Politics and The Political Affairs
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President Barak Obama Addresses The Nation
By Parwaiz Khan
[Focus on The Economy, Manufacturing and Education]
Following is The President Obama's historic speech that he didn't deliver:
My fellow Americans, I take this opportunity to thank you again for giving me the opportunity to serve our country during these difficult times. I am here, as your President, to report back to you the progress that we have made, the actions that we have taken and the comprehensive plan that we have formulated to take us out of this economic mess that we find ourselves in as a result of gross mismanagement and neglect of the needs of our economy over the last many years.
I presented my candidacy on the promise of "Change". And, you elected me to be your president to bring in the change - Change for a better future for all of us and for our children. I assure you that I am working very hard on the promise.
During these few weeks that I have been in the office I have seen the depth and the despair of the state of our economy - It is much worse than what any one could have ever imagined. With access to the facts and data, I now fully realize the extent of damage that has been inflicted upon us - Not only upon us but upon our coming generations as well. We have been put on a fast downward track. But, we are going to change it. We are a resilient and resourceful people. United as one nation, we are going to rise again. I assure you that with our hard work and dedication we are going to make it - The road may be long and the journey may be demanding but we are going to make it.
The very first step for a positive Change is to re-introduce the concept of "openness" in government - It is your government and you have the right to know the facts. I am going to give you the facts straight about the state of our economy and the financial affairs and the causes that have brought us here. And, I am going to present you our plan of action a series of actions to change the course to lead us back to the path of a lasting economic prosperity and security for our coming generations.
Our banking and finance system is practically bankrupt due to irresponsible banking practices, pure greed of individuals and lack of meaningful supervision by the government. Credit and money supply is almost frozen and it is killing our manufacturing, businesses and the consumer based economy. Now, we are forced to pump in Billions and Trillions of dollars - that we don't have - into the banking and finance system.
The defaulting Real Estate Mortgages and the resulting foreclosures were the ignition point for the collapse of our economy. Over the last two years more than 6.9 million homes have been foreclosed and millions more homes are in the foreclosure process. We are talking about millions of American households - tens of millions of Americans - millions of our children have been thrown on the cold streets - Their lives have been devastated. This is not acceptable. We cannot let it continue to happen
US economy is the world largest economy. Our GDP is more than 14 trillion dollars. But, the sad part is that the manufacturing and the production of goods - which form the real wealth of a nation - contribute only 3.8 trillion to it. Services sector forms 6.2 trillion and the government expenditure is at 3 trillion. The gross investment is at only 1.9 trillion and the net trade deficit is 530 billion dollars. We surely are in a state of disarray here. It is a model of consumption with out compensating production. What it means is that we have been living beyond our means too long on money that we have been borrowing from the foreign nations. We have to go back to production and manufacturing based economy.
Corporate Greed has been the single largest contributing factor in the decimation of our manufacturing base. In their zest to avoid paying US wages, these corporations have dismantled their factories and even R & D facilities and shifted the production away from our country. These practices have caused massive layoffs and erosions of our skilled labor base. On top of causing havoc to our economy, depriving the nation of its skilled labor and dismantling our industries, these corporations also take advantages of various loopholes in our tax code to avoid paying their taxes.
We used to be at the helm of science, technology and innovation. This country became an industrial powerhouse on the shoulders of giants like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Those were the role models of our children. We used to have more scientists and mathematicians graduating from our universities than the rest of the world. It was the efforts and contribution of these scientists and mathematicians that propelled to the status of a super power. Now, we produce battalions of non-productive graduates who posses no skills to contribute in the building of our economic and industrial infrastructure.
There are so many things that have been going wrong for so many years. All of us bear responsibility for what we are reaping at the present. We are practically on a free fall mode. We urgently need to make corrective actions first, to stop our fall and, second, to our recovery and rise to glory again.
My fellow Americans, I assure you that we are going to change the course that has led us to this state of misery and sufferings. We have taken steps that are necessary to ensure the economic recovery, financial stability and growth of employment. Our objective is to ensure a better future for all of us and for our children. Please bear with me - We are on the right course now. It will take time to experience the positive results. But, we will surely succeed. While we all are in it together, I urge you to remain focused and have patience, trust and confidence - And, be ready to work hard and sacrifice for the sake of our children.
Here are the main points and the essence of The Comprehensive Economic Stimulus and Recovery Plan:
Our economic troubles started with the Real Estate. So we shall tackle it first. Foreclosing the homes and throwing out the Americans families on the street is NOT acceptable. It is a no-win situation for every one. Banks hardly recover 60% of the mortgage loan balance -Families get destroyed - The Real Estate market gets flooded with the foreclosed properties that puts the downward pressure on the real estate value, further eroding the homeowners' equity and hurting the lenders even more in the process.
The American taxpayers, who themselves have difficulty paying their own bills - who themselves don't have the money to make the ends meet, are indebting their children and handing over hundreds of billions of dollars to these banks and investment houses. In return The lenders, The Banks and all the Mortgage Note Holders are required to comply - in their own best interest - with the new regulations that I have signed into law with immediate effect.
Across the country homes have lost their value any where from 20% to more than 50%. In many circumstances homeowners find themselves in a negative equity situation - Any down payment that they had put down is gone - Many of them have lost their jobs and have tough time surviving. It is absolutely unacceptable that we allow the foreclosures of the homes of these stressed out people while the banks have been dolled out billions upon billions of dollars that are taken away from the future earnings of the very same people. It is absurd.
My fellow Americans, I promised the change - It has changed. The new regulations require that all the mortgage note holders, whether the banks, lenders or investors, have to pass on the Mark-to-Market approach to the homeowners. First, following the declined market values of the homes, all outstanding residential mortgage loan balances shall be reduced by 25% across the board. Second: For a period of two-years the interest rate will be set at 1.500%, after which the interest rate will be set to 3.500% fixed for the rest of the life of the loan.
To put it in perspective, a typical mortgage loam balance in the amount of $250,000.00 will be reduced to $187,500.00 - The present monthly mortgage payment on the $250,000.00 loan @ 6.500% is $1,580.00 - It will be reduced to $647.00 @ 1.500% interest rate for the next two years, after which it will be $842.00 @ 3.500%.
Third, The mortgage insurance premium surcharges are eliminated as all the risks, that were supposed to be insured by this mortgage insurance, have already been dumped over the American people.
Fourth, by the Federal Mandate, the residential Real Estate Taxes are being rolled back to the 1998 level - The time of more sensible Real Estate values. States and local governments are required to accordingly reduce their expenses by intruducing austerity program that include a ceiling of $100,000 per year on salary of all public emplyees.
Fifth, the interest rate ceiling for all new home loans is set at 3.500% APR effective immediately. Any mortgage origination fees or points are prohibited. A ceiling of 1.00 % of the loan amount has been set on the amount of fees and premium that the mortgage brokers and middle-man entities' are allowed to charge or receive.
Sixth, All home buyers will receive a one time time tax credit of $5,000.00. And,for a period of three years, the mortgage interest tax credit has been increased to 50%.
Seventh, All foreclosure and eviction proceedings have been freezed. All unsold foreclosed homes will be offered back to the previous owners at the Mark-to-Market price at 1.500 % interest rate at no cost to them. It will also eliminate the hanging home inventory from the market.
These steps will effective stop evictions, foreclosures and the erosion of real estate markete and ensure the homeownership for all Americans.
Next most important thing is the creation of jobs - Jobs for our workers - Jobs for our educated - Jobs for our skilled workers. Beside the job erosion caused by the current global economic meltdown, the main culprit is the Off Shoring of our manufacturing and production. Corporate greed has devastated our industrial base and our capability to be an industrial powerhouse that we used to be. Even the technology that is deemed essential for our national security has been transferred to foreign entities to cut the cost at the expense of our high tech jobs and national security - And, the sad part is that they have been rewarded at the expense of Americans for their irresponsible acts. This is going to change.
Businesses who have opted to off shore their production or services or assembly or R & D facilities will be assessed income tax at 300% rate. Income tax will be a adjusted at the cost of production basis, bypassing the accounting ploys created by means of foreign subsidiaries and sub-entities. We have provided incentives and benefits for the businesses that bring their production and manufacturing back to the US and retrain our workers.
Small business, entrepreneurs and inventors have been the backbone of our industry, economy and the sprit of innovation. We are implementing the policy measures to revamp this backbone of our nation. A new department is been created at the secretarial level to replace the SBA. This department will coordinate research, development and financing for inventors, businesses and entrepreneurs. Small businesses provide more than 70% of the jobs. We are going to make sure that credit and funding is made available to them. New technology and high tech businesses will be given priority treatment and will be awarded tax breaks, new job creation tax breaks and capital investment breaks.
To encourage foreign investors and businesses who invest in the activities that create jobs and provide training for the Americans, we will provide special tax credits, guarantees and benefits. The stability of our democratic political system and our recovering and growing economy will provide an atmosphere that will ensure the inflow of foreign investment back to USA.
A nation is built on the foundation of its education system. Our education system has failed us. We have fallen behind almost every mentionable nation on this earth in the fields of science, mathematics and technology. Our school buildings are crumbling - essential supplies, services and equipments are lacking - Our teachers are demoralized, poorly trained and poorly paid. Teachers are assigned the responsibility to educate our future generation. It is The Most Important job. Our teachers have to be highly trained and motivated to teach our children. They also need to be paid well, respected and should feel safe and secure in their jobs. Schools, colleges and the universities have to be well funded to offer the best in education to our children. If we can find hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars for the bailout of the banks, investment houses and hedge funds, we can surely find funds to make sure that all our deserving students have access to the highest level of the very best education with out worrying about fees and expenses or indebting themselves and their poor parents up to their necks.
My fellow Americans, the promised change is here. We have incorporated the changes - details of which shall be made public soon - to guarantee the freedom and access to education for all our qualifying students irrespective of their financial needs. Funds for education bailout have been earmarked and have been given superseding priority.
Further to reform our education system, we are taking steps to remove the political meddling, special interest groups and bureaucratic hindering blocks from the education system. Our schools and universities will be run by the academicians on purely merit basis. We need more scientists, mathematicians, engineers and other high tech specialists to rebuild our nation. We will make sure that our original thinkers, scientist and dedicated teachers get the well deserving recognition.
There is a time and a place for every thing - we are at a juncture where our very survival is at stake - This is not the time to waste our limited national resources in churning out an unlimited supply of non-producing and non-contributing graduates. It is not the time to waste our money and glorify the ball-throwers. Newly adopted guidelines for funding and administration of our education system will ensure aquality education for our children that will be the best in the world.
Health care is the next most important issue on every ones mind. A healthy population is essential for the functioning of a healthy economy. Health care is an essential service and an entitlement - Health is certainly NOT a business. We are taking actions - that include regulating the Pharmaceutical Industry and strict cost control of the approved drugs - to associate the pricing of the drugs and medicine with the FDA approval. There will be a strict auditing procedure to ensure a fair profit margin for the Pharma and a fair price to the public. We are working to make the health a national service and earmark the needed funds for it.
Safety of our retirement and pension funds is another issue that is worrying all Americans who have worked hard all their lives. I assure you that we have allocated enough money from the bail out funds to guarantee the safety and security of all the pension and retirement funds. Please rest assured that our Social Security fund has also been fully restored and funded.
My fellow Americans, you elected me your President to bring in The Change. I have been faithful to you and working hard to keep my promise to you. These are the positive steps that we have taken and you will notice the effect soon. The winds of Change are here. We are confident that soon we will overcome these difficult times and reap the rewards of our hard work. I urge you again to keep your focus, remain united in our tough times, work hard and help each other. We will see our glory again - And, soon.
God Bless America.