With that one word an inexperienced community activist, schooled in the finer points of strong- arm Chicago politics, was placed in control of the most powerful nation on earth. The innocuous promise of something different was all it took. It mattered not to the country what that “something different” would be, having first been conditioned by the relentless drumbeat of an ever libelous and increasingly unrealistic Democrat controlled House and Senate that what we already had was not in fact what we wanted.

The country began to mindlessly accept the Democratic Party line that the security measures put in place that had kept us safe for 7 years were somehow more dangerous than the threat they protected us against.

That the war being fought on the home turf of the terrorists was an unwinnable quagmire and that even though the enemy had been in preparation for over 30 years it should have been decided in matter of months.

That the Guantanamo Bay detainees who were removed from the battlefield while trying to kill American and Allied forces were somehow being treated unfairly. Even though their treatment was far and away superior to that of about 80% of the world’s non-incarcerated population.

That diplomacy would keep us in the good graces of the rest of the world and win the hearts and minds of our enemies regardless of their overwhelming desire to kill us.

That the economic policy of lower taxes that had actually increased to record levels the revenues realized by the government was somehow unfair to those who were receiving the government aid those revenues paid for.

That the White House and the Executive branch of government was actually under the control of an evil Vice President and a group of shadowy political figures and corporate sponsors.

That the health care provided the elderly and infirmed in this country was subpar even though countless citizens from countries with nationalized health care programs were flocking to our clinics and hospitals to get it.

That temperature fluctuations in various parts of the globe were indicative of an ominous change in the entire earth’s suddenly fragile ecostructure and that the salvation of the human race and every plant and animal inhabiting this small blue planet could only be guaranteed by the creation of a new monopolistic currency shell game.

That the decline of American industry in the global marketplace was brought about by corporate greed and that the unrealistic wages and benefit packages demanded by organized labor was the solution rather than part of the problem.

That successful Americans who risked their own money and struggled countless hours to succeed in business were somehow unfair to those who chose not to invest their time and efforts to do the same.

That the basic laws of economics and the basic principles of mathematics were unfair and therefore needed to be disregarded. It was no longer necessary that 2 + 2 = 4 if we didn’t want it to.

What would these horrible inequities of the Bush administration change into and how would that change be effected? We didn’t know and more importantly we didn’t care. We only knew that without this magical verb being put into action immediately we, the country as a whole and likely the entire world would surely perish.

It was our unwillingness to ask what “CHANGE” meant prior to electing it that has led us to where we find ourselves today. It is the realization that the expression “From the frying pan into the fire” is the very definition of “CHANGE”. And that realization has caused a marker decline in the popularity of the ultimate “CHANGE MAKER”.

The approval rating for Barack Hussein Obama has plummeted from its lofty highs in the 70% area after the election to less than 50% only six month later. This approval rating under 50% is important because, as he carried 52% of the vote, it means that after only six months even those that voted for Obama are now disapproving.

It is also the reason that so many landmark legislative moves are now being rushed for a vote. The Democrat leadership knows that if they delay even a little there will likely be no chance to get bills such as the trillion dollar ObamaCare plan passed. Especially after Treasury Secretary Tim 1040 Geithner came out with is request to increase the national debt limit currently set at $12 trillion to who knows what stratospheric level. But Democrat House and Senate Members are also aware that if they vote for these fast-tracked tax and spend behemoths they will likely be looking for new work soon.

We’ll spend the next few days talking about some of these recent developments and how the Obama administration is falling back to good old fashioned Chicago-style politics to fight back.

Change is indeed upon us. But not the kind Obama and his supporters had planned on.

Can Barack Obama change from Messiah to Pariah in less than a year?

Apparently, Yes He Can.

Change Baby, Change!

The Democrats continue their assault on common sense by finding new and interesting ways to damn financially successful Americans as elite fat cats worthy of having their treasures plundered.

Program after program, from Congresses near trillion dollar non-stimulating spending spree to the untenable bureaucratic nightmare of ObamaCare universal health insurance, is all allegedly going to be funded by increased taxes and decreased tax deductions on the wicked well-heeled. Barack Obama and his faithful minions are amazingly able to speak with straight faces as they explain how the money earned by hard working, people employing, small business men and women is the rightful bounty of the unwashed masses.

Pay no mind that some of these supposed ne’er-do-wells have risked everything they own to succeed in business. Don’t give a second thought to the fact that most have spent years toiling and sacrificing to amass their fortunes. Don’t even concern yourself with the reality that for many of these small business owners much of their total income reported to the IRS as income is actually their Sub S business revenues used to employ other people who are happy to have a job.

The Democrats are going back to the same well worn well they always go to but this time there could be dire consequences associated with their socialistic wealth redistribution money grab.

Historically wealthier Americans have been considered Republican voters. In 1995 of the 25 most affluent districts in America Democrats represented only 5. Today in those same 25 districts Democrats represent 14. This is making at least some Democrats, particularly in those districts, more than a little worried about the fallout from their actions. And with good reason.

Back in 1993 then President Bill Clinton used a similar fraudulent strategy of increasing taxes on the upper tax brackets with the claim that the increase was necessary to reduce the federal deficit. The bill passed in 1993 and in 1994 the GOP swept through both houses of Congress like an Arkansas tornado through a trailer park. The Clinton tax hikes helped fuel the recession that began in 1999. Clinton was followed by President GW Bush who lowered tax rates, eased the recession, stimulated the economy and increased revenues to the IRS.

Democrats like then freshman House member Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky who cast the deciding vote in favor of the tax hike are still bitter after having been shown the door in the next election. “I never should have been asked to take that vote, ever” Margolies-Mezinsky said recently.

But the constant fallacious drubbing by Democrats on President Bush and the improvident promise of undefined change successfully numbed the memory of undecided voters and the Dem’s regained control. But the problem with being in power is that your hand is now on the rudder and steering this bloated ship of state is far more difficult than simply pointing an accusing finger.

21 Democrat freshmen and one sophomore Congress member submitted a letter last week opposing the Democrat led tax hikes and surtaxes. It said in part “Especially in a recession, we need to make sure not to kill the goose that will lay the golden eggs of our recovery.”

Even Obama has changed his tune on ObamaCare by claiming we need to have a bill passed by the end of the year, having moved the drop dead date back from yesterday. But be assured these 21 Democrat Congress members along with the rest of the Democrat House and Senate will be harangued on a daily basis to march in step to the tune of the Chosen One.

And with that, Obama may indeed bring about his promise of Change.

It just may happen to be in the majority party of Congress come the midterm elections.

When did we decide as a nation that it was understandable and more importantly excusable to have generation after generation living off the government teat, but that it is inexcusable and for all intents and purposes prosecutable, to take advantage of the opportunities afforded in this country and work your way into wealth?

When did the “pursuit of happiness” become the right to happiness at someone else’s expense? When did we as a nation decide Robin Hood was a suitable role model for government? Why am I asking questions I already know the answer to? It all started many years ago but it came to fruition on January 20, 2009.

Liberals in this country have been promising folks a bigger piece if the pie for as long as we have had liberals. But historically it was deemed by these left-minded Salvationists to be the responsibility of the wealthier members of society’s to ensure that the poor and less fortunate at least had the ingredients and an oven to bake their own pie. Not so anymore. Now if you want a bigger piece of the pie, or hell, the whole pie altogether, all you have to do is take it from someone who already baked one. Does the phrase from the classic nursery rhyme Henny Penny “Who will help me eat the bread” ring a bell?

Democrats have shifted the focus from the opportunities that are available to make our own lives better, onto the assets some people have and how allegedly unfair it is that everybody doesn’t have the same. To be sure, there are those in this country that have acquired their wealth in what was laughingly called the old fashioned way, they inherited it. But the truth is that the vast majority (almost 95%) earned their wealth the real old fashioned way, they worked for it. And even for those that came by their wealth through inheritance, somebody worked for that money.

I am not one of the fortunate. I was born with these incredible good looks and charming personality instead of a tidy dowry. I have worked to get myself into a comfortable place but nowhere near what one would call wealthy. It never dawned on me that just because someone had something I didn’t have meant I was automatically entitled to it. If I saw someone with something I wanted it inspired me to work harder so I could get it too. That is the backbone of our nation, the desire to improve our lives through hard work and innovation and make things better for our children. But not anymore.

Where is my incentive to get up early every morning and spend my days studying or working if the government is simply going to step in after the fact and take what I have worked for to give it to someone who didn’t? My question to the Obama administration is, if we are here to serve others, what the hell are the others here for?

The policy course being set by the Democrats is so socialist in its principles that even some Democrats are starting baulk. As stated in the Wall Street Journal – “There could come a time,” said Rep. Michael McMahon, a freshman Democrat from New York City’s borough of Staten Island, when Democrats are in open rebellion. “We will certainly see in the next few weeks where we are going.”

To continually cite, as the Obama administration is doing, that these surtaxes and tax increases will effect only the top 1% of wage earners misses a very basic principle of economics. Every dollar taken from a taxpayer’s pocket, regardless of that taxpayer’s overall wealth, is taken out of the economy. Wealthy people buy things. Their spending creates jobs for people who are not wealthy but would like to be. If Congress takes billions of dollars out of these silk lined designer pockets, that’s a lot of products that are not going to be bought and a lot of jobs no longer needed to make those products.

You cannot win the war on poverty by instituting class warfare.

Answer: The tax increase.

Okay, so I’ll admit it isn’t funny. And when I say it isn’t funny I mean it isn’t funny. It’s actually pretty scary.

We currently have a shortage of available jobs and a shortage of available credit. We have a shortage of homebuyers and a shortage of car buyers. We have a shortage of disposable consumer income and a shortage of sustainable consumer confidence. The only thing we have an abundance of is dire predictions of doom if the nation’s taxpayers don’t pony up additional funds to pay for additional spending.

But just where is all this additional money supposed to come from and what impact will it have on the economy?

In California the state is about to vote on Proposition 1A which will increase the state’s taxpayer funded coffers by an additional $16 billion. In Illinois the newly appointed Governor Quinn is proposing a state income tax increase of 50% to help offset the projected budget deficit of $12 billion. Reports of Quinn’s ominous projections state he is playing the “doomsday” card as part of his fiscal forecast. The governor even joked about legislators having to house dangerous criminals if the tax hike fails because there will not be enough revenue to keep them locked up.

In just about every state of the union state and local legislators are playing the same game of three “doomsday card” monty and parsing their words carefully so as to ease the stark reality of their intent.

In Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) said of Governors Quinn’s 50% tax hike “He’s right that we’re going to have to make very significant cuts if we don’t find new sources of revenue.” Read carefully the use of the term “new sources of revenue’. What Currie is actually saying without saying it is that the legislature will be going to the same well they have always gone to in order to draw an increase in spending cash, the taxpayers. There is nothing even remotely new about that source.

In California, San Francisco Representative and U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is urging voters to pass the unprecedented tax and spend Proposition 1A with the slogan “Proposition 1A is right on time”. This is right out of the Obama “Change we can believe in” and “We are the ones we have been waiting for” playbook. They sound heady and inspiring but it means nothing.

I’ll let you in on a little secret; the reality of tax hikes is that they cost the taxpayer’s money. An additional $16 billion in California and an additional $12 billion in Illinois means $28 billion of spending cash no longer available to spend by the taxpayers. It becomes a vicious circle with no answers and no end, thus the earlier chicken and egg reference. The less taxpayers have to spend the less they buy. The less they buy the fewer people needed to produce or sell the products they would have bought. The fewer people needed the bigger the layoffs at the producers and the sellers. The bigger the layoffs the more government services needed to meet the needs of those laid off. The more government services needed the greater the need for a tax increase and it starts all over again.

The economy is in a precarious position. It is strong enough to recover if it is left to its own devices. But if government continues to diminish disposable and non-disposable income from the average taxpayer through increased taxes this recession has the ability to grow into a full blown depression.

To be sure, Democrats will be lining up at the podium to pass blame on the previous Bush administration. Very little will be discussed about the frivolity of the trillions of dollars in non-stimulating stimulus money already spent. The only exception will be to announce that we need to spend more and tax more if we hope to survive. This same mantra will then pass down to the state level and the whole thing gets repeated again.

The number one rule of economics is that you simply can’t spend your way out of debt. The number one rule of politics is that Democrats will keep on trying.

It is almost surrealistic in its scope, but there doesn’t seem to be any government body in this country that is not looking to raise taxes in the midst of the most depressed economy in 60 years. The federal government is looking to me for more, my state government is looking to me for more, my county government is looking to me for more and my local government is looking to me for more.

Between payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, usage taxes, capital gains taxes, business taxes, fuel taxes, sin taxes, social security taxes and local government fees and licenses I’m already giving away more than half of what I earn. There is no more to get. I’m taxed out!

I don’t give a damn right now about life on Mars, global climate studies, wetlands conservation or the California spotted titmouse. I couldn’t care less about the space station, gangbanger tattoo removal, the national census, South Carolina teapots or the size of my carbon footprint.

I am not debating the worthiness of any project. But for the love of God, when people are struggling to make ends meet and don’t know if they will be able to pay their mortgage, or whether they will even have a job in 2 months, it’s not the time to add to our burden with increased taxes.

There will be plenty of time to pick up where we left off buying $2000 toilet seat covers and $15,000 hammers, but right now the American economy is spiraling downward and the American taxpayer is heading down with it. I’m just trying to buy food and put gas in my car so I can get up early every morning and go to work. Don’t share my wealth, share my work ethic!

I was approached by a panhandler the other day, who pushed his tattered coffee cup in my face and said “Hey buddy, can you help me out. I’m broke.” I looked at him and said “I owe money on my mortgage, my credit cards, my kid’s school, my car payment, my doctor, my insurance, my utilities and the twenty other bills that come due every month. You’re not broke. You’re even.”

In my home state of Illinois the newly installed governor is proposing a 50% increase in the state income tax. In Chicago the new Board of Education president has suggested increasing property taxes to pay for the union teachers pay increases. In Cook County they just raised the sales tax by 40% and are now looking for another increase in sales taxes and property taxes to make up for their bloated budget short falls. In my home town they are raising the local taxes and fees to cover their increased spending on things like new sidewalks and new government buildings.

Governor Quinn has stated that we need to face the realities of a tax increase. The reality is my home has lost 40% of its market value. Where the hell is my tax decrease based on the assessed value?

With my 401K now less than a 201K and my income slashed due to the collapse of almost every business sector in America I am looking at every possible way to reduce my expenses. Businesses as well are cutting back on every imaginable expense from reducing payroll to using both sides of the copy paper. The only entity in the entire country that isn’t looking at cost and spending reductions are those bodies we install with authority spend our money.

I support the efforts of groups protesting this outrageous tax and spend at a time of national financial emergency. If it makes you feel better to send your representative a tea bag then be my guest. But instead of teabags what we really should be sending is recall notices so some of these fiscal nitwits can truly feel our pain.

The only thing this latest round of government taxing and spending has stimulated is my complete contempt.