Monday, March 5, 2012

Nowhere Man

What will happen in an Obama second term?

So, as we listen to the GOP candidates make their case for the presidency, I think reflecting on what will happen under a second term of Obama is worth understanding.  And quite frankly I am a bit frightened.

Ignore Entitlement Reform:
Of all the issues I have with Obama, this is by far the biggest.  How can a president asking for a second term, completely slap our children's future in the face.  Every person in America (including his own budget office) understands that Social Security and Medicare are insolvent (going bankrupt).  How can our leader completely bury his head in the sand.  He has NOT PROPOSED A SINGLE REFORM to secure these programs in the future.  These programs have some easy tweaks that can be made to keep them sustainable, but because Obama feels like this will upset some voting block, he will continue to punt on this issue, moving us closer and closer to the scary situation that is Europe.

Raise Taxes:
Obama intends to MASSIVELY RAISE TAXES.  Most estimates I have seen would take top tax rates to around 40% greatly increasing taxes on numerous job creators that run small businesses.  Further, tax on investment income is expected to skyrocket to offset costs for profligate spending programs like Obama-care.  We are still a very vulnerable economy, how do we expect to take more money from job creators and grow the economy?

Obama did recently propose a reduction in the corporate income tax rates, but of course marred that by trying to pick winners (like clean energy) and losers (like big oil) and also adding a big tax to corporate profits abroad which will make them less competitive.  Do you actually think Obama knows more about efficient capital allocation than all the free markets combined.  He thinks he does.  

Increase Spending:
Completely out of control, absolutely no plan to reign in long term spending (See Obama's own budget plan).  In fact, he added a major entitlement (Obama-care) to the list.  I do think he will reduce defense spending a bit (which I am OK with), but he has no plan to come close to balancing a budget.  Again, this is devastating to our children. 

On Obama-care, I will just say this program is a tragedy that will begin to demoralize this nation in 2014.  Whatever the estimates, remember that they are going to force insurance on millions more people and thus the demand for health care is going to go way up, and employers are going to be forced to cover the bill (do you think they will hire more or less people as a result?)  I am truly scared to see how much HEALTH CARE COSTS WILL EXPLODE over the next 10 years, and what tax rates will be needed to cover everyone.

Support Illegal Immigration:
The only place where the Obama team has weighed in on illegals, is to fight laws like the ones in Arizona and Alabama where they tried to implement laws to identify illegals.  Amazingly, we need a ton of LEGAL immigrants to keep our economy growing, but by catering to illegals, we crowd out many of the legal immigrants who wish to come here.  Expect four more years of INCREASING  ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS who utilize our schools, roads, hospitals, and jobs, but do little in the way of paying for these accommodations. 

Strangle Domestic Energy Production:
All of his rhetoric, attacks on oil and gas companies, and subsidization of clean energy programs, points to Obama's dislike of traditional energy sources.  Obama has also REDUCED THE NUMBER OF DRILLING PERMITS on federal lands by 40%, tremendously lowering production and the jobs associated with production.  Hey its great that we thrive to live on renewable energy and he gets points for effort.  Disappointingly, we do not have competitive clean energy alternatives, and the private sector only needs the government to step in to back losers.  If they were winners, do you think the government would recognize the opportunity before the market?  They NEVER have before.  Sadly, the result of Obama's energy policies will be HIGHER GAS PRICES and utility bills, while further increasing dependence on foreign oil and wasting billions in government money to find uncompetitive clean alternatives.

The predictability for an America on four more years of Barack Obama is simple.  He wants to GREATLY EXPAND THE SIZE AND SCOPE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT through increased entitlements, taxation and regulations while utilizing massive borrowing and dollar devaluation to pay for it.  Expect higher taxes, higher national debt, higher gas prices, more illegal immigrants, and bankrupt retirement programs to result.  Frightening.

Obama will tell you that expansive government is needed to save you from finding a job you may not like, protect you from taking loans you cannot afford, provide you with free health care that you deserve, all the while sticking Richy Rich with the tab.  Please do not take your vote lightly in this election cycle, and do not leave it up to a 10 second sound bite on TV.  If you are a hard working American who pays taxes, you stand to lose a lot of your money, your freedom, and your future with four more years.  Make sure yourself, your family, and your friends are aware of the consequences.

4 comments:

Andrew Blankenship said...

And a blog I found that compliments this one well...

http://blog.american.com/2012/03/10-disasters-america-will-face-if-obama-gets-a-second-term/comment-page-1/#comment-99310

Anonymous said...

What republican candidate has offered significant entitlement reform?
On taxes under Obama, job creators will face closure of tax loopholes. I don't have a problem with that. A huge concern for our fiscal sustainability includes fuels that do not support Iran/Syria....because let's face it, war without issuing bonds or a way to pay for it creates more borrowed money from China...I'm am concerned that a new republican president, worried about the impact of gas and electricity prices on his reelection, will wage the war on Iran that the Right demands. On Religion--What other religious toes are there to step on in relation to Obamacare except abortion and vasectomies/birth control? And I can see the right making Muslim women remove their head scarf in public buildings…or something silly like that. All of these are true for the next Obama term or whoever is elected president that is Republican (and not Ron Paul). The Republicans alternative healthcare plans have been so similar to Obamacare that it is outrages they are outraged by it.

I would hope that their diplomatic teams would be better, but after voting for, and being terribly disappointed in W. Bush’s handling of (1) Rumsfeld–in allowing him to blackball Colin Powell–I’m not so sure anymore. And (2) Bush’s lack of diplomacy with Russia(to put it nicely…Bush Jr. destroyed everything Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton had created with Russia by dissing Putin outright). Now we have Russia (and China) buying oil from Iran and defeating our sanctions….So what is the alternative to Obama? Based on the republican candidates strong but vague comments of how they would deal with China, Russia, N. Korea, and Iran…I just don’t believe the “neo-conservatism” is going to work anymore. I’ll admit it, as much as I hate to because I hate Hillary Clinton, but I think she and Condaleeza Rice are very similar and on the right track…too bad Bush didn’t listen to Condi. DIPLOMACY always, unless there is a direct attack on our soil. Just anybody against Obama is not good enough (I already voted that way with Bush Jr. and look at the mess that got us into). Obama has kept up attacks, and although very green…he’s not as green as Santorum and his crew are going to be.

Andrew Blankenship said...

Hi, thanks for commenting. My response below:

Entitlements:
Romney has very clearly stated he supports raising the retirement age and price vs wage indexing to limit future payout growth for Social Security. He also clearly advocates a premium support model for medicare to utilize competition and customer choice to control exploding costs.

Hey, these are hard choices, but absolutely REQUIRED to keep our country solvent. Obama has been cowardly to avoid these issues. The only thing he has done is create a brand new huge entitlement with no means to pay for it.

Taxes:
Under Obama's plans, job creators (both individuals and corporate tax entities create jobs) will face increased marginal tax rates, increased capital gains rates, and increased foreign profit taxes to go along with forcing them all to provide healthcare. The only "loopholes" Obama actually details to cut are for oil companies. The rest he leaves purposefully vague and thus do not count.

Religion:
I didn't mention religion or related issues because these issues should rank about 1000 in our list of problems as a federal government. I will say that Obama has shown a clear indication that he wants to mandate your behavior and not let people and organizations be free to decide for themselves how to act and spend their money.

Health Care:
Not sure what you are talking about here, but I can tell you that every republican candidate wants to repeal the horrific law that is Omaba-care and replace it with NOTHING.

Energy:
You made the point that finding fuels that do not support Iran and Syria is important. I agree. So why has Obama so greatly reduced drilling permits on federal lands, stopped pipelines, and attacked oil companies in the U.S.? Oil and gas is the energy of today, if we want less dependence on Iran we need more domestic production, and we should be working to unleash our resources.

China:
The President is not handling China at all. He is getting handled. Much like Reagan did with the Soviets and communism in the 1980s, we need someone who will talk the talk with China and unfair trade policy. Romney has been a strong advocate of this and I believe would gain some traction here where Obama has punted.

War:
I agree, less is better. I will not defend Bush Jr. as I think he made more mistakes than we can count. But he is one man, he is not the entire republican party, and foreign policy has always been tricky.

I do believe in a strong defense mostly as a deterrent to other nations, but stay out of war. And if you want to look at the track record, Clinton benefited greatly from the fall of communism (Thx Reagan) and low fuel prices after first Iraq war (Thx Bush Sr.). Obama is similarly benefiting in defense spending from the demise of Saddam and bin Laden (Thx Bush Jr). Did their efforts cost too much, sure. But it only takes one 9/11 to reconsider that fact. Foreign policy is hard, and I would look for a strong American leader here. Bush wasn't it, but Obama is no prize here.

Finally, I agree with you that 'just anybody' will not do. Take a look at Mitt Romney, I have slowly been moving toward this guy. He has an amazing track record of leadership, is extremely intelligent, and is proposing tough choice decisions to country needs to make. I think if you get past the "flip-flopper" and "does not connect with people" sound bites you will see someone who is very much more ready to lead this nation than Obama ever was.

Anonymous said...

It isn't just how one man plays the ball, it is how the field is striped. I see the Democrats striving to restripe the field. It sure looks like they want a Bolivarian Republic, where votes for Republicans don't accomplish anything, Government is always in Democrat hands and policy is decided by the Democrat leadership and brain-trust and activist-front, without much input from the rest of us. The public discourse is defined by the liberals and anything else is "impolite". We could more accurately be described as subjects at that point.

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