What is it you really want from government?
Right now, I'd settle for someone who knows how to operate a calculator. And I'd like some honesty: If you really believe some Marxist utopian system is the way to go, then make the case for that "redistributive change"; don't hide it.
Of course, I might hide it too, considering the troubles in Sean Penn's beloved Cuba and Venezuela. Despite being one of the world's biggest energy producers, they are experiencing massive blackouts and power loss. Hugo Chavez wants to cap showers at three minutes and gave a personal guarantee that you "won't stink."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ (through translator): I've counted three minutes and I smell fine afterwards, I guarantee it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Cuba says they've "avoided" a major energy crisis, by forcing people to shut the power off. Wow, problem solved! There can't be an energy crisis with no energy, right?
Our government just keeps telling us this is about social justice, economic justice and fairness. No it's not. It's about controlling and manipulating you. To really achieve fairness, you have to have another element: honesty. You have to say what you mean and mean what you say.
Nothing adds up. Why do you think I'm looking into "other theories?" And the press won't bother to look into it. They all seem too busy making fun of my mannerisms to care about anything else.
Well, I'm going to pull the mask off their plans and just ask honest questions. I'd like honest answers, but we aren't getting them on anything.
Take unemployment: Does anyone else remember when the stimulus bill was being pushed? We had congressman claiming America was a few hours away from complete and total collapse. The president himself said this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
A perpetual crisis? That sounds pretty bad to me. I guess we better pass that stimulus bill. The administration also promised America that the unemployment rate would not go above eight percent if we passed the bill. Remember that? Doing nothing our nation would sink into a crisis, one that we might not be able to reverse.
So we did something — exactly what they told us to do — at the cost of $1 trillion. And the unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent. To me, seems like if we keep doing what they are asking us to do, we may "sink deeper into a crisis that at some point we may never be able to reverse."
But, the icing on the insanity cake comes from the president, when he noticed the chart wasn't looking good for him:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Nobody understood what the depths of this recession was going to look like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Wait a minute. Didn't you say America will be in an irreversible crisis if we don't pass the stimulus? Now it's "no one knew it would be this bad"? I'm not an audiologist, but it sort of sounds like you knew! Unless you know of something worse than an irreversible crisis.
OK, so there is unemployment. Didn't the president just say that they saved or created 1 million jobs? Remember, I just want the truth. According to those crazies at the Boston Globe, Massachusetts received $4 billion in stimulus funds and the White House claimed to "create or save" over 12,000 jobs.
Sounds great. Until you do that thing most journalists don't bother to do — but the Boston Globe did: investigate.
One hundred and sixty of those jobs came from Bridgewater State College — full-time work study jobs for students. Great. Only one little problem: It's not true at all.
Seventy-seven thousand stimulus dollars went to the college — let's bust out the calculator here: $77,000 divided by 160 equals $481.25 — oh my gosh, I'm so rich! Thanks Obama! — or $9 a week.
Except, Bridgewater State spokesman Bryan Baldwin said the actual number of new jobs was "almost nothing.''
Almost nothing sounds more like it. How about the 90 jobs at another agency created with $245,000 for a preschool Head Start program: That's $2,700 per full-time job or $51 a week.
They aren't creating jobs. At least if they are creating jobs, they are creating jobs that won't get a family of four one Happy Meal a day for a week. And by the way you'd have to live in the box.
Now let's look at the economy. How's the president helping encourage companies to create jobs? He said he'd help, instead he's implementing — say it with me — more taxes!
In the new health care package there's a Cadillac tax — 40 percent on premiums in excess of $23,000 for family plans and $8,500 for individuals. In other words: If you have a good health care plan, you have too much. This will hurt more than just the wealthy, as many people around the country have given up extra pay for better benefits packages. Plus, the health care bill doesn't adjust for inflation, so if it doesn't affect you now, it will sooner or later because inflation is coming.
They are also planning a 5.4 percent surtax on individuals earning more than $500,000 per year and couples earning more than $1 million a year. That 5.4 percent tax will include capital gains tax. The Wall Street Journal reports: "Today's capital gains tax rate of 15 percent would bounce back to 20 percent because of the Bush tax rate repea) and then to 25.4 percent with the surtax. That's a 69 percent increase, overnight."
These are the "savings" they are banking on. And, even though he's trying to raise it now, candidate Obama knew it too, when he backed away from his proposal to raise the tax to 28 percent and eliminate it for small business:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I'm mindful that we've got to keep our capital gains tax to a point where we can actually get more revenue.
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Apparently he doesn't care about losing tax revenue. Actually, I am pretty sure most politicians don't care about losing tax revenues: They already spend more than taxes bring in.
Federal spending has grown seven times faster than median income. If that was your spouse you'd divorce them if they did that to you!
If your boss decreases your pay, do you increase spending by 50 percent to get out of that hole? Of course not. What world are these guys living in?
And if you still think: Oh Glenn just hates Obama, he didn't say that about Bush. Actually, I did: This is a left and right problem. Spending has gone up no matter what party is in charge
It's this recklessness that's causing our dollar to fall apart. Ten years ago, let's say you had $1,000 in the bank. Well, you don't anymore. For every one of those dollars, you now have 70 cents. Which means you have to work an extra job or find some way to make up that difference just to be able to replace what the federal government has done to the dollar.
You are working harder for the same amount of money.
Our liability is now $344,544 per person. They justify the $1 trillion health-care plan by saving magical fairy money. They don't play by the rules the rest of us have to play by. But, if you don't play by their rules on health care, here's a new little twist: You'll be looking at a fun little stint in the clink.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: If you don't buy health insurance you go to jail? You didn't answer my question.
SPEAKER OF HOUSE NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: Well... there is a... I think the legislation is very fair in that respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So they are failing and lying on jobs. They are continuing to destroy our economy. How are they doing keeping us safe? Well, we've alienated our allies. We are not fighting to win in Afghanistan and the president wants to start over with a new plan? We shouldn't rush to judgment on the terrorist at Fort Hood?
None of this is real...
I'm an alcoholic. I've bottomed out before. I thought my life, my career, everything, was over. When you approach the bottom, you have two choices: Let it go until you are at the bottom or at some point you put the breaks on and say "I've got a problem." But admitting the problem is the first step. America, we've got a problem.
It's time we get in some sort of 12-step program. Because I'm going to show you the beautiful sunshine and lollipops picture your alcoholic stupor is showing you and then I'm going to take your beer goggles off.
— Watch "Glenn Beck" weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel
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