NebraskaPatriot

In The Northwest the Past Week And . . .

even in the liberal northwest the natives are getting restless . . .

Oh my, Governors in Oregon and Washington apparently find tax increases of all kinds just the medicine that is needed for an area already struggling economically.

I was amazed that Democrats which control everything in both states simply see no way out of their fiscal mess except to increase taxes. And when I say increase taxes, I mean increase taxes on anything and everything that moves.

The businesses that I met with last week are just up in arms as they are being taxed out of existence.

I do not talk politics when I'm on business, but these folks seemed so anxious to vent to someone and I think since I'm not from the area, they felt I was a great release for their collective frustrations. So I spent a lot of time listening.

It will be interesting to watch because I'm afraid that both Oregon and Washington are heading down the same path that California is now spiraling down.

So folks, get ready, because I'm sure that Mr. Obama will be sending more of our tax dollars out west to rescue these fiscal disaster areas.

Visuals of Obama/Reid/Pelosi's Drunken Spending Madness

I'm a visual person so these graphs are great . . .

Found these graphs at the blog Hillbuzz and thought they were just great as they show very clearly what Obama along with the Dems in Congress are doing to this country. 

What is also good is to see the years prior to Obama, in particular years 2008 and 2009 in the "Deficit" graph. It shows the impact of a Democrat Congress has on a budget. Yes, Bush should have veto the heck out of it.

Also look at the impact the Republican Congress had in 1994. Republicans need to keep this in mind if and when they take control of Congress and remember that they can reduce the deficit. Unfortunately, Republicans got drunk on power in the mid-2000s and forgot why they were there.

And the final graph is just chilling . . . 

New Unemployment Numbers Re-enforce Business Unease

the uncertainty is for real and Obama and team better wake up . . .

It's always good news when you see the unemployment rate decrease and that's what the latest figures  show that came out today. The drop from 10% to 9.7% is good news for families across the country. Ed Morrissey over at HotAir has written a concise, easy to understand article on what's all in this latest drop. 

The bottom line on unemployment is that it will not start showing marked improvement until:

1. Obama and the Dems cut taxes on the job creators

2. Obama and the Dems stop all the regulations and new leftist programs

Business does not like uncertainty and right now Obama and the Dems are doing nothing but providing uncertainty-on-steroids to the business community. Consequently, companies of all sizes, but particularly the small businesses which are the backbone of our economy, can not do any long range planning.

It's become very clear how ill-prepared these folks are in leading this country when this White House has so few of its staff and cabinet leaders who have ever run a business or been involved with the daily operation of a business.

I believe that we will not see any marked improvement in the unemployment level until after November and that's only IF Republicans retake the House and Senate and they actually legislate like Conservatives this time around. It would be the balancing act that I think would provide business with some calmness and allow them to at least realize that nothing to much was going to happen with a Conservative Congress and a Leftist President fixed in a stalemate.

Until then, well, I hope it gets better but the environment is just not business friendly right now. 

Obama 2011 Budget-Is This A Joke?

Obama and Congressional Democrats can't be serious . . .

Did Massachusetts not happen? Did Virginia and New Jersey not happen? Are the Democrats in Congress and in the White House living in a dream world?

The President just released his proposed 2011 budget and folks around the country have to be shaking their collective heads in disbelief.

Here's just a couple of the mind boggling numbers:

• Establishes a new single year record for spending of $3.8 trillion
• Establishes a new single year record for a deficit of $1.6 trillion
• Establishes a new overall record of total debt of $9.3 trillion

The so-called spending freeze that Obama so loudly proclaimed in his State of the Union address is at  best a reduction of $20-billion over last year coming from about 14% of the overall budget. Now some may say that's progress but consider that Obama and Democrats injected over $260-billion in so-called stimulus dollars last year plus increased their overall budgets by an additional 14% last spring in the Omnibus spending bill. You end up with each of these agency starting it's budgeting at an overall 84% higher level than the prior year. I would hope they could find a few bucks to reduce.

How many households got an 84% increase in their budget last year? This doesn't sound like much of a freeze to me. 

One final thought on this so-called freeze. Last year, Democrats in Congress and Obama agreed on $6.9 billion in spending cuts mostly in defense. They then took that "savings" and spent it and much, much more in non-defense spending which I outlined above. So don't hold your breath on this freeze happening either.

The end game is this. President Obama is showing early in year two that what happened in year one was not inexperience, it was who he is, i.e. a big time Liberal who fully believes that more Government not less is the answer.

In the end, as Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation points out this F.Y. 2011 budget will "over the next decade, pass $75,000 per household in additional debt into the laps of our children and grandchildren".

Voters now have a clear picture of who Obama is and who the Democrats are. Apparently Massachusetts wasn't enough of a slap in the face for Mr. Obama and his party, I guess it now goes to Colorado, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, New York and even California . . .

Strap On Those Seat Belts

it's tomfoolery . . .

The President can give it his best stern-I'm-pissed-at-the-world tough guy look but the words coming out of his mouth tell us it's the same old liberal, government is the answer to all ills.

On foreign affairs, I don't have enough time to go there because these guys are so far over their heads that it's just best to say that world events are going to carry the day and they will do nothing but react. Proactive is not in their genetics when it comes to fighting terrorism and all those gosh-darn bad old man-made disasters (!), Obama and crew do not want to offend anyone so let's just leave these terribly misunderstood folks alone and bury our heads in the sand.

Domestically, it's spend and spend and spend. It's just in Obama's DNA. The man has never run a business or even really worked in a business whose goal was to MAKE MONEY. His speech should only solidify his place as the most Liberal President in our country's history.

And here, my friends is the tomfoolery. Yes, tomfoolery, which is defined as "foolish behavior, utter nonsense, rubbish"

Yep, that pretty much describes this President's BIG Plan on reducing the exploding deficit. You see President Obama is proposing freezing spending . . . well, ok, freezing spending on domestic spending . . . well, ok, so not really. Here's his plan:

• Mr. Obama raised the baseline of discretionary domestic spending by $115-BILLION since he was sworn into office just one year ago.
• Mr. Obama then increased that spending midway through the '09 fiscal year during the reconciliation-pork laden bill he signed.
• Mr. Obama then increased it again with his 2010 budget.
• Mr. Obama is now calling for a freeze that will save $15-billion for fiscal year 2011

Wow, that's attacking all that out of control spending you folks are doing in Washington. President Obama's so-called freeze will leave in place:

• 24% INCREASE in discretionary, non-security domestic spending AND will exempt from the freeze the $512-BILLION that has yet to be spent from last year's wonderful "Stimulus" bill.
• To present this as some serious attack on out of control spending is an insult to the American people.
• One final figure, the Congressional Budget Office shows that over the first three years of his presidency, Obama will borrow an estimated $3.7 TRILLION and that my friends is more than the entire accumulated national debt for the first 225 years of U.S. history!

So yes, strap on those seat belts because the turbulence in this economy is going to continue to be very bumpy with Mr. Obama as our pilot . . .

Obama Being Obama

arrogance and stupidity on display . . .

If last night didn't finally convince the folks in this country that Obama is a true-blue LIBERAL than I'm not sure what will.

It's very simple. He believes that only Government can create jobs and jobs can only be created if we throw more tax money out to the minions, tax dollars that we don't have.

Bottom line. It was more of the same and after the initial afterglow wears off, it's business as usual in Washington. Greattttttt

Man I feel better. I'm heading downtown to the bank and gettin' me some of that free money that Obama thinks is out there.

Don't Look Now . . .

I think we could all live without this . . .

but gasoline prices are heading toward $3.00 a gallon.

Anyone notice that gas prices have been climbing? According to the Department of Energy, we are paying more at the pump right now than we have since November 2008 when we were coming off those record breaking high summer gas prices.

Indications are that even higher gasoline prices are ahead.

Gosh, this Obama economic and green energy strategy is really working wonders for the American people. Whatever glimmer of Hope that White House economists see in our economy could quickly Change to naught if gas prices continue to rise past the 3-dollar mark.

UPDATE: I guess my timing was a bit ironic as the Omaha World-Herald has as its lead story today on the increase in gas prices.

Obama Job Losses Mount for American Families

 
this is not something you wish any family to go through . . .

As FOXNEWS reported this morning on its website, "December saw losses of an additional 53,000 construction jobs and 27,000 manufacturing jobs. The number of workers unemployed for 27 weeks or more reached a record 6.1 million, or four out of every 10 unemployed workers."

Remember, this President and his fellow Democrats including our very own Ben Nelson laid their hands on the economy last February and passed the $787-billion "Stimulus" bill. Below is what got stimulated as a result:

 "Hope and Change" courtesy of Barack Obama, Ben Nelson and the Democrat Party . . .

New Numbers from Federal Agency Depressing

this really shouldn't surprise anyone . . .

Democrats and President Obama have to be jumping for joy with the latest news from the Bureau of Labor. The Federal Agency says all those lost jobs over the past year have been made up for with a large increase in jobs in government. Gosh, this ought to make those standing in  unemployment lines feel better. Instead of standing there, they should head up to the White House because Obama "will provide".  As Rush says, "How's all this hope and change working out for you?" 

Here is the graph as provided by the Bureau of Labor:

Boy I Hate Being Pessimistic

I get no warm fuzzies from those in Washington . . .

As I've said before, I'm a generally upbeat, positive person. I don't like to be around negative people. So it really bothers me when I look out across the plains right now because it's really hard to find positives in terms of the economy.

 

Here’s some sobering facts as heard out on the Great Plains:

 

• The Omaha World Herald reported last week that "significant economic weakness remains in the rural Midwest," based on a survey of small-town bankers in 11 states, including Nebraska.  The survey by a Creighton University economist "indicates that job losses continue and that home sales and retail sales are still weak." 

 

• CNBC.com reported that "according to the federal government's broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5% are either without a job entirely or underemployed.  The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994."  With such a large portion of Americans experiencing employment struggles, economists worry that an extended period of slow or flat growth lies ahead.

 

• Layoffs and business closers continue as 2009 enters its final month. I’m willing to bet that if you have not personally been involved in a layoff or closure then you know someone who has. I was fortunate in that the small company I was with was a head of the curve so to speak when it closed in August 2008 and I was very fortunate to find another job by late September. For far too many today, that isn’t the case. I know how gut wrenching it was for me following the closing of the company. Unless you’ve gone through it, it’s really hard to describe but I can say that it was a very challenging time for me internally and one that I will not soon forget.

 

• The Lincoln Journal-Star reported that "The [Nebraska] Legislature ended its special session recently with a bill that balanced the state budget and filled a $334 million revenue gap" with no tax increases on individuals or businesses.  The session was called following several months of shortfall in state tax revenue. Meanwhile, a report in the Omaha World-Herald says "economists and state senators alike predict that budget woes in state government will continue into 2012 and possibly longer, even if the effects of the recession have bottomed out."  According to the story, "that means lawmakers will face more difficult and unpopular choices when they return in January for their regular session."  “This just may be the first Band-Aid. I hope not,” said State Sen. John Wightman of Lexington[Nebraska].  The story quoted Scottsbluff Sen. John Harms, who said "if the economic recovery is slow, we're going to be talking about closing agencies."

 

• And in a related story, the web site Stateline.org reports that "tax collections declined in the third quarter in 44 states for which early data are available, according to a report released Nov. 23 by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government."  According to the report, states collected 10.7% less in tax revenue in the July-September period than during the same three months a year ago.  "Corporate income tax collections declined more in Ohio than in any other state in the quarter, falling more than 111%."

So there you have it. Not real uplifting news but it's the reality as we know it. Maybe those in Washington DC should come out and live with the rest of us and taste reality. 

Ok, so let's end this with some humor anyway: