A response to the Huffington Report story (The Presidency of Al Gore, 2001-2009)

by George Dienhart

The story is here. My timeline is the same as the original author. I think this way more probable than the outcome written by Norman MacAfee.

On January 20, 2001, Al Gore, the candidate who won the most votes, becomes the 43rd president of the United States. A constitutional crisis develops as the electoral college is ignored. Years later, historians refer to this event as the American coup of 2001.
Al Gore continues the same policies as the Clinton administration. The 9/11 events still occur as they did in our timeline.

Shortly after 9/11, Al Gore refuses to send Special Forces into Afghanistan to support the Northern Alliance. He states in an interview that he will not violate another nation’s sovereignty. Terrorists pour into Afghan training camps. A follow up to 9/11 is planned by Al Qaeda. Eventually Gore authorizes (CG-48) U.S.S. Yorktown to fire a cruise missile at Bin Laden’s last known location. The missile hit’s it’s target, but the Gore administration is embarrassed as Bin Laden is seen later that day in Damascus attending a conference for Palestinian Independence. Bin Laden is the keynote speaker and appologizes fo not paying enough attention to the “plight of his Muslim brothers”. During the speech, suicide bombers simultaneously attack 25 separate targets in Israel, killing over 600 people.

Republicans are squawking that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is a threat to the safety of the country, that he has weapons of mass destruction. Gore asks the United Nations to send its weapons inspectors back into Iraq, and after six months of searching, they find none. 3 months after the inspectors leave, Iraq gasses 20,000 Kurds with the nerve agent sarin.

In 1998, as vice president, Gore proposed a NASA satellite, Triana, to provide, from a distance of 930,000 miles, a continuous view of the sunlit side of the earth. Triana would measure global warming by measuring how much sunlight is reflected and emitted from the earth and would monitor weather systems. Triana is built and launched in February 2003. In late 2004 it has no effect on the a massive Tsunami that wreaks havoc on a large swath of the Indian Ocean. Triana watches helplessly from orbit, as it is not designed to track Tsunami’s.

The president's favorite book, Stendahl's The Red and the Black, proves to be a huge embarrassment to the President as the average American associates the book's young hero as speaking about Gore when he states: "So there, this is what these rich people are like. First they humiliate you, then they think they can make it up to you by monkey business!"

Recognizing that nothing good can come from the continuing Israeli-Palestinian standoff, Gore sends Holbrooke and Vice President Joe Lieberman to broker a peace. Both men are killed in a Palestinian missile attack on their motorcade. Hillary Clinton is named Vice- President.

As vice president, Gore signed the Kyoto Accord on Climate Change in 1998, but there were not enough votes to ratify it in the Congress, and there still are not. President Gore, however, is able to implement most elements of the treaty by executive order. He begins a process of education about global warming and publishes a book on the subject. Businesses are forced to turn green, and massive lay offs occur. By the time the Kyoto Accords are fully enacted, unemployment stands at 16%. The economy slips deeper into recession. When taxes are raised yet again, some economists start to use the term depression with alarming frequency. Years later, it is noted that Global Warming was a myth, and the Great Millennial Depression started with the Kyoto.

In 2005, Katrina hits. As most of the response is at the state and local levels, the response is a disaster. Due to the ongoing depression, an additional 25,000 homeless families perish in Katrina.

No one is quoting Al Gore’s philosophers on Nov 11 2005, when Dhiren Barot succeeds in destroying the New York Stock Exchange, Chase Bank and Citicorp in New York, The Chicago Board of Trade in Chicago, and the Eurex in Frankfort. The Millennial Depression is now global.
Russia invades Georgia, claiming that they are harboiing Chechen terrorists. NATO and the United States do nothing.

Hugo Chavez invades Brazil war wages on for 10 years before Brazil regains it’s independence.
Gore enacts National Healthcare. Tens of thousands of doctors are forced out of business. Lines are long at “National Clinics” when the great flu epidemic of 2006 hits. 30,000 children and infants are dead because they died before the National Healthcare clinics could schedule an appointment.

The president invites to the White House the person who had the most influence on him, his high school art teacher. The same day Congressman Dennis Hastert file articles of Impeachment, accusing Gore of profiting illegally on a Carbon Credits scheme.

Over 20% of the United Staes now lives in poverty

The undamming of rivers, begun seriously under Clinton/Gore, continues. Energy shortages plague the areas that are no longer receiving hydro-electric power.

George Bush announces he will run for president in 2008- a nation rejoices.

Someone is finally paying attention..

by George Dienhart

From the Wall Street Journal:

Wall Street Journal A1: "Recession? Not So Fast, Say Some: Despite Pain, Economists Begin Dialing Back Dire Forecasts": "[T]hough two main pillars of the economy, the labor market and consumer spending, have faltered, they have not collapsed as they did in past recessions. ... Job losses, meanwhile, have been less severe than they usually are in recessions. And many economists think the government's earliest estimate of first-quarter GDP growth - 0.6 percent - will be revised upward."

Repeat after me- there is no recession…

 

Government Surplus- Why supply side works

by George Dienhart

Fox News reports the following:

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government took in a record $404 billion in revenue in April, up 5% from a year earlier, but outlays rose 19% to $244.5 billion, cutting the monthly surplus down to $159.3 billion, the Treasury Department reported Monday. The surplus in April was close to the $160 billion estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. For the first six months of the fiscal year, the total deficit of $152.2 billion jumped 88% from the $80.8 billion through the first six months of last fiscal year. Reflecting the economic slowdown, total receipts are up 3% this year to $1.55 trillion. Outlays through the first six months are up 7.4% to $1.7 trillion.

See- the tax cuts are working, and most likely a major reason that we have not slipped into recession. We just need to work on the outlays, which outpaced inflation.

Does the RNC finally get it?

by George Dienhart

The Washington Times has obtained a memo outlining what may be the Republican campaign strategy this fall. In part, the memo states:

"It starts with this: Washington is broken, the American people want it fixed, and Democrats in Washington have proven unable or unwilling to get the job done. Republicans will,"

This is addressing that “change” thing all the kids are so crazy about these days. It is also putting the lack of change over the last two years squarely where it belongs- right at speaker Pelosi’s dainty little feet. This is the first salvo of a policy that is designed to stem the massive hemorrhaging that is slowly killing the GOP.

It is all part of what the RNC calls "American Families Agenda"- which is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday. The Agenda is designed to address challenges confronting families and will seek to replace outdated laws to help women with children who work outside the home and families in which both parents work. These groups normally skew to the left, and are a growing part of the population. The first item on the agenda addresses rising fuel costs- this is good timing because prices will drop after the summer travel season ends. This will keep the agenda on people’s minds as the prices drop. Mmm mmm- that’s good politics.

Other parts of the agenda will address health care, the economy and national security. The Democrats have seized the health care issue as a tent pole in their own strategy. The economy and national security are normally GOP territory. This year the economy may be in play- but economic concerns are already ebbing as the dollar gains strength and employment numbers keep coming in better than expected. The economy grew last quarter, meaning there is no chance that the current slowdown can be rightfully called a recession- it takes negative growth in consecutive quarters for that. The economy will probably grow again this quarter anyway, albeit more slowly than I would like to see. Voters are not stupid and truth normally wins out at the end of the day. Barring any kind of catastrophe, the economy is likely to be a non-factor in this election.

As always, the devil is in the details. Politicians make promises all the time. The Democrats made their 6 in ’06 promises two years ago and dropped the ball on every one of the six promises. We all want cheaper fuel, but how are we going to get it? The first step is to enact a strong dollar policy- a stronger dollar will buy more oil per dollar than a weak dollar. We also need to drill, drill, drill, and drill. In short, we need to stop printing money as if it was the Sunday paper, and start developing our own oil fields. The strong dollar part of the equation could be done immediately by the fed buying back gobs of greenbacks. Europe would most likely agree to a similar buying spree as it is in their best interests as well. Developing our untapped fields in the ocean and in Alaska will take longer, but have long-term benefits.

As far as healthcare goes, I feel we are falling into a trap to outspend the Democrats on this. Even if we win elections, we may lose if the GOP jumps on any kind of healthcare plan that infringes on what is currently the best healthcare system in the world. We can drive down rates by allowing insurance companies to pool the members across the nation, as opposed to having separate plans for each state. The potential savings of truly national insurance are massive would open up the markets to millions of new consumers.

As far as national defense goes, we really need to differentiate ourselves from the Democrats here, and it comes down to one thing- do you want to surrender or win?, America will chose to win, by an overwhelming margin when the stakes are spelled out. This is an easy victory for us.

I will cover this more Wednesday after the news embargo on this is lifted. We will see how close I am.

 

This wacky liberals and their economics policy

by George Dienhart

The House Financial Services Committee voted 38-26 in favor of $15 billion in loans and grants to local governments to facilitate buying foreclosed homes. The $15 billion is to be dispensed to states according to their percentage of national foreclosures.

So, the Democratic plan is to reduce the foreclosure rate, by giving banks an incentive to foreclose on property? This is from the party of the little guy?

Is Obama sucking the DNC dry?

By George Dienhart

Amidst all the hubbub about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton breaking fundraising records, the mainstream media seems to be overlooking the incoming receipts of the Democratic National Committee. The DNC has been lagging behind not only its presidential candidates, but also behind the Republican National Committee.  In fact, the RNC has risen over twice what the DNC has- 36.5 million for the GOP, while the DNC has raised only $17.7 million.

With all the attention focused on the presidential race, people have not paid attention to these all-important figures. The parties largely fund congressional races, and also run ads for their presidential candidates. This is big important news, which also shows that the Democrats may be in more trouble than they think. Earlier in the election cycle, Republicans spoke of retaking the house- then they were besot with a wave of retirements that stunned both leadership and the rank and file voter. I actually heard a stunned talk show host, Michael Medved, moved to silence when one of his callers informed him of how many house members actually planned to retire. To my knowledge, he has not brought up retaking the house on his show since.

The numbers are daunting, but people are asking for change, and in change, there is often opportunity.  At last count, 22 Republicans were retiring. Some of these races will be in safe districts, some in competitive districts. The key point is, this could be good news in that it may usher in a new wave of younger, more energetic Republicans.  Raw state will begin profiling and analyzing the situation in each of these congressional districts today.

First up, Wyoming Congresswoman Barbara Cubin’s at large seat.

Cubin is a somewhat controversial 7-term congresswoman from Wyoming. Wyoming is sparsely populated, and as such has one at large district. Cubin won re-election in 2006 by the slim margin of 48.3% to 47.8%. Wyoming is normally a solidly Republican seat. The last election was close, but not because of a disaffection for the Republican Party, because of Rep, Cubin’s bizarre behavior and missed votes.  Cubin’s antics have included distributing obscenely shaped cookies and threatening to slap a man in a wheel chair. With a good Republican in the race, this should be an easy win. The Republican front runner appears to be businessman/rancher Mark Gordon.  Gordon has jumped on the “change” train. His website quotes him as saying "People all over the state and the nation are calling for new blood, fresh ideas, and leaders willing to listen and able to think outside government, outside the beltway, who have the kind of proven business and ranching experience needed to bring about sensible change.”

 

Next:  Tom Davis (R-Va 11^th district.),

More good economic news.

by George Dienhart

The nation’s unemployment rate dropped last month. Wall Street was looking at an increase to 5.2%. In reality, the rate dropped to 5%. Construction jobs fell by 61k and the manufacturing sector fell by 46k. The good news is service sector jobs rose by over 90k and professional companies added 39k new jobs. The financial sector lost gained jobs for the first time in 9 months.

All this and economic growth last quarter- sounds like we might be coming out of the slowdown already. It certainly looks as though we may not be heading into a recession. We’ll see how the left spins this..

Culture of incompetence

By George Dienhart
Now I’m sure that there are people who think it would be wrong to blame the majority party for high gasoline prices. We hear that the prices are a combination of several “perfect storm” elements: low value of the dollar, not enough refining capability, and supply and demand constraints brought on by increased demand out of Asia. Certainly this all makes sense, and it would be just plain wrong to blame the majority party of Congress for high gas prices. Ask any Democrat, and you will hear how it is not Congress fault, and we really should not blame poor Speaker Pelosi- after all, she’s made no promises. Except for the following press release:

Monday, April 24, 2006
Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on President Bush’s, Speaker Hastert’s, and the Republican Congress’ empty rhetoric on gas prices. Key facts on the Majority's failure to address gas prices follows Pelosi’s statement.
With skyrocketing gas prices, it is clear that the American people can no longer afford the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress and its failure to stand up to Republican big oil and gas company cronies. Americans this week are paying $2.91 a gallon on average for regular gasoline – 33 cents higher than last month, and double the price than when President Bush first came to office.
“With record gas prices, record CEO pay packages, and record oil company profits, Speaker Hastert and the Majority Congress continue to give the American people empty rhetoric rather than join Democrats who are working to lower gas prices now.
“Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.”
* * *
So, it’s okay for Democrats to blame Republicans for this mess, but Democrats won’t take responsibility for growing the mess to epic proportions over the course of less than 2 years? With this in mind, I thought it might be a good time to check in with the six for 06 promises. The rather vague (unlike the Contract for America) promises were:

• National security- "We will protect Americans at home and lead the world by telling the truth to our troops, our citizens and our allies. We believe in a strong national defense that is both tough and smart, recognizing that homeland security begins with hometown security." This was a back handed slap at he president, and a nice way of saying isolationism, with out saying that they would withdraw the troops. I believe the troop level is higher now than it was when they made this promise. So, to summarize, they tried to say that they would pull out of Iraq, without saying they would pull out of Iraq. This “promise” was a failure on so many levels. This promise was a failure to take a stand, a failure to follow through and a failure to be honest about what they were promising.
• Jobs and wages- “We will create jobs that stay in America and restore opportunity for all Americans, starting with raising the minimum wage, expanding Pell grants and making college tuition tax deductible. We also believe in budget discipline that reduces our deficit.” They did pass a higher minimum wage, then the current economic slow down started. Could this be the result of additional pressure put on the small businesses that drive the economy? Probably, but the MSM will bury that story. Congress has made no progress on the deficit.
• Energy independence- “We will create a cleaner, greener and stronger America by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, eliminating billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies and use the savings to provide consumer relief and develop energy alternatives, and investing in energy independent technology.” There are currently no new energy alternatives, and relying on the corn crop for ethanol has caused food riots around the world. Way to go Dems- your green policy is starving the world.
• A healthcare system that works for everyone- “We will join 36 other industrialized nations in making sure everyone has access to affordable health care, starting by fixing the prescription drug program and investing in stem cell and other medical research”. Best I can tell they did absolutely nothing here.
• Retirement security- “We will ensure that a retirement with dignity is the right and expectation of every single American, starting with pension reform, expanding saving incentives and preventing the privatization of social security.” Well, Social Security was not privatized, but that effort had already died. Nothing else came of this.
• End the “Culture of Corruption”- We will end the Republican culture of corruption and restore a government as good as the people it serves, starting with real ethics reform". From Wikipedia:
  o New Jersey former State Senator Joseph Coniglio (D-NJ) indicted for abusing state grants, mail fraud and extortion(2008)
  o New Jersey State Senator and former Newark Mayor Sharpe James (D-NJ) James is accused of numerous corrpution charges including, mail fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud and using city money to boost his salary and pension and to pay for his numerous sexual affairs. (2007)
  o New Jersey State Senator Wayne Bryant (D-NJ) pension padding, no-show jobs, mail fraud, wire fraud and bribery (2007)

Apparently, the word didn’t get out to New jersey, or for that matter, New York. Or Detroit. Or California.
o John Burton (D-CA) former California Senate Pro Tempore - accused of sexual harassment by a female employee at his charity organization (2008)
o Kwame Kilpatrick (D-MI) Detroit Mayor - extramarital affair with his Chief-of-Staff, Christine Beatty. Racy text messages between them uncovered by the press contradicted their sworn denials of an affair. Also alleged to have stayed at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC with a woman named Carmen Slowsky, who was not his wife (2008)
o Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) New York Governor - went through a prostitution service called Emperors Club VIP where he allegedly met with a prostitute in a Washington, DC hotel. He was linked to the prostitution ring by a wiretap of his cell phone.(2008)

Just curious- any of you Democrats feel burned? Is this the kind of Change you are looking for? Feel free to discuss amongst yourself…

No recession- where is the MSM?

by George Dienhart

Just found this at the Politico website:

BREAKING NEWS - NO OFFICIAL RECESSION: 'WASHINGTON (AP) - The bruised
economy limped through the first quarter of this year at a six-tenths of
a percentage point growth rate as housing and credit problems forced
people and businesses alike to hunker down. The country's economic
growth during January through March was the same as in the final three
months of last year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday - but
not the kind of statistic that economists define as a recession.
Although the economy is stuck in a rut, it is still managing to keep
growing - however slightly.'

Therefore, this settles it- no recession now. We will not know if there
is even a recession until after the election. The definition of
recession:

A recession is a decline in a country's real gross domestic product
(GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive
quarters of a year.

Notice today's report is for the first quarter. We will not get two more
quarters of growth until after the elections.

The real story here is that the economy continued to grow- even with the
decline of the housing and credit markets.

That is good news; we will see how the left spins it.

Financial Services forum- Democratic President would be a disaster

By George Dienhart

Cross-posted at IllinoisReview

I ran across this at the excellent Politico website-

'On average, (Financial Services) Forum CEOs saw an 88% chance of recession this year with one out of three members putting that chance at 100%. ... The survey also showed that Forum CEOs believe that the turmoil in credit markets has not yet fully run its course.' But they gave the Fed good marks. They peg overall 2008 real GDP growth to just under 1% (0.92%).
***Rising protectionist sentiment and higher tax rates were seen as significant threats to growth.

The asterisks are part of the Politico piece. I did not add them. The Politico is a non-partisan publication. When they covered this forum, they did so in a fair and balanced manner. If the Politico reported that the top concerns were protectionism and higher taxes, then it is a good bet that those were the main points of conversation. They are also nearly guaranteed to accompany a Democratic president.

To translate- we now have an economy that will grow slowly (the 1% forecast above) over the course of the year. This means we most likely are not in a recession. The economy is growing, and will grow modestly throughout the year. The problem begins next year. After a Dem is potentially elected president. Both Hillary and Obama have rather grandiose spending plans, and neither will extend President Bush’s tax cuts. Both plan new spending to roll out their visions for health care. Both have spoken out against free trade agreements. This behavior is exactly what would be categorized as “Rising protectionist sentiment”. Both would willingly throw the nation into a recession in order to pander to voters. Either would be a disaster as president.

I recently heard a liberal state that Obama would "save the country from economic collapse?" A good conservative pointed out that President Obama would punish the rich (and the middle class) with tax increases. He would punish businesses with more tax increases. Oil companies would be the recipient of a “double-whammy” tax on their profits. Obama is curiously silent when it comes to Sen. McCain’s proposal to suspend the federal gasoline taxes. This real tax relief would be a boon not only to truckers, but also to suburbanites commuting to work. Sen. McCain points out that his plan would be a real economic stimulus. Extra money in the monthly family budget. Extra money that could be spent on mortgages. Lowering diesel costs would also lower the prices on everything that people buy that is shipped by the trucking industry. For those who are interested, that would be everything …

The eerie silence emanating from the Obama and Clinton camps on this matter is purposeful. Both remaining Democratic presidential candidates know that they cannot win with a good economy. If you are Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, to win, you need a recession. In typical Democrat fashion, they are more concerned with their own future than they are with your future. Not only do they keep repeating the recession mantra- they are happy to ignore the realities of simple economics and propose policies that will suffocate the economy. All in order to be elected. To these two politicians, a November victory is far more important than any pesky voter. The only thing that counts is power, and they are perfectly happy to see countless Americans taxed to the brink of bankruptcy to amass more power.

Conservatives know that tax increases don’t grow the economy, they only grow spending. I only wish that Democrats could learn this…