What we are doing to our currency

Glenn Beck has a very informative video on the effects of Congress' actions to our currency. You may want to check it out here.

Economic Passion

If you thought I was passionate about our economy and this administration's socialistic attempts to "fix it", check this out.

I have been "stimulated" by our Congress

Yes, the passage of the "stimulus" bill last Friday by both Houses of Congress has greatly stimulated me; stimulated my anger, that is.

First, our President told us we had to move QUICKLY on this bill, our economy was on the verge of catastrophe. Yet, he can spend the weekend out of time and wait until Tuesday to sign the legislation. Hmmm, it must not have been that urgent after all.

Second, how did your Congressman and Senators vote on this bill especially in light of the fact NONE OF THEM HAD TIME TO READ IT? To vote FOR legislation you have not read is:

- arrogant (obviously you must be omniscient)
- partisan (oh, the President wants it, the Speaker wants it, the Dems want it)
- irresponsible

Yes, any legislator who voted for this bill last Friday is irresponsible and does NOT represent their constiuency who, at least, expects them to READ legislation BEFORE passing it. I wonder if our President will have read it before he signs it tomorrow?

I recommend you check on your elected officials and see how they voted last Friday. If they voted yes then I encourage you (perhaps EXHORT is a better word) to write them and complain about their irresponsibility. We need responsible representation in Congress, not the arrogant display we witnessed last Friday.

To my children: PLEASE, don't do this!

I am proud of my children but I beg them never to embarrass our family with a display such as this.

Actually, the President should have applauded the young man for faithfully working while obtaining a college education so that he could better HIMSELF! That, you see, has always been the American spirit. We are a free people. We are an independent people. We DON'T need the government to take care of us. When we are down, we get back up. When we lose a job, we find another. IF WE NEED HELP, we turn to our family, our friends, and our church, but NOT our government. Note how the preamble to our Constitution says nothing about the government providing our jobs, our benefits, our homes, etc.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Promoting is not providing.

Children, when you need help, ask your family first. Ask your friends. Ask your church. But, PLEASE, do not stand up before the President of the United States and expect him to promise you he will force McDonald's to raise your salary or to improve your benefits. Unlike this lady, don't expect much from our government!

More Stimulus

Today, the Senate passed their version of the "stimulus" bill. The action followed by a day the agreement in the Senate to end debate on the bill (cloture), an act which requires 60 votes. Three Republicans joined the Democrats on that vote as well as on today's vote.

The fight, however, is not over. The Senate bill and the House bill are different. Hence, a committee of the two houses must now iron out the differences and the resulting bill will then be presented to each house for action. I would encourage you to continue to contact both your Congressman and your Senators and exhort them to vote against this bill.

Posted here is an article written by James K. Glassman on this subject. It is very lengthy but worth reading. Mr. Glassman was once the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. I encourage you to find the time to read it.

A Letter from my Congressman on the "Stimulus" Bill

I received another letter from my Congressman today and, since it included his thoughts on the "stimulus" bill (which did pass the House), I thought I would share it with you. I pray my Senators would listen to Congressman Akin's facts and wisdom.

Dear Bruce,

Thank you for your correspondence regarding H.R.1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It was good to hear from you and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, this legislation represents the largest spending increase ever foisted on the American people by Congress. Despite initial talk of a measured, infrastructure focused stimulus package, the Democrat majority has created a debt spending bill estimated to cost at least $825 billion. Worse yet, most of the money contained in the stimulus will not be spent soon enough to impact people who are struggling today.

I greatly appreciate the insight and concern of my fellow Missourians on the critical issues before the House of Representatives. An overwhelming majority of those who contacted my office asked me to oppose this spendthrift measure. When it came to the House floor on January 28th, I voted against it.

Even the Washington Post criticized the Democrat's spending bill, saying:

"Some in Congress and the new administration apparently see the country's present recession as an opportunity to change the federal government's spending priorities more generally or simply to reward loyal political constituencies."

Six hundred pages long and a top priority of the majority party, H.R. 1 already appears ineffective at its stated goal: adding stable new jobs to the economy, averting job loss, resolving the housing crisis and lifting the U.S. economy out of the current recession. I am more than willing to support an effective stimulus package, but I refuse to substitute doing "something" for doing the right thing.

To give you a sense of just how large the stimulus package is, the House-passed version is:

o Almost the size of Mexico's economy ($893 billion in 2007).
o 33.7% larger than all spending on Social Security
o 33.4% more than the defense budget.
o 24.6% more than federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid combined.

Additionally, allow me to list a few of my personal concerns with the Democrat's bill:

o It will cost $10,520 per family in debt spending. In fact, some economists say it would be cheaper to give every working family in America a one-year tax holiday.

o Only $26 Billion or 7% of the proposed stimulus funds will be spent in 2009.

o Only $30 Billion or 3 percent - throughout the life of the entire stimulus package would be directed towards "shovel ready" road and highway projects.

o The bill also circumvents the regular budget process by creating 32 new programs at a cost of $136 billion.

o It contains $16.4 billion in new spending for federal agencies - including office furniture at the Public Health Service.

o It spends $54 billion on 19 programs rated by the Office of Management and Budget as "ineffective" or "results not demonstrated." President Obama has said that we can no longer afford to be "squandering billions of tax dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness." Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi's House majority has chosen to put forward legislation that is inconsistent with the President's vision for "smarter" government.

Finally, I could not support H.R. 1 because I believe history demonstrates that when government removes billions of dollars from the economy in the name of "stimulus," the result is not a shortened recession but a prolonged depression.

Instead, I supported the Republican substitute measure on the House floor that would have created 6.2 million jobs and provided tax relief to small businesses and working families. In fact, in Missouri alone, the Republican alternative would have had the potential to create 128,000 jobs compared to 73,000 in the Democrat stimulus plan.

The Republican alternative included across-the-board tax cuts for all working American families in the 15% and 10% tax brackets. It also provided immediate tax cuts for small businesses which employ more than half of all American workers. In addition, the substitute would have extended unemployment benefits and eliminated income taxes on those benefits, allowing struggling Americans to keep the entire amount of their unemployment assistance while they are out of work. Unfortunately, the Republican alternative was defeated by a vote of 266-170 and the Democrat package passed by a vote of 244-188.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact my office. Please know that I will continue to work for positive legislation that benefits all Missourians.

It is a privilege to represent you and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me regarding any matter where I might be of assistance. I would also encourage you to visit my website, where you can find more information on current issues, share further thoughts with me via email and subscribe to my e-newsletter for updates on issues you care about.

Sincerely,
W. Todd Akin
Member of Congress

Now This IS The Change We Need

No, I did not vote for President Obama. In fact, anyone reading previous entries on this blog will note how strongly I spoke out against him. But, he is now my President and I will respect his leadership. However, I will NOT blindly follow him simply because the media (and everyone else) says he is "The One".

His first 2 weeks in office may have been the worse first 2 weeks for any Chief Executive with the possible exception of President William Henry Harrison. Now, he invokes "fear" in his attempt to push through the "Stimulus" package which does not stimulate anything but government growth. Mr. President, the only fear I have is that the Senate might actually pass this bill and you would sign it.

If you have listened to the media hype you get the impression this bill solves all the nation's financial ills. Nonsense. It will put us in debt forever and further impact our economy. Someone, in an attempt to help us visualize the amount of money proposed in this bill (around one trillion dollars), has said the amount of money in the bill is equal to spending one million dollars a day from the time of Christ until now! And we, the taxpayers now and future (i.e., our children, our grandchildren), will have to pay it back!

Others have highlighted what type of spending is actually in the bill so I won't do that here. The bottom line is the bill passed by the House, being debated in the Senate, and demanded, via scare tactics, by our President is the wrong approach.

The CHANGE we need in terms of a stimulus bill has been clearly articulated by Governor Mitt Romney here. I would encourage you to read it. Then I EXHORT you to call or e-mail your Senators, tell them to forget amending this bill, and, instead, throw it out and look for a completely different approach, an approach which will HELP our economy rather than destroy it. Call/write them everyday until this bill is passed or, hopefully, is defeated.

May God have mercy on our nation.

I Like Glenn Beck

While I don't always agree with him, I always get a kick out of his presentation. This one from yesterday is great.