Random Cogitations 2/22/09

• It continues to appear that Tea Party USA is gaining momentum; the sleeping giant is awakening, and BOY IS HE PISSED!
• Public schools have failed miserably in educating students on economics. This is clearly evident when listening to people discuss the current economic situation. On C-SPAN this morning, I heard a caller lamenting how he has such high property taxes, yet corporations such as the eeeeevil Wal Mart get tax breaks, while the commoners get slammed. My answer to THAT is we are overtaxed to pay for all of the entitlements and pork thrust on us by power-hungry politicians. Placing an undue tax burden on corporations has lead to many of them moving factories outside of the US, thus resulting in job losses. More taxes on business is analagous to biting the hand that feeds us.
•  Between election day and 2/12/09, the Dow fell 18%. I don’t want to hear ANY Obama voter bitch about their 401k. 
• Back in June, when George Bush was President, the Congressional Budget Office forecast the 2009 budget deficit to be $482 Billion; liberals and Democrats were utterly INCENSED over this. B. Hussein’s new plan puts the budget deficit at $1.7 trillion, and the silence from these same people is deafening. 
• Hope and Change; the Obama mantra. That massive increase in the Federal budget deficit is definitely Change. Now, Slick Willy is advising a little more Hope from The Messiah.  I wonder if Slick Willy’s wife’s boss will take the advice?
• Presumably, Chandra Levy was a Democrat (she was an intern with a Dem Rep from California). Although I don’t know her family’s political views, nor do I know either her’s or her families views on illegal immigration, it’s interesting to note that her suspected killer is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. 
• The New York Times feels that the government should take over the banks. I wonder if they feel the same way about large newspapers? 
• B. Hussein is apparently trying to stem the tide of his falling approval numbers. Yesterday, he announced that we will be getting our tax cut by April. Try not to spend all of that $65 per month (for a family; less for individuals) all in one place. 
• The Democrats have been obsessed with ensuring that the rest of the world likes us. But that was BEFORE the election. Apparently, that has changed.
• Students at NYU barricaded themselves in a cafeteria, protesting the lack of budget transparency of the University. “The students wanted NYU to release information on its budget and endowment, including staff salaries and financial aid. The students also wanted the university to release its investment strategy and the names of the people and firms involved in it. “  How dare them? 

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe    –   Thomas Jefferson

Obama’s New Deal Is A Raw Deal

Let this short piece be a wake up call for those of you who think BHO’s “economic stimulus” is good for the country.

Fred On The Economy

Common sense (which is sorely lacking in Congress and the “Office of the President-Elect”)

Random Thoughts

The Democrats in Congress are leading the charge to both save one of their prime voting blocks (the UAW) and to nationalize the Auto industry.  Giving GM and Chrysler loans is nothing more than a band aid as well as lost money. Yes, there will be definite consequences if the “Big 3” go under. But donating taxpayer money will only prolong the problem, not solve it.  I say let the chips fall as they may. If GM, Chrysler, and Ford can turn things around by producing quality vehicles, that’s great. But if their mismanagement and the greed of the unions continue, they’ll appropriately go out of business, and the market will have spoken.

Note to trans-gendered HIV positive prisoners: if you want to get out of prison on time, do NOT spit on guards.

My wife and I were at Sam’s Club last weekend, and there must have been at LEAST 4 people in line when we were with LCD or Plasma Flat Screen TV’s. My son and I went to Circuit City last night in our quest for a Wii (we found one at the 7th store), and saw 3 people in line with flat panel TV’s. A friend at work has a theory that families are buying a “family gift”, rather than more individual gifts. Whatever the reason, there are people still buying big ticket items, but I think that next Christmas, you’ll see major cutbacks.

Throwing more money into the educational cesspool does not equate to higher quality education.

My co-worker and I came up with ONE good outcome of B. Hussein being our next POTUS: our guns will rapidly increase in value (small consolation compared to all of the rights we’ll be losing). 

No more tourist trips to NYC or New York State for MY family. Gov Paterson apparently wants to punish people in the form of insane taxation. Citizens of New York will have to live with their decision on electing this yo-yo as Lt. Governor (or whatever New Yawkers call the vice-governor), but as someone who lives out of state, I don’t; it’s bad enough that we have Fast Eddie.

You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your parents, even if they are 3 fries short of a Happy Meal….

Mugshots

It’s The Economy Stupid…

…and it won’t be long before the US economy is in the hands of The Messiah and his administration. Wall Street apparently doesn’t think too highly of an Obama administration, as US markets dropped 10% over the 2 days following the election.  Of course, it also could be a result of the double-whammy we have to look forward to, with both a Democrat White House AND Congress…we shall see in the upcoming months.

My decision between the 2 major candidates in Tuesday’s election came down to the lesser of 2 evils, with the 3 main considerations being national security, control of the government, and economic considerations. I voted for John McCain mainly due to his abilities with managing national security, as well as the fact that he was of the opposite party of the Congress, and his economic policies would have (hopefully) been less liberal than BHO. However, after reading an article in Reason magazine after the election, from a strictly economic standpoint, BHO may have been a better choice in the short-term. 

This article is in the November 2008 Reason magazine, written by Veronique de Rugy, titled “Fear of a Unified Government” and subtitled “What happens to federal spending when the Democrats control both Congress and the presidency?”

I’ll let you read through the article, but it’s summarized as a Democratic White House and Republican Congress being the least damaging to spending, while the worse is one party controlling both the Executive and Legislative branches. I believe that it’s somewhat probable that there will be a change in the balance of power over the next 2-4 years.

 

As for the downsides of a Democrat-run country, The Executive and Legislative branches will be doing their best to screw up an already unstable economy, which is the LAST thing we need. For reasons not well understood to myself, Liberals (Democrat AND RINOs) generally don’t understand that raising taxes will not, in the long run, result in higher revenue. LOWERING taxes will raise revenues by spurring economic growth. It’s not a difficult concept that if you have more businesses making money, and more employees earning money, tax revenues at lower rates will be much higher than by stifling the economy with higher and punitive taxes. By punishing business owners, they will either not invest any further in their company, they may even move their business out of the country, or go OUT of business; each of these scenarios lead to higher unemployment, which further decreases the size of the tax base, while increasing the number of workers who need government assistance.

Prior to the “bailout”, I was supportive of the Republicans, despite being more of a Libertarian with my views and philosophies. I voted for Bush both times, but had a fair amount of times when I was displeased with some of his moves (No Child Left Behind and his efforts to grow, rather than restrict government, to name a few).  On the day that the bailout passed, I was so pissed off, that I decided to call the White House to voice my strong displeasure over his rape of taxpayers (while fully realizing that it was mainly Bill Clinton and Democrat CongressThiefs that caused the initial problem). I called the White House, but it was after hours, and by the time the next day came, I had calmed down enough to realize that it would do no good anyway.

As for the current possibility of taxpayers providing funds to automakers, I think that’s going to be another boondoggle as well. The problems leading up to the difficulties for US auto manufacturers are those of mismanagement, and union greed. First, the management should have accounted for the fact that energy  prices would go higher with large countries such as China using so much more. Second, the unions have been making sweetheart deals for their members, but kept wanting more and more. The contracts that were negotiated force the companies to continue to provide very expensive benefits even AFTER an employee is no longer involved in being a part of working to produce a profit. Similar to those fully capable of working, but instead leech off of taxpayers in the form of government entitlements and various other programs.

If you are old enough to remember the Jimmy Carter years, the next 2-4 years will make the late ’70s seem like economic boom times.