By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Best-Selling Author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian”
Ronald Reagan stood up to the Air Traffic Controllers and in response to the threat of a strike simply fired them all. Can you imagine? Air Traffic Controllers- unique individuals with rare and valuable skills, thought irreplaceable, fired en masse. And we never noticed. Supervisors filled their shoes for months, while new ones were trained. Not a single accident. What happened to those Air Traffic Controllers who lost today’s equivalent of $100,000 per year jobs? Few ever found a job with that kind of pay again.
It’s time for a Reagan moment in Wisconsin. The average Milwaukee teacher compensation at retirement age is about $100,000 per year. Yes, I said $100,000. That’s not being reported on the nightly news, now is it? And, what good is all that bloated compensation doing? Milwaukee has a depressing 68% graduation rate. Two-thirds of Wisconsin 8th graders read below grade level.
That $100K annual teacher’s compensation is the highest in the Midwest. Yet, during a ten-year period, while Wisconsin teacher salaries rose dramatically, students saw no improvement. None. Proving once again, taxpayers, students and parents get nothing in return for higher teacher pay. Who spends the most on teacher pay? California and Washington D.C. -- all for dismal results.
Government employee unions, teacher unions in particular, have to be the only business (or should I say “racket") that asks for raises for horrible performance. The worse they do, the more they ask for. It’s always “the money.” The teacher unions never mention that private and Catholic school teachers make far less, with far superior results.
What drove GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy was not the bloated salaries for blue collar union workers. It was the gold-plated pensions and free lifetime healthcare that killed the automakers. Wisconsin (and every other state in the USA) faces the same problem with their public employee unions.
Today, a teacher reported retiring at age 55, after working part-time for 5 short years. She gets “only” about $250 per month for life from the taxpayers of Wisconsin. Receiving $250 per month doesn’t sound like much, until you do the math. If this teacher lives to the average age of 78, she’ll be paid over $65,000 in pension. With cost of living increases it probably goes to $75K. Perhaps that doesn’t sound like much. But, when you realize her entire 5-year working salary was $35,000, taxpayers will pay her twice that much in retirement. But what if she lives to 100? Perhaps triple or quadruple her working pay.
Now, think about all the full-time teachers in Wisconsin making $100,000 (or more) who have not paid a penny toward their retirement, but will get handed multi-MILLION dollar pensions for 25 to 40 years of not working.
But, it gets worse. Wisconsin taxpayers also pay all their post-retirement health care costs, and pay for new teachers to replace them. Ever wonder why America is broke, busted and insolvent? That is why.
Here’s the irony. While these government employees get gold-plated pensions and free lifetime healthcare, the taxpayers who are paying their bills struggle to survive.
Why should taxpayers work their fingers to the bone until the day they die to support teacher and other public employee bloated wages and pensions? It’s time for anger and revolt alright. It is taxpayers who need to go on strike!
It’s time for Governor Walker and other Governors across America to invoke Ronald Reagan. The message is simple: “Accept these modest cuts and end abusive collective bargaining by public employees or “YOU’RE FIRED.” And be sure to charge the teachers at the protests who hold fake doctor notes with fraud.
Good luck finding any job in the private sector paying $100,000 (or even $50,000), to work 8 to 3 with weekends, holidays, sick days and two months off in the summer, then retire young with a bloated pension and healthcare for life.
It’s time to stop being polite and politically correct. Rome is burning. The national debt and unfunded liabilities now totals $100 trillion. The clock on America’s survival is ticking. It’s time to invoke Reagan.
Guess what? If Air Traffic Controllers can be replaced, so can teachers, at far lower salaries and drastically reduced pensions. Look at the test scores. It can’t get worse. I bet we can get the same results for 30% less. Heck, bringing in fresh blood with new, creative ideas might improve the results. How can we find out if we don’t give it a try?
Oh, did I mention my daughter, Dakota, was home-schooled and is now a freshman at Harvard? Where’s my pension?
Where’s The Donald when we need him? Wisconsin teachers union — “YOU’RE FIRED!”
That's a good start. Next week, let’s have this same conversation with the all the rest of our government employees.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
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( 3 / 1378 )By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Best-Selling Author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian”
Welcome to “the Gold, Silver and Bullet economy.” Great job Obama is doing as President and CEO of the American economy, huh? I don’t mean to say, “I told you so.” But I told you so. When I ran for Vice President of the United States on the Libertarian Presidential ticket, I played a modern day Paul Revere. My warning was “The communist is coming! The communist is coming!”
I was among the first to sound the alarm about the danger of putting my Columbia college classmate in charge of the U.S. economy. I stated publicly, early and often, that at best, Obama is an incompetent community organizer with zero business experience who never created a job, made a payroll, or paid an employee’s health insurance – a radical who would manipulate the U.S. economy as a frightening experiment in union activism, affirmative action, social justice, and income redistribution. Or, at worst, Obama is a socialist or Marxist out to overwhelm the system and destroy capitalism. Unfortunately, BOTH descriptions appear to be true.
From the results so far, it appears that America has hit the “Daily Double.” Obama is both a Marxist bent on the destruction of capitalism AND a naďve, dangerous fool with no clue how to create even one job outside of government or a union (with government funding).
Barack and Michelle Obama are our very own Juan and Eva Peron. Following the exact same game plan of massive expansion of government and unions, the Perons destroyed Argentina’s economy for generations, devaluing the currency to the point of hyper-inflation, and finally bringing about default, insolvency, and bankruptcy.
Take an honest look at where Obama and his radical cronies have put us. Our economy is in freefall. Real unemployment -- including those Americans that have given up or are underemployed -- is at or near twenty percent. ‘Real inflation’ -- counting food and energy prices -- is climbing. Annual deficits are headed for an unimaginable $2 trillion. The ‘real’ national debt (including unfunded liabilities, such as Social Security, Medicare and government pensions) is in the neighborhood of $100 trillion, money the taxpayers of America (and their children) are obligated to pay, but have no idea how.
Then there’s the biggest nightmare yet to face our country -- the insolvency and bankruptcy of cities, counties and state governments across the USA. If you like the chaos and idiocy occurring right now in Greece…I mean Madison, Wisconsin…you’re going to love the next few years of chaos and rioting on the streets of America.
I have repeatedly predicted America would soon face an Egypt-like moment, with Obama’s entitlement-addicted supporters protesting, rioting and holding the U.S. economy hostage. Today teachers in Wisconsin are staying out of school, refusing to do the job taxpayers are paying them to do, threatening the lives of the Governor and GOP State Senate, and committing fraud by getting “sick day” letters from union-backed doctors. Today it is the Democratic legislators of Wisconsin committing fraud and refusing to do the job they were elected to do. Anger and chaos reigns in the streets of Madison. But tomorrow (or soon thereafter) it will spread throughout the USA.
Americans must face the fact that our country is out of money. There is no choice but to reduce the size of government, which means reducing the number of government employees and their obscene pensions. Madison is a preview of what is to come from even a modest proposal to do so. Be aware, our streets could soon resemble those of Cairo.
Remember the Obama supporter who cried at his rally and said to the reporter, “Obama’s election means I’ll never have to worry about rent or gas again.” She’ll be in the streets protesting and rioting as it dawns on her that the gravy train may be over. How about $200,000 per year firemen in places like Las Vegas who, allegedly, have been cheating the system by fraudulently coordinating overtime and sick days? They’ll be in the streets alongside the $100,000 per year teachers of Wisconsin, as they all fear the gravy train has run dry. There will be massive protests, strikes, firings, and economic disruption like America has never seen.
If current trends hold, the economy will continue to decline and government debt will continue to grow, threatening the national security and solvency of America. The real unemployment rate will remain in the twenty percent range, or scale to unimagined levels. And with the Fed desperately papering over the problem with credit, it eventually faces two ugly alternatives: hyper-inflation or an unparalleled credit contraction deflation.
Imagine the U.S. as a bankrupt, debtor nation with our economy in shambles, forced to fight a global World War III. See the turmoil and civil war occurring in the Middle East at this moment, threatening oil supplies. This disastrous, worst-case scenario for America and the world appears to be taking shape right now.
My advice in the face of economic Armageddon? Be Prepared. Invest in the only commodities enjoying a bull market: Gold, Silver and Bullets. Stock up -- that’s the economy of the future.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
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( 3 / 1406 )By Wayne Allyn Root
This isn’t insanity. It’s insanity squared. Since the day Obama took office he has tried to fleece, tax, regulate, redistribute, harass, and hound small business to death. I’ve argued again and again in media appearances and commentaries that Obama’s strategy appears to be right out of the playbook of Cloward & Piven, two Marxist professors from Columbia University (where Obama and I graduated as classmates in 1983). That strategy is overwhelming the business community, taxpayers, and high-income earners with so many socialist, Big Brother-like, job-killing bills, that we get dizzy and exhausted trying to keep up with them. Eventually they overwhelm the economy, cause massive unemployment, crisis, and dependency on big government. It’s happening before our very eyes -- millions of Americans are now on 99 weeks of unemployment benefits; 45 million are dependent on food stamps; over 90 teenage girls are pregnant at the same time in one Memphis high school -- all sure to go on welfare, food stamps and aid to dependent children for life. That’s one school. The system is officially overwhelmed.
It’s true that Obama took a few days off to portray himself as a friend to business and a born-again tax cutter. But after a short rest, the old Obama is back. The man is a relentless Ginsu salesman for taxes, spending and socialism. The overwhelming attack has started all over again.
In just the past few days, Obama has put the White House in partnership with the Bar Association in a brazen attempt to impose lawyers on every businessman and women in America. Then he suggested dramatically raising unemployment taxes on businesses. Then he proposed a dramatic reduction of tax deductions for homeowners and charitable givers. Next up in the “tax murderer’s row” was Obama’s announcement of his 10-year plan to reduce the national debt. It happened to cut the debt by a measly $1 trillion, while simultaneously raising taxes by about $1 trillion -- including the largest income tax increase in U.S. history. Obama is relentless -- he attacks from so many angles, that even the strongest of fiscal conservatives eventually grows weak and punch drunk.
But wait, we’re not done. Obama has more! The “Ginsu guy" is also selling a big heaping dose of Big Brother-- simultaneously attempting to unionize American business through new rules implemented by the National Labor Relations Board, and impose cap and trade (that he couldn’t pass through Congress) through new EPA rules. Those draconian new EPA rules put Obama and Big Brother in control of industrial America, big energy, even the trucking industry -- the delivery system for all goods.
But wait, Obama isn't done yet. There’s more to dislike. The IRS has just announced a request for thousands of new auditors and agents, at a cost of almost $400,000,000 just to oversee the start of Obamacare in 2012. We get 81 new IRS agents just to oversee the new tax on tanning beds. What a deal! Wait until you see what the IRS requests when Obamacare moves into full gear.
Back to the biggest insult of all -- the lawyers. Obama has put the government in partnership with the American Bar Association. This re-defines unconstitutional. From now on, anyone who calls the White House or the Department of Labor to complain about their boss will be given a Toll Free 800 number (think Ginsu knives) that connects directly to trial lawyers. The American Bar Association has agreed to provide an army of lawyers that will work for free -- no up front legal fees, only a cut of the action -- to sue American business.
But wait, there’s more. Michelle Obama wants to encourage breast-feeding, especially (her words) in the African-American community. So from now on the IRS will make breast pumps and other breast-feeding products tax deductible. Will she offer “extra credit” for being black and breast-feeding? Perhaps our first-ever affirmative action tax deduction?
Is this really our country? Your home mortgage should no longer be deductible according to Obama. Neither should your charitable giving to churches or synagogues. Your money isn’t yours according to Obama. It belongs to government. It is needed for redistribution to Obama’s contributors, cronies and entitlement-addicted voters. You can’t even choose to tan without paying additional taxes. Your business will be hounded by lawyers, in partnership with government. You are ordered by government to buy health insurance or face fines or prison. And all of it will be overseen by a new army of IRS agents.
What's the difference between Obama and a Ginsu salesman? With the Ginsu guy you actually get 10 items for one low price. With Obama, you lose everything you’ve got -- your home, your income, your business. All you wind up with is a tax-deductible breast-feeding pump. Somehow without the force of government putting a gun to our heads, I don’t think Obama’s product would sell.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
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( 3 / 1632 )By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Best-Selling Author
On Thursday Egyptian President Mubarak turned a crisis into a tragedy. His disastrous decision not to resign could very well lead to the end of Egypt as we know it and will almost certainly lead to Egypt burning. Mubarak is so tone deaf that he stoked the flames of the anti-Mubarak revolution. Now there is no way for this to end peacefully. This Egyptian crisis is now all but fated to end in tragedy.
Mubarak’s right move was obvious. In order to end the crisis, clear the square, stop the protests and fighting, and return his nation to normalcy, Mubarak had only to announce his immediate resignation, hand the country to his hand-picked successor, put the army in charge of security, and announce a transition plan to allow multi-party elections in September. Mubarak could have told the protestors that they won and now it’s time to go home, go back to work, and get our country (and economy) running again. Unfortunately, the massive ego of a tyrant just wouldn’t allow it. To the bitter end he had to have the last word, even if it causes massive bloodshed and chaos, and leads to Egypt falling into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Would anything have changed for the people of Egypt if Mubarak had resigned, but handed the keys to the country to the army, and his hand-picked successor? Probably very little, at least right away. Life would have returned to normal, business would have resumed, and tourism would one day (but not very soon) return. But the fact is, it would have allowed the protesters to save face and feel they had accomplished something historic: forced out a 30-year General and Dictator from a Middle Eastern nation, and opened the door to more freedom for themselves and their children.
But Mubarak just couldn’t get out of the way of his own ego. He couldn’t let the protesters in that Cairo square save face. He couldn’t give them even a small victory. That’s how it is with tyrants -- it’s all or nothing. Mubarak has decided to go down with the ship. What comes next will not be pretty.What is so sad is that Mubarak's decision hurts those that supported him- business owners, moderates, the army, anyone not interested in seeing Egypt fall into chaos and quite possibly the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Now we all watch a possible tragedy unfold. The protestors cannot back down now. They know to back down means Mubarak will arrest, imprison and torture all of them that the secret police can find. To leave the square in Cairo and disperse with Mubarak still in control is a non-starter. It’s either fight the revolution together, or die separately. That is their only next move.
The fear now is that Egypt will turn to the worst possible option -- the Muslim Brotherhood. Mubarak could have ended his 30-year reign quietly and moved on with his legacy slightly intact. If he really cared about Eqypt, he could have paved the way toward a peaceful transition. But his ego would not allow it.
Now America can only watch and wait. In the end, none of it is our business. It is all proof of why we should never take sides in the first place. Never send billions to tin pot dictators -- even friendly ones. Never send billions in sophisticated military equipment to tyrants. Because all of it can and will eventually be used against us. It is time to let the Egyptian people determine their own fate. I’m just scared and sickened at the thought of what we are about to watch happen.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.co
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( 3 / 1618 )By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Best-Selling Author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian”
Could voters be foolish enough to fall for Obama’s new plan to destroy America? A few months ago I played Paul Revere with my commentary "The Real Obama Economic Plan: Purposely Overwhelming the System to Destroy Capitalism." This commentary, exposing Obama and his Marxist plans, was rated by some Internet authorities as the second most popular story on the entire Internet for several months. It’s time for a refresher course, because Obama has just launched Plan B to destroy America.
First let’s review. As Obama’s college classmate at Columbia, I was familiar with the teachings of our Marxist professors, Cloward and Piven. Following their strategy, Obama launched his original plan to distract America and overwhelm the system with Obamacare, cap and trade, stimulus, extending unemployment benefits, card check, banning offshore oil drilling, suing Arizona for enforcing federal laws against illegal immigration, onerous new environmental and banking regulations, and even an attempt to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. We couldn’t keep up with all the socialist bills and proposals. That was precisely the point -- create a crisis, overwhelm the system, and make our heads spin with multiple distractions.
Specifically:
A) Make Americans desperate and even more dependent on big government begging for jobs, welfare, unemployment, food stamps and free medical care. As one of Obama’s supporters so aptly put it, “Give me some of that Obama money.” The plan is working.
B) Help his political cronies by redistributing wealth and giving more power to unions, lawyers, lobbyists, environmentalists, and big businesses (at least those that contribute to him). The plan is working.
C) Starve the political opposition -- Raise taxes on upper and middle class Americans and create more regulatory hurdles on small business so they have no money left to oppose him. The plan is working.
Why would Obama launch this all-out assault on capitalism, you ask? The answer is simple. He’s an ideologue who hates America and believes the capitalistic system is destructive and exploitive (as do most of my Columbia classmates). Like Mao and Lenin, Obama sees himself as the “people’s savior.”
Fortunately, the American people woke up to what is happening and in the biggest landslide in modern political history voted to stop this progressive/socialist/Marxist strategy. So Obama has decided to re-shuffle the cards. Time for Plan B.
Obama’s new plan is brilliant. Act like you’ve learned a lesson. Compromise. Move to the center. Talk like a moderate conservative. Support tax cuts. Become a friend to business. Act supportive of repealing parts of your own Obamacare plan. Make nice to the Chamber of Commerce. Appoint business leaders to your management team. Talk about tort reform. Talk about the dangers of debt. Become “the jobs” President. Allow Bill O’Reilly to interview you and claim your new goal is to get spending under control. Spend your entire State of the Union praising America. You are now a patriot bleeding red, white and blue.
Why would he commit this act of fraud and deception? One over-riding goal: Get re-elected in 2012. This is a strategy right from the pages of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals playbook. Alinsky was a Marxist who believed the ends justified any means. That includes deception and fraud. Obama is following it to the letter and he’s good at it.
Why is getting re-elected so important? Because then Obama has nothing standing in his way of completing the job he set out to do -- DESTROY AMERICA. Once re-elected Obama is no longer responsible to the voters, and has four long years to do so much damage to America, that it may never recover. The community organizer is free to destroy the system with an unprecedented barrage of socialist and Marxist attacks, from within the White House -- something even Alinsky never imagined.
In his first term Obama crippled America, our economy, and capitalism. We are on the ropes, hanging by a thread. In his second term, he goes for the kill. He’ll put the finishing touches on his plan to overwhelm the country with deficit and debt; destroy small business and the upper middle class (his political opposition); redistribute wealth to his voters; give unions unprecedented powers; turn twelve million illegal aliens into future Democratic voters who will reliably vote for bigger government; and put a majority of Americans on the dole -- either collecting money from government, or working directly for government.
After getting re-elected, Obama will be free to be the real Obama -- free to wreak havoc. He can be himself -- the Marxist enemy of business, capitalism and patriotism. He will be free to base the economic system on “social justice” and affirmative action. He will be free to reward his friends and punish his enemies. He will be free to condemn Israel and buddy up to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Obama’s second term is what this is all about. The enemies of America have been waiting for this opportunity their entire lives. This is their version of the American Dream. A socialist in the White House with four years to destroy America from within, and no one to answer to. Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky would be proud of their student. And all he has to do is “be cool” for the next two years. Hold his fire. Smile. Kiss babies. Praise America. Befriend the rich. Become a cheerleader for business. And show just a little spending restraint...for two short years. The ends justify the means.
Two more years of patience and the keys to the kingdom…and the economy…and the Fed…and the United States Military…and the nuclear arsenal…all belong to Obama.
And the America that we know and love could be gone forever.
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