Smirky's speech, pt. 1
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please be seated. I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend. My message to Congress when they come back is this; that our economy is strong, but we need to work together to make sure that we continue to have a prosperous economy, so people can find jobs. I say it's strong because we've added over 3.5 million new jobs over the last two years,
Sure, but that merely offsets the number of private sector jobs lost since you took office! We’re finally back to that level, and it took the longest time ever to regain what was lost.
and the unemployment rate is 5.2 percent. More Americans are working today than ever before.
A disingenuous claim if I ever heard one! There are more Americans than ever before, too. That’s why we use percentages, Smirky . . .
Homeownership is at an all-time high.
For now. Just wait until the interest rates, which have been incredibly and ahistorically low for years now, begin to climb—all those variable rates and home equity rates are going to kill those who’ve purchased homes too expensive for their incomes.
Small businesses are flourishing. Families are taking home more of what they earn.
And which families are getting the actual benefits of the outrageous deficits we’re running because of those cuts? Of course, your running buddies among the rich and richer. Anyone who might need any kind of assistance from the stripped junk-heap that is the federal government, though, is in dire straits. And lest anyone out there think this doesn’t apply to them, think about how many years it’s been since anybody’s worked on your local interstate freeway . . .
Obviously, these are hopeful signs. But Congress can make sure that the signs remain hopeful, and here are four good things they need to do. First, they need to finish the work on an energy bill. We've gone more than a decade without an energy strategy.
Whose fault is that? The Republicans have been in charge of Congress that entire time, give or take a few months, and Dick Cheney himself was supposed to do something about it 4 years ago, wasn’t he? He convened the “Cheney Energy Task Force”, right? Or did they not do anything except cackle over how much money the oil companies that Cheney represents (and profits from, even now) were going to make during your Administration, hmmm? Gee, I wonder . . .
And as a result, we have grown more dependent on foreign sources of energy
That is hardly the result of a lack of a strategy, and besides, you guys have had all this time to put money and resources into an actual plan—the Executive Branch is fully capable of providing suggestions for laws and regulations (in fact, that’s what would ordinarily be called “leadership”, which is apparently a concept of which you are plainly ignorant)—and you have failed to do so. Why are you blaming anyone but your Party and yourself, Smirky?
and consumers see the consequences of that at the gas pump on a daily basis. For the past four years I've called on Congress to pass legislation that encourages energy conservation;
Really? When, exactly, have you done that? Your VP went on record saying that conservation was “not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”
that promotes domestic production in environmentally friendly ways;
What? You have got to be joking, Smirky. How many environmental groups oppose your plans for drilling in the Arctic? All of them, right?
that helps diversify away from foreign oil; that modernizes the electricity grid; that's got a substantial amount of research and development money to help us transition from the hydrocarbon economy to a diversified source of energy economy. The House passed a bill, and the Senate Energy Committee passed an energy bill this past week -- I appreciate their good work. Now they need to get the bill off the floor, into conference, resolve their differences, and get me a bill before the August recess. That's what the American people expect, and that's what I expect. Second, Congress needs to be wise about the taxpayers' dollars.
Congress does? Who keeps going to them asking for billions of off-the-books cash to prosecute your war aims? You do. Who has violated all known “conservative” fiscal policies since taking office? You have. Get real, Mr. Chimp.
I proposed a disciplined federal budget that holds discretionary spending growth below the rate of inflation and reduces discretionary spending for non-security programs.
In other words, anything that doesn’t have to do with war and martial law will be cut until it dies, right? You are unmitigated scum.
The House and the Senate have worked together to pass a responsible budget resolution that meets our priorities and keeps us on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009.
Oh, yeah, I’m holding my breath for that. We were on our way to doing just that when you took office, Smirky, and then you gutted the tax structure and went on an unprecedented spending spree to kill people. Nice going.
The weeks ahead will bring important decisions on spending bills, and the weeks ahead will bring in efforts to rein in mandatory spending. We look forward to working with Congress to do just that. Congress must keep its commitment to spending restraint if we want this economy to continue to grow.
The economy is hardly growing, given that our domestic personal debt and our national debt is exploding.
Third, Congress needs to ratify the Central American and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement -- that's called CAFTA. This agreement is a good deal for American workers and farmers and small businesses.
Hardly, if our experience with NAFTA is any indication. It’s a good deal for big businesses and owners, of course, because they get to freely export jobs to countries with lower standards of living. Americans’ incomes plummet as our money flies out of the country.
See, about 80 percent of the products from Central America and the Dominican Republic now enter the United States duty-free; yet, our exports to Central America and the Dominican Republic face hefty tariffs. CAFTA will level the playing field by making about 80 percent of American exports to those countries duty-free. I've always said I'm for free and fair trade -- this makes our trade with the CAFTA countries fair. And that's important. After all, the CAFTA agreement will open a market of 44 million consumers to our producers, to our workers, the products that our workers make, to our farmers.
But none of those people can, or will soon be able to, afford “the products that our workers make”, Smirky. Flooding their markets with cheap American goods will only destroy their own industries, leaving even more destitution and even less employment than they have now. Why do you think they have tariffs in the first place? So they can stimulate their own industrial bases! Free trade works among economic equals who have goods and services that the other countries want, and that’s unfortunately not the case here.
We'll lower barriers in key sectors like textiles, which will make American manufacturers more profitable and competitive in the global market,
But since we are the global market’s #1 consumer, that won’t help too much, will it?
and keep jobs here in America.
Which hasn’t happened under NAFTA . . .
And it will support young democracies.
Yeah, it’s well known that countries who’ve recently lost their industrial base are rife with democratic leanings. And they don’t begin exporting black market goods like drugs, either.
And that's going to be important. There's a geopolitical, as well as economic, concern for CAFTA. And Congress needs to pass this piece of legislation. And, finally, Congress needs to move forward with Social Security reform.
It is amazing, isn’t it? Everyone in the country knows that your “reform” is a scam, Smirky, yet you keep hammering away at it. I guess you don’t have any reason not to—every other lie you’ve thrown at the country has stuck, and that’s a whole heck of a lot of garbage we’ve swallowed.
I'm going to continue traveling our country talking about Social Security reform. I'll remind our seniors who are getting a check today that nothing will change.
Luckily for us, “our seniors” seemingly have more of a social conscience than you do, Mr. Chimp, and they are also smart enough to see that your “reform” simply means that their children and grandchildren will get screwed by your duplicitous and ideologically-based thievery.
And yet I'm going to continue to remind the people that we've got a serious problem for younger workers. Part of Social Security reform, Congress should ensure that future generations receive benefits equal to or greater than the benefits today's seniors get.
Which they would anyway if you would simply stop cutting taxes that go toward paying those benefits, you lying sack of filth.
And Congress should help those who rely most on Social Security by increasing benefits faster for low-income workers than those workers who are better off.
Because we all know that any means-tested benefits are far easier to eliminate, because it’s a lot simpler to make up Reaganesque stories of “welfare queens” to stir up class hatred than it is to convince the whole country to destroy a program that has held up for over 65 years.
And as we permanently solve the Social Security problem,
And by “solve”, you mean “eliminate”, right Smirky?
we need to make Social Security a better deal for younger workers by allowing them to take some of their own money and invest it in a voluntary personal savings account.
They already can and do, Mr. Chimp. Ever heard of a 401(k)? Oh, that’s right, you probably haven’t, because those of you rich enough don’t need them because you don’t pay taxes anyway . . .
A voluntary personal savings account is very similar to the personal savings account members of Congress can do. See, my attitude is if a personal savings account -- a voluntary personal savings account is good enough for a member of the United States Congress, or a member of the United States Senate -- in other words, they felt that was a good enough deal for them so they could get a better rate of return -- it surely seems like it's good enough for workers across the country.
Great. Let everyone “voluntarily” make the same amount of money that Congressmen and Senators do and we’ll talk. Until then, go away, wouldja?
And so I look forward to working with the United States Congress on these priorities to help strengthen the long-term economic security of the country. The American people expect people of both parties to work together. They look forward to the Congress setting aside partisan differences and getting something done. And so do I. I'm looking forward to that.
What makes you say that haven’t been getting something done? The Republicans have controlled both houses for 3+ years. If they haven’t been getting anything done, maybe it’s your party’s fault, Smirky . . .
Sure, but that merely offsets the number of private sector jobs lost since you took office! We’re finally back to that level, and it took the longest time ever to regain what was lost.
and the unemployment rate is 5.2 percent. More Americans are working today than ever before.
A disingenuous claim if I ever heard one! There are more Americans than ever before, too. That’s why we use percentages, Smirky . . .
Homeownership is at an all-time high.
For now. Just wait until the interest rates, which have been incredibly and ahistorically low for years now, begin to climb—all those variable rates and home equity rates are going to kill those who’ve purchased homes too expensive for their incomes.
Small businesses are flourishing. Families are taking home more of what they earn.
And which families are getting the actual benefits of the outrageous deficits we’re running because of those cuts? Of course, your running buddies among the rich and richer. Anyone who might need any kind of assistance from the stripped junk-heap that is the federal government, though, is in dire straits. And lest anyone out there think this doesn’t apply to them, think about how many years it’s been since anybody’s worked on your local interstate freeway . . .
Obviously, these are hopeful signs. But Congress can make sure that the signs remain hopeful, and here are four good things they need to do. First, they need to finish the work on an energy bill. We've gone more than a decade without an energy strategy.
Whose fault is that? The Republicans have been in charge of Congress that entire time, give or take a few months, and Dick Cheney himself was supposed to do something about it 4 years ago, wasn’t he? He convened the “Cheney Energy Task Force”, right? Or did they not do anything except cackle over how much money the oil companies that Cheney represents (and profits from, even now) were going to make during your Administration, hmmm? Gee, I wonder . . .
And as a result, we have grown more dependent on foreign sources of energy
That is hardly the result of a lack of a strategy, and besides, you guys have had all this time to put money and resources into an actual plan—the Executive Branch is fully capable of providing suggestions for laws and regulations (in fact, that’s what would ordinarily be called “leadership”, which is apparently a concept of which you are plainly ignorant)—and you have failed to do so. Why are you blaming anyone but your Party and yourself, Smirky?
and consumers see the consequences of that at the gas pump on a daily basis. For the past four years I've called on Congress to pass legislation that encourages energy conservation;
Really? When, exactly, have you done that? Your VP went on record saying that conservation was “not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”
that promotes domestic production in environmentally friendly ways;
What? You have got to be joking, Smirky. How many environmental groups oppose your plans for drilling in the Arctic? All of them, right?
that helps diversify away from foreign oil; that modernizes the electricity grid; that's got a substantial amount of research and development money to help us transition from the hydrocarbon economy to a diversified source of energy economy. The House passed a bill, and the Senate Energy Committee passed an energy bill this past week -- I appreciate their good work. Now they need to get the bill off the floor, into conference, resolve their differences, and get me a bill before the August recess. That's what the American people expect, and that's what I expect. Second, Congress needs to be wise about the taxpayers' dollars.
Congress does? Who keeps going to them asking for billions of off-the-books cash to prosecute your war aims? You do. Who has violated all known “conservative” fiscal policies since taking office? You have. Get real, Mr. Chimp.
I proposed a disciplined federal budget that holds discretionary spending growth below the rate of inflation and reduces discretionary spending for non-security programs.
In other words, anything that doesn’t have to do with war and martial law will be cut until it dies, right? You are unmitigated scum.
The House and the Senate have worked together to pass a responsible budget resolution that meets our priorities and keeps us on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009.
Oh, yeah, I’m holding my breath for that. We were on our way to doing just that when you took office, Smirky, and then you gutted the tax structure and went on an unprecedented spending spree to kill people. Nice going.
The weeks ahead will bring important decisions on spending bills, and the weeks ahead will bring in efforts to rein in mandatory spending. We look forward to working with Congress to do just that. Congress must keep its commitment to spending restraint if we want this economy to continue to grow.
The economy is hardly growing, given that our domestic personal debt and our national debt is exploding.
Third, Congress needs to ratify the Central American and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement -- that's called CAFTA. This agreement is a good deal for American workers and farmers and small businesses.
Hardly, if our experience with NAFTA is any indication. It’s a good deal for big businesses and owners, of course, because they get to freely export jobs to countries with lower standards of living. Americans’ incomes plummet as our money flies out of the country.
See, about 80 percent of the products from Central America and the Dominican Republic now enter the United States duty-free; yet, our exports to Central America and the Dominican Republic face hefty tariffs. CAFTA will level the playing field by making about 80 percent of American exports to those countries duty-free. I've always said I'm for free and fair trade -- this makes our trade with the CAFTA countries fair. And that's important. After all, the CAFTA agreement will open a market of 44 million consumers to our producers, to our workers, the products that our workers make, to our farmers.
But none of those people can, or will soon be able to, afford “the products that our workers make”, Smirky. Flooding their markets with cheap American goods will only destroy their own industries, leaving even more destitution and even less employment than they have now. Why do you think they have tariffs in the first place? So they can stimulate their own industrial bases! Free trade works among economic equals who have goods and services that the other countries want, and that’s unfortunately not the case here.
We'll lower barriers in key sectors like textiles, which will make American manufacturers more profitable and competitive in the global market,
But since we are the global market’s #1 consumer, that won’t help too much, will it?
and keep jobs here in America.
Which hasn’t happened under NAFTA . . .
And it will support young democracies.
Yeah, it’s well known that countries who’ve recently lost their industrial base are rife with democratic leanings. And they don’t begin exporting black market goods like drugs, either.
And that's going to be important. There's a geopolitical, as well as economic, concern for CAFTA. And Congress needs to pass this piece of legislation. And, finally, Congress needs to move forward with Social Security reform.
It is amazing, isn’t it? Everyone in the country knows that your “reform” is a scam, Smirky, yet you keep hammering away at it. I guess you don’t have any reason not to—every other lie you’ve thrown at the country has stuck, and that’s a whole heck of a lot of garbage we’ve swallowed.
I'm going to continue traveling our country talking about Social Security reform. I'll remind our seniors who are getting a check today that nothing will change.
Luckily for us, “our seniors” seemingly have more of a social conscience than you do, Mr. Chimp, and they are also smart enough to see that your “reform” simply means that their children and grandchildren will get screwed by your duplicitous and ideologically-based thievery.
And yet I'm going to continue to remind the people that we've got a serious problem for younger workers. Part of Social Security reform, Congress should ensure that future generations receive benefits equal to or greater than the benefits today's seniors get.
Which they would anyway if you would simply stop cutting taxes that go toward paying those benefits, you lying sack of filth.
And Congress should help those who rely most on Social Security by increasing benefits faster for low-income workers than those workers who are better off.
Because we all know that any means-tested benefits are far easier to eliminate, because it’s a lot simpler to make up Reaganesque stories of “welfare queens” to stir up class hatred than it is to convince the whole country to destroy a program that has held up for over 65 years.
And as we permanently solve the Social Security problem,
And by “solve”, you mean “eliminate”, right Smirky?
we need to make Social Security a better deal for younger workers by allowing them to take some of their own money and invest it in a voluntary personal savings account.
They already can and do, Mr. Chimp. Ever heard of a 401(k)? Oh, that’s right, you probably haven’t, because those of you rich enough don’t need them because you don’t pay taxes anyway . . .
A voluntary personal savings account is very similar to the personal savings account members of Congress can do. See, my attitude is if a personal savings account -- a voluntary personal savings account is good enough for a member of the United States Congress, or a member of the United States Senate -- in other words, they felt that was a good enough deal for them so they could get a better rate of return -- it surely seems like it's good enough for workers across the country.
Great. Let everyone “voluntarily” make the same amount of money that Congressmen and Senators do and we’ll talk. Until then, go away, wouldja?
And so I look forward to working with the United States Congress on these priorities to help strengthen the long-term economic security of the country. The American people expect people of both parties to work together. They look forward to the Congress setting aside partisan differences and getting something done. And so do I. I'm looking forward to that.
What makes you say that haven’t been getting something done? The Republicans have controlled both houses for 3+ years. If they haven’t been getting anything done, maybe it’s your party’s fault, Smirky . . .
posted by bryduck at 12:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home