define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); No Runny Eggs

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.

March 21, 2009

Bracketology life support

by @ 2:06. Filed under Sports.

Well, we’re through the first round, and it’s time to review the damage so far. First, let’s take the shredded predictions:

The Marquette Care Bear…er, Golden Chickens will be able to beat the rush out of Boise tomorrow. Oops; they somehow survived Utah State. Unfortunately, because they’re the nightcap, the Wisconsin Bagders can’t say the same. Actually, the Badgers managed to come back to force OT and ultimately win.
– Once again, no #16 seed will win. Louisville did have a 1st-half scare, and East Tennessee State almost closed the deal on Pitt. However, the #16s are now a perfect 0-100 in the actual tourney (not counting the play-in game between #64 and #65).
– This year’s Cindy is Butler, with Mississippi State being the lowest-seeded 1st-round winner. Picked the wrong Horizon team; Cleveland State was the lowest-seed 1st-round winner.
– Call me crazy, but I see three Big Ten teams making it out of the first round. Off by 1.
– For those of you participating in the third annual “Which #1 will be knocked out first” poll, I am not calling for a repeat of last year’s all-#1 Final Four. In fact, Pitt and UNC will not make the Sweet 16. Yet to be determined.

Only the safest of predictions came in, and then only because Pitt finally got the choke out of their throats. So, what did that do to the bracket?

– 11 first-round losses
– 5 games completely meaningless to me this weekend
– A quarter of my Elite Eight dead and buried
– My Southern regional champ packed up and back in class

I could look on the bright side and point out my national championship game is intact. However, I tend to say, “I positively hate this fucking place,” when asked for a positive attitude check. Instead, I’ll apply some statistical analysis:

Current-round loss rate – 11/32
Next-round loss rate – 5/16
3rd-round-out loss rate – 1/4 (call it a bit higher)
4th-round-out loss rate – 1/4 (call it a bit lower)

Projected number of missing Sweet 16 teams after 2nd round = 5 + (11 * 11/32) = 9 missing Sweet 16 teams
Projected number of missing Elite 8 teams after 2nd round = 2 + (6 * 5/16) = 4 missing Elite 8 teams
Projected number of missing Final 4 teams after 2nd round = 1 + (3 * 1/4) = 2 missing Final 4 teams
Estimated probability of missing at least one of the National Championship Game teams after the 2nd round = 50%

I could extrapolate further, but it’s too depressing.

March 20, 2009

Apology to Paul Ryan

by @ 20:56. Tags:
Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

In case you missed it, I pretty much called my Congressman, Paul Ryan, out for his vote on the 90% TARP tax. I had the fortune of running into him tonight at the Racine County Lincoln Day dinner, and he explained the plan behind it. The short version: because the House Republicans realized they couldn’t stop it in the House, they let the Dems win this round. There still is the (theoretical) stoppage in the Senate, partly because there is a different plan in the Senate, and partly because there is the (theoretical) chance of actually filibustering it.

It is also a message to companies that might otherwise want to jump on or stay on the Bailout Train – don’t trust Congress.

Since I didn’t have a chance to mention it at the dinner, I apologize to Rep. Ryan for the blasting.

I’ve got 91.45%. Do I hear 103.5%?

by @ 16:08. Tags:
Filed under Politics - National, Taxes.

James Taranto ran the numbers on the 90% tax on bonuses at companies that took TARP money, and found that it isn’t exactly 90%. While that 90% rate replaces the federal income and federal alternate income tax rates, it does not replace the Medicare FICA tax of 1.45% on employee pay, which thanks to the Clinton administration applies to all income and is not capped. It also does not replace any state or local income taxes. James used New York City as an example – New York State taxes income at 6.85% and New York City taxes income at 3.648 percent. Let’s do some math:

  90.000% – Bill of Attainder/Ex Post Facto federal punishment tax
+  1.450% – Medicare FICA tax (paid by the employee)
+  6.850% – New York State income tax
+  3.648% – New York City income tax
————————————————————————–
101.948% – total tax paid by the employee
+  1.450% – Medicare FICA tax (paid by the employer)
————————————————————————–
103.498% – Grand total tax paid by both the employee and employer

Thanks a lot, Paul Ryan. Thanks a lot, Nancy Pelosi. Thanks a lot, Charlie Rangel (BTW, has Rangel paid all of his back taxes yet?).

Before I go, there’s another tidbit in that piece. While companies would be able to avoid this if they got out of TARP, the regulators are trying to keep them in. Gee, I wonder why.

Election-rigging in Kentucky

by @ 12:08. Filed under Politics, Vote Fraud.

(H/T – Sister Toldjah)

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that 8 people in Clay County, Kentucky, including a then-sitting (and now-senior) circuit judge, the superintendent of schools in Clay County, the county clerk (one of 4 members of the county Board of Elections, along with the sheriff, and representatives from the Republican and Democratic Parties), the Democratic appointed member of said Board of Elections, and the Democratic and Republican election judges in Manchester, Kentucky for the 2002 and 2004 election cycles, were indicted yesterday for buying and corrupting elections between 2002 and 2006.

The indictment is a rather interesting read. A quick summary:

– The judge, Russell Cletus Maricle, and the superintendent, Douglas C. Adams, styled themselves as the political bosses of Clay County, causing the appointment of corrupt people to the elections board and “recruiting” local candidates to run on a “slate” that would be guaranteed to win election.
– The Democratic member of the election board, Charles Wayne Jones, appointed elections officers who would do the bidding of himself, Maricle and Adams, including buying votes and changing votes that voters thought were properly cast but were actually not (more on that last item in a bit).
– The clerk, Freddy W. Thompson, used his position, to which he was elected in 2002 (the start of this conspiracy) to instruct corrupt election officers on how to change votes. He also supplied money used to buy votes and also is charged with lying to a federal grand jury.
– William E. Stivers, the Democratic election judge in Manchester in 2002 and 2004, handled the marking of voters whose votes were bought, and also participated in extortion schemes.
– Paul E. Bishop, the Republican election judge in Manchester in 2002 and 2004, also handled the marking of voters whose votes were bought, and also hosted “fundraisers” for the vote-buying scheme.
– William B. Morris and Debra L. Morris, who own a sanitation business that has contracts with Manchester and Clay County, provided money for the vote-buying scheme.
– In addition, Maricle and Stivers are charged with instructing one of the two Manchester election judges in 2006, identified as “W.W.” in the indictment, as participating in the vote-switching scheme to lie to a grand jury. The other person, identified by the Herald-Leader as Charles “Dobber” Weaver, previously pled guilty to vote-switching charges.

While the vote-buying scheme was part of all three election cycles, the introduction of touch-screen voting machines in 2006 introduced a new, more-insidious method for this cabal to exploit. Summarizing Count 9, for which Maricle, Jones, Thompson and Stiver have been indicted:

– Thompson and Jones appointed Weaver and “W.W.” as the Republican and Democratic election judges in the Manchester precinct, and instructed them to “…tell voters that when they had pushed a button labeled ‘Vote’ that their votes had been cast, when, in fact, that function merely provided a review screen of the voter’s selections in each race, and that the further step of pushing the ‘Cast Ballot’ button was required.”
– When the misled voters left the voting booth with a ballot they thought they properly completed but hadn’t, one of those two would enter the booth, change the vote to the “slate” decided by Maricle, and then complete the casting of the ballot.

According to the Kentucky State Board of Elections, Clay County currently uses exclusively the ES&S iVotronic. While the current version does not use the verbiage mentioned in the indictment (it’s “review” to review and “vote” to finish casting the ballot), and I cannot confirm that the iVotronic was used in 2006, it otherwise does match up with the method described in the indictment. Further, the iVotronic does not produce a paper record, much less one that is actually handled by the voter, although there is now option for a “paper-under-glass” audit feature (again, I do not know whether this version is in use in Clay County).

Talking To Four Year Olds – Homework Edition

by @ 11:35. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

OK, admittedly, this is more like talking to 10 year olds than 4 year olds but the issue is the same.

The Shoelets, Thing 1 and Thing 2, are good students.  They like school and are good natured about taking on new challenges such as multiplication, division or sentence structure.  Part of the reason they are good students is that Mrs. Shoe and I take their education seriously.  We make sure that it is a priority for them.

When the Shoelets come home, after greeting them, reminding them to take their shoes off and to hang up their jackets, the next thing they get hit with is “Do you have any homework?”  Homework is a priority in our house.  Homework gets done before they get to play with their friends, play video games or do anything else that is on their “fun list.”  In our house we try to instill an attitude where we take care of what we have to do before we get to do what we want to do.  Interestingly, we hear constantly from Thing 1 and Thing 2’s teachers how well prepared they are for class and how much of a challenge that issue is with many of the other kids in their classes.

In the past week, President Obama has had time to fill out his March Madness brackets and make appearances about it .  Obama has also had time to campaign in California and appear on the Tonight show.  It’s an amazing recovery for Obama.  Just 10 days ago, Obama was too tired to provide a proper reception for the British Prime Minister!

While President Obama was out doing the thing he wanted to do, the things he needed to dowere ignored.  The Treasury still has 17 lead positions unfilled.  This is the department whose head, Timothy Geithner, is still unable to deliver a promised toxic asset plan.  It is also the understaffed Treasury that not only approved of the original AIG compensation agreements, but is now unable to concoct a comprehensive string of lies that would allow them to cry “Buuuuuuuuush!”  President Obama has no plan or timeline for dealing with the Treasury vacancies.  No plan for the department that is arguably the most important given the challenges of the current economy.

In a related note, President Obama announced on the Tonight Show yesterday, that he does have a date when the First Family will be getting the First Dog.  Yup, he’ll have that task taken care of by early April!  That is, he’ll have a first dog by early April if he can get one to pass the background check and agree to have its name forever sullied by being a part of the sinking ship called the Obama administration!

Which is worse?

by @ 9:21. Filed under Politics - National.

Voting for a retroactive grab of 90% of contractually-obligated pay, or not admitting that it was done out of the hatred of the primacy of contract law? Somebody had better ask Paul Ryan and Tom Petri that.

Drip, Drip, Drip

by @ 9:21. Filed under NRE Polls, Politics - National.

approval-rating

When Will President Obama's Net Approval Ratings Become Negative?

Up to 1 answer(s) was/were allowed

  • The Teleprompter won't let it happen (68%, 59 Vote(s))
  • By the end of April, 2008 (29%, 25 Vote(s))
  • By April 3, 2008 (2%, 2 Vote(s))
  • By March 27, 2008 (1%, 1 Vote(s))

Total Voters: 87

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Revisons/extensions (9:33 am 3/20/2009, steveegg) – Added the “NRE Polls” category.

Bracket of Despair

by @ 6:56. Filed under Sports.

I don’t know why I do these things. The first game saw me lose one of my Final Four teams, and a second Final Four team almost choked themselves right out of the tourney. I also lost a second Sweet 16 team on my way to a 10-6 start.

The really bad news – the first day is usually my “best”. I am ready to declare the Bouncing Mozzarella rejected.

March 19, 2009

Levity For Your Day

by @ 17:39. Filed under Miscellaneous.

If you aren’t depressed enough by the last few months of Washington tomfoolery, take a look at the “inspirational” posters on this site:

http://frankstrategiesblog.com/2009/03/19/new-inspirational-posters/

Ahmadinejad and Ortega, sitting in a tree

by @ 12:55. Filed under International relations.

There has been a lot of focus on Iran’s growing ties with Venezuela, specifically their dictator-for-soon-to-be-life Hugo Chavez. What has been left unexplored is a budding relationship between Iran and Nicaragua. Todd Bensman has been exploring that relationship, and he sees more than a few parallels between that and an earlier Iranian effort in Argentina that culminated in a Hezbollah twin bombing.

Fausta had Bensman on her podcast today. I highly recommend listening.

I wish I could explain why the Nicaraguan connection is going mostly unexplored. Their dicta…er, President, Daniel Ortega (yes, THAT Daniel Ortega, Communist), does have a decades-long hatred of the US.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for ballers

by @ 10:39. Filed under NRE Polls, Sports.

That’s right, the NCAA Mens’ Basketball Tournament is upon us. I’m already 0-1, incorrectly taking Alabama State over Morehead State. As a Moron, I should know better. Oh well, here’s the rest of my Bouncing Mozzarella bracketology. Selected lowhighlights:

– The Marquette Care Bear…er, Golden Chickens will be able to beat the rush out of Boise tomorrow. Unfortunately, because they’re the nightcap, the Wisconsin Bagders can’t say the same.
– Once again, no #16 seed will win.
– This year’s Cindy is Butler, with Mississippi State being the lowest-seeded 1st-round winner.
– Call me crazy, but I see three Big Ten teams making it out of the first round.
– For those of you participating in the third annual “Which #1 will be knocked out first” poll, I am not calling for a repeat of last year’s all-#1 Final Four. In fact, Pitt and UNC will not make the Sweet 16.

That brings me to the Third Annual Which #1 Will Drop First poll. As always, seconds do count, so pick carefully.

Which #1 will be the first out of the 2009 Big Dance (seconds do count)?

Up to 1 answer(s) was/were allowed

  • Pittsburgh (30%, 3 Vote(s))
  • North Carolina (30%, 3 Vote(s))
  • Connecticut (30%, 3 Vote(s))
  • Louisville (10%, 1 Vote(s))

Total Voters: 10

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Torches and Pitchforks!

by @ 8:45. Filed under Miscellaneous.

That’s what noted man made global warming alarmist, James Hansen, believes is necessary to get legislation enacted to keep the world from going “pooof!”  Hansen’s lament?

“The democratic process doesn’t quite seem to be working.”

“The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes. So, I’m not surprised that people are getting frustrated. I think that peaceful demonstration is not out of order, because we’re running out of time.”

In a rare instance I agree with Hansen, money has been talking louder than votes.  Money, for people like Hansen and Al Gore, got a stampede going for global warming based on “research” that is being routinely disproved and thoughtful, analytical, actual environment scientists are looking at the hysteric’s claims.

As to Hansen’s cry of “one person, one vote,” perhaps he would want to consider this:

54% Say Media Hype Global Warming Dangers

It’s been an axiom of mine that people who hyperventilate and avoid dealing with facts, tend not to be folks you should trust.  Beyond that, if Hansen is so concerned about money impacting government policy, might I suggest he could look into the sources of the online fundraising for one, Barack Obama?

March 18, 2009

Hey, Heeey, Goodbye!

by @ 15:26. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

Remember this from Barack Obama’s infamous “Speech on Race?”

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?
…
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than 20 years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor.
…
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother — a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These words were spoken by Barack Obama as he tried to explain his continuing loyalty to Reverend Wright after Wright’s hate filled and bigoted sermons finally received coverage by the MSM.  While the issue had been brewing for several months, Obama finally felt that he needed to address the issue directly and deflect the distaste for Wright back onto the folks who were calling him out by attempting to make them appear racist.

Of course, we all remember how Obama’s “family reunion” ended.  On April 29th, less than 6 weeks later, Obama threw Wright under the bus saying he is “outraged” by Wright’s “divisive and destructive” comments and their relationship has been permanently damaged.

Today, Barack Obama took up the defense of Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner:

“He is making all the right moves in terms of playing a bad hand,” Obama told reporters at the White House before leaving on a two-day trip to Southern California. “I have complete confidence in Tim Geithner and my entire economic team.”

Like his comments on Wright, Obama feels compelled to publicly support Geithner because he has become an albatross for Obama’s plans.  Geithner’sinability to complete a toxic asset plan, even though promised repeatedly for the past six weeks, along with his involvementwith AIG, leaves him looking like the weak member, soon to be left behind, so that the rest of the herd may go on to survive.

In perhaps the greatest irony of Obama’s support for Geithner is that his comments come on the one year anniversary of his comments supporting Wright.  It looks like history is lining up to repeat itself.  The only question left is whether Obama will wait six weeks to finish Geithner.  My bet?  Timmy ought to be polishing his resume, soon!

Their Lips Are Moving

by @ 8:26. Filed under Economy.

Writing as a blogger is not always easy work.  Some times I find it difficult to find a story that grabs me and that I think is worth expounding on.  Yeah, it used to be that way but then came President Obama.  Now it seems like I live a Fort Knox and get to find gold simply by stretching my arm out from my lounge chair.  A case in point:

Remember as he was arguing for the Stimulus bill, President Obama pointed to his host as an example of where rehiring would occur due to the stimulus:

But Obama said the company (Caterpillar)  told him Wednesday it would hire back some of those workers if the legislation passes. As House and Senate negotiators worked to reconcile differences between competing versions of the legislation, Obama spoke during a visit to a highway construction site here just outside of Washington.

“You don’t need to travel very far from that debate to see why this plan is both urgent and essential for our recovery,” he said.

Um, nope:

Morning Edition, March 18, 2009 · Caterpillar plans to lay off an additional 2,400 employees at five plants in Illinois, Indiana and Georgia. The world’s largest maker of mining and construction equipment has seen its sales wither as the sluggish world economy and credit crisis weaken demand for its products. In January, the company announced it was laying off more than 20,000 workers.

I will point you, yet again, to Obama’s own economist whose own research says that big government spending does not “stimulate” anything other than big government egos!

On issue after issue, Obama and his homies have been not only wrong, but willfully ignorant of facts and history.  They are so focused on reshaping America to reflect their ideology that they are willing to accept the consequences that will come from having zero credibility.  Of course, in his defense, Obama doesn’t see it this way.  He believes that his ego teleprompter and good looks will carry him across what he surely sees as just a kerfuffle amongst the unenlightened masses.

The only thing we can say for certain about Obama and his administration is that when their lips are moving, they’re lying.

March 17, 2009

Very-quick thoughts on the AIG bonus kerfuffle

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

The title should give you a clue as to my thoughts on the calls for the feds to seize the $165 million in bonuses that certain AIG executives are due. Unless there’s a better reason than political expediency, those bonuses need to be paid out to preserve the sanctity of the contract, which is an underpinning of capitalism.

Now, what those executives do with the bonus is another matter. Mitt Romney made the point that they could voluntarily forego the bonuses by relating a similar situation he worked out at Bain & Co. Fausta Wertz, as part of a poll attached to a longer piece, suggested splitting the bonuses with the workers.

Of course, we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board unleashed a rather devastating broadside. Oh, where do I begin? There’s the $20 billion from the feds through AIG to European banks (somewhere north of an order of magnitude bigger than the bonuses, and no known legal obligation to pay off the Europeans), the regulatory EPIC FAIL that led to AIG’s collapse, the role Elliot “Client #9” Spitzer played, and CEO Ed Liddy’s desperate attempt to remain firmly attached to the government teat.

Revisions/extensions (8:01 am 3/17/2009) – Ed Morrissey makes the same point a lot more coherently. He includes another kicker – the Obama administration could have let AIG lapse into bankruptcy, which would have voided the contracts that specified the payouts.

The Difference A Week Makes

by @ 5:48. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

Come and hop in the “Wayback Machine” with me.  We’re going to set the dial for less than a week ago, March 12, 2009 to be exact.  Remember, all the events are exactly as they happened except “You are there!”

We’re in Washington D.C..  We’re witnessing President Barack Obama give his public address about the $410 billion omnibus spending bill.  We hear President Obama tell us that “nearly 99 percent of this legislation,” is not earmarks.

We hop back in the “Wayback Machine” and set the date for a few days earlier, March 2, 2009.  Here we’re at Robert Gibbs press briefing.  At this briefing, Gibbs tells us that Obama is not responsible for anything that started before he became President.  If it was in the works, he is obligated to allow the action to proceed to its logical conclusion:

Q . A quick follow on the omnibus. Last week it was pointed out that a couple of Cabinet secretaries, LaHood and Mrs. Solis, have earmarks in this omnibus from last year, leftover funding. Now it’s also been learned that Vice President Biden has — I think it’s $750,000 for the University of Delaware satellite station, and Rahm Emanuel $900,000 for the Chicago Planetarium.

Since the President talked so much about earmarks in the campaign, and as President, about keeping them out of the stimulus — I know this is leftover business from last year — but as something that he is either going to sign or veto, why not have earmarks that come from his administration essentially at least taken out to set — send a signal, number one? And number two, is he — is there any chance he’ll veto this bill and send it back and say, get these earmarks out; there’s over 9,000 of them?

MR. GIBBS: Well, I think you saw remarks this weekend by the chief of staff and the budget director about the legislation. Obviously the President is concerned, despite the progress that has been made in this town, about the size and the scope of earmarks that we’ve seen over the past few years. I think even the most cynical among us would have to at least acknowledge that the number of overall earmarks has been cut.

I think it’s important to recognize that a piece of legislation probably twice the size of the piece of legislation that you’re asking me about was passed through Congress at the President’s direction without earmarks. This is the finishing up of last year’s appropriations legislation.

And I think what’s most important and what the President would tell you is important here is that though he doesn’t control everything that happened before he became President of the United States, that dozens and dozens and dozens of appropriations bills will go through Congress and come to his desk over the course of the next four years. (emphasis mine)

We hop back into the “Wayback Machine” and return to the present.

Over the weekend it was announced that AIG would be paying out $165 million in “bonuses:

Troubled insurer American International Group (AIG: 0.7801, 0.2986, 62.01%), which is 79.9%-owned by the federal government, will pay $165 million in retention bonuses on Sunday to those at the division that has drawn most of the heat for the company’s near-collapse.

President Obama responded to this news by saying:

“It’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165-million in extra pay,” Mr. Obama complained at the White House. “How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?”

Outrage to taxpayers?

Just last week, President Obama said that $8 billion was no big deal for taxpayers to bear.  Just last week, President Obama said that 2% is below the threshold for concern for taxpayers.  If I do my math correctly, $165 million is a fraction of $8 billion and it is less than one tenth of a percent of the $170 Billion dollars that AIG has been given to stay afloat.

A little more than a week ago, Robert Gibbs told the world that President Obama could not be responsible for things that began during the Bush administration.  This week Obama is indignant about bonuses, the contracts of which were crafted last May, even before Obama was PEBO.

It sends a thrill up my leg to see President Obama looking out for the plight of the American taxpayer.  Too bad he doesn’t carry that same indignation when he’s making payments to his political homies!

Ruh Ro!

by @ 5:32. Filed under Global "Warming", Politics - National.

Per President Obama:

But let’s be clear: Promoting science isn’t just about providing resources — it’s also about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about letting scientists like those who are here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient — especially when it’s inconvenient. It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda — and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology. (emphasis mine)

UW-Milwaukee Study Could Realign Climate Change Theory
Scientists Claim Earth Is Undergoing Natural Climate Shift

“The research team has found the warming trend of the past 30 years has stopped and in fact global temperatures have leveled off since 2001.”

And

8 Dems oppose quick debate on global warming bill

Again I’ll ask, whose science will we be using?

March 16, 2009

Hidden Costs? What Hidden Costs?

by @ 5:51. Filed under Economy, Politics - National, Taxes.

Throughout his campaign, President Barack Obama touted his tax plan that would “cut taxes for 95% of all taxpayers.” As he announced his stimulus package, Obama reiterated his promise for the tax reductions as he pointed to the “Making work pay” initiative that will provide the average worker $13 per week.

Good thing we’ve got that break but don’t go spending it all yet.

Between FY 2009 and 2010, Obama plans to increase debt by $2.9 Trillion. With around 115 Million US households, the debt alone amounts to over $25,000 per US household. If you add interest to it and amortize it over 30 years, the amount of debt that each household is now responsible for easily offsets the $13 per week in tax reductions. The problem is that the tax story doesn’t stop here.

Obama has several initiatives in his budget that are geared to not only offset any pittance of reductions that he has provided but, when taken together, will increase government imposed burdens in a dramatic fashion.

First on the increase your increased burden parade is the cap and trade program. Cap and trade will impose significant new taxes on the utilities that use carbon based fuels to provide energy, particularly electric. Depending upon whose estimate you use, Cap and trade will increase your energy costs by about $80 billion annually. That $80 billion translates to nearly $700 per year per US household.

Next in your increased burden parade are mortgage costs.  The Obama administration is supporting the ability for judges to be able to unilaterally reduce the balances owned on mortgages.  If the procedure, known as a cram down, is approved by the Senate, this will be the first time that mortgage holders will be told that they must take a reduced principle amount and not have the option of foreclosing on the property.  The net result, if this is passed, is that it will put additional risk into mortgage loans.  The reason that mortgage loans rates have traditionally been low relative to other types of loans, has been that the mortgagor always had the value of the home to go after if the mortgagee defaulted.  With this new twist, the risk of not only not being able to foreclose but to be forced to take a write down on your loan amount, lenders will respond by increasing their rates to offset the additional risk of getting hammered in a cram down.  This will be especially true for anyone who has credit that is not a+.  What’s the cost of this?  I have no idea.  However, you can bet Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and others will be crying to high heaven about the evil mortgage lenders as they see rates that had been traditionally 1% to 1.5% above 30 year Treasuries move to 3% or better, beyond the treasuries.

Our final example today is this article from the NY Times.  According to the Times, President Obama now believes that the way to solve the high cost of our medical insurance is to make us pay more for that medical insurance.  President Obama has floated the idea of removing the non taxable status of the medical premiums that many Americans receive from their employer.  Don’t think it’s a big deal?  Think again!  The NY Times article says that as much as $246 Billion, over $2,000 per year per family!

President Obama’s claim of providing tax cuts for 95% of Americans is about as genuine as some of those low cost airfares you see advertised.  You know the ones that show you a price but add taxes, a fee for this, a fee for that…oh just watch the video and imagine Obama answering a low tax line:


Those sneaky low cost airlines @ Yahoo! Video

March 15, 2009

Tax Day Tea Party times two

by @ 22:35. Tags:
Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

I believe I already told you about the Madison Tax Day Tea Party that Vicki McKenna and Americans for Prosperity are throwing on the steps of the Capitol in Madison starting at 11 am. I do have an operational update on that – AFP will be running buses from across the state, including Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha, Minocqua, Wausau, Stevens Point, Eau Claire, LaCrosse, Platteville, Johnson Creek, and Beloit. Do sign up if you’re going to be taking the bus.

For those that can’t get out of work (and especially for those in northeast Wisconsin), I have good news. There is also an afternoon Tea Party in Appleton, over at Fox Banquets, 111 E. Kimball in Appleton. That kicks off at 5:30.

Looks like I’ll be one busy road-tripper.

Signs of the times

by @ 22:22. Tags:
Filed under Politics.

Courtesy Justin Higgins at the Columbus, Ohio Tea Party yesterday…

Another sign the second coming (of the Great Depression) is nigh

by @ 19:04. Filed under Economy.

Oil Patch Plug found a rather interesting (in the Chinese sense) report that aired on NBC’s Nightly News last week.

[youtube width=”425″ height=”264″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F94f_Ycsjs[/youtube]

The last time I remember hearing about tent cities popping up this thickly, it was the early 1930s.

March 13, 2009

Joe Biden – a bleeping valuable VP (only “valuable” doesn’t really mean “valuable”)

by @ 17:51. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Jim Treacher’s Twitter stream)

Jake Tapper caught Vice President Joe Biden having a microphone “malfunction”. It seems somebody left a microphone pointed at Biden on when he unleashed what Tapper calls his ‘standard reply’ (reconstituted from the family-friendly ABC News site, so those with sensitive eyes may want to depart now) – “Gimme a fucking break”.

Two things:

– Yes, the fuck does really mean fuck.
– We now know why Biden was picked to be VP; he is at heart a Chicago pol.

China now “worried” about US Treasuries

by @ 7:51. Filed under Economy, International relations, Politics - National.

(H/T – Instapundit)

I believe that Dad29, Asian Badger, Shoebox, and I have been warning about this for a while. The AP reports that China’s Premier, Wen Jiabao, is getting a bit queasy about his country having half its $2 trillion in currency reserves be US government debt. Wen said this at a news conference after China’s annual legislative session – “We have made a huge amount of loans to the United States. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I’m a little bit worried…. I would like to call on the United States to honor its words, stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets.”

The Obama administration is hoping to finance its massive increases in spending through continued sale of those instruments. There’s two problems. First, the publicly-held portion of the debt is expected to double to something north of $22 trillion in the next 10 years. Given the expected anemic growth in the economy, that would put the debt over 100% of the GDP. Second, Social Security is expected to start running in the red inside of 10 years, which means all that loan paper that makes up the Social Security “Trust Fund” will start to be called to make up for the shortfalls. Meanwhile, nothing’s being done about it.

That isn’t exactly a recipe for guaranteed payback of issued debt. It’s a sad day when Communists understand the debt market better than the Gorons in DC.

National Iowahawk Day

by @ 6:53. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Dan Collins has decreed today to be National Iowahawk Day. That’s right; we’re celebrating the best humor on the Web.

Some other people are able to at least try and match Iowahawk’s genius; I simply marvel at it. If I were healthier, I’d probably make my way to Meier’s Tavern in Glenview, IL at 8:30 tonight.

This Is The Group That “Cares” and “Bombs”

by @ 5:56. Filed under International relations, Politics - National.

Earlier this week, President Obama said that the United States should open discussions with the Taliban.  You know, the folks who find honor killings and the mutilation of women fun sport.  Today, Vice President Joe Biden attempted to explain the Administration’s new view on the Taliban:

Biden makes his insight sound as if it’s new, unique, somehow profound. However, we know Joe is a consummate plagiarist, prone to taking other people’s ideas and stating them as his own. His Taliban position is just another such plagiarized thought. Note here how way back in 1977, John Landis and David Zucker first submitted the idea of segmenting your opponents into identifiable groups:

I wonder if Joe Biden will be able to get the Taliban sorted into the right groups? My bet is that he’ll find some that “care” and “bomb” sorted into the wrong group, at least on his first try.

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