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The Hope and Change of Arrogance and Thuggery
Townhall.com ^ | February 8, 2009 | Kevin McCullough

Posted on 02/08/2009 4:48:12 AM PST by Kaslin

President Obama has turned the will of the American people against him. In one rookie mistake after another, his decisions have shaken even the majority of his supporters. His insisting to not listen to his employer--We The People--is now adding arrogance to his unsteady hand. His policies involving political payback instead of finding genuine solutions are now demonstrating to all of us that the vagueness of his campaign speechmaking was merely the work of a hollow wordsmith after all.

t's been a tough three weeks on the job Mr. President.

In breaking news on Friday afternoon, CBS News reported the startling conclusion. Mr. Obama's 97% federal spending stimulus was exactly the opposite of how most Americans think the economic crisis should be handled. In their findings they reported that 55% of the nation believed the relief package should focus primarily, if not entirely, on tax reductions. We all do remember that he campaigned on this right? Under the Obama economic plan, he would begin the economic recovery by cutting the taxes of 95% of Americans? (Never mind the funny public school math he was using to get to the 95% number--just give him the benefit of the doubt). In the same findings, CBS News poll found that only 22% believed that more government spending would solve the crisis.

Despite economic advisors telling him so, despite the Reagan biographies he "read" following his election, despite the fact that the brightest economic minds in the nation advocate differently, and now despite the fact that the American people have so advised, Mr. Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid believe it is more important to spend nearly 1.3 trillion in stimulus allocation than to do the only thing that would allow the economy to recover.

This is likely their prescribed goal.

An economy that heals by allowing the workers and producers in this nation to keep what they have earned, invest it in new growth, the adding of jobs, and the expansion of production in America, would be the greatest thing liberal party leaders fear.

For the record, I've opposed all of our bailout and stimulus efforts from the very first ones in mid-2008. I've repeatedly written and advocated on Fox News, radio, and elsewhere that bailouts (artificial props under poorly performing companies) never succeed, and the price of not allowing failure merely extends the long term losses.

But let's give Obama and company benefit of the doubt for the moment, just for the sake of argument. Let's argue that the Government taking from us 1.3 trillion dollars in taxes will turn things around. How then should it be spent? What has emerged from the House and Senate proceedings is a slab of pork spending so large in scope the average tax-payer will gasp with offense when the final list is revealed. (Among the items, millions for condoms, hundreds of millions of STD awareness, even rumored water parks for Florida.)

But since this is imaginary land and we're pretending that taxing us 1.3 trillion dollars will solve the problems let's consider another way of using the money.

Most people do not realize that 1.3 trillion dollars is more money than if you spent one million dollars a day since the birth of Christ right up to present day. If you break it down across the raw population of America (not voters, not taxpayers, not even just adults - but EVERYONE) it would average out to be roughly $4290 per person. A married couple would garner a touch more than $8500. A family of four comes in at just over $17,000.

At a dinner party in Chicago this past friday evening I asked the four couples gathered around the table what they would do with that amount of money coming back to them from the government. Each of them mentioned housing projects, fix-me-up stuff, goods they were in need of, and some mentioned paying off debt. There were also mentions of new home electronic big ticket items, and the ladies around the table all day-dreamed momentarily of being able to do a spa day. Long story short, every item they talked about would have employed someone like a contractor, plumber, or electrician. They would have added to the welfare of commerce--big ticket items, new transportation, etc. And some would have even helped solidify the crumbling credit market by paying off credit card balances and putting cash back into the system.

If this was the case with merely five couples of very modest means, imagine the heat that would warm the economic engine from an entire nation responding this way.

America would've never seen this kind of stimulus put in place before. The largest tax cuts that President Bush instituted were roughly $1500 per family. The amount of fluidity this plan would free up would be more than ten times that amount.

President Obama knows this to be true. He also could predictably determine the outcome.

Put another way, do you know any struggling families of four that could use $17,000? Think it would mean anything to them?

President Obama's bad missteps this past week were confounded not by just horrendously partisan policy-making, but the arrogance with which he penned an op-ed in the Washington Post and gave a retreat address to House Democrats, some of whom are pleading with him not to pursue the federal spending and replace it with tax relief, or credits, or whatever Obama's term for it would be this go around.

President Obama is not a King, he is a servant. He's the foot washer. He's the errand boy that we hired to administrate the nation for the next four years. His power exists only at the discretion of "We The People." And when he spurns the majority of the nation on the single greatest domestic issue facing our lives for the next twelve months or longer. He'd be wise to stop wagging his finger at us, and begin some of that "listening to us" that he promised us in nearly twenty four months of campaigning.

It might be good to keep in mind the comparative value of $17,000 per family vs. condoms, STDs, and water parks as we move forward in the days to come.

It might even be better to let your Reps and Senators know how badly you could use that financial reimbursement for the taxes that kill you month after month.

I would also find great intrigue as to what YOUR family would do with that money, so e-mail me here to let me know personally.

President Obama works for us--it's a message he needs to be reminded of repeatedly. He is our servant.

And if we do not remind him, we have only ourselves to blame for the consequences that will result.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: dearleader; deathtoamerica; obama; obamacon
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To: ballplayer

Sorry, but reparations to pay for the sins of our ancestors is the next step that this man will try to swing over the american people.

i know, no one alive today was ever a slave or had a slave, but that means nothing to him.

why do you think 95% of the blacks in this country voted for him?

we will also have dc staehood, an ammunition tax so egragarious that it will stop most people from using firearms, the bestow of citizenship on 20 millions illegals ( read new democrats) and the list goes on and on.

thanks to all the useful idiots who elected this monstrosity.


21 posted on 02/08/2009 5:56:06 AM PST by bestintxas (It's great in Texas)
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To: MrB

Good idea, i did that yesterday. if lots of folks do this it will definitely send a strong message. Do not let them hold your money interest free this year. also, this protects you from getting an IOU instead of your refund such as is happening to Californians this year.

i will do all in my power to sabotage the current federal govt. I am retired military and voluntarily served 2 tours in Nam with the marine corps but i don’t recommend military service to anybody at this point. Our current govt stinks and needs to be torn down as quickly as possible so we can start re-building it.


22 posted on 02/08/2009 5:59:53 AM PST by fatrat (Previously a proud american, currently ashamed.)
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To: fatrat
Thank you for your service to our country. In today's environment, it is difficult to advise the youth who would seek the military as a career that they would be serving a cause in which they believe. I have family members in the military, one of which may not reenlist. The others are unsure what the future will present with the current CIC....

They have my prayers....

23 posted on 02/08/2009 6:08:46 AM PST by Born In America (Liberalism proves insanity can be learned....)
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To: MarkL

I can live with that.


24 posted on 02/08/2009 6:30:11 AM PST by waxer1 ( Live Free or Die; Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death)
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To: sport

BINGO!!!

I agree with you 100%. Also, now they are getting a hold of the census. They are going to fix the election big time.


25 posted on 02/08/2009 6:33:26 AM PST by waxer1 ( Live Free or Die; Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death)
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To: Kaslin

I would love to get a check for $4-5,000. I would use it to pay back taxes that I owe.


26 posted on 02/08/2009 6:42:50 AM PST by shaft29 (Just your typical black woman.)
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To: MarkL

He did the same thing in an interview with Chris Wallace. Wallace pointed out that cutting capital gains would result in more money in the treasury. Obama responded that the purpose of capital gains taxes was to implement fairness in our society.


27 posted on 02/08/2009 7:09:31 AM PST by Hoodat (For the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.)
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To: waxer1
Also, now they are getting a hold of the census. They are going to fix the election big time.

Indeed. It's the "Look! There's Elvis!" ploy. While everybody is screaming about Obama's payoffs, they sneak in this Trojan Horse. Watch every illegal be counted in the next census and registered by ACORN in the next election. Short of a drastic miscue by the Democrats, the Republicans will never be in power again.

28 posted on 02/08/2009 7:22:05 AM PST by Oatka ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." –Bertrand de Jouvenel)
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To: All

I went into an Apple Store yesterday, and there were two young women in front of me gushing with excitement over getting a stimulus check from the government and what they were going to buy with it.

I thought about how I would have approached the subject with people I know, and I was stumped.

Perhaps I might have tried the approach: “You FOOLS! This is YOUR money they are giving back to you that they took away from you in the first place!”

Or vent on this level: “You don’t even make enough money to cover what you have put in via taxes to cover what you are getting! THEY ARE TAKING TAX MONEY FROM ME AND MY FAMILY TO GIVE TO YOU SO YOU CAN BUY IPODS!”

Or even more to the point: “Don’t you dummies understand that this money doesn’t just get printed and distributed to you. It has to come from somewhere, whether the government borrows money to be paid back with interest or a pound of flesh is taken out of all of us with the hyperinflation that is coming as a result of throwing all this money with no backing into the economy!”

At that point, it occurred to me: They simply don’t care.

Obama is a racist who spent twenty years listening to anti-American racist pap in a racist “church” and gave large sums of money to that “church”.

People don’t care.

Obama is an associate of a virulent anti-American radical terrorist, a member of a group who killed AMERICANS with bombs, who wished he had done more violence, whose most public moments in print are accompanied by a picture of him proudly and triumphantly standing on top of an American flag, the same flag I and my father served under, and my father was buried under. This man is one of Obama’s principal patrons, who by his own admission is “guilty as sin-free as a bird”, and quite proud of that.

People don’t care.

Obama is corrupt to the core, steered money towards his family (wife) and friends.

People don’t care.

Obama is an avowed socialist who believes in redistribution of wealth.

People don’t care.

Obama thinks higher taxes are the way to fix our problems.

People don’t care.

Obama thinks higher gasoline prices are good for us.

People don’t care.

Obama thinks guns should be banned.

People don’t care.

Obama is a devotee of Saul Alinsky’s techniques as described in “Rules for Radicals”, one of the most disgusting things I have ever read.

People don’t care.

I am disheartened about this past election in ways I simply cannot describe, but most depressing and discouraging for me is that I worked hard as a citizen to understand the issues. I made the effort to evaluate and re-evaluate my stand on issues and make sure they were backed by logic and consistent with what was best for our nation.

My vote was trumped and negated by a damned ignorant idiot who came to the conclusion Obama was going to pay for her mortgage and her gasoline.

These two young women I saw in line at the Apple Store could not care less either. They want a piece of pie, and could not care less who “gives” it to them. They, and many other American voters don’t understand the adage “If something seems to good to be true, it probably isn’t.”

It is time for them to start sucking at the government teat. Which is EXACTLY what people like the radicals in charge want.


29 posted on 02/08/2009 7:26:23 AM PST by rlmorel ("A barrel of monkeys is not fun. In fact, a barrel of monkeys can be quite terrifying!")
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To: MrB

Thanks, I’m going to adjust my deductions so that I get nothing back!


30 posted on 02/08/2009 7:31:06 AM PST by LilRhody
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To: Oatka
“Short of a drastic miscue by the Democrats, the Republicans will never be in power again.”

I have been saying that since the election. We are dealing with an unknown here. From where I sit, and I not trying to be negative about this, but realistic, Socialism won on Nov 4th.

Obama is consolidating his power and I think there will be a power struggle with the legislature as well.

31 posted on 02/08/2009 7:31:06 AM PST by waxer1 ( Live Free or Die; Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death)
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To: Kaslin

He needs to enslave us under a mountain of debt. That’s how Communist Dictators control the masses.

Pray for America, Our Troops and obama’s Guidance


32 posted on 02/08/2009 7:53:31 AM PST by bray (The District of Corruption fits Obama like a Glove)
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To: sport
Over the next few months obama will be consolidating his power and going after his political enemies and those he believes will oppose him.

Yep, that is the Marxist way. In all other Marxist takeovers they move fast, disarm the people and the blood bath begins.

I personally doubt there will be another election.

33 posted on 02/08/2009 8:05:41 AM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: Kaslin
The Federal government has been taken over by a foreign coup. There is no current valid President, no executive branch, and no responsibility to pretend that there is. Don't pay it, don't bow to it, don't do anything but starve, jam, ridicule, and sabotage it.

We are going to have to fight to re-establish our Republic, because it has been overthrown by a Marxist coup. The coup must be destroyed.

34 posted on 02/08/2009 8:29:03 AM PST by Starfleet Command
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To: waxer1
Re: Federal tax holiday to stimulate the economy

I can live with that.

I could too, but I think that the odds to this actually happening are about 99,999,999,999 to 1 againt: The problems are two-fold. If they were to do that, the government loses control over who does and doesn't get the cuts. One thing that the government HATES is giving up power of any sort, and their favorite sort of power is setting just how much of our earnings we get to keep.

Secondly, if people were to suddenly realize just how much they are paying in taxes, even if they get it all back at the end of the year, politicians would have one hell of a time trying to reinstate the taxes.

So, even though it would be easy, cheap, immediately take effect, and it makes sense, I have no doubt that the congress will never do it.

Mark

35 posted on 02/08/2009 8:55:22 AM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: Kaslin

Bookmark.


36 posted on 02/08/2009 9:34:26 AM PST by upchuck (I'm glad I'm old. Thus I can remember when America was a decent, moral, God fearing country.)
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To: Kaslin
A number like 1.3 trillion is hard to visualize.

If you had a stack of 1.3 trillion donuts, each of them one inch thick, the stack would be about 20 million miles high.

37 posted on 02/08/2009 10:20:49 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: fatrat
this protects you from getting an IOU instead of your refund such as is happening to Californians this year.

THAT was probably the biggest motivator right there.

38 posted on 02/08/2009 10:31:03 AM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: MarkL

The worst thing you could do, other than mailing out checks or dumping money from helicopters.

A TEMPORARY tax holiday does nothing to change anybody’s incentives. Nobody is going to invest in a real business if the tax burden is going to come back in two months or even two years.

The Bush tax cuts were excellent supply-side tax cuts—but the very fact that they were temporary guaranteed that, as the deadline approached, there would be uncertainty, instability, and recession. As the deadline approached, the Democrats started howling for EARLY repeal of the tax cuts. That only makes the tax cuts less effective.

Sure—as long as the tax cuts are still in effect, we get to keep more of our money. But the closer the expiration date gets, the slower investment gets.

The income tax is an unmitigated CURSE. The Sixteenth Amendment is a crime against the American people. The Communists who put it in place should have been tarred, feathered, and burned at the stake.

The American people, who don’t rise up against it, are being punished for their own greed and envy—because greed and envy are the vices that the income tax appeals to.


39 posted on 02/08/2009 12:27:35 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: Kaslin

Unfortunately many of the “tax breaks” and “tax refunds” are for people who don’t pay taxes. In this bill, even illegals will get a stimulus check.


40 posted on 02/08/2009 12:30:13 PM PST by Snow Eagle
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