No big surprise

Well the U.s. government finally got downgraded by Standard and Poor's
today. That should be no surprise since such a move was hinted and expected
by some earlier this week. You'd think it was a big surprise to the Obama
administration though as the Treasurery Dept. reacted with indignation about
it. Should that be a big surprise either? No it shouldn't considering this
administration has no plan to deal with the matter.

They have no plan because they don't know what they're doing. They're in
over their heads. The stimulus plan, a lot of borrowing in a hurry
according to Sen. Mark Kirk of IL, failed miserably as it did not create any
jobs at all. The unemployment rate still hovers around 9% and the
administration has no clue why either. They have no clue that all their
regulations on things like energy and health care are what is driving
business not to do anything even though they have money. There is so much
uncertainty out there and uncertainty is the enemy of business.

It has been said that if domestic energy production were opened up, several
thousand jobs would be created. How about start by lifting the moratorium
on off-shore drilling. One accident, horrific as it was, should not shut
everything down and bring the domestic energy production to a grinding
hault. This is not the way to increase our energy independence either. Oh
wait, Obama is beholden to the environmental zealots on this one as well.
Remember that he said that electric bills would necessarily go up under cap
and trade. That's another reason not to create jobs as business doesn't
know what their energy costs will be.

The biggest driver of costs for a business is personnel and there are
reasons that business wont' hire. Just look at Boeing V. the NLRB. The
administration is using the NLRB to try and tell business where they must
locate jobs. This will put a damper on any business trying to create jobs,
especially in a right to work state such as South Carolina. There's
legislation in the House to address this matter. Hopefully it will pass but
I wouldn't hold my breath on that getting through the Senate. Reid has
shown his willingness to play politics with jobs. Just look at the recent
squabble over the FAA reauthorization. Much of that hinged on a change that
the GOP wanted but the Dems didn't because it would hurt their union
buddies.

Then there's the issue of the job-crushing Obama Care legislation. They can
say all they want but it's a back door way to get a single payer system and
business doesn't know what their costs will be under this monster
legislation so they're not hiring. Costs will go up under Obama Care not
down. If this legislation were so good, why has the administration granted
over 1,000 waivers? Why don't they just give the entire country a waiver
and repeal the damn thing. By the way, when will Reid bring up repeal in
the Senate under the FY 11 budget deal? The GOP needs to hold him to this
one. If they don't then Reid will make any deal he has to and then break it
when it's convenient for him.

Given all this, is it any surprise that S&P has downgraded the U.S.
government? It's not to me and it shouldn't be to anyone else either. This
situation won't change either until Obama is kicked out of office in 2012.
Vote as if your life depends on it because it does. Maybe then we'll get
some certainty and thus job creation. Time will tell which course the
country chooses.

Can we move on

Now that there's been a compromise on the debt ceiling issue can we move on
? I sure would like to.

Did everyone get what they wanted out of the deal? Absolutely not.
Republicans didn't get the full amount of cuts they wanted. The Democrats
didn't get what they wanted on the tax hike issue either. As Speaker
Boehner said, it's not a perfect bill. It's not either. Now we'll see if
things move forward.

There will be a committee created to work on finding $1.50 trillion worth of
cuts. This will necessarily include some of the biggest drivers of the
deficit, that being entitlement programs and health care. Health care needs
to be dealt with by repealing Obama Care as this will contribute mightily to
the deficit if not repealed. It adds new mandates on insurance companies
which will increase costs to the taxpayers. Remember that much of this
kicks in after the 2012 election. How convenient for Obama.

Entitlements such as Medicare are on the table but the Democrats won't even
look at Rep. Ryan's plan for it. If we don't do anything, then there won't
be a Medicare program for future generations. It won't be there for my
nieces and nephews and certainly won't be there for my great niece. If we
do something, then there's a chance the program could still be viable.
Let's move on to deal with this problem.

Looking for villains on both sides won't help us move on either. Sometime
you have to compromise which means neither side gets everything they want.
That's just the nature of compromise. I only wish we would see more of it
in Washington.

So I say let's move on and do the business of the people.