Obamanomics - What a Joke

Here is what Obama thinks economics is.

"On Tuesday at the State of the Union, I laid out my vision for how we move forward," President Obama said at a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada. "I laid out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last, that has a firm foundation. Where we're making stuff and selling stuff and moving it around and UPS drivers are dropping things off everywhere."

"That's the economy we want. An economy built on American manufacturing, with more good jobs and more products made here in the United States of America," he also said.


Our President.

Democrat's Failure to Compromise Cause Failure of Deficit Reduction Supercommittee

Democrats refused to compromise and insist on significantly increasing taxes on the very people who are capable of bringing us out of Obama's disaster of an economy.

Anybody with any intelligence and knows anything about simple economics and history knows that raising taxes on the producers, will only make things worse.  Republicans insisted on the responsible solution of  cutting taxes and spending.   It really is simple and it has worked every time it has been tried.

I am proud that the Republicans on the supercommittee had the courage to stick to their principals and refuse to compromise with the Democrats recipe for failure of a plan.  My sincere thank you to every Republican on the committee!

Don't give in to the parasites and looters.

Teachers are Actually Overcompensated and Should be Brought in Line with Private Sector

The WSJ ran an article reporting on a report done by Briggs and Richwine that shows teachers are actually overcompensated by 52% more than what they could earn in the private sector when taking into account their salaries, fringe benefits, and job security.  


First, let's consider salary, the item teachers whine about the most.

Education is widely regarded by researchers and college students alike as one of the easiest fields of study, and one that features substantially higher average grades than most other college majors. On objective tests of cognitive ability such as the SAT, ACT, GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and Armed Forces Qualification Test, teachers score only around the 40th percentile of college graduates. If we compare teachers and non-teachers with similar AFQT scores, the teacher salary penalty disappears.

Next, let's talk about health insurance, their valuable pension and all the time off they get.

Data on employee benefits from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), for example, do not include retiree health coverage, which for teachers is worth about an additional 10% of their salaries. Because of differing accounting rules between the public and private sectors, BLS data also make teachers' defined-benefit pensions appear only slightly more generous than the typical 401(k) plan found in the private sector. 

In reality, a teacher who retired after 30 years of service with an annual salary of $40,000 might receive guaranteed annual pension benefits of about $20,330. Under a typical private 401(k) plan, a guaranteed annual benefit might be only around $4,450 (assuming the money is invested in U.S. Treasurys and the employee buys an annuity).

BLS data on paid leave for teachers count vacation days only during the school year, omitting summer and long holiday breaks. A valid pay comparison should include this extra time off, in which teachers can enjoy longer vacations or earn additional income.

Properly counted, a typical public school teacher with a salary of $51,000 would receive another $51,480 in present or future fringe benefits. A worker in private business with the same salary would receive around $22,185 in fringe benefits.

 Finally, is job security.

Finally, despite recent layoffs, teachers still have greater job security than workers in private businesses. While employment in education declined by 2.9% between September 2008 and July 2011, according to BLS data, overall private-sector employment declined by 4.4%. Moreover, from 2005 through 2010 the unemployment rate for public school teachers averaged 2.1%, versus 4.1% for private school teachers and 3.8% for occupations that some consider comparable, such as computer programmers and insurance underwriters. 

Job security protects against the loss of compensation suffered by the unemployed, and it also protects a position in which total wages and benefits are on average above market levels. This job security is surely valuable.

These are things I have always known about the teaching profession and commented on in various Missoulian LTE and Liberal blogs.    I have no sympathy for teachers complaining about their career choice and how underpaid and unappreciated they are. 


Teachers are, in fact, overcompensated and should be willing to take a 52% cut in pay in benefits to bring them down to what people of similar education and ability are making in the private sector. Heck I would suggest even a 42% cut to show that we appreciate them 10% more than people in the private sector.

Finally Reading Atlas Shrugged... Wow.

I've had a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand for about 25 years.  I purchased it a few years after graduating from college thinking I would have the time to read that massive volume but quickly discovered that the real world of career, marriage and raising a family was the priority.  I also have to admit I was very intimidated by the sheer size of the book and talked myself out of it every time I considered starting it.

A few weeks back, I was sorting through a a box of old books and pulled it out.  I took it to my chair after pouring myself a glass of Johnny Walker Black Label and started to read.  I've been reading it now almost every evening when I get home from work and I am now kicking myself for putting it off for so long.

The book is incredible.  Ayn Rand is a fantastic writer and the content of the story is relevant even to this day even though the book was published in 1957.  I keep saying to myself I need to get on THR 2.0 and blog about the book.  Today is that day.

I am about 30% though the book and ran across this passage last night that I found so true. It is Dr. Ferris explaining to Henry Rearden, the self made man of Reardon Steel, the reason government has laws as he ( Ferris) is attempting to blackmail Rearden into giving up Reardon Metal to the State Science Institute.

Did you really think we want those laws observed? said Dr. Ferris. We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.

There are many other speeches throughout the book I underlined as they are so clear in explaining the difference between free markets and government controlled markets.  Not only is Ayn an amazing writer, her ability to predict the future we are in now is astonishing.

USA Not in Top 10 Countries to Start a Business

A few weeks ago I published the post Why I Decided to Not Launch a New Start Up.  Today I read that INC magazine reported the top ten countries to start a business and guess what?  The USA is not in the top ten.  I know, from personal experience, the reason.  Read my post above and you will now why too.  

Occupy LA Speaker Calls for Violence

The losers of America are calling for a revolution and bloody violence.

Obama supports this.

Why I Decided to Not Launch a New Start Up

A couple of associates and I have been traveling and meeting with potential investors in the effort to explore launching a start up company.  The three of us are currently happily employed but our entrepreneurial personalities saw an opportunity we felt we needed to explore.  We all work for the same organization and have the blessing of our boss, who has offered to be an initial investor.  Our boss is one of those "evil and greedy" rich guys who happens to employ 79 well compensated people.

I am posting this here because I wanted to share a couple of real life reasons why our economy is currently a disaster and unemployment is at record levels.  It is important to know who is ultimately responsible.  

Without going into too much detail and violating any Confidentiality Agreements I am under, I will give a quick explanation of what we were planning on doing and why we decided not to go forward, at least not until 2012, when Obama is out of office and the Republicans control both the House and Senate.

Our opportunity would be to launch a small company that would initially consist of 10-15 salaried and hourly employees.  The business model is sound and the potential investors we visited on the East Coast are very enthusiastic and would normally be willing to invest.  The management team (my associates and myself) has a history of strong performance and proven success which gives great comfort to our potential investors.

We were feeling very enthusiastic about the possibility of creating a start up company until we got deeper into the DD and discovered some serious regulatory issues that were recently established by our government - Democrat controlled congress and the Obama Administration.  These significant new regulatory requirements along with the uncertainty of any long term stability related to corporate taxes and the confiscatory requirements of Obamacare make it very difficult to justify putting our investor's and our capital at risk at this time.  The exercise of doing our DD confirmed to us that the current Federal (Strong), State (mildl) and Local (Missoula strong) political climate is openly hostile to business and the profit motive.

In addition and as an aside, we seriously considered headquartering in Missoula but discounted the that option because of the anti business/corporate sentiment prevalent in the local government and general population, the lack of appropriately skilled and educated work force (we need scientists and engineers), and the below average work ethic (long hours of work at a high performance).  Our conclusions are based on our observations over the many years each of us have lived and worked in Missoula.

Had there been a more friendly environment for our business, we would have happily created a company and hired a dozen people with the goal of continued growth in the future.  Being honest, my personal and selfish incentive was to generate a lot of wealth for myself  but I also would be providing good paying jobs and opportunities for others in addition to ultimately provide an important commodity to the marketplace.

But my associates and I will wait.  We know our idea and business model are sound and can be potentially very profitable.  We will wait until the climate for business, profits, and success change to being a positive one.  I am certain that will be in 2012 when Obama and the Democrats are swept out of office at all levels of government.      

Question for Elizabeth Warren: Where Did the Government Get Its Money?

Warren is a clueless Harvard Law professor who has never worked in the free market and has no idea how the real world works.  ALL of the money the government spends on infrastructure comes from business through their business taxes and the income taxes from the businesses employees.  She has it completely backwards - free market business is what built all the items she listed off either directly or through the taxes they paid the government.



It is truly amazing how stupid a Harvard Law professor can be.  Even a Montana graduate like me knows better.

Obama's Economic Success Continues

More economic success for Obama as reported by the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of America's poor swelled to almost 1 in 6 people last year, reaching a new high as long-term unemployment left millions of Americans struggling and out of work. The number of uninsured edged up to 49.9 million, the biggest in more than two decades.

How  'bout that Obamanomics, eh?!

Gore Desperate to Convince us of Climate Change Lie

Famous phony science propagandist, Al Gore is attempting to convince us who believe in logic and real science that humans are the cause of climate change.  

"24 Hours of Reality" will broadcast a presentation by Al Gore every hour for 24 hours across 24 different time zones from Wednesday to Thursday, with the aim of convincing climate change deniers and driving action against global warming among households, schools and businesses.

According to the article, "he has 200 new slides arguing the connection between more extreme weather and climate change." Wow, 200 new slides. Wake me up when it's over.

He can argue all he wants but the bottom line is there is still ZERO scientific proof that humans cause global warming. There is nothing but theory based on flawed and incomplete computer models. I have said it hundreds of times before that extreme climate change has occurred on Earth for millions and millions of years and will continue millions and millions of years into the future.

There can only be one reason for the Left's insistence on promoting their lie of what causes climate change. They want to control what people do in the name of protecting the climate.

Quote of the Day: Arthur Laffer

From the 9/12/11 WSJ:

Some people actually believe government can create jobs by taxing and borrowing from people with jobs and then giving that money to people without jobs. ~ Arthur Laffer, 9/12/11 WSJ

Mr. Laffer expands on that quote which describes perfectly why we are in the terrible economic situation of Obamanomics.

Government taxes cigarettes to stop people from smoking, not to get them to smoke. Government fines speeders so they won't speed, not to encourage them to drive faster. And yet contrary to common sense, it seems perfectly natural to some people that government would tax people who work or companies that are successful only to give that money to people who don't work and to bail out losing companies. The thought never crosses their minds that these policies are the very reason why our economy is in such bad shape.

What Obama Really Wanted to Say in his "Jobs" Speech

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. of the WSJ pretty much nailed it this morning in his piece "Obama's Jobs Speech: An Early Draft".  It is a satirical piece but perfectly describes Obama's attitude and those who blindly follow him.

Here are a few quotes that demonstrate Obama's and his follower's arrogance and attitude about their wrongheaded beliefs on healthcare.

Elections have consequences. We mastered the use of slogans and imagery and won the presidency. Now the power is ours to choose our agenda, and we chose not to be distracted by matters that arise—say, the country's economic crisis. We chose instead to pursue the things that we know should be pursued. 

These things are called shibboleths—badges of identity that signify us as "progressives" and entitle us to a sense of superiority. One is nationalization of health care, an emblem of our "caring." 

Then he goes into their wrongheaded beliefs about green energy.

One on which we've made less progress is the displacement of fossil fuels in favor of "green energy," at much higher cost. Accompanying this shibboleth are related shibboleths—about "energy independence," about "global warming"—that, like all shibboleths, are impervious to examination.

Then unions and business.

Another is union power—labor is good, management is bad. I could go on. These shibboleths are so important that, as you will have seen by now, we will not allow them to be impeded or delayed by matters that merely arise, such as the public's crying need for jobs. So we have blocked drilling for fossil fuels in as many places as possible, protecting Americans from the jobs that would be created.

So we have sacrificed jobs in order to punish Boeing for building a plant in South Carolina that would employ nonunion workers.

Consider my background. I don't know much about business and, frankly, don't care to. You see, I have a self-reinforcing image of Barack Obama. I am high-minded. Business people are greedy and, somehow, lesser. I stay focused on that.

Some might say, "Had I known this I never would have voted for you." A) You weren't listening carefully; and B) that was my intention, my art. To conceal—for instance, by dropping one's Gs—is what it means to be an effective left-wing ideologue in America these days.

I am not anti-business. I get a supreme sense of satisfaction when business leaders approach me and, in a deferential manner, ask for subsidies and regulatory favors that will determine whether their companies succeed or fail. Like solar subsidies. This is the kind of job creation I'm interested in.

My administration has taken flak because of our "investment" of tax dollars in a solar company that last week filed for bankruptcy. Don't be misled. If such companies were profitable and could survive without subsidies, they would not be fit objects of government charity, nor would their leaders approach me with a deferential mien.

Their dependency is what makes them loyal constituents, generous with a campaign donation, willing to go on CNBC and praise our policies. You can always count on me for job creation when it means taking money from independent businesses, those that are answering the call of the marketplace, and giving it to dependent businesses, those that are answering the call of government.

Although Obama never actually said any of this, I think we can all agree that this is what he actually really thinks.

Obama's Wild Successes

Back when Obama was inaugurated, Rush made the statement that he hoped Obama would fail.  Being an intelligent Rush fan, I fully understood what he meant by that statement.  We knew back in January of 2009, that Obama's policy ideas and goals would be destructive to the US economy if implemented. Because we knew this, we hoped he would fail. Only a fool thought that hoping for Obama's failure was hoping for America's failure.

Unfortunately, Obama has not failed. Rather, he has been wildly successful. His policies were passed  and implemented and we are now living with the results.

The Wall Street Journal had an opinion piece this morning titled The Obama Presidency by the Numbers by Michael J. Boskin and in it, included a list of Obama's record breaking accomplishments.  I'm posting the list here.

Here are Obama's successes...




I am heartbroken the Obama has been so successful.   His policies have done exactly what I knew they would do - taken this country to the worst economic performance of our lifetimes.

Why No Intelligent Person Cares About Obama's Silly Little "Jobs" Speech

He's said jobs are a priority many times before and his polices only make it worse.  Will it be any different tomorrow?

We're Number 5!!! (Drop from #1 in 2008)

Thanks to Obama's and Liberal policies, the United States of America is now in 5th place in global competitiveness.

We were number 1 in 2008.

I wonder if Obama will say he inherited the #1 ranking from Bush?

First "0" Since 1945

August 2011 was the first time since 1945 that ZERO net jobs were added.  I just don't understand how people still think this man is competent...

Unless, of course, they support his destruction of our economy.

We Must Spend More to Get out of Debt. WTF?

Incredible.

Why Isn't the Economy Growing?

Gee I wonder why.  Funny thing is that Liberals will not understand and think this is a wonderful thing.

College Students Should Redistribute Their GPAs to Students Less Fortunate

It's interesting that students who support the redistribution of wealth through increasing the taxes of people who "can afford to do so" are opposed to redistribution of their GPA even though they "can afford to do so".



Thank you to the College Republicans at the University of California-Merced for exposing the hypocracy of the Left and how easy it is to redistribute another person's assets and rationalize that you are doing good and how that attitude changes when your assets are in jeopardy of being redistributed.     

Another Clueless Comment by Obama

Being in a regulated industry, I can tell you how onerous, wasteful, expensive and redundant government regulations are.  Obama has no clue because he's never worked a day in his life in the private sector.  He only knows government.



Oh, I especially like his comment "Nobody is more interested in seeing our agricultural sector successful than I am, partly because I come from a farm state."   What??