State of Disunion Address 2010 Part 2

Publisher Mike Rough

O: Our most urgent — our most urgent task upon taking office was to shore up the same banks that helped cause this crisis. It was not easy to do. And if there’s one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans — and everybody in between — it’s that we all hated the bank bailout. I hated it.

M: How could shoring up the banks that helped cause the crisis be beneficial? There have been no arrests made, investigations undertaken, and certainly no penalties made against predatory lending, illegal land seizures through foreclosure. Why give banks the opportunity to start the cycle all over again with more of our money?

O: I hated it. I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal.

M: Yet you pushed it through congress, satisfying all backers of politicians everywhere, including yourself. We the people hate it more. Those who have lost their homes, and jobs, and retirement funds hate it more.

O: But when I ran for president, I promised I wouldn’t just do what was popular, I would do what was necessary. And if we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today. More businesses would certainly have closed; more homes would have surely been lost.

M: Did you say “Might”? The simple fact is… Banks have not extended credit toward small business, mortgage holders, or anyone except mega conglomerates, who have cut spending, jobs, and investment in their own growth. Nearly the same amount of unemployment would have occurred and the same amount of homes lost without the TRAP.

O: So I supported the last administration’s efforts to create the financial rescue program. And when we took that program over, we made it more transparent and more accountable. And as a result, the markets are now stabilized, and we’ve recovered most of the money we spent on the banks.

M: It was a TRAP! There has been almost zero accountability, cooperation from banks other than to sell toxic assets to the government, and conversely passed on to the citizens of this nation through devaluation of the dollar, increasing the cost of everything.

O: Most, but not all. To recover the rest, I’ve proposed a fee on the biggest banks. Now…

M: A fee which they will be able to write off on their taxes, or as commonly called “white washing”.

O: Now, I know Wall Street isn’t keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.

M: Wall Street is a reactive beast that has no place in the overall decision making policies that affect the entirety of the citizens of this nation.

O: Now, as we stabilized the financial system, we also took steps to get our economy growing again, save as many jobs as possible, and help Americans who’d become unemployed.

M: Charts prove that job losses are continuing, growth is near zero, and unemployment benefits will only tax the economy over time, by causing the deficit to increase, overburdening the social services all ready massive dole cue, and increasing the amount of children raised in poverty with an attitude of entitlement.

O: That’s why we extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 18 million Americans, made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families who get their coverage through COBRA, and passed 25 different tax cuts.

M: My insurance cost increased when we went to COBRA. Tax cuts will not help the unemployed, in fact it only increases the already huge spending deficit by decreasing tax revenue. You can’t throw a glass figurine in the air and not expect it to shatter when it hits the ground.

O: Now, let me repeat: We cut taxes. We cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses.

M: How is that possible as 33% of all tax returns owed no tax last year? Working families are not the issue, its the unemployed. Small business will not benefit from tax cuts if customer base is declining because of unemployment.

O:We cut taxes for first-time homebuyers. We cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. We cut taxes for 8 million Americans paying for college.

M: Most Americans paying for college are students who do not have any income but will be burdened with student loans years after they graduate, and be able to pay them off if they can find a job that will allow them to meet living expenses.

O: I thought I’d get some applause on that one.

M: Yes the very people who are out of touch with “Main Street” America applaud. Yes, clap, clap, clap, let them eat cake.

O:As a result…

M: The net result is again… wait for it… zero!

O: As a result, millions of Americans had more to spend on gas and food and other necessities, all of which helped businesses keep more workers. And we haven’t raised income taxes by a single dime on a single person, not a single dime.

M: We had more to spend on products and services that reflect an inflation rate that still left us incomes that did not match the pace of inflation. We were not taxed more by the IRS but through excessive printing of treasury bills to support aid given to the banks which lowered the dollar’s value, raising the costs of all goods and services.

O: Now, because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed.

M: A penny saved in this case is not a penny earned. This is the same as saying we only gave the murderous psychopath a gun that held 5 bullets instead of 6.

O: Two-hundred-thousand work in construction and clean energy. Three-hundred-thousand are teachers and other education workers. Tens of thousands are cops, firefighters, correctional officers, first responders.

M: Sounds like government workers to me, no matter if you insert the word clean into it. Who is paying them again and where is the money coming from? OH Yeah the working American. A dying breed to be sure.

O: And we’re on track to add another 1.5 million jobs to this total by the end of the year.

M: The majority of these jobs will be through the increase of government bloat, oversight, inspectors, meddlers, storm troopers, thought police in the schools.

O: The plan that has made all of this possible, from the tax cuts to the jobs, is the Recovery Act.

M: More commonly known as MAAN. Much Ado About Nothing, or oh maaaaaaaaaan.

O: That’s right, the Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus bill.

M: Keeping government bloated and growing like a cancer grafted onto the heart of America.

O: Economists on the left and the right say this bill has helped saved jobs and avert disaster, but you don’t have to take their word for it.
Talk to the small business in Phoenix that will triple its workforce because of the Recovery Act.

M: These economists have been certified by online colleges in third world countries that provide beautiful full color printed diplomas. The company in Phoenix has seen business triple due to demand of said diplomas!

O: Talk to the window manufacturer in Philadelphia who said he used to be skeptical about the Recovery Act, until he had to add two more work shifts just because of the business it created.

M: Government buildings need lots of windows so the workers can see the angry mobs descending upon them and get out of the building before it is overrun.

O: Talk to the single teacher raising two kids who was told by her principal in the last week of school that, because of the Recovery Act, she wouldn’t be laid off after all.

M: Government jobs are great! What about the single mother of two who gets laid off at the supermarket because there aren’t enough customers buying food?

O: There are stories like this all across America. And after two years of recession, the economy is growing again. Retirement funds have started to gain back some of their value. Businesses are beginning to invest again, and slowly, some are starting to hire again.

M: Retirement funds are about to take a beating as the dead cat that was thrown into the air by the thrust of artificial monetary policy will get seized by gravity and flung into the earth with dramatic force.

O: But I realize that, for every success story, there are other stories, of men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from, who send out resumes week after week and hear nothing in response.

M: And…?

O: That is why jobs must be our No. 1 focus in 2010, and that’s why I’m calling for a new jobs bill tonight.

M: Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. OH look over there! What could that be? Oh it was nothing… What where we talking about?

Stay tuned for Part 3

Related posts:

1. State of Disunion Address 2010 Part 1

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 1:44 am and is filed under Authors, Entertainment, Mike Rough, Opinion, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.