The economy is depressed, Congress is bailing out the poor management of highways, the President’s health care agenda is failing, the State Department wants to cede American sovereignty to an international organization and Americans continue to lose jobs. Can you blame the President for wanting to take a vacation?
President Bush usually vacationed at his ranch, where he’d cut brush in barren Crawford, Texas. President Barack Obama has decided to vacation in a favorite hot spot of the rich, Martha’s Vineyard.
On “The Vineyard” you don’t have to worry about seeing the growing numbers of unemployed Americans or driving on a crumbling highway. The Vineyard Gazette reports the Obamas will vacation this summer in a $20 million mansion and elite farm which they will rent for $50,000 per week. The site boasts golf, a pool, a basketball court and a private beach.
Maybe the presidential trip, with the accompanying army of secret service, will stimulate the economy in the northeast. According to the Federal Reserve, economic activity during June and July remained weak. If Obama buys a pair of embroidered Whale Pants, things might improve.
Government sources are expected to report that Gross Domestic Product contracted 1.5% during the second quarter of the year. He could buy some Vineyard Vines ties, my favorites, to expand the demand for expensive ties.
The housing and commercial real estate markets have been slow and credit is still hard to get. That $50,000 a week in rent could help the housing market numbers. Change. Going from depressing Washington, D.C. to the lifestyles of the rich and famous in The Vineyard may be the best way to get away from it all.
And More Bailouts
Last week, the Obama Administration identified $102 million in cuts from his $4 trillion budget proposal. For those keeping track, that’s a savings of 2 pennies out of every thousand dollars of federal spending for the year. The government expects $1.7 trillion in new debt this year, and the only proposed cuts would save the average family of four a mere $1.71.
Congress, however, apparently sees no need to ration anything other than health care, as it moved forward last week with three bailouts:
• Bailout of States -- open-ended appropriation authority to states to aid unemployment insurance obligations;
• Housing Bailout -- $185 billion in loan guarantees to federal housing agencies; and,
• Highway Bailout -- $7 billion to the purposefully under funded Highway Trust Fund. The Congressional Budget Office scored the highway trust fund bailout bill as having a minimal impact on the deficit, although this certainly obscures the scope of this promise.
A family that was $31,000 behind on its bills would never rent a vacation home in Martha’s Vineyard. Our bloated, inefficient and debt-riddled government should act just as prudently. Despite all the claims that we have entered a new era of responsibility, we have yet to see anything resembling fiscal responsibility.
Law of the Sea
President Obama’s director of the State Department Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, Margaret Hayes, told the New York Times she hopes the Senate will consider the Law of the Sea Treaty this year. That pact has yet to be signed by the U.S. and would force us to abide by the rulings of the International Seabed Authority. This unaccountable international bureaucracy would have the power to regulate exploration, mining and trade on the oceans.
Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says he wants to take up the treaty this year. Conservatives are expected to oppose it, because they fear that this United Nations-run organization, dominated by underdeveloped countries, would use the Law of the Sea Treaty to tax the U.S. The United States Senate is on the verge of approving a treaty that would give up American sovereignty and further weaken our national interests. Consider that while lounging on a private beach this summer.
Conservative Cheers to Congressman McHenry
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) deserves conservative cheers for taking on President Obama’s claims that nobody will lose their health insurance if the federal government establishes a national health care plan run by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. McHenry and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) have been under fire from the left to dare to challenge the President’s signature initiative -- health care reform.
Conservatives don’t want a health care system headed by the same run by the same government that bungled the response to Hurricane Katrina. No president should be CEO of America’s health care economy.
Enjoy your vacation plans, get some rest and get ready for an action-packed fall.
President Bush usually vacationed at his ranch, where he’d cut brush in barren Crawford, Texas. President Barack Obama has decided to vacation in a favorite hot spot of the rich, Martha’s Vineyard.
On “The Vineyard” you don’t have to worry about seeing the growing numbers of unemployed Americans or driving on a crumbling highway. The Vineyard Gazette reports the Obamas will vacation this summer in a $20 million mansion and elite farm which they will rent for $50,000 per week. The site boasts golf, a pool, a basketball court and a private beach.
Maybe the presidential trip, with the accompanying army of secret service, will stimulate the economy in the northeast. According to the Federal Reserve, economic activity during June and July remained weak. If Obama buys a pair of embroidered Whale Pants, things might improve.
Government sources are expected to report that Gross Domestic Product contracted 1.5% during the second quarter of the year. He could buy some Vineyard Vines ties, my favorites, to expand the demand for expensive ties.
The housing and commercial real estate markets have been slow and credit is still hard to get. That $50,000 a week in rent could help the housing market numbers. Change. Going from depressing Washington, D.C. to the lifestyles of the rich and famous in The Vineyard may be the best way to get away from it all.
And More Bailouts
Last week, the Obama Administration identified $102 million in cuts from his $4 trillion budget proposal. For those keeping track, that’s a savings of 2 pennies out of every thousand dollars of federal spending for the year. The government expects $1.7 trillion in new debt this year, and the only proposed cuts would save the average family of four a mere $1.71.
Congress, however, apparently sees no need to ration anything other than health care, as it moved forward last week with three bailouts:
• Bailout of States -- open-ended appropriation authority to states to aid unemployment insurance obligations;
• Housing Bailout -- $185 billion in loan guarantees to federal housing agencies; and,
• Highway Bailout -- $7 billion to the purposefully under funded Highway Trust Fund. The Congressional Budget Office scored the highway trust fund bailout bill as having a minimal impact on the deficit, although this certainly obscures the scope of this promise.
A family that was $31,000 behind on its bills would never rent a vacation home in Martha’s Vineyard. Our bloated, inefficient and debt-riddled government should act just as prudently. Despite all the claims that we have entered a new era of responsibility, we have yet to see anything resembling fiscal responsibility.
Law of the Sea
President Obama’s director of the State Department Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, Margaret Hayes, told the New York Times she hopes the Senate will consider the Law of the Sea Treaty this year. That pact has yet to be signed by the U.S. and would force us to abide by the rulings of the International Seabed Authority. This unaccountable international bureaucracy would have the power to regulate exploration, mining and trade on the oceans.
Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says he wants to take up the treaty this year. Conservatives are expected to oppose it, because they fear that this United Nations-run organization, dominated by underdeveloped countries, would use the Law of the Sea Treaty to tax the U.S. The United States Senate is on the verge of approving a treaty that would give up American sovereignty and further weaken our national interests. Consider that while lounging on a private beach this summer.
Conservative Cheers to Congressman McHenry
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) deserves conservative cheers for taking on President Obama’s claims that nobody will lose their health insurance if the federal government establishes a national health care plan run by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. McHenry and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) have been under fire from the left to dare to challenge the President’s signature initiative -- health care reform.
Conservatives don’t want a health care system headed by the same run by the same government that bungled the response to Hurricane Katrina. No president should be CEO of America’s health care economy.
Enjoy your vacation plans, get some rest and get ready for an action-packed fall.
Brian Darling is director of U.S. Senate Relations at The Heritage Foundation.
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