Posted: 21 Dec 2015 MICHAEL SNYDER THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
Under Barack Obama, the U.S. national debt has risen from $10,626,877,048,913.08 on January 20th, 2009 to $18,795,033,928,275.59 on December 21st, 2015. That means that the debt that we are passing on to future generations has increased by 8.16 trillion dollars since Barack Obama was inaugurated. There is still a little more than a year to go in Obama’s presidency, and it is already guaranteed that Obama will add more than a trillion dollars a year to the national debt during his presidency.
In fact, when you do the math, we are stealing more than 100 million dollars from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day. It is a crime of a magnitude that is almost unimaginable, and at this point it is mathematically impossible for the U.S. government to pay off all of this debt. To say that we are in trouble would be a massive understatement. And of course not all of the blame goes to Obama. The Republicans have had control of the House of Representatives for all but two years while Obama has been in the White House, and they have gone along with all of this reckless spending. Without the approval of the House, Obama could not spend a single penny, but the Republicans have consistently chosen not to stand up to him. In fact, the Republicans in Congress just approved another massive 1.2 trillion dollar spending bill that essentially gave the Democrats every single thing that they wanted. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi even admitted that the Republicans “were willing to concede so much” during the negotiations. So why do we even have a Republican Party? They always just go along with pretty much whatever the Democrats want anyway. Why shouldn’t we just disband the Republican Party and let the Democrats completely run things? How would Washington D.C. be any different if the Republicans didn’t even exist? At this point, even Rush Limbaugh is completely disgusted with the Republican Party… I have a headline here from the Washington Times: “White House Declares Total Victory Over GOP in Budget Battle.” That headline’s a misnomer. There was never a battle. None of this was opposed. The Republican Party didn’t stand up to any of it, and the die has been cast for a long time on this. I know many of you are dispirited, depressed, angry, combination of all of that. But, folks, there was no other way this could go. Because two years ago when the Republican Party declared they would never do anything that would shut down the government and they would not impeach Obama, there were no obstacles in Obama’s way and there were no obstacles in the way of the Democrat Party.Do you remember when Republican politicians were running around promising that they would defund Obamacare? That didn’t happen. Do you remember when Republican politicians were running around promising that they would defund Planned Parenthood? That didn’t happen. Do you remember when Republican politicians were running around promising that they would defund Obama’s refugee program? That didn’t happen. In this new spending deal, the Republicans got nothing. It was a sham, a farce and a total insult to the American people. Here is more from Rush Limbaugh… It fully funds Planned Parenthood. That, to me, is unforgivable, with everything now known about what goes on behind closed doors at Planned Parenthood, and that the federal government, led by a Republican Party, sees fit to pay for it. It is beyond comprehension, and it is a total squandering of moral authority to fully fund the butchery at Planned Parenthood. This spending bill fully pays for Obama’s refugee plans, fully. This spending bill, this budget bill quadruples the number of visas Obama wants for foreign workers. This is even a slap at American union workers. Not the leaders. The union leaders seem to be in favor of it, but blue-collar people, known as working people, have been sold down the river along with everybody else here.Even after watching all of the undercover Planned Parenthood videos that came out over the past year, the Republicans in Congress still voted to fund the harvesting and sale of body parts from aborted babies. And surveys have found that the American people support the continued funding of Planned Parenthood by about a 2 to 1 margin. After everything that we have seen, the vast majority of Americans still want to continue giving those butchers hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars a year. No wonder so many people are comparing America to Nazi Germany these days. We truly have become an exceedingly wicked nation. We like to think that we are an “example” for the rest of the planet, but in reality the only example that we are is a bad one. Our guilt has been put on display for all the world to see, and yet we just continue to race toward even more evil. Not only did the Republicans not defund Planned Parenthood, the truth is that not a single pro-life amendment of any sort even got into the bill thanks to Paul Ryan. The following comes from lifesitenews.com… “The bill failed to include a single major pro-life policy rider, despite the requests of over 120 members of Congress and the disturbing revelations about Planned Parenthood brought to light this year,” said Congresswoman Diane Black, R-TN, who voted against the bill.Like I said, the Republicans completely capitulated, just like they always do. Now the U.S. national debt is nearly double the size that it was just before the last financial crisis struck, and our leaders continue to borrow and spend as if there is no tomorrow. Perhaps they have convinced themselves that there will never be any consequences for acting so foolishly. Perhaps they believe that in the end everything will turn out okay somehow. Perhaps they are able to rationalize the theft of more than a hundred million dollars an hour from future generations of Americans. But nothing can erase what they have done to us. The promising future that our children and our grandchildren should have had has been completely wiped out, and the leading edge of the greatest economic crisis that any of us has ever known is now upon us. If we had done things differently, things wouldn’t have had to turn out this way. But now the die is cast, and we are all going to pay a very high price for the mistakes that have been made in Washington. |
Two out of every three Americans, and 75 percent of Israelis, are opposed to the administration's deal with Iran because it does not block the world's No. 1 sponsor of terrorism from acquiring nuclear weapons. On the contrary, it legitimizes the very nuclear program Iran denied they had, and allows for their full acceptance as a nuclear state at the end of the agreement
There is a very good possibility that in early September, Congress will be able to muster the votes to at least bring about a show down with the administration, if not actually produce a veto-proof majority vote. One thing is for sure, during the week of the vote, the halls of Congress will be filled with thousands of American citizens lobbying their members of Congress against the deal thanks to a number of groups planning lobbying days, press conferences and rallies then.
Opposing the deal is one thing. But, the question that everyone wants answered is: What is the alternative? Its opponents say the alternative is to broker a better deal. However, the fact is that the American negotiating team will not be able to broker a better deal unless they learn to negotiate like an Iranian.
The Middle-Eastern Shuk
Most Middle Easterners can negotiate Americans under the carpet, because they literally grow up negotiating everything, from the cost of fruits and vegetables in theshuk (market) to higher-priced items like appliances and home goods. Americans only negotiate when they purchase a car or a house. So, what can we learn from the Middle-Eastern shuk?
No. 1: Never pay the stated price. A shopkeeper will not quote the price that he expects you to pay but an inflated price that leaves room for negotiating. Never agree to the stated demand. Always offer less.
No. 2: Never start where you want to end. Once a price has been stated, respond with an offer that is so ridiculously low that it is embarrassing. This is where many Americans stumble, because they do not want to look like they are cheap, nor do they want to insult the poor merchant. But if you do not counter low, you will end up paying too much.
No. 3: Make them think it really hurts. Middle Easterners love to play along with their opponent by telling how much the counter offer hurts while displaying great emotion and perhaps emphatic gestures. Compare this to the average American who usually avoids any display of emotion. They are not used to such reactions, so they will quickly give in and pay the high price thinking they may have insulted or hurt the feelings of their negotiating partner.
No. 4: Don't trust your opponent. Americans are at heart a very honest people, and look down on any type of lying. So, they assume everyone else is telling the truth like they are! In the Middle East though, truth can be sacrificed to achieve the goal of leaving the negotiations with honor and respect back home. Therefore, don't believe everything your opponent says.
No. 5: Be prepared to walk away. When the stakes are high, and the deal being brokered is just not good enough, then the buyer has to be willing to walk out the door. The merchant knows then that he has lost the sale, and he will run after the buyer with a new offer. Being too eager to make a deal is perceived as weakness and will be taken advantage of. Always be willing to walk away.
Only those privy to the negotiations know how well or how poorly the American team did. But, based on their eagerness to close a deal, and the response of the Iranians, who said they got everything they wanted, it appears the American team was out-negotiated.
To broker a better deal with Iran, perhaps we should consider bringing in the Israelis to negotiate for us. They have much more experience in the Middle Eastern shuk.
Susan M. Michael is U.S. Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, icejusa.org.
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