Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
XIX.
(September 2009)
Bill
Sykes looks back in retrospect at material which has
been published in previous editions of "View from
America", in an attempt to determine whether the
subject matter written then is still applicable in
today’s world.
Article #19A. (September 2009 Edition).
Introduction
"My recollection of a couple of important promises that Barack Obama and his associates made during his campaign to be President of the United States".
So where do I start?
I certainly am not going to assess each and every promise that was made by the aspiring President when he was campaigning to become elected to the highest office in the land, the President of the United States, or the promises made by his challenger John McCain and his associates, as I’m afraid that I didn’t keep count of the several hundred promises that Barack Obama and his associates made, or the promises made by John McCain and his associates, and of course what is more important is the subject matter that was contained in those promises.
I must also confess to being guilty of not keeping a detailed score of which promises have been kept and which promises have not been kept so I will just examine a couple that I think were certainly of great importance.
One promise which he and his associates made and have not kept was a sort of half promise to pull
most (?) of the American Troops out of Iraq by the end of 2009.
Another major promise, which is still in the process of a very heated discussion by the members of Congress and millions of American citizens, was the proposed installation of an affordable "General Health Care System" for all legitimate American citizens.
One must remember that President Obama, when he took office as President was left by the previous President and his partners with one hell of a mess which covered two un-winnable wars, (Iraq and Afghanistan), a financial budget that was so deep in debt that some regions of the world are of the opinion that the Bush Administration was instrumental in creating the current worldwide depression.
There are many people in the United States who still deny that the actions of the Bush Administration was a major factor in bringing about a world depression, but when one takes a look at the current world financial situation, with special reference to the failure of so many worldwide banking systems, housing foreclosures, major companies being bankrupted and going out of business. (with the loss of millions of jobs worldwide), and all the other factors, financial and otherwise, surely a case can be made that the Bush Administration’s actions did have a major influence on bringing about a worldwide depression which many nay-sayers, (mainly in the United States), continue to deny.
So after looking at the United States National Debt Clock, indicated below, I will start with the Obama promise to try to solve the dreadful financial situation that the previous President and his associates left this great country in.
U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 21 Aug 2009 at 10:34:32 PM GMT is:
The estimated population of the United States is 306,776,877
so each citizen's share of this debt is $38,219.45.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.92 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Unfortunately I do not believe that the above figures tell the whole story - and that the real United States national debt is way, way, above the figure shown in the illustration and will continue escalating at an enormous pace for years to come.
Suggested reading:
Article #13D of the October 2008 Edition.
Which sums up my ideas has to how America could reduce government spending by bring many of the American troops scattered around the world back home.
A message to the President of the United States - knowing full well that the chances of this message ever reaching his desk is zero--but one can only try.
"Mr. President":
Seeing that I’m in the process of discussing the United States economic situation I would like to place a suggestion before you. May I suggest that if you, and the several members of your staff who travel with you, stayed at home in the White House more, in order to find solutions to the United States internal problems instead of gadding about all over the world in Airforce One, which obviously is a very expensive mode of travel when one takes into account the additional security personnel required both in the air and on the ground, plus the cost of transporting all the protective machinery such as armored cars, helicopters, etc".
"I would suggest that charity begins at home and our priorities should be to get our own house in order before trying to sort out all the world’s problems. Surely the current state of our economy demands a frugal approach by everyone, and by avoiding excessive Presidential travel at home and abroad it would perhaps show a degree of Presidential fiscal restraint which may assist the people of this country into accepting and supporting whatever actions you may propose in order to get this country back on its feet again.
On the other hand perhaps by Washington D.C Governmental standards, any monetary benefits that could possibly be achieved from the above suggestion may be considered a drop in the bucket, but surely in today’s financial meltdown every little helps".
Disclaimer:
Some of the information gathered for this news letter
has been gleaned from American and International
media sources, (Including the Internet), and as such
is quoted as accurately as possible. I try to obtain
confirmation on each subject from several outlets,
so the text is a mixture of composite news items
and my personal comments and therefore the reader
must make his/her own judgment as to the reliability
and degree of accuracy of the subjects discussed.
Eric (Bill) Sykes, (Southern California).
September 2009.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these articles. Please send all correspondence
to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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