I remain a fan of President Obama but it has been painful to watch him and congress move to adopt the most reckless example of massive and excessive government spending since the founding of our remarkable American experiment. The founders knew that solutions spring not from large and cumbersome governments, but from the hard work and inspired innovation of a free and vibrant people.
The budget problem is another great example of how chickens tend to come home to roost, and expensively. After inheriting a spectacular financial situation from the Clinton years, GW Bush managed to drive up the national debt by about $6,000,000,000,000, doubling this critical measure of our future prosperity potential even as Republicans whined about how “tax and spend” liberalism was ruining the country. Note also that only a small part of this was war spending and war is not a legitimate economic excuse for long term deficit spending. As they shifted our costs to the far future rather than balanced the bloated budgets Republicans adopted a “don’t tax, just spend!” philosophy that is now …. wait for it …. being used by Obama and the Democrats to speciously justify spending of far-greater-than-biblical proportions. Meanwhile, having lost almost all of their “fiscal responsibility” credibility over the past 8 years Republicans *very correct* concerns about the new budget are reaching a lot of deaf ears.
Republican Senator Judd Gregg, who turned down a major administration appointment probably due to these differences – has been one of the most articulate critics. He notes that the proposed budgets for the next decade will create a massive wall of debt – probably an insurmountable debt – such that our children will have to choose between massive taxation levels or dangerous inflationary measures such as printing money to repay the huge sums we are borrowing now from other governments.
Senator Gregg is right on with this, and it will be tragic if he does not become a key architect of the solutions needed.
Democrats, who tend to choose optimism over realism, suggest that we’ll jump start the flailing economy and restore the prosperity train and live happily ever after. It’s probably true that the current budget and high spending will help keep the economy from tanking. Most economists agree we need a massive injection of Government money to stimulate things. However I think few experts – and even fewer real people (who often have at least as good a power of prediction) would make the case that we aren’t heading for major trouble down the line.
Much of the solution is clear:
Stimulus should be smaller, more targeted, and eliminate the tens of billions in costly projects with dubious benefits.
Health Care cost reductions should be massive, aggressive, and all options must be kept on the table. Europe and Canada have vastly superior models to our system with comparable care at half the cost. Whining about the relatively small numbers of underserved patients isn’t convincing anybody anymore. If free market enthusiasts can come close to Canada / Europe health costs then propose plans that do this NOW. Otherwise shut up and adopt a single payer or nationalized health care system. The “quality of care” arguments are largely bogus and designed to scare people into opposing cheaper solutions. The current system is not sustainable and we have alternative cheaper and viable models.
Defense cost cuts should be massive and aggressive. We’ve massively overspent on defense since WWII and both parties refuse to view this spending rationally, where ROI is measured in logical terms of achieving objectives. Simply eliminating the military pork projects will cut *tens of billions* We need to use our highly effective targeted strike capabilities, humanitarian assistance, and public relations to gain far more international support at a fraction of the cost. Note to Republicans – stop your knee jerk nonsensical support of indefensibly massive defense spending.
Entitlements should be cut gradually but eventually massively and as soon as the economy shows clear signs of stability. We’re living on the money of future workers, not our own, and if this does not stop soon it could be the greatest case of intergenerational theft of all time. With respect to many entitlement programs we are all little Bernie Madoffs, pushing the Government to pay us from money they are borrowing from America’s children.
Note to Democrats: stop your knee jerk nonsensical support of excessive entitlements.
These three measures would allow a balanced budget as soon as the economy stabilizes.
We must end the era of tribal thinking and “political finance” where the government – to please constituents and party hacks – keeps running things wrong and not in the long term best interests of the country.
Joe Duck 
Interesting post and pretty much right on the money.
Unfortunately the residents are running the asylum here. The Obama victory was just too much for Pelosi/Reid to resist. They are basically taking every liberal idea whether good or bad for the last 40 years and piling it into these plans.
The sad part of all of this…there is literally no planning or engineering for these monies…it is just vast sums of money thrown to a line item, an idea – nothing behind it as far as analysis, etc.
I just can’t get over the fact that now we will be facing a dire situation where our government will start $1 trillion in the hole before the year even begins and that is just because of the debt service (interest).
On top of the interest deficit each year we are about to embark on the biggest expansion of government and with policies that will put our manufacturing and production at a significant disadvantage to our global competitors similarly to how the unions created a severe cost disadvantage for our auto manufacturers.
We all want to be environmentally conscience and do the right thing for the planet but come on let’s come up with positive and creative ideas that don’t penalize every single American in the name of politically driven science.
Our congress is acting just like all those greedy homeowners that that threw sound fiscal responsibility and caution to the wind and bought their McMansions… unfortunately our country is going to end up in the same exact place at the end of the day…but who will be foreclosing on our country!
As I have said the temptation is just too great for these corrupt elected officials. Reid is such a fool…I hope he pulls this stunt and see what happens these measures…
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is holding the option of using a legislative maneuver to create not only a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system but also a controversial cap and trade energy program, a move that could torpedo bipartisanship.
The maneuver, known as “reconciliation,” protects legislation to which it’s attached from a Senate filibuster. Republicans, in their deep minority status, are in an uproar over the possibility that they will be all but eliminated from the legislative process.
But Republicans are not alone in their opposition. A sizable number of Democrats have protested the move; first and foremost, Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who excluded it from his committee’s budget passed Thursday.
The House has reconciliation instructions in its budget for health care, and Reid left open the door Thursday to adding energy protections as well.
“We’re leaving nothing off the table,” Reid told reporters Thursday, a move that has touched off a firestorm of concern behind the scenes.
So concerned about the possibility of it being used, Sens. Robert Byrd, D-W.V., and Mike Johnanns, R-Neb., sent a letter of strong protest to the majority leader.
Glenn I’m glad we can finally agree! 😆
I think a big reason the Dems are not worried enough about the excessive spending is a simple political equation. By pushing the trouble ahead to the next generation of workers is the best way to keep the power status quo. GW and the gang did this with *their* overspending of the past 8 years, though nothing like on the scale we are seeing now. If GW had raised taxes to cover the shortfalls he’d have lost to Kerry.
In this sense it’s largely our own damn fault – Americans clamor for more entitlements, big defense, and lower taxes. That’s ONLY possible if you borrow money and push the trouble forward as we’ve been doing for some time, though now at a new and potentially catastrophic pace.
(3) Joe I would also add that during the Clinton era all of the monkey business started in full swing with the false economic growth via bubbles. Bush took it to a whole other level and now we have a massive pendulum swing to massive taxation and government control.
Another thing that keeps bugging me is the overwhelming information that really looks like Obama has been bought and paid for and bought with a massive amount of foreign money. I don’t think we just dismiss that – I think it is molding some of his choices.
Additionally we now have a police action in Afghanistan (as of Fri)…when are we going to learn that just doesn’t work…we tried it in Vietnam, we tried in Central America and now Afghanistan.
We have to stop handicapping our military the way we do. War is horrible but unfortunately necessary at times…we need to go in with 150% effort and with only one goal – VICTORY. Get it down, get out and get home.
This Afghanistan issue is going to spiral out of control and be the albatross around Obama’s neck.
And why do we have to come up with such stupid names for horrible things…man caused disaster, overseas contingency operation…geesh…what is wrong with these people?
(3) Joe if Obama is found out to be fraud in regard to his natural citizenship then he will have to resign if he doesn’t the Democrats can’t risk the 2010 election to being a referendum on our Constitution.
I don’t think Pelosi would risk it, the downside is huge. The Democrats would be swept from office in 2010, Republicans would impeach and convict Obama, Biden would be President and the new speaker of the house would assume the VP position.
Which in our current economic position actually would probably be the best for our country. Biden, the Democrat in the position of President and a Republican as VP.
This stuff is wild…I wouldn’t normally think the Democrats would be so reckless but after seeing the spending I am not so sure…I think they felt after they successfully trashed Bush this would their only opportunity for a complete coup d’etat.
More bad news…
The results of the daily tracking poll today reveal some very telling sentiments in the country. Obama did NOT receive any bounce in the polls from his presser this week. That is not good…he is stuck at +5 but the trend indicates this is going to continue to erode.
50% of America thinks his plans will hurt the economy.
66% now say those that make under 250k a year will see increased taxes.
63% think tax cuts would help the economy
57% of America favors a tax cap (max 25%) for all taxes paid to Federal, State, local, etc. Interesting only 23% are opposed to this. I think they should add a max lifetime cap on taxes as well…
14% support a 90% tax on earnings over $1 million a year…ROFL…unbelievable.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Wait until you read this…
Members of Congress heard testimony against the activist group ACORN on Thursday, exposing the group’s illegal activity and mafia-style tactics.
Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh appeared before the a House Judiciary subcommittee alleging that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has violated campaign finance and tax laws in addition to their protest-for-hire and coerced donations. The source of the accusations was from the sworn testimony of ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief, who was a clerk for ACORN’s sister organization called Project Vote.
MonCrief, a Democrat and Obama supporter, testified last year that Barack Obama’s campaign gave Project Vote a “donor list” of people who had contributed the maximum amount allowed by federal law. According to Heidelbaugh’s testimony, the donors were to be targeted to donate to ACORN’s “Get Out the Vote” efforts and finance voter registration drives.
Heidelbaugh revealed in her testimony that there is virtually no separation between ACORN and Project Vote, as employees working for one group would perform work for the other.
Until October, MonCrief had been a confidential informant for New York Times reporter Stephanie Strong. Strong wrote several articles about ACORN based on the information MonCrief provided. When MonCrief informed Strong about the donor list in October, the reporter told MonCrief that the Times would not run the story because “it was a game changer.” The Times did not publish any further articles on ACORN throughout the remainder of the election.
LOL…MSM wasn’t in the bag for Obama…naw…they just throw their ethics right out the window.
Joe do you still think ACORN is a harmless organization?
Once this unravels it is going to get very big and it will all tie back to Soros and his unethical tactics to overthrow our Republic.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.2810/pub_detail.asp
Note to Republicans – stop your knee jerk nonsensical support of indefensibly massive defense spending.
Were it so easy. Defense spending, say in regards to aerospace and ship building, provides thousands of jobs. It’s bread and butter in SoCal. And of course, it’s thoroughly bipartisan. While most defense contractors are thought to be good ol boy GOPers, Clinton/Gore had no problem authorizing billions for supercarriers and other big item defense projects. Feinstein was out in Palmdale a couple of months ago waving the flag for Northrop Grumman to upgrade the B2 (then her man Blum probably gets a kickback from it).
(8) If I had a choice…free cellphones for the homeless or bullets for our soldiers…I would choose the later.
Another key stat today…
11% of American thinks Obama/Geithner can run Financial Institutions better…lol.
What is the left thinking?
Well, Glennster you routinely argue for decreasing govt. spending. Defense spending’s the biggest chunk–even Aynnie Rand had words for the USA military pork barrel.
The defense race is a type of high stakes poker game however: The USA spends billions developing all sorts of new weapons, aircraft, supercarriers, and the Russians and chinese, other countries respond. Let’s hope at some point they will decide to fold; with General Hillary in command, who really knows.
(10) Unfortunately they are going to keep spending…so if I had to choose I would rather spend money on the military…a lot flows out of the R&D and until we find some way to effectively manage the lunatics that are running other countries I don’t think we have much choice.
In fact now that we are cutting our defense spending China, Russia, etc are ramping up their spending to record levels. It isn’t always us that drives the military spending of others.
My biggest beef on spending has to do with the corruption surrounding it and most of the spending that is happening now is to lock in future votes and not really designed to help people…just help the political class. We shouldn’t even have a political class in our country.
So if we had the proper checks and balances in place to stop the corruption I think a lot of people would be more open to government spending in areas that make sense. But right now it is totally out of control.
Don’t forget this weekend to turn on every light and electrical appliance you have in your house! At 8:30pm your timezone for 1 hour.
Make sure you include your hair dryers, vacuums, tv’s, computers and most especially your pool heaters!
LOL…it’s a crazy world we live in.
LOL…yeah Obama and his admin are honest and sincere…lol
At least The Chicago Tribune still has some integrity and honesty amongst its reporters.
Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.
One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.
As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation’s mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration’s pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world.
Emanuel’s Freddie Mac involvement has been a prominent point on his political résumé, and his healthy payday from the firm has been no secret either. What is less known, however, is how little he apparently did for his money and how he benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation’s current economic mess.
The board met no more than six times a year. Unlike most fellow directors, Emanuel was not assigned to any of the board’s working committees, according to company proxy statements. Immediately upon joining the board, Emanuel and other new directors qualified for $380,000 in stock and options plus a $20,000 annual fee, records indicate.
ROFL –
After being questioned by FOXNews.com, U.N. downgrades estimated savings from going dark for Earth Hour from $81,000 to $102.
Of course U.N., Al Gore, the global warming extremists would never exaggerate…now would they? 81k down to 102…aye yi yi.
No there is nothing see here…just move along. Obama is sincere and honest…circus…circus…circus…
Bob Secter and Andrew Zajac of the Chicago Tribune report that, while researching what went at Freddie Mac during the period White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel served on the government sponsored enterprise’s board of directors, they were unable to get minutes of board meetings and other information:
The Obama administration rejected a Tribune request under the Freedom of Information Act to review Freddie Mac board minutes and correspondence during Emanuel’s time as a director. The documents, obtained by Falcon for his investigation, were “commercial information” exempt from disclosure, according to a lawyer for the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Freddie Mac executives cooked the books, mismanaged the firm, and ultimately drove it into the ground, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. The “commercial information” exemption is reserved for private companies–Freddie Mac is by no means a private company anymore.
Glenn are there any major US political figures you think are “very honest”? Who?
If pretty much every single elected leader is a lying sham we are failing in a major way. How can you agree that we have a ‘great country’ but think pretty much all the popularly elected leaders are evil?
(16) The people of America make our country great. The vast diversity, creativity, productivity. We are the most generous people on the planet.
Pretty much over 80% of our elected officials are corrupted and I certainly don’t think any of our elected officials represent the best of America (look at Pelosi, Frank, etc)…geesh.
Our great country has nothing to do with the elected. They are elected to serve us…the great people of this great country.
If you want to have Princess Diana syndrome then move to the U.K.. Some countries need to prop up people and make them rock stars because they don’t have what we have here.
I think it has been way too long since we have had a great American figure that was a true leader. Joe you have to admit the campaign the Obama ran was one of the best…although it was a total stage show…no real substance. His performance since he took office has been an abysmal failure. What has he done? He has in the shortest period of time racked up the biggest debt and highest amount of spending EVER on this ENTIRE planet and for what?
We need leaders that understand that they are elected to serve this country and not their self-interests and they need to uphold the letter of the law and our constitution. Not decide to skip enforcing some laws because they don’t fit your ideology. We have a system in place for changing laws we have hundreds of elected lawmakers to do it. If the elected officials can’t change the law then that is how the system is supposed to work. You shouldn’t use other branches of our government to circumvent laws. You shouldn’t abandon the Constitution just because it isn’t convenient for what you want to do.
It is the people of this country and our foundations, the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, etc… that make us great.
You should spend some time listening to foreign politicians who envy the foundation of our country. It is so important and so powerful yet we get people into office that just trash it in the name of their ideology.
And Joe you want to talk about honesty…look at the people like Cuomo, Frank, etc…screaming about AIG.
Look at Geithner who got caught red-handed lying about it.
Look at what Obama said…that he didn’t know…but according to him the buck stops with him – yeah BS as long as the buck is spent on his programs and he sets benchmarks that can never be probably measured. They create a scenario where they can’t miss their goals…because the goals are vapor.
Look at Chris Dodd.
The fact that they for a second were going to expose the workers names and addresses is nothing less than a form of extortion.
ALL OF THESE PEOPLE that are screaming the loudest are the guilty ones…not these guys at AIG. They are some of the smartest people on the street and they were brought into to handle the disassembling of AIG and they did their job and the pay was based on what they were contracted to do. They had nothing to do with the credit swaps, etc.
This whole AIG fiasco was a huge disgrace. These innocent people could have been killed by people that were incited by irresponsible, unethical and corrupt politicians.
And Obama…just sat there and didn’t say a word all the time he knew the AIG protest bus tour was funded and staffed by ACORN…absolutely shameful.
All of these AIG people should walk and never lift a finger again to help this country.
Glenn do you see also see guys like McCain, Judd Gregg, Ron Paul as “corrupt”? I think it’s important to divorce your views about whether a policy is right or wrong from the country from whether the pols are good or bad. Even Nixon wanted the best for the country. It’s funny because I used to argue with my liberal friends that they were wrong to think Cheney and Bush were corrupt and evil. Now, I argue with my conservative friends that Obama isn’t corrupt or evil. Both groups would say I’m being “naive” but for the opposite reason. In fact I’d say both are suffering from “The Naivete of the Skeptic” where one’s tendency to dismiss any evidence that does not support the idea in question leads to faulty conclusions. This is why sticking to ideology over experimental truth is poison.
(19) Well since McCain has NEVER taken an earmark…he scores high on that scale however his campaign contributions from some sources definitely wreak of something not so kosher.
I mean think about it…if we just eliminated the paid access from special interest in all forms and eliminated earmarks just those two things would go a long way to block any corruption.
I think our system breeds corruption and a lot of elected officials wouldn’t be corrupt if it weren’t so easy. Plus I think a lot of them just give in to the system and go along for the ride.
I don’t know enough about Gregg and Paul (their campaign donations, earmarks, etc) to really say anything about them…but I will research it.
I think you know I clearly think Frank, Dodd, Schumer, etc…are ALL very corrupt. The evidence, etc is overwhelming.
But have you noticed I never said Hillary was totally corrupted. I think the Clinton’s overall have some pretty shady deals in their past, stock futures, whitewater, etc…but I don’t think it actually rises to the level of corruption that people like Dodd and Frank has completely mastered.
My other big pet-peave is the hypocrisy and race baiting…it is very frustrating to see how these things are played out by our non-principled elected officials.
And then you have the extreme level of incompetence of someone like Jimmy Carter.
Nixon just wasn’t an honest person and what happened to him is right. It doesn’t matter that you want the best for your country…what matters is what you do when people aren’t looking. Character really does matter and the reason it matters is because people that are severely flawed character end up with distractions that don’t allow them to do their job.
There are a lot of really good people in this country that are ethical, kind, smart and have a core set of principles that you can count on. Unfortunately with all the massive attacks when you enter the political fray – are we really surprised that the really good people with principles want nothing to do with it.
You may not like Palin but what our country did to this poor woman just because she doesn’t support abortion is an extreme disgrace. She had the highest approval ratings of any governor of this country, she actually took on her own party and she did all on principles. At least you know exactly where she stands and you know if she says something it is going to happen. You talk about hit jobs…that woman stands up for two months to serve our country and this political assassination is still going on because the liberal left is deathly afraid of her.
It has become a sad day in our country when we can’t have the public discourse, debates, on hard-hitting topics that has made our country great and the openness and collaboration has ceased all because of corruption.
Corruption has been the root of every great nation’s downfall…we see the signs…we know where this going and if we do nothing about it…then we deserve what we will get.
(19) Joe you bring up a very good point about being naive or being a skeptic.
I do think Cheney is pretty evil. I think someone like Bill Ayers is evil. I don’t think evil people change. They just choose a path that allows them the maximum amount of control regardless of the end result – good or bad.
Obama I don’t think I would classify him as evil. Rahm…on the other hand…he is a very good candidate for evil. Biden is not evil in any way. In fact given who is in the key positions of power right now Biden and Hillary are probably the two that will have to save our country.
My biggest issue with Obama is I think he is a fraud…not because of his birth certificate but because he is nothing without a teleprompter. My nephew who is in the political world big time told me about Obama years ago when he was first going and he said something to me…the man is nothing without a teleprompter…
I think Obama is a bought and paid for puppet put in place to do bidding for a group of people. Problem is we really don’t know who those people are. Soros is probably one of them. The extreme liberal left is definitely part of the cabal behind him. You just don’t come out of nowhere, magically get to go to Columbia and Harvard on someone else’s dime and then go through the Chicago political machine at warp speed unless you are horribly corrupt…mathematically I don’t think it is possible.
Add on to that all the cover up and hiding of information – everyone should be skeptical of Obama. Do you remember when he wouldn’t wear the American flag because he might offend someone? Who is going to offend?
He supports infanticide…the left will try to spin it but his voting record is clear…he added the wording to the bill that would allow it and he was the ONLY one that voted for it – TWICE. I can support a woman’s right to choose but I can’t support allowing a living breathing baby to be cast aside to let die – that just goes way beyond anything that can be rationalized. This one part of Obama makes me think he has a big slice of evil running through him.
I cannot find anyone that supports that form of abortion and believe me I have tried to find out how you would justify something like that. But where is the outrage on this? MSM skewered Palin because she doesn’t believe in abortion but the MSM says absolutely NOTHING about a candidate that actually put forth a bill that stated if the baby was born alive it should be set aside to die. THIS ONE THING should have been reported and if it had been Obama would NOT have been elected.
You know we have to hold people accountable for their choices, whether it is someone who screws up their credit, their job, their life. We need to really understand what our elected officials are voting on and how they vote. The vast majority of America doesn’t even know what is going on with our laws, etc.
Glenn a great example of why the system is highly functional in current form, with dedicated and inspired leadership, is the success of Gen. Petraeus and Secretary Gates who, under Obama’s current leadership, continue to make progress.
Hundreds of excellent, complex decisions are made by leadership and Government folks every day. I don’t think it is helpful or reasonable to diminish that effort with constant character attacks. It’s one thing to be skeptical that more government means better government but I don’t see any reason to assume there is so much corruption and deceit in Washington. On the contrary I see a lot of hard working folks who believe in what they are doing, and only the occaisional bad apple.
(22) Joe, Obama, Reid, etc…said Petraeus failed before he was even given a chance when they were using the war to destroy Bush. The left catering to their anti-war contingent was more than happy to through our brave military under the bus just like they were happy to spit on soldiers when they returned from Vietnam.
The bottom line is those comments hurt our military, embolden our enemy and at the end of the day contribute to more of our troops dying.
I bet our troops are still air raiding villages and killing children – that statement from Obama was irresponsible and reckless and he should still be taken to task for that even now. What a hypocrite. Speaking of character attacks Obama attacked the very character of our entire military and now asks us to sit back and allow him to send more and more troops in harms way.
You have to look at the leadership I find it hard to believe that you don’t think our current leadership isn’t corrupt. We can point to example after example of all the corruption…Pelosi – with Dole, Reid with Real Estate, Frank with well that list is so long, Dodd with well that list is so long, etc…
If these are honest hard working people then release the board minutes from Freddie and Fannie…let’s get to the bottom of this.
(22) Best summary I have heard about our corrupt politicians trying to save our economy…
“It’s like putting the arsonist in charge of the volunteer fire department. He knows where the fire is because he set it. But beyond that, he can’t offer much help.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/27/dodds-troubles-opens-debate-congress-ties-special-interests/
(22) Joe do you support late term abortion, partial birth abortions and the specifics of the bill Obama tried to pass in IL?
Does anyone support the crushing of a baby’s skull and the remove of the brain so they can abort a late term baby?
I can’t find anyone that supports these procedures?
If you can’t decide to have an abortion with all the months that you have to…why can’t you just carry the baby to term and give the baby up for adoption?
This isn’t an assault on a woman’s right to choose it is just unreasonable to allow this despicable type of procedure.
Yeah these great leaders of ours don’t initiate any character attacks…never…
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. lied to Congress during his confirmation hearings by pretending to be open-minded about his judicial philosophy.
“We got into a little jam with Roberts. Roberts didn’t tell us the truth. At least [Justice Samuel A.] Alito told us who he was,” Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said, comparing former President George W. Bush’s two successful Supreme Court nominees.
“We’re stuck with those two young men,” Mr. Reid said, though he added that Democrats hope to try to balance out the judiciary overall by “having some moderates in the federal court system as time goes on.”
Senator Reid’s not completely off the mark; the current SCOTUS rates as one of the most theologically-inclined in the last few decades (though Roberts not as rightist as Il Duce Scalia). Some of us lost a bit of respect for Harry, however, when he joined up with Brigham’s Army and the COLDS a year or so ago (before Reid was elected Senator, he was a Nevada prosecutor, and took down quite a few vegas mobsters). Sen. Reid should return to his vegas crimefighter roots, and take on the mormon-masonic conspiracy (as well as the new crop of vegas mobsters)
The ongoing battle between judiciary and legislature/senate somewhat interesting: let’s not forget that via judicial review, the court can effectively block nearly any proposed legislation by claiming it’s unconstitutional. That works for the good, sometimes–not always.
(27) Horatiox I think the entire point about most of this is the utter hypocrisy of people like Reid. They have forgotten their principles, they literally have forgotten what is right and wrong. Everything is gray now and as long as it is gray no one needs to be accountable.
It’s a sham and it is going to all collapse like a house of cards.
Joe stated that these people are hardworking…but what % of their hardworking time are they spending adjusting good ideas to cater to their special interests, what % is spent covering their asses, their trail, etc…
All of that distraction requires a fair amount of horsepower to accomplish…if we created an environment where all that was abandoned I would think their hard work would yield a lot more productivity which in turn we bring significant progress to solving our problems in this country.
Now it is seems they want to hand it all over to the U.N., make our economy directly based on other country results, etc…crazy.
Did you see the questioning of Geithner?…he wouldn’t answer any question directly. We need to get back to reality here. He should be held accountable with his answers, statements and his plans. We know nothing more of what he plans than we did before the hearings began.
He is open to the idea of another currency replacing the dollar. They are furthering their position on limiting salaries in financial firms…it has expanded from those tha take federal aid to include any firm that Geithner determines could be a threat to our economy.
Barney Frank submitted a memo this week to the banking committee that clearly stated he wants to move to an international regulation that limits salaries for ALL those employed in financial firms across the globe!!!
Seriously does anyone think that is a good idea? That our American firms should be judged and salaries determined by an international financial organization?
This is insanity and it is moving past socialism even farther left.
They will start with financial and move to any type of firm they want to control. This is nationalized and internationalized corporations. Small businesses will be destroyed through this approach.
The Democrats used to tout they were for the small guy. They aren’t they are bought and paid for by big corporations and they want to unionize everything.
This is going to be disastrous for our country. We all know this and yet we sit back and say Obama is doing a great job. Well he isn’t, he is selling our grandchildren right down the river.
Another high-ranking official in the Obama administration has had to leave his position, and in this case, one has to wonder how he got the job in the first place. Scott Polakoff, the top bank regulator for the Treasury, has taken a leave of absence after internal audits uncovered his allowance of backdated capital infusions, which could amount to cooking the books for IndyMac and other institutions.
What exactly did Reid do to betray his principles? Any specific acts? Reid’s pretty tame; you simply have embraced the code of Limbaugh, so anything a Demo does is mistaken. Reid’s votes have been fairly moderate, though on occasion he’s shown a bit of New Deal-like spine, and environmental awareness. He introduced legislation intended to curb energy speculation about six months before the lending crisis, and lost by a few votes (GOP always votes for their sugar daddies in the oil biz).
DeMint makes some very good points about why our country is definitely going down the wrong path.
How can you watch this and not wonder what is going on here?
Why aren’t all of our congressman in this meeting asking Geithner questions? Look at all the empty seats…
Listen to the answers Geithner gives? This is who we are trusting our economical future on…Manzullo asks good prudent questions and Geithner’s responses are that congress needs to define these items broadly.
This is a very basic video but a very good video. It really does a great job explaining at a basic level of the different governments and why it is so important that we protect our Republic.
It is no wonder so many other government officials around the world are envious of what we have.
The word Democracy doesn’t even appear in our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution nor does it exist in any of the state’s constitutions.
Good to listen near the end of the video the statements our founding fathers made about Democracy.
http://wimp.com/thegovernment
Glenn I’m not sure where you are going with the “no democracy” stuff? Sure the Founders were very oriented towards the protection of state’s rights, and they were concerned about the kind of problems that come if you simply let majority rule determine everything. This is in part why we have things like the constitution, different state laws, the supreme court and congress to guide laws and decisions rather than everybody just voting on every little thing.
I’d say the key question to ask *regardless* of your politics is this:
Is your Government reasonably reflecting the consent of those governed?
There will always be people who don’t like the decisions and they should make their opinions clear, but voting is the best way we have to determine who gets to make the decisions.
Glenn are you seriously suggesting some alternative to voting to determine who makes the decisions? It is hard to project how the founders would have wanted to move ahead, but it’s not reasonable to think they would have wanted to disenfranchise people. Voting and Democracy are *extremely* important to a Republic – these were the cornerstones of the decisions that led to the Republic and the decisions that keep it intact.
(34) Joe you need to understand what being a Democracy means. We are not a Democracy. We are a Republic. We are ruled by laws and our rights limit what the government can do.
What Obama represents is a complete shredding of our Republic and the elimination of many of our rights. IT HAS NEVER WORKED IN HISTORY.
Yes I agree voting is the best way to get people in power…however how good is voting when people who turn to the press for the truth only get spin and lies so they are tricked into voting for a bad candidate.
You said it yourself…Obama this budget won’t work. This budget is going through…we are on the path for this spending, we are on this path of giving Geithner the right to nationalize or shut down private businesses, we are on the path of the government setting salaries, we are on the path for the largest tax increase in the history of the world – on 100% of the people, there will be NO middle class tax cut, etc…etc…etc…
We know all of this so if we know all of this and we don’t think this is the right path for our country why in the world would continue to support the guy? If George Bush had gone this far ACORN would have been burning down buildings…lol
This blog post pretty much sums it up Joe. I said in the fall that he promised way too much to way too many people that in the end no one would be happy. It is exactly what is happening.
Economist: Obama’s not who we thought he was
posted at 9:38 am on March 28, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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The fact that Barack Obama won endorsements from most daily newspapers comes as no surprise to American readers, as they mostly go with Democrats regardless of the specific candidates. Some of us got surprised when publications like The Economist chose to back Obama, however, considering their normally sober analysis of economics and the radicalism and inexperience Obama brought to the campaign. Now, The Economist has had a Road to Damascus moment just two months after their candidate took office (via QandO):
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/28/economist-obamas-not-who-we-thought-he-was/
(36) Joe I think voting is critical to our society. But we need to get to voting honesty and ethically. The MSM was not ethical during this election.
Organizations like ACORN undermine the very process.
We need to spend some serious money on eliminating the fraud that currently exists in our voting system.
The census manipulation and redistricting is another scheme that just begs for corruption.
The electoral college puts way too much power into a few battleground states where it further invites fraud and corruption.
I definitely think we need to vote…we just need to make the path to get there is ethical, as honest as it can be and our vote needs to count.
Joe how do you reconcile the circus with the completely fake townhall meeting with people asking questions?
It was a complete setup…a circus…
Don’t you think we deserve better than that?
Don’t you think we deserve a real leader willing to take any question and answer it without TOTUS?
Obama isn’t fake at all – his ideas are very representative of what the country wanted moving forward. As a fiscal conservative I have concerns that we’re pushing the financial problems downstream, but 1) I could be wrong and 2) it is not my decision (except to the degree I express my opinion, contact my reps, etc. That’s the beauty of the American experience – we really can change the course of human events!)
Glenn if your point is that people should make their views clear that’s true of course, but it often sounds like you are questioning the *legitimacy* of our Government which is not called for.
(41) How would you ever arrive at the conclusion that I am questioning the legitimacy of our government…have you been working with Missouri on their political profiling?…ROFL.
Here I will throw in something for good measure! Don’t tread on me…lol
Seriously Joe the townhall was a PR event and you know it. Obama would never survive a real townhall meeting. He should attend a real townhall and see what REALLY goes on.
His ideas are clearly not representative of what the country wanted moving forward. The polls on the specifics of his plans are very clear. Overwhelmingly people do not support what they are pushing through.
Obama will go down in history as the worst President this country has ever had and all of you that voted for him can tell your grandchildren someday how you were part of something historic.
Again Obama is not alone in this. It is the combination of Reid/Pelosi/Frank, etc…that make this so dangerous for our country.
Joe do you believe that Obama voted for legislation that would have made it a requirement that babies that survived an abortion attempt should be put aside to die? Or do you think that is just some character attack and smear that really isn’t true?
Glenn very glad to hear it and didn’t mean to offend. In terms of the PR stuff there is a lot of it but that’s part of the way to get things done. We’ll see more PR from Obama than any in the past and I like that – he’ll be influenced by engaging in a way GW was not. Isolation from critics is not good.
The teleprompter rumors are bogus (surely you know this, right?). He’s a great speaker and my understanding is that at all of the town halls the TPs were lowered after the main talk to take questions. I’m not even sure what the bogus rumors are suggesting – that somebody other than Obama quickly types in an answer to a public question? That’s total nonsense. In fact he writes his own speeches for goodness sake.
Seriously Glenn – you think Obama is not bright and articulate? You don’t have to agree with his policies to recognize that he’s a sharp guy. Critics are just pulling up a handful of gaffes from a history of quality engagement.
This is one of Obama’s strongest suits in terms of Intl. Diplomacy and one of the reasons I supported him for President. The world trusts him. That is a *huge* advantage and improvement over the past.
(36) It’s not only “reasonable to think” it’s quite obvious the founders wanted to limit who would be able to cast a vote. I think what we have now might be viewed as mob rule.
(44) Joe in order to determine how smart Obama is…we really should see what he studied, how well did he perform, what ground breaking thesis did he write, etc… you are asking people to take someone’s else word on it that he is smart. The only real world experience I have seen about him is the housing project he tried to create in Chicago that was a complete and utter disaster. So if you can point me to some place where it shows he really is super smart, etc…I would be glad to look. Please don’t say his books there is way too much controversy around them whether he actually wrote them or not.
So you are asking people to believe in Obama or at least give him a chance because you say he is smart. The same people that tried to convince us that Obama was smart said Palin was an idiot. You actually believe Palin is an idiot. The irony with all of this is you can actually go back and see and know everything about Palin and see her executive level accomplishments and she does appear to be very smart.
So how did you arrive at the conclusion that Obama is smart but Palin is an idiot?
I know you didn’t mean to offend I just thought it was funny after what Missouri just did…btw…they completely dumped the profile specification admitted they screwed it all up and are re-engineering their process.
I agree diplomacy should be tried at very great length. No one likes war and certainly no one wants it. It is too bad we didn’t understand early on that the deals we were making with foreign oil were going to haunt us. A lot of people have been saying for a long time that we need to stop what we are doing in that regard and of course because of corruption and special interests we kept on.
I think N. Korea, Iran, etc are good examples of no matter how hard you try with diplomacy it really just won’t work. In this regard particularly to Obama I think he is way out of his league and is playing a super dangerous game that could really blow right up in his face.
Joe I really don’t think the economic future and our foreign policy future should be an experiment. There is just way too much downside.
It is ironic that Obama picked Biden as his running mate to give the illusion that he had strong foreign policy experience on his team however it is Biden that is being left out in the cold and not listened to. I think that is very dangerous as well.
And just for the record I want our country to be super safe for all of our children, etc…but how does tripling our country’s debt with no way to pay it back to Communist foreign governments make our country safe? The answer is – it doesn’t so no matter how wonderful Obama will be with jedi mind tricks at the end of the day when we cannot pay our bills it will come home to roost.
So Joe did you see this in the denver post?
In a bid to get more Muslim Americans working in the Obama administration, a book with resumes of 45 of the nation’s most qualified — Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and public servants, all carefully vetted — has been submitted to the White House.
The effort, driven by community leaders and others, including U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., was bumped up two weeks because White House officials heard about the venture, said J. Saleh Williams, program coordinator for the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, who sifted through more than 300 names.
“It was mostly under the radar,” Williams said. “We thought it would put (the president) in a precarious position. We didn’t know how closely he wanted to appear to be working with the Muslim American community.”
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12006596
Doesn’t this bother you at all? Can you imagine if Joe Leberman became President and made the statement we need more Jews working in our administration and he assembled a list of the top jews in the country. Or how about George Bush if he stated I need more Christians in my administration and pulled together a list of top Christians…
ACLU? Hello…Mcfly…
McFly, McFllllly! That one made me smile Glenn 😆
The reason I know Obama is smart is that it’s very obvious to an open mind this is a sharp guy.
All you have to do is familiarize yourself with things he has written, listen to unscripted interviews, or most importantly listen to the dozens of top folks who have said “this is a very smart guy” after talking with him. From Buffet to Powell to McCain to Schmidt to Bill Clinton to Hillary Clinton to Gen. Petraeus there is widespread agreement that Obama is a sharp guy.
Palin is *not* an idiot. I think she’s above average in many ways but I’m not a fan of her positions on several things – or the way she spent all the time with personal smears rather than issues and pretended she didn’t take the road to nowhere money. Her recent *huge* blunder with the AK pipeline is good evidence we really dodged a bullet avoiding her as VP.
I think it’s fantastic to get more Muslim Americans into advisory roles for the reasons I wrote about in the next post:
https://joeduck.com/2009/03/28/obama-we-are-bound-by-a-common-humanity/
We are not at war with reasonable people and not with the Muslim religion. Muslim beliefs take many forms, 99%+ of which are compatible with the principles non-muslims hold dear. This action helps show that to the world and moderate the opposition to the US projections of power we must do to maintain global stability.
Leland the founders argued quite a bit about voting rights and my understanding is that in much the same way as with slavery some of them recognized they were acting somewhat hypocritically (to disenfranchise slaves and women), but felt it necessary to get things going.
So what’s your key point though? Do you think somebody should stop participating in the American decision making process?
Should we just recognize that it’s healthier when both political parties are viable?
(48) Joe the point on the Muslims is how the Obama administration went about doing it. Their approach is wrong. He should have had an open invitation for Muslims to approach the administration for positions, etc.
If anyone else ever dared to do something like this it would be insanity in the MSM…
The hypocrisy is the norm now…
The irony of all of this…Obama wouldn’t even pass his own requirements for entry level positions…lol.
Again what is good for everyone doesn’t have to apply to me. Doesn’t that attitude bother you?
Funny how you jumped to the conclusion that I wouldn’t want Muslims in his administration. Technically isn’t he one anyway?
(49) Joe the two party system is a disaster and is part of the problem.
We need a scoring system the equates them on their voting record, campaign promises, etc…there are just too many games played by the media.
Glenn I know you are OK with Muslims in the Govt, but I don’t see the big deal in terms of sort of “soft pedalling” the effort to get some in there. You can’t just wait for the applications to roll in because you wan the very best and this requires recruiting.
Now, where in the world did you get the idea that Obama is a Muslim? He is Christian and has been for some time though as Seinfeld would say “not that it matters” 😆
Two party system is part of the problem, we agree about that. I want a founders party that stops the culture war BS and keeps it real. Fiscal restraint, Foreign policy progressivism, entrepreneurial capitalism, free hard cider.
(52) Joe the Obama Muslim thingy was a jokey.
Just so you know this is Earth Hour and we have ALL of big screen LCD’s on…all lights, etc…
I just walked down to the gates and look down the street and ALL the lights are on everywhere here.
Guess I won’t be part of that $102 savings the U.N. is currently saving right now.
LOL…call me cynical.
Sorry I find these commentators to be pretty disturbing. He literally says to Michael Steele that because he is black he is on the wrong side of history not supporting Obama.
Steele’s response is perfect.
(49)I think one of the requirements to be able to vote was that the voter be a landholder. Women could not vote, I think certain religions were also excluded. So my main point is that your statement in (36) about the founders not wanting to disenfranchise some people doesn’t square with their actions. I think they would view our voting process now as mob rule where everyone votes regardless of their standing in our society. Should somebody stop participating in the decision making process? I think voting should be an earned privilege, like a drivers license, at least. And the last question in(49)- I have no idea.
The tide is turning Joe…
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191393
Traditionally, punditry in Washington has been a cozy business. To get the inside scoop, big-time columnists sometimes befriend top policymakers and offer informal advice over lunch or drinks. Naturally, lines can blur. The most noted pundit of mid-20th-century Washington, Walter Lippmann, was known to help a president write a speech—and then to write a newspaper column praising the speech.
Paul Krugman has all the credentials of a ranking member of the East Coast liberal establishment: a column in The New York Times, a professorship at Princeton, a Nobel Prize in economics. He is the type you might expect to find holding forth at a Georgetown cocktail party or chumming around in the White House Mess of a Democratic administration. But in his published opinions, and perhaps in his very being, he is anti-establishment. Though he was a scourge of the Bush administration, he has been critical, if not hostile, to the Obama White House.
Leland it’s a fair point. Clearly Founders were “comfortable” with large restrictions on voting which meant a minority rather than majority made the decisions. But this was long before high literacy and compulsory education so although it’s possible I still think it’s unlikely they’d have kept any current voting groups out of the process.
This gets to that sticky constitutional wicket of *to what degree* the founders wanted the constitution to be a flexible and changing document reflecting changing times and views.
Geitner taking Coach. The least we could do is buy him first class but the point is made:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/28/geithner-leads-by-example-in-coach/
So much for those defense cuts Joe…
Cindy Williams, a defense scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former assistant director of the Congressional Budget Office, points out that Obama wants to spend 2 percent more in the next fiscal year than President Bush allocated for this year, and 9 percent more than we spent last year.
Bush also planned for the defense budget (apart from Iraq and Afghanistan) to shrink slightly each year starting in 2010. Obama’s blueprint calls for the defense budget to remain about the same. “Spending will actually be higher under Obama’s plan than under Bush’s,” says Williams.
http://townhall.com/columnists/SteveChapman/2009/03/29/obamas_mythical_defense_cuts
Joe I keep trying to find things that would make me feel comfortable about Obama’s foreign policy ideas…and then I come across this…
May 18, 2008: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us. …they spend 1/100th of what we spend on the military. I mean, if Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
May 20, 2008 (2 days later!): Iran is a grave threat. It has an illicit nuclear program. It supports terrorism across the regions and militias in Iraq. It threatens Israel’s existence. It denies the Holocaust.
So when I keep seeing things like this I have to wonder does he really know what he is doing?
I think Obama is going to be in for a rude awakening at the G20 this week.
Bush also planned for the defense budget (apart from Iraq and Afghanistan) to shrink slightly each year starting in 2010. Obama’s blueprint calls for the defense budget to remain about the same. “Spending will actually be higher under Obama’s plan than under Bush’s,”
An important point showing that it’s not just the GOP, or Dems, but Demopublicans.
(62) I don’t think Obama is any different than Bush on so many counts only Obama will spend like an irresponsible teenager and prop up people regardless of the legal status that will be locked into voting for Democrats.
Who is going to bail us out when we can’t pay our debts?
Really interesting comparison of defense budgets – I thought Obama was under Republican criticism for the opposite so I’m surprised. Agree with Horatiox on this one – an epidemic of spending madness.
(64) Joe so what exactly is Obama doing that would satisfy the things that were important to you that you explained before the election.
You thought he would cut defense.
You thought he would reduce and end our conflicts.
You thought he would realize that the economy would force him to not spend as much.
You thought he would realize that he couldn’t raise taxes on everyone because that would be a economic disaster.
You thought he would enable more social engineering within our country.
So the only one that he seems to be holding true is #4 but one could argue there are some great social causes that are being overlooked and we see massive tax expansion in both direct and indirect taxes.
They are now going to implement a massive tax on smokers but why just target them. They should increase taxes on alcohol as well since the cost to our health system from alcohol consumption massively dwarfs the impact smoking has.
I think you like the way they are trying to manage foreign policy but what about everything else? Isn’t he scoring a failing grade with you on so many important topics?
(65)…sorry for the typo…I should have said #5 – social engineering, instead of #4. He definitely is taxing 100% of America at unprecedented levels.
Glenn that’s a great question, though I don’t agree we’ve seen enoughh to answer most of those with the exception of the budget stuff. I do think they gigantic budget is a problem. I still think things will evolve more reasonably over time.
Also, the economist responses to the financial meltdown are forcing me to rethink my total aversion to deficit spending. Almost all major figures in the debate – even major admin critics – seem to agree we needed a massive stimulus. Intuitively I still see the solutions as potentially worse than the problem but …
In terms of foreign policy I think Obama is exactly on track – few shots fired but stability maintained, international support remains strong for the new course in USA. That’s exactly what we want as the new strategy develops and the difficult policy decisions need to be made later in the year wrt Iran, NK, etc.
I don’t think you should describe borrowing as taxing. They are related but borrowing is pushing the taxes and problems forward. I actually think it is *worse* than current taxes, which force us to live within our means.
Another thing is that we need to focus on realistic actions given all the players and all the people. The country has changed *a lot* since WWII. Just because Obama is doing some stuff I don’t agree with does not mean I throw my support away. I believe in basic respect and support for the President regardless of party or politics.
My online questions to Obama were not popular with that (young) crowd even though I was asking about why we seem to be pushing the financial troubles forward to *their* generation. They were more interested in legalizing pot. Moving forward as the generations shift to different priorities is going to be interesting.
(67) Since when is a cap and trade scheme borrowing?
(67) Joe there are plenty of economists and noted economists are completely against the Obama stimulus plan.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/off-the-bandwagon-economists-against-big-fiscal-stimulus/
I worked hard to find a lefty source you would appreciate so you wouldn’t just cast it off as character attacks…lol.
But seriously I think the consensus is that they mostly agree the government does something however that is a far cry from being able to state they mostly agree with Obama’s plans…
We will see the destructive side of this soon enough…just like TARP it will not do anything of significance and will just as easily make things worse or last even longer than it has to.
I also think you are going to see a massive push back on stimulus spending at G20 this week. We cannot alone save the entire globe economy. They will push for an alternate reserve currency this week so countries like China can dump their “dollar” based debt.
This is just as much about a power grab for the Democrats as it is about fixing our economy and that is the real shame here…it could be argued that any diversion from correcting our economic woes in lieu of executing an ideological power grab could be viewed in a strong negative light. If at the end of the day these approaches fail miserably the Democrats will be thrown out of office and all this bestowed power will reside with Republicans and just how is that going to make the situation any better?
Joe did you hear Wagoner is stepping down as CEO at GM immediately. This speaks volumes to what Obama is about to announce tomorrow…
This ought to be interesting.
(71) WOW the Obama administration asked (or pretty much told) Wagoner to step down.
What right does our government have in determining who should be the CEO of a private company? Maybe the CEO of ACORN is going to put in place instead.
Agreed that Wagoner wasn’t doing a good job but since when did Obama become part of the board of directors of GM.
This should raise serious concern from all. Don’t worry this isn’t like socialism as all…nothing to see here just move along.
UNBELIEVABLE…
As Democrats prepared to take control of Congress after the 2006 elections, a top boss at the insurance giant American International Group Inc. told colleagues that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd was seeking re-election donations and he implored company executives and their spouses to give.
Getty Images Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, has lost some political standing heading into re-election because of his ties to American International Group Inc.
The message in the Nov. 17, 2006, e-mail from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, was unmistakable: Mr. Dodd was “next in line” to be chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which oversees the insurance industry, and he would “have the opportunity to set the committee’s agenda on issues critical to the financial services industry.
Yeah no corruption here…no wonder AIG got the bailout.
Joe this is definitely another McFly moment!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/30/aig-chiefs-pressed-to-donate-to-dodd/
A McFly Moment… I like it Glenn, but remember the guy who said that was the … bad guy in the film “Back to the Future”! 😆
Right, Cap and Trade is not borrowing – I thought you were talking about Govt Borrowing, not that. I’m not up on all the Cap and Trade details but generally I think that’s a good way to go to avoid the pitfalls of the alternative schemes. Yale economist Solomon is the guy I look to on this topic – he favors modest and cheap CO2 mitigation to avoid economic problems while “covering the bases” until we can better control CO2 in future, which is desirable for many reasons.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2009/03/29/candiotti.gm.chief.to.resign.cnn
How much you want to bet this guy loses his job this week at GM?
Joe please tell me you are outraged that a President could actually force a CEO out of a private US company…
If the Gov is bailing out businesses I want a heavy hand – a VERY heavy hand, in how they protect my money. I’m worried we are about to chuck more down the GM bailout hole.
Companies that are only surviving due to bailout money are a different animal in my view. Generally Govt should stay out but if the companies want Gov involvement I have no problem with Government oversight of the tax money – what is the alternative here – just handing over money with no management requirements?
(76) Joe you are either on board with the bail-outs or not?
Having a sitting President dictate who or who cannot be CEO of a private company is a massively dangerous thing?
This is exactly what happens in socialist and communist countries. They cap the salaries and put their puppets in.
Rick was forced out because he was trying to balance the union impact and remove the massive albatross the unions have hung around the neck of GM. Obama got him out for one reason: the union.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
The bail-outs were and are wrong and the government trying to further manipulate a private enterprise will only result in total disaster. How can you possibly expect the government to manage the bail-out funds properly? They have NEVER managed our tax money properly – NEVER.
I am sorry to say Joe but you are definitely looking more CINO every day.
(77) Joe it is a FACT that venture capitalists typically don’t interfere in the day to day operations. Yes they may get a seat on the board and be able to influence the management to some extent but they typically just try to help and stay out of the way.
This is NOT what is going on here. Our government and our elected officials have ABSOLUTELY NO experience in investing and managing or running large enterprises (have you forgotten Fannie and Freddie already).
Have you forgotten they bailed out AIG?
TARP has failed miserably…Pelosi already started talking about a second stimulus…the only reason you do that is if you think the first one is failing or going to fail.
If TARP had worked we wouldn’t have needed the stimulus…starting to see the picture.
This is a mounting disaster of huge proportions. You think GM was bad before…you ain’t seen nothing yet.
I listed to President Obama on C-SPAN making the point that this budget seeks to *fix* the health care crisis. I’m not up on how it could do that but it’s certainly true that we must work to meet health care now and not later, and that’s going to cost money….
I’d warm up to massive spending if, down the line, it would help to solve the 40+ trillion unfunded liability problems. I’m still skeptical we are doing that with this budget though.
(76) Word on the street is that the number presented tomorrow for the automotive bail-out will be staggering. Also in the bail-out legislation will be a massive ramp up on the union side. Watch the fine print on this one…
Obama is most definitely a socialist…
Lest we forget how Chuck Schumer set off the firecracker that got this hole balling rolling last year with his un-warranted attack on IndyMac. IndyMac wouldn’t pay along with the government’s CRA game.
How come there is no investigation into Schumer? It was reckless and irresponsible of him. Did you know he never even once talked to anyone at IndyMac, nor did he have any financial data that would lead him to believe they were insolvent? He just got a in-the-bag leftist journalist to play his little game. They had a back up plan though there were lawyers ready to continue their successful community activists programs of shakedown and frivolous lawsuits around CRA compliance.
You keep putting your faith in the very people that have already fleeced America many times over and now we are getting fleeced at a rate and amount that we will never be able to recover from it.
There plan is to completely destroy capitalism. You might want to do some research on the Cloward-Piven strategy and how that has been employed by the liberal left.
Two contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House.
One is from Chicago, and the other is from Texas .
The Texas contractor does some measuring and figuring, then says, I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.
The Chicago contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, $2,700.
The official, incredulous, says, You didn’t even measure like the other guy!
How did you come up with such a high figure?
The Chicago contractor whispers back, $1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Texas to fix the fence.
Done! replies the government official.
And that, my friends, is how the new stimulus plan will work.
Obama left Chicago untainted by all but minor scandals. One of the great things we have is a vetting process. Even with a virtual conspiracy of lies against Obama nobody found *anything* relevant.
(84) The only vetting process that has occurred with Obama is the one where he now is taking over GM just so he can own a vette.
Even the MSM has admitted they dropped the ball on vetting Obama…how can you make such a statement?
What do you know about Obama?
He has kept everything from the American people. The truth will eventually come out and we will have to see how you will spin that as well.
(84) Joe any scandal is more than the American people deserve. Whatever happened to people trying to achieve excellence and results based on principles.
The fact that most of the Obama town hall participants were more concerned about the legalization of pot really tells the true story of who is in the White house.
How could anyone think it is rational or reasonable to ask the President of the United States a question like that?
What do we know about Obama? Are you serious? He was examined daily by millions for the past 2+ years?!
Obama ran one of the most honest and transparent campaigns in history – his books were written before he ran and discussed early challenges he faced in a very honest way.
I have no doubts whatsoever that most of our political candidates are honest excellent folks, from Jindal to Obama.
(87) Joe is campaign financing and his broken written contract with McCain regarding public financing proves your position wrong. How can you claim he had any transparency in his campaign? Even Hillary went after him on these things.
His donation machine was riddled with potential fraud. He refuses to disclose the information which WE HAVE A RIGHT to know about. If you ran a business with the merchant account set up like they did you would have been shut down and investigated for fraud. Seriously how can you ignore these FACTS and claim he was transparent.
You really need to read Mark Levin’s latest book and truly understand what is going on here in regard to the Democrats and specifically Obama shredding our constitution.
Look at Card Check it is clearly unconstitutional yet they will waste billions of dollars pushing this through to let it be challenged in the Supreme Court where a Democrat appointed justice will delay, etc… and never resolve it.
Look how they are stopping the drug raids, immigration raids…this is how these guys play…they subvert the law to support their ideology. We are a nation of laws and those laws need to be upheld. If lawmakers don’t like a law we have a process to change it. But they subvert instead of doing the right thing.
But none of this a form of corruption.
Maybe you are just willing to accept corruption because you think it is needed to get the job done…I wholeheartedly disagree. America deserves better. How can someone like McCain serve for decades and not take one penny of pork? The liberal hypocritical left loves to throw Keating into the mix but McCain was thoroughly investigated and completely cleared of any wrong doing. He was only mentioned in the final ruling because the corrupt Democrat controlled congress at the time didn’t want to just list Democrats when he was specifically cleared of ANY wrong doing.
The hypocrisy of the left Joe is staggering it’s a wonder that anyone TRUSTS ANYTHING from the left.
http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=4063561&referralPlaylistId=undefined
Everything the Obama’s have done during the campaign and now has been inspired by Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.
There is NOTHING sincere, honest or transparent about his methods. In fact the entire premise of his approach is intimidation, extortion, deceit, and slight of hand to make things happen.
We ALL know this is true…so how can anyone claim the campaign was honest, sincere or transparent. None of it adds up Joe. Does the kool-aid taste that good?
Now they just flaunt like it is a positive…what reality do our congressmen live in?
“If I’m corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district,” Mr. Murtha said. “My job as a member of Congress is to make sure that we take care of what we see is necessary.”
Boy John McCain sure has figured out how to take care of his district for decades without taking one dime!
One of the many reasons that Glenn Beck is a great American. We need a lot more of this!!!
This is part 2 of Glenn Beck and this video is great!
(92)Glenn Beck would have a good show if he would allow his “guest” to answer questions without being talked over. I might agree with some of what he says but can’t stand to listen to him. He sounds like Limbaugh, like he needs to pee real bad.
(93) Leland without a voice like Glenn Beck right now the MSM media would be completely free to slip the kool-aid to the masses with Obama’s jedi mind trick the frustration level of over half of America would erupt.
He is a release valve right now. At least he sticks to relevant topics surrounding our Constitution and he focuses on the very things that have made this country great while the left want to destroy all of that.
(94)Glenn, I think Beck needs to work on the delivery of his message. Delivery is more important than substance when it comes to swaying people.
He sounds like Limbaugh, like he needs to pee real bad
Maybe he … does!
Obama’s jedi mind trick
Remember that the Jedi, like the McFlys, were the *good guys*
(96) Darth Vader knew the trick as well…for he was on the good side once as well.
Like many of the liberals for now they have been lured to the dark side Joe…
Ewoks unite!!!
Another outrage of our corrupt system…this is unbelievable. The system obviously takes care of its own!!!
The U.S. Justice Department filed a motion Wednesday to drop its case against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who was convicted of seven counts of corruption last fall.
Justice Department sources told FOX News that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided to abandon the case due to prosecutorial misconduct.
The judge in the case has repeatedly delayed sentencing, and at one point held prosecutors in contempt. Justice Department officials later replaced the trial team, but Holder reportedly decided Tuesday to dismiss the original indictment rather than proceed to more hearings that might embarrass the department.
In addition to Stevens’ age — he’s 85 — and the fact he no longer is in the Senate, losing his seat last November to Anchorage mayor Mark Begich, sources told NPR that Holder wants to send a strong message to prosecutors that misconduct will not be tolerated
Stevens was convicted last year of lying on a Senate disclosure form to hide $250,000 in gifts he received from an oil company executive and friends.
Only after the conviction did allegations of FBI misconduct come to light. Stevens sought to dismiss the charges, and the Justice Department’s action Wednesday in effect supports Stevens’ request.
“Given what has happened in this case, it’s not surprising” that charges against Stevens are being dropped, a source close to the case told FOX News.
Now this one will get your blood boiling…I was hoping this was a April Fools post…but it isn’t!!!
WASHINGTON — While Congress has been flaying companies for giving out bonuses while on the government dole, lawmakers have a longstanding tradition of rewarding their own employees with extra cash — also courtesy of taxpayers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Capitol Hill bonuses in 2008 were among the highest in years, according to LegiStorm, an organization that tracks payroll data. The average House aide earned 17 percent more in the fourth quarter of the year, when the bonuses were paid, than in previous quarters, according to the data. That was the highest jump in the eight years LegiStorm has compiled payroll information.
Total end-of-year bonuses paid to congressional staffers are tiny compared with the $165 million recently showered on executives of American International Group Inc., which is being propped up by billions of dollars of U.S. government subsidies. But Capitol Hill bonuses provide a notable counterpoint to the populist rhetoric and sound bites emanating from Washington these past weeks.
Last year alone, more than 200 House lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, awarded bonuses totaling $9.1 million to more than 2,000 staff members, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of office-disbursement forms. The money comes out of taxpayer-funded office budgets, and is surplus cash that would otherwise be forfeited if not spent.
Payments ranged from a few hundred dollars to $14,000. Lawmakers, at their own discretion, gave the money to chiefs of staff, assistants, computer technicians, and more than 100 aides who earned salaries of more than $100,000 a year.
Simply unbelievable…
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/01/lawmakers-gave-m-taxpayer-dollars-bonuses-staffs/
Hopefully these staffers will be asked to return their bonuses…certainly Congress hasn’t done a good job in years!!!
Well get ready for the next big fiasco…Barney Frank is up to his old tricks…haven’t we learned anything yet?
Fannie, Freddie asked to relax condo loan rules: report
Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax recently tightened standards for mortgages on new condominiums, saying they could threaten the viability of some developments and slow the housing-market recovery, the Wall Street Journal said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Housing/idUSTRE55L39120090622
Finally, the Canadian government passed a bill to place a maternity ward of
the Ottawa Hospital under the sovereignty of the Netherlands Government.
As for blue, the ribbon on the bride shroud be blue, symbolizing the bride forever loyalty.
Recent research has found that the divorce rate has accounted for nearly 40
percent, at present Beijing.
We would choose to offer our house rather than rent it out Unknown getting
loan approval depends on factors that correspond with income and debt, most specifically
debt-to-income ratio that reveals whether a loan deal is affordable or
otherwise for the applicant.