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.

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.

Obama Not as Popular as George Bush in the Middle East

I get a real kick out of this one. During President Obama’s campaign for the presidency, he often spoke about how George Bush damaged relations with countries in the Middle East with the wars (wars which Obama has continued of course). Obama even went on an apology tour to the Middle East with stops in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

It looks like all of that war stopping, and apologies, and bowing to Kings has really done Obama (and the US) some real good. Not!

The President, and linearly the US, have reached an all-time low as far as how favorably the Arab world view him (and us).  He is even lower than George Bush was at the height of two wars with Arab countries.

How’s that Hope and Change working out for you (and us)?

California Pensions and Worthless Recovery (UPDATE)

A couple of posts worth a read over at one of my bloggers-in-arms, Doug, at Director Blue.

The first one is school administrator pensions being paid by the state of California to public school administrators. See more information on the state of spending in California at "UPDATE" below.

When I first look at the post, my eyes went directly to the chart. The thing that stood out to me was there were several retirees who are actually earning more in retirement than they earned while actually on the job.  Come to find out, once I read the text, that this situation is not uncommon: one third of the retirees are earning more than while employed.

I just hope that when this all comes crashing down, we all aren’t going to be held responsible for bailing out these ridiculous pension plans.

Make sure you click through the link to the full story provided by Doug. I have to give props to the Sacramento Bee, a notoriously left leaning publication, for running this expose.

The second post is a great summation of just how wonderful of an economic president Obama has turned out to be. NOT!

Many links provided that show just how bad this guy has done leading us out of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and how his policies have actually stunted the recovery.

Quick look:

-Our debt will be 101% of GDP by 2021. This is Greece-like.

-By 2035 our interest payments will 9% of the entire economy, currently 1%. Where are the cuts or additional revenue going to come from? Talk about a killer to the economy.

-The glitch in Obama that adds 3 million middle class to the roles of Medicaid. I blogged about this the other day. I guess we have found out about the bill now that it is passed.

-The collapse of Medicare and Social Security. You know, a few years ago, President Bush looked at privatizing Social Security and was slammed by the liberal press and democrats. I wonder if people are starting to relook this. Yes, it is true that private investments are not a guarantee, but are you going to collect SS in 25 years if things don’t change?

-The continuing downturn in the housing market. The nest egg that people were counting on has nearly disappeared.

-Job creation has been pathetic. Here is a story from my local area. So many jobs have been lost since the start of this recession that it will take years to recover. Normal recoveries have a growth near 9%, we current stand a little less than 2%, which does not grow jobs.

I really hope the folks that vote this time around finally get their heads out of their rear ends and send this president packing. He is over his head and is not good for America, at least not a growing America.

UPDATE

Sister Toldjah has a great little post about how state employees continue to feed at the trough of taxpayer money despite the current financial crises besieging the state of California. Good video!

Bush Makes a Bunch on the Lecture Circuit, and the Left is Mad

There is just something about George Bush that the leftist press just can’t seem to leave him alone. Now they are picking at him because he is making a fist full of money on the lecture circuit. In a piece at The Daily Beast the author mentions several times that Bush had wanted to stay out of the limelight, then they go on to chastise him for delivering speeches across the country and the world.

When George W. Bush declined President Obama’s invitation to ceremony at New York’s ground zero after Osama bin Laden was killed, the former president citied his desire to keep a low public profile.

But Bush has been raising his profile in a different, and lucrative, way: He has ranked in millions of dollars since leaving office by making scores of speeches the typically warn him six figures a pop. (Source: The Daily Beast)

How Freddie and Fannie did What they Did.

A must read on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It explains how Fannie and Freddie got so big by publicly denying they were backed by the government but privately saying something else.  Even good old Barney Frank, who now wants to be rid of Fannie and Freddie, said there was no government backing for the quasi-private companies.

“There is no guarantee. There’s no explicit guarantee. There’s no implicit guarantee.  There’s no wink-and-nod guarantee. Invest and you’re on your own. Nobody who invest in them (Fannie and Freddie) should come looking to me for a nickel. Nor anyone else in the Federal government.” (Source: NPR)

Of course we now know that Frank was talking out both sides of his mouth.  Good grief, Frank was romantically involved with a one time leader of Fannie. I don’t think anyone believes that there wasn’t so sort of pillow talk at one point of another.  This is the same Barney Frank that told President Bush to go away when Bush suggested we get out of the business of supporting Fannie and Freddie.  So far, the feds have given Fannie and Freddie over $100B dollars and it will probably be more before it is all said and done.

Local Washington News: Fed Budget Cuts are Going to Hurt

The federal government budget cuts are going to have an impact. The budget passed by the House recently calls for significant reductions in money available for higher education, namely Pell Grants. In my home state of Washington there would be $82 million less for students attending college.

You know, everyone is going to complain about something when/if the House budget becomes law. Fewer dollars for transportation projects, so roads will continue to deteriorate. Fewer dollars for education, so class sizes might have to increase and some programs will have to be eliminated. Fewer dollars for the elderly, so now they will have to pay more out of pocket expenses.  All of these are going to hurt, and in some cases, hurt a lot. But what can we do about it? Federal programs have becomes much too expensive and there just isn’t enough money out there to pay for it all.

Tax Bill

Not quite sure haow I feel about the House passing the bill to continue the Bush tax cuts. On the one hand, it does mean our taxes won't go up on 1 Jan 2011. On the other hand, we'll have to have this fight all over again in two years. At least it will give the folks a reasonable gauge on what their income will be for the next two years.

I am also not liking the "death tax", but at least it was held at 35%. What right does the gov't have to money and property that was already earned and taxed? One congress-critter tried to make the argument that since the person was dead, the money was no longer theirs. True enough. But it has already been taxed once already from a variety of different money-grubbers. The death tax can be a burden on the family who receives the property. If the it is a business or land (say a farm) that is involved, the heirs are required to pay the death tax, which will stand at 35%. If the property owner and the heirs are land rich but cash poor, they will be forced to sell the property to pay off the tax burden. And will they also be required to pay income taxes on the proceeds after the death tax is paid? I don't know the answer to that question but it sure sounds like something the gov't would do.

I wish the republicans had held out for a longer deal on the tax cuts. Maybe they could have put a bill together after the New Year. But the risk would be that President Obama would veto the bill. He is not a fan of the "wealthy", having already stated that at some point you have already earned enough money. So taxing the rich is something he really wants to make happen. But at least it has been held off for a couple of years and can be re-engaged at a later date. Hopefully we'll not wait until the last minute next time around.

I am also not a fan of the unemployment benefits extensions. I know there are lots of people hurting out there and there has to be something to protect them. But we now have people on the unemployment dole for more than two years. There are jobs out there to be had, you just have apply/submit your resume.

The Iraq War and Questions of Legality

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

My response:

How did you come to the conclusion that we invaded a country illegally? Just because you disagree with the war in Iraq doesn’t make it illegal.  I disagree with dudes wearing pink collared shirts, but that doesn’t make it illegal. Congress gave President Bush the authorization to invade.  By the Constitution the President is the Commander in Chief, which means he commands the Armed Forces. Once Congress gave Bush the authority to wage war, the only way to stop it was to either defund the efforts or cancel the authorization, none of which happened.

If you are going to go down the road of making up the intelligence briefs then using those false intel briefs as justification for the invasion, keep in mind that there was not a dissenting opinion around the world or at the UN against the argument that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Even the French, who would at best be considered a flaky ally and stood a lot to lose, agreed that Iraq still had WMDs, and the capability to make WMD. Just because something turns out to be incorrect doesn’t mean it is lie.

As for Iraq being a threat to us I don’t think you can come up with a reasonable argument Saddam wasn’t some sort of threat. Maybe we didn’t have to worry about the Iraqi Republican Guard storming ashore in South Carolina, but they certainly were a threat to our interests. They proved that in 1990 by invading Kuwait. Why they didn’t turn south towards the Saudi oil fields is still a mystery but Saddam had intended to do just that eventually. Whether you like it or not, that region is VITAL to American interests. More than 40% of our oil comes from that region and having a mad man in control of the Persian Gulf would do us not good. Almost as soon as the Coalition forces pushed the Iraqi Army out of Kuwait, then he started his saber rattling. He constantly violated the “no-fly” areas. He had several 100,000 of his own citizens killed or injured. He continued to build up his Army.

So I guess the answer is no, I do not get mad that we invaded Iraq. The invasion, while based on faulty intelligence, was not done illegally or based on lies.

Blood for Oil?

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq.

-How come US Oil companies are not getting the contract to pump and explore for oil in Iraq?  So far, I have not seen any US company receiving any of these coveted “oil for blood” drilling contracts.  Correct me if I am wrong. And to think that Bush and Cheney would send young men and women to their deaths for some additional money goes beyond the pale.  I think you have been watching too many James Bond movies. While there is no question that evil people do exist, to put Bush and Cheney in the same group as Hitler and others does nothing to further the conversation.

-On the subject of oil policy, you might actually have a basis for an argument although probably not along the lines that you are trying to push. Bush and the other wanted to open up areas now closed area for drilling and exploration. I personally think this is a great idea. We need more oil, lots of it. Places like ANWR and deep drilling in the waters off the California and Florida coasts makes sense to me (yes, even after the BP disaster). But there does need to be a focus on what comes next, after oil. Research needs to continue on alternative means of generating the power we need to run the nation’s industries and homes. All of the alternative “green” power sources are still much too expensive to be useful.

--Solar power is 10X more costly for generating an equal amount of energy. There are other concerns. How many wind turbines does there need to be to replace a coal fired plant? 100’s?  1,000s? And while a coal fire plant might be pretty ugly, how ugly would thousands of wind turbines be? Just think about turbines all across the landscape that would be needed to replace the coal fired plants.

--Solar power presents the same dilemma. How large would the panel field have to be to generate the same amount of power as one coal fired plant? There is a huge solar field in the Mojave Desert right generating power, but I have not heard of any coal plants being torn down or dams being breached since it began operations.

--Bio-fuels are not the answer just yet. Right now farmers who are growing corn for bio-fuel production and the producers of bio-fuels are being subsidized with taxpayer money. A gallon of gas with bio-fuel additive is just too expensive to compete with the price of straight gas. With nearly 40% of corn grown in the USA going towards bio-fuel production the price of near everything associated with corn has gone up.

--While I think nuclear power is the way to go, it has its own problems, mainly what to do with the waste. Especially since Prince Harry shut down Yucca Mountain. Another point to consider with nuclear power is that we have come a long way since Three-Mile Island. Plus, we you get right down to it, the events at Three-Mile Island were actually a success. The fail-safe systems worked. The plant shut down, and it appears there was minimal damage to the surrounding area.

We still have a ways to go before we can replace fossil fuels with renewable energy unless we are willing to pay a steep price in how much we pay for the production and use of the power generated via renewable sources.

-Before you go off on how Cheney made Billions off of the Halliburton contracts I just want you to know this is a non-starter for me. While serving as Vice-President Cheney was required to put his interest in any business in some sort of stewardship/trust that he was unable to touch. I am not so naïve to think that he didn’t exercise some sort of influence but before you go all ape-$h!t over that, keep in mind that nearly all politicians have their hand in the cookie jar. Harry Ried was barely worth $1M when elected the Senate 12 years ago, now he has moved past $10M.  How did he do that on his salary? Even if he saved every penny form his paycheck ($174,000.00, 2010) for the past 12 years he’d have only $3.3M. He is getting that money from some place/someone. I will remind you that most of that money paid to Halliburton was spent on the troops. As someone who has deployed several times over the years, we are well taken care of in the deployed environment. Comfortable trailers to live in, good exercise facilities, outstanding food. All of this costs A LOT of money. And Halliburton is not a charitable organization. They have share holders to answer to. They need to make a profit just like every other private business. And those linked to the federal government make better profits than those not linked to the feds just do to the inherent nature of doing business with the government (massive waste).

-In my opinion we should continue to drill for oil where we know it located and let the free-markets develop these renewable sources. If there is money to be made in renewable energy you can bet there will be people willing to take the risk to develop these sources. Wind and solar farms can be successful once the costs are reduced to a level that doesn’t require taxpayer funding.  Nuclear power can be successful as it has been in the past. We just need to cut through the red-tape during development and have strict guidelines established and ENFORCED once the plant is in operation.

Bush Tax Cuts

Well, it looks like Obama has finally caved to the demands of the American people. It’s about dang time. For a little while, it looked like he was going to go against the will of Americans once again, like he did with Health Care, Stimulus, and Wall Street bailouts. And now that the compromise has been reached, the progressives are up in arms. Facts just don’t seem to get through to these people, or at least they don’t care about the facts. Economic prosperity has almost always followed big tax breaks. We had growing economies after the Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush tax cuts. And hard times follows tax increases. If you look at the trend of the Great Depression you should note the country was coming out of the troubles and then FDR passed what was then the largest tax increase and our economic trend plummeted. Taking money away from the people who spend it is not the path to economic growth. The government cannot spend money as efficiently as individuals. When you and I spend money, we have the ability to stretch the dollar further and across a wider scope. The government is utterly inefficient at spending money so it doesn’t go as far and doesn’t have the same impact as an individual spending the money.

On the downside (sort of) is the extension of the unemployment benefits.  As someone who is currently unemployed, but not receving benefits, I sort of understand why these are being extended. But I can't overcome this feeling that we are forcing people to look for work. I have too many anecdotal stories about people getting benefits and either not looking for work or working under the table. This bothers me a great deal.  BTW: I don't receive any benefits because my military retirement check is too big. My expenses have barely changed, but my income has been reduced by almost two-thirds.  I am about ready to go work at McDonalds just to have some additional income.

Bush Isn't the President

It’s been a while since I have posted a “you didn’t get mad” segment.  This post has to do with the 2000 elections and all the hub-bub about how Bush finally defeated Gore.

If you recall, a few weeks ago I posted some comments from a reader off of a Yahoo news post regarding issues between Sarah Palin and Alaska Sen Murkowski (aka; Sore Loser). There was a particular comment posted (titled: you didn’t get mad) and I thought I would respond to each of “line items” in his comment.  And as I have previously posted, if you are a liberal troll and make a comment, please refrain from attacking me personally. It doesn’t bother me all that much, I do have thick skin, but it really doesn’t further the conversation if all you can do is attack me personally and not try to refute my responses.

The comment:

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

My response:

  Another area where you might want to do a little research since you most likely believe that Bush stole the election.  While it is true that Gore won the popular election (most votes nationwide) we don’t live in a straight democracy (thank God!!), but in a republic.  And because of this it is possible that an individual can be elected President without getting the most votes.  Blame how the electoral college “hands out” the delegates.  Winner take all, rather than base on a percentage of votes in each state.  But back on point:  Several studies done after the election found that in the counties that Gore requested a recount, Bush would have won anyway.  Some other studies point to other counties where there were confusing ballots and people might have punched the incorrect tab and those might have made the difference in the election.  It is possible those ballots might have made a difference, but how can someone account for the minds of people unless you speak to each and every person that casted a confused ballot.  Elections are not a raising of the hands, but counting of actual ballots.

When I think about the consequences if Gore had been elected President it really scares the snot out of me.  While it is quite true that President Obama has a very radical vision for our country, Gore might have actually done more harm to our country if he had been elected President.  When you think about Gore and all the Global Warming/Climate Change/Whatever you call it today, and without the subsequent reaction/conservative movement, the changes could have been quite catastrophic. We would be under all kinds of CO2 emission rules, industries would have been destroyed, and the economic growth experienced in the early part of the decade would not have happened.

If You Blame Bush for Katrina, Then Obama is at Fault for the BP Spill

From the comments:

you didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.

My response:

  You people must think that George Bush is omniscient. I guess you believe that if Obama or Kerry had be President that they could have made the storm turn and hit some place else. The head of NOAA told the mayor of New Orleans that Katrina was going hit the area at a level 4, possibly a level 5 and recommended that evacuations begin very soon. The dunderhead who is still that mayor (should be in jail) declined the advice and 1,500 people died in New Orleans. Unlike Governor Perry (TX - Rep) who ordered the implementation of existing evacuation plans of Houston and Galveston as Hurricane Rita approached, the New Orleans mayor and LA Governor Blanco (LA -Dem) didn't initiate the Congressionally ordered (and available) evacuation plan for New Orleans and southern LA as Katrina approached. I’d say the responsibility lies at the feet of the Mayor Nagin (Dem), much more so than the Bush Administration.

  And I have noted that none of you left-wingers ever really took Pres. Obama to task as the Gulf oil spill disaster was taking place. The Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, tried several times to get the Feds to act, to do something to help out, and was met with resistance at almost every turn. Where was the outrage in the MSM over this lack of inaction? It was only later, once the damage couldn't be ignored any longer, that the MSM finally started asking a few tough questions.

  Has Obama done anything to help those that he has put out of a job with his lack of action during the spill and the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf? I know the moratorium has been lifted by the courts a couple of times, but the damage was done with the drilling rigs moving to other parts of the world. At least the Bush administration tried to help out the folks who lost their jobs or were displaced due to Katrina. As someone who is currently looking for work I have submitted my resume to several locations. Almost every time I submit my resume I am asked if I am a Katrina refugee. But have never been asked if I am looking for work because I lost my job due to the events in the Gulf and the inaction of the current administration.

  And before any of you start blaming Bush for the lack of oversight of the Gulf rigs, please dig a little deeper. You will note this oversight problem extends back even before the Bush Administration. The issue of possible corruption or just plain laziness shouldn't just be laid on Bush. Could he be blamed for the lack of effort to make changes in the agency charged with oversight of this part of the economy? I would have to give a tepid “yes”. But so could previous administrations, and Obama’s administration.

  Lastly, you hardly ever hear about holding responsible the company that designed and built the blowout preventer value. I do recall (can’t find though) reading during the first few days of the event that there was little need to worry, this value was designed to shut off in case of an event just like what happened. It obviously did not work as intended. Was it a design flaw? Was it safety checked and passed when it shouldn’t have been? And since this piece was under 5,000 feet of water could it be the function testing systems were flawed, giving incorrect readings with no real way to check the accuracy of the function test system?

Chasing Bin Laden

The one liner from the commet
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

My response:
Do you really think Gore or Kerry could have done better? Pull your head out of the sand. Obama has made Afghanistan his focus and he has had two years and hasn’t even gotten a sniff.

And while we’re doing the blame game why don’t we take a short walk down memory lane. Former Pres Clinton had two shots at him. Once, we the government of Sudan had Bin Laden in custody, they asked if we wanted him and the Clinton White House said “no”. Then again, after Bin Laden had moved to Afghanistan, Clinton could have had the military send in a cruise missile to take out the camp where Bin Laden was living; again they passed that opportunity up. Twice Clinton had Bin Laden in his crosshairs and twice he didn’t take the shot.

Housing Market Collapse

One liner
You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values.
My response:

Actually I get mad when I think that when the Bush Administration tried to reign in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back in ‘05/’06 and Barney Frank told them to go pound sand. Bush actually tried to talk about how the policy of guaranteeing these loans was going to impact the economy and was going to come back and bite us in the backside. But Frank wouldn’t listen, feeling the pillars were secure.

I get mad when I think Clinton made it some sort of goal to try and get everyone to own their own home. I think the policy was called to Community Reinvestment Act.

And I get mad when I hear about the stories of people who shouldn’t have purchased a home (or more than they could afford) walking away from the mortgages. I get mad everyone month when I write my mortgage check on a loan that I probably owe more on then my house is worth. I get mad when I think about how much money was wasted on companies like AIG and General Motors through government bailouts. And before you go all gaga over the money they paid back you might want to do a little digging. Did you notice the commercial that GM put on the air a few months ago disappeared as quickly as it appeared? Did you every question why? They were using another pot of government loans to pay back the original loan. A little fishy. And when word got out about this little slight-of-hand, GM quickly pulled the commercial.

The whole economic downturn can be traced to the collapse in the housing market, which was over inflated by the very policies enacted by Bill Clinton, strengthened by Frank and his cronies, and enforced at the banks and loan institutions by the thugs from ACORN and NAACP (scare tactics to get the bankers to loan money to people they couldn’t like implying charges of racism). The collapse of Wall Street can also be tied to the housing market with the bad derivatives bundled together when the “bad” loans were bought and sold.

Does Bush deserve some of the blame for the collapse of the markets? He does to a degree. He should have been more forceful with Frank and his group by telling Congress to turn down the spigot a little bit. He should have told the Senate Republicans to fix this since they still have a majority at the time. But to put this squarely on his head is wrong and misguided and smells of partisan hackery.