The surprise about President Obama’s speech to Congress and the nation about his so-called Jobs Program was no surprise at all. I am not the only one that thought it was nothing more than any of his previous speeches that attempted to bully the Republicans in Congress to vote his way or hit the highway. Yes, in the way it was delivered, it was a fiery speech meant to show he is a president in control of the economy. But in content it was nothing more than spilled milk. There were no new ideas to solve America’s economic woes other than throw more stimulus money into an ever-increasing economic hole, which is a typical of government tactic at any level.

He threw out the typical carrot to the Republicans by calling for tax cuts for citizens and businesses which sound great but people better realize that those tax cuts are short-lived. Why are Obama’s tax cuts temporary? The federal government always talks about cutting spending, yet in the long run it never happens and it doesn’t matter which political thieves are in charge. Politicians on both sides keep going for temporary tax cuts, which means they plan to spend even more money in the future.

Instead of the federal government increasing our national debt to pay for local government employees we don’t need and can’t afford to fund locally, why don’t the President and Congress start by removing the legislation that they passed which put huge burdens that stymie businesses expanding in the United States instead of China? I used to be a believer in the free-trade agreements but now I feel the United States is getting the short end of stick. The President has proposed nothing more than another stimulus plan that will temporary boost the amount of jobs just as he begins his re-election campaign. He even attempted to give the speech the same night the Republicans were having one of their presidential debates.

When it comes to the President and Congress spending our tax dollars, I can only describe it as doubling down on stupid. Many of us paid into Social Security and yet Washington claims it’s going broke. We pay federal and state taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel yet our roads and bridges are in a sad state. The Medicare program is no different. Many tax-funded projects like the Big Dig in Boston go billions of dollars over budget year after year and the only thing we hear from politicians is that they need more money.

At least I wasn’t the only one laughing during his speech to Congress. Some in Congress laughed, read newspapers and one or two even held up signs. He stated during the speech that he would have the bill to Congress in a couple of weeks and now he wants Congress to get the bill and pass it immediately. Of course that’s because if it is passed he gets the credit, but I have doubts that the Republicans in Congress will pass it. There’s the Super Committee in Congress looking to reduce federal spending and the President just put a $400 billion bear on their backs that they have to deal with in addition to reducing the federal budget more than $1 trillion dollars.

The President stated that to pay for this jobs bill, the Super Committee can cut the amount of deficit spending. Once again he is going to use money we don’t have in order to prevent our economy going into another recession. The only problem I have with that idea is that the Japanese did the exact same thing for 10 years and ended up deeper in debt and with higher taxes and it didn’t help their economy either. Just look at the dire financial shape of European countries like Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. Some of these countries have a strong possibility of defaulting on their loans.

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, wonders why there are interstate highways in Hawaii.