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Conservative Blog History File….

Dede bowing out.  ACORN had to be disappointed.

Fighting plunging support, Republican Dierdre Scozzafava abruptly suspended her campaign Saturday in a special election for a U.S. House seat that has exposed a rift among national factions of the party. (from Oct. 31)

Although Hoffman didn’t win, a clear message was sent to the GOP that it must put up conservative candidates – at least more conservative than this one – if it wants to win.

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Conservative Blog - Top Ten Obama Policy Boomerangs

Author’s Note:  Irony and Humor are frequently exchanged for one another in the Political Humor world.  Humor is generally considered the ‘laugh out loud’ type of prose and Irony is a more pensive expression.   It is difficult to make inflation and unemployment truly ‘funny’ so the following piece falls more into the political irony category.

One of the most rewarding things about Political Humor is observing the well-intended program and policy initiatives that boomerang to politically decapitate the one who threw it.   Several issues arose this week as a result of Obama administration initiatives that may do more to damage to each situation it was intended to help.  Even though much of the country believes that Obama is God, some in the administration are no longer quite so confident. 

Policy boomerangs aren’t things that just go badly on their own.  These are ill-conceived proposals and actions that produce an obviously negative result – obvious at least to those that think before they act.  Once voters discover the dark side of the initiative –such as the actual cost or the ultimate impact, they frequently throw the policy back in the face of the originator.

Like Chicago Cubs fans that throw home-run balls from opposing teams back onto the field, voters eventually figure out what policies have hurt them or – in the case of Universal Health Care – are about to really hurt them.  Even CNN can’t cover for a Cubs pitcher serving up a hanging curve that winds up in the right field seats at Wrigley.

As we kick off another week of Obama “Hope and Change,” we should be mindful of the top ten  ‘boomerang’ policies that have some in the administration quietly looking for a foxhole.

10.  General Motors – Following the Cash for Clunkers program where there were plenty of Clunkers but little Cash, it should be noted that GM’s potential for future success is inversely related to the degree of federal government involvement in its business.  It has dawned on some in the administration that by spending billions on GM and on Cash for Clunkers, it is the government participation in the auto market that is killing the business.  Customers won’t voluntarily buy an Obamacar without huge subsidies and investors won’t put money into a government company.  So after committing to another $50 billion in taxpayer funding, General Motors may well wind up unsalvageable.  Had Obama stayed out and let bankruptcy work the way it was intended, the company would have had a fighting chance.  This boomerang not only cost a great deal of money, but threatens to ultimately kill the company it was intended to rescue.

9.  Guantanamo – Efforts to close the prison resulted in a really nice Bermuda vacation for a few ‘battlefield detainees.’  The administration has agreed to ship a couple others off to Portugal, but in the end, if Obama is to close Guantanamo, He has to come up with a place to put these killers.  In showing that the administration convinced other nations to take these murderers, Obama paid off Bermuda some months ago to take a few of them.  The prisoners wound up in a fully furnished guest house.  Northeastern workers who have been unemployed since November are now wondering why they don’t get a Bermuda vacation at taxpayer expense.  (Because they probably voted for Obama, they don’t deserve one, but still…)  Local Bermuda islanders are also upset at their own government for participating in the deal.  Bermuda residents don’t want trained killers in their neighborhoods any more than Nancy Pelosi does.  This boomerang broke into two pieces and is coming right back at both sets of governments.

8.   Interest Rates – The cost of borrowing money for business growth is greatly influenced by the government competition for funds.  As Obama competes on world markets for capital to support Stimulus spending, interest rates will increase while the dollar value decreases.  Borrowing becomes more difficult and the increased cost of capital will shut off much of the jobs recovery.  The Stimulus spending that was supposed to “get business moving again” now threatens to choke off the flow of capital business needs to get moving again. 
 

7.  Iran – Obama’s early initiative to reach out to the human freak-show running Iran’s government may also backfire.  Obama attempted to engage Ahmadinejad and achieved nothing.  The lunatic Iranian leader gained ground with hard liners by ‘standing up against America.’  Obama’s overture gave the Iranian something specific to reject and thus improved his position with Muslim radicals.  The Mullahs owe Obama a thank you card.  And despite the protests following Ahmadinejad’s re-appointment to the Iranian Presidency, Obama has made zero progress in convincing one of the biggest state sponsors of terrorism to cease constructing the ultimate terrorist weapon. 

6.  Czars - Intended to be an end run around Congressional oversight, the appointment of Czar’s concerns even Democrat Robert Byrd.  In appointing a pay Czar, Obama served notice to successful workers that they are under surveillance by the federal government – which will hold their salaries up for public scrutiny.   The constitution provides the President exacty zero authority to enforce any salary policy except by holding ‘overpaid’ execs up for public ridicule.  This irony becomes more interesting as many of these northeast execs gave money to Democrat and to the Obama campaigns.   Obama will no doubt double check his donor lists before making an individual’s salary public.  (He may use the same team that chose which Chrysler dealerships to close.)  Remember the outrage over the AIG executive bonuses?  Obama dropped objections to paying these bonusus – essentially using taxpayer dollars – because the exec types in question turned out to be Democrat donors.

5.  North Korea – Just talking makes Obama appear weak and foolish.  When He sends Hillary Clinton to do the talking, the hilarity continues.   Calling upon North Korea to stop its ‘provocative actions,’ Obama’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confronted a despotic regime by taking up air time.  The United Nations went along with another in a long string of “strongly worded condemnations” following the DPRK’s latest missile test.  The UN then agreed to allow stopping North Korean vessels on the high seas, but of course China warned against the use of any force.  The President actually has to take action if his words are to mean anything in the future.  Had Obama pursued a stronger effort with China by threatening to arm Japan and South Korea with more – shall we say – effective weaponry, the Chinese may have been more willing to assist.  Too late for that now.  The DPRK sent Obama’s foreign policy spinning right back at the Chosen One’s noggin.

4.  Unemployment – The only possible way to speed jobs growth is to decrease government competition for capital.  This lowers the costs of borrowing money for growth.  By committing the nation to an outrageous spending and borrowing plan, American companies are reluctant to hire.   The economy is still throwing off hundreds of thousands of jobs each week – even though the recession is well passed its 18 month point.  (18 months is the average length of a recession.) Obama’s spending has already extended the recession and those that are looking for work may fill some time by volunteering a few hours for local Republican candidates.  Obama’s efforts at solving unemployment have caused the GOP’s volunteer ranks to significantly increase.

3.  Health Care – This is a huge issue at the moment.  Like the federal intervention in General Motors, government participation in health care will ruin the industry.  The well-documented physician shortage will be compounded – perhaps catastrophically – by administration attempts to take over the industry via its public insurance system.  When all physicians are dependent on the federal government for insurance claim payment, few young and bright students will enter the profession.  Remaining docs will be fully dependent on the government for payment. What ambitious young person would put her or his career in the hands of Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats?  By attempting to provide health care for the uninsured, Obama will ensure that good health care is much less available to all.

2.  Taxes – Of course Obama’s big lie to the country is that the middle classes received a tax cut.  While the IRS may have issued a tax rate cut to certain middle income taxpayers, Team Obama increased costs elsewhere.  Increasing taxes on medical benefits will drive down the paycheck of each American worker and slow future job growth.  The public school teachers unions ensured that the current population of voters is relatively economically ignorant, but each worker does have a solid ability to understand that a tax on medical benefits is a tax on him.  Taxing workers more is a bad for job security – particularly for keeping one’s job as President.  The latest CBO deficit figures indicates that Geithner, Obama and the rest of the economic idiots running the country are going to have to do something to close the gap between spending and government revenue.  Look for the Chosen One to reverse course on his middle class tax cut – no doubt blaming it on George W. Bush.

1.  Inflation – Corresponding with Stimulus spending, inflation is Obama’s huge tax increase on the middle class.   By printing the Stimulus money He cannot borrow from China, Obama makes each dollar worth less tomorrow than the one earned today.  Middle classes, who thought they were getting a tax cut, will be paying more and more for common goods.   Obama would do well to study a little history; the inflation boomerang took the political head of Jimmy Carter.