federalistblogs's Diary

Democrats Save Bankers But Sweaty Union Workers Hang

It seems odd that the Democrats, the party of Unions and the Working People, are so quick to bail out banks while they are willing to let the automakers hang out to dry. The automakers embody everything good and bad about union labor in this country. Why force them to cut back and eliminate contracts when banks do not have to? Then it came to me in a flash.

Does anybody remember this Senator Harry Reid gem from December? “My staff tells me not to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway. In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it’s true.”

Our political elite like to rub elbows with the wealthy bankers. These are people with nice clean office jobs. They attend cocktail parties and gala events. They are the type of people our elitist leaders would like to spend time with, and often do at fundraisers and other events. They may try to demonize them in the media, but they are the type of people they indentify with.

The automakers jobs are mostly hard working labor jobs. These men and women make their money more by the sweat of their brow than sitting in a corner office. These are beer drinkers, not champagne gala attendees. As they get sweaty, they will on occasion smell. They are commoners. Peasants. Certainly not the high end social climbers that a member of Congress would ever stoop to associate themselves with.

This has been a theme that comes up periodically on my blog. Congress sees themselves as an elite ruling class. They are above the peasants that toil day in and day out at hard jobs to make ends meet. If they must associate with commoners, at least the wealthy elite of the non-political class are closer to their level of wonderfulness. We need new leadership that understands where their power and authority really comes from. Their job is not to rule, but to serve the people.

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Obama Administration and High School Politics Compared

I watched the Press Conference last night. Not all of it, but most. I paid attention part of it, but not all. It was a bit boring. As I sat there with my mind wandering, I had another one of the moments of clarity.

President Obama has been drawing criticism lately for things like TV appearances, use of Teleprompters and other non-policy related issues. All of these items have one thing in common, they are campaigning tools. Obama is still more in Campaign Mode than Executive Leader Mode. The reason is simple.

Insecurity.

Yes President Obama is a very smart man. Yes he is an excellent public speaker. Where he is insecure, I feel, is in the leadership role. This is why he focuses so much on speeches, TV appearances, and other “running for office” behaviors that he is so good at. In many ways this insecurity is making politics less like Washington and more like High School.

President Obama is the cool kid who ran for Class President. In High School you ran for office because you either needed it to get into college, or because you wanted to prove just how popular you are. Obama has pretty much cleared the college admissions issue at this point in his life. That leaves the popularity motive, and that is about insecurity. Obama could have waited to run until he had more experience, but he was not secure enough in his cool kid status to know he would still be popular in 4 or 8 years. He had to run now to prove it to himself. So he promised more parking for seniors, a kick butt prom, less homework, and off campus lunch. Now he is in office. Now he is realizing that actually doing all these things is hard. He is freaking out. So he is doing what got him elected. He is walking up and down the halls cracking jokes and laughing it up his buddy Jay and Chris. He is talking sports with the jocks. He is traveling around to everybody’s parties to hang out and be the fun guy. He is staying popular. The problem is there is no money to make the school parking lot bigger. Homework is not something he can impact directly. Going off campus for lunch is a security issue. It looks like prom is going to suck it there is money for it to happen at all this year.

We need the President to focus less on what got him elected and what he was elected to do. Toss out the goals that may be totally unachievable, or ate at least impractical. Focus on what we need to do now and what can be accomplished now. We can worry about the rest when the important things are done. We can start to run for office in 3 years.

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A Modest Green Proposal

I saw two very interesting stories on the environment yesterday made me stop and think. One was about the UK, and a projected need for their population to shrink by half to be sustainable in a green manner. This recommendation was made by one of the Prime Ministers leading Green Advisors. The other story was about Oregon and how they have lost jobs due to green regulations shutting down the lumber industry. In attempts to recover some jobs, they had also attempted to put wind mills in those areas which were also shot down by the green movement because the power lines would be an eye sore and the windmills can kill birds and bats.

At first I reacted to these stories with a narrow minded indignation on the government and action groups getting involved in issues where they should not be. How can you have liberty where a government advocates population control? How can green groups oppose replacing a non-green industry with green power? Then I had an epiphany. My thought process was not Conservative at all. I was locked into a narrow mindset based on past, false assumptions. My eyes opened to a way that we can reduce government impact to boost the economy and save the environment. By letting natural forces run their course we can achieve a truly Conservative approach to solving these issues. This is my modest proposal on how this can be accomplished.

First, we need to immediately cease all farm subsidies and regulations on agriculture. The money from subsidies can be saved, or used elsewhere as will be explained later in this proposal. Some farms may go immediately out of business. Once cultivation stops, this land will begin to revert to its natural state, thus providing long term environmental benefits. With no price supports, food prices will drop in the short term boosting the economy. In the long term this will drive some farms out of business, but again this will simply return the land to a more natural state which is better for the planet. As the food supply adjusts to these sustainable levels, that will begin to achieve population controls. Those who can not get food will simply be phased out of the environment.

Along similar lines we should disband the USDA. This is money wasted. Quality issues we worry about today will be irrelevant to a reduced food supply. Destroying food due to concerns over regulatory violations is also a waste. Some of the cleaning standards also require the use of harsh cleaning chemicals that a detrimental to the environment. Elimination of these toxins will have an immediate impact and also may help close down some of the companies that manufacture these so called “cleaning” chemicals. As some natural bacteria reenter the food supply this will also assist in achieving population control as those negatively impacted by this bacteria will be phased out of the environment.

Money saved from these first two initiatives can be channeled to the Department of Interior. This department can then buy up land that is freed up by failing farms to protect it from future cultivation and maintain it in a natural and sustainable state long term. As the population trends down to a sustainable level from these and other initiatives, it will also cause homes and possibly entire areas to become unpopulated. This land can be bought back as well, cleared, and returned to its natural state.

Next, we can save a great amount of money by cutting back virtually all government health initiatives. It is hypocritical to spend money on medical research to cure illness and prolong lives when in reality it is those very lives that are damaging the environment. The same goes for paying for health care and medical treatment. If some people choose to be selfish and pay for their own care to prolong their lives and increase the negative impact they have on the planet, there is not much to be done to stop that. The government should not pay for and encourage this reckless behavior. The FDA can also be eliminated. If people want to take medicines to prolong the damage they inflict on the planet, the government should not be protecting them. Feared side effects will in many cases help to maintain the natural population reduction goals despite people’s attempts to pervert nature for their own comfort and convenience.

Law enforcement spending can be greatly cut. As the population shrinks there will not be as many people to protect and serve. Also, many laws that seek to protect individuals may be counter productive as they encourage people to maintain the current population level rather than take steps to remove others from the population. Safety laws also prevent people from removing themselves from the environment due to their own carelessness. In some cases, poor safety decisions can have the added benefit of removing others as well as happens in traffic accidents. As some of these changes take effect, their may be some elements of society who attempt to cause trouble. Again, law enforcement prevents such behavior that may in reality help to reduce the over all population and the negative impact they have on our delicate planet. Large displays of civil unrest can actually achieve a rapid impact in reducing the population.

Finally an important tax reduction can be made eliminating so called “Sin Taxes” on items such as alcohol and tobacco. As we go through some natural pains of this contraction and change, these products will help some people to ease their own negative feelings. For that matter, I would also so we should allow other controlled substances that are currently not legal for the same reason. Another upside of these products is the fact that they can actually reduce the life spans of their users, especially when used in excess. This provides for a humane reduction to the population as the people will be made to feel better, while at the same time expediting their removal from the environment.

Smaller government. Reduced taxes. Less government spending. Increased personal responsibility. These are all core values for all of us who consider ourselves Conservatives. We need to embrace these new options and promote them. The world can see how simple Conservative values are the only real way to save our planet. Sadly those on the left will hypocritically fight this, despite their claimed interest in protecting the planet. As with Jonathan Swift and his own A Modest Proposal, history shows that ideas of simplicity and genius are often overlooked.

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Explaining the Fed Cash Infusion Comparing the US Mint and Franklin Mint

There was a barely reported news item last week about the Federal Reserve committing to buy $1 trillion worth of Treasury Bills. There was a light mention that the Fed knows they have to be careful to avoid this action leading to inflation. The reality is, a little inflation is the least of our problems when you are dealing with trillions of dollars. With so much money, the amounts are hard to understand and people just let the news item slide by. This may help people understand it more.

The Federal Reserve operates the US Mint, which prints money. For the Fed to buy these Treasury Bills, they will have to print that $1 trillion. To put this in easier terms, think of the US Mint like the Franklin Mint. Like beautiful collectors plates, the value of money is impacted by how limited the supply is. Think of the beautiful Obama collectors plates you bought that were in a series of 10,000. You paid your three easy payment of $29.95 to buy these valuable limited items. If you wanted to, you could trade one for other valuable items, perhaps that Clinton limited edition spoon set you have been eyeing. Right now, you could get the whole set of 5 Clinton spoons for just one of the Obama plates you purchased. Now imagine that the Franklin Mint decides to release more Obama plates just like yours. You see, they had actually thought McCain would win, and are having to make up for the loss they took on the McCain commemorative chess sets. So they dump another 10,000 Obama plates on the market. Now, it will take two Obama plates to get that valuable spoon set. You may not be happy, but you can live with it. After successfully selling that other 10,000 plates, the mint realizes they also took a bath on the Sarah Palin commemorative doll line. Plus they are still sitting on half of the 50,000 George W Bush coins they made. Fixing all these Republican mistakes is going to be expensive. The Mint decides that adding another “0” is no big deal, so they release 100,000 more Obama plates. Now fewer people want them, so they offer free shipping and 10% discount on purchases of 2 or more to entice more people to buy. Now it would take 20 Obama plates just for you to get 1 Clinton spoon. Now you have hyper inflation.

That is what is at risk with the Federal Reserve printing so much money so fast. Maybe we will get lucky and the economy will kick start and absorb all the money. Maybe there will just be a slight decrease in the value of the dollar, but the economy gets going and things are fine. Or maybe the economy will continue to struggle plus the value of the dollar will plunge. Putting out more money to fix the first mistakes will only devalue the dollar more. Then it will not matter how handsome Obama looks on that collectors plate.

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AIG Bonus Tax – Does Anybody Else See Problems Here

It is all over the headlines about various Democrats in Congress strutting about threatening to take back the AIG Bonus money through passing special taxes. I guess it is no surprise that the media is not raising any red flags on this issue. I have a few points I want to raise here about why this action frightens me.

First and foremost is the fact that I do not even think this is legal. I know the Democrats are really not that into the whole Constitution thing unless it is convenient. In case any do want to give the Constitution a glance they should look under Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 where it is stated “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.” Now I never took Latin in school, but I thought “ex post facto” basically means “after the fact.” These bonuses are from contracts for last year, and were paid out last week. Passing a bill this week or later would seem to me to be “after the fact.” Aren’t our elected officials supposed to uphold the Constitution, not break it when it makes a nice sound bite?

Another issue is having Congress propose a law against such a narrow group purely because they are mad at them. Doesn’t that seem like an abuse of power? Sure the bonuses make lots of us mad. We hate to see people rewarded when it looks like they did the wrong thing. Once Congress starts passing laws to so narrowly punish people that they are mad at, where will it stop? We know the Democrats hate conservative talk radio. Forget the Fairness Doctrine, why not pass a tax or other bill to specifically punish nationally syndicated conservative talk radio hosts? Since we are also punishing things that already happened, why take this another step? Senator Schumer, remember that guy who beat you up in grade school? I think we need a “Kicked Schumer’s Butt Personal Income Tax Penalty Bill of 2009.” I feel pretty confident that this kind of abuse of power is what the Founder would have called “Tyranny.”

Last time I checked, one of the driving issues behind the American Revolution was taxation. How do we think our Founders would feel about a 90% to 100% income tax being imposed on people for any reason? I am guess they would not be big fans. Nobody receives representation worth that much in taxes. If Congress is allowed to pass such a bill this time, where will they start looking next?

These are just a few issues that have entered my mind since hearing about this new proposed legislation. I am more than a little concerned that people are not raising concerns of whether this move by the Senate is legal, or moral. People are just hopping onto the mob mentality of punishing the AIG employees. Congress needs to be careful in fueling a mob mentality. Such a torches and pitchforks mentality could turn against them next. Of course, this may be a moot point. Treasury Secretary Geihtner is proposing to deduct the amount from the latest $30 billion that is going to be paid out. If he does that, Congress may back off on their little tax. For the curiousthe amount of the bunuses is 0.55% of this latest cash infusion. I don’t think my calculator will carry the decimal far enough for how much it is in terms of the whole bail out! Why not stop the posturing, and just make sure things like this are not done with future money. Or here is a radical thought, realize these bailouts are a bad idea and stop them totally.

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How We Can Correct AIG Without the Government

People are mad at AIG. This week it became public that despite billions of dollars in bailout money being paid to AIG to keep them alive due to poor decisions, they are paying out millions in bonuses. Personally, I am not buying the indignation fro the Obama Administration. To me it sounds like they have known for a while that this was coming, but did not let it out to the media until after the checks went out. This story is not about that however. This is about how we do not need the government to be able to fix this. This is about not relying on the Government when we can fix this without them, and do a better job at it. Instead of relying on them, there are steps we can take ourselves to correct AIG.

AIG is an insurance company. They sell a variety of insurance and investment services for individuals as well as companies and other groups like pension funds. The President, Congress, Treasury and Federal Reserve are not customers. They are more like sugar daddies at this point. We the people are their customers. Like all customers we have a way to show a company how upset we are, and a way to drive them to change. It is a solution so simple that it can be summed up in one word:

CANCEL

AIG needs customers to stay in business. They can not survive on bail out money alone. If people call to express their indignation and cancel then they will start to REALLY hear us. Plus, if enough people and organizations cancel, they will not be too big to fail anymore will they? Now I know canceling in reality may not be that easy. Some insurance products are paid out for 6 months to a year in advance. Play stupid. Call AIG and ask them when your policy is up. Tell them you need to know because you are so disgusted you want to know how long you have to find an ethical insurance company to replace them. If you have a 401k with them, call to ask for information about canceling and transferring your funds out. Always let them know why. Tell them it is because you are mad, it will get into their files. If your employer uses some of their services call or send a letter asking why they are still with them and if they plan to switch. Get others you work with to do the same. If your benefit manager lets them know they are getting pushback it will have an impact. Just the threat of cancels will have an impact. Heck, even if you know you are tied to something you can not get out of, call and ask what you can do and threaten to cancel anyway. Make sure you have a policy number handy so they know you are a real customer. If on top of that they have real cancellations they will have to rethink their behavior.

We can not keep hoping the government is going to fix things. I am increasingly not even sure how much they want to do in these cases, more or less what they can do. We the people have the power. We the people have the power to change our government. We the people have the power to set straight bad companies. We the people just have to stop looking to others who have agendas of their own, and take action ourselves.

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The Problem With Education Spending Explained

There is lots of talk about what needs to be done to fix education. The big push is that we need to spend more. I do not totally disagree, nor do I totally agree. The bigger problem right now is not how much we spend but how we spend it. To me it is like a trip to the grocery store.

Lets say you are on the way home from work when your spouse calls. They need you to stop by the store on the way and pick up toilet paper and light bulbs. You have got $20 on you, so it will be no problem. As you pull in to the store you realize you forgot to ask what type of bulbs are needed, but figure it is OK because you have enough to get both regular 100 watt and 3 way bulbs. When you get there, you grab a cart and head in. On your way to the TP and light bulbs, you pass the beer aisle. Mmmmmmm…. Beer. You turn down there first, like we said there is plenty of money so we can splurge. You see a 12 pack of Federal Beer for 12 dollars. It is a nice premium beer with a fancy package and great advertising. No problem, you still have plenty left for what you need so you grab a case. As you turn out of that row, you see chips. You can’t have beer with no snacks, so you turn again. You see a display of State Pretzels. They are more expensive than other brands, but go perfect with beer. They are also in a nice fancy package. You grab a bad for $4. You are almost to your destination when you see an end cap of Local Donuts. You know after a night of pounding pack beer and pretzels you are going to need something for breakfast. These things like Krispy Kreme too, so you can’t pass them up and grab a box for $3. Finally you are where you need to be, light and TP. Light bulbs are $4 per pack for the 3-ways and $3 for 100 watt. With only $3 left you don’t have money for both, plus you still need that darn TP. You see that $60 watts are only $2, so you pick that up instead. Light is light, who cares how bright it turns out to be. You turn around to the toilet paper. You need at least a 4 pack, and would love something nice and fluffy. Nice paper is at least $5. Even if you buy the stuff that is like sandpaper it is $3 for a 4 pack. All you have left is $1. You grab the single roll of single ply sandpaper-like product. Again, it does the job even if it is not very good. You will buy something better next time. Now you could go and put back some of that other stuff, but by now you have time invested and have convinced yourself that all the rest is just as important as what you originally came in for.

That is the problem in a nutshell. The purpose of the spending is education, the light bulbs and toilet paper. We waste a lot of the money that should be paying for teachers, class rooms, books and other materials is wasted as it trickles down from Federal to State to Local Education boards. We have teachers in trailers, or what they call portable classrooms. The people in Washington, state capitals and county headquarters are not in trailers. They are in beautiful buildings with huge staffs to push paperwork and discuss why the children are not learning. We do not need more money, so much as we need to spend it on what it is intended for.

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Is Democrat Maverick an Oxymoron

Who here misses the use of the word “Maverick?” I know I never thought that I would long for the day where I heard it on the news again. That was before Democrats had control of Congress and the White House. Now, I would be happy hear about a Democrat Maverick. At this point, I would be happy to hear of a Democrat having an independent thought.

Say what you will, but Republicans still have people out there bucking the party. There may be times with things like the Stimulus that it is upsetting, but Republicans do it. Three Senators bucked and voted for the Stimulus because they felt the money their constituents would get outweighed the overall negatives of the bill. Many Republican Governors have stepped up and even supported the bill seeing it as a way to help their states with their current financial problems. Their argument is that their loyalty is to the people that put them in office before their party. I think the decision in supporting this terrible piece of legislation is short sighted, but they did what they felt was best.

Right now the Democrats are on a blind spree of voting for whatever comes down the pipe from their “leadership.” We need to pass TARP to fix the banks. OK. We need to pass the Stimulus to fix the economy. OK. We need to tax employers to create jobs. Ummmm… OK. We need to force unions down employer’s throats by removing private ballots and providing the threat of Department of Labor intervention to punish employers that do not tow the line. This retribution against employer will increase jobs. OK. We need to increase our energy independence by not supplementing current fossil fuel sources. OK. Pass an omnibus bill that is mostly either redundant of Stimulus Spending or pork. OK. We need to take away one of our most valuable rights and censor the media, but only the parts that we do not like. OK. We need to invest in valuable scientific research to make it rain candy. OK. ( Sure that last one sounds silly, but PROVE that it is not in one of these 1,000 page spending bill. I dare you. )

When will some of the Democratic “leaders” start to step out of their goose stepping line and oppose something? Republicans were divided among many issues from spending to how we handled the war over the last 8 years. Where are the independent Mavericks on the Democrat side? To me the answer is simple. There are none. Much of the shift in power has come from candidates running against the things people did not like about the Bush Administration. Now they have power and no real platform other than opposing Bush. That is why you still hear so many people pinning every bad law they pass on the Bush Administration. They have nothing else to stand on. Now it is just a clueless run on power and spending.

The only positive is that if this continues there is a good chance of a big swing back in 2010. Conservatives need to focus now on preparing for that goal.

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2010 and Beyond – When To Get Ready For Mid-Terms

There is already talk of the Presidential election in 2012. I have seen PACs formed for Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney advertised on various websites. I felt the last election was just a tiny bit long at two years of constant campaigning, four will really be a bit overboard. More importantly, we have 2010 to worry about. If there is anything vital to the survival of Conservative politics and the health of our country it will be the 2010 mid-term elections. I sincerely believe that that party needs to start looking at locations for battlegrounds to take seats away from Democrats now and begin selecting and grooming potential candidates. Here are my top reasons why the political landscape will be ripe for change.

Economy

As James Carville once said “It is the economy stupid.” Current optimistic projections say that the economy will continue to slide a while longer and finally skid to a stop at the bottom next year. Once we hit bottom I do not see any of this administrations plans brining us screaming back out of the valley. I see it far more likely that by the mid-term election we will be still sitting in an economic ditch. As long as current Republicans show they have been working against the bad decisions they can hold their seats. A new generation of Reagan Conservative Republicans can then swing in to bring about change and recovery.

War

Many people in the middle voted to get us out of Iraq. People were tired of the war, and still are. John McCain was honest about it taking time to get out, and it cost him. Now President Obama essentially is saying the things that lost McCain the election. We will still be in Iraq and Afghanistan in force come the next election. That is a big promise to have broken for some people.

Leadership

The only leadership principle I have seen so far is blaming current problems on the last administrations leadership. The current Administration was elected despite their total inexperience and lack of leadership background, and it shows. A fresh batch of new faces with a clear set of goals and objectives like the Contract For America will be able to show the kind of leadership people will be craving. I have been repeating over and over and over here my own desire for the GOP to establish a new list of Principles and Objectives for the future.

New Conservatives Will Not Have Baggage

To be honest, the Republican Party has had our hats handed to us the past few elections. I do not believe that this has been a mandate against Conservatism, but rather against a lack there of. During the Bush years many Republicans took up the spending and government expansion habits of Democrats. I believe that the party paid the price for this reckless abandonment of its core values. New candidatse will not have the baggage of past mistakes and can hang their hats on their desire for change.

I know where I am in South Florida the two Democrat congress people are underwhelming. I do not think I have heard a comment our of my congresspersons mouth that does not involve “For the past 8 years.” To make it happen, I believe that the party needs to get a running start now to be ready to make gains again soon. Perhaps the blogs are a starting place to find the kind of charismatic, energized leaders needed …. I’m just sayin’.

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Pretty Please, Rush

The media is pushing another Rush feud this week. Once again they are trying to draw a fight between Rush and Newt, and Rush is taking the bait. If I could speak with Rush personally I would ask that he remember the words of Ronald Reagan when he said “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”

The recent comments made by Newt should not have really caused any problems taken in their context. Newt basically said that it is irrational to hope for the failure of President Obama because it will mean a failure for America. He then acknowledged that there are a lot of policy issues that he does not hope succeed. That is basically what Rush has said. He would love the President to succeed if he pursues the right agenda, but hopes he fails at what it appears he is actually going to try to do. The media is trying to turn it into a division issue in the conservative movement, where there really is none. Sadly, Rush is responding to the Drive by Media bashing what is actually being said.

We have to turn it back onto the media and Democrats. A better response would have been to say “I would love President Obama to succeed if he would actually try to do the right thing, that just does not seem likely. I want his bad policy attempts to fail and be replaced by strong and effective policies by the Republicans.” Every attack on any Conservative leader needs to be turned back on the attackers. If Canada was to invade North Dakota so that they could push down and take over South Dakota as their ultimate goal, who would we fight? We would fight those wacky Canadians! What we are doing now would be like attacking South Dakota because it is their fault the Canadians are attacking North Dakota.

We have to take a stand and make a unified front. If we let the media turn us against each other, two years will fly by and we will be totally unprepared for the mid-term. Have a bad mid-term and we can kiss 2012 good bye.

So pretty please Rush, do not fall for the baiting. Lets focus on the Drive Bys and the Democrats