Monday, March 26, 2012

Singing the Blues ‘Cuz I’m in the Red!

By William L. Garvin

If the Blue (Democrat) states are any indication of how things will go if Democrats retain the presidency and control of the Senate, there is no economic hope. Take California, one of the bluesiest of blue states, as an example. The Legislative Analyst’s Office reports that it expects tax revenues to come in at $6.5 billion less than Governor Brown’s 2012-2013 budget. Keep in mind that the Governor already projected a $9.2 billion deficit! That means the Golden State is even worse off than the U.S. Postal Service which is only pegged to be $14.1 billion in the red this year.
Compared to last year, California’s tax revenues in February shrunk by over $1.2 billion. This disaster is double the shocking $535 million decline for the preceding January. Maybe it has to do with the number of companies that are moving people, jobs, and headquarters to other states. Spectrum Locations Consultants observed 254 California companies moving some or all of their work, jobs, or headquarters out of state in 2011. This is 26 percent more than in 2010 and five times as much as in 2009. According to SLC President Joe Vranich, the “top 10 reasons companies are leaving California” include the State being “increasingly adversarial toward business, uncontrollable public spending, unfriendly business climate, expensive business locations, unfriendly legal environment, worst regulatory burden, severe tax treatment, and unprecedented energy costs.”
The pace is accelerating, Vranich said. An average of 4.9 businesses left California each week of 2011, compared to 3.9 per week (202 total) in 2010 and one a week (51 total) in 2009. As far as energy costs go, PG&E must by state fiat raise the percentage of electricity purchases they make from renewable sources from twenty percent to thirty percent. Since electricity from the “not ready for prime time renewable energy players” is many times more expensive than coal, gas, or nuclear, you can expect a massive jump in your energy bills very soon.
This of course fits perfectly into President Obama’s vision. In case you’ve forgotten, President Obama is on record as saying: “I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, natural gas, you name it—whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers under my plan of a cap-and-trade system. Electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Questioned as to why he would not explicitly ban coal-fired power plants, Obama responded, “If somebody wants to build a coal-fired plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them.”
Apparently the President intends to make all the same mistakes that California has, only on a national scale. Expect businesses to continue to flee this country (just as they are fleeing California) as government central planning strangles the fifty percent of taxpayers who subsidize the other fifty percent. Many of the ungrateful latter are demanding more and more while contributing less and less.
Why would any sane person support such a disastrous agenda? Maybe it’s not entirely coincidental when USA Today reports that 1 in 8 voter records are flawed. “More than 24 million voter-registration records in the United States—about one in eight—are inaccurate, out-of-date or duplicates. Nearly 2.8 million people are registered in two or more states, and perhaps 1.8 million registered voters are dead.” Later on they note “In Wood County Ohio, home of Bowling Green State University, there are 106% as many registered voters as there were people in the 2010 census.” The census includes every man, woman and child. No one can explain it.
Maybe it’s not coincidental that the President’s Attorney General Eric Holder is blocking voter identification laws in South Carolina and Texas. Thirty states already have voter identification requirements. Two are trying. Maybe it’s not coincidental that Holder’s blocks are the first in twenty years. Maybe it’s not coincidental that the NAACP is taking the issue to the United Nations human Rights Council where Cuba, China and Saudi Arabia will review our processes from their lofty status as human rights champions. The idea that voter id is “human rights abuse” is absolutely ludicrous but it’s increasingly popular in blue fraud circles.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Teachable Moments for VERY Slow Learners

By William L. Garvin

It appears as if the left got more than they bargained for when they teed off on Rush Limbaugh for his comments about Sandra Fluke. While they had every right to be upset, it ended up spotlighting their “double standard” and bringing their hypocrisy into full public view. That isn’t another tornado touching down, that’s just the radical left in full media spin trying to cover their duplicitous tracks.

It’s quite comical watching the card carrying corps of Kool-Ade quaffers trying to deflect attention from the economic failures of this Administration. After all, it is this President’s policies that have already bloated the federal debt from $10.6 trillion to $15.5 trillion with no “silver bullet” on the horizon. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office just said the promised ObamaCare cost of $900 million will easily balloon to $1.76 trillion and the President’s policies will add several additional trillions to the debt! The latest ABC/NY Times poll showed more people disapproving than approving of the President overall and in every single area—the economy, the deficit, gasoline prices, energy, and even his incomprehensible foreign policy. Please explain the “Obama Doctrine.” You can’t.

Also remember that it‘s this Administration’s “war on women” that cut $500 billion from Medicare and Medicaid and wanted to restrict mammograms. It‘s this Administration’s proposal to increase health care costs for active duty and retired military veterans. It‘s this Administration’s policy to throw countless taxpayer millions down a green energy sinkhole populated by campaign bundlers. It‘s this Administration’s policies that resulted in more than one million workers dropping out of the labor force last month. The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics only recorded a 63.7% civilian labor force participation rate--a 30-year low! Additionally, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts (in a January report) that unemployment will likely increase not only this year but also in 2013. However, their “wag the dog” strategy, their smoke and mirrors, their red herrings, their “nothing up my sleeve” attempts at prestidigitation have failed miserably.

Every rational brain knew that Sandra Fluke was totally unqualified to testify on church-state issues. Her self-indulgent testimony before the flim-flam hearing concocted by Nancy Pelosi resulted in unintended consequences. Sure Limbaugh was wrong but the liberal “outrage” only served to remind everyone of the vile, vicious, and obscene slurs the liberal left continually hurled at Sarah Palin and other conservative women. These newly sensitized protectorates of womanhood were thunderously silent when Bill Maher, the equally foul mouthed Louis C.K., and Letterman voiced their adolescent angst in their crude pre-pubescent “jokes.” By any standard of moral decency, these “men” represented the lowest of the low. Yet the leadership of N.O.W. stood silent. Pelosi stood silent. Reid stood silent. President Obama stood silent. When it’s one of their own, suddenly they are brave new warriors. Their blatant hypocrisy backfired and the President’s poll numbers continue to fall. That’s why he MUST continue his full-time fundraising (on the taxpayers’ dime!). That’s why he doesn’t return the million dollar donation of the supercilious Maher’s “dirty money.”
Kirsten Powers is one of the few Democrats that gets it. She wrote in her Daily Beast column: “Did you know there is a war on women? Yes, it’s true. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher, Matt Taibbi, and Ed Schultz have been waging it for years with their misogynist outbursts. There have been boycotts by people on the left who are outraged that these guys still have jobs. Oh, wait. Sorry, that never happened.” She went on to observe that “After all, if Limbaugh’s outburst is part of the “war on women,” then what is the routine misogyny of liberal media men?...It’s time for some equal-opportunity accountability.”
David Axelrod, the President’s Chicago mouthpiece, did cancel his appearance on Maher’s propaganda program and the Radio and Television Correspondents have dropped Louis C.K as their dinner’s featured speaker. However, the Alabama Democratic Party still scheduled the misogynistic Maher for a fundraiser. So much for Democrats being leaders in civility. So much for setting the example and the record straight. It could have been a teachable moment but some people are just too dumb to learn.

Monday, March 12, 2012

It Doesn’t Add Up

By William L. Garvin

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

President Obama has obviously flip-flopped from Senator Obama. After introducing over one hundred new spending programs, the President just presided over the largest single month deficit in United States history. In February alone, the $229 BILLION deficit pushed the national debt to $15.5 TRILLION! Pay attention to the contradictions between his words and his actions. They don’t add up.

Recently, the President said “Now, because of these new standards for cars and trucks, they’re all going to be able to go further and use less fuel every year. And that means pretty soon you’ll be able to fill up your car every two weeks instead of every week. Over time, that saves you, a typical family, about $8,000 a year.” For analysis, let’s use a gasoline price of $4.00 per gallon. That means you would be saving 2,000 gallons per year which means you are currently using 4,000 gallons per year. Researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute say the average fuel economy of cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs purchased in February was 23.7 miles per gallon. While the average family drives 15,000 miles per year, President Obama’s fictional family must drive 80,000 miles per year at 40 mpg to achieve his savings. It doesn’t add up.

President Obama spoke in Cleveland about ObamaCare: "Your employer, it's estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent, which means they could give you a raise." A White House press spokesman later said the president meant to say annual premiums would drop by $3,000. However, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that health care premiums INCREASED in 2011 by nine percent. Again, it doesn’t add up.

Additionally, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid requested $30 million from the President’s campaign fund, the same amount they received in 2008 and 2010 to elect key Democrats. Despite having held over one hundred mega-fundraisers, the President said no. Plus, neither he nor VP Biden is scheduled at fundraisers for any congressional candidate. Once again, things just don’t add up.


Then there’s Nancy Pelosi staging Sandra Fluke and her preposterous contention that birth control pills could cost “$3,000 over three years of law school.” WalMart, Kroger, and Target advertise the pills for $9.00 per month. Even the outside number presented by Planned Parenthood is $50.00 per month. Apparently they don’t teach math at Georgetown Law School. That may account for the former president of the “Law Students for Reproductive Justice” stupendous mathematical “misrepresentation.” It just doesn’t add up. Rushing to her defense was HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “The reduction in the number of pregnancies compensates for the cost of contraception.” She also said the estimated cost is “down not up.” China’s one-child policy would be even more cost effective wouldn’t it, Madame Secretary? So would fifty million abortions. It doesn’t add up.

Comically, Consumer Reports doled out $107,850 to test the highly taxpayer subsidized Fisker Karma. Unfortunately, the “all show and no go” vehicle completely broke down and couldn’t even complete the testing process. That certainly didn’t add up. Since the Department of Energy keeps on giving, take a look at the “L Prize.” This was a $10 million award recently presented by Secretary Steven Chu for a “green” light bulb that is “affordable for American families.” Phillips received the award for an LED bulb that costs FIFTY dollars! There are already LED bulbs on the market for nearly half the price. Nothing adds up unless it’s in the liberal “new math” world that continues to squander your money.

Monday, March 5, 2012

The Nuts and Bolts of Volts and Dolts

By William L. Garvin

Since there is nothing more important in the political stratosphere than what Rush Limbaugh said, you may not have noticed that Government Motors is suspending production of the Chevy Volt. They will shut down for five weeks and lay off 1,300 workers because sales have fallen far short of expectations. Despite a $7,500 government incentive (which the President wants to raise to $10,000!), the company only sold 7,671in all of 2011. The automotive pipeline is now glutted with unwanted, overpriced Volts. By the way, GM noted that the average household income for Volt owners was $175,000. Why is the government subsidizing them?

The Volt is a volume giant compared to the Fisker which has only produced 2,000 vehicles despite a half-billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies. Since the price tag is over $100,000 for starters, it’s no wonder that Leonardo DiCaprio was one of the first owners and Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber quickly followed suit. You can imagine what the average household income is for those folks. Nonetheless, they also get the $7,500 government tax credit. Compounding the absurdity, Michigan Representative Sander Levin and Senator Carl Levin, have proposed DOUBLING the tax credit for these elite members of the 1%. After experiencing numerous production delays, battery recalls and software glitches, founder and CEO Thomas Fisker is now being replaced by Tom LaSorda, a Chrysler/General Motors “veteran executive.” Good luck with that.

In the midst of the Constitutional Contraception Crisis, you may also have missed the $1.4 billion Department of Energy loan to Prologis to place solar panels on their commercial buildings. Prologis is worth about $43.3 billion and operates in 22 countries so it’s unclear as to why they need our taxpayer dollars. However, what is of even more concern is that the “only supplier” of their first phase of installation was the now bankrupt Solyndra. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the Prologis loan had nothing to do with Solyndra. Right. Since Solyndra went bankrupt because their products were overpriced, why would any successful international company overpay when they could get the same products on the open market at a much cheaper price?

This is the same Steven Chu that said in 2008, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” In the United Kingdom, it’s $8.06; in Italy, $8.17; in Greece, $8.45; and in Norway, it’s $9.28. In Venezuela, it lingers around twelve cents per gallon and in war torn Libya, it’s still only $.52 per gallon. Of course, Secretary Chu doesn’t want to admit that oil and gasoline hasn’t gone up as much as the dollar has declined in value! Much of this is due to Chairman Bernanke printing and pumping billions of dollars into the economy. Then again, why worry? President Obama noted: “You’ve got a bunch of algae out there. If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we’ll be doing alright.” That’s really “going green!”

Don’t worry that home prices declined another 4% and hit new lows in 2011. Don’t worry about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac losing $16.9 billion last year. Go ahead—give them another $4.6 billion. Don’t worry about Abound Solar closing down production despite its $400 million taxpayer loan guarantee. Don’t worry about First Solar losing $413 million last quarter—we loaned them $1.46 billion for one project and $646 million for another. Don’t worry about them lowering their sales forecast and firing their CEO. Forget about the $750,000 we’re spending to build a soccer field for the 179 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

Instead, let’s focus on why the government should provide free contraception for a thirty-year old student activist. Let’s focus on the poorly chosen words of a radio talk show host. Let’s ignore his apologies. Let’s also ignore the vicious, crude, and obscene language that Bill Maher and his ilk have used to demean Sarah Palin. Let’s ignore the fact that they have NEVER apologized. Let’s ignore the President ordering churches to violate their religious principles. Let’s ignore the President ordering private companies to provide products “free of charge.” Ignorance is liberal bliss.