The U.S. vs China

How can China hurt us? Let us count the ways:

First and foremost, they hold most of our foreign debt, 19 percent or $1.17 trillion. By buying U.S. treasuries, China keeps our interest rates low but it also gives China leverage over U.S. fiscal policy.

What would happen if China stopped buying U.S. treasures or, worst still, called the loans?

China also controls the supply of the world’s rare earth metals that are used in most of the high-tech products we take for granted like smart phones and hard drives. More importantly, these materials are necessary components for building smart bombs and military radar. It’s not that we don’t have any of these minerals. It’s just that our government shut down our only rare earth mine and allowed the Chinese to buy the company that supplied them.

Lastly, China now has access to our most sensitive military technology. That which wasn’t stolen was transferred overtly by previous administrations. Continue reading “The U.S. vs China” →

Boehner’s Gone: Who’s Crying Now?

“It stinks!” That was how incoming Speaker of the House Paul Ryan explained the back room deal hatched by outgoing Speaker John Boehner and Democrat leaders that raised the debt ceiling and put us on automatic pilot to the spending stratosphere through the rest of Obama’s term.

Boehner claimed he was “cleaning the barn” before Ryan took control of the House of Representatives but where is that smell coming from? The entrance to the place is spotless, but the bad odor will linger well after Boehner is gone because of all the brown stuff he piled up in the stalls.

Thanks to Boehner and the Senate’s worthless Mitch McConnell, it’s Obama who will come out smelling like a rose. The nation is on a collision course with the grim reaper over unrestrained spending and all the hard decisions have been put off until the next president takes office.

Does anyone seriously think that Paul Ryan’s hands are clean? Boehner spent weeks begging Ryan to take the reins of the House. If Ryan had put his foot down and said “No” to this deal it never would have happened? Instead, Ryan blessed the deal by voting for it, along with all Democrats and a mere 78 of his Republican colleagues. Continue reading “Boehner’s Gone: Who’s Crying Now?” →

USA on Slavery’s Slippery Sloap

The average life of a democracy is 200 years. Our country has outlived its expiration date largely because it is a democratic republic with a constitution that guarantees our citizens certain inalienable rights and a government with three co-equal branches, each with checks on the other two.

We are now seeing those basic rights eroded by an aggressive Supreme Court. We also are seeing those checks and balances upset by an equally aggressive president and a Congress that is reluctant to use the power at its disposal.

Furthermore, the financial stability of this nation has been undermined by our elected representatives who have learned that the best way to stay in office is by spending our money and doing favors for their supporters.

As a result, our economy is at a near standstill and we are mired in debt. China is bullying us, but we owe so much to that communist country there is really nothing we can do about it. This has to stop before it is too late because, as the Bible says, “The borrower is the slave to the lender.”

Just how far have we fallen down slavery’s slippery slope? Continue reading “USA on Slavery’s Slippery Sloap” →

Who’s Lying in the Senate?

On Friday, Ted Cruz created quite a stir went he broke protocol on the Senate floor and accused Mitch McConnell of lying.

If that is true, and it appears it is, we now know that the majority leader has a lot of company. I will offer proof that all of the Democrats and about half of the Republicans are guilty of the same thing.

Have your senators talked about how they want to rein in corporate welfare and cut out all unnecessary spending? Of course they have! A procedural vote to allow the highway bill to move forward with an amendment that would reauthorize a little-known government agency, the Export-Import Bank, proves it. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=1&vote=00254

It also proves that there are far more Democrats infected with corporate greed than Republicans, but unfortunately the GOP Senate leader is among them. McConnell made a big show of voting against allowing the amendment to advance. However, he is the one who orchestrated the vote. His corporate donors got the message. It’s hypocritical!

If you don’t know if your senators should be retained or not, this vote should make it abundantly clear. McConnell, and every senator who voted “yea” is cheating on us. They are robbing taxpayers to pay off their corporate cronies.

If you are not familiar with the Ex-Im Bank, you should be. It’s Exhibit Number One when it comes to government waste. Continue reading “Who’s Lying in the Senate?” →

Ring in the New Year by Ringing out the old Budget

The time has come to put away the holiday decorations and prepare for the new year. It’s also time to deal with an old piece of business, the 2015 CRomnibus budget deal that was rammed down our throats at the 11th hour by an unholy trinity: John Boehner, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The 1600+-page CRomnibus was passed much like ObamaCare, cloaked in secrecy until hours before the vote. Lawmakers were urged to “pass it” before they could” find out what was in it.”

The time has come to take a cold, hard look at this pig in a poke. Continue reading “Ring in the New Year by Ringing out the old Budget” →

Feeding Millionnaires while Taxpayers Shiver

Some of the Democrats’ leading bleeding-heart liberals found common ground this past week with the biggest corporate welfare-loving Republicans in a most unlikely source, the farm bill, which is now headed to President Obama.

Mostly Republicans in the House and mostly Democrats in the Senate came together with congressional leaders in a big Kumbaya moment to pass a bill that is an affront to every citizen who struggles to pay his or her taxes.

Most of us tune out when we hear the word “farm.” In a nation that long ago moved away from an agrarian society, the closest we get to the soil these days is when we mow the lawn or wash a the few drops of dirt from the produce we bring home from the market.

However, our representatives in Washington just spent more on the farm bill than was spent on the much maligned Obama stimulus, $956.4 billion over 10 years to be exact. And this farm bill is every bit as wasteful as the aforementioned boondoggle. Continue reading “Feeding Millionnaires while Taxpayers Shiver” →