A Fine, Unqualified: The Sequal

A while back, I posted "A Fine Unqualified" discussing President Obama is unqualified to be President. The title was inspired when I heard a Pastor mentioning the we now have "a fine...qualified...African-American named Barack Obama" running for President (this was said during the primaries just before he took the lead). Now for the record, I don't hate the President (I do pray for him). I've never met him. The gist of that posting was simple. The intent was to look at our President and the qualifications of those before him. If you check it out, I explained that there were three areas where past Presidents had some lengthy experience which prepared them for office- those areas being military, business and government (via appointment or election). Each area is connected to the other two, some ways moreso than others. For example, as an elected or appointed official, you set the policies that could help business or assure the security of this nation. My feeling is that compared to past Presidents, President Obama's experiences in these areas doesn't come close to those before him.

Now, I am going to provide examples of how he's acted incompetently. An elected official make decisions that result one way (good) or or another (not good or none at all). One such example is the oil spill in Louisiana. By all accounts, that was a fluke. Sadly, many people lost their lives on this rig. What got me was the response. I am a BIG fan of Bobby Jindal, who I hope will run for President one day (if he keeps doing what he's doing). Days after, Governor Jindal wanted to get the oil spill cleaned up and actually had a plan to get it done. If you want an example of his leadership, do an engine search of his name and Hurricane Gustav and see what you find. Only one problem with this oil spill. Jindal could do nothing because it happened in the Gulf of Mexico, which is under federal control. The EPA and the White House did NOTHING but point a finger at BP. Governor Jindal faced being placed in jail if he took matters in his own hands (skimmers and other resouces to control the oil flow and stop futher spreading). Domestic and foreign vessels were ready and waiting to come help in the Gulf. One problem- President Obama refused to lift the Jones Act (preventing foreign ships operating in U.S. Territorial waters). Governor Jindal didn't speak about blaming BP because that wasn't imporatant at the time. Former President Clinton even said that emphasis of blaming BP was not the correct thing to do at that time (stop the oil from spreading, stop the leak, etc). As it relates to fault, former President Clinton said there would be a time to address that. What resulted? Over 100 days , oil spread from Louisiana to Florida, wetlands and wildlife ruined, and what's worse is that those people who could have been of help were basically ignored. What's the real shame here? A Hollywood actor (Kevin Kosner) had a solution before the leader of the free world (1). OK. Set up a fund to help the people of the Gulf. OK. Fine BP. OK. Punish BP? Check your 401k or other retirement accounts after that happened.

Here's a clip early on and other videos relating to this subject. This is an example of leadership (aka "get out of the way"): (2)


Forget about the fact that he's never run a state, platoon or business for a minute. Louis Farrakhan said something that was very interesting. Even he saw something didn't add up. While I agree with VERY little of what he says, he did make a very strong point. He asked "who selected a Junior Senate, who barely got his foot whet in the US Senate, and made him that he (from that position) could become President" of the United States (3)? VERY good question to ask. The example I mentioned here is just one. Other than running for office, what did President Obama do to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The clip is below so you may hear what was said (he addressed a few things and you might catch some of this as curious but even HE asked a question; the quote I mentioned comes in about 1:30 mark):



How about bank/financial reform? The hope was to make banking more fair for all customers. On paper and in theory, it's not a bad idea. Here's the problem. Banks will make it up revenue in other ways from where they did before. For example, I went to my bank one day because I needed to address my overdraft protection (I did have a small balance at the time). There was either a $25.00 annual fee (it was waived if I didn't have an overdraft balance by anniversary date). I decided to keep the overdraft mainly because I used that account more as a back up. I was informed by the bank that for EACH OVERDRAFT PAID, I would be charged $34.00 to cover the payment. Now think about this (and this happens to people every so often). You go to the store, make a series of purchases, and make a mistake where your balance goes below $0.00 (for some it happens more than others). The last purchase that put you under balance was that $15.00 pizza you picked up nights before.

Before this "reform", you'd have the overdraft as a safety net, pay off the balance and all was well. Now, your $15.00 pizza just cost you $50.00 when it's said and done with an overdraft. I can't imagine trying to get credit or a loan un this "reform" as it's so called. Did I mention that banks were FORCED to make loans to people who couldn't afford to pay them. They used race as the culprit, saying minorities were being denied loans because of race. While there were some cases where that was true (if we're brutally honest), others were just not qualified to pay that loan off. The Community Reinvestment Act (4) has great intentions but somewhere down the road, someone twitsted. Now, what's the result? Mass foreclosures. Oh, did I mention the number of banks failures this year? From January 5 through March 26, 2010, a total of 40 banks failed alone. What's worse is that that number exceeds the number of failed banks (a total of 24) from June 25, 2004 (none failed from that date until February 2, 2007). The list has grow as this year has gone forward (5).  

Now health care. Several LARGE companies announced 2011 charge-offs due to the Health Care Reform bill passed. Among them are Boeing, AK Steel, 3M (you'll see more later), John Deere, Verizon and Catapiller. So much for making insurance cheaper and being able to keep your Doctors. In fact, two of these companies announced charge offs the day after it was passed. Fast forward a few months after and people are now trying to find out what coverage can be purchased, how much it will cost and what exactly will it cover. I am still a bit concerned about our Presidents comments about "go home and take a pill" as a "solution" for coverage. Fast forward to September 23, 2010- I hear people angry about how their rates went UP, anywhere between 15-30% (and in some cases, covering less than what they had before).  That's not all sadly. More large companies are either ending coverage or dramatically changed for all current employees and retirees. More companies may follow the examples below. Thnk I'm kidding? Here are some examples below:
a. McDonalds considering not to offer health care coverage to its 30,000 employees (6). Think about this. One of the most profitable companies on the planet not being able to offer health insurance to its people. Does that sound odd? I know for a fact the McDonalds has (or at least had) very good benefits (having known some people who worked for them).
b. In less than 7 days after this, 3M announces changes to retirees benefits plans. Not to mention that several Health Care providers have discontinued "Child Only" coverage plans (7).

What inspired me to close here is a woman named Velma Hart and sportscaster Steven A Smith. How is she? She is the woman who went to a CNBC Town Hall meeting and said that she was tired of defending the Obama Administration. These clips will set the table on how I feel:

Velma Hart at Town Hall (8)


Steven A Smith & Mark Levin on 2 segments (9):


About 1 year ago (10),


President Obama and this Democratic legislative majority passed a stimulus and said that unemployment rate would stop at 8% and steadily drop. He also mentioned that we would control spending. Well, as it stands now, unemployment is still hovering around 9.7% and the GDP/Debt ratio JUMPED to 98% (11), both numbers nearly doubled from 10 years prior. Our stock markets are coming back. Yes, there was a big jump in the Dow & NASDAQ. The problem is the average daily volumes are much lower than moving averages. A 5-10% drop would be bad enough but 25% (seen August to September), not good. The closer a stock stays to its average, the more stable things are (lower average means the money isn't flowing in and the obvious buyers aren't buying). I think the markets will be ok to end 2010 but 2011, should the policies this administration put into place aren't stop, things can get very ugly. Gold is at over $1300/ounce (some think it could reach $2000 or more in 2011- only time will tell us what happens).

I hate to be negative here but I'm only telling you what I see. Do you see the same thing I'm seeing? Why is it that people are missing here? Is this an illusion? I hate to think Americans still think all of this "hope and change has (and actually will) work. I only reflect on comments made by Velma Hart and Steven A Smith (listed above). They represent a growing number of people who see this Trojan horse for what it is. Mrs Hart asked a simple question- "is this my new reality"- for her and for America while we're at it. Steven A Smith dealt with the issues very directly. While he is best known as a sportscaster, he has a basic understanding of what's going on now (I think the videos prove it). Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton among many who said he wasn't ready for the job. They tried to warn America but failed to listen (let's remember that the Clinton tried to do this National Health Care back in the 1990's but Republicans managed to stop it). They saw what Hannity and others saw and most of America failed to heed their warning. The next 22 days have a level of importance that many understand but some don't. We have not only the opportunity but the duty to remove the people who put these policies in place. If the powers that be remain there, the examples I mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg and the American society is the Titanic. Any questions? I didn't think so.

1. "BP oil spill: Kevin Costner's oil-water separation machines help with clean-up", Guardian.co.uk, June 16, 2010  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/16/kevin-costner-oil-spill-machines
2. "CNN: Bobby Jindal Press Conference video", June 1, 2010, taken from MoxNewsDotCom's YouTube page.
3. "We Count" Conference", March 20, 2010, moderated by Tavis Smiley, taken from Keywiki YouTube page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zw-1Eu4v_g
4. "Community Reinvestmet Act" taken fromthe Federal Financial Institution Economic; Council: http://www.ffiec.gov/cra/
5.  "FDIC Failed Bank List" taken from the FDIC Internet site, http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html
6. "McDonald's Says it May Drop Health Plan", Janet Adamy, Wall Street Journal Online, September 30, 2010: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575522413101063070.html
7. "The Emerging Obamacare Massacre", David Hogberg, Inverstors Business Daily Online, Octobor 4, 2010: http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/2108-the-emerging-obamacare-massacre
8. "CNBC Town Hall Meeting", September 20, 2010, taken from GordonWayneWatts YouTube page.
9.  "Mark Levin Show audio", July 1, 2010 radio segment, taken from the MrTimotheus85 YouTube pge.
10. "Mark Levin Show audio", September, 2009 radio interview segment, taken from theWelovesarahpalin YouTube page.
11. "The Worlds Biggest Debtor Nations", Paul Tuscano; September 30, 2010; CNBC Internet site, http://www.cnbc.com/id/30308959/The_World_s_Biggest_Debtor_Nations