Listen carefully, very carefully from now on when President Obama speaks.  Listen not only to what he says; listen to what he doesn’t say.  Here are some key examples:

1.    Obama says that Universal Health Care must be passed and passed very quickly to reduce the cost of health care.

a.    Obama “doesn’t say” what he actually means by reducing the cost of health care, how this will be accomplished, what health care will mean to you, the individual.  As all common sense people know, everything has a cost either in dollars or in product or service.  Obama doesn’t say” that health care will be rationed to save money; in other words you won’t receive health care the same way that you used to receive health care.  He “doesn’t say or explain” that statistical analysis will be used to justify the denial of health care primarily based on age and probability of recovery.
b.    He “doesn’t say” or explain how spending 2 trillion on health care by borrowing from foreign countries actually generates a savings.
c.    He “doesn’t say” that all of this spending will NOT result in everyone being covered anyway … because it’s not enough money.
d.    He “doesn’t say” that you will give up your freedoms; freedom to choose your physician, to choose your hospital, to choose when you will get your care.
e.    He “doesn’t say” that up to 35% of the 46 million uninsured DON’T WANT IT;  these are mostly young people who have done the math and decide that it isn’t worth it based on their age … not because they can’t afford it.
f.    He “doesn’t say” that 25-30% of the 46 million are illegal aliens and, at the least, should pay for the health care they receive without any subsidy from legal aliens and citizens as a simple matter of right and wrong.

2.    Obama says he doesn’t wish to “meddle” with the internal situation in Iran or other countries.

a.    Obama “doesn’t say” that he doesn’t wish to meddle with Israel.  On the contrary, he creates a moral equivalency between the building or expansion of settlements in the West Bank and the fact that Israel has no partner in any serious peace negotiation because there is no Palestinian representative willing to recognize the State of Israel or even admit to any sense of legitimacy.

3.    Obama says that we have to get back to fiscal responsibility and a “pay as you go” system.

a.    Obama “doesn’t say” that this is quite a statement since he just spent 10+ times more than any other modern day President in just the first 100 days of his administration and how that can make any sense at all.
b.    He “doesn’t say” that all Americans, rich, middle class and poor, will pay huge new taxes on virtually everything we pay for.
c.    He “doesn’t say” that under active consideration is a VAT (Value Added Tax) or National Sales Tax that we will all pay in addition to everything else.  He further “doesn’t say” that the so-called tax cut on 95% of Americans is ultimately a ruse to help mask the real agenda of huge, unprecedented spending, taxation, regulation and huge infringements on our liberty we all face dead ahead.

4.    Obama says that he has saved over 100,000 jobs so far and projects 600,000 saved jobs in the next 90 days.

a.    Obama “doesn’t say” that he has no idea how he can say this because there is no known metric for measuring “saved jobs.”
b.    He “doesn’t say” that we have lost an additional 2+ million jobs since inauguration day.
c.    He “doesn’t say” that the unemployment rate is now more than 1 percentage point higher than he said it would go.

5.    Obama says that he doesn’t want to be in the auto business or the banking business or the insurance business.

a.    Obama “doesn’t say” that he is in the auto business and could have avoided it completely by letting the natural course of capitalism, the bankruptcy laws and the free markets deal with it as it has always done so well and efficiently.
b.    He “doesn’t say” that he did it to protect the labor unions for the votes and to shoot the finger to the capitalists that invested in the bonds of the auto companies.
c.    He “doesn’t say” that the he didn’t readily accept repayment of the TARP from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley because he doesn’t want to relinquish control and authority over executive pay.
d.    He “doesn’t say” that he has no interest in returning AIG back into the free market instead opting to maintain control of the largest insurer in the world affecting financial relationships across the country and around the world.

6.    Obama says that he wants to make sure that all stimulus money is well spent and accounted for and that “no one messes with Joe” referring to Joe Biden who was put in charge of making sure of all of this.

a.    Obama “doesn’t say” that the stimulus isn’t really about stimulus anyway.  It’s mainly a political document that serves to reward all those constituents, mainly the labor unions that supported him and the Democrat Party.
b.    He “doesn’t say” that the stimulus hasn’t resulted in 1 provable new job, at least in the private sector.

So, when President Obama speaks … LISTEN … but not just to what he says or how he says it … LISTEN to what he doesn’t say.  The real truth about what drives this President and his policies can be found just by careful listening.

Arthur Cooper

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In a speech at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills last night, President Obama emphatically affirmed his policies and approach telling the friendly and exuberant audience that we have stepped back from the brink referring to the economy.  Seeming to believe that the news is better, Obama rallied the crowd by saying “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

So, Obama is starting to claim some measure of success.  He says that things are calmer now.  The only thing that is calmer is the main stream media because they don’t have a heart attack anymore over every poor economic number because they can’t continue blaming Bush for it.  How can Obama claim success?  Consider:

• • • • • • • • - Unemployment Rate is at a 25 year high
                - More Americans are collecting unemployment than ever.
                - One out 7 mortgages in foreclosure.
                - Thousands of Auto Dealerships being shut down.
                - The Dollar is dropping (losing value) due to the skyrocketing increase of the money supply courtesy of the Bush-Obama “Bail Out Nation,”

Now, I ask:

1.    Where are the shovel-ready jobs?
2.    Where and how is the $800 billion stimulus being spent?
3.    Where is the $1 Trillion in supplemental spending being used to benefit America?
4.    What evidence is there that a single job has been created as a result of the stimulus bill?

When President Obama says “you ain’t seen nothing yet” it doesn’t give much hope for conservatives that we will be getting “limited government” as is prescribed in the US Constitution anytime soon.  It is just chilling to think what he does have in store for America.  We already know that he is pushing forward at breakneck speed on Universal Healthcare, Cap and Trade and Saving the Planet.  What else is in store for America?

However, I suggest that Obama hasn’t seen anything yet.  His policies will prove to be a disaster simply on the basis of a few simple indisputable facts:

1.    Increasing Taxes has never actually improved the economy.  When the average American sees virtually everything they buy or do go shooting higher in price, Obama will and must pay a heavy political price.

2.    Massive Spending Increases - regardless of the purpose or the intent, massive government spending, using solely borrowed money, robs the private economy of needed capital and crowds out private industry.
3.    Nationalization of major sections of our economy; the government now controls major chunks of the banking industry and automobile industry … soon the government will seek to finalize a plan that essentially boasts “Medicare for Everyone.”  There is no history that shows government control of anything, with the exception of our national defense, has proven to be an unmitigated failure.
4.    Obama claimed transparency in all areas of government, yet, there is no transparency and there is no “seat at the table” as was advertised.  Someone, probably not the mainstream media, will point this out and will get through to mainstream America.
And where are the Republicans?  Nowhere!  Where are the true conservatives who can propose and effectively communicate supply-side economics, economic and tax policy that is based on incentives and not on entitlement?  Where are the true constitutionalists that limit the power and control of government in subservience to the individual?

These are indeed difficult times.  The inevitable response (and it is inevitable), will come from the grass roots.  We have seen the tea parties.  We need to see more.  They need to be larger and louder.  We need to demand better.  We need to truly recognize what the Constitution stands for and it is ultimately up to the individual to reassert individual rights and responsibilities.  It is up to the individual to reassert himself and reverse the growth in government control of our lives.

So, tell me what you think.  What does the Constitution mean to you?  What do Obama’s policies mean to you?  Let’s air this stuff out.  It’s important!

Arthur Cooper

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All of us that use our credit cards responsibly and reasonably are going to get our just due; we will be punished.  Let’s get used to it.  Out of control government has done it again … they are changing the rules and regulations on credit card companies in the name of protecting the public.  Sure, it all sounds good.  They are requiring better communication to consumers and that is always a good thing.

Here is the good stuff:

1.    Credit Card Companies can no longer retroactively increase rates on card holders UNLESS you are 60 days late on your payments.
2.    Teaser Rates must have duration of at least 1 year.
3.    Promotional rates must last at least 6 months.
4.    Payments for accounts with multiple categories (credit, cash advance, etc) will be automatically applied to the account with the highest percentage rate.
5.    Late Fees cannot be assessed unless the card holder gets the bill at least 3 weeks before the due date.
6.    No over-limit fees unless you agree to it before hand.  In other words, when you charge something that takes you over your limit, the charge will likely be denied, unless you have previously agreed to be charged a fee for that privilege.
7.    Minors (under 21) will need parental consent for credit card issuance.

Here is what is wrong:

1.    The credit card companies will respond to these imposed changes to counterbalance their reduced ability to protect their profit margins which allow them to employ their people and otherwise run their businesses.
2.    Interest Rates and fees will be increased as part of the counterbalance
3.    Credit cards will be revoked for those that cannot be carried by the credit card companies due to the rules.
4.    Credit limits will be imposed that will certainly include reduced credit limits.
5.    Credit cards will be less available especially for those with less than perfect credit scores.
6.    Credit will be less available.
7.    Bad for the individual and bad for the economy.

The Perspective

Remember to run away fast the next time government comes and tells you that they are here to help.  I have little doubt that those in government have better intentions.  However, few of them have ever run a business and / or understand how business or even capitalism even works.  In other words they just don’t know what they are doing.

Don’t forget what President Obama said he wants to do; specifically he said that he wants to get the flow of credit moving again.  Now reread and think about the above consequences of the actions.  I don’t think President Obama is lying.  I do think that he doesn’t understand or possibly believe in free market capitalism.  This is not the first or the last time this administration and this Congress will enact anti-capitalistic, anti-competitive measures in the false notion that they are protecting the public.

Government this year has acted to:

1.    Protect those facing foreclosure at the expense of those who pay their mortgages on time.
2.    Protect those with poor credit at the expense of those with good or excellent credit.
3.    Protect failing banks at the expense of well run banks.
4.    Protect failing auto manufacturers at the expense of performing manufacturers and all consumers.
5.    Make payments to those who never paid income taxes at the expense of those who pay income taxes.

These poor policies are grounded in the belief that capitalism is the problem.  However it is government that is the problem.  Capitalism is a natural process.  It involves risk, safety, fear and greed; all very human, very natural factors.  Over the generations, there is a natural swing between fear and greed, risk and safety.  Capitalism is a self-correcting process where fear is responded to by risk takers and greed is responded to by those who seek safety.  It’s a dynamic process that involves ebbs and flows, excesses and shortages; it is the natural process.

Government, in the name of help and protection for the common man, consistently gets it wrong by trying to control the individual and businesses (collections of individuals) because they know better how their citizens should behave and what they really need.  But what they don’t understand is that their attempts to control tend to distort the natural ebbs and flows of free market capitalism only to create new and often more challenging “unintended” issues.

Individuals need their natural rights and they need to act to reassert their natural rights in the face of an increasingly controlling government.

The credit card legislation is just another example of government losing its compass and its focus as opposed to what it really should be doing as stated in the Constitution.

Oh, one piece of good news.  This won’t take effect until 2010.

What do you think?  Should Government be more active or less active?  Should individuals be more active or less active?  Whose rights are being affected and how?  Comment on this.  Let’s have a discussion.
Arthur Cooper

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