Republican front runner Rick Perry was quick to criticize another stimulus plan, while offering no suggestions on how he plans to boost the economy. The Texas governor said on Monday in Tulsa, Oklahoma that no new economic stimulus package is needed to “get America working again.”

Perry said he would let his “guiding principles” as a fiscal conservative inform his policies if he were elected president. But, when asked for details, Perry resorted to general statements he has often repeated on the campaign trail.

“No. 1 is don’t spend all the money, you can figure out what that means,” Perry said at the Tulsa Press Club event also attended by U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. “You won’t have stimulus programs under a Perry presidency. You won’t spend all the money.”

Despite Perry’s strong stance against federal funds, his state benefitted greatly from the last economic stimulus package. Texas has used $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money In fact, Texas used the federal stimulus to balance its last two budgets.

Perry said the nation’s “entrepreneurial spirit” would create jobs and that his tax policies would allow Americans to keep more of what they earn. He said his tax system would be “light on job creators” and called for a more predictable legal system “that doesn’t allow for over-suing.”

“We have seen a clear thirst for leadership in this country,” Perry said. In his book — titled Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington — the Texas governor writes, “We are fed up with bailout after bailout and stimulus plan after stimulus plan, each one of which tosses principle out the window along with taxpayer money.”

Earlier on Monday, Perry’s focus was foreign policy. He said American military commanders should always control U.S. military forces abroad. “It’s not our interest to go it alone,” he said. “We respect our allies and we must always seek to engage them in military missions. But at the same time, we must be willing to act when it is time to act.

We cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multilateral debating societies, and when our interests are threatened American soldiers should be led by American commanders.”

Although Perry did not say, he seems to be referring to NATO operations in Libya. The Libya operation is being run by a Canadian general from a NATO headquarters in Italy, but an American officer is the top NATO commander.

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Texas governor and presidential hopeful Rick Perry continued his criticism of social security at a campaign stop on Saturday. In Iowa, Perry called the entitlement program, “a monstrous lie.” In his 2010 book, “Fed Up!” Perry compared social security to an “illegal ponzi scheme” and suggested that it was unconstitutional.

While on the campaign trail in Iowa, Perry warned that President Obama has driven the nation’s economy into a ditch, arguing that his own record as governor qualifies him to lead the way out. “Instead of eliminating our economic crisis, he worsened it,” said Perry. “Instead of addressing the debt, he exploded it.” Perry stated that he has created 1 million jobs while he has been the leader of Texas. Of course, he did not mention that the majority of these jobs are minimum wage or government jobs. So much for limited government, huh?

Perry pointed out recent comments made by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that food stamps were helping to improve the economy by getting buying power into people’s hands.”Food stamps are not a solution, they are a symbol of the problem,” said Perry. “Today’s leaders see it differently.”

Perry sought to drive the problem home, noting that Iowa has suffered as well under the Obama administration.”Today, one in eight Iowans is on food stamps,” said Perry. “That is a testament to the widespread misery created by this administration.”

“It’s a statement that the state that feeds the world has so many people dependent on the government for food,” said Perry. “You have lost 12,000 jobs since the current resident of the White House took office,” said Perry. He again pointed out his allegedly superior record as governor.”Since I’ve become governor, Texas has created more than 1 million jobs, while the rest of the country has lost 2.5 million jobs,” said Perry. “We’ve got to stop spending money we don’t have,” said Perry. “I promise you this, I will work every day to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential to you as I can.”

Four hundred activists attended the picnic in Iowa. Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan also attended the event, but Perry received the most attention.

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Texas Governor Rick Perry has been everywhere recently, trying to convince the Republican Party that he would make a good leader. He uses his record as the longest continuously serving current U.S. governor, in Texas as proof for his case.

Perry states that the Texas economy is better than the national economy and that he would be able to fix the recession. Texas currently has an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent, while the national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent.

Perry’s state is in the middle of the ranking, 25 states have lower unemployment rates than Texas and 25 other states and Washington D.C. have higher unemployment rates. Between June 2009 and August 2011, 237,000 jobs were created in Texas but most of these jobs were in the government.

Although Texas is better than the national average in unemployment, the type of employment offered in Texas is poor. Texas has the highest percentage of workers paid at or below minimum wage at 9.54 percent. Texas ranks near the bottom of the union for healthcare. Twenty-two percent of children in Texas are without health care and 26 percent of all residents are uninsured. The national average is 17 percent.

Despite all of Perry’s outrageous comments and the poor ranking in his state, his limited plans for actual policy are a bit scary. In his book, “Fed Up!”, Perry suggested dismantling social security, calling it a ponzi scheme.

He thinks the federal government should not run Medicare and allow each state to decide if they want to have insurance for senior citizens or not.

Perry has suggested that the 16^th amendment be repealed which would no longer require Americans to pay income tax. Eighty percent of the government revenues comes from income taxes so without the 16^th amendment, it is unclear how Perry would pay for things like the
infrastructure, military or even the salaries of his employees.

In his book, he also criticized the 17^th amendment which allows for the direct election of U.S. Senators. His contradiction goes even farther when you investigate social issues. After New York legalized same-sex marriages, Perry said it was fine for New York because it should be up to each state.

However, he supports a federal marriage amendment which would outlaw same-sex marriages. So much for state’s rights and limited government. He is pro-life and, under his watch, Texas has made abortions harder for women to obtain.

He signed the Prenatal Protection Act in 2003 which defines a fetus as “human life.” He has limited late-term abortions and requires parental consent for minors to get an abortion. Just this May, Perry signed into law legislation requiring women to have a sonogram and hear the heartbeat before every abortion.

There are more Rick Perry social issues to examine. We will return to this matter another day. I am sure, in the meantime, he will keep us busy threatening government officials.

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Rick Perry, the Texas governor who entered the presidential race last weekend, has already started to make some strange remarks. The most obvious front runner has not stopped making stump speeches since entering the race. Unfortunately for Perry’s handlers, he likes to stray from his talking points.

During a stop in New Hampshire, Perry brought up border issues, stating that drones should be used in border patrol.  “Why not be flying those missions and using that real-time information to help our law enforcement?” He added, “Because if we will commit to that, I will suggest to you that we will be able to drive the drug cartels away from that border.”

Last year, Perry repeated his predator drone talk and also talked about deploying U.S. troops into Mexico to fight Mexican drug cartels. “I think we have to use every aspect of law enforcement that we have including the military,” he said during an appearance on MSNBC. “I think we have the same situation as we had in Colombia. Obviously, Mexico has to approve any type of assistance that we can give them.”

On Monday, Perry stated that it would be “treasonous” if Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke prints more money before the election. Perry stated during a speech in Iowa that if Bernanke “prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.” Perry went on to say that if Bernanke printed more money, the act would be “almost treasonous in my opinion.”

He went on to say, “We’ve already tried this. All it’s going to be doing is devaluing the dollar in your pocket and we cannot afford that. We have to learn the lessons of the past three years that they’ve been devastating. The President of the United States has conducted an experiment on the American economy for almost the last three years, and it has gone tragically wrong and we need to send him a clear message in November of 2012 that new leadership is coming.”

Despite the immediate criticism via Twitter of Perry’s comments, he is refusing to back down. NYU economics professor Nouriel Roubini tweeted of Perry’s comments: “Perry’s Remarks on Bernanke are criminal. This Texan thug is making murder threats on the Fed Chairman.”

Tony Fratto, who served as Deputy Press Secretary to former President George W. Bush, also criticized Perry’s comments. Fratto tweeted: “Gov. Perry’s comments about Chmn. Bernanke are inappropriate and unpresidential.”

Perry was unapologetic on Tuesday. “I am just passionate about the issue and we stand by what we said,” said the Texas Republican during a stop in Iowa.

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A spokesman for Texas governor Rick Perry confirmed on Thursday that the governor is running for president in 2012, adding more drama to the already overcrowded field of candidates on the GOP side.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the governor would formally announce his candidacy on Saturday while visiting South Carolina and New Hampshire just as most of his presidential rivals compete in a test vote in Iowa.

Although the news isn’t much of a surprise, the timing is crucial. Just hours before the Republican debate and two days before the all-important Ames straw poll in Iowa, Perry decides to make if official.

Perry has appeal for many different factions of the GOP’s primary electorate. He is strongly pro-business fiscal conservative. He also has ties to the nation’s Christian leaders and is a social conservative.

But, Perry is not without problems. His views are extreme, even among the Tea Party. He will likely face opposition from secular groups that believe his religious rhetoric violates the separation of church and state. He has suggested that Texas secedes from the country if “governmental overreach” continues.

Perry supports states rights over federal government, angering members of his party when he believes that states should decide things like gay marriage and legalization of marijuana. However, Perry is very pro-guns which will help him appeal to his base.

Perry last year told an Associated Press reporter that he carries a laser-sighted pistol while jogging, and that he used it to shoot a coyote that threatened his daughter’s dog that came along one day for a run.

Texans touted what they called a heroic act, and gun manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. issued a “Coyote Special” edition of its Ruger .380-caliber pistol complete with “A True Texan” emblazoned on the side.

In a recent interview with Time magazine, Perry said that former President George W. Bush — who preceded Perry as Texas governor — has been advising him on the decision.

“He said, ‘You’ll do what’s right,’” Perry said, of a June conversation with the former president. “He said, you don’t want to wake up when you’re 70 and go, ‘I wish I had tried that. I wish I had done that.’”

Questioned about the strength of his conservative credentials, Perry said he didn’t think there was “any doubt” that he was at least as conservative as every other candidate in the race – if not more so.

“I’ve got a record. And that record, particularly when it comes to the most important issues in this campaign, which is creating the climate of America that gives incentives to job creators to risk their capital and create jobs for our citizens, I will put that up against anybody who’s running and particularly against this President we have today, whose jobs record is abysmal,” he said.

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