The recent release of the unemployment numbers indicate a very unsettling trend in our nations future for an economic recovery. In spite of the numbers showing a .2% decline in unemployment, the real disturbing numbers were the number of permanent jobs lost that are never to be recovered and the number of people who have simply given up on ever finding work.

There reasons for such miserable numbers recently cited by the L.A. Times include the following:

• Slump in retail sales and no plans for any expansion. Unemployed people simply can’t purchase things.
• Uncertainty on tax increases when the Bush tax cuts expire, increased government regulations on the financial sector, and uncertainty on energy costs as the Cap and Trade bill looms in Congress.
• Inability to obtain capital from previously available sources as well as uncertainty in the effect of the Financial Regulations being placed on our Banks and lenders.

Small business accounts for more than 70% of our workforce. In spite of incentives for new start up businesses, the growth rate among this group is near zero. Fewer and fewer people are willing to overcome the mountains of regulations, unwillingness to invest capital during uncertainty in the global economy, and uncertainty in taxation due to mounting government deficits. Add to the mix, the costs associated with the new Obamacare are directly impacting the bottom line of every small business and few are willing to venture into a new startup with requirements to provide healthcare benefits from day one, face the prospects of fines if they don’t, and have needed capital to overcome that 3 year window of uncertainty in which over 70% of the failures occur.

Let’s also add to the mix the increases in government jobs at every level of local, state, and Federal government. Those are additional taxes needed to pay the salaries and benefits of newly hired government employees. At the time when government deficits on every level are climbing due to losses of previously stable tax revenue, government still insists on creating jobs with the Stimulus dollars with “use it of lose it” rules. Instead of using those dollars to temporarily fund the deficits, new government jobs are created and more debt is incurred.

These state and local governments are also facing budget shortfalls that has resulted in the loss of many teachers, policemen, and firefighters. Yet, due to the rules of the Stimulus money, few of those funds are being used to save those jobs. The talk of tax increases to maintain these lost jobs are receiving push back from those citizens who understand they are being squeezed so much now in taxes, that there is nothing left to pay higher taxes with. Countless small businesses too, are feeling the burden of increased local government taxation needed to keep their budgets balanced.

We are in a death spiral of government debt, excessive regulation, and more mandates from the Federal government. Washington has failed to “get it”. The solutions are simple and lead down one path alone and Mike believes that until that uncertainty is removed, we will not see our economy recover. His plan is simple:

• Enact the FairTax. Removing the burden of Income taxes puts more money in peoples pocket and allows them to have the needed money to make buying decisions, not wishful thinking. It will bring over $13 TRILLION in private investment dollars into our economy and allow free market principles to work when there are no tax implications from those investments. This alone will begin the job creation needed to spur economic growth.
• Cut the deficits in half this year. Until our government can learn to live within it’s means and end the borrowing just to pay for basic government needs, taxes will escalate and those burdens are being passed through “generational theft” to our heirs.
• End any additional Stimulus and TARP spending. These programs have failed in their intent and are simply adding to the debt of this nation.
• Repeal Obamacare and end the uncertainty of higher taxes to our small businesses. The promises of lower health care costs are false promises and already escalating premiums, higher costs, and loss of coverages are occurring. The $1.3 TRILLION dollar price tag again, adds to the debt of this country and we can ill afford to be faced with increased taxes to pay for it.
• Begin serious reforms of our entitlement programs. We are faced with over $106 TRILLION in unfunded liability(DEBT) over the next 20 years in these programs. Since they are NOT part of the Government budget- that spending is on automatic pilot- we are facing financial collapse in paying for these programs.

We as a nation must return to the principles and foundation of our Founders of smaller government, regulations that do not impede business but PROMOTES it, and low taxes to fund a smaller and less intrusive government. It is time to head the warning of Jefferson:

A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take away everything you have.

Dear Rep. Corrine Brown,

First, I want to say “Thank you” for your expenditure on a High Speed rail junket. I am sure that taxpayers dollars for a trip to New York, and the northeast ending in Chicago was very beneficial to your campaign contributions. Your statement to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials regarding this trip was actually pretty amazing from a Congresswoman from Florida:

Just the other week I led a Whistle Stop Rail Tour to promote high-speed and intercity passenger rail in the United States. We started in Washington, traveled to Upstate New York, and ended up in Chicago, where we conducted a major hearing on rail issues. All along the way we saw stimulus dollars going towards improving our transportation infrastructure and creating jobs for the local workforce. And in that particular region in upstate New York, rail manufacturing could very well replace the many good jobs in those towns that were sent overseas. Everywhere we went there was very strong support for both Amtrak service and high-speed rail. The only complaints I heard was that there wasn’t enough money for rail and that it wasn’t coming fast enough.

Now Representative Brown, when is the economic growth and the JOBS coming to your part of Florida that YOU represent??

Oh, wait, you are hosting a JOB FAIR! So let’s see what you had to say about that:

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), is hosting the 18th annual Job and Resource Fair at the Prime F. Osborn Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, May 17.

More than 50 companies have been invited, representing a wide variety of employers.

As Brown said, “Come prepared…bring your resumes and dress your best!”

Let me ask but ONE question if I may. How many JOBS will your High Speed Rail project be bringing to Jacksonville and the 3rd District?

I think I have the answer- NONE. $8 Billion and not ONE single job in the 3rd Congressional District. But lots in New York!

This Congressional District represents the worse of the worse in terms of economics. It has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation and the Black community is suffering with over 25% unemployment. It has the lowest level of economic growth in the nation simply because it has a VERY high Crime Rate. It also has some of the lowest housing values in the nation and the lowest graduation rate of High School students in the State of Florida. It has one of the lowest per capita income rates in the nation as well.

So, Rep. Brown, you have been “delivering” to this District. What did you deliver?

Again, I have the answer- a SunRail Project from Orlando to Tampa that over 95% is outside your District and that taxpayers will be subsidizing in Florida forever. Already, the TriRail project in South Florida is costing taxpayers a whopping $12 million a year, so let’s add another $12 million to make sure we bankrupt our State too. The rest- well has pretty much been earmarks that has resulted in projects well outside this District. I guess $384 MILLION in earmarks buys you a LOT of votes? or at least a LOT of campaign contributions from those people who stand to gain the most from your earmarks. I think that is the TRUE definition of “crony capitalism” that you so desperately claim to despise- until it works for Corrine Brown’s re-election bid.

Instead of making you the real benefactor of money appropriated to this District, let’s make the PEOPLE of this District the ones who benefit. That is the job you were hired to do. Look around Ms. Brown. There are empty homes, empty businesses, and empty pocketbooks all throughout this District. Do you want to know how I know that?

Because I have WALKED among the PEOPLE of this District and I know what they are saying. I think I summed it up best when I said “Corrine Brown promises the Moon and hasn’t even delivered a MOONPIE” to the people living here.

I want to bring Small Business initiatives that will bring JOBS to this District. I believe that by working with the existing businesses and bring a “Small Business Incubator” to this region, without the need for Government funding, a complete revitalization of the 3rd District will happen. It will be the model for the nation to follow in job creation.

I believe that by enacting the FairTax, we can see real economic growth because it brings back the foundation of creating wealth to our nation- our manufacturing sector that you were instrumental in sending overseas.

I believe in an education system that is best served with LOCAL decisions, not Federal Mandates that are unfunded and destructive to the education of our young people.

I believe that when you give people their Liberty and Freedoms as promised, you have people who no longer see “color” as an obstacle, but an asset to the communities they live in. You have seemed to forget what Dr. Martin Luther King marched for- it was LIBERTY for ALL people and that means that a man should be judged solely on the content of his character, not the color of his skin. People of this District want opportunity to achieve, not more government they have to pay for. You have succeeded in being instrumental in a $14 TRILLION debt that is being left to ALL people and we are no longer going to take your failed programs as the solution. Get out of the way and let the PEOPLE solve the problems and start protecting the Liberty of the people and not keep trying to tell us how to live our lives.

You see Ms. Brown, I am running for Congress to win. Not for me, but to represent the people of this District like they have been needing to be represented for 18 years. It is time for your “false claims” of delivering to be exposed for what they are- beneficial to ONLY Corrine Brown. It is time to either step aside or get beat this year. The people have awakened and will no longer tolerate your brand of governing.

Sincerely,

Michael “Mike Yost

Candidate for the 3rd Congressional District of Florida

“Taking YOUR Voice to D.C.”

With our National Debt continuing to rise to nearly $14 TRILLION dollars, this Congress and Administration still haven’t seen the reality about to hit this nation. We ARE the largest debtor nation in the world and the divesting of American Debt by other nations should be sounding a resounding alarm, but hasn’t for this group in Washington.

Greece and Portugal are on the brink of financial collapse for one simple reason- their governments, in an effort to continue their massive entitlement programs, have reached the point where no one wants their debt instruments. Countries like Germany are going to either prop up their debt with loans or they face complete bankruptcy.

Great Britain is also facing the same possibility unless they too, get a handle on their deficits and resulting debt. Even the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has warned repeatedly about the necessity to get control of the debt or face the same issues in Spain, Portugal, and Greece:

Speaking to the annual conference of the Institute of Directors about the need to deal with the record debt, he said: “If anyone doubts the dangers that face our country if we do not, they should look at what is happening today in Greece and in Portugal.”

Sooner or later, the inevitable will happen as long as this nation continues this spending spree. Our debt instruments, Bonds and Treasury Bills, will NO LONGER be wanted at the current interest rates they are being bid to yield. Eventually, our Bonds will also be downgraded simply because the creditor nations and individuals will DEMAND higher rates and unless was can pay that interest to service that debt, it collapses as well.

It is imperative that Congress ends the deficit spending, reforms ALL entitlements, and returns to the Constitutional powers that are specifically enumerated in that document. Once we look beyond our own financial issues and look at the history behind every 20th Century war, we can understand we are at a crossroads- we either sacrifice today and change the course we are headed upon, or face the fact that sooner or later, we could be in another major world wide conflict.

Not only is our debt a major national security issue, it is abject failure on the part of our elected officials to end this cycle of deficit spending that is NOT reviving our economy, but placing our nation into the abyss of failure yet to come.