

Like some giant pillow fight erupting in the Twittersphere, there were plenty of ruffled feathers flying over Romney's remark that he would cut public funding for the Public Broadcasting Service—and effectively rob Big Bird of his taxpayer-subsidized nest egg.

Ari Fleischer, W’s former White House Press Secretary, offered the perfect comedic tweet: “Democrats, Saying Big Bird In Danger, Propose New Bird Food Stamps Program. Pelosi Calls it Biggest Bang for the Beak.”

I’d like to thank Mr. Fleischer for his wit which inspired the Photoshop™ associated with this post.

The U.S. Economy Shuts Down In 2027? Had You Heard About That?

Graph used in embedded video below.

Now we will. If the American people vote for the no-plan team, they can’t say they weren’t warned.

Transcript from video:

Congressman Paul Ryan: Let's show Slide 8. I know you didn't necessarily want to see this chart. The red is the status quo, that's the baseline we're on. 

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: You could have taken it to 3,000 or 4,000...

Congressman Paul Ryan: Yeah, right. We cut it off at the end of the century because the economy, according to the CBO, shuts down in 2027 on this path.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: I like this chart; I looked at this chart yesterday. You're talking about I think more than half a century. But if you look at the gap between us—

Congressman Paul Ryan:  I understand the gap.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: —between 10 and 20, it's a pretty small gap. In that gap though—that 10 to 20 gap, which is all we're debating today—is a gap where you’re achieving that slightly diminished path.

Congressman Paul Ryan: Here's the point, if you'll allow me. This is your time, so we'll just take a long time. Here's the point. Leaders are supposed to fix problems. We have a $99.4 trillion unfunded liability. Our government is making promises to Americans that it has no way of accounting for. And so you're saying yeah, we're stabilizing it but we're not fixing it in the long run. That means we're just going to keep lying to people. We're going to keep all these empty promises going.

So what we're saying is, in order to avert a debt crisis—you're the Treasury Secretary, of all people—if we can't make good on our bonds in the future, who is going to invest in our country? We do not want to have a debt crisis. It comes down to confidence in trajectory. Do we have confidence that we're going to get our fiscal situation under control and prevent the debt from getting to these catastrophic levels?

If we go back to the preceding chart, Chart 13, you're showing that you have no plan to get this debt under control. You're saying we'll stabilize it but then it's going to shoot back up. So my argument is, that's Europe. That is bringing is toward a European debt crisis because we're showing the world, the credit market's future seniors—people who are organizing their lives around the promises that are being made to them today—that we don’t have a plan to make good on this.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: Mr. Chairman, as I said, we're not disagreeing in that sense. I made it absolutely clear that what our budget does is get our deficit down to a sustainable path over the budget window.

Congressman Paul Ryan:  And then it takes off.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner:  Let’s ask ourselves why they take off again.  Why do they do that?

Congressman Paul Ryan: Because we have 10,000 people retiring everyday and healthcare costs going up.