State of The Union

[Gaspar]

I can't wait until Wednesday to find out if President Obama has decided to listen to the American public, or continue full steam ahead on the construction of the "Debtstar."

The unfortunate obstacle for him is the economy.  Complex distribution of wealth/bailout schemes are short-term punches with minor results and powerful backlashes. These "energy drinks" don't solve anything, they just prolong the problem.

All but the sycophants now realize that President Obama is not the great salvation that he was portrayed to be during the elections.  He is simply a smart, well dressed neophyte politician with no business experience, and very little administrative experience attempting to run the largest business in the world. 

We've had less experienced, who became very successful.  We've also had extremely talented men who failed utterly.  The difference is the willingness to listen to the collective intelligence of the American people, and the ability to be surrounded by advisors that do the same. 

The American people are becoming increasingly disgruntled at the closed door/closed mind policies of this administration.  It is now impossible for President Obama to ignore the sentiments of the people, and Wednesday's state of the union will be a very telling indicator of where his loyalty's lie.

• For the sake of the economy, get out of our way.


• For the sake of national security, take the reigns.


• For the sake of healthcare, free the industry to be competitive.


• Don't give me $8,000 to buy a house I can't afford.


• Don't give me $4,000 to buy a car I don't need, and can't make payments on after I lose my job.
• You've been elected, stop campaigning and stop trying to buy my support.


• Don't take my medical insurance and run it through the government "efficiency machine."


• Don't try to do these things behind closed doors because that's not how we do things.
• Green this and green that don't make a lick of difference without the prosperity to enjoy it.

[FOTD]

He's not the great salvation because there are too many hate mongers disguised as republicans standing in the way of moving forward from 8 hideous neo con controlled years. Gassie, green this and that can get us to a more prosperous country. Just look what the tech revolution has meant. Quit being an obstructionist. What do you suggest POTUS OBAMA say Wednesday? Tax cuts? Cut spending? Balance budgets?

Offer up some new ideas to take us out of this blue or **** (keep quiet).

[Gaspar]

What do you suggest POTUS OBAMA say Wednesday? Tax cuts? Cut spending? Balance budgets?

No I don't expect him to say that.  That would only fix the economy.

Nothing here about hate, just logic.

[Hoss]

No I don't expect him to say that.  That would only fix the economy.

Nothing here about hate, just logic.

Right...because the tax cuts Bush initiated helped the economy in the long run.

[Conan71]

He's not the great salvation because there are too many hate mongers disguised as republicans standing in the way of moving forward from 8 hideous neo con controlled years. Gassie, green this and that can get us to a more prosperous country. Just look what the tech revolution has meant. Quit being an obstructionist. What do you suggest POTUS OBAMA say Wednesday? Tax cuts? Cut spending? Balance budgets?

Offer up some new ideas to take us out of this blue or **** (keep quiet).

Green vs. Tech isn't a valid comparison. There was no real alternative to advancing technology in the tech boom. Either get on board or be left behind. The biggest government-idealized green initiatives like ethanol and bio-diesel are not cost-effective nor efficient substitutes for their counterparts. Petroleum products bring in tax revenue. Bio-d and ethanol spend it.  As long as there are viable and less expensive alternatives the demand will remain low unless the gov't falsely manipulates pricing or encourages that via certain actions

[Red Arrow]

He's not the great salvation because there are too many hate mongers disguised as republicans standing in the way of moving forward from 8 hideous neo con controlled years. Gassie, green this and that can get us to a more prosperous country. Just look what the tech revolution has meant. Quit being an obstructionist. What do you suggest POTUS OBAMA say Wednesday? Tax cuts? Cut spending? Balance budgets?

Offer up some new ideas to take us out of this blue or **** (keep quiet).

Thank you Hsur.

[FOTD]

You're living in the past. Technology is already part of the moving forward process with the environment. You'll have worms crawling through you by the time energy is produced through silicon.

[FOTD]

No I don't expect him to say that.  That would only further fix the economy.

Nothing here about hate, just logic.

Fix it further....that's what would happen according to economists....most think a second stimulus would be best.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Oops!  Missed it again, FOTD.  The rest of the world already has made significant progress towards using silicon. And wind.  Germany is already about 12% solar.  And about 20% wind.  For electricity. 

Huh, imagine that...another missed industrial/manufacturing opportunity for us.  Simply due to the Reagan/Bush I sellout to Exxon.  Oh, yeah...and the $ 11.5 TRILLION increase in national debt brought directly to you by the last 30 years of Repubican regimes.

Go figure....What could this economy do with an extra 12 trillion or so for business??  Maybe create economic opportunity??  Well, Militaristic Imperialistic Voyeurism is always so much more fun!

[heironymouspasparagus]

It took Toyota to actually make serious progress on hybrid vehicle technology.  Something that US citizens were doing on their own in the 1970's, but the plaintive bleat of the Harvard Business school graduates said for 40 years "It just isn't economically feasible".  And yet, here we are over 10 years later, and Toy has sold more than all the other "me too's" combined.  Another lost market!!  Due directly to the sellout to big oil!

And the "prosperity to enjoy it" won't mean squat when you are wheezing in your highly filtered, sealed up house with an oxygen tank next to the Lazy-Boy.  How sad that will be for ALL of us!!

[Red Arrow]

...but the plaintive bleat of the Harvard Business school graduates said for 40 years "It just isn't economically feasible". 

For some reason the plan just isn't feasible if it doesn't fit the 5 year plan.  Our Business Schools (not just Harvard) seem to have lost the idea of long term plans.

[nathanm]

• For the sake of the economy, get out of our way.


• For the sake of healthcare, free the industry to be competitive.


• Don't give me $8,000 to buy a house I can't afford.


• Green this and green that don't make a lick of difference without the prosperity to enjoy it.

• Perhaps you've forgotten but that's what got us into this mess (I know it's been almost two years now, so it may be hard to remember back that far), the complete "look ma, no hands!" regulatory attitude
• That is current policy, which is once again, not working well for a significant portion of our society
• I hear you, but there are plenty of people out there who can afford a house; propping the housing market up is also helping to prevent deflation
• Green this and green that are part of what will bring us the prosperity in the first place

It's almost tragic how when Democrats went too far left in their economic policies, they looked around and went for the old-guard Republican style economic policies. (Friedman before he went crazy) Now that the same thing has happened to the Republicans, they by and large blame it on the regulatory state that was largely dismantled over the last two decades. I know it's hard to move past the 80s, but our country needs us to deal with reality as it currently exists, not as it was then.

I wish the regulatory state was unnecessary, but we are for the most part no longer a rural agrarian society with little technology and little industry.

[Gaspar]

I guess I got my answer last night on CNN & NBC.  He is going to cover many of the topics I hoped he would . . . but it will be in an attempt to re-brand himself, rather than address the issues.  If true, this will be sad.  Still campaigning.

Katy even called him "Obama 2.0."  All of the heads are talking about how he intends to reinvent himself.  They are calling it the "I feel your Pain" campaign in honor of the Slick One I assume.  They used the word "Campaign" more than a  dozen times to describe this speech. 

Some of his initiatives are still attempts to BUY support, such as doubling tax credits on non-enterprise endeavors.  The "I'll give you money if you shut-up" approach is getting old.  I like getting my tax money back for having kids, but I don't view it as some sort of gracious reward from my government!

Rumor has it he will also propose the beginning of the government take-over of private IRAs and pension plans.  I bet he covers this AFTER he covers the "I'll give you money if you shut-up" program.

If you remember during the campaign all of the wack-job, nutbag, far-right, hate-radio talking heads claimed that he was going to take over banks, private companies, and then take control of private retirement money by pushing for government take over of individual retirement account system.  We'll have to wait and see if they were right.

[Conan71]

This is a sad state of affairs.  The government has spent it's self into oblivion, no wonder they want to take control of more money and sap more profits from private enterprise.  I'm sitting in a pretty good seat to have a feel for the reality of what stimulus porkulus spending has and has not done for the economy and can honestly tell you, I speak to very few people on a daily basis who think the Obama admin is pro-business.  That's not any of my paradigms speaking, that's the words of business people I interract with on a daily basis.

To this point, the stimulus has been a bust based on what kind of expectations citizens were given.  Nathan, you and Wevus can sit around and cite any economist you wish and spout theory, but in practice, what the government has done in the last year simply has not created jobs nor any significant growth in manufacturing orders. 

Vendors, customers, and suppliers of mine are all still pretty scared.  There's nothing coming out of the government right now that is inspiring confidence.  Those who have money are hanging on to as much as possible right now as no one seems to have a clue what could be looming in tax code changes, how hard it's going to be to secure credit lines they may need down the road due to government regs or lack thereof, and no one seems certain what changes in health care may or may not bring in the way of employer costs.

Theory works great on paper but often has a hard time finding a place in the real world.  How long is everyone going to be content to continue to blame the economic problems on Bush II and the GOP majority in Congress?  FWIW, Dems have had the majority now for 3 years, and the WH for one.  Uncertainty and true fear of government control is scaring the people who actually drive the economy.  There's money to be spent, but so long as entrepreneurs are faced with uncertainty, they are going to sit on it.

This is a reflection of poor top-down leadership and partisan politics at it's worst going on in the House and Senate.  No one in DC seems truly concerned about working Americans.  All they seem concerned with is legacy-building, rewarding those who keep them in power (not the voter), and trying to find new revenue sources to finance out-of-control spending from meddling in areas government should not be getting into.

[Gaspar]

Looking at the pre-speech press releases there is no mention of any discussion of national security.  That's troubling.  Especially after the recient attempt.