Saturday, February 26, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Just the Facts M'am...
Republicans wanted to cut $100 billion from government spending in 2011. Democrats said that would jeopardize our safety. It doesn't matter what we KNOW about the left and border security - they say it, the media prints it, and the argument is framed.
If, in 2011, the Government ONLY paid for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Military and "Security", plus the interest on our National Debt...our elected leaders would still fall $1.14 trillion short of balancing the budget. (Rand Paul)
Did you get that?
If we cut:
The Department of Education (2008 - $56 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $71.5 billion)
The Department of Agriculture (2008 - $20 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $132.3 billion)
The Department of Commerce (2008 - $6.5 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $9.3 billion)
The Department of Transportation (2008 - $12.1 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $75.3 billion)
The Department of Labor (2008 - $10.6 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $102.8 billion)
The Department of Health and Human Services (2008 - $69.3 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $82 billion)
...and on, and on...cut them 100% - we still couldn't balance the budget.
*The Department of Health and Human Services has a Civil Rights Division, with a budget of $44 million.
*The Department of Labor has a "Wage and Hour" Division, with a budget of $244 million
*The Department of Education has a NEW program called "Race to the Top" that got $4 billion from the stimulus, and now has a $1.3 billion annual budget.
*The numbers come from Obama's proposed budget. Each Department has "discretionary outlays" and "mandatory outlays" - which muddies up the accounting in 2008 vs 2011... but the longer we wait to do something drastic...the more money will get shifted from the former to the latter.
If, in 2011, the Government ONLY paid for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Military and "Security", plus the interest on our National Debt...our elected leaders would still fall $1.14 trillion short of balancing the budget. (Rand Paul)
Did you get that?
If we cut:
The Department of Education (2008 - $56 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $71.5 billion)
The Department of Agriculture (2008 - $20 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $132.3 billion)
The Department of Commerce (2008 - $6.5 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $9.3 billion)
The Department of Transportation (2008 - $12.1 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $75.3 billion)
The Department of Labor (2008 - $10.6 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $102.8 billion)
The Department of Health and Human Services (2008 - $69.3 billion, 2011 Obama proposed $82 billion)
...and on, and on...cut them 100% - we still couldn't balance the budget.
*The Department of Health and Human Services has a Civil Rights Division, with a budget of $44 million.
*The Department of Labor has a "Wage and Hour" Division, with a budget of $244 million
*The Department of Education has a NEW program called "Race to the Top" that got $4 billion from the stimulus, and now has a $1.3 billion annual budget.
*The numbers come from Obama's proposed budget. Each Department has "discretionary outlays" and "mandatory outlays" - which muddies up the accounting in 2008 vs 2011... but the longer we wait to do something drastic...the more money will get shifted from the former to the latter.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
It's coming...
I tried to summarize...short attention spans and all...but Richard Fernandez gets it so right:
(Hey Pat! It all comes down to Basic Economics.)
What is going on in Wisconsin? Are Republicans against teachers? Its about Unions. Its about Unions? It is about basic economic principles. Just like the dangers of Obamacare - Fernadez explains that Wisonson, Tunisia, Egypt, etc. all share similarities with the housing bubble. When you cloud up the relationship between buyer and seller - by trying to make the transaction easier, or by trying to make the transactions happen faster, with more frequency, by trying to help some buyers who can't afford what the sellers have (all good intentions to be sure)...you distort the product (Education, Houses, Cars, etc.). The buyer can't see exactly what it is they are getting. They lose the ability to judge its worth. Blame the seller too - they sell easier, faster, with more frequency, and they think they'll get out before the bubble bursts. Well, some of them do.
That's my take, read Fernandez, click here.
"...A New York Times profile last week described Courtney Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University with nearly $100,000 in student loan debt — debt that her degree in Religious and Women’s Studies did not equip her to repay..." (Glenn Reynolds)
If BANKS instead of the GOVERNMENT were giving out student loans, do you think a bank executive would have lent her the money, expecting a return on his investment?
"...Beyond the notions of “collective bargaining” rights, or “the right to food”, “right to migrate”, “right to carbon credits”, “right of return”, or the “right to welfare” or whatever rights people thought they had, was the crass question of whether the society on whose transfer payments were going to underwrite it could afford it. The unrest that is sweeping the world is underlain by a struggle between the core idea of market economics that you can’t get something for nothing and the fundamental promise of every statist politician that of course you can..."
Beware of Democrats...AND Republicans!
"...Social policy — things we wanted and thought we could afford — whether food subsidies, biofuel manias or higher education bubbles, have created shortages and gluts that cannot now be resolved without changing the underlying policies themselves..."
Farm subsidies! They don't help farmers!
"...Would you like your college education to be free? Sure, who wouldn’t? Better question: Would you like the results of free education? Well, the people of Tunisia and Egypt are learning that whenever the government supplies something, it is never really “free.”..."
Think we dumbed down our schools - wait until socialized medicine removes the profit motive. SOME will still make it work, some will still invent, and make money - but in the aggregate, it will be destroyed.
"...At its most basic nonpolitical level, the showdown in Wisconsin is about the price of teachers; about a bubble. It is about whether Wisconsin can continue to afford a union/monopoly supplied product whatever the disparity with the true market value of their ‘value added’ represents. And in other parts of the world it is about the price of food, energy, or the price of maintaining juntas, politburos, kings, emirs or presidents for life..."
How about Presidents and members of congress taking tax payer funded trips to 'talk to the people.' Why don't the twits just use twitter?
"...Their (bursting bubbles around the world) frequency and persistence are a sign that they are cascading on to each other, like a collapsing house of cards. The growing crisis over the federal deficit, like unrest over food prices, fuel supplies and job allocations in the Middle East — even the troubles in China — are about prices which have been distorted by government policy and now seek an equilibrium it can’t attain..."
...One day we may all miss Time and Newsweek or the Ivy Leagues the way we miss vaudeville. But there’s no way back..."
I, for one, enjoy vaudeville!
(Hey Pat! It all comes down to Basic Economics.)
What is going on in Wisconsin? Are Republicans against teachers? Its about Unions. Its about Unions? It is about basic economic principles. Just like the dangers of Obamacare - Fernadez explains that Wisonson, Tunisia, Egypt, etc. all share similarities with the housing bubble. When you cloud up the relationship between buyer and seller - by trying to make the transaction easier, or by trying to make the transactions happen faster, with more frequency, by trying to help some buyers who can't afford what the sellers have (all good intentions to be sure)...you distort the product (Education, Houses, Cars, etc.). The buyer can't see exactly what it is they are getting. They lose the ability to judge its worth. Blame the seller too - they sell easier, faster, with more frequency, and they think they'll get out before the bubble bursts. Well, some of them do.
That's my take, read Fernandez, click here.
"...A New York Times profile last week described Courtney Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University with nearly $100,000 in student loan debt — debt that her degree in Religious and Women’s Studies did not equip her to repay..." (Glenn Reynolds)
If BANKS instead of the GOVERNMENT were giving out student loans, do you think a bank executive would have lent her the money, expecting a return on his investment?
"...Beyond the notions of “collective bargaining” rights, or “the right to food”, “right to migrate”, “right to carbon credits”, “right of return”, or the “right to welfare” or whatever rights people thought they had, was the crass question of whether the society on whose transfer payments were going to underwrite it could afford it. The unrest that is sweeping the world is underlain by a struggle between the core idea of market economics that you can’t get something for nothing and the fundamental promise of every statist politician that of course you can..."
Beware of Democrats...AND Republicans!
"...Social policy — things we wanted and thought we could afford — whether food subsidies, biofuel manias or higher education bubbles, have created shortages and gluts that cannot now be resolved without changing the underlying policies themselves..."
Farm subsidies! They don't help farmers!
"...Would you like your college education to be free? Sure, who wouldn’t? Better question: Would you like the results of free education? Well, the people of Tunisia and Egypt are learning that whenever the government supplies something, it is never really “free.”..."
Think we dumbed down our schools - wait until socialized medicine removes the profit motive. SOME will still make it work, some will still invent, and make money - but in the aggregate, it will be destroyed.
"...At its most basic nonpolitical level, the showdown in Wisconsin is about the price of teachers; about a bubble. It is about whether Wisconsin can continue to afford a union/monopoly supplied product whatever the disparity with the true market value of their ‘value added’ represents. And in other parts of the world it is about the price of food, energy, or the price of maintaining juntas, politburos, kings, emirs or presidents for life..."
How about Presidents and members of congress taking tax payer funded trips to 'talk to the people.' Why don't the twits just use twitter?
"...Their (bursting bubbles around the world) frequency and persistence are a sign that they are cascading on to each other, like a collapsing house of cards. The growing crisis over the federal deficit, like unrest over food prices, fuel supplies and job allocations in the Middle East — even the troubles in China — are about prices which have been distorted by government policy and now seek an equilibrium it can’t attain..."
...One day we may all miss Time and Newsweek or the Ivy Leagues the way we miss vaudeville. But there’s no way back..."
I, for one, enjoy vaudeville!
In Other News...
Ahmadinejad: Upheaval will reach Europe, America
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's president is warning that the wave of protests sweeping the Middle East will spread to Europe and North America.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says popular demands for change will put an end to the oppression of what he called "arrogant powers." Without signaling out nations by name, he says similar uprisings will strike Europe and North America.
Speaking on state TV Wednesday, the president also condemned Libya's use of force against demonstrators and urged Libyan leaders to give in to the demands of their people.
Iran's hard-line leaders have sought to claim some credit for the uprisings in Arab nations, saying the 1979 Islamic Revolution provided inspiration.
Iran brutally put down protests on its own streets after Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009.
In other news:
...In a news conference yesterday, Pot stated emphatically, "Kettle is Black! Kettle is Black!"
...Canada announced it is selling a large Island up north, bridge included.
...Former leaders of the Soviet Union admitted today to its citizens that the United States did, in fact, land a man on the moon.
...Oh, and Kennedy was shot by Oswald, and Elvis is dead.
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's president is warning that the wave of protests sweeping the Middle East will spread to Europe and North America.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says popular demands for change will put an end to the oppression of what he called "arrogant powers." Without signaling out nations by name, he says similar uprisings will strike Europe and North America.
Speaking on state TV Wednesday, the president also condemned Libya's use of force against demonstrators and urged Libyan leaders to give in to the demands of their people.
Iran's hard-line leaders have sought to claim some credit for the uprisings in Arab nations, saying the 1979 Islamic Revolution provided inspiration.
Iran brutally put down protests on its own streets after Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009.
In other news:
...In a news conference yesterday, Pot stated emphatically, "Kettle is Black! Kettle is Black!"
...Canada announced it is selling a large Island up north, bridge included.
...Former leaders of the Soviet Union admitted today to its citizens that the United States did, in fact, land a man on the moon.
...Oh, and Kennedy was shot by Oswald, and Elvis is dead.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Revolution...
Freedom of Assembly is enshrined as a fundamental right in a Democracy...yet...revolutions are often triggered when a crowd gathers in a public square (see Egypt 2011).
It will be very interesting to see events play out in the Middle East. Libya...exactly what I would have expected. Hundreds dead so far. Yet the protests continue.
There is a murderous drug-dealing thug who lives in a city on the East Coast of the United States. He, and his supporters, have killed members of their own gang - not for the small amount of drugs they had, not for the cash in their pockets, but for the reputation. Witnesses say this man robbed armed men of their pistols. He was unarmed...until after the robbery of course. Now that is a reputation!
This man is in jail now (as long as the witness against him stays alive). Tattooed on his stomach is the name he is known by in the hood...'Kaddaf'. You see, the young black men who fill our prisons are converting to Islam. For most of them...its not real. They grow long beards that make them look scary - like a terrorist. They adopt Arabic names, and they smack their head to the floor to create a mark on their foreheads - as if they were praying. And as soon as they are released (after they buy a cool faux kaffiyeh) they go right back to their secular, drug dealing, thug lives.
They are recruited by real Muslims, because the Muslims see them as possible allies against the US Government.
Why is this gang member, who has spent a good deal of his adult life in and out of prison, known as Kaddaf? One told me, "'cause he be a ruthless killa."
The citizens of Libya, the citizens of Egypt are risking death - for Freedom. They might not know Freedom, most certainly not like we do. And, even if they are successful in Libya - like they were in Egypt - it will not look like our Freedom. But it is Freedom nonetheless, or the longing for it, that makes them lay it on the line.
It will be very interesting to see events play out in the Middle East. Libya...exactly what I would have expected. Hundreds dead so far. Yet the protests continue.
There is a murderous drug-dealing thug who lives in a city on the East Coast of the United States. He, and his supporters, have killed members of their own gang - not for the small amount of drugs they had, not for the cash in their pockets, but for the reputation. Witnesses say this man robbed armed men of their pistols. He was unarmed...until after the robbery of course. Now that is a reputation!
This man is in jail now (as long as the witness against him stays alive). Tattooed on his stomach is the name he is known by in the hood...'Kaddaf'. You see, the young black men who fill our prisons are converting to Islam. For most of them...its not real. They grow long beards that make them look scary - like a terrorist. They adopt Arabic names, and they smack their head to the floor to create a mark on their foreheads - as if they were praying. And as soon as they are released (after they buy a cool faux kaffiyeh) they go right back to their secular, drug dealing, thug lives.
They are recruited by real Muslims, because the Muslims see them as possible allies against the US Government.
Why is this gang member, who has spent a good deal of his adult life in and out of prison, known as Kaddaf? One told me, "'cause he be a ruthless killa."
 |
| (Not Michael Jackson) |
The citizens of Libya, the citizens of Egypt are risking death - for Freedom. They might not know Freedom, most certainly not like we do. And, even if they are successful in Libya - like they were in Egypt - it will not look like our Freedom. But it is Freedom nonetheless, or the longing for it, that makes them lay it on the line.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Happy President's Day...
...I know it is supposed to be Washington and Lincoln. But they get a lot of celebration. Today I will be celebrating Calvin Coolidge.
Coolidge was all about the limits of the Federal Government. He lowered income taxes, and lowered spending...and whadda-ya-know, 1/4 of the federal debt was retired. He opposed farm subsidies, instead believing that business worth being - should stand on their own. Like alot of Republicans (conservatives) he got little credit for his work on civil rights - granting citizenship to Native Americans (ironic) and appointing blacks to high positions.
Silent Cal was elected as Vice President in 1920 (with Harding as President) as a rebuff of all the progressive nonsense that Wilson brought. After Harding died, Coolidge won on his own in 1924 - with almost double the amount of votes of the Democrat.
In 1928, he chose not to run again.
They just don't make'em like that anymore...
Coolidge was all about the limits of the Federal Government. He lowered income taxes, and lowered spending...and whadda-ya-know, 1/4 of the federal debt was retired. He opposed farm subsidies, instead believing that business worth being - should stand on their own. Like alot of Republicans (conservatives) he got little credit for his work on civil rights - granting citizenship to Native Americans (ironic) and appointing blacks to high positions.
Silent Cal was elected as Vice President in 1920 (with Harding as President) as a rebuff of all the progressive nonsense that Wilson brought. After Harding died, Coolidge won on his own in 1924 - with almost double the amount of votes of the Democrat.
They just don't make'em like that anymore...
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Draconian...
In 2009, the Federal Government dumped $787,000,000,000 in stimulus money to avert an economic meltdown. Or, to push us closer to one, depending on which side you are on. This was money above and beyond the budget.
$224,000,000,000 was marked for 'entitlements.' So far, $181,400,000,000 has been paid out.
This year, the Republicans in the House, pushed for a $100,000,000,000 cut in spending. Since we are in late February already with no budget passed, and the budget calendar started in October 2010, they kept on target by submitting a budget with $60,000,000,000 in cuts - spread out all over the Government.
This was labeled as "Draconian" by the main stream media...
The Stimulus bill spent $184 Billion - OVER AND ABOVE THE BUDGET - on 'entitlements' alone.
Obama's budget for 2011 projects spending at $3,800,000,000. No, sorry, forgot 000. Obama's budget for 2011 projects spending at $3,800,000,000,000.
$60 billion is 1.58% of $3.8 trillion.
I'm just sayin'...
Confused? Does 1.58% sound...Draconian?
Well...
Draconian comes not from Dracula (which I heard a politician say), it comes from the ancient Greek legislator Draco (names were so much cooler back then). Draco replaced the system of oral laws by a codified written law. He also required the laws to be enforced by a court. This was the first written constitution of Athens. He did this so that Justice would be available to all - not just the ruling class who was privy to the oral code.
Draco was on to something. He sounds like an ancient conservative.
However, Draco was no "compassionate conservative."
Like a conservative, he believed in punishing bad behavior, to put a stop to it. However, most offenses were punishable by death. How about some Draconian measures for some politicians...
$224,000,000,000 was marked for 'entitlements.' So far, $181,400,000,000 has been paid out.
This year, the Republicans in the House, pushed for a $100,000,000,000 cut in spending. Since we are in late February already with no budget passed, and the budget calendar started in October 2010, they kept on target by submitting a budget with $60,000,000,000 in cuts - spread out all over the Government.
This was labeled as "Draconian" by the main stream media...
The Stimulus bill spent $184 Billion - OVER AND ABOVE THE BUDGET - on 'entitlements' alone.
Obama's budget for 2011 projects spending at $3,800,000,000. No, sorry, forgot 000. Obama's budget for 2011 projects spending at $3,800,000,000,000.
$60 billion is 1.58% of $3.8 trillion.
I'm just sayin'...
Confused? Does 1.58% sound...Draconian?
Well...
Draconian comes not from Dracula (which I heard a politician say), it comes from the ancient Greek legislator Draco (names were so much cooler back then). Draco replaced the system of oral laws by a codified written law. He also required the laws to be enforced by a court. This was the first written constitution of Athens. He did this so that Justice would be available to all - not just the ruling class who was privy to the oral code.
Draco was on to something. He sounds like an ancient conservative.
However, Draco was no "compassionate conservative."
Like a conservative, he believed in punishing bad behavior, to put a stop to it. However, most offenses were punishable by death. How about some Draconian measures for some politicians...
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