Pay our Bills

People don’t realize, or don’t want to realize, what the debt ceiling debate is all about, including Congressmen, Senators and everyday people. But the President this morning put it quite succinctly.

The whole debate has nothing to do with new spending or giving the president, as has been advertised, “a blank check.” What the President is fighting for is the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already approved. None of this is new debt, which is another matter entirely

The Only Thing We Have to Fear

I think President Obama needs a little Franklin Delano Roosevelt in him.

A number of people in government have called for Obama to invoke the 14th amendment to the Constitution and increase the debt ceiling by presidential declaration. He has said that his lawyers have advised that doing so might not be consittutional.

FDR approached things differently. Some of his actions and projects, initiated during the Greaat Depression, in time came to be called unconsitutional by the Court. However, by the time all the legal wrangling was over he had accomplished what was necessaary for the country.

Mr. Obama needs to stick his neck out a little and do now and worry about it later.

Rick Perry and the Constitution

Texas governor Rick Perry wants to hold the federal government to only those items enumerated in the Constitution. All other rights belong to the states he believes.

Well, if Rick Perry wants to adhere to the actual words of the Constitution, Texas will change dramatically. First, the military bases located in Texas (and there are tons of them) have to be closed, NASA (in whatever form it will be) has to move out, all production for military contracts have to end, you have to tear up all those Interstate highways that were built with 90% federal money, all homes built with VA, FHA, Fannie or Freddy Mae money have to be torn down, Church donations will lose their tax deductibility, the border patrol has to move out, close all those federal government offices, and on and on and on. What's left Mr. Perry? Talk is cheap, but not the consequences.

Job Creators or just plain Fat Cats

You can’t help but notice in the news how Republicans refer to the wealthy in this country as “the job creators,” and as such should not see their tax break given to them by President Bush be done away with. Without the “job creators” no new businesses would be started and companies would not expand their payrolls. After all, they feel, the trickle down economic theory of Ronald Reagan, which didn’t work before should have a second shot.

What I do not understand is if these people are the “job creators” how come they didn’t create jobs with that Bush tax cut? And why will it work now? In other words, why is this day different than all other days?