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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Will I vote for Obama next Election?

I voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 because I was dissatisfied with the Bush administration and because  I was impressed with Mr Obama's intelligence and speaking skills. I also felt that voting for a black man would further enhance racial equality in the USA. I am now disappointed in President Obama's performance for the following reasons:
1. I think he wasted enormous political capital in the Health Care bill and it showed in the elections of 2010. In something as important as this, it would have been imperative to enlist Republican support instead of ramming it through congress. That ramming process was I believe the single most cause of Republican intransigence. I regard the outcome as merely a bill to protect the health insurance industry. The issue of employer paid health benefits being tax free to the employee should have been addressed. A simpler approach would have been to extend medicare to children up to 26 years old.  The cost would not have been great and it would have been a start to a single payer system such as that enjoyed by members of congress, the armed forces and the VA. The Obamacare requirement forcing all to buy a commercial product (healthcare insurance) or pay a fine is contrary to the American sense of individuality and a stretch of the commercial clause in the constitution.
2. I dislike his kowtowing to unions. The bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler came largely from auto union greed. Their wages and benefits were greatly higher than at competing foreign plants in the US who were able to survive the economic downturn. Yet in the managed bankruptcy, secured creditors were denied their security, and unsecured creditors including the GM retirees health plan were placed ahead. Further, the union was given a role in the new GM management, and Fiat, which had no skin in the game, was awarded control of Chrysler.  
Mr. Obama sat for three years on three trade agreements with South American Countries which would have expanded our exports and reduced our trade imbalance because the unions wanted protectionist provisions added to the treaties.
His  Labor Relations Board has filed a suit against the Boeing Company because the latter has constructed a factory in a right-to-work state in the south and plans to put some of its Dreamliner production there even though there will still be additional manpower required at its Everett Washington  plant. Boeing would like access to the cheaper and less ready-to-strike labor in the south. I think the law that says it is illegal for Boeing to do this is wrong and should be challenged in court.
3. Job creation will be the most important issue at the next election. The Obama administration did a poor job in its prior job act which was poorly focused and gave the idea of using government resources to create jobs a bad name. It should have emphasized increasing productivity only.  The philosophy of giving tax money to help spend our way out of this recession is ludicrous. This includes the bonus to social security recipients, the extension of unemployment benefits beyond six months--most find jobs close to the expiration of the benefits--, the reduction of employee payroll taxes.  The ban on all new oil well drilling in the gulf was a further example of over reaction to the BP oil spill and the creation of further unemployment.

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