On your one year anniversary you awake to see “Republican Brown beats Coakley in special Senate election in Massachusetts”

As with your predecessor you’ve learned that arrogance and bull-headed behavior can only take you so far. You’ve watched an approval rating of staggering proportions fall to earth on a health care package only 1/3 of the people want. Your party is starting to fall by the wayside and you, yourself, are quickly putting yourself on the path to a one term presidency.

Learn from those who came before your – hubris will destroy you – as it did with President GW Bush.

Now things get really, really interesting. How you react to this election and how your maneuver the senate healthcare will dictate, potentially, how the next three years work out for you.

Wouldn’t you know it, a President Obama ecstasy pill in on the streets in Texas.

Really people?

Just a small question here…

When you learned your American history what were the non-native Americans who attended the first thanksgiving called?

They were called Pilgrims.

So why is it President Obama needed – or felt the need - to call them European settlers? No other presidential Thanksgiving day proclamation in the last 12 years felt the need to specifically point out European, so what is so special about the distinction now?

Little by little this administration is trying to change the traditions and fundamental beliefs this country was founded on.

The media is suggesting President Obama will announce his Afghanistan war strategy on December 1st, 2009. In his address to the nation the President is expected to deploy an additional 35,000 troops in support of the strategy. All of this make me as the question who is it we are fighting?

As a result of providing safe haven to Osama Bin Laden, Afghanistan became the target of military forces. The initial goals of the war efforts were:

1. Capture all leaders of al-Qaeda
2. Close every terrorist training camp within the country
3. Hold open elections, allowing the people of Afghanistan the ability to direct their own future

While I have no ability to see what is going on within that country at this very moment, I am very aware Osama Bin Laden has not been captured, thus failing on point number one. As violence continues on a daily basis I would feel safe saying U.S. forces do not have full control of the country. If the military cannot claim military superiority within the country there is no way to say that every training camp is closed, failure point number two. The only success that can be claimed is open elections.

So, where does that leave the U.S.? Who is it we are fighting?

Are we fighting al-Qaeda, are we fighting what remains of the Taliban, or are we really targeting a bunch of pissed off, well armed, opium farmers? I think it is safe to ask if the Government even knows who we are fighting and why we are doing so.

In 2001 a full Congress supported military action; today it seems as if the war is aimless. While I would criticize President Obama for waiting so long to provide the additional troops asked for by the military, the development of a strategy is long over due AND appropriate for the Administration to address.

The military has failed on two of the three objectives, we the people need to know what the strategy is moving forward and who will be accountable for the efforts? The nation needs to see President Obama state the goals for Afghanistan, including a clear outline of who the enemy is and why we are fighting because, at this point, it is a futile effort.

The administration attempted to get around President Obama’s first “non bow” with the King of Saudi Arabia by saying he was going to shake the King’s hand.  It was obvious to anyone with an IQ that doesn’t fall into the mentally handicapped range that the President did, indeed, bow.  (Here is a reminder for you).

While meeting the Emperor of Japan this past weekend President Obama, once again, took a bow.  There is no getting around it, no “he was going to shake his hand” spin here. The President bowed. The administration came out saying the President was simply following protocol when, in fact, he was not.

Actually – there is NO protocol for a president bowing. Here is why: One of the pillars the United States was founded on was the rejection of a caste system (hereditary social classes and subclasses)   No Americans in any station are required to bow to royalty as bowing signifies submission to the person receiving the bow.  Bowing is not a sign of mutual respect.  As President Obama represents the United States, as a result, when the president bows to a foreign official he bows for all Americans.

You have politicians and pundits trying to make this a political thing, it is not.  This is a man that just ignored 230 plus years of principle. I would be very curious to know how any World War Two Bataan Death March survivors (if there are any alive today) feel about this.  Let us look past that for a second, let us look at the ‘gesture’ from the Japanese perspective.  What very well may have been intended as a sign of respect could be interpreted as a sign of weakness.

Kyodo News is running his appropriate and reciprocated nod and shake with the Empress, certainly to show the president as dignified, and not in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.

“The bow as he performed did not just display weakness in Red State terms, but evoked weakness in Japanese terms….The last thing the Japanese want or need is a weak looking American president and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part

Some one really needs to alert the President that the message he is sending is, quite possible, not the message he is intending.

I have a two big problems with the government forcing health insurance on the public.  First is the true motivator for pushing insurance to all – it is the ONLY way the system can be semi-self sufficient but the politicians will not tell you that.  The second is having the government tell me what to do with my life.  If I have a better option the government should not force me into their solution.

In an interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper President Obama gave his thoughts on penalties for individuals who attempted to “get a free ride” on the health care system.

“What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance and if you don’t, you’re subject to some penalty, that in this situation, if you have the ability to buy insurance, it’s affordable and you choose not to do so, forcing you and me and everybody else to subsidize you

Critical point

If one does not want to pay auto insurance there is a simple solution, don’t drive.  If one does not want to be part covered by health insurance the solution is simple, pay cash for services with medical providers that do not accept insurance.

You cannot draw a direct comparison as auto insurance has a way out, the proposed health insurance does not. The solution for people who do not want insurance is pre pay for services – but, again, the administration does not want to let you out of the health insurance mandate or else they will have issues with paying for the program.

The bottom line is this: with auto insurance there is a way out, with the suggested health insurance there is none.  To draw a penalty comparison from one system that has an opt out to a system that does not is an invalid argument.

In a previous post I took issue with President Obama’s comment that he would “caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts” but, in the face of evidence, still he would not call the attack at Ft. Hood a terrorist event.  It seems that Joe Lieberman, the one time Democrat Senator, has suggested the shooting spree was a possible home grown terror attack.

While President Obama’s initial comments were correct – no one should jump to conclusions. When the evidence shows this shooter was a religious fanatic there is little doubt left. Just because this individual was of Islamic faith does not mean he was a terrorist, it was the actions he took in the name of the faith.  Much like a Christian abortion protester is not a terrorist for holding their views but becomes one if they go and blow up a clinic in the name of God.

Be it in financial, military or ethical matters President Obama needs to stop playing the role global appeaser and be a global leader.

It is important to point out this not law, but parts may be taken and included into what may potentially become U.S health care reform. Regardless – holy god does this piss me off.

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail.  The JCT letter  makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

The above is not someone playing politics with information. It comes directly from a non-partisan committee on all things regarding federal taxation.

Now why does this piss me off? Three reasons.

To begin we need to look at what President Obama said several months ago while addressing a Joint Session of Congress saying:

Now, most of these costs will be paid for with money already being spent — but spent badly — in the existing health care system. The plan will not add to our deficit. The middle class will realize greater security, not higher taxes. And if we are able to slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of 1 percent each year — one-tenth of 1 percent — it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term.

If the government is imposting a financial charge upon citizens is not considered a tax, I no longer know what the definition of tax is. How politicians can say the middle class will not feel higher taxes yet they are forcing people to pay for something they may not want is beyond me.

Which comes to the second issue that bothers me. There is not a health care crisis in the United States, there is a health care cost crisis and any law that is passed would not be health care reform but health care insurance reform. If the government was to address the true issue – cost – they would be addressing fraud, waste and tort reform.  They would be addressing the cost issues head on, not trying to divert the publics attention.

Remember, why is it people cannot get insurance?  The cost is too high.  Why is the cost too high? Because medical care costs are almost prohibitive.

Finally, the government should not be telling people what they must or must or must not buy – be it health insurance, be it what kind of car someone drives or be it the food they eat. What the politicians are not saying is WHY they are forcing you to buy health insurance.

Without having the mass population buying insurance, or paying fines, there is little to no way for the government to pay for health insurance. The Government must TAX everyone in order to the plan to be even semi-self sufficient.

Health Care Reform is needed, the cost needs to be addressed, but what is taking place now isn’t trying to fix the issue.  This is all a sham. That is why I’m pissed me off.

There are a number of developments to point out this evening so let us get right into it, shall we?

FDIC Friday!

9 Banks closed were shuttered by the FDIC on Friday with a total asset base of $19.1B in total – and I thought the 7 from last week were bad .  The banks in question are:

• California National Bank, CA
• Bank USA, NA, AZ
• San Diego National Bank. CA
• Pacific National Bank, CA
• Park National Bank, IL
• Community Bank of Lemont, IL
• North Houston Bank, TX
• Madisonville State Bank, TX
• Citizens National Bank, TX

How much will the 9 closings cost the FDIC DIF fund? A nice little sum of $2.5B.  Nice, huh?

Stimulus has saved, created 650,000 – Bullsh*t

The magic of being a politician is that one can say just about anything without providing much detail about your statement or claim and very few people will have the ability to debunk your claim.  Then, if someone does attempted to make sense of your statement, you can simply attack them without using facts and claim the person questioning you is unfit or unqualified to be asking such a question.

In 2008 Mr. Obama stated he would “save or create 3.5 million jobs by 2011” including “600,000 “created or saved” this year.  There are so many problems with this claim it is laughable.

There is virtually no way to hold him accountable to this number as there is no realistic way to count a “saved” job.  So, to hear the administration claim a total of 650,000 jobs were saved due to $159B in stimulus spending is highly questionable.

If you break it down one could imply there were 650,000 new/saved jobs that pay $160,000 per year? God forbid one actually questions the administration on such a thing:

Jared Bernstein, chief economist and senior economic advisor to the vice president, called that “calculator abuse.”

He said the cost per job was actually $92,000 — but acknowledged that estimate is for the whole stimulus package as of the end of 2010.

Stay classy Bernstein.

Two areas that allegedly benefited where construction (80K) and education (325K).  You mean to have the public believe roughly 400,000 construction and teaching jobs were created AND pay 92K a year?

Really?

Look at the base average of those two groups and tell me there is any truth there.

We already know the official unemployment number reported is severely under reported, and the method of collecting data for this survey is faulty, how can anyone believe this claim?

It’s politics, pure and simple.

The coming (Commercial) Real Estate Crash

Capmark was the big signal last week that CRE lenders are really feeling the economic pinch.  While people have been warning of the CRE implosion for almost a year now, the press is beginning to really take notice of the situation.

Wilbur Ross Jr, the leveraged buyout specialist, is warning of the impending doom:

“All of the components of real estate value are going in the wrong direction simultaneously,” said Ross, one of nine money managers participating in a government program to remove toxic assets from bank balance sheets. “Occupancy rates are going down. Rent rates are going down and the capitalization rate — the return that investors are demanding to buy a property — are going up.”

Let’s put this into terms most people can relate to.

You have a mall and each vendor needs to make rent; however, you have a bad holiday season.  As a result, quarter of the vendors can no longer make their monthly payments.  Stores close, occupancy goes down. Unfortunately the property owner must have a certain occupancy rate to meet the demands of their loan.  No longer being at this threshold the property owner defaults and banks now have a “toxic” loan on their hands.

Rinse. Repeat.

This story is going on all over the United States in both retail on office. Unfortunately for CRE lenders the Federal Reserve is saying “Hey, good luck with that!”

Financial institutions that implement prudent loan workout arrangements after performing comprehensive reviews of borrowers’ financial conditions will not be subject to criticism for engaging in these efforts, even if the restructured loans have weaknesses that result in adverse credit classifications. In addition, performing loans, including those renewed or restructured on reasonable modified terms, made to creditworthy borrowers, will not be subject to adverse classification solely because the value of the underlying collateral declined.

Just a matter of time until the banks get hammered.

I am still in shock about President Obama winning the Nobel peace prize.  Flat out shock. The man has done nothing – NOTHING – that would ever come close to supporting this award at this point in his career.

This isn’t a political attack, it’s simply the truth.  Thus far, he:

• Didn’t end US involvement in Iraq
• Is on the verge of escalating Afghanistan
• Hasn’t closed down Guantanamo, despite his pledge to do so, and now is looking for another place to keep the prisoners
• Continues to support the warrantless wiretaps
• Forgot to criticize Israel for the use of excessive force in Gaza

Really, folks, this feels completely political to me.

Is President Obama a Theodore Roosevelt, George C. Marshall or Martin Luther King Jr..  No. Has he done anything on the scale of Mother Teresa?  Fight for people in the same manner that the Dalai Lama has?  No.  Did he help end the Communist Era like Mikhail Gorbachev did?  No.

All of the above have won the prize, and rightfully so. President Obama has done nothing.  For crying out loud, he was nominated only a month into taking office.  Really?  Come on, really?

Oh, and why did he win the prize:  “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”

Keep waiting for your Nobel peace prize for all that you do to improve the world.