Change with Paul Volcker

Today President-elect Obama announced Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker as head of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, while the board's top staff official will be Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economist. And guess what! Goolsbee has never been in Washington! However, Volcker has.

In this morning’s news conference, Obama tried to reassure Americans that "help is on the way" for the economy. Apparently this help comes in the form of Paul Volcker, who was appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and reappointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan. Volcker helped tame inflation by raising interest rates, despite intense opposition by some in Congress. However, Volcker’s Fed contributed to the significant recession the U.S. economy experienced in the early 1980s, which included the highest unemployment levels since the Great Depression. Volcker's Fed also elicited the strongest political attacks and most wide-spread protests in the history of the Federal Reserve.

The President-elect also stated, again, how the “old ways of thinking just won’t do”. I guess by old ways he means anything from the last “horrific” eight years, anyone from the CARTER or Clinton administration is fine. I’m sorry but if help is on the way, why would you (Reagan and Obama) appoint a guy who’s Fed contributed to a recession and included the highest unemployment levels of its time? Plus I thought recession was a bad thing. And we all have heard the rising numbers in job employment, and Obama’s answer is to bring Volcker? It’s like you’re in a building on fire and Volcker’s the fireman who makes the fire spread. Am I missing something here?

But don’t worry America you’ll get your change, or least pray that your wallets will still have change with Paul Volcker.

Experience for the Country

Though having been defeated on Nov. 4, the media has seemed to still hold an interest in Gov. Sarah Palin, such as her place in the future of the Republican Party. What, suddenly they want her in the picture? Whatever the future holds for Gov. Palin, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric offered the Alaskan governor some advice. In an interview with New York Post Couric said, “I think she should keep her head down, work really hard and learn about governing. But I'm not anyone to give advice to anyone about anything.” Learn…

WE INTERUPT THIS POST TO BRING YOU THIS POLITICAL UPDATE.

This just in, today (Sunday) marks the day when President-elect Barack Obama resigns from his four year term in the senate. I know what you’re thinking, he was in the senate?

WE NOW RETURN YOU TO OUT POST ALREADY IN PROGRESS.

…about governing? Katie, “GOVENOR” Palin will have been Alaska’s governor for two years on Dec. 4^th of this year. Now true, that hasn’t been a long time, but she was mayor for six years (1996-2002) of Wasilla. She was also was elected twice to the city council in 1992 and 1995, though she did not complete her second term due to her campaign for mayor. So either the people of Alaska are really dumb or a good portion of the people see a real leader in Sarah Palin – I’m going to go with them seeing a real leader.

Apparently having such executive experience still isn’t enough, because she was only mayor of Wasilla, and governor of Alaska, we all know that hardly qualifies, right? Wrong. People with the mindset of Matt Damon and Diddy (-dumb), seem to think of Palin and Alaska as some sort of breeding ground for low intelligence. It also seems that some Americans tend to not see Alaska as one of the United States, if I were a citizen of Alaska the Alaskan Independence Party would certainly be looking good right about now.

Palin may be a Washington outsider, but she isn’t an idiot. She may have gone to a few different colleges, but that doesn’t mean she some sort of party-girl bimbo. She hunts, who cares, lots of presidential and vice-presidental candidates have hunted, that doesn’t make her some sort of whacked out hillbilly. Oh and by the way Katie, Gov. Palin has Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, she could do your job. It can’t be that hard to pull bias garbage out of your…anyway, enough with the trash on the eight-year executive experienced and qualified governor of Alaska. Let’s instead focus on what Illinois’ former “four-year” state senator will do his experience for the country.

America's 44th President

Come January 20, 2009 Americans will watch as Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America.

And now the tasks of fixing the country, with apparently so many problems that we forget we’re so much better off, now lies with President-elect Obama. Mr. Obama will have to keep true to his voice of change, and how this election year change is indeed more than just a slogan, even if other presidents have said the say thing before. He has to prove he can deliver change for the better and not change that means we don’t have a Republican in the Oval Office. The Voice of Hope was heard all across this country and we as a country have to pray that it’s not just hype or encouraging words.

President-elect Obama now has a huge burden to carry, as well as his fellow party members who are gaining seats. They are now responsible for a good portion of America’s choices and future, and they won’t be able to utter the words “failed Republican policies”. This is the time in our country where once again we know what politicians are made of. Do they really care? Do they really get it? Did I vote for the candidate who will speak for me, or did I just elect the next American Idol?

But also think of this, the candidate of change, Democrat or Republican, can promise you a brighter tomorrow, but something can come along that throws a curveball in their agenda. The American president is one person, one person being advised, one person who has to make hard decisions. So perhaps you should try pretending you were in their shoes. Jimmy Carter said many things that sound like what Mr. Obama said, but you don’t hear anyone talking about the glory days of the Carter administration. Many have labeled President Bush a failure, why don’t we wait a few years before we call that one. Also, and this is a little of topic, but while Mr. Bush’s approval ratings are low, Congress’ are even lower. So look up who makes the majority of congress for these past two years and explain that one to me, it seems a little weird about the American mindset.
But anyway, this is certainly an exciting time in American history, and there’s nothing wrong with supporting Mr. Obama even if you didn’t vote for him. Because if this country is devided, it’s time we get back together, something I hope we all could’ve done even if Sen. McCain had been elected America’s 44th President.

“I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.
Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.” - Sen. John McCain

“This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.” – President-elect Barack Obama

Go Vote!

So here we find ourselves on Election Eve of 2008. Hopefully, when casting your vote you voted, or will vote, because you care about the issues. Voting can’t be about political parties, race, or personality. And you shouldn’t vote based on talking points. You’ve had plenty of time to research, to watch the candidates and find out who they are and what they really stand for, and hopefully, the kept to their beliefs.

I’ve blogged about flip-flopping before, and like I said then, flip-flopping is only a problem when it becomes a change for the worse. If a candidate supports something they didn’t support long ago, don’t vote based on the past. And speaking of the past, if the past years have been so terrible do you really know why?

When it comes to change, change can come from either side. If the past 8 years have been bad, than it is possible to learn from our mistakes and fix them. It's that very message McCain and Palin are trying to get across, while it's easier for Obama. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin promote themselves as mavericks, they should instead be promoting themselves as MacGyver. Oh and remember, every political candidate is an agent of change, and agents like that have been around for a long time.

So come Wednesday, I hope America will have chosen the best person for the job, and not because they're considered a maverick or the face of hope- and this is assuming the election doesn’t go 2000 on us. So do what’s right for the country, and don't elect your American Idol. Now go vote!

Trust, But Verify - a.k.a. The Presidents' Conversation

Imagine if you will a small room, a sort of meeting hall. There are windows running down the length of both sides of the room, in the center of the room a rectangular conference table. There are eleven chairs, five on each side, with one at the head of the table. The doors open behind the head chair and in walk eleven men, figures of American history. Each take their assigned seats, and quietly converse. The men are eleven of America’s presidents.

Private conversations go on for some time until Thomas Jefferson begins to speak. Folding his issue of today’s newspaper he says, “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” Nodding his head, Gerald Ford states, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” “The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power,” says Andrew Jackson. “Man is not free unless government is limited,” adds Ronald Reagan. From the end of the right side of the table, Abraham Lincoln speaks. “The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them,” he then adds, “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.” Turning from Lincoln, Andrew Jackson faces the rest of the presidents and says, “Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be corrupted.”

The topic shifts to the state of the government and the economy. “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little,” states Franklin Roosevelt. Lincoln turns to FDR and says, “You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.” “A wise and frugal government, shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government,” says Thomas Jefferson. “Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery,” adds Calvin Coolidge. “Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States,” says Ronald Reagan. Andrew Jackson faces his successors and predecessor, “The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer... form the great body of the people of the United States, they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.” “The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life,” states Teddy Roosevelt. With a small smile coming across his face Ronald Reagan says, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” A few more smiles appear amongst the presidents as Reagan adds, “Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”

Some more time passes, the issues are discussed, and final statements just two days before the 2008 election are stated. Not resisting Teddy states, “If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.” Gerald Ford smiles as he closes saying, “Even though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go forward except together and no way anybody can win except by serving the people's urgent needs. We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go forward now together.” From the head of the table the current President states, “Our nation must come together to unite.” Kennedy raises his hand, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future,” he then adds, “…ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Shaking his head Lincoln says, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” “No man will ever carry out of the Presidency with the reputation which carried him into it,” says Jefferson. Ronald Reagan turns to Jefferson, “Trust, but verify.”