by Tina Salisbury
Come on, tell the truth! If you suddenly won the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes, you would be ecstatic! Hmmm…paying the taxes might be a bit of a shock but you would pay it gladly having just hit the jackpot. The temptation to spend would hit immediately. You feel like you could do just about anything…have just about anything and go anywhere in the world…NOW, practical things, like paying off bills, getting braces for the kids, or fixing the deck would be possible…you’d gladly pay a contractor to fix that deck! You’re a charitable person so you’d think about giving to charity…and then, having arrived at this more serious mood, you’d give some careful thought to saving and investing. To do anything else would be very foolish. You put on the breaks and wait to spend until you know what you are doing!
Unfortunately many lottery winners blow their winnings and end up broke and right back where they started…or worse. So do high earners without a financial clue. Look at the sports figures, recently in the news, that squandered their fortunes. Or consider the many lottery winners that immediately go on spending binges only to end up with nothing to show for all their good fortune. The problem is they haven’t developed a sense of what it takes to create and keep wealth or manage money. People that have a lot of money have to become good money managers or risk losing all they have earned (or won). A person of means can live well and maintain his new found lifestyle and security only if he develops a plan, knows how to balance his spending and income, and saves for a rainy day.
On the other hand…if you didn’t win the lottery this year, and you lost your house, and maybe your job…well, forget saving and investing and be prepared to make beans and rice your favorite foods. You know you are in financial jeopardy. You know you have to be cautious and careful with money. You don’t commit to new long term contracts, you don’t buy expensive wines and caviar…you don’t even spend on McDonalds…even thinking about spending like a maniac on steroids would give you the shivers. Spending would be almost totally out of the question! When your kid breaks a leg you pray and arrange to make payments…but you know you will have to try to squeeze a few more dimes out of the budget to pay off the bill. You know that crawling out of this hole will be tough. You STILL have to be a good money manager to do it.
Is it too much to ask that the leadership of our country become better managers of the people’s money both in good times and in bad?
President Bush was criticized for spending too much and being unwilling to use the veto pen. He and the Republican Congress moved against conservative principles and enacted another social program and created an educational program that was costly and didn’t get at the root causes of our ineffective educational system. Overall the Bush administration was no worse than previous administrations of both parties. He and the Republican Congress did limit spending in the same ratios to GDP as all of the preceding presidents. (An exception being the WWII years). As we are now painfully discovering none of the efforts of previous leaders have resulted in sound money management for our nation.
What about President Obama? Has he been responsible with the people’s money?
According to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney he has:
“I simply make the point, as an editor might say, to check it out; do not buy into the BS that you hear about spending and fiscal constraint with regard to this administration. I think doing so is a sign of sloth and laziness.”
“BS”? BS? BS is this lame attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the American public!
The Presidents record speaks for itself. He has spent like a maniac on steroids and given the condition of the country following the crash his spending is egregiously irresponsible. There is no way this administration can say it has spent within reason even by the standards of previous presidents!
But we shouldn’t be surprised. President Obama told us he intended to spend a lot of taxpayer money as president. He told us he wanted to spread the wealth even before he was elected. He quickly showed us after the election that he was willing to hold to his spending and redistribution agenda even though the country was in free fall financially. With businesses failing and citizens losing jobs, savings, and homes new revenues to the federal government were not keeping pace. The Presidential wallet was empty but the President shrugged and put his big spending agenda on the country’s credit card. The president gave little thought to sound money management principles:
When he spent taxpayer money to bail out GM he made sure union jobs were saved but he put a lot of small support and retail businesses out of business and he fleeced the bond holders in the process. (Isn’t that what he faults Romney for at Bain?)
When he spent taxpayer money to “save” public employee jobs he simply kicked the can down the road, he denied the use of that money in the private sector to create new jobs and promote overall recovery, and he added to the debt.
When he spent on companies like Solyndra he not only spent taxpayer money in a company that was said to be a bad risk, he again engaged in picking winners and losers…his green efforts corresponding with efforts to shut down oil and coal. Both resulted in lost jobs, lost revenue, and added debt.
Obama’s high times spending resulted in nothing but extended misery and a deeper hole. He has made our debt skyrocket ($15.74 trillion as I write). Unemployment has remained very high. Businesses are hurting and stalled or gone forever. As if to add salt to America’s deep wound the President proposed, cheered on, and passed another big expensive social program, Obamacare, ensuring that future debt and the cost of healthcare and insurance will explode even more.
This is a terrible fiscal record, but just how bad is it?
James Pethokoukis, THE ENTERPRISEBLOG – American.com tells us how much more than his predecessors President Obama has spent:
Until Barack Obama took office in 2009, the United States had never spent more than 23.5% of GDP, with the exception of the World War II years of 1942-1946.
Here’s the Obama spending record:
– 25.2% of GDP in 2009
– 24.1% of GDP in 2010
– 24.1% of GDP in 2011
– 24.3% (estimates by the White House ) in 2012What’s more, if Obama wins another term, spending–according to his own budget–would never drop below 22.3% of GDP. If that forecast is right, average spending during Obama’s eight years in office would average 23.6% of GDP. That’s higher than any single previous non-war year.
The manager has been a complete failure and at the worst possible time.
The American people are eating beans and trying to figure out what to do when the money for beans runs out. The President is jetting around the country raising millions at expensive dinners with all the fancy folk in an attempt to continue being a very bad manager of the people’s money. What is wrong with this picture?
There is no way President Obama, or any of his supporters, can claim that he is looking out for the little guy much less the country as a whole. He has demonstrated little interest in learning from the last three years. Given a second term the restraints, if there ever were any, will come off and President Obama will do everything he can to redistribute wealth and veto any attempts at fiscal responsibility. There is no hope for a strong recovery as long as this biggest spender of all time is at the helm. His leadership means that Americans and the nation will not prosper and will continue to add to the debt.
First rule: stop spending!
Do we need a money manager at the helm in these trying times? You bet we do! Do we need good money managers even in good times. YES! We must elect the only man left in the race that knows how to manage money and create success in the private and public sectors.
You have to see the two videos of Piers Morgan interviewing former GE CEO Jack Welch in the below link. It just about knocked me over to hear someone from GE support Romney.
Be sure to watch the second video. It is priceless even if he takes a while to answer.
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Former GE CEO: Romney More Qualified to be President Than Someone Who Handed Out Leaflets as a Community Organizer:
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch appeared on CNNs Piers Morgan Tonight to discuss the economy and the race between President Barack Obama and the presumed Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.
Morgan challenged Romneys claim that, by virtue of the fact that he worked in private equity, he created jobs.
Thats not why any private equity company buys a company, Morgan said, They dont buy it to create jobs. They buy it to turn it around and make a profit.
I agree with that, Welch immediately.
So is [Romney] wrong to say its about job creation? Morgan asked.
Welch conceded that the former Massachusetts governors current job creator argument may not be the correct one, but he also pointed out that Romney is not wrong when he says private equity helps create good, durable, and well-paying jobs.
You dont create scads of jobs, but you do create good paying jobs in a continuing industry, Welch said.
Full story and videos here:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/former-ge-ceo-romney-more-qualified-to-be-president-than-someone-who-handed-out-leaflets-as-a-community-organizer/
I agree with Welch…that’s a tough one!
Peggy…remember Welch is old school. And Ronald Reagan was the longtime host for Ge…remember the GE Theater? That was back in the days when a television was not just an instrument for canned laughter and “other” distractions, it was actually believed to have the potential to entertain AND educate.
Hmmm…kinda like talk radio today.
Que howls of protest from our friendly detractors.
I do remember, now. I just needed someone with a good memory to remind me.
I was surprised to see a GE executive school Piers Morgan on the reality of turning a failing business around to become profitable and creating good paying sustainable jobs. From Piers reaction I think he was surprised with Mr. Welch’s responses too.
GE? Isn’t that the corporation that has totally left off producing things for providing financial services? Yes, I think it is … except, wait … my sister’s friend’s husband is a nuclear engineer, and he works for GE, they still do nuclear (his 401k totally tanked in 2009, apparently we haven’t totally worked all the bugs out of that employer contribution thing) … and oh, did they take a hit over that Fukishima catastrophe (their reactors, don’t ya know).
Romney is just the boy to see to it they get subsidized back to solvency.
You are such suckers.
Making money and investing money..big CEOs and venture capitalists make decisions every day that have to do with making and investing money. How does that help anyone besides the CEO and venture capitalists? You decide:
GE employs around 300,000 people worldwide; 133, 000 of those in the US
GE is an American based (international) company, headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut.
GE is the among the largest manufacturers of appliances in the world
GE is the worlds leading provider of aviation services and supplier of jet engines
GE provides a wide assortment of integrated equipment and systems to ensure safe and reliable power delivery.
GE Commercial Finance serves clients in over 35 countries by providing loans, operating leases, financing programs, commercial insurance and equipment leasing to help global business grow.
GE provides medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care: medical imaging and information technologies and diagnostics and drug discovery
GE is the leading supplier to the world’s railroads, pioneering locomotive and railroad management technologies that are economically advantageous and ecologically sound.
GE is a global provider of software, hardware, services, and expertise in manufacturing; remote monitoring and diagnostics; and customer vertical solutions.
GE has been a leading global supplier of water treatment, wastewater treatment and efficient process systems solutions.
In short GE provides a lot of jobs, goods, and services in America. GE is also at the forefront in developing methods for cleaner water and air.
Libby would have a tough time competing on the giving back to the community scale with these contributions.
But what about taxes? I heard they didnt have to pay taxes because they get special loop hole benefits and thats not fair!
Really? Is that the major reason GE ended up owing nothing in taxes as reported by the ignorant MSM? Not according to Forbes (see below).
Any business or person, once they earn more than a given amount, is required to make tax deposit payments to the government on a quarterly basis, in advance of filing a return. (They pay BEFORE they owe). the government gets a lot of money before it is due by this “loophole” system. The amount of payment is based on the previous years earnings. GE ended up paying more in these estimated tax deposit payments than was due when their return was filed because they lost so much money in their financial services division during the melt down. That is the main reason their effective tax rate was low. Democrats think we are too stupid to understand this so they use it to demonize business. Republicans are afraid of being associated with what is now perceived as evil, cheating, greedy business so too often they don’t even try to explain it.
As reported in Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/2011/04/13/ge-exxon-walmart-apple-business-washington-corporate-taxes.html
If you want to get GE to pay more in actual dollars to the US government, the best way to do it is to give them an incentive to earn more in America and to quit passing dumb legislation that causes such huge losses in the financial sector. The financial meltdown, a product of government idiocy, is the reason GE paid less in taxes to the US government.
Business is the golden goose people. Business is the only reason government has revenue coming in. Demonizing business makes all of us…what was the word Libby used? Oh yeah, “suckers” of the Democrat smear machine.
President Obama demonizes big business for votes all the while hiding behind the cover of business to promote his sick social ideology and taking big fat donations from them for his campaigns. He is a fraud. He is a phony. He is bad for Americans who need jobs, bad for American business…he is just bad for America…period.
Romney will support business and give them incentive to invest in America and American jobs. A vote for Romney, the only sane choice we have, will result in a win, win, win for the America.