Hoosier Daddy: President Obama to Indiana on Monday

Will any of this spur demand for RV’s or will government be the employer from now on?

“What can he do to keep the RV manufacturers in business?”
Buy ‘em up and call it “public housing”, perhaps? They CAN’T be worse than those poison FEMA trailers.
The now-”traditional” homeless, and those made newly-homeless by the about-to-be-bailed-out-AGAIN bankers, or by simple poverty, can then wander the freeways in RVs — rolling Flying Dutchmen — until the “crisis” of capitalism passes, or the cows come home, or pigs fly … whichever comes first.

I don’t think this is good use of a president’s time. It smarts of campaigning (which I think he misses dearly). Also, he’s asking folks to go tell their Senators to vote “yes” on this bill. That’s like a teenager asking their mom to please convince dad to let them go to the concert.

Human Intelligence- I don’t think the homeless could hang out driving on the freeways in the RV’s because if they could afford the gas for those big time super duper guzzlers on the freeways then they wouldn’t be homeless to begin with cause they’d be more like middle class folks but then maybe they could just park it under a bridge which would be more practical.

Why is the Obama administration late for everything? He wants the porkulus bill passed right away but now Geinther is going to be late for his presentation to the American people. I’m growing tired of Obama!

Johnathon- CHILL!! The title doesn’t ask who anybody’s dad is. It’s about that 62 year old man with the children who’s gonna introduce Obama. Dude, that was creepy!

Concerned in OH, you state: “2.) After the theatre is renovated (huh?), what jobs are those people gonna have? They’re gonna be unemployed again.”……Excellent point! I heard this same type of stimulus, when it was used in Japan in the 90′s, described as “they cemented everything in site”. Then after everything was done…it was all back to the unemployment line. While these projects DO employ people, they don’t create long term job growth.

Yah, no matter what anyone thinks about the content of the article, the TITLE is tacky and demeaning to the office, and to the people in IN. Leave the funky pun headlines to the evening news sportscasters.

As Joe obiden said this ARRA America Rape and Reaping Act has a 30% chance of working and then it may not be right. Folk obama knows he is in trouble with ARRA as he had to sent rambo the vulgar to strong arm democrats to hold them in line on the vote. It time to tell obama you promised us transparency and all we have got is tax cheats and lobbyist so far. This won’t stimulate a thing but rape our grand children of FREDOM,LIBERTY and LIFE. Its time obama to grow up and be responsiblity. No More lies. DEFUND ACORN NOW

Hoosiers vote for your livlihoods next time. Bush was elected 2x’s and had enough time to destroy America. He and his party did not have an agenda for average Americans.

Interested08: “While these projects DO employ people, they don’t create long term job growth.”
You see no long term benefits to things like the interstate freeway system, improved primary education, Hoover dam, or upgraded interstate transmission lines then?
Investment in infrastructure can take a while to pay back, but it certainly can pay back. Ignore the scraps of paper called dollars for a moment. If people are employed creating something of value they are increasing the nations real, material wealth. If they are unemployed, they are making nothing, creating no real wealth. Other than collecting soundbites for the next election, there is no argument against getting people working again creating products and wealth for our nation.

Here are some facts about Benton Harbor from the 2000 Census:
42 percent of adults over the age of 16 are not considered part of the labor force because they are no longer seeking work. This compares with a national average of 36 percent, suggesting that a disproportionate number of Benton Harbor residents have given up hope of finding a decent job.
Of all households, 87.3 percent have income less than $50,000.
Almost 70 percent of houses have a market value of less than $50,000. In nearly half of households, gross rent took up more than 35 percent of total income.
More than 16 percent of housing units are vacant. A trip through the city reveals boarded-up houses, many of which are quickly deteriorating.
The Benton Harbor school district, which began to decline in the 1970s, is now the third poorest in Michigan. Ninety percent of Benton Harbor school children live in poverty.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is what more government programs can do for you!

Jim: “This, ladies and gentlemen, is what more government programs can do for you!”
What government program did this? Specifically; I’m curious what government program is unique to this city that caused this. And how is this not a result of the factories shutting down?

jhw539 – better check your facts, friend. Benton Harbor and Benton Township together form this microcosm of population. In total we’re talking more than 25,000 people. Second, Whirlpool manufacturing left Michigan for Ohio, not off shore, because the geniuses in Lansing made it much more expensive for Whirlpool to do business in Michigan. Thank God Whirlpool still has it’s corporate HQ here or who knows how bad it might be. And, by the way, Whirlpool has historically dumped millions of dollars into Benton Harbor. Too bad we don’t have more Whirlpools. Too bad we don’t have less government.

jhw539 – I did my homework – now you go do yours. Study it out in your mind, friend, and don’t let the media taint your thinking. Best wishes!

Jim: “I did my homework – now you go do yours.”
I’ve done my homework, and it seems to say that St. Joseph just across the river from Benton Harbor has a 2% unemployment rate and the EXACT same government as Benton Harbor (population 11,182 as of the 2000 census you like to cite, and the township adds less than 4,000 to this number).
You’re picking a poor industrial town that is dying and blaming it on government programs that have nothing to do with it.
And I noticed you weren’t able to cite a single specific government program to blame for the unemployment in Benton Harbor.

Look at 21st century industries. Do you think Cummins or Zimmer are in Indiana thanks to national energy policy, or because the roads are good, the power reliable, and the schools turned out some good engineers and businessmen who set up shop where they were born?
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So do you think good roads, well-built schools, and reliable power are all that is needed to keep any one area of the country viable?
If you build a road in a town, business will come. Is that what you think?
I think industries shut down in one town and that town often doesn’t come back. Workers have to move on to the next town, where someone has decided to create a company.
I also know government policy can favor one industry over another. There’s no pretending changes in policy won’t affect particular industries.

Maybee: “So do you think good roads, well-built schools, and reliable power are all that is needed to keep any one area of the country viable?”
I never said that it’s all that’s needed, but it is exceptionally difficult to find modern industry located somewhere with poor schools, bad roads and intermittent power supply. Not a lot of money in crushing rocks by hand anymore. Perhaps you have an example (just to stay Indiana local, I’ll stick with Zimmer, Warsaw, and Cummins, Columbus, for my argument, but I can offer bigger fish like Microsoft and Google if you prefer)?

Passing the stimulus/pork bill just to “do something” is foolish. The economy will recover on its own, in its own time. Everything is cyclical.
Throwing good money after bad is not the way to go. President Obama should go back to his message of hope. His scare tactics are making a bad situation worse.

“So much for change we can believe in.”
“after 2.5 weeks in office” “he is not my president”
Change doesn’t happen in 2.5 weeks, and if he’s not your president – then move to Canada.
People don’t like the stimulus plan, but Bush didn’t do a darn thing for 8 years to even try to fix the economy. As for too many Govt. programs, those same type of programs got us out of the Depression.
By the way, I don’t find Hoosier Daddy offensive, I’m from IN and am glad to see a President visit us regardless of the headline.

jhw: but it is exceptionally difficult to find modern industry located somewhere with poor schools, bad roads and intermittent power supply.
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Outside of the US and Europe, it is exceptionally easy to find modern industry in exactly these kinds of conditions. Not that it makes a difference in this discussion.

Maybe- Sorry, I misread your posting. Yes, you find modern industry mixed with the infrastructure outside Europe and the US. I’m obviously tired.

Is there any way we can get him to stay there?

Hmmmm! It is too late to discuss these stimulus package. He doesn’t know how to fix the economy.

This event is going to be a riot – literally. People are going to lay into Obama for giving the Republicans everything they want and screwing the American people in the process.

It just cracks me up to see Republicans still whining about Barack Obama.
You lost. You have no good ideas.
We won. We’re taking our country back.
Yes. We. Can.

This event is going to be a riot – literally. People are going to lay into Obama for giving the Republicans everything they want and screwing the American people in the process.
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Flash- Did you have too much coffee to drink this AM? Cause you sound like a Keith Olbermann zinged on Java —minus those big melodius words.

How did Elkhart become the poster child for the recession?
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Barak Obama, our president, came to my home town yesterday. I listened. I heard eloquence but also transparent lies. I was profoundly disappointed. And as I continued to mull over his words, I was astonished at his audacity to come here, of all places. And I felt used, because this visit was the apex of disingenuity. Because he, his policies, and his party are the cause of the problems we face here in Elkhart County. Our president was treated graciously and hospitably, but most of the audience left wondering how his rhetoric and flagrant spending would address our problems.
Let me list the causes…
1) Our very successful RV industry displaced most other employers. The Elkhart economy was a one horse show, and was ripe for this type of tragedy. In retrospect, our economy should have been more diverse. This was not his fault, but it does make our situation unique – Fortunately not all of America is in our economic condition. Our situation should not be publicized as the norm in America – it is the extreme. We are the New Orleans of Katrina, not the soup kitchen of 1938: we are isolated but hurting.
2) For the last decade, we were told by many that $4 gas was to be the norm, since we were prohibited from drilling for oil. After all Europe pays $8 per gallon and why shouldn’t we? This made the use of RVs much less attractive. (Remember the ANWAR opposition 8 years ago came form the Dems, Obama’s party). And we were all assured that under the incoming administration the gas taxes would go up and the opportunity to domestically produce and use inexpensive conventional fuels would go down. RVs need cheap gas – The GOP was the Drill Here – Drill Now – Pay Less party. Here in Elkhart, we all expect the cheap gas we now enjoy will disappear as soon as the new administration gets around to restoring the ban on drilling. The RV companies were listening.
3) RVs are low mileage vehicles simply because of their size. A small RV is simply an SUV, and a small SUV is a minivan. There is no faddish “green technology” here, and no guarantees of federal support. In fact we heard:
Pitching his message to Oregon’s environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to “lead by example” on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.
“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added.
The RV industry got the message loud and clear – there is no room for them at the table.
4) We were told that the economy was in near fatal depression and descending so fast it might be irreparable. Folks stopped buying optional things. This “trash talking” of the economy is continuing in the press, in Washington, and even here in our own “town meeting”. Now the word “catastrophe” is being used in the highest circles. Where is the “The president must be the economy’s chief cheerleader” talk we heard a few years ago? (This may gall the White House, but Bill Clinton and Bob Rubin were models of discipline compared to this Administration when it came to the economy and the role of the Economic Cheerleader-in-Chief.
5) In Obama’s mind, RVs are owned by rich white suburbanites and retirees. (He has said “The suburbs bore me.”, also “Obama’s Youth Movement: The Nation: Young Voters Flock To The Democratic Hopeful, But Can They Drive His Agenda?” His disdain for both us and our values was apparent form his San Francisco speech (Referring to working-class voters in old industrial towns decimated by job losses, the presidential hopeful said: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion…”). Both our customers and our workers realize they are targets, not participants in the present administration. The words of accommodation are over and we are instead being shown a clenched fist. This instills a paralyzing fear that depresses the other sectors of our local economy.
I think Obama’s visit to Elkhart is the epitome of hutzba. He and the policies he espouses caused this. Now he wants to use our misfortune to reward his own political agenda and constituency. How much of the “affordable housing” or Acorn money will come to Elkhart? None.
But that is OK. Just let us compete, as we have done so successfully for so long, without onerous taxes or regulations and we can recover on our own.