America's Worst Economic Depression
Page 9
Could real estate on American soil owned by China be set up as “development zones” in which the communist nation could establish Chinese-owned businesses and bring in its citizens to the U.S. to work? That’s part of an evolving proposal Beijing has been developing quietly since 2009 to convert more than $1 trillion of U.S debt it owns into equity. Under the plan, China would own U.S. businesses, U.S. infrastructure and U.S. high-value land, all with a U.S. government guarantee against loss. [cxci]
As if to rub salt into the land-give-away sore, Obama has funneled billions of our US tax dollars into losing green energy companies – instead of into our weak economy and growing unemployment. How much do you feel this helps us?
It's no secret that President Obama’s and green-energy supporters’ (from both parties) foray into venture capitalism has not gone well. But the extent of its failure has been largely ignored by the press. Sure, single instances garner attention as they happen, but they ignore past failures in order to make it seem like a rare case…. So far, 34 companies that were offered federal support from taxpayers are faltering – either having gone bankrupt or laying off workers or heading for bankruptcy…. Of that $80 billion in clean energy loans, grants, and tax credits, at least 10% has gone to companies that have since either gone bankrupt or are circling the drain. [cxcii]
Now, can you imagine why so many Brain Trust members do not care for Obama as our US President?
So, that leaves one other question to be addressed coming from this very Political Failings chapter, as follows: What are some examples of how our recent leaders have abandoned America’s founder’s faith in God and Judeo-Christian principles? Well, as if to save the best for last, no President – ever - has pulled this country away from its Judeo-Christian heritage more than President Obama has.
During an interview with Fox News, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council stated, “Any president, any official in history that has embraced Christianity, is no longer welcome in this administration. That’s the environment they are creating.” [cxciii]
President Obama's true faith or beliefs have been most difficult to establish. While he appears a loyal family man as we’ve observed him these past four years, do you feel his role as husband and father define his true faith? If one’s actions speak louder than words, then what do you think these actions by Obama and those around him say about his Judeo-Christian religious beliefs?
1. “President Obama has demonstrated his hostility against Biblical principles and the people who live by them.” [cxciv]
2. “Barack Obama seems to hate the Judeo-Christian foundations of our nation and has claimed that we are not a Christian nation.” [cxcv]
3. “Barack Obama attacks religion.” [cxcvi]
4. “Yet today our Christian heritage is under attack as never before.” [cxcvii]
5. “Changing the words of the Declaration of Independence is part of Obama’s determination to remove everything religious and every mention of God from every aspect of our public life in order to fundamentally transform us from ‘one nation under God’ into one nation under the Federal Government, especially the executive branch, with no higher power recognized.” [cxcviii]
6. “He (Obama) continues to allow his administration to squelch Christianity at home, especially when it has to do with honoring the military.” [cxcix]
[cc]
7. “An interview President Obama conducted in 2004 about his faith shows that on several major doctrinal issues -- including sin, heaven and the Gospel's exclusivity -- he steps outside historic Christianity.” [cci]
8. “Is President Barack Obama America’s most ‘Biblically-hostile U.S. president?’ ” [ccii]
9. “Mr. Obama, the quintessential Progressive in his speech to the Muslims of Egypt, Turkey, and many places spices up his apology tours by asserting that America is not a Christian country.” [cciii]
10. “Obama's Pro-Islam prejudice projects hostility to Christians and Jews.” [cciv]
11. “The Democratic Party has become the anti-God Party, the Sin-Promoting Party.” [ccv]
12. “Yet again, President Obama’s Thanksgiving message eschewed any direct reference to thanking God, making this the fourth straight year in which the President of the United States has ignored the central message of the holiday in favor of political grandstanding.” [ccvi]
[ccvii]
13. “ Why the dearth of Christ-centric ornaments on the Washington DC Christmas tree while having abundant Obama-centric hangings? Why cancel the National Day of Prayer so as to ‘not offend’ but allow a day of Muslim prayer at the Capitol?” [ccviii]
14. “‘ We need to elect leaders who believe in the sanctity of life, and who defend and fight for God's definition of marriage between one man and one woman.’ “ [ccix]
Can you imagine America’s Founding Fathers doing anything remotely similar to these mere 14 examples about President Obama and those close to him? Little by little you begin to recognize how our current leadership is on the opposite side of our nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage. This Biblical number of 14 examples comes from hundreds of such evidences compiled in just these past few years.
And as you are thinking about Obama’s departure from America’s Judeo-Christian principles, you may find amazing these examples supporting President Obama’s Muslim leanings, at minimum. What you might also discover is the many other “Christians” close to Obama who seem to favor the Muslim faith.
1. “Barack Hussein Obama would have to be considered America’s first Muslim president.” [ccx]
2. “Halfway through his term, the percentage of Americans that believe Barack Obama is Muslim continues to grow, while the number of those who see him as Christian shrinks.” [ccxi]
[ccxii]
3. “Whistleblower magazine has named Obama as “The First Muslim President.” [ccxiii]
4. “Obama praises and glorifies Islam.” [ccxiv]
5. “According to Arabic- language and Islamic experts, the ring Obama has been wearing for more than 30 years is adorned with the first part of the Islamic declaration of faith, the Shahada: ‘There is no god except Allah.’” [ccxv]
6. “It has been a long time since the Democrats stood for Christian principles, but under Barack Obama, they have taken to attacking Christians as enemies.” [ccxvi]
7. “A truly shocking video was released yesterday, Tuesday, June 26, 2012, of a Muslim crowd attacking a group of Christians at this month’s Dearborn, Michigan Arab Festival.” [ccxvii]
8. “In regards to countries involved in the Arab Spring, it's interesting that Clinton expresses worry about Muslim groups but says nothing about the Christian groups that are seeing churches burned, homes destroyed, and families tortured and killed.” [ccxviii]
9. “The Obama State Department is engaged in a marked effort in outreach to what they have termed the ‘marginalized and ignored’ Muslims of Europe.” [ccxix]
10. “A new military handbook has been issued that orders soldiers to avoid engaging in topics that would offend radical Islamists.” [ccxx]
11. “Here in America, our elected officials are plotting to limit, if not eliminate Americans access to legal firearms … AND ... AMMUNITION ..., but the Muslim Brotherhood gets Abrams tanks and F-16’s?” [ccxxi]
12. “The Obama administration is to blame for the deaths of Americans in the Benghazi consulate attack because it effectively empowered the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda to take over governance of Libya.” [ccxxii]
13. “Democrats are intent on focusing on Islam as part of their party’s upcoming national convention.” [ccxxiii]
14. “Welcome to Shariamerica.” [ccxxiv]
Let me make clear that this is not a book about politics or religion. Yet, it is a book objectively addressing the reasons and causes behind America and the world’s coming economic storm. In wrapping up this section on America’s current President, here are his financial numbers at the end of his first term:
“The cumulative de
ficit during that time is nearly $5.2 trillion.” [ccxxv]
The Total Accumulated Debt “increased by $5.8 trillion.” [ccxxvi]
Usually it is the back-to-back political failings of more than one President or just one party that is responsible for the long term decline in America's economy. While this book offers much more information on our current president as he’s the most current target, those preceding him are also guilty. President Obama, like those before him, continues to kick this can (of severely bad economic issues) down the road. Sadly, there’s little hope that those elected officials who follow him will do any better in this regard – regardless of the party.
The Federal government ran a fairly tight ship until the Johnson and Reagan years, and then the wind caught it. Soon, it was under full sail, flying towards record deficits and unheard of debts. [ccxxvii]
As Iran patiently accumulated the tools of regional influence and luxuriated in the power vacuum brought on by US destruction of its neighbors Afghanistan and Iraq, it developed both the tools and the trenchant mentality of a Shia superpower. It hardly mattered whether the United States and its allies have been tricked or diluted. The result was settled: in substituting Levi’s for reality, America and Europe had squandered a decade of opportunity to pry into Iran's weakness. [ccxxviii]
[ccxxix] The government bailouts are too little, too late to end the debt crisis; too much, too soon for those who have to foot the bill … The primary reason is simple and quite obvious: Our society is addicted to debt. As long as government can keep the credit flowing -- as long as borrowers can get their regular debt fix -- everyone continues to spend to their hearts content. But as soon as the credit stops flowing or, worse, as soon as it's cut off cold turkey, spending vanishes, the American economy suffers withdrawal pains, and the financial markets go into convulsions. [ccxxx]
You may not have purchased a GM or Chrysler car, but you’re still paying for one, according to a new report by the National Taxpayer’s Union. According to the report, every American taxpayer has put up $12,200 for every General Motors car sold through the beginning of 2011 and $7,600 for every Chrysler sold. The taxpayer study, which is based on a November report released by the Government Accountability Office, found that the average American taxpaying family has invested about $800 in the auto bailouts so far. It notes that government funding provided to General Motors, Chrysler and GMAC – the financing subsidiary that supports sales at both – now stands at a $78.9 billion. [ccxxxi]
[ccxxxii]
Legislative
Would it surprise you to learn that the Political Failings you've now read about in the Executive branch are much of the same in the Legislative branch? Well, you know it's not unusual when being a Congressman is often a stepping stone to that most coveted elected position, United States President. In the Congress, thankfully, we find far more persons who are NOT career politicians, and as such, may serve "we the people", rather than be served by the people.
Unfortunately, as you've seen and can understand, persons elected to the Congress often find it hard to return to another career until forced to do so by being defeated in an election. Apparently, the sweet taste of the almost instant respect and power from being elected to Congress is hard for we, mere humans, to pass up. For these and other reasons, the founding fathers had concerns about the Congress:
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress. [ccxxxiii]
If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? [ccxxxiv]
You know from an early age, thanks to instantaneous news via the radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and the internet, we don't miss much. In fact, it's often overload, especially during election years every two years and most pointedly during the Presidential election every four years, as this 2012 year.
[ccxxxv]
Everyone seems to know and feel how the members of the US House and Senate are elected based on local, statewide concerns during their campaigns. Doesn't it seem, as we watch our local elected Congressmen head to DC, that all too often and in little time, they become part of the DC fabric - forgetting so many of those campaign concerns important to us?
Congress has proved over the last 35 years that it is utterly incapable of fiscal discipline over the long term. And the president does not have the power to impose it. So what to do? [ccxxxvi]
Why, oh why, in America's downward spiral of increased spending of moneys we just don't have, do we also find our Congressman - Democrats and Republicans, it seems, so quick to approve another Bailout, Stimulus package, or Debt Limit increase? Are they driven more by their immediate need for another paycheck rather than any apparent concern for the harm done to America's future generations? Wouldn't it be amazing if enough of them came together to stop the continued kicking of this can down the road?
I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office. [ccxxxvii]
[ccxxxviii]
The executive has all the power he needs to do practically anything. Congress goes along, like a simpleminded stooge, insisting only that the spoils be spread around. The whole process works so well that a member of Congress has to be found in bed “with a live boy or a dead girl” before he risks losing office. [ccxxxix]
If Congress had to abide by its own rules, it would have to throw itself in jail for fraudulent accounting. [ccxl]
While Congress wastes little time in approving more ways of reckless spending as well as taxing you, me, and other largely innocent citizens to pay for their selfish and senseless habits, they time and time again are no longer able to offer a balanced budget – or, any budget at all! Sadly, as everyone knows by now, they’ve painted themselves into a corner with little to no way out now or in the foreseeable future.
Consider this powerful five minute plus You Tube video by a wise accountant who does budget work. You’re intelligent enough to recognize quickly what is the real dilemma behind America’s budget challenges. You may also agree that this clean, concise, and effective explanation is as good as you’ve heard on the important subject of our nation’s budgets:
http://www.youtube-nocookie.co m/embed/EW5IdwltaAc?rel=0
One way to measure the degree of regulation in the economy is … to look at the number of major economic laws passed by Congress. As such laws proliferate, government intervention in the economy increases. In this broad measure, the regulation of business becomes synonymous with government interference with the operation of markets. [ccxli]
The one-two punch of income vulnerability and rising costs has weakened the middle class at the same time that the revision of the rules of financing delivers a death blow to families each year. Since the early 1980s, the credit industry has rewritten the rules of lending to families. Congress has turned the industry loose to charge whatever it can get and to bury tricks and traps throughout credit agreements. Credit card contracts that were less than a page long in the early 1980s now number thirty or more pages of small print legalese. [ccxlii]
The failings in leadership found in our executive branch is also commonplace in the Congress and the damage to our nation’s best interests fall equally on these legislator’s shoulders, regardless of their party affiliation, alongside America’s Executive Branch.
[ccxliii]
[ccxliv]
Judicial
America’s judiciary at every level – Federal, state, local, appellate – performs the important task of interpreting the laws as made between the legislative and executive levels. In founding our government and its branches, the founding fathers knew of the importance of this branch and held aspirations.
All the rights secured t
o the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary…. In England the judges should have independence to protect the people against the crown. Here the judges should not be independent of the people, but be appointed for not more than seven years. The people would always re-elect the good judges. [ccxlv]
As you probably already know, the vast majority of US citizens - in virtually every part of the private sector - feel that the US judiciary does NOT seek the truth. As such, judges are unable to met justice. The multiplicity of tragedies throughout American life seem to emanate in a large part from a judicial system that has strayed much too far away from the founder’s values and intents.
The great object of my fear is the Federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them. [ccxlvi]
Cities, towns, counties, states, and districts have lost jobs because Fortune 500 companies and smaller businesses or professions have closed offices in areas where the courts have an increasing track record of biased judgments against business and in favor of individuals and even criminals. Judges, for the most part, also show an extreme bias against men in favor of women, against community leaders in favor of societal takers, against good over bad, and against truth and justice for what may be more popular in the public’s eyes. Their judgments and rulings, like the same in the last days of the Roman Empire, strip American communities of sound leadership by denigrating these leaders.