National Debt

Romney And Ryan: Spreading Lies And Myths Unashamedly!

Ronald Leave a comment

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are setting a record for spreading the most lies and myths of any Presidential campaign team in American history!

Apparently, it does not matter that even Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal are calling them out for making their own facts, along with other news media!

What are the lies and myths?

Barack Obama is cutting Medicare benefits for recipients, when Paul Ryan’s plan is to make Medicare a voucher system and raise the age for eligibility for future recipients from 65 to 67.

Barack Obama is to blame for the downgrading of America’s credit rating, when it was the GOP Congressional leadership that refused to raise the debt limit before the deadline, and everyone knows that to be the fact.

Barack Obama has added more to the national debt than all Presidents before him, while in reality the Republican Presidents are responsible for more debt than Democratic Presidents, and much of the debt increase is due to Bush policies, including war spending, the unpaid for prescription drug plan, the Great Recession that occurred under George W. Bush, and the constantly growing interest on the national debt, no matter who is the President.

Barack Obama is ending the work requirement under welfare, while in fact that is not the case, and many GOP Governors have asked for the right to use different plans on welfare that change the requirements under the Bill Clinton welfare to work plan.

The Janesville, Wisconsin auto plant, in Ryan’s home district, was shut down by Barack Obama, while it was actually ordered to close in 2008 during the Bush Administration, and Obama worked to save the auto industry in the Midwest successfully, once he came to office, and Mitt Romney wanted the industry to go bankrupt.

The Republicans want to protect the poor and the sick, when in actual fact, they wish to cut food stamps, Pell Grants, and other assistance to the poor, including a drastic cut in Medicaid, under the Ryan budget plan.

Barack Obama raised taxes on the middle class, when in actuality, he LOWERED taxes for the middle class.

Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are against the statements of Todd Akin about rape and abortion, when in reality Ryan sponsored legislation on the matter with Akin, and both Ryan and Romney had no problem with the party plank on abortion, which opposed abortion on any grounds whatsoever.

Higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations harm economic growth, when pursuing exactly that policy spurred the greatest economic growth in American history under Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

Barack Obama has created no job growth, when he has, in reality, presided over greater job growth in the past three and a half years than eight years under George W. Bush.

Barack Obama has been involved in his administration in an “apology tour”, and has favored Muslim nations, when in fact he has never “apologized” for America, and has been aggressive in pursuit of Muslim terrorists in Al Qaeda and the Taliban, killing more terrorists than anyone could ever have imagined, and also was able to get rid of Osama Bin Laden and Moammar Gaddafi.

Both Romney and Ryan and other Republicans wanted Obama to succeed, when there is no doubt that all Republicans made it their mission to insure that Obama would be a one term President with no accomplishments, which they well know has not been the case, as he has accomplished more in one term than any President since Lyndon B. Johnson domestically, has changed the image of America to a positive one in the world, and has made as much progress in the worst times of an economic downturn as Franklin D. Roosevelt did in his first term during the Great Depression, similarly making progress against difficult economic times, but not resolving the crisis in one term, but being attacked as Socialist, Communist, radical, Fascist by right wing critics!

The lies and myths will not carry the day, and Barack Obama will be reelected as FDR was in 1936, although not by the massive landslide of FDR!

Three Subjects Ignored At Republican National Convention: George W. Bush, Foreign Policy And Constitutional Law

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republican Party is holding its national convention in Tampa, and so far has not mentioned President George W. Bush by name, or referred to the issues of foreign policy and constitutional law.

It is as if Bush was never President, and instead Democrat Barack Obama is being blamed for everything, including original sin! The economy was apparently fine, until Obama became President in 2009. This is what is called the rewriting of history, and making Bush a non person.

But Bush also took us into two foreign wars that have bankrupted us, and caused a large portion of the national debt growth, but neither Paul Ryan nor Mitt Romney seems anxious to run a campaign on foreign policy, something neither have them have any experience in dealing with. Of course, the critics say what experience did Barack Obama have, forgetting that he did serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for four years, and did important work with the respect and support of Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar, who was, for a period of year, the Chairman of that committee. This, of course, probably helped to contribute to the defeat of Senator Lugar in the Indiana Senatorial primary this year, leading to his forced retirement this December.

And, of course, to bring up constitutional law would make people realize that the President, whoever he is next term, will have a dramatic effect on constitutional law and the Supreme Court, and that this matters more than economic policy in the long run!

So the GOP is ignoring these three issues, hoping to sail through to victory on promotion of ignorance of the citizenry, and creating falsehoods and myths about the Barack Obama record!

Will they succeed? That seems highly doubtful!

Reality: No Balanced Budget For Long Time, And National Debt Will Continue To Rise!

Ronald Leave a comment

In the midst of all the debates about who is “better” for the country, the team of Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden, or the team of Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, something is being forgotten or ignored!

There will be no balanced budget for a long time, and the national debt will continue to rise!

There is no magic potion to bring about a balanced budget, or to prevent the national debt from rising!

So whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is elected, one will see both the budget issue and the national debt issue continue to be a center of heated debate!

The difference is who will “benefit” from what government does–the middle class and the poor, if Obama wins; or the wealthy top two percent if Romney wins!

But it is more than that!

It is also which man will cause the national defense budget and foreign interventions to grow, adding to our burden, and it is clear that Mitt Romney, with his loose, reckless rhetoric toward Iran, Russia and China, will cause us a lot more financial burden and many more lost American military lives than Barack Obama!

And it is also what direction do we want the nation to go regarding constitutional law! Do we want more Antonin Scalias, Clarence Thomases, and Samuel Alitos? Or do we want more Ruth Bader Ginsbergs, Stephen Breyers, Sonia Sotomayors, and Elena Kagans? This will determine more of the future, economically and socially, than anything else!

It is foreign policy and constitutional law, two areas most people are ignoring, that will have a greater impact on our future than the false argument that, somehow, one or the other candidate for President will, magically, balance the budget, or stop the rise in the national debt, when neither will be able to do anything about either of those matters!

Triumph Of Progressivism: A Turning Point Challenge Fifty Years Apart: 1912, 1964, 2012!

Ronald 6 Comments

The battle between conservatism and progressivism/liberalism has been an never ending struggle throughout American history, going back to the time of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, and the creation of the first political party system in the Federalist Era of the 1790s.

After a half century of conservatism in charge in the Gilded Age and early Progressive Era, in 1912, we finally had the triumph of progressivism with the election of Woodrow Wilson, and the stellar second place finish of Theodore Roosevelt on the Progressive Party line. Wilson proceeded to promote economic and social reforms, partly based on Roosevelt’s ideas, and partly his own, and much of what was accomplished in the second decade of the 20th century remains with us today.

Reversion to Gilded Age mentality occurred under GOP Presidents in the 1920s and early 1930s, and the Great Depression led to a smashing landslide for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s and 1940s, with the New Deal expanding much of what TR and Wilson had advocated, and additional ideas growing out of the economic crisis.

Harry Truman attempted more reforms in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but most were stymied by a conservative resurgence, and a similar situation existed in the Eisenhower years, and the Kennedy Presidency.

But when Lyndon B. Johnson came in after the assassination of President Kennedy, he dedicated himself to accomplishment of what FDR, Truman, and Kennedy could not achieve, and to expand beyond the New Deal of FDR with the Great Society.

The Republican Party and conservatives saw an opportunity to negate all of the economic and social changes of TR, Wilson and FDR, and Barry Goldwater, the 1964 right wing opponent of Johnson, declared war on the New Deal, and the result was a landslide defeat, and the greatest expansion of progressivism yet in our history.

By the time that Ronald Reagan won a victory for conservatives in 1980, and continuing through George W. Bush leaving in 2009, Republicans and the right wing set out to reverse the Great Society and New Deal, one program at a time, with Democrats being able to stop complete destruction, but Republicans and conservatives nipping away at one area of policy after another, and in the process increasing our national debt from $1 trillion when Reagan became President to $10.5 trillion when George W. Bush left office.

Barack Obama came in with the intention of solidifying the New Deal and Great Society, and also bringing a new Progressive Era. And now Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are declaring war on everything that has been done by the federal government in the past century—from TR, to Wilson, to FDR, to Truman, even to Ike, to JFK, LBJ, even Nixon, Carter, even George H. W. Bush, to Clinton, to Obama–in their desire to make America ever more an oligarchy, a corporate dominated nation, and to destroy the middle class and the poor, and return us to the Gilded Age that began in the 1870s!

So 2012 is the most ideological election since 1964, as that election was the most ideological election since 1912!

The future of every social and economic reform of the past century is at stake in this election, and progressives and liberals cannot afford to sit on the sidelines, as this is as Theodore Roosevelt dramatically called it a century ago, an ultimate battle of Armageddon for the future of America!

Odd And Interesting Points About Paul Ryan, And The Presidential Election Of 2012

Ronald 4 Comments

There are many odd and interesting points about Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan that have been gathered, and here are some of them!

Paul Ryan, like Mitt Romney, is handsome, and they look good together photogenically.

Paul Ryan looks as if he could be one of Mitt Romney’s sons, and actually is only 12 days older than Romney’s oldest son, Tagg!

Paul Ryan has spent his whole adult life in government, with no experience in the private sector.

Paul Ryan was affected by the narrow minded, selfish teachings of Ayn Rand, and he was involved in work with former Congressman Jack Kemp, one of the authors of what became known as Reaganomics, which started tripling the national debt in the 1980s, due to the theory of Supply Side Economics. Now, Ryan wishes to multiply what Reaganomics in the 1980s and Bushonomics in the 2000s brought about, most of the increased national debt, $7 trillion of the total $10.5 trillion debt that existed when George W. Bush left the Presidency in January, 2009!

Paul Ryan’s dad died when he was in high school, and he was supported by the social safety net of Social Security with survivors benefits while in college.

Paul Ryan has lived off the American taxpayer his entire life, and will receive better health care and pension benefits as part of the federal payroll, that he wishes to cut for everyone else in the middle and lower classes!

Paul Ryan alienated Catholic nuns when he came out for cuts in food stamps and other benefits to poor children, and called for privatizing of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, while wanting greater tax cuts for the top two percent!

Paul Ryan was booed in his own congressional district for the Ryan plan which passed the House of Representatives earlier this year, but with no Democratic support and ten Republicans voting against, as well.

Paul Ryan comes across as articulate, handsome, and charming personally, the latter much more than Mitt Romney, but he also comes across to many as arrogant, nasty, mean spirited, uncaring, hypocritical , uncompromising, and loved by the Tea Party and the right wing media which have declared war on women, senior citizens, the middle class, minorities, and the poor!

Paul Ryan has no foreign policy experience, and being only a Congressman, can be seen as not qualified to be Commander in Chief on Day One!

This is the 5th time in the past half century that a member of the House of Representatives has been selected as a Vice Presidential running mate—William E. Miller of New York with Barry Goldwater in 1964; Geraldine Ferraro of New York with Walter Mondale in 1984; Jack Kemp of New York with Bob Dole in 1996; Dick Cheney of Wyoming with George W. Bush in 2000; and now Paul Ryan of Wisconsin with Mitt Romney in 2012. Notice all four of the earlier choices LOST the election that followed, with the exception of Cheney with Bush, but remember that Al Gore actually won the popular vote in 2000 by 540,000 votes, and the Supreme Court decided the election, intervening for the first time in American history!

And as said in an earlier post, finally, this marks the fourth time in the past 60 years that the Vice Presidential nominee has been more than 20 years younger than the Presidential nominee—Richard Nixon with Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952; Dan Quayle with George H. W. Bush in 1988; Sarah Palin with John McCain in 2008; and now Paul Ryan with Mitt Romney in 2012.

Additionally, we have no one on either ticket for this upcoming election who is from the Sun Belt states, the growing part of the nation. Instead, we have a Midwesterner and an Easterner on each ticket–Barack Obama and Paul Ryan from the Midwest, and Joe Biden and Mitt Romney from the Northeast!

Also, there is no candidate with military experience on either Presidential ticket, the first time since the 1940s!

And we also have no mainline Protestant on the Republican ticket, a mainstay of the GOP, and instead have a Mormon and a Catholic.

If anything, the only true “Protestant” is Barack Obama, as Joe Biden is Catholic!

More oddities and trivia will probably arise as the campaign develops further!

Mitt Romney And The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics 2002: Another Scandal And Boondoggle!

Ronald Leave a comment

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, has boasted about how he saved the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games of 2002.

What he has not told us is that those Olympics received $2.7 billion in federal funds, equivalent of a bailout, with most of it going to improve the public services of Salt Lake City, as Romney was unable to gain much private investment. So the taxpayers of the nation added to the national debt to present the Olympics, and Romney took credit for its “success”, without revealing that it was on taxpayer money.

But now Romney has the gall to say that taxpayer money was used to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, even though it saved the auto industry in the Midwest, and has been paid back handsomely by those auto companies!

Additionally, Romney had said that the records of the Salt Lake City Olympics would be fully available for journalists and others, and that he believed in “transparency”, but then he proceeded to make it impossible for the records to be accessed, and as it turns out, the records of Romney’s activities have strangely disappeared!

What is clear is that Mitt Romney is not only a liar and a deceiver, but he is also corrupt, and has spent his life covering his tracks, including his refusal to reveal his tax records, because it is clear that they would show manipulation and chicanery in his financial dealings!

This is a man who is secretive, distant, insincere, arrogant, and thinking he is “entitled” to the Presidency being handed to him on a silver platter!

We need to make sure that does not happen this November 6, exactly one hundred days from today! Barack Obama supporters must do whatever they can to guarantee that our 44th President has another term in the White House, which he richly deserves!

Trying To Decipher The “Republican” Brain: Crazy, Lacking In Reality And Ethics

Ronald Leave a comment

Republicans used to be a reputable major political party, and have a lot to be proud of in their history of 158 years.

But there is little to be proud of in 2012, as Republicans seem to have lost their minds, their ethics, their morality, their ability to understand reality!

How else to explain the following:

A vast majority of Republicans believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya, is a Muslim, is a Socialist, a Fascist, a Communist, and wishes to destroy America.

The deficit issue began with Barack Obama, ignoring $2 trillion investment in failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and $1.3 trillion in tax cuts to the top two percent of the population under George W. Bush.

The Federal budget can be balanced with only program cuts, not tax increases ever again.

Global warming is a hoax, and evolution is just a theory, and God will always protect all of us from harm from the climate, and mankind walked the earth alongside dinosaurs.

Iraq caused September 11, and we found Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.

Since there is no body, how do we know that Osama Bin Laden was really killed by US Navy Seals?

Contraception is evil, and knowledge to adolescents about sex is evil, and it is all a plot to promote gay sex and abortions.

All Hispanics and Latinos are illegal immigrants, and they are all criminal elements that must be deported en masse.

Barack Obama is easily the most corrupt President we have ever had in American history, including Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush.

The collapse of Wall Street in 2008 was due to too much regulation, and was caused by Democrats and liberals.

The entire New Deal and Great Society is unconstitutional, and needs to be repealed, and return us to the days of states rights, instead of a powerful national government.

America was designed to be a theocracy, and we are a Christian Republic, and if we follow Jesus Christ, we will be just fine.

Science is atheism, and should be dismissed as propaganda to turn America away from God and Jesus Christ.

The list goes on, but this is enough to tell any sane person that the GOP has gone amuck in its craziness about the real world we live in!

Rush Limbaugh’s Attack On Government, Media, Academia, And Science: The Promotion Of “Know Nothingism”!

Ronald 4 Comments

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, the largest, in all ways, of windbags, who loves to divide America, on the road to further enrichment of his massive fortune, is at it again, but what else is new?

Limbaugh now claims that America has four enemies within its midst: the federal government, the news media, the academic community, and the field of science!

Limbaugh has no problem with the hypocrisy of organized religion; the corruption of Wall Street and the massive corporate influence; the massive rise in the national debt under George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and others in the past three decades; and the tremendous costs of constant warfare overseas in the past decade, and its effect on military personnel’s physical and mental health.

Limbaugh is disturbed if the government does anything to deal with the disaster visited upon the middle class and the poor by the events of the past decade. He is also upset that the news media have the gall to expose the evils and problems that exist, due to the deleterious influence of the Republicans in the past ten years. Of course, academia is seen as evil because it actually promotes knowledge, learning, interpretation, analysis, thinking–all characteristics which Rush Limbaugh lacks! And rather than look at science as something to be respected, instead Rush promotes corporate greed which undermines the future of our environment and planet long term.

Rush Limbaugh is an extremely obscene individual who revels in promotion of ignorance, prejudice, narrow mindedness and hatred, and is only out for his own aggrandizement! When will his audience wake up and realize the truth, and that he has no concern for those who listen to him, except to glorify his own ego and enhance his own fortune?

Will people ever learn and see the truth? One would hope so!

The Economy Issue Outweighing Foreign Policy And The Supreme Court: The Ultimate Tragedy For The Nation

Ronald Leave a comment

It has often been said that people vote their “pocketbook”, that is, how they are affected economically, including having employment, the inflation rate, the housing situation, and the ability to plan for their children’s college education and their own retirements.

So if the economy is in bad shape, the President or party in office loses the election, and that possibility now rears its “ugly head”, due to the downturn in the stock market this past month, and the slowing of job growth that hints at a stall, if not a reversal, in job growth.

The facts are that all economic conditions are much better than they were when Barack Obama took the oath of office, but since people tend to think of the moment, not of the previous few years, Barack Obama is seen as in danger of being defeated.

The odds are still that he will win re-election, but it is going to be a “nail biter” at best, and that is a true tragedy, considering Obama’s accomplishments in foreign policy, national security, and constitutional issues.

There is no question that, despite Republican propaganda to the contrary, that Barack Obama has accomplished a lot in these areas, but it is being overshadowed by the economic situation, which, no matter who is President, is going to take years to repair after the Great Recession that began under George W. Bush.

If Mitt Romney is elected President, we are not going to see a magical economic recovery! We are, instead, likely going to see austerity that will make things far worse! One can be assured that within six months of taking the oath, Romney’s honeymoon will have ended, and there will be “buyers’s remorse”!

And we will likely see the “necons” take back control of the White House, and decide on a new war with Iran, which will only further damage the deficit and the national debt!

And we will see up to three appointments by President Romney, turning the Supreme Court to the extreme right for a generation, the greatest tragedy of all, as it will set back gays, Hispanics and Latinos, African Americans, women, labor, the environment, and government regulation of Wall Street!

So the economy may be in bad shape, but the country will be in worst shape if Obama loses because of the economy!

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan As Mitt Romney’s Running Mate: The Reverse Robin Hood!

Ronald 3 Comments

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin yesterday declared his interest in considering the opportunity, if asked, to be the Vice Presidential running mate of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

This author has earlier stated that Ryan would be one of the best choices that Romney could make, along with Ohio Senator Rob Portman, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and South Dakota Senator John Thune, all from the Midwest, the battleground for the 2012 Presidential Election.

Ryan is handsome, well spoken, comes from a “swing state” in the Midwest, and certainly knows a lot about the budget, as the head of the House Budget Committee.

These positives, however, are negated by the fact that Ryan has now proposed two budget years in a row for the ending of Medicare as we know it, replacing it with a voucher system for senior citizens.

Also, Ryan wants to promote even bigger tax cuts for the top two percent, and despite his protestations to the contrary, actually would increase the national debt, while claiming to try to deal with the national budget in a responsible way.

Basically, Paul Ryan is an arrogant, cocky guy who wants to be a reverse Robin Hood, and can sleep at night cutting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, education, environmental protection, and many other government programs in his mad dash to enrich the Mitt Romneys of the world!

Why would Mitt Romney NOT embrace Paul Ryan, as he and his elite class would be enriched ever further by this Congressman who claims to be a budget hawk, but really just wishes to redistribute income from the poor and middle class to the wealthy?