"The man behind the curtain"

Generations of Americans remember the scene in "The Wizard of Oz" when Dorothy and her friends brought back the witch's broom and confronted Oz. As he blustered at them Todo the dog pulled the curtain aside and his charade was revealed as he said "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"

I am almost seventy years old and still remember that scene from this classic movie. It reappeared from the deep recesses of my memory last night as I watched President Obama make his first major speech to the Congress and the rest of the world. Obama is a gifted orator who rivals John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and even Oz (as long as he was behind the curtain). But last night as his golden oratory flowed along and he continued his populist message of free everything for everyone, this scene from my favorite movie came to mind again, but I think the wording should be changed to: "Pay no attention to the man behind the golden voice".

Populism is hard to go up against;

- tax cuts for 95% of the people and tax increases on the "rich"
- bailouts for those who cannot pay their mortgage
- free health care for anyone who cannot (or will not) pay for it
- extended unemployment benefits and then welfare and food stamps
- college tuition grants for everyone who needs it
- development of renewable energy sources that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce global warming (forget that we could be completely energy independent with our own oil and nuclear power)

Who can argue against any of these promises, but there is never any discussion about how this will be paid for, and how can you argue against this populist message when many Americans see these promises as something for "free".

During his campaign, and even in his speech last night Obama said, "There will be no more earmarks". Anyone with a brain can see that the $720 billion stimulus bill is fifty percent "pork" and an independent report estimates that the 2009/2010 budget bill being approved this week includes more that 8500 earmarks - for want of a better word...disgraceful.

So I say: "Pay no attention to the man behind the golden voice". When you pull the golden curtain aside, this gifted orator is an "empty suit" and in my opinion he will go down as one of the more incompetent Presidents in the history of this country along with George W. Bush and Bill Clinton - wow three in a row...we are on a roll (a bad one).

"Comparisons"

This blog has been too serious lately, so I thought I would lighten it up. Have you ever seen two people in completely different professions that have some similarity in their looks and also seem to project the same image? Maybe it's the combination of those images and your own emotional feelings that actually "make" them look like each other. There is nothing like an image to relate this feeling. Why do these two remind me of each other?
















Helen Thomas - Journalist, Heath Ledger - The "Joker" , Dark Knight

Or maybe it's just me...

Financial Madness

"Financial madness" is the only way to describe what is happening in Washington lately. I will not go into the details - anyone with a brain or the least bit of interest about what is going on in this country knows what the numbers are - trillions of dollars of "pork" spending leading to more future debt.

After the first half of the $720 billion "TARP" bill was distributed to banks, and later the government admitted they had "no idea how it was spent", it just confirmed my belief that our politicians are not just idiots, they are mostly incompetent managers who have no idea what economics are all about - the average small businessman in this country would make the average politician look like he failed ninth grade math. Since that first stimulus bill, additional trillions of dollars have been spent and when Obama makes his speeches about all this spending the crowds cheer. Financial madness is the only way to describe it and I would guess a large portion of the people that voted for Obama have no idea what the consequences of these spending bills are...in fact many look at it as "free" entitlements for themselves.

Since the country had a deficit to begin with, these trillions of dollars have to be borrowed. But that borrowing will soon come to an end as the rest of the world begins to worry about the USA's ability to pay it back. At that time our government will have only a few choices - raise taxes on everyone, or print money and let inflation reduce the debt. Both are losing propositions for main street Americans.

I am convinced that this is a power grab unprecedented in the history of this country, aimed at laying the foundation for a socialist government with hopes of securing power for the Democrats for years to come. These bailouts reward homeowners that made poor choices, they reward auto makers and banks that have mismanaged their companies, and they re-establish a broad welfare system in this country. Think about it - most of these programs support people that have "failed' and ask achievers to pay for that failure. It's just a way to redistribute the wealth of this country from the achievers to the non-achievers...classic socialism. Margaret Thatcher, former Conservative Prime Minister of Britain once made a very prolific quote:

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"

Unfortunately the Democrats have almost total control in Washington and Obama, the "pied piper of socialism" is leading his throngs like lemmings over a cliff. And I think he knows exactly what he is doing.