Like so many other Americans, I own an iPhone. It's a tremendous device. It amazes me to no end that I carry with me in my pocket a little five ounce device that is significantly more powerful and capable than my family's first computer, which we got on Christmas Day of 1993. (Back then, this computer was a technological marvel with it's 14k Dial-Up Modem, 300 MB of RAM, 2X CD-Rom Drive and Windows 3.1 Operating System.)
Then, (relative) disaster struck on Easter Sunday. I dropped my phone and it landed just right that the protective case didn't stop the large, spiderweb crack I got in my screen. Thankfully, I had purchased insurance on my phone and after paying the deductible and waiting a day for it to ship, I received my replacement phone.
I expected I would spend hours the day I received my replacement re-downloading apps, inputting passwords ad nausea, and resorting my apps into the convenient folders I'd set up, because I'm that OCD. That's what I expected. It wasn't what I did.
Thanks to one of the many terrific features built in to the iPhone, I was able to backup all my apps and settings before activating my old phone. Once I turned on my new phone I merely restored the backup I had saved and BAM! my new phone began to install all my apps, photos, contacts, ringtones, notes, podcasts, you name it, right back on to my new phone while I worked. My new phone was in my hands at 9 am, and by noon it had re-downloaded everything for me and my phone was restored to it's former glory.
I'm continually amazed at the innovation and quality of American companies. Between my iPhone and my Kindle Fire HD Tablet, I've become a fully integrated modern computer device user. (Those who know me would think this is hilarious since I didn't even own a laptop computer until 2010, didn't have a tablet until I won my Kindle Fire in a contest this past November, and didn't have a smartphone until this January.)
Apple is an American success story. It began, as we all know, in a garage by Steve Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak. It grew to provide personal computers, and later to revolutionize the smartphone and computer tablet markets with the iPhone and iPad.
When the original iPhone launched in 2007, the smartphone market was owned by Blackberry and it's primary competition was the Blackberry Curve 8300. The iPhone, in a sentence, blew the Curve out of the water. It was a level of technological achievement above competition that mobile phones haven't seen since.
Here's what was the most impressive thing about it: Apple Incorporated in general and the iPhone in specific did not require government "investment" or "stimulus." Despite what the Left and our President seem to believe, most major technological innovations in our country come from the private sector without government interference. (The majority of innovations that came from government came from the military, specifically products the military developed for it's own use and were adapted for civilian use -- see cellular phone, computer.)
As Ralph Waldo Emerson famously stated, "If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a
better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he builds his house in the
woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door." With the iPhone, Apple did indeed build a better mousetrap, and the world did indeed beat a path to their door. All without the help of government.
Showing posts with label Stimulus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stimulus. Show all posts
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Obama Claims Fiscal Restraint, Backs it with Fuzzy Math
Many of you may be wondering where are the reactions to the Wisconsin Recall Election. As always, I am waiting 24 hours to give my reactions so that I can give you a thoughtful reaction with final numbers. So, coming tomorrow will be my reactions to the Wisconsin Recall. Thanks for reading!
Fuzzy Math is nothing new to liberals. Whether it's the foolish practice of Static Budgeting or the Obama Administration setting the costs of Obamacare on 12 year budgets instead of the standard 10 year budget, the Left LOVES to make their spending seem less significant and costly and validate their big government spending. But President Obama has officially crossed the line into the ridiculous by claiming that he has had "the lowest rate of increased spending in 60 years."
In fairness, it was not the Obama Administration that is putting out these figures. It's MarketWatch. But President Obama remains culpable for running with this data and making the claims of his own fiscal restraint.
So let's talk about some of the issues with these numbers:
Fuzzy Math is nothing new to liberals. Whether it's the foolish practice of Static Budgeting or the Obama Administration setting the costs of Obamacare on 12 year budgets instead of the standard 10 year budget, the Left LOVES to make their spending seem less significant and costly and validate their big government spending. But President Obama has officially crossed the line into the ridiculous by claiming that he has had "the lowest rate of increased spending in 60 years."
In fairness, it was not the Obama Administration that is putting out these figures. It's MarketWatch. But President Obama remains culpable for running with this data and making the claims of his own fiscal restraint.
So let's talk about some of the issues with these numbers:
- All 2009 spending was attributed to George W. Bush. Now, in fairness, SOME of that spending legitimately belongs to Bush, specifically T.A.R.P. The total expenditures of T.A.R.P. was about $431 Billion. was about ($151 Billion of the 2009 Budget was T.A.R.P.). However, it neglects the fact that an additional $831 Billion was Obama's Stimulus Package.
- Even though the entirety of T.A.R.P. was considered as Bush era spending (justifiably so, as Bush did in fact pass it into law) but then when about $169 Billion in T.A.R.P. funds were repaid in 2010, that repayment was credited to Obama as a "spending cut" of 1.8%. So even though Bush saw his spending numbers increase, when that money was returned, the benefit went to Obama.
- MarketWatch further considered Obama as having a "spending cut" of $56 Billion in 2010 from 2009. Unfortunately, this "cut" is based on the spending on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dropping from $96 Billion in 2009 to $40 Billion in 2010. The only way this can be called a cut is if we assume that money would've always been spent. Unfortunately, it's not like bailing out Fannie and Freddie is a nondiscretionary budget item. At all.
- It can be legitimately and I would argue accurately stated that any spending cuts in 2011 and 2012 are a result of the Republicans winning the House of Represeentatives in 2010. Remember, in the 2011 Debt Ceiling battle, the Democrats just wanted to raise the debt ceiling and make zero cuts. It was the GOP that forced any cuts at all. So giving Obama credit for them is just a lie.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Dissecting the Liberal talking Points - Things Would Have Been Much Worse if...
This week, as the debt ceiling battle has heats up, we’ve been taking time to dissect some of the Liberal talking points and explain why they are false. Today we’re going to dive into the frequently used defense of Obama’s Stimulus plans that “Things would’ve been much worse if we hadn’t acted.” It’s easy to say, but impossible to prove, which is likely why Obama and the Democrats like to trumpet it.
The Stimulus failed to do what it was advertised to do: keep unemployment from rising above 8%. Unemployment currently sits at 9.2% two years after the stimulus. It has been as high as 10.2%. By all measures it failed miserably. Liberals tell us that “things would’ve been worse.” It’s easy to say, but impossible to prove. Historically, such Keynesian economic plans have failed. Many economists believe that if the economy had simply been left alone, the economy would have recovered. Yet we are still mired in a recession that is heading for a double-dip.
The claim that things would’ve been much worse is a cop out. It’s an attempt to claim success from failure. It’s like a football coach who loses the Super Bowl by a field goal saying, “It could’ve been worse. We could’ve lost by three touchdowns! So by that measure, we succeeded by only losing by 3 points.” The truth, however, is that the team lost the Super Bowl. The coach can’t claim victory in that case. Neither can Obama. The stimulus failed. To call it anything but a failure is nothing more than claiming that the end zones were at the 20 yard line so that the team can claim touchdowns were scored each time they were in the Red Zone. However, in the economy, the only measure of victory is turning around an economy.
There is no evidence that the Stimulus did anything to help the economy. It can’t be proven, actually the evidence said it did nothing at best. Yet the Obama administration trumpets it like its fact. The Stimulus failed to do what it claimed it would do. The Stimulus was supposed to prevent unemployment above 8%. Unemployment has spent two years above 8%. That’s a failed program.
Another false measure that the Obama Administration invented to claim victory is “jobs created or saved.” How, precisely, do you quantify a “job saved”? Did the administration poll every American business to see which ones were ready to contract their workforce prior to the stimulus but instead retained those employees? Of course they didn’t. Rather, the Obama administration concocted a number of jobs they expected to be lost, and then considered any jobs before that number as a “job saved.” So if they assessed that we would’ve seen unemployment at say 15% and unemployment only reached 10.2%, you can claim that 4.8% of all jobs in the country were “jobs saved.”
It’s an invented crisis that allows the Obama administration to claim success for something they did not do. It rings reminiscent to me of the movie Canadian Bacon. (If you’ve never seen it, I recommend it.) In it, a fictional American President attempts to invent a nonexistent cold war with Canada to hopefully cause the same kinds of economic booms that the Cold War created through military spending in the private sector. Like the stimulus and the “second great depression” it was a contrived problem which could be “solved” by the government.
The President and his willing accomplices in the Drive-By Media have worked to support this contrivance and lie to the American people. I’ll be some of your jobs were the jobs “saved” as far as the Obama Administration is concerned. I know that my job, which was created along with two others in the fall of 2009, were three of the jobs the Obama administration claims was created by the Stimulus. I can tell you with certainty that’s not what happened. What happened was my company took a risk to create a new department based on an economic opportunity they saw. They didn’t spend stimulus money on it, they spent their own money on it.
That’s the biggest reason the stimulus cannot be considered successful. Other than the bailouts of a few businesses which didn’t deserve to be bailed out, the Stimulus was nothing more than a slush fund for Obama to pay off his Big Union cronies and complete the various bribes to pass Obamacare. As Obama now famously admitted recently, there were no “shovel ready jobs.” The money wasn’t spent on infrastructure, as claimed, because now Obama wants still more money to spend on the same infrastructure.
It’s another lie from the Obama Administration. He’s claiming something that failed succeeded. It’s a move as old as the Liberal Playbook. They tell us how the world will end if we don’t do “X” then, regardless how bad it is after “X” is passed, they tell us how things would have been much, much worse. They are doing it to us right now as it pertains to the Debt Limit increase that is being debated now. They are telling us how badly things will go if we don’t raise the Debt Limit. Should the Republican Party cave, which I sincerely hope they won’t, and things get far worse in the economy as a result of those Liberal policies, I can guarantee you we’ll be told how much worse things would’ve been if we hadn’t acted . You can bank on it.
You can also bank on the fact that, if the GOP doesn’t cave and actually requires real cuts in spending without agreeing to raise taxes on business owners and thus harm the economy, the world won’t end. The United States has reached the Debt Limit before and let it expire without extension and the horrible consequences that Democrats are now predicting didn’t happen then, and they won’t happen this time either. It’s just another false Liberal talking point.
The Stimulus failed to do what it was advertised to do: keep unemployment from rising above 8%. Unemployment currently sits at 9.2% two years after the stimulus. It has been as high as 10.2%. By all measures it failed miserably. Liberals tell us that “things would’ve been worse.” It’s easy to say, but impossible to prove. Historically, such Keynesian economic plans have failed. Many economists believe that if the economy had simply been left alone, the economy would have recovered. Yet we are still mired in a recession that is heading for a double-dip.
The claim that things would’ve been much worse is a cop out. It’s an attempt to claim success from failure. It’s like a football coach who loses the Super Bowl by a field goal saying, “It could’ve been worse. We could’ve lost by three touchdowns! So by that measure, we succeeded by only losing by 3 points.” The truth, however, is that the team lost the Super Bowl. The coach can’t claim victory in that case. Neither can Obama. The stimulus failed. To call it anything but a failure is nothing more than claiming that the end zones were at the 20 yard line so that the team can claim touchdowns were scored each time they were in the Red Zone. However, in the economy, the only measure of victory is turning around an economy.
There is no evidence that the Stimulus did anything to help the economy. It can’t be proven, actually the evidence said it did nothing at best. Yet the Obama administration trumpets it like its fact. The Stimulus failed to do what it claimed it would do. The Stimulus was supposed to prevent unemployment above 8%. Unemployment has spent two years above 8%. That’s a failed program.
Another false measure that the Obama Administration invented to claim victory is “jobs created or saved.” How, precisely, do you quantify a “job saved”? Did the administration poll every American business to see which ones were ready to contract their workforce prior to the stimulus but instead retained those employees? Of course they didn’t. Rather, the Obama administration concocted a number of jobs they expected to be lost, and then considered any jobs before that number as a “job saved.” So if they assessed that we would’ve seen unemployment at say 15% and unemployment only reached 10.2%, you can claim that 4.8% of all jobs in the country were “jobs saved.”
It’s an invented crisis that allows the Obama administration to claim success for something they did not do. It rings reminiscent to me of the movie Canadian Bacon. (If you’ve never seen it, I recommend it.) In it, a fictional American President attempts to invent a nonexistent cold war with Canada to hopefully cause the same kinds of economic booms that the Cold War created through military spending in the private sector. Like the stimulus and the “second great depression” it was a contrived problem which could be “solved” by the government.
The President and his willing accomplices in the Drive-By Media have worked to support this contrivance and lie to the American people. I’ll be some of your jobs were the jobs “saved” as far as the Obama Administration is concerned. I know that my job, which was created along with two others in the fall of 2009, were three of the jobs the Obama administration claims was created by the Stimulus. I can tell you with certainty that’s not what happened. What happened was my company took a risk to create a new department based on an economic opportunity they saw. They didn’t spend stimulus money on it, they spent their own money on it.
That’s the biggest reason the stimulus cannot be considered successful. Other than the bailouts of a few businesses which didn’t deserve to be bailed out, the Stimulus was nothing more than a slush fund for Obama to pay off his Big Union cronies and complete the various bribes to pass Obamacare. As Obama now famously admitted recently, there were no “shovel ready jobs.” The money wasn’t spent on infrastructure, as claimed, because now Obama wants still more money to spend on the same infrastructure.
It’s another lie from the Obama Administration. He’s claiming something that failed succeeded. It’s a move as old as the Liberal Playbook. They tell us how the world will end if we don’t do “X” then, regardless how bad it is after “X” is passed, they tell us how things would have been much, much worse. They are doing it to us right now as it pertains to the Debt Limit increase that is being debated now. They are telling us how badly things will go if we don’t raise the Debt Limit. Should the Republican Party cave, which I sincerely hope they won’t, and things get far worse in the economy as a result of those Liberal policies, I can guarantee you we’ll be told how much worse things would’ve been if we hadn’t acted . You can bank on it.
You can also bank on the fact that, if the GOP doesn’t cave and actually requires real cuts in spending without agreeing to raise taxes on business owners and thus harm the economy, the world won’t end. The United States has reached the Debt Limit before and let it expire without extension and the horrible consequences that Democrats are now predicting didn’t happen then, and they won’t happen this time either. It’s just another false Liberal talking point.
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