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The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will soon have ramifications for the president’s plan to expand offshore oil drilling. Much of the coverage has been muted, just focused on containing the clean up and little or no coverage on the president’s energy proposal.
This story has not received much coverage until recently, but would it be the same if President Bush had been in the White House? Remember the political backlash that accompanied his energy proposal in 2001, but when President Obama presented his energy plan that contained more drilling last month the condemnation from Congress and environmentalist was non-existent.
If this spill had occurred on President Bush’s watch the media firestorm would have been merciless and relentless with Congress outraged over his handling of the crisis. Would the entertainment industry be as forgiving or given a pass to President Bush as they have to President Obama?
This is the problem that I have the environmental community, they rail against one, but a free pass to ones they support. Why is it that we are supposed to protect the environment but they can live how they please?
The Academy Awards is a prime example of this. The biggest event in Hollywood had stars arriving in gas guzzling limousines treated like royalty how much energy they consume getting ready for the big event.
Before anyone complains about the environment that has major star power I want to first see how they live and conduct their lives, not just be stating I drive a Prius, but how do they live when away from the camera.
Let’s begin holding everyone to the same standard; of course that wouldn’t be amenable to one’s partisan view!
After nine years of exhaustive regulatory review the federal government finally gave the green light to establishing the first offshore wind farm at Massachusetts Cape Code area. The federal government had been fighting powerful groups of politicians and environmental groups who opposed this measure, but I find it a bit odd that those who oppose it are the same ones clamoring for more renewable energy.
This rings of hypocrisy and elitism of the highest order! Everyone screams that we need to invest in more renewable energy, but as soon as it is proposed in their area they find every excusable reason to block the implementation of this renewable energy source.
The argument ring hollow from those that oppose this wind farm! The Kennedy’s didn’t want to look out from there multi-million compound on the prestigious shores of Cape Code to view a Wind Farm, but cited this is a giveaway to developers. Yea Right! Newly elected Senator Scott Brown argument that this would hinder tourism and boating, well how much energy is expended that harms the environment from all those tourist and boaters?
Last week was the fortieth anniversary of “Earth Day” and we still have supporters of the environment espouse renewable energy but as long as it’s in someone else's backyard, which means the middle class or working class people of this country.
The elitist from Washington and the entertainment industry rail against the energy companies but they then live a lifestyle that is arrogant and hypocritical of what they say in public.
If you believe in renewable energy then let your actions speak loader than your words!
After the failed vote on financial reform yesterday it became crystal clear to what’s wrong with America; it’s both political parties! It doesn’t matter how the vote went on financial reform it’s was the remarks by both Democratic and Republican leaders to include the President.
Each side portrays the other side as siding with special interests and each side is only trying to gain political traction as it gears up for the November’s mid-term election. Neither Republican nor Democrats care about the American people; the public is just pawns in some national political game that only benefits the two parties.
Washington is attempting to reform Wall Street but who will reform Washington? If one wanted to find the culprits to the financial meltdown of 2008, one only has to look at the millions the financial sector contributed to members of Congress.
Both Democrats and Republicans look for a scapegoat but the gaze should be directed back at Congress for what they did or failed to do. Even President Obama who casts himself as fighting for the American people but one only has to look at the contributions he received from Goldman Sachs and mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. What was his role while he was in Washington?
Too often the needs of the American people get passed over for the needs of special interests groups that both parties play all too well. Before any major legislation is passed one needs to ask is it good for America or is it good for Democrats and Republicans.
Right now it’s only been good for both political parties.
The debate over immigration heated up after Arizona passed the strictest immigration law in the country. Once left to simmer until after November’s mid-term elections, Congress is left to debate this controversial issue.
This places the Obama Administration in a difficult situation entering into November’s mid-term election. While campaigning for the presidency then candidate Obama stated in his first year in office he would have comprehensive immigration reform signed into law. Unfortunately that campaign promise has come back to haunt this president.
The Hispanic community is outraged that nothing has been done on this volatile issue, after giving him overwhelming support in key battleground states; they fell let down! The biggest sticking point on this issue is amnesty!
There are roughly eleven million illegal immigrants in the country and the question becomes how do we solve this. One side is for giving them some sort of path toward citizenship and the other is totally against this. Whatever one feels on the issue you have to come up with a solution that will pacify both sides but with everyone playing politics with the issue that will be hard to do.
The Democrats and the president have boxed themselves in on this issue. In 2006 when the last time this issue was up for debate Democrats and Republicans criticized President Bush when he attempted immigration reform. Then Senator Obama was completely silent on the issue, now he has to make a decision.
The president needs to understand what leadership is, and that means you have to lead! So far he has ducked for cover!
Today the president gave a passionate speech in New York about his efforts to reform the entire financial regulatory system to prevent another economic meltdown that accord two years ago. The president laid out his vision on what was needed to reform the regulatory system and wanted to move rapidly forward to enact this sweeping change.
The real problem with financial system doesn’t begin or end at Wall Street but real reform needs to begin in Washington! In previous blogs I have written the real problems is that both political parties were to blame for the financial meltdown!
For starters why did the president fail to mention Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the mortgage lenders who were responsible for placing millions of low income families into homes that they could not afford knowing that any default the federal government would bail them out. The federal government did bail them out to the tune of $400 billion dollars and they are conveniently left out of the financial reform measure.
The real problem is look how millions of dollars from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the financial sectors such as Goldman Sachs flowed to members of both parties. The president was one of the top recipients from Goldman Sachs, Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac and is leading the charge to reform the system, what was his role while in the senate?
The real problem is the corrupt culture of Washington who makes a set of rules for themselves then sets a different standard for everyone else. The time has come for this nation to wake up and start holding Washington accountable for their actions.
If we don’t then another meltdown is on the horizon!
Right now Congress is conducting hearings into what led up to the financial meltdown that almost brought the nation’s economy to its knees. Many of the financial institutions of Wall Street have been grilled before various panels and the Administration is pressing forward with his Financial Reform Overhaul legislation intended to rectify the problems that led to the financial meltdown in 2008.
The only problem is who is going to bring Congress to task for their culpability in the financial crisis. The president and Congress have been hammering away at Wall Street for their excessive greed, but what about the greed of Congress?
Everyone seems to forget the bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae who received billions in bailout money from the taxpayers and currently are not even part of the proposed financial reform legislation.
You can’t overhaul the system by only looking at what transpired in 2008, you have to further when various pieces of legislation allowed the housing crisis to transpire in the first place. Look back to July 2005, when the Senate Banking Committee then controlled by the Republican wanted to adopt tough regulatory reform aimed at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae but was stymied by Democrats.
The largest recipients of campaign contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae where to Senator Chris Dodd, Sen. John Kerry, and then Senator Barack Obama, coincidentally they are leading the charge to reform the entire financial sector.
The Republicans are part of the problem as well by allowing corporate greed to be the standard practice of business throughout the nation, but the real culprits to the financial meltdown was Congress and both political parties!
No sooner had the contentious political battle of health care reform put on the back burner then Washington now settling for another partisan political battle over financial reform. Washington vowed to prevent another financial meltdown of 2008, unfortunately it looks like partisan politics has reared its ugly head as Democrats have found an issue that they can stick it to Republicans.
Instead of crafting bi-partisan financial reform legislation Democrats have pursued the course of partisan politics which is great for the Democratic Party but horrible for the country. They know if Republicans oppose this legislation that will be seen as siding with Wall Street instead of Main Street.
What everyone fails to realize is both parties contributed to the financial meltdown, and both parties had received massive contributions from the financial sector. Take a look at Goldman Sachs and you will see both Republican and Democrats with their hands all over it. In 2008 both parties received massive amounts of contributions from Goldman Sachs and the same ones are now advocating reforming the financial sector.
All of us want financial reform, but not with partisan implications with it. This piece of legislation should not be what’s good for Democrats or Republican, but what’s good for America. Too often the parties place narrow minded self interests above the interests of the nation; no wonder the public doesn’t trust Washington!
If we want a repeat of the disastrous health care reform legislation then we are on our way!
The dreaded day has arrived the one that is a holiday for government and pain for the taxpayer! Too often the American people see their taxes being sent to Washington and the various state governments only to see it sent into an economic sinkhole.
Washington right now is paying for the abuses of the past and it continues the reckless spending that has bankrupted the country. The country can’t continue the wasteful spending practices of our elected officials anymore!
All across the nation you are witnessing the implosion of government budgets, but you listen to politicians and they will always blame the financial crises. The financial crisis was not the cause it was the misguided spending practices by politicians of both political parties. Governments decry the Ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff, but they acted in the same manner and it took the financial crisis to bring this to the surface.
California the nation’s most populace state and eighth largest economy in the world is virtually bankrupted. Instead of focusing on the budget or the $500 billion unfunded pension system, California politicians debate the most trivial matters that leave the states citizens unemployed and have businesses flee the state.
Each day media affiliates across the country report various waste, mismanagement and downright Enron style accounting that is sending this nation into the abyss of economic purgatory.
In the past month one major military command and a military graduate school listed the national debt as a serious national security threat to this nation. Washington fails to heed this threat to this country!
The longer we wait the peril to this country will be too great and we may not be able to right the U.S. economy if left unchecked!
Last month U.S. military Joint Forces Command released a study that the national debt is a serious threat to this country; well now one more command reiterated this concern. The Industrial College of the Armed Forces provides graduate level education to senior members of the US armed forces, government civilians, foreign nationals and private industry.
Fifteen students were tasked with an assignment to come up with a national security strategy for the United States after studying for months they decided the economy was the top priority.
The national debt is now a major security threat to the nation and one if left unchecked will have serious ramifications for the economic stability to the United States.
The question left will Washington listen and start taking drastic action to reduce the national debt so far they just find ways to spend away the inheritance of America.
This nation has serious economic issues, one only has to look at the various states across the union and see how far we have dropped into an economic abyss. Political leaders took the nation to the cliff and now they are clueless on what to do next.
Both political parties bankrupted the nation and I don’t care what the president says; both Democrats and Republicans are to blame for our economic misery. The previous administration was reckless with federal spending, and President Obama spends without any concern for its ramifications.
The nation must get its fiscal house in order if we can’t face the political courage then we will send America into a black hole of fiscal despair!
Will all the euphoria about the passage of health care legislation a soldier who was captured by the Taliban in July of last year still remains in captivity. The media has shown little interest in this story except when the occasional video pops up from the Taliban.
Once he was taken captive by the Taliban during the first weeks of July last year the media paid little attention as the focus was on more pressing news story; the death of Michael Jackson.
December of last year his capture again hit the news headlines because the Taliban released a video propaganda of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl. Then again attention focused back to more pressing issues such as health care reform and Tiger Woods sex scandal.
It’s a tragedy that our brave men and women who serve this nation bravely are regulated to second tier status when celebrities are given royal treatment for shameless conduct. Why do the media consistently lavish praise or listen to voices of the entertainment industry but fail to give those serving in the armed forces the same status.
Often when the military are portrayed it’s someone who is disgruntled, suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Order, who is severely disabled or who died under traumatic circumstances.
Having served in both Iraq and Afghanistan I have witnessed the best this nation has to offer, many volunteer time and time again because they believe in the cause they are serving.You will never see positive images only the worst of the armed forces.
When this nation turns its back on its service members it’s turning its back on freedom!
Each passing day more information emerges about the fiscal nightmare affecting the pension system in California. A new study by Stanford University’s public policy program revels California pension systems could face pension obligations that could exceed $500 billion dollars.
The Stanford study coincides with studies by other researchers that have the system teetering on insolvency. All one has to do is look what happened to General Motors pension fiasco of underfunding pension contributions and payouts of lucrative benefits that could not be sustained.
The same is happening in California which was not the result of the financial crisis but accelerated in 1999, when then Governor Gray Davis increased pension benefits at the same time lowered retirement ages as CALPERS (California Public Employee Retirement System) insisted this change would not affect the general fund and could be sustained.
They were wrong and now the taxpayers are the ones having to make up the shortfall. If nothing is done to solve this ticking time bomb California will first have to shore up the pension system before any other expenditure can be made.
This means before funding to schools, to senior’s and other entities, it will first have to shore up the unfunded pension systems. Right now California is doing what it is famous for putting its head in the sand hoping it goes away.
We need real change in Sacramento and across the nation! What is happening in Greece will be coming to America; to our peril!
Right now California is in denial over its fiscal mess. Arguments have been debated over furloughs of state government workers, but little has been said over the pension time bomb ticking away that is set to explode.
Today an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times covered California’s $500 billion unfunded pension system and how Sacramento has failed to summon the political courage to tackle this explosive issue. Sacramento summoned the political will to create this problem, but is denial to solve it, because Sacramento has been high jacked by union special interests groups. If nothing is done which currently is the case programs will be reduced or eliminated and taxes raised.
In previous blogs I have written how states are a threat to the U.S. from their fiscal irresponsible spending and solutions or lack of thereof to solve the mess they created.
The nation will never be able to immerge from this economic turmoil unless California the largest and the most populous state starts enacting fiscal prudent economic policies. Currently businesses refuse to operate in California as economic policies that emanate from Sacramento have a chilling effect on the business climate.
Does anyone wonder why California with the largest auto market in the nation doesn’t manufacture any automobiles, the Toyota plant in Fremont just recently relocated operation to Texas leaving thousands unemployed.
California is ranked as one of the worst state to operate a business, the worst state to retire in and almost last in the quality of its education. In almost every measurable category California is dead last or rank near the bottom, but ranked the highest in government spending.
Having been born and raised in California I am saddened to see this once prosperous sate decline to the depths of economic misery. Only continued misery ahead!
Many times I have blogged about the threat the national debt poses to this country and I will continue to blog about until this nation get serious about tackling this monumental crisis which left unchecked will hamper the economic security of this nation.
President Obama lambasted Republicans all throughout the campaign for the White House in 08 and rightfully so. They were irresponsible and acted like they were drunken sailors sending the national debt to staggering heights.
Unfortunately President Obama came into office claiming to bring fiscal sanity to Washington, but he makes President Bush look like a fiscal steward as his policies have sent the national debt into the stratosphere. Money is doled out like he is playing monopoly with no plan in sight on how he would control spending.
All we get is it’s the other guys fault, give me time and we will set up commission on the matter! Time is running out! Last week little was made of two articles in the Newport News Daily Press on cost overruns of the Gerald Ford class carriers being built that totaled into the billions, or the millions of overruns into the millions on refurbishing the Enterprise Aircraft Carrier.
This nation cannot keep spending like this especially when foreign counties are financing our debt. Everyone should look what is happening in Greece and understand that it could happen here.
Majority of the states our broke not from the recession as lawmakers want you to believe, but by irresponsible government spending and it’s the taxpayer who is left paying for fiscal management at all levels of government.
Time is now to start reducing the debt, if lawmakers can’t or won’t reduce the debt get out of the way and let someone who will!
The economy added 162,000 jobs for the month of March the largest increase in almost three years as reported by the labor department and the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7%.
This was a good showing but before anyone thinks that we turned the corner on the unemployment picture one has to look deeper into the labor report and realize that a third of the increase in job’ s were temporary hiring for the census. More hiring will be conducted for the remaining months of the census; the question then becomes what happens to the unemployment rate when these temporary workers head back into the unemployment line?
The unemployment situation can’t be considered robust when most of the hiring is by the government! The private sector has to be the engine of economic growth not the government. What happens when all the government spending stops?
The private sector is waiting to see what is the fallout from the just past health care reform measure, and already we are seeing direct impact to various companies who state that they once enjoyed tax incentives to provide prescription drug coverage for their workers now will have to cover the full cost. This over time will hamper any job creation as they will have to find to spend much needed capital which could be spent elsewhere.
Until the private sector feels secure that they have an indicator what Washington will do in the future you will not see a major reduction in the unemployment rate. Help small business and you help America, if not then start seeing more breadlines!
This might seem a strange how the States can be a treat to the security of this nation, but they are by their fiscal irresponsible budgeting. Sunday the New York Times posted an article how the States are finding creative ways to raise much need revenue by taxing anything and everything they can.
The States are crippling economic growth by invoking creative gimmicks to raise revenue. Right now families are struggling, businesses are reeling and the last thing you need to be doing is hit everyone one with hidden fees to pay for the incompetence of State legislatures who spent like drunken sailors and now want the taxpayers to pay the price.
Columnist Dan Walter’s of the Sacramento Bee wrote in one of his daily columns of all the political motivated reforms that are just for show but do little to change the systemic culture of irresponsible spending by the California State Government.
What about the scandal plague California Public Retirement System the largest in the nation by having placement agents obtain multibillion-dollar investments for their clients? Many of them have been money losers, adding to the fund's huge value decline that taxpayers will have to cover the shortfall.
Governments at all levels are bankrupt not because of any fiscal calamity, but because of Madoff ponzi scheme accounting. We chastise Bernie Madoff for the ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of billions, but the States acted in the same manner.
Any basic investigation of State finances would uncover the spending excesses of State government, everyone believes it’s because of the financial meltdown; this just uncovered the fiscal mess.
The time is now for the State’s to start governing in a fiscal prudent manner and curb wasteful spending and inefficiency or to continue will hamper the economic security of America and continue the fiscal meltdown of this nation.
