Current Events and the Re-Election of Barack Obama

Current events this week are decidedly negative for Barack Obama.  Chicago teachers, whose students' performance on test scores are abysmal, and who already earn an average of $76,000 per year, went on strike for more pay and benefits.  How good are Chicago teachers?  According to Philly.com:

Common sense says there should be some link between compensation and job performance. But the very idea tends to make teachers unions recoil like Dracula confronted with a garlic clove. And so Chicago teachers are picketing schools where only 60 percent of the students graduate and less than 8 percent of 11th graders met all the college-readiness benchmarks on state tests last year.

Further, the Dept. of Education says that 79% of Chicago 8th graders are not proficient in reading.

Meanwhile, there is an open feud between America and Israel, Obama is on track to have the worst job record since World War II, mobs storm our embassies in Libya and Egypt and kill some of our people, gas prices are at an all-time high (I paid $4.62 this morning and it cost $62.50 to fill my tank), and Barack Obama hasn't a clue what to do about it all.

Oh yes, let's re-elect Obama!  We NEED another four years like the last.  NO WONDER the polls are so close!

That last paragraph was sarcasm in case you missed it.

The Stogie Report: State of the World Explained

The Demise of the Democrats

It is somewhat satisfying to see the Democrat-Socialist Party come unraveled. Angry "mobs" of fed-up citizens are protesting Obama's policies throughout the nation. The popularity of the Democrat Party continues to fall while Obama's poll numbers plummet.

The Democrats strategy is to call the protesting citizens racists and stooges hired by the insurance companies; but it isn't true and they know it. When the Dems start yelling about racism the argument is over: they've lost.

In spite of the delicious schadenfreude of watching Obama fail, I have mixed feelings. He may be driving the car over a cliff but the rest of us are passengers. I do not take joy in the fact that my last words may be "I TOLD you so!"

The State of the Economy

Profligate government spending and high taxation kill jobs. It's not surprising then that California's jobless rate has risen to 12%, an all-time high. However, it's bad all over.

A friend of mine in Florida, an IT consultant, was out of work from November through July. He finally found some work this month. Another consultant friend here in the Bay Area was out of work for six full months and his home is in foreclosure. I check the job listings every day and there are few quality jobs; when there are, they offer a very low salary. I apply anyway, along with several thousand other people. I expect I will be unemployed for awhile; so I am dusting off my tax prep skills and preparing to return to public practice; I have no other obvious options.

Our home value has declined so that is now worth about what we owe on it. Ten years of equity has evaporated. I am thinking of moving out of this lovely state that I can no longer afford. I will start researching places where I may wish to retire and leave the incredible fools in Sacramento to drown in their own socialist vomit.