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Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Chuck Norris :: Townhall.com Columnist
Obama Plus Congress Equals Economic Chaos
by Chuck Norris
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Ronald Reagan was right when he said: "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

The next stage of out-of-control government spending started when George W. Bush bailed out Wall Street with $700 billion (new debt No. 1). But Congress didn't learn from that failure, and apparently, neither did Barack Obama. So the newly elected president pushed for the next stimulus bill (debt No. 2), this one for $787 billion.

But that wasn't enough, either, so the recent $410 billion omnibus spending bill (with 9,000 earmarks -- 60 percent originating with Democrats and 40 percent with Republicans) is being railroaded through Congress to keep government moving until September (debt No. 3).

And then Obama informed us last week that another $634 billion is required for a down payment on universal health care. Before there's a plan, there's already a payment (debt No. 4).

If that isn't enough, Obama is asking for a roughly $3.6 trillion budget for 2010 despite the fact that the White House projects a 2009 budget shortfall of $1.5 trillion -- triple the $455 billion in 2008. (That's debt No. 5.)

And all of that doesn't include other stimuli on the horizon, as Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, noted when he called the mammoth $787 billion spending bill "stimulus No. 1." (That's debt No. 6, debt No. 7, debt No. 8, etc.)

All of these wild expenditures would be a little more bearable if we saw any signs of economic recovery. But how has all this alleged stimulus stabilized and grown the economy and the market? As our government has bailed out, the Dow Jones industrial average has dropped. It's dropped about 2,000 points since Obama took office, roughly 200 points after every major speech he has made.

So the big question is: How has Obama gotten away with racking up more expenses in his first 30 days in office than all the presidents combined since the founding of our republic did in theirs?

Bernard Goldberg's "A Slobbering Love Affair" is a great book about the media's blind bias and infatuation with Obama, but Obama's hypnotic effects permeate every stratum of society, from political corridors to public schools. Why? Because he's young, hip, cool, liberal and charismatic -- and that's what sells today in America. Objectiveness and criticism fly right out the window with the mere mention of his name or any discussion of his excessive spending plans.

On "Good Morning America" last Thursday, two of ABC's financial experts graded Obama's excessive borrowing and fiscal performance a B, while guest financial expert Dave Ramsey rated it an F. Despite the two B grades, one of ABC's financial experts quipped that one of the biggest problems with Obama's bailouts is that there is no real form of government accountability over the money pouring out of Washington. Yet she maintained her B grade for Obama's stewardship plan. Why?

Here's an even better example: As Obama addressed Congress last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led the way in spontaneous emotive applause for her political hero. Pop-up Pelosi was bouncing up and down like Tigger on steroids, forcing Vice President Joe Biden to rise slowly every time she jumped up, and Biden had to try to hide his frustration with her. Pelosi's eyes and facial expressions seemed almost giddy as she gazed at Obama like a teenager infatuated with the popular high-school jock.

As I watched this obsessive congressional circus, I asked myself, "Is this the type of objective bipartisan leadership we want running our government, leading our nation, and spending our money?"

The political and financial math is easy to calculate. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out -- just an honest assessment of Washington's present landscape. Here's how the equation pans out:

America's political love affair with President Obama plus the Democratic majority's coercions in Congress equals trillions of dollars in new debt for Americans, or more economic chaos.

If we ever are to restore the fiscal and leadership sanity to our economy and government, we need not to reinvent the Great Depression wheel of Roosevelt's New Deal. We need to look to a time when Congress was more frugal in its spending and stabilized our government and economy. And in the past 100 years, one of the best examples of that occurred when Newt Gingrich led Congress in the 1990s. I'm not justifying every financial move they made back then, but despite losing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution by only one Senate vote, they still committed to spending caps and balancing the budget, which they did for four consecutive years. That was the first time that had happened since the 1920s.

The Congress of the '90s steadied and strengthened the economy by following four priorities and principles, which are being turned on their heads at this moment by the present administration. As Newt noted in his excellent book "Real Change," Congress' top priorities were to:

--Cut taxes to increase economic growth and therefore increase revenues (unlike Obama's tax hikes, which will retard economic growth and depress revenues).

--Set priorities and increase spending in key areas while reducing it in nonessential areas (unlike Obama's fiscal priorities of health care, energy and education, which are based not upon what is best for the economy but what is reflective of typical partisan preferences and doing what is politically expedient).

--Eliminate pork-barrel spending (unlike the 9,000 earmarks in the present $410 billion omnibus spending bill, which is nothing short of absolute economic ludicrousness, mismanagement and waste within our present crisis).

--Shift from expensive, wasteful systems to smarter spending; look at not only more inexpensive ways but also more productive ones (unlike Obama's theory to spend our way to prosperity, which is a sure way to sink America).

Our government is hemorrhaging money. The nanny state is becoming the norm. Our Founders are rolling in their graves. And at this very moment, Washington's credit-crazy and debt-accumulating addiction is dissolving our sovereignty like a sugar cube in coffee by handing our financial autonomy over to other nations. In other words, Rome is burning, and Caesar is stoking the fire!

Time is running out, but it's not too late to reverse Washington's fiscal frenzy. Don't just write to your representatives; hound them to live and legislate by the preceding four proven priorities and principles of governmental and monetary prudence.

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About The Author
Chuck Norris is a columnist and impossible to kill.
 
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In the last presidential election ...
Some in the GOP labeled Obama a socialist, a name that Obama cast off as, essentially, a form of slander. However, since entering the White House, Obama's economic decisions, as Mr. Norris highlights, do, in fact, prove that European-style socialism is the ultimate goal of the man from Illinois. I hope only that the Republicans will display the necessary fortitude with which to prevent Obama from making his leftist policies the new law of the land!

Chuck,
Ya got lot's more guts than most, saying in print what many of us say in private. Your brass pair really shows in the fact you watch that gymkhana last week. I chickened out, contenting myself with watching a Pistons game; they lost (again--not doing well this year) but I think I had more fun than you.

Perhaps Obama does know history
Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.”

— Karl Marx, 1867, Das Kapital

anderson659

"Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.”
— Karl Marx, 1867, Das Kapital

Dan Denning of dailyreckoning wrote:

"That quote is almost assuredly bogus."

and...

"Nope. This is a clever bit of revisionism by some unemployed Marxist student or tenured professor trying to discredit the free market while rehabilitating the Marxist playbook. Marx did indeed say capitalism would eventually evolve into socialism and finally communism. He claimed it was riddled by contradictions which made the system inherently unstable."

and...

"And it’s highly unlikely, writing in the late 19th century, that Marx would have referred to the working class buying houses and technology. The horseless carriage hadn’t even been invented yet, much less the iPod, the BlueRay, or the George Foreman grill."




That a boy Chuck! 4 principles true!
I appreciate your tenacity and fighting spirit. Your summary and conclusions are right on. Thanks for always being someone too who gives us some point of action to take. Congress needs to follow those 4 financial priorities. Obama is subverted them, and it's going to lead us down the wrong economic path. Today the DOW dropped again. Some economic plan!!!!

"Black Belt Patriotism" AUTOGRAPHED!
I was VERY impressed and pleasantly suprised how well researched is Chuck's New York Times best seller, "Black Belt Patriotism." Love how he goes back to America's Founders to find old solutions for new problems. Rekindling their vision is our ONLY way out!

FREE chapter from book at http://www.ChuckNorrisNewBook.com

Check out dozens of 5-star reviews at http://www.amazon.com/Black-Belt-Patriotism-Reawaken-Ameri ca/dp/1596985585

Woops...AUTOGRAPHED copy at
http://shop.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=2469

Great article! Chuck's chaplain?
Great article and action points Mr. Norris. Always appreciate your wisdom and gusto.

A friend told me about Chuck's chaplain. He led the changes to restore the Christian revisions at the Washington Monument. Check out his stuff and the FOX NEWS story at http://www.nationaltreasures.org/CR_MonOmi.html

Great article Chuck
I can't help but notice that everytime BHO gives a speech the markets fall. Seems someone is paying attention to what is being said and done. Unfortunately, the masses are still afflicted with star idolatry and blinded to both history and present indicators.

Mr. Norris,
Thanks for the update.
You better "buckle up" though.
O'Bammy-boy's been in office less than 2 months.
It's only going to get more fun.

And his "secret letter" sent to the Russians is going to heat up things on the international scene. Even Shrillary Clinton's meeting with Syria confirms the, "No Preconditions" promise made by this administration.

EXTRA Norris materials
Definitely worth the read!

EXTRA (over 500 words) Chuck Norris commentary in the exclusive version of same article at World Net Daily http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId= 90415" target="_blank"> http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId =90415

Here's an example of extra materials

"If G.W. Bush were still in office and made the exact same financial and legislative proposals, he would be publically filleted and politically hung out on the wire for reckless monetary rule. Yet Obama’s economic spending makes Bush’s wartime bills look like chicken feed. But few Democratic leaders or pundits even question, let alone criticize, his fiscal leadership. Financial gurus who once railed Bush for excessive bailing now bow the knee at Obama’s unbridled borrowing. Proof can be witnessed on television nearly every day, and last week was no exception."

"I mean, at what point does a spend-happy Democrat-leaning Congress protest its primary leader’s outrageous borrowing and budget? When he reaches $5 trillion? $8 trillion? Is any Democrat politician concerned that such levels of escalating debt and spending will promote hyper-interest rates and a dead-in-the-water value of the dollar that leads other nations to no longer risk the purchase of our treasury bonds? Will the American public allow Washington to drive us to the poor house, as they prompt us to continue to chant, “Yes we can!” keep borrowing?"

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId= 90415


CONT. #2
More from Chuck's WND http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId =90415" target="_blank"> http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId =90415

"How can Obama and any congressional leaders tolerate for one moment during this recession any of the 9000 earmarks, totaling $7.7 billion, in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill? How can they justify $1.8 million for swine odor control in Iowa or $200,000 for a tattoo removal program in Los Angeles? Have they all lost their fiscal minds?

"Some say our recession warrants it. Others say his administration has played (or preyed) upon our economic woes. But I think it takes more than even a real depression to cause the type of unbridled spending we’ve seen over the last months. It takes the perfect economic and political storm, which is brewing right now over our nation, led by a president who has convinced the majority that “only government” is our savior."

Check out MORE at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId =90415" target="_blank"> http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId =90415

Citizens arrest
The Right is Right!
Location: HI

I hope only that the Republicans will display the necessary fortitude with which to prevent Obama from making his leftist policies the new law of the land!

Sounds to me like the citizens of the states, whose representatives aren't doing that which was asked of them, should march on Washington DC. When your calls and letters asking your "rep" to do the right thing go unheeded and he votes against you. Plan the Million citizen march to DC, stand outside "Congress" or the "Senate" and when he appears place him under arrest for treason. How many times would it take before our representatives started to listen to populous of the states.

The real difference
The previous Administration held back the truth and pretended that the economic situation was good. Now that the truth s coming out(one that we all knew anyway) you are going to blame Obama.
Sorry but the recession's official start date was in December 2007 and things were not pretty even before that.
Blaming Obama for this mess is just ignorant.

Its like the Rebublicans where drunk driving towards a cliff and right as its going over the edge hands the wheel to the Dems.

GOP IS DOA...... PLEASE HELP THE USA
WE MUST SHED THE CURRENT FACE OF THE GOP. IT IS TIME TO START A NEW PARTY!!!!!!!!
The corruption of ideas and morals in the Republican Party must be shed like a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly. We need a new face to show the American people without all the negatives that have been built up around those politicians who did nothing to confront the advancing socialist threat. WE need a party that will call a socialist a socialist and a moron a moron. That party must be speaking with 1 strong voice unlike the GOP that supports politicians of many diverse goals and call themselves Republicans.

Please give this some thought. If you help start a new movement one that concentrates on those ideas that are the core of the Republican party, that have sacrificed ( Law enforcement, Military, FBI, CIA, Firemen, DOD. ) dedicated professionals and patriots whose character cannot be question and who understand sacrifice for the greater good, you will always have a candidate the people will believe in.
We cannot continue having candidates who are senile or morons or all is lost.

You have the voice needed to help spread the word “America” first last and always. Every citizen no matter what their origin should be the only concern of our party.

Please give this some thought. The GOP is dead. We need your help to get this started

Ricky
Interesting factiod.
The Republican earmarks for the past spending bill were much higher than the Dems.
Percentage wise they were 50-50.
but when you factor in that there are 1.5 times as many Dems as Rebubs.
you get a different picture...?

This may come as a surprise
to you libs and RINOs, but we conservatives do not bend to fashionable trends. Rather, we stick to our principles and let the world find its way back home. This is never more evident than now when the liberal media and losing Reps have the solution to our electoral malaise.

Just remember this; within the very success of capitalism lie the seeds of its demise. The progeny of wealthy economies get fat and lazy, forgetting what created their prosperity. As a result, every few generations we must RE-LEARN the economic laws of wealth creation. As painful as it will be under Obama, we know that he is just another Carter and we will soon have another Reagan. 4-8 years of contraction is a small price to pay for 25 years of prosperity.

Then the cycle begins again unless our politicians and educators accept/teach the immutable laws of economics.

There is no free lunch. Work hard and pull your own weight.

You can't say that the Stimulus Didn't..
work ... it has certainly stimulated the government!! It has also stimulated the Democrats and some Republicans to insert everything on their wish lists in the various bills. So it has worked! Somewhat.

Rep. Carter Quote
"Hiring Democrats to straighten out the federal deficit turned out to be the same as hiring Foster Brooks to inventory the liquor store."

Rep. John Carter, TX-31

The GOP is DEAD??? Are you sure?
I've heard a lot about the GOP being dead, primarily by media and by Democrats. They wish. The GOP was defeated in the elections but not because they were dead. It was because the voters hoped to see a change for the better in government. Most were fooled. I suspect that the GOP, without changing a thing, will suddenly find a lot larger number of voters next election as the voters look for change - again.

And what is really sad ....
In reference to my last post, I'm not a GOP member. Yet I still expect the voters to go GOP next election unless Oblama can really pull a fast one. Sad, sad, sad.

NO CHANGE IN SIGHT!
Dear All,

Just keep it down.

We, The United State Congress, have it all under control.

All you, THE PEOPLE, have to do is shut the hell up and let us do our jobs.

AND THERE IS THE CHANGE WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

GOLD, JEWELRY, LAND...GIVE UP CASH, CREDIT AND BELIEF IN OBAMA.

ROWDY BOOTS

CONGRESS=WILLIE THE BANK ROBBER
"WE GO TO CONGRESS BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE THE MONEY IS"--DEMOCRATICALLY CONTROLLED CONGRESS.

THEY WILL SPEND IT ALL AND LIVE LIKE ROYALTY ON OUR DOLLARS.

WELCOME TO THE ARISTOCRACY!

ROWDY BOOTS

Mr. Norris
"Pelosi's eyes and facial expressions seemed almost giddy as she gazed at Obama like a teenager infatuated with the popular high-school jock."

I don't think Pelosi has many facial expressions due to mass botox injections. Obama could have said "I" and she would have popped up clapping. She should go back to California and work on her beloved mice she loves so much.

Eric
President Bush opened the door to Socialism with TARP and Plastic Surgery Piglosi JAMMED a doorstop under it. The Sail Eared Simpleton is an Economic Jihadist. He is determined to bring down Capitalism regardless of how pyrrhic a victory it turns out to be. HOWEVER the Markets have sniffed him out and his Flowery Platitudes are being exposed and the Sail Eared Simpleton is sealing his own DOOM!

obamas chaos
Daer Chuck, You're a real american,a true patriot! God bless you! If you ever decide to run for office, you can count on my vote!

Chuck, pretty good, but I have to
disagree on one of your first points. You stated, "The next stage of out-of-control government spending started when George W. Bush bailed out Wall Street with $700 billion". I think that is wrong. The next stage of out-of-control government spending was the massive Medicare Prescription Drug bill that dwarfs SS as an entitlement that will bankrupt the US almost as fast as the One is.

AND THE BANK PLAYED ON

Have you noticed how many parties are being given at the White House now? Air Force One flights to Chicago for Valentine's weekend?

Our economy has tanked, Washington spends like it was King Louis XIV's court, Princess Pelosi's jet cost $5 Million a year for her flights to California and back, and $30 Million to protect the Marsh Mouse, Lord Reid has his own rail installed from Las Vegas to Disney land. His Majesty Obama has his own earmarks in the spending bills, but his name will be removed to protect him, Lady Obama has designer gowns and jewelry provided for her pleasure.

However, we peasants must shut up, work hard live with their ideology and send 10%-50% of our earnings to the Washinton Versailles Court.
If Obama wants to copy France, he should remember what caused the French Revolution. VIVA LA INDEPENDENCE ! VIVA EL LIBERTIE !
VIVA LA CITIZENS ! Man the barricades and storm the bastille !


Ricky
Kevin McC has something on his blog regarding the discomfort some DemonRat politicians are having. Some 49 are not so sure about the spending now, probably because many of them represent districts that went big for McCain.
I couldn't access the rest of the story because he mention that some were laughing at the O.

Georgetwin
Wrong. All spending bills begin in the House of Represenatives, not the Executive Branch. Bush signed TARP into law as both chambers of the legislative branch had overwhelmingly passed TARP. His veto would have been overruled. Franks, Dodd, and Carter started the TARP mess in 1977 with CRA. But as we all know, no bad program gets eliminated in the Swamp known as D.C.

Just one teensy correction...
Obama might have recently lived in Illinois, even for a long time, but he is not 'from' Illinois. He is from Kenya, according to his Kenyan grandmother, who claimed to be present at his birth.

His "Certificate of Live Birth" issued by the state of Hawaii, is only one certificate they issue. The other is a birth certificate that shows the Hawaii address of your mother at the time of your birth.

The thing O has is just a paper saying he was born alive somewhere and his birth was registered in Hawaii.

And what's with an American who will not prove he was born in the United States, as required by the US Constitution? That was enough for me to know O is a consumate liar and everyone who is willing to be duped support him.

The rest of us know the truth...anyone who will not prove his US citizenship to run for US President is not a US citizenship.

Real Americans love the Constitution.

HATRED BY PERVERTS
TARP IS NOTHING BUT THE FINANCING OF THE FINANCIERS OF DEVIANCY. PLANNED PARENTHOOD AND THE BABY MILL INDUSTRY ALONG WITH THE BLACK GENOCIDE COALITION, AND THE MURDER BY CHOICE ABORTION FACILATIES. AUDITS FROM BANKRUCY COURTS WILL EXPOSE THE LIBERAL MEMBERS OF BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES BENEFITTING FROM THE OPPRESSION AND DEATH OF BABIES.

Our Kenyan-born FDR WANNABE
Remember ...

Dumbomba was a Kenayn-born citizen of Great Britain, he was an adopted Indonesian citizen, he has a Muslim world view from his father's heritage, and was given MARXIST indoctrination at an early age in Hawaii ...

He's also pissed off at America in general and White people in particular because his father abandoned him and left him to fend for himself, and to be raised by his "typical white racist grandmother", in a WHITE WORLD ...

Because of his Kenayn heritage, where his brother lives on about $0.02 a day, he is comfortable with other people lving in poverty, although he excludes himself from that fate because he thinks he is special ...

Therefore in his mind if YOU have a hut, a skinny chicken, and a pair of sandals ...

YOU ARE RICH!

All you need to know about B-Hussein-O is contained in this quote from Karl Marx - Obama's idol:

“Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.”
— Karl Marx, 1867, Das Kapital


ARE YOU SORRY YET THAT YOU GAVE THE REIGNS OF POWER TO A MARXIST-PIG?

A True Stimulus Package
Let me see if I remember this right Uncle O wants to spend $787 billion to jump start the economy...correct?

Then he wants to spend another $410 billion to save the banks or some other sector?....correct?

Then there is his projected budget of $1.3 trillion...correct?

Let try this to stimulate the economy, OK.
First leave the taxes where they are...maybe raise the upper tier to 27%.
Second give every individual who submitted a 1040 or a 1040a along with each deduction on the form $5000.00 each with no strings attached. That means that a family of four, Husband, wife, and two children would receive $5000.00 each making it a total of $20,000.00 for this family and they can spend it on anything that they need TV that would be digital capable, funinture, ground work around the house, maybe a second vehicle that could be use for errons around town, whatever they deem nessary.

Using this plan it would help the economy and help start jobs in the private sector and would cost less than half as much as the current plan that has been proposed.

It is just a thought...correct?

45caliber
I was not talking about winning elections simply because the people have no good choices.
I talk about a truly novel idea of a party that has the the best interest of the U.S. in mind. professional politicians are not the answer to any problem.
The GOP did nothing to clean house and will talk trash and do nothing again. It is time to end the cycle!!!!!!

Reba writes:
Our economy has tanked, Washington spends like it was King Louis XIV's court, Princess Pelosi's jet cost $5 Million a year for her flights to California and back, and $30 Million to protect the Marsh Mouse, Lord Reid has his own rail installed from Las Vegas to Disney land. His Majesty Obama has his own earmarks in the spending bills, but his name will be removed to protect him, Lady Obama has designer gowns and jewelry provided for her pleasure.
-------------------------------------------
Your ability to be so concise and fallacious is remarkable.
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