There is no time like the present.

I give you fair warning: there may come a time when I contradict myself in this blog. I don't think it is likely as my opinion remains fairly constant but, since I plan these posts out with as much forethought as a 14 year old boy texting dirty pictures of his 13 year old girlfriend to all his buddies, the possibility exists. I should take the time to organize my thoughts, research my topic and maybe even make an outline but that would take too long. My thoughts need to get out and get out quickly. There is no time for discussion or planning. When you think about it, they are kind of like the stimulus package; so important that taking the time to read a few hundred pages that include spending close to a trillion dollars would be a waste of valuable time. We need this package passed now! Like me, I guess the government can deal with the consequences later. Unlike me, there truly are consequences in their actions. If I screw up Mrs. Bald Man just yells at me.

I am staying at my favorite Holiday Inn Express tonight and am looking forward to a breakfast of instant oatmeal and a banana. There isn't much better a breakfast in my opinion. Just add a bit of hot water, stir, and in a few moments, immediate gratification. We live in an instant age. Microwave dinners, 15 minute oil changes, downloadable movies (and not just porn, real movies, too) and instant messaging mean we don't have to wait for anything anymore. My oatmeal is filling and better for me than those award winning cinnamon rolls they tempt you with by putting them immediately beside the utensils and napkins on the breakfast bar. Both reside in the realm of immediate gratification though. I guess everything that is immediate isn't good. Again, kind of like an immediate spendulus package.

The immediacy of the move to socialism that is the stimulus has me wondering just how fast we will see results for it is evident that, when The ONE wants something, it gets done fast. Look at how quick he found a house for Henrietta down in Florida. I hear Julio got a one day furlough from flipping burgers under the arches to do play by play for the Ft. Myers minor league baseball team. It is so fitting their name is the Miracle. Caterpillar announced they would rescind the layoffs of 22,000 employees once the pork laden bill passes. (Thanks to the immediate results of an internet search engine, I was able to quickly discover that the company's Chairman, Jim Owens, is a member of The ONE's Economic Recovery Advisory board.) Caterpillar will wait for the spendulus to pass. There is still no mention in any of these articles about Intel is not waiting for the stimulus to make their multi-billion dollar investment. Intel is a bit more in tune with the do it yourself immediate nature of today.




If more companies decided to go forward instead of waiting to see what the government is about to do to and for us we probably wouldn't need the Congress to vote on a bill they haven't had time to fully read. Unforntately, government, even before they come in and screw things up, make life difficult for businesses. The most evil of all corporations, WalMart wants to expand in this time when business, according to The ONE in his press conference, has no money to expand and needs government to help. What WalMart needs is for government to get the hell out of its way. The world's largest retailer has one store currently operating in Chicago. It was like pulling teeth to get it open. Now they want to build six more and officials are resisting. I guess the elected ones in the first African American President's political home state would rather wait for the feds to send money instead of soiling themselves with cash from a bunch of Arkansas slave traders. This makes sense right? We all know that government run agencies do everything better. Just ask these people in India. They've seen the light but won't see anything else.

Unlike the faithful in Chicago, some cities aren't sitting around waiting for Uncle Barack. They are instead sitting on the side of the highway waiting for Uncle Gordon to speed on by on his way to Walmart. Yes, states and cities are getting their own immediate stimulus in the form of parking and speeding tickets. This isn't the type of recovery we need. Money doesn't need to flow to government. It needs to stay in the hands of individuals and businesses who can put it immediately in to this struggling economy. But, the folks in the beltway don't get it. They don't understand how business works. They only know how government works.

We won't know for some time if the spendulus package is working to help the economy recover. We may never know for sure if it worked at all. The economy, like it has several times before, could heal itself. There won't be an instant turnaround. There are signs of hope in the form of business leaders who refuse to abandon capitalism and succumb to The ONE's ideal of America. Focus on them and you may see there is light at the end of the tunnel. We haven't found the gold at the end of the rainbow but I have hope. I hear Selma Hayek may be coming to town and with my bald head I might be able to pass for an infant!


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If you can't say something nice....you must be trying to take over the economy.

If I may be so bold as to once again take a cue from Glenn Beck: My head is literally about to explode! Watching the beggars, whiners and women mouthing "I love you Barack" during The ONE's so-called Town Hall meeting and re-election campaign launch in Florida today, I nearly became sick. Is this what our country has become? 1200 supposed regular folk flock (say that ten times fast. Just not in front of the kids.) to ask for houses, health care and, I wouldn't be surprised, backrubs from the Savior in Chief. I hope he does one of these in Utah. I've been looking for a new car and, if I play my cards right, some government employees wife might give me one if I can just shed a few tears in front of the cameras. Hmmm... I wonder if I will have to pay taxes on my "gift"?

I am still reeling from last night's fear cast regarding our economy and the fact that "only government" has the ability to get us out of this mess. Obama was like Robert De Niro's character in Cape Fear tormenting those who got him elected. The protagonist in this remake believed his lawyer withheld pertinent information during his trial which led to his conviction. In a sick plot twist, Obama seems to be the one holding back and his "remake" of the New Deal is one sequel that shouldn't be made.

While lying about the spendulus package's pork laden loins and skipping completely the complete takeover of our health care system cleverly hidden between the lines, the first African American President painted a portrait of a future full of doom and gloom that only the broad brush strokes of an artistically wielded, (hopefully free of foreign dependence) oil brush of government stimulus and control could prevent. He deferred commenting on the new TARP program so as to not "steal the thunder" of his Treasury Secretary, Timothy "I can't use Turbo Tax but I can run the IRS" Geithner. Today Mr. Geithner outlined a plan to spend another target=blanktwo trillion dollars that is so undefined it makes a Monet look crisp. Wall Street reacted by dropping over 300 points.

Continually framing our economic situation as a crisis is working for the administration. The speed at which they say action needs to be taken is evidently a way to try to keep prying eyes from looking beneath the coats of spending to see the true image on the canvas. It is at though the only news reaching the beyond the recently ordained Pearly Gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is bad. But we know better.

Before grabbing his palette full of colorful White House reporters and their white washed questions and speaking before a country of Rose Colored Glasses wearing supporters about how business was incapable of getting us out of this crisis without government, the President called Intel CEO Paul Otellini to congratulate him on his company's announcement to spend $7 billion over the next two years building plants in the western United States. They are doing it without government funding. So much for the "fact" that the government is the "only" savior we have. Well, other than THE Savior recently elected that is. The free market can and will work if we continue to let it but the spendulus package is about to paint us in to a corner.

Headlines tout how Mr. Otellini supports the President's plan. Most bury this quote deep inside:

On the other hand, as an unabashed capitalist, I worry as government spending approaches 40 percent. At some point in time we look more like a European economy than a classic American economy. ... We’ve got to be cautious as the economy grows again that we try to let the private sector grow faster than the government sector and get it back to balance.

I guess it would have been a bit too much to ask for the President to share some good news with the masses. If he had we might have questioned just how much we have to sacrifice for this artful plan.

I sometimes wonder why I mention any of this. I should just up and run to a more free Caribbean Island. It is obvious you don't care. Just ask Chuck Shumer.



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