It has been thirty days since Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.'s acceptance speech, where thousands gathered at Grant Park to hear the beatific rhetoric spill from the Messiah's lips like golden wafers of manna. Oprah played the role of "The Madonna" quite convincingly, her pious visage upturned and streaked with a river of sanctimonious tears. But, what has transpired since the moment of transfiguring glory? Vapidity. Today, the news services are reporting that the unemployment rate has risen to 6.7% with a reported 533 thousand jobs lost last month. Such a rate of decline, for a single month, has not occurred in 34 years. The mindless Obamabot reaction to this information is to level blame on the current administration. However, the Bush boom added an estimated five million jobs to the economy. Cries of a "jobless recovery" were silenced early during the Bush economic recovery, despite the catastrophe of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
What we are witnessing today is a response to what American business anticipates as an Obama led increase in corporate tax rates. As was predicted, the suggestion of increasing taxes on business merely results in business adopting a defensive posture, cutting jobs, and passing on costs to consumers when possible. These job losses are merely anticipatory. The pressure on the middle class will only worsen once Obama and his politburo are in power. Only thirty days from Obama's election and we are experiencing the worst month of layoffs in 34 years! Who's paying forward on Obama's liberal rhetoric now? The middle class.
But what of the Office Of The President Elect? What words of wisdom flow from the fount of economic hope and change? Apparently, what we need are better roads and bridges. Obama issued a statement today in response to the staggering increase in joblessness. BO's brilliant response to unemployment? The transformation of highly skilled American workers into a cadre of ditch diggers. It seems that the answer to our unemployment woes are to be found in a 1930's style Civil Works Administration.
FDR managed to spend a billion dollars on that boondoggle in only five months. Or, maybe Obama will plagiarize another program from FDR's playbook and devise a modern Civilian Conservation Corps? Well, I suppose we could use a few more parks. Where is the Obama brain trust with all the new and fresh ideas for an American utopia? Obama also blathered on about developing green resources and other such nonsense. A tip of the hat to the Eco-Fascists. And, how that relates to our current unemployment rate is anyone's guess. Obama also threw a bone to the public school system. These statements must issue from some labyrinthine collective of boilerplate writers, only passing before Obama for a cursory review and signature. I think we'll all be too exhausted from shoveling our way out from under a massive pile of BO's steaming rhetoric to provide much in the way of community service. Simply put, Obama continues to fail to provide any specific plan to address this country's economic difficulties. What is worse, he fails to provide American business with any indications that would establish some sense of certainty. All we hear from the Office Of The President Elect are platitudes and campaign trail rhetoric. What's the fix for the unemployment problem? Cut taxes on American business. It really is that simple.
Update: click here for a transcript of Obama's flaccid radio address that took place today, December 6, 2008.
18 comments:
Ahh yes but simplicity never sounds as good as flowery rhetoric and platitudes!!!
Congratulations John, you have mocked Obama again on a Sarah Palin blog, good for you!
Tyler,
Last time I checked, you were not the administrator of this blog. SInce you haven't been commenting here long, let me encourage you, if you have the guts, to utilize your scroll feature and move down the blog a bit and you will see a blog archive. In that archive you will see that we talk about many issues here that have to do with Sarah Palin, our party, conservatism, etc. If you don't wish to read about those things, perhaps this isn't the place for you. As I say in the comment section,
"[we] feel absolutely NO obligation to publish any comment that [we] don’t like. If anyone has a problem with that, [we] encourage you to move along. There are plenty of Obama-friendly venues that will welcome you with wide open arms."
How 'bout moving along, Tyler. Get out of your p.j.'s, pull that thumb out of your mouth, and find something worthwhile to do with your time.
John, it's amazing to me that you would criticize Barack HUSSEIN (gasp!) Obama for using "flowery rhetoric" or some such when you are such a flowery, eloquent writer yourself. You're actually quite a good writer, and I'm not being the least bit sarcastic when I say that.
But the content of what you've said makes no sense. You say that the sudden rise in the unemployment rate is "in anticipation of tax increases on businesses." Do you really think that the moment the polls closed on November 4th, all of these companies decided to can a bunch of people in anticipation of a 3% tax increase that probably won't go into effect for at least a year? I've been in the workforce for over 20 years, working for many large corporations and trust me, nothing is EVER done that quickly.
I currently work for a very large corporation that is in the process laying off tons of people, closing down manufacturing facilities because it's so much cheaper to have manufacturing done in Asia. The decision to lay off more than 2/3 of the current staff at my office was made back in February, right around the time McCain won the nomination, but no end of the Democratic primary in sight. It wasn't in anticipation of a new president; it was the writing on the wall: When all of our competitors are shipping their manufacturing overseas and selling their products for half of what we're selling ours for, we can't compete. So we either do as they do, or we close our doors.
As a matter of fact, Barack HUSSEIN (OH MY!) Obama is actually offering tax breaks to companies that keep their production on American soil.
Now pardon me, I'm over to go huddle in a corner, rock back and forth while muttering Barack HUSSEIN Obama under my breath.
Susy,
Thanks so much for your spirited comment. Don't misunderstand me here, no sarcasm or insult intended, I really got a chuckle out of it. Your final paragraph is refreshingly comedic.
Anyway, Yes, I do think that the rise in unemployment is a response to anticipated tax increases. Even 3% makes a big difference to the bottom line. Bye-the-way, do you know the amount of tax that sparked the Boston Tea Party? Hmmm? Roughly, three percent (more precisely, three pennies per pound). It is humbling to consider how much our spirit has been tamed in the intervening years. Are we not the progeny of heros and giants, of men and women possessed of great vision and lauded by great deeds? Or, have we been debased and made serfs by an ever encroaching welfare state?
I don't think corporate America waited until the polls closed to make their decision. These are, generally, men and women of prescience. The outcome had been forecast by many for months in advance. It is not unreasonable to assume that corporate America hedged its bets and formulated courses of action based on the possible outcome of the election.
As to BO's rhetoric. I excoriate Obama on the use of his "flowery" bloviations because his language does not adorn substance. As we are witnessing, Obama's reaction to a real crisis is just more doubblespeak.
Of course manufacturing is cheaper in Asia. The reason for this, among many other things, is that the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. BO's "tax breaks" are a joke and do nothing to offset the increased costs of hiring in an environment of oppressive regulation.
Susy, take a hard look at Obama's response to this emerging problem. Development of infrastructure, better schools, and a Prius in every driveway. Aren't you even a little bit disappointed? Isn't it a bit anticlimactic?
John,
All those people who gathered to see Obama speak were in Grant Park. Hyde Park is Obama's neighborhood. Just a point of clarification.
Take a deep breath, invest wisely and wait. President-elect Obama and the incoming administration will take care of everything soon.
I just had a scary thought. You know how millions of wetbacks come over here to work and then send the money back home to their destitute relatives in their home country.
Well, what is to stop the momentum of American being for sale.
Are Americans going to have to go to Asia for work and then send money back to their destitute relatives in America?
Is that what is coming down the pike?
We have successful people in America...where is Donald Trump when you need him. Perhaps BO could work under him for a year as an apprentice. Instead, BO is speed reading the history books, especially the chapter of FDR, and how he brought America out of the depression. BO's life motto should be..."good ideas are borrowed, great ideas are stolen"
Hey Joe,
Thanks for the input. Made the change a moment ago. I think I may have to fire my proof reader. Oh yeah, that's me.
But, I don't share your sense of optimism. Time will, most certainly, tell. I'm gonna hold you to that quote. Keep reading and commenting.
Third Rock,
As usual, your input is greatly appreciated!
Third rock,
Wetbacks? Are you serious? Are you trying to fulfill the "hick racist uncultured" Republican stereotype?
I'm sorry, Julia.
I didn't see your Politically Correct Police badge.
However, I could turn you in for police brutality for calling me a hick
racist
uncultured.
But I forgive you... I realize some people like to talk the talk and not walk the walk.
Third rock,
You have wowed me with your incredibly reply. I wish you a good day and good luck on any future endeavors.
Third Rock,
Political-correctness is one thing. Civility is another. I believe that to call someone a "wetback" is dehumanizing and inappropriate for the public discourse. Your opinion may vary. I simply do not see how it is productive.
Sneaking into Asia seems like it might be difficult, what with the ocean between here and there and all.
Personally I believe in the resiliency of the American democracy and economy.
And do I read you correctly? Are you suggesting that the President should not read? That seems absurd in the extreme.
It is interesting, John, that after hurling all the "elitist" charges at Obama and liberals in general for all these weeks, you come up with the cracker-jack of all elitist attitudes.
It is clear from your sneering tone that you hold those blue collar, working class people who build America's roads, bridges, tunnels, schools and other infrastructure construction projects in contempt, relegating their unique and necessary contribution to this nation as the work of "ditch diggers".
Of course, a lot of that labor is, in any case, skilled and semi-skilled (and some of it is not) but in your parlance, they are all just "ditch diggers". Naturally, there will be a need for architects, designers, engineers, etc. to move infrastructure rebuilding forward so I don't think Obama plans to ask those highly skilled workers to do any "ditch digging" because they will make their contributions in other ways.
Nonetheless, the skills of these construction professionals (or ditch diggers, as you call them) are going to waste in this economic climate because of the housing and building construction crisis and a lot of honorable, hard working men and women (I know they are just ditch diggers but they still they jobs) are unemployed. Clearly Obama's plan is to put them back to work, earning money, supporting their families, paying taxes and purchasing the goods that will get the economy going again, goods they cannot afford right now. While they do that a crumbling infrastructure will be revitalized; an infrastructure that provides roads and tunnels for the trucks that move our goods to where they can be sold; an infrastructure that provides safe, clean modern schools for the education of our children; an infrastructure that connects our communities, one to another.
The country is moving forward, John. And those kvetchers and complainers and doomsayers and are being left behind. It has become clear that no matter what Obama does, no matter what solutions he and his new team put in place, you and those like you, will be there predicting disaster (always without acknowledging the disaster Conservatives have wrought). And while you predict the worst, the world will pass you by. I am guessing that the irrelevancy of the Conservative movement will continue to grow while it's influence, what is left of it, will fade..
In Christ's name,
Thomas
PS. It is not plagiarism when you acknowledge the source of an idea which Obama has done and learning from the successes of the past instead of repeating the failures is exactly the attitude that got Obama elected.
Thomas,
Don't be a dolt. Clearly the implication in the post is that it is a misapplication of resources to organize a work force to engage in tasks that they are not suited to perform or that others could perform more efficiently. How stupid. You've created a false argument by positing that I think manual laborers are, somehow, lower on the class scale. Hardly. I don't think in terms of class. Apparently, you do. It is beyond naive to think that the answer to our problems is to be found in organizing some outmoded collectivist work force. Really, Thomas, you begin to bore me. So, do you think an unemployed architect is best utilized by engaging his labor in pouring concrete?
Despite your delusions, conservatives (classical liberals) exist in unnumbered hordes. You'll have to do better than just regurgitating Obamabot talking points if you want to play with the big boys.
P.S. It's not particularly spiritual to invoke the name of Christ in association with your modern brand of liberalism. Your naivete in this is embarrassingly clear. Your modern liberalism is based on humanistic principals, i.e.: that some rationalistic utopia may be brought about by human means. This paradigm is antithetical to any Christian belief.
Joe...by all means, let the BO read. If it weren't for reading teleprompters, he would sound like an bumbling idiot.
If it weren't for reading the history books, he would appear as a bumbling leader.
No....let him read. Pulleeze.
From Third Rock Under the Sun:
December 11, 2008 press conference with BO
I don't want to appear as having nothing better to do with my time, than to count the number of times BO says 'uh' when responding to a question from the press. However, when in the case of Gov. Blagojevich, BO's 'uh's' were obsessive. Since I have blogged before how BO appears to be a bumbling idiot without a teleprompter, I thought this would be a perfect example off how I arrive at that conclusion.
The question from the press Philip Elliott to BO was, "Have you or anyone in your transition or campaign been interviewed as it relates to the criminal complaint and who is the transition advisor referenced in the complaint?"
Bo's response starts out like this..."UH, I have not been contacted by, UH, any gov-UH, federal officials. UH, and we have not been interviewed, UH, by them. UH, as is reflected in US rettorneys (I'm sure he meant attorneys) report, UH we were not, UH, I think perceived by the governor's office as, UH, UHHHH, ameanable to any deal making." He goes on to finish his 50 second response with a total of 19 'uh's'.
Reporter Brian Ross noted that BO didn't answer the question as to how Gov. Blagojevich knew BO wasn't ameanable to any deals to fill his vacant senate seat. Ross also said it was strange BO would need 2 to 3 days to find out who on his staff was talking to Gov. Blagojevich.
The key question is: While there was no deal from the BO camp, how did Gov. Blagojevich know that and BO 'ducked' that question.
In the same press interview, BO touted that he was straightforward and that is what got him elected. That's it ladies and gentlemen, we have a delusional president elect. A truck load of 'uh's' and evading questions are not my idea of straightforwardness.
Report Jake Tapper said, "There is nothing unusual about the fact that the president elect would speak to his own governor, especially about the senate seat. The unusual fact is that Gov. Blagojevich was trying to make a deal."
Here is where BO is looking like the 'see no evil, hear not evil, speak no evil' monkey, again. I think we all know, UH, that he knows more than he is telling us. So much for 'straightforward change' Could the 'change' be Chicago corruption. Well, seeeeeeeeee
I have been following this blog for some time and I will certainly say that I don't agree with just about everything in it. However, I do enjoy reading what others have to say.
That being said, I find it appalling that you would delete comments from dissenters because of language and hate-filled tirades (which I do understand) but would allow Third Rock to use his racial slur.
Furthermore, it is even more appalling that you applaud his ideas. This is why people come on this site and say that you are racist. Well, that and the whole Muslim thing.
Anyway, I do not believe that I will be back to your site. It is one thing to be passionate about what you believe but it is another thing to be a complete hypocrite.
Good Day.
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