Friday, January 30, 2009

Epic Fail! Government Run Business

Short sighted vision in business usually results in the death of the company. But in government it gets you elected to office for the foreseeable future. Mix the two and you have a receipt for disaster. Well, welcome to our world today. Since the delivery of billions in bailout money to the financial and business world, we the people feel we should have a say in what is going on with that money. As a stockholder of that company, yes that makes sense, but when our interest is represented by the bureaucrat, fraud, waste and abuse are sure to be the results of our underwriting.

Lets start by looking at some major service programs government provides to the people, its customers.

  • Medicare - yes people do get health care albeit not without delay, massive red tape, and a level of fraud that would make any mafia boss cry with pride. 
  • Social Security - there is a reason it is referred to as social insecurity. It is on the verge of bankruptcy and our progeny most likely will not receive any benefit for their fiscal support of the program. 
  • Welfare - beside the fact that the welfare state has destroyed the nuclear family and relegated almost an entire population of minority citizens to government subsistence, it has been yet again another example of massive fraud. Not to mention that welfare was to end poverty as we know it. We have spent more than a $9 Trillion since its inception and poverty still runs rampant. 
  • Education - in the last 10 years, the education budget has increased almost 300% over the previous 2 decades combined. This has resulted in little to no improvement in America’s level of education position compared to other democracies of the world. You have to ask what are we getting for our money?

Example after example exist that shows government is incapable of productive business functions. But yet we are more than happy for them to interfere repeatedly, on our behalf, in the day to day workings of our new investments. However, the short sighted sound bite of electability portrays to the mind of the naive, that big business is bad and the actions of their management are “shameful”. Two examples have flared in the press lately, accompanied by the indignation of our meaningful representatives.

The first is the case of the new private plane purchase by Citigroup. For those of us that do not get the pleasure of flying in a private plane, we are inclined to think of this luxury as frivolous. But, private planes are the staple of big business and has been shown repeatedly that it is a worthwhile investment for the transportation needs of upper management. When it can cost a company more then $1,000 per hour to have a person sit at an airport instead of working, it adds up. Not to mention, the purchase of that plane employes people that build the plane. No plane, no employment. The argument is that the plane is French and has nothing to do with America. Except for the fact that final assembly and delivery of the planes occur in Little Rock, Arkansas. But the real story behind this political theater is that Citigroup was getting rid of two very costly older planes that have high maintenance expenses and wasteful fuel consumption that “harms the environment.” In exchange, Citigroup was to sell the two older planes, buy a new plane and decrease their overall costs of operation, thus saving us, the new investor money. But that story line does not meld with the socialist tendencies of our current administration.

The second is even worse, since it has a direct effect on many people’s lives. President Obama just yesterday called the distribution of billions in bonuses to Wall Street fat cats despicable. On the surface, this seems a fair comment since those companies are being horribly mismanaged and are a good portion of the reason we are in the financial hell we current endure. BUT! The people who receive these bonuses, and have received them for years, live, work and purchase in New York. If they do not have the bonuses, they do not continue their lifestyle. I know a lot of people think that is a good thing for them since they deserve it, but wait and look at the unintended consequences. Those bonuses are taxed and those tax dollars go to New York City to the tune of $1 to $2 Billion per year. New York has announced that they are more than $1 Billion short on tax revenue and the outcome will be the elimination of 20,000 jobs. Those bonuses and salaries of the ultra rich represent the vast majority of the collected taxes for the city. You take that away and the city goes broke. 20,000 jobs will just be the start as taxes are not collected on those incomes as well. As they say, when a snow ball starts rolling down hill...

Another adage says, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Just because these and other actions on the part of big business seems reprehensible, there is a connected reality of cause and effect that impacts us all. We see that first hand when they fail to perform their fiduciary responsibility to the company. But we also see the benefit of jobs, personal advancement, money to invest, and money to purchase. The left is fond of saying trickle down economics don’t work. Well the bonuses of New York are a prime example of what happens when you dam the stream.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Obama's First 100 Minutes

Monday, January 26, 2009

Obama Quicky Dividing The Country In Half

Let's see, Obama won 53% to 46%. Let's say a good 10pts of that are people who already regret the fact that they voted for him. That will soon put Obama's approval rate south of 50%. By taking the side of terrorists, killing babies abroad, and attempting to bankrupt America with a 1 trillion dollar welfare package, Obama is quickly splitting the country in half. Let him mess with talk radio, go after Americans' guns, and continue to discriminate against white people through "targeted" government spending, he'll be at 40% before the leaves start to turn this fall.

I Have a Bridge to Sell You!

The political battle lines this week, are drawn along the jagged edge of the $825 billion Stimulus Package. The Democrats are wailing about our impending doom if it is not passed without question, while the Republican’s unsympathetic response harbors a professed confrontation typical of political theater. If there was ever a time for a conservative, principled stand against the mistakes of the left, it would be now. But if the American public believes there is a real discussion in Congress on a beneficial stimulus package for the economy, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

You see, the stimulus package is pork. And not just your normal fare of swine, but a succulent and fattened collection of congressional earmark gluttony unseen since the New Deal. We are told that the plan has been painstakingly assembled with the best of intentions, providing an immediate beneficial impact on the fiscal suffering of the electorate. This could not be further from the truth.

Prior to the introduction of the Stimulus Package, a number of state governors and city mayors assembled within their separate political organizations to create a list of necessary projects for the plan. Luckily for the American people, the stimulus package is only $825 billion or programs like a Polar bear exhibit in Rhode Island and a mafia museum in Las Vegas might have been included as well. Even so, organizations like ACORN got their pet projects into the plan. The coffers are open and Speaker Pelosi has demonstrated her dictatorial control over the process to insure a New New Deal is squarely placed upon her rightful shoulders. Well, so be it.

As much as it would benefit the conservative right for Mrs. Pelosi to be saddled with the destruction of the American government as we know it, the disastrous effects of that decision on the American people is well beyond the risk that can be taken for political gain. So it is with great resolve that the right must fight this Obamanation of a plan and convince the American people of its fraudulent facility to liberate our economy.

Lets start by looking at some of the programs in the plan and how they might generate immediate benefits.

  • $32 Billion for a new “Green Electrical Grid” - Huge environmental impact studies, right -of-way authorizations, zoning rule changes, local and state government involvement, community group opposition lawsuits. Timeline: 30 years
  • $90 Billion for State medicaid payments - Covers existing and new members to the program, but does not benefit anyone except the doctors on the program that are already overly burden with patients. Means people have access to medical care but it doesn’t pay their mortgage.
  • $79 Billion in school program grants - At least our high school can keeps its Gymnastics program now since it was going to get cut in the county budget. But this effects my credit cards debts how?
  • $120 Billion for Infrastructure ( including transportation) - Anyone who has EVER contracted with the Federal Government knows it takes years for these programs to even start, much less employ people with paychecks. Look up The F.A.R. (Federal Acquisition Regulations). These can make even the most harden lawyer snivel in the corner of a room. This is why we have $600 hammers as well as why it takes 20 years to build a new fighter jet. But we are to believe that suddenly, all previous experience with the government will be thrown out the window and these projects can be done immediately. One note: during a congressional hearing last week, an Obama administration representative could not tell Congress how many people would be hired on account of these programs. Meaning: these programs are the dreams of congressional earmarks and have not even begun to be implemented. Timeline: 10 years.
  • $6 Billion for foreign countries that cannot afford a bailout - Do I really need to explain how this is beneficial to the American public [sarcasm]. 

And the list goes on. But at no time do the vast majority of the specified programs directly benefit the immediate improvement of our financial situations. Of course there are the tax incentives that have been included. Of the $275 Billion, about $140 Billion ( $500 per adult up to $1,000 per couple) will go directly to the people but only after you file your taxes and receive a check from the Treasury. This is mid-2009 at the earliest and is only for those that have a tax refund. Anyone else, well you know what they say about placing your head between your knees.

Personally, I see no direct benefit to anyone for the passage of this package. But, the question is can the expenditure be stopped? With the current makeup of the congressional delegation being democrat, that answer is no. Unfortunately I am not in the power seat like Speaker Pelosi, but if I was her and without a doubt, about to spend this money, I would propose a new plan that would bring immediate benefit to ALL Americans. The current Stimulus Package is $825 Billion and the remainder of the Financial bailout is $350 Billion. Combined this is roughly $1.2 Trillion. There is roughly 290 million Americans ( minus the 30 million or so illegals), so that works out to $4,138 per person. As a family of four, I believe I can put my $16,552 to work saving my house and the economy a lot faster than the government. Even if you reserve the money for transportation projects, every family in American still receives about $12,000. Sounds like a recovery plan to me.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Obama Kills 9 Terrorists Without Giving Them A Trial!

I guess its okay to kill terrorists but just not to imprison them. Obama already spreading anti-American sentiment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7847423.stm

Monday, January 19, 2009

Starting Tomorrow Obama Will Be Responsible For ....

- every soldier that dies in Iraq and Afghanistan

- every person who loses their job

- every person that goes hungry

- every person who loses their health insurance

- every student that drops out of high school

- every abortion committed

- every under-age pregnancy

- every drug addict that overdoses

- every excessive bonus that a CEO receives

- all the excessive profits by oil companies

- every murder committed with a handgun

- every illegal alien that enters the country

- every terrorist attack that occurs

- every Palestinian killed by Israel

- every Jew that is killed by Hamas

Anyone wish to add to the job responsibilities that the Democrats placed on the previous President?

Monday, January 12, 2009

PROOF: Obama is a Socialist!

The rumors have been rampant since the beginning of the 2008 election cycle, Barack Obama is a Socialist.  Denials have also been as rampant and the sequestering of Barack's past became the full time employ of the media and their democratic cohorts.  But no matter how much window dressing and firewalls are added to the Obama presidency, it is still clear that Obama harbors socialist tendencies.  This is evidenced by his friends, business partners, political associations and most recently, by his cabinet appointments.  The latest of which was the most glaring example of obviousness no whitewash could possibly hide.  

Look at the chart to see the relationships.




Carol Browner, the next Climate Czar, had her named cleansed from the Socialist International's Commission for a Sustainable World Society website to hide her political affiliation with that said organization.  Unfortunately, many politicians on both sides of the isle seem to forget that the web is archived.  Just because information was pulled down today, does not mean a digital copy of that information was not archived for "posterity."  More like criminal evidence.  Mrs. Browner has long been a supporter of socialist principles and her relationship to other political figures and Obama shows an ever growing presence of socialistic philosophy at the top of the American political management.  But the links to socialism and communism don't begin and end with her.  There are a number of cabinet level positions left to be filled, and we, as stewards of the country's founding principles must take great care to watch and report, to question and complain, and to intrude on the selection process so as to prevent this growing disease of the left upon our freedom.  However, for Mrs, Browner, Obama quite creatively appointed her to a position without the need of a senatorial review.

In 1959, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union had this interchange with the Secretary of Agriculture, Erza Benson;

"Your children will live under communism." Khrushchev said.
"On the contrary," Secretary Benson replied, "My grandchildren will live in freedom as I hope that all people will."
Khrushchev then retorted: "You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept Communism outright; but we'll keep feeding you small doses of Socialism until you will finally wake up and find that you already have Communism. We won't have to fight you; we'll so weaken your economy, until you fall like overripe fruit into our hands."
The Soviet plan was to infiltrate the education system, changing the minds of the young and preparing the future for acceptance of socialism.  Needless to say, as we look at the first post 60's generation president, having been educated in the leftist ideals of Karl Marx, the communist seem to have gotten their way. 

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Nancy Pelosi Breaks the "Power Hungry" Glass Ceiling!

A new congress in the USA means new house rules. In the spirit of "Change" Nancy Pelosi is using the 111th Congress to drag this country back to the despotic rules of the democrat majorities of old.

On his 1/6/09 radio show, Rush Limbaugh puts it all into perspective. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to rewrite House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation... "Pelosi's rule changes -- which may be voted on today -- will reverse the fairness rules that were written around Newt Gingrich's 'Contract with America.'" If she gets her way, Republicans will not be able to offer alternative bills. Republicans will not be able to offer amendments to Democrat bills. They will not even be offered the guarantee of open debate accessible by motions to recommit for any piece of legislation during the entire 111th Congress. Nancy Pelosi is effectively going to shut 'em out. "

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is using her gavel power to rewrite the House of Representatives rules, so she can "shut out" republicans in the new Congress.

In other words, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is using her gavel to silence opposition.




Will we see any rose colored glasses come off now that we are finally getting a glimpse of what the mysterious "change" really means, and what it really costs?

(And for the record, "Change" is not a pretty package with mysterious prizes inside!)

Pelosi's rule changes reveal to us that silencing the opposition is one of the preliminary acts necessary for the "change" to be imposed on the Citizens of the United States of America!!

(Look! The media just skips along and whistles.)

Pelosi's sparkling clean House of Representatives was supposed to be ethical, transparent, bipartisan, accountable... etc.. by now. (Pelosi was supposed to clean the House of Representatives up and do all that by now right????) How can the House of Representatives be clean, ethical, bipartisan, transparent, accountable...etc..when republicans will be completely "shut out" and silenced. No laws, no amendments, no offering alternatives. No debate?

As discussed above, this is nothing new! For forty years democrats did this to republicans. Then when republicans gained control of the House they came in and rewrote the rules so that the minority can have standing in the debate.

Yes, it was the republican majority who led the rewriting of the old template of male dominated, selfish, power hungry, democrat agenda only rule, and allowed all the Citizens of the USA to be represented in Their Congress!

(You know, all Citizens? Including the Citizens who are represented by those who would normally have their representation "shut out" under the old democrat rules?)

Wonderful that this was done! Republicans should still be proud!

But forget about all that now! Queen Nancy is in power! And she is certain that her Royal duty is to make sure "Change" happens! Whatever the cost (to us Citizens)!

Nancy Pelosi is determined to flex her muscles to break that ultimate female glass ceiling, by turning the clock back to the old democrat rules.

Nancy Pelosi is eagerly re-creating and joining in on the oppressive, selfish, power hungry, democrat agenda rules of the past.

I guess this means Pelosi can finally say Men and Women are truly equal now, huh? Wow, Nancy Pelosi will be remembered historically as proving that men and women can be equally selfish, oppressive and power hungry in the government.


Well. Good for her. She must be proud.

(Do we need any more reasons for Term Limits?)



Pelosi & the left want to shut up any opposition to the goals & agenda of the left in the USA. No republican and no conservative, elected or not elected, should stand for that! Republicans should be united in rejecting this, very openly, every single day! It shouldn't be dropped. It should be brought up over and over, in every press conference, in every letter sent, and should not be let up on. Not for any reason.

All republicans need to be heard! Not only some RINOs the democrats pick. ALL republicans need to be heard.

Republicans need to tell the Citizens of America their ideas for laws, amendments, alternatives, and debate no matter what!

Everyone needs to know that Pelosi and the left want to shut up all opposition in the government. And they want to shut up opposition on radio, the media, and the Internet too! Shutting up the republicans in the government is the first step to in shutting up all opposition. This is how they want to make the "change" happen, without opposition, anywhere.

It is grotesque what is happening in our government today. We hear words like change, hope, accountability, bipartisan... etc.. and they are empty, meaningless words. They mean nothing! They are just cold hearted deceptions that cover up that the left is out to destroy the USA as we know it. They are empty, meaningless, filler words meant to keep the People oblivious and quiet so the left can impose their agenda on the People without opposition.

Change, hope, accountability, bipartisan...etc.. are just words they pull out of a closet to dress themselves up in public. But behind closed doors they put them back in the closet for cold storage, until their next public show.

I thought Pelosi said she was going to be all about the Children. Remember all those kids brought into the "House" to pose in front of the cameras with Nancy Pelosi?

Yep, it was supposed to be all about the Children.

But now we see this isn't about the Children. This oppression and deception isn't great for the Children. None of this is even good for the Children. This leftist Media is awful for the Children. Killing our Consitution., creating this oppressive type of government, and imposing the socialist/communist financial and health system, is tying a millstone around the neck of all Children.

What hypocrisy! Acting oh so compassionate, as they set up to ruin this nation for every one of us, and our Children.






This is an opinion/commentary article in response to DailyKos article: The New House Rules package -- Free Prizes Inside! by Kagro X Wed Jan 07, 2009 at 07:25:03 AM PST

Thank you and full credit given to all links/sources/writers/pictures listed who inspired this post.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Stupid is as Stupid Does

It is said that you are judged by the people you keep. Your friends say a lot about you, but so does a person’s judgement towards people chosen to be business associates. If this is the criteria, then President-Elect Obama is pretty close to stupid is as stupid does. We can get into the whole breadth of Chicago comrades he has kept, but that has been hashed over ad infinitum throughout the election. Today as President-elect, a job he will hold for at least four years and have direct governance over our lives, his cabinet and staff become even more important than the suspected influence of his past.

They also say, even a blind man can find something once in a while, so it should be credited that some of his picks for posts could have been worse. I guess that is our silver lining, albeit tarnished. But the recent issues involving Rahm “me know nothing” Emmanuel with the Blago fiasco, Bill “hand stuck in the cookie jar” Richardson and Tom “Wife, what wife?” Daschle just goes to show a selection process that is flawed, considering how many questions seem to have been ignored on the ethics questionnaire.

Today, however, Obama has stepped off the cliff without a parachute. The selection of Leon Panetta at CIA involves an intricate level of idiocy almost too difficult to describe. You know you are heading down the wrong path when, Obama as a democrat, can irritate Senator Feinstein. This decision is also a personal one for me, having worked in the past at CIA for almost 13 years. I worked within the Director’s staff and have seen two transitions of presidents, as well as a number of different CIA Director appointments. In each case the person selected for the job had detailed and long term experience with the inner workings of the intelligence community. Tenet may have been the least qualified of the ones I worked for, but even then he was a better candidate than Panetta. I remember people expressing concern with Tenet’s appointment, but that quickly subsided as he turned out to be quite adapt at the position.

The position of CIA Director requires extensive knowledge of how intelligence gathering systems work, individually and together. You must understand how the program managers, responsible for their portion of the intelligence gather process, work in concert to create homogenized intelligence material, the main purpose of which belongs to the CIA. But the appointment of Panetta disregards all historical precedent. This worries me, because we are still reeling from the the damage Bill Clinton did to the Human Intelligence collection capability. I personally fault Bill Clinton for 911 for many reasons I won’t go into. With Panetta, however, it appears that Obama may be heading down a similar road, where the intelligence material provided by the agency is discounted or at least diminished in importance. I know the argument that CIA has made mistakes. Well all government agency’s do, but CIA gets it right more often than they are wrong, they just can’t talk about it.

It hasn’t been announced yet, but Obama intents to appoint Dennis Blair as the National Intelligence Director. Previous to the establishment of the National Intelligence Director, the Director of CIA effectively had that position. Blair is a good candidate (wonder how he slipped through) but even he doesn’t have the detailed experience in the intelligence world of someone like James Woolsey. But with Blair at NID, it appears even more obvious that Obama wants his intelligence source closer to home and for CIA to be thrown to the edge of relevancy.

A Panetta appointment will certainly effect the operational process of the agency for years to come, exactly when we need it to be engaged in the overall intelligence picture. Technology intelligence sources are wonderful things and they are very capable, but without the ground truth from boots in the field, the human intelligence gathering spies at CIA, the other sources are worth no more than speculation. The industry has a term called “All-Source Intelligence”. Its there for a reason. You cannot get the big picture without each part being fully analyzed. Its obvious that Obama wants to pick and chose what fits his world view without being bothered by the details or facts.

For once in my life, I agree with Senator Feinstein. I hope she makes her point clear and Panetta can go back to worrying about the ocean and the Monterey Aquarium, both good endeavors but hardly qualifying of someone needed to deal with the world’s most serious issues.

In response to: Leon Panetta to Head CIA

Friday, January 2, 2009

Gas Tax Buffoonery

The wonderfully entertaining aspect of any government is the humor inherent in the illogical and non-sensical reasoning it uses to portray what it believes is good policy. Governments regularly decree guidance to us, the people, so that we can ‘learn the proper way in which we are to act for the betterment of everyone.’ Policies that deal with such ideas as the environment, social welfare, and healthcare all sound magnanimous in the beginning, but then you end up with a Clean Water Act that requires certain areas of the US to actually pollute the water just to reach the minimum standard, or OSHA requiring workers to wear life preservers while working on a bridge over a dry river bed in the desert. Its all very funny until you realize the brunt of the jokes are on your wallet.

We should always remember that government has grown with the availability of cash. It created the FED and eliminated the gold standard for easy access to fiat money, but where that is not politically expedient, there is always taxation. Once the government learns to live on the budget available (or create-able), it is next to impossible for it to decrease its spending. Remember, also, in government parlance, a decrease in the rate of INCREASE is a CUT in the budget.

So here again, we sit today with yet another fine example of government buffoonery. We hear incessantly about the need to conserve. Conserve our water, our electricity and our fuel. It is the latter that provides us our table at the next comedy sketch. You see, we use fuel, gasoline, oil, and are told that our consumption is injurious to the planet. That we should conserve, find other forms of bio-fuels and switch to electric cars. But it is never just that simple. So in 2008, people took heed of this government pronouncement of propriety and conserved. Of course $4 gasoline is a good motivator. Then the financial crisis struck and people were more than happy to control their expenses. The benefit of this is the price of gasoline has fallen dramatically, providing the American public with financial relief just when it was needed. It also has had a positive effect by limiting the authoritative control of OPEC nations over the much needed commodity and diminishing their power base.

So government has gotten the answer they desired, except for one small fact. The government relies on gasoline taxes that are paid when we purchase fuel for our cars. But when we don’t purchase fuel, this tax base is dwindled away and the politicians get nervous that their source of power might be removed. So what’s the answer they give? Punish us for not buying enough fuel by raising the taxes on gasoline as much as 50% a gallon.

“So, we did what you said and now you are going to penalize us by taxing our concerted effort to ‘help the environment.’ Well thank you so much. I elected you why again?”

But lets think this through, the government wants bio-fuel and electric cars. Auto makers are intently working on hydrogen fuel cells, even air powered cars. If a majority of people make these kind of switches, what do you think happens to gasoline consumption? So, in 1, 2, or 5 years are we going to see yet another series of tax hikes on fuel because we have noticeably turning green? As government continues to raise taxes on gasoline, like the $3 to $4 dollar tax hike proposed by members of the left in this country, people will look for alternatives. As the alternatives like bio fuels, assume the tax burden of oil, people will again look for an answer. And when there is not enough fuel consumption to provide a tax base for their spending addiction, where will they turn? Electricity and hydrogen.

Imagine your electric bill today. Mine is about $0.06 per KWhr. With an electric car needing roughly 33 KWhrs to refuel and provide 100 to 120 miles of driving, it cost me $2.38. Whereas the current fuel cost would be $13 with the new government tax on gasoline. Out of that amount the government would take $4.90. If they are not getting that cash from gasoline, you can bet they are going to get it from electricity. But how do they do that while allowing us to power our homes with electricity at the current rate? More than likely they won’t. Once the government gets the “taste” of electricity taxes, they will certainly find more reasons to spent that cash and for all of us to assume our ‘bound duty to our country’s environmental survivability.’

The government never seems to understand that increasing a tax only pushes that item out of reach for some portion of the populace, thus limiting consumption and the tax base. Continuing to raise taxes to make up the short fall, only decreases the amount of tax they could potential receive. And when that tax/price combination exceeds a market level of acceptance, then that product is replaced and the tax dies or must shift to a new source. The fact that gasoline may eventually die off ( or be taxed off) and be replaced by electricity as a source of taxation, should have each of us calling our representatives and explaining exactly how silly and non-sensical their current short term band-aids are for our well-being.