President Perry
Filed under: Elections, National Party Politics, Presidential Watch, Social Commentary, U.S. Economics
In spite of the left’s visceral dislike for Texas governor Rick Perry he will be nominated as the Republican candidate to run against President Obama and he will beat him.
Throughout last week and culminating on this Sunday morning’s TV talk shows the liberal press attacked Rick Perry for saying things such as, social security is a Ponzi scheme, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should be tried for treason and horror of horrors President Obama is a Socialist. The term “treason” is a word of Constitutional art and I can forgive Rick Perry for that having the advantage of not being lawyer. I do however appreciate his anger at Secretary Geithner for wantonly printing money. That being said however numerous and well respected economists have argued that the way our politicians have been administering Social Security has resulted in it becoming a Ponzi scheme. And as for President Obama being a socialist adherent, that criticism seems to be something that Barack Obama himself has invited based on the many socialist organizations to which he belonged or of which he has supported long before he became president. Moreover, signing into law statutes that adhere to the socialist Keynesian principles such as the nearly 1 trillion dollars in stimulus, Obama Care, the Dodd-Frank regulatory nightmare and championing one of Secretary Geithner’s major socialist stratagems, namely printing money, a lot of people in this country, besides Rick Perry, have called President Obama a Socialist. Rick Perry brings to the table the debate we should have had in the 1930’s: Whether this country should be a Socialist country or a Capitalist country. And that’s a debate the left does not want the American people to decide.
Reality Check
Filed under: National Party Politics, Presidential Watch, Social Commentary, U.S. Economics
For the first time in decades, observing our politicians in Washington dealing with the recent raising of the debt ceiling, Americans received a solid dose of reality. And you know what, they kind of like it.
Americans, unlike Europeans, don’t hide themselves under the covers when faced with a crisis. The problem is our politicians have no faith in the American people and do everything they can to keep them from the truth. The debt ceiling crisis has become a corker and with the introduction of the Tea Party caucus in the House of Representatives there was little our politicians could do, Democrats or Republicans, to keep this one under the hood.
With a 9.2% unemployment rate, a new health care plan passed by Congress and signed by the President which represents 16% of our GDP and now a debt ceiling that has to be lifted by 2.5 trillion dollars to pay America’s ongoing bills, 40% of which is interest on our loans, Americans are stinking mad.
The media tried to make raising the debt ceiling into high drama. But Congress knew from the very beginning that there was little choice in getting the debt ceiling lifted otherwise they wouldn’t be re-elected in 2012. Becoming one of the unemployed at this particular time is certainly enough to focus a congressman’s mind. America is through the woods for the moment. But the next big truth is going to be that the only way we are going to reduce spending is tackling that big bugaboo, entitlements, you know, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And that’s what the 2012 election for president and Congress is going to be about. And those politicians better be telling the truth because Americans are waiting for them with pitch forks and tar and feather down the road.
The Liberal Tactic
Recently I’ve noticed a new tactic among my liberal friends. When faced with an unalterable terrible truth about a government entitlement or some economy killing social program, they just deny it.
I moved my office to the Berkshires in Massachusetts for the summer and so I now have many opportunities to socialize with numerous liberals with whom I have been friends for quite a number of years. As now instructed by my bride of 42 years however I avoid at all costs discussions political since they usually lead to angry confrontations and lots of frustration, at least on my part. So we sit and talk about all sorts of innocuous things: Where to buy the best telephones, what shrubbery to plant and in what type of soil, what is the current cost of gas and as always where to go for a good steak or salmon. Most of my friends are receiving Social Security so while discoursing about these matters mundane I innocently mentioned the fact that the Social Security program is insolvent and will probably become broke in less than 10 years. “Nonsense” said my friend, “Social Security is as solid as a rock.” “But there is no money in the till since the government has been borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund with IOU’s and using the money to pay our general obligations!” “Nonsense”, said my friend. “When Social Security started in the 1930’s we had 30 workers paying for one worker. Now we have only 4 workers paying for one and within the next 20 years we’ll be down to 1 worker paying for one worker!! “Nonsense” said my friend. As I was turning a beat red and ready for an assault on the Normandy beaches my wife just happened to look over at me and saw the imminent tsunami. “So how’s your golf game doing” I said to my unrepentant liberal friend.
Arms Of Obama
Filed under: International Reflections, National Party Politics, Presidential Watch, Social Commentary
With the 2011 budget compromise behind us, finally, we can now concentrate on what America’s future will look like. And the foundation of that future will be the perpetuation of America’s military dominance throughout the world.
The presidential election of 2012 will determine how we will meet the fiscal challenges of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for the next 30 years. And it is only by resolving these seemingly mundane mandates that we will be able to continue to maintain our armed forces so that our nation can continue to be the beacon of freedom throughout the world.
President Obama does not yet grasp the relationship between our fiscal health and our world mission. I don’t think he ever will because the core of his beliefs stem from the bankrupt ideology of statism and government control. He views this nation as one that selfishly delivers benefits to its own people not as an angel for freedom.
If the Constitution of the United States represents our nation’s rule of law it is our Declaration of Independence that represents our soul. And it is to our soul, to our core beliefs, the very sinews of our existence as a great nation, which freedom loving peoples throughout the world look for comfort and support.
I refer to Sarah McLachlan’s moving rendition:
“In the arms of an Angel, far away from here, …..
In the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here.”
The Third Rail
Filed under: International Reflections, International War, Local Party Politics, National Party Politics, Social Commentary, Terrorism, United States at War
If Social Security and Medicare are the third rail of domestic affairs, home grown militant Islam seems to be the third rail of foreign affairs.
This week the House Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Congressman Peter King will be looking into the radicalization of young followers by al-Qaeda right here in America. This will not be the first time that extremists have infiltrated the American homeland. In March 1936, the German American Bund, an organization which supported a radicalized Nazi Germany was established in Buffalo, New York. The Bund held rallies throughout the country with Nazi insignia and procedures such as the Hitler salute, and attacked the Roosevelt administration, Jewish influences, and alleged Moscow-directed trade unions. The FBI was all over this organization and at the beginning of the war with Germany in December 1941 the FBI knew enough about its various chapters throughout the country that within a very short time it arrested its leaders and shut them all down. Americans breathed a lot easier.
The Jewish Defense League or JDL is a Jewish nationalist organization founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City in 1968. JDL’s self-described purpose was to protect Jews from local manifestations of Anti-Semitism. The group has bombed Arab and Soviet properties in the United States. The FBI therefore characterized it as right-wing terrorist group holding it responsible for the killing of at least one American and a plot to kill Issa U.S. Congressman Darrell in 2001. Even today the JDL is alive and well.
And during the Civil War America had a crop of southern radicals, spies and downright assassins, John Wilkes Booth being the most famous.
My point is that America throughout its history has had an abundant share of very nasty, dangerous, ideological, radicalized, unrepentant murderers. If Congressman King wants to investigate Muslim communities and whether al-Qaeda, America being its sworn enemy, is attempting to radicalize young, vulnerable Muslims, Muslims should take no offense. In fact they should assist in the process for no other reason than for the protection of their own children. Instead of Congressman King’s investigation being a third rail for America, let it be third rail for al-Qaeda.
Obama Selling NYSE
Filed under: International Reflections, National Party Politics, Presidential Watch, Social Commentary
Yesterday, President Obama sent over to the House of Representatives his 2012 budget. The budget is based on the Socialist belief that as long as you keep providing the American people with benefits, no matter the consequences, they won’t squeal.
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
President Obama’s 2012 budget anticipates serious increases in taxes over the next 10 years but does not address the entitlements of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. So according to the Obama budget by year 2020 the American people will for the first time address how we are going to deal with 60% of current spending. Does this bore you? Well that’s exactly what President Obama wants to do. His hope is that after listening to him and the Republicans in the House the American people will finally throw up their hands and turn to more mundane matters, like how to find a job. The trouble is that President Obama’s budget is directly tied to unemployment. As long as his theory of government is to impose more taxes on individuals and companies the chances of reducing unemployment become less.
It wasn’t by coincidence that yesterday it was also announced that a German bank was considering purchasing the NYSE. Yes, the NYSE, the symbol of America’s financial prowess is being purchased by a company whose country we happened to have beaten to a pulp 55 years ago. You would think this is a wake-up call to all Americans that we better start dealing with our fiscal problems. President Obama, the Socialist is betting otherwise.
This is Roger Madon and that’s what I think.
Jonathan Last and “America’s One-Child Policy”
Filed under: Health Care, Social Commentary, U.S. Economics
Jonathan Last and "America’s One-Child Policy": Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadImagine the United States being at war for 40 years by which time we lost 50% of our population. But worse, that the average age of the population that survived was 65.
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
Now I am no statistician and I don’t know all the statistical proof to describe America’s population 40 years from now. But of one thing I am certain: What with the increase of women entering higher education resulting in having children at a later age, the easy availability of abortion and contraception, the increase of the cost of child care, including that of higher education and the desire of young people to participate in a consumer society and therefore unwilling to take on the burdens of one child no less 2 will result in a population catastrophe.
Catastrophe? Come on Roger, aren’t you laying it on pretty thick? Well not according to Jonathan Last in his recent article in the Weekly Standard entitled “America’s One-Child Policy.” He describes a series of population concerns experienced throughout the world in which the United States is not immune. For example, will there be enough young people to pay for the government entitlements of Social Security and Medicare assuming the current eligibility age? By the year 2020 two people will be paying for one person on Social Security. By the year 2040 it will be one person performing that function. Further, will the United States have a sufficient number of young people to carry out our worldwide commitments or worse a sufficient number of young people just to defend the nation? And will we have a sufficient number of workers to pay for a viable army, navy or air force? And lastly, will we have enough workers to begin to tackle the 67 trillion dollar debt looming over the horizon and coming at us like a tsunami?
Does anyone in listening distance believe that the Republican Congress that seems certain to become an historical fact on January 1, 2011 is prepared to address the problems of a shrinking population? I certainly don’t think so.
This is Roger Madon and that’s what I think.
Get The Drunks Out Of Congress
Filed under: National Party Politics, Social Commentary, U.S. Economics
It’s quite a sight isn’t it? Congressional Democrats who are running for office are saying to their home state voters, “Did I say that, did I do that?” as if they just woke up from a Saturday night binge and can’t remember a thing.
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
It really would be quite amusing if it weren’t so darn serious. Americans have always taken warmly to their town drunks. But the worst thing a town drunk does is that he scares the cats and turns over the garbage cans. By the next morning everything is back to normal. In the case of the Congressional Democrats however, they’re not going back to the town folks asking for forgiveness but rather demanding another chance to besot themselves and no requirement of redemption. With trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see and by last count if you add Social Security, Medicare and military benefits into the mix 67 trillion dollars in debt the American people are not in the mood for forgiveness. In fact the American people are itching to throw the town drunk, out of town.
To this day I still don’t quite get it. When this Congress took control of the House and Senate the Democrats had everything going for them including a real economic crisis to address. This would be a rare opportunity to show the American people that their progressive philosophy of redistribution was what this country really needed and that Wall Street greed had to be stopped. At the same time the global warmers were real close to the goal line to get something they always wanted, to straight jacket the American economy by taxing the hell out of fossil fuel and regulating a naturally occurring gas C02, a gas that is not toxic, exhaled by every animal on the planet and is used by plants to grow. A bit strange, don’t you think?
Well, in another month the American people are going to the polls to vote – 10% unemployment, home mortgages still at the highest foreclosure rate in American history and a dollar that has become an international laughing stock can’t be compared to scaring the cats and kicking over garbage cans. These Congressional drunks are leaving town, literally.
This is Roger Madon and that’s what I think.
Another Modest Proposal
When Conservatives address America’s immigration laws they have to consider the next 50 years and determine what its needs will be: economic, social and yes, even political. The Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin and O’Reilly gang is not very constructive in this regard and seems to be blind to what is in store for America if it doesn’t wish to emulate its European cousins across the Atlantic pond. Take for example the gang’s position on those illegal immigrants that currently live and, I might add, work here. It wants to throw them out. I suppose, practically speaking, that also means their children, who, more than likely are American citizens. America’s current birth rate is 2.1. That’s borderline in order to maintain a nation’s current population. Some European countries are at 1.7. That means that by 3 generations (60 years) the population in those countries will be reduced by half. Of course I refer to the European part of the population. That portion of the population coming from the Middle East and living in those same countries is somewhere over 3. You do the math.
America’s immigrant population generally does not come from the Middle East but south of the border. In fact most of America’s illegal population comes from Mexico, for an obvious reason. Mexico shares with America a 2 thousand mile border. Approximately 500,000 illegals arrive from Mexico each year. The good news is, much to the chagrin of the gang of four, this influx will not be impeded by much of anything short of shooting them as they attempt to cross the border. Obviously Americans are overwhelmingly against that. So here they come. And truth be told, America needs them. But what we also need are their families. We need them to pay our taxes and contribute to our ever growing benefits.
So, here is my proposal. America passes a law which allows Mexican citizens (proof of citizen ship will be required), who wish to come to America to work, to enter at the border at specific border locations, with their families if they have them, children and all, where they will receive a temporary green card and a temporary social security number which will expire within six months from date of entry. During this period an investigation will be carried out by Homeland Security to determine whether they have a criminal record in the United States or Mexico or discover some material fact which will deny them their continued presence in the United States. This will allow the immigrant, now legal, to find work, be on the payroll, pay taxes, find a place to live and add to the general welfare of the nation. After six months he and his family will obtain the status of permanent resident. Current illegal aliens of Mexican lineage will be provided the same advantage. All other immigrants will be required to strictly adhere to the immigration laws. This will substantially reduce the number of illegal aliens and allow Congress to deal with the issue in a more reasonable way.
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