This week we have seen the Media and various Politicos significantly ramp  up their assault on The Tea Party movement.  Among a proliferation of instances, one in particular stands out.  Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, stated on the Young Turks radio show, that the Tea Party Members "are kind of without robes and hoods," which is a veiled comparison to the Ku Klux Klan.  Cohen further stated that "they have shown a very hardcore, angry side of America that is against any type of diversity."

So, Cohen is clumsily trying to compare fiscally Conservative Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians--who have welcomed any and all into their midst--as racists.  But that's not all, Cohen then stated that "we saw opposition to African Americans and hostility towards Gays" and that "we saw opposition to anyone that wasn't a clone of the George Wallace Fan Club."  To which we can only say THANK YOU  for reminding us all of what the Democratic Party is all about...you see, George Wallace was a Democrat.

All of this while a new poll suggests that the Democrats apparently think it "not enough" to simply fall on their own swords.  By denigrating the Tea Party Movement, as both they and the Media have, a new poll that now suggests that 4 of 10 within the Tea Party are either Democrats or Independents while one third of the group classify themselves as Moderate or Liberal.  The Democrats, in fact, are committing Hari-Kari in their disingenuous convolutions.

Decrypting Intended Effects

Meanwhile, US Business is staggering under the onslaught of newly revealed tax expenses resulting from healthcare reform.  These new expenses are a direct result of the tax changes outlined by the new healthcare law.  A company's former ability to write-off their expenses regarding retiree benefits has nearly evaporated as a result of the new law.  Now the Government will starkly increase taxation on a company's efforts to take care of its retiree's medical and healthcare benefits, which will ultimately result in yet more costs being shifted over to the taxpayers.

While those in our Government have so fiercely fought the  ideological fight to brand Companies as "bad" and Government as "good" we can begin to see where they would apparently prefer a taxation smackdown against employers wishing to aid their retirees.  Apparently company benefits which go towards employees damages the Government's efforts at being the sole largess provider of benefits to retirees.  Nevermind the $500 Billion cut in Medicare benefits as a result of the healthcare law.  In fact, the changes that continually seep out into our consciousness as the mysteries of the Healthcare Bill are decrypted create ever more confusion as to the ultimate goal of the law change.

This fairly new phenomena ultimately begs the question why?  If indeed the bill was designed to reduce overall healthcare costs as it was sold--why are we seeing the costs continually increase as a direct result of the bill?  If the described means of the Healthcare Bill were to provide more available care for the people, why would the new rules actually inhibit the ability of a corporation to pay for healthcare, which will finally mean a severe decrease if not halt to corporate benefits due to extreme taxation issues?  Further, whats next?  Through our experiences with the newly outed bill thus far, we can see where we will most likely be left with one of two possible final outcomes as it regards this Bill.

A) The Bill has been ill-designed in such a way that it will unnaturally viral into the market place and produce protracted ill effects in a "stacking effect" finally proving that it was designed by a bevy of Simpletons who had not the faintest idea of what they were doing.

B) The Bill was designed to passive-aggressively drive out any and all marketplace providers of insurance and benefit coverage--whether they be health insurance carrier or corporate benefit sponsor--finally making Government the single payer and rationer of all health benefits.

A Cornucopia of Unemployment, Lost Jobs

But as America continues its efforts at struggling out of an entangled and sticky web of economic problems, we at least have the solace of what promises to be a veritable "Cornucopia" of Green Energy jobs on our horizon?  The President swooped into Charlotte on Friday, April 3rd, in order to promote the expansion of a battery manufacturer and stimulus receiver in Charlotte NC.  Charlotte, a city that in past economic difficulties had been nearly recession proof, has been hit fairly hard in the latest economic bout.  Much of Charlotte's largess had been built upon its banking and financial industries.  The retraction of the Banking Industry as a result of  the financial meltdown left Charlotte feeling the pain in ways that it had not in years.  In fact Charlotte suffers from a jobless rate that is approximately 33% higher than the rest of the nation--at nearly 13%--while the nation's "official" unemployment rate stands at 9.7%.

The object of the President's visit was to tout the jobs and Stimulus Program by promoting a Green Energy manufacturer of parts for lithium-ion batteries which has been approved for Federal stimulus aid.  The company, Celgard, has been located in Charlotte for 25 years.  The $49 million in stimulus proceeds will reportedly allow for an expansion in nearby Concord, NC, with an additional promised 300 employee plant.  Concord, which has also been hard-hit of late, had recently lost a Phillip-Morris Tobacco plant (a long-time fixture in the community--along with being a provider of lucrative tobacco jobs).  Concord is famous for being the venue of Nascar's Lowes Motor Speedway.

The loss of Phillip-Morris, along with a number of textile plant closings, had left the Metrolina Area of North Carolina reeling even before the financial meltdown.  No doubt this particular story could be told of hundreds if not thousands of cities and towns across the US.  The impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, in addition to Draconian tobacco taxation and regulation, as well as International  trade imbalances, has resulted in millions of  textile job losses over the past number of years in North Carolina.

Healthcare Prices Too High?  The Democrats' Answer:  Increase the Costs = Typical

The President had much to say in his Charlotte visit and promotion of the Stimulus.  He reminded us, yet again, that he had inherited an economy which has been at its worst overall since the Great Depression.  The fact that the President's legislative agenda has been so damaging to the economy since he entered office never seems to make it into the President's speeches.  In addition, both the President and Congress fail to ever mention the fact that it was their legislative actions, under the Community Reinvestment Act, that caused the current economic dysphoria in the first place.

The President made a point to emphasize that the economy had added 162,000 jobs this month.  Most experts have stated that this particular increase was due to the Government's hiring of Census Workers for the Summer.  So the economy--via the Government--did add jobs; however, the jobs will be temporary and are Government jobs to boot-- and--will be paid for by taxpayers.

The President went on to state that while paychecks were flatlining various expenses--including healthcare coverage-- were increasing.  Our take on this point would be--you haven't seen anything yet.  The figures that have been touted for future healthcare coverage with regard to the new healthcare law have been estimated in the 15-20% range just for starters.  So we can now begin to  see that the Democrats' main explanation for establishing Healthcare Reform Law is, indeed, bogus.  Costs are guaranteed to go up, as insurers must now include a veritable host of health maladies which are difficult to underwrite for and establish sufficient rates to pay claims while maintaining healthy claims reserves (as required by authorities).

A Liberal's Idea of Job Creating Stimulus:  It Pays Well (Apparently) to Be a Junkie Monkey

The President then stated that Government had been very busy in its efforts to help Business create jobs and touted the Stimulus Plan as being one of the chief job creators.  WE all now know what types of jobs have been created so far by the Stimulus. The following is an actual list, courtesy of the Civitas Institute, of just a few of the Stimulus Jobs created here in North Carolina:

1. Study of Monkeys using Cocaine $ 71,623.00

This particular job creating study was of rare importance for the individuals in Mexico who, perhaps, illegally traffic cocaine our way.  Not to mention the monkeys who are, indeed, integral in our economy for reasons as yet unknown.

2. North Carolina Dance Theater $ 50,000

This was to retain 4 professional dancers for North Carolina Dance Theatre's Second Company.  We wonder if perhaps the RNC was involved in this decision.

3. Reducing Hot Flashes through Yoga $ 147,694

This one, in particular, should be bifurcated into the "Green Energy Program."  The heat energy which is produced by menopausal Women could, most likely, power  small cities all over the country, which could greatly reduce our dependence upon foreign oil.

4. Collecting, researching, and reporting on the stimulus act $ 492,940

Perhaps we at Conservative Refocus should submit an invoice for our contribution...yet it is interesting to note that Bureaucracy seems to get the lion's share, so far.

5. Create Interactive Dance Performance Technology $ 762,372

Dance, again?  The one thing that's lacking in our economy--no doubt--the ability to interactively dance...with technology.  They should try this one in conjunction with the cocaine monkeys.

6. American Dance Festival Inc. $ 50,000

North Carolina-- "Let's dance!" (Since we have lost most of our factories and many jobs...)

7. Construction of New Town Hall in Bladenboro $ 300,000

This one item should actually produce jobs, as well as providing North Carolinians a place to dance, interactively, with Simian Cokeheads while performing Yoga to reduce hotflashes.

8. Preservation of an insect collection at NC State $ 253,123

Insects need jobs, too?  We are unsure as to exactly why bugs need preservation when a substantial portion of our economy is dedicated to exterminating them, but there we are.

The President then went on to talk about how taxes have been cut--which rings hollow when looking at the increases we are facing--nevermind the fact that we haven't the foggiest notion where taxes actually have been cut.  Obama also indicated that Government has promoted growth within the private sector (maybe for debt collectors would be our   response).  Nearly all of the growth has been in the public or Government sector which must be paid for by Taxpayers.  The President then stated that, on our current trajectory, companies like battery manufacturer Celgard, would be producing nearly 40% of the worlds lithium-Ion Batteries (on our current trajectory that might be all that we producing in any significance).  The President finalized with a question and answer session with audience members.

Condensing The President's Evaporative Ideas

In one question, a lady asked the President if he thought it was wise to be raising taxes in conjunction with healthcare  since The People were already over-taxed as it is?   The President then went on a long verbal sojourn in an effort to try to explain why the new healthcare law would be better, but ended with the following quote:

"But let me give you an example.  If you’ve got a house and you’ve got a big hole in your roof, and it’s raining and snowing through that roof and there are some people who are inside the rooms where the roof is okay and they’re nice and warm, and then you got a few -- your family members in that room where there’s a big hole in the roof and they’re shivering, and they’re cold -- if you repair the roof, that’s going to cost some money.  But if all the water damage from your floors and all the heat that’s going out of the roof, you count all those savings, over time it may turn out that it actually is saving you money and, by the way, all those family members now are warm, too.  You’re not the only one who’s warm, right?  That’s essentially what we’re trying to set up."

The above is not at all an accurate analogy for what the President and Legislators have done with Healthcare.  In fact, we can take this same house  in comparing it to our Healthcare, which--except for the hole in the roof--functions quite aptly:

The President and Legislators have actually torn down the entire house which is our healthcare system and now intend to rebuild it simply due to a hole in the roof.

It will be "interesting" to see what the final structure looks like.

Barry Secrest