From the Desk of Captain Obvious - Volume Two

Warning that the global recession is deepening, the Obama administration on Wednesday called on major U.S. allies to do their part and support strong stimulus programs to fight the downturn. The administration said decisive action was needed by all countries to complement what is being done in the United States. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined an ambitious agenda, including a tenfold increase in the size of an emergency fund the International Monetary Fund uses to help countries in trouble to as much as $500 billion.

[Ducheznee] And why not, right? I mean, the stimulus plan has miraculously turned our entire economy around. Maybe if every other country were to do the same, and each country becomes indebted to the next, we could all simply call it even and forgive everyone's debt. Problem solved! All of the spending of the stimulus - none of the responsibility. Am I right or am I right?

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Furthermore, a poll from Rasmussen reports that 62% of voters want more tax cuts and less government spending in the plan. 

[Ducheznee] So, if I were to round up 100 people, Rasmussen is telling me that 38 of them want to pay MORE taxes? I'd like to see that.

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The Treasury is tussling with the worst problems in decades, stemming from careless lending that helped fuel a housing crisis that has now dragged the U.S. economy and much of the rest of the world into deep recession.

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At its core, the legislation is designed to ease the worst economic recession in generations, and combines hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending with tax cuts. Much of the money would go for victims of the recession in the form of food stamps, unemployment compensation and health care. 

[Ducheznee] Where's the "stimulus" here?

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday it is imperative for the government to reduce over time the debt that is piling up as a result of the government's response to recession and financial market turmoil.

[Ducheznee] Secretary Geithner, everybody. Let's give him a hand. [polite applause]

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Despite the Obama administration's claim that its budget wouldn't raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year, "the budget before us assumes large amounts of money" from the climate-change legislation, Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said at a hearing Tuesday. "And that means higher prices for Americans for food, for gas, for electricity, and in a state like Michigan for home heating -- pretty much anything that they buy."

[Ducheznee] Taxes come in many forms.

 

The Fourth Amigo

Sometimes I feel like I'm turning into a Bush apologist. 

I am not.

However, when I see or perceive injustice, I'll be there.

President Obama has recently published his fiscal year 2010 budget, a 140-page report titled "A New Era of Responsibility," distributed by the Office of Management and Budget (www.budget.gov). Within its pages, the president and his crew attempt to make the case for why borrowing trillions of dollars is actually in the best interest of our country and its people.

I admittedly have not begun an in-depth study of the budget, and I probably won't. I have better things to do. But I have flipped through it a bit. Sometimes, something jumps off the page.

Here's an early dig at President Bush from the "President's Message" - a foreword.

For millions of Americans, the recovery from 2001 through 2007 was hardly one at all.

That may or may not be true - but it would be just as accurate to state that for millions of Americans, "the tech bubble was hardly one at all". If you didn't own stock or options in one or more of the hoards of tech companies that sprung up overnight around the turn of the century, you missed out. I missed out. Likewise, if you didn't own real estate, you didn't profit (on paper, anyway) from the surge in property and home values that only recently stalled.

The title of the first section of the budget is "Inheriting a Legacy of Misplaced Priorities". In what other job, other than hosting late-night television, can somebody sit around all day and take pot shots at his predecessor? Just *show* us how great *you* are, Mr. President. You want to be another Lincoln, right? History will judge you, as it will President Bush. We certainly don't need to pay you to do it for us. We do, however, need you to protect our country through wise security policy and smart, efficient financial policy.

This graph, just one of dozens in the document, highlights budget surpluses/deficits over the past three decades. I have added the color coding and the labels for your benefit. Click to enlarge.

President Obama's first budget deficit is expected to be more than three times larger than any of President Bush's which, I remind you, included events like the aftermath of 9/11, major military campaigns, Hurricane Katrina, and the first stimulus package. The government, of course, blames all of this deficit on other people, despite the fact that they themselves wrote, passed and signed the legislation into law. 

Mr. President, at what point can we expect you to begin accepting responsibility for what transpires in this country? Is it this year, with the 12% of GDP budget deficit? Your second year? Will you only take credit for the positive things and continue to pass the buck on the negative? Will you claim victory during the next president's administration? Unemployment continues to pile up - if you are the answer, shouldn't that trend have, at a minimum, stopped growing? The stock markets continue to plummet - if you are the pillar of hope, shouldn't that encourage a bull market as investors seek to profit from currently undervalued stocks? I've said it before: the financial markets are a reflection of the collective expectations, hopes and fears of its stakeholders.

If Obama = Hope, and

Financial markets = collective expectation, hope and fear, then

Obama = Fear (currently)

That said, I hope that President Obama's plan works (since I haven't been able to prevent it). I hope his plan restores America's economic strength and retools the country for the changing global environment. But on the other hand, I don't want to be an indentured servant for the rest of my natural life because of his commitments.

Obortion

This is old news now, but I'm trying to get rid of my backlog of time-sensitive half-written blog posts.

Brief summary: In one of his first acts as POTUS, President Obama, by executive order, removed the ban that states federal funds cannot in any way be used to support abortion internationally.

I only have two issues with this story:

1) The way it was promoted in the media was that this was a direct shot at President Bush, Jr.; that this act somehow made right the great evil that had transpired under the prior administration. The fact is, as you can read in the full text, the policy dates back to President Reagan. The policy was continued under President Bush, Sr., then lifted with President Clinton, only to be reestablished again with President Bush, Jr. Odds are the ban will be enforced once again in 2013. There's no story here - it is now a Presidential tradition.

2) The part that most upsets me about this story is that our tax dollars are being used to fund ANYTHING in other countries, let alone something so controversial as abortion. I'm certainly not calling for a ban on foreign aid or disaster relief. But abortion funding hardly fits either of those bills. Are we running such a surplus that we can afford to give money to other countries for planned parenthood?

Enjoy this educational video about where some of that "family planning" money ends up.