The Outstanding Public Debt in America stands at $15,450,391,220,613.11.  That’s 15-trillion dollars – and that’s for right now.  By the time you are done reading this that number will increase by millions of dollars and by this same time tomorrow it will be up by more than four billion dollars!  In fact our government has added an average of $4,000,000,000 in Public Debt every day since September 28^th of 2007.

We often don’t look at the Public Debt as our personal debt but maybe we should.  The table below, based on data from the International Monetary Fund, the 2013 Budget Summary Tables and Senate Budget Committee calculations indicates that every single American – every man, woman and child – shares more than $44,000 of the debt and that number, under President Obama and Joe Manchin, will soar to more than $75,000 for every American by 2022.

I was alarmed at the recent news that the Charleston Area Medical Center stands to lose more than 175 million dollars in Medicare money between now and the end of the decade. Alarmed but not surprised. I agree with CAMC President David Ramsey in calling the cuts “unsustainable”.

Even before Joe Manchin and Barrack Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act is implemented we can see the vast damage in store for us all unless we can take control of Congress and repeal this harmful legislation. Make no mistake – unlike my opponent, who voted in favor of Obamacare as a United States Senator – I would work diligently to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a health system overhaul that both makes sense and is fiscally responsible.

West Virginia Health Care providers like CAMC need support and encouragement to not only fulfill their essential mission to Charleston and southern West Virginia – but to embrace new procedures and technologies that benefit us all. It’s not just CAMC; this flawed health care package will harm every patient and every provider in this state.

Joe Manchin told us the truth when Obamacare was being debated in 2009. He said he supported it and latched on to President Obama’s mantra that “doing nothing” is not an option. Manchin changed his tune two years ago during the special election but once sworn in he had the clear opportunity to vote for repeal of Obamacare and the Affordable Health Care Act and he voted with the President.

Doing nothing was a better option than enacting Obamacare – but there are things we can do. In the next few months we’ll have more discussion on what the American health care system should look like in the future including smart ideas to improve delivery, increase access and achieve better results for everyone.

Joe Manchin’s West Virginia Cap and Trade bill coupled with his unquestioned support of Obamacare has this state, and this nation, on a collision course with a new energy crisis, lost jobs, rationed health care and fiscal collapse. It brings sharp focus to the word “unsustainable”.

http://www.dailymail.com/Business/201202220306

(CAMC says losses on Medicare ‘unsustainable’ – 2/23/2012)

A little over a year ago, my husband, John, and I had the privilege of campaigning across the great state of West Virginia in the special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. We met such wonderful people from all parts of the state, all wanting a better future for our state.

John focused on the issues, specifically the need for more jobs and less federal government interference with expensive new programs like the unpopular Obamacare health care plan. Those were both issues of great importance to West Virginians across party lines.

Moreover, the polls reflected that most voters agreed with John on these vital issues. In fact, the Rasmussen poll had John up seven points with three weeks to go–quite a feat when running against an incumbent Governor.

Instead of taking the high road and debating the issues, John’s opponent, Joe Manchin, stooped to a new low in the final weeks of his campaign when he chose to buy the largest negative TV ad campaign in West Virginia history. Manchin wasn’t content with just going after John personally. He also decided that John’s family, his companies, and his employees were fair game. That was over the line. After all, our daughters and I were not on the ballot. His companies and employees, some of the finest in West Virginia, were vilified. None of this mattered to Manchin.

Now I’m not asking for your sympathy–everyone knows that politics is a contact sport. I would only ask that you look hard over the next nine months as to which candidate truly has a stronger commitment to West Virginia values, a slimmer federal government, a stronger national defense, and a more robust private sector so that we can create the jobs West Virginia citizens deserve.

Joe Manchin has had a political lifetime to devise some serious ideas on these important issues. John had the courage in 2010 to simply offer an alternative. I think if you look at John’s values, you will find that they are very similar to yours. On the other hand, I believe you will find that Joe Manchin’s values are very similar to Barack Obama’s.

Given Joe Manchin’s history and the start of this campaign, I know that he will again attack our family, our companies, and our employees. This time, I will not sit back idly and let this happen without challenging him every step of the way. Instead, I would now like to ask him a question: “Joe, what about your family?” Many of us will recall what was labeled nationally as the “Heather Bresch Scandal at West Virginia University.” Heather Bresch, of course, is the daughter of Joe Manchin.

Bresch claimed to have earned an MBA degree, but when a WVU investigation asked for evidence to support her claim, she had very little to show. Instead of backing off early and admitting error, Heather Manchin Bresch dragged WVU through months of the worst national public relations nightmare it had ever experienced.

The value of every single WVU diploma was denigrated by these events. Just imagine the new WVU graduate. They had worked hard for four years to start to make their way in the world, only to worry what job recruiters thought while reading about the academic scandal going on in Morgantown.

All of us who have earned our degree from WVU owe that investigatory committee a debt of gratitude for clearing things up and informing Heather Manchin Bresch and the world that no, she had not earned an MBA from WVU.

While WVU’s academic reputation was being tarnished in articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education and other national media outlets over the scandal, then Governor Joe Manchin said very little except to encourage and enable his daughter’s ill-chosen path, even when the truth of the matter was increasingly clear: his daughter simply hadn’t done the work to complete her degree.

To make matters worse, when the investigation resulted with the finding that the Governor’s daughter’s claim of having earned an MBA degree was invalid, Manchin tried to shift the blame. “All I can hope for as a parent,” he said, “is that WVU’s leaders will correct whatever problems that led to this situation so that no other student will have to go through this kind of ordeal in the future.” (“Criticism for Degree to Governor’s Daughter,” by Ian Urbina, New York Times, April 25, 2008.) This is the same parent who couldn’t remember attending his own daughter’s WVU graduation.

Now, if Manchin is really worried about this happening to another West Virginia student, I think he can rest easily. After all, the vast majority of parents who send their children to WVU would never encourage them to drag the rest of the student body, professors, staff, and alumni through the grinder for months without serious evidence to support their claim. That is an arrogance reserved only for a special few.

Moreover, it is my opinion, as well as the opinion of others, that this scandal was a significant reason why the Atlantic Coast Conference rejected WVU’s bid to become a member of that conference.

After all this mess, the only people who came out unscathed where Joe Manchin and his daughter, Heather Bresch, who is now making a multi-million dollar salary as CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Many people lost their jobs in the aftermath. WVU President at the time of the scandal, Mike Garrison, resigned his position along with then Provost Gerald Lang. In addition, the business school Dean during the scandal, Steve Sears, stepped down along with then Associate Dean Cyril Logar. This ordeal continues to make headlines. Just the other day, federal district judge, Frederick Stamp, entered an order against then Dean Sears’ and Associate Dean Logar’s claims that Manchin’s handpicked WVU administrators had deprived them of their legal rights. Stamp’s ruling appears to be based on technicalities rather than the substantive merit of Sears’ and Logar’s claim. On January 31, 2012, Sears and Logar filed an appeal of Stamp’s ruling with the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, VA where this matter will now be heard.

If you find Senator Manchin’s behavior unsettling, you are not alone. There is a choice this year that many have to make. My husband of 33 years, John Raese, is about God, family, country, and standing up for what is right. He will work hard to represent West Virginians well in D.C. and you will always know where he stands.

Moreover, he’ll always try to lift up WVU and all our educational institutions, not drag them down. After all, like myself and so many of us, he’s a proud West Virginia University alumnus too.

Elizabeth Solomon Raese
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
West Virginia University, 1977

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This is an election year and you will hear a lot of political rhetoric about jobs and so called “jobs bills”.  Be wary because a tax hike disguised as a jobs bill is coming your way if President Obama and Senator Manchin succeed with their agenda.

It would be wonderful if Congress could pass a piece of legislation that would cure our economic woes but the simple truth is there is no such thing as a jobs bill.  The idea that the 535-men and women in Washington can craft a piece of legislation to put America back to work is simply a cruel myth.

John Raese believes the key ingredient to a sturdy economic recovery is taking positive steps to unleash America’s unparalleled ingenuity and world-class productivity.

The first step is getting government off the backs of business and generally out of our lives.  In today’s super charged and divisive political climate anyone suggesting less governmental regulation and less governmental interference is immediately labeled as anti-clean air, anti-clean water or anti-consumer protection.  That is the biggest lie you’ll hear in the clutter of this campaign season.

Just like any one of us, John Raese is committed to an environment that provides safe water, clean fresh air and protected natural areas that can be enjoyed not just now – but by generations of West Virginian’s to come.  John believes in providing jobs that earn a livable wage that can support and nurture a family – to protecting our natural resources and using them to enhance and improve our quality of life – and in the belief that American’s inherently do the right thing and do not need a government looking over their shoulder that uses bloated over-reaching agencies to disrupt the natural flow of business, the undeniable engine that powers our national economy.

If elected to the United States Senate John’s first priority will always be the welfare of West Virginians.  His family has lived here and provided jobs in West Virginia for nearly a century.  He understands that feeling of self-worth and of self-reliance that comes from having a good secure job – and contrary to the apparent beliefs of President Obama and both West Virginia Senators – John knows jobs are created exclusively by businesses, small and large, all across this country.  Pointing out excesses on Wall Street is not only proper, it is the duty of a vigilant government and our elected leaders – but using the bad actions of one industry, or one group, to paint all businesses as if they are somehow against the interests of American’s is not only dangerous – it is just plain wrong.

Government programs that give tax credits for hiring new employees are meaningless if a company doesn’t have the need or the increased market for additional workers.  That is the type of simplistic ideas that come from the Obama/Manchin camp.  They believe that gimmick federal programs somehow will entice business people to act a certain way – do certain things.  Such incentives are naive and are simply designed for stump speeches – sound bites in an election year to give voters the appearance that something, anything, is being done.  The tired ideas generated by Obama and Manchin always wind up with the same result – a bigger government for them and a lighter wallet for you.

Encouraging business begins with a simple tax code.  A competitive tax system that is straightforward and simple enough that we can all understand.  It starts with the idea that we are a country of innovators, scientists, risk takers, developers, artists, craftsmen, conscientious workers, teachers and dedicated students.  That we can finally have a meaningful dialogue about how we are teaching our kids and grandchildren – and how we can devote both the resources and the will to once again establish the American educational system as the very best in the world.

President Obama is right when he talks about the importance of America winning the future but his ideas only include a bigger, more invasive government.  That is a fundamental error and just will not work. The President and Senator Manchin talk in soaring terms about transforming America – but their vision for our country is based on the flawed European model that is crumbling before our eyes.  They have started down a path that will only diminish America and they will do, or say, anything to make you believe it is the only choice we have.

Don’t buy it.

John Raese and millions of Americans from Maine to Hawaii – from Martinsburg to Matewan – are in open revolution to the Obama/Manchin takeover of our way of life and will make their collective voices heard this fall.

Getting America back to work and rebuilding a productive economy that serves everyone requires the effort, hard work and participation of all of us.  Every time this country has been attacked, or has been struck with hardship, we’ve survived and thrived on sheer determination, iron clad discipline and raw effort.  Yet there are some that think America’s time has passed and that we have to accept a decline.

Not John Raese.

John thinks America’s most outstanding years are ahead of us – but only if we make the changes now to unleash business, fortify our education system and free all American’s from crushing personal and governmental debt.

American exceptionalism?  Absolutely.

If you see this great country as a beacon for the world to admire and emulate – a leader in technology, innovation and invention – and an economic engine with no peer on this planet then the choice is crystal clear.  Let President Obama and Senator Manchin know that you’ve heard and seen enough.  Elect John Raese – a proven leader with a track record of creating and providing good jobs in the real world.