Aw, come on Lefties! Make a New Year's resolution to get some new talking points, some new material, and some new writers. Your repetitious regurgitation of reckless rhetoric is not only devoid of a factual basis but it's become boring!
We've heard the nauseating narrative of "the Tea Party is racist; the Tea Party is anarchy; the Tea Party is hate-mongering; etc." for over a year and you're wrong on all counts. For instance, the Tea Party Patriots do not receive any funding from Rupert Murdoch, the Koch brothers, or Dick Armey. Shall we discuss the Leftist causes and operations funded by George Soros and MoveOn.org and supported by the Huffington Post, Salon, and all the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC?
I'm sure you're aware of the letter published by Salon that called for Sarah Palin to be tortured and killed or the obscenity laden rant of Aaron Sorkin published in the Huffington Post. As for the Ku Klux Klan being a "Far Right Wing movement," that is so nonsensical as to be comical. A little basic research would uncover the fact that PBS was absolutely correct when they labeled the KKK as the "terrorist arm of the Democratic Party."
Any "screeching" you may be hearing is not that of Sarah Palin but the echo of Socialist dreams plunging into the abyss of fiscal irresponsibility created by the current administration. As for her "generalship," you failed to note that over 70% of her endorsements were elected to office during this past election cycle, all on Constitutional and fiscally conservative principles. As for the "depth of an empty spoon" attempt at mockery, this could have only been made out of ignorance. Anyone who has actually read her books, actually read her many editorial policy and opinion pieces, or actually listened to her speeches would easily recognize the depth and breadth of her interests and knowledge. But then, name calling is so much easier than actually discussing policy differences isn't it?
The "empty spoon" is probably more appropriate for feeding pablum to infants who can't handle mature food. As noted by LBJ, "Democracy is a constant tension between truth and half-truth and, in the arsenal of truth, there is no greater weapon than fact." Next year, resolve to get your facts straight. And by the way, I can already see November, 2012 from my house!
William L. Garvin
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
What’s Up, Doc?
By William L. Garvin
As the roller coaster year of 2010 comes rapidly to a close, what’s up and what’s down may give us a clue as to what 2011 will be like. For instance, used car prices are up because Cash for Clunkers destroyed nearly 600,000 perfectly operable cars. The donation of used vehicles to charity is way down. What a surprise.
Spending to train the unemployed for five million green jobs is up to nearly $90 billion. Unfortunately, the number of jobs actually available is down to 224,500 or less than 5% of the rose colored promises. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that despite a national recession, federal employment is way up from 2,739,000 in January, 2008 to 2,837,000 in November, 2010. Attempts to disguise this 98,000 increase in federal employees (who probably make more than you do) are way up. Facts are such stubborn things. During this same period, private sector employment is down from 115,562,000 to 108,278,000. You can “save or create” all you want but the bottom line is the private sector has lost 7.3 million jobs during the last year of the Bush administration and the first two years of the Obama administration. That’s why unemployment remains at 9.8% or as the President likes to say “the new normal.”
You have probably noticed that gasoline prices are way up and approaching $3.35 per gallon. Oil prices are now over $90 per barrel. Joe Petrowski, Chief Executive at Gulf Oil and Cumberland Gulf Group predicts that it will top $100 in the first quarter of 2011 and that there is a “one in four chance we’ll take out the $147 highs before Memorial Day.” The complaints of Cheney-Halliburton cronyism and Bush oil connections seem to be way down this time for some reason. Equally far down are the approvals of domestic oil and natural gas exploration by the Department of the Interior. Naturally this keeps the dependence on foreign oil up. Expect gasoline and electricity prices to “skyrocket” (another Obama word!) as cap and trade begins to take hold.
Health care premiums have increased for nearly everyone. Do you know anyone whose premiums have been reduced? The chances of the presidential promise of the family of four saving $2,400 per year is down to virtually zero. Meanwhile, the number of exemptions to ObamaCare is up to 220 with 50 entities easily recognized as union exemptions. Of course, Congress has already exempted itself. The number of doctors accepting Medicare patients is down and the number of doctors accepting Medicaid patients is severely down.
After the first of the year, Social Security “contributions” will be down from 6.2% to 4.2%. That will mean the Social Security Trust Fund will come up short approximately $112 billion. Lame duck congressional concerns about this hastening the predicted demise of Social Security are down along with the “pay as you go” promises of Nancy Pelosi. We’ll also be borrowing up to another $56.5 billion from the Chinese to pay for the extension of unemployment benefits. Naturally the unemployment insurance costs for employers will also have to go up so profits will have to go down. Don’t be surprised when the number of employees also goes down.
The number of employees will also probably decrease when families have to liquidate their small businesses in order to meet the 35% death tax demands of the government grave robbers. Not to worry. According to the New York Times, “end of life counseling” will be up under Medicare. Doctors will now be paid to “…advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.” This was contained in the House version of ObamaCare (Section 1233) but was not included in the final legislation because of public concern that “Granny would be encouraged to pull her own plug.” The House provision called for the counseling every five years but the new regulations will pay for the “service” every year.
With a new Congress being seated in two weeks, the ability to enact Big Government programs will be severely restricted downwards. Without eternal vigilance, the liberals will up their attempts at economic “strangulation by regulation.” Prediction: the roller coaster ride continues.
As the roller coaster year of 2010 comes rapidly to a close, what’s up and what’s down may give us a clue as to what 2011 will be like. For instance, used car prices are up because Cash for Clunkers destroyed nearly 600,000 perfectly operable cars. The donation of used vehicles to charity is way down. What a surprise.
Spending to train the unemployed for five million green jobs is up to nearly $90 billion. Unfortunately, the number of jobs actually available is down to 224,500 or less than 5% of the rose colored promises. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that despite a national recession, federal employment is way up from 2,739,000 in January, 2008 to 2,837,000 in November, 2010. Attempts to disguise this 98,000 increase in federal employees (who probably make more than you do) are way up. Facts are such stubborn things. During this same period, private sector employment is down from 115,562,000 to 108,278,000. You can “save or create” all you want but the bottom line is the private sector has lost 7.3 million jobs during the last year of the Bush administration and the first two years of the Obama administration. That’s why unemployment remains at 9.8% or as the President likes to say “the new normal.”
You have probably noticed that gasoline prices are way up and approaching $3.35 per gallon. Oil prices are now over $90 per barrel. Joe Petrowski, Chief Executive at Gulf Oil and Cumberland Gulf Group predicts that it will top $100 in the first quarter of 2011 and that there is a “one in four chance we’ll take out the $147 highs before Memorial Day.” The complaints of Cheney-Halliburton cronyism and Bush oil connections seem to be way down this time for some reason. Equally far down are the approvals of domestic oil and natural gas exploration by the Department of the Interior. Naturally this keeps the dependence on foreign oil up. Expect gasoline and electricity prices to “skyrocket” (another Obama word!) as cap and trade begins to take hold.
Health care premiums have increased for nearly everyone. Do you know anyone whose premiums have been reduced? The chances of the presidential promise of the family of four saving $2,400 per year is down to virtually zero. Meanwhile, the number of exemptions to ObamaCare is up to 220 with 50 entities easily recognized as union exemptions. Of course, Congress has already exempted itself. The number of doctors accepting Medicare patients is down and the number of doctors accepting Medicaid patients is severely down.
After the first of the year, Social Security “contributions” will be down from 6.2% to 4.2%. That will mean the Social Security Trust Fund will come up short approximately $112 billion. Lame duck congressional concerns about this hastening the predicted demise of Social Security are down along with the “pay as you go” promises of Nancy Pelosi. We’ll also be borrowing up to another $56.5 billion from the Chinese to pay for the extension of unemployment benefits. Naturally the unemployment insurance costs for employers will also have to go up so profits will have to go down. Don’t be surprised when the number of employees also goes down.
The number of employees will also probably decrease when families have to liquidate their small businesses in order to meet the 35% death tax demands of the government grave robbers. Not to worry. According to the New York Times, “end of life counseling” will be up under Medicare. Doctors will now be paid to “…advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.” This was contained in the House version of ObamaCare (Section 1233) but was not included in the final legislation because of public concern that “Granny would be encouraged to pull her own plug.” The House provision called for the counseling every five years but the new regulations will pay for the “service” every year.
With a new Congress being seated in two weeks, the ability to enact Big Government programs will be severely restricted downwards. Without eternal vigilance, the liberals will up their attempts at economic “strangulation by regulation.” Prediction: the roller coaster ride continues.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Purpose of Procrastination Politics
By William L. Garvin
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” Chicken Little
“Everybody panic! Doom is upon us! Quick, we have to do something! Rush this bill through or government will have to shut down! People will be dying in the streets! More pork! More pork! More pork!” Horse feathers! You can’t make silk purses out of sow’s earmarks. This is nothing more than a carefully choreographed crisis to cover up continuing congressional corpulence. President Obama is an unindicted co-conspirator.
Keep in mind that Democrats Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi took charge of Congress in January, 2007. They added Democrat President Obama to their reign of the 111th Congress in January, 2009. They have known for four years that the largest tax hike in history was scheduled to occur in January, 2011. Yet for four years they not only did nothing, they continually trumpeted the need for increases in taxes. Apparently they have experienced a Road to Damascus conversion and now recognize that tax increases stymie not stimulate economic growth.
Expect their new economic faith to be short lived. Evidence of their lack of conviction is that the tax rates will remain the same for only two years. They have every intention of raising rates as soon as they can. The President has said exactly that. Since that’s too far away, the radical Dems continued their anti-business and “hate the rich” class warfare rhetoric in an unusually bombastic and profane fashion. They seemingly delighted in throwing their obscene f-bombs in the President’s direction as well as at the accursed well to do. Curiously, the NAACP seemed totally unaware of these latest vestiges of Democrat racism. Likewise, the ACLU failed to show and challenge these verbal assaults. Maybe all their lawyers were tied up threatening school principals for allowing Christmas trees in their buildings. The horror! Eric Holder and the Department of Justice were likewise unable to respond because they were too busy suing a school principal for denying a vacation request to a teacher. The school said the request was “unrelated to her professional duties” but Holder is certain it’s because she is a Muslim. Step aside union, here comes the Attorney General to the rescue!
The next exhibit is the typical middle of the night vote. Just as with the health care travesty, the blood sucking vampires are more comfortable at midnight when the pork is less visible to the light of day or the taxpayer eye. The left was incensed that they will not be able to bleed estates over $1 million to the tune of 55%. They only got a death tax of 35% for estates over $5 million. The question remains: why should they get anything at all? If you work hard, pay your taxes, save and accumulate wealth, why shouldn’t it all go to whoever you deem fit? It’s your money, it’s your property; it is not the government’s! Certainly the death panels would never hasten one’s demise in order for the government to get its death tax and pound of newly deceased flesh in a more expeditious fashion…would they?
The next chapter in the leftist book of insanity was another of the Democrats 2,000 page Porkulus bills filled with over 6,600 earmarks! Harry Reid brought it to the floor of the Senate before anyone had a chance to read it (or the 1,000 page explanatory abstract was even written) and expected the public to swallow it. Were it not for the public outcry reminding both parties of the message of November, the Democrats would have rammed it through and added another $1.1 TRILLION to the national debt.
Rumor has it that it is the President who sets the agenda for the legislative branch. If so, the President has forgotten all his campaign speeches that were castigating pork and his promises to veto any bill that contained earmarks. If he’s not suffering from amnesia, then the Harry and Nancy Show has become an independent production and no longer listens to the President. Is it possible the President is incapable of controlling his own party? Obviously, none of these major Democrat players are listening to the American people. Procrastination politics is just another artificial crisis for Democrats to tax, borrow and spend. America deserves better.
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” Chicken Little
“Everybody panic! Doom is upon us! Quick, we have to do something! Rush this bill through or government will have to shut down! People will be dying in the streets! More pork! More pork! More pork!” Horse feathers! You can’t make silk purses out of sow’s earmarks. This is nothing more than a carefully choreographed crisis to cover up continuing congressional corpulence. President Obama is an unindicted co-conspirator.
Keep in mind that Democrats Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi took charge of Congress in January, 2007. They added Democrat President Obama to their reign of the 111th Congress in January, 2009. They have known for four years that the largest tax hike in history was scheduled to occur in January, 2011. Yet for four years they not only did nothing, they continually trumpeted the need for increases in taxes. Apparently they have experienced a Road to Damascus conversion and now recognize that tax increases stymie not stimulate economic growth.
Expect their new economic faith to be short lived. Evidence of their lack of conviction is that the tax rates will remain the same for only two years. They have every intention of raising rates as soon as they can. The President has said exactly that. Since that’s too far away, the radical Dems continued their anti-business and “hate the rich” class warfare rhetoric in an unusually bombastic and profane fashion. They seemingly delighted in throwing their obscene f-bombs in the President’s direction as well as at the accursed well to do. Curiously, the NAACP seemed totally unaware of these latest vestiges of Democrat racism. Likewise, the ACLU failed to show and challenge these verbal assaults. Maybe all their lawyers were tied up threatening school principals for allowing Christmas trees in their buildings. The horror! Eric Holder and the Department of Justice were likewise unable to respond because they were too busy suing a school principal for denying a vacation request to a teacher. The school said the request was “unrelated to her professional duties” but Holder is certain it’s because she is a Muslim. Step aside union, here comes the Attorney General to the rescue!
The next exhibit is the typical middle of the night vote. Just as with the health care travesty, the blood sucking vampires are more comfortable at midnight when the pork is less visible to the light of day or the taxpayer eye. The left was incensed that they will not be able to bleed estates over $1 million to the tune of 55%. They only got a death tax of 35% for estates over $5 million. The question remains: why should they get anything at all? If you work hard, pay your taxes, save and accumulate wealth, why shouldn’t it all go to whoever you deem fit? It’s your money, it’s your property; it is not the government’s! Certainly the death panels would never hasten one’s demise in order for the government to get its death tax and pound of newly deceased flesh in a more expeditious fashion…would they?
The next chapter in the leftist book of insanity was another of the Democrats 2,000 page Porkulus bills filled with over 6,600 earmarks! Harry Reid brought it to the floor of the Senate before anyone had a chance to read it (or the 1,000 page explanatory abstract was even written) and expected the public to swallow it. Were it not for the public outcry reminding both parties of the message of November, the Democrats would have rammed it through and added another $1.1 TRILLION to the national debt.
Rumor has it that it is the President who sets the agenda for the legislative branch. If so, the President has forgotten all his campaign speeches that were castigating pork and his promises to veto any bill that contained earmarks. If he’s not suffering from amnesia, then the Harry and Nancy Show has become an independent production and no longer listens to the President. Is it possible the President is incapable of controlling his own party? Obviously, none of these major Democrat players are listening to the American people. Procrastination politics is just another artificial crisis for Democrats to tax, borrow and spend. America deserves better.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Talk About Slow Learners!
By William L. Garvin
After having been soundly refudiated in the November elections, you would think that the political establishment would begin to listen to “we the people.” (Note: before the self-appointed grammar police surge forth with their pretentious pontification, “refudiate” was chosen as the 2010 Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. Thanks, Sarah!) It appears the President and the congressional leadership is either unwilling or unable to do so.
In California, Democrats ran the table and voters reelected the same old poker players who have bet the pot and lost for the last two decades. The rest of the country threw the Big Government rascals out by a resounding margin. Their message was very clear: STOP SPENDING AND STOP GROWING GOVERNMENT! Big Government isn’t listening!!
It’s no coincidence that leading liberal voices now prefer to “kill the messenger” rather than listen to the message. Such leading lights of liberal luminescence as Jimmy Carter, Al Sharpton, and Charles Schumer have all recently voiced a need to shut down Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and restrict the internet with their inappropriately named “fair use” doctrines. With such friends of freedom of speech, who needs enemies? Censorship of ideas, speech, and opposition is somewhat predictable. How could they successfully engage in a battle of ideas while their core philosophies revolve around eliminating babies (where’s the “choice” for the unborn?), breaking laws (sanctioning, supporting, and continuing illegal immigration), and irresponsible spending (combined with gargantuan growth of government)?
As was recently noted, the difference between a conservative and a liberal is that if conservatives don’t like what they are hearing, they change the station or the channel. If liberals don’t like what they are hearing, they try to shut the stations down. Curiously absent from their concern is the blatant bias supporting the radical/leftist positions by stations such as MSNBC. Similarly, although not quite so strident in their bias, is their parent station NBC. Both of course are owned by General Electric. The CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, is an unabashed supporter of President Obama. In a rather obvious quid pro quo, GE received huge amounts of stimulus funds and also massive bailouts from the Federal Reserve. None of the GE stations are about to bite the liberal hands that feed them. The same can essentially be said for all the main stream media.
For more proof of their bias, why is there so little discussion of the zombie, i.e., “back from the dead” earmarks contained in the recently enacted bill to prevent massive tax increases? Is the reason that there are ear marks or tax breaks for film and television producers because the vast majority of television and film productions have a liberal persuasion? In this new era of deficit hawks, why are Puerto Rican rum producers, race track owners, and American Samoa businesses getting preferential treatment in the form or earmarks? Rubbing salt in the fiscal wound is the earmark for the continuation of subsidies for ethanol production. The $.45 cents per gallon subsidy added up to $7.7 billion last year. Even Al Gore and Friends of the Earth recognize ethanol as another government mandated program gone wrong. Not only is it worse for the environment but it drove up the prices for foodstuffs that relied on corn. Furthermore, Gore actually admitted his early advocacy was for political not environmental reasons.
This continuing Rube Goldberg approach to governance begs the question, “what other Obama mandates are likely to go wrong?” The newly created food police is a very likely candidate. While Ms. Obama may think “we can’t leave it up to the parents,” parents will likely think differently. ObamaCare itself, the signature accomplishment of the brilliant Constitutional scholar has been found to be unconstitutional and an overreach of the commerce clause. Additionally, the Independent Payments Advisory Board, which will determine what will and will not be reimbursed under Medicare, also has the potential to be a more aptly named “death panel.”
The list goes on and on and on where Big Government is certain it knows what is best for you. Keep in mind, it is Big Government that has allowed 10-15 million illegal immigrants to enter this country. It is Big Government that has lost track of 119,000 airplanes. Let’s hope none of them come to visit you soon!
After having been soundly refudiated in the November elections, you would think that the political establishment would begin to listen to “we the people.” (Note: before the self-appointed grammar police surge forth with their pretentious pontification, “refudiate” was chosen as the 2010 Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. Thanks, Sarah!) It appears the President and the congressional leadership is either unwilling or unable to do so.
In California, Democrats ran the table and voters reelected the same old poker players who have bet the pot and lost for the last two decades. The rest of the country threw the Big Government rascals out by a resounding margin. Their message was very clear: STOP SPENDING AND STOP GROWING GOVERNMENT! Big Government isn’t listening!!
It’s no coincidence that leading liberal voices now prefer to “kill the messenger” rather than listen to the message. Such leading lights of liberal luminescence as Jimmy Carter, Al Sharpton, and Charles Schumer have all recently voiced a need to shut down Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and restrict the internet with their inappropriately named “fair use” doctrines. With such friends of freedom of speech, who needs enemies? Censorship of ideas, speech, and opposition is somewhat predictable. How could they successfully engage in a battle of ideas while their core philosophies revolve around eliminating babies (where’s the “choice” for the unborn?), breaking laws (sanctioning, supporting, and continuing illegal immigration), and irresponsible spending (combined with gargantuan growth of government)?
As was recently noted, the difference between a conservative and a liberal is that if conservatives don’t like what they are hearing, they change the station or the channel. If liberals don’t like what they are hearing, they try to shut the stations down. Curiously absent from their concern is the blatant bias supporting the radical/leftist positions by stations such as MSNBC. Similarly, although not quite so strident in their bias, is their parent station NBC. Both of course are owned by General Electric. The CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, is an unabashed supporter of President Obama. In a rather obvious quid pro quo, GE received huge amounts of stimulus funds and also massive bailouts from the Federal Reserve. None of the GE stations are about to bite the liberal hands that feed them. The same can essentially be said for all the main stream media.
For more proof of their bias, why is there so little discussion of the zombie, i.e., “back from the dead” earmarks contained in the recently enacted bill to prevent massive tax increases? Is the reason that there are ear marks or tax breaks for film and television producers because the vast majority of television and film productions have a liberal persuasion? In this new era of deficit hawks, why are Puerto Rican rum producers, race track owners, and American Samoa businesses getting preferential treatment in the form or earmarks? Rubbing salt in the fiscal wound is the earmark for the continuation of subsidies for ethanol production. The $.45 cents per gallon subsidy added up to $7.7 billion last year. Even Al Gore and Friends of the Earth recognize ethanol as another government mandated program gone wrong. Not only is it worse for the environment but it drove up the prices for foodstuffs that relied on corn. Furthermore, Gore actually admitted his early advocacy was for political not environmental reasons.
This continuing Rube Goldberg approach to governance begs the question, “what other Obama mandates are likely to go wrong?” The newly created food police is a very likely candidate. While Ms. Obama may think “we can’t leave it up to the parents,” parents will likely think differently. ObamaCare itself, the signature accomplishment of the brilliant Constitutional scholar has been found to be unconstitutional and an overreach of the commerce clause. Additionally, the Independent Payments Advisory Board, which will determine what will and will not be reimbursed under Medicare, also has the potential to be a more aptly named “death panel.”
The list goes on and on and on where Big Government is certain it knows what is best for you. Keep in mind, it is Big Government that has allowed 10-15 million illegal immigrants to enter this country. It is Big Government that has lost track of 119,000 airplanes. Let’s hope none of them come to visit you soon!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Economics for the Real World
By William L. Garvin
It is almost comical to watch the lunacy of the liberal left as their progressive, socialist, big government economic policies continue to spiral downward in abject failure under the current administration guidance. Since they cannot logically deny the total collapse of the “Summary of Recovery”, the unemployment rate climbing back to a national 9.8%, the pitiful creation of only 39,000 jobs last month, the inability/unwillingness to pass a budget, and their apparent inability to kick their earmark addiction, they are reverting to their usual childish strategy: distract, defame, and distort. The shrill shrieking you hear is nothing more than the infantile temper tantrum of liberal angst imploding in a torrent of name calling, the “last refuge of a scoundrel.” Radicals continue to exercise the same lack of civic responsibility as WikiLeaks but now combine it with a reprehensible and narcissistic lack of civility.
It’s not surprising that having pledged their undying fealty to the least qualified President in history that they would attempt to distort reality. It’s not surprising that they would ignore the crystal clear message of the American voters: STOP SPENDING AND STOP GROWING GOVERNMENT! It’s not surprising that lame duck liberals would pass the Food Safety Act in order to add a new federal employee to every food producing entity that grosses over $500,000. It’s not surprising that they are likely to impose the largest tax hikes in history. It’s not surprising that they would ignore the increase in revenues when taxes were cut during the presidencies of Coolidge, Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush.
It’s also not surprising they would ignore the history that shows consistent decreases in revenue whenever government increases taxes. The brilliant economist, Thomas Sowell, pointedly notes that this is a time tested truism. IRS records show that there were 206 people who reported income over $1 million dollars in 1916. As the big government of Woodrow Wilson ratcheted up the tax rates, this number fell to 21 within five years!
For a contemporary practical application, let’s look at the phenomenon of bottled water pioneered by Evian and Perrier. A newcomer to the Top Ten in this niche is Fiji Water. They trade on the purity of water coming from artesian springs that are deep underground so the water never comes into contact with air before it is bottled. Taking a page out of the Obama/Democrat playbook, the Fijian government decided last week that they should increase the tax on companies extracting more than 3.5 million liters from one-third of one percent to 15 cents per liter. Fiji Water is the only company that is affected by this classic “punish the rich” and “redistribute the wealth” scheme. Unfortunately for Fiji, they killed the goose that laid the golden egg. This last Monday, Stewart and Lynda Resnick (the owners of Fiji Water) announced the closing of their operations, canceled orders from suppliers, and put all their construction projects in Fiji on hold. Congratulations, Fiji, you now have 100% of nothing! Good luck finding a new investor when you’re acting more and more like Hugo Chavez.
In another battle to eliminate private enterprise, Commissar/Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar rescinded the decision to allow offshore oil drilling and extended the moratorium for SEVEN years! “…we need to proceed with caution and focus on creating a more stringent regulatory regime.” ” Regime” was his operative word. “Death by taxation” or “strangulation by regulation” is clearly the Obama Way. Billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas will now be unavailable to meet America’s energy needs. Thousands of badly needed jobs will neither be saved nor created. The Democrat pledge for energy independence goes up in the same puff of smoke as transparency, posting of legislation, and pay as you go. As with Fiji, don’t expect new investment any time soon!
This was all very predictable given the President’s upbringing, education, total lack of private sector/economic experience, and total lack of executive experience. He could have chosen to surround himself with experienced people who would have supplemented these obvious deficiencies. However, he chose an inner circle of cronies cut out of the same inexperienced bolt of cloth. Given the catastrophic failure of the Council of Economic Advisors, the taxpayers should demand their $4.2 million/year back…and fire their boss!
It is almost comical to watch the lunacy of the liberal left as their progressive, socialist, big government economic policies continue to spiral downward in abject failure under the current administration guidance. Since they cannot logically deny the total collapse of the “Summary of Recovery”, the unemployment rate climbing back to a national 9.8%, the pitiful creation of only 39,000 jobs last month, the inability/unwillingness to pass a budget, and their apparent inability to kick their earmark addiction, they are reverting to their usual childish strategy: distract, defame, and distort. The shrill shrieking you hear is nothing more than the infantile temper tantrum of liberal angst imploding in a torrent of name calling, the “last refuge of a scoundrel.” Radicals continue to exercise the same lack of civic responsibility as WikiLeaks but now combine it with a reprehensible and narcissistic lack of civility.
It’s not surprising that having pledged their undying fealty to the least qualified President in history that they would attempt to distort reality. It’s not surprising that they would ignore the crystal clear message of the American voters: STOP SPENDING AND STOP GROWING GOVERNMENT! It’s not surprising that lame duck liberals would pass the Food Safety Act in order to add a new federal employee to every food producing entity that grosses over $500,000. It’s not surprising that they are likely to impose the largest tax hikes in history. It’s not surprising that they would ignore the increase in revenues when taxes were cut during the presidencies of Coolidge, Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush.
It’s also not surprising they would ignore the history that shows consistent decreases in revenue whenever government increases taxes. The brilliant economist, Thomas Sowell, pointedly notes that this is a time tested truism. IRS records show that there were 206 people who reported income over $1 million dollars in 1916. As the big government of Woodrow Wilson ratcheted up the tax rates, this number fell to 21 within five years!
For a contemporary practical application, let’s look at the phenomenon of bottled water pioneered by Evian and Perrier. A newcomer to the Top Ten in this niche is Fiji Water. They trade on the purity of water coming from artesian springs that are deep underground so the water never comes into contact with air before it is bottled. Taking a page out of the Obama/Democrat playbook, the Fijian government decided last week that they should increase the tax on companies extracting more than 3.5 million liters from one-third of one percent to 15 cents per liter. Fiji Water is the only company that is affected by this classic “punish the rich” and “redistribute the wealth” scheme. Unfortunately for Fiji, they killed the goose that laid the golden egg. This last Monday, Stewart and Lynda Resnick (the owners of Fiji Water) announced the closing of their operations, canceled orders from suppliers, and put all their construction projects in Fiji on hold. Congratulations, Fiji, you now have 100% of nothing! Good luck finding a new investor when you’re acting more and more like Hugo Chavez.
In another battle to eliminate private enterprise, Commissar/Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar rescinded the decision to allow offshore oil drilling and extended the moratorium for SEVEN years! “…we need to proceed with caution and focus on creating a more stringent regulatory regime.” ” Regime” was his operative word. “Death by taxation” or “strangulation by regulation” is clearly the Obama Way. Billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas will now be unavailable to meet America’s energy needs. Thousands of badly needed jobs will neither be saved nor created. The Democrat pledge for energy independence goes up in the same puff of smoke as transparency, posting of legislation, and pay as you go. As with Fiji, don’t expect new investment any time soon!
This was all very predictable given the President’s upbringing, education, total lack of private sector/economic experience, and total lack of executive experience. He could have chosen to surround himself with experienced people who would have supplemented these obvious deficiencies. However, he chose an inner circle of cronies cut out of the same inexperienced bolt of cloth. Given the catastrophic failure of the Council of Economic Advisors, the taxpayers should demand their $4.2 million/year back…and fire their boss!
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