The SoapBoxers

So Speaker Boehner, where are the jobs at? Before the elections in November this seemed to be Rep. John Boehner’s mantra, so it is only fitting to turn it back on him ow that they have been on the job a while now a show no signs of actually wanting to create any jobs. Instead the Republicans have led a crusade to end abortion, repeal the healthcare reform of last year, end social security and medicare, generally anything under the sun that is not tied to their corporate masters.

It seems really that Boehner and Republicans are most concerned about doing anything to make it seem that Obama and Democrats are failing, that actually doing anything to heal the economy and the country. Yesterday it seems that Boehner expressed this mindset perfectly. “If we stick together and keep the pressure on the Democrats, we’re going to win this fight,” he said to a group of assembled Republicans. “We’re gonna kick their ass.”

Really Speaker Fake Baker? Ass kicking? How does that actually do anything to improve the country? It doesn’t. I fact the most recent standstill to the countdown to shutdown has exposed that the overall effect of Republican sought cuts to spending will eliminate 700,000 jobs. To use their tired at old line when they refer to tax cuts, is this the time we really need to cut 700,000 when we need to be creating them?

Then again as I said jobs are not the focus as clearly stated earlier this week by Illinois Congresswoman Judy Biggert who she said in front to Congress that Democrats just needed to stop talking about jobs. Well Rep. Biggert that was the main task that people supposedly had in sending Republicans to control Congress this time around, and like every time before you have failed.

BAD NUT OF THE MONTH

I haven’t done these in a long time so I thought I’d bring it back. The Bad Nut of the Month award goes to Wisconsin State Senator Randy Hooper. Hooper one of the Republicans eligible for and soon to be facing a recall vote showed how much of a moral authority on things Republicans truly are. In a time of budget cuts in the state Hooper helped get a cushy job with a raise for his mistress. Despite not having any better qualifications than the previous person to have the job and not formally applying for the position, Valerie Cass was given the job with $11,000 more than the person who had the job before. Just bad on different fronts. For one this happenedd during the time that the state was supposedly broke and they needed to cut the budget, cut jobs and bust unions. And on the other for a person and a party i general that touts themselves as the absolute moral authority on everything, it seems pretty immoral to me to cheat on and leave your wife for a woman almost half your age. However I guess if you are the Senator’s mistress jobs are created for you and not cut, however to go to a Republican talking point. This is a real threat to marriage.

As the New Year begins, I have been thinking about what my first write up would be for 2011. I have to admit (and hopefully I’m not the only person out there) that I’m tired. I’m abnormally exhausted. Maybe it’s the combination of the in-laws coming to visit, too much eggnog (those who know me know that it is actually beer), far too much work and too much fun with the kids. Any way you slice it, I hope that 2011 finds each of you in a good position and that during the coming months things will continue to improve for each of you.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 was the beginning of the 112th congress. John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi once again exchanged the gavel used by the speaker of the house. This year seems to be the beginning of a more partisan house than we’ve seen in years though. Since November battle lines have been drawn by the congressmen/congresswomen. Republicans have promised to fulfill promises they made to their base about repealing “Obamacare” and to bring our country back to the conservative values that it was founded on.

It just seems like yesterday that we heard political ad after political ad. Does anyone remember that like a nightmare? I swore if I heard one more person try to align themselves with Ronald Reagan I would get sick. That seemed to be the war cry of those wanting to poise themselves opposite of the Obama administration. Reaganomics was a term coined in the 80’s for simple trickledown economics. It isn’t a new idea and is heavily documented in econ book after econ book. This is the direction many people believe we should be moving back to—this is likely what is spurring the Reagan comparisons.

So, what are the tasks that John Boehner, the Republicans and the few conservative Democrats in this new Congress would like to take on?

1. Repeal “Obamacare”. We all know that this won’t happen right now. The question is will they make the statement and stand against the healthcare changes like they said that they would? The two biggest complaints that people have with the healthcare law is that this behemoth change now mandates healthcare coverage and that it is expensive…very expensive. Some people were silly enough to believe that this wouldn’t cost us anything. I telecommute for a company that employs some people working in health insurance. I have a desk within earshot of reps answering phones. I can’t tell you the number of times I heard these reps trying to explain to callers that they can’t just call up the insurance company and ask for the free Obama Healthcare Plan.
2. Control spending. Everyone has an opinion on the spending. Peggy the Mooch thinks we ought to spend more to pay for the gas in her tank and her mortgage. Others think that we need to get back to decreased public spending and allow people to become more self-sufficient. It does seem that we have created this enormous government tit that the entire country has latched on to and is working to suck dry. Everyone from the execs at Goldman Sachs to Peggy the Mooch is connected. Are they wrong for doing so? Hell no, I can’t blame Peggy for taking advantage of some free goods. If people are going to give it away why wouldn’t you take it? I do blame her for being naive enough to believe Obama was going to be her Obama Clause though. People, we’re enabling this….this is our fault and we need to fix it. Someone created the fictional character Hugh Jidette to make light of the situation, but don’t take it too lightly; this is happening. This week the House votes on a 5% cut across the board to their own spending budgets…good start, but don’t stop there. Just keep thinking smaller government.
3. Stimulate the economy and create more jobs. I’m lumping them together which may not be wise. I’ve taken fewer than 10 econ classes and in my simple world it seems like the two go hand in hand, but that may be naive of me. No, I don’t have the answer; I’m not foolish enough to believe that a simple IT guy will come up with a plan to save the free world economy. I can only suggest that we look back at what hasn’t worked, consult with those that are much wiser and do something about it. If we don’t take action nothing will improve.
4. Give John Boehner strength. Yes, John Boehner the gravelly voiced speaker is a softie. He has been known to shed a tear at those moments where emotions run high. No, not just before he pushes Nancy Pelosi off the speaker’s podium…more like when Harry Reid retained office or something tender happens within his family.

This year will be hard on politicians, pundits and constituents. We are likely going to be at odds with one another even more after 2011 ends. Let’s hope that in the process that we don’t have any additional wars break out, any nuclear fallout from Iran, Korea, China, Venezuela, etc. Let’s hope that our economy improves and we begin to feel like the confident leaders of the free world we are used to being. Let’s hope that jobs are created and more American’s are put back to work. Let’s hope that people can start to see some common ground and reduce the political walls that have built up. Finally, let’s pray that God leads our President, our Congress and blesses our troops with safety, wisdom and courage in this New Year.

Squeaky…