More than meets the eye...

[Varmit]

There has been a lot of talk on here about certain key points and policies of the obama adminstration, and even discussion on a few Bush policies.  I think that quite a few times we get caught up in our own views of a certain policy or whatever that we fail to see the bigger picture.  We become so fixiated on one tree that we forget that we are standing in the middle of a forest.  Instead of focusing on what is right in front of us, I think we should step back and look at everything going on and how it fits together.  Our focus should not be how things look right now, but how are things going to look a year from now, or five years from now.  

For example, we have all argued and debated over cap & trade, about nationalized healthcare, and to some extent amnesty for illegal immigrants.  And thats fine, and healthy.  However, what happens if, or I should say when all of these things get passed??
With the way the economy is, I think that we are looking at a complete collapse of  America as we all know it.  Of course, you could say that I am a complete nutcase that has seen too many Youtube videos.  But before you make that assumption, examine why it is that China, Russia, India are calling for a new global reserve currency?  I know, I know, that falls into the "black heliocopter" conspiracy catergory.  Funny thing though, Al Gore let slip that the only way to control global warming/climate change is through a "global governce".

Remember during the campaign, when obama said that he was going to govern from the "middle", and that he would seek a bi-partisian effort when it came to enacting laws?  Well, what bi-partisian about forcing huge bills through congress without giving anyone a chance to read them, or putting congress "on notice" and accussing anyone that doesn't agree with him of being "chatterers and nay sayers" ?   Obama says that he wants to remake America, well, the first thing you do when you "remake" something, is to tear down the original.  His Cap & Trade bill is going to do that very thing to what little industry we have left in this country, by making them compete with other global companies that are not hindered by federal regulations.  He says that he is doing this to limit our impact on the enviroment.  Then again, he also said that he was going to save or create 4 million jobs.  By the way, we've lost 2 million jobs since january.

I know that I am kinda rambling here, but my point is that there is something more going on here then what the media is reporting.  I think that we need to start connecting the dots.

[Teresa]

Thanks Billy.. you said what would have taken me 3 pages to say.................

god I'm tired of this administration. We are going to have one hell of a battle on our hands if America is going to be saved........... Sad part is..................well...............I'm not even going to go there. I can't say it in less than 10,000 words..

it's all sad.. 

[Anmar]

Billy, one of the few times i agree with you.  We do need to look at our economy long term and start thinking about how we are going to get out of this whole we're in.  The defecit is going to be 1 trillion dollars, the highest in history, and i believe it's only going to get worse.  We should be thinking about how we are going to pay for things instead of scandals, etc.  But the media has to cover what sells, and as long as people are interested in romantic trips to argentina and Mrs Obama's vacations, we aren't going to get very far.

[Varmit]

Anmar, you're right, we do need to start thinking long term.  Financially speaking we already know how to get ourselves out of this whole.  Stop wasteful spending, stop overspending, stop printing money that is basically worthless, stop investing billions in social programs that don't work, cutback on our foregin aid, and cut taxes across the board.  The solution is simple and the gov't knows it.  But why don't they apply it?  Why is it that somone who is as smart as obama would back cap & trade, knowing full well what it is going to do to our country?

[Anmar]

Anmar, you're right, we do need to start thinking long term.  Financially speaking we already know how to get ourselves out of this whole.  Stop wasteful spending, stop overspending, stop printing money that is basically worthless, stop investing billions in social programs that don't work, cutback on our foregin aid, and cut taxes across the board.  The solution is simple and the gov't knows it.  But why don't they apply it?  Why is it that somone who is as smart as obama would back cap & trade, knowing full well what it is going to do to our country?

I agree on all these points, please watch the video i sent to your mailbox.

I think the reason that the government doesn't act responsibly is because when they do, they get voted out.  Look back to the first pres bush.  In his campaign for president, he promised "no new taxes" yet that didn't exactly happen.  He went to war in Iraq, and found that he had large budget deficits to cover, so he created new taxes anyway.  We voted him out for that.

Now compare the father to the son.  The son promised tax cuts because he claimed, and perhaps rightfully so, that Clinton was over-taxing the people.  Then, as it always happens, the situation changed with 9/11.  We went to war in 2 different countries.  Whether or not you agree with the war, you must agree that the war needs to be paid for.  "W" remembered what happened to his father, so he cut taxes anyway and didn't really come up with a way to pay for the wars.  He didn't even include their costs in the budget.  He was re-elected.

Now Obama campaigned on the principles of being financially responsible.  One of the things he said was that he would budget for the war instead of continuing the Bush practice of using supplemental spending bills.  So far, he's still using Bush's policy when it comes to paying for the wars.  He promised not to introduce any new taxes, but his health care plan introduces new taxes.  He promised to cut spending in certain areas, but i don't think he really has.  It's still very early to make a judgement on Obama's financial and economic plans, but the time will come soon enough.

The bottom line is that the fault lies with us, the voters.  We elect these people because they tell us what we want to hear and fund programs that we like.  So many conservatives are in favor of the wars in IRaq, afghanistan, and now pakistan, but do they ever really consider the costs to our country in terms of our economy?  How about the cost of upkeeping almost 200 bases on foreign soil?  Think about it from another angle, during the early years of our country, military spending was less than 10% of our budget, even in wartime.  Today it's roughly half. 

We need to cut back in all areas, it's the responsible thing to do, yet we criticize politicians and vote them out for budget cuts.  We may give lip service to a sound economy, but thats not how we vote.  They are only interested in survival and we the voters show them time after time that we are not interested in being financially responsible.

Check out the leading republican candidate for Governer of CA, Tom Campbell.  I met him several times when he was a congressman here in the bay area.  In fact i worked for an organization that did several fundraisers for him.  He's what some would call a moderate republican, and like many moderate republicans, he didn't recieve republican support because he wanted to reduce foreign aid to certain favored countries and cut spending in areas that people didn't like.

[Warph]

Good Lord Almighty.... Billy and anwar MAKING NICE!  Will someone please wake me up from this TERRIBLE nightmare 

[dnalexander]

Good Lord Almighty.... Billy and anwar MAKING NICE!  Will someone please wake me up from this TERRIBLE nightmare 

[kshillbillys]

Is this one of the signs that the world is coming to an end? LOL 

[Anmar]

Hey, warph, believe it or not, i like you guys.

[Varmit]

Anmar, I think that you are still just skimming the surface.  Dig deeper.  And go back further.  Look at the motivations for their actions.  With the exception of a few, I think that most presidents since FDR would have liked to have done away with the constitution.

For example, obama claims that he wants to better our economy.  But what actions does he take to enact this improvement??  He hamstrings our industry with cap & trade.  This on top of his mantra of wanting to "remake" America.