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Occupiers for Obama
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Dead People and Other Voters
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At Large
Quick, Rahm, a New Bag of Merlin Dust
The act is beginning to wear thin.
Barack Obama's Merlin Dust supply must have run out when he arrived in Moscow last week. On previous trips to Europe crowds swooned and the news media gasped in awe, but in Moscow this didn't happen. He was treated politely, but as if the folks on the street saw heads of state every day. It was quite a contrast to the heroic reception Ronald Reagan received in 1988 and 1990.
He went on to Italy for one those Grand Kabuki meetings of the heads of the Group of Eight leading industrial states. He regained some of the approving respect of the social democrats among them by apologizing once again for the United States, this time in terms of carbon emissions. He returned home claiming that he and the others had reached yet another historic agreement, this one to reduce those carbon emissions sharply by 2050. Of course the agreement was not binding and China and India rejected the notion of limits. So, in sum, the Merlin Dust was ineffective.
The Obama Merlin Dust doesn't seem to be working with stimulus packages, either. Of the $787 billion one he got from an obliging Congress in February, only about 10 percent has been spent so far and most of that on extending unemployment payments and other "safety net" services. Regardless of how worthy those efforts may be, they do not stimulate the economy.
Earlier in the year the president was pressing many other nations, especially those in Europe, to adopt stimulus packages à la the U.S. model. There was general reluctance to rely on these historically dubious devices to jump-start flagging economies, but several did develop them.
Mr. Obama, in effect, said to his international colleagues, "Ours is going to work just fine, so you should try it."
Now comes Kroll, the world's largest risk consultancy, with a new study showing that with a world total of $5 trillion in stimulus spending out in process, governments can expect as much as $500 billion, or 10 percent, to be lost to fraudulent procurement practices (such as bribes or selection of less efficient vendors) and/or waste. The study warns that, in the face of economic downturns, many governments have cut back on compliance budgets.
The Kroll report pegs capital improvement projects (the "shovel-ready" projects Obama et al. touted) as especially vulnerable to corruption. The reports states, "Governments need to be aware of the heightened risk of corruption that goes along with stimulus funding, and for companies to ensure [that] robust anti-corruption and compliance practices are in place."
According to the watchdog group Transparency International, companies are most likely to be pressed for bribes in Russia, China, Mexico and India.
While the Obama Merlin Dust may have passed its sell-by date, the U.S. Department of Justice is actively pursuing 29 corruption investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
As for the Merlin Dust, we can imagine the president calling Chief in Staff Rahm Emanuel in for a stern talking to: This damned stuff isn't working. Get me a new supply by tomorrow so I can sprinkle it around town hall meetings to sell my health reform plan. The polls are beginning to show that people think it's a thinly veiled attempt to drive private insurance and medical practice out of business. Imagine!
About the Author
Peter Hannaford is a member of the board of the Committee on the Present Danger. His latest book is Reagan's Roots: The People and Places That Shaped His Character.
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jack| 7.15.09 @ 6:23AM
How about the Obama claim that the government insurance company will be on equal footing with public companies? Are they idiots? Still cant figure out if Rahm,the Sewer Rat and Obama are imbeciles or lunatic socialists.
Appleby| 7.15.09 @ 7:13AM
Lunatic socialists, definitely. I saw plenty of them in the halls of academe in 1968 and they all sound just the same as this.
stephanie| 7.15.09 @ 7:39AM
Almost every morning I awaken in disbelief that these Chicago dirt balls have wormed their way into power and are in control of our nation. Will we ever recover from this travisty?
Curly Smith| 7.15.09 @ 8:08AM
Jack asks "How about the Obama claim that the government insurance company will be on equal footing with public companies?"
Read your question again, you've already supplied the answer. Under Obama's plan there will be no *private* insurance companies, they'll all be publicly owned - like General Motors and Chrysler. I'll get a premium notice from Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a wholly owned subsidiary of ObamaRahma Insurance.
G.Allen P.| 7.15.09 @ 8:23AM
It is possible that this cretin could actually get a 2nd term. Remember the growing and economically dependant moron vote, not to mention the power and practices of Acorn et al.
Robert Rosencrans| 7.15.09 @ 8:43AM
I just saw a study that in one state each stimulus job created costs 8 million dollars. At that rate we will be bankrupt soon.
If you will remember the CBO originally stated that these jobs would costs $250,000 each. And that was considered ridiculous.
In the meantime, there is no magic dust that will save Barack Obama. He was a fool who fooled millions but the foolishness will soon come to an end.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/13/new-hampshire-stimulus-832-million-per-job/
You read that right. The stimulus package in New Hampshire has created 50 temp jobs, apparently all of them bureaucrat positions, and none of them permanent. The Office of Economic Stimulus (OES) employs five of those people, and when the governor appoints the director, that position will pay a $110,000 salary, plus benefits.
Roughly speaking, those 50 jobs cost the American taxpayer $8.32 million per position. If we calculate part-time positions as one-half of a full-time job, the cost per full-time job would be $9.9 million. At that rate, the $787 billion Porkulus package should generate about 79,495 jobs across America — or about what we lose today by 1:37 pm in new unemployment claims. And of course, all of those would last only as long as the stimulus money kept coming to fund them.
Patrick Hynes at Now Hampshire points out the fallacy of transparency even on these pathetic returns on the stimulus:
Tim| 7.15.09 @ 11:02AM
Why didn't you call it faerie dust?
cary loos| 7.15.09 @ 11:05AM
Curley, "Obamarahma Insurance" I'm still laughing. Could anyone keep a straight face writing that premium check.
JerseyJ| 7.15.09 @ 11:28AM
Jack ... "Are they idiots? Still cant figure out if Rahm,the Sewer Rat and Obama are imbeciles or lunatic socialists."
lunatic socialists. Stop trying to figure it out, we've done the research for you ... tell your friends.
Louis Jenkins| 7.15.09 @ 1:22PM
Are they sprinkling Pixy Dust or are they snorting it? Judging from the big three's behavior I'd say the latter. They're spending money so fast they give drunken sailors a good reputation. Fortunately, I understand that their "special" privileged medical insurance allows treatment at luxury rehab centers.
Marc Jeric| 7.15.09 @ 1:54PM
Don't worry - stimulus will work. With the $9 billion already marked for them plus more to come for their future work on the 2010 census, the ACORN brownshirts will be able to perform voter fraud in all 50 states, not only in 14 as they did in 2008.
FeralCat| 7.15.09 @ 2:07PM
I'll soon take all my troubles over to Obama Rue
You know The One with the never ending Hope and Change shtick
He's got a pad down on Pennsylvania avenue
He'll be passin' out little bottles of Obama Potion Number Nine
I'll tell him that I'm having trouble with my mortgage payments
It's gotten even worse in these last few weeks
He'll kiss me on the cheek and he'll made a magic sign
He'll say "What you need is Obama Potion Number Nine"
He'll turn around and gave me a wink
He'll say "I'm gonna have my Michelle make it up right here in the White House sink"
It'll smell like Chicago, it'll look like socialist ink
I'll hold my nose, I'll close my eyes, I'll take a drink
I won't know if it is day or night
I'll start grabbin' everyone else's money that is in sight
But when there's nothin' left to grab
It'll break my little bottle of Obama Potion Number Nine
Patriot| 7.15.09 @ 3:12PM
Too funny! These Obama marxist clowns have been in office for only 5 1/2 months and already their poll numbers are plummeting. Azzclowns extraordinaire.
JimE| 7.15.09 @ 10:10PM
Obama's favorite drug is Jenkem, not dust.
Z| 7.16.09 @ 12:35AM
On previous trips to Europe crowds swooned and the news media gasped in awe, but in Moscow this didn't happen.
THAT IS BECAUSE HE IS A CAPITALIST AND RUSSIA IS FULL OF COMMIES, DUMBASS.
CORRUPT OBUMMER| 7.16.09 @ 12:43AM
NAH, THAT'S BECAUSE OBAMA IS A COMMIE AND RUSSIANS HATE COMMIES NOW!
RUSSIANS LOVED REAGAN--A REAL CAPITALIST AND A REAL LEADER--HE NEVER BOWED OR SCRAPED FOR ANYONE!
Commie Obama| 7.16.09 @ 12:45AM
Castro's a commie--he loves Obama. So does that little commie pig in Venezuela. Hell, they're all commie pigs.
jordan 6 rings| 7.17.09 @ 4:55AM
Fortunately, I understand that their "special" privileged medical insurance allows treatment at luxury rehab centers.
AAA| 7.17.09 @ 6:40AM
re: Z (7.16.09 @ 12:35AM) "THAT IS BECAUSE HE IS A CAPITALIST"
Nah. It's because they were in awe of one of the biggest BS artists Western Civilization ever produced.
sheridan| 8.6.09 @ 10:21PM
hehe... id love to see any of you run the largest capitalist country in the world. You mongers will use ANY excuse to bring down someone who is FORCING you to humble yourselves. so what? u NEED it. ... do you all have nothing but complaints? perhaps youd rather the bush administration that strongholds our militaries, using WAR and DEATH to stimulate the economy? and you sit comfy in the knowledge that youre safe and protected. You don't even need to see the faces of those who die to stimulate your economy.
I think he a is a breath of fresh air from the usual arrogant american "lets blow it up" mentality. (yes, as a country ,you are arrogant) Our soldiers die for your precious oil and pride.
I think Obama is EXACTLY what your country needs before all the world and its people are completely destroyed.
Im from Australia and this is how you appear to the rest of the world. Arrogant, superficial and STUPID. (lay off the sugar?!)
You americans really have NO idea how much the rest of the world despises you and your "big brother" strong-arm mentality. You claim superiority like a school bully who just happens to have the biggest muscles from beating up all the smaller kids til there is no arguement. yet YOUR kids are getting less intelligent every year, it's like your literacy drops every time you stroke yourselves over how "powerful" you are. (check your statistics if you don't believe me) And the superficial stereotypes your media perpetuates is making the rest of the world SICK.
Take your precious money and rot with it, get off your ass, do your OWN DIRTY WORK & give us back our troops.