Depression Anyone?

This guy puts the economic situation in America in perspective:







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Obama Says Recovery Act is Working

Contrary to the cries of gloom and doom from the same people who took eight (8) years to drive the economy into the ditch, President Obama reports that the first phase of the Recovery Act is actually working.

Transcript:

This week, we’ve made important progress toward the goal of bringing about change abroad and change at home. During my visit to Russia, we began the process of resetting relations so that we can address key national priorities like the threat of nuclear weapons and extremism. At the G8 summit, leaders from nearly thirty nations met to discuss how we will collectively confront the urgent challenges of our time, from managing the global recession to fighting global warming to addressing global hunger and poverty. And in Ghana, I laid out my agenda for supporting democracy and development in Africa and around the world.

But even as we make progress on these challenges abroad, my thoughts are on the state of our economy at home. And that’s what I want to talk to you about today.

We came into office facing the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. At the time, we were losing, on average 700,000 jobs a month. And many feared that our financial system was on the verge of collapse.

As a result of the swift and aggressive action we took in the first few months of this year, we’ve been able to pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink. We took steps to re-start lending to families and businesses, stabilize our major financial institutions, and help homeowners stay in their homes and pay their mortgages. We also passed the largest and most sweeping economic recovery plan in our nation’s history.

The Recovery Act wasn’t designed to restore the economy to full health on its own, but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall. It was designed to spur demand and get people spending again and cushion those who had borne the brunt of the crisis. And it was designed to save jobs and create new ones.

In a little over one hundred days, this Recovery Act has worked as intended. It has already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have lost their jobs in this recession. It has delivered $43 billion in tax relief to American working ...

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Schwarzenegger to Terminate Welfare in Callifornia

GOVERNOR PLANS TO COMPLETELY ELIMINATE WELFARE FOR FAMILIES

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to completely eliminate the state’s welfare program for families, medical insurance for low-income children and Cal Grants cash assistance to college and university students.

The proposals to sharply scale back the assistance that California provides to its neediest residents came in testimony by the administration this afternoon at a joint legislative budget committee hearing. It followed comments by the governor earlier today that he would be withdrawing a proposal to help balance the budget with billions of dollars of borrowing and replacing it with program reductions.

The proposals would completely reshape the state’s social service network, transforming California from one of the country’s most generous states to one of the most tightfisted. The proposals are intended to help close a budget deficit estimated at $21.3 billion.

source: LA TIMES

Copyright @ 1998-2009
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The Patriotic Retirement Plan

or

How to Quickly Fix the U.S. Economy.

Rather than continuing to spin our wheels, here is a practical suggestion:

The Patriotic Retirement Plan

There are about 40 million people over 50 years of age in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance pay for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!

If more money is needed, have all members of Congress and their constituents pay their taxes...

















Copyright @ 1998-2009
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Obama Calls for Passage of PAYGO Legislation

Staying Ahead of the Game

In his weekly radio address, President Barack Obama called for a return to fiscal discipline, and outlined a four-step approach to reining in spending and eliminating waste.

“It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington," said Obama. "To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.”

Obama, who held his first full cabinet meeting this week, said that he used the meeting to send "a clear message: cut what doesn't work."

He added that "we will continue going through the budget line by line, and we’ll identify more than 100 programs that will be cut or eliminated.” He did specify any of the programs, or say how much those cuts might save.

The president called on Congress to pass PAYGO legislation, saying that "we need to adhere to the basic principle that new tax or entitlement policies should be paid for… so that government acts the same way any responsible family does in setting its budget."

His plan also includes establishing a system for federal employees to submit ideas for cost cutting and a private sector forum on reforming government.

“We cannot sustain deficits that mortgage our children’s future, nor tolerate wasteful inefficiency. Government has a responsibility to spend the peoples’ money wisely, and to serve the people effectively,” he said. “I will work every single day that I am President to live up to that responsibility, and to transform our government so that is held to a higher standard of performance on behalf of the American people.”

SOURCE: Politico

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NORML Presents $14 Billion 'Cannabis Stimulus' Package To The U.S. Treasury

A Solution

"All we ask in exchange for our $14 billion is that our government respects our decision to use marijuana privately and responsibly"

Allen St. Pierre New York, NY:

NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre presented a mock check to the U.S. Treasury Department in the sum of $14 billion on Wednesday, April 15 (Tax Day), at a press conference at the steps of the General Post Office in New York City.

The $14 billion check total represents the combined savings and tax revenues that would be generated by regulating the sale and production of cannabis like alcohol, according to a 2005 analysis by Harvard University senior lecturer Jeffrey Miron and endorsed by over 500 distinguished economists.

"We represent the millions of otherwise law-abiding cannabis consumers who are ready, willing, vocal and able to contribute needed tax revenue to America's struggling economy," St Pierre told reporters from Salon, Fox News, Sirius Satellite Radio, and other media outlets. "All we ask in exchange for our $14 billion is that our government respects our decision to use marijuana privately and responsibly."

In March, during President Barack Obama's first-ever Internet Town Hall, questions pertaining to whether legalizing marijuana like alcohol could help boost the economy received more votes from the public than did any other topic. Since then, numerous high-profile media pundits including Joe Klein (Time Magazine), David Sirota (The Nation), Clarence Page (Chicago Tribune) and Jack Cafferty (<>Salon) have called on the administration to consider legalizing marijuana.

"America is in the midst of an economic recession," NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. "Taxing and regulating marijuana in a manner like alcohol with state-licensed sales and age restrictions would redirect criminal justice costs toward more serious crimes, raise tax revenue, and greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the involvement of drug cartels in the illicit marijuana trade."

According to a 2007 economic analysis, the total retail value of the U.S. marijuana market is more than $113 billion per year making pot the nation's most lucrative cash crop.

Presently, lawmakers in California and Massachusetts are debating statewide measures to tax and regulate the production and sale of cannabis to adults.

For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org.

Copyright @ 1998-2009
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Obama Works His Magic as G20 Leaders Reach Global Agreement

G20 Leaders Seal $1.1 Trillion Global Deal

Sarkozy and Merkel Aboard

Leaders of the world's largest economies have reached an agreement to tackle the global financial crisis with measures worth $1 trillion. To help countries with troubled economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will get extra resources worth up to $750 billion. There will also be sanctions against secretive tax havens and tougher global financial regulation. And the G20 has committed about $250bn to boost global trade.

On behalf of the G20, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the following steps:

* Bankers' pay and bonuses will be subject to stricter controls

* A new Financial Stability Board will be set up to work with the IMF to ensure co-operation across borders and provide an early warning mechanism for the financial system

* There will be greater regulation of hedge funds and credit ratings agencies * A common approach to cleaning up banks' toxic assets has been agreed

* The world's poorest countries will receive $100 billion extra aid

* G20 countries are already implementing the biggest economic stimulus "the world has ever seen" - an injection of $5 trillion by the end of next year. The IMF has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the G20 summit. The resources it has to help troubled economies will be increased to $500 billion.

An overdraft facility will also be increased to $250 billion (in the IMF's currency, so-called Special Drawing Rights) that all members can call upon.

"This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words, but with a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable for its delivery," Mr Brown said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the conclusions of the G20 summit were "more than we could have hoped for". Mr Sarkozy had threatened to walk out of the meeting if it did not yield concrete results.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also praised the outcome. She said the new measures would give the world a "clearer financial market architecture" and the agreement was "a very, very good, almost historic compromise".

Nice job, Barack!

source: BBC
















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Bonehead Boehner Provides Republican "Budget"

The GOP confirmed its status as the Party that's Got 0 Plans when the Emperor of Evil, Congressman John Boehner held a skinny blue folder in his hand and presented the "blueprint" for America. Just one problem. It's the first budget in recent memory that has NO NUMBERS. Brilliant!

At a news conference unveiling the plan, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner was peppered with questions about why he was offering only what he called a “blueprint” and not specific details. In fact, there were few specific numbers or line items — mostly just broad outlines.

“This is a blueprint,” Boehner responded, noting that House Republicans will bring their specific budget figures to the floor next week. “Wait till next week.”

House Republicans said their plan would have less spending than the whopping $3.6 trillion plan proposed by the Obama White House, which Rep. Paul Ryan, the lead House Republican on the budget committee, called “so reckless that it must be opposed.” “This administration has offered the most fiscally irresponsible budget in American history,” said GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence.

The Republican Party is in the midst of a complete breakdown. They lack direction, focus, and most important, leaders. Here is Boehner's remarkable presentation:





















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The Truth About the SubPrime Mortgage Scandal

It's one of the most amazing displays of journalistic incompetence and malpractice in recent memory. The US news media failed to draw the obvious connection between the bizarre federal law enforcement investigation and leak campaign about the private life of New York Governor Spitzer, and Spitzer's all out attack on the Bush administration for its collusion with predatory lenders.

While the international credit system grinds to a halt because of a superabundance of bad mortgage loans made in the US, the news media failed to cover the details of Spitzer's public charges against the White House. Yet when salacious details were leaked about alleged details of Spitzer's private life, they took that information and made it the front page news for days.

To the 9/11 fiasco, the Iraq War, the travesty of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, and the shredding of the US Constitution, we can now add a deliberate and reckless undermining of the credit and banking system of the US to the list of Bush administration "accomplishments." No external enemy, or group of external enemies, could have done as much harm to the nation as this group has in less than eight years.

Do you think it's a coincidence that a Bush was involved the last time the US banking industry fell into a black hole because of White House-facilitated fraud? There's actually a lot of money to be made blowing up banks. Here's how Bush Sr. and his friends in the Mafia and CIA profited from it the last time:

Bush, the Mafia, the CIA and the Savings and Loan Scandal

PART 2

The Bush administration actively interfered with states that attempted to enforce their own state lending laws. Bush & Co. used the Office of the Controller of the Currency to sue states like New York to stop them from going after predatory lenders. Bush Jr. is not the first Bush to get "hands on" involved in shaping the lending industry to his will. Many know that one of this brothers, Neil, was part of a spectacular Savings & Loan failure in the 1980s.

What far fewer people are aware of is how deeply the CIA, organized crime and, George Bush Sr. were involved in the Savings & Loan disaster which caused US taxpayers and estimated trillion dollars plus. The term of art for these kinds of operations is a "bust out." The scam works as follows: an organized crime group takes over a business, borrows as much as it can in the business' name, fails to pay vendors and then disappears with all the cash.

The Bush family and its associates in organized crime and the CIA figured out how to run this scam on a multi-hundred billion dollar level using the entire US banking system as its playground. When you consider that Reagan was probably out of it from Day One of his term and that Bill Clinton is a close associate of George Bush Sr., the Bush crime syndicate has been influencing when not outright running the executive branch continuously since 1980, which, perhaps not so coincidentally, marks the earliest days of the credit bubble the economy is now having serious trouble digesting.

. . . and the Republicans are trying to blame Obama!




















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Please Tell the Republicans to Just SHUT UP

The Faces of Dissent in America

When the Bush administration came to power, we were facing budget surpluses so large that we were within paying off the entire deficit in about 10 years. Budget surplus projections went far into the future. Bush immediately cut taxes and gave the money to his base and his donors, increased spending by massive amounts, and started a war based upon lies that was and still is funded entirely with borrowed money. He intentionally left our borders unprotected and encouraged corporations to outsource their high paying jobs through tax incentives. He cut taxes during time of war (something no President has ever done) and did everything he could to eliminate the middle class and achieve the goal of his grandfather Prescott that was to establish a global economy by making the U.S. the equivalent of a third world country. He was wildly successful.

In my opinion, it was a calculated decision to bankrupt the economy and to destroy the very social programs that President Obama is trying so hard to grow. The banking fiasco has it's roots in the deregulation craze of the overrated and overhyped Reagan Administration, then took off under George W. Bush. To blame the current administration for this mess is not only unbelievable, but disingenuous and untrue. American taxpayers became part owners of the banking system in the last months of the Bush administration---BEFORE Obama had ever made a decision--and now these Republican so-called patriots are calling Obama's proposal to get us out of this mess "Socialist". The mess is real, the deficit of the last 8 years tragic, and the challenges before our new President are enormous.

To deal with our economy, two wars, failing education, healthcare, an energy system that is bound to fail without real change, a job market that claims 12% unemployment but that all knowledgeable people realize may well be double that if the government would ever get around to counting those whose benefits have run out, will take someone who has an enormous ability to multi-task, a word that is foreign to Republicans who for eight years, followed their single syllable President like sheep, a man who was unable to think and chew gum at the same time; a man who embarrassed this country at home and abroad with his stupidity and lack of grace.

You guys know who you are. You are Rush "Oxycontin" Limbaugh, the hypocritical radio personality with an ego the size of Jupiter and a heart that has yet to be discovered. This glorified disc jockey has told his fervent Republican followers that he "wants Obama to fail", yet he tries to color his hate-filled words with a desire to improve this country. B.S., Rush. You want to improve your ratings, period.

Then there is the Emperor of Evil, John Boehner, who sports a voting record just to the right of Attila the Hun and whose glare and negative persona reveal a walking, talking right wing Zombie.

Finally, there is the Ancient One, John McCain, the losing candidate for the Presidency who demonstrated his standing of 894 from a class of 899, by running a comical campaign and his decision making abilities by selecting the worldly Sarah the Mayor, and insisting that "the principles of our economy are strong".

The American people can be thankful for one thing. The Republican Party has earned its way into obscurity and with "leaders" like these, will soon be there.

In President Obama we have a man capable of handling many important issues at once. If there was only one or two critical problems to deal with it would be different, but with the war, economy, jobs, education, healthcare, energy, etc., as all problems that MUST be handled effectively immediately, he is the answer to the prayers of America. He explained it through his press secretary this way:

If your house is on fire, all the rooms are important. Do you just save the living room and perhaps the kitchen? That seems to be the Republican plan. They are scared to death to act. Obama instead intends to gather all his forces and attack the fire all at once in an attempt to save the entire house, or NATION.

As the greatest drug dealer of all time once said: "READ MY LIPS". To all Republicans. If you can't participate as co-partners in this effort to restore America's greatness, then SHUT UP and stay the hell out of his way. Your type of patriotism makes me sick.




















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Ten Important Facts About Obama's Budget

The Buck FINALLY Stops Here

As Barack Obama lays out his plans in accordance with the promises he made during his campaign, the usual Republican spin and negative reactions are filling the airwaves. From Rush Limbaugh to Karl Rove to their latest token hero, Bobby Jindal, the reaction is predictable and expected. The Republicans stole a huge surplus and spent their way to obscurity, destroying our economy in the process. Now they expect us to listen to them? Not a chance.

Here are the ten facts about Obama's plan that America must know so the next time they hear a Republican lie they'll know it.

The plan:

1) Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.

2) Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won't go up one dime.

3) Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.

4) Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.

5) Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class.

6) Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies.

7) Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.

8) Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.

9) Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street.

10) Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama's budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America's priorities are, what they cost, and how we're going to pay for them.

This is the change we voted for. President Obama has done his part, now we need to do ours.
















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Obama Speaks Out on Fiscal Responsibility

OBAMA BLASTS BUSH DISHONESTY

President Barack Obama took aim at the “casual dishonesty” of Bush administration budgets Monday, saying he’ll abandon accounting “tricks” used to hide the ballooning deficit and pledging to cut a $1.3 trillion federal shortfall in half during his first term.

“I want to be very clear,” Obama said to open a “fiscal responsibility summit” at the White House. “We cannot and will not sustain deficits like these without end. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years, we cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration and the next generation.”

In his brief remarks, Obama returned several times to criticism of past budget practices that clearly was aimed at President George W. Bush’s administration, suggesting the former president and his team weren’t candid with the American people about the scope of the budget difficulties.

At one point, Obama criticized “the casual dishonesty of hiding irresponsible spending with clever accounting tricks, the costly overruns, the fraud and abuse, the endless excuses. This is exactly what the American people rejected when they went to the polls. They sent us here to usher in a new era of responsibility in Washington, to start living within our means again and being straight with them about where their tax dollars are going.”

Obama also made clear that he believe he was inheriting the current budget mess from Bush — even though roughly a quarter of the $1.3 trillion deficit stems directly from Obama’s recently economic stimulus package.

Still, Obama said he would break from several of Bush’s practices in building his own 10-year budget being released Thursday. Obama said he would put the full cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on the budget, and allocate money for natural disasters – two things Bush did not do.

“We do ourselves no favors by hiding the truth about what we spend. In order to address our fiscal crisis, we have to be candid about its scope,” Obama said.

Failure to act quickly and decisively, Obama said, “we risk sinking into another crisis down the road, as . . .our bills come due, confidence in our economy erodes and our children and grandchildren [suffer].”

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Obama Takes off the Gloves -- Fights Back

Last night in Williamsburg, Va., President Obama delivered a fiery message to make the case for his economic stimulus package and to say to Americans that Republican opponents are embracing a "losing formula" -- that only tax cuts will work. That strategy failed miserably for the Bush administration and Republicans are clinging to it like sailors to a sinking ship.

"If you're headed for a cliff, you've got to change direction," Obama said. Republicans didn't get it then, they don't get it now.

This comes at the same time that a new government watchdog study says The Bush administration overpaid tens of billions of dollars for stocks and other assets in its massive bailout last year of Wall Street banks and financial institutions. The Congressional Oversight Panel, in a report released today, said last year's overpayments amounted to a taxpayer-financed US$78 billion subsidy of the firms.



















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Thank You Barack Obama

YES HE DID!

I came across this article today, read it, and realized that Barack Obama is a more brilliant manager and strategist that we even imagined. He once joked that he was from Krypton, the son of Jor-el, sent here to save the Planet. He may have revealed himself to us. His goal in this election was to get a filibuster proof Senate majority of 60. He has 58, and it looks like Al Franken will make it 59 in Minnesota. So what does our President decide to do? Read the article first and you'll see what I mean:

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Judd Gregg said he is being considered to lead President Barack Obama's Commerce Department.

“I am aware that my name is one of those being considered by the White House for secretary of commerce and am honored to be considered, along with others, for the position,” Gregg said in an e-mailed statement. “Beyond that there is nothing more I can say at this time.”

If Gregg is chosen and he accepts, New Hampshire’s Democratic Governor John Lynch could appoint his replacement. If Democrat Al Franken prevails in the disputed Minnesota race that he now leads, the party would hold a 60-vote majority in the Senate, enough to shut off filibusters that can delay legislation indefinitely.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that, when he talked to Obama this morning about the commerce nomination, “a final decision had not been made.”

Gregg, 61, a former governor of New Hampshire and former chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, was elected to a third term in 2004. He would be Obama’s third Republican Cabinet appointment. Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, was appointed to lead the Department of Transportation, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates is a holdover from the Bush administration.

Read entire article

The man is Brilliant! He endured dinner with those conservative columnists (can you imaging ANYTHING more boring?), meetings at the White House with so-called Republican honchos, a personal visit to Senate offices, anything, to prove his commitment to a bipartisan government. He got stonewalled -- NOT A SINGLE VOTE! Then, to show he bore them no ill will, he threw a cocktail party. So, instead of selecting the perceived favorite, Symantec Corp. CEO John Thompson, Obama is deep in thought and meditation:

"Barack, Jor-el suggests replacing Bill Richardson with a Republican, specifically Judd Gregg. You will be demonstrating continued effort to work with the other side. Then convince Gov. Lynch to appoint a Democrat, and NOT a Republican simply because Gregg is his friend. You have your 60 Senate seats with the support of the Media and the American people."

I appreciate Obama's support of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, his $500 credit against Social Security payroll deduction, his increasing Federal spending on education by 3X, his extended coverage to the unemployed, his strong support for labor unions, all in the first week of his administration, demonstrates a dedication I have not seen from any president in my lifetime, and I remember Truman. He has done everything he could to get the cooperation of the other party.

Now, in basketball terms, it's time to run it down their throats. He must pass whatever legislation will result in fairness and equity for the middle class, limit bailout salaries to equal to his own, and legalizing Industrial Hemp. It will not only revitalize this country's economy, it will spur a new era of prosperity not seen in this country in decades. It will enable us to help feed the world. Here is the evidence: SAVING AMERICA. (Please take some time to visit this site)

My Final Thought

This nation owes President Obama a deep debt of gratitude. We never dreamed during the eight horrible years under Bush, that a man with the name of Barack Hussein Obama would come along and single handedly defeat the powerful Clinton machine, then not only defeat the Republican candidate for President, but have the seemingly all-powerful Republican Party hanging by their fingernails on the brink of political impotency. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. THANK YOU, BARACK OBAMA.














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Obama Extra Check Plan for Low-Income Seniors

Extra SSI Payment Considered

WASHINGTON – More than 7 million poor people who are elderly, blind or disabled and receive cash benefits averaging $477 a month could get an extra monthly payment as part of President-elect Barack Obama's $800 billion economic recovery plan.

Democratic congressional aides said the idea of an extra Supplemental Security Income payment is gaining traction on Capitol Hill as lawmakers and staff aides hold daily meetings to work out details of the upcoming stimulus bill. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

Democratic lawmakers hope to have an economic stimulus bill ready for Obama's signature by mid-February, although officials indicated Monday night that numerous provisions are unsettled.

Several said the emerging legislation likely will provide at least $70 billion over the next two years to help states meet the demand for Medicaid, which provides health care for low income people, and another $25 billion more to help individuals who cannot afford to pay for private, post-employment health benefits.

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GARY MIALOCQ & ASSOCIATES
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