BloggeRhythms

Yesterday, the administration took a major shellacking as three items in the news reflect huge problems affecting the nation, and most likely millions of displeased voters. 

Rudy Takala @washingtonexaminer.com, wrote about IRS Commissioner John Koskinen’s testimony delivered to a panel of the House Appropriations Committee.     

Koskinen  said, “Both cybersecurity and customer service at the Internal Revenue Service have suffered because of Obamacare. Congress, as I noted in my testimony, has underfunded … the Affordable Care Act. That does not remove the statutory mandate we have that we have to implement the act." 

He explained further that, it didn't matter where Congress intended the money to go, whereas the agency had to pull funding from customer service and cybersecurity in order to ensure compliance with the ACA. 

Therefore, a reasonable assumption can be made that two issues will surely resonate with voters who’ve been negatively affected by the agency’s funding shortfall, as follows:  

“More than eight million phone calls to the agency's customer service line went unanswered in the last filing season. Koskinen added that the agency hasn't fully funded customer service for the last "three or four years," and that about $900 million had been pulled from cybersecurity. 

“The agency has been hit with at least two successful cyberattacks in the past year. A cyberattack last year resulted in the theft of data on 330,000 taxpayers from the agency's "Get Transcript" database, while an attack last week resulted in the loss of special personal identification numbers associated with 101,000.” 

At the same time, while the IRS, among many other government agency’s, struggles under major financial problems compounded by gross mismanagement, John W. Schoen @cnbc.com tracked a series of economic and market data over the last eight recessions since 1960, to see how this “recovery” compares. 

According to Mr. Schoen, “By just about every measure, the current expansion has been the weakest of the eight. 

“One of the main reasons has been the relatively sluggish pace of spending and investment — by consumers, government and businesses — since the Great Recession began in December 2007. Consumer spending has recovered far more slowly than past recoveries. And despite a massive stimulus program in 2010, government spending at all levels is actually lower than when the Great Recession hit.” 

However, what Mr. Schoen didn’t mention were the causes of the nation’s economic weakness which begins with governmental anti-business policy, compounded by over-regulation and fiscal and tax mismanagement. Which in turns stifles growth, reduces income and therefore, significantly increases national debt. 

In the same vein, even Marco Rubio was able to grasp a growing problem caused by government short-sightedness.  

Charlie Spiering @breitbart.com, reports that: “During a town hall in Okatie, S.C., Rubio warned that the Department of Labor was too big, too powerful, and turned into “anti-business agency” that hurt the private sector” 

Rubio said: “You joke about robots, let me tell you what all these rules are going to do, they’re going to accelerate the pace of automation,” referring to the increased amount of job losses through automated machines. 

“Maybe you can’t do that in a management position … but maybe you can,” he warned. “The more expensive you make people, the faster they’re going to move to a machine or outsourcing. It’s just going to happen.” 

Rubio then criticized President Obama’s Labor Secretary Thomas Perez as “basically a representative of labor unions masquerading as the head of the Department of Labor” arguing that it had become “the worst it has ever been.” He pointed out that it was part of Obama’s “systematic effort” to make the government be in charge of running the economy — including health care and education. 

And then, in what is truly an astounding illustration of the naiveté and economic blindness of typical liberals, Jessica Tarlov @FoxNews.com, wrote an article today that’s far beyond ridiculous. Setting the stage for today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife. 

Tarlov writes: “After her loss in New Hampshire where Sanders beat her 95-5 in honesty and trustworthiness according to exit polls, Clinton is going to be tested as to whether she has “we” in her. 

“Why? 

“Because voters want to be part of something -- not just led by the most competent, experienced technocrat.  

Then, after opining that: “This has been holding her back, not that she isn’t qualified to be president or that she isn’t what America needs, Tarlov adds: “For what it’s worth, I think she is the most qualified and exactly what America needs.” 

“Clinton isn’t making voters – or enough voters – enthusiastic about being part of her vision for the future of America.” 

Therefore, what Tarlov’s done is to not only endorse a candidate (Clinton) who’s lost to Sanders 95-5 in honesty and trustworthiness, but admittedly also isn’t the most competent, experienced technocrat. Or, in other words, has absolutely nothing going for her aside from misguided party followers blindly paying allegiance to her. 

And then, despite the ongoing evidence of massive failure in all aspects of governance, as mentioned in today’s first three items, Stephen Collinson, @cnn.com reports about Bill’s wife further tying herself to the POTUS and his administration. 

According to Mr. Collinson: “Clinton accused her rival of not standing with Obama after he endorsed a book by CNN contributor Bill Press critical of the president. She said Sanders had called Obama "weak" and a "disappointment" in the past and she warned "the kind of criticism that we heard from Sen. Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans. I do not expect (it) from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama." 

Thus, if her misuse of her personal server, and pending FBI ramifications, along with questionable activities of the family foundation, aren’t enough to try to squirm out from under, she’s binding herself to massive presidential failure, as well. 

Which leads to the question that grows daily in importance to leading Democrats and Independents: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this?   

  

That’s it for today folks.  

     

Adios