Penny-Pinching Obama Offers Up a 0.5% Savings To Monstrous Federal Budget

The Prez held a press conference today outlining cutting federal spending on wasteful programs to a tune of $17 Billion. Sure that sounds like a lot of cash, but it ain't much when you're dealing with $3.5T budget. As an analogy, it'd be like if you were $150,000 in the hole to angry Chinese mobsters, living on $1000/week, and decided it was time to cut back on your Saturday morning bagel with cream cheese and lox. From Political Punch:

The president laid out a number of examples of the more than 100 programs that will face cuts or termination, saying that many of them were outdated or ineffective.

The $17 billion in cuts add up to roughly one half of one percent of the $3.55 trillion budget. Still, the president said the savings are significant.

"These savings, large and small, add up. The 121 budget cuts we are announcing today will save taxpayers nearly $17 billion next year alone. That’s a lot of money, even by Washington standards," he said.

The real problem with the budget is that entitlement spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) is out of control, rife with fraud, and will only get worse as the boomers approach geezerdom. In Obama's defense, it's difficult to have the political capital to take on these leviathans, because no politician has the mojo. If Jesus himself came down to become Messiah-in-Chief of America, he probably wouldn't be able to cut back on Social Security without fear of an AARP smear campaign.

When America is reduced to ashes being crushed by its exorbitant debt, remember that Democracy has it's own pitfalls as people tend to vote "What's in it For Me?" instead of any long-term viable strategy for the republic.

The End is Nigh

And it's not even from anything "cool" like nuclear winter or some super-virus, but rather from...an money-bombing Fed? Financial Post explains:

The spillover effect of all this on the rest of the world promises to be dramatically disruptive. The greatest global risk is in monetary and currency policy. Below is a chart that graphically demonstrates the sharp deviation in monetary policy from past norms. Under the chairmanship of Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve is in the midst of a giant economic experiment, flooding the world with U.S. dollars, hoping that flood will stimulate economic activity.

The total monetary base, already at astronomical levels, is now expected to take another big hit with the new Fed policy of buying up U.S. longer-term treasury bills in a bid to drive down long-term interest rates.

Weak. "Helicopter" Ben Bernanke probably doesn't even know how to ride a horse.

-Famine

Obama's Economic Policies Really Kicking Ass!

Laidoffs in Michigan (the bad kind of laid)

Well, the left has been trying to say that Wall Street hitting the floor faster than a prom dress was not a good indicator of the economy, but what about all those jobs that The Obama promised? The first full month of Obama's America isn't looking to swell either. Dismal news from Reuters:

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 25-year high of 8.1 percent in February as employers, buckling under the strain of a severe recession, axed 651,000 jobs, government data showed on Friday.

Adding to the gloom, a combined 161,000 more jobs were lost in January and December than previously believed, the U.S. Labor Department said in its monthly nonfarm payrolls report.

Now, blaming the Prez for all the economic troubles is a bit disingenuous, but continuing to blame Bush & Friends for everything bad with the economy is going to wear very thin among lefty pundits. Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress have already passed multiple bills to "stimulate" the economy and free up credit, but they probably would've been better off spending $787B Taxpayer dollars on some magic beans. And we aren't even experiencing the hyper-inflationary period since we printed a bunch of funny money and dumped into unprofitable banks. Get ready for a wild ride...Wheee!

Leper Messiah Inauguration

My tribute video to commemorate this historic event.. Sorry I couldn't bring the hope and change, because the montage has a bit of a despair quality to it. Cynicism and skepticism aren't dead just yet!

The Global Warming Commissar

During the campaign, The Obama took some well-deserved heat for having economic policies that reeked of the failed economic model of socialism. The Obamarama water-carriers in the media did everything they could to ensure the campaign wasn't derailed, and they were, of course, successful. That's why news that Obama's new Global Warming Czar was a member of a socialist umbrella organization will be met with yawns. Washington Times has some of the details (h/t GP):

Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

By Thursday, Mrs. Browner's name and biography had been removed from Socialist International's Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group's congress in Greece was still available.

Don't say we weren't warned.

What's Your Flavor of Apocalypse?

Menacing Zombie Hordes is one option

The Sniper asks a very pertinent question that other bloggers are too scared to ask: What type of apocalypse would you prefer? Somehow, that post and the theme of this blog could be remotely related.

Obama to Hire Economic Advisor to Ruin America Like She Did Michigan

Everywhere in the U.S.A. To Now Look Like Detroit

Once upon a time, Detroit was a great metropolitan where people flocked to work in the auto factories that provided a decent wage and quality of life. Of course, that was before imbecile politicians like Gov. Granholm (and other union stooges who bankrupted the Big Three) began sending businesses fleeing to the hills with ridiculous tax policies to give away free iPods to students, thereby ensuring they bought the vote with someone else's cash. Since money doesn't grow on trees, the Michigan state government is now begging the feds for a bailout to disguise their gross incompetence.

If this were any kind of a country, Gov. Granholm would have to flee to nearby Canada, but instead she is getting rewarded with a seat on The Obama's economic transition team. From the Detroit Free Press (h/t Moonbattery):

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former U.S. Rep. David Bonior will serve on a panel of financial luminaries and corporate experts advising President-elect Barack Obama on the nation’s hard-bitten economy, ensuring Michigan, its troubled auto industry and labor has a seat at the table.

Michigan, and its once proud city of Detroit, have been a sad model for what happens when you have high-taxes, high-regulation, political corruption, and handing out free goodies like health care without any concerns for unintended consequences. I suppose Obama is trying to emulate this greatness for the rest of the country.

-Famine

Help me, my brain is melting....

This morning I had to sit through a class about communicable diseases for work. You know the kind, where everyone is only there because they have to get the hours in and the teacher is getting paid a lot of money to tell you there’s nothing you can do about communicable diseases anyway, except call mom.

Well, amidst all of the horrifying boredom, something happened that sharply brought home the affects of the government-as-savior mentality. To me anyway.
We’re sitting there discussing the varieties of meningitis and the availability of vaccines when one of my classmates begins to complain that some vaccines are not “mandatory.” The meningitis vaccine is mandatory for school entry now, but my co-worker wants to know why it isn’t required for college, too.

Granted, I was already a little cranky but it was all I could do not to start throwing my pretzels at this moron.
Instead, I pointed out that people can go to their health department and get any shot they want that is age appropriate and available. This never occurred to the lemmings.

This is what happens when things start to be “mandatory.” People can’t and won’t do anything of their own accord. If the government did not order them to do it, it must not be that important. Right?

I’m not saying everyone ought to run out and get a vaccine of any kind (unless they make one for stupid.)

What I’m saying is people need to decide things for themselves. We are already becoming a nation of people needing babysitters and under the policies planned for us by the liberals on the left, people will become more and more unable to see anything for themselves, like this woman who couldn’t take her kid to get a stupid shot unless the government told her she had to.

National Suicide

(pic from America is Dead)

America: First in flight, first to put a man on the moon, inventor of the transistor, and home to the first known use of orange hotpants in a restaurant. Eh, fuck it. We had a pretty decent run.