Parsing 101….

One of the hardest tasks of leadership is understanding that you are not what you are, but what you’re perceived to be by others.

~Edward L. Flom~

                Recently I received some comment’s asking if I was calling Obama a communist. Admittedly these questions were from residents of countries that do not fully understand our system of government so I must apologize for my failure to communicate the severity of the situation if they don’t know what was lost because their country never had true freedom to begin with. A good rule of thumb is “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.” Where has he (Obama) gone wrong? Allow me to elucidate just a few salient points.

1. In Obama’s own words “We have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and refinance their mortgages. It’s a plan that won’t help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values.”

                Now this is a good start but read the entire 1000+ pages of his stimulus bill. I think the proof reader forgot to tell the author that he left that part out of the bill. If you notice there is also the fact that, in his own words, this will not help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house “he could never hope to afford”. If that is the intent why not make speculation illegal or enforce the current lending laws requiring responsible borrowers to show proof of ability to repay the mortgage? Oh I’m sorry that was cut out of government policy by the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) signed into law by President Carter in 1977. After all, according to the Democrats, everyone is entitled to their own slice of “The American dream” regardless of their ability to understand that the laws already on the books allow only for equal opportunity, NOT equal results.

2.   Obama said “In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.”

                Once again, excellent word that are heartfelt and everyone claims are sincere in its intent. To cover these points once again a person must ‘read’ the bill. These points are NOT designated in the bill but merely suggested. I believe where the main disconnect occurs is that the multitude of countries believe that the president signs the checks but that is not the case. We have 3 branches of government that have separate but equal power and our constitution clearly states that “Congress” controls the purse strings, not the “Nutter” in chief. The sole reason George Bush could not get anything done the last 2 years as president was because he could not pass any meaningful bill that would have made an impact on US economics. Obama’s proposals (read suggestions) are a wish list and some items, including corporate tax increases and cuts in agricultural aid, will be passed by a congress that has shown time and again that they are anti business and progress.

3.  Obama said “We have already identified $2 trillion in savings over the next decade.”

                Here is nothing more than wishful thinking. The simple fact is that 10-year projections are common in government, actually they don’t mean much. For the most part they are a way for a president to pass on the most painful steps of their plans to his successor, by putting off big tax increases or spending cuts until someone else has to deal with them. The president only has a suggested input on spending during the four (and sometimes eight) years of his term. He certainly won’t have any say 10 years from now.

                These are only 3 of the many points in the bill that are missed by most people because no one single person was allowed to read the bill before it was shot thru congress in 48 hours instead of carefully gone over and debated, as Obama promised, so much for transparency….

                Universal health care is another matter that also has major problems. Personally I believe that we need to help those that need it. I could quote the numbers all day long such as only 15% of Americans don’t have health care. In their infinite wisdom our government has magnanimously decided that instead of creating a program that will assist those in need giving them the care they require, the government is deciding that the 85% of us that can afford health care for our families must pay for those that can’t afford it. George Soros, Warren Buffet, Ted Kennedy, et al…. are all proponents of universal health care. All you have to do to decide if it’s a good idea is ask them, in the spirit of fairness that they demand of us, “Will you also participate in nationalized health care?”  Kennedy has already given his answer. During one of the election celebrations he had an ‘episode’ cause by the brain tumor he suffers from. (I don’t know, maybe the ghost of Kopechne was slapping him around a bit). Did he say “Please take me to the District 27 health care clinic? NO, instead he went straight to Duke University Hospital. Just what is wrong with the system he wants all of us to adhere to?

                One more small point I wish to address this week, If we have Universal Health care and you go into the hospital for a procedure and your total bill is $0, do you think that is the end of it? It is a medical bill that will be due some day. It’s up to you who is going to pay it , your children or your grand children, you decide….