What Happened to Obama's Promises for a Better America?

President Obama vowed that the economy and job creation was his top priority for 2010. He said he was still going forward with health care reform, education reform and immigration reform.

Obama campaigned on the promise of change. A change we can believe in. Now Obama is playing the role of a Washington outsider. He is blaming the Republicans for his short comings. He has been in office 20 months. It is time he took responsibility and quit blaming George W. Bush, the Republicans and the wealthy for all of the problems the country is in. He needs to start doing something to make things get better.

Obama has been a president that has created more unemployment and a further decline in the economy. He is known for all his stimulus packages which have done nothing for the people or the economy.

Obama is always taking shots at George W. Bush. He has urged the American people not to go along with regulation and more tax cuts for the wealthy. Obama says that is what Bush id for eight years. That is what put us in this crisis. It is what helped cause the deficits. Obama definitely has a problem with big business and wealthy people. The deficit has greatly expanded under Obama's watch.

Obama promised to create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners. He was to create a $10 billion fund so home owners could refinance or sell their homes. This did not help because foreclosures are still on the rise.

Obama promised to repeal the Bush tax cuts for higher incomes. This he will probably do. If he does the big businesses will just move to where they have less taxes and restrictions. The economy is hurting big business because no one has the money to buy their products. Many big businesses have already left the United States. If more follow suit the unemployment will just go up more and the economy will go further down.

Obama promised to create a National Health Reform bill. This he has done. It will increase cost big businesses more to provide health insurance for their employees. It will cost small businesses and the self-employed more to get insurance. All employer's will have to turn in 1099's on their employee's so the government will have a record and be able to tax the employee's on their employer furnished health insurance. Small businesses will not be ale to afford to provide health insurance to their employees. Individuals will not be able to buy it and they will get fined if they do not. Health Insurance Companies will raise their rates to cover their increased costs. The Health Care Reform bill is a no win situation. It will hurt everyone. This bill was passed against the wishes of the majority of the people.

Obama said he would remove troops from Iraq. He is doing this. He said he would send more troops to Afghanistan and he is doing this. It makes a lot of since to take troops out of Iraq and put them in Afghanistan. He says Al-Qaeda is in Afghanistan plotting terrorist attacks on the United States. That is how he justifies his decision. They are all over the Middle East and will just move to another country if they feel threatened. Afghanistan is the largest opium producing country in the world. This is where Al-Qaeda and other terrorists get their money to operate. They will not be leaving Afghanistan any time soon. Is Obama going to send troops to the next country they move into if they do decide to move?

Obama said he would end torture. Everyone will agree torture to get information or for any other reason is bad. They torture the American's they capture but that does not make it right. Sometimes you have to do things you do not like or may not be right. The thing that is wrong is that Obama wants the terrorists tried in criminal courts and treated like someone that just robbed the corner market. This is wrong and a slap in the face to the American military and people.

Obama promised he would support "additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and our ports of entry." What has he done? He has filed a law suit against the State of Arizona for their immigration law. He has filed a 29 page report with the United Nations stating in detail all of the human rights violations the United States is guilty of. This is what our great President thinks of the country he is supposed to be protecting and serving the people best interests.

He wants to reform minimum sentences and eliminate locking up nonviolent drug offenders for a specified length of time.

He wants to increase capital gains and dividend taxes for higher income tax payers. Obama does not like people with money. He seems to think if he taxes the wealthy into poverty he will solve all of his leadership problems. The higher incomes should pay more taxes than they do but let's not go to the extreme.

These are just a few of Obama's promises. The ones that have passed will not help the country or anyone who lives here. There will just be more poverty, homeless, unemployed and more terrorist threats. More terrorist attacks are coming.

Where has our constitution gone? What happened to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?"

What Has Happened To The Famous British Car Manufacturers?

The Great British Empire used to rule the world and then became the richest nation in the world. But of course time moves on and we would expect change and wealth to be spread throughout other nations. But one of the major blunders of last century has got be the creation of famous motoring marques and the inability to keep these famous car manufacturing brands afloat.

Can you imaging Ford, Chrysler, GM motors in the USA ever stop making cars? Could you imaging the Japanese such as Honda, Nissan, and Mazda ever stop making cars? Then when you come back to Europe, could you imagine Italy allowing Fiat or Ferrari to close down and stop making cars? Of course you couldn't and the fact is, it just wouldn't happen and this would be the case in several other nations around the world.

Several manufacturers in the States have at time been in financial trouble, have got through those time because it was essential to survive. Fiat in recent times, have been in trouble because of unreliable cars, but they are still here.

However in the UK we don't seem to see the value in maintaining our motoring heritage, if it can't be profitable, then it must die, it does not matter about the marque or how the world sees the UK. Ironically from a nation that has so much history within such a small island, you would also think that it would mean much more.

Here are some examples

Austin 1905 to 1986

Hilman 1907 to 1976

Lagonda 1906 to 1990

Alvis 1920 to 1967

MG 1923 to 2005

Morris 1913 to 1984

Riley 1906 to 1969

Triumph 1923 to 1984

Sunbeam 1899 to 1976

There are some names still around, Lotus owned by GM motors, Mini owned by BMW, Land Rover owned by BMW, Jaguar owned by Ford and of course James Bond's favourite car the Aston Martin, which has just been bought by a consortium back from Ford. Lets hope it remains in the UK!

The MG may also find its way back on to the UK roads but owned by a Chinese company, Nanjing Automobile, which is quite a horrifying thought as these cars will probably be made in China, but from a positive point of view, I doubt Nanjing will ever go bust. The Chinese just won't let it.

Ironically in Sunderland in the North East of England there is a Nissan factory that produces some of Nissans smaller cars. This factory regularly beats other Nissan factories around the world in quantity and quality, so the issue in the UK is not about the workforce, within the right environment we can match anyone.

The issue is around management, controlling costs and the support from the government, that all large businesses need a hand from time to time. A lot of British Marques disappeared in the seventies when many of the brand names came together as British Leyland. This was probably the biggest mistake in British car manufacturing, as cars were badly made, suffered from strikes for bad working conditions and benefits and there was just no pride in the brand.

Yet in the 21st century we can make foreign brands with a pride and a high standard for other brands. Lets hope we hold on to the names that have survived, even if they are owned by foreign manufacturers, at least there is a chance, just like Aston Martin they may eventually return to British ownership.

Mark is webmaster for Car Breakdown Recovery Service and includes Car Roadside Assistance and Cheap Car Or Vehicle Breakdown Insurance