Filed under: Bureaucracy, Communism, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Election 2020, Foreign Policy, Law, National Security, Progressivism, Regulation, Socialism, The United States | Tags: Congress, Democrat Corruption, Democrat lies, Healthcare, Politics
Newsy day! We have had one death from Coronavirus here in Washington State, apparently with some Korean connection. Joe Biden has won the South Carolina caucus. Corona beer has NO Connection to the virus with “corona” in the name. I know it’s hard, but try to pay attention and not get panicky.
Democrats are trying their hardest to make President Trump responsible for the Coronavirus, but they are, as usual, making no sense, and lying through their teeth. You need to understand that the Democrats believe themselves to be morally superior and thus entitled to be in charge of, well, everything! They are morally superior because they care.
For example, they care about anyone in Mexico who wants to cross the border, and assume that we should allow them in because they might have coronavirus, and we need to help them. Most sane Americans would admit that Mexico has a number of cases of coronavirus, a number of deaths, and that Mexico has an obligation to take care of their own people, which they are trying to do. We do not have any obligation to open up our borders to anyone from another country. Elizabeth Warren has proposed a “Bill to Take All Money From Trump’s ‘Racist Wall,’ Give to HHS to Fight Coronavirus.” Some polls suggest that Elizabeth Warren might not win her own state of Massachusetts. “Racist Wall” ??? A President of the United States’ first responsibility is to the people of his own country, not to the citizens of Mexico, nor of all the other countries’ citizens trying to illegally cross the border. If Warren does not understand that basic fact, she has no business considering herself qualified to run for anything. There is a legal way to come to America and become a citizen. You apply, and wait your turn.
AOC, who never fails to demonstrate her ignorance, was outraged (isn’t she always?) that Vice President Pence, appointed to lead the Coronavirus program, said he would pray as he took on the effort. He is a religious man, and of course would pray for help in doing an important job. AOC promptly announced “Mike Pence literally does not believe in science. It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response as the world sits on the cusp of a pandemic.” Well we all make silly mistakes, Hank Johnson worried about Guam tipping over. Just refrain from suggesting that the folks serving in government are our “betters.”
We elect people to serve us in government so we don’t have to do it. They want to serve because it’s a good paying job with all sorts of benefits, among which are lots of attention from the media, and if you get to be some sort of celebrity, there are even more benefits that involve recognition, name familiarity, and maybe a book deal somewhere down the road, aside from being able to steer business to your family. We have to keep an eye on them, and, if they get too far out of line, elect someone else.
Joe Biden has won the caucus in South Carolina as I said, in spite of getting a little confused about whether he was running for the Senate or the Presidency. It helps to maintain a good sense of humor regarding politics, but it’s hard when one candidate announces that he is a socialist. Socialist/Communist, there’s not much difference. If you don’t know what the term “socialist” means, it’s time to seriously educate yourself. The public schools and our colleges and universities will not do it for you. The universities are staffed with those who got deferments for being in school as they protested the Vietnam War, and a college education doesn’t mean what it once did. Head to your public library, look for The Black Book of Communism, The Gulag Archipelago, The Passing of an Illusion, Property and Freedom, Mao, or any of dozens of books explaining what “socialism” really is. Socialism does not mean free health care, or anything else free for that matter. It costs more than can be endured.
*I don’t know the source of this image, but it expresses the reality clearly
Filed under: Conservatism, Election 2012, Humor, News, Politics | Tags: Congress, Rick Perry, Roger Williams
Clever. I love it!
Roger Williams was Secretary of State in Texas under Rick Perry and now running for Congress in one of the new districts created by census reapportionment.
He’s off to a great start.
Filed under: Election 2010, News, Politics, Progressivism | Tags: Congress, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker John Boehner
Oh frabjous day! Callooh Callay!
The most unpopular Speaker, from the most unpopular congress EVER is Speaker no more!
But while Americans kicked her out of the Speaker’s office, Democrats are poised to re-elect her today as their new minority leader. In other words, the American people threw Democrats out of power in the biggest electoral ass-kicking in 75 years , and Democrats response is to flip the American people the bird. They have nothing but contempt for the American people. And they have absolutely no intention of changing anything about their agenda, they will only fight harder and dirtier. After so-called “moderate” Democrats bore the brunt of their losses in November, the Democrat party is now far more radical and more extremist than ever. The only thing they have any intention of changing is the “tone” of their propaganda and lies.
Meet the new face of Congressional Dems — same as the very old, very unpopular face.
Filed under: Liberalism, News, Politics, Progressivism | Tags: Congress, Debunking Liberal Lies, Democrat Corruption, Democrats
Thirteen percent approve of the current Democrat congress — the worst approval rating of any congress since Gallup started polling the issue 30 years ago. That means almost no one approves of this “progressive” congress other than staffers and family members.
Can we finally admit it? Worst congress EVER!
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Politics, Taxes | Tags: Congress, Earmarks, Pork
When your Member of Congress becomes a committee chairman, it is a big deal. It means more power to spend in earmark funds for their home districts. That’s the common wisdom and sometimes the reason for retaining people in office — because they deliver government goodies. According to new research from Harvard Business School, the increased federal spending causes local companies to lose sales and to cut back on research, payroll and other expenses.
Harvard professors Joshua Coval, Christopher Malloy and Lauren Cohen were surprised at the results. They had expected to find that firms with political connections prospered from receipt of federal largesse. According to Mr. Coval, their research showed that federal dollars “directly supplant private sector activity — they literally undertake projects the private sector was planning to do on its own.”
I’ve seen that many times in my state. There is a project, long in the planning, and then the district Representative or a Senator gets interested and comes up with federal money. Senator Patty Murray, sinking in the polls, is suddenly deeply interested in a big project in my district. Not a coincidence.
Public spending seems to increase demand for factors of production like competition for labor and real estate, for example. Federal money comes with federal rules, as well.
Chairmanship of a Senate committee, particularly a powerful one like Finance or Appropriations typically brings an increase of 40% to 50% in earmark spending for the home state. In the House, Chairmen take an average of 20% more to their states. Yet in the first year after the chairman’s accession to the chairmanship, the average firm in his state “cuts back capital expenditures by around 15%. The behavior continues as long as the money keeps flowing, or the Chairman steps down.
The same side effects are demonstrated by funds from the federal stimulus program. In the first quarter of 2010, according to USA Today, private paychecks made up the lowest share of personal income in history as government spending ramped up to the highest levels ever. That trend leads to higher taxes and more economic harm.
Democrats and Republicans have long promised earmark reform, but they don’t really mean it. The closer it gets to election time, the more interested they suddenly are in bringing home the pork. This study suggests that they are really reducing prosperity.
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Taxes, The Constitution | Tags: Congress, Mpney, Wishful Thinking
From Economist Dr. Walter Williams:
“For Congress to guarantee a right to health care, or any other good or service, whether a person can afford it or not, it must diminish someone else’s rights, namely their rights to their earnings. The reason is that Congress has no resources of its very own. Moreover, there is no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy giving them these resources. The fact that government has no resources of its very own forces one to recognize that in order for government to give one American citizen a dollar, it must first, through intimidation, threats and coercion, confiscate that dollar from some other American. If one person has a right to something he did not earn, of necessity it requires that another person not have a right to something that he did earn.”
Filed under: Economy, Environment, Foreign Policy, National Security | Tags: Congress, Democrat Corruption, Healthcare, liberalism
Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the leading climate skeptic in the Senate, said Thursday that upcoming cap-and-trade legislation can muster no more than 26 votes. Climate change is far down on Americans’ list of concerns. Only 33 percent believe that human activity is responsible, and 48 percent say global warming is caused by long-term planetary trends.
Evidence continues to appear indicating that cap-and-trade is ruinous for an economy, accomplishes nothing for climate change, and is aimed only at societal control. President Obama’s efforts to sorta-kinda-maybe suggest that we might have a bit of support for nuclear power or offshore oil-and-gas drilling, were offset by all the areas that he put firmly off-limits, so that can be considered as thrown under the bus.
According to a Pew poll released Sunday night, trust in the federal government to do “the right thing” most of the time has fallen to a near all-time low of 22 percent.
How odd. When the public is concerned about spending, the federal government pursues a health care bill that the majority of the public oppose. When the public is concerned about spending and jobs, the federal government pursues climate change alarmism. When the public is concerned about Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, the federal government gets an agreement from Canada to send us their enriched uranium. Why would we conceivably trust the federal government to do “the right thing.”
Filed under: Foreign Policy, Freedom, Middle East | Tags: Congress, Iran, Protests
Here’s a very interesting conversation led by Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nebraska) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. Nice to see some serious discussion in Congress about the serious matters we send them there to discuss.
(h/t: The Corner, NRO)
Filed under: Domestic Policy, Economy, Health Care, Taxes | Tags: Congress, Democrat Demagogues, Democrat lies, Health Care Reform
The California Health and Human Services Agency is ending mammogram subsidies for low-income women under age 50. Under the old rules, women unable to pay could get a subsidy for annual breast-cancer screening beginning at age 40.
The decision by the State of California, which takes effect Jan. 1, follows a federal task force recommendation last month that mammograms before the age of 50 are not generally needed. As Carly Fiorina notes, the task force does not include any oncologists or radiologists, but simply a bunch of bureaucrats.
HHS Secretary Sibelius, noting the outcry, hastened to say that the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommendations were not regulation, and they really didn’t have any say.
California public health linked the change to the Task Force advisory and also to California’s budget woes.
Breast cancer is a high-profile disease. Most women know someone who has died of breast cancer. The only appeal from a government decision is strong opposition. Congress takes note of opposition if it is loud enough. But many diseases and conditions are not high-profile, and cost a lot, and under ObamaCare the guidance will not come from your doctor, but from statistics gathered by bureaucrats to see what is cost-effective.
Democrats claim that they will increase preventive care to control costs. Studies show that preventive care will not control costs, but increase them. Democrats don’t know anything whatsoever about controlling costs, or budgeting. The current health-care bill clearly demonstrates this.
American medicine has always been about saving lives. Democrat health-care reform is, first of all, about control. To get that control, they have divided the electorate into groups to whom they promise favors. Planned Parenthood and feminists demand paid abortions; members of the Democrat caucus opposed to abortion, demand no paid abortions or they will vote against the bill. Trial lawyers are second only to labor unions as Democrat donors. No tort reform, and extra goodies for the unions. Pleasing everyone means very high costs. Democrat health-care reform becomes about saving money, and saving money becomes about rationing, because the costs are going to be very high, and rationing is all that’s left.
Republican health-care reform is about individuals, not groups. They look at where the real problems are in our current health care, and advocate solving the problems before attempting drastic reform. Doctors freely admit that they practice defensive medicine, ordering more tests than necessary just to be on the safe side for fear of lawsuits. and nobody really knows how much this costs, but it’s a lot.
Insurance costs differ widely in different states because of requirements imposed by insurance commissioners and legislatures. Opening competition to insurance companies across state lines would bring costs down sharply. Competition always does. Bringing the cost of health insurance policies down will make health-care affordable for far more people. Republicans have all sorts of good ideas. Correcting the things that are wrong first seems far more sensible than trying to rearrange a big chunk of the economy, with no idea whether any part of it will work at all.
Filed under: Capitalism, Freedom, Health Care | Tags: Congress, Economy, Health Insurance, Huge Deficits
In 2006, the State of Massachusetts adopted a health care plan that required every resident to get health insurance and required every business to provide it. Otherwise, residents and employers would be fined. This was the nation’s first state universal health insurance program. It was to be the test ground to see how universal health coverage by the government would work here in the United States. It was to be the model that could be replicated around the country.
Within weeks of the deadline to have everyone signed up, the state hadn’t accurately budgeted for the program. 95 percent of doctors weren’t accepting new patients. Many doctors were leaving the state. Rationing of services, reductions in benefits and growing waits for care began. To keep the program solvent, Massachusetts cut payments to doctors and hospitals, reduced choices for patients, and was looking at increasing out-of-pocket expenses for patients.
By February of 2008, the state was asking the Federal government for help. Only two years old, and already in trouble.
With the national health care debate now heating up, the obvious question is ‘what can we learn from the Massachusetts experiment? The state treasurer says “Whatever you do, don’t do what we did.”
State treasurer Tim Cahill offered some startling statistics:
- The program has so far cost 30 percent more than anticipated. It already has a $9 billion shortfall projected over the nest two years.
- Costs have risen 41 percent since the program’s inception, well outpacing the rise in healthcare costs nationwide, which stands at 18 percent.
- We thought the program would mean that fewer people would go to hospitals, the highest costs that insurance plans have to pay. That wasn’t true.
- A Harvard study shows that 60 percent of residents are unhappy with the plan. The unhappiest are those making $25,000 to $50,000 –those whom it should be helping the most.
- To cut costs, the program has kicked out 30,000 legal immigrants.
Costs for Commonwealth Care (the subsidized program) soared from $158 million in the first year to $630 million in 2007, then doubled in 2009 to $1.3 billion. Enrollment is now at 181,000 up from 165,000 in the early spring, and is expected to reach 212,000 next year.
Government managed health care has consistently failed. The Indian Health Service — jokes say that if you get sick, do it before June, for that’s when they run out of money. The VA has improved some, but much care is still substandard according to those who rely on it. Hawaii flirted briefly with universal children’s insurance, and quickly dropped it as it was proving far too expensive. In 1994 Tennessee implemented managed care in its Medicaid program, with a system called TennCare. They thought they would use the anticipated savings from Medicaid to fund and expand coverage for children and the uninsured. It nearly bankrupted the state, reduced the quality of care and collapsed from it own deficiencies.
A government cannot promise to insure everyone, offer free care, increase the quality of care and reduce costs. It cannot happen. It is a fantasy.
Fantasies work fine in the movies and in novels, but indulging in fantasy in real life can have real-life consequences.
Filed under: Democrat Corruption, Liberalism, Politics | Tags: Congress, Democrat Demagogues, Healthcare
Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) had a Town Hall meeting a few days ago. A citizen asked if he had read the health care bill. He responded that they didn’t have time to read the whole thing so he divided it up with his aides and each read part of it. Mark Steyn posted a comment. An Arlen Specter supporter responded that:
“Every CEO in the country, including Ronald Reagan as President, reads executive summaries of important documents. The idea that any Senator has to read an entire bill in nonsense. He needs staff not only to read it but to relate how items on page 3 relate to provisions on page 1009…What is true is that without time there is no way staff could read it and draft the necessary critiques for Senatorial review but this ‘he hasn’t read the bill stuff’ is stupidity not some great insight.”
Mark Steyn responded (and this is the brilliant part):
Arlen Specter is not a CEO: — notwithstanding the vast Gulf Emir-sized retinue to which he has become accustomed. He doesn’t run anything. He has no payroll to make, no contracts to fulfill, no deliveries to expedite. A legislator is elected to legislate — so, if he doesn’t read the law before he makes it law, he’s not doing the only job he has. When you go to see Barbra Streisand, she has an orchestra and a conductor and arrangers and lighting designers and hair stylists, but she’s still expected to do the singing herself. If she stood up and said, “Okay, I’ve outsourced “People” to my intern Kevin and “You Don’t Bring me Flowers’ to the niece of a friend of mine who needed a summer job and the Yentl medley to some people Kevin met for a breakfast session and said seemed to know what they were talking about,” you’d begin to wonder why anyone needs Barbra.
Why does anyone need Specter? Why can’t we just eliminate the middle-man and have his “staffers” announce their collective vote like a U.N. Security “Council meeting? (emphasis mine)
Excellent exchange. Of course they have to read the bills. If they recognized that they are required to read every bill in its entirety, bills would be shorter, earmarks would be fewer, laws would be clearer and work better, and they would pass much less legislation — which would benefit the country immeasurably. Half of the problems in the country are caused by some little provision that someone sneaked into a bill that no one read. As far as that goes, a lot of staffers would no longer be needed if they didn’t have to read the bills and summarize them for the very people who are supposed to be doing that job, and the budget would be smaller.
Don’t miss the update from another correspondent to Mark Steyn. It’s priceless.
Filed under: Economy, Energy, Science/Technology | Tags: Congress, Environment, Global Warming, Junk Science
A monopsony is a situation in which a product or service is only bought by one customer. Jo Nova has done a new study now available at The Science and Public Policy Institute that reveals that the U.S. Government has spent more than $79 billion of taxpayer money since 1989 on policies related to climate change, including science and technology research, administration, propaganda campaigns, foreign aid and tax breaks. Most of this spending was unnecessary and useless.
An informal movement of scientists around the world has sprung up to test the integrity of the “global warming” theory and to compete with this lavishly funded, very organized climate monopsony. Over and over, they have exposed major errors.
Worldwide, carbon trading reached $126 billion in 2008. Experts are predicting that the carbon market will reach $2-$10 trillion in the near future. The largest single commodity traded on global exchanges will be hot air.
Exxon-Mobil is continually attacked for funding climate skeptics for $23 million — less than one thousandth of what the U.S. Government spends on climate activists and alarmists.
This huge expenditure is designed to prove the non-existent connection between carbon dioxide and climate. Government bodies, big business rent-seekers and environmental NGOs recruit, control and reward their own scientists who use climate modeling to justify power, control, wealth and population reduction. Robert Ferguson, SPPIs president asks:
Are politicians paying out billions of our dollars for evidence-driven policy-making, or policy-driven evidence-making? The truth is more crucial than ever, because American lives, property and constitutional liberties are at risk.
If the Waxman-Markey climate bill passes, billions more will be expended to pay for environmentalists useless fantasies.
American Elephants 