Thursday, January 29, 2009
A 40-Year Wish List
You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill
In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. [ many examples, snip]
Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus. And even many of these projects aren't likely to help the economy immediately. As Peter Orszag, the President's new budget director, told Congress a year ago,"even those [public works] that are 'on the shelf' generally cannot be undertaken quickly enough to provide timely stimulus to the economy."
Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that"No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools."
Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers. [snip]
The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future. Democrats insist that it will not. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- to believe that Congress will cut spending next year on any of these programs from their new, higher levels. The likelihood is that this allegedly emergency spending will become a permanent addition to federal outlays -- increasing pressure for tax increases in the bargain.
This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it,"We won the election. We wrote the bill."
So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the 'credit'.
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Buying time to build bombs
Obama's plan to negotiate with Iran will give Tehran the time it needs to complete their nuclear weapon program
Barack Obama's arrival in the White House substantially reduces the likelihood of Israel using military force to thwart Iran's nuclear program and accelerates the possibility that within a year the regime of ayatollahs will possess atomic bombs, according to the assessment of experts in Israel and the United States.
Obama may have referred in his inauguration speech to the challenge of "the nuclear threat," but before that he had already made clear his plan of pursuing a sharp turnaround from George Bush's policy on all matters related to Iran.
The policy Obama is formulating is one of engagement and negotiation. He hopes the Iranians will be tempted to respond to the generous proposals he intends to offer them, diplomatic relations, lifting sanctions, improved commercial ties, and in return a halt or at least suspend uranium enrichment.
Iran, the experts believe, will ostensibly respond favorably to the American courtship and will even reciprocate with some gestures of its own, but in practice, Iran will accelerate its nuclear program and there are already signs of this...
[unfortunately, Recommended > ]
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Ahmadinejad Demands Apology for U.S. 'Crimes'
President Obama on Tuesday, in an interview with Arabic television, called for more dialogue with Iran to express difference and see "where there are potential avenues for progress."
Without mentioning President Barack Obama by name, Ahmadinejad Wednesday repeatedly referred to those who want to bring "change," and indicated that Iran would be looking to see if there would be substantive differences in U.S. policy.
Ahmadinejad also demanded the U.S. apologize for 'crimes' committed against Iran...
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Iran's Vice President Sets Two Preconditions for Talks with US
TEHRAN (FNA)- Vice President for Media Affairs Mehdi Kalhor said on Saturday that Iran has set two preconditions for holding talks with the United States of America.
In an exclusive interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, he said as long as U.S. forces have not left the Middle East region and continues its support for the Zionist regime, talks between Iran and U.S. is off the agenda.
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Obama and "World Opinion"
The big news last week was Barack Obama's executive order declaring that the terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo Bay will be closed in one year—maybe. But the interesting thing about this measure is that it is largely symbolic, not substantive.
Obama is unlikely to simply release men like, for example, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the main planner of the September 11 attacks. So instead, as a Wall Street Journal article makes clear, he is going to have to reconstitute some close equivalent of the current military tribunals and the current system of indefinite detention of al-Qaeda combatants.
Thus, this is likely to be a change in symbols rather than substance. But the symbolism is itself ominous. As Jennifer Rubin notes:"So in the end we'd have essentially the same legal system, extremely dangerous prisoners on US soil, and the same complaints from the civil liberties lobby. This is a peculiar type of change indeed, one attuned to the elusive and subjective feelings of "world opinion."
That hits the nail on the head. The real significance of the executive order on Guantanamo is that it is a symbol of Barack Obama's desire to tailor US national security to the demands of "world opinion."
Ask the Israelis how well that policy has been working out for them lately.
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US navy seeks arms bound for Hamas
meanwhile...
Tel Aviv - An American naval taskforce in the Gulf of Aden has been ordered to hunt for suspicious Iranian arms ships heading for the Red Sea as Tehran seeks to re-equip Hamas, its Islamist ally in Gaza.
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NPR Baghdad Chief: Not a Single Iraqi Grateful For Their Alleged 'Freedom'
On Inauguration Day, National Public Radio wanted to know how the Iraqi people would greet the American transition of power. On the afternoon talk show Talk of the Nation, host Neal Conan talked to NPR Baghdad Bureau Chief Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, and her street interviews led her to the idea that Iraq was unanimous:
Not a single Iraqi is grateful for the removal of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship...
[your tax dollars at work]
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Raft of Deals Before Castro's Visit
Russia and Cuba signed a raft of agreements Friday, including some on oil, nickel and car servicing, in preparation for a visit by Cuban President Raul Castro on Jan. 30. Closer ties with Cuba are a springboard for advancing Russian interests in that [that would be 'our'] part of the world, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said after the agreement-signing ceremony. "
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Venezuela opposition attacked after Chavez speech
CARACAS - Assailants attacked Venezuela's opposition with tear gas on Monday after President Hugo Chavez told police to use gas at anti-government public disturbances ahead of a referendum on allowing the leftist re-election. Venezuelans will vote on Feb. 15 on a proposed change to the constitution allowing Chavez and other politicians to stay in office as long as they keep winning elections.
[which is easier to do with tear gas]
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Turner Admits He Ignored Slaughter by Khmer Rouge Communists
MSM
Tuesday’s The O’Reilly Factor on FNC showed a pre-recorded interview with CNN founder Ted Turner, in which O’Reilly got Turner to admit that he and Jane Fonda, who both opposed America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, had ignored the slaughter of millions by the Khmer Rouge communists in Southeast Asia after America’s withdrawal from the region. Turner:"You got me. I didn’t really think about it. You know, it didn’t make the news very much at the time."
[why not?]
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Five Short Economics Lessons
Barack Obama and the Democratic Party seem to have fallen in love with the idea of "make work" jobs. In other words, they're going to take money from taxpayers and then use it to "create green jobs," work projects, and other marginally useful government programs. Then, to add insult to injury, these very same politicians who've taken the money out of working people's pockets will pat themselves on their backs for being compassionate enough to put people to work.
What shouldn't be missed is the other side of the equation: much of the money paid in taxes to the government would otherwise be spent, thereby creating jobs. Furthermore, since the government is less efficient than private industry and because in most cases, people are better able to fill their own needs with their own money than the government can, the "make work" job process is inherently inefficient.
For the United States to remain an economic super power, we need to have competitive businesses that employ productive workers. The American people have proven up to the task for over 200 years and will remain so as long as the government doesn't get in our way. That's why one of the worst things the government can do, particularly in a recession, is to try to create "jobs programs."
[Highly Recommended > ]
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Do Bailouts Prove Reagan's Point Re: Government's Economic View?
Ronald Reagan once said:Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Is there no finer example of this concept than our government's hundred year relationship with the American auto industry?
Before you answer, consider the following Wall Street Journal editorial published Wednesday (h/t Tapscott's Behind the Wheel via Instapundit):
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OUR SPENDTHRIFT STATES DON'T NEED A BAILOUT
Our governors and state legislators need to learn to use fat years to prepare for lean ones.
This time last year, many governors and state legislators were imploring Congress to let them spend more money; now, they are imploring Washington to bail them out. But this is not the first time states have been caught in this trap. Why? Because many fail to address their deep, structural budget problems during the good times, and fail to deal with huge and growing employee pension and benefits liabilities:
- The average public sector worker earns 46 percent more in total compensation than a private sector worker, largely because government employers.
- States have collectively racked up $731 billion in unfunded liabilities for pensions and other retirement benefits but have only put aside $11 billion.
- California state and local governments are paying some $12.8 billion a year to finance public employee pensions, up from $4.8 billion in 1999.
[*as usual, any talk of lower taxes (or, in California, not raising them as much as the Democrats want) results not in consideration of trimming back pension contributions but in threats of cutting essential services. And we keep sending them back...]
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Bush Should Be Ashamed by What He Did to Us
On Sunday's Meet the Press the Washington Post's Michelle Singletary charged Bush “should be ashamed of what he's left us.” The Post-based nationally-syndicated “Color of Money” personal finance columnist contended that as a “regular mom and churchgoer” she's “just so disheartened by what Bush did to us” economically by “fighting a war that we couldn't win.” She got the last word, an overly dramatic one at that, during the panel's assessment of Bush's legacy:His economic legacy is selfishness. You know, you look at what they wanted to do to Social Security. Imagine if our money was in the markets right now, which is one of the things that he wanted to do. I think this, this administration failed on so many levels when it came to the economy, including not regulating the banks and letting things happen that shouldn't have happened with the mortgage industry. And, you know, he should be ashamed of what he, what he's left us.
Singletary, who is also a contributor to NPR, appeared with Todd Purdum of Vanity Fair, Newsweek's Richard Wolffe and Rich Lowry of National Review.
[evidently the change in administration won't end BDS - her 'argument' in nonsensical]
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Obama top star pupil in James Hansen’s School of Climate Change
Obama, knowingly and unknowingly, has raised the bar of expectation very high. In the area of climate change he has done it with almost messianic fervor. How else can you interpret the objective to stop climate change? He is not alone in this arrogant objective, but all it means is he is not alone in the fact that it displays a complete lack of understanding of climate and the natural extent of climate change. In his case, he provided evidence when he announced plans to list CO2 as a toxic substance and a pollutant... [snip]
The answer is James Hansen, the same person who has influenced Gore since 1988 when he appeared before Gore’s Senate Committee. Stephen Schneider introduced him at a Stanford University presentation recently as “an iconic leader”. Schneider made the following statement reported in Discover magazine (October 1989).“Scientists need to get some broader base support, to capture the public’s imagination… that, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements, and make little mention of doubts we may have… Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.”
No wonder Schneider defines him as iconic because nobody has practiced what Schneider preached more than Hansen. From the time of his appearance before Gore’s committee to the speech at Stanford, Hansen continued his tactics. Fear, threats of impending doom, running out of time, are all used and backed by misinformation, unjustified speculation, and inaccurate information. [snip]"... a disease called Hansenism which has gripped western media sources and political, business and public opinion in a deadly grasp. Hansenist climate hysteria is driven by relentless, ideological, pseudo-scientific drivel, most of which issues from green political activists and their supporters, and is then promulgated by compliant media commentators who are innocent of knowledge of true scientific method."
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Labour peer set to make a fortune out of eco-bulbs
A former Labour Cabinet Minister is expecting to make a fortune from the Government’s controversial decision to phase out traditional light bulbs and replace them with a low-energy version.
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Light bulbs spark safety fears
–The safety of energy-saving light bulbs is under review over concerns the low-cost green alternative may emit potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation.
Health Canada launched the study in December to test compact fluorescent bulbs to see if they emit ultraviolet radiation.
Two months earlier, British health officials issued a public warning that, in close proximity, the bulbs emit UV rays similar to outdoor exposure levels on a sunny summer day.
Britain's Health Protection Agency now recommends people should not be closer than 30 centimetres [say, a reading lamp] from an energy-saving light bulb for more than one hour per day [say, reading a book], saying it is like exposing bare skin to direct sunlight...
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Huffington: 'I Would Not Have Posted' Article Asking Gore To Apologize
Did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine seeing an article at the liberal website the Huffington Post that not only refuted the anthropogenic global warming myth, but also asked Nobel Laureate Al Gore to apologize for the climate hysteria he's caused?
Apparently, neither could the website's founder, as Arianna Huffington has now gone on the record as saying,
"It was an error in judgment" publishing Harold Ambler's "Mr. Gore: Apology Accepted." "I would not have posted it."
So reported the environmental blog Grist Wednesday:
"...Although HuffPost welcomes a vigorous debate on many subjects, I am a firm believer that there are not two sides to every issue, and that on some issues the jury is no longer out. The climate crisis is one of these issues. "
Wow. So there AREN'T two sides to every issue. That sure is a fine concept to be held by a journalist, dontcha think?
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HAWAII'S KEIKO CRASH OFFERS LESSON FOR ALL
Hawaii just had a vivid lesson in health care economics, learning that if you offer people insurance for free -- surprise, surprise -- they'll quickly drop other coverage to enroll. As a result, Hawaii has ended the only state universal children's health care program in the country after just seven months.
The program, called the Keiki (Child) Care Plan, was designed to provide coverage to children whose parents can't afford private insurance but who make too much money to qualify for other public programs, such as Medicaid's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). However:
- State officials found families were dropping private coverage to enroll their children in the plan [hence the death of the private sector].
- In fact, 85 percent of the children in Keiki Care previously had been covered under a private, nonprofit plan that cost $55 a month.
- When Gov. Linda Lingle (R) saw the data, she pulled the plug on funding; she realized it was unwise to spend public money to replace private coverage that children already had.
- Yet, Lingle is facing a political firestorm from critics who say she's denying children health insurance -- even though children in Hawaiian families earning up to $73,000 a year are eligible for Medicaid.
The Hawaiian debacle should also be a caution to President Obama, who wants to mandate health insurance for all children at the national level.
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Obama 'Shifting Power From Traditional Cabinet Posts'; Will Media Complain About 'Too-Powerful Executive'?
Jonathan Martin at Politico.com reports that the Obama Administration is concentrating lots of power at the top (bolds are mine):
West Wing on steroids in Obama W.H.
President Barack Obama is taking far-reaching steps to centralize decision-making inside the White House, surrounding himself with influential counselors, overseas envoys and policy "czars" that shift power from traditional Cabinet posts.
Not even a week has passed since he was sworn in, but already Obama is moving to create perhaps the most powerful staff in modern history – a sort of West Wing on steroids that places no less than a half-dozen of his top initiatives into the hands of advisers outside the Cabinet.
Pulling power close is something all recent presidents have done – and on the campaign trail, Obama spoke out against George W. Bush’s attempt to expand his executive authority.
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Geithner names ex-lobbyist as Treasury chief of staff
.
This on the same day he announces a rule reducing lobbyists' role in agency decisions.
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Gay Portland Mayor Won't Resign Over Lying About Relationship With Teen
The mayor of Portland, Ore., told city commissioners Sunday he will not resign despite calls for him to do so after he admitted he lied and asked a teenager to lie about their sexual relationship. Mayor Sam Adams publicly apologized this past week for lying early in his campaign.
City Comissioner Randy Leonard told the Associated Press that Adams left him a phone message Sunday morning saying he had decided to remain ...
[why should he - no one else is held responsible for their actions no matter how high/public the office {Geithner, tax czar?}]
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California is almost out of ways to pay bills, fund programs, controller says
California
The controller says California is down to Plan D on its checklist of paying bills. Its cash reserves are piddling; the special funds it borrows from are tapped out, and no one in the private sector is going to lend it any cash at a reasonable interest rate.
That leaves what in state government circles are called "payment deferrals" and what in real life is called "stiffing your creditors."
In this case the creditors include income taxpayers expecting refunds, college students waiting on state aid, counties that operate public assistance programs, and companies that sell goods and services to state agencies.
Chiang has said he won't write $3.7 billion worth of checks for those and other state programs if legislators and the governor haven't reached a deal by next Sunday to close the budget gap.
The controller said he must conserve what little cash the state has to be able to make constitutionally required payments to schools and interest payments to state bondholders.
[anyone recall the many reminders here re: bonds being the worst way to pay for anything as they essentially double a thing's cost? Now add at any cost given their apparent primacy of place re: debtors]
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Sarah Palin forms a PAC
Like others presumed to have their eye on the party nod -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Arkansas ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee -- Palin has set up a PAC -- SarahPAC.
The creation of such a financial entity commits her to nothing. But such a political action committee will allow Palin to position herself to compete by legally collecting donations to travel and speak on her own behalf. (Iowa is a long snow machine ride from Wasilla, Alaska.)
It also will permit her to raise and distribute campaign donations to like-minded GOP supporters seeking office...
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