Tuesday, November 30, 2010

President Obama set an example for Congress yesterday

by Arnie Webre, Jr.

On November 29, 2010, President Obama set an example for Congress and our entire nation by ordering no raises for United States civilian government workers for the next two-years.  That is what true leadership is:  taking unpopular but necessary steps for the good of our commonwealth.

It has put all of us on notice of the hundreds of hard choices that must be made, and if this democracy and the freedom that comes with it is to survive, we must all be willing to share in the sacrifices to come.

Our elected representatives in both houses of Congress must be up to the task of following President Obama's example of making hard choices without regard to re-election.  The hundreds of changes in the pipeline that are waiting to be made are long overdue.

If this democracy is to survive, the time for a sea-change of responsible fiscal actions is now, as they have been put off by elected Republicans, Democrats and Independents for decades.

If all Americans are willing to share this pain, like President Obama and the USCS employees of the United States, we just might continue as a nation in its current form, contrary to expert international historians and economists.

I do not always agree with my President, but he is my President, and on this matter, he is dead-on correct!

Giving just a little more thought to the sacrifices that all us must make to save this democracy:  my great-Aunt Kitty Neyland of Austin, Texas, before her death, told me, "I was there for WWII, working in an assembly line for the cause, while the soldiers and sailors were fighting in Europe.  After all of our arguments and disagreements, Arnie, honey, you should see how America comes together, when we have too.  We all came together as a nation to defeat the Nazis.  It is something of tremendous beauty to experience."

Although Aunt Kitty is long gone, that tremendous beauty of us all coming together to defeat an enemy [the financial bankruptcy of America] is now something that I want to see, in order to insure the future for my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  The alternative is too horrible and upsetting to allow it to happen.

God Bless America!





   

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Americans should focus on our national debt before it's too late

by Arnie Webre, Jr.

Wow!  Is it ever fun to have a huge party, but it can be hell to clean up afterward.  In essence, that is what is happening, right now, in the United States of America, in regards to national debt.

Although Europe has debt problems also, we need to tend our own garden, at least until our national debt gets back to normal levels.  The smaller our debt, the better, the more options we have, and the more competitive America will become.

While some people are trying to continue the party, I want to see everyone, including our elective representatives get the peoples' business done by compromise, as there is no other way to get anything done in the divided legislative bodies of the United States government.

That is what our politicians were elected for.  Contrary to popular opinion, they can do what is right for America and get themselves re-elected, without continuing to spend money that we do not have and have not had since John F. Kennedy had the last true, un-manipulated U.S. national surplus.  In the past, Republican and Democratic administrations would simply change the basket of commodities that make up the Consumer Price Index (CPI) if they needed to have a surplus, instead of a deficit, or they wanted a deficit to appear much smaller than it was.

Without compromise from all sides we cannot get anything done, politically or economically, about saving our over-indebted national government and a sputtering economy.  Americans have enjoyed a high standard of living and way of life for countless Thanksgivings, Christmases, New Years, and every day of our lives, while much of the rest of the world has lived in greatly reduced circumstances.

If we cannot get our politicians and all Americans to compromise to get the business of America done, we and our way of life is finished, like burnt toast.

Now, just after Thanksgiving of 2012, we either all start worrying about America, and stop thinking about ourselves [how we are going to get something from the government or how we will get re-elected, even if the strategy to get re-elected is not in the bests interests of the United States], or we will be the ones soon living in vastly reduced circumstances.

To all politicians, no matter what your beliefs or party, either you get the business of America done, or I and millions of other Americans will vote you out, just as soon as we can get rid of your selfishness.

You were not sent to Congress, or other high office, to grandstand and not get the business of the people of this commonwealth done, so you can get yourself re-elected  [it is the other guy's or the other political party's fault, not mine.]  You were raised to your current position by the votes of the people of the United States, and you do work for us and the interests of our country, the United States of America, not your own selfish vested interests.  

We have all known about this problem [the unsustainable debt of the United States of America] for a very long time, and politicians have, in the past, just pushed it down the road, so they could get re-elected.  We no longer have that luxury.  Currently, we are living off of the good graces of strangers and foreigners who buy our debt, U.S. Treasury notes, bills, and bonds.

On the other hand, there are clear signs that those strangers and foreigners are tired of the uneconomic ways of Congress and various presidents of the United States [Democrats and Republicans] spending their money, not ours, like it is water.  If anyone does not see this as a problem, then consider who is buying U.S. Treasury debt, right now.  The largest purchaser is Chairman Bernanke of the U.S. Federal Reserve, not China or Japan.

The party is over, and either you head for the door, or you will not be re-elected.  You must change or your days in government are numbered.  Who ever heard of U.S. Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents spending money borrowed from foreigners, like they were all drunken sailors on liberty?  Since when did our standards get so low?

A debt to GDP ration of 30-percent or less would insure the survival of the United States of America as a free democracy for generations to come, as long as it did not get any higher than that.  No debt, ever, would ensure that there would forever be a strong, free democracy in the United States.

Historically, too much debt destroys nations, and we are already overloaded with it.  Therefore, we need to tip-toe, quietly and softly, away from the edge of financial disaster, as we are hanging over an extremely deep canyon, the fall from which will certainly kills us, figuratively speaking, as a nation.


So, to all politicians of the United States of America, if you cannot rise to this occasion, then get out of the way so we can elect someone else who can.

If you want to get re-elected, you need to do like the politicians of Canada, Brazil, Chile and Singapore did, by enacting laws that decrease government expenses and  inefficiencies, that increase revenue fairly, without an undue tax burden on any one group, by getting rid of unnecessary or counterproductive exemptions and special interests, change the way that politicians are elected and do produce balanced budgets and significantly decrease our national debt, before we elect someone else who can.

Leadership is about making right decisions, not popular decisions.


I am a proud American, and I want to be proud of our government and our political leaders again.  Politicians in the United States have a horrible image problem right now.  If you want to know how to repair your image, re-read this article and give it to your staff and make it mandatory reading.

God Bless America!

President Obama's socialism destroying U.S. economy

by Arnie Webre, Jr.

[Read more:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8618-503544_162-20023852.html]

Bob, Please focus on the issue at hand.

President Obama is purposely spending as much of the newly printed greenbacks as he can to devalue the U.S. dollar. It is a very dangerous strategy, as it will ruin the U.S. dollar and your assets, though it will, eventually, inflate away our debt, dishonorably, while destroying our entire United States economy.

If you thought that the bankruptcy of the old Soviet Union was interesting to watch on your evening news, Bob, just wait, as you will be able to watch the bankruptcy of the old United States on your evening news, if President Obama has his way.

Yes, it would, eventually, help the United States in trade, but it would ruin our country as an international power, and it would humiliate all of us -- those of us who are still proud to be an American and who hold high the ideals of America, democracy and freedom for all.

Again, in just the first 18-months of President Obama's administration, our national debt increased by over one-third (1/3). Never in the history of the United States, since General George Washington and his troops defeated General Lord Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, has such a large, gross amount of U.S. dollars been spent by our national government in such a brief period of time [18-months].

Although I was proud of Barrack Obama and America when he was elected president, he has since proven that he will continue to devalue the U.S. dollar, and our national interests, by continuing his budget-busting national socialist programs.

Socialism leads to communism, not democracy and freedom. It is time for all of America to wake-up about that fact. As a nation, we need to be very clear about the evils of socialism and how it enslaves us.

Socialism is not democracy or freedom.

At this very moment, approximately, two-thirds (2/3) of our entire workforce in the United States, one-way or another, works for either the United States government, state government, or one of their many related federal or state programs.

The "business of America is business," not government.

Bob, yes, President Obama is likable, and I do genuinely like the man; however, he has proven to me that he is more of a socialist than President Chavez of Venezuela, and that President Obama is hell-bent on destroying our economy, and the United States dollar, for whatever the reason.

Is President Obama brilliant? Yes! I do admire that about him.

However, in 2012 I will certainly vote for either a Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent for president of the United States, who is not hell-bent on destroying the U.S. dollar and our economy with it.

God Bless America!