OBSESSED with RACE!

The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Ahmaud Arbery in coastal Georgia were pages in the book of race relations in America that were corrupted by politics.  Other  pages that turned political include Mike Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York, etc., etc.   The Brown incident was due to a policeman protecting himself from being killed; the Garner incident was due to the police being overzealous and inappropriate in its use of force.  Years later the U.S. is still agitated by those incidents and others, including where two New York City police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, were ambushed and killed for revenge while sitting in their police car. Why is this happening?

I believe that many Americans are obsessed with race.   Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that his dream was that one day his four little children would live in a nation where they would be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.  In other words, a “color-blind” society was his dream.  The opposite has and is taking place even though race relations in the U.S. for most people are okay.   Democrat politicians and their minions call anyone a racist who disagrees with them, whether or not it has anything to do with race.   Moreover, the government encourages discrimination in many, many ways including something so minor as requiring race and ethnic information in order to get medical care (I refuse to provide it calling it “racist” on the form).

My perspective on race relations today versus throughout the past is that, with the exception of the past 15 years, relations have improved significantly in the past 60 years.  But if my perspective is accurate, why is racism such a major concern today? Is it really Democrat politics as I stated earlier?  Author of the book, The Big Black Lie, Kevin Jackson, blames the Democrat Party in its attempt to convince voters that Republicans are racists.  In his book, Wrong on Race, Bruce Bartlett enumerates the Democrat Party’s history of racism.  Most recently, author of the book, Mugged, Ann Coulter, gives a very detailed account of racial demagoguery by the Democrat Party from the seventies to Obama.  My own experience and observations validate what I read and make me angry.  The pain and suffering by all parties has been perpetuated solely for political gain.  I also agree with Dinesh D’Souza’s book, The End of Racism, that the American obsession with race is fueled by civil rights and political establishments that have a vested interest in perpetuating black dependency.

Will this obsession with race ever end?  Only when the deception behind it (like the media using Trayvon Martin’s photo when he was an innocent-looking 12-year-old instead of his then-current 18-year-looking self) is fully exposed and widely acknowledged.  Unfortunately, that day may never come.  What would Dr. King say?  Nothing…I believe he would be  in tears!

Let’s go back in time to when African-Americans were freed from slavery and see what Booker T. Washington, born a slave, who established the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to educate and train African-Americans and was the most prominent African-American in his day (1856-1915), said in his book, “Up from Slavery”:  “…the policy to be pursued with reference to the races was, by every honorable means, to bring together and to encourage the cultivation of friendly relations, instead of doing that which would embitter.”  What is happening today is the opposite of what Mr. Washington advocated and is being done mostly in order to keep 90% of African-Americans voting for the Democrat Party.

Obviously, the violent protests by the racist groups were reprehensible and the violent protests against them were also wrong.  The violence was wrong.  President Trump condemned the violence on three occasions on TV as well as in a few tweets yet he was still criticized.  This indicates how political “race” has become in America.  It needs to stop.  The first amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives all Americans the right to protest but no one has the right to protest violently and hurt others.  Police need to do their job and immediately arrest anyone being violent; however, police need to be supported by their political leaders.  Fat chance!

My credentials for stating the above: while working for the Federal government for over 40 years,  I volunteered to perform three “collateral-duty” jobs that took up to 15% of my official work time, each for a minimum of five years.  Two of the three involved fighting racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination.  In one of my collateral-duty jobs, I was instrumental in increasing Latino employment by my Federal Bureau from under 1 % to 6% of the workforce (as the Hispanic Employment Program Manager); in the other collateral-duty job, I counseled about a dozen minorities and women in seeking remedies for alleged discrimination (as an EEO Counselor).  Each of these positions required extensive training which I was happy to take and I performed well, to the extent that I received EEO awards from my bureau and the Department of Interior.   These experiences, plus working at my father’s butcher shop (with a 99% African-American clientele) while growing up, working as a counselor at a camp with 50% African-American “campers,” and attending a Junior High School with 50% African-American students, gives me a far-better perspective than most Caucasians in understanding race relations.

Let’s end the obsession; we’re all children of God and we all bleed red.

AMERICA NEEDS FOSSIL FUELS

Inflation in the United States was as high as 9.1% in June 2022.  Though it’s much lower now, the resulting price increases were cumulative with high prices remaining high.  Most of the inflation was due to huge deficit-spending, a global oil shortage that arose  from the U.S. no longer producing its share of oil, and disruptions to supply chains for food and goods  due to the lockdowns.  In 2020 the U.S. met all of it’s own oil, gas and energy needs (oil production in 2020 was 13 million barrels per day, in 2021 it went down to 9.6 million BPD).  The poor and people with moderate incomes were hurt the most from the resulting inflation, with many people no longer able to afford to pay for their daily necessities like food, transportation, and housing.

The shame of it all is that it’s 100% the fault of governments: Federal, State and local.  Government is supposed to help its citizens, so how can this be?  This is how….  The Far-Left wing of the Democrat Party has taken over that Party and now dictates its policies.  For example,  it is enabling millions of illegal aliens to enter the U.S. (open borders), made massive deficit spending, mandated Covid lockdowns (which did nothing except destroy jobs, businesses, economies, and children’s education), defunded police (which led to huge increases in crime), allowed over 500 BLM and Antifa riots the summer of 2020 (which also destroyed many businesses, etc.).  Other devastating Far-Left Democrat policies  include Federal lands being removed from permitting leases for oil/gas exploration, much higher costs for existing oil/gas Federal permits, subsidizing alternative fuels, advocating banks not lend money to oil, gas, and coal companies, which have all significantly increased the price of oil which is mostly responsible for the large increases in inflation.

The Presidency and the Senate are currently controlled by the Democrat Party and the House of Representatives is just barely controlled by the Republican Party, so Democrat policies are the only ones likely to be passed into law and implemented by President Biden, and the Democrat Party energy policy is to discourage the use of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) and encourage electric vehicles and some forms of alternative energy sources (wind, solar).  In fact, they truly believe that high fossil-fuel prices are a good thing because it makes the very high cost of alternative means of energy production more competitive.  Currently, the generation of most electricity in the U.S. is obtained from burning coal and natural gas, both of which are fossil fuels.

If you believe that climate-change is mostly man-made instead of the result of solar flares and the sun, you might think that this policy of discouraging the use of fossil fuels is good…and one day it may be; however, the United States and the world are not technologically ready for it yet, and this premature transition appears to be on-course for causing a world-wide depression and the widespread poverty and starvation that goes with it.  Why would this happen?  To answer this question, we need to look at what fossil fuels are used for: 1) transportation via vehicles, ships, and planes for food and goods from farms and factories to outlets throughout the world, 2) a major ingredient in fertilizers to grow crops, 3) a major ingredient in synthetic fibers to make fabric, rugs, tires, 4) to burn as fuel for heat and energy, 5) in plastics and floor coverings, etc., etc. (for about 6,000 products).  Consequently, one can readily see that fossil fuels are used for many purposes other than fuel and that they are extremely important to the United States and every country in the world.  Check out Alex Epstein’s, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, if you’d like to learn more about their importance.

CONCLUSION

America is experiencing very high prices by the Biden Administration with its regressive anti-fossil fuel policies. It has asked some of our enemies  (Iran, Venezuela) and friends (Saudi Arabia) to increase their oil production to no avail.  At the same time it has and is, through numerous actions, discouraged the United States from becoming energy-independent again as it was under President Trump.  Will it ever change?  I don’t think so, because its anti-Capitalist, Socialist-Marxist philosophical underpinnings mandate high energy prices to help destroy the fossil-fuel market, which is what the Left uses as a pretext to disguise its real objective, which is to destroy Capitalism in the U.S. and replace it with Socialism.

 

WILL PRESIDENT TRUMP BE RE-ELECTED AND BECOME OUR GREATEST PRESIDENT?

Will President Trump be re-elected on November 12, 2024?  I believe that, given his accomplishments when he was President, he should be.  Further, I believe that he will become our greatest President. Let’s take a look…

George Washington was our greatest President…without him there would be no United States of America.  Abraham Lincoln was our second greatest for ending slavery and preventing the South from seceding from the Union and therefore keeping the United States as one country.  Ronald Reagan was our third greatest because America was in a huge mess after Jimmy Carter’s presidency and Reagan turned it around by cutting taxes and Federal regulations which grew the economy, and by rebuilding our military to the extent that the Soviet Union collapsed.  The Gross Domestic Product (which is the measure of the size of the economy) almost doubled in the ten-year period from the time Reagan’s cuts in tax rates went into effect (1983).

I believe that Donald Trump will become our greatest President: he already knows the best policies to pursue for the U.S. to prosper…in addition to knowing how to handle sticky international problems and strengthening our military, but now he needs to improve his dealing with the Democrats and the media and be more careful in his choice of words to protect himself from the “Deep State” and the likes of Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, etc.

A few of the President’s major accomplishments include his initiating  and signing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which stimulated the U.S. economy, big time.  This came as  President Trump terminated thousands job-killing useless regulations, initiating a huge increase (10 trillion dollars) in the Stock Market, creation of 7 million new jobs, low unemployment rate (3.5 %), increases in the Civilian Labor-Force Participation Rate, and growth in the Gross Domestic Product.  Moreover, by giving the military more flexibility in fighting ISIS, areas formerly held by ISIS have been recaptured.  President Trump built an illegal-immigration-stopping wall on our southern border, and attempting to end to chain migration and  VISA-lottery immigration.  He also made huge increases in the military budgets for both FY 2018, ’19 and ’20, which significantly improved the military’s strength and readiness.  He also negotiated great trade deals with China, Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea, etc. and cracked down on China’s intellectual theft from America.  He created 9,000 economic opportunity zones in inner cities and other poor areas and passed prisoner reform legislation to help prisoners be treated more fairly.  Despite massive resistance, President Trump also temporarily stopped travel from China to the United States on January 31, 2020, in order to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus from China to America. Finally, he appointed three excellent Supreme Court justices and creatively using financial incentives, had Covid-19 vaccines developed in record time.

Now that President Trump has been out of power for almost four years and the U.S. has done very poorly thanks to Biden’s far-left policies, what does President Trump need to do if he is re-elected to become the greatest President in U.S. history?  I believe that how Trump made America great again despite everything the mainstream media and the Democrat Party did to stop him, like four ridiculous indictments, will determine, in part, how great President Trump becomes.  Put more simply, Trump’s political enemies will be somewhat responsible for the degree that he becomes great.  There is a simple Arab saying that makes it clearer, “the greater your enemy, the greater the victory over that enemy.”  President Trump has many powerful enemies.

After seeing what President Trump has accomplished in his first term, what else does he need to do to be re-elected and become our greatest?  This is what I believe he needs to do:

  1. Eventually win all four of the lawsuits against him and be re-elected in 2024.
  2. Eliminate ineffective government programs and agencies and reduce the size of the Federal workforce, especially the IRS.
  3. Eliminate annual budget deficits and make a plan to pay down the National Debt.
  4. Continue rebuilding the military to be stronger than it ever has been to counter China and stop its intellectual theft from America.
  5. Significantly reduce the opioid crisis,
  6. Expose and end election and voter fraud,
  7. Revitalize and make safe depressed inner cities,
  8. Clean up corruption in government and political parties,
  9. Continue appointing more conservative judges,
  10. Be more congenial, criticize in private, praise in public.
  11. Add more Middle Eastern countries to the Israel-Arab Abraham Accords, especially Saudi Arabia.
  12. End the massive illegal immigration that President Biden created.

In today’s partisan political climate, it’s difficult to get much accomplished without great effort, but President Trump has gotten many things done despite his many enemies. We’ll know on November 12 or perhaps much later if he’s re-elected and in a few years just how great a president President Trump was.  He has significant headwinds from Mainstream Media which has become completely corrupt, and election fraud which has become massive and pervasive.  Since Mainstream Media won’t change, I believe the outcome of the election will depend mostly on how much of the election fraud we can prevent.  If it can be kept under 3% (to overcome the usual  amount of Democrat cheating), Trump should win.

POLITICAL TALK IS CHEAP


President Biden on March 25, 2021, gave his first press conference, 64 days after he became President.  He called on ten reporters and spoke for just over an hour.  His delivery went reasonably well except for having to refer to his briefing book in order to answer foreign policy questions.  His preparation-staff prepared a book with photos of all the journalists in attendance with the ten circled he was to call on for questions.  Since I follow national issues very closely I can say with certainty that he told many lies in his answers to reporters’ questions.  Since his first press conference, he has earned a well-deserved reputation for lying…all of the time.  Political talk is cheap!

When he was President, Trump spoke bluntly, not eloquently, but spoke the truth and did a lot of good things for America and Americans.  However, his blunt talk often got him into trouble.  Trump was not a politician and did not know how to speak “political talk”.

President Obama was an eloquent speaker, actually made race relations worse, and didn’t get much done to improve the lives of most Americans.  Or did he?  If you liked how the economy and his job-creation efforts performed (lowest civilian labor-force participation rate since 1978), and liked the declining strength of the military, and think our foreign policy helped the United States, then you might believe that President Obama performed well. Or perhaps those things are not that important to you but  his Presidential demeanor was important.  Political talk is cheap!

Because  Presidents are our spokesperson to the world, most do want them to be presidential. President Obama was usually presidential but didn’t get much accomplished; President Trump’s language, on the other hand, was not presidential at times but he was successful in creating jobs, making the U.S. energy independent, and creating an outstanding  economy. What’s more important to you, talk or deeds?

I hear many times each day that “Biden said this,” or “Biden said that,” and previously, “that Trump tweeted this or said that.”  However, what a President says is not nearly as important as his actions because deeds are the best indicator on how the U.S. (and the President) is doing.  For example, when former President Obama said that he thought about the economy every day, but then didn’t meet with his “Jobs Council” for many months at a time, it’s was  natural to question the President’s sincerity.  When Obama suggested he “felt our pain,” but took Air Force One to New York city where traffic was stopped for hours so he and Michelle could have a “night out” in “The Big Apple,” his actions said a lot more about his true feelings than his words.

President Biden’s $1.9 trillion “covid-19 stimulus” was passed during the first two months of his Presidency.  Wouldn’t unemployment have been even worse without it, which is how it was sold to the American public?  Much of the stimulus was a waste of money…only 9% of it went for Covid-related relief within the United States, though Covid was touted as its primary justification.  Reality is that much of the stimulus went for projects that mostly benefitted Democrat politicians and their friends and supporters. All of the talk about its wonderful benefits was “bull”. Reality is that it raised inflation to even higher heights…the happy talk was “Bull”.

CONCLUSION

President Biden talked a great game but it took all of the mainstream media, most of Hollywood, most universities and colleges, the Unions, and far-left, multi-billionaire George Soros’ money, to keep him from not having bad job approval numbers.

President Trump was brash and blunt in his rhetoric, but he was a doer, insofar as he got a lot of good things done for the United States, especially revising regulations and laws that led to huge job creation.  President Obama was a great talker.  President Biden talks like a moderate while implementing far-left extremist  policies which have significantly hurt the United States, however, the mainstream media will not report it so you won’t even know anything about it.  Talk is cheap. Political talk is worse than worthless, it’s misleading to the extent that everything you think you know about issues may not be true!  Look at deeds…passing a piece of legislation is not a deed.  The results caused by that legislation are deeds.

 

 

 

WHY IS INFLATION SO HIGH (& WHAT CAN BE DONE TO REVERSE IT)?

Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 8.2% in October 2022 and decreased to 4.0% by May 2023.  The working and middle classes are being seriously hurt and the government doesn’t appear to care.  It blames everyone but itself, though it is responsible for most of it.  How, exactly, did the government accomplish this?  And if the government is totally responsible, shouldn’t the government be able to fix it?

Government deficit spending is the main culprit. It began its huge increases in earnest with “The American Rescue Plan of 2021” which cost $1.9 trillion, then $1.2 trillion for the “Infrastructure Plan,” $1.8 trillion add-on to the FY  ’23 budget, and finally a $6.8 trillion proposed FY ’24 budget (fortunately reduced by 2 trillion thanks to the U.S. House of Representatives).  Not the oil companies, not Covid, not Russia, but President Biden’s Administration, as well as almost all Democrats in the House and Senate, along with a few RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) who supported and voted for spending trillions that the U.S. does not have, so it borrowed it, bringing the National Debt to over $30 Trillion.    The Federal Reserve, which controls the U.S. money supply, is also to blame because it should have begun raising Federal interest rates long ago to slow down rising inflation.

Another culprit is the huge increase in the price of oil which has enriched and enabled Russia and impoverished many Americans.  Here again, the more-than-doubling the price of a barrel of oil is totally due to the Biden Administration because of its war on fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal).  Perhaps in 25 years from now a mostly fossil-free U.S. might be feasible, but currently the world does not have dependable and affordable technology to achieve this goal.

So what can be done now to significantly reduce inflation?  A few things, but it will take awhile to see results.  In the meantime, people need to economize in every area of their lives to get them through this period of high inflation.  To begin, the government must not pass any more huge spending bills since most of the money would be borrowed, which, of course, would only increase inflation.  Also, the Federal Reserve needs to be cautious in raising interest rates any further because it could cause a recession, but it might be necessary and is the price for reckless spending and the war on fossil fuels.  Next, voters must vote out of office Democrat Representatives and Senators to serve as a foil to President Biden’s out-of-control spending.

All of these things should stabilize inflation.  To actually reduce it to under 2%,  voters must vote in Donald Trump in 2024 with his pledge to the Nation and its people that he will bring inflation down to under 2%.  President Trump is the only politician that I believe can do it because he has already done it in his first term and demonstrated that he is tough enough to stand up to the crazies on the Left.

WHY OPEN U.S. BORDERS (AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM)

In 2021 about two million illegal immigrants entered the United States with the assistance of Mexican cartels and the American government.  In 2022, 2.76 million  illegal immigrants got into into the U.S. This is about 230,500 illegals/month  which are added to the approximately 30 million illegals currently living in the United States.  They come from over 165 countries around the world.  Why is it happening?  How is this possible?  Is it fair to Americans?  What can be done about it?  That’s what this post will attempt to answer.

Mexican cartels make billions from illegals, drugs, and human trafficking.  Their motive is obvious…money, with a minimum of $4,000/illegal. However, the motive of the Biden Administration and the Democrat Party enabling illegals to get into the U.S. may not be so obvious.  As a pretext, concern is expressed for our less prosperous neighbors  south of our Southern border.  However, the real reasons are: 1) increasing the rolls of Democrat voters, since two-thirds of immigrants vote Democrat whenever they or their eventual children are able to vote; 2) increasing population (which includes illegals) in selected districts so as to give those districts greater Congressional representation; and 3) providing large employers a cheap source of labor as well as driving down the overall cost of labor.

Title 42 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, which enables the United States to turn back illegals at our borders based on Covid-19 threats, expired May 11, 2023. It is estimated that the number of illegals entering the U.S. now that Title 42 is gone will be explode.  At this rate, many cities and town will eventually be bankrupted due to all of the services they will need to provide to the tens of millions of illegals that will be in the United States.

So what’s to be done?  President Trump successfully secured the border so we know it can be done.  Were it done now, illegal immigration through our Southern Border would be very low.  The solution appears to be to repeat what President Trump did, including finishing the wall along our southern border.  This will not happen if Joe Biden is re-elected.  The only Democrat Presidential hopeful that would do this is Robert Kennedy Jr.  Any of the Republican Presidential hopefuls would do this.

Some books that forthrightly address the illegal immigration crisis are: 1) The Immigration Solution, 2) Border Insecurity, 3) Adios America, and 4) Whatever it Takes.

DEFEAT THE RADICAL FAR-LEFT POLITICALLY

NY City Tammany Hall leader “Boss” Tweed, 1860’s-70’s

Although I’m slightly more conservative than liberal, I try to be even-handed in my writing.  However, the Left has become so radical, and even criminal at times, I think an article that is not even-handed is in order and appropriate. The following is a brief summary of what I believe has and is happening to adversely affect U.S. politics:

1. President Biden used to be a moderate Democrat for most of his political career, but he has governed  as a far-left radical after becoming President of the United States.  His policies are difficult to understand and appear to all be geared to hurting Americans and the U.S.  Examples of this include his dismantling of the myriad of immigration and border policies that kept the number of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. very low; putting America in huge debt by wasting trillions of dollars in allegedly helping Americans get over the pandemic; dividing America along racial lines by supporting and funding Critical Race Theory; weakening our military by not providing it with enough funds to even keep up with inflation; by removing economic sanctions from our adversaries such as Iran, China, and Russia.

2. Mainstream Media has become so dishonest that absolutely nothing it says about former President Trump can be believed .  It is guilty of “bias by omission” since it reports next to nothing that makes former President Trump look good or President Biden look bad.

3. Democrat Party leaders refuse to debate issues, but instead make “ad hominem” (personal) attacks against Republicans.  The reason for this is that their policies are absurd to the extent that they cannot be successfully defended from arguments against them.

4. Former President Trump is attacking Governor DeSantis, often unfairly. Trump can be mean at times and consequently will probably  lose the Republican nomination if he continues, because many do not like it.  He really needs to be more careful with his speech and never mimic the Far-Left’s tactics.

5. Far-left Democrats should commend President Obama because he did their bidding by trying his very best to drastically weaken our military, economic system, and Healthcare in order to further his Socialist agenda and that of the Democrat Party (by furthering policies that would create a large permanent poverty class dependent on the government for basic subsidence).  His political party is allowing large numbers of illegal aliens into the U.S. since most will eventually vote Democrat, and Obama doubled the National debt (from $10 trillion to $20 trillion), coming close to bankrupting the country (and President Biden is finishing the job).

6. The Democrat Party, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden destroyed healthcare insurance for millions of Americans; only those receiving free medical insurance did well under Obamacare.

7. The far-left shouts down conservative speakers on college campuses, as well as destroys property in its demonstrations, thus demonstrating it does not believe in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on freedom of speech and also cannot debate anyone that disagrees with them.

8.  Many Democrat leaders, such as Democrat Congresswoman, Maxine Waters, and House of Representatives  Democrat “Squad,” have advocated violence while the Main-Stream Media falsely accuse President Trump of instigating violence (I taped Trump’s January 6 speech…to “peacefully protest”).

9. Some Republican leaders are timid and cannot competently argue conservative policy positions though those positions are usually far better than liberal positions.  Were it not for Fox News and Newsmax cable TV stations, talk radio, President Trump, Governor DeSantis, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott, Rand Paul, Jim Jorden, etc., the Republican Party would be in terrible shape.  In other words, as ridiculous as most liberal positions are, the timidity of some Republican leaders, like Mitch McConnell, really hurts the adoption of conservative policy positions.

10. I believe that the far-left wing of the Democrat Party is shaping and mentally preparing its followers to hate Republicans and take over the Federal government.  We need to expose this criminality whenever we find evidence that it is happening, but cautiously, because the FBI has been weaponized and is looking for any excuse to lock us up.

11, 12, 13, etc.

In conclusion, if and when Democrat Party loyalists see what has happened to their Party and punish it by not supporting it (voting for it) until it changes, the Party should then clean itself up and consequently become more competitive and win many more elections.  If that never happens, God help the United States, because we will no longer be a Constitutional Republic but a third-world style dictatorship.  Let everything be peaceful as we go through this political turmoil.

JANUARY 6 PROTEST OR INSURRECTION: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

For further reading

BACKGROUND

One of the very first investigations of the January 6 protest was conducted by the FBI, which concluded there was no evidence that the January 6 protest into the Capitol was coordinated.  The most recent “investigation” was conducted by the House of Representatives members, led by Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and was totally political.  Its only purpose was to smear former President Trump and Republicans to prevent Trump from running again for the presidency.

The January 6 protest was routinely called the “January 6 Insurrection” by the Democrat Party and its sympathizers, the Mainstream Media.  However, there were no guns at this event.  The one person killed by gunfire during the protest (Ashli Babbitt) was a protester who was an unarmed non-violent female Air Force veteran killed by Capitol policeman Michael Bird, who didn’t even see Babbit’s unarmed hands when he shot and killed her.

Wanting to appear bi-partisan, Speaker Pelosi appointed two RINOs (“Republicans in Name Only”), Liz Cheyney, Adam Kinzinger to the January 6 Congressional Committee.  President Trump authorized between 10-20.000 National Guard troops to protect the U.S. Capitol on January 6 but Nancy Pelosi and Muriel Bowser would not approve it (and their approval was necessary).  A suspected FBI informant, Ray Epps, led and directed protesters to enter the Capitol building but the FBI never even questioned him.  Moreover, left-wing activist, John Sullivan, also directed the protesters to enter the Capitol.  In an interview, Liz Cheyney inadvertently revealed the real reason for the House’s January 6 Commission, “to ensure that Donald Trump can never be re-elected President.”  Some of the witnesses called to testify before the Commission refused to appear because they knew the obvious: that it was solely political theater and not a serious investigation.  Mainstream Media played along with the charade and reported it as if it were something other than the sham it was.

40,000 HOURS OF VIDEO

Much has been learned since January 6, 2021.  The most important is that Nancy Pelosi is largely responsible because she would not agree to President Trump’s request to allow 10-20,000 National Guard ready to maintain the peace at the Protest and at the Capitol.   Thanks to Kevin McCarthy for authorizing the release of 40,000 hours of video taken by the cameras in and around the Capitol.  It showed most of the protest was very peaceful and respectful of the Capitol though there were some unruly protesters which were the only ones that the January 6 Committee showed to the public while they prohibited showing the mostly-peaceful protest by the majority of protesters.  Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters remain in Washington jails without bail or even being charged.  Jacob Chansley, the protester who wore the horned helmet,  received a 4-year jail sentence and his lawyer and the judge were never shown the video exonerating him of all wrongdoing. I saw the video depicting the aforementioned on Tucker Carlson’s TV show on March 6, 7 and 8.  It was very difficult to believe my eyes, and then to see and hear U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland, lie by stating that five police officers were killed on January 6 though no police officers were killed at the Capitol on January 6.

CONCLUSION 

The January 6 protest got out-of-hand with some becoming unruly.  It was politically unwise for President Trump to hold his “stop-the-steal” rally on January 6, given the Democrat Party’s penchant for deceit and the FBI’s partisan political corruption in its leadership.  Democrat pollster, Pat Cadell, has called  the Democrat Party “the crooked party” for good reason.  The FBI investigation of the January 6 protest proved there was nothing there.  President Trump did not incite the crowd to riot…I heard and taped everything he said, however, the House’s January 6 Commission’s fake investigation milked this debacle as long as it could.  For a detailed and thorough account of the January 6 riot, see Troy E. Nehl’s 2022 book, The Big Fraud.

The most important “Take-Away” lesson from January 6 is that the Democrat Party has become completely corrupted and cannot be trusted about anything it says or does.

WILL CHINA OVERTAKE AMERICA SOON?

Read how China has been at war with us…

Prior to China being admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO), it simply had blind ambition, as well as big plans (see Michael Pillsbury’s book, “The Hundred-Year Marathon”), but after becoming a member with all of its trade advantages, China’s growth grew very rapidly to the extent that its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was only  a few trillion dollars less than the United States.

With its large GDP (about $18 trillion/year in 2022), China now has the financial resources to continue building a world-class military, and is in the process of closing the gap in its attempt to surpass the world’s number one superpower, the United States. In October of 2021, China demonstrated its hypersonic missile which is so fast and maneuverable and flies so close to the ground that it can’t be shot down by our current anti-ballistic missile system.  This, of course, means that China now has a first strike capability which is catastrophic for the West when it puts nuclear warheads on its supersonic missiles.

Aside from its large military build-up, China has already surpassed the U. S. in manufacturing and exports to the extent that many countries, including America, are now dependent on China for basic commodities, including numerous medicines.  In addition, it has engaged in many nefarious activities, such as developing covid-19 in its Wuhan Virology lab and not giving a “heads-up” about it to the world when it “escaped”.  Moreover, it has enslaved about a million Uyghurs, an Islamic group that live in northwest China in Xinjiang Province.  Also, it was instrumental in stealing the 2020 Presidential election because President Trump imposed hundreds of billions in tariffs and feared he would thwart China’s ambition of overtaking the U.S. as the world’s superpower.

China’s huge telecommunications company, Huawei, is currently in the process of developing the world’s first  5G (fifth generation) communications network. This is important because other countries will follow the 5G leader, the U.S. or China, and 5G doesn’t simply allow you to download much faster, it will enable autonomous cities and appliances and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to spy on everyone.

China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” had about 80 countries participating as of August 2018.  It provides financial assistance for railways, ports, highways, airports, pipelines and information networks.  It is entrapping many countries in unsustainable debt and is promoting China’s interests.  This initiative is not being done from a desire to help other countries, but instead to ingratiate countries to China so they will comply with its wishes.

I believe it’s clear that China is overtaking the United States, and when it does, the U.S.  and the world will be worse off.  What can be done to prevent this?  Many things, but they all have one thing in common: they require someone at the helm, in charge, who recognizes the threat and is tough enough to stand up to China and then do what is necessary for America to successfully compete with it.  I’m talking about re-electing former President Trump, who has already stood up to China with tariffs and other significant actions.  China is frightened of Trump.  They can’t bully him. The U.S. needs him.  See Newt Gingrich’s book, Trump vs. China.  To be fair, Governor DeSantis might also be strong against China, but he’s unproven on the International stage.  Donald Trump is the “Big Dog” but he’s America’s Big Dog and the U.S. needs him.

WHY DO HALF OF AMERICAN VOTERS STILL VOTE DEMOCRAT?

With the Democrat Party moving very far left to the extent that it can now be accurately called the socialist party, why are half of voters still Democrats?  That’s what we’ll examine here.

The Democrat Party’s history goes way back to Andrew Jackson.  President Jackson was a populist and championed the working class, though he did force the Seminole Indians in Florida to move to Oklahoma, far from their Tribal lands, with many dying along the way, thus the name, “Trail of Tears.”  After its Confederacy lost the Civil War,  the Democrat Party supported the Klu Klux Klan and then the “Jim Crow” laws that kept African-Americans subjugated.

Aside from its checkered past, the Party successfully fought to have itself branded as being a champion for the poor, minorities, and the working class.  If this were ever true in the past, it’s certainly no longer true today.  Today’s Democrat Party is not your father’s Democrat Party.  Therefore, I ask the question, “why do about half of Americans still vote Democrat?”  Here’s why…

-President John F. Kennedy was the most prominent Democrat in the past and many voters still think of the Democrat Party as being the Party of JFK (though it has moved far to the left from where JFK stood on issues).

-The mainstream media (New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, etc.) are propagandists for the Democrat Party.  Over 90% of their reporting on President Trump was negative and much of it was actually fabricated, reporting on the insignificant “palace intrigue” rather than on Trump’s substantive accomplishments with the economy, jobs, minority employment, etc.  Stories that made liberals look bad were usually not reported.

-Most of Hollywood is a major propagandist for the Democrat Party, using its fame with the public to sway voters.

-Most Universities and colleges are propagandists for the Democrat Party.  Professors deliberately mis-state  the Conservative side of issues and also attribute nefarious motives to Republicans and Conservatives.

-Silicon Valley uses its vast power to suppress conservative ideas on the Internet but airs liberal and far-left ideas.

-Most Republican politicians, with the exception of former President Trump, governor Ron DeSantis, and a few others, generally do not fight back against the constant onslaught of criticism and phony allegations from their Democrat opponents and the mainstream Media.  Therefore, voters hear mostly just one side criticizing the other and never even hear both sides of issues.

-There is a significant amount of voter fraud, as documented by various credible sources such as the Pew Research Center.  Almost all of the fraud is for Democrat political candidates and explains why Democrat National Committee policy is against any form of photo ID being required to vote, using the pretext that it’s voter suppression.  Voter ID makes voter fraud much more difficult.

-Many voters do not closely follow national issues.  They repeat what they hear on the Left’s propaganda mainstream media (MSM) machine, but they don’t know both sides of the issues.  Therefore, followers of MSM are usually Democrats, thus the war by the Left against Fox News, which is not part of the MSM.  Even simply hearing the conservative or Republican side would change the minds of many voters.

-Most Democrat issues are phony issues, created to persuade voters to vote Democrat.  These include the non-existent “War on Women”, the Left’s attempt to take protective guns away from law-abiding citizens through its “War on Guns”,  blaming climate change mostly on people rather than mostly on the sun and solar flares, calling everyone a racist who does not agree with their position on issues, the Left’s war on the police, the military, and ICE, etc., etc., etc.

CONCLUSION

I’ve been following politics since the 1960 TV debates between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon.  Back then, both political parties were relatively honest in advocating their views.  It’s much different today.  Other than being against every policy that the Republican Party supports, what policies do President Biden and the Democrat Party stand for?   From his Presidential Executive Orders and Actions, Biden is for abolishing ICE, not finishing constructing the border wall, giving all illegal aliens amnesty, a weak military, free college, Obamacare, and Sanctuary cities among other things.  The Democrat Party-controlled Congress has passed a $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief package that contains only 9% covid relief, proposed a $2.2 trillion infrastructure package with less than 25% of it to be spent on infrastructure, and is has proposed a voting “reform” bill that is so corrupt it would ensure that there could never be another Republican president.  It does this be removing all safeguards to election integrity. Good-bye to the Republic, hello to George Orwell’s “1984.”  God help us!

MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE: PROS & CONS

Who can be against a livable wage and why would they possibly be against it?  That’s what this post is about.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) previously reported that if the minimum wage were to be increased to $10.10 nationwide, or a 40% increase, about 500,000 to 1,000,000 million minimum-wage employees, from a pool of 16,500,000 minimum wage employees, would lose their jobs because employers could not pay it and remain in small business.  However, if the new proposed minimum wage jumped to $15/hour, the effects of such a raise is estimated as being the loss of about one and a half million jobs.

So why do it?  The main argument is that it’s not a “living wage,” that no one can live on and raise a family on that wage.  Sounds like a reasonable justification but, of course, we need to look at other sides of the argument before reaching sound conclusions.  I already cited one of the primary reasons why government should not mandate raising the minimum wage too high…the loss of about 1,500,000 minimum-wage jobs; however, another significant reason is that it would almost shut down the first step on career ladders for unskilled workers…to the extent that they couldn’t even get that first job, get their foot in the door…because their work would not be worth $15/hour.  Many small businesses, like restaurants, are very sensitive to the minimum wage and when government mandates that wage to be increased substantially, restaurant prices increase substantially, which hurts the business and makes it fail (so the end result may also be the elimination of jobs).  Finally, it’s far more accurate to call the “minimum wage” the “starting wage,” because that’s exactly what it is for most people.

It appears that labor union leadership and consequently the Democrat Party is the only beneficiary of government mandating dramatic minimum wage increases with everyone else being harmed; therefore, gradual increases in the minimum wage may be able to satisfy genuine concerns of the minimum wage argument.

The best way to raise everyone’s wages the most is to create a booming economy like they did in North Dakota, for example,  where $15/hour was the starting wage in fast food restaurants because of the huge competition for employees that North Dakota’s great economy had fostered.  Former President Trump did precisely that with the U.S. economy, which resulted of a 3.4% increase in workers’ wages.  The government did not have to mandate minimum wages…they occurred naturally.

OBAMA & BIDEN POLICIES FOOLED US TWICE!

I didn’t vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2008 or 2012.  In 2008 it was a very difficult choice for me because I had devoted many years to fighting racial discrimination and eagerly wanted to vote for the first black President.  However, on eight of the top ten National issues, I disagreed with Obama’s and Biden’ positions, so I couldn’t vote for them in good conscience.  Though I didn’t vote for the Obama-Biden ticket, I believed what they said about their being “post-partisan” and wanting a “transparent” Presidency.  While there were some rumblings on the right about Obama really being a far-left radical, I was unconvinced and believed his message of “hope and change.”  By the 2012 Presidential election, I had become convinced that President Obama and Vice-President Biden followed Democrat policies which had destroyed many businesses and jobs, and made health insurance unaffordable for anyone who paid for Obamacare themselves.

Eight years after being elected, Obama-Biden had a record of a number of failures, of wasting trillions of dollars, of race relations being much worse, and of creating a health care system that was far worse and much more expensive than most Americans could afford.  After eight years of Obama-Biden, we had a Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate the lowest since 1978, 62.8%, and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) whose growth did not reach 3% annually for his entire presidency.  Calling President Obama and Vice-President Biden economically incompetent doesn’t come close to describing the situation accurately.

“But Obama-Biden did their best,” you might say.  Their best was simply not good enough.  They were in over their heads.  They are good fathers and husbands, but their policies as President and Vice-President have been a disaster and therefore whoever ran as the Democrat nominee in 2020 (Joe Biden) should not be elected because Democrat policies simply do not work.

Most democrat policies are very destructive.  There is no war on women (see my post, “War on Women”), no longer very much new man-made Global Warming (see my post, “Is Global Warming due mostly to Solar Flares or is it Man-Made?”), not much racism (see my post, “Obsessed with Race”), a phony gun issue (see my post “More Guns, Less Crime”), etc., ad infinitum.  I spend over six hours/day following national and political issues, and have my Masters degree in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania,  so it’s easy for me to know who knows what they’re doing and who does not (and President Obama didn’t know, economically, and had surrounded himself with economic advisors who all believed in Keynesian economics although it has never worked).  Though the U.S. was fooled twice by President Obama, Vice-President Biden and the corrupt and criminal Democrat Party, I don’t intend to be fooled again.

On a positive note, President Obama was the very first African-American president and is beloved by many of all colors ad creeds.  It took 145 years for African-Americans to go from slavery (up to 1863) to having one of its own being elected to President of the United States (in 2008).  In addition, President Obama appointed two female Supreme Court justices.

CAN PRESIDENT TRUMP CREATE JOBS & GROW THE ECONOMY AGAIN?

After most recessions, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth comes back with  a strong minimum 5% increase/year.   But not the recession of 2008-09…annual growth averaged under 2% for the eight years that Barrack Obama was President and the Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate diminished to 62.8%, the lowest it had been since 1978.  Moreover, although the official unemployment rate was under 5%, it would have been about 12% if it were measured the way it was back in the year 2000, and over 20% if it were measured the way it was during the Great Depression in the 30’s.

So what happened under President Obama?  Why not the usual strong growth?  Business had  a few trillion dollars that it held onto oversees, so why didn’t it spend its money to expand its operations and create millions of jobs in the U.S.?  There’s a lot of  reasons why business was cautious in expansion…and we need to understand what the problem was in order to continue to turn around today’s economy and foster substantial job growth (and the increased tax revenues that come with job growth).  Of course, the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) is filled with disincentives to job growth, especially full-time jobs, so it was partially responsible. The large number of regulations and tax increases under President Obama also added additional burdens on job creators and that’s another major cause.

But who am I to be pontificating on jobs and the economy?  Well, I do have a masters degree in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.  And my degree is from the Wharton School in the U. of P., which is known for its econometric models of the economy.  To be clear, however, my education was in government, not economics, though I did need to have economics and accounting courses as well as a statistics course in order to graduate from Wharton with my MGA long ago.  I also worked for the Federal government for over40 years in various capacities, and have also worked for the state of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia.

FORMER  SUCCESSFUL QUICK RECOVERIES

Let’s put aside education and experience qualifications because, from my observations, ideology trumps education.  I’ve seen PhD’s advocate  really stupid positions, even in light of contradictory evidence.  So I tend to look at the real world, what actually happens when a particular economic policy is followed and practiced.

I’ll start with the policies used by President John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s.  When confronted with a recession, he cut tax rates which led to increased economic growth and recovery.  In addition, when President Ronald Reagan inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression from President Jimmy Carter in 1980 (unemployment over 10%, inflation 13.5%, mortgage interest rates up to 20%), President Reagan cut tax rates to the extent that GDP almost doubled in ten years and tax revenues to the Federal government greatly increased in the 10 years following the tax rate cuts.  President George W. Bush had a similar experience with tax rate cuts, revenues to the Federal government significantly increased.

The most recent economic successful recovery was orchestrated by President Trump with cuts in taxes and regulations, which resulted in an extremely low unemployment rate of 3.4% and the lowest unemployment rates in U.S. history for African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Asian-Americans.

PAST FAILURES

Let’s look at what actually happened when the opposite approach was used:  it is estimated that President Franklin D. Roosevelt doubled the duration of the Great Depression in the 1930’s by using the John Keynes economic model of increasing government deficit spending, and the US still did not even get out of the Great Depression until World War II.   Moreover, when Japan’s economy went bust in the 90’s, it spent trillions over a 20-year period trying to stimulate its economy.  The huge deficit spending did nothing except give Japan a huge debt.

WHAT PRESIDENT OBAMA TRIED

Which brings us up to to when President Barrack Obama spent almost a trillion dollars in his “stimulus” package in a effort to turn around the economy…and he also devalued the dollar by having The Federal Reserve Bank print trillions of dollars with no backing through it’s so-called Quantitative Easing 1, 2, and 3.  He also tried other short-term Federal spending programs such as his “cash for clunkers” and engaged in huge annual deficit spending, the extent of which had never been seen before.  His economic policies, based on the discredited theories of economist, John Maynard Keynes,  have actually have made the economy worse by piling up huge government debt (over $20 trillion in total national debt which is greater than the annual GDP of the US), with very little to show for it,  and whose interest payments will be unsustainable when interest rates increase.

Let’s look at other factors significantly adversely affecting the economy, such as oppressive government regulations.  One of the reasons for President Bill Clinton’s economic success in the 1990s was his significantly cutting back many Federal Regulations (as well as the reduction in government employment through attrition) as part of his “National Performance Review” initiative.  President Obama’s policy, on the other hand,  on preventing drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, has resulted in 240,000 barrels/day less oil from the Gulf,  which would have led to large increases in gasoline prices were it not for oil companies engaging in horizontal drilling and fracking on private and State lands.  Another example of over-regulation is the Dodd-Frank bill, the stated purpose of which was to prevent future financial meltdowns…but it did not even deal with the cause of the meltdown, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who threatened  and coerced banks into making housing loans to people who could not afford to repay them.  Dodd-Frank also had adverse impacts on small banks and dried up loan money for small businesses that would have otherwise been available to them to expand.

Then there’s Obamacare which has been estimated to actually cost the government up to 3 trillion dollars in the first 10 years, as well as lead to very expensive, rationed and inferior health care.   Then, of course, there’s EPA’s over-regulations, such as the one on carbon dioxide, which as we know, is an inert gas, the chief purpose of which is food for plant life, plants which turn carbon dioxide into oxygen.  Moreover, let’s not forget how hundreds of thousands of farm hands were suddenly unemployed when the US Department of the Interior shut off the water to California’s Central Valley in an effort to protect the Delta Smelt (a small fish) that was on the Endangered Species list.  All of these things had severely hurt jobs.  Finally, President Obama extending unemployment benefits to 99 weeks actually increased unemployment because studies show that, on average, unemployment benefit recipients don’t even begin looking for work until 4 weeks prior to the end of their benefits.

IS CUTTING TAX RATES FAIR?

But stimulating the economy by cutting tax rates isn’t fair, is it?  Even President Obama said in an interview a year or so before he was elected President, when confronted with the fact that cutting the capital gains tax rate in the past had actually resulted in increased tax revenues to the Federal government, that he still would not cut the capital gains tax rate because “it isn’t fair.”

So is it fair to cut tax rates even though we know that the result would be to increase tax revenues?  The nation would then have more money to help the poor, not less, so why not do it?  I can understand the “equality” argument but  is it really a good thing if everyone were equally poor as they are in many countries?   “So what” if there are some super-wealthy people…we know that in the United States they will eventually give most of their money to charity anyway and do it much more wisely than the Federal government!   Winston Churchill said that  capitalism is a bad form of government except that it’s better than all other forms of government.

THE SOLUTION

Cutting  tax rates and regulations have always worked in the past and stimulated the economy and thereby created many jobs.  Presidents Kennedy, Reagan,Bush and Trump all increased tax revenues by cutting tax rates for everyone.  Today, the bottom 50% of earners pay almost no Federal income taxes…the wealthiest 10 %, on the other hand,  pay over 70% of all Federal income taxes.  If you believe that’s not enough, how much is enough?  The U.S. corporate tax rate was 35% but Trump and the Republican Congress reduced it to its current 21%, and it consequently has led to many corporations moving their operations and jobs back from other countries and has caused the United States to regain many jobs.  It’s time for President Trump to work his Wharton School “magic” again and bring back the economy again.  I believe that President Trump can and will bring back the economy.

 

SINGAPORE: KIM JONG UN and PRESIDENT TRUMP MAKE PEACE


North Korea (NOKO) tested 9 missiles in 2017 but none in 2018.  The United States successfully tested one of its SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) missiles on May 30, 2017, launching it from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  It shot down a missile that was launched from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.  In the recent past it was successful only about 50% of the time, however, with recent improvements, it looks like it’s successful all of the time.  This is very important to the security of South Korea, Japan, and Hawaii, all of which are currently within reach of NOKO’s missiles.  Very shortly, the U.S. mainland will also be within reach of NOKO’s missiles.  Were it not for President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. would not have this “star wars” capability today.  Russian General Secretary Gorbachev pressed Reagan at their nuclear summit in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1986, but Reagan walked out of the talks rather than give up his Strategic Defense Initiative, nicknamed “starwars”.  The Democrat Congress tried to stop its development back then, as well as it and Democrat presidents up to the present, giving the Democrat Party the nickname the “Treason Party”.

NOKO has thousands of conventional artiliary aimed at Seoul,South Korea, many in hardened bunkers.  If the U.S. tried to destroy NOKO’s missile facilities, NOKO could kill at least a million South Koreans before all of their arsenal was obliterated by the U.S..  NOKO has the third largest army, after the U.S. and China. The U.S. recently tried to deploy its one-billion-dollar THAD anti-missile system in South Korea, as well as three aircraft carriers in the waters surrounding North Korea.

Ninety percent of NOKO’s trading is with China, making China very influential over NOKO.  President Trump pressured China to coerce NOKO to stop testing its missiles and meet with President Trump.  China, plus strong trade sanctions, convinced NOKO.  Previous presidents tried bribing NOKO, but NOKO did not keep any of its agreements with the U.S.

Life in North Korea, with the exception of its capitol, Pyongyang, is a living hell, with little food and electricity and government overwhelmingly horrible, similar to life depicted in George Orwell’s book, 1984, as explained in Barbara’s Demick’s  book on NOKO, Nothing to Envy.  However, North Koreans have been brainwashed to the extent that they worship Kim Jong-un, his father and grandfather as gods and believe all of the propaganda that the government presents.  Pyongyang sounds like a chapter out of the book, Stepford Wives.  To live there, a North Korean and his/her family must live an impeccable life, 100% loyal and obedient.

What will happen as a result of the Singapore Summit and the agreement Trump and Kim signed that NOKO will denuclearize?  No one can know for sure because NOKO has previously lied and cheated, however, I believe that President Trump’s unique personality  and the strong team he has assembled makes him and his administration distinctly capable of guiding the U.S. through these dangerous times.   

CONSEQUENCES to the U.S. from PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ECONOMIC POLICIES

President Obama meant well.  He sounded sincere and touted “fairness” as his primary concern in his governance of the nation.  However, it’s true that “the road to hell is paved with people with good intentions.”  In plain English, it almost doesn’t matter if the President was sincere  and meant well if the results of his policies were to cause great  harm to hundreds of millions of people.  Until the Obama Presidency the percentage of Americans with full-time jobs (“Civilian Labor-force Participation Rate”) had not been as low as then (62% of civilian labor force) since the late seventies and if unemployment statistics were calculated the way they were in the year 2000, unemployment would be about 10%.  If they were calculated the way they were during the Great Depression, unemployment would be over 20%.  Below is my analysis of those major policies of President Obama that destroyed the American dream for many Americans and which President Trump, who came after President Obama, and the Congress had to reform:

A. OBAMACARE/AFFORDABLE CARE ACT: This  law was a wet blanket on the economy. While everyone is for good healthcare, and for insuring people with pre-existing conditions, as well as kids up to the age of 26 years-of-age on their parents insurance, Obamacare is a bureaucratic nightmare with much more expensive premiums for most people, and unbelievably-high deductibles and co-pays.  This turns most Obamacare policies into catastrophic care only because most people will never meet their deductibles and will therefore be paying out-of-pocket for most of their healthcare.  This turkey needed to go and hopefully replaced with something much better.

B. IMPEDING ENERGY PRODUCTION:  A decision on the Keystone pipeline was made for political reasons.  Oil production on government land was significantly down, however, basically because the environmental lobby was against all fossil fuels.  Meanwhile, America has more gas, oil, coal, and shale oil than all of the countries in the Middle East combined but government regulations prevented most of it from being developed.  The wealth created by all of this energy could pay off the National debt, the trillions in unfunded liabilities, and produce an economic boom the likes of which no country has ever seen.  And as thoroughly, scientifically, and irrefutably proven in David Archibald’s, Twilight of Abundance, the warming trend of the earth over the last century and up until recently,  is due mostly to Sun Spots and Solar Flares, not to the burning of fossil fuels.  

C. DEFICITS/NATIONAL DEBT: President Obama doubled the National Debt (from $9 trillion to $20).  The Federal government is still borrowing billions/month from the Federal Reserve so the annual budget deficits grew to over 1/2 trillion dollars/year.  Each year the Annual Budget Deficit is added to the total National debt and when Obama left office was about $20 trillion.  This amount of deficit spending and National Debt is unsustainable. The Federal Reserve  has the authority to print money and by doing so has been able to get away with this huge deficit spending,  but doing so without the backing of gold and/or legitimate loans from other countries, simply inflates our currency.  The U.S. dollar is currently the world’s “reserve currency,”  but our borrowing and spending may eventually change that.  When it occurs, the dollar will immediately decrease in value by about 30%, our credit rating dramatically reduced and interest rates on our borrowing dramatically increased, and our ability to borrow severely curtailed.

D. REGULATIONS:  Regulations are necessary in our society but government needs to be very careful in not over-regulating since this can and does add significant costs to the economy, negatively impacts business creation, and reduces freedoms.  The regulations written pursuant to Dodd-Frank, the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Affordable Care Act  (“Obamacare”), among many others, are excessively burdensome to people and the economy.  ESA, for example, had caused the destruction of many crops in California’s Central Valley due to the Delta Smelt, a small fish on the Endangered Species list. Dodd-Frank is a financial nightmare that does nothing to prevent future bank problems.  Obamacare has and is destroying jobs.

E.  HIGH TAXES:  Money taken from the economy in taxes should be limited because it hurts the economy.  Tax money should be used only for legitimate purposes.  Higher taxes is a drag and drain on the economy so  government needs to be careful to spend it wisely.  Lowering tax rates on everyone who pays taxes in order to stimulate the economy is the preferred way of increasing tax revenues and growing the economy to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, etc.

F. CORPORATE TAXES:  A significant Obama policy  that had unintentionally done  harm to many people was the retention of the 35% corporate tax (reduced under Trump to 21%), which was higher than any other country in the world except for Japan.  This has led to the flight  of many U.S. corporations and businesses to other countries, and with this flight, the jobs and taxes that go with them.

G. PROLONGED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS:  Extension of the duration of unemployment benefits for more than  12 months is very harmful to the unemployed as evidenced by studies showing  the unemployed usually do not even look for jobs until a few weeks prior to their unemployment benefits expiring.  At one point, Obama, in conjunction with a Democrat Congress, extended unemployment benefits to 24 months. “Compassion” was the stated reason, but “buying votes” I believe was the real reason.

H., I., J.,K., L., M., N., etc.

In closing, most Americans were proud that the U.S. elected an African-American President 151 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed  American slaves, even if they personally did not vote for Barack Obama.  The United States inherited slavery from England when it took over the country in 1776 but had to temporarily retain slavery  in order to form the Union to include Southern States (the “Great Compromise”).  At the first opportunity, the U.S. rid itself of slavery (in 1863).

The first African-American President unfortunately had no experience in managing anything or in guiding an economy and therefore the U.S. consequently  hurt  badly economically.  While I believe President Obama meant well, he also still believed that failed liberal/”progressive” economic policies (“Keynesian economics”) were the way to stimulate the economy and therefore turned a blind eye to workable economic policies.

President Reagan demonstrated how to get an economy working and the proof is the fact that the Gross Domestic Product (which measures the size of the economy) of the United States almost doubled 1n the 10 years following Reagan’s implementation of his large reduction in tax rates (1983-1993) and curtailing Federal regulations.  President Kennedy also stimulated the economy during a recession in the 60’s by cutting tax rates.