The Way I See ItBy cj pollickIn Pinellas County, Republicans Rule — It must chagrin Newsweek Magazine editors, New York Times columnists and other Florida liberal-owned newspapers to notice that GOP candidates won election in Pinellas County, Florida. Yes, Florida voted for Barack Obama over John McCain, but overwhelmingly re-elected Republican candidates over Democrat candidates. The message? Independent voters were frustrated with the nation’s economy and wanted change in Washington. Anything tied to President George W. Bush lost; however, when the vote changed from Washington politics to local politics, voters in Pinellas County, Florida, did not support Democrat candidates. Thus, riding on the coattail of the Barack Obama campaign did not work for countywide Democrat candidates. How then should one interpret the presidential election? Independent voters, new Democrat voters, Black-American voters, new young voters and Hispanic voters, for the most part, voted against President Bush, against a bad economy, against high fuel prices, against a weak McCain candidacy and in favor of change. Any change, they said, would be better than the perceived failed Bush administration in Washington. It is difficult to imagine the potentially huge margin of victory by Democrats if Hillary Clinton was the DNC candidate instead of Barack Obama. Voters wanted anyone except a person that could be tied to President Bush... even John Kerry might have won the presidency over John McCain.?? Florida Defines Marriage As Between A Man And A Woman — Marriage and civil unions are now defined in the Florida State Constitution. The Florida Constitution now bans gay marriage and gay civil unions. Marriage in Florida is defined as between a man and a woman. The measure to ban gay marriage required over 60% support by Florida voters to add the new “marriage” wording to the State Constitution. Ironically, Sen. Obama opposed this amendment to the Florida Constitution, but the amendment still won voter support. Some polls have shown that over 60% of minority voters also supported the ban on gay marriage. California voters followed Florida’s lead in banning gay marriage in California. Gay and lesbian groups immediately protested in California and stated they were “very disappointed” by the large numbers of minority voters who supported the ban on gay marriage yet voted for Sen. Obama. Thus, the minority vote for Obam did not follow the gay and lesbian vote. GOP Wins Big In Pinellas County — Most every GOP candidate won election in Pinellas County. Margins of GOP victory were consistent with 2004 election results. Thus, the message sent by voters in Pinellas County was clear: Pinellas County voters support local GOP candidates and their conservative political positions, but do not support GOP positions in Washington. Voters wanted in change in Washington, but not at home. They Call It Government Bailout — Democrats in power, including president elect Barack Obama, support bailing-out just about every major corporation, bank, insurance company and risky homeowners who took a chance in buying a home they could not afford. Of course, in former years those companies and people would have been forced to file for bankruptcy and would have lost their investment (if any.) Stockholders would have lost their investment and homeowners who speculated would have made a bad investment by playing a game that real estate prices would continue to rise. Yes, speculation can be risky — and that is why most homeowners did not speculate, but purchased homes they could afford. So, what is happening in Washington? — 1. They bailed out AIG to the tune of over $120 billion taxpayers’ funds. Shareholders of AIG, of course, have lost much due to gross mismanagement at the highest level. Should the directors and their D&O insurer be vulnerable to stockholder and other lawsuits? Yes, but with a government bailout that probably will not happen. We, the people, will end-up owning AIG — who is losing business to other more credible insurers every day. Talk about a bad investment.... 2. Big Banks are being bailed-out or forced to take government (taxpayer) money due to bad top-level management decisions. Should the weak banks be forced to file for bankruptcy instead of obtaining government funds that will likely not be given to mortgage holders? Why should banks be able to pay dividends if they took government (taxpayer) funds? We, the people, are being duped by our elected officials in Washington who are in charge — and that means the Democrats. Yes, the days of blaming the laissez-faire Republicans are over, in fact, they have been over the past two years when Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took charge of Congress. 3. Government bailout of homeowners who purchased homes and could not afford to pay the mortgage payment when loan rates increased will now receive lender help. What does that mean? It is simple. If a person could not afford a home they bought and they are over 90 days in payment default, plus can’t pay the interest rate charged, they will have an opportunity to renegotiate their mortgage plan with lower interest and longer terms of payment (and perhaps other loan benefits.) Not a bad deal for people that bought something they could not afford. Yes, it makes you wonder how the silent majority will benefit, which it will not, from this Obama bailout. Most people bought homes they could afford and have made mortgage payments based upon a pre-meditated homeowner budget (where mortgage payments were under 35% of household income), those people will receive nothing, no rate cut, nothing. At least in England when the government cut the fed interest rate by 1 1/2 percent they required the banks to pass that rate saving on to the people. 4. Government bailout of GM will soon occur according to Nancy Pelosi and President-Elect Obama. Yes, unions who gave to the Obama campaign expect a government bailout that would protect all of their benefits and salaries. GM white-collar officials expect to keep their jobs and...as they say in Detroit, life just goes on the way it was before the deep recession of 2008. How does the common US taxpayer benefit from this bailout? He/she does not. 5. Bailout of American Express and other credit card companies will soon occur. Why? Our leaders in Washington allowed those credit companies to form bank holding companies in order to receive government bank bailout (taxpayer) funds. Bad credit card debt due to gross mismanagement? No problem. Just call Nancy Pelosi or President-Elect Barack Obama — they will provide the needed cash. NO end in sight — Folks, there is no end in sight of our government bailout plans for big business (notice that small businesses were not included). One economist stated that the result of all of this government bailout is not known. There is no precedent for this type of government financial intervention in big business. One commentator said we are on a slippery slope to full socialism in America; our days as free-market capitalists may be over, we will look like nothing more than a larger England. Welcome to the America of the future. |