The GOP Iowa Caucuses

Thanks to CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News we have all had an extreme over dose of Iowa. It’s a small state of just over 3 million residence with over 88% non-Hispanic White people and a Black population of less than 3%. Hardly a representation of America. Of that 3 million people a little over 100,000 have voted in the GOP caucuses. I wonder what the cost per vote was for each candidate. Does anyone really care about the results in Iowa? The cable networks care.

Four years ago Mike Huchabee won the primary. That led no where so this year’s caucus has as much impact. WOW!!

If nothing else the cable networks had lots of viewers and that earned them more advertising revenue. Money was spent by all the news media and that is good for the economy.

It was a Very Bad Year

Sadly, it was an ugly year.

Nature showed her worst side with an earthquake followed by a tsunami in Japan. Meanwhile there were an extraordinary number tornadoes and earthquakes that occurred in the eastern United States.

Dictators fell thanks to the Arab Spring but lives were lost and the Middle East is still in turmoil. The dictator (president) of Syria is still killing his people.

America has left Iraq but the outcome of the effort is still in doubt. Bombings and turbulence are rocking that country.

Iran and North Korea are on the same paths that strike fear into their neighbors.

The United States government has declared the recession is over but those that lost their jobs and significant home value have not recovered.

A debt crisis is impacting both Europe and the United States. The U.S.had its own debt struggles. In August, Standard & Poor’s lowered the country’s long-term sovereign debt rating to AA+ from AAA. These are situations brought on by incompetent politicians.

America’s political system is deadlocked.

So what was the good news?

The one wonderful event was the marriage of Kate Middleton to Prince William.

Unemployment is down and American car sales are up.

The movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life” is a message of hope.

Lower Social Security Taxes Harm Everyone

Surveys tell us that congress has a favorable rating by about 9% of the population. That is significantly worse than the president’s rating that is about 45%. In spite of that the congress continues to behave as if they had public support.

The most recent outrageous decision was the vote by the Senate to extend the reduced Social Security tax for two months rather than the one year requested by the president. To add to this foolish political dance the House refuses to confirm the Senate’s regulation. The consequence is that there may not be an extension of the lower tax regulation.

The idea of reducing the Social Security tax is a bit of political nonsense. The law puts $20 a week more into the hands of those earning $50,000 per year. This is not a consequential tax reduction. It is enough to buy a half a tank of gasoline for most cars (not SUVs). The effect of the first year of this lower tax has been reported to be zero.

So why is the president pushing so hard for this lower rate? He will win the political argument no matter how the congress votes. If the law is not passed he will blame the Republicans and point out that they only favor tax cuts for the rich. If the law is passed he will point out that it was he who triumphantly won a tax cut for the average man despite the efforts of the Republicans to block fairness.

The worst part of this law is that it lowers tax collections needed to support the Social Security trust fund.

This entire tax battle is another example of politicians legislating short term benefits at the expense of long term financial needs of the nation.

Mitt Romney is Out of Touch with Working Americans

Let’s be clear about this situation. I know some people who really have no concept of living in a 1200 square foot home. Worse yet they have no idea what it is like to go without a meal. Mitt Romney is one of those people.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Mitt Romney opened himself up to criticism Friday by saying he didn’t understand Medicaid until he started working in government. The Republican presidential candidate later tried to clarify the comment, but Democrats had already pounced, saying his words were further proof that the multimillionaire businessman is out of touch.

“You wonder what Medicaid is, those that aren’t into all this government stuff. You know, I have to admit. I didn’t know all the differences between these things before I got into government,” Romney told voters at a campaign event. “Then I got into it and understood that Medicaid is the health care program for the poor, by and large.”

Medicaid is a federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled.

Romney tried later to clarify what he meant, telling reporters traveling with him to South Carolina that he understood the program but didn’t quite grasp how it was funded. He called his earlier comment a “self-deprecating understatement.”

Democrats said the comment showed Romney doesn’t understand working-class people.

“One has to wonder how Mitt Romney thinks he can represent American workers, their families and seniors when his concern for the poor and the middle class comes across like an afterthought,” Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

Romney, who was in his late 40s when he ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 1994, told reporters that his prior work for a health care consulting company taught him how important Medicaid and Medicare, a health care program for seniors, are to hospitals.

Lack of Presidential Leadership

The Keystone XL oil pipeline extension was proposed in 2008. The build application was filed in the beginning of 2009. On November 10, 2011 President Obama announced “the decision on the pipeline permit would be delayed until at least 2013, pending further environmental review.”

The Obama administration’s top health official, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, on Wednesday overruled the Food and Drug commissioner to block the Plan B emergency contraceptive pill from becoming available to young teens without a prescription. When President Obama lifted federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research early in his administration, he set a markedly different tone from that of the Bush years, declaring that scientific decisions should be “based on facts, not ideology.”

Deficit reduction committees and proposals have been numerous during the Obama administration:

– The Super Committee of 12 required a mere majority but could not persuade anyone to change sides.

– Republican Alan Simpson, a former U.S. senator from Wyoming, and Democrat Erskine Bowles, a former chief of staff to President Clinton, chaired the president’s bipartisan deficit commission that voted 11-7 last December in favor of a plan to save $4 trillion over 10 years. Unfortunately, a supermajority of 14 votes was needed to move the package to Congress.

– Rep. Paul Ryan (R) has proposed the Roadmap for America’s Future, which is a series of budgetary reforms. His January 2010 version of the plan includes partial privatization of Social Security, the transition of Medicare to a voucher system, discretionary spending cuts and freezes, and tax reform. It was considered too radical by members of both political parties.

What do all of these issues have in common? The president has been absent. No one knows what his ideas are. We all know that he has judiciously avoided taking a position. All evidence of a lack of leadership.

It’s Not Easy Being a Republican Candidate

Just when it appeared that Newt Gingrich was the new best answer to Mitt Romney he tells tonight’s debate watchers that he favors legal residency for million of illegal aliens.

Mitt Romney was not alone in opposing legal status for those living in the shadows of our society. Interestingly Rick Perry, who shares the Gingrich solution for many illegal aliens, remained quiet on the subject. No wonder. His views brought down his standing in the public opinion polls.

So it will come as no surprise if Newt Gingrich experiences a similar decline in the polling.

With just six weeks until the Iowa caucus Mitt Romney is looking stronger and stronger. However, Mr. Gingrich is an excellent speaker and debater. Still, I believe Jon Huntsman is the most qualified. He is the smartest among the group. If I were a Republican I would be voting for him.

Supercommittee Failure is no Surprise

U. S. government deficit reduction has a failed history.

In 1985, the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act (GRH) began the process by establishing deficit targets and a sequestration process requiring cuts if the limits were exceeded. As the Senate Budget Committee’s history of the budget process recounts, GRH is widely viewed as unsuccessful because it failed to reduce the deficit. While the law was intended to balance the budget by FY 1991, during FY 1986-1990 the actual deficit exceeded the target in every year. The sequestration process was also criticized after Congress proceeded to add a long list of exemptions and other gimmicks.

In November 2010 The White House’s fiscal commission’s co-chairs, Erskine Bowles and former-Senator Alan Simpson drafted their recommendations for deficit reduction. No action taken based upon their recommendations.

More recently President Obama pinned his hopes on avoiding an unprecedented government default on a new bipartisan compromise that would raise the debt limit as part of a $3.7trillion package of spending cuts and tax changes. The compromise resulted in no spending cuts.

This latest committee was staffed with some of the most strident member of Congress. Senator John Kyle (R) ofArizona and Senator John Kerry (D) ofMassachusetts are two of the best examples of “my way or the highway” attitude. We all know their positions. This new committee was doomed from day 1.

It is sad to say they cannot look across the Atlantic to see what their no compromise philosophy will bring. Today’s stock market collapse ought to send a message but it won’t be heard.

It is time for a THIRD PARTY

Wow. We are beginning to look like Greece! What the hell is going on with this country? It seems to me that both parties in Congress are willing to sell their children’s future. What a bunch of untrustworthy crooks in Congress. It is time for a THIRD PARTY & to kick out all the ones there now.

Almost every news outlet says the chance of a budget deal by November 23 is not likely to happen. Will this latest budget fiasco result in another down grade by S&P? There is a real possibility!

Herman Cain is correct is saying a real business man is needed to manage this nation. He is just not the right man.

I want to see New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, run for the presidency. He is both a successful businessman and a successful politician. I am not alone.

Ben McGrath, writing in The New Yorker, on November 15, says Bloomberg has entertained the idea repeatedly.

Michael! Now is the time!

Another GOP Debate, Another Waste of Time

No wonder so many Republicans are looking for another
candidate.

Mitt Romney came in as the presumed GOP leader before tonight’s debate and no one laid a glove on him. That makes him the winner of the event. For the most part the CNBC questioners stayed on topic. Questioning of Herman Cain’s character was not appropriate at this event and the questions were appropriately booed by the audience.

Rick Perry’s inability to remember his basic theme of three governmental agencies he would eliminate was such a bad stumble that he may no longer be a viable candidate.

Rick Santorum’s call for no income tax for manufacturing companies was not adequately discussed.

The willingness of all the candidates to allow the failing
of European nations and particularly Italy showed me a lack of understanding of the interconnectivity of the things that can
impact the United States.

The discussion surrounding China showed a lack of understanding of that nation. China, after all, is the world’s second largest economy. They are a major exporter to the United States and are a major holder of our federal debt.

The lack of a solution to help fund college education showed a complete disconnect with the American public.

Which one of these candidates will be able to stand up to Barack Obama in presidential debates? I have not heard one yet.