“The political success of liberalism is parasitic, feeding off order and prosperity that the implementation of liberal policies couldn’t possibly create. Bill Clinton’s recent bragging on the campaign trail about the budgets that he balanced in the 1990s is an illustration of this: Where did those budgets come from? Not from the policies of liberalism. Take away the significant reductions in defense spending that came from Ronald Reagan winning the Cold War, the wealth from an entrepreneurial economy that an era of tax cuts generated, and the check on Democratic spending schemes from Newt Gingrich’s Congress, and those budgets would never have been balanced. In his first term, Clinton had every intention of busting the budget with HillaryCare, but he just couldn’t get away it. If Clinton is a ‘successful’ president, as pundits these days insist, that’s because his agenda failed where Obama’s succeeded. By passing ObamaCare and a raft of other bad bills, the Democrats have made it possible for voters to measure liberal rhetoric against the grim realities it produces. The parasite got fat enough to eat the conservative host whole, and now it is dying. … Liberalism normally enjoys the demagogic advantage of appealing to emotion over reason. But in moments of crisis, people want reason over emotion.” –columnist George Neumayr
Posts Tagged ‘Economy’
Of Tapeworms, Liberals, and parasites in General
October 19, 2010Colorado Election : Positions concerning 2010 Statewide Ballot Initiatives
October 16, 2010As directed by the Libertarian Party of Colorado Constitution, the Board of Directors has reviewed the 2010 amendments and propositions on the ballot for voter consideration. There are seven proposed amendments to the Colorado Constitution and two propositions to change the Revised Statutes.
Moves bingo and raffle licensing from Sec State to Dept of Revenue (or other designated by the state legislature). In addition to time, energy, and money already expended on this change to existing law, there will be a onetime $116,000 expenditure from bingo and raffle license fees.
The amendment makes no significant changes to the Colorado Constitution or the long term financial situation of the State Government-
Eliminates property taxes for individuals and businesses that use government-owned property for a private benefit worth $6,000 or less in market value.
The fiscal effects of this amendment are relatively minor, but should increase the efficiency of local governments by reducing the costs of assessing and collecting minor amounts of property taxes from numerous small assessments.
-Requires audit and enforcement of this section.
-All owners of real property would be entitled to vote on all proposed property taxes affecting their property.
-Voters may petition to lower property taxes
-Property tax issues shall have November election notices separate from debt issues
-Property Tax bills list only property taxes and late charges
-Enterprise and authorities shall pay property taxes. Lower mil-levy rates to offset income to taxing dist
-10 year expiration on property tax rate increases
-Extending expiring property taxes, is a tax increase
-Prior actions to keep excess property tax revenue are expired; future actions are tax increases expiring in 4 years. Local governments and enterprises will have to make serious adjustments to their budgets and seek direct voter approval of property taxes on at least a four-year cycle.
-by 2020, non-college school districts phase out ½ of their 2011 property tax rate for operating expenses. State aid replaces the revenue. Shifts school operating costs to State general fund from local resources.
-Repeals existing Article XI Section 3 and re-enacts the original 1876 version of this section to read, “The state shall not contract any debt in any form.”
-Repeals Article XI Sections 4, 5, 6(2), and 6(3) as obsolete and superceded.
-Repeals and re-enacts Article XI Section 6(1) to require voter approval for local governments to contract debt. Also requires ballot title to be specific.
-Adds further specific requirements concerning debt to Article X section 20(4)
–November Ballot approval
–10 year limit on new local debt
–borrowing can’t exceed 10% of assessed valuation
–Tax Rates must be reduced when borrowing is repaid
Would define person as at the beginning of biological development and entitled to full protection of Colorado law.
This is an effort to insert the State into the intensely personal decisions concerning the beginning of human life. It would only further complicate already difficult decisions.
This is in response to the recently enacted Federal health care decrees. It is unfortunately now necessary for Colorado to take a stand to protect individual and state rights associated with US Constitution Article I and Amendments 9 and 10.
-reduces and eliminates vehicle taxes and fees over next 4 years.
-eliminates all state and local taxes on telecommunications service, except 911 fees
-requires voter approval to for future vehicle and telecomm fees.
Adds requirements to Colorado Statutes to prohibit release of a defendant on an unsecured bond to pretrial services program unless it is a first offense and is nonviolent misdemeanor.
If passed this measure will reduce the ability of Judges to release those accused of crimes while awaiting trial. Those unable to afford additional bonding expenses would remain in custody. Additional total costs to the State are estimated at $2.8 million.
For the 2010 November election, voters are asked to consider retention/non-retention of a number of Judges. The LPCO encourages all voters to carefully consider each judge.
Several of the Citizen initiated amendments on the 2010 November Ballot are in response to Supreme Court decisions contrary to the intent of existing constitutional provisions. The activist nature of the recent Colorado Supreme Court and it’s decisions appears to be more focused on predetermined outcomes rather than the Rule of Law.
From: LPCO Board of Directors
To: Colorado Libertarians and interested Voters
Subj: Libertarian Party of Colorado Positions concerning 2010 Statewide Ballot Initiatives.
Perhaps the LPCO has regained some semblance of sanity? Time will tell.
When orders from HQ change… Enviro whacko’s and Texas fights back!
October 16, 2010Texas is firing back after the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would apply the 1970s clean air laws to carbon regulation and effectively seize permitting authority from states that don’t comply quickly enough. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA’s national office chooses priorities, but state regulators run the relevant programs and issue the necessary permits. When orders from HQ change, as with carbon over the last year, states get three years to revise their ‘implementation plans.’ But in August, [EPA Administrator Lisa] Jackson decided that the law posed too long a climate wait and decreed that if these plans aren’t updated by an arbitrary January 2011 deadline, her office will override the states and run the carbon permitting process itself.”
Given the EPA’s current lack of permitting resources, the Journal notes that this decision “is tantamount to a ban on major construction or building expansion — not merely Texan refineries but any kind of carbon-heavy utility, industrial production, manufacturing plant or even large office buildings.” Indeed, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality projects that the new regulations will end 167 current projects in 2011 alone. In response to Jackson’s fiat, the Lone Star State has filed a lawsuit with the DC appeals circuit, arguing the EPA went “beyond [its] powers” and is asking for an emergency stay of the new regulations.
The EPA itself admits that its actions “may have adverse consequences for the economy.” Of course, we’ve seen how little “adverse consequences” mean to an administration convinced that when it comes to federal bureaucracy, bigger is always better.
Income Redistribution: A Stimulating Look at Utopian Economics
October 9, 2010Albert Einstein purportedly stated, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Apparently, the Obama administration disagrees, especially in light of its new report claiming that the spending-upon-spending “stimulus” plan is on-time, under budget and relatively fraud- and abuse-free — other than sending $18 million to dead people, anyway. Moreover, the measure worked as planned, and the economy is back on track. No doubt it’ll be even more robust after even more government spending.
Silly us for believing that double-digit unemployment, depressed markets and unprecedented budget deficits are all indicators of an economy nowhere close to being “back on track.” Our mistake, it seems, was neglecting to use the “jobs-saved” new math that has been the hallmark of the Chosen Administration since its inception. White House officials touted the relatively small number of complaints — less than 2 percent in over 200,000 contract awards — as evidence of the success of the drunken-sailor spending program. We would like to offer a different explanation as to the paucity of complaints, namely, that few complain when a gift horse (read: big government) is throwing billions of dollars at them. Independent of the degree to which spending is “fraud-free,” it’s still spending.
On a completely unrelated note, tens of thousands of workers have just been shown the door, courtesy of the termination of stimulus-subsidized employment programs. A $5 billion program, “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,” is drawing to an end, and with it approximately 250,000 more will hit the streets and unemployment lines, highlighting yet again that government does not produce jobs. Any jobs it claims to “produce” will both cost more and be less sustainable than would otherwise be true in the free market. Meanwhile, in September, another 95,000 jobs were lost.
In contrast, Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden’s Pollyanna-ish chief economist, stated that the report on stimulus spending affirms that “the recovery act has accomplished much of what it set out to do.” Sadly, we must agree: Hamstringing the free market while redistributing wealth to Democrat constituency groups? Check. Helping the economy to actually recover? Not so much.
And then we have;
The Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced last Friday that they are considering regulating fuel mileage for vehicles even further — to an eye-popping 62 mpg by 2025 — so that CO2 emissions per mile might possibly be reduced by 3 to 6 percent. The Associated Press reports, “The government envisions gas-electric hybrids making up about half the lineup of new vehicles under the most aggressive standards, while electrics and plug-ins would comprise about 10 percent of the fleet.” These changes would add about $3,500 to the price of every vehicle, though the government claims owners would save $7,400 over the vehicle’s lifetime.
Meanwhile, in the government’s version of Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Roadrunner, the Obama administration appears to be simultaneously trying to “stimulate” interest in higher mileage vehicles by choking off oil supplies through dragging out its offshore drilling ban, which artificially drives up gas prices. We can only hope this scheme will blow up in the their face too. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is “reviewing” the moratorium just as Europe’s energy chief is considering putting a ban in place.
In other oil news, the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling released a report on the federal response to April’s oil spill and, not surprisingly, the administration comes in for criticism. The report said, “The federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem.” That, in a nutshell, is the essence of Hope ‘n’ Change.
Pot and kettle
October 7, 2010Post partisan politics? “If I hear one more Republican tell me about balancing the budget, I am going to strangle them.” –Joe Biden, who quickly added, “To the press, that’s a figure of speech.”
The BIG Lie: “If you are concerned about debt and deficits, the other side is not presenting any serious ideas.” –BO
Whose money is it? “Their number one economic priority is giving $700 billion in tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires.” –BO, who doesn’t want small business owners to keep their own money
Demotivational speaker: “Every single one of you is a shareholder in that mission of rebuilding our country and reclaiming our future. We can’t let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn’t care enough to fight. The stakes are too high for our country and for your future.” –Barack Obama
Failing to practice what you preach: “[Y]ou have to go by the three C’s: the Constitution, your conscience and your constituents when you make a vote. What your caucus, Democratic or Republican, thinks is very, very secondary to what I just described.” –House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who routinely ignores the Constitution
Pot and kettle: “I’m always suspicious of, uh, of politics that is dividing people instead of bringing them together.” —Barack Obama, the great divider, on the immigration debate
Pot and kettle again: “It seems to me that Tea Party activists, increasingly influential in the Republican Party, do not seem to much like America the way we are.” –Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
“[T]he Republicans have said ‘no, no, no.’ … They have been the party of ‘no’ and obstructionism. … [T]hey do not want America to succeed. They’re into politics.” –Sen. Bernie Sander, self-proclaimed socialist from Vermont
Belly Laugh of the Week: “Ours is a complex message. The Tea Party message is pretty easy and simple. We just don’t have it in our make-up, in our DNA, to mislead the public.” –Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell
Government Nannyism
October 5, 2010“The Obama administration and congressional Democrats have adopted a view of virtually unlimited government power that is clearly contrary to the Founders] vision of a constitutionally limited government. In their vision, government roams the countryside fixing problems — any problems. Having trouble paying your mortgage? Don’t worry, the federal government will help you. Your local school not doing a good job? The federal government will be there to help. Don’t have health insurance? The federal government will make you buy it. … The Constitution, with all its messy checks and balances and its attempt to limit government to only certain ‘enumerated powers,’ is little more than a nuisance. … It makes one wonder why members of Congress take that silly oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution’ when they are sworn into office. ‘Are you serious?’ responded a stunned and baffled Nancy Pelosi when asked about the constitutionality of the health-care bill. … Perhaps the American public is waking up to the dangers of government power and the need for true constitutional restraint.” –Cato Institute’s Michael Tanner
Seriously Big Spenders
October 5, 2010“A strong case can be made that the people most responsible for the gigantic deficits we face today are neither George W. Bush nor Barack Obama. The real culprits are Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Congress controls the purse strings. When Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Reid rose to their present jobs in January 2007, the deficit was $161 billion. It had been on a downward trajectory from $413 billion in 2004. Three years later, the Pelosi-Reid Congress had added $1.2 trillion to the deficit. Of course, Mr. Bush sponsored or signed into law many of these deficit-raising bills, such as the bank bailouts and effective tax rebates of 2008. But the Democratic Congress passed them. Long forgotten is the promise Mrs. Pelosi made on the day she became speaker: ‘Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt.’ I think future generations would like a do-over. … For the sake of comparison, let’s look at the Pelosi-Reid fiscal record over 10 years. In January 2007, the CBO projected a $379 billion surplus over the next decade. Now, after four years under Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Reid, and two years of Mr. Obama in the White House, the 2007-2016 projection is a deficit of $7.16 trillion. This deterioration of the nation’s fiscal situation is arguably the worst in United States history, and it was brought to us courtesy of a congressional leadership that pledged ‘pay as you go’ budgeting to bring the budget into balance. It is no wonder that Americans are not eager to retain the services of these two spendthrifts as leaders of Congress.” –Wall Street Journal economics writer Steve Moore
Epic fail obamacare: Sebelius Expounds on Her Recent Threat to Health Industry
October 2, 2010Shortly after declaring that “there will be zero tolerance” for health insurers spreading “misinformation” about ObamaCare causing rate increases, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius wrote an op-ed claiming that health insurers “ran wild with no accountability” and previously had “free rein” for conducting business — all while under the regulation of 50 state insurance departments. In a bit of cosmic irony that managed to elude her keen wit, this alleged insurer rampage somehow didn’t occur on her watch as the Kansas Insurance Commissioner, a position that had the power to disapprove proposed health insurance rate increases since 1965.
Not satisfied with her Orwellian mischaracterization of the truth, Sebelius also misdiagnosed an insurer’s recent premium refund in North Carolina. She claimed that the refund was the result of regulatory powers under ObamaCare when, in reality, the insurer had determined that ObamaCare had so badly damaged the state’s individual health market that pulling out of that market was its only option. The refund was simply a return of the unused portions of subscribers’ premiums.
As the Democrats are about to discover, the health “reform” that they designed to transfer health insurance regulatory power from the states to the national government may be a Pyrrhic victory come Election Day. Instead of being a Democrat electoral lifeline, ObamaCare is actually the anchor around their necks.
“[I want to] remind our base constituency to stop whining: epic fail obama
September 29, 2010Pigs are not only wearing lipstick, they are flying!
With friends like these… “People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up. … If people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place. … It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. … The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.” –Barack Obama hammering his own base in an interview with Rolling Stone
“[I want to] remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives. This president has done an incredible job. He’s kept his promises.” –Joe Biden on the same talking points
“And so those who don’t get — didn’t get everything they wanted, it’s time to just buck up here, understand that we can make things better, continue to move forward and — but not yield the playing field to those folks who are against everything that we stand for in terms of the initiatives we put forward.” –Joe Biden
“We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening.” –Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), another snotty elitist lecturing voters
The GOP’s best friend: “[I]f we allow this to be a referendum on whether people are happy where they are now, we’ll lose.” –Joe Biden
But on the other hand: “I guarantee you we’re going to have a majority in the House and a majority in the Senate. I absolutely believe that.” –Biden
Patronizing: “There are strains in the Tea Party that are troubled by what they saw as a series of instances in which the middle-class and working-class people have been abused or hurt by special interests and Washington, but their anger is misdirected.” –Barack Obama
“[Fox News has] a point of view that I disagree with. It’s a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world.” –Obama in the Rolling Stone interview
On fiscal responsibility: “What I’m seeing out of the Republican leadership over the last several years has been a set of policies that are just irresponsible, and we saw in their Pledge to America a similar set of irresponsible policies. … [Although GOP leaders] say they want to balance the budget, they propose $4 trillion worth of tax cuts and $16 billion in spending cuts, and then they say we’re going to somehow magically balance the budget. That’s not a serious approach.” –Barack Obama, who must consider Republicans amateurs when it comes to blowing money.
Democrats Run From Their Record: epic fail obama
September 24, 2010How bad is it for Democrats? They’re running against their own programs. ObamaCare, cap-n-tax, you name it, they’re against it now. This situation reached absurdity when five Democrat members of Congress ran ads claiming to have voted “no” on TARP. The five are Frank Kratovil (MD), Dina Titus (NV), Mary Jo Kilroy (OH), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA) and Glenn Nye (VA). The inconvenient truth is, according to FactCheck.org, “None of the five lawmakers who are running these ads is listed in the roll call vote. That’s because none of them had taken office yet.” But if they had been in Congress, they would have been against it. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
“I still remember Sasha, when she was three months old … had meningitis, and she had to get a spinal tap, and they had to keep her [in the hospital] for three or four days. … I still remember that feeling of just desperation, watching the nurse take her away to provide treatment for her. But I was thinking, what if I hadn’t had insurance?” –Barack Obama at a “backyard discussion” in Virginia about health care
Obama lectures the press to leave his girls alone, yet turns around and uses them as a political prop whenever it suits his own leftist policy initiatives.
However, he does “take the blame” for public opposition to ObamaCare. “Sometimes I fault myself for not being able to make the case more clearly to the country.” He may think that if only he had talked more about it, voters would get it, but as the first provisions kicked in this week, it’s more likely that voters will now blame Democrats for every health care problem.
Conservative Libertarian Outpost 