Running Out of Pinatas!!

Victor Hanson suggests Obama's shift to being fiscally responsible is politically motivated simply because the pubic has rejected his spendthrift ways, 2012 looms ahead and he is scrambling to get re-elected.

Yes, the leopard is changing his spots but only til after his re-election, should that occur. Then it will be four more years of continuing the destruction of our nation, our currency and our ability to defend ourselves.(See 1 below.)
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al Qaeda blows up Egyptian-Israeli gas pipeline again and prove they are capable of handling Egyptian troops. The Sinai is now in play and, once again, Egypt, America and the Israelis are caught flat footed by al Qaeda's bold exploits and military capability. (See 2 below.)
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By any evaluation Obamanomics has proven a failed experiment in Keynesian theory.

Obama has brought the nation to the point of insolvency, employment is up not down, hundreds of thousands have been added to government 'benefit' programs, government employment is up and the nation's confidence in itself is shrinking.

On the diplomatic front the picture is equally miserable. We have lost status throughout the world and most particularly in The Middle East.

The media and press cannot admit the truth because they feel compelled to support their anointed ruler but statistics do not lie - only Obama and his devotees do.

For 2 1/2 years, Obama has been in charge, all the while reminding us what a mess he inherited, that it was GW and Cheney's fault, Tea Partyers are un-American, those who disagree with his policies are racists, the rich are greedy and fly around in planes while the poor starve and all we need do to solve these problems is send more money to be squandered by Washington.

Obama can keep blaming everyone else but at some point it will become evident he has run out of pinatas. How much longer will/can the press and media shield Obama, is anyone's guess but it has become obvious to more and more voters he is out in left field and out of his element as if he ever had the ability to run anything besides his mouth. Polls increasingly reflect this fact.

Re-elect Obama at the peril of what is left of our Republic. (See 3,3a and 3b below.)
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Dick
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1)"Can President Recover From Deficit Binge?"
By VICTOR DAVIS HANSON



President Obama does not care much about deficits — other than worrying that big debt might matter in his re-election campaign.

In his first three budgets, Obama borrowed nearly $5 trillion. Currently, the government is borrowing about 45% of everything it spends. Obama's projected 10-year plan would add nearly $10 trillion to existing U.S. debt.

This spring he proposed the largest annual deficit in U.S. peacetime history, which is why his $3.7 trillion budget for 2012 was rejected in the Senate by a 97-0 vote.

In other words, under Obama, the government during the last three years has borrowed on average about $4 billion each day. That staggering sum is far in excess of the $1.6 billion per day during the eight-year tenure of George W. Bush, who until Obama's presidency had borrowed more than any peacetime president.

Apparently in Obama's worldview there are advantages to deficits that explain his fondness for unprecedented borrowing. In Keynesian terms, massive government red ink is supposed to foster economic prosperity by creating goods and services that a purportedly less-efficient private sector cannot.

The administration certainly has added an additional 100,000 federal jobs and expanded food stamps to nearly 50 million recipients ( from 28 million in 2007 and cost has more than doubled from $33 Bil to $77 Bil) — and in the process enlarged the pool of potentially grateful constituents. This belief in the superior wisdom of the state explains why almost all the Cabinet secretaries in the Obama administration came out of state or federal government, not from private enterprise.
Massive deficits not only empower more federal hiring and entitlements, but at some point lead to higher taxes. This gorge-the-beast notion is the flip-side of the Reagan-era idea of "starving the beast" of big government by cutting federal revenue through reduced tax rates.
H
igher taxes to Obama are not necessarily bad if they serve to redistribute income from the affluent to the less well off — a sort of "spread the wealth" government way of addressing the supposedly inherent unfairness of private-sector compensation.
So why, then, has Obama suddenly turned to deficit reduction?

In a word, politics: The downside of massive borrowing finally outweighed the upside of bigger government. The Tea Party-inspired midterm election brought Republicans to power in the House of Representatives and scared congressional Democrats silly.
That's why Democrats in the Senate voted unanimously to reject Obama's record-deficit 2012 budget — the sort of intervention that is the fiscal equivalent of a concerned family forcing a bingeing relative into rehab.

That political anxiety explains why suddenly Obama is now referencing his long-neglected Bowles-Simpson commission on fiscal responsibility and reform — as if the former public relations move is suddenly welcome proof of the president's long-held fiscal sobriety and sincerity.

The megaborrowing also did not lead to the robust economic recovery of the cyclical sort that usually follows a steep recession. Unemployment is still at 9.2%. GDP remains anemic. Energy prices are still sky-high. The housing market continues to be depressed. Consumer and business confidence is flat.

Finally, it is almost impossible to find any major economist who still argues for greater deficits. Those who once advocated printing our way out of the doldrums — Austan Goolsbee, Peter Orszag, Christina Romer and Larry Summers — have all left the administration, or intend to, about midway through its first term. They seem more likely to assign the administration's 2009-2011 economic record to others than claim it proudly as their own.

Note that there is no current example that might suggest big deficit spending leads to national prosperity. The unsustainable debts of Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain have nearly wrecked the European Union. Most consider a fiscally prudent Texas or Utah to be a better job creator than debt-ridden blue states such as California, Illinois and New York.

Scholars who analyzed the 2008 financial meltdown see its origins not just in Wall Street greed, but also in massive government intervention into the subprime mortgage markets and in misdirected federal efforts to ensure capital for bankers to lend to unqualified buyers.

So opposition to the president's budget proposals amounts to more than just a know-nothing rant about no taxes, period. The unease reflects genuine puzzlement — and, yes, anger — over a president addicted to debt, who suddenly wants to preach to others about their responsibility to pay back what he once so zealously advocated that we should borrow.

In short, those in recovery rarely make good puritans.
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2)Al Qaeda blows up Egyptian-Israeli gas pipeline after killing 7 in El Arish raid

The day after their El Arish rampage, Al Qaeda gunmen Saturday, July 30, blasted the al Shulaq terminal of the Egyptian-Israeli gas pipeline on the Mediterranean sea shore north of the Sinai town, halting supply for the fifth time since February and the third time this month.

This time was different. The saboteurs fired rockets at the terminal until it caught fire, the same tactics they used to raid the El Arish police station Friday. Egyptian forces confronted the assailants but could not save the terminal. This was al Qaeda's first attack on a strategic Israeli installation.

In a Taliban-style raid, at least 150 masked, uniformed al Qaeda gunmen rode into the Sinai capital of El Arish on pickups and motorcycles Friday, July 29, shooting up the desert town with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic rifles. Before they rode out six hours later, at least seven people were killed, and upward of 30 injured.

Egyptian police and troops pulled back to their fortified station as terrified citizens of this desert town of 150,000 inhabitants fled the rampage. At least two of the dead were Egyptian civilians, a man of 70 and a 13-year old boy shot while take a cell phone picture.

Military sources report around 18:00 hours, the assailants split into two groups, one keeping up the street attacks, the other heading for the police station.

Witnesses said the masked gunmen were not local because they lost their way several times and asked for directions to the police station. They then attacked the building with rockets and a battery of five mortars - the first time al Qaeda in Sinai is known have procured mortars, setting a police armored truck and other vehicles on fire. Rather than capturing the police station, the gunmen appeared concerned to keep the police pinned down in a shootout to prevent them from interfering with the deliberate occupation of the town.

The Egyptian news agency reported an Egyptian lieutenant colonel and captain died in the shootout . The number of dead and injured may be higher than reported. Two military planes were sent out from Cairo to evacuate the casualties.
After nightfall the gang withdrew to central Sinai.

El Arish townsmen are convinced the black-uniformed jihadis, having demonstrated they can't be stopped, will be back and next time, stay to proclaim Sinai a Muslim caliphate.

El Gorah, 20 kilometers to the west, houses the international MFO established nearly three decades ago to monitor the Sinai demilitarization provisions of the Israel-Egyptian peace treaty. Attached to the force are 1,000 troops, most of them American and Canadian marines.

This command center has been on supreme alert for an al Qaeda threat for seven months. Since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, Hamas, al Qaeda and Bedouin gunmen have been running riot through Sinai, while Egyptian security officers stay holed up in their bases.

Israeli forces deployed the length of the Egyptian border likewise stood aside while El Arish was occupied and terrorized by al Qaeda. According to counter-terror sources, none of the Egyptian, Israeli or American intelligence agencies monitoring the desert peninsula were prepared for al Qaeda to raise a force of hundreds of men, oufit them with uniforms, heavy arms and vehicles and train them in the military skills and disciplines required for capturing a complete town two and-a-half hours drive from Tel Aviv and five hours from Cairo.

Until July 29, al Qaeda in Sinai was believed to be no more than a handful of cells mostly working with local Bedouin dope and arms smuggling rings. None suspected them of acquiring quasi-military competence.

This evaluation will have to be urgently revised now that the Egyptian authorities have lost their grip on Sinai. The lawlessness reigning today in this strategic territory, which abuts on Israel, the Red Sea and Suez Canal, is cause for Israeli and US alarm.
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3)What Expansion?


Obamanomics: In case you thought the economy was doing better, Friday's report on gross domestic product likely disabused you of that notion. It shows the last two years of economic policymaking have been an utter failure.

New data show that the economy has been expanding far less robustly over the past two and a half years than initially claimed.

According to the Commerce Department, first-quarter GDP growth was 0.4%, not 1.9% as first reported. In the second quarter, it grew at a tepid 1.3% pace.

A recent problem? Hardly. Fourth-quarter 2010 growth was also revised down, from 3.1%to 2.3%.

In fact, all told, from the end of 2008 to this year, the government estimates U.S. GDP was $314 billion less than first estimated, not including this year's revisions.

Digging down into the data shows an even gloomier picture. Per capita GDP, the ultimate measure of both well-being and productivity for a nation, today remains lower in real terms than it was in 2007.

In the second quarter of this year, average annual real output per person stood at $42,499 — still 3.3% below its peak of $43,956 in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Looked at yet another way, the Commerce Department also estimates "potential" GDP — the size the economy would be with all resources used efficiently.

Listen to the Podcast
Subscribe through iTunesIn the second quarter of this year, real GDP stood at a real annual rate of $13.33 trillion. But our potential, the government says, is $14.25 trillion. So we're missing $920 billion in GDP, and Obama's first term isn't over.

Call this lost potential the Obamanomics tax.

That pretty much explains why unemployment remains stuck at more than 9%, with an estimated 27 million Americans unable to find full-time employment.

Our growth is insufficient. At best, we are in a growth recession — an economy whose slow expansion can't create enough jobs to hire everyone who wants one.

As U.S. Chamber of Commerce economist Martin Regalia warned Friday, Obama's increased regulation and uncertainty for small businesses "have made it extremely difficult for the economy to grow and create jobs."

Tough to disagree with that. Yet under Obamanomics, these aren't bugs in the system — they're features. Businesses have $2 trillion in cash to invest, but are so frightened and intimidated by the Democrats' bullying, threats and demonization of wealth they're sitting on it.

As President Obama entered office in early 2009, his top economic advisers promised stimulus would deliver fast growth. Unemployment, they said, would top out at 8% — and 3.5 million new jobs would be created.

After spending $830 billion on stimulus, $700 billion on TARP, with unknown trillions more to be spent on ObamaCare and welfare, the nation's not better off.

The Keynesian stimulus put in place by the Democrats two years ago has been an economic disaster. Sadly, these latest data prove it. Our budget deficit is bad enough. But our growth deficit is devastating.



3a)A Tale of Two Signs: "Hiring Now!" or "Going Out of Business"?
By Wynton C. Hall

The 2012 equivalent of Ronald Reagan’s famous “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” will be: “In your hometown, which do you see more of: ‘Hiring Now!’ signs or ‘Going Out of Business’ signs?”

Those trapped in the grip of the disastrous Obama economy already know the answer, and it terrifies David Axelord, David Plouffe, and President Barack Obama. The presidential candidate who frames the debate this way will win.

Why?

Because the sad and tragic economic facts are now undeniable, and they have absolutely nothing to do with ideology or party affiliation:

Every fifth man you pass on the sidewalk does not work.

Every seventh person you pass on the sidewalk is now on food stamps.

The average time an unemployed America remains out of work is now a jaw-dropping nine months (36 weeks). The pre-Obama average: just three months (13 weeks).

The price for a gallon of gas has risen 104% from the time of Mr. Obama’s inauguration to today.

Unemployment has risen from 7.8% to 9.2% since Mr. Obama’s inauguration.

Incredibly, black Americans—who voted some 98% for Mr. Obama’s election—are now suffering their lowest levels of economic prosperity since the civil rights era of the 1960s; the black middle class is vanishing and setting back black economic gains at least a generation if not more.

Recent college graduates are now experiencing record unemployment—all but ensuring that their freshly minted skills will rust and grow stale as they struggle to find work. In 2006 and 2007, 90% of all college graduates found a job. In 2010, just 56% of college graduates were able to find a job.

Mr. Obama has added more to the national debt than all U.S. presidents from George Washington to Ronald Reagan—combined.

These facts will not change before Election Day. Sadly, they are set in cement for the time being, as small business owners—the engines of job hiring—wisely refuse to expand hiring with so much fear and uncertainty in the air.

And all this doesn’t even take into account the economic outlook once the 2,000+ pages of Obamacare take full effect. Moreover, each week, businesses of all sizes learn of new and more onerous regulations being concocted by Mr. Obama’s administration.

Mr. Obama’s common rejoinder that the economic catastrophe before us is the result of his predecessor will not work. Mr. Obama’s party, of which he is the head, had control of 100% of the U.S. government for his first two years in office. Presently, Mr. Obama controls 66% of the government. As Bill Clinton used to say, “That dog simply won’t hunt.”

The presidential contender who will prevail must present the economic fork in the road before the American people thusly: In the last three decades, our great nation has undergone two economic experiments to solve similar economic difficulties.

The first of these experiments was performed by President Ronald Reagan. He let Americans keep more of the money they earned and helped small, medium, and large businesses hire more people by cutting red tape. The result: the greatest peacetime economic expansion in American history and a gain of 18 million new jobs.

The second economic experiment is the one we’re presently trapped in, performed by President Barack Obama. He has spent more of your money than all U.S. presidents—combined, seized 17% of the U.S. economy with the introduction of Obamacare, and is in the process of raising taxes even higher. The result: 16.2% of your neighbors can’t find enough work to make ends meet, food and gas prices are skyrocketing, and the country is broke and on the verge of total economic collapse.

In short, Mr. Reagan’s economic experiment created “Hiring Now!” signs. Mr. Obama’s economic experiment has created “Going Out of Business” signs.

The candidate who can clearly and plainly communicate this tale of two signs will be America’s next president.


Wynton C. Hall is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the owner of Wynton Hall & Co., a celebrity ghostwriting and speechwriting agency. He is the author, most recently, of The Right Words: Great Republican Speeches that Shaped History



3b)Obama’s approval numbers hit all-time low
By Alexis Levinson

President Barack Obama’s approval rating sank to a new low Friday, according to Gallup’s daily presidential tracking poll.

Just 40 percent of Americans say they approve of Obama’s performance as president. That is down three percentage points from Thursday. Fifty percent say they do not approve of the job he is doing.

The poor rating comes amidst an increasingly chaotic debate over raising the debt ceiling, as the deadline looms to raise it or risk the government defaulting on its debts.

Just 41 percent of the public said they approved of the way Obama was handling the debt-ceiling negotiations, while 52 percent disapproved, according to another Gallup poll released Thursday. Nonetheless, Obama still polls better than congressional leadership. Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both received even lower approval rates.

The president’s 40 percent approval rating follows a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll released Thursday that found Obama’s support among independents has eroded a great deal. Fully 54 percent of independents disapprove of Obama’s performance as president, according to the Pew poll, the most during his time in office. Just 36 percent approve of the job he is doing.

Obama has also lost ground against a generic Republican challenger, attracting 41 percent of the vote when matched with an unnamed Republican, who polled 40 percent.

Obama’s approval rating is below that of former President Bill Clinton’s lowest approval rating during the government shutdowns of 1995. At the very end of the shutdown, Clinton’s approval rating was 42 percent, but quickly rebounded back to over 50 percent. His lowest approval rating ever was 37 percent in June 1993
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