"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." - President Ronald Reagan
Yes, it was a crazy Tuesday and it ain't over yet!
We hear that the finance ministers are looking for "a way out". Unfortunately, there is no "way out" for a continent that has been living a fantasy for 50 years.
This is Europe today:
1) Very lw birth rates, i.e. No babies. Who in the world is going to work and pay the taxes? How many "guest workers" can these countries import?
2) Taxes are to high. Frankly, "the rich" don't live there anymore to pay them. The "rich" have put all of their money in "tax havens" to avoid the crushing tax rates imposed by the welfare state.
Last, but not least, no one has the political courage to tell people to stop relying on government for "the cradle to grave" support that so many have grown to expect.
I don't know where all of this will end up but it won't be a funny ending like in the aforementioned movie.
Click here for our discussion with Dr Ileana Johnson-Paugh about the European crisis:
How did this happen? How did a crowd of "students" attack an embassy and literally destroy property?
The answer is simple. It did not happen without the consent of the leadership. Iran is the kind of country where "mobs" are sponsored and directed by the state.
"(1) Spontaneity in Iran is pre-planned; it comes from the top. This was no rogue action.
(2) Iranians may pooh-pooh sanctions rhetorically, but they certainly act as if they have an effect. Perhaps it’s time to take sanctions to the next level."
We learned again today that Iran is a state without regard for international law, or something as simple as protecting diplomatic outposts. Let's hope that the Obama administration will stand with the UK!
Wonder if Pres BO agrees with candidate BO who wanted to sit down unconditionally with these leaders? Wonder if anyone in the media will ask him that question? Check out our Tuesday show with Dr Ileana Johnson-Paugh:
Tags:Iran and the 2011 UK Embassy incident To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
Some of us are old enough to remember 1979-80, or that terrible 12-month period that led to the collapse of the Carter presidency.
Starting in November '79, or the Iranian hostage crisis, the Carter presidency was hit by a streak of bad "foreign" news.
Again, it started with the embassy takeover and Pres Carter's total ineptitude in allowing a foreign government to hold your diplomats hostage.
It was quickly followed by the USSR invasion of Afghanistan. It was another clear sign that nobody respected Pres. Carter, specially our enemies.
In 1980, we had the Mariel boat lift when the US allowed 100,000 Cubans to land in Florida's coasts. Again, there were no consequences on Castro's Cuba. How do you allow a neighbor to do that without consequences?
And so on! It was a year of bad foreign policy news.
It was also a year that no one felt that the US had a president willing to stand for anything, including the protection of its diplomats at the hands of "thugs" referred to as "students"!
Yes, the 1980 election was a lot about the US economy. However, it was also about the perception that Pres Carter was weak and indecisive.
Today, we face a rather amazing set of circumstances. From Syria to Egypt to Pakistan to an Israeli attack on Iran, we live in a world desperately yearning for an American president who will lead rather than read from a teleprompter.
Today, we have a president who is desperate to be "loved" but nobody respects him.
Add to the Middle East the financial crisis in Europe! We are watching European governments argue with each other and looking for the US, or the leader of the free world, to lead.
Instead, the world watches Pres BO sitting in the sidelines and hoping that the voters will buy his latest "class warfare" speech.
"He has become by any measure an embarrassing irrelevance to the tragedy unfolding across the Atlantic, one that will have major repercussions for the US economy for many years to come."
Here is the bottom line: We are headed into a very scary period and everybody knows it.
Furthermore, everybody also knows that the guy in the White House isn't fit for the job. He was great at giving speeches and telling everybody what they wanted to hear. What we need today is a man who makes decisions and defends US interests.
Click here for our discussion with Barry Casselman:
Tags:Iran, Pakistan, Europe, foreign problems, Libya, Syria and Egypt To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
"Despite intense and sustained efforts to woo the Arab world with money and nice words, a newly released survey of the region finds that President Obama is at the bottom of a list Arabs admire most.
Obama is admired by just 4 percent of Middle East Arabs in the new survey released by the Brookings Institution and University of Maryland."
Of course, I've never cared that much about "popularity polls". The US presidency is about leadership and defending US interests. Who cares about "being popular"? I've rather have our president respected and feared in some corners.
Nevertheless, candidate BO made a big deal about "being popular" around the world.
I guess that Pres BO's efforts to be popular are not working in the Middle East. (They are not working in the US either but that's for another post)
Check out our conversation with Bill Katz on Sunday night:
David discussed the importance of planning and coming up with realistic goals for 2012. He also mentioned that your business goals must be written down (accountability) and shared with your spouse (accountability again).
"There’s no doubt that Rajoy has a clear mandate to govern.
After yesterday’s big win, his party holds the biggest concentration of power ever in democratic-era Spain:
it won at the national level, and following the regional and local elections in May of this year, it also governs 14 out of 17 regions, as well as all the big cities but a handful.
So it’s clear that he’s got what is needed to start applying his program without any allies, but will he want to? Should he?
There’s an almost overwhelming challenge ahead for Spain’s prime minister-elect in order to put the number one 1 priority above anything else — the country’s economy — back on track: restore market confidence and enact the sorely needed reforms to turn a sclerotic system with little flexibility and low productivity into a much more open, agile, and transparent economy that starts growing again and is able to create employment.
There have been lots of missed opportunities and broken promises in the last few years, and now is the moment when decisive action is needed, including very painful measures.
Right now. And it’s unclear whether Rajoy (who wasn’t too specific during the campaign, presumably in order not to scare voters as David Cameron did in the UK when he started detailing his policies) or anyone else in his position will be able to pull it off.
Rajoy seems to be very aware of this, and in his victory speech on election night told his supporters: “Don’t expect any miracles; I didn’t promise any.”
But the biggest priority is going ahead with the reforms while minimizing the chances of generating widespread protests on the streets in order to prevent a worrisome situation from descending directly into chaos, which certainly wouldn’t help the country regain stability.
For that reason, it’s vital to prevent the usual temptation of Spanish Socialists to ride the wave of discontent by supporting, even encouraging, any protest movement against their rivals (many of you will probably remember what happened with the Prestige oil spill or the Iraq war).
That’s why, even if the PP has the mandate to act on its own, there’s still a chance Rajoy could coax his opponents by handing one or two cabinet seats to the Socialist party, and even one to the moderate Catalan nationalists.
This would at least deactivate the opposition, build a bigger support for the unavoidable measures that need to be taken, and reduce the chance of the PP’s rivals trying to exploit the presumable backlash that these measures will bring to their favor.
Plus, the rumors were flying in Spain the week before the election that there might be an unofficial request for an agreed “stealth rescue” by the EU, the BCE and the FMI.
The next few days are going to be extraordinarily important. According to Spanish election law, under normal circumstances it would still take one full month from today to complete the transfer of power: once the new parliament is inaugurated, it votes in the new prime minister, and he and his cabinet members are sworn in.
There’s a growing chorus, even among the left, that given that the country is in a state of emergency, and that the PP majority grants Rajoy the nomination with no possible alternatives, the process should be sped up.
That would reduce the “interregnum” and allow Rajoy to start sending a signal to the world and the financial markets that things have changed in the country.
Let’s hope it’s not too late."
Yes, let's hope it's not too late.
Spain faces huge challenges. At the same time, the new Spanish leadership understands the severity of the situation.
It will take time but Spain has the right people at the helm.
It won't be easy. In fact, things may get worse before they get better.
Nevertheless, I'm optimistic and it's not just wishful thinking because my "side" won the election.
Tags:The Spanish election November 2011 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
Let me speak of Leadership by quoting a great Democrat president named Harry Truman. He came into the presidency with Pres FDR died in '45 and set the table for US foreign policy for 50 years. He was also famous for "the buck stops here", a reference to the fact that the president is the decision maker. He said this about leadership:
" Men make history and not the other way around.
In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still.
Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. " (Quotes)
Isn't a shame that BO spent 20 years of his life listening to Rev Wright rather reading about the Truman presidency?
Yes, the "super committee" did not the get the job done.
Is any surprised?
Did George Washington create a committee to cross the Delaware? did Lincoln form a committee to keep this nation together? did Bush create a committee to defend the country after 9-11?
These men led and took political risks. We have a presidency in our Constitution for difficult times like these. We need a decision maker and we don't have one.
Yesterday, the "super committee" failed to make the cuts or revise the tax code.
It failed because Pres Obama did not lead the process and put something on the table. He should have gone to the country with a "plan" not a speech. He should put ideas on the table that both sides needed to contemplate. He should have forced the Dems to make entitlement reforms. He should have forced the GOP to make some concessions.
AT the end of the day, Pres BO decided to do nothing and the net result was predictable. Read the Truman quote again!
In any organization, the top man has to lead and bring people together.
In our country, Pres BO is just giving speeches and blaming everybody else.
Do you understand now why so many people, specially Dems, are growing more and more unhappy with the man who reads from the teleprompter.
B the way, did I tell you that our 3rd quarter GDP was revised downward to 2%? Is anyone surprised that people are scared to make decisions and grow their business? or hire people? or invest in expansion?
Tags:Pres Obama is failing and failing bad To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
On Monday, we learned that Chris Matthews of MSNBC released a little frustration with Pres BO. Of course, Matthews is one of many who just went in the tank for candidate BO in 2008!
Just recently, Matthews complained that Pres BO does not talk with Dems in Congress and a few other things. (You can read about it)
Frankly, I lost respect for Matthews in '08 when he jumped in the tank for Obama. I don't take him too seriously but it's interesting to read what he said. He may be speaking for a few Dems! He may be saying publicly what a lot of them are complaining about in private.
Unlike Matthews, who makes a fool out of himself carrying Obama's water every night at MSNBC, Caddell & Schoen are first rate Dem pollsters who give it to you straight.
On Monday, Caddell & Schoen called on Pres BO to step aside and let Hillary Clinton run for president in '12. The argument goes like this:
"He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president's accomplishments.
He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."
They base their arguments on the polling data and the Obama reelection strategy. They see Pres BO in trouble with independents (the key bloc) and running a very negative campaign because he can't run on his record.
I understand where Caddell & Schoen are going with this but Hillary Clinton is not the answer.
I think that the Dems would be better off moving in a different direction, such as former Sen Bayh of Indiana or Sen Mangin of West Virginia.
Why these two? They are more moderate and will appeal to a broader base than Hillary Clinton.
How is Hillary Clinton going to run against Pres BO anyway? Hasn't she supported Pres BO's policies?
We've come a long way from that night in Chicago when people cried at the election of Obama....or that summer day when Germans treated BO like a rock star.....or when candidate BO told millions what they wanted to hear.
Yes, we've come a long way! Wonder how many Dems wish that they could go back and redo their votes? My guess is that many or at least enough to have nominated Hillary Clinton.
Check out my interview with Barry Cassellman about all of this and some of the latest happening in the GOP contest:
Tags:The presidential campaign 2012 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
As we have posted before, we have very little regard for PM Rodriguez-Zapatero.
Unfortunately, voters can be fickle. In the spring of 2004, the voters of Spain fell for one of the biggest "frauds" to ever appear in a democratic system.
As you may remember, the Socialists were behind in the polls. Every pundit had the conservatives winning the election.
On March 11 2004, we witnessed a horrible terrorist act in Madrid.
To be expected, Rod-Zapatero and the Spanish left used this tragedy to attack PM Aznar's decision to support Pres Bush and PM Blair in Iraq.
Rod-Zap promised to remove the troops. He won a close election and the troops were withdrawn.
It was a victory for the terrorists who demonstrated that weak democratic leaders could be broken.
What happened?
First, Spain left Iraq but the terrorists stayed in Spain.
Second, PM Rod-Zap started a massive "hope and change" tour that has taken the country to the brink of economic disaster.
It ended Sunday night. We congratulate the people of Spain.
Of course, it will take a bit of time to undo Rod-Zap's misery. In fact, things may get worse in Spain before they get better.
Nevertheless, it will be easier without Rod-Zap, one of the most disgraceful people ever to come out of the international left.
Check out our Sunday night show with Bill Katz of Urgent Agenda PLUS a special call from Javier Hurtado Mira fron Spain:
Tags:The Spanish election of November 2011 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
It's so exciting! I've been whistling that wonderful "paso doble" melody all day long.
It's one of my favorite Spanish tunes. I guess that it's up there with "El Relicario" and "Virgen de la Macarena". I love the traditional Spanish melodies.
I've just checked EL PAIS's website and the conservatives are doing just great in Spain.
Let me congratulate the voters of Spain. As of mid-Sunday, it looks like they are rejecting the socialists in style.
In many ways, I've had a special place in my heart for Spain.
I was born in Cuba and raised in the US.
I am a very proud Cuban American and admire the great contributions that we have made to the US. We are one of the greatest success stories in US immigration history. Our parents lost everything in Cuba, started with nothing and achieved wonderful levels in the US.
Yes, I love my Cuban American heritage and the sacrifice that our parents made standing up for freedom and starting a new life in the US.
At the same time, I am the grandson of a man from Asturias who moved to Cuba in the 1920's. My mother and father are the descendants of all of those wonderful Spanish immigrants who seeded Cuba.
Spain has changed a lot since my grandfather (Abuelo Pedro) and other ancestors moved to Cuba many years ago. However, their influence is all over those of us who carry their names. They taught us about honesty, hard work, devotion to family and to reject the "something for nothing" philosophy of socialist demagogues.
As I said, I've been whistling Spanish music all day. I feel good about Spain today.
Tags:The elections in Spain 2011 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
We spoke with Jose M Guardia of BarcePundit about the elections in Spain. It looks like the left will have a very long day at the polls.
Spain's problems are economic and the voters are bent on punishing the left.
This is Jose's summary:
"In Spain, dissatisfaction with the state of affairs runs so deep that the Socialists are poised to lose even here in the southern region of Andalusia, where the party has enjoyed a stranglehold on politics since democracy was restored in Spain in 1975.
But a win for the Popular Party, or PP, could prove a poisoned chalice.
It would inherit a nation beset by an unemployment rate of more than 20%, a shaky banking system and growing doubt by global investors about Madrid's ability to pay its debts and make the painful reforms required to get the economy back on track."
Jose is right. The Partido Popular must be bold and offer a clear plan as soon as possible.
No one has the answer for all of Spain's problems. However, we do know that socialism does not work as Spain's voters have learned over the last few years.
Again, I hope that Partido Popular is bold and calls for real change.
Tags:It looks like an important shakeup is coming in Spain todayTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
We spoke with Patrick Corcoran of "El Gancho" about some recent developments in Mexico.
First, Mexico is dealing with the terrible tragedy that took the life of Secretary of Governacion Blake-Mora. This is the second time in 3 years that the second most powerful man in Mexico has been killed in an accident. (Sec Murillo was killed in 2008 when his plane crashed landing in Mexico City)
As Patrick indicated, everything points to an accident. It appears that the helicopter ran into some heavy clouds and crashed around Mexico City.
Of course, it is natural that some people subscribe to "a conspiracy theory" because of the importance that the Sec of Gobernacion has in the Mexican government.
We also discussed the elections in Michoacan. The PAN candidate, who is Pres Calderon's sister, accused the PRI of making a deal with the drug cartel. It's hard to tell whether this is just partisan talk or a real problem. Nevertheless, we do expect that PAN will run in 2012 saying that the PRI wants to negotiate a "deal" with the cartels.
Finally, we discussed the return of Lopez-Obrador to the national scene. He will be the PRD candidate although no one expects him to get more than 25% of the vote. It's hard to believe that the PRD could not come up with a better candidate. I think that most of us agree that LO really "devalued" himself with that extremely childish performance following the 2006 elections.
We just learned that another wealthy Democrat got a big federal loan guarantee. I guess that this is "hope and change", the Obama version!
Yes, Robert F Kennedy, Jr, the nephew of the late president and part of a very wealthy family, got a big loan guarantee:
"......a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official."
This is shocking for several reasons.
First, why didn't Kennedy risk his own money? Why didn't he go to the family trust and get a loan from that?
Second, why are so many rich Democrats getting "loan guarantees" from the Obama administration?
We know now that"....80 percent of all $20.5 billion in Department of Energy loans went to President Obama’s top donors.
Furthermore, some of those dwarf in size those given to Obama bundler George Kaiser, owner of the now defunct Solyndra.
The list—which features the likes of Google owners Larry Page and Sergey Brinn, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ted Turner, John Doerr, and Al Gore—raises new questions about the procedures used to administer the now-controversial DOE loans." (Hall)
We got more: Obama’s Half-Billion-Dollar Crony Drug Deal This is obscene. This is another example of "Chicago politics" or the crony capitalism that Obama learned as a Dem politician in that very corrupt city.
Third, and very important, these companies are losing money. They can't get loans from private banks or venture capitalists.
Stay tuned. I think that we just unwrapping one of the worst examples of presidential corruption in US history.
By the way, how is that "hope and change" working out? It's working really good for millionaire Dems who want to get richer on taxpayer money.
Tags:Rich Democrats and federal loan guarantees To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
As expected, the "in the tank for Obama NY Times" published an article attacking Mitt Romney's business career.
Here is an example of the article:
"From 1984 to 1999, Romney and his deputies made fortunes by investing in, acquiring and then selling about 150 companies.
It was high-stakes work that shaped Romney's values and views, taught him the art of salesmanship and negotiation and took him deep inside the boardrooms and factories of U.S. business." (NYTimes)
Why has The NY Times suddenly discovered that Mitt Romney was a successful businessman who made millions honestly?
Secondly, he was a millionaire who did not "bundle" money for Obama's campaign.
As we've learned in Solyndra, and others, Obama loves millionaires as long as they are contributing to his campaign.
Obama also takes care of his "money bundlers" with federal loan guarantees and other contracts. Ed Morrissey has a good summary of some of the post-Solyndra stories:
"Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world’s richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor."
Is The NY Times covering that Solyndra story?
We spoke about this with Mike Sage, radio host and Romney supporter, and Frank Burke, businessman and contributor to American Thinker, about this story:
We got more and more evidence that this is not 2008:
"Across this state — and in others where young voters were the fuel of the Obama organization, voting for him two to one over John McCain — the enthusiastic engine of the 2008 campaign has run up against the reality of a deadened job market for college students." (NYTimes)
Moral of the story: Be careful with the guy who tells you what you want to hear.....he will likely disappoint you.
Beyond the bleak jobs picture, I think that a lot of young people voted for candidate BO because they really thought that he was different.
Unfortunately for them, and not surprising for those of us who were very skeptical of "hope and change", Pres BO has turned out to be a rather cynical politician.
In fact, he has taken 'crony capitalism" to a new level, such as we see with Solyndra and all of the other federal loan guarantees that "coincidentally" went to his big campaign contributors.
Obama got his political training in Chicago, one of the most corrupt cities in the country. Obama was given a "free pass" on so much of his past, including the relationship with the very racist Rev Wright. Obama was also allowed by the media to make outrageous promises, such as closing GITMO.
It took a while but the young people are starting to get it.
"HOPE and CHANGE" was and continues to be a FRAUD!
Last, but not least, let me remind you that I voted for McCain, or the only candidate in 2008 who did not tell people what they wanted to hear.
Tags:Young people and Pres ObamaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
We learned today that Pres BO is not getting help from Russia & China over Iran:
"Searching for help, President Barack Obama lobbied the skeptical leaders of Russia and China on Saturday for support in keeping Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed menace to the world, hoping to yield a "common response" to a crisis that is testing international unity.
Yet Obama's talk of solidarity with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao was not publicly echoed by either man as Iran moved anew to the fore of the international stage -- and to the front of the fierce U.S. presidential race." (Fox)
Wonder how all those "yes we can" screamers feel about this? We were told that Pres Obama's personality would change everything and bring everyone together in a new peaceful world.
I guess not! The Russians and Chinese are still the same countries that refused to work with Pres Bush.
So we elected Obama and the world is still the same world......hope is now just a lot of hype!
Tags:Iran and the US is not getting any cooperation from Russia and China To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
It won't be long before we hear that wonderful story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the 3 Christmas ghosts, or "the spirits" as Dickens refers to them!
Are you paying attention? We are all watching the ghost of "Obama Future" in Europe.
This is what the US will look like if we subscribe to "hope and change" and irrational "yes we can-isms"!
What's the ghost telling us? He is warning us about the charlatan who preaches "hope and change"! He is also telling us to put the country in another direction or the US will look like Europe.
First, we can't bail out Europe. We don't have the money to do it. Worse than that, we don't have the political leadership to do a thing about it.
Reality 101: Pres BO looks as weak on the international stage as he does here! Pres BO can't tell the Europeans to tighten their belts when he is running budget deficits of 10% of GDP! (We remind you that Pres Bush never had a deficit in excess of 3% in his two terms)
Yes, Obama's economic approach is just as unsustainable as what we are watching over there.
Second, and more important, you can't help an addict by giving him more of what he is addicted to.
We are watching the end of the welfare state, or the "something for nothing" lifestyle that the Europeans have enjoyed since the end of World War II.
I should add that the Europeans enjoyed this lifestyle because they didn't have to defend themselves. On the contrary, they were protected from the old Soviet Union by US tanks in Germany and from nuclear missiles by the radars of the US Mediterranean Fleet.
Where are we today? Greece is a mess. Italy is a bigger mess. It won't be long before other countries join the mess.
In the medium, and long term, the answer lies in bringing the Europeans back to earth. You can't have a future if everyone is working for the government, taking 6-week vacations and, yes, not having babies.
"An aging and shrinking population is a symptom, but not a leading cause, of the eurosclerosis.
A fifth of Italy's 60 million people are 65 or older and make increasingly expensive claims on state-paid pensions and other benefits.....
Italian women have on average 1.2 children, putting the country's birth rate at 207th out of 221 countries."
It just doesn't add up and reality is finally having the last word.
Here is the bad news: It's too late for Europe to change! I'm saddened to tell you that Europe is due for some very difficult times. We will likely see huge social unrest over there.
Here is he good news: We can still listen to "the ghost of the future" and change! We still have time to restore the American way and reject the "Obama-Euro-welfare state" approach failing miserably over there.
Tags:Italy, Greece and the mess over there To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
