By FAIRFIELD “PINPOINT” EDWARDS

Editor’s Note: Unconventional Wisdom is a new series designed to unravel the misleading “conventional wisdom” of our times.  In this edition, the Clinton Surplus Myth is examined by the numbers.

Everyone is aware of the perception that the Clinton years were a golden age of fiscal management and economic genius.  First, let it be said that there was indeed an impressive period of surplus revenues during the Clinton years, especially in light of recent American history since the Great Depression and the New Deal.  However, the entire set of numbers show a more complete picture and put the surpluses in their proper perspective.

Without further ado, here are the statistics (in millions because the numbers are so outrageously large):

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By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

As the economy constricted from the latest bubble, what have we done?  On an individual basis, unless we have an economic death, wish we cut back spending, increase saving and pray we don’t get downsized, rightsized or thrown under the bus to free up capital for someone else’s bonus.   As a business owner we follow the same pattern.  People wonder why banks aren’t loaning money to small businesses.  Don’t mistake a symptom for the disease.  Banks aren’t loaning because businesses aren’t borrowing.

Businesses aren’t expanding; they’re trying to survive.  With the re-making of America still an enigma wrapped in a riddle on the horizon, no one knows how to make an educated guess as to what the future holds.  Without a clear vision of what will be required tomorrow, it’s impossible to plan today.  From Main Street to Wall Street people are keeping their heads down hoping if we click our heels enough times we’ll end up back in the America we know and love hoping we won’t have to admit this transparent collectivist shell game is the New Normal.

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Image by DALE

By LARRY WILKE

My, how the worm turns.  Just a few months after the Bolshevik beatification in Denver, the Demokratic deity who used to walk on water in the eyes of his liberal contemporaries, is now being called “Typhoid Barry” by those liberals who still wish to keep their seats at the tax trough in Washington.

The Baltimore Sun reports in “Vulnerable Dems seek distance from Obama” that in “picking through” Obama’s bloated budget “many incumbents and candidates seem to be finding something they love-to campaign against.”  The reality of being a political punching bag is nothing new for Obama.  What is new about all of this is the identity of those who have been recently throwing the rabbit clouts.  Lately, the ones dishing out the low blows are the forlorn fascists who used to sprint to the head of the parade in order to be seen getting their grimy hands on the Obama hammer and sickle flag or to beat the demagogue’s drum.

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By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

In the recent Massachusetts election Republican Scott Brown confounded the purveyors of conventional wisdom and caused a magnitude 10 earthquake in the political world by liberating the Kennedy Senate Fiefdom from the grip of the Democrat machine.  To the 24 hour talking-heads this changes everything since the Democrats can no longer cut-off debate in the Senate though they can still stifle debate in the House and hold the Executive Department in their iron fist.  But did the Party of Power really experience anything besides a bump in the road?

In President Obama’s estimation, “we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people.”  In reality Mr. Obama has made 52 addresses or statements specifically on his health care proposals, holding 42 news conferences, participating in 158 interviews, hosting 23 town hall meetings, making 46 out-of-town trips to 58 cities and towns in 30 states.  If he hasn’t been speaking directly to the American people what has he been doing?  He’s on TV more than Vinny from Sham Wow.  Considering that after the seismic electoral event in Massachusetts Mr. Obama’s political Svengali David Axelrod said, “We’ll have to think through this next year from the standpoint of tactics but in substance the mission can’t change.”  It isn’t that the President hasn’t talked enough the problem is he isn’t listening.  Communication is a two-way exchange and what we have here is a failure to communicate.

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By NANCY MORGAN

Uncle Obama has gotten a hold of your credit card. And he’s amassing charges on it that – you – not he – are liable for. You can call the fraud line, you can call the police, you can call any politician or government agency, and they will all tell you the same thing. Shut up and pay up.

Since misery loves company, you might feel better knowing that you’re not the only one being extorted. Uncle Obama and his buddies have the credit and debit cards of every man woman and child in America. And they’re charging up a bundle. So far, each of us has a $38,000 tab that we are personally liable for. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, which by the way, isn’t melting.

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By LARRY WILKE

After all of the trips that he has made of late, when Obama gets around to cashing in his “frequent LIAR” miles, he will be entitled to scads of free flights that he can take once he is unemployed in 2012. Heaven forbid that any of the “impartial global warming scientists” who have been busy of late destroying evidence that disproves their hilarious hokum should back away from their paper shredders and try to calculate just how big his collectivist carbon footprint is.

He isn’t done yet, for he now needs to wing his way back to Washington in order to “rally Senate Democrats.” Obama’s “rally” is actually more of a thumb twisting session with promises (bribes) for any liberal holdouts, bribes that would make the amounts Harry Reid recently handed out look like spare “change.” This all comes to light in the Bloomberg article entitled “Obama Seeks to Rally Senate Democrats on Final Health-Care Plan.”

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By LARRY WILKE

The group who once used to scream and holler about “keep your laws off my body” haven’t the least comprehension of what “keep your laws out of my bank account” means. As the fascists flog their dead health scare horse ad infinitum, the media cheerleaders continue to use such phrases as “Obama moves to seize momentum” and that the liberals need to “reclaim the initiative.” It’s good to see that someone finally recognizes that the liberals have “lost” this one.

Obama, whose id, ego and super-ego are about as immense as his ears, was in Minnesota while tens of thousands gathered in Washington to protest his continued collectivism. In “Obama Vows to Fight Health-Care Overhaul Opponents” (Bloomberg.com) he said, “I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than to improve it.” Using my communist decoder ring, what that means to the rest of us is: “waste time” means that there is no debating or disagreement allowed with the liberals. This is not “better politics,” it is better logic and better economics when it comes to aborting (great liberal action word) this plan. The “calculation” of the Obama oligarchs who, like each and every liberal, is driven by politics and nothing more, is as faulty and fictitious as an Obama cabinet member’s tax returns.

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By LARRY WILKE

The liberals who were once all so giddy about demanding “time tables” and “exit plans” have now just quietly given up on the idea and they “hope” that you have too. On April 20^th, Obama “challenged” his Cabinet (The Termite Totalitarians) to “cut $100 million” from the budget within 90 days. That deadline passed. This whole “governmenting” thing is a lot harder than it used to be when Obama used to wake up from his afternoon naps covered in dried drool during his 143 day whirlwind Senatorial “career.” Never mind that “100 million” is trivial compared to the untold TRILLIONS that the progressive poltroons are simultaneously printing and wasting and they couldn’t even find that in ninety days.

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By NANCY MORGAN

Is it still called debate when only one side controls the conversation? That’s the question the 62 million Americans who didn’t vote for Obama are asking themselves.  62 million Americans now have absolutely no voice in the way our country is being governed. No say in the quadrupling of our debt or in the onerous taxes being piled on top of record unemployment. They have no say in the pending trillion dollar health care ‘reform’ or the more costly ‘cap and trade’ legislation steadily making its way through Congress.

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By LARRY WILKE

Barack Obama decided to stop by the C-SPAN station to tell the world what we already knew. “We are out of money.” He forgot to mention that he and his dream of making the Washington of today look more like St. Petersburg of 1917 is the overwhelming reason why. More on that particular topic a little later on.

C-Span’s Steve Scully decided to ask the logical questions of Obama that very few others have had the decency to ask.

Primer for understanding liberalism: Starting with a question about the “no men allowed” seat on the Supreme Court, Obama said, “I thought empathy wasn’t important and I continue to believe that.” Nearly 600 pandering puffy words later, he finally shut down. Scully then said, “And that’s what empathy is?” Obama then began sputtering again and finished up with, “It’s very important.” Words have no meaning to the liberals. They try to use as many of them as possible in order to dodge and deflect. Their goal is to keep you on a lexical Lazy Susan.

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