Michele Bachmann Said She Lost Her Faith In America

 Michele Bachmann

After her Iowa straw poll victory Michele Bachmann told her audience, “You have restored in me my faith in America.” When did Bachmann lose her faith in America? Why was Bachmann’s statement not seized upon by the media like Michelle Obama’s, “…for the first time in my adult life, I’m proud of my country…” statement?

Michele Obama was the wife of a candidate for President while Michele Bachmann is an actual candidate for President which is much more troubling. Exactly when did Michele Bachmann lose her faith in America and was winning a straw poll the only thing that would restore it. That seems to be a huge alarm bell for someone wanting to be President of the United States. If Bachmann losses her faith whenever things are going bad and it is restored only when she wins, that seems to be a poor quality for someone wanting to be President during hard times.

The real issue is why was Michele Bachmann given a free pass by the press on her statement while Michelle Obama was demonized for hers? Is Michele Obama not allowed to say out loud that there have been times when circumstances had tested her pride in the United States from the lens she views the world through? Michele Bachmann must have had something terrible happen to her that caused her to lose faith in America. Please enlighten us Michele as to what caused you to lose faith in America and what caused you to rediscover it in Iowa.

Republican Future- Willful Default, Lead Poisoning, Polluted Water And Sweatshops

Rick Perry - Governor Of Texas - Presidential Candidate

If you have been paying attention to what Republicans are passionate about, it all boils down to stripping away mechanisms that protect individuals. Hold on, I forgot that Mitt Romney said that corporations are people. Michele Bachmann said she would not have increased the debt ceiling under any circumstance, the EPA is targeted for extinction, unions are under attack and some want to eliminate the minimum wage.

Welcome to the early days of industry where workers and citizens were at the total mercy of industry. Pollution and labor abuses were the order of the day. This is the future Republicans want to take us back to. This is how Republicans will get jobs back to American by turning it into a third world environment where companies can exploit workers and the environment without those pesky regulations the keep us safe. In order to pull this off they must roll back the national health care law because the rash of illnesses such as cancer, lead poisoning and lung diseases would overwhelm and bankrupt the nation.

Don't fall for the "we love America so much" lines or the "get government off our backs slogans." There is ugly business taking place in broad daylight. Social Security and Medicare are being eyed like they are the lost treasure that can finally be fully exploited for profit instead of being used to simply support those that paid into those programs all of their lives.

We stand at a crossroads in the history of this country. Corporation are being looked upon as having the same standing as people. We know what people this crop of Republican candidate represents. You need to be sure someone is protecting your interests beyond a "get government off out backs slogan" because the government may all that stands between you getting a decent paycheck instead of a bag of groceries for a week's work.

Tea Party Congress – Time To Take The Keys

 Rep. Michele Bachmann - Leader of Tea Party Caucus

The Tea Party members of Congress have shown that they are not fit to lead and govern. These folks don’t understand the consequences of their actions and behavior. The very people that put them in office will suffer from the effects of the United States credit downgrade through possibly higher interest rates for everything.

Clearly the political dysfunction that Standard and Poors cited in their downgrade decision referenced how the once routine increase of the debt ceiling was held hostage for other purposes. Now that process may be par for every debt ceiling increase. Okay guys, learn to yield when the road gets to a suitable exit or hand over the keys before you drive all of us over a cliff.

Just like when families need to have conversations with a elderly relatives about giving up their car keys because they are no longer safe drivers, someone needs to have that discussion with the Tea Party Congress members. The Tea Party members flunked their governing test and drove the country into a tree and dented it badly. The United States is still functional, but we can’t risk having these guys continually grabbing the steering wheel when we are trying to drive through dangerous terrain.

Who can talk to this group? Speaker of the House John Boehner has shown that they don’t listen to him as he was rebuffed at every turn. Boehner finally had to enlist the help of Democrats in order to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt obligations as the Teas Party members still voted no. Don’t count on Michele Bachmann to speak reasonably because scoring political points is more important than the country’s future. Mitt Romney will only speak after the dust settles so that he knows what plays best. It’s really like parents laughing at the bad behavior of children a calling it cute as they vandalize the neighbor’s property.

The reasonable Republicans are staying out of it and will allow the extreme element to implode from their own intransigence. Hopefully the United States can survive this experiment in roadblock and hostage taking politics ushered in during the 2010 elections.

S&P U S Credit Downgrade – Warning On Investigation?

Should the world trust a downgrade of the credit rating of the United States from a credit rating agency that helped put America into its current financial condition by giving prime credit ratings to bundles of subprime debt trading instruments? The implosion of the mortgage backed security trading business wrecked the economy.

Now one of the credit rating agencies downgrades the AAA rating of the United States citing the political climate as one of the reasons. Excuse me, aren’t you the same guys that stamped your seal of approval on what turned out to be a near pyramid level debt instrument called Collateralized Debt Obligations consisting of bundled home loans both prime and sub-prime? When the dominoes fell, credit froze and jobs along with retirement accounts values melted away like butter. Some asked how these risky instruments earned the highest rating from agencies like Standard & Poors.

The United States Department of Justice is curious as well and so is the SEC. Now this credit rating agency seems to be acting out by not only downgrading the credit raring of the United States but also telegraphing other dire things that may come. Is this the big showdown? I will not just hold your credit rating hostage, but I will hurt you badly if you mess with me.

An article titled SEC investigates role of ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's aheadof the financial crisis  August 7 by Richard Blackden details how the SEC is looking into the role of credit rating agencies in the mortgage backed security collapse.

Maybe the real question is, given the mortgage backed security credit rating debacle, when will the credibility and power given to the credit rating agencies be downgraded?  

Hostage Taking Politics Have To End

What we have seen is the exercise of hostage taking politics by the Republican minority since President Obama took office. The Tea Party and Republicans are perfectly willing to repeatedly kidnap any segment of the American economy and hold it with threats of destruction unless they get their way.

The latest hostage was the hard earned credit rating and global economic standing of the United States unless they got what they wanted. This type of politics is no way to run a country and hopefully voters will realize who was willing to take the United States into default to get their way and take away Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. Education programs are seen as wasteful spending by this all or nothing group. Bridges falling, roads crumbling and transportation projects stalling may be in our future.

You see, small or no government spending may sound ideal until you need something you once took for granted and it is no longer there. One city got a fast lesson in how things work when they voted down a tax increase and were later informed that there were not enough funds to provide school bus service and it would cost $400 per child. That is how things work. Smooth public roads, the military and national parks all come from government spending.

Most people are too young to remember almost guaranteed poverty and suffering during old age before Social Security and Medicare came into being. Do we really want to go back to that old life? Why don’t you ask your parents or grandparents if that is how they want to live?