American Jobs Act and Raccoons

President Obama’s jobs speech wasn’t much different than rhetoric used to bilk American tax payers on stimulus packages before.  Obama said, “Let’s pass this jobs bill right away”, even though it hasn’t been written or presented to Congress as yet.  This morning I recognized the similarities to something in my back yard, an empty container of cat food.  You read right, an empty container of cat food made me think of Obama’s call to pass a piece of legislation which nobody has read; this might take some explainin’.

Our garage has become a rest haven for Hobo Kitties along with an occasional skunk, opossum and raccoon.  These critters wander around the neighborhood and spot the Hobo’s X painted on the garage door, stop in for a drink of fresh water, a free meal and a safe place to hide if the elements are threatening.  Those animals which act half way civil to each other are permitted to stay while those who become “problematic” usually leave in a black plastic body bag.

The day starts by filling three bowls of cat food intended for the Hobo Kitties which lasts most of the day.  The huge communal water bowl doubles as a bathtub for opossums and raccoons each night so it has to be cleaned and replenished each morning or it looks more like a mud wrestling pit. 

At one time we kept a pair of five gallon heavy duty plastic containers filled with dry cat food in the garage; that is until the raccoons figured out how to unscrew the lids.  We came out one morning and they’d emptied both containers and eaten every last morsel.  Ten pounds of food “vanished like a fart in the wind”; a line the Warden used from the movie Shawshank Redemption that fit the situation.   From that day on we stored the large containers in the house, not exactly a Martha Stewart moment; it’s worked for better than a year now.  Once a week we transfer from the five gallon containers to more manageable containers which are lighter and have snap on lids that allow for pouring the dry food much easier. 

Last night after pouring half rations into the bowls, half rations so the Hobo Kitties will leave them completely empty and not encourage unwanted visitors like skunks, opossums and raccoons; I set the small container down and got distracted with some chore in the back yard.  This morning I went to feed the Hobo Kitties but the container was no where to be found, at least it wasn’t in the kitchen nook where it was supposed to be.  I looked out the back window and saw the lid sitting in a planter box where our tomato garden used to be and the empty container on the other side of the back yard; the raccoons had a party and had emptied a weeks worth of food in one sitting.

Do you see a similarity between raccoons raiding Hobo Kitty food stores and spending policies of the Obama administration?  Regardless of how much is put away for the future it all gets used up if given half a chance, and the next day, when the sun comes up a cry goes out for more to end the new crisis.

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate had this to say, according to an article at the Fox News :

“Faced with the reality of historic unemployment rates and record federal debt, I had hoped that President Obama, by now, would understand that even more government spending doesn't create jobs,” he said. “Rather than offer a new roadmap for recovery and reform, he merely dusted off a tired agenda of old ideas wrapped in freshly partisan rhetoric.”

In the same article:

“The president’s so-called jobs plan is to try those very same policies again and then accuse anyone who doesn't support them this time around of being political or overtly partisan, of not doing what's needed in this moment of crisis,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. “This isn’t a jobs plan. It’s a re-election plan.”

Obama wants to throw money away, money we don’t have, claiming it will go toward job creation; but jobs are not created by government, that part of the economy requires a growing economy based on supply and demand. 

The reason we’re in a recession is complex and won’t be solved by throwing money in the air for a few to grab up.  Folks who run businesses have good reason to be cautious as government places  mandates and restrictions on the market place.  This isn’t the time to expand or hire new employees because nobody knows which part of the free market system government will destroy or take over next. 

Don’t let Obama have another chance at raiding the treasury; it’s already been emptied.  Economic recovery, long term investments and job growth will have to wait until the raccoon has left the White House.    

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal , a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.