Obama's "New Deal II" is the Raw Deal Too

President Obama's "New Deal II" is the Raw Deal too, just as FDR's was. FDR did not bring us out of the Depression, quite to the contrary. He prolonged it.

Using data collected in 1929 by the Conference Board and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, two UCLA economists, Harold Cole and Lee Ohanian, conducted a four-year study

(in which they concluded that FDR's policies prolonged the Great Depression by seven years.

The United States didn't climb out of the Great Depression until 1943, when our manufacturing plants were humming to meet both our own, as well as foreign military demand.

President Barack Obama, is often compared to the late, great liberal, iconic, Democrat President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who history books have romanticized as being the one responsible for guiding the country through the Great Depression of the 1930's.

FDR's "New Deal," economic plan, that consisted of massive big government spending programs, often gets credit as solving the worst economic crisis of the last century, however, nothing could be further from the truth!

Roosevelt's programs were successful, but not in the way that is typically nostalgically reminiscenced. They were extremely popular and successful politically, as evidenced by his being elected to four consecutive terms, something legally impossible today. After Roosevelt had passed away, and during the Eisenhower administration, an amendment to the Constitution was passed limiting presidents to two consecutive terms.

I contend that FDR may have been an excellent war-time President, which is where I believe a lot of the romantic memories generate from, but was nothing short of a disaster economically. Fortunately, numbers don't lie, so this is something anyone above a third grade intellect can understand, but beyond the numbers, there lies no better source than Roosevelt's own Treasury Secretary (who also happened to be a close, personal friend, which even leaves more credence to his testimony), Henry Morganthau, who admitted to act to Congressional Democrats in May 1939:

"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong ... somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises ... I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... And an enormous debt to boot!"

What was the unemployment rate in 1931? Answer: 25%

What was the unemployment rate in 1939? Answer: 25% (See Graphic)

After several years of big government, "stimulus" spending (government spending more than doubled over this period), the unemployment rate? Unchanged!

There is no numerical evidence I've seen that can tie any of FDR's programs, however well-intentioned and heartfelt, to any measurable degree of economic activity.

In Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address in 1933, he declared: "Our greatest primary task is to put people to work."

He failed miserably in accomplishing this goal, but was nevertheless, re-elected again, and again, a total of four times.

You see, this president, very much like FDR, has very little to lose, selling the country down the river with his "feel-good" policies. Roosevelt had Herbert Hoover, before him, to blame.

Hoover, much like Bush, was not a true fiscal conservative. In 1932, Hoover signed the largest peacetime tax increase in history, raising taxes across the board, including an increase in the top (soak the rich...sound familiar) rate from the mid-20% range to 63 percent! Not exactly a conservative, Ole' Herb.

Contrary to popular legend, the stock market didn't bottom in October of 1929. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted to 230, a 23% decline from it's high on October 28th & 29th of 1929. However, it has largely recovered until Hoover's tax increase. Then, only bottomed months after Hoover's Revenue Act (tax increase in preceding paragraph) of 1932, the Dow fell to a decade low of 41.22 on July 8, 1932.

FDR's main New Deal economist, Rexford Tugwell later revealed, "We didn't admit it at the time, but practically the whole New Deal was extrapolated from programs that Hoover started."

Even liberal University of California-Davis, history professor, Eric Rauchway, author of The Great Depression and the New Deal, admitted in Slate that the New Deal "did not end The Great Depression. The war did that."

By January of 1940, after seven years of FDR's Big Government, New Deal "experimentation," the stock market had tanked again, falling to 151 and it stayed in the low 100's through most of FDR's extended presidency. And, in terms of price appreciation, it didn't see it's 1929 peak until 1954! So much for the federal government "fixing" our economy.

President Obama has George W. Bush, and don't think he won't play that card for eternity. GWB is the best thing that could ever have happened to Barack Obama.

Further Reading: Slate: FDR's Latest Critics

Book: The Forgotten Man, A New History of The Great Depression by Amity Shlaes

Book: The 10 Big Lies About America by Michael Medved

Obama's Popularity, or Lack Thereof

The Obama Campaign Team, also known as the mainstream media, has been slobbering from the rooftops how popular their guy is.  Apparently, these drooling bootlickers aren't familiar with history, nor are they familiar with the traditional "honeymoon" period that Americans so graciously give new presidents, no matter how lousy they are, and no matter how many tax-cheats they've appointed.  

If the Obama Worship Team the press, were honest, they'd be reporting that this president, at the 100-day mark of his term, is the second least popular president in forty years!  Mr. Obama is less popular after 100 days than even Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon! It's vital for president's to have a high approval rating during their first 100 days in office, because the numbers usually fade significantly as time passes.  A lower mark means that he doesn't have much approval wiggle-room going forward.  

According to Gallup's April polling data, President Obama experiences lower approval numbers than all but one President, Bill Clinton, 100 days after his first term, since they began tracking the data in 1969.  It's also worth noting that the President's bipartisan nirvana hasn't emerged, as some sycophants promised.  In fact, the gap between Democrat and Republican support, or lack thereof, is greater than most previous American Presidents.  

While 56% rate Obama's job performance as "excellent" or "good," 43% judged job he's doing as:  "Just Okay," or "Poor," or "Terrible". According to Rasmussen Reports, only 2% more strongly approve than strongly disapprove and this gap has been steadily closing (see graphic) since Inauguration Day. I believe that former Clinton advisor Dick Morris would refer to this as "high negatives."  

It's worth mentioning that while Mr. Obama's ratings are still technically positive, his specific policies get much, much lower marks.  People seem to like him much more than they like his policies.  In other words, it's not what he says, but how he says it.  

Obama's First 100 Days of Fiscal Insanity, Bigger Government, Bigger Deficits and Bigger Bailouts

Barack Obama's first 100 days in office have been nothing short of fiscal insanity. He has been busier than a mosquito in a nudist colony his first 100 days in office. Unfortunately, for him, being busy doesn't equate with being effective. And trying to make the United States more like France doesn't necessarily represent improvement. "Change," yes, but improvement, no.  

• He promised to eliminate pork.  He lied.
  
• He promised not to hire lobbyists.  He lied.
• He promised not to sign "any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.”  He lied
• He said, “If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.” The president ignores the already-hiked cigarette tax at the time of the statement and then this restated promise was broken just two days later, when the Obama’s budget proposal was released. His new budget raises 45 percent of its revenue from energy taxes that will be paid by everyone who fills a gas tank, pays an electric bill, or buys anything that was grown, shipped, or manufactured.  He lied
• Then, the biggest whopper of them all:  “Not because I believe in bigger government — I don’t.”

If his goal was to grow the government, he gets an A+.  He has presented budget deficits for the next five years that will surpasse those of all forty-three presidents before him...COMBINED!  He has continued and expanded George W. Bush's ill-conceived bailouts to the point that almost any failed company seemingly has a shot at receiving bailout money from the great bank teller in the sky.   

This is a dangerous societal trend that creates an atmosphere that rewards failure and stupidity, and with the almost certain tax gouges to pay for the deficits, punishes success. This unside down incentive system will not lead to long-term, wide-spread, economic prosperity in the United States.  

The budget Obama proposes for this year increases federal spending by a fiscally insane 34% over the budget adopted for last year, with a total of $3.6 trillion in federal spending, the highest EVER. By Far!

Consider that 2008's budget deficit under Bush last year was under $500 billion, which was an insane all-time record in itself.  Obama's budget this year will by more than triple that amount this year alone at $1.8 trillion.  Every dollar he mentions spending in these ridiculous speeches today, celebrating his first 100 days, he doesn't have!  He's using your credit card, folks.

He wants to takeover our banks and auto companies, oh, and I forgot, your health care too, and run them with the same efficiencies and success that the federal government runs all other bureaucracies.  Think about that.  

Do you feel that burning sensation in your wallet?  It's our president racking up your bill. Guess what's waiting for you in your mailbox! Hint: It's not a stimulus check.  

 

"Benedict" Arlen Specter to Switch Parties. Good Riddance!

"Benedict" Arlen Specter, (Senator-Pennsylvania) locked in a dogfight, in which he's getting crushed in the polls against true conservative challenger, Pat Toomey, announced today that he's switching parties and will now be a Democrat. No big change here since Specter is a liberal who voted with the Dems much of the time anyway.

So what is the loss here for the Republicans? ZERO, ZILCH, NOTTA! Specter was a R-I-N-O (Republican-in-name-only), who could never be counted on to side with his own party on important issues. Exhibit "A" is his support, along with only two other east coast RINO's, of the unpopular Stimulus Bill.

Besides his two east coast liberal friends, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, no other Republicans voted for the stimulus bill. Hopefully, Collins and Snowe will come out of the closet and join Specter with the Democrats. The Repubs need to cleanse the party from the pretenders that are nothing but liberals in republican clothing.

Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele, today, put out this scathing statement in response to Benedict Specter's switcharoo:

"Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not.

Let’s be honest-Senator Specter didn’t leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.

Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first."

As late as March 17th, Benedict Specter denied that he would be switching parties, saying, "I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there."

Michael Steele may not be happy about Benedict Specter's changing teams, but I am. To Arlen Specter, "Don't let the door hit you where the Good Lord splitcha. Good Riddance!"

FURTHER READING:

The Wall Street Journal: "Obama's Enabler's in Chief"

Politico: Obama Give Specter "Full Support"

From Investor's Business Daily: Ax UAW 'Jobs Bank,' Save GM

Detroit: While General Motors was losing billions, it was pumping billions into a union welfare system set up to pay workers not to work. In addition to axing Pontiac, it should kill the notorious "Jobs Bank."

Missing from Washington's post-mortems on GM is this two-decade-old program. It's also missing from the automaker's new turnaround plan to satisfy the Obama administration, which is squarely in the UAW's corner.

READ MORE

THE FREEDOM POST'S FAVORITE THOMAS JEFFERSON QUOTES

John F. Kennedy once said, about Thomas Jefferson, to a group of scholars in the White House:

"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

The quotes below drive this point home. They are some of my all-time favorite Thomas Jefferson quotes. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but just a few that I've ran across that are wise, timeless, and so very appropriate to the United States today. I frequently add to the list when I run discover other Jefferson quotes that are equally wise, timely, and inspiring as these:

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.” -- Thomas Jefferson


"What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?"  -- Thomas Jefferson


"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated." – - Thomas Jefferson

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. -- Thomas Jefferson

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

"I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." -- Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -- Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." --

Thomas Jefferson

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt." -- Thomas Jefferson

In light of the current financial status of the economy, it's appropriate and timely to read what Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

"Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than 20 standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -- Thomas Jefferson

AND:

“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Doesn't this sound unnervingly familiar to what is happening in the United States of America today?

POLITICO: Obama Gets Ahead of Teleprompter

More Teleprompter highlights from the Teleprompter of the United States

>AMERICAN THINKER: Is Capitalism the New Socialism in Hollywood?<

Is Capitalism the New Socialism in Hollywood?

Kevin Jackson

Leave it to a self-indulgent Hollywood actor, in this case Terrence Howard, to remind us how liberals think and how socialism should work -- to their benefit.

Howard, who has been mentioned to play the role of Obama in an upcoming biopic, was not cast in Iron Man 2 , the studio execs choosing Don Cheadle instead.  The reason:  Money -- with a twist.

You may find it surprising, but Howard was the highest paid actor in the first Iron Man, earning more than Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey, Jr, and Jeff Bridges, according to Entertainment Weekly.   So what is Howard’s complaint? 

READ THE REST

>BLOOMBERG: Obama’s Plans May Be Doomed by Unchecked Spending: Albert Hunt<

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- “A hundred million there, a hundred million here, pretty soon, even in Washington, it adds up to real money,” President Barack Obama declared last week, paraphrasing a line attributed to the late Republican Senate leader, Everett Dirksen.

The context is a looming policy and fiscal clash: Obama’s economic, energy, health-care and education initiatives are expensive, and the U.S. faces trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see.

READ ENTIRE STORY

Government Motors (GM) Gets Another $2 Billion Bailout...May Sell Pontiac

Congratulations America!  You've just made an additional, non-deductible, forced charitable contribution to Government Motors, formerly know as General Motors (tongue-in-cheek).  

GM, rumored to be on the brink of an eminent bankruptcy filing, today, received an additional $2 billion in taxpayer-funded bailout money.  Question:  If the company is going to file bankruptcy (Chapter 11 "reorg"), in which they could reconstruct their balance sheet without taxpayer funds, then why are we throwing more taxpayer money down this rathole?

These bailouts bring GM's total bailout to $15 billion, thus far, since January of this year.  Don't the "Wizards of Washington" understand that the government can't create demand?  Don't they get that you can't force people to buy cars?  

To put this into perspective, since GM employees approximately 244,500 people worldwide, $15 billion is the equivalent of writing each employee a check for $61,350!  Keep in mind that this doesn't include the money paid out to Ford, Chrysler, or all of the banks.  Just GM.

The really huge problem that haunts GM is not necessarily these 244,500 people, but the whopping 1 million, including retirees, that receive health care benefits. Brilliant commentator and author, Mark Steyn, joked that GM is not really an automobile company at all, primarily. It's more like a health care company with a small auto subsidiary.  

Numerous sources are reporting that GM may sell or eliminate it's Pontiac division which would shed billions of dollars in debt and close even more factories, resulting in more layoffs and an increase in the nation's unemployment rate. 

The United States government should stop this insanity of rewarding failure and poor decision-making.  The bailouts should stop, bankruptcy should begin, and a new, lean, mean, profitable, and competitive General Motors would emerge.    

Further Reading:

GM & Segway Joint Venture

Would You Buy A Car From Barney Frank?

Obama's First 100 Days...What He Doesn't Want You to Read

Obama's first 100 days of "fundamentally transforming America" are approaching, so it's time to reflect on the reality of what has happened, not the reality that the media feeds us. April 29th, 2009 will be the 100th day of the Obama Administration, and below you'll read what he wishes you wouldn't read.

Barack Obama was elected on the obscure and empty promise of "hope and change," and I have to admit, we've certainly already seen the latter of the two, but not much of the first. Unless, of course, you're hoping for a dead-end government job, or your life-long ambition is to be one of the brownshirts of Americorps.

Normally, I would say that it's a little too early to be judgmental, but this president has been more active that a mosquito in a nudist colony in his first 100 days. So, there is plenty to judge, unfortunately.

Since most of it has been tried before, failing miserably, it's fair game to judge his actions before the undesirable results come staggering in from their drunkenspendathon. It's also reasonable to point out the mistruths, formerly known as lies, of this president. By lies, I don't mean necessarily unfulfilled promises, because like you're thinking, it's only been approaching 100 days. I'm referring to actual broken promises, like when Candidate Obama promised one thing, but President Obama did exactly the opposite.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, for the sake of some attempt at brevity, but rather what I see are some of the highlights of this young administration and this young President.

• "I don't take a dime of their [lobbyist] money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House."

  -- Barack Obama

  Barack Obama repeated this mantra as being a main principle of his administration, if elected. As of February 3rd, according to Politico, they're are at least a dozen former lobbyists in the Obama administration.

• "We need earmark reform. And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely." -- Barack Obama

  Then comes the "Porkulus" Stimulus bill of $787 billion in new wasteful pork-laden, liberal special interest spending that was the compilation of years of a Democrat wish list. After that comes the $410 billion Omnibus Appropriations bill, that he signed which, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, contains 8,570 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion, including dozens of wasteful pork-barrel projects. These earmarks were awarded based on seniority, not on merit, and were mostly the result of high-priced lobbying, precisely the process that Obama promised to end. He also said:

  “The system is broken. We can no longer accept a process that doles out earmarks based on a member of Congress’ seniority, rather than the merit of the project. We can no longer accept an earmarks process that has become so complicated to navigate that a municipality or non-profit group has to hire high-priced D.C. lobbyists to do it. And we can no longer accept an earmarks process in which many of the projects being funded fail to address the real needs of our country.” -- Barack Obama

Examples of Earmarks in the Omnibus:

$713,625 Woody Biomass at SUNY-ESF. Walsh and Schumer sponsors

$951,500 Sustainable Las Vegas. Berkeley and Reid sponsors.

$24,000 A+ for Abstinence. Specter is sponsor.

$300,000 Montana World Trade Center. Rehberg sponsor.

$950,000 Myrtle Beach International Trade and Convention Center. Graham sponsor.

$200,000 Oil Region Alliance. Peterson sponsor.

$190,000 Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY for digitizing and editing the Cody collection. Barbara Cubin is the sponsor

$143,000 Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Las Vegas, NV, to expand natural history education programs. Sponsored by Harry Reid

$238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Honolulu, HI, for educational programs. Sen. Daniel Inouye is the sponsor.

$381,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY for music education programs. Jerrold Nadler is the sponsor.

• "We've gotta restore the American people's confidence in the ethics process by ensuring that political self-interest can no longer prevent politicians from enforcing ethics rules." Barack Obama

  Yet, he appoints multiple tax-avoiders to his cabinet, including making one of them the head of the Internal Revenue Service, Turbo-Tax Cheat Timothy Geithner, his Treasury Secretary. The nation's top tax-collector a tax cheat? Is this the "change" you voted for? At last count, and it's getting hard to keep track, he's appointed, or attempted to appoint, five tax cheats.

• He has flown around the world, wasting precious fossil-fuels, polluting the atmosphere (LOL), both verbally and atmospherically, embarrassingly apologizing for dastardly deeds of the most generous, innovative, and free country in world history.
• We have Admiral Blair admitting that the CIA received high value, lifesaving information from terrorists, using Bush and Cheney's torture techniques. President Obama released the torture memos despite being warned doing so would harm our national security, by four prior CIA directors, and his own, Leon Panetta
  
• He verbally attacks a private citizen, a conservative radio talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh, just because he is critical of the President's liberal policies.
• Obama had promised to restore world opinion of the United States, whatever that means, and so far there is no evidence of that being accomplished. It's important, to this President, that everyone loves us. In fact, both North Korea and Iran have mocked Obama, while French leader Sarkozy ridiculed Obama's messianic complex, inviting him to walk on water at Normandy Beach, and referred to him as weak and indecisive. So much for world opinion improving. I couldn't possibly care less what others think of us, as long as we're respected. You can't please everyone.

• “Not because I believe in bigger government — I don’t.” -- President Barack Obama (February 24, 2009, Joint Address to Congress

Obama proposed a budget that is breathtaking in scope, a blueprint for the biggest permanent expansion of government in history right on the heels of a sweeping trillion dollar stimulus plan. The budget lays the foundation for a government takeover of the health care and energy sectors and dramatically increasing spending across the board, other than defense weapons programs. Last year's budget record budget deficit of $455 billion will be dwarfed by this year's $1.8 trillion. Federal spending, calculated as a percentage of the economy, is projected to reach the historic level of 27.7 percent this year. The deficit as a percent of the economy, at 12.3 percent, is set to be the biggest in the entire history of the country outside of the four peak years of World War II. Anyone who offers such a budget can only fairly be described as a believer in big government.

• Both he, and his administration have made several gift gaffes, like the ridiculous set of DVD's to Gordon Brown, and the iPod for the Queen of England
• He's pulled unheard-of, almost fascist, rank of private enterprises of banking and auto companies. He's so wise that he knows how to save these industries, how much to pay their employees, when and how much bonuses should be paid, and what type of products to offer. This coming from a man that has zero executive experience in running anything other than political campaigns or rebel rousings. He even fired GM's CEO. Guess they'll be called "Government Motors" from now on.

No wonder he's called "The Messiah." If the next 100 days are like the first, you'll be referring to me as "TheSocialist" instead of "TheCapitalist" with the government intervening to strike the word capitalist from our vocabulary, just like the media and government officials can no longer use the words terrorism and terrorists. (According to the Obama Administration, terrorism from this day forward should be referred to as "man made disasters".)

Further Reading:

Politico: Obama Finds room for Lobbyists

Obama's Teleprompter, The Arrogant American

Is Barack Obama a Socialist, Communist, or a Fascist?