Barry's World

Obama's Bailouts


Obama as a Negotiator


Obama Fixes the Economy


Obama's Open Borders


Government Internet Control
(This has already happened!)

The Foreign Perspective

Foreigners Don't Hold Much Regard for Obama
We have told our readers that they should always check news outside of the Lame Stream media to get a REAL feeling on the actual news. Equally true for financial news.

Dr Marc Faber was born in Zurich, Switzerland. He is an economist and publishes a monthly world-wide newsletter on investing. He was recently asked what he thought of Obama's SOTU speech and here is what he said:

"I think he’s done a horrible job and I think that will continue... I think he is a dishonest person [Obama], and nothing has changed… Some politicians are more honest than others. I don’t think that I have a very high regard for politicians, I have a high regard for businessmen and for people who work, and not for people who abuse the system continuously. And in comparison to other politicians, I think he came in on a platform as a president that would want to change the government in Washington, and actually he’s made it worse."

So What You Ask?
Marc Farber has correctly predicted several economic downturns in recent times and he differentiated between George Bush and Obama by saying:

"We foreigners, we just laugh at someone like Mr. Obama. I was very critical of Mr. Bush, but at least he had one line and he stuck to that line, and at least he set out to do a thing and he was relatively straight on that thing that he did. He may have been wrong and I criticized him very frequently, but at least he didn’t change his mind continuously, and didn’t prostitute himself [like Obama]."

Economic Fix for the USA
Farber went on to say that Obama should be telling Americans that "they have to all tighten their belts." He said that "We have to go through hard times for five years to repair the damage that was committed over 20-25 years by the Federal Reserve, by the Treasury, by the politicians, and somebody has to tell the truth." He also said: "But the politicians keep on fueling the illusion that you can spend yourself out of the misery, and that by printing money you will improve the economy, which is not the case."

Why Aren't We Getting This Message?
Don't you find it confusing that we are not hearing this message here at home from the President or the Lame Stream media? Our national debt is destroying the country.

Obama is throwing good money after bad and we keep letting him do so thinking that everything will be OK. Now he wants to "invest" (more spending) in high speed rail, pharmacological medicine development, and green jobs. These will take years to develop and we need to CUT SPENDING IMMEDIATELY! Let's face it, Obama has NO QUALIFICATIONS in economics. His policies have failed. If you believe that 9.4% unemployment rate is an indicator that the recession is over, then you are naive. Foreigners definitely have a different outlook for the USA. When will the majority of American wake up?

Healthcare Waivers

Too Easy to See This One
We have criticized Obama for doing things behind the scenes in the past, but this one is the best example of all. Thanks to the Obama Administration. In December a year ago, Democrats (Progressives) jammed ObamaCare down America's throat by back-door dealing. This was the bill that Pelosi said that "we would have to pass the bill to find out what was in it." Apparently, some people have taken the time to read the law and get the drift on what it really costs.

Kathleen Sebelious Steps In
The Secretary of Health and Human Services (Kathleen Sebelious) has the power to grant waivers to whoever she wants. Don't be mislead. She is a bureaucrat. So why does a bureaucrat have these unlimited waiver powers?

Perhaps they are gifts to Democratic allies who helped Obama - like the unions. These waivers are given to those who have cried poverty and cannot afford to implement ObamaCare. Whatever the reason, they are given in a uneven way. This is UNFAIR to the rest of us. Did you get a waiver? This is a strong clue and positive proof that Socialized medicine isn't working.

New Numbers of Exemptions
Last week Sebelious granted an additional 500 exemptions to ObamaCare. Were you on her list? Probably not. This brings the total of "Special Consideration" to well over 700 groups of Americans. This number now totals 2.1 million people who are being given special privileges over you and I. Why is this? Is this fair or just mean-spirited?

Action To Take
Tell your Senators to vote to repeal ObamaCare. Tell Harry Reid that he can no longer hide the bill from an up/down vote. Let the Senate be on the record as to their position on this matter.

A True Patriot

Tea Party Caucus Remarks
Here are the remarks by Representative Michele Bachmann (R, MN) following the State of the Union address last night.

"Good evening, my name is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota's 6th District.

Two years ago, when Barack Obama became our President, unemployment was 7.8 percent and our national debt stood at what seemed like a staggering $10.6 trillion dollars.

We wondered whether the President would cut spending, reduce the deficit and implement real job-creating policies.

Unfortunately, the President's strategy for recovery was to spend a trillion dollars on a failed stimulus program, fueled by borrowed money.

The White House promised us that all the spending would keep unemployment under 8 percent.

Not only did that plan fail to deliver, but within three months the national jobless rate spiked to 9.4 percent. And sadly, it hasn't been lower for 20 straight months. While the government grew, we lost more than 2 million jobs.

Let me show you a chart.

Here are unemployment rates over the past ten years. In October 2001, our....

...national unemployment rate was at 5.3 percent. In 2008 it was at 6.6 percent. But, just eight months after President Obama promised lower unemployment, that rate spiked to a staggering 10.1 percent.

Today, unemployment is at 9.4 percent with about 400,000 new claims every week.

After the $700 billion bailout, the trillion-dollar stimulus, and the $410 billion spending bill with over 9,000 earmarks, many of you implored Washington to please stop spending money we don't have.

But, instead of cutting, we saw an unprecedented explosion of government spending and debt, unlike anything we have seen in the history of our country.

Deficits were unacceptably high under President Bush, but they exploded under President Obama's direction, growing the national debt by an astounding $3.1 trillion-dollars.

What did we buy?

Instead of a leaner, smarter government, we bought a bureaucracy that tells us which light bulbs to buy, and which will put 16,500 IRS agents in charge of policing President Obama's healthcare bill.

ObamaCare mandates and penalties will force many job creators to stop offering health insurance altogether, unless yours is one of the more-than-222 privileged companies or unions that has received a government waiver.

In the end, unless we fully repeal ObamaCare, a nation that currently enjoys the world's best healthcare may be forced to rely on government-run coverage that will have a devastating impact on our national debt for generations to come.

For two years President Obama made promises just like the ones we heard him make tonight. Yet still we have high unemployment, devalued housing prices and the cost of gasoline is skyrocketing.

Here are a few suggestions for fixing our economy:

* The President could stop the EPA from imposing a job-destroying cap-and-trade system.

* The President could support a Balanced Budget Amendment.

* The President could agree to an energy policy that increases American energy production and reduces our dependence on foreign oil.

* The President could also turn back some of the 132 regulations put in place in the last two years, many of which will cost our economy $100 million or more.

* And, the President should repeal ObamaCare and support free market solutions like medical malpractice reform and allow all Americans to buy any healthcare policy they like anywhere in the United States.

We need to start making things again in this country, and we can do that by reducing the tax and regulatory burdens on job creators.

America will have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Look no further to see why jobs are moving overseas.

But, thanks to you, there's reason to hope that real spending cuts are coming. Last November you went to the polls and voted out big-spending politicians and you put in their place men and women with a commitment to follow the Constitution and cut the size of government.

I believe that we are in the early days of a history-making turn.

Please know how important your calls, visits and letters are to the maintenance of our liberties. Because of you, Congress responded and we are starting to undo the damage that's been done.

We believe in lower taxes, a limited view of government and the exceptionalism of America. And I believe America is the indispensible nation.

Just the creation of this nation was a miracle. Who's to say that we can't see a miracle again?

The perilous battle that was fought in the Pacific, at Iwo Jima, was a battle against all odds, and yet the image of the young G.I.s in the incursion against the Japanese immortalizes their victory. These six young men raising the flag came to symbolize all of America coming together to beat back a totalitarian aggressor.

Our current debt crisis we face today is different, but we still need all of us to pull together. We can do this.

And that's the hope we hold tonight as Americans. We will push forward to reclaim the greatness of our country and to proclaim the liberty upon which we were founded.

And we will do so because we the people will never give up on this great nation.

God bless you, and God bless America."

Another Attack on Free Speech Looming

Obama Wants Internet Kill Switch
Yes, you heard right. Obama and his cronies (Senator Joe Lieberman [D, CT] and Senator Susan Collins [R, Maine]) are going to try it again! They call it the "National Cyberemergency" bill. It gives Obama full power to shut-down the Internet when HE deems it necessary! That's OUTRAGEOUS!!

No Courts Involved
This proposed law does NOT require any court intervention in deciding how or when the President can take-over privately owned computer systems and shut-down the Internet. There are no checks or balances. Obama likes the idea a lot. It's kind of like the same thing that his pal Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela. Chavez now controls ALL forms of media including the Internet in Venezuela. Chavez is a DICTATOR!

See anything wrong here America? Obama wants this law that tramples all over the 1st Amendment. He wants to control the Internet in case of an emergency. This is the same guy who loves "emergencies" so he can jam HIS agenda down your throats and "fundamentally transform America."

Message From the Lawmakers
Lawmakers claim that private Internet companies "should not be alarmed by the legislation." WARNING AMERICA!

Lawmakers claim that "We're not trying to mandate any requirements for the entire Internet, or the entire Internet backbone..." No, they won't do that. The only time they would take control "...is to assert governmental control only over those crucial components that form our nation's critical infrastructure." In other words, all the systems that run the Internet servers.

Lieberman says: "For all of its 'user-friendly' allure, the Internet can also be a dangerous place with electronic pipelines that run directly into everything from our personal bank accounts to key infrastructure to government and industrial secrets."

If Lieberman is so worried about national security, then why hasn't he done ANYTHING to protect us from an EMP pulse bomb that would destroy anything that has a computer chip in it? (Read One Second After, by William Forstchen and see how devastating this threat is to all of us.)

WARNING AMERICA
When a politician tells you that they are protecting you or your freedoms WATCH OUT AMERICA! This isn't the first time that a politician wanted to nullify your First Amendment God-given rights!

Homeland Securities Role
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will maintain a list of systems or "assets that are critical infrastructure." These systems are the ones that are subjected to Obama's "emergency decrees." In other words, Obama says that there is a "Cybersecurity emergency" and then DHS shuts-down all privately held systems that run the Internet because "national information infrastructure is essential to operation of the system."

Action To Take
SCREAM LOUDLY at the top of your voice and tell Congress NOT to consider passing this THEFT of Natural Liberties! Any government that controls speech is a dictatorship!

The Debt Ceiling

Can We Shut Down the Federal Government Even If We Raise the Debt Ceiling?
By Scott Spiegle, columnist.

"In a recent article on the upcoming 112th Congress, the Associated Press warned that gridlock between the Republican House and the Democratic Senate might result in a failure to act that “could threaten the nation’s economic health.”

Are they kidding?

What do they think has been going on for the past two years, when Democrats controlled both chambers and the White House, and put us further in debt than the first 100 Congresses combined? Gridlock in Congress is the best prescription for helping our economy recover.

Mainstream news outlets have noted that Republicans hold two main objectives after their swearing in on Wednesday: repealing or defunding ObamaCare, and finding a politically palatable solution to the imminent overrun of the federal debt ceiling President Obama signed into law last year.

If Republicans don’t vote to raise the ceiling above its existing limit of $14.3 trillion by March 4, when the current stopgap measure runs out, we are told that they will be responsible for a government shutdown like the one in January 1996.

Obama’s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee declared that failure to raise the debt ceiling would have a “catastrophic” effect, in that the federal government would essentially be in default.

In contrast, if we pass a resolution increasing the debt ceiling and continue to spend into the stratosphere, the world will be fooled into thinking that we are on financially sounder footing.

Huh?

An arbitrary limit chosen by Congress that will be increased repeatedly in coming months and years will have that much of an impact on our global creditworthiness, but our actual spending behavior won’t?

If I understand correctly, the purpose of a debt ceiling is to prevent politicians from spending so much that the federal government goes into debt at a level higher than that specified by the ceiling. In other words, the ceiling is set so that spend-happy legislators trolling for votes can’t overrun a predetermined limit in the future. The fact that the ceiling is voted into law means the debt level is inviolable and cannot be increased.

Something seems to have gone wrong here.

If we don’t stop increasing the debt ceiling to ever-higher levels, what’s the point of having one? What meaning does it hold?

Is it at least possible that the world might interpret our declining to raise the debt ceiling as a sign that we intend to scale back our meteoric rise in federal spending and return to earlier levels?

Hasn’t the party that failed to pass a budget for the last two years, and passed but failed to live by its own sanctimonious PAYGO “pay-as-you-go” rule, damaged our international standing more than the GOP’s failing to declare a meaningless debt ceiling could?

Everyone knows there are two ways to reduce the federal debt, one of which is to cut spending. (The other involves taxes, though leftists and conservatives disagree on the direction: leftists believe raising them increases revenue, whereas conservatives believe lowering them does.)

In that light, I highly recommend for educational purposes The New York Times’ Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget from November of last year.

I, for one, was able to eliminate the projected $418 billion 2015 shortfall, and the projected $1,345 billion 2030 shortfall, without raising a single dollar in taxes, obtaining 100% of my savings from spending cuts.

I achieved this primarily by: (1) capping Medicare growth starting in 2013, (2) raising the Social Security retirement age to 70, (3) reducing the tax break for employer-provided health insurance, and (4) increasing the Medicare eligibility age to 70. That’s it. Each of these four measures resulted in $100 billion or more in projected savings to the deficit by 2030. Combined with other, more minor cuts, the job was done.

True, I had to trim some military spending in order to cross the finish line. But I didn’t have to resurrect the estate tax, reinstate taxes on capital gains and dividends, allow any of the Bush tax cuts to expire, impose a millionaire’s tax, or institute a national sales tax, a carbon tax, or a bank tax. (I didn’t even have to cut Vice President Joe Biden’s salary to its market value of $13,500!)

The budget can be “solved,” without raising taxes or the debt ceiling, solely by cutting spending, in a framework so clear and intuitive even a child could do it using an interactive online “puzzle.”
If certain stubborn teenagers in congress can’t figure that out, then the government ought to be shut down so they can have a nice, long timeout."

Congress IS Above the Law

Ahhh Haa Moment
Did you ever wonder why members of Congress look down their noses at us? Many think that they are better than us. This little ditty of information explains their attitude. What are we taking about?

Question: Are you aware that the staffers of Congress and Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back their student loans? This amounts to millions of dollars, we don't have for this perk! It actually has been in place for some time. Funny how Congress doesn't want to advertise these facts huh? Call it Obama's little secret. It's just another way the government gets cooperation from Congress. Double standards? You bet! Legal? We don't think so!

Question: Are you aware that members of Congress can get FULL salary and medical benefits for life even if they only serve one term (2 years for House members and 6 years for the Senate)? That's a free ride for the rest of their lives for only one term in office! Ahhh, the Good-Old-Boy network!

Outraged? You Should Be
We see this same behavior exhibited by this administration in the passing of the new healthcare law (ObamaCare). You should know that over 229 of Obama's "favorite friends" are exempt from having to comply with ObamaCare. These friends include SEIU, AFL-CIO, NEA, and other prominant unions as well as numerous businesses who have lobbied against ObamaCare because "they can't afford it".

Now only is this unfair, but it is also ILLEGAL!

The Good News
With regards to Congress getting exempted from ObamaCare and not having to pay their student loans back, 35 states are filing lawsuits against the Federal Government to stop this unscrupulous and unethical behavior. These dual standards have to stop.

28th Amendment
We would like to see a new amendment added to the Constitution. Make it retroactive. Here is the proposed amendment:

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."

Action To Take
Tell your friends and neighbors about this. Let them become aware of these Congressional abuses of power. Tell your Representatives to move on this amendment!