Along with millions of other concerned Americans, I knew the Porkulus was a big fat waste of time, energy, and most of all….my money.

So, when the guy with the fattest wallet says nope, no recovery you’ve got problems.  Do you remember how The One spouted off that he had the greatest financial minds behind him on the “stimulus” bill?  Warren Buffet was on that list, and he is a big Dem supporter.

Uh oh… Warren says he isn’t seeing the stimulus work.  No signs…

Remember when Barry said…“we do not have a minute to waste,” people are losing jobs.  We can’t wait…  we need to “jolt” the economy.  Remember how Republicans begged for time to read the bill?  Then, of course, The One took four days off and signed it the next week.  Some urgency there big guy…

Now….we’re broke, and we have nothing to show for it.  Well, except for higher unemployment and a stalled economy.  Oh….and the higher taxes that are headed our way on top of the unfathomable debt.

OK…so, who wants to defend the actions of this administration and his puppet masters in the Congress?  Come on…

…anyone?

The videos and text are a great explanation of how much money we’re hearing about these days.  There’s a saying in the world of marketing and advertising:

“It’s not what the numbers say, its what you say about the numbers”

The Obama administration, and especially the Big O himself, are very good at marketing.  Hell, without it we would have President McCain.  The point is, the Obama press conferences are filled with big numbers, confusing math, and flowery prose… and the media just nods in wonderment.

When you hear things like $100 million, yeah, its a hell of a lot of money.  But, relative to the total spending tab, it ain’t shit.  But they don’t tell you that.  They figure you’re too stupid to wrap your head around it.

Do not use past irresponsibility as an excuse to be more irresponsible.  Don’t use past mistakes to justify your future recklessness.  Don’t try to sugarcoat it in a convenient soundbite made for Twitter.

…but I digress.  Here, check out a video:

Ummm…what’s that word…oh yeah, bullshit!

This statement by the administration today should be enlightening for you.  I’ll explain…

If The One is truly “unaware”, then he is completely out of touch with the citizens and mood of this country.  And, someone this out of touch cannot lead effectively.

If The One is not out of touch and really was aware, then he just lied (again) to the citizens of this country.  A liar cannot lead effectively.

Or, was this statement an attempt to blow off and disregard a rising tide that is in conflict with his manifesto?  Is his radical left agenda more important than the founding principles of our country?  A man that misrepresents his constituency and disregards principles cannot lead effectively.

So, which is it…Out of touch?  Liar?  Contempt?

]]> http://www.thesnarkside.com/obamas-bs/feed/ 0 http://www.thesnarkside.com/obscene-bonus-update/ http://www.thesnarkside.com/obscene-bonus-update/#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:31:44 +0000 admin http://www.thesnarkside.com/?p=321 I am curious to see the outrage on Freddie Mac’s bonus program…

Obama and Dodd are practically on the payroll of Freddie Mac with the campaign contributions.

Outrage!!  Come on Barry… get, ahem, er, um…. angry!!

Of course I don’t like the bonuses on my tab…duh. There’s a bigger issue here that is is getting lost in the blind hatred for the evil rich guys.

The actions that the Obama administration and the Democrats in the House and Senate have been taking relating to the AIG bonuses is a story that simply cannot be made up.  My god…these people need to be tried as criminals.  No, not the AIG guys…the so called “leaders” of this country.

While Obama comes out sooooo mad about the bonuses, he needs to look at his own people to point the blame.  The stance that these clowns are taking is blatant bullshit….and they think you are too stupid to figure it out.  Let me help…

AIG is contractually obligated to hand out these bonuses… now Chris Dodd and Chuck Schumer want to tax the holy living crap out the bonuses in an effort to appear outraged.  Wait a second boys, let’s take a look at some history:

Chris Dodd (D-Conn) knew that such contracts existed while writing amendments to the porkulus bill.  His amendment to the Crap Sandwich (now a $787 billion “law”) provides an… “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009.” Yeah, seriously, its in the Act.  Interesting… but wait, there’s more…

AIG  has made donations totaling millions of dollars to Senators and Representatives over the last few years.  Guess who is tops on the list of recipients in 2008, to the tune of more than $100,000?  Yup…Chris Dodd.  You know who’s second, coming in a just a pinch less?  Big bad, Barry Obama.  Juicy… but wait, there’s more…

AIG has offices all over the world.  Guess where AIG Financial is located?  Yee-haww…. in Chris Dodd’s home state of Connecticut!

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have made donations totaling millions of dollars to Senators and Representatives over the last few years.  Guess who is tops on the list of recipients in 2008, to the tune of more than $40,000?  Yup…our prez….Barack Obama.  You know who’s second?  Chris Dodd.  Hmmm… but, wait, there’s more…

AIG insured billions of dollars worth of loans and banks involving Fannie and Freddie.  AIG Financial traded the derivatives, as they had for years, on loans backed by Fannie and Freddie.  Fannie and Freddie exist to back home loans, protecting banks from default.  Of course, we all know Frank Raines, the former CEO of Freddie Mac begged Congress to loosen the lending guidelines to accommodate sub-prime borrowers.  Wait, you don’t know Frank?  Oh, well, he made almost $90 million as the head Freddie in six years.  He received nearly $20 million in 2003 alone on overstated earnings akin to the Enron fiasco (by the way, where’s the outrage here?).

Tim Geithner, our trusted, over-worked, under-staffed Treasury Secretary, along with Hank Poulson, crafted the bailout to AIG last fall.  AIG disclosed the bonus contracts last fall.  There were no restrictions on the money handed to AIG…this was no surprise to the administration.  The administration did nothing… until that is, approval ratings began to drop.

Chuck Schumer (D-NY) chimed in and made some threats in a show of “holier than thou” antics.  Remember Chucky?  The guy who said America doesn’t care about pork.  So let me get this straight… 165 million out of 170 billion (less than 0.1%) is outrageous and disgusting… but a 100 billion in pork out of 787 billion (13%) is OK? Chuck, you and your grandstanding are disgusting.

“Quick, we tapped out the hate Rush Limbaugh rhetoric, we need a new target to focus our liberal hate machine.  Seriously guys, ratings are dropping, people are waking up!  Timmy, stir up the AIG bonus scandal!”

Because the Dems and Obama were billed throughout 2008 as the only people who could possibly fix this mess that they supposedly inherited, I’m left with some questions:

If these guys are so damn smart and they knew these bonuses were there, why didn’t they do something about this when handing out money?

If they’re not so smart, how was such incompetence promoted to the highest offices in the land?  After all they’re handing out trillions of our dollars and they should be minding the store.

Could this be a purposeful destruction of American capitalism in an effort to further promote a Socialist agenda?

Answer me that…

There is some extreme short-sightedness here.  Sure, it makes for a wonderful sound bite… “raise taxes on those oil producing bastards and mega-corporations!  They make enough money!”

There are two primary issues that will cost YOU (and me) more money:

Will a corporation simply absorb a tax hike and let their profit margin decrease?  No… and they will pass that increase in operating expense on to you… at the pump, at the check out.

As operating expenses rise for a corporation, they must find ways to manage the expenses they have control over.  Taxes cannot be controlled.  Personnel costs are the single largest expense for any company.  If the mandate is to save expense…the big line items take the first hit.  Save dollars with dollars…not save dollars with nickels.  Simply put… layoffs.  Which means unemployment, health care, housing bailouts, etc., etc.

This is an expression of “spreading it around a little” that we heard during the campaign, even though it was denied and spun to sound like something else.

I won’t go so far a to declare Socialism (yet)…but it sure smells funny in DC.

Most workers will see about a $13.00 per week increase in their take-home pay this year.  In 2010, the credit will be about $7.70 a week.

Wow, 8 bucks a week…what to do with all that money…assuming I actually see any of it?

Sorry, is this some new calendar?  I only count 3 1/2 days…

Somebody get me a day planner, some tax shelters, and an antacid.

The pork in the “stimulus” adds so may pet projects and entitlements, the Federal government will be forced to raise your taxes to pay for them.  Don’t believe me?  Look at California today.  The State Congress is trying to raise taxes to pay for the budget shortfall.  Gob forbid the citizens’ entitlements be cut!

Ohhhh, but wait!

The Dems won’t actually raise your taxes, they just won’t keep them lower.  They’ll blame W for setting an expiration date…

…and they ‘ll be “spreading it around a little” without anyone noticing.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 does not “jolt” the economy into shape.  No… most of the spending takes place in 2010 and 2011 (which is convenient because the Bush tax cuts expire then…hmmm, “spread it around a little”…but that is another post).  Of course, not many people really understand the timing, assuming they’re even paying attention.

So, here’s what will happen…

Economies recover on their own, you cannot have growth and prosperity always… you must have corrections and downturns for the market to function properly.  It is a natural checks and balance.

This bill will really kick in three years after the housing collapse.  This is plenty of time for an economy to recover on its own.  This is America for cryin’ out loud, we get it done.  The speech will be…

“See, it worked!  Happy days are here again, no thanks to the Republicans who doubted us in 2009… see, WE have the answers!  Vote Democrat!”

Of course, there really is no true measure to know if it worked or not.  The expectations keep getting lowered, listen to the speeches these days.  Vague, full of loopholes.  OK, this is how politics are played, I get that.

I have a problem with them gambling with my future and my kids’ future so they can get re-elected.  They will claim recovery that will occur with or without them.  Yes…that is exactly what this is…