FDR Cut the Pay of Veterans and the Federal Government in One Day. 
Democratic majority is even more expensive and more pork-filled and has John McCain shaking his head "No," and Ben Nelson cogitating with a gang of rebels, some of whom are Democrats. The only similarity to be found between FDR's first week in office and Mr. Obama's first week in office is that the Democrats have an overwhelming majority in both the House and the Senate and enjoy flattering media coverage -- and that the US economy is in a rapid state of decline, joined by the collapse of global trade, confidence and comity. FDR overwhelmed the GOP with action, talk, horse-trading, common sense and a pell mell confidence that he could manage the press and Al Smith at the same time. In comparison, President Obama is still enjoying the praise of the election and does not yet look to have engaged his own majority less the Republican opposition. Meeting with Congress, or stepping nimbly over a planter at the White House, is the not a substitute for either convincing or intimidating Congress. The Hill was fearful of FDR right away (see McNary, Borah and Long). Is the Hill afraid of President Obama? Love and fear. Machiavelli chose. FDR chose.
It was Friday March 10, 1933, the end of FDR's first week in office, and not only had he ordered a national bank holiday, rewritten the banking law in one day, and issued new Federal
Reserve notes, but also he took on the rambunctious veteran's army that had challenged and humiliated Herbert Hoover as well as cutting the pay of all federal employees by 15%. And on the seventh day he didn't rest. Congress was amazed and stumped. How to get in the way of this character from New York? This is Frank Roosevelt, Uncle Ted's nephew? The banks were ordered to reopen on Monday morning the 13th to exchange everyone's paper money and to accept more of the gold certificates and bullion that people had pulled out the previous months. The veterans were quiet though not happy. And the Congress was polite in the face of FDR's message: "The nation is deeply gratified by the immediate response given yesterday (March 9) by the Congress to restore and improve our banking system..." Senator Joseph Robinson of Arkansas, the Majority Leader, remarked, "It was a strong, impressive and convincing statement..." Senator Charles McNary of Oregon, Minority Leader, conceded, "The President's proposal for economy is the most drastic ever sent to Congress. The claim for additional power has received a ready response from the Democratic members of Congress and probably will not be opposed by the Republicans...." In fact the only two to be found in opposition to FDR with any weight were Huey Long of Louisiana, who was aiming to run against FDR on a third party ticket, and Bill Borah of Idaho, who aimed to run against FDR on the Republican ticket.
Compare the 111th Congress of Today.
Nancy Pelosi and David Obey sent the Republican minority a pork farm of a stimulus package that was almost too easy for the GOP to reject with 0 votes. And the Senate version written by the
Democratic majority is even more expensive and more pork-filled and has John McCain shaking his head "No," and Ben Nelson cogitating with a gang of rebels, some of whom are Democrats. The only similarity to be found between FDR's first week in office and Mr. Obama's first week in office is that the Democrats have an overwhelming majority in both the House and the Senate and enjoy flattering media coverage -- and that the US economy is in a rapid state of decline, joined by the collapse of global trade, confidence and comity. FDR overwhelmed the GOP with action, talk, horse-trading, common sense and a pell mell confidence that he could manage the press and Al Smith at the same time. In comparison, President Obama is still enjoying the praise of the election and does not yet look to have engaged his own majority less the Republican opposition. Meeting with Congress, or stepping nimbly over a planter at the White House, is the not a substitute for either convincing or intimidating Congress. The Hill was fearful of FDR right away (see McNary, Borah and Long). Is the Hill afraid of President Obama? Love and fear. Machiavelli chose. FDR chose.
So the old circus had its tent collapse and there were many elephants that were suffocated. So they now are trying to put up Steele reinforcemnts.
The new circus has a wizard who promised unicorn show called hope and change . He has made some people grow a spine and get a set of cajones.He is a slick oil salesman out of the P.T. Barnum never met a sucker he did not like and he has brought in a new circus. He is trying to pitch a big tent that we call a safety net.
However he has too many special interest to build his tent. The unions are complaning of work rules, the lawyers are drafting new regulations, peta is complaing of animal rights,the environmentalists insist the tent must be green and all the freaks are living together.
Best of all he really has not told us what was the price of admission to the $825 billion circus. I am hearing he is going to charge early customers very little while later customers in a generation or two will pay a lot more.
Last time something like this happened was the Montreal Summer Olympics of 1976 which they only paid off in 2006. Don't worry Canada is doing it again with the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. Lucky Bloomberg did not get his wish of having New York host the summer Olympics but I heard Chicago is in the running. Maybe it was with placing all those Blago casino bets,.
The Repulican Senate has to frame the debate on the stimulus bill as doing due diligence. Bank of America had to come back to the Treasury for a bailout on their Merrill Lynch because losses were higher than first estimated thankd to Thain's $ 4 billion in bonuses. The GOP should say that if most of the spending is not in current fiscal year there is no rush as in the stupid TARP bill. Also should point out that last years tax refunds of $600 per individual that amounted to $136 billion did not solve econic problems it just kicked the can down the road.
They should ask to do due diligence and offer better alternatives.
MAYBE YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW HORSE TRADING WHEN YOU CAN SELL PEOPLE A PIG IN A POKE.
I believed Obama when he said that the stimulus package wouldn't contain any earmarks. I wanted to believe him. Now I think that Obama has had the press in his pocket for so long that he thinks he can say one thing, do another and everyone will look the other way.
If Obama can't take on Pelosi, how can he negotiate with Iran? This pork package makes me think that Obama may not be a politician at all -- just a very gifted orator.
But, in this regard, I also fear I may be very wrong.
After all, everyone said that with the economy in the toilet, Obama wouldn't be able to do all the ambitious social programs he wanted. He would have to solve the economy first and that would take years. Maybe everybody was wrong.
Maybe Obama got the exact stimulus package he wanted -- all social programs, lots of give aways, little stimulus. Maybe Obama's real gift is that he is able to tell everybody exactly what they want to hear, which then gives him cover when he does exactly what he wants.
Maybe Obama knows this country isn't really ready for socialism but maybe, and this is a big maybe, maybe he is just smart enough to ease us into it without anybody actually noticing. Where to begin? How about the banks.
Quite rightly so, no one seems to fear Obama, as no one fears an empty suit. Obama, as I have stated before, is a hologram - purely a media creation - without substance or conviction. He is “historical” by virtue of his skin color and his liberally repeated lofty, but empty, platitudes imposed on the public as by gavage. Even more pathetic than Obama’s display of peacock feathers at the first hint of thunder is that the public will continue to “swallow” the illusion of efficacy, presumably right up until the moment when its own grotesquely distorted internal organs are deemed ready for harvest.
The upshot is that we can expect to be leaderless for the foreseeable future. The Congress seems to know this as it takes full advantage of the void and aims to gorge itself senseless on generous helpings of pork without heed to its own deteriorating health, much less for the well-being of the golden goose that currently lies dying of gout.
Unlike FDR, Obama lacks the vision even of his own convictions. He is ripe for railroading by an undisciplined and self-absorbed Congress and will endorse the sucking dry of any semblance of vitality that may still remain in the carcass that had been our economy. Not that the measure of money is any indication of life on the planet, but that which it represents – labor, sweat, tears and sacrifice – is also at risk, deconstructed to approach its most basic avatar, where blunt brutality reigns without so much as a trace of the veiling civilized behavior demands. Look for to a return to crucifixions and floggings in the market square; hangings from crane hooks; stonings, beheadings, etc. to replace bloodless video games and Wall Street maneuvers, all of which have become too difficult to digest for a dumbed down populace that now demands more than paperless profits to line the birdcage of its golden years.
Lacks the vision of his own convictions - not sure if you meant the conviction of his own visions - but even if you did mean it as you stated, I would point out that it probably depends on what his priorities are. I personally was hoping that his priorities would be to get Congress working together again, not to push through a big-government agenda. So far, he's got an 0-1 count against him in my book: he failed utterly to reach out to the conservatives.
I really enjoyed your shows last night.
a couple of random thought -
THere is a country song out titled "shutting Detroit Down" that really strikes a chord. I'm totally melancholic at the end of the American automobile. I hated seeing the CEO's of this once great industry prostrating themselves at the feet of the likes of Congress.
There was a video posted on instapundit last week of protests in Great Britian that I found striking. These were not your usual protester-type. These were your middle-class, middle-aged orderly types. No bizarre outfits or provactive signs, no music nor fanfare. And, what struck me the most, the words liberty and freedom kept popping up. Just when I thought that perhaps the cause of freedom in the West was dying - there is a sign of it's having life. They were particulary mad about giving up their guns and about the banning of the fox hunts.
ONe last thing, I'm finding the history of the South Sea Company and that mania and the collapse that followed really fascinating and I'm wishing I could find a good history that would bring the whole story to life. It happened in the 1720's and and at a time when global trade and globalism were in it's infance and I think it may have portended the end of the British empire and the later rebellions of it's colonies and the births of the American republic as well as Australia.
I found the link to that video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTq2NEUIhDE