Tea Party Tactics and Strategy,

Tea Party Friends 2010 was a massive election win and historic by all measures, those of us that believe in limited and controlled government and fiscal responsibility won big!  The fact that the win was so big and so many voted shows just how powerful the TP message is in America, we are now on the verge of our biggest vote since that election; the budget.  It’s important that we now stay focus on tactics and strategy going forward.

On tactics we have to continue to fight each battle to the end.  In the case of the current debt vote and future votes we keep fighting until the vote is cast for the deal WE want and voted for!  Don’t back down because the progressive left is pulling out all the stops again with same  the ugly name calling and rhetoric we dealt with going into the 2010 election.  I’m here to tell you it will get worse and the name calling and charges will be stronger than ever so it’s a must we keep a united front.   When our debt gets downgraded, and it will….they (progressive left) will blame us vs. the real cause, out of control spending and unchecked government.   There is no value to giving in early as it will weaken our position in future negotiations.  Fact is, we stopped the progressive movement dead in its tracks in 2010 and are now backing the train off the tracks to fix the mess.  Call your reps, attend meetings, and make your voice heard until there is a vote on our terms!

On strategy, we need to always be looking at the larger war on fiscal responsibility, liberty, limited and non-intrusive government, and we have to continue to be the voice of reason and responsibility in the room.    It does us no good to attack others on the right in the heat of a battle to cut the debt.  It gives the left and progressive movement that is trying very desperately to divide us free ammo.  It takes us off message and further gives the message to the far left in this country.  They will make us the story not the debt and the issues facing America.  In short….it’s very BAD strategy to fight two battles at the same time when one is internal to the ranks.  Dealing with political leaders on the right that we feel are not fighting hard enough is best saved for the 2012 election and after the core issue (debt) has been won.  Having the major outlets and online blogs talking about a fight form us with Speaker Boehner is shortsighted and gives ammo to an enemy with and an empty gun…why do it???

Advocate openly, aggressively, and publicly about this issue (debt) until the vote is cast.  Don’t get sucked into side conversations about the Speaker of the House and side deals.  Once the bill is signed or not we access and build a plan for the next steps that ARE required to save the country from collapse and ensure political leaders report to us, elections count, we proved that and 2012 we will again.  Stay strong, stay focused and keep a wary eye on those that seek to divide and concur!

Victor Luebker is a conservative blogger, speaker, and serves as the national coordinator for the Armed Forces Tea Party.

More at www.victorluebker.com

The Downfall of a President,

Last night we saw the unofficial end of the Obama Presidency.  His speech last night was a last ditch appeal from him, to Americans to save his Presidency from a Legislative branch that has turned its back on him.  He reached out with worn out phrases and references to the mess he created, the grand ideas that have never taken hold and his unwillingness to put policy ahead of ideology.  It was really a sad sight to see him use the national stage to beg for a lifeline, all the while still not offer a plan on how to solve a mess he made far worse than it ever needed to be.  I felt like I was watching that Regis Philbin game show “who wants to be a millionaire”  and any minute my phone was going to ring with the President asking me for the answer to the question “How do I tackle the debt”?

This is a President that I feel even Harry Reid has given up on and decided that the only “Hope” for America is to “Change” who is in the White House.  I’m of the strong belief that even his own party knows how weak he is on leadership, how stubborn he is on ideology, and how badly he has alienated the business community.  The ship of state is adrift and all sides know where the blame lies and have taken public and private measures to marginalize Mr. Obama.

From now through the 2012 election you’ll see an increasingly more aggressive Legislative branch force feed the President the policies they want addressed and carve him out of the process of making decisions.  All sides are fed up with his empty ideas, over stated dooms day predictions, and his general lack of executive ability on the national stage. He is good in front of a crowd with practiced lines…he is the cartoon penguin of DC…”Smile and wave boys, just smile and wave”.

In short he was a great story when he was elected and once the glitter and glitz wore off in public and private, people soon realized how empty the suit really is.  From his aloof stance with other world leaders, to his my way or the highway smug tactics with republicans, and his constant bashing of business via class warfare rhetoric and over regulation he has been a disaster like no other President in the last 100 years.

Tonight in what could have been his first real defining moment and opportunity to have a Reagan style breakout with Americans and he blew it.  He came out whining and begging for you to save him from himself and all the people around him; that in his egocentric mind are to blame for all the ills he has inherited.    This is a guy that luck boxed his way to the top executive position in the country and now we are all paying the price.  Thank god that even Democrats, albeit in private see through the gimmicks, poll tested words, and talking points.  Today is the dawn of a new day, the post Obama Presidency…..and for that we can all find some relief!

More at www.victorluebker.com

Greece can’t solve a problem of too much debt by taking on even more. We will note, however, that by some measures, the United States is even more deeply in hock than Greece.

Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 143%. America’s is officially 97%. But the $14.3 trillion national debt, stacked up against a $14.7 trillion economy, doesn’t tell the whole story. Look at these numbers:

• $14.3 trillion: “official” national debt

• $5 trillion: Amount Uncle Sam is on the hook for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

• $62 trillion: Total liabilities and unfunded obligations for Social Security and Medicare

That doesn’t count the black box of bailouts.

We know how much the Federal Reserve doled out in emergency loans: $16.1 trillion between Dec. 1, 2007, and July 21, 2010. We know that because yesterday the Government Accountability Office completed its first-ever audit of the Fed, made possible largely through the persistence of Rep. Ron Paul (R.-Tex.) making that audit, however incomplete, the law.

What we don’t know is how much of that has been paid back.  “We have literally injected about $5.3 trillion,” said Dr. Paul earlier this month during his questioning of Fed chief Ben Bernanke, “and I don't think we got very much for it. The national debt went up $5.1 trillion.”

Bernanke did not challenge those figures.

“To get our overall fiscal gap under control,” writes Boston University professor Laurence Kotlikoff in Bloomberg, “the U.S. must cut spending or raise tax revenue by $20 trillion over the next decade, far more than either the president wants or the House Republicans seek.”

Yep: The latest number we see bruited in Washington is $3 trillion. Whatever the final number -- and there will be a last-minute deal; there always is -- it will be substantially less than $20 trillion over 10 years. The can will be kicked as it keeps getting kicked in Greece.

We note here that the total of outstanding credit default swaps on U.S. Treasuries crested $4.8 billion this week. Uncle Sam has now surpassed Greece in this category.

Measured in year-over-year change, America is number one: Net notional CDS outstanding grew 109%. That means there’s double the bets out there on a U.S. default compared with a year ago.

“You may not know this, but the U.S. has actually defaulted a number of times already,” writes Chris Mayer this morning. He cites five instances:

• 1779: The government was unable to redeem the continental currency issued during the Revolutionary War

• 1782: The colonies defaulted on the debt they took out to pay for the war

• 1862: During the Civil War, the Union failed to redeem dollars for gold at terms stated by the debt contracts

• 1934: FDR defaults on the debt issued to finance World War I, refusing to redeem it in gold. The dollar is devalued 40% against gold

• 1979: A bureaucratic snafu results in interest going unpaid on some small bills.

“With the exception of 1979,” Chris says, “which was mostly due to administrative confusion -- the U.S. simply ran out of money each time. The end result was the dollar had to be devalued. Meaning it lost significant purchasing power.

“My guess is that the U.S. will default again. It may not technically be called that, but the only way for the U.S. to meet its financial obligations is to print a lot of money.”

What does that mean in practical terms?  In Greece, professor Savas Robolis at Panteion University in Athens reckons that by 2015, the average Greek employee and pensioner’s standard of living will have fallen 40% compared with 2008.

Even now, Americans are turning to their credit cards to pay for groceries and gas. According to First Data Corp., the volume of gasoline purchases put on credit cards jumped 39% over the last 12 months.

You don’t want to be the average American in a default scenario, whenever it arrives. Ray Dalio, the head of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, puts that day in “late 2012 or early 2013.”  Story is a re-print from Forbes magazine.   The Path to Debt in America by Addison Wiggin originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning.

More at www.victorluebker.com

I have to admit I think Hannity nailed it with this moniker for Obama.  He really is a whiner and crybaby when it comes to dealing with others and not getting his way.  Hands down the most un-Presidential of all presidents in my lifetime.  His latest little temper tantrum came because he did not get a call back from the #3 leader of the free world when he wanted it.  This from the guy that has made a living out of making cracks like “the republicans will have to get in the back of the bus”.  Well, all ego aside Mr. Obama, we here in America don’t do royalty and we don’t do cry babies!

This is a pattern with him and I think it hides a bigger insecurity issue he has with his own lack of business skills, experience, and legislative accomplishments.  He is short on all three and it’s the reason he gets so “pissy” when he does not get his way.  He vaulted to the highest and most recognized position on the planet by sheer luck and some slick tongued catch phrases.  I really believe this guy just thought people would fall in line and just bend to his will.

The debt crisis really brings to light how weak he is on both substance and skill when dealing with real leaders and other equally elected members of this nation.  Sorry Mr. Obama that you lost the Olympics and your photo won’t be hanging form every lamp post, billboard and painted on every wall like the leader of China…But here in America we make our leaders earn their keep and do more than cry when things don’t go their way.

Time for the Crybaby and Chief to step up, man up, cowboy up and just do something other than piss and moan about missed phone calls or the mess he inherited.  It’s starting to get real boring!  

More at www.victorluebker.com

First lets set the record straight on who is paying for the mess Obama…yes Obama created.  It’s the upper 50% that pay 99% of the taxes in this country.  These folks are not under taxed and here is a great look at the tax situation today: 

Nearly half of American tax filers will paid no federal income taxes this year, according to date leased by the Tax Policy Center.  Some 76 million tax filers, or 46.4 percent of the total, will be exempt from federal income tax in 2011.  However, with the help of the government, a similar percentage of filers -- many of them among the bottom 40 percent of earners -- have legally avoided paying federal income tax for the past several years.

Obama would have you think that the rich are just pilfering the country at the expense of all of the rest of us….Horse shit!  Fact is, if it were not for the 2010 elections we would have $3 trillion more in debt.  Now he wants to play class warfare games with, lies about his role in this mess and who is paying the tab while dodging all responsibility to fix it.  His MSNBC and far lefty progressive media enablers also can’t get the truth out of their radical lefty mouths, take this for example…. Chris (Tingle Legs) Matthews got in a heat debate with Grover Norquist over tax rates and in true lefty form lost his temper and forgot the facts.  Yet another example of how the media has stopped being honest brokers in America and now do Nobama’s bidding. 

Here is another tax thought to ponder from a great story in the WSJ today (Story here)  a 70% top tax rate in America is a real possibility under Obama as he is locked in on higher taxes and wealth redistribution…what will that do the debt and economy?  Make it far worse and in essence force the fed to take over most of the countries vital programs, this I still contend was and is the plan all along.  Just look at this:  To cover the Congressional Budget Office projection of Mr. Obama's $841 billion deficit in 2016 requires a 31.7% increase in all income tax rates (and that's assuming the Social Security income cap is removed).

Liberals would have us belive we can fix reckless spending with more taxes.  They also would have you belive that we need to "invest" more (code for spending) and that class warfare is is key to pitting American's against each other.  Higer tax rates limit growth and shrink the revenue base not grow it.  Class warfare only serves as a cover for a lack of leadership on the part of wreckless spending liberals that morgaged YOUR kids future. 
 
Now, remember where we started, 46.4% of the country does not pay taxes!  We can’t get there from here unless we cut spending and in a big way.  What I’m telling you, is this; 1. The media is not being an honest broker so do your own research.  2. Obama did this on purpose and has no real desire to stop and only the 2010 election slowed him down.  3. We don’t have the tax base to solve a spending problem and we all have to accept that cuts are the only way we can save our kids future.  4. That the President owns this mess, shame on him for the games he has played and it's time to "Man up".

More at www.victorluebker.com

I was a big stooges fan growing up, they were part of my post school afternoon routine and I always wondered who the ultimate stooge was.  Curley comes to mind for his silly antics and he got slapped around the most, Larry was the dimwitted middle stooge and that could qualify, or Moe for being the mean guy that was the butt of the other two’s antics?  Why do I ask?

Well, I was watching MSNBC last night and it hit me like a lightning bolt that the evening lineup there is the political TV version of the stooges.  For those of you that don’t watch on occasion (that’s all most can take) the MSNBC evening threesome for Lawrence, Rachel and Ed you’re missing some good comedy TV.

Lawrence plays the role of Moe each night with his faux serious take on republicans, conservatives, the Tea Party and current presidential candidates.  He is the guy that gives out the slaps for MSNBC each night.  Rachel plays the role of Larry, the dim witted one that no one really remembers what she said, did, or thinks about.  Ed of course plays Curley albeit an angry version.  He says and does all the silly things that Curley would do just with words and he is the one even his own network has no respect for.

They all use props like the stooges did to try and add some color to what is a dismal format and weak message.  Lawrence does the signature Moe eye poke to Bachman just about every night and is fast going for the misogynist title of the guy he replaced…..what’s his face?  Rachel is the Queen of props with drums, boards, the little “scary hands” thing see does when trying to make a point. Mr. Ed uses FNC as his main prop in what seems to be his attempt to get ratings by saying their names as many times as possible every night on his show.

So, if you’re stooges fan like me tune into these three once a week (that’s all you’ll be able to take) and watch the show as a stooges fan.  You’ll get some great laughs; you want real commentary or quality programming than watch C-Span, CNN, FNC, even the Disney channel.

More at www.victorluebker.com

10 ways to fix America:

1. Balanced budget amendment – We should expect our political leaders to balance a dam budget as a basic job requirement.

2. Term limits – No reason for lifetime politicians like Charlie Rangel, it just encourages self interest over the national welfare.

3. Fix the tax code to end all the loopholes and deductions – It’s time, period!

4. Workfare not Welfare - expect something for something not something for nothing – Why do we not require drug testing and some contribution to the national good in exchange for the funds your fellow Americans give you…is that really too much to ask?

5. 10% cut in budget across the board – It can be done and saying over wise is just false.

6. Tackle immigration issues and force all companies to document and pay payroll taxes on labor – You can’t take money out of the economy without it impacting us all.  Time even illegal’s get taxed and companies document their status as employees not even a secret economy.

7. End foreign aid to countries we owe money to.  Aid should be considered payment on debt – Why do we pay twice to countries we owe money too? 

8. Build America, a national infrastructure overhaul – National, massive projects!

9. Go to the moon and beyond don't give space to Russia and China – Space is America’s domain and a source of our frontier identity, we own space…pay for NASA and manned flight.

10. Expect Gen Y to do more than whine! – Sorry but you’re not entitled to $50k jobs out of college….earn your keep and start by replacing the worded entitled with sacrifice!

More at www.victorluebker.com