History tells us that the Nobel Peace Prize is normally given out to people who have done extensive work to promote peace or equality. The most famous example of a recipient of the Nobel peace prize was Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King was a leading activist in the Civil Rights Movement. This is what earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. 

The Reasons why he did not deserve this prize

He has imposed more tax increases on middle America than any other president. Some people might say,”Well this is a good thing we can pay off our debt.” Except that was not what the tax increases were for. The tax increases Obama signed off on are mainly used to fund his costly stimulus package. He also issued a bill that will aid in healthcare. This bill’s cost will burden our grandchildren, and it only effects 12 million people. 

Many people are probably thinking, what does this have to do with peace? It does not have to do with today’s peace as much as it does the future’s peace. He was given this prize in the first place because people expected him to promote peace in the future. So far his bills are making our future worse. The Stimulus bill did nothing to add jobs to our economy. According to this article if the expansion that the stimulus package offered lasts for 10 years the cost will be $3.27 trillion dollars. This is a massive amount, and if anything it will harm the peace of our nation by putting more people out of work. 

The Stimulus package is not supposed to last 10 years, but (as seen in the past) government processes can be very slow. Do we really want to put another financial burden on our children. Is it fair for us to directly effect their future by passing overgrown bills. 

The National Coordinator shall, in consultation with other appropriate Federal agencies (including the National Institute of Standards and Technology), update the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (developed as of June 3, 2008) to include specific objectives, milestones, and metrics with respect to the following: (i) The electronic exchange and use of health information and the enterprise integration of such information.‘‘(ii) The utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.

What that means is that the United States government, by law, will require every citizen’s Body Mass Index (a system used to calculate obesity) by 2014, or the person refusing will be legally punished.

I have defended for a while that President Obama was not turning America Socialist, but this outrageous bill is an inexcusably clear act of invasion of privacy of United States Citizens. Save the Arizona Immigration Law, I cannot think of anything more audacious and unconstitutional than this. I feel betrayed and cheated by the United States Government, as should everyone that knows about this, which is not many. So inform everyone you can to defend themselves. Write letters to Congress and protest to save your freedoms and rights. Besides, if this bill goes as planned, who’s to say that something even more intrusive won’t go through?

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There is a new email being sent, with its subject “Making Work Pay”. It has the IRS logo on it and claims you’re entitled to a tax credit from the Economic Stimulus Package.   Supposedly, you’ll get your check after entering in some personal information. This is a scam.

According to the IRS you actually WILL get some stimulus money… but you will see this refund by way of lesser withholdings in your paycheck – not in one lump sum.

Another scam to watch out for is one that claims you can get a tax refund of more than $300. This one will give you a (bogus) refund number after you complete an online form that asks for such things as your mother’s maiden name and your social security number.

Here are the basic facts you need to know to avoid these types of scams:

• The IRS says it will NOT communicate with taxpayers via the internet or email
• Ignore emails that require you to answer your personal & financial information
• If it has threatening language, it’s probably a scam (ex: you have just 48 hours to respond or you won’t get your check)
• Poor grammar and misspellings are a common sign of a scam

   Big Business is going to be the winner when all of the smoke clears.  Our government is going to bail them out of any financial distress.  Of course the officers of these companies are going to continue making their 6 figure salaries and receive their 6 figure bonuses.  Do you realize that a corporate officers 6 figure bonus is the equivalent of 5000 middle-class workers making their $20 that week.  Something is definitely wrong here!!!  

   There is one business that this writer would like to bring to your attention.  General Motors.  GM made a monumental mistake 13 years ago.  Te planners of GM decided discontinue the full-sized sedan, the Caprice.  This product was selling over 1 million units a year to the municipalities all over the country for police cars and other official vehicles.  When GM discontinued the Caprice, they “Gift Wrapped” over 1 million units a year to Ford who still has their full-sized Crown Victoria in production to this day.  So, over 13 years GM lost close to 13 million units.  I wonder if the person that made that blunder is still employed by GM?

   GM also made a big mistake regarding the release and production of the new Camaro.  In 2006 the movie “Transformers” hit the silver screen.  The car that was highlighted in the movie was the new and remodeled Camaro.  People saw this car and they wanted to get one.  This sleek car was a thowback to the Camaros from the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s.  So people started to line up to buy this car but they were turned away from the dealerships because production on the new Camaro was scheduled to start in 2009.  3 years after “Transformers” was made.  So what did the angry consumer do in the interim, they went out and bought the Dodge Challenger which went into production in 2008.  That was a smooth move….

    So General Motors has made some big mistakes when it comes to declining production that is going to bury the company into the ground.  Now, the US Government is going to bail them out with money that every US citizen is going to have to pay back.

   In Closing,

   It is obvious that these companies how dug the hole for themselves.  This is a part of the evolution of business.  If you cannot afford to stay in business, close your doors.  Another company will step in and take over.  Food for thought:  If these companies need to be helped out financially, what happened to companies like TWA that had to go out of business?

   In my next article I am going to take look at the actions of New Jersey Governor Jim S. Corzine.

   Until then, sharpen your claws and speak out.  It is your right to do so!!!

The Republicans lack the vision and plans it takes to make America a greater nation for our children and grandchildren, which is the reason why they are not being taken seriously. The right wants President Obama to fail in all that he sets out to accomplish so that they can regain power and utilize the same failed polices that have gotten our nation in the horrible shape it is today. That is why they call President Obama a socialist one day, a fascist the next, weak on terrorists one week, naïve in foreign affairs the next. By doing so, they hope use the old fear card on the American people, hoping to scare their way back into the control of the White House and Congress. 

President Obama inherited from the previous Republican administration a $1.7 trillion deficit, two wars in two foreign countries, bank bailouts, an economy in the tank, rising unemployment, a tarnished American image abroad that was supported by a Republican congress. These same Republicans passed spending bills that increased the size of our nation’s debt, the size of government, passed tax cuts for the very wealthy at the expense of the lower and middle class, and yet they are now acting as if they are the party of fiscal responsibility and smaller government.

Republicans who now oppose borrowing money from countries like China and Japan to finance investments in our nation through the Stimulus Package, did not have any problems borrowing $500 billion mainly, from China, to finance the unjustifiable war in Iraq that has cost us $12 billion per month for six years and counting, the loss of over 4,000 American lives, hundreds of thousands in Iraqi lives and shifted our attention from our real enemy of September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden. Who by the way is still free to plan more diabolical murderous plots against our nation and the rest of the world.

Republican philosophical opposition to the Stimulus Package, which passed with zero votes from congressional Republicans, will invest hundreds of billions of dollars in rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, make healthcare more affordable for all citizens, make funding for education a national priority, and finding new sources of renewable energy which will create millions of jobs for American citizens, regardless of political party affiliation borders on stupidity. A program that gives an income tax cut to all Americans and small business owners making $250,000 a year or less, once again helping citizens in those Congressional districts represented by the same Republicans who voted against the Stimulus Package. 

The problem with the those on the political right is that they did not get the memo sent to them by the American people on November 4, 2008, which was their policies of borrow and spend, tax cuts for the wealthy, lack of investment in infrastructure, renewable energy, education and healthcare and the prosecution of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were rejected.  Americans voted for a new direction, a new future represented by President Obama.

The Federal Reserve forecasts that the US Gross Domestic Production (GDP) will decline by as much as 1.3% in 2009.

They also project that the unemployment rate will reach 8.8%  in 2009, will not decline below 8% in 2010, and will range between 6.5%-7.6% in 2011. The Bureau of Labor Statsitics, in its January, 2009 report, revealed that nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply in January by 598,000,  and the unemployment rate rose from 7.2 to 7.6 %,  Payroll employment has declined by 3.6 million since December 2007, with about one-half of this decline occurring in the past 3 months.  In January, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors. 

The Housing Market

The root of the financial and economic crisis exists in the housing market, where foreclosures have risen above 3.4-million homes, and is forecast to worsen in 2009 as more than 3 million sub prime, option pay mortgages reset around mid-year. Another 2 million are scheduled to reset in 2010. We may see as many as 6.4 million foreclosures through 2011. Currently, we are averaging  about 9,000 foreclosures daily.

In 2008 the median price of housing fell 15.3% from the December 2007 figure of $207,000. The Real Estate Housing Predictor national forecast, predicts an average decline of 12.6% in home values in 2009.

Recently released data for 2006 revealed the worst housing market in 17 years. Sales of existing single-family homes fell 8.4% in 2006, to about 6.5 million, the biggest annual decline since 1989 when sales fell 14.8%. Housing sales continued their decline in 2007 and 2008.  Further disheartening data was released recently by the S&P/Case-Shiller index of home values nationwide which indicated a 19% decline in the past year, 2008, and a 26.6% plunge from its peak in June 2006.  Thus many owners with mortgages can’t afford to sell, and that along with tight mortgage credit will keep the financial markets in disarray.   

Consumer Spending

Consumers are cutting spending drastically, and remember aggregate consumer spending accounts for about 80% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In December, 2008, consumer spending fell by 1 percent, the 6th straight monthly decline. With companies cutting payrolls, incomes fell by 0.2 percent after November’s 0.4 percent decline.

With broad indicators of US market activity showing a dismal picture can this all be turned around soon? It depends on how focused the new President’s stimulus package is on the root cause of the problem.

Banks are still in deep trouble, and a great deal of the bailout funds are not being used properly by them to assist the financial markets.  The bailout funds are being used to protect the bank’s own butts, and to gain market share by buying competing banks.  So, much of the credit system is still frozen.

Wall Street is in the toilet, and may be flushed even further down. But much of what happens in the stock market is driven by the psychology of investors. Are investors happy? Not right now. How can we make them happy and restore confidence in the economy and financial markets?  More importantly, are consumers happy? Not right now.

Changing the consumer mood, from pessimism to optimism is the most  important key to revitalizing the economy and financial markets. Investor confidence will then follow on the heels of consumer confidence.    We must have an urge to positive action rather than the inaction we have today in the financial sector.

So, lets take a quick look at the sequence of events that got us where we are.

 It’s all about the bank and mortgage company’s sub prime, action pay mortgage instruments.  And they are getting bailed out for their mistake. Wrong. To get the housing market going again, Obama’s stimulus package must allocate much more money to the foreclosure problem.

The $75 billion homeowner assistance parcel, in the stimulus package is insufficient. At least half of the 2nd portion of the bank bailout fund of $350 billion should be added to the $75 billion, so that at least $250 billion is allocated to handle the homeowner foreclosure problem.  This is a call to positive action, not the banking inaction we see now, and will begin to create the optimism the country desperately needs to move ahead.

Specifically, we must stop the 9,000 daily foreclosures that are happening as we speak, and clogging up the housing market. Here is what needs to happen now, while the policy-makers in government are setting up a plan of action for the proposed $250 billion homeowner foreclosure fund.

1.     An immediate moratorium on all foreclosures, similar to what J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. have committed to, while the government works on a financial stability plan. However, the moratorium should be extended to mid-year from the present March 6,  2009 deadline.

2.     Strong mortgage modification plans must be implemented, and since the banks and mortgage companies will not do this voluntarily, it will have to be required.  Not just lower interest rates and payoff period extensions, but principal forgiveness as well.

3.     And Principal forgiveness is justified since the carrot of the sub prime pay option plan enticed people to refinance higher mortgage balances to get more cash by reducing their equity in their homes. That was the bank’s bad decision. Now they need to face the music.

4.     Any foreclosure plan should include the rewriting of sub prime, option pay mortgages so they can not reset at higher interest rates. Larger principal balances associated with increases from unpaid interest should be removed from balances. These bank losses and losses from other principal forgiveness efforts, can be at least partially paid for with the $250 billion homeowner foreclosure fund.

5.     So, the banks will get bailout money from the $250 billion homeowner fund, but it will be earmarked for principal forgiveness, rather than just a big chunk of funds that has no specific purpose as they are receiving now in their $700 billion bailout package.

6.     Now, for those who feel that we should not assist homeowners that overspent their budgets, and perhaps were too greedy, lets put their concern to rest. After all, taxpayers are funding the massive bank bailout, and the banks were greedy with their sub prime mortgage instruments. So we can rest our case on that, can’t we?

It is time for action and optimism now, so let’s get started.

Let’s look at this claim for second. In 2008 the total in job losses is over 260,000, with over 80,000 of these losses occurring in March. April contributed 20,000 loss jobs, and this has been eough of an improvement for some to think the economy’s wounds are healing.- Also, the slight rise in the worth of the dollar this week has excited investors and manufacturers. Stocks ended this week on the higher end and currency gains are spreading optimissim for the ease in food prices and international business transactions. Most of this business looks better for the blue suits on Wall Street than the economy. Assuming, the majority of US citizens still count when describing the economy.

President Bush seems content with the stimulus package, as if $300 is the healing powder for an unemployed college grad with debts. “This economy is going to come on. I’m confident it will,” Bush claims ever so confidently. Of course he has job security for now.

Retail sells have been falling since February. Auto and furniture sells have also dropped. The drop in purchase isn’t a drop in demand it’s the effect of new priorities-debt, foreclosure and losing a well paying job with benefits. Folks still need cars and want furniture. But, there’s no job security after signing for that big home loan and gas prices are ignorantly high.

Enters the Capitol Hill geniuses, Bush and his classmates seem to think a married couple armed with $1200 can stimulate the economy. Bull: They owe that money to the bank a month ago and the bank knows that money is coming. Take the fact that export revenue rose 1.3%, one would wonder if sending a rebate to citizens in India and China would be a better stimulant for “our” economy.