ScottKalbach.com

Spending Shock and Awe

Okay, I’m wondering how many people out there are thinking like I am that our government is completely out of control and putting us on the fast track to economic disaster?

First off, I want to say that I do think the Bush administration shares some of the blame for setting the initial precedent on this bailout madness. While Bush didn’t even come close to spending what the current administration has, he did open the door and he certainly wasn’t a conservative when it came to economics.

However, the current administration and party in power are spending so much money it boggles the mind. Most of us can’t even comprehend these numbers. I heard a guy from the Wall Street Journal say that we’ve spent more in the last three months then we have in the last thirty years. Then there’s the never ending bailouts. Do you realize that Obama has basically nationalized our auto industry and that some of the big banks are in their sites next? Obama says it’s just temporary, but he knows better. Amtrak was nationalized back in 1971 and we’ve been subsidizing them with billions of dollars a year ever since. Profitability is right around the corner they keep telling us. The same thing will most likely happen with GM and the banks.

On top of this they want to add nationalized health care and then jack up all our energy costs sky high with cap and trade. Which some estimates say would cost the average American family an insane $3900.00 a year.

When times are tough for you and your family, do you buckle down, cut costs and save money or do you go out on the biggest shopping spree of your lifetime in hopes that will solve your problem? Apparently the government is living in bizzaro world where you go on the ultimate spending spree to solve your problems. After all it doesn’t matter how much we spend because our good friends in China are buying up trillions of dollars of our debt. Doesn’t that make you feel better? Common sense says that this methodology just isn’t going to work. My fear is that we’ll have proof of that soon enough if they keep up with this craziness.

I don’t care who you voted for and what your political agenda is. This madness has to be stopped or we are all going to suffer. The people of this country need to come together and tell politicians of both parties this out of control spending madness has to stop. I encourage you to contact your senators and congress men and women and tell them to stop the out of control spending now.

Scott Kalbach

One of the great wealth destroyers of all time

The title of this post if from a comment Jim Cramer of Mad Money recently made about Obama’s budget being one of the great wealth destroyers of all time.

I’m not a supporter of Obama’s agenda. Personally I think it’s mostly aimed at greater dependence on the government and as a result is stripping away our liberties, freedoms and free market capitalist system. The current administrations policies are the complete opposite of what history shows us would really stimulate the economy.

What’s interesting to me about Jim Cramer’s comments is that they are coming from a financial guy who’s been a life long Democrat and a big supporter of Obama.

Actually, Cramer claims he still supports most of Obama’s agenda but he thinks it’s radical to try to get this agenda through in the current economic climate.

But these are issues that we have no time for now, on the verge of a second Great Depression. This is an agenda that must be held back for better times. It is an agenda that at this moment is radical vs. what is called for. I am proud to have voted for the Obama who I thought understood the need to get us on the right path, and create jobs and wealth before taxing it and making moves that hurt job creation — certainly ones that will outweigh the meager number of jobs he’s creating.

Most important, I believe his agenda is crushing nest eggs around the nation in loud ways, like the decline in the averages, and in soft but dangerous ways, like in the annuities that can’t be paid and the insurance benefits that will be challenging to deliver on.

So I will fight the fight against that agenda. I will stand up for what I believe and for what I have always believed: Every person has a right to be rich in this country and I want to help them get there. And when they get there, if times are good, we can have them give back or pay higher taxes. Until they get there, I don’t want them shackled or scared or paralyzed. That’s what I see now.

– [Jim Cramer response to White House - full article]

The full article is definitely worth a read.

Change you can believe in?

Apparently the Democrats have taken the Bush administrations terrible financial bailout idea as a green light to indulge in their wildest government spending fantasies. Talk about fear mongering. They keep telling us this is the worst financial crisis since the great depression. So they had to rush through and pass a one trillion dollar bailout that our kids and grandkids will be paying off. If it was really as dire a situation as they are claiming, would the following insanely expensive pork earmarks be in this bill?

• $1 billion for Amtrak.
• $2 billion to help subsidize child care.
• $400 million for research into global warming.
• $2.4 billion for projects to demonstrate how carbon greenhouse gas can be safely removed from the atmosphere.
• $650 million for coupons to help consumers convert their TV sets from analog to digital, part of the digital TV conversion.
• $600 million to buy a new fleet of cars for federal employees and government departments.
• $75 million to fund programs to help people quit smoking.
• $21 million to re-sod the National Mall, which suffered heavy use during the Inauguration.
• $335 million for treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.
• $44 million to renovate the headquarters building of the Agriculture Department.
• $20 billion over five years for an expanded food stamp program.

And the list goes on… Porkulus list courtesy of Newsmax.com

So what exciting “changes” can we look forward to next? Well there’s the auto industry bailout, socialized health care, and probably an economic stimulus 2.0 when 1.0 doesn’t work. Debt, debt and more debt.