No Bailouts, No Handouts, No Copouts (And No Hope)

"Let’s never forget:  Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same.  It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom.  No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts.  An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody."

This is one of my favorite quotes of the year so far.  Who said it?  It sounds a lot like Ron Paul in its emphasis on individual responsibility.  Rick Santorum was an opponent of the TARP bailouts so it could very well be his quote.  On the other hand, Newt Gingrich has talked about all that he did to reform welfare so the "no handouts" sounds like him.  Mitt Romney, now that I think about it, has really emphasized the hard work of the private sector and the fact that we need the federal government to get out of the way.  It must be him.

WRONG ON ALL COUNTS!

This is an exact quote from President Barack Obama in last night's State of the Union address.

It reminds me of a something that Andrew Carnegie once said,

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. 

How does what President Obama has done compare to what he said last night? A few glaring comparisons of what he said and what has been done.

"Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same"

• Most hard working Americans have to live within their means and on a fixed budget.  The federal government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it is spending.
• Hard working Americans do not have the ability to print money as the Federal Reserve has done to fund the federal deficit and to bail out large financial institutions.
• Retirees who saved their whole life and played by the rules are not receiving any interest on their savings accounts, CD's and treasury bonds to bail out the federal government and the financial system.
• The rights of secured creditors in the auto bailouts were summarily ignored and their property rights were stripped away and given to the auto workers union.

"It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom."

• 47% of Americans pay no income taxes.  How is this applying the same rules top to bottom?
• The top 10% of earners are currently paying 70% of the total federal income taxes.
• The United States already has the most progressive tax system in the industrialized world and President Obama wants to raise tax rates even higher on higher incomes.  Of the entire tax burden in the country, the top 10% of income earners pay almost half of all taxes but their share of income is 33.5%.
• Public sector income and benefits substantially exceeds those of the private sector.
• He consistently has supported unions in opposing right to work laws at the expense of workers who want to work without joining a union.

"No bailouts."

• President Obama supported the bank bailouts, auto industry bailouts, auto union bailouts and substantial funding in his stimulus package to bail out state and local governments.

"No handouts."

• There are more people on food stamps that at any time in history.
• Unemployment benefits have been extended to 99 weeks which is longer than any period in history.
• Tax credits have become "refundable" tax credits for those who don't have any federal taxes to offset to make it a direct handout rather than a tax credit.

"No copouts."

• Of course, everyone now knows that every problem President Obama has was created by President Bush.  He has told us at every opportunity.
• All problems the last year have been due to the House Republicans according to the President.
  ( He can only use that copout over the last year because Democrats controlled all of Washington for the first 2 years.)
• The rise in the price of gasoline this year was due to the Arab Spring.
• The failure of the economy to get on track last year was due to the Japanese Tsunami.

"An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody."

• Last year, 72% of all black children in this country were born out of wedlock.  Until the 1950's, black children were more likely to live with two parents than were white children. What has President Obama done to try to address this problem?
• We know that if an individual does just two things--graduates from high school and marries before they have children they will almost certainly not end up in property.  In fact, a Brookings study in 2009 showed that if an individual does these two things along with having a full time job they had only a 2% chance of winding up in poverty and a 74% chance of ending up in the middle class.  Young people who did not follow those norms had a 76% chance of ending up in poverty.  However, we provide welfare benefits to able bodied men who made their own decision to drop out of high school and we provide this and a host of other benefits to single mothers (we actually provide more money for every additional child the mother has) who have children out of wedlock.  How is this insisting on responsibility from everyone?
• We have over 10 million illegal immigrants in the country who broke our laws to come here, who have broken the law again to work here and yet are not considered to have responsibility for being here.
• When it comes to voting, President Obama will not support requiring voters to have the responsibility to produce a photo to prevent voting fraud.

It is almost beyond my ability to comprehend the disconnect between President Obama's rhetoric and the results.  It is almost as if he is running against his own record with that statement.  


He wrote a book, "The Audacity of Hope", before he ran for President.  I will give him this...he has the audacity part covered.  He still needs to work on the hope part.

This is a very important election year for our country and our future.  I can only hope that H.L. Mencken was not correct when he observed,

"The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth".