The No Fault Nation

If The Declaration of Independence was drafted today it would be vastly different.  References to God, liberty and life would vanish. Too radical concepts for the current Washington political class.  With apologies to Thomas Jefferson, the document might read like this if it was written today:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident that no individual can be held responsible for his or her actions.  It shall be the government's duty to protect its citizens from themselves. Happiness is defined as having the government bail out individuals guilty of bad decisions."

If that sounds far fetched, then consider the transformation of the respective roles of individuals and the government in our nation.

Thousands of Americans purchased homes they couldn't afford before the recession.  They lied about their income.  Many flipped homes in a fit of speculative greed. They incurred more debt than they could handle.  It wasn't their fault home prices plummeted. The government stepped in and bailed out many homeowners with a slew of acronym programs.  Taxpayers were on the hook for $127.6 billion.

One in ten Americans default every year on their student loans underwritten by the federal government.  Going to a less expensive college was never an option.  Working to help defray expenses while attending college was too old fashioned.  It isn't their fault college prices have soared.  Student loan debt stands at $1 trillion and the government has made it easier for students to default or pay less than the full amount owed.

Ten million unemployed Americans have quit looking for work.   Accepting a low paying job is beneath many. Working part-time hardly seems worth the effort. It isn't their fault jobs are scare in the Obama economy.  Not to worry because Washington just keeps extending the number of weeks the jobless receive benefits.  Every time it does, it costs taxpayers an additional $30 billion annually.

Nearly 19 million young people under the age of 34 do not have health insurance.  The majority work at firms that offer insurance, but they choose not to pay for it.  It isn't their fault they spend their earnings on other priorities.  Now the government has decreed these individuals must carry insurance or face a tax penalty when Obama Care is implemented in 2014.  Total cost of the health care reform is more than $1 trillion.

Millions of American children are overweight.  They slurp too much soda, gobble too many chips, woof down too many sweet treats.  As a result, there are three million youngsters with Type 1 diabetes. Parents claim they are powerless to do anything about it.  It isn't their fault that they can't stop their children from eating and drinking too much.  The health care costs for treatment of Type 1 diabetes are estimated at $14.9 billion annually.

Holding individuals responsible for their behavior is passé.  That attitude has given rise to billions of dollars in government programs designed to ease the burden of living irresponsibly.

Individuals aren't the only ones shirking accountability.  President Obama has set the national tone in winning two elections by blaming the country's ills on former President George W. Bush, Congress, The Tea Party, Republicans, corporate greed, the wealthy, private jets, tax loopholes and an uneven playing field. It is never his fault.  

The individual rights guaranteed in The Declaration of Independence are worth sustaining.  However, those rights carry responsibilities. The government's role is to uphold those rights, not to reward irresponsible behavior at taxpayer's expense.  

Why Mexico Remains Mum On Immigration

While the debate over immigration simmers in Washington, Mexico has been strangely silent.  The government, often a vocal critic of U.S. policy in the past, has chosen to sit on the sidelines for a good reason.  Mexico's interests are best served if our nation's southern border remains a sieve.

The reason is that Mexico's economy would crater without the billions of dollars legal and illegal immigrants ship from the U.S. back to their home country.

The flow of money, once a lazy river, has turned into a flood of cash. In 2000, Mexican immigrants pumped $6.6 billion into the hands of relatives in their home country, according to the Bank of Mexico.  In 11 years, the money train chugging south has nearly quadrupled.

Estimates are Mexicans dispatched $23 billion from this country to relatives in their native homeland in 2011.  That figure represents an eight percent increase over the previous year. However, it is down from the peak in 2007 when immigrants funneled $26 billion south of the border.

Each American greenback yields about six pesos under traditional exchange rates.  That increases the purchasing power of Mexican recipients. Without those dollars, Mexico's poverty rates would spike, the country's social development ministry has admitted.

Today immigrant dollars represent the second largest source of income for Mexico.  Only Mexico's oil industry generates more income for the country.

That explains why the Mexican government has no interest in working with U.S. officials to stem the tide of its citizens slipping over the border. In fact, the government published a 32-page guide on  migrating to the U.S., which included a chapter on how to live "unobtrusively" to avoid detection.

This laisser faire attitude has led to millions of Mexicans living and working illegally in our country.  A Pew Research Center study, released last year, found that almost 60 percent of the 11.2 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico.   Illegal immigration is mostly a Mexican problem.

The wave of Mexicans entering the U.S. either legally or illegally represents the largest influx of immigrants from one country in American history, reports Pew.  About 30 percent of the 39.6 million immigrants living today in the U.S. were born in Mexico, estimates the researchers at Pew.  

It is easy to understand why so many Mexicans are bidding their country adios.  According to the United Nations, about half of Mexicans live below the poverty line.  Thirteen million Mexicans are categorized as existing in "extreme poverty."

Instead of addressing ways to increase economic opportunity for its people, Mexico is content to stand idly by as millions of its citizens illegally enter the United States.  With billions of dollars at stake, it is no surprise that the Mexican government vehemently opposes the building of the border fence.

That is why any immigration reform must start with tighter border security.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, a law designed to bolster border security in exchange for granting citizenship for undocumented workers in the U.S. Nearly three million illegal immigrants were granted amnesty under the legislation.

Forty five years after promises of tighter border control, there are 11.2 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S., a nearly four-fold increase.  The American people were duped.  Washington politicians were never serious about stopping the influx of illegal immigrants from Mexico.

This time Americans must insist on border security before amnesty.  Safeguarding our nation is more important than protecting Mexico's economy.

Media Bias And The Stinky Economy

After shocking setbacks jolted the world's largest economy last week, President Obama dispatched his puppets of propaganda to brainwash Americans into to thinking it was good news that unemployment climbed and the nation's output nosedived.

Like trained lapdogs, the partisan media obliged with quotes, reports and headlines like these:

• "Mostly Encouraging Jobs News," Associated Press.
• "Best looking contraction ever," Reuters.
• "Economy Begins Year With Solid Job Gain," Washington Post
• "Latest Jobs Numbers Signal Economic Recovery," CBS News.

Obama's mouthpiece-in-chief Jay Carney couldn't resist blaming Congressional Republicans for the disastrous economic news, a ludicrous charge repeated as if it was fact by an adoring media that worships at the feet of the president.

The media cleverly quoted economic experts, no doubt supplied by the administration, to apply the spin to the worst economic news since the recession officially ended in 2009.  News reports were sprinkled with opinions reassuring Americans the dreadful economic reports were nothing to worry about.

A close examination of the economic numbers reveals genuine cause for alarm.  The economy is backsliding, not growing.  To set the record straight, here is the truth about the nation's economy: 

• The nation's unemployment ticked up to 7.9 percent in January, but the situation is even worse than the official figure.  People working as little as one hour a week are counted as employed.  A better measurement is to include not only people looking for employment, but those working part-time who want a full-time job.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that number is 14.4 percent.  Long-term unemployed, those out of work for 27 weeks or more, is a whopping 38.1 percent of the jobless number.
• There are more than 23.5 million people unemployed or underemployed in the U.S. The figure includes 2.4 million Americans who are not in the labor force, but have not looked for a job in the past year as well as 804,000 persons who are not longer seeking employment.   There are more Americans out of work today than at the height of the Great Depression (11.3 million). 
• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of the economy's output, contracted in the fourth quarter for the first time since mid-2009.  Economic growth has not achieved 3.0 percent in more than four years.  That is the level that most economists recognize as necessary for healthy job growth. A contraction in the GDP is a rarity for this nation.  From 1948 to 2012, GDP growth in the U.S. averaged 3.22 percent annually.

There can be absolutely no denying that Barrack Obama has presided over the worst economy since the Great Depression. Since he assumed the Oval Office, the United States has been mired in a economic malaise marked by tortise-like growth, high unemployment and a shrinking workforce. 

Yet the mainstream media continues to smear lipstick on this smelly pig of an economy by ignoring facts and using economic "experts" to fabricate plausible reasons to dismiss the numbers. However, no amount of journalistic deception can alter reality.  

The government's own numbers are an indictment of the failed economic policies of President Obama.  

Entitlements: A Cliff Too Far

The nation's fiscal cliff is little more than a molehill compared to the steep entitlement precipice.  Social Security and Medicare are running worsening deficits.  Despite the mounting crisis, there appears to be little appetite in Washington to deal with the problem.

Social Security and Medicare, the two largest federal expenditures, accounted for 36 percent of federal spending in fiscal 2011, according to the annual report published last year by the programs' boards of trustees.  The taxpayer tab for the two programs was $1.21 trillion.

In its report, the trustees warned that the two programs "cannot sustain projected long-run costs."  Social Security trust fund reserves will be exhausted by 2033 at current growth levels, while the depletion in Medicare funds will be reached earlier in 2024, the report estimates.

By 2021, the report forecasts that Social Security costs alone will amount to $3 trillion.  To illustrate the severity of the problem, the entire federal budget for the last fiscal year was $3.7 trillion. Without changes, the government will be forced to borrow increasing amounts of money to fund benefits.

Despite the dire warnings, President Obama and his Democrat Party disciples have refused to discuss meaningful reform for the programs.  In fact, the president has taken to vilifying Republicans for daring to suggest tampering with seniors' entitlement programs.

Demographics guarantee that the two entitlements will bankrupt the country.  Consider these facts from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the U.S. Census Bureau:

• The nation's population aged 65 years and older is projected to increase from 12.4 percent of the population in 2000 to 19.6 percent in 2030.  There will be an estimated 71 million people over 65 in 2030, including more than 19.5 million 80 years and older.
• More than 7,500 people are turning 65 every day.  By 2025, that number will crest when a projected 11,700 people will celebrate their 65th birthday every day.    
• The country's birth rates have fallen to the lowest level since 1920, when the government began keeping reliable data.  In 1957, there were 122.7 births per 1,000 population, compared to 63.2 in 2011. 

These statistics have far-reaching implications for public health care and pension systems.  While more people are living longer, fewer people will be available to pay taxes to fund the benefits.  Today there are 2.9 workers for every retiree.  In 2030, the number drops to 2.0 workers for each retiree.

An aging population will dramatically hike medical costs.  The NCHS estimates that the per capita health care costs for a person over 65 is three to five times greater than the cost for younger people.

Ignoring the problem will only hasten the day when drastic cuts will be mandated by law.  For example, legislation precludes payment of benefits beyond the amount that can be financed by Social Security trust funds.

Social Security and Medicare must be reengineered to accommodate the nation's demographic reality. By stubbornly resisting change, Obama and his party are jeopardizing the future of the programs. Republicans must tell the American people the truth and rally the nation to save senior entitlements.  

Regime Rule: How Obama Wields Power

His imperial regime acts unilaterally without regard to the constitution.  He has centralized power, trampled religious freedom and favored foreigners over natives.  He has taken over the health care system.  Critics are branded disloyal and are subject to intimidation.

Yet the leader has a cult-like following and the palace media shields him from scrutiny in his own country while lionizing the autocrat as a near deity.

All those words have been written about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.  But they could have just as well been used to describe the presidency of Barrack Obama.  Democratic loyalists may protest the characterization, but the facts reveal Obama has governed more like a totalitarian than a president.

Since his election, Obama has abused the power of his office in a breathtaking manner that has no parallel in the history of the country. He has ignored constitutional limitations, created crises to subvert congressional authority, while smearing and bullying opponents of his agenda.

Here is just a partial list of the president's disregard for the constitution and the legislative process:

• The president unveiled 23 proposed executive orders last week on gun control.  During his four years in office, Obama issued 144 orders, according to the National Archives.  Many have been incompatible with the expressed will of Congress, which constitutional scholars view as an abuse of executive orders.  
• The president has usurped the powers of Congress by altering immigration laws.  Obama has circumvented the legislative process to relax immigration policy not once, but on at least two occasions since he became president, the latest on January 2.  The changes impact enforcement of a 1996 immigration law approved by Congress.  
• The president has made so-called "recess" appointments when the Senate was not legally recessed.  It has happened several times during the Obama presidency, most recently with the appointment of the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• The president has ignored the 1921 federal law that calls for the executive to submit an annual budget. During his first term, the Senate passed a budget on April 29, 2009.  Not a single budget has been approved by the Senate since then. Obama has submitted only one annual budget and it was defeated 99-0 in the Senate and 414-0 in the House. 
• The president has presided over a regulatory regime that has issued more new federal rules than any recent White House occupant.  New regulations have averaged 17,212 per year under Obama, according to Mercatus Center.  That is twice the number of the last Democrat President Bill Clinton. Today's regulatory costs amount to $2.2 trillion annually, estimates the Mercatus Center.   
• The president brushed aside constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom to require religious organizations to violate their own beliefs to supply contraceptives and abortion pills to their employees under Obamacare. He made the decision after vowing he would never force religious organizations to be subjected to the mandate.  

Obama's excuse for aborting the established legislative process is that he "can't wait for Congress" to act.  The truth is that the president is unwilling to compromise with lawmakers.  Instead of working with Congress, he issues executive orders and unleashes a torrent of regulations that carry the impact of law but are never submitted for legislative approval. 

Now Obama is threatening to raise the nation's debt ceiling without Congressional approval, although most constitutional experts agree he lacks the authority.  That hasn't stopped Obama in the past from ruling by executive fiat.   An obeisant media looks the other way at Obama's heavy-handiness.

Obama's overstepping of constitutional bounds can no longer be ignored.  Unless Republicans grow a spine and challenge this perversion of established precedent, the president's power will grow unchecked.  Soon Americans may be unable to recognize the democracy created by the founders.     

Guns And Hypocrisy

Vice President Joe Biden, who has often been guilty of shooting himself in the foot, is the perfect impostor to lead the president's phony gun control commission.  No one has been more hypocritical than Biden on the issue.  That's saying a lot because there's a tsunami of speciousness on banning guns.

Biden admitted on April 26, 2007, at a senate hearing that he kept a gun in his home.  While serving as a senator, Biden voted "no" on May 11, 1999, on a motion that would have required sales at gun shows be completed by federally licensed dealers.  That same year Biden opposed increasing mandatory penalties for the illegal transfer or use of firearms. 

Biden isn't the only politician who has been two-faced on gun control.

California Senator Diane Feinstein, a shrill proponent of banishing guns, confessed at a senate hearing in 1995 that she acquired a gun for her protection after an attempt by terrorists from the New World Liberation Army to bomb her home.  

"I carried a concealed weapon and I made the determination if somebody was going try to take me out, I was going to take them with me," Feinstein growled at the hearing.  Soon after her confession, the duplicitous Californian called for an "outright ban" on gun ownership.

Add President Obama's name to the shameful list of sanctimonious charlatans.

After the horrific carnage at the Sandy Hook elementary school, the president rushed to join in the chorus for gun control legislation. When the president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), raised the specter of armed guards at the nation's schools, Obama demurred.

The president certainly feels differently when his own daughters are involved.  There are no less than 11 armed security guards on duty at all times at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., where his daughters are enrolled.   And the school has advertised for more guards.

Obama also has lied about his stance on guns.  In 1996, then Illinois senate candidate Obama answered "yes" to a survey asking if he supported legislation to "ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns."  However, he backtracked in the 2008 presidential campaign, claiming an "aide" filled out the form, even though it was later confirmed the answers on the document were in his handwriting.

No wonder many Americans distrust the president's intentions on the gun issue.  Many believe the Biden commission is nothing more than a convenient way for Obama to appear open minded on the matter, covering up his own extremist views on gun ownership.    

Incidents like the Sandy Hook massacre are reminders of America's culture of violence that has been fed by homicidal video games, movies, rap songs and television shows.  Killing too often is glorified.  Most people ignore the siren call of violence, while a few succumb to its allure.

If banning weapons would end killings, most informed Americans would support gun control measures.  However, they need look no further than our neighbor to the south, Mexico, to understand the futility of regulation.

During the 1960's, Mexico approved strict gun ownership laws, prohibiting private citizens from carrying a firearm or a concealed weapon.  There is only one legal gun store in all of Mexico.  Yet Mexico has three times the murders as the U.S., even though our population is three times larger.

There is no credible evidence that gun ownership promotes violence.  Switzerland has three times as many gun owners as Germany, but significantly fewer murders per 1,000 residents.  New Zealand and Finland have low murder rates, yet their citizens are among the best armed.

Most informed Americans understand that knee-jerk legislation or ill-conceived executive orders cannot shield us from murder and mayhem.   Gun laws may make some feel safer, but regulations will never accomplish the objective of ending murder and mass killings.

Legislation cannot rid the world of evil.  Hypocritical politicians refuse to acknowledge this truth.  Instead, they play on public emotion and fear to appeal to the uninformed while the compliant media swaddles gun control advocates in moral superiority.

Victims of the Sandy Hook shooting deserve better from the nation's leaders.    

Bold Predictions For 2013

Predicting the future is as hazardous as scaling Mount Everest in a pair of loafers and a thong swimsuit.  Any sane person wouldn't attempt it.  However, every year investment gurus, economic thinkers, global academics and others try their hands at forecasting.

Most predictions turn out to be wrong.  A 2005 study at the University of California at Berkley confirmed it.  Researchers surveyed 82,000 predictions over 25 years by 300 leading economists and found their conjectures were no more accurate than random guesses.

But that knowledge won't stop your scribe from shimming into the New Year with some prophecies for 2013.  Be prepared for more speed bumps than green lights in the year ahead.

1.  The U.S. economy will record a second consecutive year of tepid growth.  The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a key measurement of the economy's output, will inch above two percent, but fail to reach three percent, the level needed to sustain healthy growth.

2.  Obamacare will stumble from the starting gate.  Lawmakers, including Democrats, will vote to delay its implementation as sparring over insurance exchanges in the states exposes the many flaws inherent in the bloated legislation.

3.  The U.S. Supreme Court will fail to deliver a a definitive answer on same sex marriage in its rulings on two cases.  Chief Justice John Roberts will again disappoint conservatives as the court punts the question back to the states and further muddles the issue.

4.  California goes the way of Greece.  The once golden state will plunge deeper into debt as the Democratic controlled legislature refuses to cut spending and trim state employee benefits.  The governor will seek federal loan guarantees to prop up the state's sinking finances.    

5. The European Union will show fissures as France balks at support for tighter budget controls.  The Eurozone economy will contract for a second straight year, plunging more countries into debt spirals that force EU bailouts and feed German anxiety about serving as Europe's paymaster.

6.  Unemployment stubbornly stays above 7 percent, despite the federal bureaucracy's efforts to jigger the measurement.  The number of Americans in the workforce continues to decline as more people become discouraged and stop looking for employment.

7.  A major data breech involving millions of consumers proves to be a tipping point, fueling calls for a national crime force dedicated to tracking down and prosecuting hackers.  The nascent bureaucracy will reside within the FBI.

8.  Vice President Joe Biden's gun control commission issues a wad of tangled recommendations.  Most are doomed to defeat, but Congress approves an assault weapons ban, which will have as little impact as the last one passed in 1994.

9. Despite talk of budget cuts, the federal government ends 2013 by adding another $1 trillion to the nation's debt.  Obama and Democrats renew efforts to raise taxes on high earners and call for a wealth tax on the assets of the top two percent.

10.  The housing industry finally shows signs of a pulse.  Growth in home equity, sparked by rising prices, convinces more homeowners to get back in the market.  Sales tick up to 5 million, a level not seen since 2008.

For doubters, please feel free to print and save this list.   Just remember, the author makes no claims as to the accuracy of these predictions.  But just in case a few prognostications turn out to come true, patent papers have been filed on the crystal ball used to divine the future.