The Budget: How I Would Pare Down The Deficit

If I were president...(fat chance that, ed.) I would take the last GOP congressional budget, which what was considered to be a huge deficit...$400+ billion dollars, and I would make across the board cuts...of  30% in every single program, across all departments.  Additionally, I would layoff 30% of all federal workers.

I would also require means testing for Medicare, Medicaide and Social Security.  I  would also submit a bill to Congress that would repeal ALL of ObamaCare, as well as a bill that would:

propose the following as the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

28th Amendment to the United States Constitution
The purpose of this amendment is to restrict the duration and number of consecutive terms any President, United States Senator and Congressman may serve consecutively.  It will additionally limit the number of days Congress may meet and so designate the meeting times of those sessions.

1. No citizen of the United States shall be elected to the House of Representatives to more than four (4) consecutive, two (2) year terms to office.
2. No citizen of the United States shall be elected to the United States Senate for more than two (2) consecutive, six (6) year terms of office. 
3. No citizen of the United States shall receive any retirement benefits from serving in either the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate.
4. The term of office of the President of the United State shall be for one (1), six (6) year term and he may not succeed him or herself.
5. Congress shall not exempt itself from any laws of the United States of America, in whole or in part. 
6. Congress shall be in session for a period of not less than 60 consecutive days in the Spring, and 60 consecutive days in the Summer of each year. Each sitting of Congress may be extended by the President for a period not to exceed 15 days. The Spring session shall start on the first Monday of March. The Summer session shall begin on the first Monday in August. An additional 15 day session to begin on the 2nd Monday of December may be called by the President if so deemed necessary by declaration of a national emergency and voted so by a 2/3rds majority of the sitting Congress and may not be extended. 

as well as this one:

29th Amendment to the United States Constitution
The purpose of this Amendment is to provide that the Congress of the United States will not spend monies that exceed those taken by the IRS and Treasury Department.

• Section 1. Prior to each fiscal year, the Congress shall adopt a statement of receipts and outlays for that year in which total outlays are no greater than total receipts. The Congress may amend such statement provided revised outlays are not greater than revised receipts. Whenever three-fifths of the whole number of both Houses shall deem it necessary, Congress in such statement may provide for a specific excess of outlays over receipts by a vote directly to that subject. The Congress and the President shall ensure that actual outlays do not exceed the outlays set forth in such statement.
• Section 2. Total receipts for any fiscal year set forth in the statement adopted pursuant to this article shall not increase by a rate greater than the rate of increase in national income in the last calendar year ending before such fiscal year, unless a majority of the whole number of both Houses of Congress shall have passed a bill directed solely to approving specific additional receipts and such bill has become law.
• Section 3. The Congress may waive the provisions of this article for any fiscal year in which a declaration of war is in effect by affirmative vote of two-thirds..
• Section 4. The Congress may not require that the states engage in additional activities without compensation equal to the additional costs.
• Section 5. Total receipts shall include all receipts of the United States except those derived from borrowing and total outlays shall include all outlays of the United States except those for repayment of debt principal.
• Section 6. This article shall take effect for the second fiscal year beginning after its ratification.
• Section 7. If Congress fails to pass a balanced budget, then both chambers will be disolved and a Special election will be held in 90 days following the recess without passage of a bill. This election will be fore the remainder of the current session of Congress.

 In 2007, Nancy Pelosi, as Speaker of the House, and Harry Reid, as Majority Leader of the US Senate increased spending by 30 percent.  Once Barack Obama assumed office, that rate was excellerated...until the deficit in each of the last 3 years has been FOUR TIMES the size of the last GOP controlled Congress.  They have added one-third to othe national debt...and have set the country on the course to financial ruin. 

It's well past time that the Constitution be amended to first, eliminate the "professional political class," and secondly, force Congress to do what every one else must do...not spend money we don't have except in times of emergency.

I'd also eliminate the Dept of Energy (there's no energy policy derived from there...failed dept), Homeland Security (isn't that what the dept of Def is for?), Education (that's a function of the states and counties), HUD, Transportation (beyond their investigating plane, train accidents, and broad planning regime, the rest is a function of the states), HHS, BATF, and a whole host of other alphabet "security" agencies...as well as several other departments. Suggestions on what else to cut? 

The John Butler Trio: Ocean

Probably the greatest guitar solo ever...

America's Obituary-Very Interesting

I've checked the following out..it's accurate:

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinborough , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage."

The Obituary follows:

Born 1776, Died 2012
It doesn't hurt to read this several times.

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the last

Presidential election:

• Number of States won by: Obama: 19 McCain: 29
• Square miles of land won by: Obama: 580,000 McCain: 2,427,000
• Population of counties won by: Obama: 127 million McCain: 143 million
• Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Obama: 13.2, McCain: 2.1

 Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory McCain won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal's - and they vote - then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

Something to think about.

The John Butler Trio: Ocean

Probably the greatest guitar solo ever...

Obama: Massive Job Killing Tax Increases

Here's video of candidate Obama in 2008 about what he'll do...have massive, job killing tax increases.



“So, when you hear folks saying ‘Well, the president shouldn’t want massive job killing tax increases when the economy is this weak.’ Nobody’s looking to raise taxes right now. We’re talking about potentially 2013 and the out years.” (emphasis added)


So, as PJM Tattler points out, after he's a lame duck president, he'll finish off the economy!  Just what we need.

Hat Tip...the BlogFather.

UK Classifieds

Classified ads found in UK newspapers these are too funny. You have to love British humor! These are classified ads, which were actually placed in a U.K. Newspaper:


#1 FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER.
8 years old. Hateful little bastard. Bites!

#2 FREE PUPPIES.
Cocker Spaniel, sneaky neighbors’ dog.

#3 FREE PUPPIES.
Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd.
Father is a Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound.

#4 COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED.
Also 1 gay bull for sale.

#5 JOINING NUDIST COLONY!
Must sell washer and dryer $100.

#6 WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE:
Worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie.
**** THE WINNER IS ****

#7 FOR SALE BY OWNER.
Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 45 volumes.
Excellent condition, $200 or best offer.
No longer needed, got married, wife knows everything.



Statement of the Century

Thought from the Greatest Living Scottish Thinker. Billy Connolly- "If women are so bloody perfect at multitasking, how come they can't have a headache and sex at the same time?

Operation Fast & Furious: Funded With Stimulus Money

In yet another damaging relevation in the now unraveling of Operation Gunwalker, Operation Fast & Furious, it appears that "Stimulus Package" money was used to fund these two rogue operations.  In other words, our debt funded the murders of hundreds including 2 US Federal Agents.  Reports are surfacing that neary $50 milliond dollars was spent on the programs that have killed more than 1,500 Mexican nationals, including dozens upon dozens of government officials, judges, prosecutors and police officers as well as several US Federal Agents.



To make matters worse, it now appears that more than 1,000 firearms were smuggled to Honduras via MS-13, the ruthless gang based in that country. 

Leaders of the transnational organized criminal gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) even ordered a hit on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in New York.


There are now reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Tampa Field Division, ran a gun-running investigation that was walking guns to Honduras using the techniques and tactics identical to Fast and Furious. 1,000 of those guns were sold to MS13 buyers.

It's time that a special prosecutor be named to finish unravelling this mess...especially since the Mexican government is now pressing for extradition of those who are responsible to face trial in Mexico on conspiracy to commit-aid and abet-murder.  More here.  A Leftist's take here.



It won't happen...because it's a Democratic administration and the MSM is so far in the tank they don't-refuse to report anything negative...but, the ATF-FBI-Justice Dept scam has directly caused the deaths of hundreds of people, and those who came up this the insanity must be held accountable, either at the bar of law here...or in Mexico.

Via The Gateway Pundit

UPDATE:  Brit Hume has charecterized this scandal perfectly:



Here's a link to the full video.

Via Ed Driscoll

Another (Secret) Bailout To Banks

If you're not angry enough  at the Fed and the Federal Government watch this video:

The Numbers They Are Aweful!

From Steven Green of VodkaPundit, via Instapundit...these numbers speak for themselves.  I don't often reproduce entire blog posts, but these...speak for themselves...

“The numbers, they are awful.”

9.2% — unemployment rate for June.
0.1% — increase since May.
16.2% — underemployment rate for June.
0.4% — increase since May.
8% — conventional wisdom for the maximum allowable unemployment rate to win reelection.
15 — remaining BLS reporting months before Election Day.
255,000 — net jobs that must be created each and every month to reach 8%.
18,000 — net jobs created last month.
44,000 — downward revision to April and May job creation.
3,825,000 — total net jobs needed before Election Day.
2,100,000 — jobs created in the last fifteen months.
11.2% — unemployment rate if the labor participation rate was as high as it was in January, 2009.
290,000 — best monthly net jobs gain during Obama administration.
231,000 — real best gain, minus temporary Census hiring.
14 — months since best monthly gain.
1% — decrease in DJIA in the opening minute of trading, day that jobs figures released.
$1,200,000,000,000 — cost of ARRA “stimulus,” with interest.
1,900,000 — net jobs lost since ARRA was signed.
2 — quantitative easing programs since 2008.
~$2,000,000,000,000 — total of first QE program during Great Recession.
$600,000,000,000 — total of second QE program, just ended.
40% — increase in federal debt since January, 2009.
30% — increase in annual federal spending since January, 2009.
20% — decrease in federal revenues since January, 2009.
12% — decline in value of US dollar since January, 2009.
37% — increase in number of Americans on food stamps since January, 2009.
62% — increase in Misery index since January, 2009.
800 — days since the Senate passed a budget.
1.9% — last quarterly GDP increase.
2.5% — consensus projection for last quarterly GPD increase.
2.7% — official White House projection.
3.0% or better — GDP growth needed to dent unemployment.
3.6% — official White House GDP growth projection for 2012.
2.7% — IMF GDP growth projection for 2012.
30% — federal debt held by public as percentage of GDP, 2005.
60% — federal debt held by public as percentage of GDP, 2010.
180% — federal debt held by public as percentage of GDP, CBO estimate, 2035.

0% — odds of current path being sustainable.

Then toss in this graphic that shows that the recovery from the current recession is the slowest-worst in modern times:

and then this:

...and then think about our "elite political leaders" in Washington argueing whether or not to raise the debt ceiling!  They are quibbling over fake "spending cuts" (which aren't really cuts at all as has been demonstrated in the past few months) that at best cut fractions of a percentage point, while our economy struggles along, it's time to dump the leadership in the GOP, and start fresh.  They don't have the courage to do what needs to be done.

Bankruptcy 101

Bankruptcy 101


A Real Eye Opener



WHY is the USA BANKRUPT?



Informative, and mindboggling!





You think the war in Iraq was costing us too much? Read

this:



A friend of mine sent me some stuff on just how we as a nation are wasting money...the usual meme has been it's the illegal "foriegn wars" that have pushed us into bankruptcy.  The following is what we as a nation spend on illegal workers every single year.  EVERY YEAR. I think that the seven budgetary items below with help change your mind.  I have the URL's for checking those  facts below each item.

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters7fd8

2.  $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at:
 http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML

3.  $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid  for illegal aliens.
Verify at:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML

4.  $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
Verify  at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt..0..HTML

5.   $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML

6.   $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.

Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
http://transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML 

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify  at:
 http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
http://20w.drdsk.com/articleshtml
 https://webmail.east.cox.net/do/redirect?url

If you do the math, you'll find  that we're blowing $338.3 billion dollars each and every year...and that number is climbing with inflation.  By not spending that money, that would close almost one-fifth of the deficit.  That's a significant amount of money.  If we spent it in one year on securing the US-Mexican border, we'd not have to spend that money ever again...think about that.

"Put Me In Charge" (of government handouts...)

This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco , TX Nov 18, 2010

Put me in charge . . .

Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.

Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women  Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.

Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your "home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.

In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the common good..

Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules.. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.

AND While you are on Govt subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Govt welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.

Campaig Poster

800 Numbers...

I received this from a reader not too long ago...and put off reading it.  But it's interesting and something we CAN do something about.

Any time you call an 800 number (for a credit card, banking, charter communications, health and other insurance, computer help desk, etc) and you find that you're talking to a foreign customer service representative (perhaps in India, Philippines, etc), please consider doing the following:

After you connect and you realize that the customer service representative is not from the USA (you can always ask if you are not sure about the accent),  please, very politely (this is not about trashing other cultures) say, "I'd like to speak to a customer service representative in the United States of America ."  The rep might suggest talking to his/her manager, but, again, politely say, "Thank you, but I'd like to speak to a customer service representative in the USA ."  YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED TO A REP IN THE USA .  That's the rule and the LAW.

It takes less than one minute to have your call re-directed to the USA .  Tonight when I got redirected to a USA rep, I asked again to make sure - and yes, she was from Fort Lauderdale .

Imagine what would happen if every US citizen insisted on talking to only US phone reps from this day on. Imagine how that would ultimately impact the number of US jobs that would need to be created ASAP.  If I tell 10 people to consider this and you tell 10 people to consider doing this - see what I mean...it becomes an exercise in viral marketing 101.
Remember - the goal here is to restore jobs back here at home - not to be abrupt or rude to a foreign phone rep. You may even get correct answers, good advice, and solutions to your problem - in real English.

Tom Mullica - Smoking Magic

This is increadible...

Independence Day: A Declaration For Us All

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

In Congress Assembled, July 4, 1776

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

WHEN in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;
For imposing taxes on us without our consent;
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;
For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses;
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

JOHN HANCOCK [President]

Josiah Bartlett
Caesar Rodney
William Whipple
George Read
Matthew Thornton
Thomas McKean
John Hancock
Samuel Chase
Samual Adams
William Paca
John Adams
Thomas Stone
Robert Treat Paine
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Elbridge Gerry
George Wythe
Stephen Hopkins
Richard Henry Lee
William Ellery
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Roger Sherman
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Samuel Huntington
Carter Braxton
William Williams
William Hooper
William Floyd
Joseph Hewes
Philip Livingston
John Penn
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Richard Stockton
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
John Witherspoon
Arthur Middleton
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson

George Ross

Bad Economy Explained: The Democrat Effect

I just read an excellent explaination on just what ails our economy.  It's The Democrat Effect. 

First, there’s “The Democrat Effect,” which is “the rational response by entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and investors to imminent or already present excessive government intervention, overbearing regulation, crippling litigation, and taxation, all of which seriously curtail economic activity to a greater extent than initially estimated.” When Democrats took full control of Congress in January 2007, initially reported economic news started to come in “unexpectedly” bad, and took serious turns for the worse when revised. Then, in the five months or so leading up to the 2008 presidential election, Pelosi, Obama and Reid deliberately frightened the economy’s key players with promises of steep tax increases, wealth redistribution, government control of medicine, punitive regulation, and energy starvation. This led to the almost unimaginable recessionary data declines described above. Perhaps Bush 43 could have done something to stop the madness; sadly, he really didn’t even try.

That's found at the bottom of a post on PJM. It does, however, have it's opposite reaction...remember, for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction?  That's called The Conservative Effect,

For what should be obvious reasons, the flip side of The Democrat Effect is not called “The Republican Effect.” Its proper name is “The Conservative Effect,” which is “the rational response by entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and investors when The Democrat Effect has either ended or is sufficiently reined in, enabling a reasonable level of free-market activity to occur, and causing the economy to perform better than initially estimated.” From 2003 until 2006, the Bush administration’s across-the-board income and investment-related tax cuts enabled The Conservative Effect to take hold in the job market, where initial results routinely and “unexpectedly” beat predictions, and subsequent revisions moved the numbers further upward. Unfortunately, the millions of hours of busywork caused by Sarbanes Oxley, as well as the onerous costs the law added to going public — which caused and continues to cause growing firms which might have gone public in the U.S. before the law’s passage to either decide against it overseas – kept GDP growth, which could have been at least as strong as the late 1990s, at a mostly mediocre level.

and these were created by a guy who writes

Frequent BizzyBlog commenter “JoeC” formulated the foundation of the negative side of what I call “revisionomics” almost four years ago, and worked up the positive side earlier this year.

 Perhaps, after next November, we'll have a good dose of the conservative effect.  Here's hoping for some change, 'cause we're strangling on what hope and change has done to us since 2007.

US Broadband & Cable Service Is Too Expensive

When my wife and I could afford to get cable and broadband through the single provider (Comcast) that is permitted by Baltimore County, Maryland to provide service to consumers here, we paid over $120 per month for both.  The broadband service was fairly slow 10 MPS or so...and we could only purchase "bundles" of channels, not invidivual channels.  So we ended up getting 240 channels of "nothing on TV we want to watch.

A couple of decades ago, the City of Tallahassee, Florida, and the surrounding Leon County, Florida, opened up their cable service to multiple cable providers.  Oddly enough, with  competition, costs of services tumbled, and the ability to pick and choose forced those companies that wanted to provide service to actually listen  to what consumers wanted...imagine that, competition brought costs down, and service content up. 

Now, here's the kicker.  In Europe, where you'd think that with socialism as the standard form of government that they'd have slower, as well as "worse" service...you'd be wrong.  Very nearly all of those countries that belong to the EU have speeds that are much, much higher than ours as well being vastly less expensive.   Moreover, here's a recent study of world-wide cable and internet speeds.  Sadly, we in the US fall behind Protugal and Italy and speed and costs...that's pretty damn sad.

In the United Kingdom, you can get broadband for far less than what we pay here...

Over the past decade, average speeds increased by 25 percent between 2009 and 2010, while prices have tumbled. Broadband service comparable to what we get here in the U.S. is available for less than $6 a month. And no, there isn't a zero missing there. Six bucks a month.

Here's a link to a video report on this that was produced for PBS, as well as a related report here,

 

The fact that we in the US are hamstrung by government regulations that permit monopolies by Comcast, and a few other companies, instead of permitting competition, we will continue to have very slow speeds and much higher prices.  The time has come to REDUCE regulation and increase competition...but in the current environment, where "government knows best" I don't think that will happen.

When the number of companies that provided cell phone service was higher than today, prices tumbled, now that we're down to roughly four, costs are rising and service is...lagging, even as the technology is making massive leaps...

Here are the first 30 countries by ranking from page 82 of the above study:

1. Sweden
2. Denmark
3. Japan
4. South Korea
5. Switzerland
6. Netherlands
7. Finland
8. France
9. Belgium
10. Norway
11. United Kingdom
12. German
13. Iceland
14. Italy
15. portugal
16. United States
17. Luxembouurg
18. Austria
19. Canada
20. Australia
21. Greece
22. New Zealand
23. Ireland
24. Czech Republic
25. Spain
26. Slovak Republic
27. Hungary
28. Poland
29. Turkey
30. Mexico

  We should, as a nation, be at least in the top 5...not 16th!  We're obviosly doing something wrong.  Verizon says competition would be bad for business, of course it would, they'd have to seriously drop theiir prices in order to remain competetive. 

Verizon told me in its written statement that it flat-out opposes the kind of local-loop unbundling that's reduced prices and increased speeds in Britain "for competitive reasons". Those regulations are "bad public policy and bad news for consumers", Verizon says, which "only benefit a few big phone companies, and those companies do not pass their savings on to consumers." Verizon also claims that "those competitors do not invest in their own networks".

AT&T claims that the US is "too large" to provide simillar services and speeds, but that's plain bullshit. 

"There is no 'one-size fits all' regulatory regime" that will work worldwide. AT&T cites two main differences between the UK and U.S. markets: First, more U.S. homes have the option of buying broadband service from cable companies. Second, the U.S. is more spread out -- the technical term is that those "loops" are longer.

25% of the population of this country is located in four regions.  Boston to Washington DC, Chicago-Detroit-Cleveland, Coastal California from San Diego-San Francisco.

Meanwhile, the size of the U.S. may be a red herring. Most of the region between Boston and Washington is as densely populated as most of Europe and the UK. So is the California coast between San Francisco and San Diego. And so is the region of the Midwest centered on Chicago. Those areas are home to about a quarter of all Americans. In other words, we live in a big country, but a lot of it is relatively empty space.
The argument that the U.S. is too spread out is nonsense, according to Herman Wagter, one of the Netherlands' most prominent evangelists for next-generation broadband. He thinks there's something else going on in Verizon's and AT&T's opposition to competition at home: They're afraid of it.

What it comes down to, is that those few companies that offer phone and-or cable service just don't want the competition. That's the bottom line, competition is bad for business, because they will have to provide those services that consumers want...instead of "bundles" that cost more and provide a higher profit margin.  It's time to end the local monopolies that Comcast and Verizon-AT&T and remove the choke hold these companies have on internest speeds and costs.

Hat Tip to the BlogFather,  Glenn, you should be trumpeting this from the rooftops, instead of a one line listing.

Naked Plea for the tip jar...

Ladies and Gentlemen who have hit the paypal tip jar to the right...I, and my wife, thank you from the bottom of our hearts...now if you could do so once more, we could for the first time in 3 years, actually pay all our bills in the month they're due...

Getting High...

I've long since given upon the practice of "getting high" (smoking pot), but every once in a while...after I've consumed far more alcohol, than is good for me..and listening to the "tunes of my mispent youth," I often miss " blowing a J..." I guess what I'm saying is that perhaps "the war on drugs....." has been, not just a waste of time and money but...a waste of money.



YES is often the band that reminds me WHY I used to get really high and...listen to music...I mean REALLY LISTEN TO MUSIC...



I dont' do drugs...and haven't in more than a decade...but when I was young 'and stupid', I used to smoke a great of majuana...and (holy shit) litsten to or go to concerts...but, lately...as I've gotten older (ok  much older), I've often wondered if we've not fucked up and losat sight of just what is going on in the world.

As a classically trained musician (I played flute--Ian Anderson was my hero) and "mallets" (tonal percussion), I am a HUGE fan of YES, Emmerson, Lake & Palmer, and the other "prog-rock" bands (King  Crimson, etc....).  As, I've aged (yes, we old rockers DO GET OLDER MOTHERFUKER!!@!!), I've begun to question where  the ban on smoking pot is...right or not.  I love rock and roll...and  listen to the radio all day long (Thanks Jack RM---102.7 FM Baltimre)...but...is the total ban on smoking marijuanna right?  seriously...

Listenting to to Drama (YES, 1981?) and...consuming far more alcohol than I should...I question if we've done the right thing.....

Response?

All of this of course is throught the filtur of...age...Listening to song of my youth...from bands that I saw...live...and wondering just what they'd be like today...



or,



or,



and, no, I'm neither"trooper"...or a "generator"...I'm a yes fan fan, in ALL of their incarnations...I saw them live in Tallahassee, Florida a couple of decades ago..as well as Atlanta...in the round...I'm just glad that they've found a vocalist that can do what I never could...sing Jon Anderson note perfect...Thank you David Benoit....!!@!~!!!! you've done what I never could...

NCsoft: City of Hero's...q

I, and my son play this silly online game called "City of Heros" (City of Villains & Going Rogue).  Its basically a bunch of 4 year old playing super heroes (or super villains) depending upon your point of view.  They recently updated their system...so much so, that I can't figure out how to pay for the damn game.  I have being playing for almost 6 years (16 months off due to poverty)...but with thier "new" system, I can't figure out how to pay for the game.

It's not like I'm wealthy.  I just got a small bonus through work (holy shit, we can pay rent AND NCSOFT!!!!!!!!).  But their new sysatem is so comlicated, I can't figure out how to pay for my account.  Please someone  let me know how!!!!!!

I don't  have many ways of wasting the day but, CoH realtively cheap....but I can't figure out how to pay the damn game...and I've been playing for years...!!!! hafta hate the "new upgrade"...big sigh

Still Alive: SweetAfton

upate:::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=XGYEMXoVHUs#t=77s