Lies Lies and the Fed by Daniel Goldberg

They said the recession was over.

They said the economy was bottoming out.

They said it was over.

They lied.

The recession continues.

The job market is in the pits.

Unemployment is up to 10.2% and under-employment is at 17.5%.

Links:

Nicholas Christoff compares healthcare and the war in Afghanistan. 

Lou Dobbs resigns from CNN.

 

 

Earlier this week, the Obama administration issued new guidelines to the prosecution of medical marijuana. The new policy says that the government will not pursue or prosecute cases involving low level medical marijuana cases. This is a change in policy from that of the Bush administation,where all cases would be pursued. During the Bush tenure, many medical marijuana shops across California were raided by the Drug Enforment Agency. Medical marijuana was taken very seriously.

Since the new administration has taken office, many changes have taken place. The raids on the marijuana dispensaries have stopped and medical marijuana prosecutions are being halted. So what is the next step?

Obviously, it would be the legalization of marijuana.

Already in the state, petitions for the 2010 elections are being circulated that would legalize marijuana. Even if marijuana was legalized in the state of California, it would still be illegal federally. So in the long run, it would be illegal overall. If we follow the current trends though, once the state legalizes marijuana, the feds will follow.

"You Lie!"

Those are the words now made infamous by Rep. Joe Wilson(R-SC). He yelled them last week during President Barack Obama's healthcare address to Congress. The outburst did not go over so well and the House decided to "rebuke" the Congressmen for his actions. The rebuke is an official thumbs down from Congress.

Well Rep. Joe Wilson, I give you a thumbs up.

In the freest country in the world, the home of democracy, where we pride ourselves on our first amendment right to say almost anything, why is there so much uproar about a simple outburst? And that is exactly what it was, a simple outburst. Two words. "You Lie."

If our elected officials can't express themselves to the president, then who can? Are they not elected to represent us? And if we feel like the President is lying, then why can't we tell him that. At all the townhall meetings around the country over the last months, constituents have been explicitly expressing their feelings verbally to elected officials. If at any moment in the whole debate to stand up to the president, Wilson picked the best moment. 

There have been worse actions on the Senate floor. Remember when Dick Cheney told Senator Patrick Leahy to "Go F*** Yourself!" a few years back.

Seriously though, maybe Washington wouldn't be so uptight if they let out some aggression in a verbal sparring match occasionally. The British do it weekly with Prime Minister questions.  

Here is the best propaganda piece I have seen in recent time. The picture is actually a poster which started popping up around Los Angeles. The creator has not come forward yet to claim responsibility.

Well the tide is turning and Democrats are now starting to turn on each other. Yesterday I reported on how the Blue Dog Democrats were scared that Obamacare would not be fiscally responsible.  Why? Of course over money and influence from special interest groups. The Wall Street Journal says:

"[Blue Dog Democrats] don't want private health insurers to compete with a federally funded plan, and seek to reduce the share of lower-income Americans who would receive health-care subsidies."

According to Paul Krugman the Blue Dogs might be the straw that breaks the camels back if they don't get on board.

The only thing I like about the whole healthcare plan is the public option. If you do not have insurance through an employer, you can always buy it from the government. Here no one will be turned away because of pre-existing conditions or rejected for care. Insurance companies are scared that this public option will run them out of business when in fact it should only promote business. Competition will force insurance companies to shape up or ship out.

Only time will tell if President Obama gets healthcare reform passed. One thing is for sure, the Democrats are starting to crumble. As they turn on each other, power will soon fade.   

It is hard to say if the $787 billion stimulus package is actually working. New jobs are still hard to come by, the economy is still in a recession, and people are still losing their jobs.

Of course the Obama administration is saying that it is working, but is it really?

What really sucks, is that even if it doesn't work, it will be my generation and my children's generation paying back the $787 billion. 

So the biggest story of the week has to be General Motors filing for bankruptcy. On Monday, General Motors pretty much became Government Motors. With the filing GM will do what companies do when they file for bankrupcty, which is more complex than either you or me really could understand. The New York Times has a great Q&A about what this really all means, which I recommend you read. It will be interesting how the GM dealers in Ventura County react to the bankruptcy.

On to more important news, the Los Angeles Lakers have made the NBA Finals. After a tough division final against the Denver Nuggets the Lakers were able to pull out a series win to advance. The finals start this Thursday with the Lakers taking on the Orlando Magic. It will be a great series considering the Magic won both games against the Lakers during the regular season. And to blend some sports and politics, President Obama was asked who would win, to which he responded, "Lakers in 6, I think."

For the last week, President Barack Obama has been travelling Europe. The first stop was in London for the G-20 Summit Meeting. There he met many of the world leaders including the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Next stop was in France for NATO meetings and dinner with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The first ladies were even involved.  

The President followed that up with a stop in Prague where he called for a nuclear free world.

And the trip is rounding out with a stop in Turkey where he met with President Abdullah Gul. In his speech to parliament he said that the United States "is not and never will be at war with Islam."

All stops had large crowds to hear "The One" speak and it seems that Obama mania, similar to Jonas brother mania, is sweeping the Western world.

So Tuesday was quite the day for our new President. Two big items were on his agenda.

In the morning he signed into law the stimulus package authorizing $789 billion dollars to spent in hopes of reviving the economy. Besides the fact that only 3 Republicans in all of Congress voted Yes on the matter, and the other fact that no one really knows what it all entails, it seems like a sure fire plan.

President Obama also ordered17,000 troops to be deployed to Afghanistan. The President sees the country as quickly destabilizing. Additional troops are necessary to save Afghanistan.

Now over the last several days rumors have been swirling around the workplace and internet that there is the possibility that Barack Obama is the anti Christ. I am here today to set those rumors straight. Senator Barack Obama is not the antichrist. According to Wikipedia, the antichrist "means a person who will oppose Christ and substitute himself in Christ's place."

Now considering Obama is a Christian, I do not see why he would want to overthrow Jesus Christ. If anything, he might modify the separation between church and state and have all public institutions become Christian institutions. I definitely do not see any evidence though that Barack Obama is the anti Christ. There are no ifs ands or buts about it.

**This is not an endorsement of Barack Obama. Just saying he's not the anti Christ. If you have any facts to challenge this, please do submit them, because if he is the antichrist, I would love to be the person to break the story.

So last night was round 1 of the Presidential debates. Who would you say won?

Here are some good zingers, some what in context from last night. We start with Senator Obama and end with Senator McCain.

Senator Barack Obama

Discussion of alternative fuels. Invest in alternative energy as a way to ease off our addiction to oil. (For me it was strange that he used the exact phrase addiction to oil. It conjured up a picture of George Bush inside Obama)

With regards to the spending freeze John McCain proposed on the budget: "Your using a hatchet where you need a scalpel. We're spending $10 billion in a country with a $79 billion surplus each year." .

 When discussing the success of the surge: John you act like the war started in 2007. It started four years before in 2003.

Senator John McCain

When discussing Obama's liberalism: He is the most liberal member of the Senate. How are you going to reach across the aisle from that far to the left.

During discussion on Afghanistan: Senator Obama has never held a meeting for the foreign relations Senate sub-committee that he chairs.

While talking of the Iraq war:  Senator Obama did the unconsciouble thing of voting to stop funding the troops in Iraq.

OVERALL I'd say Obama won round one.

-----> And yes it is true that Iraq has a $79 B surplus.

As Iraq Surplus Rises, Little Goes Into Rebuilding [New York Times]