The Divider vs. the Thinker

"Barack Obama is a dream. In 2008, the dream was hope and change. In 2012, it is progress, thwarted by evil partisans and selfish greed. As Gertrude Stein said “there is no there there.” He needs enemies to draw attention from his lack of depth, for he is truly a mile wide and an inch deep. He is an illusion; always appearing to be more than he is, always, more promise than reality. In the end, America suffers most from the machinations of the man who was never there."

- William L. Gensert

Understanding the Deficit Numbers

Even if you think that you understand the budget, deficit and debt crisis, I urge you to read this. It will reinforce your understanding dramatically and I hope make an impact . The Jones family Federal Budget 101. The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let's put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:

• U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
• Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Let's remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family:

• Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
• Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
• Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Amount cut from the budget: $385

So in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from its annual budget. What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending? It is a start, although hardly a solution. Now after years of this, the Jones family has $142,710 of debt on its credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt). You would think the Jones family would recognize and address this situation, but it does not. Neither does Congress.

The root of the debt problem is that the voters typically do not send people to Congress to save money. They are sent there to bring home the bacon to their own home state. To effect budget change, we need to change the job description and give Congress new marching orders. It is awfully hard (but not impossible) to reverse course and tell the government to stop borrowing money from our children and spending it now.

In effect, what we have is a reverse mortgage on the country. The problem is that the voters have become addicted to the money. Moreover, the American voters are still in the denial stage, and do not want to face the possibility of going into rehab.
http://usdebt.kleptocracy.us

Thanks to Professors Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Frank, and Schumer

I don’t understand how you can be so hard on President Obama? Weren’t any of you here for the schooling of 2011? That year, thanks to professors Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Frank, and Schumer, was the most explosive period of intellectual growth in my life. In that short year I came to understand some basic and fundamental truths of our new fundamentally changed America:

• Hard work is for suckers. Wait for someone else to produce something, find a way to cast yourself as their victim, and then take what you want.

• Successful people are evil because they show others that innovation, risk taking, and hard work leads to success. The people MUST believe that the government is COMPLETELY in control of each person’s success.

• Only idiots think that living within a budget is possible or practical. Intelligent people know that the federal budget is just part of a highly sophisticated system that must be ratcheted up from time to time. Passing legislation to limit the debt is just a polite custom that soothes that silly part of the public that still hold onto quaint ideas about the value of promises.

• If you are white, you should be ashamed. If you are also a male, you should be doubly ashamed. If you are also a small business owner who has the audacity to believe that what you earn is yours, you should just nip off and hang yourself.

• Children have no business being exposed to the teachings of their parents. It takes too long for professional teachers in our fine public schools to undo all the indoctrination received at home. The endless drivel spouted by parents about compassion, honor, responsibility, courage, kindness, and most importantly individual achievement would certainly ruin our culture if it were not for the tireless efforts of our public school teachers and especially their unions.

• There are two kinds of Americans: Democrats and racists.

• Christians are bad.

• 9% unemployment is a very good thing because it could have been 90% unemployment. The stimulus kept the unemployment to an unbelievably low rate. We should all be very, very thankful.

• The American Experiment is a very bad idea because it naturally discriminates against people with deficits of knowledge, energy, courage, honor, and tenacity. These are the VERY people that geniuses like John Rawls say that society should advocate. The American Experiment may create an incredibly high quality of life for society at large, but people in the lower socio-economic rungs naturally feel envy - no human should ever feel bad about their station in life or their accomplishments. The American Experiment is brutal idea from a brutal time.

• America has caused the world so much damage that we should just say we are sorry, tear up our completely outdated constitution, and beg the Muslim Brotherhood for guidance.

I can’t believe I was able to live with myself prior to 2011 – back then I was intellectually and morally bankrupt. But now I get it. Now, I am at peace. Now I can finally enjoy Bill Maher.

I really wish all of these unenlightened journalists would just lease a clue.

DOWNSIZING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

A department-by-department guide to cutting the federal government's budget. http://bit.ly/efAW45
cedwards@cato.org, tdehaven@cato.org

Agriculture spent $142 billion in FY2010, $1,200 for every U.S. household;237 subsidy programs, 96,000 workers http://bit.ly/hlIQsL

Farm Subsidies: Sacred Cows No More http://on.wsj.com/eCkSle

Commerce spent $17 billion in FY2010, $140 for every U.S. household;53,000 workers, 97 different subsidy programs http://bit.ly/hu6E2n

Defense spent $677 billion in FY2010, $5,900 for every U.S. household; 2.3 million people, $240 billion on PRC http://bit.ly/frQmQ2

Education spent $107 billion in FY2010, $900 for every U.S. household; 4,100 workers, 169 different subsidy programs http://bit.ly/ijffg3

Energy spent $38 billion in 2010, $320 for every U.S. household;16,000 + 100,000 contractors, 35 subsidy programs.http://bit.ly/fJSXDI

HHS spent $869 billion in FY2010, $7,400 for every U.S. household; 65,000 workers and operates more than 400 programs http://bit.ly/ephnas

HUD spent $63 billion in FY2010, $530 for every U.S. household; employed 9,500 workers, 108 different subsidy programs http://bit.ly/gJFX6c

FY2011 Budget Chart for Selected HUD Programs (figures in millions)http://bit.ly/fenFjj

Transportation spent $91 billion in FY2010, $770 for every U.S. household;58,000 workers, 85 subsidy programs http://bit.ly/dSniFt

Coming Soon Homeland Security $55 billion

Interior $12 billion, employs about 70,000 people in approximately 2,400 locations with offices across the United States

Justice $26.7 billion, 111,464 positions

Revealing Data on Poverty

Interesting data on poverty in the city, state, and percent of people below the poverty level:

1. Detroit, MI 32.5%
2. Buffalo, NY 29.9%
3. Cincinnati, OH 27.8%
4. Cleveland, OH 27.0%
5. Miami, FL 26.9%
6. St. Louis, MO 26.8%
7. El Paso, TX 26.4%
8. Milwaukee, WI 26.2%
9. Philadelphia, PA 25.1%
10. Newark, NJ 24.2%

U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey, August 2007

What do the top ten cities (over 250,000) with the highest poverty rate all have in common?

Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate list) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961;
Buffalo, NY (2nd) hasn't elected one since 1954;
Cincinnati, OH (3rd)...since 1984;
Cleveland, OH (4th)...since 1989;
Miami, FL (5th) has never had a Republican mayor;
St. Louis, MO (6th)....since 1949;
El Paso, TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor;
Milwaukee, WI (8th)...since 1908;
Philadelphia, PA (9th)...since 1952;
Newark , NJ (10th)...since 1907.

Einstein once said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'
It is the poor who habitually elect Democrats---yet they are still poor...

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
- Abraham Lincoln

Ron Paul On Fox Business News 03/25/09 Part 1

Where Are You Milton, When We Need You?

After last night's speech by BHO it is pretty clear America in on the decline. He is a fool. The Democrats, Republicans, and media are a club of economic illiterates. Here's a clip for those of you who need inspirational words.