President Obama has officially gone on record as stating that Americans will begin to see the beneficial effects of the so-called stimulus bill starting on April 1st.

Gosh, I can’t wait to get my hands on that extra $13.  Apparently he and his other top-notch-educated buddies think we’re all going to go out and spend it all at once, thereby giving a real kick-start to our bleeding economy.

I say we call his bluff and put it into a savings account instead.

Back in October 2008, while still hot on the campaign trail, President Obama told voters in La Crosse, Wisconsin:   “We need to end an era in Washington where accountability has been absent, oversight has been overlooked and your tax dollars have been turned over to wealthy CEOs and well-connected corporations.   You need leadership that you can trust to work for you — not for the special interests who have had their thumb on the scale.”

Them there’s weasel words.  To exactly which “era in Washington” was he referring?  What with all the tax revenue suddenly flowing back into the IRS from his cabinet choices and now the additional burdens imposed by the pork-laden enervate…errrr…stimulus bill, it’s clear that things under the Obama administration are no different than during those of his predecessors. 

This must be one of the advantages of an Ivy League education; I suspect it is again a matter of semantics, because apparently that accountability doesn’t apply to the monies donated to finance his campaign, either.

The city of Chicago still hasn’t been paid by the DNC for the November 4, 2008 election night victory celebration in its Grant Park.  To the tune of $1.74 million.

Though much was made of it at the time, at least all the people who attempted to turn sow’s-ear-Sarah Palin into a Coach purse were paid for all that lipstick.  Does the DNC think not paying the bills it incurred to celebrate the second coming of their pet prophet – in effect causing taxpayers to foot them – makes them somehow holier?

Like charity, accountability and trust best begin at home.

According to the KCTribune’s Daniel Starling, besides getting yourself elected to serve in Washington, being a banker is the most lucrative job to have these days.  Politicians may know the magic sleight-of-hand trick that turns a salary of $149,000/year into millions, but that pales in comparison to bankers, who have figured out how to come up with a jaw-dropping estimated 258,449% rate of return on their investments*.

Yes, you read that right.  Two-hundred fifty-eight thousand, four-hundred and forty-nine percent rate of return.

Let me repeat that one more time, in case you’re hard of reading:   258,449%

Now, if you’re simply an Average American like me, you’re asking yourself just what kind of investment can possibly do that.  Well, I’m so glad you asked.  It’s quite simple, really.  Bankers have been, of course, bankrolling political campaigns.  Yup, the very man who is now angrily questioning how the U.S. economy ended up in such a bloody hole, none of than Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, took hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from banks and their management and employees.  Then Senator Dodd’s committee turned around and gave them back $700 BILLION via TARP.

Bloody clever bastards, eh?

But Senator Dodd isn’t the only hypocrite in the house.  While he turned 4 draft pages into 80 pages of legislation, collecting some $854,200 in campaign contributions for his efforts, the bankers were also pouring a nice, steady stream of money into the coffers of politicians such as John McCain, Mitt Romney, Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Dick Shelby, Dick Durbin, John Boehner, and, last but certainly not least, Barack Obama ($1 million from employees of Goldman Sachs and over $15 million from the Securities and Investment banking sectors) .  You should have already noticed the number of names in this (partial) list who hold positions on Congressional finance and banking committees today.

Our new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has banned further lobbying by those companies who are receiving government assistance.  Kinda like closing the barn door after the horses have gotten out but, hey, it sounds good, doesn’t it?

It should be obvious now why there’s been no push for accountability from those who’ve taken our hard-earned tax dollars and run.  You can sum it up with one word.  Errr…one number.

258,449%

 

 

 

* – source:  Center for Responsive Politics

Courtesy of a forwarded email, this is a summary of the bailout, according to the infamous Maxine:

“Hell, back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it.  They failed and it closed.  

“Now we are trusting the economy of our country and our banking system to the same nit-wits who couldn’t make money running a whore house and selling whiskey!”

Touché.

Someone I’ve known for a long time fell into the vat of red Kool-Aid very early on in the Obama campaign and swallowed an alarmingly toxic amount.  But I have to admit it’s been interesting to be on the second-hand receiving end of the gospel…errrr…the propaganda, and to watch the fervent hope begin to fade into sane realism as the President has goose-stepped through his first month in office.

Today I was forwarded an email that the President sent to all of his supporters.  Let’s discuss it, shall we?

 “Today, I signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law.”  

Translation:  Now you can’t say I didn’t do something; kinda even sorta keep a promise.  Neener, neener, neener!

“This is an historic step — the first of many as we work together to climb out of this crisis — and I want to thank you for your resolve and your support.” 

Hello?  Earth to the Orchid Office.  According to the pollsters, American support for this monstrosity hovered at maybe 40%, depending on what poll you read.

“You organized thousands of house meetings. You shared your ideas and personal stories. And you informed your friends and neighbors about the need for immediate action. You continue to be a powerful voice for change throughout the country.” 

Exactly where is this change?  Did all those cabinet nominees finally pay up on their back taxes using pennies?  Does it have anything to do with the sewage that continues to backfill the hole you left back in Illinois?  Has it stopped reputedly intelligent people from saying really stupid things in public?

“The recovery plan will create or save 3.5 million jobs, provide tax cuts for working and middle-class families, and invest in health care and clean energy.” 

Create.  Or save.  Big difference in them there words, Mr. Ivy Leaguer.  Of course, when 500 billion jobs a month are being lost, what’s a little difference in semantics between friends?

“It’s a bold plan to address a huge problem, and it will require my vigilance and yours to make sure it’s done right.” 

No, it’s not.  It’s a stupid plan to cover the butts of stupid people who took the money and ran.  And got away with it.

“I’ve assigned a team of managers to oversee the implementation of the recovery act. We are committed to making sure no dollar is wasted. But accountability begins with you.”  

This is parent-speak for ” Do as I say, not as I do.”  What with Obama’s cabinet choices, and when sent from the tropical depths of the Orchid Office, I feel really safe knowing that he’s personally assigning the people to watch how the stimulus money is wasted.  Errr…spent.

“That’s why my administration has created Recovery.gov a new website where citizens can track every dollar spent and every job created. We’ll invite you and your neighbors to weigh in with comments and questions.” 

Recovery.gov?  Isn’t that where the pork barrel was supposed to be on display so all Americans could review it alongside their elected officials?  The website that said the bill would be posted after President Obama signed it?  I’m sure that this was just a glitch, what with the administration being so new and all….

“Our progress will also be measured by the tens of thousands of personal stories submitted by people who are struggling to make ends meet. If you haven’t already, you can read stories from families all across the country:

http://my.barackobama.com/yourstories

Your stories are the heart of this recovery plan, and that’s what I’ll focus on every day as President.”

Well, slap me silly and call me Susan.  Isn’t this just the cat’s pajamas?  I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to tell President Obama what I’m doing with my extra $13 a week.  Of course, it’ll be hard to compete with the stories coming in from Asia, once the President hands over that stimulus money to the U.N. 

“With your continued support, we’ll emerge a stronger and more prosperous nation.”  What is woefully obvious is that it is not the vast majority of Americans who are having problems, but instead our elected officials and a handful of Wall Street wunderkinds who have put themselves above the both the letter and spirit of the laws of this country.  And the inflated ego of President Barrack Obama continues to support them.  Mostly because he’s utterly clueless about what’s really going on.

“Thank you,

President Barack Obama”

Oh, no.  Thank you, Mr. President.  I’m sure that I’m not the only American who doesn’t know how I managed until you came along.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment to go worship the porcelein god.

Occasionally now I have to drive downtown to the Big City for business meetings.  This is a new experience for me; I grew up in the affluent, surrounding suburbs and, although my parents had grown up in it, as the decay and corruption and resulting lawlessness began to outpace its growth, even their parents moved away and eventually none of us bothered to venture there except very rarely for perhaps some entertainment purpose.

So while it is not really unfamiliar, I am finding every trip now made in broad daylight to be very disconcerting.

I am struck as much by the crumbling, boarded-up elegance of what was once a city thriving and obviously full of pride as I am by the shabby, hollow-eyed people who still live there.  The main thoroughfare, once sporting simple yet elegant apartment buildings and solid, warm, welcoming places of worship, as well as merchants of every stripe, has been replaced by liquor stores, hair and nail salons, and check-cashing businesses; this monotony of an area gripped by poverty occasionally broken by a run-down eating establishment or police precinct.  Oh sure, there are the stereotypical sporting and convention arenas, a theater district, and a pretense of big businesses still waving the flag but for all the circumspect pockets of dubious productivity, the air reeks with a heavy, deject sense of despair.  It is all very much like Norma Desmond, that famous recluse of Sunset Boulevard fame; wanting desperately to be remembered and perhaps wanting even more to find she is still useful.

Struggling with the economic fallout as much as anyone, it is easier now for me to understand the disparities that have allowed the silver-tongued devil and his fascist minions to continue to hold their snake-charmer sway through the decietful ugliness that has marked their first month in office.  Should those who live in the Big City wish to stay there, the truth is that there is very little that is truly meaningful or even really very useful for them to pursue.  Unskilled, they live at the mercy of the government handout either through welfare checks or government jobs; unmotivated, they squander that handout on things that only serve to dull the instinctual feelings they are perceived as somehow childlike and unworthy.

It is a false pride and an ignorant pride that scrawls graffiti across the historic buildings and hurls rocks through the windows of the long-vacant factories that once furnished the world with much-needed goods.  And it is to this false and ignorant pride that the stimulus bill panders; it is clear to me that there will be no real jobs created in this Big City.  As I continue to drive through its downtown I will continue to pause for the lost and aimless who literally wander in its streets.  I will watch with an angry grief as the last of the old, grand “ladies” show us more and more of their weather-damaged goods as they crumble from neglect, if they do not first succumb to an arsonist’s match. 

My eyes will not look away as I pass through, though those who can somehow still afford wants on top of needs will pay no heed as they go to ball games or plays or gamble in the casinos; as long as they are benefiting in some way from the promises of this false messiah they will turn a blind eye to those who believe but were never intended to share in them.

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an advocate of socialism.  I fervently believe in the American Dream; that working hard, working honestly and providing impeccible goods or services can allow anyone to live comfortably.  Comfort is, of course, rather subjective, but decent food on the table, a solid roof overhead, and pride in a job well done at the end of the day shouldn’t be this hard to come by.

I believe that we, America, can do better – indeed, we must do better than this “let ’em eat pork” stench wafting from the Orchid Office.  Americans don’t need more pork, what we need is a market that is free from what is at best misguided manipulation and certainly one free of the slings and arrows of thinly-veiled greed.  We need real truth in reporting (here is but one example; seems a little late in coming, doesn’t it?) and from our elected officials (recovery.gov being right up there in the Top Ten but, of course, having failed miserably to date).  If we are to buy into the need for any economic stimulus, it should not be in order to further swell the coffers of the United Nations with American dollars and thereby push the agendas of those who not-so-secretly wish to destroy us.  Nor should it be used to pad the wallets of illegal immigrants (what part of “illegal” is so hard to understand once someone gets to Washington, anyway?)

I can’t help but be reminded that it is Lady Justice who is blindfolded.  Not Lady Liberty. 

And I don’t think either of them kept their svelte figure by consuming a steady diet of pork.