Nemo me impune lacessit

No one provokes me with impunity

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No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Article 1, Section 9, Constitution of the United States

If this is the law of the land...why in a republic (little r) and as republicans, do we allow mere POLITICIANS to the right to use a "title of office" for the rest of their lives as if it were de facto a patent of nobility. Because, as republicans, this should NOT be the case...just saying...

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Monday, November 16, 2009

Mr. Obama: It's the Economy Stupid

Mr. Obama has in the past 12 months managed to squander his immense popularity. He's gone from a 60+ percent approval rating to a 53% opposition to all of his economic policies.
The president’s approval numbers have dropped 20 points in nine months and only a third of the electorate think the country is now headed in the right direction. The Obama “hope and change message,” rapturously conveyed by an adoring lapdog media during the campaign and in the first few months of his presidency, looks as if it has the staying power of a one-night stand with the electorate. Unemployment, the single most important concern of Americans in nearly every survey, now exceeds 10%, despite assurances from the president and leaders in Congress that the $787 billion stimulus package would keep the unemployment rate from going higher than 8%. A tiny portion of the stimulus money was directed at infrastructure spending, but it did not address the areas of the economy where unemployment was highest. In China, almost all the stimulus spending was on infrastructure investments, and their economy is booming again.
The vast majority of the Obama Stimulus package went to pay off Democratic constituencies. That money was squandered on beer and pretzels...for all the effect that it's had on the economy. But this president and this Congress just don't have a clue. Next year sure will be interesting. After all...next month this president, and his adoring press will have a "jobs summit" that will accomplish just about as much as the stimulus...nothing, but window dressing. The newest figures for the deficit from last month is a staggering $176 billion. When you add this to the $1.4 trillion deficit so far for this year as well as the $12 trillion in accumulated public debt many Americans are now very wary of an additional federal spending package of a trillion dollars in ten years for government run health care if, indeed, the cost doesn't exceed that.
Last Month the federal government spent $311 billion and collected $135 billion in revenues. In other words, revenues covered 43% of spending and 57% needed to be borrowed. Lots of Americans may not be very good at math, but they know these numbers are unsustainable.
It's becoming obvious that the Chinese aren't going to continue to finance our national debt much longer. If they won't who will? Our great grand children? Their great grand children? It's going to take at least 100 years to pay off the national debt, if it's ever possible to do so. I don't think it is. Eventually, all those bonds that we've sold to finance it will have to be paid back...what are we going to do then?

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