A Cheddar Souffle and the Jobs Council

Good morning breakfastpoppers. Today is Wednesday, January 18, 2012. President Obama's jobs council has come up with some very interesting suggestions to get our economy back on track. Let's prepare breakfast this morning and head for class. Prof. Spreadthebull is lecturing and he has a lot to say.

Breakfast today is a Cheddar Bacon Souffle. You will need 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, 5 large eggs-separated, 8 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon, 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1 cup milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Blend in flour, mustard and salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly. Let mixture come to a boil and thicken. Remove from heat.

Add cheese and stir until melted. Beat egg yolks. Stir a little of the cheese mixture into the yolks and add the yolks to the saucepan. Stir in bacon. Beat egg whites until stiff. Stir a spoonful of the egg whites into the cheese sauce. Fold in the rest of the egg whites. Put mixture into a greased souffle dish. Bake in a preheated oven set to 325 degrees for 50 minutes. You should serve this immediately so get to class as quickly as possible. Don't shake up the souffle!

Welcome class. Today's lecture will serve to illuminate what not to do when you are president. President Obama convened a jobs council of top U.S. business leaders to help him come up with ways to boost the economy. In his wildest dreams he never expected this panel to come up with ideas that were exactly like the proposals the Republicans have been fighting for all along. This was a definite "Oops" moment for the president. After all, he and his fellow Democrats have been fighting the Republicans tooth and nail for years and now, lo and behold, the president's hand picked panel of experts agrees with the enemy.

Initially the president pledged to go full steam ahead on their proposals. Of course, at the time, he hadn't heard all of them yet. One of the proposals calls for a long overdue reform of the corporate tax system which hurts business and workers alike. The panel wants to see the corporate tax rates lowered to internationally competitive levels. They believe that this move would boost investment in the United States and eliminate loopholes. Oh no, this is what the Republicans suggested long ago. The panel, to the president's regret, went on to call for a massive effort to exploit domestic fossil fuel supplies in order to reduce our reliance on foreign imports. Sound familiar? They also want to see a federal role in the development of cleaner energy sources. Their call for greater access to oil, gas and oil opportunities on federal lands must have really annoyed the president and rightly so. Part of his base is strongly opposed to these proposals, so now he finds himself in a pickle. The panel would also like to see reforms enacted to reduce the thousands of regulations that are strangling business, believing that to do so would greatly improve U.S. competitiveness.

I suppose the answer here is "be careful what you wish for". The president convened this council believing it would make him look like he was trying everything he could to improve the economy. I suppose he never dreamed that the answers he appeared to be seeking were there all along. All he had to do was talk to the Republicans!

This being an election year, it would be wise for the president to thank the panel and to remind them that there isn't enough time to get anything done. After all, getting re-elected is paramount. The next thing is to bury the results of this panel, because, let's face it, this is all very embarrassing. Should you find yourself in a similar situation one day, just assure the council that you will take their suggestions under advisement and get yourself to another fundraiser. CLASS DISMISSED...POP...