RTCS

Musings on the Week

Musings on the Week

February 7, 2015

 

Politics - “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” John F. Kennedy.

Politics – Obama offered fake partisanship, offering to work with the opposition, provided it was reasonable, since to him only his ideas were reasonable, so the offer was meaningless.

Politics – Democrat’s biggest political problem is their “fundamental transformation to socialism” can now be judged by results that are anemic at best and long-term destructive.

Politics – Obama is exporting his community organizing campaign staff to assist leftists to mobilize “stupid” voters in Canada, Israel, and Egypt to elect governments like “ours.”

Politics – President Obama is anti-Israel, and not just by the contempt shown to Prime MInister Netanyahu, but every conceivable situation the benefit of the doubt goes to its enemies.

Politics - This week’s distractions from the stagnant economy and ObamaCare: the hoax linking vaccinations to autism and moral equivalence of Islamic terrorism and Christianity.

Politics – Public Policy Polling found that Hillary Clinton can’t break 50% approval against any major GOP candidate, with an unfavorable opinion held by 48% of all respondents.

Politics – Political parties have polarized but Conservatives are seen as lifting the Republican Party while Progressives/Liberals are viewed as pulling the Democrat Party down.

Media – Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather submission to the commands of Allah alone, and does not include freedom of speech.

Politics - “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Plato.

Budget – Obama’s budget was “dead before arrival” increasing spending, increasing taxes, increasing debt and punishes businesses with higher taxes driving them out of the country.

Budget – After bragging that he reduced the deficit, his latest budget increases the deficit to pay for ever increasing spending and the increasing burden of servicing the higher debt.

Budget – The budget debate should be focused on how to reduce the size and scope of government, not how to expand already out-of-control spending.

Economy - The 2014 GDP growth of 2.4% illustrates the anemic economic recovery with the low labor participation rate and flat wages masking the long term impact.

 

November 2008

January 2015

Change

Annual Federal Spending

$2.87T

$3.597T

+$.72T

Total National Debt

$9.97T

$18.11T

+$8.14T

Food Stamp Participation (000)

30,800

46,500

+15,700

Average Price/Gallon Gas

$2.21

$2.54

+$.33

Labor Force Participation Rate

65.9%

62.9%

-3.0%

Not in Labor Force (000)

80,220

92,120

+11,900

Employed (000)

144,100

148,201

+4,101

Employment Population Ratio

61.4%

59.3%

-2.1%

Unemployed (000)

10,538

8,679

-1,859

Unemployed - 27+ wks (000)

2,219

2,800

+581

Average Weeks Unemployed

18.9

32.3

+13.4

Unemployment Rate (U3)

6.8%

5.7%

- 1.1%

Underemployment Rate (U6)

12.6%

11.3%

1.3%

Income – More than 60% of the jobs created since Obama took office have been in health care or food service or as a temp, while construction and manufacturing have downsized.

Income – Politicians confuse the intent of “minimum wage” rates for entry level employees with “living wage” rates required by an experienced employee sufficient to support a family.

Taxes – President Obama’s proposed changes to inheritance and capital gains taxes would raise the estate tax rate in the U.S. to the highest in the industrialized world.

Healthcare – ObamaCare subsidizes health coverage of some Americans while making it more expensive for others with higher premiums and deductibles, and less choice in doctors.

Immigration – The Immigration Services processed approximately 982,000 new work permits in the last five years and of these, 957,000 were aliens who entered the country unlawfully.

Immigration – The DOJ reveals that criminal convictions that were won against 1,000 of the 36,007 foreign criminals who were released out into our country by officials in 2013.

Environment – Carbon dioxide has some warming effect on the earth’s climate, but science shows that its direct effect is tiny and declines dramatically as carbon dioxide levels rise.

Education – Obama’s student loan program had a $21.8 billion shortfall last year, the largest ever recorded for any government credit program, increasing the deficit by nearly 5%.

Sexuality – As predicted, once homosexuality has been legalized and mainstreamed (same-sex marriage), the rest of the sexual aberrations (polygamy, pedophilia, incest, bestiality, transgender, etc.) as expected are now demanding the same treatment.

Politics - “Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” Mao Zedong.

Foreign Policy – Obama has successfully transformed the United States from the keeper of Pax Americana into a diminished global role as a defanged doormat for emerging despots.

GWOT – Deaths from terrorism have risen 500% since 9/11/2001, with the major players being the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East, Boko Haram in Africa, and al-Qaeda.

GWOT – If Prisoners of War are repatriated at the close of hostilities, why is President Obama illegally releasing the Guantanamo detainees prematurely to fulfill a campaign promise?

Defense – More than 2.6 million Americans have served in the Global War on Terrorism since 9/11, with many men and women serving multiple deployments in the Middle East.

Iran – An Obama legacy will be welcoming Iran as the newest member of the nuclear arms club enabled by administration dithering buying sufficient time for weapon’s  development.

 

David Coughlin

Hawthorne, NY

http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/