Clowns to the left of me, and jokers to the right.
As desperate Americans look to our main political parties for leadership in this time of struggle all too often we are turned away.
Now for the record this isn’t a slam-Obama post - so I don’t wanna hear it in the comments. What we’re getting out of Obama right now is pretty much what I expected, with a couple of extra tax cuts thrown in for good measure. Any president would be hard-pressed to come up with solutions right now, and remember, there is only so much the president can do. The government entity that really holds the power to enact change is Congress, since they author the bills.
Our nation is at somewhat of a crossroads.
We’ve been humbled greatly by the last eight years. In a somewhat ironic twist this may be one of the more positive aspects of George W. Bush’s legacy. Ironic because it took things getting this bad for people to wake up.
But we did wake up, and that’s part of the statement that was made in November of 2008. Barack Obama (among many other reasons mind you, I just consider this to be the biggest) won the election because he ran on a platform of change. It’s not just a word like some of the so called conservatives out there would want you to believe. It’s an entire movement.
I also push for the case that America did not turn blue this last election as some liberals would want you to believe. I think America got fed up. Obama may not have been the perfect candidate for their cause, but he was a heck of a lot closer than McCain was.
So what happens next?
Make no mistake about it the following months are going to be a ruthless battle between our two political parties. The Republican’s will do all they can to obstruct Obama and his plans. Obama’s repeated calls for unity will be ignored by his opponents on the right as well as his constituents on the left. How much change will Obama be able to bring working with a congress as stubborn as ours? How much extra spending - porkulus - whatever you want to call it - will be required to sway blue-dog democrats and moderate conservatives into following his plans?
The change we’re experiencing is going to be great for our country in a lot of ways. Our government has operated anything but efficiently as of late, and despite the repeated cries of many conservatives, we are moving towards a more efficient America. We just have to play a little catch-up after a few years of blatant neglect.
I understand we need to spend.
Our country is behind. Eight years of Bush policies have led to a massive influx of foreign influence in our economy, a home-owner crisis, and a eventually a full blown economic crisis. Not to mention the jobs that we’ve bled in those eight years.
We need to come together as a country and this spending at least will be on America. A lot of what Obama is doing isn’t going to show up right away, but we’re going to be much better off after it.
That being said, I hope this spending is for the crisis and doesn’t become a precedent for every president. That is a scary thought to me, and to a lot of Americans, liberal conservative or otherwise.
Protecting the status-quo.
Many of our politicians want you to believe that part of this catch-up includes bailing out (with taxpayer money) companies that have screwed the American people over for years now. This is setting a very dangerous precedent as we move forward, and in all too many ways it is not moving forward.
Free money being given to corporations and companies that proved they could not manage the money that they had. I think the Cato Institute’s Daniel J. Mitchell put it best, saying that the bailouts are like “giving an alcoholic the key to a liquor cabinet.”
Now almost unanimously Americans have not supported these bailouts. Barack Obama did (So did McCain), and it’s one of the main reasons I could not bring myself to punch in my ballot bubble next to his name in November.
Other politicians want you to think that the problems facing our economy can be solved by across the board tax cuts. I would love it if this were true, but look at how much our government is spending already.
Government spending - An issue that is out of hand.
Politicians spend millions of dollars to urge people not to smoke while spending more millions to subsidize tobacco farmers. They send billions overseas for foreign aid all the while balooning the federal deficit. They spend millions to subsidize public art while working families struggle to find enough income. Politicians also run trains, bail out savings and loans, construct houses, sell insurance, print books, and build expensive sports complexes.
We need to seriously ask ourselves how many things should our government be in charge of? Better yet, that question is rhetorical (that means don’t answer it).
We can’t keep spending at the levels we currently are.
This is supposedly a priority of the Obama administration. Maybe he just thinks it should be a priority for America in the future and not now because I don’t see it. Two trillion dollars saved by 2016 when our government (on its current path) is slated to spend way more than that by then is not enough. Not nearly.
Our national debt will shortly cross the 11 trillion dollar mark (can you even fathom that amount of money?). Thank god China is still buying up our government’s ‘toxic assets’ because if they stop our currency will lose its value overnight. Period.
I spoke earlier about how one of the lasting effects of the Bush administration may be a more humble America. An America that wants to keep its spending within its limits. An America that doesn’t want to keep passing the burden of debt down onto its children and grandchildren.
As we move forward we need to ask ourselves what role we want the government to play in the future. What is important and needs to be protected, and what should be cut because it is wasteful spending.
But listen up here, because this is the important part. This debate is one that will continue as long as we have our government in place. Balancing our budget is not a new issue by any means. Even more importantly though, it is a precursor to an even bigger issue facing our country.
There is a very real solution that is possible here - one that only a few of our elected representatives are talking about.
Solution - Ending debt as we know it.
According to Federal Reserve’s website, the Fed is in charge of
1.) Conducting the nation’s monetary policy by influencing money and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of full employment and stable prices.
I think it’s pretty safe to say they get a fail here.
2.) Supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation’s banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers.
Ha! That’s a big fail here too, isn’t it?
3.) Maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets.
Maintaining stability in the financial system, they’re doing a great job there aren’t they?
4.) Providing certain financial services to the U.S. government, to the public, to financial institutions, and to foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation’s payments systems.
I’ll go ahead and give them an F+ on number four, since they’ve definitely been providing financial services to the government. Besides, I’m feeling rather chipper today.
All jokes aside the Federal Reserve’s mismanagement of our money has had a devastating effect on our currency. As of 2009 the U.S. dollar had lost 96% of its value in the 96 years that the Federal Reserve has been unconstitutionally in place. Why do we turn to these guys?
When it comes down to it the Federal Reserve is a huge sham. A ponzi scheme, to use a recent term - designed to create money that you don’t see out of thin air, and then they even have the cajones to charge you for it on top of that.
The whole elaborate system - debt, interest and inflation - are all tools to make money off of you before you even spend your dollar. Without this system in place your dollar would immediately be worth 35% more due to the interest that is charged to your dollar before it is even printed.
Through acts like the Monetary Control Act of 1980 the Federal Reserve has expanded its control and now can create even more interest at the expense of the unprinted dollar. In fact, interest creates so much artificial money now off of the dollar before it is printed that we had to create a term for it - inflation.
Inflation, debt and interest don’t have to be there. At all. They were created as schemes to get bankers rich, and even worse we’ve let it happen and we let our politicians use them as excuses for their failures. Well I’m sick of it, for one.
Isn’t it time we had some real change?
The Federal Reserve is no more Federal than the Federal Express. They have virtually no congressional oversight, and really no oversight from anyone at all. Their interests and objectives have been brought out into the open with this latest economic recession. America it is once again time to wake up.
As I pointed out earlier, the real power for change rests in Congress. Here’s where you guys come in. At any point, I repeat, at ANY POINT Congress can make changes to the Federal Reserve Act. Contact your representatives and senators and let them know how you feel about this. Tell them you’re interested in real solutions towards ending our debt, starting with ending the debt-based monetary structure that we have right now.
Go to recovery.org and tell President Barack Obama that the American people want real recovery and real change and that they want it now.
Sign this petition, this one, or this one. Make your own petition if you have to.
For the love of our country do something America. This has to stop now.
