Clinton Praises Greek Austerity Plan, but Not for USA

Athens, Greece, Jul 17, 2011. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday the United States "strongly supports" the austerity measures that Greece has taken to try to avert potential financial disaster.

"We stand by the people and government of Greece as you put your country back on a path to economic stability and prosperity," Clinton said during a visit to the country. 

Clinton spoke to reporters along with Stavros Lambrinidis, who serves as minister of foreign affairs under Prime Minister George Papandreou.

"Americans know these are difficult days," Clinton said. "The United States strongly supports the Papandreou government's determination to make the necessary reforms, to put Greece back on sound financial footing, and to make Greece more competitive economically."

At the end of June, the Greek parliament voted to implement another round of austerity measures in hopes of avoiding defaulting on the government's debt.

Greeks rioting over austerity plan

The decision came amid a new round of large-scale protests in the streets, with riot police firing tear gas.

Demonstrators rejected measures including reductions in the pay of public workers and social security funding and an increase in the attrition of public jobs.

Last year an austerity package included pension cuts, higher taxes, and a hike in retirement age to 65 from as low as 61.

Many of the protesters were young people who have been particularly hard-hit by high unemployment and blame rich tax-dodgers for the nation's fiscal woes.

Clinton said the measures the government took "were vital first steps. We know these were not easy decisions. They were acts of leadership. And those acts of leadership will help to build a better economic future."

She said that "while the payoff for these sacrifices may not come quickly, it will come. We know that."

"And we also know," Clinton added, "that the price of inaction would have been far higher now and far into the future." 

However, Secretary Clinton doesn't see any need for an austerity budget here in the USA.

Recently Mrs. Clinton said that foreign affairs budget cuts being proposed by Republican members of Congress would be "devastating" to U.S. national security interests. 

"We need to just follow President Obama's Recovery Plan and borrow as much as we can and spend it as quickly as possible. This will somehow create a lot of jobs. At least that's what the president thinks."

Obama Voted Against Raising the Debt Ceiling in 2006

Washington DC Jul 16, 2011. President Obama’s economic advisor Austin Goolsbee said last week that a refusal by the Senate to increase the government’s debt ceiling (currently $14.3 trillion) would be “catastrophic” and a sign of “insanity.”

And that isn't the position the president has held in the past. When President Obama was in the Senate, he thought raising the debt ceiling was a bad idea.

Here are Obama’s thoughts on the debt limit in 2006:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

In 2007 and in 2008, when the Senate voted to increase the limit by $850 billion and $800 billion respectively, Obama did not bother to vote. (He did vote for TARP, which increased the debt limit by $700 billion.)

President Obama was right when he said that in 2006. Borrowing more money to pay your routine bills is a sure sign you are spending too much.  The President voted against raising the debt ceiling when GW Bush was President, but now that he holds that job he has had second thoughts.

 White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president now views that vote as a "mistake."

"He now believes it was a mistake," Carney said. He said Obama understands that senators want to make it clear when they disagree with the administration but that there are other ways to go about doing it.

He said the debt ceiling vote is not something Washington "can play around with," warning that a failure to lift the cap would be "Armageddon-like" for the economy.

Anthony Weiner Wins Spin Cycle Straw Poll

NYC, Jul 15, 2011. Former Congressman  Anthony Weiner, D-NY, has won the latest Spin Cyle Poll as the popular choice to be President Barack Hussein Obama's running mate in next year's election.

He was the overwelming favorite of those who voted in the poll, easily beating eight other candidates.

Hugo Chavez, D-Venezuela finished in second place, and Cynthia McKinney, D-CA, and Paris "Fufu" Anderson (a virtually unknown former actor) tied for third place.

Ironically, the current Vice President, Joe Biden, D-DE, did not get any votes in this straw poll, which is probably a bad sign for his chances of staying on the ticket.

In addition to Joe Biden, Fidel Castro, D-Cuba, Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and Chuck Schumer, D-NY,also got not votes. This poll could also signal the end of Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions. If she can't get a single vote in a Vice Presidential poll, then it is unlikely she could ever get her party's nomination for President next year.

An Obama/Weiner ticket would have strong appeal for white liberals, minorities, and people who send out naughty photos on Twitter.

Possible Democrat ticket in 2012?

Also, since Anthony Weiner is from NY, it would balance the ticket well, since Barack Obama is either from Kenya, Indonesia or Hawaii, based on which documents you choose to believe.

Anthony Weiner is a strong supporter of all of President Obama's policies to increase public debt, and install socialism in America.

This means that this potential match up could work well for the Democrat Party's chances of reelecting President Obama.

Congress Got Rich While the American Economy Tanked

This four minute video should be required viewing for all Americans. If you watch no other video this year, then you should watch this one, and learn about how your Congress is cashing in on insider trading to enrich themselves.

Both political parties do it, although the Democrats seem to be having much more success with their investments than the Republicans are.

This is probably just due to the fact that the party that occupies the White House gets the best insider information. Or perhaps the Democrats just have no restraint, and grab all they can get.

This isn't illegal. Congress has EXEMPTED themselves from insider trading laws! That's right, if a stockbroker tried to do this, he or she would end up in prison. But members of Congress can do it with full immunity.

We all heard about Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, making a 62% return on her investments last year, while everyone else was making very little. She is actually a relatively small player. One Democrat Congressman made over 13,000% profit on his portfolio last year! 

During the period from 2004 to 2008, the S&P 500 dropped 25%, yet 39 Republicans in Congress made over 168% on their investments. If you think that's a nice return... then get this... 41 Democrats averaged a 752% return on their investments during the same period.

Those 100 Congressmen and women earned $152,000,000 during those four years, and in the two years following Barack Hussein Obama's election, they added another $140,000,000 more!

"If these people are so good at managing their own finances, then why are they so bad at managing our nation's finances?"

Visit their website to find out more. In fact, that website should be bookmarked by everyone who is reading this.

President Obama's "Jobless Recovery" marks 14th Straight Week with New Unemployment Claims over 400,000

Today the unemployment rate is much higher that when this headline was published

Washington DC, July 14, 2011. For the fourteenth straight week, we have had over 400,000 new claims for unemployment insurance as the Great Recession continues unabated.

Last week 405,000 workers lost their jobs, joining the ranks of over 13,000,000 others who have paid a dear price for the President's experiment in socialism.

President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, has even referred to this as a "jobless recovery" which can only mean he is applying a new definition to the word "recovery."

Previously, it meant when the economy improved and more people found jobs. But for the president it seems to mean "when Goldman Sachs and GE make tons of money."

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt: "Do as I say, not as I do"

NYC, Jul 12, 2011. In what must be described as the "height of hypocrisy" the head of General Electric told a jobs summit at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday that businesses needed to take the lead on job creation.

At a conference where many of the comments were focused on government barriers to hiring, GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt acknowledged there needed to be some policy changes by Congress and the Obama administration.

But Immelt said that "the responsibility for hiring lay with businesses."

Essentially, Immelt scolded his peers, telling them to stop whining and start creating some jobs. And this is despite GE reducing their own workforce around 14% since President Obama took over in 2009.

Immelt said: "The people who are part of the business sector, the people in this room, have got to stop complaining about government and get some action underway," he told the group. "There's no excuse today for lack of leadership. The truth is we all need to be part of the solution."

What Immelt didn't say was that GE has been shedding jobs ever since President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, was sworn into office. From 323,000 in 2009 to 287,000 in 2010. That's 39,000 jobs lost!

And it even gets worse... not only has GE shed 39,000 jobs, they also moved 25,000 of the remaining jobs off shore! As the administration struggles to prod businesses to create jobs at home, GE has been busy sending them abroad. If every large company followed GE's example we might have a 20% unemployment rate today here in the USA.

And here is the irony of all this. Immelt was appointed by President Obama's to chair his "Council on Jobs and Competitiveness." 

He said the group has made a number of recommendations for changes in government policies that should be able to help job creation, such as the executive order announced Monday asking independent agencies to rid their books of old and outdated regulations.

Immelt said he is committed to working with Obama on other moves that can help hiring, and that he expects to have proposals by the end of the year that should help to create up to 1 million jobs.

President Flip-Flops again on Tax Hikes

The President announcing his extending the Bush tax cuts

Washington DC, Jul 11, 2011. First he was against the Bush tax cuts. Then he was for them. And now he is against them again.

President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, keeps changing his mind on whether you should get a big tax increase.

When he was campaigning back in 2008, Mr. Obama promised "a tax cut for 95% of you."

Of course, this never happened, despite him having super majorities in both houses of congress for his first two year in office. Odds are that was just a hollow campaign promise designed to dupe a few voters.

Once he was elected and sworn in, Mr. Obama began to blame all his economic problems on "the Bush tax cuts" and vowed to repeal them. However, when the unemployment rate kept growing, and there were no new jobs created by all his stimulus spending, he again changed his view.

Just seven months ago, when the Bush tax cuts were about to expire, the President worked out a deal with congress to extend them for two more years.

Back then, Mr. Obama said the bill would create jobs and boost the still-struggling U.S. economy.

He called it a "substantial victory for middle class families" who would otherwise have seen a tax increase.

"In fact, not only will middle class Americans avoid a tax increase, but tens of millions of Americans will start the new year off right by opening their first paycheck to see that it's larger than the one they get right now," he said.

The President told us that had Congress not acted to address the expiring Bush-era tax cuts, all Americans would have seen a tax increase on January 1st. (The average tax increase per family, the White House said, would have been $3,000.)

Mr. Obama, who had long opposed extending the Bush tax cuts for America's highest-earners, has argued he had no choice but to agree to GOP demands to do so in order to avoid a tax increase on the middle class. 

He further added that failing to extend those tax cuts would result in the loss of "another million jobs!"

The flip-flopping record of Barack Hussein Obama

Well, that was seven months ago.

Today, the President has flipped back to his previous position and now wants a $2 trillion tax hike! Does anyone think a big tax hike will help the nation recover from The Great Recession?

If he believed what he said last December, then this means President Obama now wants our economy to lose another million jobs. And this isn't good news for American workers.