Irreconcilable Differences

I have come to the conclusion that most political banter at the federal level is a complete waste of time. No one is willing to point to the elephant in the room – that there are irreconcilable differences between The Left (liberals / progressives / socialists) and conservatives.

The call for compromise always comes from The Left. They require conservatives to compromise, which means move to the Left. The Republican Party has been doing this for years. Enough is enough! Conservatives do NOT need to compromise core beliefs, values and principles. Why should we since, in poll after poll, the majority of American considers themselves “conservative”.

Below is my list of irreconcilable differences between the modern liberal / progressive agenda and that of the Tea Party / conservatives. You will find a recurring theme among all of The Left’s pronouncements – they are unwilling to admit their beliefs to the American people. Common sense tells you that if someone is unable to look you in the eye and tell you why they believe what they believe, you should stay clear!

• The Left - The people are weak, lazy and stupid, therefore, they require guidance from omnipotent governmental representatives.
• Conservatives - Even if the people are weak, lazy and stupid, it’s none of our business. Our job is to follow the Constitution and ensure the peoples’ rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are protected.

• The Left – Big government will solve our problems.
• Conservatives – Government is the problem and should be as small as possible. 

• The Left – The Constitution is a living breathing document “full of negative rights” and should be changed to include positive rights.
• Conservatives - The Constitution is set in stone. If you want to change it, follow the amendment process. 

• The Left – Judges should legislate from the bench if it is in the best interest of “the People”.
• Conservatives – Judges should interpret the law and apply it to the case in front of them regardless of their personal feelings. Laws are written by the Legislative Branch of government NOT the Judicial Branch. Judges that do not follow this prescription should be impeached. 

• The Left – Capitalism is bad. Socialism is good. Spread the wealth around.
• Conservatives – Capitalism and pursuing what is in your individual self-interest is the most productive economic model in the history of mankind. Trying to equalize outcomes by spreading the wealth around leads to government cronyism and lower production. “Where is John Galt?” 

• The Left – Labor unions are a force for good.
• Conservatives – Labor unions have become arrogant and gluttonous as they pursue more outrageous pension benefits for their members and peddle political influence with the Democrat Party; all at the expense of tax payers. Their policies have helped bankrupt many states and will eventually topple the country.

• The Left – Abortion is ok but killing a two year old is murder.
• Conservatives - Government’s most sacred responsibility is to preserve “Life”. Abortion ends the life of an innocent, indefensible human being. “Choice” simply means having the ability to legally murder another human being. 

• The Left – The government can and should be trusted with our money.
• Conservatives – Everything the government touches fails (usually) miserably. 

• The Left – Their entire agenda is dependent on an apathetic and/or ignorant populace. 
• Conservatives – Our entire agenda is dependent on an engaged and informed populace familiar with the Constitution.

• The Left – There is no limit to what the federal government can and should regulate – carbon dioxide emissions, the light bulbs we can buy, the health insurance we can purchase, how fast we drive, the debit card fees we incur, . . . .
• Conservatives – “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” 

• The Left – Conservation, windmills, solar panels and electric cars are the only ways to address our energy problems. No drilling for domestic sources. No pipelines built. No nuclear power plants built.
• Conservatives – Conservation is fine and should be encouraged as should investment in alternative methods BUT we should drill for domestic sources of oil and natural gas, build the necessary pipelines and build nuclear power plants.

• The Left – We have a revenue problem.
• Conservatives – We have a spending problem.

• The Left – Occupy Wall is a legitimate movement with legitimate gripes.
• Conservatives – Occupy Wall Street is a bunch of college students, hippies from the 1960’s, radical leftists, statists and communists with no coherent message beyond anti-capitalism, rampant drug use, sexual promiscuity and sexual assault.

• The Left – Global warming or global cooling or climate change is manmade. There is consensus on this fact. We should ratify the Kyoto Treaty, lower our standard of living and pay carbon credits to other nations while allowing the three largest polluters in the world, China Mexico and India, to avoid participating in the treaty.
• Conservatives – Global warming, cooling, climate change is one of the biggest hoaxes ever imposed on humankind.

• The Left – The United Nations is a force for good.
• Conservatives – The United Nations is one of the most corrupt organizations in the history of geopolitics. The United States should not contribute to their budget until their policies reflect that which the majority of Americans believe. 

• The Left – The federal government should continue to be heavily involved in the education of our children.
• Conservatives – The Department of Education should be shut down immediately and all control returned to local governments.

• The Left – Big business creates most of the jobs in this country and, therefore, receives the majority of government favors (subsidies).
• Conservatives – Big businesses have been net job losers domestically for three decades. Small business is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. We should maintain a regulatory and economic environment that encourages entrepreneurs and supports small businesses.

• The Left – Raise taxes on the rich and create a permanent voting block that either pays no taxes or receives money from the government.
• Conservatives – Cut spending, cut tax rates across the board and make sure everyone pays something into the system; expand the tax base.

• The Left – Everyone gets a trophy.
• Conservatives - Only the winner gets a trophy. 

• The Left – Use entitlement programs to buy votes.
• Conservatives – Use these programs to temporarily help those in need but also include a specific path to move the recipients toward self-sufficiency.

• The Left – State control of private property.
• Conservatives – Individual control of private property.

• The Left – America is no different than any other country on earth.
• Conservatives – America is exceptional.

• The Left – Green Jobs are a worthy investment.
• Conservatives – "Green Jobs" is code for transfer of wealth.

• The Left – Measures unemployment by citing “saved” jobs.
• Conservatives – Does not try to "save" jobs, they create economic environments that encourages creative destruction and unleashes capitalism.                                                            

• The Left – African-American conservatives must be crucified (Thomas, West, Rice, Cain).
• Conservatives – Welcome to the party!

• The Left – Government knows best.
• Conservatives – Father knows best.

• The Left – Perpetual initial weekly claims for unemployment benefits of 400,000 and functional unemployment near 20% is an acceptable cost in order to bring in their socialistic utopia.
• Conservatives – Socialism always ends badly.

• The Left – Ignores immoral behavior when a Democrat is the offender and has a conniption fit when a Republican conducts himself similarly.
• Conservatives – Immoral behavior is wrong regardless of what party the offender is a member of.

• The Left – The Great Society was a success.
• Conservatives – The Great Society perpetuated a dependency on the government.

• The Left – The War on Poverty must be continued.
• Conservatives – The War on Poverty is a complete and absolute failure. The poverty rate is the same as it was before "the war" was declared.

• The Left – Calls tax cuts “expensive”. “In 2001 and 2003, Congress passed two of the most expensive tax cuts for the wealthy in history.” Barack Hussein Obama
• Conservatives – Have no way to digest and process this type of rhetoric. How can cutting taxes be expensive – unless everything is looked at in terms of the government? It is expensive to a gluttoneous government when we cut off their food supply (our money).

• The Left – Equal results.
• Conservatives – Equal opportunity.

• The Left – There are “two America’s” (The 99% and. The 1%)
• Conservatives – When compared with the rest of the world, America is The 1%. Get off your ass, leave the pity party and grab the vast opportunities afforded to you by this amazing country.

• The Left – The collective.
• Conservatives – The individual.

• The Left – Unemployment benefits are economy boosters and food stamps are job creators.
• Conservatives – Both statements are false. Both services should be temporary. 

• The Left – Help should come from government.
• Conservatives – Help should come from family, the church, charities and your community.

Hit the Reset Button

Washington is a cesspool. Both political parties are corrupt. They both enlarge government to the benefit of their special interests at the expense of the rest of us. The only difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is the rate of growth. Government always grows; it grew under Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43 and through the roof under Obama. 

If you think America is heading in the right direction or possibly we just need to nibble around the edges, the establishment (of both parties) will always have plenty of candidates for you to choose from. Think McCain, Bush and Dole. Think Gore, Kerry, Dukakis and Mondale.

Clearly, Obama will continue the spending, growing the government, increasing regulations, diminishing our liberties, maintaining the gravy train to unions and "green" companies and, quite frankly, running this great country into the ground. 

Sadly, Gingrich and Romney will probably nibble around the edges. Do you really believe that they will CUT anything of substance? Don't get me wrong, either of them will be head and shoulders better than Obama but that's not saying much as any CEO or mayor is more qualified to be President than Obama.

Glenn Beck has often talked about the need for America to hit the reset button. There are only two GOP  candidates that I believe are willing to hit the reset button: Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann.

• Both are committed to disrupting the status quo.
• Paul is committed to ending or dramatically reducing foreign aid.
• Paul is committed to dramatically cutting our military’s engagement throughout the world.
• Both are committed to cutting federal spending – social programs, closing entire agencies, military spending.
• Both are committed to ending the practice of hiring White House czars.
• Both are committed to ending the use of Executive Orders and Signing Statements.
• Both are committed to radical reform to our entitlement programs.
• Both are committed to following the Constitution as written.
• Most importantly, both believe the federal government is THE PROBLEM.

Neither Bachmann nor Paul will get the Republican nomination but, if Paul were to run as a third-party candidate (perhaps as the first ever Tea Party candidate), I believe he would take votes from both Obama and from the eventual GOP nominee.

The Government Agency Constitutionality Test (GACT)

I was recently reminded of The Enumerated Powers Act (H.R. 450, S. 1319), introduced by Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) in 2009. The Act would require all congressional legislation to contain an explanation of the constitutional authority by which Congress can enact it.

This got me thinking: if I was elected President, one of the first things I would do is require every single federal government agency to submit a report justifying its existence. The only source they can use for such justification is the United States Constitution.

If they can do so, they remain with a budget equal to that in 2006. If they cannot do so, the agency is abolished with its duties discontinued immediately or transferred to a constitutional agency.

What are these enumerated powers? Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution grants to Congress the powers to: 

• To pay the debts of the United States.
• To declare war and make rules of warfare, to raise and support armies and a navy and to make rules governing the military forces . . .
• To regulate commerce with foreign Nations, and among the States . . .
• To establish uniform Rules of Naturalization
• To establish uniform Laws on Bankruptcies;
• To coin money and regulate the value thereof;
• To fix the standard of Weights and Measures;
• To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting;
• To establish post offices and post roads;
• To issue patents and copyrights;
• To create courts inferior to the supreme court; and 
• To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the Laws of Nations. 

• The 16th Amendment established the income tax.

As important as the enumerated powers is the 10th Amendment is even more important. It states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Given all of that, how many agencies would pass The Government Agency Constitutionality Test?

1. The Defense Department – provide for our common defense, forts, arsenals, army, navy, etc.
2. The Post Office (unfortunately)
3. The State Department
4. The Treasury Department – Monetary system - coin money based on gold and silver, weights & measures
5. The Patent and Trademark Office
6. The IRS - To enforce the 16th Amendment and other taxes passed by Congress.
7. The federal court system.
8. The Attorney General’s Office – To enforce civil rights & voting rights (forget about Eric Holder’s refusal to prosecute the Philadelphia Black Panthers).
9. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
10. The Justice Department 

That will probably mean the abolishment or privatization of well know agencies such as:

1. The Department of Education
2. The Department of the Interior
3. The Department of Homeland Security
4. The Department of Health and Human Services
5. The Department of Labor
6. The Department of Housing and Urban Development
7. The Department of Energy
8. The Commerce Department
9. The Department of Transportation
10. Amtrak
11. The Food and Drug Administration
12. The Labor Relations Administration
13. Fannie Mae
14. Freddie Mac
15. The Bureau of Land Management
16. The National Endowment for the Arts
17. The National Endowment for the Humanities
18. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

For a look at the embarrassingly long list of government agencies check here: http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml.

I believe by taking this action, we will not only tackle our record national debt and deficit problem but also alleviate much of the problems associated with the federal government’s abuse of the Commerce and General Welfare clauses.

For those of you who wish to dive deeper into this subject, below is some additional background from The Federalist Papers:

Federalist No. 45 - James Madison - The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.

Federalist No. 39: ...the proposed government cannot be deemed a national one; since its jurisdiction extends to certain enumerated objects only, and leaves to the several States a residuary and inviolable sovereignity over all other objects.

Federalist No. 14: . . the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws. Its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects…

The American Dream is not a Promise

The shallowness of the far Left and progressives in this country continues to amaze me.

Case in point: There was a caller on the October 3rd Jason Lewis Show who defended the “Occupy Wall Street” protest.

Below is a synopsis of his argument followed by my rebuttal:

#1 – “There are a bunch of us out here that have Master’s Degrees and we can’t get good jobs.”

#2 – “We spent an exorbitant amount of money for our education and come out of school with $60,000 in student loan debt with no job prospects.” 

#3 – “We did not get the American Dream we were promised.”

This is idiocy personified:

#1 – Why are you protesting Wall Street? Shouldn’t you be protesting the Obama Administration’s abysmal job creating / job saving record? The President’s most recent jobs bill was so pathetic that Harry Reid would not even bring it up for vote until Mitch McConnell (a Republican) prodded him to do so.

It’s really too bad that you were not already employed when The Obama Depression hit. If you were you could have received 99 weeks of unemployment compensation; leaving you plenty of free time to protest capitalism. As a side note: Nancy Pelosi claims that unemployment compensation “creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name.”

#2 –  Why are you protesting Wall Street? Shouldn’t you be protesting the education system that has raised average in-state tuition 72% over the last decade (private schools are up 34%) so tenured professors can continue to pull down nice, fat-cat salaries. While you are at it, you should protest Harvard whose endowment now stands at over $30 BILLION!

The most ironic element about this is how the protest organizers are encouraging college students to skip class and join the protest. Brillant!

#3 – The American Dream is NOT a promise! It is an ideal that can only be obtained by those of us who are willing to bust our ass, take risks, accept any job we can get when we first join the workforce and, take responsibility for our own success. The American Dream is not available to anyone who believes they are entitled to anything – a good job, food, shelter, other peoples’ money, health care, an education, your retirement funds, etc.

The federal government can either help make the American Dream more or less attainable. More government interference such as Obamacare, EPA regulation, Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes–Oxley, light bulb regulations, higher taxes, drilling moratoriums, rampant deficit spending and out of control entitlement programs with mind-blowing unfunded liabilities make the American Dream just that . . . a DREAM. Unshackle and unleash the American people and magic happens. Always has and always will . . . I hope!

In Defense of Herman Cain's 999 Plan

During a recent broadcast, Jason Lewis (Jason Lewis Show), was discussing Herman Cain's 999 economic plan and began a stream-of-consciousness defense of the program that I thought was brillant. 

What is The 999 Plan?
The 999 Plan essentially replaces the current tax code with a 9% Business Flat Tax, a 9% Individual Flat Tax and a 9% National Sales Tax. Cain describes the plan as "fair, simple, transparent and efficient" because it taxes everything once and nothing twice while broadening the tax base (the number of tax payers) at the lowest possible rates. 

Cain's Republican competitors for the nomination have launched the following attack on the 999 Plan: "I am concerned that once the 999 Plan gets in the hands of Congress, it will become the 21-21-21 Plan."

The Defense

If you broaden the base of tax payers, meaning that you increase the number of tax payers, you strengthen the defense of future tax increases. Currently almost 50% of tax filers pay no federal income tax. When Democrats demagogue the wealthy and perpetuate class warfare, these non-tax payers have no reason to question the legitimacy of the argument. In a sense, they could not care less if taxes are raised “on the rich” or anyone else for that matter because they are not paying a thing. No skin in the game.

The best analogy I can come up with is local property taxes. Dig up any news article about a proposed property tax increase anywhere in the country and what is the one constant? Broad-based outrage even from people who rent their homes because higher taxes means higher rent rates. Why the broad outrage?  Because of a broad tax payer base. People inherently do not like paying taxes for two reasons:

1. They would rather keep the money themselves and decide how to spend it.
2. They know that, when it comes to spending other people's money, government is inefficient at best and criminal at worst. 

This plan would kill the Democrat Party whose main weapon used to stay in power is a voter base dependent on government via entitlements, welfare, food stamps, etc and the apathy that comes from those who pay no federal income tax.

I think Cain's plan is phenomenal. It is just what this country needs to get our economic house in order. 

A President of Firsts

Barack Hussein Obama's election to the presidency was historical for many reasons. Some of the reasons might not be obvious:

• First African-American.
• First to go completely unvetted by the lamestream media. 
• First to openly call for fundamental transformation of the greatest country in the history of the world 
• First to grow the national debt more in the first half of his first term than his predecessor did in eight years.
• First to bow to a Japanese leader.
• First to grow the deficit more in the first half of his first term than all of his predecessors combined. 
• First to prefer being an effective one-term President than an ineffective two-term President.
• First to tour the world and apologize for the country for which he is supposed to be leading.
• First to reside over the downgrade of the nation's debt rating.
• First to have married someone who openly stated that she had never felt any pride toward the country until her husband was elected.
• First to hang out with an unrepentant terrorists. 
• First to sit in a pew of an American-hating preacher for 20 years (and never heard any of his hateful, racist comments).
• First to reside over $1,800/ounce gold price.
• First to visit 57 states.
• First to pursue energy policies that will “necessarily skyrocket” our electricity prices.
• First to insist on tax increases during a recession.
• First to openly pursue policies that will push our debt-to-GDP level to 185% within 25 years. (See May, 2010 CBO report) 
• First to openly display his economic ignorance virtually on a daily basis.

I don't know about you, but I am so proud. 

The Problem With Unions

The job of a union is to represent its members? On its face that seems innocuous although lots of problems reside below the surface? Some examples may explain:

The teachers' unions represent the teachers.
The American Federation of School Administrators represents the school administrators.

• I propose the creation of The Students Union and The Parents-of-Students-Union? Our education system spends more per pupil than anytime in history and yet the results still suck.

The American Postal Workers Union represent postal workers.
The American Federation of Government Employees represents government employees.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees represents state and municipal employees.

• I propose the creation of The Taxpayers Union. 

The United Autoworkers Union represents autoworkers.

• I propose the creation of The Shareholders of General Motors Union.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association represents air traffic controllers.

• I propose The People-Who-Die-in-Plane-Crashes-Because-Air-Traffic-Controllers-Fall-Asleep-on-the-Job Union.

The Screen Actors Guild and The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds represent actors and writers.

• Can someone tell me why actors and writers require a union with such physically demanding work?

While unions once played a valuable roll in our society, with a few exceptions they are now simply a tool of the Democrat Party. If you are interested in researching this yourself start with the following Google searches:

• "Card Check"
• Union political contributions by party
• White House visitor logs 
• Research the Occupy Wall Street movement and see who is behind it
• Andy Stern (SEIU) 
• "George Soros unions"

The Economic Ignorance of Our President

Rarely does a single quote offer such incredible insight into the ignorance of the speaker as the following statement made by Barack Obama this week bashing Bank of America for raising debit card usage fees:

"You don't have some inherent right just to - you know, get a certain amount of profit. If your customers - are being mistreated. That you have to treat them fairly and transparently."

The American Bankers Association said "it's disappointing" that the president "would attack a private corporation for responding to government price-fixing that has fundamentally altered the economics of offering a debit card." You think?

QUESTION: Mr. President, why don't these companies have an inherent right to just "you know, get a certain amount of profit"? Since when did maximizing profits become something to avoid?

Such a statement can only be made by a socialist, an anti-capitalist, a communist, a progressive, a misguided liberal or some combination of all of them.

Obama's second feeble point is that the inherent profit is not permissible if the customers are mistreated or there is a lack of transparency.

QUESTION: Mr. President, do you believe that, because of their name, “Bank of America” is the only bank in the country and that, given their monopoly status, citizens have no other choice where to park their cash?

Someone on the president’s staff should inform him that there are over 6,500 FDIC-insured banks in this country. The lesson here is that liberals think the populace is too stupid to make their own decisions without the help of government – buying health insurance, where to bank, what light bulbs to buy, etc.

Regarding the president's comment about transparency: What the hell is more transparent than announcing the new fees THREE MONTHS before they are implemented? Remember, this line of thinking comes from the President who promised to have the most transparent administration in history including the broadcast of the healthcare bill debate on C-SPAN. Instead we get a bill passed via "deem and pass" and "reconciliation" and no C-SPAN.

Finally, it is about time that the American people stand up FIRMLY and PROUDLY for capitalism. If not for capitalism, the American experiment would have ended a long time ago and the world as a whole would be a lot worse off. Those people who are trying to "fundamentally transform" this country are trying to squash capitalism and individual freedom – plain and simple!

Wake up America!

Debit Fees and Goverment Regulations

Updated: October 5, 2011

So Bank of America is raising their debit card usage fees and the country is outraged. Do not point the finger only at Bank of America! Washington deserves at least 50% of the blame and any news outlet that does not give you the whole story should be called out.

After Bank of America announced a $5 monthly debit card usage fee earlier this week, the usual drumbeat bashing of BIG BANKS began. What happened to intellectual honesty and curiosity? Does anyone care about the truth?

The Left is brilliant in their perpetuation of the bashing of BIG business in general and BIG banks specifically. After all, their goal is more government control of our lives. Capitalism is the largest impediment to gaining that control.

If you want to engage in an honest debate about this topic, you must ask the obvious question: "What the hell do you expect a business to do when the government shaves billions in revenue off their books?" If you care to understand the truth, please research the Durbin Amendment in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. I implore you!

The banks are NOT non-profit ventures. They have shareholders for whom they have a fiduciary duty to maximize profits. Look at the debit card business in particular. Inside the BIG, BAD banks are debit card lines of business which, by the stroke of a pen, last year saw a huge chunk of their revenue abolished. What are those business leaders supposed to do? They MUST make up the revenue somewhere. Usage fees is one place to do that.

Financial Crisis History Lesson:

When the financial crisis hit, the Left and many on the Right blamed “the BIG bad banks” for causing it. Then many of these same financial institutions received government bailouts. Some of them did NOT want to take the money but were coerced to do so "for the good of the country". That is only part of the story. Again, I implore you to research the sub prime mortgage fiasco, which dates back several decades and several administrations.

Below are a few places to start to uncover the governmental pressure on the banks to make sub prime loans:

1. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.
2. Janet Reno's Justice Department constantly threatened to sue banks if they did not make loans to "under-served areas", to "underprivileged" borrowers or to borrowers "without the means of the wealthy".
3. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
4. Barnie Frank - As Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, he blatantly lied about the "fundamentally sound" institutions.
5. Bush tried to fix Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (see link above).
6. ACORN repeatedly used coercive acts to pressure the banks to make bad loans.

The Lessons:

#1 - Every government regulation has a downstream impact. Durbin (who is one of the more despicable members of Congress once comparing our troops serving at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Pol Pot) knew the banks were going to be forced to raise fees to cover the revenue short fall. This would give the Left one more opportunity to bash BIG business and BIG banks.

On October 4, DICK Durbin displayed just how audacious his hypocrisy is by slamming Bank of America for taking actions to make them whole from his amendment. Dick said. "When Bank of America decides they want to nail their loyal customers...they should be held accountable."

#2 – Who will be hurt more by a $5 debit card fee – the rich or the poor? The most ironic part of this story is how the Democrats in Congress, who claim to be the party of the poor and downtrodden, constantly punish their own constituents via more and more government regulations and taxes on the private sector. These government fiats, whether they are gas and cigarette taxes or financial limitations on debit card transaction fees, always hit the poor hardest. A $1 per pack tax on cigarettes or a $0.10 per gallon gas tax or a $5 monthly charge for using a debit card hits the guy making $10 an hour harder than the guy making $100,000 a year.

#3 – Never take any news outlet at their word. Do your own research!

#4 - We need to elect people who will examine the downstream impacts of legislation.

#5 – We need to elect people who are looking for solutions, not quick fixes and sound bites.

Click here for a great Forbes.com article about this issue.

The Impact of Government Regulations

Are the consequences of government regulations unintended or intended?

If they are unintended, we are governed by a bunch of tone-deaf, idiots. If they are intended, we are governed by a nasty bunch of SOBs. Either way, we (the electorate) are screwed.

Government regulations almost always result in a tax on the governed or the end user of the over-regulated industry. Case in point:

• Loose mortgage standards = Market collapse, unprecedented numbers of foreclosures and short sales and trillions of dollars in lost false equity.
• Healthcare regulations (i.e. Obamacare) = Rationing of care.
• Health insurance mandates = More expensive health insurance premiums.
• Pollution standards = More expensive gasoline, more expensive cars, ___________, _______ all in an effort to meet the standards.
• Banking regulations (i.e. Durbin Amendment) = Higher fees charged to consumer on otherwise free or low-cost services to make up the difference.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Netanyahu's Speech at United Nations

Any honest observer of the Middle East / Israeli conflict can only conclude one thing: that Israel is in the right. If you do not see that Israel is a force for good in a region of evil, you are either ill-informed or anti-Semitic.   

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/full-transcript-of-netanyahu-speech-at-un-general-assembly-1.386464

Important excerpts from Netanyahu's Speech: 

Well, this is an unfortunate part of the UN institution. It's the -- the theater of the absurd. It doesn't only cast Israel as the villain; it often casts real villains in leading roles: Gadhafi's Libya chaired the UN Commission on Human Rights; Saddam's Iraq headed the UN Committee on Disarmament.

You might say: That's the past. Well, here's what's happening now -- right now, today. Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon now presides over the UN Security Council. This means, in effect, that a terror organization presides over the body entrusted with guaranteeing the world's security.

The truth is that so far the Palestinians have refused to negotiate. The truth is that Israel wants peace with a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians want a state without peace.

In 2000 Israel made a sweeping peace offer that met virtually all of the Palestinian demands. Arafat rejected it.

Prime Minister Olmert afterwards made an even more sweeping offer, in 2008. President Abbas didn't even respond to it.

Better a bad press than a good eulogy, and better still would be a fair press whose sense of history extends beyond breakfast, and which recognizes Israel's legitimate security concerns.

this is the body that recognized the Jewish state 64 years ago. Now, don't you think it's about time that Palestinians did the same?

The Jewish state of Israel will always protect the rights of all its minorities, including the more than 1 million Arab citizens of Israel. I wish I could say the same thing about a future Palestinian state, for as Palestinian officials made clear the other day -- in fact, I think they made it right here in New York -- they said the Palestinian state won't allow any Jews in it. They'll be Jew-free -- Judenrein. That's ethnic cleansing. There are laws today in Ramallah that make the selling of land to Jews punishable by death. That's racism. And you know which laws this evokes.

Ladies and gentlemen, I continue to hope that President Abbas will be my partner in peace. I've worked hard to advance that peace. The day I came into office, I called for direct negotiations without preconditions. President Abbas didn't respond. I outlined a vision of peace of two states for two peoples. He still didn't respond. I removed hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints, to ease freedom of movement in the Palestinian areas; this facilitated a fantastic growth in the Palestinian economy. But again -- no response. I took the unprecedented step of freezing new buildings in the settlements for 10 months. No prime minister did that before, ever. (Scattered applause.) Once again -- you applaud, but there was no response. No response.

We have to stop negotiating about the negotiations.

Economics Lesson in 20 Minutes

If you missed Peter Schiff's Congressional testimony this week, please consider watching the video (link below). I assure you that you will learn more about economics in 20 minutes than you did in a semester at any university.

http://nation.foxnews.com/peter-schiff/2011/09/20/ceo-blows-away-congressional-hearing-i-was-fined-hiring-too-many-people

Below are some of the greatest hits from Schiff's testimony:

• “Stimulus is a sedative”
• “Higher interests rates encourage savings”
• “Demand does NOT come from government spending. Inflation comes from government spending. Demand comes from supply. You can’t consume something that isn’t produced. We have to make things first.”“How do we increase the demand for labor? It’s simple; you bring down the cost of labor. Regulations substantially increase the cost of employing people and as a result, fewer people are employed.”
• “Infrastructure spending doesn’t stimulate the economy, it drains the economy of resources. Infrastructure only works in the long run . . . if it raises the productivity of the nation.”
• “You can always see the jobs that government creates what you don’t see are the jobs that they destroy to create those jobs. All the government can do is rearrange the resources. It doesn’t create any wealth. The problem is that the jobs or the wealth that gets destroyed is more productive than whatever the government replaces it with. On balance the country is poorer.”“It is much more conducive to tax people when they spend their wealth than when they accumulate it."
• "The problem is the damage that the government does to the economy is not limited to taxation. . . It’s what the government is spending that is damaging the economy. . . Deficit spending is more detrimental to the economy than taxation.”The only stimulus that will work is cut government spending.
• Spending on education: “The problem is we are spending and not educating. We don’t need any more spending on education; we are spending too much and the kids are not getting educated.”
• Henry Ford paid his workers the equivalent of $2,500 a week. No federal income taxes back then. No minimum wage, no payroll taxes. No unions. “We paid the highest wages in the world yet we produced the best quality, least expensive products. How was that possible? That was because we had the smallest government. We had minimal regulations, low taxes and if we want to recreate American industry, we have to recreate that environment we have to allow businesses to grow and prosper and we have to remove all the road blocks and impediments that Congress has placed in their paths.”

Doomed from the Start

In the last GOP presidential debate Governor Rick Perry was challenged on his claim, made in his book Fed Up, that Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme. I agree with Rush Limbaugh that it is worse than that. As Limbaugh facetiously said "Ponzi Schemes are voluntary, Social Security is not."

Case in point: The first person to draw social security payments was a woman named Ida Mae Fuller.

• Fuller paid a total of $24.78 into the system.


• In 1939, at the age of 65, she started drawing $22.54/month.


• She lived to the age of 100.


• She drew $22,888.92 from the system; a 92,000% return on her investment.

Loony Leftists

I know Obama and the Democrat Party think Americans are dense, apathetic, stupid and ignorant. They count on it to get elected? This one quote from DNC Chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, recent appearance on "Morning Joe" exemplifies their utter disdain for the American people better than anything I have seen in a long time.

"Well, the Republicans who think the Recovery Act (stimulus) didn't work are simply wrong. The Recovery Act, as of the beginning of this year, created an additional 3.6 million jobs. We have -- the Recovery Act had a direct impact on making sure the teachers, firefighters, police officers were able to remain in their jobs. It begun -- it helped begin to turn the economy around. 50% of it was tax breaks to small businesses and to the middle class. So every economist you would talk to that is worth their salt acknowledges that without the Recovery Act we would not be continuing on the upswing. We would still be either stuck or spiraling downward. So the Republicans can't make up their own facts. The bottom line is the Recovery Act had an impact."

Let's look at this one piece at a time:

"Well, the Republicans who think the Recovery Act (stimulus) didn't work are simply wrong. The Recovery Act, as of the beginning of this year, created an additional 3.6 million jobs. . . “

• How many of these were federal government employees?
• She forgot to say “created or saved”.
• How many were digging ditches and filling them in a la Keynes’ theory?
• How many jobs were created in August? ZERO!
• How many jobs for black teenagers? 50% unemployment!
  

“We have -- the Recovery Act had a direct impact on making sure the teachers, firefighters, police officers were able to remain in their jobs. . .”

• There we go! The Act “saved” teachers, firefighters and police. She forgot to mention senior citizens, sick children and "the poor" in the same sentence. Minor oversight.

“It begun -- it helped begin to turn the economy around.”

• Really? Which economy is she referring to? The U.S. economy has experienced nothing but misery since January 2009. We lost our AAA credit rating. We are bankrupt with unprecedented national debt and deficit spending. Real unemployment is somewhere north of 16%. Gold is at an all-time high. Obamacare and endless regulations stifle the economy. We have a moratorium on virtually all domestic drilling for oil.

“50% of it was tax breaks to small businesses and to the middle class.”

• She must be referring to the payroll tax holiday because no other “breaks” have been extended to small business. No incentives to hire. No incentives to make capital investments. If you are not General Electric or a “green energy company” on the brink of bankruptcy even after receiving federal funds, the Obama administration will have nothing to do with you.

“So every economist you would talk to that is worth their salt acknowledges that without the Recovery Act we would not be continuing on the upswing. We would still be either stuck or spiraling downward.”

• Where do I start? “Economist worth their salt” = “Economists who believes in the Keynsian, redistribution of wealth, command-and-control, Washington-driven policies. Anyone who disagrees with these loony progressives, is labeled as "fringe fill-in-your-own-blank-here". This is the same argument they make about man made global warming skeptics.

• The economy “continuing on the upswing”, “we would still be either stuck or spiraling downward.” Based on these two snippets, Wasserman proves that she thinks a long-time unemployed worker or someone who is working two or three jobs just to make ends meet is too stupid to recognize that the economy sucks. There is not a single economic statistic that indicates an "upswing" yet she throws this language out like it is The Gospel.

“So the Republicans can't make up their own facts. The bottom line is the Recovery Act had an impact."

• It sure did! It sent the American economy into a death spiral.
  

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/09/06/wasserman_schultz_republicans_who_think_the_recovery_act_didnt_work_are_wrong.html

Willful Negligence

Willful Negligence – the intentional performance of an unreasonable act in disregard of a known risk, making it highly probable that harm will be caused. It usually involves a conscious indifference to the consequences.

Have you ever read a more succinct definition of what President Obama, the Democrats in Congress and the progressive movement are doing to this country?

Obamacare:

Instead of pushing for the removal of 2,000+ state mandates on health insurance carriers, allowing the states to help their own citizens via high risk pools, and allowing the sale of health insurance across state lines, we got a complete overhaul of 20% of the economy. Can anyone say, “fundamental transformation”?

Obama shut out Republicans from the healthcare bill’s drafting sessions despite his campaign promise to broadcast the sessions on C-SPAN.

Federalist Paper #62 - "It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood . . "

* "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it" Nancy Pelosi

* “I love these members that say read the bill. What good is reading the bill if it’s 1,000 pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” John Conyers

Never forget how Obamacare was passed through Congress. We had a plethora of bribes of Senators (some of whom paid for it via the loss of their seat in the 2010 election cycle). The bill was finally passed via the reconciliation process with not a peep from the lamestream media.

Regardless of what you might have been told by Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews or Alan Colmes, the purpose of Obamacare is to close down employer-provided health insurance and kill the private insurance industry thus leaving the America people with only one choice – THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Do a Google search on the recent McKinsey Quarterly survey results for further evidence. Just last week, Aetna announced that they are pulling out of at least one state.

Obamacare waivers: Did you know that over 1,000 waivers to Obamacare have been granted. Further, did you know that, at one point several months ago, 20% of the exemptions went to businesses in Nancy Pelosi’s district? Why do we need to offer waivers for the most important piece of legislation in a generation?

The bill mandates that every American MUST purchase health insurance or be penalized and fined by the IRS.

Remember Sarah Palin’s claim about death panels? Remember what the lamestream media and the Democrats did? They screamed bloody murder, denied it and demonized Palin. Guess what? There are such panels in the law!

The bill contains $500 billion in new taxes.

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Damaging Fiscal Policies:

Massive, unprecedented levels of national debt. Spending more than the level of revenue requiring us to print money, which will result in inflation, which will hurt every American family ESPECIALLY the poor!

An entire political party hell bent on continuing the pursuit of the unattainable Keynesian utopian regardless of its proven failure. It didn’t work in the 1930’s. It didn’t work in the 1970’s. And it is not working now.

Continued threats of higher taxes for millionaires and billionaires and jet owners. These are the people who actually create jobs. Big companies have been net losers in job growth for at least the last twenty years. Can someone please ask one of these looney progressives how raising taxes on “the rich” will create jobs and cure the economic woes?

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.

Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Monetary Mismanagement:

By keeping the Fed Funds Rate perpetually at zero, the banks have no incentive to lend money to you and me and business owners. They get free money from the Fed and earn 2% - 3% on treasury bonds.

QE1 and QE2 did not work. Now it looks like QE3 is on the way.

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Anti-Free Market / Anti-Capitalism:

This regime is determined to undermine the small business sector. Constant drumbeat of class warfare and demonization of entire categories of the successful: “people who make over $250,000 a year”, “Big Pharmaceutical”, “Big Oil”, “jet owners”, “Wal-Mart”, “Tea Party”, “millionaires”, “billionaires”,

Moving toward socialism via continued anti-capitalistic policies. “Spread the wealth around”.

Uncertainty over the future impact of Obamacare. More on this below under “Lip Service on Job Growth”.

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.

Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Anti-Domestic Energy Policy:

Lack of domestic sources of energy. Drilling moratorium, EPA restrictions on anything related to the oil and coal extraction business. Obama is willing to collapse the economies of West Virginia and Pennsyvania.

Sending $2 billion to Petrobras and telling the Brazilian company that the “United States will be your biggest customer”. Some experts say we have more oil in the ground in the U.S. than Saudi Arabia. Wouldn’t it make sense to go looking for it?

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTxGHn4sH4

Progressive have stifled the building of nuclear power plants in the United States for 40 years while France gets 80% of their electricity nuclear power. France!

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Entitlements:

Bread and circuses – The Democrat Party is the master of the bread-and-circus form of governing, which became famous during the Roman Empire. They do it through massive unfunded entitlements that continue to grow year after year. As the dollars grow so too does the number of people dependent on those dollars.

President Bush tried to reform Social Security. Who stood in the way and demonized the proposed solution?

Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap for America's Future” was designed to rescue and strengthen Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Do you remember how the Democrats handled that proposal?

Many states are considered bankrupt if you consider the unfunded liabilities of the state worker’s pension plans.

Almost 50% of the American people pay ZERO federal income tax. The Democrat Party deliberately and purposely increases these numbers year after year through their policies and the pork attached to bills. This is done in an effort to widen their pool of voters. Their end game is to create a large class of people dependent on the government for life’s most basic necessities (food stamps at record highs, 99 weeks of unemployment compensation, school lunch programs, SCHIP, and an endless number of welfare programs). In so doing, that dependent class will vote for the candidates that promise more of the same which, of course is the Democrat Party. At the same time, it allows the Dems to run around demonizing the few sane and responsible Republicans and Independents that attempt to fix the problem – “they are going to take away your Social Security, slash your Medicare benefits, throw children with epilepsy out on the street!” They run advertisements on TV showing grandma in a wheelchair being pushed off a cliff by a Republican. At the same time, they pass a healthcare bill that will ration care to the elderly (see Canada and Britain).

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Erosion of States' Rights:

Big government / nanny state – the states are now beholden to the federal government for funding on a scale never before seen. State residents pay taxes, the money goes to Washington and Washington doles it out as it sees fit.

Our Founding Fathers never envisioned anything like the current situation. The states were to be laboratories. The 10th Amendment is very clear . . . enumerated powers.

Nothing exemplifies the complete disdain for states rights better than Obamacare.

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Wanton Disregard for the Economy and Disrespect of the American People:

The Democratic controlled Senate has failed to produce a budget in almost three years something they are legally bound to do.

Passage of Obamacare despite poll after poll showing the American people did not favor passage (see discussion above).

The debt ceiling debacle whereby Obama put no plan on the table, removed himself from the negotiations until the last week only to “move the goal posts” and threaten vetoes of every Republican plan. Did you know that S&P said that the Cut, Cap and Balance bill would have saved the U.S. for the downgrade? If Obama really had the nation’s best interest at heart, wouldn’t you think that he would at least consider it? The Democrat Senate killed the bill after it passed The House.

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Hypocrisy and Double Standard:

Vacations – Every time Bush went to Crawford, TX (his own ranch, his own property rather than bunking up with some rich donor or booking an entire 5-Star Hotel in Spain or 30,000 square foot house in Martha’s Vineyard), he was lambasted by the press and Democrats in Congress. “How can he go on vacation while our boys are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan?” Well, how can Obama go on vacation, spend taxpayer money while we have boys dying in Iraq, Afghanistan and fighting in Libya, with unemployment at 9.2%, and the country’s debt rating being downgraded?

At last count, Obama has played over 70 rounds of golf during his two and a half years in office. I have nothing against the game nor do I really care how much of it Obama partakes in, however, Bush essentially gave up golf during most of his presidency because of the criticism he received from The Left. That same contingent is silent now as Obama hits the links virtually every weekend.

War in Iraq versus Libya. Bush won approval of the United Nations. Obama unilaterally went into Libya.

Enhanced interrogation techniques was an impeachable offense during the Bush Administration. Not a peep since January, 2009.

Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) had to be closed down during the Bush Administration. Obama promised to close it down. It’s still open for business and The Left is silent.

Patriot Act – Another impeachable offense during the Bush Administration. Again, not a peep since January, 2009!

The Democrat Party talked down the economy for eight years, telling the American people we were in a recession while the economy thrived. Now that we are about to enter a Double Dip Recession, all they can do is blame the Tea Party, Bush, S&P, rich people, Republicans in The House of Representatives, etc.

The debt ceiling debate – Do I really need to bring this up? Do a Google search on “2006 debt ceiling debate” and read what some of the most esteemed Democrats had to say and compare it to this year’s rhetoric.

During the Bush years, it was patriotic to stand up to the President. Stick to your guns and represent the people of your district. Do you remember Hilary Clintons shrilling speech, “I'm sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic. We need to stand up and say we're Americans, and we have the right to debate and disagree with any administration.” Fast forward to today and listen to the Democrats and the lamestream media chastise Republicans and The Tea Party for not just giving the President what he wants.

Crony Capitalism:

If you want to know where a President’s heart lies, look no further than the Visitor Log at the White House. Look at the most frequent visitors. In the case of Obama you will notice labor union leaders! If you know The Left, you are not surprised by this, however, with the economy in the tank and small businesses floundering, it would behoove Obama to spend less time talking about Card Check and more with the NFIB President.

Whenever the President discusses how effective his non-Stimulus programs have been, you will usually see GE’s CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, cozying up to Obama. Immelt’s nose is so far up Obama’s ass that the company surprisingly paid no federal income taxes last year. Good accounting or preferential treatment?

Let’s not forget Obama’s takeover of GM and the government’s “investment” in the nation’s banks to “quell the panic in the market”. There’s nothing like having the federal government owning private businesses to accelerate the march toward socialism.

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Death by a Million Regulations:

Can you name for me one area of your life in which the federal government does NOT have a hand in?

Consider the unprecedented level of regulations that serve to slow down innovation and growth, while serving as hidden taxes to all consumers - environmental regulations, light bulb restrictions, CAFÉ standards, healthcare regulations, the home buying process, your children’s education, college loans, your tax return, etc.

Untold numbers of Executive Orders have been handed down resulting in thousands of new regulations that have not been approved by Congress.

Companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, and Apple could not be started in America today due to the overregulation and hyper-litigious nature of our country. Hell, I have seen half a dozen stories this summer about the shutting down of kids’ lemonade stands due to lack of permits alone (and that’s at the local level!).

Dodd-Frank

Obamacare offers complex series of new paperwork for business owners.

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Lip Service on Job Growth:

Massive, sustained levels of unemployment.

Promised if we passed the non-Stimulus bill that unemployment would not exceed 8%.

The President makes jokes about “shovel ready” jobs.

There are no plans put forth by Obama or the Democrats to grow jobs. Their most often cited solution is to extend unemployment benefits (already maxed out at 99 weeks). To quote Dr. Pelosi, unemployment insurance, “is one of the biggest stimulus’s to our economy. Economists will tell you . . . it creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative that you can name.” Because those who receive the money, spend it! Forget about the fact that the money came out of the pocket of someone else that could have spent the money or hired someone.

Nothing exemplifies Obama’s job growth stance more than the National Labor Relations Board’s interference with Boeing’s plant movement from Washington to South Carolina.

Obamacare alone has stifled hiring. Look at any small business survey for validation of this. Look even deeper into the implications of Obamacare and you will find a penalty for companies with 50 or more workers that do not provide employees with mandated level of health coverage. How do you think that impacts employers with 30-40 employees when they consider expanding their workforce?

According to the Obama Administration, food stamps create jobs.

Unreasonable acts in disregard of a known risk.
Highly probable that harm will be caused.
Conscious indifference to the consequences.

The Deriliction of Duty by the Lamestream Media:

FACT: The mainstream media is dominated by liberals and progressives. They have proved over and over again that their goal is not to report the news but to advocate for their political positions. Try watching CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS or listening to NPR or reading the New York Times, LA Times or the Washington Post with an open mind and tell me I am wrong. The best evidence of the coming demise of those institutions is their paltry network ratings, stagnant listenerhip and dwindling circulation rates.

Reporting the news has become secondary to eight years of cheerleading for Clinton followed by eight years of unmerciful Bush-bashing followed by a nonexistent level of curiosity to vet or critique Obama (or John Kerry or Al Gore for that matter). Instead they prefer to make up stories about Bush’s National Guard service, send dozens of reporters to Alaska to crush Sarah Palin and promise to “Kill Romney” in the upcoming election.

The list of issues with Obama’s background were immense but they were virtually ignored by the lamestream media – Jeremiah Wright, community organizing, Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers, birth certificate, his two “autobiographies”, his parents, his childhood, his law school professor days, etc.

Highly probable that harm will be caused.

Conscious indifference to the consequences.

Tort Reform:

Second only to our debt problem, this problem depicts our lack of seriousness to resolve issues. The Democrat Party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the litigation attorneys who donate excessive amounts of money to that Party in return for squashing any and every attempt to wreal them in.

Conscious indifference to the consequences.

The Moral of the Story:

The next time you read a news article or hear pundits spouting talking points, take the time to do your own research. We are incredibly blessed to have the Internet at our fingertips. In the past, politicians could get away with murder due to the ignorance of the populace. Today, the only way they get away with it is due to apathy on the part of the populace.

How to Cure an Arrogant, Bloated, Gluttonous Behemoth

I just read David Weidner’s column on MarketWatch, How Apple Would Solve the Debt Crisis. It certainly has a cute title. And Mr. Weidner offers nice references to Apple, Whole Foods and Google and their use of debt or federal grants to finance their start-up phases as he makes the argument that all this talk about “cutting spending” is ridiculous.

Below is my brief response to the Weidners of the world who believe giving the federal government an additional $2 trillion is a no-brainer.

#1 – Question: Does the United States of America have a revenue problem or a spending problem? If your answer is "spending", then the argument ends here; we need to cut. If you answered "revenue", I want to suggest that you perform a little research using readily available census and IRS data. Start in 1940, look at population growth versus federal revenue growth and explain why there is such a dichotomy.

Notice that I did not give you a third option - the so called "balanced approach". This problem is so lopsided that, if you subscribe to Obama's focus group tested balanced approach claptrap, you are probably too far gone for me to persuade otherwise.

#2 - The federal government does NOT produce a damn thing. Every dollar taken from the pockets of the citizens is a dollar that could have been put to a far more productive use. Whether you are using that dollar to buy lunch, a tank of gas or flying your private jet, it is far more productive to the overall economy than any dollar sent to and spent by Washington.

Besides the few enumerated powers given to the federal government by the Constitution, everything can be accomplished more efficiently and effectively by the private sector. Given that, sending more dollars to Washington is beyond ill-advised.

#3 – What evidence can you produce that justifies giving Washington more money than it already has? Answer: there is none! Washington politicians have abused their spending authority for decades while we, the people, sit back in an apathetic coma allowing them to drive us off a bankruptcy cliff.

Where does the economy stand today after all of the non-Stimulus money spent by both Bush and Obama? How long did it take to end The Great Depression with all of FDR’s spending? What happened during the Carter years? What has become of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?

Answers: It still sucks! A really, really long time. Malaise. They are bankrupt! So much for any evidence that Washington can be trusted with our money.

#4 – When you rent a house or a car, do you take care of it as if it was your own? Of course not! When someone gives you a gift certificate to your favorite store, do you spend the money as prudently as you would if you were spending your own money? Of course not! That’s human nature.

Since government is comprised of humans, it is no different. Like any disinterested, third-party, government is playing with other people’s money and has proven to be a poor steward at best and criminal at worst. Can you think of one example that contradicts this? I implore you to provide me with just one example where the federal government spends our money prudently and is not brimming with waste.

Back to Mr. Weidner – to solve the debt problem, he gives us only two alternatives saying, “We could take a balanced approach of reining in spending and increasing revenue (cutting costs, raising taxes), or we could simply cut, slashing incomes (Medicare, Social Security, the military).”

Don’t you just love liberals? They are so predictable and intellectually lazy. Notice the incendiary language – “SLASH” Medicare! Social Security! Military! Who in the hell is suggesting that we SLASH these entitlement programs? They need to be reformed but I have not heard anyone argue for a SLASH. For crying out loud, the cuts in the debt ceiling bill are over a decade! They are a mere pittance!

I have a better idea Mr. Weidner, how about we SLASH spending at the Department of Education, or at the Department of the Interior, or at the Department of Homeland Security, or at the Department of Health and Human Services, or at the Department of Labor, or at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or at the Department of Energy, or at the Commerce Department, or at the Department of Transportation? What about Amtrak, the USPS, the Food and Drug Administration, the Labor Relations Administration, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Bureau of Land Management, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration? I don't imagine there is any waste in any of those agencies!

If you are the least bit interested in how bloated the federal government is? Go to http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml and see for yourself.

Finally, consider Mr. Weidner’s statement that, “It takes a lot of guts to raise revenues.” Did you also know that the sky is green? Raising taxes takes no more guts than opening your eyes in the morning. Try to cut spending Mr. Weidner and see what happens. You get demonized by The Left, called a “terrorist” by the Vice President and the majority leader, relentlessly ridiculed by the lamestream media and you face a deafening, bury-your-head-in-the-sand apathy by a large part of the population.

Try cutting a bloated, gluttonous behemoth like the federal government and see what kind of guts is required Mr. Weidner!

Unlike Weidner, I only see one way to fix this problem – CUT SPENDING. I don’t care if it is an across-the-board cut, implementing something like The Penny Plan, sticking to a percent of GDP or reverting back to a previous year’s level of spending. Spending must be cut. The federal government’s power must be limited. States’ rights must be resurrected. The Constitution must be followed.

It’s time for stomach tuck surgery on the federal budget!

Footnote: If you don't want to do your own research on the population/revenue question go here: http://apathyreins.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html

We Do NOT Have a Revenue Problem!

We do NOT have a revenue problem. I repeat, we do NOT have a revenue problem! We have a SPENDING problem.

The debt ceiling debate is a joke! The so called "impasse" is laughable! The level of denial and demagoguery from the Democrat Party is breathtaking!

• In 1940, the debt ceiling was $43 billion. It has been raised 99 times and now stands at $14 trillion. A 32,000% increase!

The federal budget has grown precipitously over the last 70 years under both Republican and Democrat presidents. Anyone who makes the argument that we need to raise taxes because we have a revenue problem is living in an alternative universe and should not be taken seriously. It just proves that they either do not want to think about this problem in a mature, wholistic manner or they just want to spew the Democrat talking points.

• Since 1940, population has increased 232% (132 million versus 308 million). Federal receipts over that same period of time has increased . . . . 35,000% (from $6 billion to $2.1 trillion).

• We tax at 18% of GDP and spend at 23%.

• In 1916, the entire national debt was equal to the net worth of the country’s wealthiest man, John D. Rockefeller. Today, if you combined the net worth of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, it would pay less than three month’s interest on the nation’s debt.
  
• The U.S. total debt is approximately $64 trillion*. The entire GDP of the world for one year is approximately $61 trillion.

TELL ME WE DON’T HAVE A SPENDING PROBLEM. I DARE YOU!!!!

We all know that both political parties use federal spending to buy votes. The Democrats are more brazen about it but the Republicans are just as guilty. There is no way to rein in these irresponsible, kick-the-can-down-the-road, spineless weasels in Washington without systematic, structural change. I believe that means a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. Anyone who argues against it simply does not care about the future economic viability of the United States and ignores the fact that our elected officials in Washington CANNOT be trusted. Our Founding Fathers were very clear – DO NOT TRUST A CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT. I take their warning to heart.

I know there are pros and cons about the BB Amendment so let’s have the debate and inform the American people. Pass the amendment in Washington and send it to the state legislatures for a vote.

If you don’t like that idea, then I propose an across-the-board cut of all government agencies taking their budgets back to levels of 2000 plus inflation. That would wipe out the spending of the Bush years and Obama’s first and, God willing, only term in office.

Footnotes:

*Approximate national debt - $13 trillion plus state and local debt $2.5 trillion plus unfunded state pensions $3 trillion plus Social Security and Medicare’s obligations over the next 75 years $45.7 trillion.

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_the_United_States

How to Fix America

I have a very simple solution to fix America. It's a challenge to all voters! It's a choice that every voter must make! Once you make the choice, you must demand that your public servants promote your choice or replace them with someone who will. IT'S THAT SIMPLE.

You either take the conservative position and admit that we are broke, government spending is out of control (under BOTH political parties) and needs to be cut dramatically

OR

You take the liberal/progressive position that we need more government; that we have a revenue problem not a spending problem, therefore raising taxes and attacking the rich is the answer.

One way might save the country the other will definitely destroy it.

That's it! Pick a side! Take a stand! Make some calls and send some emails to your representatives! Talk to your neighbors, family members and co-workers! Vote accordingly!

Side Notes:

• We have historical norms of spending as a percent of GDP that Obama is planning to exceed. We have historical norms of tax revenue collected by the Treasury as a percent of GDP that Obama is trying to exceed although it has been demonstrated to be impossible. How do you reconcile that?
• We have a President who believes that America “would not be a great country” without all our entitlement programs? How do you reconcile that? http://ow.ly/4Av95
  
• We have two political parties that have been doling out favors using taxpayers' money for decades. Both are addicted to it and unlikely to change. See Death of the Two-Party System.
• We have a President who has increased our deficits by astronomical amounts accusing Republicans' vain attempt to cutting the spending of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country. Any sane person knows that the spending will cause us to become a Third World country yet our "leader" (term used loosely) believes in driving us right off a cliff.

You have a choice - the real world where adults solve problems and make hard choices or the Obama-induced alternative universe where more and more government spending, regulations and entanglements in the lives of the average Joe equate to utopia.