UPDATE10/28 : Moodys Agrees that Obama's Uncertainty is why we have no jobs.

ORIGINAL BLOG:
This week an AFL-CIO executive said 'Hey, Jesus Christ couldn't do anything more than President Obama has on the agenda we supported two years ago..."

Well that is of course just more Democrat sillyness. We didn't need Jesus to start the recovery again, we just needed one smart German chancellor named Angela Merkel.

If you read the news stories from 2009, you will find that Merkel worked with her coalition and attacked the recession with spending (yes it can work) but, she followed with a program of tax cuts and planned spending cuts.

Some of the left, like Paul Krugman have pointed out that Germany did some spending just like the US. He has also pointed out that much of the Germany austerity program has not been triggered. They are correct on both counts.  Germany jump started the economy with some quick spending and made it clear the spending was temporary and it would come with tax cuts.  They created an environment where business could bet that things would get better.  This optimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The United States jump started the economy with some quick spending. As much as many Teaparty supporters may hate to hear this, done right it could have worked. However the alliance of Obama, Reid and Pelosi promised more government spending by passing a stimulus with much of its spending out in the future.  They then created enormous uncertainty by forcing through a giant 2200 page bill that not even the creators have read. The "health care" bill made so many changes to our health insurance system, including costs that not even the bill's creators know what is in it.  To add to the chaos they have promised to pass "Cap & Trade" that would charge working industry for CO2 emissions and make many associated with a new Chicago based "CO2 Exchange" very rich.

Finally, congressional democrats chose not to create a budget for 2011, they also chose not even vote on which tax rates would stay the same leaving almost every US tax payer and business due for a giant tax increase in Jan 2011.

Germany did spend, but tied it to a plan that would allow business to trust in the recovery.  The US spent, then planed for more spending, and used their control of Congress and the White House to plan for pushing years of failed agenda they have wanted for years.  Democrats have created years of uncertainty for businesses that are now happy to do what they can with the workforce they have.

This is why President Obama owns this jobless recovery

The Numbers

Lets look at some key charts from: Tradingeconomics.com  Chart Problems have been Figured out and fixed.. had to take image grabs from site as links changed as people played with new charts.


This is the chart of GDP growth Quarter over Quarter.   We see US and German spending spiked GDP, but as soon as core spending trailed off, Germany is seeing real business growth pick up the slack.  In the US we are heading back down again and may be one or two quarters away from a double-dip recession.

Good News:  Since I write this initial Q2 numbers added show GDP fall ("double dip fall") may be leveling off, I hope.

Recovering from Unemployment
Now more importantly to the claim that Obama just needs more time to start getting jobs back.  The US unemployment rate has not moved even as government payrolls have increased.  Why? Because every smart business in the US is streamlining for the coming increased costs of health insurance and the automatic tax increases coming on Jan 1, 2011.




Not Jesus - Just Willing to Accept Advice

We didn't need Obama to be Jesus, we just needed him to work with the GOP and take advice he has ignored from leaders in Europe about creating a plan business can trust.   The irony is if Obama had not gone it alone and taken a 100% progressive economic path, we might see jobs coming back. This of course could have meant he might not be loosing some or all of the congress and he would have created enough political capital to try his agenda in coming years, without trashing our economy to do it.

Hubris and impatience created a bad stimulus, a bad health insurance bill and a jobless recovery balanced on the edge a second recession.

Déjà vu
Finally, it is interesting to note that the New York Times and other media criticized Germany for planning to cut taxes and increasing the deficit.  Now, Germany is already seeing an increase in tax revenue from its smart business friendly policies.

Will They Never Learn?!

Links to Read:
Merkel 2009 Tax Cuts criticized by NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/business/global/14gcon.html
2009 Germany Media also assumes tax rate cuts will increase deficit:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5035680,00.html


Germany 2010 in growth ready for more tax cuts to keep it going while tax revenue is up:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20101023/tpl-uk-germany-taxes-20b2d2f.html

 
Being a conservative-libertarian leaning person who sees excessive government as a real problem I am going to disagree with Mr. Juan Williams more often than not.

Any person who has watched Juan in verbal battle on Fox News Sunday and other Fox News programming knows he has a unique style.  He is passionate while charming, he is steadfast while respectful.  Juan Williams is something I will never attain someone who has reached the nearly perfect balance of political passion with civility and class.

I was watching last Monday when Juan made his statement about feeling discomfort when those who choose to dress in Muslim attire share the plane with him.  I thought, “Wow that was honest.”  Juan Williams admitted that his gut reacts before his better-self kicks in.  But that is Juan, honest and willing to speak his mind.

Without a well crafted façade of political correctness, Juan is someone you have to listen to with respect even when you are sure he is totally wrong.  Why? because Juan isn’t faking it, he isn’t spinning for some other group to curry favor he is telling you how he sees it.

Juan Williams is at times very intimate with his audiences. There may be marriages that don’t share the level of sincere honesty that Juan chooses to share with his colleagues and viewers.

Today, Juan Williams was liberated from the prison of NPR liberal PC dogma. Today NPR showed it has a double standard.  That its OK for Nina Totenberg to wish AIDS on someone’s grandchildren, it is ok for her to lament that there are moderates in the Democrat party.  All this as she pretends to be a news correspondent for NPR.  Yet Williams as an analyst can not share a personal secret in an attempt to expand the dialog on what creates prejudice.

Ironically, Obama was willing to share this secret about his grandmother. Jessie Jackson once shared that even he at times felt uncomfortable when encountering black youth on the street.  What does this mean?  It means Obama’s grandma, Jessie Jackson and Juan Williams are human.  They they have a survival instinct that happens faster than the mind can insert reason.

Of course most Muslims are not terrorists, but most terrorism in the last two decades has been carried out in the name of Islam and that creates a pattern that few can ignore.  Juan is self-aware enough to know he has a reaction, he is honest enough to share that awareness. Outside of NPR anyone who has listened to Juan speak, knows he personally empowered enough to choose to treat people he meets as individuals and to fight for their right not to labeled with the horrific actions of others.

Many in the left will be cruel to Juan and CAIR has again outed itself as an enemy of the kind of discussion that can help us understand the true diversity of Muslim attitudes in America.  And again, Fox News wins as it is there to offer Juan a greater roll in expressing a view that goes counter to its editorial slant.

At NPR the kool-aid will be flowing strong. At Fox News Juan will now be free to share himself and work to bridge the ideological gap without worrying that one of his employers will be upset.  Juan is someone who can help us understand that liberals and conservatives all can share a love for America and have different views about how to fulfill its dream.  Today he is liberated from the “head in the sand” liberals at NPR and can now show us Liberalism in its best and most honorable form.

My only fear is that this truly nice man might actually win some people over to his views because of his respectful charm.  Its easy to dislike and dismiss the shrill cat calls of most left-wing commentators. It is never easy to dismiss Juan. Even when he is wrong, he will always have my respect.

Juan Williams, congratulations on your new found freedom to speak your truth where we can listen.

The liberty of America has created a place for some terrible hate groups to emerge.  From the KKK to the Weather Underground hate goes hand in hand with a faced of arrogance.  In truth haters feel so pathetic they can only "raise" how they see themselves by knocking down others.

In some cases involving the KKK the Constitution has protected hate speech made in a public venue.  In these cases it has been ruled that the community must tolerate the hate speech in the form of parades and protests.  Protecting the rights of even the vile in our communities is one of the things that makes America great.  Just north of us in Canada, people are arrested just for saying things that others consider hateful.  Free speech is under full attack above the 49th parallel.

But down here we need to be diligent in protecting the rights of free expression above the rights of the community to squelch it for comfort.

Too many people including, Glenn Beck, have mistaken what the monsters of the Westboro Hate Cult as a public protest.  If this was about the community preventing these hateful monsters from expressing their revolting views the Constitution wins the the community must tolerate this.  To do otherwise is to put the First Amendment in jeopardy.

However, these protests are not located to protest a public institution or public entity.  They are not even located to optimize visibility to the public as a parade or protest down "main street" would.  What this hate cult does is designed with the intent of targeting for maximum emotional damage.

These people pick an emotional event where they can inflict maximum pain and create a contrived feeling of power.  This is the key, their message is not about about changing public policy directed at those with the power to change it.  If you search for their website, look at the URL they have chosen.  This message is a personal attack of hate.  When they show up at funeral their hate becomes an attack on vulnerable people meant only to create a perverted power structure where the mourning families are meant to feel powerless. They are parasites feeding on the pain of others to create a feeling of personal empowerment what they are too weak and stupid to do for themselves.

This is not what the First Amendment was designed to protect.  It was meant to protect expression from censorship by government and by extension the community.  It never was intended to protect intentional infliction of harm on another.  This is where we have long had exceptions.  Slander and liable are not protected forms of speech, because they are designed to do harm.  They are sometimes protected when the target has by choice become a public figure.  These families are not mourning by choice. And it is this emotion of mourning that is targeted.

What this hate cult does has the same intent as a cross burning.  The Supreme Court has already ruled just seven years ago in Virginia v. Black that laws meant to prevent intimidation are constitutional.  In this case it is not a law, but the outcome of a civil suit.  The result of the suit was overturned on the assumption that this hate speech is protected. However the intent is the same, to intimidate and feed perverted needs by seeking out the most emotionally vulnerable in our communities, those mourning the loss of a loved one.

If this cult of hate wants to express their vile opinions within the bounds of the constitution, they should be required do it where those in mourning are not forced to see it.  That means away from the ceremonies and away from any routes required to arrive at and leave the cerimonies.  As long as the family can mourn and return home by at least one route without being the victim of these vile attacks, the rights of the vile to be vile in public should then be protected.

In this case the family was not protected they won a case, but a disconnected appeals court failed to understand the nature of this hate and reversed the will of a jury.  It is my hope that Supreme Court will realize this is not about protecting the speech of the Westboro haters who have nearly unlimited options to express their views, it is about protecting the vulnerable in a time of mourning.