Posts
"Deriding the grass-roots movement as 'teabagging,' which is a slang word for a particular sexual practice that seems to be well-known to media commentators, the coverage hit its low point when Keith Olbermann let failed radio host Janeane Garofalo deride tax protesters as ignorant, racist, mentally defective and sexually deviant, charges that would no doubt surprise the many participants at Los Angeles-area demonstrations, who came from all ethnicities, backgrounds and political persuasions.
"Despite the claims of low-rated talk show hosts and other supporters of President Obama, the protesters were correct about runaway spending, as figures show the Obama administration is projected to run the highest budget deficit in history this year -- three times what the Bush administration left the new commander in chief. Also, the government's unemployment numbers, so-called 'U3' figures or 'headline unemployment,' are heavily massaged to paint a rosier picture of joblessness across the land than reality.
"The numbers do not include people who have been unemployed long-term, former workers who have given up looking for jobs in the belief there are none to be had, or people who have been forced to take part-time jobs for lack of full-time work.
"When those classes of people are factored back in, the national unemployment rate is somewhere around 15 percent and climbing, not the 8 percent that gets reported. In Los Angeles, the actual number has been estimated to be closing in on 20 percent.
"As the federal government adds a projected $1.6 trillion to this year's deficit to keep Wall Street dandies in their corner offices, and the state of California is jacking up the sales tax and promoting a raft of new tax hikes and borrowing on the ballot, voters are starting to notice the free-spending ways of their politicians, from their local representatives up to their president.
"Despite a few bones -- like Obama's $25 a week increase in jobless benefits or dollar-a-day payroll tax cut for workers -- tossed to the public, many people are starting to believe that real help is not coming soon. A recent Rasmussen poll found that two-thirds of Americans believe Obama will raise taxes on those making under $250,000 a year, with almost half strongly believing he will do so, and only 18 percent doubting it."
