June 7, 2010
By Herman Cain
Last week the political campaign propaganda season began, and President Obama fired the first shot at Republicans. In an effort to shift the subject from the Gulf oil disaster, the president went into campaign mode (again) when he said, "We can return to the failed economic policies of the past, or we can keep building a stronger future."
Unfortunately, the facts do not substantiate the president's claim when we compare December 2008 economic statistics before Obama took office to where we are today.
December 2008 June 2010
National debt $9.5 trillion $13 trillion
Gross Domestic Product , or GDP $14.1 trillion $14 trillion
Unemployment rate 7.2 percent 9.7 percent
Unemployed workers 11.1 million 15 million
As you can see, none of these statistics improved. They all got worse. But maybe it depends on one's definition of "improved."
The president and the liberals would also like for us to not remember that the $826 billion in stimulus spending was supposed to keep the unemployment rate below 8 percent. The unemployment rate has not been below 8 percent since the stimulus bill passed in early 2009. In fact, it has been consistently closer to 10 percent.
After the president declared in his State of the Union address last February that job creation would be a top priority, the number of government jobs has increased while private sector jobs have continued to decrease. Even when the administration was tempted to boast about the 431,000 new jobs created in May (oops!), we soon learned that 411,000 of those jobs were government Census jobs.
In that same speech, the president said, "We can't go back. We have got to move forward." You do the math! We are clearly not moving forward. Again, maybe it depends on one's definition of forward. On the other hand, maybe this is the direction the president and the liberals want to take this country – backward.
The president and the liberals said that the health-care deform bill would reduce the deficit and bring down health-care costs. After uncovering some of the administration's accounting gimmicks, the Congressional Budget Office has now indicated that the bill will cost $115 billion more than originally estimated over 10 years. That reduces the estimated deficit reduction to $28 billion.
If you think that will happen on a $1 trillion new bureaucracy, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you. It's being renovated!
The president and the liberals would also like for us to forget the fact that 63 percent of the voters want Obamacare repealed. This percentage has increased from 54 percent as people learn more and more about what's really in the legislation.
Ignoring the facts is one of the liberals' favorite tactics, because their agenda is not motivated by any facts at all. Their agenda is totally politically motivated for the purpose of concentrating more power to government rather than the people.
Campaign propaganda just does not work like it used to work. The facts are too compelling and easily accessible, and there are fewer and fewer uninformed voters. There are still too many clueless voters, but the intelligence trajectory is pointing upward. This is another encouraging sign for the elections in November 2010.
Unfortunately, the economic trajectory for the country is pointing downward, and the spending trajectory is pointing upward. That does not look like a stronger future as the president claims.
No matter how much the president and the liberals try to talk their way around the facts with propaganda and lies, the facts don't lie.
Liberals hate the facts.
June 7, 2010
May 30, 2010
Nobody’s in charge
May 30, 2010
By Herman Cain
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is plagued by finger pointing and government bureaucracy. Nearly 40 days after the tragedy in the Gulf president Obama made a “photo op” visit to Louisiana, while his administration Cabinet heads were still jockeying for “who’s in charge” when it is clear that nobody is in charge, not even the president.
Despite the unprecedented technical challenges of stopping the massive oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the lack of leadership in coordinating the various federal, state and local agencies and their respective functions in this ecological disaster is even worse.
This dangerous lack of leadership starts with the president and his unmanageable executive structure. This is bad for our nation, because it impedes the ability to get the right things done at the right time. Just look at the handling of the tragedy in the Gulf.
Or consider the months of delay by the president to send additional troops to Afghanistan in 2009. We will never know how many lives might have been saved with a more timely decision.
When president Obama took office he inherited a 9.5 trillion dollar national debt. It has increased by 3.5 trillion dollars in his first 16 months in office. It should not have taken 16 months to appoint a “debt reduction commission”. In the real world of business that decision is called a no-brainer. Just do it!
Or consider the token gesture of sending 1,200 troops to the southwest border, but not to enforce immigration laws according to the State Department at the urging of the Mexican government. Additionally, the president of Mexico blasted the new Arizona Immigration Law in a speech before the United States Congress, and then received a standing ovation from the Democrats. What an insult!
Since President Obama has also publically stated his disapproval of the new Arizona Immigration Law, and Attorney General Eric Holder is challenging the law, maybe Mexico is in charge of our southwest border.
Ordinary citizens can only sit on the sidelines and hope that our elected officials and their respective agencies get their act together in handling the disaster in the Gulf, but we can’t sit on the sidelines and wait for “just in time” leadership to address the coming economic disaster and other major problems we are facing.
We face national security threats from terrorists, our military is still fighting for us in Iraq and Afghanistan, and tensions between North Korea and South Korea are about to erupt even more. Our economy is stalled, federal spending is out of control, Social Security and Medicare are financially dysfunctional, and the new health care “deform” legislation is only going to make economic matters worse.
The partisan divide in Congress is horrendous, because, thankfully, the Republicans have not caved to the ultra liberal agenda of President Obama and the Democrats. And also, thankfully, many people are waking up to the empty gestures by the president and the Democrats of reaching across the political isle seeking Republican input. The Democrats’ idea of input is for the Republicans to just cave and do things their way.
Again, here’s some good news! In addition to the Memorial Day recess, Congress has at least two more major recesses between now and the November 2010 elections. The more Congress is in recess the better off we are for now. Secondly, more and more people are starting to recognize this huge leadership void and will remember in November, and again in November 2012.
We are extremely thankful for the men and women who fought and died to defend this country throughout our history. Memorial Day should also be a reminder that it is up to us to defend this country from destructive forces both outside and within our borders. And some of them are in Washington, D. C.
We are still in charge of the ballot box, but we must elect some real leaders.
By Herman Cain
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is plagued by finger pointing and government bureaucracy. Nearly 40 days after the tragedy in the Gulf president Obama made a “photo op” visit to Louisiana, while his administration Cabinet heads were still jockeying for “who’s in charge” when it is clear that nobody is in charge, not even the president.
Despite the unprecedented technical challenges of stopping the massive oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the lack of leadership in coordinating the various federal, state and local agencies and their respective functions in this ecological disaster is even worse.
This dangerous lack of leadership starts with the president and his unmanageable executive structure. This is bad for our nation, because it impedes the ability to get the right things done at the right time. Just look at the handling of the tragedy in the Gulf.
Or consider the months of delay by the president to send additional troops to Afghanistan in 2009. We will never know how many lives might have been saved with a more timely decision.
When president Obama took office he inherited a 9.5 trillion dollar national debt. It has increased by 3.5 trillion dollars in his first 16 months in office. It should not have taken 16 months to appoint a “debt reduction commission”. In the real world of business that decision is called a no-brainer. Just do it!
Or consider the token gesture of sending 1,200 troops to the southwest border, but not to enforce immigration laws according to the State Department at the urging of the Mexican government. Additionally, the president of Mexico blasted the new Arizona Immigration Law in a speech before the United States Congress, and then received a standing ovation from the Democrats. What an insult!
Since President Obama has also publically stated his disapproval of the new Arizona Immigration Law, and Attorney General Eric Holder is challenging the law, maybe Mexico is in charge of our southwest border.
Ordinary citizens can only sit on the sidelines and hope that our elected officials and their respective agencies get their act together in handling the disaster in the Gulf, but we can’t sit on the sidelines and wait for “just in time” leadership to address the coming economic disaster and other major problems we are facing.
We face national security threats from terrorists, our military is still fighting for us in Iraq and Afghanistan, and tensions between North Korea and South Korea are about to erupt even more. Our economy is stalled, federal spending is out of control, Social Security and Medicare are financially dysfunctional, and the new health care “deform” legislation is only going to make economic matters worse.
The partisan divide in Congress is horrendous, because, thankfully, the Republicans have not caved to the ultra liberal agenda of President Obama and the Democrats. And also, thankfully, many people are waking up to the empty gestures by the president and the Democrats of reaching across the political isle seeking Republican input. The Democrats’ idea of input is for the Republicans to just cave and do things their way.
Again, here’s some good news! In addition to the Memorial Day recess, Congress has at least two more major recesses between now and the November 2010 elections. The more Congress is in recess the better off we are for now. Secondly, more and more people are starting to recognize this huge leadership void and will remember in November, and again in November 2012.
We are extremely thankful for the men and women who fought and died to defend this country throughout our history. Memorial Day should also be a reminder that it is up to us to defend this country from destructive forces both outside and within our borders. And some of them are in Washington, D. C.
We are still in charge of the ballot box, but we must elect some real leaders.
May 23, 2010
Seven deadly problems we’re not solving
May 23, 2010
By Herman Cain
Most people are able to avoid committing all of the seven deadly sins (vanity, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth), but our government has managed to solve none of the seven deadly problems that could destroy the future of our nation – health care costs, financial reform, Social Security, Medicare, national debt, immigration law and lack of real job growth.
These seven deadly domestic problems have three things in common. First, inept politicians and bureaucrats have consistently worked on the wrong problem. They have put political agendas and political pandering ahead of what’s best for the people.
Much has been written about the fact that we do not have a health care crisis in America, we have a health care cost crisis. The recently passed health care deform legislation does not address the real problem, nor will it bring down the deficit as we have been falsely told. The right steps to solve the right problem have also been written about extensively, but those steps would get in the way of the all-out power grab we are seeing from this administration and the Democrats in Congress.
Congress is about to pass financial reform legislation, which will also be another “deform” bill, because it establishes another un-needed oversight bureaucracy to oversee all financial institutions except Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. One would think that the two entities that were the catalyst for the financial meltdown over a year ago would be included in any so-called reform legislation even if the new bureaucracy is un-needed. But, we are not supposed to think.
Secondly, these same politicians provide lip service to the least informed voters who usually continue to re-elect them, while they let the problems grow for decades. The Social Security and Medicare systems are in desperate need of modernization. This could start with the novel idea of just using payroll taxes for their originally intended purpose of providing benefits, but legislation introduced by Senator Tom Coburn a few years ago to do that failed with 85 votes against.
And thirdly, we know how to solve all of these problems, but we do not have the leadership or political courage in Washington, D.C. to solve them. Instead, problems go unsolved, or we get incremental band-aids and, worse yet, more problems are created. The exponential increase in the national debt is simply irresponsibility on steroids!
The biggest problem with federal immigration laws is that they are not being enforced. So when the state of Arizona passed a bill to empower its law enforcement authorities to do what the federal government was not doing, the president and the administration spoke out against it. The new Arizona immigration enforcement law is not discriminatory as many have claimed, and if they would actually read it they might discover that for themselves.
Real job growth is not going to happen in this economy until the private sector receives some real economic stimulus. Many alternative ideas such as lowering the federal corporate tax rate, suspending taxes on repatriated profits, removing the uncertainty about tax increases, and suspending payroll taxes for a period of time have been made to this administration and the Democratic leaders, but those ideas have been sentenced to committee in Congress and they can’t get out.
Collectively, these seven deadly un-solved problems have us headed for the same type of economic and social turmoil we are seeing in Greece. It’s just a matter of time, and there is no “sugar daddy” to bail Uncle Sam out.
There is some good news! The informed voters are showing tangible signs of not continuing to tolerate the Washington D.C. culture of corruption, cronyism and complacency by electing a different breed of representatives.
As this new mood of the electorate continues into November 2010 and beyond, we might be able to avoid a disastrous future. We might even be able to send some of the seven heavenly virtues (faith, hope, charity, courage, justice, temperance and prudence) back to government.
Let’s dream big!
By Herman Cain
Most people are able to avoid committing all of the seven deadly sins (vanity, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth), but our government has managed to solve none of the seven deadly problems that could destroy the future of our nation – health care costs, financial reform, Social Security, Medicare, national debt, immigration law and lack of real job growth.
These seven deadly domestic problems have three things in common. First, inept politicians and bureaucrats have consistently worked on the wrong problem. They have put political agendas and political pandering ahead of what’s best for the people.
Much has been written about the fact that we do not have a health care crisis in America, we have a health care cost crisis. The recently passed health care deform legislation does not address the real problem, nor will it bring down the deficit as we have been falsely told. The right steps to solve the right problem have also been written about extensively, but those steps would get in the way of the all-out power grab we are seeing from this administration and the Democrats in Congress.
Congress is about to pass financial reform legislation, which will also be another “deform” bill, because it establishes another un-needed oversight bureaucracy to oversee all financial institutions except Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. One would think that the two entities that were the catalyst for the financial meltdown over a year ago would be included in any so-called reform legislation even if the new bureaucracy is un-needed. But, we are not supposed to think.
Secondly, these same politicians provide lip service to the least informed voters who usually continue to re-elect them, while they let the problems grow for decades. The Social Security and Medicare systems are in desperate need of modernization. This could start with the novel idea of just using payroll taxes for their originally intended purpose of providing benefits, but legislation introduced by Senator Tom Coburn a few years ago to do that failed with 85 votes against.
And thirdly, we know how to solve all of these problems, but we do not have the leadership or political courage in Washington, D.C. to solve them. Instead, problems go unsolved, or we get incremental band-aids and, worse yet, more problems are created. The exponential increase in the national debt is simply irresponsibility on steroids!
The biggest problem with federal immigration laws is that they are not being enforced. So when the state of Arizona passed a bill to empower its law enforcement authorities to do what the federal government was not doing, the president and the administration spoke out against it. The new Arizona immigration enforcement law is not discriminatory as many have claimed, and if they would actually read it they might discover that for themselves.
Real job growth is not going to happen in this economy until the private sector receives some real economic stimulus. Many alternative ideas such as lowering the federal corporate tax rate, suspending taxes on repatriated profits, removing the uncertainty about tax increases, and suspending payroll taxes for a period of time have been made to this administration and the Democratic leaders, but those ideas have been sentenced to committee in Congress and they can’t get out.
Collectively, these seven deadly un-solved problems have us headed for the same type of economic and social turmoil we are seeing in Greece. It’s just a matter of time, and there is no “sugar daddy” to bail Uncle Sam out.
There is some good news! The informed voters are showing tangible signs of not continuing to tolerate the Washington D.C. culture of corruption, cronyism and complacency by electing a different breed of representatives.
As this new mood of the electorate continues into November 2010 and beyond, we might be able to avoid a disastrous future. We might even be able to send some of the seven heavenly virtues (faith, hope, charity, courage, justice, temperance and prudence) back to government.
Let’s dream big!
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