Tuesday, February 10, 2009

More of the "Do I say, not as I do" actions coming out of Washington DC

Thanks to whomever linked my blog to an article by Susan Davis found at-
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/02/09/us-travel-groups-issue-guidelines-for-tarp-recipients/#comment-299736

In the article the author writes-
President Barack Obama has called out Wall Street for their perceived excess in tough economic times. “You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas, or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime,” the president said at a townhall meeting today in Elkhart, Ind.

I think it is funny that we have the President talking about taking trips on the taxpayers dime, yet just last weekend he was at the Kingmill Resort and Spa visiting with the Democratic Caucus, who was golfing, ere, working on busy things all weekend long. In fact that is why they felt the need to make it a long weekend junket. I wonder whose dime was being spent on that trip? The taxpayers? Or the lobbyist's?

Stop the beautiful rhetoric President, and solve the real problems, which is not a convention by a company, but the fact that we are about to spend nearly $1,000,000,000,000 on a new stimulus package, on top of the $700,000,000,000 spent on the Wall Street bail-out, on top of the other $25,000,000,000 or so that has been spent on individual companies like AIG. A few thousand bucks to keep their top sales people producing should hurt too much, when all you politicians are throwing money around like you lately. If nothing else, they are keeping people in the hospitality industry employed.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

I wonder why there has been such a mad rush over the weekend to get the stimulus bill passed?

I wonder if the details in the following paragraph have anything to do with it?

The following was pulled from an article at cnn.com written by Paul Steinhauserfound. The article's direct link is- http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/06/stimulus.polls/

"Fifty-one percent of those questioned in a CBS News poll released Thursday evening approved of the stimulus package. That's down 12 points from a poll taken January 11-15, the last time CBS asked the question. Thirty-nine percent opposed the plan, up 15 points from the previous poll, taken before President Barack Obama was inaugurated and before the House of Representatives passed an $819 billion stimulus package, with no Republican support, on January 28."

It looks like all the thieves in Congress see that if many more details of how yours and my tax dollars will be spent in this "recovery plan", they understand that it won't have any public support. I guess that is why there has been an increase in the necessity to get this bill passed right away. If another week or two goes by without approval, then support for this plan may fall into the low 40's. Then there would be a real problem for them. If there is much more emphasis on how our money may be wasted, they may end up with nothing to pass. And my guess is that most politicians, that would worse than a horrible economy, worse than a bad bill. If this bill doesn't pass, and they don't get all the special funding for their own pet projects, then their lobbyist will really get pissed. I would like to know how much these politicians really care for us as Americans, and how many really just care about getting their special interest or project funded in the name of "recovery."

I heard some of these egg-suckers talking on Meet the Press about how this bill WILL get passed this week. It's no longer a question of if and when, but how quickly this week. Everybody better get their emails fired up and get their thoughts sent off to their representatives in the Senate, House of Representatives, and White House.

Friday, February 6, 2009

More of the same politics in Washington and the White House

Upon receiving the jobs report, President Obama has begun saying things such as, "These numbers demand action. It is inexcusable and irresponsible for any of us to get bogged down in distraction, delay or politics as usual while millions of Americans are being put out of work. Now is the time for Congress to act."

I am sorry, but that is not change! That is the same usage of fear and force that America grew tired of over the past 8 years. I feel for the 3.8 million American who lost their jobs over the past half year or so, but what about the other 300+ million Americans? Is it too much to ask that we take a few more days, weeks, or even months to ensure we know what is included in the "recovery" package? Hold off on cramming it down our thoughts just a bit. We are talking about nearly $1,000,000,000,000. That is a lot of zeros. Mitt Romney was mocked during the primaries when he proposed a stimulus plan of around a third of what is now being talked about. How about the politicians and White House start working for us again, and doing what we as citizens want. And I do not want nearly $1 trillion forced upon me, my children, and their children. Especially when we look at how well the rest of the bail-out money has helped the economy.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The hipocracy of Washington DC politicians

We are just weeks since watching our elected officials virtually beat each other up in order to be the first person to the mic in order to question Wall Street executives about their conference and retreat plans for their employees. Once the executives would answer, the politician would gasp in horror and go on about the wastefulness of these companies and their extravagant conferences. So I crack open the paper this morning only to see that the Democratic Caucus is in meetings at the Kingsmill Resort and Spa in Virginia.

I am not saying that a company should or should not shell big bucks for the plush resort getaways for their conventions while receiving taxpayer money. What I am saying is that if the officials we elected are going to make such a big deal about the actions of these companies and their "wastefulness" they sure as hell better not be engaged in the same actions.

So for some reason these rascals in Washington believe that is it their duty to go after corporate waste and greed so strongly that we have Wall Street executives now canceling their company conferences. Yet the politicians believe it is alright for themselves to spend a long weekend on a junket of their own at the 4-star Kingsmill Resort and Spa on the taxpayers dime (the resort does appear to have a pretty fine golf course).

Wells Fargo just canceled a conference in Las Vegas for their top sales people. The trip was to occur in a Las Vagas area hotel.

In an e-mailed statement, New York A.G. Andrew Cuomo told Bloomberg News that "The question here is whether Wells Fargo is spending taxpayer money to bankroll Las Vegas junkets...the American people deserve to know because this is their money."

Someone should tell Mr. Cuomo that his federal comrades in the political system are up to the same garbage and nonsense. At least Wells Fargo has a business model that can earn some revenue to subsidize a portion of the costs incurred on the trip, thereby limiting how much "taxpayer" money is actually used. The only business model the federal government has to support the junket of the Democratic Caucus is that of taxing Americans or selling off debt to foreign governments.

Did the Democratic Caucus forget that they already have a building that is being paid for by tax payers at their disposal for meetings of this type? Yeah, it called the US Capitol Building.

I am sick of the hypocrisy in Washington. They do not care for us as American taxpayers. The nation voted for change, yet it seems to be more of the same.