Detroit Here We Come!!!

There is little doubt in my mind that Cincinnati and Hamilton County are in real trouble. The area is at a point where we have tough decisions as community to make. Everything including raising taxes and cutting public services is on the table. Without strong leadership and a comprehensive plan by both Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati working together, we will turn into Detroit.

I think the first thing both the City and County elected officials need to do is take a voluntary pay cut of at least 10 percent. They should do this as an acknowledgement to all of us that times are tough and that no stone will be left unturned and that everyone will share in the cut backs. The next thing these officials must do is pledge that no new taxes will be enacted including the $17 trash tax that the city manager is trying to put in place in Cincinnati. 

Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati along will all the municipalities must strive to be the most business and residential friendly area in Ohio and the Region to survive. To do this I agree with Todd Portune that we cannot stop the econmic development in areas like the Banks, what we can do though is slow it down some, and make sure we are staying in budget. We also must look at tax structure for business and residents of the City and the County. We have to make it so that it becomes a no-brainer to live in Hamilton County again. Much of our problem stems from losing residents and losing that revenue.  We need new ways to attract people to live in the area again.

We also need to right size all of our services and governments in Hamilton County and in Cincinnati. This includes all public services such as police and fire. I am not advocating cuts or layoffs, but we do have to consider that with a declining population we may be too heavy in some areas. Any cuts that are made should be done as not to put the public in danger.

This county and city needs new leadership. We need people that are willing to put the places they represent first rather than their careers. I don’t care if they are Democrats or Republicans we need people to run our city and county that can work together and come up with a comprehensive plan on how to revitalize this region. We can’t afford to spend $46 million dollars to move a fountain over 20ft or to have leaders drag there feet for over a decade to development riverfront while we watch the other side of the river grow and turn into a prime destination place and revenue stream. 

If our leadership doesn’t step up soon we will be in a worse crisis than we are today. Sheriff Leis and others need to face the fact that we must right size everything. Business as usual is no longer acceptable at any level. And voters should send a message that no matter what party you are affiliated with, if you can’t work together and you can’t come up with a plan then don’t expect to get elected. If we don’t change our ways we can just change our name to South Detroit.

Change in Washington? No He is Not!!!

I find it quite funny that after all of President Elect  Obama promises about how he is going to change Washington and now it looks like we are going to have a third term of the Clinton Administration. I guess Barack forgot that he ran on how he was going to change Washington. Or maybe what he meant by change was that he was going to take the Democratic Congressman and Senators and promote them to Cabinet Level positions. That must have been the change he meant.

Seriously, he is already is going to be perceived as weak and untested throughout the world, but now he is going back on his word to the American people and not “shaking up” Washington like he said. For example, what better choice than John McCain for his first Secretary of State. He has instant credibility throughout the world, and on top of that from Obama’s perspective he is not a Conservative. Also why not find a place for a man like Joe Lieberman in has Cabinet. He is a man that was willing to stand-up against his party when they tried to railroad him and even stood up against his party and endorsed McCain. How about that for a change,it would a  great change to have good people in positions that may disagree with you.Talk about saying no longer will it be poltics as usual. Plus there are many better Democratic choices out their but it appears he is going to rehash the same old people.

Do I expect him to live up to all of his promises, no not even close no President does. But I did think after he said he would bring this country together and have both Democrats and Republicans in his Cabinet that just maybe he would at least live up to that.  I don’t even expect him to make it close to an even split but nominating at least one or two Republicans would go a long way to his image of being a person that will change Washington.

Unfortunately ,I think that this is a sign of things to come over the next four years. There will be no change. He is just like every other politician in Washington. And it appears he must owe the Clinton’s a lot to be nominating and hiring who he is. Hopefully he will begin to lead and shape his own administration his own way. If not I think our country will suffer greatly from what I predict will be  major infighting within the Democratic Party and bad policies. We can’t afford either at this time, what we need is truly a leader in this country that will put their country above their party. Many voted for Obama because of that promise. I fear that many will be disappointed, and that our nation will suffer with their being no true change in Washington.

Stop the Bailouts!

No one can argue that many segments of our economy are suffering. We as a nation need to figure out a way to put the country back on its collective feet. What we don’t need is another industry bailout. We are throwing our financial future away as a nation by continually bailing out bad companies that did a poor job of managing itself. We now have a $700 billion dollar bailout package in place that we have financed through loans from foreign governments. The Treasury Department this week said that now they are not going to follow through with the original plan they had in place. How are we supposed to trust our government with more of our money?

 

We cannot afford to bailout another industry, especially the auto industry. Their failure is not a result of the poor economy. The American auto industry has been failing for years and the bailout will only prolong the inevitable, not help the industry turn around. The auto industry’s biggest problem is that because of the costs of doing business they simply cannot afford to stay in business. The legacy cost along with the ridiculously high labor cost and associated costs in dealing labor unions put a big strain on the American Auto Industry’s ability to compete against foreign automakers.

 

Another problem is that Michigan is one of the worst states to do business in. In fact it is ranked 49^th in the United States as business friendly. That is a problem that must be addressed at the state level. Michigan must look at ways to help all business including the auto industry within the state. Things such as lowering taxes for business, doing away with regulations that are not business friendly, and even lowering income taxes so that Michigan citizens can consume more would help.

 

Lastly lets not forget the CEO’s of the Big Three. They have failed in creating a business model that works. They have not put their company in a position to succeed in any market. They must do a better job in controlling cost and restoring confidence in their products for consumers. These CEO’s must be willing to take drastic steps including moving out of Detroit if necessary. The leadership must step-up to the plate or no matter how much money the government gives them it will not be enough for them to succeed.

 

Enough is enough, now even cities are trying to get a cut of the pie. We simply cannot afford as a nation to bailout every industry that is in trouble. While I was against bailing out the banks and financial sector, I feel that with the way the government forced banks to make bad loans, it was something that needed to be done. The situation with the auto industry is different. The industry while it is suffering more because of the bad economy, they brought on the situation themselves. Both management and the unions need to take a look in mirror and put their own egos and greed aside and do what is best.

 

We must demand that the industry work this out from the inside. The state of Michigan must also get involved to improve the business environment as a whole. Yes that could mean consolidation and or the collapse of one or more of the Big Three automakers. Just like the airline industry it must recognize that times have changed and that it cannot be business as usual any longer. Until such time that the auto industry and the state of Michigan makes real changes in its business model, I am vehemently opposed to any bail for the industry. I ask that everyone write, call, and e-mail your Congressman, and Senator, and demand that no more money be wasted on bailing out failing companies.

 

 

Hamilton County on the Ropes

 Let me first say that when it comes to local politics I believe that it makes little to no difference what party you are with. Elected officials at the local level have much more impact on our lives and it is a must that all elected officials regardless of which party they are with work together to improve the lives of the people they represent. Unfortunately, as we have all seen we have had  a real lack of leadership in Cincinnati and Hamilton County over the last 15 years and we are paying quite a steep price for that today.

For some reason we have had a history of electing former Cincinnati City Councilmen to become Hamilton County Commissioners. For what ever reason the Hamilton County citizens that loathe the way the Cincinnati is ran seem to think that magically they figure it out when they become County Commissioners.

To be fair Todd Portune, Pat Dewine, and David Pepper didn’t creat this mess they certainly though have done plenty to add to it. The lack of vision and the lack of leadership of the Commission is now potentially going to us put not only in greater financial danger but physical danger as well.

How did we go from needing a new jail to expand capacity to being able to close Queensgate and have less jail beds available? That makes absolutely no sense and does nothing but instill more fear into the public that still is trying to recover from the riots in 2004 and the years of record murders in Cincinnati since.  On top of that it  has been proposed that the county cut back police service to three county townships. Why not spread the cut backs evenly throughout the county.This policy alone will hurt Hamilton County as much as the lack of development. The population is already shifting to other Ohio Counties and to Northern Kentucky, how does cutting these services help us?

Hamilton County needs to focus on stabilizing and increasing the population, along with economic development. How is it that after 12 years since the approval of the sales tax we still don’t have the Banks project completed? That project alone would have brought in tens of millions of dollars to Hamilton County.

We have to make this county the best and easiest county to do business with in the State of Ohio. We must demand that the county work with the City of Cincinnati and the rest the governments within Hamilton County to come up with a comprehensive plan to get Hamilton County back on track. All entities must work together, gone are the days when people move away from Cincinnati to neighboring townships, now people are moving out of Hamilton County to neighboring counties, like Butler, Warren, and even to Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana.

I agree with the County Commissioners that cuts must be made, but they must be done in a prudent manner. Slashing public service such as police protection in the manner proposed is not prudent. Any plan that the Commissioners come up with must also include a comprehensive plan on how to grow our economy in Hamilton County. We are in danger of becoming just like Detroit, we need our local leaders to step up to the plate before the damage becomes irreversible.

Republican Leadership, Wake Up!!!

It is simply amazing and dumb founding to me that in matter of five years we have gone from the party that controlled this country to the party that seems to be clueless on what to do. Their is no doubt that we have lost our way, hopefully after this election our Republican leaders will do some soul searching and come with a plan to put this party back together.

 

One of the first things we must fix is the way we communicate our message. We have to do better; the liberal media isn’t going to help us we have to help ourselves. If this election cycle has proven anything it is that it takes more than Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram, Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh to get the Republican message out. The PR staff of the Republican Party has been dismal, and the best example of this is John McCain’s campaign and how they handle both John McCain and Sarah Palin.

 

Republicans did a poor job of using technologies such as the Internet and websites such as Facebook and Myspace to get the message out. One would have thought after the success Mike Huckabee had in this area that those that supposedly have the expertise in this party would have saw this and put a similar plan into action. Unfortunately it is obvious the Republican Party lacks leadership, and finally it is obvious to all us that we must change the leadership. I would recommend that if Mike Huckabee doesn’t plan to run for office again that he should become the new Chairman of the RNC. He has the vision and the communication skills to lead us at the national level.

 

We as a party need to find new leadership; we can’t keep on recycling the same old people, which is what we did with John McCain. We have to have leaders that truly believe in conservative values.  I believe that beginning in the second term of the Bush presidency he tried too much to govern from the center. The biggest example of this was the failed immigration legislation.

 

The most important thing we can do this next election cycle is have leaders that are not the same type of people that we have seen in the last 20 years. That is why people like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee and to a lesser extent Mitt Romney were so appealing. Not only were they new faces on the block, they had a fundamentality conservative message and they could articulate it in a charismatic fashion.

 

This election was not about a referendum on liberalism. This was a continuation of a referendum on Republicans that have failed to act like Republicans. This is not a mandate for Obama to promote his radical socialistic agenda. This election is a mandate to the Republican Party. Quit acting like Democrats. We are not going to keep on sending you back to Washington to spend our hard earn money we already have Democrats for that. Until you get this message and do much better in communicating to all Americans including your conservative base, bring in new leadership, and return to the small government conservative principles especially fiscally, you can expect to lose more elections at every level of government.

Election Reflection

There is no doubt the election of Barack Obama as President is one of thee most historic elections of all time. But truthfully this election was not about Obama or McCain this election was for many Americans about making the Republicans and President Bush pay for the last eight years.

 

The American people have had enough of politics as usual. And I would have to say that Barack made a convincing argument that he will change the way the game is played in Washington. The question is, does he have the backbone and fortitude to do it. To be honest I doubt it, his lack of experience in Washington and in politics in general I feel will allow many people to take advantage of him especially early on in his administration. I fear he is going to owe too many people outside and inside the beltway for his dramatic rise to the top and that he will be forced to promote the agenda’s of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and special interest groups, and we will see business as usual in Washington. I hope the Obama supporters hold him as accountable for his actions as President good or bad as they did for President Bush.

 

The fact of the matter is that with President Bush’s dismal approval rating that the Democrats should have won this election by a landslide in the popular vote as well as the Electoral College, but that wasn’t the case. The reason I believe this is that while the country wanted change they are not completely sold on what Barack is selling. They are unsure if he is going to be the radical liberal that his record suggests or is if he is going to be  the moderate that he promoted.

 

John McCain was flat out the wrong candidate for this race. He was basically what Bob Dole was in 1996, the difference is that if the Republicans actually would have ran better candidate then they likely would have won. John McCain would have been better suited to be the VP candidate for Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee. The Republicans in all aspects of the campaign failed. They failed in campaign management, they failed to articulate a clear message, and they failed to motivate the conservative base that reelected President Bush in 2004.

 

This election is by no means a mandate of the liberal agenda. Even with the liberal bias in the media this election was far from a landslide. This election was about rejecting the Republicans pandering to the middle left. The majority of Americas want smaller government, they want lower taxes, and they want a strong military. The fact is that the Republicans of 2008 are not the Republicans of 1994 and they have paid a price for it. In the next four years I hope that Barack Obama leads this country in a way that makes us stronger at home and abroad. President-elect Obama will either be the next John F. Kennedy or the next Jimmy Carter. Lets hope for the sake of all Americans it’s the more like Kennedy that Carter.

Why you should vote for John McCain, final thoughts.

 

 

 

Every time we have a Presidential Election we are told that this one is the most important one in our lifetime. Is this the case this time around? I don’t know only time will tell. It is without question one of the most historic races because of who is on the tickets. With that said lets not get caught up in all of those implications, lets get caught up in who is the best person to lead this country for the next four years.

 

There is no question that to the lead America you have to have a certain amount of charisma, and you have to be a great communicator. Obama has both those, but the one thing that he lacks is the most important quality to have whether you are a Republican or Democrat and that is that you must be able and ready to lead from day one. Quite frankly the only person that is qualified to do that is John McCain. Obama’s own running mate Joe Biden has alluded to the fact that Obama is not ready.

 

Barack has only held elected office for less than ten years, none of which is in a leadership position. John McCain’s record has shown clearly that he knows how to lead, and that he is not afraid to go against his party, i.e. his position and failed attempt to pass the immigration amnesty bill. John McCain has proven himself to be a capable President from Day 1.

 

Barack has truly shown a lack of understanding of what America is all about. His comments about spreading the wealth to Joe the Plummer, and bitter American’s clinging to their guns and bibles, and the recent release of an audio of Obama saying how he wants to bankrupt the coal industry prove this. Personally I don’t think bankrupting a major industry would be good for the economy, especially trying to do it artificially. Add to that the people he has been linked too. Yes this is a valid subject to bring up, yes this is something to consider, it is just as important as the economy, because when you see who people associate themselves with you begin to understand who they are. And it is quite clear the people he is linked to know matter how you try to justify it, are some of the most radical, Anti-American and racist people ever to be linked to a Presidential Candidate.

 

While being able to give great speeches can be an important way to gain votes in an election, I would hope we would consider something more than how well one speaks at a rally when voting for President. There is no doubt that the last eight years have been some of the most trying in our nations history, from 9/11 to Iraq to the economy, all of this has really put this country behind the eight ball. Most believe rightly or not that George Bush holds all the blame for this. On November 4, 2008 all I ask is you not look at who is the Democrat and who is the Republican on the ticket. Look at the people that are running, is John McCain perfect, no. But does Barack Obama have the background, and experience, and the ability to lead America not only when it comes to the economy, but also when it comes to the military, education, international affairs, immigration, and national security? If God forbid another 9/11 type attack happens, who do you want in office responding, a man with no leadership or military experience. Or a man with a full resume and experience that knows how and is willing to lead our nation from day one. 

 

The fact is if you are willing to vote with your head and not use this vote to “punish” Bush you will vote for John McCain. If you go into the booth saying to yourself I have to vote for Obama because I want change. Ask yourself, how much change and at what cost? If you hesitate on Tuesday to vote for Obama you know what you need to do, vote for John McCain, not because he is a Republican but because he is the best and most qualified candidate running for President.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How low can you go Obama?

I know we have been having this discussion about Obama’s tax plan on the comments sections on my previous blogs, but I want to put this out on the for front for discussion, Obama has now gone from defining middle-class as anyone making over $250,000 and has progressively shrunk that total to now $120,000 as commented by Gov. Bill Richardson of NM. I wonder what it will be after he realizes he can’t afford all of his social programs?

http://politicswest.com/32378/breaking_news_bill_richardson_lowers_obamas_definition_rich_down_120_000