Finished goal of running the distance of 2,080 miles from Lafayette, LA to Washington D.C and back!!!...plus 339.1 miles


0.0 miles run this week.
Daily running average for the week is 0.00 miles per day.
Total amount run in the past 800 days is 2,419.1 miles.
Daily running average overall is 3.02 miles per day.

Day191 Tuesday 03/08/11

ran 3.3 miles
In an op-ed piece in the Boston Herald, Mitt Romney held nothing back today in criticizing Barack Obama’s economic policy. Obama was actually in Boston today, giving Romney’s op-ed an even more direct effect. Romney expands on an interesting term he coined over the weekend in New Hampshire, the “Obama Misery Index”. In 1980, Ronald Reagan placed a Misery Index on Jimmy Carter consisting of the sum total of unemployment and inflation. Presently, the new equation includes unemployment, debt, home foreclosures and bankruptcies. Here are some quotes from the op-ed:

“Turnarounds work when the leader focuses on what’s most important. President Obama did just the opposite: he delegated the jobs crisis to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and he went to work on his own priorities, like cap and trade and government-run health care.”

“Our out-of-control fiscal policies are also impinging directly on the labor market. The failed stimulus program cost around $800 billion. Obamacare is going to cost another trillion. The denizens of the White House appear not to know it, but employers and entrepreneurs worry a good deal about the federal deficit and the federal debt. They look at the future and see that the government’s spending binge will mean higher taxes, higher interest rates, and a much weaker dollar.”

“President Hoover once ruefully complained, 'I’m the only person of distinction who has ever had a depression named for him,' (Hooverville). Obamanomics, which at extraordinary cost has accomplished extraordinarily little, is earning our president his own dubious place in our history books.”

Entering office in the middle of an economy run-a-muck and choosing to pursue something as large as his idea of health care reform, in tandem with an exorbitant stimulus package, is something that instantly burned a sense of disappointment in Barack Obama's direction. I agree with Romney that Barack Obama’s priorities have been a puzzle with odd pieces forced together in places they don’t belong. It’s a puzzle. It makes a recognizable picture. Start with the pieces that can easily be built upon.

Running alongside Romney’s op-ed was another by Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.), in which he discussed America’s corporate tax rate, the second highest of any industrialized country, behind Japan. Here are some quotes from the op-ed:

“Higher taxes mean fewer jobs, and America has the second-highest corporate tax rate of any industrialized country. When Japan reduces its tax rate, we’ll have the dubious distinction of being number one. We need to improve the incentives for businesses to create jobs here in America. A bipartisan bill I’ve introduced, the Brown-Klobuchar Innovate America Act, would cut through the red tape that’s holding back our manufacturers and boost science and technology innovation.”

“Growing our economy will require Washington to stop its binge spending habits. At every level — local, state, and federal — the government is saddled with too much debt, and more borrowing goes on the national credit card every single day. You said that you would veto bills containing earmarks, and that’s a good start. But unfortunately, old Washington habits are hard to break. The budget you proposed in February would almost double the debt in 10 years to $27 trillion. By 2025, tax revenues will only cover interest payments, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Every other federal government activity — from national defense to education — will have to be paid for with borrowed money, which will be added to the tabs of our children and future generations.”

“I just introduced a bipartisan bill with Senator Bill Nelson of Florida that would require the IRS to provide an itemized “receipt’’ showing taxpayers exactly how the federal government spends our money every year and how much new debt we’re putting on the national credit card. This effort will lead to more government transparency.”

The campaign trail to the 2012 election for Barack Obama, as well as, Senators and Representatives will be in full effect soon. Obviously, there are some sleeves being rolled up, hands tightening into fists, and candidates are stepping into the ring. Barack Obama’s first two years as president cost an overwhelming number of senators and representatives their jobs on November 2, 2012.

One particular Democrat, freshman Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, tore into Barack Obama today concerning his budget proposals. Manchin voiced that Obama was failing to lead the way in reducing spending. He also argued that the Republican budget proposals were unrealistic. He and others clearly want some decisive results, as they will be facing tough reelection races in November of 2012. And if issues like these cannot produce timely results over the next two years, one side or the other stands to be shellacked in the next election.

1,536.6 miles to go.