Obama Devastating America/Kiki Emerges from other Devastation

There are two points to this post. One is what President Obama has done this week and the other is the earthquake in Haiti.

Now that health care reform is dead, Obama has returned to telling Americans how to live. In the past couple of days, he has nationalized the student loans and is now directing where banks may and may not invest their funds as punishment for success.

First he started with trying to put a fee on the banks for paying bonuses on the money they earned last year. Now, I can understand if he wants to complain about banks that still owe money from the bailout program last year, but he didn't limit the fees to just those that owe. It seems to me that it would have been wise for those institutions to pay a bonus for their earnings last year, but the bonuses could have been smaller for the institutions that owe still on the bailout. However, he was wanting to charge all of these institutions for that, even if they didn't receive bailout money.

Someone really needs to sit this man down and explain to him that businesses do not pay the governments fees and taxes. They write the checks, but the money is not paid by them. It's paid by you and me. When the government puts a higher tax or a fee (which really is a tax even if it's called a fee) on a business, the business passes the cost on to the consumer. Higher ATM rates, higher monthly fees for having an account and so on.

In his announcement yesterday about restricting the investments, Obama complained that the institutions were going to pass those fees on to their consumers and said it was the absolutely wrong thing to do. Obama proved to the world that he has no idea how business works. If you go to a store and see a head of lettuce for sale for $1.25, that head of lettuce does not cost the store that much. They must make a profit or they won't be able to pay their bills, pay their employees and operate their business. If the wholesale cost of a head of lettuce is $1.35, you're just not going to see the price at $1.25. Obama seems to think you should.

Obama is acting like the controlling husband or wife. He's the guy that controls every aspect of your day. Tells you when you can talk on the phone, or who you can have as friends, or feeds you a meal that he/she knows you don't like because you wouldn't go out for dinner with them that night or has people watching to make sure that you're living your life as they think you should.

In our everyday lives, most of us know that as abuse. What usually happens when you suffer that abuse? You leave. Obama was told on Tuesday in the election in Massachussetts that the people are leaving him by electing a Conservative Repubican, Scott Brown, to the Senate from a state that is overwhelmingly liberal Democrats.

When Obama started speaking yesterday, the Dow figures were listed in the lower right corner of the television. It was down 173 points. By the time he ended his speech, it was down 227 points.

Obama is like that controlling spouse. He's telling the country to do it his way or else. I'm to the point where I'd like to see the "or else". Can we really be any worse off?

One thing about the American people. If they feel that something is being done wrong in a business, they won't do business with that institution. They don't need an organized boycott or an over-controlling President to punish others for us. The American people are honest and when abuse happens, they will take their business elsewhere, just like they take their lives elsewhere when there is an abusive spouse.

My second comment is about the earthquake in Haiti. I could talk about how the same problems are happening with the rescue efforts in Haiti as happened in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina with the length of time it's taken to get water and food and medicine to the victims of the earthquake, but something good actually came out of the devastation in Haiti.

As you can see by the picture posted there was a success. A young boy was buried in the rubble for a week and a day. No food, no water. Trapped in the rubble. The boy is seven years old. Rescue workers found him. When they dug away the debris, they reached down to grab the youngster to pull him out. But he was scared. He saw the faces that weren't recognizable to him and didn't want to come out.

Some family members were brought to the opening to speak to him to put him at ease. He finally relented and allowed the rescue workers to help him out. What you can't see in the picture is the scared look on his face as he emerged from the hole. But what you do see is his arms spread wide and the biggest smile on his face when everyone starts cheering at his rescue.

There are many dead from this earthquake and the aftershocks that have been hitting almost on a daily basis. Bodies are lined up in the streets and then hauled off to mass graves and buried. But then, a week and a day after the earthquake a young boy is brought out of the rubble and his biggest fear is that strangers are reaching down to try to help him and he doesn't understand all of the strangers being there. When he's brought up, and sees how everyone is happy to see him, he puts on the biggest smile and spreads his arms out wide. The boys name is Kiki. I don' t know who took the picture, but I suspect we'll all know soon and Kiki will likely be remembered for a long time.

With so many problems, whether those problems are in our personal lives, or health, or political or whatever particular problem may be affecting one person, another person or groups of people, it's good to be reminded that good things also come from bad situations and this picture of this little boy is a perfect example of that.

You're welcome to comment.

Brett