B. Hussein Obama assured us, with his characteristic smug grin, that his spending programs would stop unemployment from rising above 9.2%. Those of us with a brain knew that was a lie, but yet there were those who bought it.
Recently, we've gotten reports from the White House claiming a number of "saved jobs" --jobs that would have been lost had B. Hussein Obama not graciously saved them from oblivion. This is a ludicrous notion. There is no basis to make such a moronic assertion. Again, to those with a brain, this claim was a preparatory smoothing of the new unemployment figures just released. Unemployment has risen to 10.2% and is showing no indication of slowing down. That's roughly 15.7 million people out of a job.
It's worse than this figure, alone, indicates. If you factor in those who are "under employed" --working part time or still actively looking for work-- the number rises to 17.5% equating to approximately 27 million people.
It gets worse, still. Consider those in a position like mine. I am among those working part time. But in an economic sense, my unemployment is aggravated because not only am I not working full time, but I am not making full use of my knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and would not be even if employed full-time at my place of part-time employment. In other words I, like millions of other Americans, have KSA's that include years of varied experiences, training and education that are literally going to waste because they are not being put to use. This is a subtle aspect of the unemployment problem, but the costs are very real. There is value in those KSA's even if it is hard to define or identify. And for every period those KSA's are not in use, there is a loss to the overall economy. Moreover, as the system absorbs those losses, there is a snowball effect because those costs contribute to the overall drain on the entire economy, contributing to further decreases in "full employment" for others. The result, we have experienced and highly educated individuals competing for work with uneducated and unskilled laborers and a growing abandonment of the jobs where those skilled people could contribute the most to our economy.
It gets worse. $8 Trillion of household worth has literally evaporated. It's gone. It could be recovered through the proper policies but those policies are nowhere on the horizon, at least for the next three years!
The White House touted recent growth in GDP but that measure is a false indicator of any positive change. The GDP is a combination of consumer spending, government spending and investment by businesses. Guess what drove the increase in GDP: GOVERNMENT SPENDING!
But government spending doesn't add value to the economy. The projects that have benefitted from stimulus money have not "created" or "saved" any jobs. That spending simply represents a cannibalization of the private sector, particularly small businesses which have been the driving force behind job creation in the US. The government does not create any wealth or value. It is not designed to do so. All it can do is leach value and wealth from those who do create it, the private sector.
Obama claims that over 640,000 jobs have been saved or created. Aside from the fact that we know that's total BS and where measurable, VASTLY overstated, let's take them at their word. Those jobs have come at an expense of $194.5 billion! That's about $305,ooo per job! That's even more than members of Congress make ($175,000.00)!!
Again, think for a moment what that does to our economy. These are supposedly construction type jobs--roads, bridges, etc. At a rate of $305k per job, that's a LOT of money poured into jobs that the private market values at between $35k and $50k per year. Hence a stark example of how government involvement is the antithesis of efficiency or value-adding.
This leads to more cash money in play in our market than there is value. That means inflation on an astronomical scale is coming. It is this aspect that is presently driving the stock market gains we've been seeing. People are investing in those things where value is increasing because it is being purchased on loans at 0% also provided by our government.
[NOTE: This means that the government is getting nothing in return for the money it's lending and it's spending vast amounts more than the worth of what it's buying. Yet the progressives in power are smiling and assuring us everything's going to be fine!]
One more note along this line: The government, upset at the perceived "failures" of the private sector to deliver seasonal and specialized flu vaccines, took over the process. We were assured that there would be tremendous supplies of doses by October. The reality is, there was a 77% shortfall of promised doses. SEVENTY-SEVEN PERCENT! And, they were planning on making some of that small portion available to detainees at G'itmo (until the public found out about it)!!! That's government accuracy of promises and that's government efficiency in a nutshell.
Obama would have us believe that the Health Care Reform proposals, projected to cost over a TRILLION dollars will be funded by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Why, then, doesn't the "Dear Leader" eliminate all that now and pay it all off in advance?! Because, as always, he's lying.
So, when government gets involved, things go south. Hence the Fannie and Freddie debacle. The government decided that home ownership is a "right" (like health care) and, through virtuous organizations like ACORN, pressured banks to loan money to unqualified home buyers. The problem was aggravated by an artificial growth in demand as a result of this new group of buyers, which enabled them to refinance and refinance again on expanding home values in that market. Finally, however, the bubble burst as we all know and here we all are.
Now, Fannie and Freddie are asking for $20 billion more in additional bailout cash! But it gets better still! After the government graciously decided to regulate executive pay, they've overlooked $30 billion in bonuses being paid to executives of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
Why is that a problem? Because those companies are now, like Fannie and Freddie, quasi-government run operations. They are being backed by our tax dollars preventing the normal risks associated with such firms. In the private market, such bonuses can be justified if executives have the ability to deliver excellent performance for stockholders. They are further justified because such talent can be lured away to other competing firms by the offer of similar perks. The risks associated with doing business in this type of environment make bonuses and similar "golden parachute" measures desirable to attract and keep talent. But when the company is being rewarded for repeated failure and serving only as a vehicle to funnel tax-payer money into the pockets of politically connected execs, the situation is untenable and arguably criminal!
So, here's the present reality. I was initially sitting dazed and stunned at the plastic-faced Nazi Pelosi and her underlings cheering and applauding the passage of the 2,000 page bill in the House-- a bill that calls for charging US citizens with FELONIES and jailing them for not buying the health insurance plan as dictated by the government, among other travesties. In a consistent pattern of wanting to burn the money candle at both ends, they are cheering at the prospect of adding over ONE TRILLION dollars to the debt, offering little to nothing to taxpayers in return at a time when US citizens have lost over $8 TRILLION in their own personal wealth along with their jobs. I won't even ask where they can possibly expect to find the money to pay for this debacle. What I will ask is this:
If B. Hussein Obama and the Democrat Party were intent on destroying the US economy, forcing a mass government take-over of the private sector and establishing either a fascist or communist/Marxist regime what, exactly, would they do differently?
Recently, we've gotten reports from the White House claiming a number of "saved jobs" --jobs that would have been lost had B. Hussein Obama not graciously saved them from oblivion. This is a ludicrous notion. There is no basis to make such a moronic assertion. Again, to those with a brain, this claim was a preparatory smoothing of the new unemployment figures just released. Unemployment has risen to 10.2% and is showing no indication of slowing down. That's roughly 15.7 million people out of a job.
It's worse than this figure, alone, indicates. If you factor in those who are "under employed" --working part time or still actively looking for work-- the number rises to 17.5% equating to approximately 27 million people.
It gets worse, still. Consider those in a position like mine. I am among those working part time. But in an economic sense, my unemployment is aggravated because not only am I not working full time, but I am not making full use of my knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and would not be even if employed full-time at my place of part-time employment. In other words I, like millions of other Americans, have KSA's that include years of varied experiences, training and education that are literally going to waste because they are not being put to use. This is a subtle aspect of the unemployment problem, but the costs are very real. There is value in those KSA's even if it is hard to define or identify. And for every period those KSA's are not in use, there is a loss to the overall economy. Moreover, as the system absorbs those losses, there is a snowball effect because those costs contribute to the overall drain on the entire economy, contributing to further decreases in "full employment" for others. The result, we have experienced and highly educated individuals competing for work with uneducated and unskilled laborers and a growing abandonment of the jobs where those skilled people could contribute the most to our economy.
It gets worse. $8 Trillion of household worth has literally evaporated. It's gone. It could be recovered through the proper policies but those policies are nowhere on the horizon, at least for the next three years!
The White House touted recent growth in GDP but that measure is a false indicator of any positive change. The GDP is a combination of consumer spending, government spending and investment by businesses. Guess what drove the increase in GDP: GOVERNMENT SPENDING!
But government spending doesn't add value to the economy. The projects that have benefitted from stimulus money have not "created" or "saved" any jobs. That spending simply represents a cannibalization of the private sector, particularly small businesses which have been the driving force behind job creation in the US. The government does not create any wealth or value. It is not designed to do so. All it can do is leach value and wealth from those who do create it, the private sector.
Obama claims that over 640,000 jobs have been saved or created. Aside from the fact that we know that's total BS and where measurable, VASTLY overstated, let's take them at their word. Those jobs have come at an expense of $194.5 billion! That's about $305,ooo per job! That's even more than members of Congress make ($175,000.00)!!
Again, think for a moment what that does to our economy. These are supposedly construction type jobs--roads, bridges, etc. At a rate of $305k per job, that's a LOT of money poured into jobs that the private market values at between $35k and $50k per year. Hence a stark example of how government involvement is the antithesis of efficiency or value-adding.
This leads to more cash money in play in our market than there is value. That means inflation on an astronomical scale is coming. It is this aspect that is presently driving the stock market gains we've been seeing. People are investing in those things where value is increasing because it is being purchased on loans at 0% also provided by our government.
[NOTE: This means that the government is getting nothing in return for the money it's lending and it's spending vast amounts more than the worth of what it's buying. Yet the progressives in power are smiling and assuring us everything's going to be fine!]
One more note along this line: The government, upset at the perceived "failures" of the private sector to deliver seasonal and specialized flu vaccines, took over the process. We were assured that there would be tremendous supplies of doses by October. The reality is, there was a 77% shortfall of promised doses. SEVENTY-SEVEN PERCENT! And, they were planning on making some of that small portion available to detainees at G'itmo (until the public found out about it)!!! That's government accuracy of promises and that's government efficiency in a nutshell.
Obama would have us believe that the Health Care Reform proposals, projected to cost over a TRILLION dollars will be funded by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Why, then, doesn't the "Dear Leader" eliminate all that now and pay it all off in advance?! Because, as always, he's lying.
So, when government gets involved, things go south. Hence the Fannie and Freddie debacle. The government decided that home ownership is a "right" (like health care) and, through virtuous organizations like ACORN, pressured banks to loan money to unqualified home buyers. The problem was aggravated by an artificial growth in demand as a result of this new group of buyers, which enabled them to refinance and refinance again on expanding home values in that market. Finally, however, the bubble burst as we all know and here we all are.
Now, Fannie and Freddie are asking for $20 billion more in additional bailout cash! But it gets better still! After the government graciously decided to regulate executive pay, they've overlooked $30 billion in bonuses being paid to executives of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
Why is that a problem? Because those companies are now, like Fannie and Freddie, quasi-government run operations. They are being backed by our tax dollars preventing the normal risks associated with such firms. In the private market, such bonuses can be justified if executives have the ability to deliver excellent performance for stockholders. They are further justified because such talent can be lured away to other competing firms by the offer of similar perks. The risks associated with doing business in this type of environment make bonuses and similar "golden parachute" measures desirable to attract and keep talent. But when the company is being rewarded for repeated failure and serving only as a vehicle to funnel tax-payer money into the pockets of politically connected execs, the situation is untenable and arguably criminal!
So, here's the present reality. I was initially sitting dazed and stunned at the plastic-faced Nazi Pelosi and her underlings cheering and applauding the passage of the 2,000 page bill in the House-- a bill that calls for charging US citizens with FELONIES and jailing them for not buying the health insurance plan as dictated by the government, among other travesties. In a consistent pattern of wanting to burn the money candle at both ends, they are cheering at the prospect of adding over ONE TRILLION dollars to the debt, offering little to nothing to taxpayers in return at a time when US citizens have lost over $8 TRILLION in their own personal wealth along with their jobs. I won't even ask where they can possibly expect to find the money to pay for this debacle. What I will ask is this:
If B. Hussein Obama and the Democrat Party were intent on destroying the US economy, forcing a mass government take-over of the private sector and establishing either a fascist or communist/Marxist regime what, exactly, would they do differently?
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