By Wayne Allyn Root via LP.org:
Obama finally got something right. Can you believe it? In a recent interview, Obama said he is confident we will not enter a double dip recession. Brilliant Sherlock. No, we are not entering a double dip. That is because we never left the first dip. Only Obama could get something so right, because he is so wrong.
While Obama, Fed Chief Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Geithner, and various other Obama economists, lackeys and socialist cabal members drone on about double dip, or not to double dip, common folks on Main Street understand that there has never been a recovery.
The continuing Great Recession started on Bush’s watch in 2007 and has never ended. Like Herbert Hoover, another Republican President who panicked, and failing Capitalism 101, abandoned fiscal conservative principles, George W. Bush turned to big government to “save us.” And as usual, the more government tries to save us, the worse it gets. So Bush channeled Hoover, starting the bailouts, stimulus, and insane levels of spending and government intervention.
Then, just when you thought it could not get any worse, along came Obama with his “Axis of Evil” game plan. What is the “Axis of Evil,” you ask? It is the principles to which Obama’s life is dedicated: Taxation, Regulation, Government Strangulation, Unionization and Litigation.
Obama is obsessed. He drools and dreams of taxes, lawyers, and unions. He reads his daughters bedtime stories about his heroes — IRS auditors, union goons, and the greatest class action lawyers of all-time. At Christmas, he decorates his tree with IRS tax forms, union labels, and law firm mastheads.
Obama actually believes that unemployment checks and food stamps are economic stimulus, jobs are created by lawsuits and tax money grows on trees. He believes teachers unions educate children (although not his little girls — they are safely tucked away in private school for $60,000 per year). He believes Lincoln saved the union — the auto union, teachers union and government employees union. Obama and Michelle’s favorite song must be “Axis of Evil” sung by Geithner & The Taxes.
Like other big government comrades such as Castro, Chavez, Mao, or that dashing couple that bankrupted Argentina, Eva & Juan Peron, Obama actually believes this stuff. He drinks the Axis of Evil Kool-Aid. Of course it has a union label. Much like Kosher foods that are blessed and approved by a rabbi, Obama’s foods are blessed and approved by the SEIU. His Presidential limo features a bumper sticker that states “Workers of the World Unite.”
Obama’s Axis of Evil has wrecked the U.S. economy from sea to shining sea. This Axis of Evil targeted, demonized, frightened, and punished business owners until there were no jobs. It is this Axis of Evil that turned Bush’s Great Recession into the Obama Great Depression. It is this Axis of Evil climate of fear that has turned this nation into Obamageddon.
Only those who are blind or drink the Kool-Aid can fail to see that America is in shambles, chaos and unprecedented crisis. True unemployment is at Great Depression levels. The Real Estate collapse has surpassed the Great Depression. The stock market is limping along, on the verge of collapse. Consumer confidence, manufacturing, and retail sales are plummeting. Inflation is skyrocketing (on the products that matter — energy and food prices). Banks cannot lend because they are either insolvent or handcuffed by new government regulations. And, our AAA credit rating is gone for the first time in history.
Our national debt goes up $3 million per minute under Obama. In one day under Obama the debt went up $200 billion — more than the entire 2007 deficit under Bush. But have no fear — our President is hard at work on the golf course at Martha’s Vineyard. Rest assured he is burning the midnight oil searching for the solution to save our economy. You just never know what you might find in a golf hole or on a putting green. Perhaps the answer to all our troubles is staring at Obama…in the clubhouse. Thank goodness Obama is on the job!
Obama is a tax stalker obsessed with these Axis of Evil ideas. Taxes and government spending are the twin monsters he turns to in a pinch every time. As he plays golf all over Cape Cod, rest assured he has visions of entitlements and tax fairies dancing in his head. The reason American business is frightened and paralyzed is because Obama’s obsessions (taxes, spending and regulation) and best friends (lawyers and unions) are the mortal enemies of all taxpayers, job creators, investors and small business owners. Obama’s game plan has created a climate of fear, uncertainty and crisis.
But at least Obama got one thing right — there is no chance of a double dip. Not in the middle of this Great Obama Depression. There is no recovery – only debt, depression and disaster. As long as the Axis of Evil reigns supreme, there can be no recovery, no new jobs, no hope or change.
Taxation, Regulation, Government Strangulation, Unionization and Litigation. The Axis of Evil ruins lives, kills jobs, redistributes our wealth, destroys workforce productivity, hinders investment, and weakens heroes of the workforce like kryptonite.
There is nowhere left to hide…except the golf course.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts.” His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
By forcible means? When/where?
Hi Wayne – thank you for your response and your willingness to share a bit more in the context of your faith. Not many candidates really do that. I appreciate the opportunity for dialogue.
With regard to Reagan, where would the horse-trading lead you? What are the principles that you embrace that could be sacrificed to get some smaller advantage? Many Libertarians run as if they expect to govern with a Libertarian majority in both houses of Congress. I’m glad that you recognize this can’t be so anytime in the near future.
No doubt there will always be poor among us. Of course, we are not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, either. The idea of the tithe being merely 10% is relatively modern – in the OT there are several tithes addressed to different people at different times of the year. Leonard Sweet says that for the average Jew in OT times the tithe was somewhere between 23% and 26%, again depending on their wealth, what year it was in the Jubilee cycle, etc. Your idea of the income tax holiday actually ties in with the Torah idea of Jubilee in a way that I appreciate, although it is in Jubliee that the Torah’s hostility to accumulations of wealth also is made pretty clear.
Thank you again and best wishes.
Only problem I see Wayne is that in advertising you have to constantly hammer on your message. And each and every time I read your message you hammer on Obama, but say little or nothing to get the Libertarian message across.
As far as Reagan and Friedman, everyone has weaknesses and mistakes. Reagan allowed Democratic Congress to spend too much…and while earned income tax credit might have been a good idea at the start as a horse-trade in return from income tax cuts from 70% to 28%…it has turned into a form of socialism.
And I’ll quote Jesus for you…”The poor will always be among us.” Has never changed since biblical times. No matter what you do, there will be poor, homeless and downtrodden. No amount of bleeding heart do-gooder programs ever change a thing. We’ve learned that lesson. Time to end it.
Lastly the Bible says to tithe. If 10% is good enough for God, it should be the MAXIMUM anyone pays to government. 10% tax is about the amount citizens are willing to pay. Beyond that amount there is diminishing returns.
We need a flat tax in the 10% range…just as former Soviet countries have. If it’s good enough for them, it should be perfect for USA.
We need to throw Obama out and get back to what made America great- capitalism, entrepreneurship and low taxes.
Michael,
I’ve answered this question about a dozen times on IPR. I do not just criticize. I’ve written numerous commentaries with solutions. Time and time again. Actually I’ve listed my economic plan so many times, in so many ways, it’s hard to believe you haven’t seen it.
I’ve given perhaps 20 different tax plans.
I’ve written commentaries showing how like “George Costanza” on Seinfeld, I’d do the opposite of literally everything Obama has done.
I’ve recommended buying all the gold and silver you could get your hands on for 3 years now for individuals….since gold was $650 to $700. Now just under $2000. Amazing investment used to counter insane politicians who create mountains of debt, spending and taxes.
I put my money where my mouth is. Every step of way, I’ve predicted what Obama would do…and I’ve bought gold and silver to protect my assets. And literally begged my readers and supporters to do the same.
I’ve ended almost every commentary I’ve written with the solutions- follow the Texas model vs. the Obama death spiral model.
Here’s a few ideas to start…
Cut taxes, dramatically cut spending, fire govt employees, eliminate entire govt departments, cut entitlements, stop all govt aid or entitlements to illegal aliens, move education spending to the state level, promote free markets, encourage entrepreneurship, end collective bargaining for govt employees, change govt employee pensions from defined benefit to defined contribution, end affirmative action, make all of America a non-union right to work country just like Texas and my state of Nevada, dramatically reduce regulations, pass tort reform, pass “Loser Pays” laws, end wars, dramatically reduce foreign aid, cut military bases across the globe, legalize sin like pot and online gaming (and tax it), and restore the gold standard.
How’s that for a start?
Hi Wayne – thanks as usual for your involvement in the discussion. Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman liked at least some forms of income redistribution – both favored an earned income tax credit and even a negative income tax for the working poor. Where they wrong, or not true conservatives, or not true libertarians?
Also, the Torah is actively hostile to accumulation and the passing of capital from generation to generation, and Jesus spoke favorably of income redistribution from rich to poor. While this won’t matter to many on this thread, it should to those who proclaim the importance of their Christian faith in their lives and their politics. I’m not necessarily saying that one’s faith must decide one’s politics, but I would like to see you grapple a little more with how you get intellectually and spiritually from being a Jew and a born again Christian to an unabashed cheerleader for wealth accumulation.
Thanks and best wishes…
Wayne writes; “Every one of my commentaries that you have criticized have turned out to be incredibly accurate.”
I suppose you keep a record of my criticisms. Great! Now is it not correct that I have most often criticized you for not explaining what the Libertarian solution would be?
Okay Wayne. How do you propose this problem we have be solved?
Off the radio…have 5 minute break…one more thing Michael…
Rasmussen poll out today…the most popular label in all of politics- REAGAN.
Saying a politician “is just like Reagan” is single best label in all of politics.
The only positive label.
Landslide positive:
51% positive vs 22% negative.
What is worst label? “Socialist.”
Huge majority of American voters love Reagan and despise socialists.
So I guess I’m on the right track. I label myself as a “Reagan Libertarian” and I label Obama as a socialist.
And a majority of Americans now labels Obama as “socialist.”
And as the economy and jobs picture gets bleaker by the day…and the Obama Great Depression takes hold…
My predictions look more accurate by the day.
And voters by huge majorities long for a new Reagan…and blame the jobs disaster on socialist Obama…
And my writings and predictions are applauded by more and more common sense Americans…
And they feel positive about the brand “Libertarian.”
That’s what this is all about.
Getting voters to understand that fiscal conservatism and free market Libertarianism is good…and progressivism and income redistribution is a deadly disease.
Every one of my commentaries that you have criticized have turned out to be incredibly accurate.
My next prediction…the biggest bailout in world history will be announced soon…perhaps within 3 weeks…but certainly by end of year. A coordinated QE3 involving central banks across the globe to try to save America and EU…and world banking system.
That will be the final blow that destroys the economy…brings America to her knees…brings unemployment to 10% to 15% (real number 20%+)…
Destroys the dollar…
And leads to gold prices of $3000 soon…
Passing $5000 per ounce within a year or two.
Obama, politicians, the Fed, banksters, unions and lawyers have conspired to destroy this country. And it is working.
Welcome to The Great Obama Depression.
ROFLMA. to Micheal. DUH
Let’s see Michael…right now I’m on the radio in Portland, Oregon talking about Obama’s Axis of Evil and how big government and big unions and of course lawyers ruin everything they touch. I’d guestimate my 100th media interview in the past 4 weeks. Record-setting pace for not only any Libertarian, but any third party political leader. I guess THAT is what it is aout. Getting a popular message out…and being identified in each case as Wayne Root, LIBERTARIAN. That is how you brand a party and a freedom movement.
Same strategy as Ron Paul and Rand Paul. You tell people what you believe in…you get in the media…you win over fans. It’s called politics!
Gotta run. Back on the air.
Wayne
I am trying to figure out what was being promoted in Root’s post other than Obama is a problem. Can anyone clue me in?
@4:
With regard to unions, the LP Platform says “We support the right of free persons to associate or not associate in labor unions, and an employer should have the right to recognize or refuse to recognize a union. We oppose government interference in bargaining, such as compulsory arbitration or imposing an obligation to bargain.” So the Libertarian Party does NOT support the present system in which government forces employers to recognize and bargain with unions which have won representation elections, much less the proposed “card check” legislation or the NLRB’s recent micro-union regulations. Many private union actions, such as their recent ploy to use the NLRB to block Boeing from opening a plant in South Carolina, cause great harm (both direct and indirect) to the country’s economy.
Furthermore, in my opinion, no level of government should bargain or contract with public employee unions, due to the highly corruptive process by which unions bankroll and campaign to elect public officials who will then roll over to union demands at the expense of taxpayers. That same process also preserves monopolistic government activities such as public schools.
As far as litigation goes, the harmful impact on the economy comes from extortionary and frivolous lawsuits, and a tort system which encourages “jackpot” litigation with no financial downside (e.g., the lack of “loser pays” accountability). And similar to public employee unions, many tort lawyers who win big jackpots in class action lawsuits then use those winnings to bankroll and campaign for politicians who will block legal reforms.
So it is quite reasonable for Wayne to include unionization and litigation in his Obama Axis of Evil, along with taxation, regulation, and government strangulation. All of those factors go a long way towards explaining the depression we’re currently mired in, and why we’re not likely to recover from it as long as we continue in this direction.
Right on Tom! As a veteran I learned early on about the waste and real simple fact; we cannot afford to keep the troops overseas that we now have deployed.
One of the most embarrassing pieces that Wayne Root has penned. Who is his audience?
Even the most rabid Tea Partiers I know would not spew this about the President. Maybe we should change the LP name to the “Know Nothings?” {I don’t need a history lesson- I know “Know Nothing Party” did not refer to their knowledge but to their refusal to name those involved with them.}
Bob,
The “defense” budget — not counting secret spending, “defense” spending hidden in other budget lines, etc. — is the single largest discretionary spending item.
Appropriated-by-category “security” spending in the 2011 budget constituted 63% of discretionary federal spending (per OMB-2011 Budget Summary Table S3).
That’s the budget — it doesn’t count most of the war spending, which is appropriated in between budgets through “emergency supplementals.”
When considering “defense” as a percentage of DEBT, keep in mind that Social Security is at least theoretically self-funding through its own associated tax and “trust fund” (the trust fund consisting of IOUs that the feds put in the “lock box” when they borrowed the money to spend on “defense”).
Should entitlement spending be cut? Certainly — but defense could be cut more, and more quickly, more easily, with fewer short-term negative side effects.
6 teeth, sorry, that’s non-responsive, since you don’t refer to the math of your claim. I agree with your point generally, but not so much as a budgetary exercise.
Teeth
Your points show us why Wayne Root is an idiot. I also know that I have repeatedly accused him of bald faced lying.
Wayne Root is an idiot. A neo con idiot in the same mold as Bob Barr. Time to moveondororg, so to speak.
Psst. Move on are another group of idiots.
Note also the economy being weakened when the defense industries tied up large parts of our good engineering students.
@5
Add large amounts through the entire Clinton Administration in which our military- industrial-socialist-welfare complex failed to cut back when the USSR folded, not to mention the Republican War Crimes Party War on Iraq. ‘largely’ is somewhat qualitative, but the war budget is still more than half the deficit.
Military and national security are the bulk of our thoroughly useless (even harmful) spending.
I’d like to slash entitlements, but at least they go to Americans, who then spend that money in the U.S.
Much military spending goes to buy ordnance which is then blown up — more of a financial waste than food stamps — and even kills innocent civilians.
Our national security spending steals our freedoms to a degree that medicare spending does not.
4 teeth, how do you conclude that increasing debt is “largely due” military and national security spending? It’s a factor, and I believe is the easiest first area to cut, but I don’t see it being the single largest reason for mounting federal debt, certainly not more than half the reason. Do you overstate?
Root: principles to which Obama’s life is dedicated: Taxation, Regulation, Government Strangulation, Unionization and Litigation.
I realize that Root’s spouting will find favor with a certain segment of the LP. Yet libertarian philosophy opposes neither unions nor lawyers.
In a free market, workers are free to form unions, no? Doesn’t the LP platform say so?
And libertarians propose litigation as a solution to all manner of ills. LP members often say that lawsuits — not regulation — are the proper way to fight pollution, and disputes between property owners, employers/employees, business people, etc.
Yet it seems that Root (and other libertarians of his ilk) oppose regulation — and lawsuits and unions. The message is: businesses, employers, and property owners (i.e., those with much money) are always right. If they step on your rights, tough. Neither law — nor lawyers, nor unions — should protect you.
Root: Our national debt goes up $3 million per minute under Obama.
Largely due to the military and national security agencies’ budgets. Yet predictably, Root leaves those sacred Tea Party cows unmentioned.
soooooooooo disappointed in Bush 41
soooooooooo disappointed in Clinton
soooooooooo disappointed in Bush 43
soooooooooo disappointed in Obama
what is there NOT to be unhappy about, as Obama is merely the third term of W.
Look at all of the Cheney – Bush hold overs! Dozens of them! Success, oh the 38% approval rating?
Here is a link to the Chicago Federal Reserve bank’s National Activity Index http://www.chicagofed.org/webpages/research/data/cfnai/current_data.cfm
Historically it has given us a fairly good idea as to what is happening.
I’m pleased that Wayne mentioned Bush, and how he started the awful financial predicament we’re in. I really wish Root would ease up on the Obama-bashing, though. It looks to me like he’s jealous of Obama’s success, and that’s not very becoming. IMO.