"The 2014 Election Has Begun" by Oliver DeMille

Published: Wed, 03/06/13

Social Leader Weekly


The 2014 Election Has Begun
 
by Oliver DeMille
 
 
The Obama Administration was frustrated by the sequester because it reduced planned government spending. But the real concern was that the President finally lost something to House Republicans. Up to this point, the Administration had used fiscal crisis to win every major battle in the last four years.

Now, in the aftermath of losing something, the Administration is sending out federal officials to 100 U.S. cities to train local officials on how to get and use federal funds that are going unspent.

The White House seems to believe in spending as the top solution to nearly all our economic and social ills. As a result, it seems to think that governments at every level need to use up everything allotted to them, not scrimp and save.

In the process, the Obama Administration is also building a network of officials spending additional money, which will help it tell voters to elect Democrats if they want to keep these programs.

Ultimately, the Obama Administration wants to increase government spending, at truly unprecedented levels, and it knows it can only do this as much as it desires if it controls both houses of Congress along with the White House. The top goal of the West Wing seems to be getting back the House in 2014.

But it is the American people who are suffering because of this spending bonanza. The national debt is now over $16.5 trillion, which amounts to over $51,000 for each man, woman and child in the United States. In other words, if you have a family of 5, you basically owe $255,000 today to the government. Add this to your list of savings, assets and debts, and most families aren't doing so well.

This weight of debt is real, holding down the economy and keeping households from getting ahead.

After the White House got the biggest tax raise in twenty years in the fiscal cliff vote, personal income for Americans was down 3.6% in January, the largest monthly decrease in twenty years!

And a number of companies just announced a new round of layoffs, including 17,000 jobs lost at JP Morgan Chase, 3,000 jobs from Dish Network, 5,400 jobs from American Express, 3,000 jobs from United Technologies, and many others.

While the people suffer, the Executive branch keeps pushing for more government spending, which will require more debt, higher taxes, and increased inflation.

What is the White House thinking? Why doesn't it incentivize the economy so we see more jobs and less debt?

There are two answers. First, it appears this administration actually believes that bigger government is the best thing for the nation.

Second, it seems the President's major focus right now isn't the economy but rather winning the House back in the 2014 election so Washington can adopt FDR-style leaps in growing government.

As The Washington Post reported, the first phone call President Obama made after leaving the platform on election night was a call to Steve Israel to commit to taking back the House in 2014. The second call was to tell Nancy Pelosi the same thing.

Really? Not jobs? Not the economy? Not debt? Not inflation? Not oil prices?

In all of this, however, the 2014 election will most likely hinge on what Republicans in the House do in the next sixteen months.

If they take a stand against government spending, force the government to shut down non-essential programs until Congress gets a balanced budget, and in general show the American people they really do want to fix the economy, they will win even more support in 2014.

If not, if they continue to waffle on nearly everything and let the President keep winning proposals to increase government spending, they may well lose the House in the next election.

 
 
Share this newsletter:
FacebookTwitter More... 
 
 
 
***************
 
Insider Scoop:
 
LeaderShift is now available for presale!
 
Oliver DeMille has teamed with entrepreneur and leadership guru Orrin Woodward to author an upcoming book - and you're among the very first to hear about it!
 
The manuscript was picked up in Spring of 2012 by top publishing house Grand Central Publishing (an imprint of Hachette, the second largest publisher in the world), who fast-tracked it to release less than 1 year later on 4/16/13.
 
LeaderShift is a business parable about elite executive David Mercer, who's become a successful turnaround specialist for failing corporations by applying his understanding of The Five Laws of Decline.
 
He's met his goals in life, and now sees that the freedom and opportunity that afforded him success will largely be unavailable to his loved ones of the rising generations. So he starts to apply his gifts to now determine how to effect a "turnaround" for the declining United States.
 
Mercer assembles a team of colleagues and gets some help from a surprising source.
 
The dialectical discussion and principles that are bandied about in the fictional narrative are hopefully going to become a part of the national dialogue.
 
It's really quite a departure from Oliver's non-fiction style, although the flavor will be familiar. The publisher is thrilled about the book, and they will launch on 4/16/13.
 
 
*******************
 
Oliver DeMille is the co-founder of the Center for Social Leadership, and a co-creator of TJEd.
 
 
Oliver is dedicated to promoting freedom through leadership education.
 
He and his wife Rachel are raising their eight children in Cedar City, Utah.  


RECENT BLOG ARTICLES

The Middle Class Squeeze, Part I by Orrin Woodward

The Middle Class Squeeze Part II by Orrin Woodward

The Study of Liberal Arts: A Search for Self by Shanon Brooks


FEATURED PRODUCTS

1913 by Oliver DeMille

 
Price: $19.95
Uncommon Sense: A Common Citizen's Guide to Rebuilding America by Stephen Palmer

Price: $14.95
The Coming Aristocracy by Oliver DeMille

Price: $12.95