No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for the 'Politics – National' Category

January 21, 2010

How Stupid Does He Think We Are?

by @ 6:52. Filed under Politics - National.

Yesterday, President Obama was interviewed on ABC.  When asked about the Scott Brown victory, President Obama responded:

“Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,” the president said. “People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”

According to Barack Obama, he and Scott Brown are actually brothers involved in the same fight.  Both he and Scott Brown were elected because people are so mad at Buuuuuuuuuuuuush!

On Sunday with his only trip to Massachussetts to stump for Martha Coakley, President Obama called Scott Brown:

  • a protector of big banks
  • a protector of big insurance companies
  • a protector of big pharma
  • a protector of big health care

On Sunday, Obama nearly picked up Caesar Chavez’s meme to call Scott Brown “satan!”  On Wednesday, after being firmly rebuked by the Massachusetts, and as a proxy, my the American people, Obama claims they are part of the same struggle against “the man!”

Does he really think we’re that stupid?

His HE really that obstinate that he can not accept any level of criticism?

I think the answer to both questions, sadly, is yes!

January 20, 2010

The Brown-in of Massachusetts – the local GOP take

by @ 10:10. Filed under Politics - National, Politics - Wisconsin.

Editor’s note – Some of these are involved statements; others are quick social-media bites.

Republican Party of Wisconsin chair Reince Priebus (press release):

American voters have made themselves clear. Three months ago, voters in New Jersey and Virginia rejected the Democrats’ tax-and-spend agenda. Now, in the bluest of blue states, the people of Massachusetts sent a message to Democrats across the country: listen or you’ll be next.

From the failed stimulus, to the cap-and-trade national energy tax, to a government takeover of health care attempt shrouded with secrecy, the American people do not approve of the Democrats’ big-government policies that do nothing to create jobs. Voters are connecting with Republican candidates because of our principles of lower-taxes, smaller government, and fiscal responsibility.

Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts should serve as the latest reminder to Wisconsin Democrats that voters are watching. Instead of telling their constituents what is good for them and blindly following their Washington leadership, it’s time for Wisconsin Democrats like Russ Feingold, Steve Kagen, Ron Kind, and Dave Obey to start listening.

Gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann (campaign blog post):

The election in Massachusetts yesterday should serve as a stunning wake-up call that we the conservatives, the small government folks, are not going to take it anymore.

The politicians in Washington have focused on health care, bailouts, stimulus, tax increases, and all sorts of other plans to expand government. Meanwhile on main streets all across Wisconsin people are struggling to keep their jobs and to keep their businesses afloat in this poor economy.

We must elect people who will get government out of the way so jobs, real long term jobs can be created in the private sector. Government does not create private sector jobs. We do!!! For us business owners to be successful, government must get out of our way and not take what sometimes seems to be more than we make in taxes.

Career politicians do not seem to understand that the vast majority of the money that small business owners make in Wisconsin is immediately reinvested in our businesses. When they take it in the form of higher taxes and fees (as if we don’t get that fees are simply another tax) we cannot grow our businesses and create more jobs. And the career politicians who understand this basic concept have been completely ineffective in doing anything about it! When push comes to shove, career politicians seem to protect their job by growing government instead of protecting the jobs of thousands of Wisconsinites by shrinking government.

Yesterday should serve as a wake-up call to all the big-government politicians. The people in this great nation are not going to take it anymore!!! Start focusing on what you can do in government to get out of the way and to lower our taxes so we can grow our businesses and create jobs.

Gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker (Tweet):

Reason Scott Brown won was positive message about taking back government. We’ll do the same here.

Senate candidate Dave Westlake (Facebook post)

Congratulations Senator-elect Scott Brown! You’ve given the people of Mass. what they need: accountability…and the rest of us something to look foward to: common sense & Constitutionally-based government. We’re proud of you and wish you all the best in representing “The Peoples’ Seat.” Godspeed.

Senate candidate Terrence Wall (Tweet):

Congrats to Scott Brown and his staff on a beautifully run, issues-driven campaign. Their historic victory speaks for itself. Good night.

Shoebox tunes – The Battle of Beantown

by @ 9:41. Filed under Politics - National.

Shoebox is travelling, but he sent the following over to me to commemorate Scott Brown’s epic win in Massachusetts:

This is to be sung to “The Battle of New Orleans” (or if you’re more of a Johnny Cash fan than a Johnny Horton fan, use his version instead)!

In two oh ten just a year into his plan,
We’d had our fill of Barry and his socialism scam.
The hard right and the middles and some even from the left
Worked together to save Beantown from more democratic theft.

We said, “Hell no!”, and the Left they just kept a pushin’
They thought they were anointed, didn’t heed the public’s voice
Until Scott Brown, they thought we were a nuisance.
From now on it should be clear their plans are not the people’s choice!

We said no to health care ’cause it wouldn’t make the grade.
We didn’t want no stimulus, for sure no cap and trade.
The left said, “We don’t care, we know better just you see,”
But now with number forty one they’ll have to try “plan C”.

We said, “Hell no!”, and the Left they just kept a pushin’.
They thought they were anointed, didn’t heed the public’s voice
Until Scott Brown, they thought we were a nuisance.
From now on it should be clear their plans are not the people’s choice!

January 18, 2010

Monday Hot Read – The WSJ’s “The ‘Responsibility’ Tax”

by @ 7:42. Tags:
Filed under Business, Politics - National.

The folks on The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board fired for effect on the “Subsidize Government Companies” proposal from Barack Obama on Saturday (emphasis in the original):

Mr. Obama’s new “Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee”—please don’t call it a tax—is being sold as a way to cover expected losses in the Troubled Asset Relief Program. That sounds reasonable, except that the banks designated to pay the fee aren’t those responsible for the losses. With the exception of Citigroup, those banks have repaid their TARP money with interest.

The real TARP losers—General Motors, Chrysler and delinquent mortgage borrowers—are exempt from the new tax. Why the auto companies? An Administration official told the Journal that the banks caused the crisis that doomed the auto companies, which apparently were innocent bystanders to their own bankruptcy. The fact that the auto companies remain wards of Washington no doubt has nothing to do with their free tax pass.

Also exempt are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which operate outside of TARP but also surely did more than any other company to cause the housing boom and bust. The key to understanding their free tax pass is that on Christmas Eve Treasury lifted the $400 billion cap on their potential taxpayer losses expressly so they can rewrite more underwater mortgages at a loss.

In other words, the White House wants to tax more capital away from profit-making banks to offset the intentional losses that the politicians have ordered up at Fan and Fred. The bank tax revenue will flow directly into the Treasury to be spent on whatever immediate cause Congress favors. Come the next “systemic risk” bailout, taxpayers will still be on the hook. “Responsibility” is not the word that comes to mind here.

It also notes that the $50 billion in assets floor for this new tax is not exactly a “too big to fail” threshhold.

It’s About Time!

by @ 5:25. Filed under MMSD - The Crap People, Politics - National.

It’s about time someone had the balls to do this: (I wish I could embed the video)

And yes, my choice of words WAS intentional!

Revisions/extensions (6:50 am 1/18/2010, steveegg) – ABC News video now embedded…

January 15, 2010

Social Security crater – December 2009 preliminary edition

by @ 21:14. Filed under Social Security crater.

Earlier this month, I noted that the first set of December numbers for Social Security, the “investment” holdings, commonly called the “Trust Funds”, rose by a very-disappointing $24.153 billion in December. While the December Trust Fund Operations numbers are still not available from the Social Security Office of the Chief Actuary, the December Monthly Treasury Statement from the Department of the Treasury, which forms the basis of those numbers, is available. There is an interesting tidbit on the cover page – “Federal old-age and survivors insurance trust fund and Federal disability insurance trust fund benefit payments for January 3, 2010, were accelerated to December 31, 2009.”

That explanation of what I had hoped to be an anomaly is not entirely satisfying. First, I have to explain how I derived the numbers from the Trust Fund Operation time series – the “total income” and “total outgo” for a given month comes from the “income, outgo and assets” chart, while the “net interest” comes from the “income components” chart. The equivalent numbers on the Monthly Treasury Statement are, respectively, the “receipts” and “outlays” for each fund found in Table 8, and the “Interest Received by Trust Funds” for each fund found in the end of Table 5. While they are not 100% reconciled, the margin of difference is typically well under 1% (keep that statistic in mind).

Including the “accelerated” payments from Social Security, and also including the semi-annual crediting of “interest”, the “total income” was about $105.5 billion (of which about $58.5 billion was “interest”, in line with what was “credited” to the funds in December 2008), and the “total outlays” were about $87.7 billion, which should make the “net increase in assets” about $17.8 billion. Something is massively off, because that does not support the $24.2 billion increase in the “Trust Funds”. However, since I don’t have enough information to say what is off, all I can do until the Office of the Chief Actuary releases its numbers is note it and move on.

The total income estimate, which is 0.443% lower than it was in December 2008, is right in the ballpark of what is expected given the recent year-over-year history of the “Trust Funds”. In 2009, the 11-month average increase had been 0.271%, with the average year-over-year decrease over the prior 5 months being 0.446% and the average year-over-year decrease over the prior 3 months being 0.431%.

Accelerating a significant portion of the January 2010 payments to December 2009, which affects the total outgo of both months, makes apples-to-apples comparisons a bit “problematic”, with the December 2009 monthly change, the January 2010 monthly change, and the 12-month changes featuring only one of those months a challenge to estimate. However, calculating the recent average year-over-year change allows one to estimate what the outgo would have been without the acceleration. The average year-over-year increase in outgo was 9.648% in the first 11 months of 2009, increasing to an average year-over-year increase of 9.939% over the prior 5 months and an average year-over-year increase of 10.529% over the prior 3 months. Given that, my best estimate of the “December-only” version of total outgo is $58.1 billion.

Now it becomes possible to run a preliminary apples-to-apples comparison, with the caveat that at least one of these numbers may well be off. $105.5 billion in income (including “interest”) less $58.1 billion of “December-only” outgo and less $58.5 billion in “interest” leaves a primary “December-only” (or “unaccelerated”) monthly deficit of $11.1 billion, almost double the previous record of $5.9 billion last month. It also makes the “unaccelerated” Calendar Year 2009 primary surplus only about $3.5 billion.

Since I don’t have the usual numbers, I will not go further into analysis at this point. However, don’t be surprised if the panic button is pressed before April.

January 14, 2010

There’s no way out of TARP, part 243,129

by @ 12:51. Tags:
Filed under Business, Politics - National, Taxes.

I’ve done so many of these that I’ve lost count. Fox Business has the dirty details on a brand-new attax…er, attack…er, tax on the cream of the American financial sector:

President Obama will announce today a new “financial crisis responsibility fee” on the top 50 financial firms that is designed to recoup at least $90 billion in projected losses in the government’s bank bailout program, a senior Administration official said….

The official said the fee would be set at 0.15% and, if approved by Congress, would be assessed starting in June for at least a decade on firms with assets of more than $50 billion, including U.S. subsidiaries of foreign banks and large insurance companies with bank or thrift subsidiaries.

If you thought that the biggest vacuums of TARP, specifically the now-government-owned companies which will never repay the money, were going to be part of this, or that those institutions that managed to not get strong-armed into TARP will escape this, think again:

The fee would be paid not just by some firms that received investment capital from the government’s $700 billion Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP) and by many banks that have already repaid their TARP funds, but also by some firms that did not take TARP money. “All of them have benefitted both from the stabilization (measures), as well as the exceptional, extraordinary Federal Reserve actions,” the official said.

But the two auto companies that the government bailed out last year, General Motors and Chrysler, would not pay the fee, the official said, and neither would mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the government also took over in 2008. He said the fee “does not and cannot work for a more industrial company like an auto company” and that charging Fannie and Freddie would amount to moving taxpayer money “from one pocket to another.”

That’s right; this is another wealth transfer from responsible companies to the most-irresponsible, government-subsidized companies. But wait, there’s more. Do note the “at least a decade”. If the TARP losses are less than the $90 billion that it’s “likely” going to be, where’s the rest of that money going?

The Democrat Metaphor

by @ 5:20. Filed under Politics - National.

By now, you’ve all heard about the incident involving an “aide” of Democrat Senate candidate Martha Coakely, pushing a reporter. After having pushed the reporter to the ground,the “aide” thug offered to help the reporter back to his feet and then went into a blocking effort to keep the reporter away from Coakley.  If you haven’t heard/seen about it, go here and catch up.

As I read the various accounts of the incident and heard various talk shows discuss the incident, it dawned on me that this incident was a perfect metaphor for the Democrat’s approach to policy.

Think of all the ways that Democrats claim to help African Americans.  Hiring quotas, increasing welfare and the creation of “hate crimes” are just some of the ways that Democrats purport to aide African Americans.  However, in areas where African Americans could really benefit; school vouchers and welfare reform, the Democrats kick them to the curb.

Throughout the debate for placebocare, Democrats have been telling us how essential the legislation is and how American families would be unable to afford healthcare without this plan.  At the same time, their legislation kicks Seniors to the curb by reducing Medicare payments, kicks union members to the curb by taxing their cadillac plan and kicks the poor it purports to help to the curb by passing huge unfunded Medicaid increases to states that already have budget challenges.

The argument for a cap and trade tax is that we must reduce global warming.  If global warming is allowed to continue, increasing temperatures will cause food shortages, rising water levels will displace millions of people and more mega storms will occur which will have a devastating effect on people and property.  Of course, the Democrats seem to pass right by the fact that if cap and trade is implemented, energy costs will dramatically rise which will increase the cost of all food, all shelter, not to mention the cost of just getting to your job.  Once again, welcome to the curb America!

I could cite example after example where Democrats, under the guise of “I’m here to help,” offer us something with one hand while they punch us in the gut with the other.  This is exactly the behavior that Coakley’s aide exhibited and that Coakley herself didn’t even notice even though she was standing right next to the altercation.

I guess the moral to this story is that if you ever hear, “Hi, I’m a Democrat and I’m here to make your life better,” you should immediately protect yourself because the gut punch is on its way.

January 12, 2010

Trust Us!

by @ 5:20. Filed under Politics - National, Transportation.

That seems to be what the TSA is asking us to do as they look to deploy the full body scanners.

This article at Cnn.com outlines a battle between a civil rights group and the TSA over the capabilities and the implications of those capabilities, that the scanners have.  The civil rights group raises concerns about the storage and security of body images that are scanned.  The TSA claims that the scanners have no ability to store or transmit the images.  “Not so,” says the civil rights group who points to the design specs of the machines which required an ability to store and transmit an image.  “Relax,” says the TSA.  The store and transmit functionality is only there for testing of the machine.  The TSA further claims that no one at the airport can put the machine into “test mode” and that the machine itself has no storage capability.

You’re kidding right?  Why is it that bureaucrats continually think that the public is so naive and gullible?

First, technologies have advanced to the point where the scanning or processing device has no storage capacity on it.  Even so, is it really so difficult to have storage devices somewhere else on the network?  What?  they claim no network?  Well, that doesn’t pass the smell test.  The TSA tells us repeatedly that the people who review the scans are sitting somewhere completely removed from the scanners themselves.  Is the TSA suggesting that the images are being sent to these people via carrier pigeon? Or, do they want us to believe that the scanner and the viewing device are hardwired across the airport?  Are there cables running across the runways to some building on the other side of the airport?

Second, does anyone really believe that the scanned images are not being stored?  No images are being stored for training purposes?  No images are being stored to review in the event of a later identified security breach? The TSA is so confident about its legal position that it will save no images to combat the ACLU lawsuits?  Like hell.

Listen, I’m not saying not to do the body scanners.  Personally if I thought they would make us safer, I, like most men, don’t care.  Hell, I’ll walk through naked and not bat an eye although there may be a few TSA folks who would scream like someone just shot them in the retina with a laser!  On the other hand, most women I know react in abject horror to the notion of their under things (and I don’t mean clothing) being seen on a scanner. 

I’ve chronicled my own travails with the TSA.  You’ll have to take my word for it (unless you were at the Christmas DR where you could have personally verified it), I’m no threat to anyone.  But, under the guise of “doing something,” the TSA has made it significantly more inconvenient for me to fly.  I’ll guarantee you that if I got on board a plane, told everyone I was on the TSA list and asked if they felt safer as a result, not a person (assuming Mrs. Shoe wasn’t on the plane) would raise their hand to say, “Yes! 

The fact is that until the TSA is willing to start doing some level of profiling, be it identity or behavior, these scanners will not make us any safer than the scanners and processes being used today.  The only thing these scanners would do is allow the Obama administration to point to them and claim that they had done something in response to the Christmas bombing attempt. In short, this looks like yet one more “solution” brought to you by the people in housed in the Alfred E. Neuman federal building. Their only request is to trust them!

January 11, 2010

Socialism Is So Passe!

by @ 5:14. Filed under Economy, Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius were out touting a new study on the benefits of placebocare this weekend.  The study purports to show that industries with higher health care costs grow at a slower rate than those with lower health care costs. In an effort to somehow draw an “OMG” from the reader, the Center for American Progress cites:

Over the period 1987 to 2005, for example, the workforce in the amusement
and recreation industry—where about 29 percent of workers have insurance through
their jobs—grew by about 2.1 percent. In contrast, in the hotel industry—where 54 percent
of workers have employer-provided insurance—the workforce grew about 1 percent.
And in the paper industry—where about 85 percent of workers have insurance—the
workforce shrank by 1.9 percent.

While this is not the point of this post, I can’t pass by without saying “no shit Sherlock!”  The study claims to normalize the results for a whole host of factors but isn’t this one of those times where all the economic mumbo jumbo isn’t really necessary?  Isn’t this handled with a good ol’ fashioned smell test?

Is it really so hard to understand that between 1985 and 2005, the amount of discretionary income increased significantly thus increasing money spent for “entertainment” and “hospitality?”  Is it also so hard to figure out that those two industries are fairly labor intensive and that there doesn’t appear to be any immediate automation solutions for the ride operators at Disneyworld or housemaids at your favorite Motel 6.  On the other hand, automation in nearly every manufacturing process has been replacing the need for DNA based humans at a rate multiple times faster than evolution can generate a human who never tires or needs sustenance.  Is it really so hard to figure this stuff out?

Anyway, back to the point of the post.

Obama and Sebelius are touting that the Senate version of placebocare will dramatically slow the rise in costs for healthcare.  They further claim that while lowering costs, it will dramatically increase “benefits” for all us schlubs.  Their specific list of benefits are:

_People with illnesses or medical conditions will be able to buy affordable health insurance.

_Children with such conditions will no longer be denied coverage.

_Small-business owners who can’t afford to cover their employees will get tax credits to help them do so.

_Insurance companies will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers and will be prohibited from dropping coverage when someone becomes ill.

“In short, once I sign health insurance reform into law, doctors and patients will have more control over their health care decisions and insurance company bureaucrats will have less,” Obama said.

I’m not the PHD that the earlier study researchers are but I have a couple of questions:

  1. How are you going to slow the growth of “costs” when you will need to add 100s, 1,000s, probably 10,000s of new federal employees to manage the monstrosity that will be placebocare?
  2. How are you going to slow the gowth of “costs” when you will be providing below cost health care for:  People with illnesses or medical conditions who are not currently able to buy affordable health insurance and Children with such conditions who will no longer be denied coverage, Small-business owners who can’t afford to cover their employees tax and finally Insurance companies will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers and will be prohibited from dropping coverage when someone becomes ill?

Folks, while there has been plenty of happy talk about “hope and change” for reducing the cost structure of health care, I have not yet seen even one concrete example of where placebocare will enable that to happen.  I have seen numerous examples, as the ones I just listed, where placebocare will force insurance companies to take on dramatic increases in costs.  Somehow, the folks in Washington believe that they can force companies to accept new costs and prevent them from passing those costs on to their customers.

There has been considerable discussion about whether Barack Obama’s policies are leading us towards Socialism.  Big government, all controlling, massive public programs all sound like the economies we see in Europe.  In fact, I believe Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would like us to look like Europe.  However, we’re not headed towards Europe of the 21st century, they are past that.  we’re headed directly towards Europe, specifically, Italy of the first half of the 20th century.  If you take a look at what is happening to industry after industry under the Obama administration, you will find something that looks surprisingly like Mussolini’s approach in Italy.  Folks, with what has happened to banking, car production, healthcare and soon energy under the EPA’s threats, we have zoomed right past Socialism and are implementing on a full scale the economics of Fascism.

Damn, Obama Was Right!

by @ 5:13. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

Throughout the campaign and regularly since his inauguration, now President Obama, has been telling us how “Green Jobs” will lead the way to prosperity in our economy.  High pay, sustainability, friendly to the earth have all been arguments he’s made for the creation of “green jobs”.  It appears he got at least a part of his promise right.

On Friday (how come they always announce these things when they think people are paying the least attention?) the White house announced $2.3 billion in tax credits to create ‘green jobs.”   The plan is to create 17,000 green jobs.  If they’re successful, those jobs will be worth over $135K each!

The median family income is around $50K/year.  at $135K per job, the families that get this federal handout will earn better than 2X the average national income! 

While I certainly favor tax credits as a means of market stimulation over direct government purchases, I don’t like credits that apply to specific industries or jobs.  That folks, is thinking you know better than the market, where the money works best.  As a second thought, at this level, one that is certainly not sustainable and highly subsidized, what will happen to these jobs in the second year when the tax credits cease?  Who thinks these jobs are “sustainable” without lots of additional government help to sustain them?

I worked for a guy once who operated in a way that if he believed it to be true, it was.  It didn’t matter what laws of physics or economics his “beliefs’ violated.  He was not a well liked person and eventually failed as a result of his caustic, “nobody is as smart as me,” attitude.  The only difference between he and President Obama is that President Obama can cause money to be generated to create the illusion that he’s right.  In the end, he will be just as big a failure!

January 8, 2010

How the healthy banks were strongarmed into TARP

by @ 7:58. Tags:
Filed under Business, Politics - National.

(H/T – The Right Scoop via Ed Morrissey)

BB&T CEO John Allison spoke with Fox Business Channel’s John Stossel about how BB&T was forced to take TARP money despite being sufficiently capitalized…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCEdy_yHkQE[/youtube]

To wit:

– The Bush-era regulators “kindly informed” BB&T that the capitalization rules would be changed for banks who did not succumb to TARP to levels that even BB&T could not meet.
– Fed chair Ben Bernanke, Time’s “Person of the Year” for being instrumental in the federalization of the economy, didn’t want we the people to realize which banks were in trouble.

Revisions/extensions (8:32 am 1/8/2010) – Had the hat-tip links reversed. OOPS!

January 7, 2010

ChickenS*!?

by @ 5:17. Filed under Elections, Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

I hate to say “I told you so!” But, “I told you so!”

A week ago I told youabout the debate that Birdman and I were having about placebocare.  In a nutshell, Birdman believes that eventually, self preservation will rule and some portion of the Democrats will jump from the placebocare express.  My argument has been that this train was not going to stop.  Democrats who got in the way would be rolled over and those who voted for it and got nailed by their constituents, would have cushy administration jobs promised to them.

I told you so!

You’ve heard the news, Byron Dorgan of ND and Chris Dodds of CT have both announced they will not run next year.  The reasons for not running are obvious.

For Dorgan, he represents one of the most conservative states in the nation.  He has ignored polling that made Ben Nelson look wise in his placebocare vote and flipped his constituents the bird by voting for placebocare.  Numerous polls are out showing that if the current Republican Governor of ND ran, Dorgan would pine for the level of support that Walter Mondale received in his race against Ronald Reagan.

Dodd’s the same but different.  Placebocare isn’t his undoing, the financial debacle of last year was.  Turns out Chris was getting some special favors from the folks he was supposed to be policing.  Even the normally reliable Democrat voters of Connecticut couldn’t stand the level of corruption and hypocrisy that Dodd portrayed.  All recent polls showed Dodd losing to everyone and anyone in a Senate rebid.

There have been several Democrat Representatives that have announced their retirement.  However, none of those have the visibility of either of the two Senators who recently announced their retirement.  Rumors and most prognostication, say that we are no where near the end of the announced retirements.  I expect we may well hear similar announcements from Blanche Lincoln, Arlen Specter and (get ready, here’s my big bet) Harry Reid.

The latest generic Congressional ballot poll by Rasmussen shows the Republicans now leading by 9 points.  The most notable part of this astounding lead is that it is not so much that the Republicans are getting more support as it is that the Democrats are losing support on each and every front.

As they do every time they get power, the Democrats have over reached and tried to foist their vision of remaking the country not in the mold of Europe, but Eastern, Soviet Bloc, Europe, upon all of us.  Fortunately, they are being resisted on all sides and will surely lose their stranglehold on both Houses this year if not their leadership altogether.

While I’m obviously happy about what is happening to the Democrats I am disappointed by one thing.  The people who think Marxism is such a great thing that they are voting to have it implemented against the people’s will should have to stand for another election and get the final verdict of their constituents.  If they did, I have no doubt they would hear, loudly, clearly and in a snarky British accent:

“YOU are the weakest link.  Goodbye!”

January 6, 2010

Social Security crater – November 2009 edition

by @ 23:38. Filed under Social Security crater.

The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Chief Actuary finally got around to posting the detailed November numbers for Social Security, and things have only gotten worse:

  • The combined OASDI (Old-Age Survivors and Disability Insurance) “Trust” Funds posted a $5.858 billion primary (cash, non-“interest”) deficit for November, the worst monthly performance since monthly records began in 1987.
  • The 12-month OASDI primary surplus was only $9.598 billion, also the worst 12-month performance since monthly records began.

Since there won’t be an cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits, the combined funds may yet avoid a 12-month primary deficit in 2010 by the skin of its teeth. However, that is dependent on an improvement in the wage situation, and specifically an improvement in the job prospects of those between 62 and 67 years old. Somehow I don’t see the trend of older and higher-earning workers losing their jobs disproportionately reversing.

If you think that’s bad, the DI (Disability Insurance) portion is even worse. I had not taken a very close look at it before, but perhaps I should have because it has entered the last stage of a fund collapse – cannibalization of principal:

  • For the 50th straight month, going back to October 2005, the DI Fund ran a 12-month primary deficit, this time hitting a new high of $21.399 billion.
  • Outside of the “double tax-collection” months of January and April (when it recieves both the quarterly estimated income tax payments, also received in June and September and the quarterly tax on benefits, also received in July and October), the last time the DI Fund posted a monthly primary surplus was September 2007 (which itself is a “tax-collection” month, specifically of the quarterly estimated income tax payments). One would have to go back to March 2007 to find a month outside of a “tax-collection” month with a monthly primary surplus, and all the way back to May 2003 to find a month outside both the “tax-collection” and “tax-season” months (January through April) with a monthly primary surplus.
  • A similar monthly situation with the overall DI Fund exists – outside of the “double tax-collection” months and the semi-annual interest-crediting months (June and December), the last time it posted an overall monthly surplus was September 2007; and outside of tax or interest “enhancements”, the last overall monthly surplus was posted in July 2003.
  • All that has led to the DI Fund entering a 12-month overall (which includes the effects of “interest”) deficit beginning in February 2009, which means it is redeeming more US Treasuries than it is buying. That 12-month overall deficit, which has existed since then, has now hit $10.525 billion, the first time it topped the $10 billion mark.

Allow me to repeat that – the DI Fund is now in the final stage of a fund collapse – the exhaustion of principal. In this case, that principal, as of November 30, 2009, was $202.265 billion.

If one thinks that December, and specifically the semi-annual interest crediting that happened last month, is going to be the saving grace, the OACT has bad news. While the detailed December numbers are not available, the investment holdings for December are. I cannot explain why the investment total in that time series is consistently somewhat higher than the time series of trust fund operations linked to above, but it is close enough for government work.

The first item of note is the DI Fund investment balance. It dipped from $202.531 billion in November to $199.760 billion in December. That would be the first overall monthly deficit in December for the DI Fund since 1993, just before a change in the percentage of the payroll/self-employment tax designed to prop up the DI Fund took effect.

The second item is the OASDI Fund investment balance. It rose only $24.153 billion between November and December to $2,518.541 billion, less than half of last year’s November-to-December increase of $52.37 billion and the lowest November-to-December increase since 1997, when the OASDI Fund investment balance was $655.449 billion. I hope for this country’s sake that it’s just an anomaly. If not, then it is almost certain that the combined funds have gone into a 12-month cash deficit mode because the “interest”, which is credited on both the redeemed securities and the ending balance, should be somewhere north of $58 billion.

Revisions/extensions (7:45 am 1/7/2010) – Added the significance of the very-disappointing December OASDI Fund increase.

R&E part 2 (3:04 pm 1/7/2010) – Thanks again for the link, Ed. For those of you not coming here from Hot Air, Ed reposted charts of the last 23 months’ performance of both the OASDI and the DI “Trust” Funds.

For those of you coming here from there, stick around and enjoy the hospitality.

R&E part 3 (9:16 pm 1/15/2010) – I found at least a partial explanation of the December “anomaly” courtesy the Treasury Department – the January 3, 2010 Social Security payments were “acclerated” into 2009. A longer explanation is over here.

January 5, 2010

And then they came for Michael Yon

by @ 13:42. Filed under Law and order, Politics - National.

If Shoebox was wondering who the TSA would flag after him, he need not wonder any longer. Ed Morrissey reports that Homeland Security agents detained Michael Yon as he returned to the US from Afghanistan via Hong Kong because he refused to tell them how much money he makes. Quoting from Yon’s Facebook page:

Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not “arrested”, but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eventually came — they were professionals — and rescued me from the border bullies.

When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect can that can be expected from our border bullies.

I would say that it’s un-fucking-believable, but given that the immigration/customs/security apparatus is interested in everything BUT stopping illegal aliens and terrorists, it’s entirely fucking believable.

Revisions/extensions (8:45 pm 1/5/2010) – There’s more from Michael Yon from Big Government, including the fact that it was TSA goons that accosted him.

December 31, 2009

An Obama Carol

by @ 17:05. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

Listen my children and hear the drama of the one, the only Barack Obama.

Our story starts as President Obama leaves the golf course and returns to his family.  As he approaches his house he is met by the Hawaiian god Pelee.  Pelee tells Obama that he will has not been a good steward for America.  He says that Obama has made a mockery of the term “fiscal restraint.”  Pelee goes on to tell Obama that he must change his ways.  He tells him that Obama will be visited by three spirits during the evening.

Obama, as all good scrooges including George C. Scott, refused to believe that what he had just seen was real.  That said, he was unsettled from the experience.  He entered his house, bypassed the reports authored by Janet Napolitano which attempt to show she has any competency, kisses the woman who is recently, just proud of her country and heads to bed.

At about 11 PM the first spirit arrives.  As Obama peers out from under his blankets and four poster bed with all the trimmings, he can’t believe his eye.  There stands the spirit of economy past; Ronald Reagan!

Reagan tells Obama that he’s mucked up the economy something terrible.  He tells him that increasing the deficit and attempting to buy jobs via “stimulus” is the wrong way to go.  As Obama begins a retort that included, “I inherited,” Reagan stops him with “There you go again!”

Reagan tells Obama that he too inherited a recession.  One that had not been seen since the days of the great depression.  On top of that, there was a malaise in the country that had seriously hindered the ability to harness any hope and optimism from the American people.  Reagan told Obama that the only way to deal with a serious recession is through taxes.  Reagan told Obama how through his tax reductions, the country was able to pull itself up by its bootstraps and right its economic self.  Reagan pointed out to Obama that regardless of what you do, tax receipts will always hover between 8% to 8.5% of GDP.  If you cant to spend more you have to grow the economy.  There is no way to tax or spend your way out of a recession.  To enforce his point, Reagan put the following graph up for Obama to study.

With the presentation of the graph, Reagan was gone. Obama was unconvinced and went back to sleep.

Barely an hour went by and once again, Obama was awaken. This time he was awakened be the spirit of economy present. This spirit greatly resembled Sarah Palin, although it couldn’t be, she hadn’t be done in by the left, was still alive.

Sarah, ah, the spirit, told Obama that despite his protestations, he and he alone has put the federal budget on a path where in just a few short years the budget will require the public portion of debt to be over 80% of the GDP.  Of course, this doesn’t count the unfunded debts like social security, medicare etc.  Sarah departed after leaving Obama the next graph and warning him that without changes, dire consequences will come.

Obama remained unmoved by the pleadings of Sarah and once again, went back to bed.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Obama was awoken once again. This time, as he looked out from his bed linens he saw not one but many, many spirits. These were the spirits of the future economy.

Theses spirits were the faces, if not the bodies of all of our children, grand children, great grand children etc. They moaned and wailed as their leader approached Obama. This time Obama was taken aback. As he peered beyond his blankets, he looked into the face and eyes of his own daughter, Sasha.

Sasha began to explain that the reason for all the moaning and wailing was that these generations had become enslaved. Enslaved to the debt that Obama and others had left for future generations to deal with. These future generations have no hope, and expect no change as unlike her father and his administration, these future generations don’t get the ability to ignore and avoid realities. By the time Sasha is an adult, the annual taxes collected will no longer be enough to cover even the obligations of the entitlement programs that exist. This is a fact even before the enactment of placebocare which is sure to accelerate the date on which this occurs. Sasha left with the other spirits after telling Obama that if he doesn’t change, he will go down in history as the most reviled president ever for having eliminated the economic freedom of all future generations.

Obama was returned to his room just as the sun was dawning.

In all other versions of “The Carol,” the scrooge has a change of heart and immediately goes about to right the wrongs of his past and present. Will Scrooge Obama experience the same impact? It’s not the new year yet so we don’t know. Perhaps this version too will end like all those that are true to Dickens’ version. If not, we may well see a new version. This version will be one penned by the Brothers Grimm!

Happy New Year to all!

My thanks to Heritage.org for each of the graphs.

Tick, Tick, Tick….

by @ 11:02. Filed under Politics - National.

With a title like that at this time of the year, I’m sure you’re expecting a post about “the year that was.”  Well, kind of, except that I’m really only focused on the last week of it.

A week ago tomorrow we heard about the harrowing experience of NWA flight 253.  After a complete breakdown of routine security procedures, the passengers aboard the plane subdued a terrorist who attempted to ignite explosives to destroy the plane and all of those aboard.

Within 48 hours of the attack, Janet Napolitano, the individual responsible for Home Land Security including things like air safety, no fly lists and the like, was on camera telling us “the system worked.”  Not since the world watched the aftermath of Katrina and heard President Bush utter the phrase “heckuva job Brownie,” has there been a public comment by a senior government official that was so obviously out of touch with the situation that was right before their eyes.

The day following her assertion that “the system worked,” and after hearing the response to her absurd proclamation, Napolitano moved into high damage control mode.  On Monday, December 28th, Napolitano claimed her words were “taken out of context” and that “our system did not work in this instance.”

Even with Napolitano’s admission of “oops,” bloggers and even the MSM continued to ask how Napolitano could take the situation so cavalierly.  In the course of a couple of days it was determined that the terrorists father had warned the CIA that his son was dangerous, that the terrorist had been put on a watch list but not a no fly list, that groups within the government were aware of concern about the terrorist but did nothing to follow up on the concern or share the information with other agencies.

The level of incredulity over Napolitano’s, “we did great.  Wait, maybe we didn’t,” grew so large that on Tuesday, President Obama had to find some time between golf rounds and tennis sets to tell us that the Christmas day terror attack was allowed by a “systemic failure.”  Of course, he was quick to point out that the system that failed was one that he had inherited from President Bush.  Perhaps the most interesting aspect of President Obama’s comments is that they were assembled so quickly and in such a panic that the White House was unable to arrange for live coverage of his comments.

It’s clear as we watch these and other events this week, that President Obama was and is put in a bad light as a result of this event.  We also know how well he handles anything that impunes his ego; hello Reverend Wright, White Grandma etc.

In the case of Michael Brown, President Bush made his infamous statement on 9/2.  Brown was removed from Katrina responsibilities for Katrina on 9/9, one week later.  On September 12th, Michael Brown resigned.

The Obama administration has made an art of releasing news it finds embarrassing at the start of weekends and especially holiday weekends.  Tomorrow makes one week since the Christmas terrorist attack.  One week of Napolitano making a bad situation worse.  This also happens to be the last “off” weekend before things get refocused on an issue that Obama absolutely needs to win; placebocare.

I wonder if Janet has started cleaning her office yet?

December 30, 2009

And Yet, They Proceed

by @ 9:51. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

Folks,

I have run out of words and thoughts that would attempt to explain the thinking of the left.  As the posts by Birdman, Steve and myself discuss, we are each unable to reconcile the high desire of self preservation that every elected official has with the “CHARGE” mentality of forging ahead with placebocare.

In an attempt to create a mental picture of what I’m seeing, imagine that the look out on the Titanic had just spotted the iceberg while it was still about two miles off.  Most of us would expect that upon notification, the Captain would tell the helmsman to slow down and steer a course to avoid the iceberg.  If Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid were that Captain, I’d see them responding by telling the helmsman to set a course directly for the iceberg and yell loudly for the engines to be increased to “full speed ahead.”  They would do this because while they know there will be casualties, they’re OK with those casualties.

The latest evidence of Pelosi and Reid giving the American people the middle finger comes from Rasmussen.  Amongst their latest findings:

  • Seventy-eight percent (78%) of voters nationwide say it’s at least somewhat likely that the health care reform legislation working its way through Congress will cost more than projected.
  • Eighty-one percent (81%) also think passage of the legislation is at least somewhat likely to lead to higher middle-class taxes.
  • The survey finds that 68% believe the legislation will increase the federal budget deficit.

No more is it sufficient to say that the American people are not in favor of placebocare.  With the latest Rasmussen results, we are now able to say that up to 81% of the American people believe that both Houses of Congress AND President Obama are lying to them about the implications of this legislation! 

Stop for a moment…………………………………………..Just sit still………………………………………Sip your coffee…………………….breath deeply………………………………………consider that last statement…………………

Up to 81% of the American people believe that both Houses of Congress AND President Obama are lying to them about the implications of this legislation! 

And yet, they proceed!

December 29, 2009

Re: Coming Out

by @ 19:59. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

Shoebox and Birdman have been having a spirited debate on the future of PlaceboCare. While I hope that Birdman is right that this can still be scuttled, I’m of even a more sour opinion than Shoebox. Allow me to put in my 2-cents’ worth:

  • There are actually three versions of PlaceboCare out there: the version that passed the Senate on a party-line vote (the hijacked H.R. 3950), lacking any sort of public option but financing abortion-on-demand; the version that barely passed the House (H.R. 3962), lacking financing for abortion-on-demand but having a public option; and H.R. 3200, still lurking in the shadows and having both the public option and financing for abortion-on-demand. Of the three, only H.R. 3200 and a completely-unamended version of H.R. 3950 would not have to go through a 60-vote test in the Senate.
  • The limited debate on H.R. 3950 strongly suggests that there would be 50 votes (plus Biden) in the Senate for H.R. 3200.
  • If Nancy Pelosi can get a majority to support an nearly-unchanged (from the Senate-hijacked) version of H.R. 3950 (or even a completely-unchanged version), it is likely that she would also be able to get a majority for H.R. 3200. After all, the bigger stumbling block in the House has been abortion-on-demand funding.
  • If Scott Brown pulls off the upset in Massachusetts and wins next month’s special election to permanently fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat (and if the ‘Rats seat him), the Democrats would not be able to get to 60 votes for either an amended H.R. 3950 or a Senate-considered H.R. 3962 (at least without the defection of one of the Maine Wonder Twins).
  • As Shoebox said, Pelosi doesn’t much care about losing 40 ‘Rats, especially if they’re Blue Lap Dogs. I’ll add to that by saying Harry Reid and company aren’t at all worried about losing a majority in the Senate. Indeed, given the lack of NRSC/NRC support for Brown, I have my doubts about the Republicans’ desire to pick up even one net seat in 2010.
  • However, I disagree with Shoebox that just “anything” will mollify the moonbats’ anger that full-out Communism hasn’t broken out yet. If the Dems lose control of the House in 2010, it will be in large part because the ‘bats stayed home to protest “nothing” being done, much like how the Republicans lost control in 2006. That is the threat that Pelosi will respond to.

Damn, I hope I’m wrong. I REALLY hope I’m wrong.

Coming Out

by @ 5:40. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

Well, it’s official now.  I feel the need to get it off my chest.

Birdman and I have been having an ongoing, private debate.  He believes placebocare will yet meet its Waterloo.  His primary belief, which he outlines nicely here,  is that the looming deficit will be the piece that brings enough Democrat votes together with Republicans, to kill this freedom obliterating bill.  I don’t want to make Birdman sound like a myopic Pollyanna.  He also believes that abortion, public option or a host of other issues could also cause the bill to stall.  In short, if I may paraphrase, he believes there are too many moving pieces and too many Democrats who will have to face election next year, to hold together the votes that were there on the passage of the original House and Senate versions.

I on the other hand, have complete confidence in the Democrats to push this bill through to the end.  Let me lay out my rationale.

  1. As I wrote yesterday, Payola Palooza is now in play.   Any Democrat member that Pelosi or Reid would need in a second vote, now have a price tag on their head.  Most Senators have already been bought.  Representatives go for much much less.  While there is a lot of talk about deficits, Harry, Nancy nor President Obama really care about them when it comes to passing this legislation.
  2. Obama is in trouble.  Read any poll you want and it is clear that Obama’s approval is falling on all political fronts.  Heck, even African Americans are down in the 60% approval level.  If Obama fails to get placebocare passed it could be argued that he is Ofer in his first year with no where to go but down.  All of his chips are in on placebocare.   He’ll get Nancy and Harry to do everything possible to keep him from becoming irrelevant before his first State of the Union.
  3. Elections – all the talk about Democrats having to face the electorate is a smoke screen.  Nancy Pelosi has already said she expects to lose up to 40 seats next year.  She considers these “transitional” seats.  She believes that they are the Democrat version of RINOS and should be replaced by more vigilant Marxists! 
  4. To the argument that Birdman makes about self preservation, I present exhibit A.  Expect to see many more “centrist” Democrats to announce their “retirements” in the next few weeks.  These are people who know they are dead people walking i.e. vote for the bill and they won’t get reelected, vote against the bill and Pelosi will have them cleaning the Republican urinals until they retire.  Oh, and if you think, “poor people, they’ll be out of work!”  Don’t worry, for anyone that goes willingly, Nancy has cushy, high paying and high pension jobs lined up for each of the votes she needs to buy.
  5. It doesn’t have XXXXX (name your favorite feature.)  Sorry, it doesn’t matter whether it is the public option, abortion, the deficit or any of the other items id’d as “deal breakers.”  None of them will ultimately be “deal breakers!”  In the end, the far left, the moderate left and all other versions of the left will accept anything that will pass with the understanding that if they pass it now, regardless of what is actually passed, they can fix it later.  Perfection is not required, passing something, anything is!
  6. Finally, history!  There is no doubt that every Democrat looks at this bill as historical.  While I admit to not understanding it, I see a similar pattern with placebocare as there was with the election of Barack Obama.  It was clear from early on that Obama was a Marxist and apologist who would do this country harm.  Objective people, people who actually wanted to look at the information, saw through the veneer of public persona that was being created.  Unfortunately for our country, in the end, too many people got caught up in the sale of “change” and the historicity of the first black president.  Placebocare is on the same track.  Any logical, thinking person can see the line of broken promises we’ll experience if placebocare is based.  That said, this isn’t about logic.  This is all about emotion and history for the Democrats.

There, now you’re on the inside of a debate that Birdman and I have had for several weeks.  Don’t get me wrong, I hope I’m wrong and Birdman is right.  Unfortunately, I’m used to the Democrats going against anything that resembles America but I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised!

December 28, 2009

Placebocare – Payola Palooza

by @ 5:38. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

The toner hasn’t yet set on the Harry Reid’s version of placebocare and positions are already being taken on how the House and Senate will reconcile their bills.  The AP has an enlightening article that quotes numerous Democrat Representatives laying out how they see the House and Senate bill harmonizing:

James Clyburn, a strong advocate for the public option, when asked whether the final bill would be required to have a public option answered:

“We want a public option to do basically three things: Create more choice for insurers, create more competition for insurance companies, and to contain costs. So if we can come up with a process by which these three things can be done, then I’m all for it. Whether or not we label it a public option or not is of no consequence.”

Representative Chris Van Hollen said:

“Before the House was to give up the public option, we would want to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in whatever bill comes out that will keep down premiums.  We’ve got to make sure that the final product is affordable.”

At first blush, these and other similar quotes, look like the normal “congressionalese” that is spoken any time a negotiation is about to take place.  However, in light of what we just watched in the Senate, particularly with the purchase of Ben Nelson’s vote (a side note:  I thought “Pay for play” was illegal?  Wasn’t that what Blagojevich and Burris were/are accused of?), comments like these need to be understood in a whole new way.

“Hey, I’m not fixated on a name.  I want to make sure we accomplish some specific goals,” is what appears to be Clyburn’s thoughtful response.  However, let’s take another look at Clyburn’s quote after putting on our official “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses.  With our special glasses, what initially looked like a principled, practical response, now reads:

“I could be persuaded to give up the public option.  First, while I don’t care if it actually does it, I need to be able to tell my constituents that the bill does three things:  Create more choice for insurers, create more competition for insurance companies, and to contain costs.  I’m sure we can add several hundred pages of confusing language that will give the impression that we’ve done this even thought we won’t.   Second, after seeing what has transpired in the Senate, I’ve developed a price that my vote can be purchased for.  Whether we end up having a public option or not is of no consequence as long as I get the appropriate gratuity!”

Let’s now look at Representative Van Hollen’s comment.  After you’ve used your official “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses once, subsequent quotes are much easier to decipher.

“Before I give up the public option, I would want to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in whatever bill comes out that will keep down premiums.  We’ve got to make sure that the final product is affordable.  I expect other taxpayers to be subservient to the sluggards of my district so that my constituents will not have to pay any of the ridiculous taxes that have been placed in this bill.  With this benefit and the agreed to publicity that the DHCC will guarantee to provide me on this topic, I should be well on my way to buying myself another term in the House!”

Now that we’ve seen the vote purchasing in the Senate we will never again read or hear, any comment by any Congressperson about what he/she will or won’t accept in legislation without thinking, “I wonder how much they expect to be bribed for their vote?”  Keep you pair of “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses handy.  You’ll be reaching for them every day from now until November of 2010!

December 24, 2009

Hey, You’re Giving Us a Bad Name!

by @ 12:27. Filed under Politics - National.

President Obama’s approach to politics is often referred to as the “Chicago Way.”  What is the “Chicago Way” you ask?  Well, to quote Sean Connery from the Untouchables:

Here’s how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way!

In short, the “Chicago way” is bribing, bullying or threatening anyone and everyone necessary so that you get your way.

In today’s Washington Post, William M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, a well known user of the “Chicago way,” gives some advice to President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Billy, if I may be so bold, is concerned that the Marxist triumvirate is setting up trouble for the rest of the Democrats. Billy points to recent polls, the November election results and finally, the recent party affiliation change of Representative Griffith as evidence that the Marxist trio has taken the party too far to the left. Billy is concerned that the result of this “student body left” tilt will be that Democrats may have a problem getting or being re elected next year.

Past his warnings, Billy gives the Democrats hope. “Stop ye whilst there is still yet time,” cries Billy!

Despite this raft of bad news, Democrats are not doomed to return to the wilderness. The question is whether the party is prepared to listen carefully to what the American public is saying. Voters are not re-embracing conservative ideology, nor are they falling back in love with the Republican brand. If anything, the Democrats’ salvation may lie in the fact that Republicans seem even more hell-bent on allowing their radical wing to drag the party away from the center.

“See,” says Billy, “I know it’s not that people want to be more conservative, it’s just those damn Republicans keep making us look bad!”  In fact, Billy believes that the country really does like Marxism, it’s just that they don’t know it yet!

For liberals to accept that inescapable reality is not to concede permanent defeat. Rather, let them take it as a sign that they must continue the hard work of slowly and steadily persuading their fellow citizens to embrace their perspective.

It never crosses Daley’s mind that the American people are revolting against the Democrats because they don’t like the policies.  It never crosses Daley’s mind that America is still a country whose people have a desire for personal freedoms.  It never crosses Daley’s mind that perhaps the Marxist triumvirate has over reached and in doing so, awakened a spirit that has been slumbering since the 1940s. 

No, Daley, a member of the family who if not created, perfected the “Chicago way,” is complaining because Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have taken the “Chicago way” and applied it to national politics. Daley thinks that could create a problem.  Daley is concerned not for America but for himself and his “suck everybody dry as long as it gets me power” party!

I could have titled this post “Pot meet Kettle,” but I’ve used that too many times this year.  Besides, what it really seems to me that Billy is complaining about is not the tactics being used but rather, that if the Marxist triumvirate are successful in driving the country to bankruptcy, it might give the “Chicago way” a bad name!  I didn’t know the “Chicago way” had a good name!

December 23, 2009

Couldn’t Have Said It Better

by @ 14:59. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

Ray Stevens with his thoughts on Placebocare

My Colleague, the Senator From the State of Denial

by @ 5:03. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

Late this afternoon, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell waved the white flag.  As reported by RollCall, McConnell made an agreement withHarry Reid to pass a two month extension on the debt limit and waive the remaining time required to get to the final vote on the passage of Placebocare.  McConnell, recognizing that he never had any bullets (heck, even Barney Fife at least had one bullet) decided it was the better part of valor to waive the time and allow a timely departure for the Christmas holiday for all senators and staff rather than hold to the last second and be labeled a Scrooge on top of the label of “dolt!”

By Christmas there will be two versions of Placebocare that couldn’t be more different.  In fact, about the only thing the two bills have in common are the allegation that they both pertain to health care.  Now that both houses have passed a bill, the questions become these:  Can the two bills be reconciled and if they are, will both houses vote to support the reconciled bill?

The question of whether the bills can be reconciled is obvious.  Nancy, Harry and Rahmwill do anything and everything to get a bill that will go back to both chamber floors.  Don’t think for a second that there will be an issue that one of them can’t strong arm or buy their way through.  So, that leaves the question of whether the reconciled bill can be passed.

There’s lots of new bad news out for President Obama the Democrats and Placebocare.  In a new Quinnipiac poll, 72% oppose using any public money from placebocare to pay for abortions.  The same poll found that by a margin of 52% to 36%, Americans oppose placebocare and by a margin of 56% to 38% they disapprove of the way that President Obama is handling the issue of health care reform.  Perhaps most significant out of the Quinnipiac poll is that there is no economic or age demographic that now supports Obama’s handling of placebocare.  Not even the young people support Obama on placebocare any longer.

The latest Rasmussen polls are even more damaging to President Obama and Placebocare. After having shrunk to about a 10 point deficit, Rasmussen now shows that public opinion is back, and holding, near it’s high of a 15% deficit, and that’s the good news!

Early today, Rasmussen released it’s daily presidential tracking report. After hitting a new high, or rather low, of -19 ten days ago, the trend had been improving for President Obama recovering to a -12 a week ago. However, in the past few days the trend has not only reversed, it’s reversed at a staggering rate. On December 20th, the rating was -15. In just two days the poll leaped to a -21, a 6 point swing! Does anyone thing it coincidence that the health care votes are occurring during the same time frame as this dramatic change? The same daily poll shows even amongst African-Americans Obama’s support is now only 58%. Do you remember when 90% of African-Americans voted for President Obama?

Finally, early last evening, Rasmussen released the latest generic poll. Republicans now lead Democrats by 8 points, the highest level this year and the highest level for a considerable period of time.

Back to the question.  It’s clear that placebocare is shunned everywhere and by everyone.  It’s clear in all the polls, including President Obama’s favorability rating, that the public is rigidly set against the bill.  That said, I won’t put one penny of a bet against Nancy, Harry and company and their ability to rig another set of votes.  I will say this though, if the Democrats manage to pass this bill, the political tables will turn 180 degrees from where they were in 2008.  In 2008 you almost couldn’t buy an election if you were a Republican.  If placebocare is passed, in 2010, Democrats won’t be able to buy an election and that’s saying something!  The fact that the Democrats either don’t see this or believe that they can somehow avoid it is a willingness to suspend disbelief that is far worse than that required by Hillary Clinton when she questioned General Patraeus!

Regardless of the way that placebocare proceeds from here, I have a suggestion for the Republicans.  Rather than the normal congenial hand off of time on the chamber floor i.e. I yield my time to the good Senator from the State of XYZ, I propose that the Republicans brand the Democrats in a way that will keep the issue in the forefront for the foreseeable future.  I propose the Republicans brand the Democrats what they are by saying each time, “I yield my time to the good Senator from the State of Denial!”

December 22, 2009

Tuesday Hot Read Part Deux – Scott Gottlieb’s “Obamacare – No Exit”

by @ 9:00. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

This piece from the American Eneterprise Institute could also be titled, “You can have any health insurance plan you want, as long as it’s black Communist Red.”:

All of which brings us to the question of whether you’ll be able to spend extra money to add benefits that exceed the government’s basic package or opt out of that plan entirely. The bill doesn’t address this question directly–yet I can say with great confidence that it will be costly and in some cases impossible.

The bill leaves these issues in the hands of the bureaucracies that will write the law’s enabling regulations. And it’s clear both what the spirit of the Obama plan and the habits of these bureaucracies will produce.

I’ll temporarily stop the quote to remind you that under the current version of PlaceboCare, anything that the bureaucrats write will essentially not be reviewable by Congress. Let’s continue.

The overriding goal of this reform is to turn health insurance into a more “egalitarian” benefit that’s the same for everyone, regardless of income, personal preference or need. So rules written under President Obama to implement the Obama plan are a sure bet to intentionally curtail anyone’s ability to wrap around this national coverage with a supplemental policy or to contract privately with doctors to pay your way out of its limitations.

This is exactly what the bureaucracy’s done with Medicare. Doctors accepting Medicare can’t contract privately with Medicare patients to bill for services that Medicare doesn’t cover. Nor can patients buy added coverage to help plug Medicare’s gaps. (The “Medigap” that many seniors now buy are tightly regulated by the government to limit how much they expand on Medicare’s basic benefits; they mostly just help defray co-pays.)

In short, beneficiaries are trapped inside the Medicare insurance scheme, just as they’ll soon be trapped inside the ObamaCare exchanges. Doctors can’t offer benefits not covered by the government plans, and patients can’t buy extra insurance to make up for many gaps….

The very rich, of course, will be able to buy their way out of ObamaCare. Many of the best doctors will go cash only, opting entirely out of the Obama program, to cater to a wealthy clientele. But only the truly affluent will have the cash to escape.

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