Jane Chastain : Politically Direct

(With Apologies to Clement Clark Moore, Henry Livingston, Jr. or  Anonymous)

Twas the night before Cliffmas, when all through the House

Republicans were wondering if their leader was a man or a mouse;

The parameters for the budget talks had been set out with care,

In hopes that a compromise soon would be there.

The taxpayers were uneasy, not snug in their beds,

While visions of higher rates danced in their heads;

And mom with her checkbook and dad with the bills,

Had just settled down with a bottle of pills, Read the rest of this entry »

Americans often make fun of the English for their adoration and maintenance of the royal family.   The Brits can be forgiven if they snicker over what is about to take place over here on January 21, for the 2nd inauguration of Barack Obama:  the pomp and circumstance, the parade, the bands, the crowds, the balls . . . and the money it takes to put on these extravagant events

It is one thing to hold such a celebration during normal times, but this is anything but a normal time.   The nation is going through a rough patch.  Still reeling from the worst recession since the Great Depression, more than 12 million Americans are out of work.  More than 47 million are on Food Stamps.  Layoffs are a way of life.   Home foreclosures are on every street and there is no relief in sight. Read the rest of this entry »

With the nation careening toward a fiscal cliff from which there will be no escape, the national debate has centered on a popular children’s television character who goes by the name of Big Bird.

In last week’s presidential debate, Barack Obama was unable to give us a plan to solve our current economic woes other than taxing the evil job creators. As a result, the president’s polling numbers are sinking and his advisers are looking for anything that might be a distraction.

Grasping at straw, or in this case, feathers, they pounced on Mitt Romney’s promise to put everything in the federal budget, including Public Broadcasting and Big Bird’s popular television program Sesame Street to this test: “Is the program so critical it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? “ Read the rest of this entry »

Barack Obama is going to war with Mitt Romney. He isn’t fighting this war himself. He is fighting it with some women. Not just any women, he has a brigade of women who cannot or will not think for themselves.

They pick their president the way a seven-year-old picks her Barbie Doll. They think Obama is cute and swoon over meaningless phrases like “hope and change.” They have bought into his class warfare rhetoric, the old zero-sum game. I am poor (or not as comfortable as I’d like to be) because someone else is rich. Obama has promised to punish the rich and these women believe the rich deserve it. Read the rest of this entry »

President Obama inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression, but he has done nothing to get us out of the current economic mess.  After 3 ½ years,  he now owns the economy and the outlook is terrible.

The root cause of the recession was the housing crisis and it remains the housing crisis.  Though certain areas have shown a slight uptick, it’s far from over.   Until the housing crisis is solved, we can’t move on.

Obama’s  failed policies have best been described by housing experts at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University as “extend and pretend.” Read the rest of this entry »