Posts Tagged ‘Unemployment’
October 17th, 2011 by John Feehery
(Chicago, IL) Today, David Axelrod, the chief of the Re-elect Obama Campaign, today announced that it will formally join the Occupy Wall Street protests and start mobilizing against the policies endorsed by the Obama Administration.
Axelrod brandished a Tim Geithner bobblehead doll, which he stabbed repeatedly with a pen knife while chanting an indecipherable spell, which he later said he hoped would lead to the Treasury Secretary’s immediate departure from his office.
Axelrod, in announcing this unusual campaign, said: “We have decided that we aren’t going to defend the indefensible. Yes, we have terrible unemployment. Yes, Wall Street is getting away with murder. Yes, people have lost faith in the future. As much as I have tried, we can’t blame Bush for this anymore. We have to blame the Obama Administration.”
“I believe in Barack Obama, the campaigner. I have lost faith in Barack Obama, the President. So our campaign will basically run against the President and urge his replacement with the guy on the campaign.” Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Bush tax cuts, David Axelrod, expansion of NAFTA, Obama Administration, Obama Campaign, Occupy Wall Street protests, Politics, Presidential election, Re-elect Obama, Teacher’s Unions, Tim Geithner, Unemployment, White House, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney
Posted in Bad Decisions, Government, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, taxes | No Comments »
October 14th, 2011 by John Feehery
Never assume.
I usually get in trouble when I make assumptions and then challenge them.
I have been assuming for some time that the Republicans will easily beat Barack Hussein Obama.
I have been assuming that for some very good reasons.
For example, Obama is just not a very good President. He doesn’t have a clue how the private market place works. He is not much of a leader. His neo-Marxist philosophy is all out of step with our free-market system.
Even if you do like the President personally, it is still hard to make the case that he deserves to be re-hired. The economy is in terrible shape. Our country is “this close” to going completely broke. He has failed to take on entitlements in any serious way.
He has had some successes in the war on terror, but unfortunately for him, this election won’t hinge on Mr. Obama’s ability to give the order to kill terrorists.
That is what we all know, and that is why he is cracking 50% in his disapproval ratings.
But the Republicans can still screw this up. Here are a few ways BHO could still win: Read more...
Tags: 9-9-9 plan, afghanistan, American economy, Barack Hussein Obama, Bill Clinton, Dodd-Frank regulations, economic growth, Freedom Works, Hermann Cain, Hispanic voters, Immigration, Libertarian, Matt Kibbe, Mitt Romney, neo-Marxist philosophy, Obamacare, Republicans, Rick Perry, Super Pacs, Tea Party, Unemployment
Posted in GOP, Government, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, election, spending, taxes | No Comments »
October 12th, 2011 by John Feehery
Dana Milbank had a funny story in the Post today about the pathetic protest movement that has gripped (well, gripped might be a strong word), Washington:
Attempting to emulate the Occupy Wall Street protests, Washington activists and some out-of-town guests set themselves the lofty goal of occupying the Hart Senate Office Building. “We are there to shut the place down!” organizer David Swanson told his small band of followers.
But how to do this with only a few dozen demonstrators? Well, Swanson said, they could push all the buttons on the elevators — the way naughty children sometimes do in apartment buildings. “There are people who are wanting to go into the elevators and fill them and not get out and push all the buttons,” he said. “If you like that, do it.”
Forcing Senate staff to take the stairs is a pretty interesting way to spark rebellion in the streets.
E.J. Dionne earlier this month complained that the left needed its own version of the Tea Part Movement.
Hey, E.J., you can have ours. We are done with it.
If ever there was a time for some real good protests, now is the time. Read more...
Tags: Dana Milbank, E.J. Dionne, local and federal governments, state, taxes, Tea Part movement, Unemployment, wall street protests
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Politics, Theory, Unemployment, bad news, spending, taxes, welfare | No Comments »
September 9th, 2011 by John Feehery
It was back to school night in the Feehery Household, so I missed the President’s address to the Congress.
Bummer.
I knew the President was giving a big speech because all the roads around the Capitol were closed, complicating my effort to find parking at Back to School Night (my son’s school is about 4 blocks from the white domed building).
I can’t say I was that disappointed to miss the speech. In my Congressional career, I saw plenty of joint sessions where a President makes this or that speech. I remember when George Bush the first gave an address to Congress where he tried, in vain, to shift his attention to the fascinating things that were happening in the rest of the world to a domestic agenda back here at home. But Bush didn’t have much of the “vision” thing, and he ultimately lost. Read more...
Tags: America, Americans with Disabilities Act, Back to School Night, Barack Obama, Bill Daley, Blacks, budget deficits, Bush tax cuts, Civil Rights bill, Clean Air Act, Congressional Republicans, Dodd-Frank, George Bush, Government, high unemployment rates, Hispanics, John Boehner, medicare, Native Americans, Obamacare, Osama Bin Laden, Persian Gulf War, Politics, President Obama, President’s address to the Congress, Republicans, Sam Skinner, short-term economic stimulus, Social Security, state and local unions, Supercommittee, TARP, taxes, The Obama speech, Unemployment, White House, Women
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Media, Politics, Promises, Theory, Unemployment, health care, housing crisis, speeches, spending, taxes | No Comments »
December 2nd, 2010 by John Feehery
The headline in the Wall Street Journal says it all.
“Recovery gains steam”, the story says. “The U.S. Economy is starting to fire on all cylinders, though the upturn remains too weak to bring down high unemployment.”
I predict that unemployment will bounce back for two reasons.
First, the nature of the business cycle is such that the the economy is bound to start roaring back, as people get out of their collective funk.
Second, free-market Republicans now have their feet on the brakes of an out of control government.
Yes, President Obama still has his hands on the steering wheel, but the President can’t go anywhere unless Republicans take their feet off the brakes.
The New York Times had a story today about how big business gave a bunch of money to the Chamber of Commerce so the Chamber could influence the midterm elections.
What was interesting about that story is that the business community participated in the election not to get any special interest tax breaks. They gave so much money to the Chamber because they were panicked that the President and his allies were going to destroy the private sector with their job-killing policies. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, dollar, Economy, election, Government, Obama, Politics, Unemployment
Posted in Economy, Government, Politics, Theory, Unemployment | No Comments »
November 23rd, 2010 by John Feehery
Every once in a while, as I peruse my Facebook friends, I run across a friend who has put “It’s complicated” in their relationship status.
It’s a phrase that neatly sums up the world we are now living in.
The economy is complicated. Some sectors are doing swell, others are in the deepest of depressions.
Sex is more complicated. You used to have male and female. These days, you have third choice, transgender. That is not the kind of complication that my grandmother spent too much time worrying about.
The war on terror is complicated. Was Iraq part of the war on terror or was it a war of choice? Why are we in Afghanistan? Are we winning or losing there?
Race is more complicated these days. It is not as easy as black and white, and now people are starting to get that. The President isn’t fully black or fully white. In fact, he is about half and half, and calling him either white or black is a disservice to his grandparents on either side of the family. Tiger Woods is even more complicated. He calls himself cablanasian (caucasion, black, asian). Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, complicated, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, Facebook, Government, health care, Iraq, Obama, Politics, Presidential election, Republican, Republicans, spending, taxes, tiger woods, Unemployment
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, Government, History, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Social Media, Theory, Unemployment, election, health care, national security, spending, war | No Comments »
October 19th, 2010 by John Feehery
Last week, the New York Times reported on an interesting phenomenon. Communist China is becoming the hot campaign issue for both Republicans and Democrats.
David Chen reported: From the marquee battle between Senator Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina in California to the House contests in rural New York, Democrats and Republicans are blaming one another for allowing the export of jobs to its economic rival. In the past week or so, at least 29 candidates have unveiled advertisements suggesting that their opponents have been too sympathetic to China and, as a result, “Americans have suffered.”
President Obama’s attack on the Chamber of Commerce was a ham-fisted attempt to link China to American business.
In the old days, we were worried because the Chinese Communists were going to attack us. Now, we are worried that the Chinese Capitalists are going to sell us to death.
It is hard to blame either Republicans or Democrats for the “China” problem. Well, on second thought, each party is equally to blame for the “China” problem. Opening up China to trade was a top international priority for President Clinton, but he wouldn’t have been able to pass legislation normalizing trade relations with the Chinese without Republican support. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, china, Communist China, dollar, Economy, exports, Government, imports, Obama, per capita income, Politics, Republicans, spending, Unemployment
Posted in Economy, Foreign Relations, Government, History, Politics, Theory, poverty, spending | No Comments »
September 29th, 2010 by John Feehery
The jobless rate and economic growth are not necessarily connected.
An economy can grow without people going back to work. Companies can make profits and not necessarily hire people. We are now going through a jobless recovery, despite President Obama’s delusional declaration that jobs are coming back.
Government usually acts as a hindrance to private sector job creation. Government can hinder private sector job creation in many ways. It raises taxes – or worse, threatens to raise taxes – taking money away from companies that could be used to create jobs. It can borrow a high percentage of money from the private sector, making private sector investment harder to get and threatening the value of the currency. It can impose mandates that put a business out of business (like increased environmental laws or new paperwork requirements) or it can impose mandates that are specifically geared to make it harder to hire new people, like an increase in the minimum wage or the President’s new health care law. Government can also create conditions that make it easier for lawyers to file malicious and counter-productive lawsuits, which create more jobs for litigators, but less jobs for workers. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats, George W Bush, Government, Republicans, taxes, Unemployment
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, Politics, Theory, Unemployment | No Comments »
August 10th, 2010 by John Feehery
Bandon Dunes Golf Course in Oregon
About twelve years ago, Mike Kaiser started construction on a golf course in southern Oregon called Bandon Dunes. Kaiser, a former greeting card company owner turned mogul, had a vision of exporting a piece of Scotland into the Oregon coastline.
The course turned out to be smashing success, and it has turned into a complex of five magnificent golf courses, a spa, a hotel and a bunch of restaurants. It is not a cheap place to play, but it has become a tourist Mecca, with duffers from around the world coming in to try their hand at links-style golf.
Oregon is a beautiful place to visit. It has a thriving wine industry, a robust agriculture sector, and world-renown companies like Nike and Columbia outerwear.
But it also has a problem with crystal meth, especially in the more rural areas that surround Bandon Dunes. Unemployment in some parts of rural Oregon goes well beyond the national average, and there is a sense of desperation and foreboding in some of the smaller towns, all because of crystal meth. Read more...
Tags: Bandon Dunes, Barack Obama, crystal meth, Democrats, golf, Oregon, Republicans, rich, taxes, Unemployment
Posted in Bad Decisions, Politics, taxes | No Comments »
June 22nd, 2010 by John Feehery
The President’s top budget guy announced today that he’s leaving.
That should come as no surprise. After all, Congressional Democrats announced that they weren’t going to do a budget this year anyway.
Who needs a budget?
Our country is doing fine financially.
Sure, we’ve got historically high debt to deal with. Sure, we have tax policy that is about to get a lot more interesting at the end of the year, when a bunch of tax provisions expire. Sure, we have Social Security starting to go broke quicker than anybody anticipated. Sure, we have a huge problem with chronic unemployment in the private sector and bursting employment in the public sector. Sure, almost every state seems like it is ready to go belly-up financially.
Sure, we have all of those problems, problems that are all budget-related. But that doesn’t mean we should do a budget.
We don’t need no stinking budget.
Budgets require tough choices. Budgets require (at least notionally) that the numbers all add up. Budgets require leadership.
We aren’t going to get much leadership from the guys running the country these days. Read more...
Tags: American, Budget, Congress, Democrats, Peter Orszag, Republicans, Unemployment
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, Politics | 2 Comments »
Loading ...