This Federal Deficit.

Talking to people at work during lunch today, I realized that most do not understand how this federal deficit came to be. Well, I will try to explain this in the most elementary of ways. Here we go, Bush took office in 2001 with the country booming, then 5 month later he passed The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, which lowered taxes for retirement plans, income rates, and property. 4 month later we got attacked, 9/11. We needed to go to war; a poorly planned war was launched in early 2003. Three month into the war Bush passed The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, which pretty much sped up the tax breaks that the previous act introduced when it came to income. We have been at war for about over 7 years now, the two wars, the one in Iraq and the one in Afghanistan, yes they are two separate wars, cost about 700 million dollars a day collectively. The combination of tax cuts with increased spending spawned federal deficit. Come the latter part of the decade, inflation, economic deficit and a crash in the housing and the credit market brought on an economic recession. Obama comes in to office in 2008, he cuts taxes for those with income under 250 thousand per year, installs stimulus measures to restart the economy, borrows money to work on his energy and health care plans. All this along with the tax cuts Bush passed (which both expire on December 31^st of 2010 btw) and the wars of course and you have a federal deficit. Hope this clears things up.  

Possible 2012 Candidates.

With the 2010 election behind us, I decided to look at possible Republican candidates for 2012. We have, Jeb Bush, Mike Bloomberg, Donald Trump, Ron Paul, Charlie Crist, Mitch Daniels and the four I will look at more closely, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney.

Sarah Palin

She has a lot going for her right now, she has the support of the ever-growing Tea Party. Her name and face are known by people all over the country and internationally. She is a great fundraiser. And finally she has had the chance to prepare against Obama in 2008.

Newt Gingrich

Former speaker of the house, he is very highly viewed of in the Republican ranks. He is a greater speaker and debater, he is very issue orientated and to the point which I think people will like come 2012, someone who knows what’s going on and does not play around as much as others.

Mike Huckabee

Won the ever-important Iowa Caucus in 2008. He finished just behind John McCain. He is very big on social issues, which I think will hurt him. I doubt he runs in 2012 but if he does he could be a dark horse.

Mitt Romney

Also very highly touted in the ranks of the Republican Party. Some tell me he is the favorite to be their choice in 2012. I think he wants to run and has been preparing. He has already put his face out there in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. As of now, he’s the clear-cut front-runner. 

Barack is Done.

Now that the 2010 midterm election is over, I think it is safe to say that a clear message was sent to the Democratic party…. Your “change” needs changing. With nine seats still undecided, the Dems have already lost 60 seats in the House, by far the most since 1948 and with more to come. Just looking at the map of how the Senate and House were divided between the two parties from before Tuesday to after, its like night and day. Troubling for Obama to say the least. Two yeas ago, Obama looked unbeatable, looked like he was going to be on top of US Politics for years to come. Today he looks very very beatable and vulnerable. But is it all lost? Obama still has two years to try to save himself from another shellacking in 2012. Obama needs to realize what happened and work towards improving the situation rather than trying to find out why it happened. He needs to forget his about his healthcare and energy solutions because people do not care about them anymore, in a recent poll, a total of 12 percent said that the most important issue is either healthcare or energy, while a whopping 52 percent of those who answered said it was the economy. In the words of the great James Carville: “IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID.” When the economy is in the crapper, no one gives a crap about any other crap. Did I say crap enough times in the past sentence? That’s not important. Obama spent a fair share of his time and money on healthcare and now no one cares.

Hes Hurting right now im sure. 

I think it will be hard for him to get anything passed in order to improve the economy because Republicans have been clear about the fact that they will be trying to slow down all Democratic efforts over the next two years, so I do not see what Obama can do. At least after losing the House and Senate in 1994, former President Clinton was able to get welfare reform passed and he balanced the Budget, both of which aided him in making a huge comeback in 1996. But I do not see Obama being able to do anything major to improve the economy. I see obama as a dead man walking just waiting for his day to come on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November on 2012. 

Derek Jeter.

Speaking to a friend who is a Yankees fan today, I was told that the Yankees need Derek Jeter, that they must have him, no matter the cost. “Jeter is the Yankees.” “He is our guy.” Since when is an almost 37 year old, coming off his worst season, a defensive liability, going to cost 20 million plus a “MUST” have. I do not get it. If the Yankees pay Derek Jeter the type of money that is being tossed around I would have to call it charity. I know it is the Yankees and they can afford anyone, but from a Yankee fan perspective, why not pay that 20 million a year to Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth. Would you rather have Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford or Cliff Lee and Derek Jeter? I would take Crawford without thinking twice. I mean deep down I do not see Jeter playing anywhere but with the Yankees but I just do not understand why he is viewed as the end all be all of the Yankees, IT IS THE YANKEES. THE NEW YORK YANKEES. If anyone can afford to lose a player like Jeter, wouldn’t it be the Yankees? Are they not a franchise that is bigger than one player? I mean it is not Baltimore with Cal Ripken Jr. where he was your entire franchise and losing him would have been devastating. Do not get me wrong, Jeter will always be a Yankee, but justifying paying him what he has been getting just because he is Derek Jeter is Idiotic. I understand that if they can afford it why not right? It is just really stupid that’s why. 

Icon