When the smoke clears, only China will be able to bail us out from our mountain of debt.
Tucker Carlson talks about the House bill that would give Demonicrats the majority for our lifetimes. It allows illegal immigrants to receive those $1,200 stimulus checks, they can't be deported, and in fact allows for further numbers of guest worker visas, in the medical industry, when many people in that industry have already lost their jobs. It is outrageously insane.
As of right now, the House has already passed this massive bill. Most people do believe that the bill will be dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate. We better hope it is!
Well, you wonder, why was it so long before I could put this post together with the "Returning to Work Town Hall with President Trump," which was aired a week ago? It truly was a very busy news week. I concentrated on Dan Bongino's episodes regarding Gen. Flynn, which really did consume most of my time. I kept this one on the backburner until I finally had the time to watch both parts.
It is probably safe to say now, people want to get back to work! Enough is enough! This may actually be a better time for me to publish this Town Hall now, rather than a week ago. We've now had a chance to see the challenges that the lack of employment is putting on this country, thanks to the acts of courage of various entrepreneurs that just wanted to be able to put food on the table, and not lose everything during the Wuhan Virus Shutdown of 2020. Two people were arrested for doing that: Kelley Luther and Jax Myers. We must remember to thank them when the various States start opening for business. I think that their stories showed the desperation of the American people, wanting to get back to the "old normal." The "new normal" really isn't working out so well.
I think that President Trump is right. But, perhaps you will see both videos below, and come to a different conclusion. At least now, you can get first hand information right from the President. As Fox News says, "Here's the news, fair and balanced, and then you decide."
President Trump participates in a Fox News Town Hall to answer viewer's questions amid coronavirus pandemic. #FoxNews #TrumpTownHall
Part 1
President Trump is joined by Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin during the Fox News Town Hall. #FoxNews #TrumpTownHall
In this episode, I address, and debunk, the troubling new report that came out which is being used by the media to attack President Trump. I also discuss explosive new information about the Wuhan Virus which changes everything.
For some reason, I've been having a problem paying a lot of attention to the Russian Collusion hoax information that Dan is letting us know about. Yep, that's right, I'm one of those that is paying full attention to the Wuhan Virus Pandemic data, and I am not liking what I am seeing. Like I said in the post I published a little while ago, "But, there is a much more sinister intent, which would be to ruin the economy as much as possible, to hurt President Trump in the election this Fall."
What Dan Bongino talks about at the end of the show, helped me to realize that maybe I've been right all along. Yes, mitigation for the virus could have been the right path to go on, to protect people that were vulnerable to the disease. Sending people home from work that showed signs of the Coronavirus would have been alright, but it seems that the extreme measures were only exasperating the psychological affects of people losing their means of providing for their families. Not to mention, children, who are often the victims, of divorces, domestic violence, and suicides. Yes, remember when the Demonicrats always using the slogan to get their bills passed in Congress, "It's for the children?" Why aren't they thinking about THAT, now? Does it have to keep going back to, "hurting President Trump all we can, so that we win in 2020?" And that isn't just the Demonicrat politicians that are doing that, but also their willing media cohorts that derive fake news on a constant basis.
Yep, just watch the whole episode, which you may not be used to doing, but it will really help to connect the dots on so many things. Dan Bongino also needs your prayers, as does the family of another victim of this tragedy for our nation. We'll get through this, but we need to keep each other in our hearts, pray, and may God Bless President Trump and this beautiful country, America, the USA.
In this episode, I address the disturbing reasons that the radical left wants to continue the destructive economic shutdowns. I also address Nancy Pelosi's troubling appearance on Fox News this weekend. Finally, I address explosive new information on the Spygate case.
I don't know about you, but I am pretty sure I've been aware of what the Demonicrats have been doing to keep the shutdown going, and was pretty sure of the reasons and motivation. Of course, in the first segment of this episode, Dan reassured me that my thoughts are on the money. I've been aware of their plans, but Dan provided me with plenty of "receipts" to support my analysis. You won't need a microscope, not even a magnifying glass, to be able to drill down to see their obvious motivation, which is to hurt President Trump's chance of reelection as much as possible.
And there may be something I had not really contemplated, that the radical left Demonicrats also want to make their base even angrier with the Conservative media outlets; and worse yet, to smear the "deplorable" patriots that support the President. That is almost always part of their campaign. They want to say the President and the Conservative media, like Fox News, or Dan Bongino, are going to cause rioting in the streets. And, the Demonicrats want us to all look like buffoons' for not taking the Wuhan Virus outbreak seriously. Dan was on Fox & Friends with Steve, Ainsley and Brian, early this (Monday) morning. You can see that segment here. It all seems to come together now.
Folks, the next part of this episode is dedicated to explaining some of the latest revelations in the Spygate saga. I'm not even going to try to describe this as something that I can completely grasp. For sure, I'm learning about it as I watch this show, but I definitely wouldn't describe my personal experience as any kind of expertise. However, maybe I can say that Dan Bongino is giving me enough information to know that what happened to President Trump in his first term was a tragedy. No, not anything he did, but what the leftist politicians tried to do to him, to diminish his ability to run the country... even though he did very well, considering all of that! But, trust me, the more you watch the Dan Bongino Show, the more you will understand how viscous and treasonous the efforts have been.
And now, because they couldn't do away with President Trump, not even the hard way, the Left is coming after us. And that is why I think it is the first part of this video that is so important. I leave that with you to ponder on.
In this episode, I address the explosive unemployment numbers and, despite liberals gloom and doom, some potential good news about the recovery from the virus. I also address the troubling report about government spying that was even worse than originally reported.
When I finished watching this episode a little bit ago, I couldn't believe an hour had gone by so quick! Dan had my complete attention. Yes, there is some very dire news at the beginning of this episode. Our economy is in shambles right now, measured by the unemployment numbers that came out today. And there are some true dangers with that, for our physical and mental health, and even our safety. In other words, the affects of very bad economic times could be even worse than the actual casualties from the Wuhan Coronavirus itself! Don't take my word for it, however, it comes from a pretty reliable source. In this video, Dan explains that perspective very thoroughly, and I would say, accurately. And unfortunately, that was kind of a gloomy part of the report.
Now, though, let's look at what else Dan talks about, which is cheerful news! A light at the end of the tunnel! There is good news about using the malaria drug, Hydroxychloroquine, to treat people already infected with Coronavirus, and actually heal them, according to MANY studies and anecdotal reports. That, and there are other ways of preventing the disease with vaccinations that are advancing, rapidly. Hopefully, that part of this episode will expel some of the gloom in the room.
You know, I started watching The Dan Bongino Show in January. Seriously, I never knew about it until I heard it mentioned, maybe by somebody on Fox News, or maybe it just showed up in the recommended videos column on a YouTube video I may have been watching. I don't know, don't remember, but I am so glad I found this channel! I had just turned the jets on in my blogging, toward the end of January. The Bongino Show both gave me some very vital information, and the motivation to be writing these blogs! And think about it, too, it was like God was training me to do something very important during these times of trouble. Well, I think about that, and I thank God for it and give Him all the credit!
I don't know if you would get the same takeaways from this episode that I have. The only way you will know is if you watch the entire episode for yourself. But, check it out, here I am writing right after watching it, and I'm upbeat! I believe in America, and I believe that the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump along with his great team, is doing his best job yet during his Presidency! The first few years were easy, as to getting the economy going and Making America Great Again (even while all the Demonicrats and their Leftist media hacks were dumping on him day after day, 24/7). Does that not give you some great hope that he can also restart things when this gets over? President Trump will get it done. Trust me.
As an additional feature here on Blogging In Our Time 2 Escape, this blog will be including videos that have been posted on the johnny2k's America Facebook page! Videos can sometimes say more than what can be expressed in text. Be sure to visit the archive with hundreds of videos to peruse!
As an additional feature here on Blogging In Our Time 2 Escape, this blog will be including videos that have been posted on the johnny2k's America Facebook page! Videos can sometimes say more than what can be expressed in text. Be sure to visit the archive with hundreds of videos to peruse through!
In a new feature here on Blogging In Our Time 2 Escape, this blog will now be including videos that I have recently posted on the johnny2k's America Facebook page!
Welcome to this edition of Time 2 Escape WIFLI Briefing!
What is WIFLI?
You may be wondering what the acronym "WIFLI" means. I started out by calling these issues the Time 2 Escape Daily, but that didn't work out very well. I quickly learned that putting these issues together on a daily basis was a task I was unable to accomplish. To replace "Daily" in the title, I coined the acronym WIFLI, which literally means "When I Feel Like It." Putting together a post on this blog WIFLI works much better for my schedule, and for the higher quality of each issue that is eventually published!
Sometime earlier yesterday, on Thursday morning, I knew I had a story to tell you.
I had found a link to a column where a British columnist/blogger had mentioned a weird thing that he noticed about Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. They seemed to gang up on Rick Santorum, but they never attacked each other. And then, I heard Rush Limbaugh put it all together. The story kept getting better and better. Like Rush said, there may have been more to it than the story that was broken by that British commentator, Toby Harnden.
You'll have to read further down this Briefing to find out what Rush Limbaugh said to make sense of it all.
In the meantime, I found so much material in my "show prep" notes, I ended up having to discard much of the potential material I had at my fingertips. Yes, it was good stuff, and it tugged at me to get into today's briefing, but it couldn't be done. The lineup was full, I could only put so many starters on the floor (a little basketball analogy there). I would still be working on this edition, and when done, you would still be reading when the polls open on November 6, 2012.
Sure, there is always more that I'd love to tell you about. The problem is that you are just like me and our time is limited. We can only soak up so much information at a time, and I am limited by time in gathering and including it. That, I believe, is the WIFLI experience. We can be quickly astonished by the amount of time it takes to be a sponge. But, hey, isn't that what keeps me working on this blog, and keeps you coming back for more? I'm just sayin'...
CNN Moderator John King got more than he’d bargained for Wednesday night when he asked the Republican candidates a question on contraception. The audience responded immediately with audible, angry booing, before Former Speaker Newt Gingrich seized the microphone and delivered another sharp rejoinder to King.
“I want to make two quick points, John. The first is there is a legitimate question about the power of the government to impose on religion activities which any religion opposes. That’s legitimate. But I just want to point out, you did not once in the 2008 campaign, not once did anybody in the elite media ask why Barack Obama voted in favor of legalizing infanticide,” Gingrich said, to raucous applause.
Comments unearthed from a 2008 speech about Satan’s influence on America made Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum the target of derision and mockery today, but talk-radio host Michael Savage contends the former Pennsylvania senator is right, and his beliefs should only help his chances for the White House this fall.
“I think Santorum is right, and I think that anyone who attacks him is not seeing this for what it is,” Savage told his radio audience.
Savage said he agrees that America is primarily a Christian nation, and its churches and synagogues are “filled with parishioners who are screaming for preachers and pastors and rabbis to speak the truth, and they’re not getting it.”
The final four GOP presidential candidates came out swinging Wednesday night on earmarks, the economy, healthcare and the automotive bailout in the 20th and final debate before the decisive Super Tuesday contests.
Much of the jabs were directed at the unlikely new front-runner — former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who is fresh off a triple-play of victories in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri.
Asked by CNN moderator John King why he ran an ad accusing Santorum of being a “fake,” feisty Texas Rep. Ron Paul retorted, “Because he’s a fake.”
Paul went on to attack Santorum’s support for the No Child Left Behind legislation, which he now plans to repeal if elected president.
“I find it really fascinating that when people are running for office they’re really fiscally conservative,” charged Paul. “When they’re in office they do something different. Then, when they explain themselves, they say ‘oh I want to repeal that.’ ”
"Look, politics is a team sport, folks," Santorum said of the measure backed by Republican President George W. Bush and other GOP lawmakers. "I voted for that; it was against the principles I believe in, but I did that to help the team. Sometimes you have to take one for the team."
After tonight's debate, in which Ron Paul and Mitt Romney repeatedly attacked Rick Santorum over his 16-year record in Congress, the former US Senator for Pennsylvania hinted that something nefarious was going on.
"You have to ask Congressman Paul and Governor Romney what they've got going together," Santorum told reporters in the spin room in Mesa, Arizona. "Their commercials look a lot alike and so do their attacks."
Santorum's top strategist John Brabender went even further, charging that the two men had "joined forces" and were coordinating attacks against his man
"Clearly there's a tag team strategy between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. For all I know, Mitt Romney might be considering Ron Paul as his running mate. Clearly there is now an alliance between those two and you saw that certainly in the debate."
Kentucky’s junior senator says it would be an honor to be considered as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Senator Rand Paul first discussed his higher aspirations at the beginning of this year. He said he wouldn’t close the door on being a Vice Presidential candidate. After a speech in Louisville today, Paul held that door firmly open, saying he wants to be part of the national debate.
Rush Limbaugh predicted a “meeting of the minds” between Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Ron Paul back in January but kept it to himself. Now that there is considerable speculation it might be a reality, he says he regrets his silence.
Limbaugh noted during his radio show on Thursday that he wrote his friends an email last month speculating that Romney and Paul may have struck an alliance to set up either the Texas congressman or his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, for the vice-presidential slot if the former Massachusetts governor became the GOP presidential nominee.
Limbaugh said that, in debate after debate, it was clear that the two candidates never “rip into each other.” Paul attacks everyone who happens to be the front-runner but never seems to go after Romney — and Romney never goes after Paul.
Following the Debate Wednesday night, The Daily Mail British newspaper ran a story about former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum suggesting a possible tag-team effort between his two rivals, and now Limbaugh is claiming he knew it all along.
I know how Rick Santorum can win the Republican nomination.
I’m not sharing any secrets with you I haven’t already shared with the former senator from Pennsylvania.
It’s really just a question of whether he will recognize the value of my advice and embrace it with the enthusiasm necessary to sell it to the American people.
By the way, if he doesn’t, the same idea can be used by either Mitt Romney or possibly even Newt Gingrich to secure the nomination – so time is short.
Everyone can see that grass-roots Republican voters are not yet excited about any single candidate for president. As of today, Santorum is polling nationally ahead of Romney. Gingrich and Ron Paul follow. No one has a commanding lead, and primary and caucus victories have been split.
So what’s the secret of breaking out?
It’s coming up with the bold domestic economic plan virtually all Republicans, most independents and even a strong plurality of Democrats will embrace.
A succession of high profile left-wing decisions and initiatives of recent weeks drive home the extent to which the Left is changing the face of America.
Notable among these are the decision of a federal appeals court in California to uphold a prior court finding that California's Proposition 8, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional; the reversal of a decision, because of a tsunami of left-wing pressure, of the Susan G. Komen Foundation to withdraw its funding to Planned Parenthood; and the Obama administration rulemaking refusing to grant a religious exemption from the new health care law employer mandate requiring provision of free contraception and sterilization services as part of health coverage.
These developments are, I think, helping to buoy the newly surging candidacy of Rick Santorum. Why?
Santorum stands out in the current Republican field in the clarity of his image and identity. There is little doubt about who the man is and there are no glaring inconsistencies between who he says he is today and his past behavior and positions.
During a recent Fox News Channel debate about the Obama administration's tax policies, Democrat Bob Beckel raised the issue of "fairness."
He pointed out that a child born to a poor woman in the Bronx enters the world with far worse prospects than a child born to an affluent couple in Connecticut.
No one can deny that. The relevant question, however, is: How does allowing politicians to take more money in taxes from successful people, to squander in ways that will improve their own reelection prospects, make anything more "fair" for others?
Even if additional tax revenue all went to poor single mothers -- which it will not -- the multiple problems of children raised by poor single mothers would not be cured by throwing money at them. Indeed, the skyrocketing of unwed motherhood began when government welfare programs began throwing money at teenage girls who got pregnant.
Children born and raised without fathers are a major problem to society and to themselves. There is nothing "fair" about increasing the number of such children.
A more fundamental problem with the "fairness" issue raised by Beckel and many others is the slippery vagueness of the word "fair."
Liberals adore force. While they hate any firearms they do not wield, and they abhor the notion of self-defense and self-preservation (because leftist ideology is fundamentally self-destructive), they exult in making the other fellow toe the line. From cradle to grave, every waking moment of a man’s life must be controlled if that man is to make the “right” choices as dictated by a lib.
Leftists believe that individual freedom is a threat to all and that freedom of action must be curtailed. The means to make you do as they wish is violence, codified in complex laws and regulations and enforced by the jackbooted thugs of an all-powerful state.
What better symbol is there for liberal violence than the “Occupy” movement, endorsed by President Obama and plagued by rape, disease, defecation and vile threats of assault and murder? These marching, mindless, ravening hordes, these entitled thugs, epitomize where and to what lib rule is driving us.
All lib violence has as its common denominator the desire to make you do something against your will. Democrats and left-wingers salivate at the thought of making you do what they say. They will impoverish you, imprison you, ruin you as totally and as thoroughly as they can, if you oppose them. This is the very definition of initiated force, a concept that runs counter to every instinct and consequence of a free society. It is for this reason that political liberalism, accompanied as it always is by the irresistible compulsion to force your fellow men to obey you, is completely antithetical to the United States Constitution.
Another tremendously talented American who had riches and fame beyond most people's dreams has killed herself with drugs. Whitney Houston's life was wrecked and cut tragically short at 48 because she became mired in the self-destructive hell of drug use.
In the late 1970s my birth brother was living in L.A. and working as a writer on "Laverne & Shirley," the number one-rated TV show in the country. It was pretty heady stuff for a 21-year-old kid from Ohio.
I remember him telling me how cocaine and other drugs were becoming increasingly popular with the creative crowd in Hollywood at the time.
He had more money than God and he found himself facing a tough choice: Put his money up his nose like everyone else or leave town.
He chose to leave. Many other young people we know never made the right choice with drugs and their lives ended like Houston's.
[This post has been updated and revised on October 21, 2011. Three videos were added and my commentary has been revised.]
After seeing the latest GOP debate for Republican hopefuls on CNN Tuesday night (Oct 18, 0211), this column seemed to be very relevant. I noticed several of the contenders seemed to have some erroneous information about Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan.
I want to give Herman Cain a hat tip for his ability to handle the criticism, especially when some of the criticism was not based on facts. In the videos below, what really made me wince was that small fact that Michele Bachmann wasn't truthful, or she was just plain ignorant of what Cain's 9-9-9 plan does.
The other candidates didn't do much better. I could tell that it was an attempt to take Herman Cain down, and out of the lead for the nomination. Newt Gingrich was the only other candidate that gave Mr. Cain some credit for his 9-9-9 plan. Only thing is, Newt, like all the other candidates, said his "plan" was better, yet it was saying pretty much the same thing as Herman Cain is trying to do!
CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate - Candidates attack Herman's 9-9-9 plan - Part 1:
CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate - Candidates attack Herman's 9-9-9 plan - Part 2:
CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate - Candidates attack Herman's 9-9-9 plan - Part 3:
Now that you have watched the above videos, be sure to read the complete column. Keep in mind that the column was published two days before the debate.
But do not be surprised if Herman Cain revises the 9-9-9 plan - or gives a better explanation of how it works - as we move closer to the primaries and caucuses. I think there are some questions about it. As Herman Cain well knows, flexibility is an asset as a CEO, and as a President. I'm just sayin'...
Do you know why candidates for office tend to be reluctant to propose detailed plans? Because they know the plans will be flyspecked and picked apart by just about everyone. Inviting criticism doesn't help you to get votes.
But fear of criticism prevents you from conceiving solutions to problems. So even if avoidance of criticism helps in propelling you to an election victory, how are you supposed to effectively govern? How are you supposed to fix the problems you told everyone you were going to fix?
That's why I'm happy to see so much criticism of the 9-9-9 plan I've proposed. It shows that people are thinking seriously about a substantive idea. When people stop obsessing over "gaffes" and campaign strategy, and start honing in on fixing the country's economic problems, we are getting somewhere.
In this column, we're reminded why Obama's economic strategies are not working. Uncertainty is one of the major reasons why the economy isn't "stimulated."
As the column continues on, Herman Cain spells out his NEW plan to get the economy going again. Herman's "9-9-9" plan is vastly different than his original ideas, where the Fair Tax had been featured. Will Cain's new 9-9-9 plan help or hurt him in his quest for the Presidency? You can find out what the new 9-9-9 plan is by reading this column, and then you can decide for yourself.
I've provided the video below to assist you with informing yourself.
The U.S. economy is on life support. The stock market is on a roller coaster. The unemployment situation has gotten worse. The Middle East is more volatile than ever. Congress has one of the lowest approval ratings in history, while President Obama's approval rating has hit a new low.
And now, after his big "jobs speech" before a joint session of Congress last week, the president wants to spend another nearly $450 billion to turn things around, since the first stimulus of nearly $1 trillion did not work. The speech contained the same kind of ideas he proposed earlier, packaged in some different rhetoric except for two new additions.
First, he proposed to cut the payroll tax in half for both employees and employers, but he did not say for how long. Granted, it's half of what I have been proposing for months. But without major companion cuts in the top corporate and personal income tax rates, and the suspension of taxes on repatriated foreign profits, it's just another crumb from the want-to-be king's table.
Businesses are not going to rush out and start hiring people, just as they did not when the president passed the 2 percent payroll tax crumb in the first stimulus package. And businesses still do not know what the tax structure will be in 2013. That's not fuel for the economic engine, which is the business sector. It's just a few dollars in the pockets of workers and more uncertainty.
President Obama's $1 trillion plan to stimulate the economy has not worked, even though he and the liberals are still in denial about that.
They are also in denial that raising taxes, and disguising it as "ending the Bush era tax cuts" will not work. Just look at history! The president and the liberals can't seem to get past blaming Bush for Obama's economic failures. The Bush-era tax rates have helped to stabilize the economy, along with the massive productivity blitz by the business sector.
Raising taxes will slow down our anemic economic growth even more.
Okay, so I am a little biased, I got to meet the man face to face, and shake his hand!
I think after reading this column, and actually hearing the same words from his mouth - not once, but TWICE! - today, without him having to use a teleprompter, it is time to mount a massive effort to get this man to run for the Republican nomination for President in 2012! And I believe very strongly that Herman Cain could be the one Republican candidate who could blow Obama out of the water in a debate.
What Herman has to say about economic common sense isn't just for our benefit. The one thing that I heard Herman Cain profess is his love for our children and their children. That's right, too, because if we just keep letting Congress and whoever occupies the Oval Office slide on things like Social Security and Medicare REFORM, it will be all over for our grandchildren! I'm just sayin' ..
While the budget drama in Washington, D.C., went back and forth last week over the federal fiscal year 2011 budget, lawmakers and the mainstream media missed the real opportunity. It's not whether President Obama or House Speaker John Boehner won on the deal, or the paltry savings they agreed on.
It's also not whether the real savings are $352 million, as scored by the Congressional Budget Office, or the $38 billion in savings claimed by Obama and Boehner, or the $100 billion expected by tea-party-minded people.
No! It's the $1,000 billion (that would be $1 trillion) they did not even talk about.
One trillion dollars in foreign profits is what could have come back into our economy if the tax on repatriated profits were zero. Multinational companies could have redeployed those dollars at no cost to anybody.
It makes no common sense to leave $1 trillion on the table!
Five dollars isn't very much money. Yet as I whittled away at my Fiverr gigs, I realized I was expending much time and effort for a pittance. If I was willing to do that, what would those who were using Fiverr as their only source of income feel about the tasks offered?
Are we becoming a nation of webcam prostitutes and flash mobs, court jesters and glorified street mimes, who will perform stupid human tricks on command for only five bucks each? Have we been transformed from Internet surfers into Internet serfs? What request is too demeaning, what suggestion beneath us? I found, as I considered the revenue waiting to clear in my Fiverr account, that I was having difficulty answering those questions.
Phil writes about several websites where people can pick up some extra money by doing various "gigs" for very little compensation.
While most people would probably say, "I wouldn't work that hard for such small amount of income (because it is way beneath me)," there are always going to be people that would want to try to get their foot in the door for much better "gigs" down the road! Of course, we're talking about 21st century America, though. People want that instant gratification for their efforts. And in reality, it doesn't quite work that way.
For example, a good friend of mine swept the sidewalk for a small businessman downtown for very little money. He ended up as a store manager for that employer, and eventually opening up his own store which has been very successful. How many people out there would sweep a sidewalk without believing it was "beneath them?" Well, that friend did it, and he was rewarded.
What Phil wrote today absolutely blew me away! It may have taken most of the morning for it to soak in, but I got the point. And I hope you do, too, if you so happened to have come across this post or Phil's column. Can you imagine how impressed a potential employer would be if they saw you putting effort into something with very little reward? Or, will they just take advantage of you because you're willing to work for less? Really? If that's your attitude, I'll just be blunt: Stay broke!
It is said that everyone has a price. In a challenging economy – one suffering under the yoke of President Obama's hostility to capitalism and free enterprise – this has never been more true. The United States is mired in an economic malaise – a crisis of national morale, collective self-image and financial realities that feels like the Carter years. As Democrats agitate for more spending, ordinary men and women scrape and scrimp and save.
As we struggle financially, the wages for which we are willing to toil decrease. For more Americans than ever before, their price is a mere $5. I should know; I'm one of them.
The website is called "Fiverr." It is an online marketplace where those who sign up answer the question, "What would you do for five dollars?" Those who sign up explain what goods or services they are willing to offer for five bucks. Customers choose from among these, provide special instructions if needed, and then pay their "fiver," which is held by the Fiverr website until the job is successfully completed. If the job is canceled or the seller does not deliver on time, customers may have their funds returned to them. The website gets one dollar of every successfully completed five-dollar gig, which is how it stays in business.
The success of the site has spawned a number of similar sites, like Outsourcerr (which bills itself as a "Fiverr alternative"), TenBux (where everything is 5 or 10 dollars; the basic concept is identical to Fiverr's), Telegigz ("Gigs through telecommunication," where the prices offered and paid vary more widely), and Jobs for 10 (an "online micro jobs site" offering 5-, 10- and 20-dollar tasks).
Fiverr has been profiled in several different publications. Jackie Loohauis-Bennett at JSOnline described it as a great way to get some "quick help on a small project." Leena Rao at TechCrunch raved that the site is "kind of brilliant and also entertaining." Lifehacker correctly pointed out that the idea is both simple and clever, while the Wall Street Journal's online blog declared Fiverr the result of mixing "unemployment, frugal consumers and Internet boredom." Curious, I decided I wanted to experience the site from the inside, to see what all the fuss was about.
First, I forked over my own five bucks – and then again – to see what buying a "gig" from a Fiverr seller was like. (Fiverr has its own jargon; the jobs offered and bought are all "gigs.") One Fiverr seller said she would broadcast the message of my choice to her 400,000 Twitter followers. I paid my money, waited for proof of the sent message (which was offered promptly) ... and nothing happened. Not a single new follower or inquiry resulted from the attempt to promote my websites and Twitter account. Disappointed, I went back to the Fiverr gigs listing.
A revitalized and responsibly unleashed energy sector could be a significant economic stimulus to our economy right here at home.
Working families can't afford to spend more of their discretionary income on gasoline and energy costs, especially in a stalled economy.
America can't afford to continue spending billions of dollars to buy something that we can produce right here at home if we stop sitting on it. We must stop making other countries rich at our expense.
It's not just economic. It is common sense and a matter of national security.
This column will tell you what Herman Cain's energy policy would be if he was President of the United States! Wait, did I say that? Of course I did, because it is no secret that Herman Cain has an exploratory committee set up to determine if he should run for President.
The brilliance of this article is in helping people to understand that when energy prices increase, it ripples through the economy. Energy prices are directly related to the prices you pay for groceries and the number of jobs that are available. So, isn't it just common sense to develop our own energy in America, create jobs, and avoid having to purchase energy resources from countries that don't like us?
In the early 1970s, America's dependence on foreign oil was a little over 20 percent. Today, our dependence on foreign oil is over 65 percent. We have become more and more energy dependent because we have never had a serious energy independence strategy, and we still do not have one.
Energy independence is within our grasp because we have plenty of energy natural resources. We have billions of barrels of oil, plenty of natural gas reserves, more coal than any other country in the world, lots of places we could build dams for hydroelectricity and some of the safest nuclear power technology in the world.
Wind and solar energy development is not going to get us to energy independence. Studies such as the Department of Energy's "Billion Ton Study" have shown that those two sources could at best provide 5 percent of our energy needs combined.
But by maximizing all of our other domestic energy resources, we could become energy independent. This would not only help to keep down the cost of gasoline and the cost of nearly everything we buy, but it would also be a boost to our economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. But most importantly, energy independence would keep us from being vulnerable to the current instability in the Middle East or the whims of OPEC.
This president refused to even acknowledge the failed policies of the last two years in an interview with Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly. He is in denial that his policies are redistributive of income in nature. He is in denial as to what the American people really want. He believes that the American people want what he wants for America: a government-controlled socialistic America!
With all due respect, Mr. President, your assessment is wrong.
Intelligent and informed thinkers are reclaiming America! We out-number the stupid people.
You'll see in November 2012.
The Hermanator (Herman Cain) tells us why business people won't follow Obama off the cliff. In the speech he gave to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on February 7, 2011 (see below), Barack Obama said the following (starting at 5:24) "But combined with a brutal and devastating recession, these forces have also shaken the faith of the American people -- in the institutions of business and government." Sorry, Mr. President, I think the shaken faith is in the government, and you with your socialist agenda. As Herman explains, the President is in denial of his failed policies. He should not expect businesses to duplicate the government's deficit spending idiocy. Companies are not going to start spending their investors' cash irresponsibly. That isn't the way to "get in the game," but a good way to face bankruptcy along with "3 million-plus businesses that filed for bankruptcy in the last two years."
February 7, 2011: The President speaks about his plan to win the future by helping businesses innovate and create new American jobs:
Video provided by whitehouse ~ February 07, 2011 (34:29)
After I published my 2005 book, "They Think You're Stupid," I thought I should have titled it "They Think We Are All Stupid All the Time" because it appeared that pure politicians, especially liberals, didn't think any of us were capable of seeing through their denial, deceptions and lack of leadership.
Based on President Obama's latest speeches and comments from other prominent liberals like Howard Dean, the latter title would have been more appropriate. They continue to try to convince the public that their failed policies are working, that they need more time and that more federal spending – plus bigger government – is the answers to our problems.
In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, the president urged U.S. business leaders to "get in the game" in support of their country by spending more cash. He wants businesses to follow the government's lead: Namely, ignore the real state of the economy and spend irresponsibly for the good of the country.
That would not be good for the country! The last thing we need is more bankrupt companies on top of the 3 million-plus businesses that filed for bankruptcy in the last two years. That would only add to the already staggering level of unemployment.
The business people in the audience listened respectfully, but they are not about to spend their investors' cash irresponsibly. They are not about to invest heavily during a stalled economy, and they are not about to hire people they do not need.
Successful business people are not stupid. That's why they are successful!
Like the appliance repair man, we will continue to have some restless nights because of broken promises and failed policies by the administration. The House is starting to see the light, but this president isn't even aware of the heat.
Maybe he will become aware in 2012 when he joins the ranks of the unemployed.
You know, I still haven't watched Obama's latest State of the Union address yet. I really wouldn't need to ever watch it, either. I've been focused on watching Obama's actions over the last few years since I first became aware of him, long before he became President. There wouldn't have been much more that I could have learned about Obama by watching the speech. They're just his words (not that he actually wrote them, or anything). And of course, I was already aware that he can read a teleprompter. Obamessiah's actions have spoken much louder.
Herman Cain, in this column, tells it like it really is. Look at the numbers, man! Didn't Obama promise us that jobs were a priority when he wanted his stimulus plan two years ago? And did it work? Has anything Obama has done worked? Trying to make America accepted in the world again? How has that worked out? Say, didn't Obama give a speech over there in Egypt a while back? That's kind of weird, but I guess those folks there didn't take notes during his speech. And, Obama has no clue what to do about the protests. (Or does he? Maybe he considers the Muslim Brotherhood to be his friends. Just sayin'...)
If we are lucky, it will be Herman Cain in 2012 that shows Obama the way to the unemployment line. I happen to like both Herman's words and his actions.
Now that the mainstream media are hopefully done swooning over President Obama's State of the Union speech, some of us are more concerned about the real state of the union, by the numbers. It's not what he said or did not say, nor is it how he said it. It should be about our national security and our national economic health.
The day after the president's State of the Union speech, an appliance installation and repair man was installing some new appliances in our home. Unsolicited, he said he had a hard time sleeping last night after hearing the president's speech. When I asked why, he said he did not hear anything in the speech that made him feel that America is safer as a nation, nor did he hear anything that would really help grow the economy.
I told him I agreed with him, and that he expressed the feelings of probably most of us who are not intoxicated by the president's words and his delivery. Many people are, but most of us are not.
Maybe there are some provisions in the START treaty that regular folk like the repair man and I don't know about. But it appears as if the Russians got a better deal by limiting our ability to deploy missile-defense systems in other parts of the world, where a lot of our enemies are located. For example, cancellation of the missile-defense system being built in Turkey does not seem like a good idea. The world is not safer! And we have reduced our ability to help keep it safe.
Many of the most compelling facts about the real state of our economy were missing from the president's speech.
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