Obama fires watchdog who barked at his crony
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Sunday, June 14, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Key health care senators have industry ties
Influential senators working to overhaul the nation's health care system have investments and family ties with some of the biggest names in the industry. The wife of Sen. Chris Dodd, the lawmaker in charge of writing the Senate's bill, sits on the boards of four health care companies.
Members of both parties have industry connections, including Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Tom Harkin, in addition to Dodd, and Republicans Tom Coburn, Judd Gregg, John Kyl and Orrin Hatch, financial reports showed Friday. .
Jackie Clegg Dodd, wife of the Connecticut Democrat, is on the boards of Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cardiome Pharma Corp., Brookdale Senior Living and Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals.
Dodd is filling in for ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will soon start work on a health care bill.
Other publicly available documents show Mrs. Dodd last year was one of the most highly compensated non-employee members of the Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc. board, on which she has served since 2004. She earned $32,000 in fees and $109,587 in stock option awards last year, according to the company's SEC filings.
Mrs. Dodd earned $79,063 in fees from Cardiome in its last fiscal year, while Brookdale Senior Living gave her $122,231 in stock awards in 2008, their SEC filings show. She earned no income from her post as a director for Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals but holds up to $15,000 in stock in Pear Tree, which describes itself as a development-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the needs of aging women.
The annual financial disclosure reports for members of Congress are less precise. They only require that assets and liabilities be listed in ranges of values.
Dodd sought a 90-day extension to file his report covering last year, giving him until mid-August to submit his report, but released his report Friday to The Associated Press.
Bryan DeAngelis, Dodd's spokesman, said, "Jackie Clegg Dodd's career is her own; absolutely independent of Senator Dodd, as it was when they married 10 years ago. The senator has worked to reform our health care system for decades, and nothing about his wife's career is relevant at all to his leadership of that effort."
DeAngelis said that Mrs. Dodd has hired a personal ethics lawyer to avoid any conflicts of interest and is not a lobbyist.
Other reports showed:
-- Rockefeller, D-W.Va., reported $15,001 to $50,000 in capital gains for his wife from the sale of a stake in Athenahealth Inc., a business services company that helps medical providers with billing and clinical operations.
Rockefeller is honorary chairman of the Alliance for Health Reform, a Washington nonprofit whose board includes representatives from the UnitedHealth Group health insurance company; AFL-CIO labor union; the AARP, which sells health insurance; St. John Health, a nonprofit health system that includes seven hospitals and 125 medical facilities in southeast Michigan; CIGNA Corp., an employer-sponsored benefits company; and the United Hospital Fund of New York.
-- Coburn, R-Okla., is a practicing physician. He reported slight business income, $268, from the Muskogee Allergy Clinic last year; $3,000 to $45,000 in stock in Affymetrix Inc., a biotechnology company and pioneer in genetic analysis; $1,000 to $15,000 in stock in Pfizer Inc., a pharmaceutical company; and a $1,000 to $15,000 interest in Thomas A. Coburn, MD, Inc.
Under Senate ethics rules, Coburn can't accept money from his patients.
-- Gregg, R-N.H., disclosed $250,001 to $500,000 in drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. stock and $1,000 to $15,000 each in stock in pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co. and Pfizer, the Johnson & Johnson health care products company and Agilent Technologies, which is involved in the biomedical industry.
-- Kyl, R-Ariz., the Senate minority whip, reported $15,001 to $50,000 in stock in Amgen Inc., which develops medical therapeutics. Kyl's retirement account held stakes in several health care businesses, including the Wyeth, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and AstraZeneca pharmaceutical companies; medical provider Tenet Healthcare Corp.; CVS Caremark prescription and health services company; Genentech, a biotherapeutics manufacturer; and insurer MetLife Inc.
-- Harkin, D-Iowa, has a joint ownership stake in health-related stocks. Harkin and his wife, Ruth Raduenz, own shares of drug makers Amgen and Genentech, Inc., each stake valued at $1,001 to $15,000; Their largest health care holding, Johnson & Johnson, was valued at $50,001 to $100,000.
-- Hatch, R-Utah, a member of the Finance and Health committees, reported owning between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of stock in drug maker Pfizer Inc. He spoke to two pharmaceutical industry conferences last year. Sponsors of the conferences donated $3,500 to charities instead of speaking fees, as required by Senate rules.
Like millions of Americans, several senators took a financial hit in 2008. A sampling:
--Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., lost some $100,000 in equity in his home in Springfield and $35,000 in his Chicago condominium. Durbin, who released his tax returns, reported losing $32,259 in various investments last year, including more than $10,400 in Berkshire Hathaway and $5,535 in Fidelity stock.
--Kennedy in 2007 had four trusts each valued between $5,000,001-$25 million. In 2008, only one trust was still in that category while the rest had slipped in value to $1,000,001-$5 million.
--Hatch's investments suffered from the banking crisis. In 2007, he reported assets of between $2,002 and $30,000 in Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. stock. His 2008 financial disclosure lists the value at less than $1,000.
One of Dodd's investments showed a vast improvement.
A new appraisal more than doubled the value of his vacation cottage in Ireland, which has been subject of a Senate ethics complaint filed by a conservative group questioning if the undervalued property was really a gift.
The property is valued at 470,000 euros, or about $660,000, on Dodd's disclosure report.
The previous year's report valued the seaside home, located in County Galway, at between $100,001 and $250,000.
DeAngelis, the spokesman, said Dodd and his wife decided to have the property appraised because they felt it was time to update the information.
AP - Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:48:47 -0400 (EDT)
By LARRY MARGASAK and SHARON THEIMER
Members of both parties have industry connections, including Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Tom Harkin, in addition to Dodd, and Republicans Tom Coburn, Judd Gregg, John Kyl and Orrin Hatch, financial reports showed Friday. .
Jackie Clegg Dodd, wife of the Connecticut Democrat, is on the boards of Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cardiome Pharma Corp., Brookdale Senior Living and Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals.
Dodd is filling in for ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will soon start work on a health care bill.
Other publicly available documents show Mrs. Dodd last year was one of the most highly compensated non-employee members of the Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc. board, on which she has served since 2004. She earned $32,000 in fees and $109,587 in stock option awards last year, according to the company's SEC filings.
Mrs. Dodd earned $79,063 in fees from Cardiome in its last fiscal year, while Brookdale Senior Living gave her $122,231 in stock awards in 2008, their SEC filings show. She earned no income from her post as a director for Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals but holds up to $15,000 in stock in Pear Tree, which describes itself as a development-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the needs of aging women.
The annual financial disclosure reports for members of Congress are less precise. They only require that assets and liabilities be listed in ranges of values.
Dodd sought a 90-day extension to file his report covering last year, giving him until mid-August to submit his report, but released his report Friday to The Associated Press.
Bryan DeAngelis, Dodd's spokesman, said, "Jackie Clegg Dodd's career is her own; absolutely independent of Senator Dodd, as it was when they married 10 years ago. The senator has worked to reform our health care system for decades, and nothing about his wife's career is relevant at all to his leadership of that effort."
DeAngelis said that Mrs. Dodd has hired a personal ethics lawyer to avoid any conflicts of interest and is not a lobbyist.
Other reports showed:
-- Rockefeller, D-W.Va., reported $15,001 to $50,000 in capital gains for his wife from the sale of a stake in Athenahealth Inc., a business services company that helps medical providers with billing and clinical operations.
Rockefeller is honorary chairman of the Alliance for Health Reform, a Washington nonprofit whose board includes representatives from the UnitedHealth Group health insurance company; AFL-CIO labor union; the AARP, which sells health insurance; St. John Health, a nonprofit health system that includes seven hospitals and 125 medical facilities in southeast Michigan; CIGNA Corp., an employer-sponsored benefits company; and the United Hospital Fund of New York.
-- Coburn, R-Okla., is a practicing physician. He reported slight business income, $268, from the Muskogee Allergy Clinic last year; $3,000 to $45,000 in stock in Affymetrix Inc., a biotechnology company and pioneer in genetic analysis; $1,000 to $15,000 in stock in Pfizer Inc., a pharmaceutical company; and a $1,000 to $15,000 interest in Thomas A. Coburn, MD, Inc.
Under Senate ethics rules, Coburn can't accept money from his patients.
-- Gregg, R-N.H., disclosed $250,001 to $500,000 in drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. stock and $1,000 to $15,000 each in stock in pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co. and Pfizer, the Johnson & Johnson health care products company and Agilent Technologies, which is involved in the biomedical industry.
-- Kyl, R-Ariz., the Senate minority whip, reported $15,001 to $50,000 in stock in Amgen Inc., which develops medical therapeutics. Kyl's retirement account held stakes in several health care businesses, including the Wyeth, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and AstraZeneca pharmaceutical companies; medical provider Tenet Healthcare Corp.; CVS Caremark prescription and health services company; Genentech, a biotherapeutics manufacturer; and insurer MetLife Inc.
-- Harkin, D-Iowa, has a joint ownership stake in health-related stocks. Harkin and his wife, Ruth Raduenz, own shares of drug makers Amgen and Genentech, Inc., each stake valued at $1,001 to $15,000; Their largest health care holding, Johnson & Johnson, was valued at $50,001 to $100,000.
-- Hatch, R-Utah, a member of the Finance and Health committees, reported owning between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of stock in drug maker Pfizer Inc. He spoke to two pharmaceutical industry conferences last year. Sponsors of the conferences donated $3,500 to charities instead of speaking fees, as required by Senate rules.
Like millions of Americans, several senators took a financial hit in 2008. A sampling:
--Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., lost some $100,000 in equity in his home in Springfield and $35,000 in his Chicago condominium. Durbin, who released his tax returns, reported losing $32,259 in various investments last year, including more than $10,400 in Berkshire Hathaway and $5,535 in Fidelity stock.
--Kennedy in 2007 had four trusts each valued between $5,000,001-$25 million. In 2008, only one trust was still in that category while the rest had slipped in value to $1,000,001-$5 million.
--Hatch's investments suffered from the banking crisis. In 2007, he reported assets of between $2,002 and $30,000 in Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. stock. His 2008 financial disclosure lists the value at less than $1,000.
One of Dodd's investments showed a vast improvement.
A new appraisal more than doubled the value of his vacation cottage in Ireland, which has been subject of a Senate ethics complaint filed by a conservative group questioning if the undervalued property was really a gift.
The property is valued at 470,000 euros, or about $660,000, on Dodd's disclosure report.
The previous year's report valued the seaside home, located in County Galway, at between $100,001 and $250,000.
DeAngelis, the spokesman, said Dodd and his wife decided to have the property appraised because they felt it was time to update the information.
AP - Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:48:47 -0400 (EDT)
By LARRY MARGASAK and SHARON THEIMER
The Issues are Not Being Addressed; Hold People Accountable!
Nancy Pelosi is a liar…period. She has clearly gotten caught telling different stories and now wants to move on. I did not buy into moving on when we dealt with President Clinton lying under oath (that was the issue), and I am not going to sit back and have the Speaker of the House accuse the CIA of a crime as well as smear the entire Bush administration (and US Iraq) policy; she needs to go!
I don’t care that she is a liberal Democrat; not the issue. Quite frankly, it never has been; the issue is comprised of three elements: behavior, individual policy and upholding the constitution. It chaps me to no end the political gamesmanship and doublespeak that takes place daily on Capitol Hill.
The press is either too dumb or intellectually dishonest to do their job, which is to report the news and thereby expose corruption when it takes place. Regrettably, they have chosen sides, and that choice has cost American's their: lives, income and trust in government. Yes, they are that powerful. Ask yourself why Gingrich was characterized as a demon while Clinton was cast as reformer i.e. welfare reform, balanced budget and cuts in the capital gains tax. How is it that when 50 million people are liberated and repressive government are overthrown* by a Republican conservative (in foreign policy), he is a cowboy fighting an unjust war (Iraq), but when a Democrat (liberal) follows the same policy Afghanistan), he is fighting a war that is necessary?
President Bush did more for women’s rights than any one of his predecessors of the last fifty years, but he was of the wrong political stripe. You see, I don’t care about the party; the press does.
I choose to fight liberal policies through respectful engagement. This engagement does not make me a saint. Nor does it make me a good person; any good I do is from the almighty. However, it makes me better than the press and politicians who sacrifice their ethics on the altar of advancing their left wing political agenda.
Nancy Pelosi needs to step down…NOW!
*The credit for this first goes to our extraordinary military. 5/26/09
Update 6/12/09 Fox News reports: …House Democrats are trying to kill an amendment to a war spending bill that would prohibit the release of the so-called "torture" photos. The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking release of the pictures.
Though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that "no final decision" has been made on the language, a Democratic source said Pelosi is dropping the amendment to coax anti-war Democrats into voting for the $100 billion supplemental spending for the war in Afghanistan and operations in Iraq.
America deserves a better speaker; one who cares more about the lives of troops than satiating her far left constituency’s anti-war appetite…This is truly sick…The Speaker needs to be legally removed from her post…today!
I don’t care that she is a liberal Democrat; not the issue. Quite frankly, it never has been; the issue is comprised of three elements: behavior, individual policy and upholding the constitution. It chaps me to no end the political gamesmanship and doublespeak that takes place daily on Capitol Hill.
The press is either too dumb or intellectually dishonest to do their job, which is to report the news and thereby expose corruption when it takes place. Regrettably, they have chosen sides, and that choice has cost American's their: lives, income and trust in government. Yes, they are that powerful. Ask yourself why Gingrich was characterized as a demon while Clinton was cast as reformer i.e. welfare reform, balanced budget and cuts in the capital gains tax. How is it that when 50 million people are liberated and repressive government are overthrown* by a Republican conservative (in foreign policy), he is a cowboy fighting an unjust war (Iraq), but when a Democrat (liberal) follows the same policy Afghanistan), he is fighting a war that is necessary?
President Bush did more for women’s rights than any one of his predecessors of the last fifty years, but he was of the wrong political stripe. You see, I don’t care about the party; the press does.
I choose to fight liberal policies through respectful engagement. This engagement does not make me a saint. Nor does it make me a good person; any good I do is from the almighty. However, it makes me better than the press and politicians who sacrifice their ethics on the altar of advancing their left wing political agenda.
Nancy Pelosi needs to step down…NOW!
*The credit for this first goes to our extraordinary military. 5/26/09
Update 6/12/09 Fox News reports: …House Democrats are trying to kill an amendment to a war spending bill that would prohibit the release of the so-called "torture" photos. The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking release of the pictures.
Though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that "no final decision" has been made on the language, a Democratic source said Pelosi is dropping the amendment to coax anti-war Democrats into voting for the $100 billion supplemental spending for the war in Afghanistan and operations in Iraq.
America deserves a better speaker; one who cares more about the lives of troops than satiating her far left constituency’s anti-war appetite…This is truly sick…The Speaker needs to be legally removed from her post…today!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
A touching letter to obama
I wonder if this school teacher still has a job? She sure lays it on the line. You can feel the animosity she has toward Obama as you read the letter. She seems to have all her facts straight. This letter should have been published in every newspaper in the land. I would love to hear the Obama crowds response to this letter.
April 27, 2009
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir.. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States.
You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth. I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about?
Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century? Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You don't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?
I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you. You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members -- on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer.
You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't! Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million -- not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you. I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
Sincerely,
Every Real American
P.S. I rarely ask that emails be 'passed around'.............
PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR LIST......it's past time for all Americans to wake up!
Ms Kathleen
Fourth Grade Teacher
Hillsboro, MO
April 27, 2009
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir.. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States.
You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth. I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about?
Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century? Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You don't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?
I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you. You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members -- on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer.
You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't! Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million -- not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you. I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
Sincerely,
Every Real American
P.S. I rarely ask that emails be 'passed around'.............
PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR LIST......it's past time for all Americans to wake up!
Ms Kathleen
Fourth Grade Teacher
Hillsboro, MO
Hey obama, its the economy, stupid!
When you have a finite supply of something like capital, money – let’s just call it money. And you use that money, called capital now. You put it into something that you believe that you can use it to elevate the value of it. This is how business works. You take a raw material, say it’s sand. You combine it with another raw material, lime. You combine that with another raw material, water. And then you throw in the fourth raw material, a little bit of gravel. Now, together, or individually, these things are pretty worthless. They’re cheap. Sand’s cheap. Water’s cheap. Lime’s cheap. Gravel’s cheap. It’s not worth much, is it? Do you run around and sell that at the corner grocery? No. But if you put all four of them together, that you didn’t pay an awful lot of money for, you put them in a giant mixer, and you make this stuff called concrete.
Then you’ve got these guys that come in, they’re called masons. And they do amazing things with the concrete. Why, they form up driveways and roads and foundations for houses and what have you. And they’ve taken those raw materials that don’t cost a lot, and because of their ingenuity they have elevated the value of the sand, lime, water, and gravel. It is now worth something, and people will trade what they have gone out and earned in their endeavor to be able, or to purchase the amalgam of the sand, gravel, lime, and water, also known as concrete. Is everyone clear on this? We have now taken something that is naturally occurring and, as I said, is pretty useless or – not useless, but it’s a commodity. It’s not expensive. And you have turned it into something that people will pay for. Now, this is how you elevate the value of something.
Now, when you have someone’s dollars, an actual Krugerrand, piece of gold, that went into that, and purchased it, and then you turn that dollar into something that’s worth two dollars, when you sell it there is a dollar profit to be made. When you didn’t have the dollar to start with, which is what this stimulus is, and you borrow it, you’re a dollar in the hole. You’re not ahead. You’re a dollar in the hole. Then you have to factor in the interest while you’re making the concrete. And then that’s assuming that you can sell it. But if it’s for a public works project, you’re not going to sell it. You’re just going to let people drive on it. So you haven’t elevated the capital worth or the net worth of the raw products All you’ve done is move them around. And in the process of doing so you have expropriated capital that could have been spent in some other useful measure to elevate the capital or to elevate the worth of other things.
Now, listen. I’m not making this up. This is right out of the Austrian economist handbook. This is right out of Hayek. This is right out of Mises. This is right out of Roepke. This is right out of Thomas Woods and his book “Meltdown,” and his other books on how the economy works. This is not hard stuff to understand. This is why you and I know that these stimuluses are not going to work, because hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars have been expropriated, and they have been put onto the minus side of our national ledger. This money must be repaid. And so the only way to repay it is either to devalue everything that you and I own, or to tax us, meaning more useful capital will be removed from the system and will be appropriated into the same useless measures. This is why we know unequivocally, I can tell you the results of this stimulus. I know what they are. There’s no question mark at the end of my statements. Just as most of your Austrian economists, they know how to – they can’t give you the exact number, but they know how this is going to turn out.
So all this pie in the sky wishing and wondering, as if we don’t know, is just a fantasy. Ladies and gentlemen, this is an exercise in extending Obama’s term here is what it is. “Well, we don’t see the full effect of the stimulus yet.” Well, of course we don’t. How many years can they get away with saying that? “We haven’t seen the full effect of the stimulus yet.” By the by, I misspoke earlier. The unemployment numbers are actually wrong from Bloomberg. They’re 9.4 percent. Making them the highest since July of 1983. But it’s just a day. Another walk in the park for the Obama economy here.
So let me just assuage you of one thing. This is not going to get better. You need to save your money. You need to do what is prudent and prurient for you. And you need to wait for this to end. And you will, because you’re Americans, and because you’re not lazy, and you’re not suckling off the federal or the state teat, and you know how this game is played. Now, you can make money in this market. As I have heard other people point out, smart people can take advantage of this. Like Wal-Mart. Have you seen the story? Monthly store sales are soggy, according to CNN Money. Large chain stores suffer another month of slumping sales as consumers show little appetite for discretionary shopping. This is because you are taking the advice of the evil, despicable, country-hating, talk radio mafia. And you are doing what appears to you to be commonsensical. I don’t see any reason I ought to be going out and spending bajillions of my dollars. No, I think I’m going to keep mine over here in my little cookie jar. I’m not giving them to you, Obama. Nancy Pelosi, I’m not going to expose my money so you can tax it and take it away. I’m just not going to spend it. No, I’m not going to buy those vegetables. I’m going to grow them in the backyard. No, no, I’m not going to go buy things that are taxed. I’m going to go to a garage sale.
How do you think garage sales and yard sales are doing in the Obama economy? I guarantee you they’re doing bang-up business. Do you know why? No sales tax. No capital gains tax. No property value added tax. When you’re dealing with your neighbors and you’re buying things that you need, your money is changing hands to his. Nobody knows where the money went, nothing. See, there are ways around this. And the government’s going to get frustrated by you finding a way around this. I think this is a beautiful thing, that people are discovering the evil that is big government because they see it all around them. And they are reverting back to what they know works, to what appears to most folks to be simple. I don’t want to pay sales tax on that refrigerator. I’ll go buy Johnny’s down the street at the garage sale, not pay any sales tax, and get it for one third of the price. “Yeah, but it’s used.” So? Now, here’s the best part of the monthly store sales are soggy. WalMart is kicking ass.
Thanks to Mike C. for helping me understand and voice my opinion.
Then you’ve got these guys that come in, they’re called masons. And they do amazing things with the concrete. Why, they form up driveways and roads and foundations for houses and what have you. And they’ve taken those raw materials that don’t cost a lot, and because of their ingenuity they have elevated the value of the sand, lime, water, and gravel. It is now worth something, and people will trade what they have gone out and earned in their endeavor to be able, or to purchase the amalgam of the sand, gravel, lime, and water, also known as concrete. Is everyone clear on this? We have now taken something that is naturally occurring and, as I said, is pretty useless or – not useless, but it’s a commodity. It’s not expensive. And you have turned it into something that people will pay for. Now, this is how you elevate the value of something.
Now, when you have someone’s dollars, an actual Krugerrand, piece of gold, that went into that, and purchased it, and then you turn that dollar into something that’s worth two dollars, when you sell it there is a dollar profit to be made. When you didn’t have the dollar to start with, which is what this stimulus is, and you borrow it, you’re a dollar in the hole. You’re not ahead. You’re a dollar in the hole. Then you have to factor in the interest while you’re making the concrete. And then that’s assuming that you can sell it. But if it’s for a public works project, you’re not going to sell it. You’re just going to let people drive on it. So you haven’t elevated the capital worth or the net worth of the raw products All you’ve done is move them around. And in the process of doing so you have expropriated capital that could have been spent in some other useful measure to elevate the capital or to elevate the worth of other things.
Now, listen. I’m not making this up. This is right out of the Austrian economist handbook. This is right out of Hayek. This is right out of Mises. This is right out of Roepke. This is right out of Thomas Woods and his book “Meltdown,” and his other books on how the economy works. This is not hard stuff to understand. This is why you and I know that these stimuluses are not going to work, because hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars have been expropriated, and they have been put onto the minus side of our national ledger. This money must be repaid. And so the only way to repay it is either to devalue everything that you and I own, or to tax us, meaning more useful capital will be removed from the system and will be appropriated into the same useless measures. This is why we know unequivocally, I can tell you the results of this stimulus. I know what they are. There’s no question mark at the end of my statements. Just as most of your Austrian economists, they know how to – they can’t give you the exact number, but they know how this is going to turn out.
So all this pie in the sky wishing and wondering, as if we don’t know, is just a fantasy. Ladies and gentlemen, this is an exercise in extending Obama’s term here is what it is. “Well, we don’t see the full effect of the stimulus yet.” Well, of course we don’t. How many years can they get away with saying that? “We haven’t seen the full effect of the stimulus yet.” By the by, I misspoke earlier. The unemployment numbers are actually wrong from Bloomberg. They’re 9.4 percent. Making them the highest since July of 1983. But it’s just a day. Another walk in the park for the Obama economy here.
So let me just assuage you of one thing. This is not going to get better. You need to save your money. You need to do what is prudent and prurient for you. And you need to wait for this to end. And you will, because you’re Americans, and because you’re not lazy, and you’re not suckling off the federal or the state teat, and you know how this game is played. Now, you can make money in this market. As I have heard other people point out, smart people can take advantage of this. Like Wal-Mart. Have you seen the story? Monthly store sales are soggy, according to CNN Money. Large chain stores suffer another month of slumping sales as consumers show little appetite for discretionary shopping. This is because you are taking the advice of the evil, despicable, country-hating, talk radio mafia. And you are doing what appears to you to be commonsensical. I don’t see any reason I ought to be going out and spending bajillions of my dollars. No, I think I’m going to keep mine over here in my little cookie jar. I’m not giving them to you, Obama. Nancy Pelosi, I’m not going to expose my money so you can tax it and take it away. I’m just not going to spend it. No, I’m not going to buy those vegetables. I’m going to grow them in the backyard. No, no, I’m not going to go buy things that are taxed. I’m going to go to a garage sale.
How do you think garage sales and yard sales are doing in the Obama economy? I guarantee you they’re doing bang-up business. Do you know why? No sales tax. No capital gains tax. No property value added tax. When you’re dealing with your neighbors and you’re buying things that you need, your money is changing hands to his. Nobody knows where the money went, nothing. See, there are ways around this. And the government’s going to get frustrated by you finding a way around this. I think this is a beautiful thing, that people are discovering the evil that is big government because they see it all around them. And they are reverting back to what they know works, to what appears to most folks to be simple. I don’t want to pay sales tax on that refrigerator. I’ll go buy Johnny’s down the street at the garage sale, not pay any sales tax, and get it for one third of the price. “Yeah, but it’s used.” So? Now, here’s the best part of the monthly store sales are soggy. WalMart is kicking ass.
Thanks to Mike C. for helping me understand and voice my opinion.
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