Obama Needs to Ask Real Americans About Economy

In 2008, the President ran on a platform of Hope and Change. It's safe to say there has been plenty of change, and, for many Americans, very little hope. The economy, according to many analysts, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, is headed for a double-dip recession. Unemployment in 2011 is still at levels not seen since the Reagan Administration. We have an energy crisis that is unbelievable, and prices for food, housing, gasoline, electricity, clothing, and every other human need, including medication are quickly rising, so that people cannot afford basic necessities. There are an unprecedented number of people in America who are receiving Food Assistance, Welfare benefits, unemployment benefits, and still Obama laughs. Obama keeps telling America that the economy is improving. We keep hearing that the economy is improving, yet last week, more than 400,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits. His family is having a nice vacation in Africa, meeting with dignitaries and going on safari. He's playing golf with the Crybaby of the House, John Boehner. Still, nothing is being accomplished that helps Americans in any way.

We have vast reserves of oil and coal and natural gas in places all over the country, as well as in American waters offshore. Obama can release oil reserves- because he wants to be re-elected- but he refuses to allow American companies to drill, to mine, to frack for natural gas. How many hundreds of thousands of good jobs would this create for Americans? Jobs that pay good money, offer opportunity for advancement, benefits for families, without the need for an expensive and often irrelevant college education are few and far between thanks to stupid policies enacted in the past. The manufacturing sector was decimated when these jobs were allowed to be outsourced to other countries, and taxes were reduced on large corporations. Even light bulbs are now manufactured in China. The gas inside the fluorescent bulbs that this Administration insists we all use is considered too dangerous for humans to handle by the EPA, and the bulbs are now manufactured in China. Even the clothing we wear has been outsourced. Vassarette, the ladies undergarment manufacturer, has its headquarters near Mobile, Alabama. They once manufactured ladies undergarments in Alabama, giving jobs to thousands of people. When former President Bill Clinton's administration enacted NAFTA, the factory moved its operations to Mexico, putting a few thousand Americans out of work in an area where work is relatively scarce. These are only two examples. General Electric paid no taxes to the government in 2010. GE is one of the largest corporations in the country. There is at least one GE product in every household, from light bulbs to major appliances. They can hardly claim they can't afford to pay the required taxes.

Real, hardworking Americans are out every day, hoping to find work at anything they can do. People are still losing their homes, and home sales recently fell to levels not seen since the mid-1990's. WPA-style jobs created by the Obama Administration were taken by Union workers, at Union pay rates, leaving out everyone else. Our government has more than thirteen trillion dollars in debt to countries like China, yet we are sending money to corrupt governments like Pakistan, who harbored Osama Bin Laden, and threw a hissy fit when our SEALs raided his dirty little compound and blew his brains out. We send money to other countries who hate us for being Capitalists and free men and women. At home, one in four children is facing a food emergency, according to charitable food banks. Hundreds of thousands of people are filing for unemployment benefits each and every week. Yet, the POTUS and his family take vacations and spend money lavishly in other countries, stimulating their economies, living the high life, with little worry, while the average working class American struggles to survive. The gap between rich and poor in this country has widened at an alarming rate.

Rather than put only Union workers on his WPA-style programs, Obama should concentrate on allowing Americans to drill for oil, frack for natural gas, mine for coal, and eliminate American dependence on foreign oil. Manufacturing jobs need to come back to America. Tariffs should be imposed on foreign goods coming into our ports. Taxes should be imposed at twice the usual rate on every company who bases itself in the US and then outsources jobs to other countries because the labor is cheap. It should not cost people money to receive an inheritance of any kind when someone dies. The Death Tax should be abolished.

In addition, the War on Drugs needs to be stopped. It is, as it has always been, an abject and dangerous failure. Humans will always get those things which they want, no matter what the law says they can and cannot have or use. Legalization of marijuana would stimulate the economy, create jobs, bring in revenue from taxes, and significantly reduce the population in jails and prisons in this country. How many man- hours would legalization save the Law Enforcement community? How many tax dollars would be saved by not imprisoning people for smoking what is essentially, an extremely useful and beneficial herb? Think of the sales, income, sin and payroll taxes that would be brought to the coffers of the government just by legalizing and taxing marijuana. That is potentially billions of dollars each and every year the government could both save and collect for its coffers, to pay for education, Social Security gaps, Welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs.

If Obama ever truly paid attention to regular, working-class Americans- those who actually elected him to office, whose sweat built this country, who are now suffering under policies enacted by not only this Administration, but others in the last thirty years, he would know that there are no "shovel-ready jobs". He would know that Americans need and want to be allowed to create good lives for themselves and their families. He would know that it is not only the people who can afford to contribute money to his political party and his campaign that help him win elections. It is workers, men and women who hold their heads up every day and earn and pay their way through life that help politicians get into office. It is these people- you and me- who are watching, waiting, hoping and yes, praying, for the opportunity to pull ourselves out of the great hole we are in and rebuild America. Mr. President, you should be listening to us, not patronizing us, or ignoring the facts in front of your face.