American Labor Day and Our Anti-Jobs President

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine

This weekend is a holiday weekend, Labor Day, created to recognize working people’s accomplishments. Moving from an agricultural economy to an industrial one in the late 1800’s created a clash between people doing the work and management. Unions were formed and battles between police and workers were violent and there were a lot of people killed. President Grover Cleveland sought to reduce the conflict with the creation of Labor Day. This is an oversimplified history since it’s not the point of this post. More on the particulars here. 

The big discussion this weekend is a President whose Marxist economic policies have been not only a failure, but a disaster; so much so his Leftist supporters are voicing buyers’ remorse. The jobs news released this past Friday showed zero job growth. Polls show about two-thirds of citizens disapprove of his handling of the economy. Even his own administration released a report stating they expected the economy to grow at a rate of 1.7% through next year. With an unemployment rate of 9%, other economists think the 1.7% is optimistic.

Obama and the Democrats controlled Congress and the Executive branch for the first two years of his administration, meaning they controlled the purse strings. Congress is required by law to pass a budget, and didn’t do so for two years. When the Republicans were elected to gain control of the House of Representatives last year, they proposed several budgets, all rejected by the Administration and Democrats. The Senate, still controlled by Democrats still have not passed, let alone proposed, a budget as required by law, going on to two and a half years. The media and Leftist meme is Republicans are obstructionists. Go figure. Democrats reject everything and refuse to negotiate, ignore the law, and the Republicans are the obstructionists, the bad guys.

 We have had Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) at the end of the Bush administration, that Obama voted for and conservatives were against, that had no effect other than lining the pockets of Wall Street fat cats and CEO's with taxpayer money. When Obama came to office he forced through a stimulus package of about a $tillion and most of it went to state workers, most of whom belong to unions, and little went to the private sector. Most of the private sector companies were “green” and most have failed since after blowing through $millions with no accountability. The money going to state union workers found its way back to the unions that in turn funneled the money back to Obama’s campaign war chest (estimated to be approaching a $billion) and funding the Democrat Party. That’s nothing short of a money laundering operation using taxpayer dollars. Then another $trillion in a second stimulus package was passed, again without Republican support, and the same thing was done. Now Obama and the Democrats are advocating for a third stimulus package. It’s doubtful this one will pass because the Democrats no longer control both houses of Congress. This will be reported as the Republicans are obstructionists that want to increase unemployment, starve old people, put children on the street, create more homeless, cause more pollution, and all the rest. Nevermind that three times infusion of taxpayer money into the economy has failed.

We haven’t decided whether Obama is deliberately destroying the economy (he campaigned on ‘fundamentally transforming America’) or he’s just stupid. We do know he’s a Leftist ideologue and truly believes confiscating the earnings of producers and giving to non-producers (47% of Americans don’t pay income tax) is the way to go, despite the empirical evidence of a 100% failure rate 100% of the time the idea has been applied all throughout history.  

Where We Can't Drill for Oil

This is an anti-jobs President. He has illegally shut down drilling in the Gulf since the spill there, throwing thousands out of work. He’s had his environmental agency pass such restrictive regulations that coal mines are shutting down because they can’t meet the costs, throwing more thousands out of work. He shut down all coastal oil drilling, all new conventional drilling, and all oil shale production, denying jobs to thousands of people. It has also driven up the cost of energy causing a massive budget crunch for citizens. Nearly all taxpayer paid for “green” jobs have gone out of business or moved overseas. $billions have been lost and yet more workers are unemployed. The ObamaCare health plan is causing additional massive disruptions of employment and costs to citizens, and it's not even fully implemented yet.

He will be addressing Congress this coming week about job creation. Guaranteed he’ll talk about the need to raise taxes, the need for another stimulus package (different words will be used, “stimulus” has become a negative after two failures), more spending on infrastructure (already failed twice), and more regulations. Regarding regulations, so many have been passed by his administration, businesses have quit hiring or are going out of business because they can’t afford to implement them. More thousands of jobs lost.

The answer of course is what always works. Reduce taxes. The more  of their own money people have to spend, the more they’ll purchase, the more they purchase the more jobs are created to meet the demand, the more people working means more tax payers, means more tax revenue created. Roll back spending to at least 2008 levels. There’s what’s known as the 1% solution that after the rollback, cut 1% spending each following budgets. That shouldn’t be hard even for congress critters. Reduce regulations. The costs of implementation kills business growth. Open up drilling and oil shale production creating thousands of jobs and reducing the costs to families of high energy costs (increasing discretionary spending which creates more jobs), and as a side benefit reduce dependence on foreign oil from countries that want to destroy America. Let the coal mines that have been shut down by this administration reopen, further driving down energy costs. Lastly, repeal ObamaCare.    

It’s sad that on a day we’re to be celebrating workers’ contributions, we have a president and political party hell bent on creating unemployment. 

His Holiness’ Favorite Cantata

Johann Sebastian Bach

“ I remember a concert performance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach—in Munich in Bavaria —conducted by Leonard Bernstein. At the conclusion of the final selection, one of the Cantate, I felt—not through reasoning, but in the depths of my heart—that what I had just heard had spoken truth to me, truth about the supreme composer, and it moved me to give thanks to God. Seated next to me was the Lutheran bishop of Munich. I spontaneously said to him: Whoever has listened to this understands that faith is true—and the beauty that irresistibly expresses the presence of God’s truth. ”

~ Benedict XVI, speaking at the audience last Wednesday (August 31, 2011) with the pilgrims and faithful gathered in the small square of Castel Gandolfo. 

Well, it is not the first time that Pope Benedict has called art and music “the greatest apologetic for our faith.” This time, however, His Holiness added the above personal recollection. And I hope you will appreciate to know that the Cantata of Bach that so profoundly touched the heart of the future pope was the one that bears the catalog number BWV 140, which was composed by JSB for the Mass of the twenty-seventh Sunday after the feast of the Holy Trinity, the last Sunday before Advent in the Lutheran liturgical year (via Sandro Magister). Here it is, accompanied with beautiful pictures of the Lake District in England:

“The Weary Kind”

Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal in CRAZY HEART (Photo by Lorey Sebastian)

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” Thus wrote Carl Gustav Jung, the great Swiss psychiatrist who founded the so-called analytical school of psychology, and, luckily for us religious and non-materialistic people, broadened Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical approach. Who knows whether he ever came across that famous passage from Saint Augustine’s De Vera Religione which roughly translates as “Do not wish to go outside, return into yourself. Truth dwells in the inner man.” Be it as it may, one thing is almost certain: both Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett, who wrote “The Weary Kind,” the beautiful country song from the film Crazy Heart, may not have read either the famous psychiatrist or the great Father of the Church, and yet they seem to have learned well the great lesson of both Augustine of Hippo and Carl Jung. Yes, just “Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try,” that’s all you need to do.