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January 28, 2010

Barack Obama's State of the Union Speech - Bland or Bold?

President Barack Obama speaks to a joint sessi...Image via Wikipedia
By now the many analysts have given their opinions as to the President's address to the Congress and the Nation.  The opinions are - as expected - mixed depending on the analysts political leanings.  Some said it was good, some said it was not foreceful enough, some said it was like a campaign speech and others simply thought it was hot air.

I think it was all of the above - bland and bold.

I did like several comments he did make.  The most important one I heard was his open challenge of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on campaign financing and advertising - very bold  This was a step outside of the "comfort" zone of political corectness.  I give him credit for this one as the ruling is wrong, has nothing to do with the preservation of "our" First Amendment rights and does very much open control of elected officials to corporations both foreign and domestic. 

Second was his commnet on creating an Executive Order to overrule Congress not passing a bill authored by a Democrat and a Republican - bold.  I have not studied the bill so I cannot comment on its value but I do applaud the President on taking a politically dangerous stand. My applause is for his  and bold one not necessarily his correctness.

Third, I felt his comment on elected officials not working for re election or to "win" points in polls but in doing the job for the people was a good and bold one.  After all, is that not why we put them there?  But I am sure it will have very little effect.

This tied in with his comments of the elimination of Lobbyists and another positive and very bold point in the speech.   Lobbying to me is a form of bribery - no it is bribery.  Combining lobbying with the Supreme Court's recent ruling delivers no change and offers no hope for the people.  Again, a good statement but with no teeth - bold then bland.  A Democracy where the elected officials are bought and paid for is not a Democracy.

As to the rest of his 70 minute speech, it was bland.  We all know we need ;jobs, education and health care - no one would deny that - but how do we accomplish that?  The Stimulous package is a small, very small beginning and may not be enough.  Adding $30 Billion of the repaid TARP funds is a pittance compared to the trillions we put into "too big to fail" companies - another bold and bland statement.  I have always maintained that those trillions should have been put directly on Main Street then we would have seen a recovery.  As to education, he indicated the problems and some very broad solutions but no definitive plan of action - bland.  As to health care, or as he now referred to it, "health insurance reform", nothing said other then the "honorable" mention - very bland.

What we need form our President is boldness.  Boldness to fight the establishment and those like the bankers who would hijack it.  What we need is a very bold reassurance from our President that he will address the issues of the people not cater to the buracracy and the establishment.  We need a President that is a true statesman and proponent of the people.  We need more strength and conviction not just campaign speeches. 

I don't believe his speech will have an impact any time soon, if at all.  The abuses of the banking system will hinder us for years to come and the stimulous or recovery package will only have some trickle effects and take years to show results.

 We seem to be able to pump money with no intent for payback in many other areas that truly are not in the public interest.  Maybe if we pump some of this money directly into education, health care and small business we could recover much sooner then later with a more lasting long term effect.

We need to stabilize the real estate markets with programs -  that are not window dressing - to stem the tide of foreclosures.  Restore the American Dream.

In addition, we will see little change as long as Congressional dynasties exist.  One major step forward - to fix our broken system - would be to limit terms on all elected officials, from the President to both Houses of Congress and even to the Supreme Court, to a one time, six year term.  Unless we can change these people with some predetermined frequency we can never have true change we so desperately need in our country - regardless of who lives in our White House.

Being optimistic, I believe he can begin to make a difference if he takes the bull by the horns, does not make decisions that are politically correct just to attempt to win election to a second term, but to make decisions to fix our real problems.  I do believe he knows and understands what they are.  He needs to employ the same advice he verbalized to Congress  He has three more years to do so and we have him for our President for at least that much more time.  In the words of Captain Picard of StarTrek TNG, "make it so!"

Your comments and opinions are encouraged.
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11 comments:

  1. I guess we really don't improve over time...........



    Commentary - 01/28/2010
    Noble Lies And Muddy Brains

    It's extremely frustrating to see those who lie and steal be financially rewarded, yet those who try to help others hang onto the rewards of their labor and efforts seem punished and drained until they can do no more. Until recently, I had not realized that it has been that way for a very long time. We're talking back to 380 B.C.! Plato's time. By inadvertently coming across Noble Lies and Muddy Brains, today's current events seem more easily and clearly understood.


    When trying to truly understand something, one must drill down deep into their subject. In martial arts, it's called "breaking down," studying movements within movements. In economics, it's "pure research." While doing so, a click of the mouse landed me in the description of the "Noble Lie."



    In politics a noble lie is a myth or untruth, often, but not invariably, of a religious nature, knowingly told by an elite to maintain social harmony, particularly the social position of that elite.


    Maybe this is what Thomas Jefferson meant when he wrote:

    "How soon the labor of men would make a paradise of the whole earth,
    were it not for mis-government, and a diversion of all his energies
    from their proper object -- the happiness of man --
    to the selfish interest of kings, nobles, and priests."

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://greatreddragon.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Speech or no speech...people have lost faith...just read the post and comments...and don't tell me we can't look back...for that I would if the perpetrators stole to eat or feed family...these vermin have looted the nations treasury.....


    Additional Perspectives On The AIG Fiasco

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/additional-perspectives-aig-fiasco

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's all related......


    Janine Wedel, author of the book "Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government", and the Free Market" and HuffPost blogger, was a guest on Dylan Ratigan's MSNBC show this afternoon to discuss the ramifications of the Supreme Court's recent and controversial decision to dismantle regulations capping the amount of money corporations can spend in political donations.

    Wedel argued that the decision will help solidify the intertwining of state and public power.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/28/janine-wedel-discusses-ho_n_440978.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. You keep promising results but you have delivered zilch:



    In hard-hit California, the hidden fallout of foreclosures


    This is the hidden human fallout of foreclosure. It is going largely untreated, even as Merced County braces for more state cuts in mental health services. Thousands of new homes like Ethelda Lopez's sprouted from farmland countywide in the past five years. Merced was gearing up for a bright new future as a college hub. Optimistic developers dreamt of throngs of buyers paying $300,000 and more so that they could raise their children in neat stucco homes along tranquil cul-de-sacs.

    But the dream crumbled, and so did the peace-of-mind that home ownership is supposed to guarantee.

    Now, many homeowners are caught up in a nightmare, trying to figure out how to pay mortgages on dwellings worth a fraction of what they owe — or whether they should give up the dream and move on.


    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/83323.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow maybe the President could help this citizen out? Wouldn't want to see the jobs number get any worse because of a banker...we've had enough losses due to them.



    Score one for deep-pocketed bankers with time to kill.

    After one of Wall Street's highest-paid bankers sparred with a teacher at his son's liberal Texas school, a principal has resigned.

    The former Lehman Brothers investment banking boss Hugh "Skip" McGee penned a strongly worded, five-page letter complaining that a teacher at the posh Kincaid School in Houston referred to bankers as "sleazeballs."

    McGee, now head of global investment banking at Barclays Capital, called for the dismissal of Upper School Principal Michael Saltman, Headmaster Donald North and the teacher, Leslie Lovett.

    Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/banker_gives_son_teacher_bad_apple_pHG1JpDqXWlgWBRW6YIEsJ#ixzz0e3Lgwnh8

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just because they greased your wheels doesn't mean they own the ride or does it?




    31 January 2010
    Front-Running the Markets And the Sickness Unto Death

    From James Rickards, The Frog, The Scorpion, and Goldman Sachs:

    "Now consider another example of data mining, not done by retail firms, but by giant investment banks such as Goldman Sachs. These banks have thousands of customers transacting in trillions of dollars in stocks, bonds, commodities and foreign exchange daily. By using systems with anodyne names like SecDB, Goldman not only sees the transaction flows but some of the outright positions and whether they are bullish or bearish. Data mining techniques are just as effective for this market information as they are for Google, Amazon, Wal-Mart and others. It’s not necessary to access individual accounts to be useful. The data can be aggregated so that the bank can look at positions on a portfolio basis without knowing the name of each customer.



    How does it continue? Like the bailout of AIG, the stewards of the public trust are choosing to turn a blind eye. The politicians are the beneficiaries of huge campaign contributions. The regulators are overwhelmed, and desirous of Wall Street positions.

    http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/01/front-running-markets.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. Check To Obama: Lloyd To Get $100 Million Bonus


    “This is Lloyd thumbing his nose at Obama,” said a banker at one of Goldman’s rivals.

    If indeed the bonus number is correct, this is a slap not only in the face of the president, of Volcker, not to mention the other clowns in the economic advisory circle, but all of America's taxpayers.
    http://tinyurl.com/y9uqvmq

    ReplyDelete
  9. So Much For The Volcker Plan: Shelby, Dodd And Kanjorsky All But Kill The Prop Ban Proposal

    So there you have it: Wall Street, after getting bailed out by America, is now back to telling America what is in its own best interest; if the cost is a few corrupt politicians, so be it: we are certain that the trio above was easily purchased with less than one day of Goldman's record trading days during Q4. In the meantime, we continue cruising along, pretending that anything has changed, except that this time open wealth transfer from taxpayers to investment bankers is not only legal and allowed, it is in fact encouraged.

    http://tinyurl.com/ykyqrgm

    ReplyDelete
  10. Democrats Say "Bye" to Populist Option
    Obama's Junk Economics


    The Republicans are winning the populist war. On the weekend before his State of the Union address on Wednesday, Obama strong-armed Democratic senators to re-appoint Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chairman. His Wednesday speech did not mention this act (happily applauded by Wall Street). The President sought to defuse voter opposition by acknowledging that nobody likes the banks. But he claimed that unemployment would be much higher if they hadn’t been bailed out. So the giveaway of public funds was all for the workers. The $13 trillion that has created a new power elite was just an incidental byproduct. Unpleasant, perhaps, as American democracy slips into oligarchy. But the least bad option. People might not like it, but Main Street simply cannot prosper without creating hundreds of Wall Street billionaires – without enabling them to increase their bonuses and capital gains as bank stock prices quadruple. It’s all to get credit flowing again (at 30 per cent for credit card users, to be sure.)


    Instead of helping debtors, Obama has moved to heal the creditors, at public expense. If debtors cannot pay, the Treasury and Fed will take their IOUs and bad casino gambles onto the public sector’s balance sheet. The financial winners must come first – and it seems second and third, too. The rationale is that unless the government gives the large financial institutions what they want and saves them from taking a loss, their “incentive” to protect the economy from devastation will be gone.


    http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson02012010.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. President Obama could your administration at least verify if the servicers are playing proper ball?

    ESPECIALLY AURORA...THEIR SUCKING PEOPLE DRY....MYSELF INCLUDED....


    Wish someone from GOV'T help out?



    Anyone having problems with AURORA LOAN SERVICES?


    You are not alone...

    Here is a lady who has started a class action suit please get in touch with her. We are having all the same problems. http://www.auroraloanvictims.com/


    Read the comments.scroll down.....they string you along as they take your payments:




    http://www.afscanhelp.com/companies/mortgage-companies/aurora-loan-services.cfm

    ReplyDelete