Miscellaneous Musings About Recent News Events and The Amrican Political Class
A number of news items have come about recently that are worth pondering about the state of the country and how well, or not, the American political class is doing their job: - A recent article from the Associated Press on September 3, 2010 reported on a skirmish between Mexican armed forces and a large number of suspected drug cartel members in a Mexican state close to the U.S. border. We have recently talked about the rising problem of drug gang and cartel violence and potential for that violence to spill over into the U.S. The fact that Mexico is using soldiers to storm drug cartel properties gives you a scary idea of how big the problem is becoming, so big that local police are now no match for the gangs.
Who said: We Will Go Through Our Federal Budget Page By Page, Eliminating Those Programs We Do Need.
According to the Cato Institute, who stated the words in the title of this post? Congressman Ron Paul, that crazy libertarian type out of Texas? Somebody out of that wacky tea party crowd? One of those nut case Fox News hosts? No, those words were stated by President-elect Barack Obama in 2008. What a great idea, take a ground up approach to examine and analyze every expenditure of taxpayer money that the political class has responsibility for. Unfortunately, never has a politician's promise never fallen so short. Consider what has happened since the President took office: In the first two years of Obama's Presidency, his administration has shattered all previous records highs of Federal budget deficits, adding almost three TRILLION dollars to the national debt in just his first two years with the potential of adding many more TRILLIONS, based on the President's current budget plans.
The Bitch and: It's Life, Jim . . . !
Well Darlings, George Osborne's plans to take away child benefit in 2013 from higher-rate taxpayers, those with incomes over 44, 000, has certainly stirred up a hornets' nest, hasn't it? But why? It is a "benefit", an amount of money the state pays out to help those in need, and though it may not be convenient for some, when the country's average net working wage is around 26, 000, I cannot see those earning in excess of 44, 000 as being needy. When only 15% of families with children include a higher-rate tax payer, this is certainly not an attack on the poor, is it? So why all the furore? Oh, yes! It is because a few people (and they are only a few of that 15%) will still receive the benefit even though the parents' joint income exceeds the cut-off point, though when taken singly it doesn't.
What Does A Paula Poundstone Comedy Bit Have In Common With Obama's Failed Economic Policies?
As I observe the Obama administration flail away at trying to "fix" the economy, I am reminded of an old Paula Poundstone comedy monologue/skit that she did several years ago. She was discussing that whenever you see a horrid television show, or a very bad movie, or a terrible television commercial, you need to remember that someone, somewhere actually wrote that bad idea down on a piece of paper. In fact, that idea was probably rewritten several times, from first draft to the final, wretched version. Some group of people at the television network, movie studio, or advertising agency thought that this final version was great, prior, of course, to it hitting reality and failing miserably.
You Are Not Living In A Free Country If...
Read the following and then you decide if you think you are still living in a free country: - You are not living in a free country if your retirement medical care, via Medicare, is dependent on the actions and whims of politicians. - You are not living in a free country if a large percentage of your retirement cash flow, via Social Security, is dependent on the actions and whims of politicians. - You are not living in a free country if your pre-retirement medical care, via the ramifications of Obama Care, is dependent on the actions and whims of politicians. - You are not living in a free country if your ability to go to college, via student loans, is dependent on the actions and whims of politicians.
Restoring Freedom In America, Florida Style
I filled out my Florida resident voter's ballot today and was impressed by three of the ballot initiatives that are to be voted on by Florida residents in November. The first two initiatives are concerned about the historical gerrymandering of Florida state legislative districts and Florida Congressional districts that gives incumbent politicians and their respective parties unfair advantages when it comes to dividing up voter blocks and boundaries. The wording for each is identical with the only difference being whether the initiative is for intrastate state legislative districts or Congressional districts (below is the Congressional district ballot initiative): Florida Constitutional Amendment - Article III, Section 20 Standards for legislature to follow in Congressional redistricting "Congressional districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party.
Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out
Please read the following list and then decide what action is most important: a) Renew the Bush tax cuts in order to provide some certainty to households and small businesses in the country and make sure that disposable income is kept in the private sector of the market and economy. Hopefully, this renewal would help getting the economy moving again rather than sending this disposable income to the political class where it will almost likely be wasted without and corresponding economic benefit. b) Change the section of Obama Care that requires 40 million United States businesses to file 1099 tax forms for every vendor they spend over $600 with during the year, allowing those businesses to use these resources to expand their businesses and the economy rather than wasting these resources on meaningless bureaucratic waste and nonsense.
