Today in Washington D. C. - Jan 26, 2010 - Hello Mr.Obama - It is the Economy, Debt & Deficit

The Senate resumed consideration of H.J. Res. 45, the resolution to raise the debt limit. All amendments and final passage of the bill will require 60 votes. Senate Democrats are proposing a $1.9 trillion increase in the debt limit. According to Senate source, “Less than a decade ago, $1.9 trillion would have been enough to finance the operations and programs of the federal government for an entire year. Now, it’s only enough to make sure Democrats can avoid another vote before Election Day.”

The Senate will vote this morning on the amendment from Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) to create a bipartisan commission on fiscal reform modeled after BRAC and on an amendment from Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to exempt Social Security from the scope of that commission. Yesterday, the Senate voted to confirm Rosanna Peterson to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington. On Wednesday, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union Address.

While the US House stumbles around under the present leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Red State today revealed some welcome news: House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence who had been  considering a Senate run this year has just revealed that he has chosen to remain and run for another term in the House of Representatives for Indiana's 6th district. Pence would have made an exceptional Senator, but he also has been a mainstay in the Republican leadership in the House and has helped House Republicans take the correct actions issues so as to representing the American people. Pence said regarding his reasons for staying in the House of Representatives: "First because I have been given the responsibility to shape the Republican comeback as a member of the House Republican Leadership and, second, because I believe Republicans will win back the majority in the House of Representatives in 2010." Note: many consider  Pence to be a good potential candidate for President or Vice President in 2012.

The New York Times reported yesterday that “President Obama will propose in his State of the Union address a package of modest initiatives intended to help middle-class families, including tax credits for child care, caps on some student loan payments and a requirement that companies let workers save automatically for retirement, senior administration officials said Sunday. By focusing on what one White House official calls ‘the sandwich generation’ — struggling families squeezed between sending their children to college and caring for elderly parents — Mr. Obama hopes to use his speech on Wednesday to demonstrate that he understands the economic pain of ordinary Americans.”

Just a minute Mr. President, isn’t the “economic pain of ordinary Americans” the fact that so many are out of work, as opposed to whether the child care tax credit is large enough? None of these initiatives sound like they’re going to do anything to create jobs, and with 10% unemployment, that’s clearly what Americans are looking for from the president.

Now today's New York Times reports, “President Obama will call for a three-year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, and for increases no greater than inflation after that, an initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit, administration officials said Monday. . . . The payoff in budget savings would be small relative to the deficit: The estimated $250 billion in savings over 10 years would be less than 3 percent of the roughly $9 trillion in additional deficits the government is expected to accumulate over that time.” This is a welcome shift from the president given our current unsustainable fiscal course. However, there is much more that could be done on this front and it remains to be seen whether big-spending congressional Democrats will go along.

If Democrats were truly serious about saving the government money, they could have voted for Sen. Thune’s amendment last week, which would have ended the TARP program instead of allowing it to continue as a slush fund for loaning out taxpayer money. Yet 43 Democrats voted against the amendment last week, ensuring it would not get the needed 60 votes for passage.

A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll asked Americans what issue they think should be the top priority for the federal government. Result: 38% said “job creation and economic growth” should be the government’s top priority. Health care came in 4^th, at 12%, after “national security and terrorism” and “the deficit and government spending.”  These numbers reflect what most people in their hearts know.  When you threaten business with more control, public takeovers, cap and trade, forced unionization and then limit access to customers and cash for inventory by irrational actions by the Treasurer and others programs, you are going to see retraction of businesses and people being laid off. Responding with long term unemployment benefits leads to people eventually becoming unemployable at the levels they worked before as others enter the job markets who are willing to take lower pay.

It is obvious that either President Obama or his top advisers failed to grasp basic economics or their actions are deliberate to precipitate a declining economy leading to further actions of government control. Example, when asked about the economy on this week’s Sunday shows, White House aides all fell back on touting last year’s budget-busting $787 billion stimulus package. But Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, and David Axelrod all gave different numbers for the number of jobs supposedly saved or created by the bill. Given the well-documented mistakes and inaccuracies of the stimulus bill a new CNN poll showing Americans have a dim view of the bill is little surprise.

According to CNN, “Nearly three out of four Americans think that at least half of the money spent in the federal stimulus plan has been wasted . . . . A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday morning also indicates that 63% of the public thinks that projects in the plan were included for purely political reasons and will have no economic benefit, with 36 percent saying those projects will benefit the economy.” Further, CNN writes, “[a]ccording to a CNN poll released Sunday, 56% of the public opposes the stimulus, with 42 percent supportive of the plan.”

If the administration wants to focus on the middle class, perhaps they should look for a different way to create jobs besides creating more government employment programs and strangling the backbone of new business ventures: small businesses. As a starter, the following summary by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell makes sense.  Thus, I expect the advisers in the Obama Administration to ignore these very subjects.  Sen. McConnell made these suggestions ton ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday: “The first thing you do is you stop this job-killing health care bill. And you don't pass the energy tax that passed the House earlier this year. . . . You know, you sum up the first year, what this administration has done best is rattle the markets, advocate tax increases, and run up deficits. That’s not a very comforting message to business people looking at trying to expand employment.”

It is time for the Obama administration to stop playing politics and to stop its perpetually campaigning. Mr. Obama, send home a majority of your deadwood advisers and stop messing with the U.S. economy. John Adams when faced with siding with his party advisers and thereby being elected president for a second term, chose the good for American thus assuring his own defeat in the electoral college for a second term. But Adams was right. Mr. Obama, you are already president. Year one has past.& It is not too late for you to opt to be presidential.; Stop the madness of your advisers policies. You told us to judge you by those with whom you surround yourself as your advisers. We are doing so and find them lacking in pursuing the best interests of the United States. Some may even be friends. But often friends are incapable of being good advisers in one's job performance. Surround yourself with "good" people (forget political friends) who have no agenda before your name is forever linked with the demise of the United States as a great robust economic Nation.

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