Archive for Republican Blogs
Twas the night
Posted by: | CommentsTwas the night before Christmas and all through the land
We tried to find to solace, in the troubles at hand.
The markets in meltdown, our 401’s toast
The Fed cuts the rates, but the banks are all closed.
The politicians all squabble, with the dems in command
The GOP had been routed, like Custer’s last stand
When out in DC, there arose such a clatter?
I turned to CNN to see what was the matter.
Team Obama and Michelle were planning their ball
With buffed pecks and cute kids, he’d come to save us all
Now Nancy, now Harry
Now Levin and Waxman
On Murtha, on Rangle
On Dodd and on Clinton!
Raise all the taxes, and raise the capital gains
Tax it if it moves by truck or by trains
Spend all you want, spend a billion here and two there
We pay it back later, nobody will care
Shouldn’t we save Mr. Presidnet? Shouldn’t we try to be thrifty?
Who though hope and change meant top tax rates at fifty?
But I heard exclaim as he became leader of our land
Don’t worry bout a thing folks, hope and change are at hand.
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist, and I am bored stiff waiting for tonight’s Christmas services.)
Speaking of the budget….
Posted by: | CommentsI have been reading newspaper editorials over the past few weeks, my local paper included, and have come to one inescapable conclusion. Editorial writers are full of,,, beans.
Take my local paper, the Woodland Daily Democrat. It reprinted the San Jose Merc’s editorial complaining about the State’s new budget, or lack thereof. So what is the problem? According to the big brains at the SJMN, the Republican won’t raise taxes. It’s enough to make you wonder if these editorial rooms should apply for their own medicinal marijuana license.
The state did not get into this mess by years of declining revenues, it has been steadily overspending by billions of dollars each year. It’s the spending stupid. Let me say that again so there can be no misunderstanding. IT’S THE SPENDING STUPID!
So what proof do I have that democrats in the legislature are to blame for all the red ink? Here are the numbers, take a look for yourself. Thanks to Tom Del Baccaro for the chart.
If the Democrats, who control both houses in the legislature, would send a budget to the Governor spending the exact amount they spent just two short years ago, presto, budget balanced. You remember the 2006 right? Were we stepping over starving people in the streets? Did we have to ration food or gasoline because the state was out of money? No, we got along just fine.
Government is the only entity where fiscal responsibly means you never have to actually cut the amount of spending, you just cut the amount you were going to increase in spending. If you and I have to cut our spending when our revenue goes down, why is the legislature immune to this reality?
I have one more question; why don’t the newspaper editors get this? Has anyone in the editorial room ever taken Econ 101? This is simple stuff, really. The bottom line is this; liberal editors are myopic in their view of politics and policy, raising taxes is good and cutting spending is bad.
I disagree. Spending other people’s money to stay in the good graces of your political friends and contributors is bad, in fact, it’s downright shameful.
Bush getting the boot, and the shoes.
Posted by: | CommentsOkay, I will admit the video of President Bush ducking shoes thrown by an Iraqi journalist was pretty darn funny. The President’s response put the entire matter in its proper light.
“All I can report,” Bush joked of the incident, “is a size 10.”
When I first heard an angry journalist threw a shoe at President Bush, my first thought was, how did Keith Olbermann get that close to the President? I wonder if MSNBC will give this guy his own show when Chris Mathews runs for the Senate in Pennsylvania? One thing is for sure, no one is marking off the days until January 20th with more anticipation than President Bush. “Here are the keys Barack, the front door sticks a little, you have to jiggle the handle to open it, have a great Presidency, and good luck.”
I wonder if anyone has bothered to contemplate what would have happened to the shoe-hurling reporter had it been Saddam Hussein at the podium instead of two democratically elected leaders. I wonder if Saddam’s lunatic sons would have raped Mrs. Shoe-Hurler before she too was executed. I wonder if his kids would have escaped a shallow grave outside of Baghdad. I guess he threw his shoes at the right guy. In a curious way, this is a sign of real progress. Shoe throwing aside, where else in the Arab world do democratically elected leaders hold open press conferences?
I am looking forward to watching the Bush haters go from full-blown attack mode to hunker-down defense mode as they make excuse after excuse for President Obama. You can be sure that no matter what happens in the next four years, anything good will be a direct and concrete result of President Barack Obama’s leadership. Conversely, anything negative will be tied back to President Bush. The Obama supporters in the media, which is almost everyone, will be slow to respond to any wrongdoing or corruption in the Obama administration, while they have published every rumor of wrongdoing during the last eight years.
Is it fair? No, but if you want fair, go to the Olympics. Today, journalists seem to be more interested in getting their guy elected than objectively reporting the news. Reporters and editors have taken sides, and if you are not on their side, you go under the microscope. If they are behind you, you get the interviews with soft lighting and softer questions. That’s life in the big leagues and if the media isn’t on your side, you better have the ability to go around them and get your message directly to the American people.
So we can all laugh at the shoe jokes that are sure to come, I know I will, but a month from now the person who you have been told is the center of all evil in the know universe will take a quiet plane ride back to Texas. January 20th will come, and go. How long will it take the Bush haters to come to grips with the idea that he is gone, and they can’t just be against something any longer, they have to be for something. Now you have to defend every action and decision made by your President, both good and bad. You can look forward to the disappointment of watching the car wreck at the corner of political reality and good intentions.
Corruption? What corruption?
Posted by: | CommentsSeems odd does it not, those who were screaming loudest about Republican corruption seem to have lost their voices lately? Hmmm….
If anyone out there is shocked with the staggering level of corruption in Illinois politics, you must be a newbie to politics. Corruption has been turned from a vice to a refined art form in the Windy City.
Can anyone remember where President elect Obama started his political career? Oh yea, ground zero for dirty politics, the south side of Chicago. It would seem that Barack Obama has kept his hands pretty clean over the years, staying just far enough away from criminals like Tony Rezko to get a few sweet deals, but no close enough to get burned. Now it’s his friend, Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Look, I know that Republicans in Congress have had an abysmal record of cleaning house when it comes to scandalous members, it was an anchor around the neck of the GOP in the 2006 election. It is a fundamental attitude that has to change in order to win back the base as well as swing voters. Stand up and do what is right, even if costs you political power. It seems Republicans are learning their lessons these days, but I don’t know how you could keep a straight face and tell me the Democrats are not hip deep in corrupt politicians.
From Democratic Representative (Thanks Ray, I was bit groggy when I wrote this), Charlie Rangle and his tax evasion scandal, and Representative William Jefferson and his cold cash, to Democratic senator Chris Dodd and his sweetheart mortgage deal while serving on the Senate Banking Committee and now Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich and a bunch of top Illinois dems are getting frog walked downtown for trying to sell Obama’s soon to be vacant Senate seat.
The greatest irony in the whole Illinois scandal is the Federal Prosecutor who is slapping the cuffs on these Democratic big wigs is none other than Patric Fitzgerald, the same guy the dems praised for his ‘non-political’ prosecution of Scooter Libby.
I wonder when they will start calling this a Republican witch hunt?
Stay tuned….
Gifts for the Obama Supporter
Posted by: | CommentsWith a month in the books since the election of Barack Obama, how is everyone in the ‘Obama nation’ doing? Have you stopped the high-fives and hugs every time you see a fellow Obama backer? Has the avalanche of email, texts, and tweets slowed to a trickle? Is there a bit of Obama withdrawal going on here?
What are you doing with all your time these days? No more sitting with your fellow Obama buddies making calls and walking precincts. No more Obama parties at your house, snacking on free-range guacamole and organic chips while you plan the ‘get out the vote’ drive for Election Day. No more annoying the daylights out of your friends and family with how Obama is going to stop the war, stop the glaciers from melting, give everyone free health care, free college and save every one’s house from foreclosure. Are you marking the days until January 20th, when the world will finally be right? It must be a bit of a let down for you.
Despair not Obama supporters, the rest of us who know and love you will try and help in these gloomy days with a few Christmas gifts especially for you.
1. A book.
Yes, I know, who still reads paper books when I can get all the latest Obama news conferences live-streamed directly to my Blackberry? Have you seen the cool official seal and podium for the Office of President Elect? Impressive isn’t it? You need to unplug yourself. Turn off all your electronic devices and actually read a book. I don’t mean re-read The Audacity of Hope for the third time, I would start with The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. Wright is not a right-wing nut job, far from it, he is a Pulitzer winning author and writer for the New Yorker. The Looming Tower is the most comprehensive book written about al Qaeda, and origins of Islamic terrorism. If you want to know why President elect Obama will not be getting our troops out of the Middle East anytime soon, it because he is now getting the President’s daily briefing and he is finding out just how dangerous the world really is. You should too.
2. A one-year membership in the NRA.
I know, you think these people are crazy and you hate them, but if I can take someone mistakenly sending me a year’s subscription to The Sierra Club, you can handle the NRA. I learned a lot about how the environmentally unbalanced folks think. You can choose between three magazines, The American Hunter, The American Rifleman or America’s 1st freedom. You won’t find a bunch of rabid Republican Nazis in these magazines, you will find your friends and neighbors. Well, maybe not your friends and neighbors, but they might be mine. You also get a free hat and sticker for your car, pretty cool eh?
3. An application for a business license.
Not that you have to start a new business, but you should at least know the process those who own our local businesses have to go through just for the opportunity to succeed or fail. Get a City or County business license application, and one for the State of California’s Department of Equalization and then just for fun ask for a liability and worker’s compensation insurance application from your local broker. The amount of paperwork and fees it takes just to open your doors and put your financial life on the line will make your head spin. It should give you a glimpse into the world of the ‘rich’, you know, the ones you want to raise taxes on to pay for everything Obama is promising.
That should take you all the way through to inauguration day. It will also take you out of your Obama bubble and back into the real world where great speeches and slogans don’t amount to much. There are real challenges we face as a nation. Terrorism, a recession, and the looming crisis of entitlement spending. You need to understand all sides on these issues, both fiscal and social. When you spend all your time talking to like minded people who you agree with, it makes you intellectually lazy. Exercise your brain this holiday season so you can explain to your fellow dreamy-eyed Obama supporters why the Utopian vision they had may have to be amended.
And yes, I am still waiting for my magic unicorn Barack Obama promised me.
Bailout fever, catch it!
Posted by: | Comments
Is General Motors too big to fail? What about Ford and Chrysler?
The answer is yes and no. Yes, because the auto industry is the manufacturing backbone of the US economy and the workers, material suppliers, dealers and associated businesses that would be hurt if the Big Three closed their doors would act as an anchor on our economy for years. No, for the plain fact that if your business is encumbered by unsustainable labor contracts and a corporate mindset that has not changed with the US auto market, no amount of bailout money will save it.
Trying to save the big three by giving them money is like trying to lift a bucket while you’re standing in it. Just as politicians are allergic to reality and telling their constituents bad news, GM has not stood up to the UAW or to the shareholders and said, this is just plain crazy. No one at the top of the big three has the courage to say we cannot sign these labor contracts, if you want to strike, strike. If we make it through fine, but to sign these labor contracts would be suicide for our company and just won’t do it.
Mitt Romney’s editorial in the Times is a great piece, you should read the whole thing.
First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.
That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it.
Think about that. GM is in the hole $2,000 before they tighten a bolt on a new car. The other great point Mitt makes is the leadership must change, and not just new people who have been raised in this big three culture, they need new blood with a track record of reinventing companies. Someone from the outside who has worked hand in hand with labor and has sat down and showed them the books. Someone who will tell the UAW that you can shear a sheep year after year, but you can only slaughter it once.
The AUW has a job to do, get as much money as they can for their members, but what happens when they demand so much that their member’s jobs simply vanish? Is this what their members want? Is this what labor negotiations have come to?
We want what we want, and if it drives you out of business, oh well.
Back to the bailout, if GM and the rest of the big three have a burn rate of billions of dollars a month, what use is giving them 25 billion more? This is like giving someone a third mortgage on a house in foreclosure, it might keep the lights on for a little while but it doesn’t change the fact that they are going broke because they spend more than they make.
It’s called reality. Get used to it. Sell the corporate jets, cut your upper management, cut your executive’s salaries, and then ask the UAW to rework their contracts.
It is the only way it will work. Even with the bailout, this will still need to be done to save the domestic auto industry, they will just be a year further in the hole and the taxpayers will be $25 Billion poorer.
The first rule about holes is, when your in one, stop digging.
No one told me.
Posted by: | CommentsOkay people, if you never read another word I write, please pay attention to this.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are heading for economic collapse, and they will take America along for the ride.
That isn’t meant to unduly scare you or sensationalize a situation, it is not a Republican fact or a Democrat fact, it is just a fact.
If you are thinking, so what; if they go broke the government will bail them out just like they did the banks, you don’t understand the fundamental problem. Think of the current 700 billion bailout as a one time infusion of cash to get the economy back on its feet. The problem with the looming entitlement crisis is a long term one. These programs are growing so fast, as the boomer generation comes into its retirement years that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will soon outspend their revenues. They will need more money and the government will have to cut spending on other programs or raise taxes to keep up with the costs. Not just once, but each year they will have to cut something or raise taxes, every year. After a decade, there will be nothing left to cut and no one left to tax.
At first it will only be a billion here and a billion there, but if you are in your late 30’s or 40’s, by the time you retire, the current tax rates across the board will have to be doubled to keep up with the spending for these programs.
Think of it as your household budget. If you have an adjustable rate loan payment that increases every year, with this increased burden you either cut your spending on other things, or get a second job, and then a third job to increase your income. This certainly not the time to buy a new Lexus or take the kids on vacation to Hawaii. The time to act is not when you have have maxed out all your credit cards to keep living in manner that got you into the mess, the time to act is a soon as you see crisis coming. That time is now.
President elect Obama has a golden opportunity to act now, to lead, to show that sometimes you have to endure a little pain in the short term to avert a long term crisis that threatens our very viability as a nation. Will the Democrats walk the walk? They have certainly talked a great deal about fixing Social Security. I am not optimistic. I see Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid rubbing their hands together figuring out new entitlement programs to spend even more of our tax money on. Oh you can be sure they will raise taxes, but they will spend every penny and then spend even more. That is what they do, that is who they are.
The greatest danger in acquiring power is the fact you are accountable. You cannot stand on the sidelines and point fingers, you have to lead. No more blaming Bush and the Republicans, although they will for a year or two. In 2010 this will be Obama’s economy, a Democrat economy. They will have been in charge of Congress for 4 years and have held the White House for 2. They will not be able to hide behind ‘W’ any longer.
So who will finally take on the AARP, the Labor Unions, the Defense industry and every other lobbying interest that feeds at the government trough? I am waiting for a new breed of Republican to step forward. A Republican with the courage to tell America the Federal government is not Santa Clause. That government is too big and controls too much of our lives. A Republican who is not afraid to tell us that we need to get back to fiscal conservatism. I really like a young Republican I saw on election night, Paul Ryan. I would love to see a young Republican like Ryan lead the GOP back its principles.
We need to cut spending on everything. Nothing is sacred. If the old guard Republicans complain about cutting certain Pentagon projects in their districts, let them. When the Democrats howl over cutting back on social programs and putting the bloated government bureaucracies on a diet, let them. We need to get our financial house in order now, we will need to have a game plan in place when the boomers hit the system will full force. We will need a track record of setting priorities and cutting waste when the boomers get in their 80s and head into long term, full-time care. Getting an SSI check is one thing, getting an SSI check and sending the taxpayers the bill for the nursing home is quite another. These bills will simply overwhelm us.
When the entitlement crisis ’sneaks up’ on America in a few years, people will say, no one ever told me. Well folks, I just did.
P.S. - Barack Obama has been President elect for three days now and I have yet to find a Unicorn in my garage. What’s the deal?
