WHAT A MESS...

We've come a long way in the last 15 months since President Obama took office. He promised that he would transform our country and to that end he has not disappointed. While it is absolutely true that he inherited arguably the worst economy since the Great Depression, it is also true that he and Vice President Biden were prior to taking their current offices members of the world’s most deliberative body and America's most exclusive club, the United States Senate. As Senators the condition of the US economy should not have been lost, or at least not a secret. Candidate Obama was brought into the White House along with his opponent Senator John McCain by former President Bush for a sit down meeting about the very difficult economic issues caused primarily by the failure of housing market and really bad loans made by US banks and mortgage companies. At that time (September 2008) the stock market had found its way into the toilet and Trillions of dollars in US wealth disappeared with the Dow falling from it's more than $14,000 high to less than half it's value.

Since taking office in January 2009 we’ve received the following from the Obama Administration and the Democrat controlled Congress:

1. The Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2009
2. The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009
3. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
4. America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009
5. The Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010

Let’s not forget that the take over of AIG, Chrysler, and General Motors all as a result of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of 2009, and the Cash for Clunkers program from funds made available in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

To date not one member of either body of Congress has made the claim they have read any of the extremely complex bills that they have passed and the White House has not made it clear that the President has done more than a cursory reading of any of the bills himself.

The President and the Congress are not done either because the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2009, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 are pending legislation that the Congress intends to push through for the President’s signature before the mid-term elections in November.

The legislation that has passed and been signed into law has put the United States into perhaps unrecoverable debt. The pending legislation shows no intent of providing any relief from that position; in fact, the evidence is quite to the contrary. It is unconscionable that our government could put our country in this position. It pains me to have to consider what future generations of Americans will have to contend with, especially when I recall the fall of the former Soviet Union who spent themselves into oblivion in the Cold War that ended with the fall of the Berlin wall in the George H.W. Bush Administration.

While the President has repeatedly resolved both as a candidate and since his inauguration in January 2009 not to increase taxes a single dime on individuals with incomes of less than $200,000 and married couples earning up to $250,000 there is talk of a Value Added Tax (VAT) to help get the country out of debt or provide additional revenues for not yet contemplated programs. The VAT would be in addition to the income tax which is slated to increase as tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 under the George W. Bush Administration expire. There is no pending legislation to exempt individuals and married couples under the President’s thresholds from feeling the bite of the sunsetting of the Bush tax cuts.

Our economy is extremely fragile. Unemployment is at higher levels than have been seen since the recession during the Ronald W. Reagan Administration’s first term. Fortunately massive inflation has not become reality just yet, but with the amount of money printed by the Federal Reserve it will be impossible to stave it off forever and maintain the low interest rates needed to insure a robust recovery. The housing market has begun to return in many areas, but the hardest hit places like California, Florida, and Nevada may not return for a decade or more. There is talk of another round of major repossessions in the near future when mortgages not converted from adjustable rates to fixed rates reset from below prime levels. While efforts have been made by the White House to urge lenders to work with home owners there is little hope that the majority of troubled mortgages and homes will be saved.

The Republicans in Congress with rare exception have voted unanimously “NO” on all of the legislation passed to date. Polls consistently show that the favorable ratings of the Congress are below 25% and recently the President’s own job approval rating has fallen below 50%. They show that the American people are angry because of the piles of debt that are continuing to grow, and the arrogance of the politicians voting in direct opposition to their will.

Washington, D.C. has become ground zero in the economic destruction of our country. There is no doubt that the Democrat majorities in Congress will be severely curtailed if not lost completely in the upcoming mid-term elections. Should they lose one or both houses of Congress the President will be powerless to accomplish any of his agenda because there will be a continual gridlock until his term ends in January 2013. Unfortunately the damage has been done, and reversing it may be impossible without the ability of the Congress to override a Presidential veto.

The American people must wake up and smell whatever turns them on, be it their coffee or roses in their gardens. We must learn to understand the reality of the issues and they must strive to stay informed about legislation before their elected officials. We must use whatever legal and peaceful means necessary to return our fiscal house to order, and to mandate that the Constitution be followed. Our country is too important and in our history we have never been quitters or been kept down. The tyrannical actions taken by our elected government can be stopped. We can recapture the constitutionally guaranteed rights given to us by our founding fathers. There cannot be a middle ground, we must persist and we must succeed. I know we can do it and accomplish many of the goals of the American people lost in the bizarre legislation brought to bear of late. We cannot lose faith and we must take action. Find out what you can do and get started today!