Obama the Wizard of Washington - A Master Illusionist

-



Since Obama just came to the realization that while he pursues the agenda of Wall Street payoffs, of international adulation, and of institutional socialism, the people of America now know he is totally out of touch with Main Street. A year after being elected he finally realized that jobs, the economy and the deficit are the people's priorities if not his.

This week he made a feeble effort to show his concern for the economy but before the week had ended he showed his true colors when was off to Oslo to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize then off to Copenhagen to commit America to global warming initiatives designed more to pad liberal pockets than benefit the people.

Obama is the first person in history to win the Peace Prize the same time he was ordering a massive expansion in the War in Afghanistan. This is the same president who consistently blasted former President Bush for the war in Iraq, then Obama declared Iraq stabilized and withdrew American troops from the front lines. This week over 131 people were killed in five bombings within the supposedly secure Bagdad capitol.

Since the Obama troop withdraw from populated areas ordered by Obama on June 30 the Iraqi people have been faced with a bloodbath. In the entire war 94,500 Iraqi citizens have been killed, over 1243 in Bagdad alone this year. The US military has suffered about 4,367 total deaths in Iraq. As of this writing there are still about 124,000 troops in Iraq.



That it a precursor of the illusion being proffered by the Obama gang to bury the truth in a fog making it impossible to know what is really being done. When it comes to the economy and jobs, the truth is far more limited and self-serving than one might expect of the president of all the people.

Several types of people seem to dominate the Obama White House and work for the Chicago gang. There are the academic intellectuals, the social activists, the special interests and the Wall Street protectors. In terms of experience and understanding of the economy, those that do understand it have an agenda far removed from the public interest. The activists and special interests, on the other hand, seem only concerned with expanding their base, power and control of resources at the expense of everyone else.

Take for example his team of economic advisors. They have several decades of experience manipulating the American economy and regulation of the economy to benefit the banks and bank executives, using the environmental "green" advocates not because of the benefits to humanity but because they represent the most lucrative market for return on investment, the labor unions who have already benefitted from multiple Obama executive orders to force labor wages on all government work at the federal and state levels, and the socialists who often hate the very institution (US government) paying their inflated salaries.

No small businessmen, people with experience creating jobs in the public and private sector, nor people who believe we are spending ourselves into a cycle of self-destruction are part of the Obama team. They would be a roadblock to the socialist agenda of the Obama gang.



Yesterday Obama said he would take a couple of hundred billion dollars not being used in the TARP program and spend it on his new jobs initiatives. At the same time he pledged to attack the problem of reducing the spiraling deficit.

Okay, the TARP money is all deficit financed. If he takes the money paid back by the banks and applies it to the deficit that is nice. If he takes the money not spent yet and uses it to finance the feeble jobs program that is not saving money, it is still adding to the deficit.



The economic logic of the White House seems very similar to the logic of the Nobel Peace Prize committee in awarding Obama's huge troop build up in Afghanistan with the Peace prize. It is the Wizard at work with his illusionist routine but it might as well be Alice in Wonderland where nothing is as it seems.

Here is some basic logic that does work. First, infrastructure projects can only create temporary jobs and even then the labor cost of infrastructure projects is generally a very small percent of the total cost. Since Obama already signed executive orders that will increase the labor costs significantly to union wage levels when many projects were going to be non-union, even fewer jobs can be created. These projects never meet timetables because of the permit process, the public bidding process, extensive environmental regulations and other requirements.

Green jobs are also nonsense as there is not yet a market for the often over-priced green products and services. Obama must be too young to remember the oil crises in the 1970's and 1980's, back when he was a community organizer, self-avowed pot smoker and before he graduated from Harvard in 1991. If he was paying attention he would know oil prices spiraled, gas shortages were prevalent, and "green" technology was supposed to lead us out of the dark.



Alternative fuel, solar heating and cooling and energy conservation were all seen as saviors from the global crisis. We are now 20-30 years later and they still have not saved us from anything. The only element of a rapidly expanding green industry at this time that would be a direct benefit to people would be energy conservation, which was the most successful initiative back in the oil crisis days. However, it was paid for by the utilities, not the federal government.

Also back in the Reagan days there were excess profit taxes, price controls and other legislative actions that saved billions of dollars in consumer costs. The money recovered from oil company overcharges went directly to the states who faced the same budget deficits then they face today. Again, the federal government was not the source of the money but the source of the action that generated the money.



Why doesn't Obama suggest excess profit taxes on Wall Street? How about oil price controls? How about prosecuting some corporate offenders for misuse of our financial system? Billions of dollars in fines should be paid by the white collar crooks for the economic catastrophe they caused.

When evaluating jobs program options one must decide if they are to be temporary or permanent. So far the Obama stimulus program jobs being created are costing over $500,000 each. We would be better off paying the entire cost of a college education for anyone in their last two years of undergraduate and graduate programs in fields leading to professional employment.

I say wait until the last two years so they have demonstrated a commitment to getting the education. Besides, we would be keeping college age people, 20-26, out of the labor force freeing up jobs to reduce the unemployment rolls while lowering the cost of unemployment benefits. At the same time we would be helping the cash strapped colleges and universities while upgrading the quality of the future labor pool in America so we can compete with the Chinese and Indians of the world.

Fields of math, engineering and medical would all be preparing our future labor pool for competition or meeting top priorities such as the need for health industry professionals. If health care were expanded to all Americans tomorrow there are not enough health care people to meet the huge increase in demand. We would be well advised to help train doctors, nurses and specialists for the upcoming surge in health care enrollment.

As for the "green" jobs, I already mentioned the energy conservation (weatherization) was already a huge success through the utility companies. Let the existing utilities generate the jobs where possible and finance the program from utility companies. That way the people benefiting from the program pay for it. Until alternative energy options are viable and thoroughly tested, we need a combination program of conventional and alternative energy.



Natural gas is cleaner than coal and oil heating systems. Oil and coal plants can be much more efficient with reduced carbon emissions so we should adopt the energy independence initiative and drill for domestic, Canadian and Mexican (the North American Independence Initiative) oil and gas reserves that will significantly reduce our foreign oil dependence. I believe a production tax on new oil and gas reserves should be used to finance the completion of alternative energy technologies and the testing and production engineering necessary to make them a viable long term source of energy.

Likewise, a couple of cents per gallon tax on gasoline could be used to finance fleets of electric cars for the government which would help with development of new battery technologies, help auto companies to offset the development costs of these vehicles, and hopefully help reduce the cost of true alternative energy cars to affordable prices which they are not achieving now.



So far none of my proposals costs the federal government anything. However, there are some costs that must be incurred. Infrastructure projects, which Congress and the President like, probably because they reward the labor unions more than anyone, need to have some parameters.

For example, projects that are labor intensive (where more than 50% of the cost is labor) would be given first funding priority. Second priority would be given to projects with 25-50% labor costs. Major infrastructure projects should be funded through a multi-billion dollar government bond program thus avoiding adding to the deficit. Right now the banks are not loaning money nor helping the consumer. Require the banks receiving money from the Federal Reserve or other sources to contribute a significant part of their money to the bond program since they will not loan to small business or people.

As for the private sector, a multi-tiered program should be launched. Small businesses prepared to add to their employment base (perhaps businesses up to 2500 employees) would be given a substantial tax credit for three years for every new employee hired as long as the position is retained during the three years.



Anyone wanting to establish or expand manufacturing capacity in America would be given free use of surplus government facilities, i.e. military bases, airports, warehouses, etc. for as long as they remain in business and retain the jobs. A loan fund at minimum interest would be made available to them to make improvements to the facilities with the facility serving as the collateral for the loans. In addition they would be eligible for tax credits for new positions created for the facility.

A substantial effort will be made to find private companies to produce government developed materials for commercial use. This public-private partnership has been attempted in the past but was dominated by the engineering and research fields when marketing and production engineering resources were needed to make it successful. There are hundreds if not thousands of products developed by the military, NASA, the intelligence agencies and other government bodies that are no longer classified but would be of great value in the marketplace. Companies offering the full range of resource staff would be given preferred treatment.



America once dominated the world in terms of manufacturing and product innovation and there is no reason it cannot do this again. Two things are necessary to move us in the right direction. Innovative companies are hampered by the lack of capital but small business loans should alleviate that problem. The tremendous increase in the cost of testing and patent work has become a barrier to innovation for small businesses.

The Small Business Administration should develop the necessary resources to offer free product testing and patent work to anyone attempting to develop and market innovative ideas in America. This will offset two of the greatest barriers to innovation by small business and individuals and SBA will be in a position to finance the product implementation once the testing and patent work is complete.

These are just the ideas of one person on how to address the jobs needs of America without bankrupting the nation in the process. Ideas such as these also protect us from committing billions of dollars that will not generate meaningful numbers of jobs and will not contribute significantly to the deficit. Okay President Obama, you said you would listen to ideas from anyone on how to create more jobs. Are you really listening?

Mr. President - What have you accomplished?

-





Has anyone noticed that time seems to be speeding up while nothing seems to be changing in this world? We have a new president but all the same problems are still here. The economy is built on a foundation of quicksand. Troops remain in Iraq. More troops have been sent to Afghanistan. North Korea and Iran both have spit in the face of our new president and his policy of engagement in dialogue with our enemies.





Nancy Pelosi continues to lead the Democratic party down the black hole of intellectual constipation and permanent inertia with her broken promises, her running from responsibility and blaming everyone else for the lack of action and leadership. Pelosi continues to slam defective bills through Congress which will have no chance of getting into law.

Thanks to the Democrats control of the universe we have the highest budget deficit in history, the highest national debt in history, two wars still underway and two more hot spots moving closer to conflict in North Korea and Iran.





Fat cats on Wall Street that backed Obama have gotten richer while those that caused the economic chaos have not been prosecuted. Green politicians like Al Gore have made a hundred million dollars off the environment and stand to make billions more while the Administration continues to fund them and ignore the oil and gas assets we do control.

Social programs have grown adding millions more to the future deficits while Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while we do rely on and have paid for are on a fast track to destruction. Oh yes, and what happened to your 401K that was supposed to be protected by the government?





If I had all these things going wrong I think I would rent a resort home for $40,000 like Obama and go on vacation as well. Too bad he can't find a church to go to as easy as spending tens of thousands of dollars visiting resorts, going to Broadway shows, hosting million dollar Hawaiian parties for cronies, and whatever else he does for diversion. Maybe keeping him out of Washington along with the Congress is what America needs most to heal.

Obama Conquers Europe - Is America Next?

Over 200,000 Germans watch as Obama walks along the podium on his way to address the world. It was the highlight of his whirlwind trip from Afganistan to Iraq, Israel to Germany to France and England.

Memo to John McCain: Stop whining and start giving us a reason to take you more seriously than Obama. Ever since Obama left for the war zones and Europe McCain has been complaining about the press coverage, complaining about the policies Obama has announced, complaining about being assigned the junior varsity of the news corps since all the media stars were with Obama in Europe and complaining about every word uttered by Obama on the trip.

His "good old boy" approach to the campaign does nothing to tell us why he should be elected as the most powerful person in the world, how he will improve the image of America around the world, or how he will end the wars and stop all the special interests who are running and funding his campaign. We need solutions to problems. We need a leader who can motivate us to do good. We need a president who will go after the crooks in our financial, oil, medical, pharmaceutical, entertainment and media industries.

I thought it was pretty amazing to see an American speaking to over 200,000 Germans in Berlin and being applauded. When I see polls that say two-thirds of Europeans want Obama to be the next president I think the fact the rest of the world is taking such an interest in our election is an indication of the power of the United States and the role they hope to see for America in leading the world.

Think about it, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and England have been around about a thousand years longer than the USA. Yet in all their amazing history they have never had a minority leader, whether president, prime minister, king or queen. Only the USA, the newest kid on the block, has taken such a quantum leap forward to be seriously considering electing the first minority president in world history in a Western democratic or capitalistic society.

The people of the world stand in awe of our political system that practices what it preaches, that all people are free and everyone has an equal opportunity to be president. I happen to think that is quite extraordinary and our founding fathers should be smiling down on the land of freedom and opportunity they helped create.

There are one hundred days until the election. Both candidates have plenty of time and money to make their case to be the next leader of our nation. Let us hope they use that time and money to give us positive reasons to elect them, not negative reasons to not elect their opponent.

The United States is the sole world super power because we can stand united behind a cause for good, be more creative and innovative than any other nation when we set our mind to it, and we are the most compassionate and caring people on Earth. As long as the world is watching with such interest, let us give them an election they will never forget.



Not to be outdone by Obama, McCain is shown here meeting with the Dali Lama while Obama was meeting with the Germans, French and English. He used the occasion with this man of peace to blast Obama for his trip and to challenge the images of the wonderful reception he received in Europe.

DEMONS AND THEIR BLACK GOLD - OIL

Enough of the accusations and finger pointing, how about taking action to stop the nonsense before the world becomes the victim of the hoarders of black gold. Oil prices continue to set daily records while politicians, industries and economists twiddle their thumbs and speculate on the speculators while accomplishing nothing.

More than anything else the spiraling price of black gold is a reflection of the attitude of the world toward the United States foreign policy and the last few years America has taken a beating in international relations. What we as a nation do in the Middle East, in Asia, in South America and in Eastern Europe has directly impacted on oil prices as many nations that produce the precious oil oppose our foreign policy.

Take the Middle East for example where we have propped up the Saudi Arabia kingdoms for decades, a Muslim nation, while giving a blank check and unlimited arms to Israel to oppose the Muslim nations. Along the way we save Kuwait from an invasion by Saddam Hussein and Iraq and then we obliterate Hussein because of phony “weapons of mass destruction” intelligence. Now we occupy Iraq and after five years nothing is even approaching the life they had under Hussein.

First let us look at oil production in the world. As of February 2008 the following are the top oil producers shown in millions of barrels per day. Russia 12.93, Saudi Arabia 8.81, United States 7.40, Iran 3.93, China 3.82, Canada 3.50, Mexico 3.46, UAB 2.59, Venezuela 2.44, Norway 2.44, Iraq 2.37, Kuwait 2.29 and UK 1.65.

These are the top oil consumers of the world again in millions of barrels per day. United States 20.7, China 6.5, Japan 5.6, Germany 2.6, Russia 2.5, India 2.4, Canada 2.3, Korea 2.1, Brazil 2.1, France 2.0, Mexico 2.0, Italy 1.9, Saudi Arabia 1.9 and UK 1.8.

Finally these are countries with the most oil reserves in the world reflected in billions of barrels of oil. Saudi Arabia 266.8, Canada 179.0, Iraq 130.0, Iran 105.0, Kuwait 100.0, United Arab Emirates 100.0, Venezuela 80.0, Russia 60.0, Libya 41.5, Nigeria 36.2, United States 21.0 and Mexico 20.0. Five of the top six are Arab OPEC members and they control 55% of the world oil reserves, while all of OPEC controls 70% of all the world reserves.

Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves in the world, while Iraq has the third largest oil reserves in the world. The United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars defending those countries yet these two countries have made little effort to help us during the recent oil price increases. Iran is yet another oil giant and ever since our ill-fated backing of the Shah of Iran over the people we have struggled to benefit from their oil reserves.

In fact, of all the Arab countries with substantial production and reserves, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, UAB and Qatar, only Iraq which we occupy has not reduced oil production this year and over the past year. In the case of Iraq they were producing 2.6 million barrels per day under Saddam. Five years after our invasion they are still only producing 2.3 million barrels a day with the third largest reserves in the world. Oil experts have predicted Iraq could produce up to 6 million barrels a day in four years but they didn’t count on the extent of corruption in the Iraq rebuilding budget. All the other Middle East nations have lowered production. Some friends.

Hopefully our leaders understand when people have the reserves and they lower oil production it means they are probably trying to cause economic damage to the USA. Venezuela seems to hate us and they have lowered oil production. On the other hand, we alienated Russia but they still increase oil exports. Our relationship with China is not particularly good but even China has increased production while lowering their projected oil needs. Canada and Mexico, our neighbors, have increased production yet we seem to ignore them or take actions against immigrants for example that contributes to our negative image. In spite of that Canada and Mexico are still trying to help.

So we can count on our friends Canada, Mexico, Russia and China to help with the oil price mess. I doubt many people consider Russia and China friends of the USA but at least they are working to minimize oil prices. In Russia they took care of the speculators and crooked oil companies by nationalizing the companies. It seems to work as they produce nearly 10 million more barrels than they need and refuse to be part of OPEC.

So is there a problem with inventories? Not really. Although U.S. crude oil inventories may be down according to Tim Evans, an energy futures analyst at Citigroup's Futures Perspective, the gasoline inventories are at their highest level since March 1993. In spite of OPEC world oil production was up 2.5% in the first quarter of 2008 over the same period in 2007 while world oil consumption rose just 2%. World production is projected to be 3.3% higher in the second quarter and 4.1% higher in the third quarter than the same periods a year ago while world demand is projected to rise by just 1.6% over the next six months.

The tenuous nature of the economy has caused oil demand to fall in some countries. According to economist John Kemp at the commodities firm Sempra Metals, the U.S. consumed 4% less petroleum in January 2008 than it did the year before. With China reducing the expected increase in oil demand world surplus oil production capacity has gone from a very tight 1.5 million barrels per day a couple of years ago to more than 3 million barrels today, says petroleum economist Michael Lynch.

So supply is up and relative demand is down. Inventories are up and reserves are more than adequate, yet the price of oil continues to rise. Why? Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson blamed a third of the recent run up in oil prices on the weak dollar, another third on geopolitical uncertainty, and the rest on market speculation.

I have my own reasons and they can’t be any worse than Mr. Tillerson. We can blame a fourth of the rise on the Demon Retribution for Bush foreign policy, a fourth on the Demon Manipulation for oil company tax and refining capacity shenanigans, a fourth on the Demon of Deceit for conflicts of interest in our financial institutions, banks and media where expert oil analysis profits the companies with no disclosure of the analyst ownership conflicts, and a fourth Demon of Greed in market speculators who are probably the same financial institutions, banks and media experts manipulating the price through the futures markets.

Note that I have not mentioned congressional inertia, Administration bungling, the federal agency non-responsiveness nor the media ignorance as major factors in the price run up because I can’t imagine they have any ability to react quickly to anything while the coffers of the national political parties and candidates are so bloated from oil company contributions their reaction would be highly impaired. As for the media, well look where the advertising revenue comes from to pay for the network news team that covers the news.


Is there hope? Sure. The Mayan calendar says the world will end in the last year of the new presidents 1st term, 2012. That would certainly bring an end to foolish politics, haphazard enforcement of corruption laws, rampant greed and spiraling oil prices.

World News Recap

The Democrats have now been in control of congress for the first quarter of the year and how are they doing with their laundry list of immediate promises?

The stock market has collapsed, regrouped, and collapsed again.
The trade deficit set another record.
No news on immigration reform.
No news on campaign reform.
Oil prices are skyrocketing again for no reason.
Congress still refuses to investigate the interlocking ownership in oil.
Housing foreclosures are setting new records.
About half of congress is running for president.
The war in Iraq continues as if congress doesn’t even exist.

Hey, things remain pretty much the same and that’s all I have to say about that.