October 5th, 2011 by John Feehery
Apparently, Radiohead couldn’t get its schedule straight with the Occupy Wall Street protesters and they didn’t play for the grungy crowd last week. I am not hip enough to know exactly what kind of music the band plays, but I do know that a couple of years ago, the members of the band came up with a brilliant marketing strategy to sell one of its albums. “Pay what you want or pay nothing at all if that is what you want to do.” The band never released how much money it made by letting its fans name their own price, but they chose to not pursue the same strategy for their next album.
Despite the scheduling snafu, Radiohead still has endorsed the protest movement that seems to be gaining strength every day. For example, all of the government employee unions are now on board with Michael Moore and assorted other left-wing radicals to protest the money that Wall Street financiers make every day.
These Wall Street financiers and their other colleagues, known collectively by the collectivists as “the rich” or the “one-percenters”, pay about 30 to 35% of the taxes collected by the Federal government. Having the government employee unions protest against these prodigious tax-payers is somewhat akin to the protesting against the goose because he is not producing golden eggs fast enough. Read more...
Tags: America, anti-capitalist, Barack Obama, Capitalism, Democrats, Federal government, immigrants, Jobs, Mexicans, Michael Moore, New York Times, Occupy Wall Street protestors, Old Gray Lady, Politics, Radiohead, spending, taxes, Wall Street financiers
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Politics, bad news, spending, taxes | No Comments »
October 4th, 2011 by John Feehery
Originally posted on THE HILL – October 3, 2011
It might be too early to start analyzing what went wrong with the Obama administration in its first three years, but I am going to do it anyway.
Here are seven turning points that led to the president’s decline and fall, seven places where Obama or his Democratic allies made critical errors that forever altered the course of his presidency. He hasn’t done everything wrong, but he has made enough mistakes to make his reelection extraordinarily difficult.
1. Failed to veto the initial stimulus package: Imagine for a moment if Obama had vetoed that initial stimulus package. Imagine if he insisted that Democratic leaders take out all the pork and cleanse the bill of unworthy projects. Imagine if he had insisted that congressional Democrats work with Republicans to include their ideas, because we are all in this together. He would have immediately branded himself as a different kind of president, as someone above the fray, as a leader who cares first about the country, not the Democratic Party. And if he had done that, he would have had the Republicans hopelessly divided. Of course, he didn’t take that step, congressional Democrats were able to walk all over him and Republicans stiffened up their resolve and presented a united front against the president and his plans. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Bush’s tax cuts, David Plouffe, Democrats, dollar, election, George W Bush, Government, healthcare, House Republicans, Nancy Pelosi, Obama Administration, Obamacare, olympics, Politics, Republicans, spending, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, Politics, Presidential election, election, health care, medicare, national security, spending | 1 Comment »
September 28th, 2011 by John Feehery
I was talking to a Democratic friend of mine this morning, and he told me to expect the President’s people to go after Mitt Romney on the jobs issue. “There is a lot more that hasn’t come to the surface,” he told me confidently.
I’m sure there is. There is always more on just about everybody. I wish we knew more about Obama before the American people elected him three years ago.
The issue that my friend talked to me about had to do with Romney’s time at Bain Capital.
Bain Capital is a private equity firm that buys undervalued companies and turns them around so they can become profitable. They have had a lot of success. You can wake up with a Bain Capital company (Sealy), check out the weather (they own the Weather Channel), get a cup of coffee and a donut (Dunkin Donuts), go to the store and buy some running shoes to work off the donut (Sports Authority), buy some office supplies (Staples), grab a burger (Burger King), buy a present (Brookstone), catch a movie (AMC Entertainment), and then get home in time for dinner (Domino’s Pizza). Read more...
Tags: America, Bain Capital, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Economy, election, Government, Mitt Romney, Politics, Presidential election, private sector, public sector, Republican, Republicans, spending, taxes, Ted Kennedy, Washington, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Laws, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election, spending | No Comments »
September 27th, 2011 by John Feehery
Craig Fugate
In an Administration full of disasters, one appointment stands out…in a good way.
When my wife worked for the State of Florida office, she told me about this guy who headed up the Florida’s disaster response unit. She told me he was awesome, that he knew what he was doing and that he was a really great guy.
I’ve never met Craig Fugate, but he is Obama’s best staff pick by far.
I was thinking about disaster response this week because Congress was flirting with political disaster – as it often does – by not coming to an agreement to fully fund FEMA.
Eventually FEMA came to the rescue by divulging that it had some extra money in the bank, and the crisis over a government shut-down was averted.
Fugate knows a thing or two about crises.
When he was the head of Florida’s version of FEMA, his state got regularly pounded by huge hurricanes and tornadoes. He got good at helping people recover and organizing quick responses. And he developed a pragmatic philosophy. Help first and help quickly, worry about the technicalities later. Read more...
Tags: Charlie Crist, Craig Fugate, FEMA, George W Bush, Hurricane Katrina, Jeb Bush, national disaster, Politics, President Obama
Posted in Government, History, Politics, election, national security, spending, tragedy | No Comments »
September 27th, 2011 by John Feehery
“And so tonight — to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans — I ask for your support.”
In November of 1969, Richard Nixon uttered this line in a televised address to the nation, explaining his plans in Vietnam.
At the time, the nation was enveloped in social, economic and racial turmoil. Nixon was speaking to the folks in the country who were respectful of authority, preferred order to chaos, disdained the revolutionaries and distrusted the intellectual elite who were attacking the pillars of American society.
The silent majority came to mean the white middle and lower middle class of America, and Nixon’s phrase came to be seen as a way to polarize an already polarized society.
But the phrase still has some uses.
The Republican Party has been embroiled in revolution from the so-called Tea Party Patriots.
These Tea Party Republicans were the first to embrace Sarah Palin. They gained inspiration from Glenn Beck back when Beck was the man. They held large protests around the country and on the National Mall. They targeted Republicans in primary fights in the midterm election, and successfully took out Bob Bennett, the senator from Utah; Mike Castle, the favorite to win the Delaware Senate seat; and Lisa Murkowski, the sitting senator from Alaska (who ended up winning the general election in a daring third-party challenge). Read more...
Tags: Bob Bennett, Buchanan, bush, Bush II, Chambers of Commerce, Dole, Glenn Beck, Herman Cain, Jeb Bush, Jon Huntsman, Kiwanis Clubs, Lisa Murkowski, majority, McCain, Michele Bachmann, Mike Castle, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Politics, presidential campaign, Presidential election, Reagan, Richard Nixon, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Robert Taft, Sarah Palin, Tea Party Patriots, Tea Party Republicans, Vietnam, white middle and lower middle class
Posted in GOP, Government, History, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Reviews, Theory, election, speeches, spending, taxes | 2 Comments »
September 26th, 2011 by John Feehery
Ping-Pong is a wonderful game, requiring skill, finesse, great hand-eye coordination, and at times, power.
Ping-Pong is a different game in the Congressional sense.
When one legislative body ping-pongs back a piece of legislation to another legislative body (like the House jamming the Senate) it can be both exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.
Last week, the House served up a continuing resolution plus some additional disaster assistance money to the Senate before leaving for its break for the Jewish holidays.
The Senate, which hoped to also break for the week, is not at all happy with what the House served up.
But to be successful in jamming back the House, the Senate has to act as one. The rules of the Senate make it awfully hard for that body to act quickly on anything if there is a disagreement between the political parties.
And on this package, there is intense disagreement.
The Republicans want to pay for disaster assistance. The Democrats don’t like how the Republicans paid for it, especially their efforts to isolate a particularly bad political scandal that is currently afflicting the Obama Administration. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, House of Representatives, John Boehner, Obama Administration, Ping-Pong, Politics, President, Republican, Republicans, Senate, Senate Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Senate Majority Leader, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Laws, Politics, spending | No Comments »
September 22nd, 2011 by John Feehery
It has been a long time since the girl from Ipanema captured the imaginations of the American people. But Brazil these days is more than just a bunch of pretty women and nice beaches. In fact, for American workers (especially those in the aerospace industry and helicopter manufacturing) Brazil has been a jobs life-line.
Among the top ten American trading partners, Brazil stands as the only country that the United States has had a trade surplus with for the last two years. Of the top ten products that have been sent to Latin American countries from the States, three of them have been component parts for either aircraft or helicopters.
To say that Brazil is on a roll would be an understatement. “Rio”, a new animated movie put out by Fox Pictures, is not only a hit; it also puts the iconic Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in a flattering light. Rio beat my hometown of Chicago for the right to host the Olympics in 2016, a coup for all of South America, and Brazil will also play host to the World Cup in 2014. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Boeing, Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, Economy, Embraer, European Debt Crisis, Forbes Magazine, Honeywell, Ipanema, Politics, President Obama, QGA Public Affairs, Rio de Janeiro, Tim Geithner, U.S. Air Force, United Nations, United States, World Cup
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, Government, Politics, Theory, national security, spending | No Comments »
September 21st, 2011 by John Feehery
I was working out at the gym this morning (I know, miracles never cease), and I looked over briefly (I know, you don’t believe me), at the television and saw one of the hosts interviewing Rachel Maddow.
I am not the biggest Rachel Maddow fan in the world (ok, I am not really a fan at all) and I immediately assumed that the topic of conversation was on the President’s decision on “don’t ask, don’t tell”, an issue that apparently is important to the MSNBC host.
According to the headline blaring at the bottom of the television screen was “Is Obama losing his base?”
Interesting question, given that the previous day, the President struck a blow for some of his most passionate supporters by going through with change in a long standing military policy.
I will make this observation.
The President is not losing his base (if that is true) because he is moving to the middle. He is losing his base for largely the same reasons that he is losing the middle and losing the rest of the country.
Sheer incompetence. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats, don’t tell”, Economy, election, Gibson Guitar, Government, Msnbc, NRLB, Obama, Obama Justice Department, Obamacare, President Obama, Presidential election, Rachel Maddow, Republicans, Ron Paul, Ron Susskind, Sarah Palin, the Obama Administration, “don’t ask
Posted in Bad Decisions, Bailouts, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Promises, Theory, Unemployment, bad news, election, health care, spending, taxes | No Comments »
September 20th, 2011 by John Feehery
The Electronic Benefits Transfer Card is the identification card for the SNAP/Food stamp program. It works like a credit card with a magnetic strip on the back that slides through a machine at a grocery store and some restaurants (including some fast food places).
Meant as a way to help reform the Food Stamp system in 2004, the EBT card is used in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia. It has not been without some controversy.
In the State of Pennsylvania, for example, Democratic State Auditor Jack Wagner found wide-ranging fraud in the system, including one example where one EBT card holder withdrew close to $150,000 in $1,500 increments in one day. Who knows what he (or she) did with the money.
The EBT has received some unwanted attention. As one website put it: “A new music video by R&B artist Chapter for her song “It’s Free Swipe Yo EBT” mocks black women on public assistance programs. In her satirical video, Chapter plays Keywanda, a young mother of ten who deals with the “stress of her children’s fathers.” And according to the video, Keywanda lives with very few worries because she’s on several public assistance programs. Among other subjects, this song mostly takes aim at the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program and Section 8 vouchers, which make both food and housing available to parents.” Read more...
Tags: African-American, America, Auditor Jack Wagner, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Economy, election, Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, Food stamp program, Obama, Presidential election, R&B artist Chapter, Republicans, Section 8, Tea Party activists, unemployment insurance, Welfare abuse, welfare system
Posted in Bad Decisions, Bailouts, Drugs in America, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Immigration, Politics, Presidential election, Religion, Scandals, Theory, bad news, corruption, medicare, poverty, spending, taxes, welfare | No Comments »
September 16th, 2011 by John Feehery
“In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
That was Thomas Hobbes, who argued that implicit in civil society is a social contract that called for a strong government presence in regulating conduct. In Mr. Hobbes time, the king was the ultimate sovereign. These days, you could argue that the sovereign is the Federal government as set out by the Constitution.
Hobbes understood that the nature of man, without that social contract, would descend into chaos and ultimately darkness. In other words, without strong laws, people cheat, lie and steal.
I say this as a means of introduction to a bipartisan proposal by Jim Gerlach, a Republican from Pennsylvania, and Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, to get rid of fraud in Medicare. It is a modest proposal that could save tens of billions of dollars in government spending. Read more...
Tags: America, American Express, Common Access Card, Congress, Democrats, dentity verification, Department of Defense, DoD, Earl Blumenauer, Federal government, fraud in Medicare, Government, government spending, health care, Jim Gerlach, medicare, Republican, senior citizens, the Constitution, Thomas Hobbes, Visa
Posted in Bad Decisions, Government, Laws, Politics, Theory, corruption, health care, national security, spending, taxes | No Comments »
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