Reality Check Time,

I noted right after the vote on the debt that a pending fierce attack on the Tea party was coming.  That there would be a full scale assault on the proud, patriotic American’s that want our Government to act with accountability and responsibility.  Well folks it’s here and I’m going to be blunt, this is just the beginning.

We knew the President via his minions would attack someone and lay blame somewhere other than his feet for the S&P downgrade, that’s just his style and we all have come to expect nothing less from our community organizer.  What surprised me is how fast the far left radical progressive movement all landed on the same wire and started chirping like birds “the Tea Party did it”.  It also now makes me realize how sustained and coordinated this attack on us will be; here is why.

Folks, independents are the key to his reelection along with a very galvanized angry base that turns out.  To accomplish this will be tough because if he goes hard left to get the base in line the indies will leave him in droves (they will anyway but that’s for another day), and if he goes moderate his radical base won’t turn out….in comes the Villain in this movie.

See, he can’t be the hope and change guy anymore…that ship has sailed and it won’t wash with more than about 30% of the country.  So he has to have a villain he ties all this too, a villain that he can tie the GOP nominee to, and a villain get his base to hate so much they turn out in record numbers.  So honest, rational, and hard working Americans….Us in the Tea Party will become the villain in the story.  You’ll hear the words “tea party” associated with anything and everything negative going forward.   We all know this is a flat out lie, a total sham job, a flat out scam to pit Americans against Americans; and that’s the sad part as he just does not care.

The Community Organizer is hell bent on his radical and divisive agenda to fundamentally change America and reshape the values (work equals reward) we have established through 200 plus years; I learned of these values in school as the Puritan work ethic…today it’s the redistribute wealth-lack of work ethic.

My friends, I encourage you to fight harder, attend more events, speak out, stand your ground and take great pride in our first victory to make America great again….And great we will be!  Hold the line and don’t allow anyone to marginalize you or make you the villain in this mess.  It’s time the community organizer take responsibility just once and act like a leader and adult that cares about his country not his agenda and power.

More at www.victorluebker.com and www.armedforcesteaparty.com

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

Real Debt Issue           

With the debt crisis fast approaching the point of critical mass we still seem to be playing political ping pong with the issue, and more so it’s long term impact on the next generation.  I have an interesting take on all this. 

I can remember hearing the saying “A penny saved is a penny earned” allot as a kid, it carried real meaning because it came from Ben Franklin and really gained new meaning with the members of the Great Depression.  In short it’s a proverb that means saving money is just as good as or better than spending it.  What a novel concept!

We have lost that mindset both in Government and with the generation that grew up post Reagan and Clinton era economies.  First the Government, our elected leaders have lost all concept of money, don’t apply business common sense to spending and some even equate spending to a moral obligation (entitlement) to help anyone and everyone that does not meet the definition of middle class by their own labor and effort.  This last part is key, as we have built a lazy, soft, and entitled America where hard work and sacrifice are not viewed as part of our own personal responsibility to achieve the American dream.  This also applies to the values and mentality on money and America we have passed on to the current generation of wannabe Progressives.

We have a generation that feels “entitled”.... they grew up with laptops, video games and every 2 years a new tech revolution that gave them better I-products and cell phone apps.  They are easy to spot by the way; they are the late teen to mid twenty some-things that have their heads down, bump into while texting and walking and don’t look up to say excuse me.  I call them “Gen-Spoiled”.  Work is second to play, they don’t respect their elders, appreciate what America is and have no clue about History and for the most part even current events.  They latched onto a phrase “change” because it sounded cool.

In short, the real debt issue is about bad leadership with no business skills; would you hire any of these guys in DC to run your business?  And a generation that is under educated over rated and full of self indulgence coupled with a basic lack of the puritan work ethic; bet they don’t know what that is also!  More at www.victorluebker.com

The vote today to not raise the debt ceiling as predicted is being portrayed by the hackneyed media as “Vote to kill medicare”, imagine that.  I heard no less than 20 times on one MSNBC show the words “kill medicare” in relation to a vote to “Save America” by controlling our debt.

Folks, this is how the hackneyed leftist media is going to play this story to give top cover to democratic cowards in Congress that could not pass a budget, won’t get serious about spending and debt, and have no desire to fix the entitlement mess this country faces.  The real issue that all of us need to focus on is that the democrats want a vote to raise the debt limit to a little over $16 trillion in cover the debt racked up in just the past two years and they don't care about the economy.  This is obscene and the hackneyed left media won’t talk about it.

My theory is this:  They don’t want a vote on budget because they know there is a second crash in the economy coming and if they wait this out they can then use that new national economic crisis as leverage to do three things.  First get a vote on debt they want under the guise of “we have no choice as America is too big to fail”, and second they want to trap the Republicans as the cause of the looming second financial crisis, third, continue the process of wealth redistribution as a form of economic policy. The third is the most worrisome if we see the economy crumble again as most people will not have the will to stop a complete government takeover of the economy….Let’s not forget this line: "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Yes, this is a pretty hard hitting theory and if true says that liberals are ok with an economic collapse as long as they come out on top politically.  Medicare is their way of not taking a stand on a budget or a vote yet having an issue to bash republicans with by saying “kill medicare” as often as they can while waiting this out.  In short, the economy and our long term growth, prospa and survival are second to political gain with the left.

More at:  www.victorluebker.com