Obama's Speech on the Budget

There were no surprises.  It's nice to see he's been reading my blog.

This does not mean the speech wasn't worth giving.  As usual, he built a strong case for his proposal and laid out why the GOP is wrong.

Here's the problem.  People will decide, not based on what he said, but rather on what others will tell them.

Let's take this point by point.

First of all, the budget was balanced when George W. took over.  Two unnecessary wars and a tax cut for the rich later, the economy is in a nosedive.  W. then hands the keys over to Obama.

If the tax break had never been given by Bush, we'd be in good shape right now.  Remember how the GOP told us that putting money in the hands of the rich will create jobs.  Well, they were wrong.  You only have to go back a few years to see what a failure that was and continues to be.

Still, the GOP will say that Obama wants to raise taxes.

The fact is that the GOP can say whatever it wants.  "We can balance the budget and still lower taxes.  All you have to do is vote for us."

And some of us will, because someone pressed on our soft spot when we were infants.

Obama's overall message was, "I will not allow a tax break for the rich if the poor have to pay for it."

By the way, if the tax break that was extended to the rich last December, the one Obama approved so he could get unemployment money and extend the tax cut for the poor, it that tax cut had been eliminated, then the 4 trillion the GOP plans to save by eliminating Medicare would not be needed.

He called the GOP Medicare plan exactly what it is, "A plan to lower Medicare by pushing costs onto the seniors."

He pointed out that during the last 10 years, the rich have gotten richer while, for the first time in our history, the average wage of the middle class dropped.  The GOP plan will simply carry on with this redistribution of Anti-Robin Hood behavior by taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

The picture he painted if the GOP plan were to be enacted is as accurate as it is terrifying.  They want to reduce revenue even more while reducing funding for education.

That's right.  They want to give the rich yet another tax cut and, at the same time, reduce money for education.  all in the name of balancing the budget.

Here is the most important point.  Obama pointed out that we need to take care of those that don't have a voice in Washington.  Do you know who has a voice in Washington?  I do.  It's the rich.  They are well represented by the GOP.  This party is bought and paid for by the wealthiest among us.  That 1% is telling their GOP puppets to get just a little more "squeal from the pig."

The one thing Obama said that I don't agree with.  He said the GOP wants what is best for the country but differ from him as to how to get there.

In my mind, the GOP is why we are where we are now.  They want it to get worse so they can reinstate the Bush policies that got us here to begin with.

I'l love to hear from someone that saw the speech and has a different take on it.  Please be specific.

Jim

Here and there

A town in France had to get rid of a bust of a famous woman.

The reason:  People were starting to gossip.

It seems the artist gave her overly large breasts to symbolize the town's generosity.

Elsewhere...

Have you tried the website StumbleUpon.com?  This is a kind of cool site that takes you to random places based on your preferences.  I found it less than intuitive to set up but now that its done, I occasionally click on its bookmark to see what shows up.

I promised to list Obama's accomplishments.  Here is his biggest:  The world now respects the United States once again.

This seems trite but I think its important.  I spend a lot of time in Europe (I'm there now) and I can see how the world views us.  Back when Bush was in charge, everyone saw us as bullies.  It's as if we were the dictator of the world.  Judging from the GOP's position on Libya, that is just what they wanted.  The GOP feels that by exerting our military might, the rest of the world will see who's got the big diaper in town and respect us for it.

When George W. would make a speech, people would change the channel (much like we did in the States).  When we  would try to work with other countries, they would politely say, "We are too  busy to help you invade another innocent country right now so just run along."

When Obama speaks, the rest of the world stops and listens.

They have the luxury of not having to listen to Fox News or the GOP.  They couldn't care less about what Boehner says or thinks.  They hear Obama's words and see his actions.  They love him.  It's my personal opinion (like everything else here) that the Middle East is in turmoil because they want what we have.  When Bush was in charge, no one was saying, "I got to get me some of that."  But they all want the promise of Obama.

Elsewhere...

A diet doctor in PA is accused of sexually assaulting several female patients.  He actually told them he was helping because an orgasm burns 200 calories.

Bank earnings are way up.  In the United States, we are great at making money while providing nothing.  Wall Street is making millionaires out of people that do little more than stir the money pot.  I still can't believe they give such huge bonuses to financial advisors claiming they are irreplaceable.  Talk to any of those that got off that gravy train and they will tell you they did nothing special.

We need a manufacturing policy in the United States.  We know how to make things.  We just can't make them as cheaply.  There are two reasons for this.  The first is the cost of labor.  From the lowest employee to the CEO, we pay way more than countries we are trying to compete with.  The second issue is regulation.  For example, California has lost over a million jobs in the last few years simply because their labor laws are too restrictive.

I can here some of you saying, "If we don't have those restrictive laws, big companies will abuse the people."

First of all, if California want's to compete with the other states, they can't have anti-competitive laws.  Additionally, is the United States wants to compete with the rest of the world, they need to get labor costs under control.  The quickest way to do that is to reduce CEO salaries and bonuses.  We can't force companies to lower CEO salaries.  But we can do things.  For example, a state could offer a tax incentive for a company whose CEO's salary is no more than 100 times larger than its lowest employee's wage.

We need to get creative, not restrictive.  The GOP is very big on cutting back on those things that make it hard for our companies to compete internationally.  The problem is that they limit their ideas only to those that make the rich, richer.

We all need to find a way to create jobs while closing the gap between the rich and the poor.  Closing that gap means that there are more people able to buy things beyond mere survival.  Right now, we are headed in the opposite direction.  We are going back to the age of Kings and Serfs.

And so on...

Tonight, Obama goes on television to paint a giant bullseye on his back.  He will talk about a budget that is bound to piss off everyone.  Half will think he is caving to the GOP while the other half will think he is caving to the progressive Democrats.

My guess is that he will rightly spend some time talking about the reality of "If we want certain things, we will have to pay for them."

Due to time zone differences, I probably won't see it until tomorrow.

I can't wait to see the GOP response.  Recently, the GOP criticized Obama as abandoning the elderly when he took away a part of Medicare.  Then, knowing we wouldn't remember, they proposed eliminating Medicare altogether.  They want to cut cost while cutting tax rates for the rich.

I have yet to hear anyone explain how cutting taxes for the rich will create jobs.

And now...some soothing music for those that stay behind while I go off to save the world.

Up, up and away....