RWNJ Conservative Views from Cincinnati

It looks like President Obama is about to face a big test with the omnibus spending bill on its way to his desk. Obama made it clear that he was against earmarks in both the campaign and in his rhetoric during his presidency. The package has nearly 8000 earmarks in it (both Republican and Democrat), worth $5.5 Billion.

The question is, will Obama stand true to his anti-earmark principle and veto this bill? It isn’t difficult to take this bill and send it back to be reconstructed without earmarks. Unfortunately, the administration to this point has become expert at taking action contrary to what was promised and deflect the blame back on the previous administration.

According to an AP story, it appears that is exactly what Obama is preparing to do. White House spokesman Gibbs has already said “It represents last year’s business.” This has set the stage for Obama to not stand to his principles and use yet another instance of the blame game. At some point, the new administration is going to have to make a stand that they aren’t afraid to take responsibility for.

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I found this followup from Jim Cramer (on his “Mad Money” show) regarding his comments that Obama is presiding over the “greatest wealth destruction by a President.” Cramer came out punching, making comments such as “Obama’s the one who knocked the whole darn thing down” and that Obama “might have some inside information that he’s done enough damage for now.”  He even threw a shot mentioning “President Pelosi” when talking about the class warfare strategy that is in play.

This is typical Jim Cramer, full of enthusiasm and passion. If the White House wants another battle front (beyond Limbaugh), they’ve got a willing combatant in Cramer.

Cramer also has a written response available here.

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In an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC, CNBC Analyst Jim Cramer (who, I should point out, is not a Conservative) regarded Obama’s policies as an advancement of a “radical agenda” and pointed out that this was the “greatest wealth destruction by a President” that he’s seen.  

Obama has shrugged off the steep decline in the stock market. He said, “What I am looking for is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market … but the long-term.” Apparently, he has missed the continued stock market slide (25% reduction since he was elected). He also stated, “The stock market is sort of like a tracking poll.” The Wall Street “poll” is speaking volumes on its opinion of the way the economy is heading. Given that the economy usually lags the market by 6 months, our economic future does look grim.

Perhaps we should move away from the agenda of restributing wealth, hiking taxes, and burying ourselves in even more debt. We need to do what is right for the economy. That includes business-friendly policies, lower taxes for all economic classes, and long-term job promotion. This new administration has had the opportunity to implement these types of policies, but instead has moved from one set of bad policies to another. In the end, it is the country that pays for this mistake.

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The Wall Street Journal posted an opinion article today pointing out that President Obama is implementing policies that are slowing down, or even stopping, our recovery from this recession.  After falling 4.24% yesterday, the Dow is now down over 25% since Obama was elected, its lowest level since 1997.  The new administration’s policies of punishing business and rewarding failure is clearly having a detrimental effect.

The average length of a recession during the past fifty years is 11 months. The current recession has existed now for 15 months. Instead of focusing on promoting growth, Obama has focused on income transfers (tax credits to those who don’t pay taxes, mortgage bailout, etc). Now, there is even mention of reforming healthcare. While I can agree with Obama’s statement “There are times when you can afford to decorate your house, then there are times when you need to refocus on building its foundation,” I cannot understand why his actions are in direct opposition.

When the recovery occurs, it will not be because of Obama’s policies… it will be in spite of them. The market showed its opinion of the President’s proposed budget plan when it took a nose dive. It unfortunately seems that every time the administration mentions an action the market drops even further. Just today Orszag defended raising taxes in the middle of the recession. As those who make hiring decisions have less money, less people are hired. It is a fantastic way to stagnate the economy further.

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Obama unveiled his 2010 budget plan of $3.55 Trillion dollars. This budget will result in a record deficit of $1.75 Trillion.

Given the state of the economy, you would anticipate that action would be taken to not only increase jobs but show some fiscal restraint. Instead, this plan includes a $634 billion down payment on expanding health care coverage that will be partially funded by a $318 billion tax increase on buisness owners. That is neither fiscal restraint nor pro-job creation.

The President will be pushing to make the working-class tax cut ($400/year) permenant. Perhaps that will help cover the increase in product cost that will occur when the cost of the tax hike is passed down to consumers… perhaps not.

Included in the plan is a proposal to inact a carbon cap and trade scam, potentially costing corporations hundreds of billions of dollars.

The projected deficit totals 12.3% of the gross domestic product, more than twice the previous post-war record of 6% in 1983, under President Reagan, and the highest level since the deficit totaled 21.5% of GDP at the end of World War II.

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