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Hall
Transcript and Analysis of the President's Weekly
Radio Address:
"Honoring the American Worker -
Outlines Steps Taken to Strengthen the Middle Class"
The
White House Press Office: – In his weekly address,
President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to America’s workers and
the middle class. Even before the current recession hit, the
middle class had been hurting from stagnant incomes and declining
economic security. To repair the economy and strengthen the
middle class, the administration has invested in infrastructure
projects that will lead to jobs in the private sector, taken
emergency steps to prevent the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of
teachers and cops, and cut taxes for 95 percent of working
families. The President is fighting to pass a law that will
provide tax breaks for folks who create jobs in America.
On Monday, we celebrate Labor
Day. It’s a chance to get together with family and
friends, to throw some food on the grill, and have a good
time. But it’s also a day to honor the American worker
– to reaffirm our commitment to the great American middle
class that has, for generations, made our economy the envy of
the world.
Labor Union Day?
Socialist Workers' Paradise Day?
Capital raises our standard of living more than labor.
Don't managers labor?
That is especially important
now. I don’t have to tell you that this is a very tough
time for our country. Millions of our neighbors have been
swept up in the worst recession in our lifetimes. And long
before this recession hit, the middle class had been taking some
hard shots. Long before this recession, the
values of hard work and responsibility that built this country
had been given short shrift.
What is the
difference between "values" and "morality?"
For a decade, middle class
families felt the sting of stagnant incomes and declining
economic security. Companies were rewarded with tax breaks
for creating jobs overseas. Wall Street firms turned huge
profits by taking, in some cases, reckless risks and cutting
corners. All of this came at the expense of working
Americans, who were fighting harder and harder just to stay
afloat – often borrowing against inflated home values to pay
their bills. Ultimately, the house of cards collapsed.
Home values
inflated by whom? By "government-sponsored
enterprises" like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? "Regardless
of the desirability of the social goal, the financial
superstructure depended on housing prices never falling"
("Lessons
from the Subprime Crisis").
So this Labor Day, we should
recommit ourselves to our time-honored values
and to this fundamental truth:
to heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market;
we need bustling main streets and a growing, thriving middle
class. That’s
why I will keep working day-by-day to restore
opportunity, economic security, and
that basic American Dream for our families
and future generations.
What is the
difference between "values" and "morality?"
First, that means doing
everything we can to accelerate job creation. The steps we have
taken to date have stopped the bleeding: investments
in roads and bridges and high-speed railroads that will lead to
hundreds of thousands of jobs in the private sector; emergency
steps to prevent the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of
teachers and firefighters and police officers; and tax cuts and
loans for small business owners who create most of the jobs in
America. We also ended a tax loophole that encouraged companies
to create jobs overseas. Instead, I’m fighting to pass a law
to provide tax breaks to the folks who create jobs right here in
America.
Every government
"investment" is money taken out of the private sector.
The government is a very inefficient investor. The cost of one
government-created job is at least 2 private sector jobs.
Government intervention reduces employment.
If I "create a job" overseas (hire someone in
another country), I reduce the labor costs of my business. This
means lower prices for you at the checkstand. This frees up
money for you to spend elsewhere, increasing demand, prompting
the hiring of new workers. Lowering costs creates money for
investment in new jobs. Obama is using the tax code to promote
activity he
supports, not what Americans in a Free Market support.
But strengthening our economy
means more than that. We’re fighting to build an economy
in which middle class families can afford to send their kids to college,
buy a home, save for retirement,
and achieve some measure of economic
security when their working days are done. And over
the last two years, that has meant taking on some powerful
interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for
far too long.
Retirement is more precarious, because the purchasing
power of retirement funds is being eroded by government.
All of these policies are promoted for the benefit of
"powerful interests" - education, banks, etc.
That’s
why we’ve put an end to the wasteful subsidies to big
banks that provide student loans. We’re going to use
that money to make college more affordable for students
instead.
What's why?
The Constitution gives the federal
government no authority to experiment with colleges and
universities, or to become a lender to students. Government
action to "make college more affordable" actually
increases demand, and makes college more
expensive.
That’s
why we’re making it easier for workers to save for
retirement, with new ways of saving their tax refunds and a
simpler system for enrolling in retirement plans like
401(k)s. And we’re going to keep up the fight to protect
Social Security for
generations to come.
If a
"generation" = 40 years, then the promise to protect
Social Security for at least 80 years is ludicrous.
That’s
why we stopped insurance companies from refusing to cover
people with pre-existing conditions and dropping folks who
become seriously ill.
And that’s
why we cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, and
passed a law to help make sure women earn equal pay for equal
work in the United States of America.
This Labor Day, we are reminded
that we didn’t become the most prosperous country in the world
by rewarding greed and recklessness. We did it by
rewarding hard work and responsibility. We did it by
recognizing that we rise or we fall together as one nation –
one people – all of us vested in one another. That is
how we have succeeded in the past. And that is how we will not
only rebuild this economy, but rebuild it stronger than ever
before.
Thank you. And I hope you have
a great Labor Day weekend.
Response of the Republican Party
Saturday Morning Radio Address
Saturday, September 4th, 2010
Once again, the Republican
Party leadership has asked Congressman
Ron Paul to deliver . . . wait a minute . . . I'm sorry . .
.
Geoff Davis, Congressman from Kentucky’s 4th Congressional
District, delivered the
GOP Weekly Address
Hi, I’m Geoff
Davis, and I work for the people of Kentucky’s 4th
Congressional District.
Yesterday,
Americans from coast to coast began their day with the news that
our economy has lost jobs for three months in a row. The nation’s
unemployment rate has now been above 9 percent for 16
consecutive months. This is despite the fact that the Obama
Administration promised that the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’
would keep unemployment below 8 percent. So the question
remains: Where are the jobs?
The jobs are in
Washington. The Washington jobs pay twice what private sector
jobs pay.
The Obama
administration told the American people this would be a ‘Recovery
Summer.’ But, our economy continues to lose jobs. Growth has
slowed to anemic levels. Our national debt is growing by more
than $4 billion per day. So as it turns out, ‘Recovery
Summer’ was nothing more than a meaningless slogan.
Americans don’t
want slogans, they want solutions, which is exactly what
Republicans are offering.
Republicans offer
"solutions" when they are out of power, but follow the
same socialist policies as Democrats when they are in power.
‘Stimulus’
spending, permanent bailouts, government takeovers and federal
mandates have all failed our nation. America’s
employers are afraid to invest in an economy racked with
uncertainty over what Washington’s next set of rules,
regulations, mandates, and tax hikes will look like. This
uncertainty is one of the main reasons our economy is not
creating enough jobs.
These were also the
policies of Republicans in the 8 years before Obama.
Republicans believe
we need to get away from these policies and instead take action
on common-sense steps to help small businesses get back to
creating jobs. We’ve called on President Obama to abandon his
plan to impose job-killing tax hikes on families and small
businesses. We’ve urged Democratic leaders in Congress to
allow a vote on $1.3 trillion in immediate spending cuts. And we’re
listening to the people, getting their input on ways to help our
economy start creating jobs again. Today, I’d like to talk
with you about one of those ideas.
We don't need the
government to "help" small businesses. We need the
government to stop hurting businesses.
As we speak, the
Obama Administration has lined up 191 rules and regulations that
could each have an estimated annual cost to our economy of $100
million or more. That’s 191 layers of red tape waiting in the
wings. Last year, the federal government issued 3,316 new rules
and regulations; that amounts to more than a dozen per day. All
of these rules go on the books without being approved by
Congress.
Many of these
mandates affect small-business owners who don’t have the
resources to hire an army of lawyers and accountants to comply
with all these burdensome regulations. The more time
small-business owners spend pushing paper, the less time they
have to focus on creating jobs.
The new healthcare
bill is a perfect example of how unelected bureaucrats can wreak
all kinds of havoc. This is a law that, upon its enactment,
triggered the creation of roughly 160 boards, bureaus,
bureaucracies and commissions. It took less than four months for
the feds to rack up 3,833 pages of regulations pertaining to
ObamaCare.
When Congress
forces through controversial legislation by purposefully leaving
blanks for executive agencies to fill in, unelected bureaucrats
end up writing laws with no accountability whatsoever. This has
to stop.
Last year, a local
resident came to me about a significant increase in sewer rates
to help pay for storm water upgrades mandated by the
federal government. Of course, Washington wasn’t offering to
help pay for the upgrades –- only issuing the orders to get
them done. My constituent wanted to know whether Congress had
any say in these new federal mandates before they were handed
down. The answer was ‘no.’
So with my
constituent’s help, I introduced the REINS Act, a common-sense
initiative that would require Congress to take an up-or-down
vote on every new major rule before it can be imposed on the
American people. This legislation would serve as a much-needed
restraining order against unelected busybodies and bureaucrats
whose actions could make it harder to create jobs.
The Democrats will
not pass it. If the Republicans take control of the House in
November, they will not introduce it again.
The sooner we rein
in the red tape factory in Washington, D.C., the sooner small
businesses can get back to creating jobs and helping more
Americans find an honest day’s work.
I’ve also posted
the REINS Act as an idea on America Speaking Out, a national
initiative Republicans launched this spring to engage the
American people in the creation of a clear and positive
governing agenda. At americaspeakingout.com, Americans can
share their own solutions or comment and vote on someone else’s.
So what began as a
conversation between a constituent and his congressional
representative is now part of a national dialogue about a new
governing agenda –- an agenda Republicans will unveil later
this month. These are just the first steps towards putting power
back where it belongs: in the hands of the people.
Visit americaspeakingout.com
now to have your say and to share your ideas. Thank you for
listening. ####
The federal government only has the powers granted to it --
"enumerated" -- in the
Constitution.
The "General Welfare" clause is no
exception to this principle.
"States Rights" --
most government should be carried out on a local level.
The Constitution created a federal government with
very limited powers, bound down by the
"chains of the constitution." The
Bush-Obama Regime believes it has vast, unlimited powers to cure all
diseases, fund all causes, and bring salvation.
From this aspect, therefore, the whole of economics can be
reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a
single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking
not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act
or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that
policy not merely for one group but for all groups.
These are the reasons given by Osama bin Laden for declaring a
"fatwah" (holy war) against the U.S.
All of these accusations are true.
All of these government actions are contrary to the
Constitution.
The biggest cause of terrorism --
and the most dangerous threat to the personal safety and security
of ordinary Americans like you and me -- is the Federal Government
of the United States.
America's Founders envisioned the American people, acting as
businessmen, humanitarians, and missionaries, engaging in
commercial and charitable activities around the world, bringing
peace and receiving the admiration of the world.
"The great rule of conduct for us, in
regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial
relations to have with them as little political
connection as possible."
— Washington, Farewell Address (1796) [Washington’s
emphasis]
"I deem [one of] the essential principles
of our government, and consequently [one] which ought to shape
its administration,…peace, commerce, and honest friendship
with all nations, entangling alliances with none."
— Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801)
Bush's unconstitutional military invasion of
Iraq has destroyed Christianity in that country.
Under Saddam Hussein's secular government, Christians in
Iraq had greater freedom than in most other Arab nations, and
one of the largest Christian populations in the Muslim world
was in Iraq.
Iraq is now an Islamic theocracy under Sharia law. The
Christian population has been destroyed. Christian Churches
are burned and terrorized with impunity.
Obama is following in Bush's unconstitutional, anti-Christian
footsteps.
This money-creation system is immoral and unconstitutional. It
steals from the poor and elderly.
America's Founding Fathers would conclude that The First Amendment
had been repealed
There is no freedom of religion: the U.S. is officially atheistic.
There is no freedom of the press: the media is the lapdog of
"the Establishment."
Everyone who signed the Constitution, if they were here today,
would urge the repeal of the Constitution and the abolition
of the government created by that document.
What Ozarks Candidates Are Saying
About These Issues
Billy
Long
Another
Perspective:
"Liberty
Under God"
The Employee Free Choice Act
poses a threat to businesses here in Southwest Missouri. By
taking a worker’s right to a secret ballot away, union thugs can
pressure their fellow workers. EFCA would also set up a federal
mediation board which could be used to cut off negotiations and
force arbitration in labor disputes. Instead of business
people working out differences with employees, there would be a
federal bureaucrat to do it for them. If EFCA becomes law,
businesses will pack up and leave for other countries in record
numbers. Billy will stand against union bosses and EFCA to
protect our economy and our workers. Billy
Long for Congress : Issues
Economic Growth and Jobs We must reduce taxes
on individuals and small business in order to spur economic growth
and provide jobs. Sixty percent of our nations economy rests
on the back of small business. We need to loosen
restrictions on credit for these businesses to keep the jobs we
already have and create new ones. Government debt and
out-of-control spending chill investment and stagnate job
growth. These steps toward stability will spur investment,
innovation, and prosperity will follow. Positions
- Scott Eckersley for U.S. Congress in Missouri 7th District
A Democrat who wants
to reduce taxes is like an arsonist who wants to stop fires. Why
should taxes on "small businesses" be reduced but not
taxes on large businesses?
Which restrictions on credit? Is private indebtedness good?
Should businesses borrow more money, more often?
Neither candidate addresses the question above, "What is
the difference between 'values' and 'morals?'" What is the
biggest enemy of "values" and "morality (hard work,
personal responsibility) in America today? The best answer: the
federal government.
“Why
Americans Should
Celebrate Christmas
365 Days
a Year”
The word "Christ" means "King." The Message
of Christmas and the Principles set forth by the Christ (the
Messiah) who came that first Christmas are the real solution to
America's problems. The Federal Government is at war with Christmas
and "The
Way of Peace" announced by the Prince
of Peace. The Government should be on His
shoulders (Isaiah
9:6-7). Abolishing a Messianic State
is the only appropriate way to honor the Messiah. Otherwise
Christmas becomes mass hypocrisy.
The Word became flesh. The Creator of the universe
becomes a human being. He came to His own, but His own did
not receive Him, preferring darkness rather than light.
John the Baptist prepares the way for the Messiah, as
prophesied of Elijah.
As you read the
Gospel accounts, ask yourself how you would react if you knew
these accounts were really true. Not just true in some
"religious" sense, but reported in the New York
Times, proven in a court of law, or acknowledged by your
personal hero. (How do you know something
is true? Do you even have any "heroes?") How should
you change your life if your Creator became a human being? How
should Washington D.C. react if this human being claimed to be
the true Ruler?
The Prophet Micah predicted
that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus'
parents lived in Nazereth. Therefore God predestined
Caesar to issue a decree (probably relating to taxes) that
would bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem before Jesus was
born.
Bush claims the same global
power of confiscation and migration as Caesar did. Thousands
of Christians have been forced to move out of Iraq to make way
for Bush's Islamic Theocracy.
An army of angels announces the birth of the Messiah,
saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace
to those with whom He is pleased!”
Man's chief
end is to glorify God and live in
peace. The Bush Administration's chief end is to erect a
"wall of separation"
between God and government so that the State gives no glory to
God, and to wage war, thereby "stimulating the
economy."
“Now when they had seen Him, they made widely
known the saying which was told them concerning this
Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things
which were told them by the shepherds.”
When Herod got word of the birth of a rival king, he
behaved in a perfectly logical way (for someone who wants
to protect his power): he massacred all male babies
the age of Jesus. Herod recognized that Jesus was a threat
to Herod's power.
Every day in America 4,000
unborn babies are murdered. These babies must threaten
something.
Millions of Americans who call themselves Christians, on
the other hand, are no threat to tyranny.
None of them are being killed. Bush has killed a thousand
times more human beings than Herod did, and confiscated a
billion times more wealth than Herod did.
Herod's son Antipas played a small role in the execution
of Jesus Christ. But Jesus rose from the dead, was
enthroned on the throne of David at the right hand of God,
and assumed the rightful role of King over all nations.
"Beginning today and
culminating on Sunday morning, Christians will celebrate with
their families the resurrection of Christ, His victory over
death. We will remember that He gave His body and His blood—washing
clean the faults and the shortcomings of
the world. In our rejoicing we will renew the hope that is
ours through the risenLord." Ronald
Reagan: Statement on the Celebration of Passover and Easter
Every American could be born with a comfortable
inheritance for education, a first home, or medical care; instead,
every American is born in great debt.
Washington D.C. central planning increases debt, does not create
the "Vine &
Fig Tree" life.
The men who threw tea into the Boston Harbor over a tax of 3 pence
per pound would not be happy with a tax ten times greater on
every gallon of gas. Those who took up muskets over a total tax burden
of less than 3% would not be happy with
the fact that the federal government now takes more
than half of everything you earn.
Today it is illegal for public school teachers to teach their
students that the Declaration of Independence is really true (and not
just an outdated historical document). The federal government is
clearly at war with everything the Founding Fathers stood for.
America's greatest Americans would abolish
today's federal government.
Muskets are Not an Option
There are two reasons why we should not take up arms to pull off
the violent overthrow of the federal
government, even if America's Founders would surely do so. First, the
feds have nukes. Second, violent revolution is unChristian and
unBiblical. We must beat our swords into
plowshares and use persuasion to
abolish tyranny. This is time for a
revolution of ideas.
Revolution Won't Come in a Day
John Adams once wrote that the American
Revolution began in 1761, when Massachusetts attorney James Otis
began legal challenges to the Writs
of Assistance. He lost the case, but "American
independence," Adams wrote, "was
then and there born." Now do the math. That means it took 15
years to convince the rest of America to declare Independence
(1776). Then another seven years of war was required before a
Peace Treaty was signed (1783), and then six years before the
Constitution was finally ratified (1789). That's almost 30 years. (And
Jefferson said we shouldn't go 20
years without another rebellion!) How can we hope to convince
Americans to fight for principles they were never taught in government
schools? We need to be in this battle for the long term. "Eternal
Vigilance is the Price of Liberty."
GeorgeWashingtonCoaching.com
Every great athlete has a coach.
If you want to be a great American you need a coach.
If you want to achieve great things for your country, you need a
coach.
Imagine what you could do if George Washington, "the Father of
his Country,"
could travel through time and be your personal coach.
The results could be extraordinary.
Find out why you need a personal coach, and why GeorgeWashingtonCoaching.com
is the foundation for an extraordinary life.
Contact Congress --
this is from the JBS website, powered by "CapWiz," from
Capitol Advantage. Lots of organizations use capwiz. If you don't
want to go through the JBS, search for capwiz
on Google and find another organization that uses it.
Notice that you can also contact media through this webpage.
Action E-List Sign up for the JBS Action E-List and be notified when you can
make a critical difference on important issues.
The
"Enumerated Powers Act" (EPA) Each member, upon the start of his term of office,
takes an oath, promising to protect and
uphold the Constitution. Yet virtually every day that Congress
is in session these same oath-takers become law-breakers --
passing laws and expending funds on items that are not
Constitutionally permissible. Background
page.
Help
End the Mexican Civil War
Black-market profits caused by drug prohibition fund a civil
war in Mexico that's threatening to spill over our borders.
Drug profits also fuel the terrorists who are killing U.S.
soldiers in Afghanistan. It's time to dry up the black-market
profits. It's time to end drug prohibition.
Make
Congress Read Their Bills Before Voting
Make Congress read every word of every bill they create before
they vote on it.
Urge your Representative and your Senators to sponsor
DownsizeDC.org's “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA).
End
the FED
The Federal Reserve System constantly inflates and deflates the
supply of money and credit, causing booms and busts. It's time
to get off this roller-coaster. It's time to end the Fed.
No
Bailouts!
No government money, whether borrowed or taxed, should ever be
used to bailout private financial interests. If you agree,
please send Congress a message telling them so.
TWIC
- A Backdoor Real ID Card
Real ID is dying. But the Department of Homeland Security has a
new plan to subject every American to a national ID card anyway.
They plan to pick off one occupational field at a time, starting
with the maritime industry. One man is fighting back. Meet him,
and help stop this backdoor Real ID plan.
Repeal
the campaign finance laws
Campaign finance laws are really incumbent protection laws. They
make it almost impossible for challengers to raise competitive
funding, while doing almost nothing to control the true causes
of government corruption. We were told that the campaign finance
laws—the contribution limits and the reporting requirements—would
curtail or even prevent corruption. Now, with 40 years of
experience, we know that they do the exact opposite.
End
Asset Forfeiture
If the government suspects you used your house or car in a
crime, they can take it and sell it at auction. They don't even
have to prove your guilt. They call this practice civil asset
forfeiture, but it's really theft. It violates the 4th, 5th,
6th, 8th, 9th and 14th Amendments. It also encourages law
enforcement to put profits before justice. Tell Congress to end
civil asset forfeiture.
Cap-and-trade
is not the way to control carbon emissions.
Even if you accept that human CO2 emissions are causing
problematic global warming, a government run "cap and
trade" system is not the way to deal with this problem.
• An increase in your electricity and gasoline bills
• New tools for politicians to control the economy, hand out
favors, and punish enemies
• Almost no improvement in reducing overall CO-2 emissions
(if the example of Europe is a reliable guide) Learn
more »
Make Congress read every word of
every bill they create before they vote on it.
Urge your Representative and your Senators to sponsor
DownsizeDC.org's “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA).
Unelected bureaucrats create
tens-of-thousands of new dictates each year. Making rules is
the job of Congress, not bureaucrats.
DownsizeDC.org has drafted the “Write the Laws Act” to
end bureaucratic “legislation without representation.”
Click here . . .
Restore
consumer controlled health care
The politicians tell us free market health care doesn't
work, but we haven't had a free market in decades.
• Starting with depression era wage and price controls,
and continuing with government tax policies, the politicians
have made Americans dependent on their jobs to get health
insurance.
• The government already pays for nearly half of all
health care. This means we're half-socialized already Learn
more »
Stop
the War for Terror
U.S. policy has inflamed the Middle East. It has made
terrorism more likely rather than less. We seem to be fighting
a war for terror, rather than on
terror. This policy must stop. The place to start stopping is
with Iran. We must not attack Iran. War with Iran
would devastate our economy, disrupt world oil supplies, and
recruit more terrorists. Click
here to stop this war before it starts.
Preserve
the Freedom to Farm
Crops grow in dirt. Animals don't take showers or use toilets.
Food is made from yucky stuff.
This means there's always a risk of contamination. We can reduce
this risk, but not eliminate it. Attempts to make everything
perfectly safe are Utopian fantasies that carry a high price in
increased costs, reduced variety, diminished supply, and . . .
increased risk.
The free market already provides you with multiple ways to
balance risks and costs.
Learn more »
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