Day: September 2, 2009

Now I Am Afraid For My Country

During my many years of political writing there has been a few times that I have been afraid for the future of my country.  The election of GW, the “new” wars, and the most recent economic crisis…but until I read this posted in thinkprogress.com I was only moderately scared.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) delivered a “speech filled with urgent and violent rhetoric” at a gathering sponsored by the Independence Institute in Denver. During what was originally billed as a “personal legislative briefing,” Bachmann “got downright biblical” when describing her unwavering opposition to health care reform:

“This [health care reform] cannot pass…What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass…Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom. And we may never be able to restore it if we don’t man up and take this one on.”

According to the Colorado Independent, Bachmann also claimed that many Americans pay more than half their income in taxes, adding “it’s nothing more than slavery.” She affirmed that “you’re either for us or against us on this issue” and bragged about being the country’s “second-most hated Republican woman.” Rather than spending quality time in her home district during August recess, some speculate that Bachmann’s trip signals her “branching out” and sowing some “rich, right-wing Western soil” in preparation for a future national run.

The part that worries me the most is that she could be considering a national run for office……and that she will have support from the right wing nuts….this from a woman that has no idea what the Constitution says or how much we pay in taxes or the fact that she thinks liberlas of all colors are un-American.

The thought of this woman actually succeeding in any national endeavor should scare the crap out of people that have half a brain.

It was bad enough that there were those that felt like Palin was a good candidate and she was at loeast a moron for real….but Bachmann is a lawyer and must have actually went to a college to get the degree or maybe it came in a box of Cracker Jacks……we may never know!

Things To Come

I realize it is a little early to be predicting the next year and so on….but what the hell I am game….

There has been many that say that the 1st stim plan did not go far enough and that a second one may be needed to get the economy on the right track….and it is written:

The U.S. economy does not need a second fiscal stimulus package, instead the government should cut spending over the next two years, according to a survey of business economists released on Monday.

While economists in the NABE survey acknowledged that the stimulus package had helped to brake the pace of the economy’s decline in the second quarter, only 35 percent viewed fiscal policy as being “about right”.

Half of the respondents saw fiscal policy as too stimulative. About 266 members took part in the poll which was conducted between August 3-18. The U.S. economy contracted at a 1.0 percent annual rate in the second quarter after collapsing 6.4 percent in the first three months of the year.

Okay, many are saying no that the one will be sufficient to get us on the right track…..I say there probably will NOT be a 2nd stim package, not because the economy is doing well but rather the gutlessness of the Dems….they will not have the spine to do another one and still hope to be re-elected.

Now that I have said my piece on the short term how about the long run?  Bloomberg has an article on just this subject:

The Federal Reserve will be unable to prevent the trillions of dollars in government stimulus pumped into the U.S. economy from stoking inflation over the next decade, a survey of business economists showed.

The report is in line with surveys of consumers and indicates the central bank may have to work harder to damp inflation expectations after pouring more than $1 trillion into credit markets in a strategy known as quantitative easing. Economists in the survey also said the Obama administration’s $787 billion stimulus program would push consumer prices higher.

All that maybes, heretowith and sortofs is all legal speak……no one wants to say the word inflation….but I will …..inflation will return and with the deficit as it is today….it will return with a vengeance.

Inflation?  Inflation!  Why inflation?  I know you are asking, is that a gut feeling or something else?  Well to be honest a little of both, but with the expansion of government spending without corresponding tax increases is a disaster waiting to happen….and that disaster could be a rise of inflation.  And the growth of tyhe money supply induced by high amounts of government spending is just another indication, in my book.

And with the way things are looking, wioth the return of inflation and a high degree of unemployment, we are looking at the return of the dreaded “stagflation”.