What would a second Obama term mean to the country? We already know he would have to deal with a House with a strong Republican majority and an even a chance of a Republican controlled Senate. Given that he has shown no interest in listening to even many moderates in his own party, there is zero chance of significant new legislation or reform. So clearly we will do nothing to deal with our major issues of saving entitlement programs, deficit reduction, or improving the economy. But the bad news is President Obama can be extremely dangerous without any help from Congress. I will not get in to controversial claims of what he is likely to do, which may be even worse than what we know he will do.(1) I want to focus on what we know he will do with Obamacare, energy, debt, spending, and the economy.
The first most obvious effect of an Obama win would be that Obamacare will stay with little modification. Seniors will be stuck with the changes to Medicare including the advisory board that will eventually decide what services to deny. Obama can talk about the language that declares that board does not have the power to ration healthcare, but it is a hollow promise because the board will set the payment rates for services that will in effect limit the availability of those services.(2) It is like in the former Soviet Union when often people had Rubles, but the stores had nothing on the shelves. For the rest of us it will continue to be a wet blanket on economic growth and within five years at least 30% of us in the private sector will lose or current coverage and be dropped in to exchanges. This will of course explode the deficit. If the debt crisis does not come in his next term, Obama may be able to avoid raising taxes on the “middle class”, but then even the GOP will be forced to support a VAT tax to delay a debt crisis after it becomes clear it is impossible to reverse course on Obamacare.
The EPA has been given approval to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. You can be sure the EPA is set with a plan to put in place to achieve the goals of the Cap & Trade system that was rejected on bipartisan basis in the Senate. President Obama will finish the War on coal. The results will be higher utility rates, more dependence on foreign oil, massive losses of jobs in energy intensive sectors like manufacturing, and much weaker economy resulting in tax revenue coming in below projections. Many predict in the long run this will lead to shortages of energy and rolling blackouts.(3)
The debt will continue to spiral out of control. As we see from the way Democrats reacted to Romney’s suggestion to eliminate subsidies for PBS. They are more interested in saving Big Bird from and imaginary ending, than saving Medicare from a real threat. Given this attitude it is clear President Obama does not take seriously the need to cut non-defense spending. Most of the spending cuts he claims are already in law and the rest do not occur until long after he is out of office. The GOP will likely continue to cave on spending with Obama being a lame duck president with no reason to care if the government is shutdown. He will get his tax increase on job creators because if the GOP does not cave, taxes will go up on everyone. President Obama would prefer ending all the Bush Tax cuts than no tax increase so he will not negotiate. We cannot fix the debt issue if we do not have stronger economic growth, but not only does the President not have any ideas to encourage more economic growth, all of his agenda is like a “wet blanket on the economy”. This weaker economic growth will cost more in tax revenues than he will generate from his tax increase plan in the long run.
President Obama’s agenda will be decidedly negative for jobs and the economy. It is interesting that the Obama campaign keeps whining that Romney needs to give more specifics when they do not even have a reasonable general framework of a plan at all for the same issues. The only ideas he has are increased spending on his supporters like teachers unions and green energy. Neither will get any increase though Congress. Even if congress was dumb enough to approve them they would create no jobs like they did in his first four years. Given his attack on American energy production, increased taxes, and no stopping Obamacare, it is almost certain we will face another recession. We will be on an unstoppable path to a debt crisis like we see in Europe.
In addition to the list above there is much more Obama can and will do without Congress and all of it will be bad for the economy. I have heard economists are forecasting 12 million jobs to be created in the next four years. They must be forecasting a Romney Victory. If Obama wins we will be lucky to maintain the current job growth trajectory which is about what we need to keep the real unemployment rate the same. More likely we will see negative job growth. I like a quote I saw on a commercial last night, “In socialism it is true the rich will be poorer, but the poor will also be poorer also.”(4) President Obama is right on one thing, you know what you are going to get if he wins, an unstoppable path to a government controlling the economy, and all aspects of our society leading to a debt crisis and misery for all.
1) http://www.dickmorris.com/obamas-second-term-plan-let-the-u-n-tax-americans/
2) http://cjonline.com/opinion/2012-10-09/george-will-romney-danced-around-obama
How does our society get out of this mess?
2) Reform trade policies to benefit America, using the strength of the American market to exert pressure on the unfair players. After all, they currently have the supply, but we have the demand. And the first rule of economics dictates that demand is a far more powerful force than supply.
As for the business community here is a silly anology: It is like someone's house burning down and all of the neighbors come running to steal what they can and leave the rest for ashes. Their selfish focus has brought many people to ruin.
And then we have the practice of hiring part time workers to avoid benefits, along with expecting salaried workers to put in a lot of overtime (not recompensed) rather than hiring more staff.
What can we do? Be conservative with your money, for unless Corporate America starts caring about their communities again I see no drastic upside. On another note: the markets are relying on legal immigration to increase demand even if job growth does not grow accordingly. I have nothing against immigrants, but to forever have more and more people live here just as our job market is a joke is not good for our society. Wall Street runs Washington. Decisions are made that are unwise but benefit the very few for the short term. That is what is really going on.
America’s inequality; “Rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.” Illumination of this can be viewed within our USA. Increasing wealth, disproportional to the impoverished who are unable to maintain an equitable ratio in gains. Impoverished, at their best, stagnation of their share in laborers productivity. Increasingly eroding of their portions of share to their labors productivity. Increasing to the inequality and accelerating negatively to the impoverished. Three decades of low wages, to the 90%, with a growth of 15%. Earnings increase to the 1% have been cruising at 150% increases as to the 0.1% are racing at 300% Greater acceleration of wealth accumulation has affected the wealth at the bottom. These are the facts that Romney ignores. NOT going to raise the Tax on the rich or their corporations that have paid zero taxes {2010 Top Ten Oil Co.} and received $Multimillions each in tax refunds. DEMAND Welfare payments into the $Multibillions or they will shut down our Main Street USA. Guess who owns these corporations? Little low on budgets? Raise prices at the pump.. Have much more on this subject. Find most people do not like economics. It controls so much of all aspects of your lives and many choose to ignore it. Ignore it at your peril ..
2 Guys buy a truck to serve their business. Each have their own business. {A} uses the truck, with wear / tare and fuel added , 10% of the time. {B} uses it the other 90%. Now time to add up cost and who pays what. {A} says he owes 10% {B} disagrees. He claims that 85% is what {A} owes. For {B} at 15% is paying more in wealth than {A} is paying with his 10%. Now if{A} don’t pay, {B} will SHUTDOWN the truck. The rest I’ll leave for you to figure it out. Now if you decide that {A} should pay the 85% then contact me immediately. Baby do I have a deal for you.
. Fannypacker your assertions on Keynesian as a failure. Hmm interesting do you have proof of this? Source? That said this is but one component that Obama is illustrating with his policies. A significant portion of his economic plans come from Mirramer Eccles economics. FDR tested that economic system and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt its success. Go and see how FDR tested the Eccles economic theories. Actually take some time and read a book on it. You will be amazed how much it will affect your financial outlook after viewing it through the eyes of geniuses. Much better than the nickel dime paper back comic books.
In liberal math, though, two plus two equals giraffe
On the other hand, people form businesses to make money. Right now the playing field is tipped their way. Not so long ago these people understood that you have to give a little to get--paying your employees decently increases loyalty and productivity, etc. Now they are getting without giving and loyalty no longer exists. Seems like the mindset needs to change first. What are the chances of that happening?
Combine this with the inflationary policies of the Federal Reserve, then there is no wonder that the poor and middle class are on a downward slope. My contention is that the business community is too dense to realize that there will come a day when their customers will have no money. Then what?
Something's got to give. Companies that aren't selling can't hire. And what about outsourcing/offshoring? That can only work as long as it's cheaper to exploit foreign workers. Tariffs on imported goods worked in stemming the tide of cheap imports from England in the early days of this country and its nascent manufacturing base, but commerce is too sophisticated for that now. But there has to be a solution.
A well researched/reasoned article conjecturing why we aren't seeing the Romney tax returns: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/mitt-romney-s-tax-dodge-20121012 In Mitt Romney's world, perhaps two plus two has different answers for different audiences?
Bottom line - if you want Sensata to stay in IL, then you have to provide them with the incentive to stay here. Currently, Romney is in no position to be able to negotiate with Bain, as he doesn't have the power to offer anything substantive. Obama, however, is in the position to offer things to Bain, such as subsidies, tax breaks, credits, etc. Obama was also going to renegotiate NAFTA and implement fair trade agreements with foreign nations, to protect American jobs, remember? Never happened. Meanwhile, Obama was out supporting a Canadian bus manufacturer with our tax-dollars instead of buying American made like he said he wants the rest of the world to do. Don't you think that Obama should be leading by example? And again, that Rolling Stone article is not something that a true independent would look twice at - it's filled with unsupported assumptions, speculations, conjectures, etc as opposed to hard objective and supported facts. It's nothing but a biased political smear/hit piece from a publication that is politically as left as Mother Jones. Remember, Rolling Stone said that is was appropriate for Biden to laugh and act hysterical at Ryan because Ryan wasn't saying anything worth listening to. Clearly, the fact that you and your fellow lefties won't even respect or listen to Republicans is proof positive that you guys and the Democrats are the obstructionists that are being divisive! And the people are starting to wake up to this FACT!
Staying on topic, what Bain is doing isn't illegal. They can't be forcibly stopped. The only answer to this type of "behavior" is to boycott. In a recession people look for the best price and that often means buying a Chinese-made product or knock-off. It's a multi-tiered problem.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=469538456400235
Bain Capital's 2012 financial disclosure shows about $66B in assets. Romney's current investment in Bain is valued at about $7.8M. So, Romney's current .01% interest in Bain qualifies him as someone who is "still heavily invested in the company?" Bren - you truly do live in your own world, don't you? Has Obama reached out to Bain to save those jobs? Has Obama asked Bain what would be required to keep those jobs here? Can you link to any stories wherein Obama has done anything to try to save those jobs? Of course not - because the Sensata plant in Freeport is an open (non-union) shop. Obama only cares about helping his cronies in big labor, as the auto bailouts proved. Boycott?!?! Perhaps if people made patriotic purchases in the first place, unlike your right-to-work-for-less-state non-union assembled Toyota, we wouldn't be facing such situations. If you really want to blame someone, blame the American consumer for valuing low priced products over quality products that support values that Americans supposedly believe in. Until you start walking your talk Bren, you have little room to talk with any kind of authority. Right now, you're little more than a hypocrite!
Name one time you've blogged an not speculated about the future.
President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are neck and neck in opinion polls, but there is one area in which the incumbent appears to have a big advantage: those who have already cast their ballots. Obama leads Romney by 59 percent to 31 percent among early voters, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data compiled in recent weeks. On the debates Obama pulling ahead. After a lackluster performance in the first debate of his re-election campaign, President Barack Obama scored a victory over Republican nominee Mitt Romney in their second encounter, according to post-debate network polling. An instant poll of undecided voters by CBS after the contentious town hall session ended found Obama beat Romney 37 percent to 30 percent, with 33 percent calling it a tie.
Multiple reviews, including an independent review of all Department Of Energy loan programs by Herb Allison –- finance chair for McCain for President 2008 –- have found no “pork” in the stimulus’ funding of green projects, concluding that the loans were not steered to friends or family, as Ryan claims. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/oct/05/mitt-romney/mitt-romney-says-barack-obama-provided-90-billion/ Pulitzer Awarded site. Now how about the elite kicking in their share of the taxes. Mitt says they pay enough! After all the welfare they get and all they want to pay is 15% or less! Don’t leave much to cover that pipeline. Guess Romney figures the 47% can handle it
Published: October 1, 2012 By ERIC LIPTON Attorneys who represent whistle-blowers have made millions as the Obama administration cracks down on corporate fraud, and are now donating heavily to the president's re-election campaign. WASHINGTON — As the Obama administration has cracked down on corporate fraud, lawyers representing whistle-blowers have reaped multimillion-dollar rewards. Now, as they seek to sustain these historic payouts, they are serving as generous donors to the president’s re-election campaign. Bill Crandall fo The New York Times John R. Philli A Legal Circle Reaches Deep to Aid Obama Top whistle-blower lawyers, has raised more than $200,000 for Mr. Obama’s re-election from colleagues. Lawyers in the tight circle who specialize in filing fraud claims with the federal government on behalf of clients with evidence of wrongdoing have raised more than $3 million so far for President Obama. Their support comes as Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, has called for repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act, which imposed new oversight of the financial services industry and expanded the government’s whistle-blower program to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has set aside $430 million for payouts. Business groups pushed for legislation imposing a cap on payments to whistle-blowers, arguing that rewards reaching as high as $104 million, have turned anti-fraud efforts into a lottery.
Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are neck and neck in opinion polls, but there is one area in which the incumbent appears to have a big advantage: those who have already cast their ballots. Obama leads Romney by 59 percent to 31 percent among early voters, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data compiled in recent weeks. Ohio Early Voting Cleared by High Court The U.S. Supreme Court sealed a legal victory for President Barack Obama’s campaign in the pivotal state of Ohio, leaving intact a ruling that restored early voting rights for the weekend before the Nov. 6 election. Ohio Republicans had sought to cancel early voting that weekend for everyone except members of the military. A U.S. appeals court blocked the plan last week, saying it probably violated the constitutional rights of non-military voters. In a one-sentence order, the Supreme Court today rejected a challenge to that ruling, filed by Ohio’s Republican secretary of state and attorney general. Obama pulling ahead. After a lackluster performance in the first debate of his re-election campaign, President Barack Obama scored a victory over Republican nominee Mitt Romney in their second encounter, according to post-debate network polling. An instant poll of undecided voters by CBS after the contentious town hall session ended found Obama beat Romney 37 percent to 30 percent, with 33 percent calling it a tie.