Don't expect a soft landing.

“You know, I've personally flown over 194 missions and I was shot down on every one. Come to think of it, I've never landed a plane in my life.”

                                                   …..Admiral Benson, Hot Shots, 1991

Sometimes, it is clear that the US congress is giving us flying lessons but has never landed a plane in its life.

I for one believe that every time Congress says we have to do something or the sky will fall, what they suggest is guaranteed to be the exact wrong solution.

Every time they get on TV and smile and say, we reached an agreement…it means that the conservatives have folded and the agreement is exactly what the liberals want.

Every time Pelosi and Reid open their mouths, not only is it a waste of time listening to them, they are stealing a part of your life that you will never get back again.

And now, we can add Boehner and McConnell to the time wasters, the stealers.

Not one of these so-called leaders has ever landed the plane, let alone safely!!

They are Admiral Bensons…pompous fools that do nothing but make promises they have no intention of keeping, give advice they would never follow in their own lives, create crises that they have to fix, and then smugly and sanctimoniously state stuff like…

“It is good that we have got past this debt crisis thing….now we can go back to working hard on the things that matter to Americans…like jobs”…Pelosi (paraphrased)

You have got to be kidding me, right?

And you get the Republican fools standing up and saying stuff like “It is the best we could do!”

Idiots….

And this one…”We only hold half of one third of the government…we could not do more.”

OK…I have heard it all before…the excuses, the deliberate lies, the smiles and the strutting….none of it amounts to a hill of beans compared to the danger these idiots have thrust this country into.

I expect it from the Democrats…no surprises there. But the Republicans have totally sold out under the guise that they could “not do any better”.

Boehner and McConnell strutting around as though they are the smartest people in town do nothing to convince me. They are just third rate clowns who can’t get a serious seat at the clown table controlled by Obama.

Ok...it is easy to be critical without offering any suggestions. We all know this…and Obama has once again proven it can be a winning tactic. All you have to do is get the Republicans to start negotiating with themselves, and they will eventually fold. This is a tactic that the Clown-in-Chief uses regularly (along with blaming the Republicans for doing what HE is actually doing). The Republicans are either too damn stupid or too damn smug to understand what is going on….

…so I will tell them what every conservative knows should have happened.

1. When cut, cap and balance was passed by the House and sent to the senate where it was procedurally dumped, the House should have doubled down.

What I mean by this is that it should have immediately turned around and made the cuts bigger, deeper and sooner and sent the new bill back to the senate inside of 24 hours.

When the senate procedurally dumped that one, the House should have doubled down again, getting specific on cutting the pet projects of Obama.

While it is certainly clear that the Senate would not vote for these bills, it would also become increasingly clear that it was the senate that was not doing it’s job.

2. When Obama held press conferences telling everyone it was the recalcitrant Conservatives who were not willing to negotiate, the House leadership should have stood up and said “Damn right we are not gong to negotiate. We are not going to sell out on what we think is right for this country. We have presented multiple bills to the Senate and they refuse to debate them. We will continue sending bills to the senate, with each one being closer to what we want than the last. When the senate chooses to debate those bills, we will then be able to move forward. Until then, we will continue to stand by what we believe, and what we were elected to do. If that means the debt ceiling remains where it is, so be it.”

What did the Republicans do? They back pedaled every time. They have no damned backbone and shudder at the very thought of having to fight for what they believe…bunch of cowards!

3. While doing 1 and 2 above, they should have been out (in numbers) putting on a strong united face and explaining to the people what would REALLY happen if the debt ceiling was not raise. What would really happen would be a partial government shut-down…and that, by itself, would help to reduce the waste in the Federal Government.

They should have stood up at every available microphone and called Obama out for his lies. They should have used every available mouthpiece to show that the Democrats were playing politics, and not disclosing the truth.

This should have been all about getting the truth out there, not the political hyperbole. If people knew the truth, they would not have been in such a hurry to buy the BS coming from both parties.

4. Obama should have been forced to veto a bill. He should never have been allowed to demand a bill that allows the debt increase to go through to cover the period of time beyond his election. This whole crisis was manufactured. Obama knew back in August of last year that the debt ceiling would be hit by now. He had ample time to get exactly what he wanted through the democratic controlled House and Senate with no problems. So, why did he not do that?

That is simple. Because he wanted to be able to blame Republicans if it all went to hell.

He can now blame Republicans if the credit rating is downgraded (which WILL happen - if not now, in a few months or a year or two - but it WILL happen)…after all, it was them who held up the negotiations…it was their House that passed the bill that caused the downgrade. He can stand up and say that it was a bipartisan agreement and both parties believed it was the best for the country….yadda, yadda, yadda….

None of this would have been hard to do….none of it.

It would have taken some bravery; it would have taken great conviction: it would have taken a desire to win; it would have taken an unrelenting belief that what was happening to this country was it’s own destruction; and it would have taken complete honesty.

Sadly, all of this is lacking in the crop of useless lying cheating politicians in Washington.

I am being somewhat unfair here. There are some who stood up to be counted right to the end. I admire the strength of  Ron Paul, Michelle Bachmann, Tim Scott, Steve King, and the rest of the twenty-two Republicans who had the intelligence, the courage, and the conviction to refuse to vote for raising the debt ceiling.

As for the others? No more need be said.

The next time you take flying lessons, make sure it is from someone who has actually landed a plane. The Congress is full of Admiral Benson’s…and we MUST weed them out.

Stupid is as stupid says…..

……devereaux

Boehner and McConnell are fools!

In case you hadn’t heard, Armaggedon is tomorrow….

But it is all right because Congress has come together in a rare moment of enlightenment and with Obama’s blessing has arrived at a deal that has Nancy exuberantly smiling (or is that grimacing? Hard to tell)…and Harry nearly wetting himself in glee.

For his part, Boehner is trying to stay serious and express the deep concerns for fiscal responsibility that he has tried to convey since day 1 of this so-called crisis.

Obama is now in the White House gleefully patting himself on the back for a job well done.

As for us, the people, well…we have to live with whatever deal is struck behind closed doors.

Am I relieved that a deal looks to have been done, and Armageddon will be deferred to another day?

Nope…I am furious.

I am not exactly surprised by this outcome…a blind man could have seen this one coming.

So…let’s take a look at what has been determined is a 98% win for conservatives:-

1. The debt limit will be increased by $1 trillion immediately (and a further $1.5 trillion by December.)

Ok, so the immediate risk of default is averted….wait…default? There was never a risk of default. The risk was to programs and government spending on pet projects, or the government having to shut down for a while…there was NEVER a risk of default. That was a fear tactic generated by the President…no wonder he is so gleeful today…his fear tactic won!

So…no default…just a trillion dollars more in debt. By my reckoning, assuming a 2% interest rate, that would be somewhere around an additional $20 billion a year in interest expense. Does not seem to be a lot in the scheme of things, but lets keep that number in mind for a later discussion.

Come December, Obama may be able to increase debt by another $1.5 trillion….generating a further $30 billion in interest costs…total interest burden of around $50 billion annually.

2. The government spending level will reduce by a trillion dollars.

That sounds good if it all happened in the current fiscal year it would represent a good start to the debt and spending challenges facing this country.

A good start but not enough!

On closer examination, the spending cuts are to be spread out over ten years…with the majority of the cuts in the out years. Some estimates have the cuts for the current fiscal year to be as low as $7 billion. Why is this number so important….because the interest costs on the increased debt for this year will be a minimum of $20 billion. Therefore the net saving under this plan, this year is an additional spending requirement of $13 billion.

This is the fuzzy math that Washington uses to try to trick you into believing they are doing the right thing!

But that is not the worst part. This so called spending cut is not based on current spending levels but on already expected future spending levels. Here is what I mean. The 2011 budget is about $3.65 trillion with a deficit of $1.65 trillion.

The 2012 spending is already expected to be 8% higher, or $292 billion. Government income (taxes) are forecast to increase at the growth rate of 4%. 2011 government income was budgeted at $2 trillion, so for 2012 they expect a further $80 billion. SO the “gap” between increased revenue and increased spending is $210 billion. Deduct “planned” spending cuts of $100 billion, and the government has to borrow at least $1.77 trillion to stay solvent in 2012.

In 2013 the numbers get even bigger. And this is assuming 4% growth economically…not the 1.3% (inflated) numbers we are achieving today. I have said it before and I will say it again…numbers have meanings, just like words, but they are easy to manipulate to hide the truth.

I saw a report today that actually said the proposed cuts equal 7% of current spending. Well, that may be true…but they do not represent 7% of the spending over the periods that the cuts are mad. Much closer to about one half of one percent. This is the type of journalistic dishonesty we see every day…and we must be cautious not to buy the BS!!

3. No tax increases.

Wow! That would be a good victory….if it were true.

I have a couple of things to say about this.

a) no tax increases assumes that the tax cuts previously known as the Bush tax cuts (but now should be more appropriately known as the Obama tax cuts) will expire in 2013 and will not be extended. Since Norquist and others have said that the expiration of these cuts does not amount to a tax increase, Obama, Reid, Pelosi and co have tricked Boehner and McConnell into believing no tax increases will occur. BS.  Again…to my way of thinking the removal of a tax cut is akin to the imposition of a higher tax rate…it is a tax increase. No amount of spin or trickery or lying changes that fact.

b) the “committee” that is about to be appointed to look at the “crisis” and determine further spending cuts to allow further increase in the debt limit, has pretty much NO rules about what it considers. That “open book” could certainly include tax increases as a trade-off to other reductions as Obama has wanted all along.

Now the Committee will be appointed by both majority and minority leaders of both parties….and does not reflect the current makeup of congress. The fact that republicans make up 59% of the House should have been reflected in republicans having more reps on the council. Likewise, democrats should have more reps from the Senate. The total number would be the same but the makeup would reflect the political makeup of congress. But no…we have to have equal numbers on this very powerful committee.

This is not lost on Nancy and Harry. They see how they can move forward with tax increases through this committee…as can I.

4. IF the super-committee is unable to come up with a proposal for reduced spending as required, or the up and down vote does not pass, a penalty is triggered.

The penalty is supposed to be harsh to ensure that the Committee does its job. Well, the penalty has been written to be that the debt limit will be increased with a corresponding automatic cut in spending on….defense and Medicare!

No wonder Harry and Nacny and Obama are so happy.

The automatic spending cuts are only in the areas where they want to cut anyway.

4. There is a requirement that a balanced budget amendment be voted on by both houses of congress. There is no requirement that it be passed!

So…we have a deal struck behind closed doors that does the following:-

1. allows Obama to borrow more

2. increases spending in the next 12 months by more than the spending cuts will save by virtue of the interest costs on the borrowed money

3. does nothing to address long term spending….in fact allows the spending in every future year to increase at a rate faster than the forecast rate of economic growth

4. assumes the Bush tax cuts expire and are not renewed but is hailed as having no tax increases

5. creates yet another Government committee to come up with additional cuts

6. automatically gives Obama another $1.5 trillion borrowing capacity even if the committee fails to get suggestions agreed by congress

7. penalizes the defence budget and Medicare if the committee fails

8. allows for actual future tax increases

9. does not attempt to balance future budgets

10. gives Obama the ability to ignore debt while he is campaigning for 2012

…and Boehner and McConnell think this is a good deal?

I tell you…this world is totally upside down.

The only hope left is that there are enough sane members of congress to vote against this piece of crap.

As of the writing of this post, no voting had taken place. Harry would not declare victory but indicated he expected to be able to. Boehner was still working the caucus.

This is the worst nightmare I could imagine.

I am sick of the lily-livered pathetic republicans who do not have the balls to make a stand.  I am sick of the lies and the spin. I am sick of the conservative leadership bowing before Obama and being complicit in spreading his lies.

Every so called conservative who votes for this travesty of a bill should be removed from office tat the first opportunity.

Do not forget.

It’s time.

The war is just beginning and we are on the front lines. Be strong and fight wherever these idiots try to lie to you.

…..it’s time.

….devereaux

We don't need another hero....

Is this what America has come to?

What happened to the freedom of idea? What happened to open debate of issues? What happened to Congress doing what they believe the voters want done?

But most of all....what happened to the leadership of this Country?

I see a number of things that we can take away from the current debt ceiling situation:-

1. The great US Senate....the place that his been held up worldwide as the place for the free expression of ideas and honest debate, has now become nothing but a bullpen for ignorant liberals who refuse debate the issues (I suspect they refuse the debate because they know they cannot win.)

Have you heard anything more ridiculous than the Democrat Senators writing to John Boehner as Leader of the House, and stating very clearly...."don't even bother to pass the proposed debt ceiling plan through the House, because we are never going to vote for it anyway and it is a waste of everyone's time!"

I thought the Senate was the place for debate? It seems to have become nothing more than a weapon for the current administration (a very dull weapon at that) and a place that will only debate ideas that they pre-approve. Do I need to point out that the Democratic controlled senate has not passed a budget in over 820 days now, and these idiots expect us to believe they want to do the right thing about the Countries finances? Poppycock!

My personal belief is that Harry Reid is scared that if there was a decent debate in the Senate, that several democratic Senators will see the wisdom of the proposed legislation and vote for it, thus denying the President of his desire to further bully republicans. Harry Reid cannot take the chance with a debate because he will lose...so he uses parliamentary trickery and bully-boy tactics to avoid it at all costs.

And do you know what is worse than that? We, the American people simply accept it as the way it is.

2. We have a President who has been very vocal about his position on the debt ceiling stuff for some time. He has been heard campaigning for a balanced solution. He has been in discussions with the leaders of both parties in both houses. I do not think there is any doubt in anyone's mind that he wants a balanced solution.

So, the House produces a balanced budget solution....

"Oh no...that is not a balanced solution....the sort of balanced solution I want is more taxes and higher spending. And I want that to be for a period beyond the next election, ok? How else can I be re-elected?"

When that didn't work, he goes to the people. He makes threats. He bullies. He calls for plans. He does not even indicate what he has in mind.

He has more discussions, more BS and more claims about a balanced solution.

This is not leadership. This is not compromise. This is him electioneering. This is all about how he can try to paint the Republicans bad.

He is a disgrace. And what is more disgraceful? That a large portion of the population are so ignorant of reality that they believe his lies.

Where do we go from here?

Well, there is no doubt in my mind that the US credit score is going to be downgraded. It does not matter now what sort of deal comes out of Washington. The President and the Senate are now seen to be broken. The Country has NO leadership.

No organization can look at our governing bodies and have any confidence whatsoever that the countries fiscal problems can be fixed.

So we WILL be downgraded. This will result in higher interest rates on new borrowings which will dampen the economy. The stock market will respond accordingly and dip in the short-term. (I suspect that the downgrade is already priced into the market, as traders tend to see reality before politicians do! After all, it is their own money at risk, not somebody else's.)

UNtil a couple of very significant events occur, this downgrade will remain...the events that will assist in a return to a perfect grade are:-

1. the removal of the tyrant and Liar-in-Chief currently residing in the White House. Without strong leadership, and honest attempts to get debt and spending under control, the ratings agencies will not risk upgrading us

2. the re-establishment of the Senate as a place where issues are debated. Until the Senate starts doing it's job , no rating agency will ever upgrade us.

3. The Senate MUST pass a budget. That is their job.

4. Real spending controls MUST be instituted. Not some wishy-washy cut in spending 10 years out, but real controls that prevent this Government and future Governments from spending more than a certain amount of money.

5. Debt must be paid down significantly, not increased.

If America can show she is serious about tackling this problem head on with real solutions, real efforts and real results, I expect we will see our grading improve within a couple of years.

If we continue on the same path that our Liar-in-Chief wants to follow, a triple A rating is something we will never see again in my lifetime and probably my grandchildren's lives.

We don't need another hero. We don't need dreams from someone's father. We don't need the image of a white knight on a stallion coming in to save the day. We don't need the audacity of hope. We don't need hope and change.

What do we need?

We need honesty.

We need someone who will roll up his sleeves and get down in the trenches with us.

We need a leader who is not concerned about extending his time in the White House or improving his golf score.

We need a man or woman who, when no-one is watching, falls on his knees in grief for what this country has become...and when the grief passes, when determination sets in, he or she becomes the one to stand beside us as we all shovel that next load of crap out of the way.

We don't need a hero....we need someone who loves this Country more than life itself. We need someone willing to risk their wealth,  and their very lives to do what is right.

We need no hero.

.....devereaux

The soap opera continues!

It just gets funnier and funnier.

I tell you, the best script writers in Hollywood could not make this stuff up.

Let's take a look at some of the things that happened in the last few days:-

1. Obama makes it clear that if the debt ceiling is not lifted, the US will default, SS payments will be in jeopardy and soldiers on active duty may not get paid.

2. Wednesday last week, the House passed a bill to extend funding to FAA to keep it running with some restrictions on subsidies to a small number of airports. (Funding to the FAA would run out on the weekend).

3. Last Friday the Senate votes on "cut, cap and balance" without any debate, and then the senate closed early so the senators could have a weekend at home. The Senate did not consider FAA funding either through debate or vote notwithstanding that funding would run out in a matter of hours. Hours that the senate still had available i normal working hours. Clearly the democratic controlled Senate had no interest in passing FAA funding.

4. Friday Boehner walks out of debt ceiling negotiations with Obama, accusing him of moving the goalposts and not being serious about the negotiations.

5. Friday, Obama holds press conference and demands the leaders of both houses meet with him on Saturday.

6. Friday, late, the FAA advises that it will have to put about 4,000 employees on furlough since it does not have enough funding to pay for them. (These employees were largely involved in non-critical areas such as construction and secretarial duties. None of the furloughs presented a danger to the air travel system.)

7. Saturday, democrats around the country blasted Republicans for putting air travel safety at risk just because they wanted a few cuts to the subsidy system providing low cost flights to people in remote areas. (It seems incongruous to me that the Republican controlled House passed a bill, and the democratically controlled Senate refused to look at it....yet it is the Republicans who are causing the FAA problems.

8. Obama and his posse of clowns met with congressional leaders about the debt ceiling...nothing accomplished. (Not a surprise.)

9. Democrats claiming Republicans are the problem...yet the House passed a bill that was rejected by the democratically controlled senate. A senate that not only has NOT provided any plans, but has ALSO failed to agree on a budget for 818 days!!

10. Barclays and UBS analysts report that July revenues are higher than expected and accordingly financial armaggeddon is now not due till August 10. (They do state they are not 100% sure of that date, but that the government has plenty of money to meet SS payments due August 3 and all debt payments etc).

Does anyone else see the pattern here?

It is so clear to me that the democrats and the Joker -in - Chief, have absolutely no interest in securing this country's finances.

It is clear that Obama cares only for his re-election, demanding that any increase in the debt ceiling covers the period to 2013, beyond the next election.

It is also clear that the democrats in congress do not want to make a decision. If they do, they fear they will be held accountable for the outcome. If they fail to pass anything, they think they can get a passing grade by saying the house did not provide any acceptable alternatives, putting the blame back on the republicans.

This is starting to look like a very bad soap opera....I am just waiting for a blind photographer to become part of the script!!

I wonder how long the people will accept these lies? I wonder how long it will be before the liberals start screaming for heads to roll? I wonder how long it will take to get to the point where Obama himself is seen as the idiot he is...or the narcissistic, socialist, marxist nobody who uses race and bully pulpit tactics to get his own way.

Well...I think that time is now here, or at least very close.

Obama, nobody fears you anymore. Nobody fears the taunts from the left any more. We see through your feeble attempts to control us. And sooner or later we will do something about it.

In a representative republic like ours, the true power of the people is found at the ballot box. That is where this battle will be fought. Obama, you have already lost the battle of ideas. With over 65% of the population wanting a balanced budget amendment (as reported by your own CNN polls) and 75% wanting significant spending cuts, you are on the wrong side of the people.

Let me give you a little advice (although it pains me to tell you anything that could actually help you, I don't mind because you would never listen to anybody with a pulse). When you ignore the wishes of the people, when you treat them as irrelevant, when you chose to bully them as you do, they WILL rise up. They WILL reach a point where they say "Enough!!" That point is rapidly approaching. You saw a small sign of it in the 2010 elections where your party was decimated. That is but a small indication of what will happen in 2012.

I hope the debt ceiling is not lifted. I hope the government is forced to reduce spending. I know there will be some tough times, but I would prefer that to happen today than in 10 years time. ( I have always believed in the maxim that you take the pain as soon as possible and then move forward again...deferring the inevitable does not work!) I hope Obama is forced to decide who will or won't get paid. He will then be seen for exactly what he is....a tyrant and a liar.

If this makes me irresponsible, I will wear that title with pride. Any extension to the debt ceiling will only enable this government to spend more. It is time for the rot to stop!

And to the conservatives in Congress I say this...do NOT be discouraged, do not blink, do not do what He demands. If he calls you to his office...politely but firmly decline his invitation....if he demands you be there...politely decline....he must learn that he is not an emperor but rather simply an elected official, doing the will of the people.

We must ALL make a stand....IT's Time!

.....devereaux