Ammunition

Haven't been posted much at all lately. New job is keeping me pretty busy plus I don't have ready access to a computer most days.

Ran across an article over at Legal Insurrection that I just had to link to. I will provide a few details here:

-Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich: 13%, for the middle class: 33%

-The top "1%" paid $84 billion more in taxes between 2001 and 2008. This despite an overall decrease in the tax rates. Funny how it works; when you let the people that spend money to make money keep more of that money (less tax), they tend to spend even more money to make even more money. Liberals pundits derisively call this trickle down. But let's face facts: When rich people spend money to create more money, it tends to create jobs for the rest of us. (More below)

-The bottom half of taxpayers paid $6 billion less from 2001 to 2008. This decrease occurred even though middle class wages were on the upswing. The decrease in middle class wages is only a recent development. Oddly enough, this wage decrease has occurred over the past four years. Lines very precisely with Obama's firsts reign of terror.

-Tax revenues went from $793.7 billion in 2003 to $1.16 trillion by 2007. Again, this was an increase in tax revenue despite a tax rate decrease.

Why Is It Even Close?

Good Grief!

How is it even possible?

Obama: 48%

Romney: 46%

OK, the recent dem convention probably gave President Obama a bump. But how is it that he has ever been ahead in the polls?

I find it very disheartening.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment is at 8.1%. And this is the rate among those actually LOOKING for work. It does not account for the millions who have basically given up until conditions improve. Real unemployment is closer to 12%.

Think about that number people!

One out every six able body Americans are out of work. In some places like California it is close to every one out of five people can’t find a job.

GOVERNMENT DOLE

45 million people are on food stamps. Yes, Barack Obama is the food-stamp president, Al Sharpton and all the other race-hustler be danged.

The number of people “needing” government assistance through the food stamp program has nearly doubled over the past couple of decades, a significant portion of that increase occurring during King Barack’s reign.

The US population is a bit over 300 million. We currently have about 12% of the population on some sort of food stamp program. And while I might have been a bit cheesy in the above sentence regarding folks “needing” government assistance it is a bit odd that the percentage of real unemployed and the number of folks on food stamps dovetails. Related?

Something to Think About

A friend of mine sent me this. As he said in his email this should be required reading for everyone as the elections approach at the end of this year. This was in response to President Obama threats during the debt ceiling and budget crisis that went on this past November.

Did you notice who President Obama threatened when he wasn’t getting his way on raising the debt ceiling?

He threatened to not pay: Social Security Retirees, Military retirees, Social Security disability and Federal Retirees.

Now… Let this sink in really good:

He did not threaten to stop payments to illegal aliens.

He did not threaten to take frivolous benefits such as internet access away from violent inmates.

He did not offer to fire some of the thousands of unnecessary federal employees that he hired.

He did offer to cut down on his or his wife’s frivolous gallivanting around.

He did not threaten to not pay the senators and representatives or any of their staff.

He did not threaten to take benefits away from welfare recipients.

He did not threaten to not pay foreign aid.

He did not threaten to cut back on anything that involves his base voters!!!

It Just Keeps Getting Worse for California

Doug over at Director Blue has another reason to NOT move to California. Actually, if you read his post, he has highlighted several reason why moving to Cali is not in your best interest.

Seems the teacher’s pension gap is huge (as in: HHHUUUUGGEEEE!!!!!).

Combined, all pension obligations are nearly $500 billion, as in one half a trillion.

Cities cannot file bankruptcy; instead have to go to mediation.

But hey, the state will always have Hollywood. Wait, maybe that isn’t such a good thing since that comes with Matt Damon and Michael Moore.

As Usual, Dems Blame Someone Else

Someday, in the future, President Obama and his staff will actually take responsibility for their own actions and their own failures. From the very first day of his presidency he has sought to blame all that ails on someone else. Occasionally, he has been at least partially correct. The economic collapse did occur on George Bush’s watch. While the foundation of the trouble (housing crash) can be rightfully tied to democrat policies under Clinton, Bush had his chances to fix Fannie and Freddie. But after a year or so, the economic troubles belong to the current administration, no matter how much he tries to paint this otherwise. Obama and his spending policies have sent our national debt into the stratosphere.

Now his staff and his main stream media sycophants are attempting to place the blame for the S&P downgrade on the Tea Party. Never mind that the Tea Party and the representatives they sent to Congress tried to get a balanced budget amendment passed and also championed deeper cuts. The lack of both of these was cited by S&P officials as reasons why the downgrade occurred.

Funding Highway Repairs

I’d actually consider giving some thought to supporting this idea. Former Senator Trent Lott says he would support an extension for the increase of federal taxes at the gas pump. Still need to think some about an increase in the amount.

The reasons for the increase are valid. Our roads and bridges are showing serious signs of decay. But the federal government doesn’t have the money right now to do more than it is already doing. But I do have a caveat. The gas tax money taken in would have to be earmarked for highway and bridge repairs and improvements only. No stealing from the account like is being done with Social Security. An independent commission, we’ll call it the RAB commission (RAB = Roads And Bridges Commission) would be appointed by a group of congress-critters equally divided among Republicans and democrats. The sitting President would appoint three of his/her choosing from their party and the ranking member of the Senate from the opposite party would appoint three from his/her party.

DOWNGRADED!!

As predicted, Standard & Poor’s has downgraded our credit rating. As long as the “big spender” is in the White House and leftist media bow to his every move and utterance, we are going to struggle to regain the trust of those who make these decisions.

Along with being the President who incurred more debt than any President in history, Obama now has the distinction of being the President that presided over our credit downgraded, the first in almost 100 years. We didn't get downgraded during the Great Depression, During WWII, Korea, Veitnam, or after 9/11.

Obama has certainly gotten the "Change" part done.

2012 can’t come soon enough.

Has the Double-Dip Arrived?

Now that all the hand-wringing over the debt ceiling has finally ended with the sell-out, the attention now turns to how well the economy is (not) doing. Recently, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report an anemic 1.3% gain over the previous quarter, a sure sign that the double dip recession has arrived.

Remember when good ol’ Uncle Joe said 2010 was the recovery summer? Well, that pretty much fell completely flat when unemployment stubbornly remained at or near 9% and home sales and values continued to plummet. A nine percent unemployment rate does not a recovery make. The debt continued to grow at an astronomic rate, which brought us to the last few days. And the housing market remains in an utter funk.

With these factors dragging on that supposed recovery summer, it was only a matter of time before the roof started to collapse. Here are ten reasons why the double dip recession is here. Condensed from and courtesy of 247WallSt.com. Read the report at the link, then read my commentary. Or you could do it the other way; no matter.

Weekend Updates

Weekend Updates

Missed last week. Just much too busy to even sit down at the computer, much less blog.  Here is the previous week’s post and updates (if any)

1. Snowfall Records Continue to Be Set. Not a big fan of the whole global warming/climate change horse-hockey.  I have not really seen anyone try to come out a say these records snowfalls are because of climate change/global warming. Maybe they realize they have played “Chicken Little” a bit too often and are starting to shut up.

-Here is another story about the significant snowpack, this time in the Rockies. Folks along the Missouri River are getting ready to evacuate due to heavy snow runoff cause by deep snows and a late arriving spring.

-Later this year I plan on posting a pro/con article on each of the Republican candidates but I see no reason not to start now. On the con side it seems that everyone’s safe (read: mainstream) candidate, Mitt Romney, is actually a believer in the man-caused global warming fairy tale.

2. House Votes Down Debt Ceiling Increase. This was really nothing more than show, but it does put a good many representatives on record. The tax cheat is due to bug Congress next week about increasing the debt ceiling or else the rood will cave in.  The Republicans are to insist there be significant budget cuts before the ceiling is raised
-On a related note, freshmen Congress-folks are not convinced Geithner or the Obama Administration is serious about tying debt ceiling increase with significant debt reduction strategies. Somebody needs to explain to these newbies these are tax and spend and spend and spend democrats they are referring to. What part of "spend and spend and spend" are they struggling to understand?

Fact Checking Ryan's Medicare Plan

Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget plan has been trashed by democrats, especially regarding Medicare. They have resorted to fear mongering to gain political traction. It has already had an impact in New York where Corwin lost to Hochul in a special election in district 26. In that race the democrats were able to out-message the Republicans on the Medicare issue.  If the Republicans don’t want this to happen yet again, they need to show that Ryan’s plan isn’t as nearly as bad as the democrats are saying (lying in some cases).

Over at The Daily Caller they do a little fact checking on a statement made by Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL):

WASEMAN SCHULTZ: “They would take the people who are younger than 55 years old today and tell them: ‘You know what, your own. Go and find private health insurance in the health care insurance market: we’re going to throw you to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and drop you for pre-existing conditions. We’re going to give you X amount of dollars, and you figure it out.’”

Senate Passes Spending Bill

The State of Washington has now passed a spending bill that covers the next two years. The budget bill cuts over $5B in spending over the next two years.  Coupled with this savings, usage fees have either been increased of initiated.

New Fees:

$30.00 annual fee for state park and recreation use.

This fee is expected to raise some $70M dollars over the next two years but there are some concerns that folks in the lower income brackets my no longer afford to use the parks. There is some validity in those concerns. When you live paycheck to paycheck, thirty bucks is a big deal.

Weekend Links (I Know, It's Monday Already)

LOCAL:

1. Limiting Debt in Washington State.  A proposed state constitutional amendment would limit the amount of debt the state can carry from year to year at about 5%.  Currently the percentage is about 6%. Most of the borrowing is to fund large-scale construction projects such as schools and highways.

In a typical democrat moment Hans Dunshee, a democrat from north of Seattle, said he didn’t think this amendment is such a good idea at a time when more taxpayer money needs to be spent to get us out of the recession.

Dunshee says the proposal would tie the legislature’s hands and reduce spending on construction at a time when builders could use the work

“As it’s currently constructed, it (the amendment) kills off a lot of jobs.  Is that really what we want to do over the next 10 years?” he said. (Source: Seattle Times)

2. Seattle School scandal takes out another. Seattle Urban League, which has helped minority-owned businesses get government contracts, has reduced staff and is considering selling its headquarters building in the wake of the Seattle Schools Superintendent scandal earlier this year.

Obama Saying What He Really Feels

Yesterday, an open mic caught President Obama saying a few things about his GOP rivals in Congress that I would imagine he didn’t want the public to hear.  While maybe not as rhetorically hot as Schumer’s opening telephone, or the TV reporters in Anchorage willing to make up dirt on Joe Miller,, or Rahm Emanuel’s Inauguration photo, or even Reagan’s “We being bombing in five minutes” statement, this is sure to create a bit of a stir.

Apparently referring to GOP members of the House:

I said, ‘You want to repeal health care? Go at it. We’ll have that debate. You’re not going to be able to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget. You think we’re stupid?’” the President reportedly said. (Source: Yahoo News)

Mr. President, I don’t think there are many folks on either side of the aisle that thinks you are stupid. Do we think you are out of touch and over your head? Yes would be the answer to that question. This heath care bill was passed using procedures normally reserved for spending bills and against the wishes of the American people.

Pelosi at it Again

Nancy Pelosi is a nit-wit, just no two ways about it. My blogger-in-arms, Donald, over at American Power begs to differ about whether Pelosi is a nit-wit and he makes a valid point.  But I still think they only place she could ever get elected is in a city like San Francisco and they tend to elect folks that are a little, um, different, shall we say. So how about knucklehead?

The other day Pelosi gave a speech at Tufts University discussing the current political environment. This is a short excerpt.

At the 25 second point Pelosi said:

“To my Republican friends, take back your party so that it doesn’t matter so much who wins the election because we have shared values.”

Weekend Links

Weekend Links: (Sources: Seattle Times, Seattle PI)

LOCAL:

1. Looking for the silver lining. The earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, with more than 10,000 killed and thousands more still unaccounted. The near term economic devastation will be difficult to measure, but it will most likely have an impact as exports to Japan will slow due to decreased demand. Another area where the impact could be felt is in the financial sector. Japan currently holds a good sized chunk of US Treasuries and may have to sell in order to finance their rebuilding efforts.

This is where the silver lining comes in. Not the sale of US Treasuries, which could have a significantly damaging impact on our economy and our dollar. But if we are able to withstand the sell-off, in the longer run, the rebuilding of Japan could be an economic boon for the US, and especially Washington State. They will need raw materials and construction equipment. We can provide both.

2. Here is a fairly smart idea.  Mark Russell has founded a company called Zebigo and using software he and his team developed you can try to link up some headed your direction. In these days of higher gas prices, this seems like a good idea. Free-market solutions; got to love them.  (No endorsement of Zebigo is intended, I just thinks it sounds like a good idea.)

High-Speed Rail not Tracking Well

High speed rail is not popular in some states and governors in Florida and Wisconsin have turned down funds that would go to studying and building high-speed rail in those states. Other states like New Jersey and Ohio have turned down federal money for funding conventional rail passenger projects. The most recent turn down of the high-speed rail funds was Gov Scott of Florida. The money was earmarked for a rail line between Tampa and Orlando, a dubious choice to begin with as the line was going to be quite short with many stops and only saving about 30 minutes over the drive time.

These following links are must reads:

Ridership Estimates: This document crunches the numbers and doesn’t come up with a rosy picture of ridership between Orlando and Tampa. It also covers the likelihood that cost overruns will saddle Florida taxpayers with more than the initial $280B currently stated as their obligation. One point the study makes is rather telling:

Wisconsin Public Workers and Teachers

The growing debate, harsh rhetoric, and building animosity between local and state governments and their employees in Wisconsin is spreading to other locations.

Yesterday, a Nampa, ID school official, Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna had his vehicle vandalized. Two tires were apparently slashed and Luna’s name was spray painted on the side of his pickup truck, then crossed out.  This was done during the overnight hours while the pickup was parked in his driveway.

The issues in Wisconsin is over a bill in the legislature that would have state and local government workers (teachers) contribute more to their retirement accounts and health care costs.  Also, the Wisconsin Legislature is attempting to take away some of the collective bargaining abilities of the unions. The bill will leave the unions with the ability to bargain for wages, just not other aspects like health care and retirement accounts.

Obama Budget Cuts

During his SOTU address and again with Bill O’Reilly, President Obama talked about his proposed budget cuts, somewhere in the neighborhood of $775 billion. Doug Ross has an interesting look at the proposed budget cuts.

More Budget Cuts in Washington State

State budget cuts are starting to hit home here in Washington. Several Washington colleges and universities were on the capitol steps in Olympia today to protest the cuts in the state’s higher education budget.

These are tough times and they call for tough measures. I know everyone feels that their programs shouldn’t see any cuts and their reason are all valid. When Governor Gregoire cut the budget for state funded health services, those folks were up in arms, and justifiably so. Now the state universities and colleges are also facing budget cuts and they too are upset, again, with justification.

Everyone has to sacrifice in some manner. In tough budget times like these, there are few, if any, sacred cows. Hard calls have to be made. Look at the state of New Jersey. Gov. Chris Christie has proposed $173M be cut from the state budget and cops have already been laid off in cities such as Trenton. The crises in NJ seems to be worse than those here, but Gov Gregoire is facing the same tough decisions. While I am not a supporter of the Democrat Governor, I do wish her the best of luck as she tries to work with the state legislature to figure out ways to reduce the budget deficit that will have the least impact

Gregoire Losing Popularity

It seems as though Governor Christine Gregoire’s (D-WA) popularity is taking a hit here in the Evergreen State. Her approval rating has dropped to 38% according to one poll. According to the poll, she still has strong support among dems but has slipped with the Independents. I’d be willing to bet many of these independents are upset that she is making hard decisions when it comes to budget cuts and they do not like it at all. I really be curious to see how many of those independents really vote straight line dem consistently but don’t register as dems because they like the attention come election time. And maybe I am being cynical.