Ed's Politics and World News

Welcome to Ed's Politics and World News....
On Oct. 25th of this past year, a local editor in my hometown wrote a thoughtful piece about the cost of running a small business vis a vis taxes. It was a detailed account of how many taxes he faced running the small county newspaper. Now that the US Senate takes up the House version of the stimulus package, the focus has been on the Republican House members' unanimous rejection of the Pelosi / Obama plan. Credit should be given to the new President for at least meeting with the minority party leaders about the billion dollar stimulus package. How sincere he was (and will be) to win bipartisan support remains to be seen. He certainly did not convince any of the House Republicans. However, he has to try to keep Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in check, or the stimulus package will be the Christmas tree Democrats have wanted to decorate for a long time. Senate majority leader Reid, in a recent interview stated, "I don't believe in the executive power trumping everything... I believe in our Constitution, three separate but equal branches of government. If Obama steps over the bounds, I will tell him. ... I do not work for Barack Obama. I work with him." And who can forget that Nancy Pelosi is, under the Constitution, second in line to assume the presidency. If that doesn't scare you...shadows of the left's phobia of a Vice-President Palin.

It was Pelosi who claimed a "10 pound anvil" was lifted from her head when Bush left the White House. I'm so glad she can think clearly now...For example, consider Grandma Pelosi's comment regarding the $200 million set aside for birth-control funding as part of the $825 billion stimulus package: "Well, the family planning services reduce cost ... contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government." (In other words, let's question having children because they cost the government money! Ah yes, but who will pay for this eventual $1,000,000,000,000-plus bailout, with everybody getting in line to feed at the public trough?)

At least Obama got that idiotic item out of the House version. The current Rasmussen poll shows less than a majority of the public supports the House version. Even some Senate Democrats are leary of its "pork." We are in a recession, no doubt, but to blame it on the previous administration is misleading, since seven of its eight years, despite 9-11, were prosperous, though insufficiently regulated by both sides of the aisle in the housing bubble that burst. Greed, irresponsibility on the part of borrowers and lenders, the lack of oversight by Congress and the executive branch over the last sixteen years...all were part of the melt-down. Also, the stock market is always a gamble, and if you play the slots, you have to be aware that risk is your choice. Hindsight is always 20/20. Back to my hometown paper's editorial piece ...small businesses account for the lion's share of jobs in the US. According to the National Small Business Association,small businesses created 21.9 million jobs in the last 15 years compared with 1.8 million for large businesses. If they are not given relief in the form of tax cuts, the economy will surely slide into a depression. Let's stimulate with tax cuts, not just spend this country into President Carter's 22% interest inflationary spiral for which I am still paying.