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January 23-24 – Happy Anniversary Mr. President Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On the Economy

Bob Fragasso, Founder and President of Fragasso Financial Advisors, joined me this past weekend in the studio with his take on the economy. Like several other economists who have recently appeared on my radio program (including Brian Wesbury & Phil Orlando), Bob believes that the current economic trends indicate we are in the early stages of recovery from the recent recession. These trends include the fact that the unemployment rate has stabilized, companies are beginning the process of inventory building, exports are increasing, and income tax rates will remain low for 2010.

Unfortunately, as I and others have said many times on this program, if President Obama and the Democrats in Congress continue to push their leftist agenda, 2011 could be another painful year for the economy. And it appears that Liberal Democrats are doubling down. Just two days after Republican Scott Brown’s historic political victory in Massachusetts, President Obama proposed sweeping new federal regulations on banks, including limits on their growth and the breadth of their offerings, as well as huge new taxes. In response to President Obama’s fresh attacks on banks, financial markets fell by approximately 5% last week. It is time for President Obama and other Democrat party leaders to stop their attacks on business and our economy.

If these elected leaders were to change course and freeze current tax rates on income, dividends, and capital gains, our economy would receive a much needed long term boost. Leaving more of people’s hard earned money in their own pockets-rather than redistributing it according to a political agenda- would enable business owners, investors, and individuals to make economic decisions that lead to job growth and increased economic stability.

In these uncertain economic times, Bob argues that many investors have not maintained a consistent asset allocation that was right for them. If you need financial advice, feel free to contact Fragasso Financial.

Take a Few Minutes to Celebrate

Conservatives should take a few moments to celebrate this week. We have been fighting Obama’s leftist agenda – which threatens liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness – since the $787 billion stimulus was passed in February 2009. The election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts this week proves that we are still a nation based on the rule of law, and that the American people are fed up with Democrat elitism. While Scott Brown promised Massachusetts voters that he would be the 41st vote against nationalized health care, President Obama mocked Brown for driving an old GM pickup truck (with more than 200,000 miles). Liberal commentator Ed Schultz stated that he would have liked to have committed voter fraud by voting 10 or more times to keep Brown from winning “Kennedy’s seat,” and Keith Olbermann unfairly characterized Brown (a moderate to conservative Republican) as a homophobic racist “teabagger,” who supports violence against women. Thankfully, Massachusetts voters separated fact from irresponsible fiction and gave Brown a convincing victory.

But there are other reasons to celebrate this week as well. On Thursday, The Supreme Court ruled (5-4) in favor of free speech when it overturned campaign finance laws that limited the amount of money corporations, labor unions, and other groups can spend on political speech. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the main opinion, “[t]here is no basis for the proposition that, in the political speech context, the government may impose restrictions on certain disfavored speakers. The government may regulate corporate speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether.”

On Thursday, Air America, a liberal talk radio company, filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. This means that they are done – completely out of business. Talk radio only works when it is based on facts. As a result, it does not seem to work for liberals.

And finally, last week another Global Warming claim was debunked. In its major 2007 report for policy makers, the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change predicted that the Himalayan Glaciers would melt completely by 2035. But the IPCC was forced to admit last week that this prediction was not based on any scientific data whatsoever. Instead, it originated as “speculation,” offered by little-known Indian scientist Syed Hasnain in a 1999 interview with the publication, the New Scientist. Hasnain, who was based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi at the time of the interview, has indicated repeatedly that his comments were not the result of any research, and has been disowning them for years. And yet, the UN IPCC published this unsubstantiated speculation as established scientific fact in its main summary for policy makers! On top of the revealing “Climate Gate” emails that prove climate change data was manipulated to support the man made global warming narrative, and the denial of the medieval optimum and the mini ice age in the now discredited “hockey stick chart,” this is another proof of the fact that the UN IPCC is a political, and not scientific entity.

A GOP Come Back?

Clark Judge, Managing Director of the White House Writers Group and former Ronald Reagan speech writer joins me on the program to discuss his article “10 Tips for the GOP in 2010,” published in the Wall Street Journal on January 11. According to Clark, a lot of Independents became disillusioned with President George W. Bush and the Republicans, not because of Iraq or Afghanistan, but because of what they perceived as out of control spending on social programs. Therefore, to protest this out of control spending, Independents voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election. Now, President Obama has brought this irresponsible spending to new heights. Democrats have either spent or are trying to spend more that $1 trillion on bank and auto company bailouts, more than $1 trillion on failing stimulus plans, more than $1 trillion on a government takeover of health care, and have established deficits of more than $1 trillion per year for the foreseeable future. As a result, Independents are now voting for conservative candidates who say they will stop the profligate spending. According to Clark, the GOP needs to demonstrate that they are serious about reducing the deficit if they want to win in 2010.

Irrational Liberal Agenda

Despite 40 years of liberal “great society” programs, we are still facing real social problems in America today. Although the recession has hurt a lot of people, it has disproportionately affected the African American community where unemployment now stands at 16.2%. According to Bob Herbert of the New York Times, in many poor communities, a person with a traditional job remains the exception rather than the rule.

Unfortunately, the White House and our current leaders in Congress have failed to implement policies that enable poor Americans to become economically successful. Instead the Democrat Party leaders have overturned several helpful programs, including welfare reform and the Washington D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Bi-partisan welfare reform brought 2.9 million children out of poverty between 1994 and 2008 (including 1.2 million African American children), and the Washington D.C. Scholarship program empowered 1,700 minority students in the D.C. area to leave the failing public school system and attend the private school of their choice. The bottom line is that big-government solutions that increase dependency will not solve our social problems. The answer in the short and long terms is to encourage pro-growth policies that help every one, and to introduce real competition in the education system.

We must remain engaged and continue to challenge our elected officials to promote limited government, liberty, and freedom. If you enjoy receiving this weekly post, please encourage others to sign up as well. You can always listen to this past weekend’s radio program, as well as other past radio programs here. And feel free to leave comments at glenmeakem.com, or email your feedback to me at glen@meakem.com.

Have a great week!

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