I think there is very little argument that the country is in a hole. A deep, deep hole. So why, finding the country in this hole, a hole much deeper than he ever imagined, does Barack Obama find the need to not only keep digging but to bring in new tools to dig even faster?

Such is the case with the president’s misguided plan to create a new tax on banks and his blatantly misleading statements used to sell the proposition to the voting public.

The president is reinvigorating yet another attempt at all out class warfare. The “haves” versus the “have nots”, the “us” against “them” mentality that worked so well for him in the campaign. But make no mistake about it. This new tax has absolutely nothing to do with, as the president said, getting “our money back”. This is a political decision designed to help a failing Democrat Party reignite the victim mentality amongst the voting public that has worked so well for them in the past. The deception behind this plan is profound and the misdirection being used to sell it is so subtle yet complete that it would make even Siegfried and Roy take notes.

“We want our money back” said Barack Obama. What he neglected to say is that most of the banks that received TARP funds have not only already given us our money back, but have given us an additional $8 billion in interest. To say that all these banks owe an additional debt for the emergency funds they received ignores the fact that some, like Goldman Sacks, didn’t want or need the TARP money and only took it because they were forced to do so. It also doesn’t explain the fact that some of the financial institutions being charged this new tax never took TARP money in the first place.

It is indeed the battle cry of a president so diminished in his handling of every task set before him, like the war on terror, that now in an effort to regain some form of stature he must return to the old time tested war on class. Barack Obama talks about Wall Street as if it was located on the moon. He puts Wall Street and the financial institutions in a different class as if they have no bearing in the lives of those on Main Street. To believe that, as proven once again today by Obama’s comments, is to be completely ignorant of just how our economy works.

Excluded from this new tax are the bailed-out, UAW run auto manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler as well as the genesis generators of the financial collapse Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. On September 30th, 1999 the very liberal New York Times published an article by the editor of their Washington Bureau Steven A. Holmes warning of the possible catastrophic consequences of the new policy being undertaken by the Clinton administration in forcing lenders to loan to unqualified buyers under the direction of Fannie May and Freddie Mac. In September of 2008, after the collapse, the equally liberal Senator Chuck Schumer all but admitted that it was this inane policy of lending money to people who could never pay it back that was the cause of the financial pandemic. Schumer said “Oh, the lowly mortgage, who would have ever thought that the lowly mortgage has brought us to the brink of financial ruin?” Uhhh…Steven A Holmes of the New York Times did Senator, along with past Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and a host of other economists worldwide. Those who did not think it were the Democrats, like Chuck Schumer and his pal the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank. It was Big Bad Barney who told Fannie and Freddie that the only reason for their existence was to lend to subprime and minority home buyers. Congressman Frank supports the president’s new tax. With his economic track record that in and of itself should be enough to tell the American people that it’s a bad idea.

Once again proving his ignorance of anything economic Barack Obama said the banks being hit with this new tax would not be able to pass this new $90 billion expense on to consumers through increased fees because it would make them uncompetitive with the banks not being charged. This comment is beyond stupid on any number of levels, not the least of which is constitutional. This may be why the president warned the banks not get their lawyers involved fighting against the selective and unfair tax.

In order to stimulate the economy and create jobs businesses need to have access to credit. In order for banks to offer that credit they need to be solvent and profitable. Adding a new tax on the driving force of the economic recovery at a time when unemployment is at 10% and consumer confidence is nonexistent is like dousing the embers of the backyard barbeque with a fire hose. Class warfare is a fine tactic for a community activist but it can be fatal to the economy for the President of the United States.

In November we the people need to take away this guys shovel or the hole we are in will look like the penthouse when he’s done.

In a speech this past December 8^th, President and economic guru Barack Hussein Obama said he was putting the finishing touches on his jobs creation plan.  Showing a penchant for the same cost cutting that has been displayed by most major corporations, Obama used the same talking points he used for the 2 years he spent running for the office he now holds.  He said “We need to grow jobs and get America back to work as quickly as we can.”  One might have expected that seeing as he has been saying this for the past 36 months he might have actually had these “finishing touches” competed prior to the one year anniversary of his election.

But along with being tardy in actually having a plan, the plan he is set to announce is fraught with misconceptions.

According to the White House the president is looking at sending federally collected tax revenues to cash strapped states that have experienced a devastating decline in their tax-money coffers.  This exchange of taxpayer dollars from the left pocket to the right pocket is intended to prevent further job cuts of state employees.  To the extent that more state workers will continue to receive a paycheck it is, in the loosest possible sense, a jobs plan.  But as far as actually stimulating job growth this portion of the plan will be completely fruitless.  It will simply allow states that currently follow the federal guidelines for financial mismanagement to continue practicing fiscal negligence until this hand out runs out.

Another major portion of the president’s plan is more funding for road construction projects.   The beautiful thing about this portion of the plan is that it really won’t matter where you build the roads as nobody is going anywhere anyway.  The construction workers building these new highways will likely be the only employed people using them as it will, once again, do nothing to stimulate job growth.  Eventually we could pave the fruited plains from sea to shining sea but it still won’t stimulate sustainable employment for most of the 20% of Americans that are actually unemployed.

A minor portion of the president’s plan will give tax incentives to small businesses that hire new employees.  This may be the only portion of the plan that is actually workable, but small businesses will not hire new workers strictly because of a tax incentive alone.  They need new customers to justify additional payroll.

If the president is serious about creating new jobs he need look no farther than the past 50 year history of the American economy.  Even an economic neophyte could see that the times of the greatest job creation is after a reduction in taxes on the American workforce.  Sending tax refunds to people who don’t pay taxes may help get some debt off the books at the quickie loan places and may buy Columbian drug lords some new Rolexes, but it does nothing to stimulate the greater economy.  Cutting taxes for people who pay taxes stimulates spending which in turn stimulates hiring. 

The first move should be to eliminate the penalty for early withdrawal of funds from 401K’s and other retirement accounts.  The money could be taxed as income, but the additional 10% penalty places undue hardship on people forced to withdraw funds just to keep their head above water.  The second move should be to reinstate all the previous Bush-era tax cuts and make them permanent.  Let wage earners decide where to spend their money and jobs will be created by the additional spending.  Additional spending will create additional tax revenues and the roads will get built anyway.  This approach will mean a complete reversal of the Obama administrations damning of wealthy Americans, but the reality that when wealthy people spend, poor people benefit must be eminently clear by now.

As stated earlier; the Obama approach to stimulating is an unfortunate example of misinterpreted semantics.   Some may find getting a large quantity of smoke blown up their kilt quite stimulating.

The economy, unfortunately, does not react the same way.

Barack Obama could not have been more pleased to announce the “welcome news” that the latest report from the Commerce Department showed a respectable 3.5% growth in the countries third quarter GDP. Obama gleefully reported that this growth is “an affirmation that this recession is abating and the steps we’ve taken have made a difference.”

To be sure, 3.5% growth, the first growth since the second quarter of 2008, is a welcome change from the previous declines and under most circumstances would be cause for celebration. But a closer look at the numbers reveals just how cooked these books really are.

The GDP gain was mainly driven by an increase in consumer spending. Just about two thirds of the overall growth is attributable to the 3.4% rise in consumer spending versus the nearly 1% drop in the previous quarter. Most of that additional spending is related to the temporary increase in new car sales driven by the Cash for Clunkers program. The core inflation index slid from 2.0% in the previous quarter down to 1.4% indicating otherwise lackluster spending causing downward pricing pressure.

As Cash for Clunkers was a onetime program that added no new jobs and only stimulated a short burst of new spending the celebration currently being enjoyed by Obama and his minions in Congress will be short-lived indeed. That is of course unless the spend-happy Democrats are able to find some other suitable programs to artificially inflate the numbers.

As I am known far and wide as being a helpful kinda guy I have taken it upon myself to come up with some suggestions for the Democrats to consider. How about:

Dollars for Dog Fighting – As Rush Limbaugh will not be allowed to be even a minority owner of an NFL football team because of his conservative views, and as Michael Vick was welcomed back into the NFL after having been convicted of feloniously supporting a hideously cruel dog fighting ring, one can only draw the conclusion that dog fighting is a more acceptable past time than being conservative. As such, the government could get in on the new burgeoning market of allowing two dogs, which have been brutally abused since birth, to fight to the death by supporting the development of new and improved dog fighting techniques.

Funds for Felons – Forget about spending all that money on law enforcement trying to catch criminals after the fact by sending those who are considering major crimes a check before they break the law. Most offenders will be sated, at least until the money runs out, and therefore crime figures will be decreased allowing cities and towns to reduce their police forces. I am certain that this program could be easily sold to the public by showing how it will pay for itself in reduced police expense, overtime for all that nasty paperwork and court costs.

Denaros for Deadbeat Dads – Here is an opportunity to help one of the most misunderstood poverty groups in America. It is obvious that these poor runaway fathers don’t have the funds to support their children. Otherwise they would send their child support checks, right? This money will also help to stimulate the liquor and cheap hotel markets.

Money for Marijuana and Meth – Let’s be honest. No matter what, folks are going to do dope. Just ask any high school guidance counselor. This program, along with Funds for Felons, will help to further reduce crime by giving pot heads the necessary funds to not only buy their dope but also Twinkies, Oreos and in the case of the meth users, much needed dental implants.

Bucks for Big Screens – Seeing as the government obviously views watching television as an inalienable right through the free digital converter box program, would it not also be a right to view it on a big honking plasma screen TV. What’s the sense of having digital transmission if you have to watch it on a little screen? This will not only be a benefit to the big box appliance stores but will also be a direct benefit to Barack Obama as his voting base will be able to see him more clearly during his near-daily infomercials.

Currency for Coffee – Hey, at 4 bucks plus a cup if the government doesn’t step in soon with some support some of the 15 to 20 million barista’s currently pouring coffee in America could be forced to look for new careers.

Tender for Toddlers – No this isn’t a program where people actually sell their babies (although that may become an amendment at some point down the line). This would be a program where the government would begin sending welfare checks to people from the moment they are born. Why wait until they drop out of school and begin to have kids of their own. This way those who are hopelessly trapped in the liberal slavery of welfare can get used to waiting for the mailman for their support as soon as they are able to see out the window.

Cash for Condoms – This program speaks for itself. It is the very definition of a “stimulus” program and will certainly help see us through the hard times.

Well, those are just a few of my ideas. I hope they help.

As someone who tracks the financial markets I have been a fairly faithful watcher of CNBC. While I wouldn’t trust the parent company NBC for the correct time, I have found that CNBC has a pretty good group of correspondents that keep abreast of breaking news. They also have some pretty talented traders and hedge fund managers that can spot trends and make recommendations.

To be sure, most of these learned market gurus missed the credit collapse and the devastating impact it had on all things financial. But when looking at the recent past, everyone, including the Icon from Omaha, Warren Buffet missed the signs of impending doom. CNBC’s madman commentator Jim Cramer unjustly took it in the chin from Barack Obama to the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart and all points in between.

The sad fact is that almost everybody missed the warning signs because the collapse of the worldwide financial markets was as a result of a new set of rules. Congress changed the credit markets when it mandated home mortgages be given to folks who could not pay them back. Wall Street jumped on board with both feet looking to do what Wall Street does, make a buck. But reality has a way of trumping even the best of intentions and trillions of dollars of wealth were lost in a rapid decline of the market and an equally rapid disintegration of available credit.

CNBC’s David Faber was one of the first to publish a book about the collapse in his detailed account of Wall Street’s failings titled “And Then the Roof Caved In”. Faber’s book gives a detailed explanation of the various financial and investment tools developed and used to make money during the galactic expansion of the residential mortgage market. He explains the packaging and repackaging of mortgage backed securities and the devastating impact felt by investors worldwide when their AAA rated securities turned into junk bonds. He was however, extremely careful to absolve the US Congress and then President Bill Clinton of any blame for the genesis of this financial hysteria. I can begrudgingly overlook the blatant partisanship of Faber’s book out of appreciation for the worthy information contained about the financial packages. But history was at least tampered with in his non-factual assessment of responsibility.

But now CNBC’s Charlie Gasparino comes out with his new book “The Sellout”. It’s not new for Gasparino to come out with additional income earning books, this one being his third. But much like Faber, Gasparino’s political leanings are in full view in his less than impartial reasoning. It is also not that I mind CG writing any kind of book he wants and making a few extra bucks, but his liberal leaning is becoming more apparent during his on air discussions in what I can only surmise is an attempt to increase book sales.

During an on air interview Gasparino lit into the upcoming quarterly report of Goldman Sachs. Goldman is expected to announce a hugely profitable quarter and therefore some very hefty bonuses for those responsible for making it happen. Gasparino repeatedly damned the success and planned bonuses at Goldman fallaciously claiming they had just been bailed out by the taxpayers. “I don’t care what anybody says. They got bailed out” he said.

The facts are that Goldman neither wanted nor needed the $10 billion given to them in TARP funds. They resisted at every level until Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke made it clear that everyone had to participate so as not to draw undue attention to those that actually needed the money. He also made it clear that this was NOT a voluntary program. Goldman took the money, held it and returned it as soon as the government would allow them to do so. Those are the facts.

Gasparino began to get into areas like the benefit Goldman experienced from the AIG bailout, which while true, was not done for the purpose of benefitting Goldman but rather to save the few trillion in pension funds AIG managed.

Goldman suggested they may give a portion of their earnings to a charitable organization, but even that was not enough to placate Gasparino. It was remarkably apparent that Charlie was looking to make a point and equally apparent he was looking to sell a few books and rewrite history.

This is an extremely dangerous precedent being set and plays directly into the hands of those that are looking to rewrite history and have us believe that everything Wall Street is evil and we are the poor victims of unbridled greed. I watch CNBC for news and informed commentary, not a political talking point and an infomercial about a new book.

At least I did.

Fox News Business Channel is getting a lot more of my attention.

PS – As I write this Goldman Sachs stock is hitting a new 52 week high. Nice try Charlie.

So it says in the title line of the George Harrison song and so it is with the economic recovery plans, or lack thereof, in Congress and the Obama White House. The economy continues to falter and the unfortunate truth is that those in charge of turning it around are completely clueless as to what to do next.

The massive, debt laden economic stimulus package was passed 9 months ago and as expected by anybody who can add 2 plus 2, has had absolutely no stimulating effect on the economy. Nearly one trillion dollars was spent or soon will be on everything from the habitat reclamation of California field mice to gang banger tattoo removal machines. None of this blatant partisan spending spree ever had a chance of actually improving the nation’s economy, but the Democrat leadership in both the House and the Senate were bound and determined to get their pet projects funded while the country was still euphorically celebrating the coronation of the new Messiah.

The biggest problem is that not only does the ruling Democrat Party not have a workable plan; they don’t even have a workable premise on which to base a plan.

As stated by John F Kennedy “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” Democrats have been persistent in developing the myth that the poor and middle class suffered greatly under the Bush tax cuts. Obama’s claim of the need for increased taxes on the rich has been proven time and again to be the exact wrong policy. The facts as shown by the governments own Congressional Budget Office shows clearly that the greatest increase in income and wealth over the course of the Bush tax cuts was the bottom 20% of earners. A subsequent study by the Treasury Department found the exact same thing. The data from these and other studies caused Nobel Prize winning economist Robert Fogel to write “In every measure that we have bearing on the standard of living the gains of the lower classes have been far greater than those experienced by the population as a whole.”

The myth of the repression of the poor through tax cuts that will benefit only the wealthy may be a popular mantra to run a political campaign, but the economy is not based on political rhetoric. The economy is based in the reality of numbers and when it comes to reality the Democrats numbers just don’t add up.

In manufacturing where countless workers are currently laid off or working reduced hours the much-hyped stimulus package has done nothing to curtail the industrial death spiral. At the recent national Infrastructure and Steel Conference the president of the American Institute of Steel Construction said that the Democrats alleged stimulus package should be called “The case of the vanishing billions.”

The overall manufacturing output received a temporary bump thanks to the Cash for Clunkers program in August, receiving its best showing of expansion since June of 2008. But the September report showed not only a slowing in the expansion but a rapid return to a contraction In manufacturing as the short lived rebuild of cars quickly catches up with the now depleted demand.

My ever faithful web monkey sent me a report from CNN that claims 47% of households will pay no federal income tax. That equates to roughly 71 million people. Yet according to the governments own studies each of these 71 million folks saw a greater increase in their incomes than the top 5% or earners who already pay 60% of all the taxes.

When it comes to developing a plan that will work to actually stimulate the economy and reduce the economic pain and suffering of all Americans, the Democrat leadership in power must first look at the real numbers and drop the charade of victimhood. Otherwise we will simply get more of the same and the deficit, which is already forecasted to exceed $11 trillion in the next 10 years, will bury us and our way of life under a debt load that is not only unmanageable but perhaps fatal.

And where is our president during this time of economic national emergency? Why he’s in Copenhagen trying to ensure the Olympic Games coming to Chicago which will pay huge personal financial rewards to some of his most ardent supporters.

More on that tomorrow.