Fighting to Preserve Liberty in America
The Republicans were swept into control of the House and took a major bite out of the Democrats control of the Senate on a program of fiscal responsibility. Now as they work on their first budget, some of the tug-of-war was on display at CPAC’s opening day.
With all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over those obstructionist Republicans and how they stopped the Obama agenda, particularly during the Lame Duck session, the Democrats were going to change the rules so that never happens again.
[podcast]http://libertyslifeline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Episode-3.mp3[/podcast]
Fixing New York: Episode 3
It probably comes as no surprise to those who live here that the Cato Institute’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors: 2010 that New York’s Governor, David Patterson, got a grade of “F”. ”Governor Paterson has supported an enormous array of tax hikes during his short time in office,” according to the Cato report. But that is only the tip of the iceberg in New York.
New York has, perhaps, the most dysfunctional legislature in the country at the state or federal level. The government has often been characterized as “three men in a room.” What is meant by that is that the amount of power concentrated in the governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate Majority leader, means that for all intents and purposes the members of the Assembly and the Senate could show up on the first day of the legislature, vote for the leader of each chamber and go home. Next to nothing gets voted on, let alone approved, without the concurrence of these three leaders beforehand and if you cross them, you could find your office moved into a broom closet and your staff cut to a single phone jockey.
It was like the movie Rocky the Democrats (Rocky) were getting pounded left and right over their heavy handed tactics. They crammed through a health care bill that an overwhelming majority of the country opposed. They moved on to financial reform and they still couldn’t get any traction. Their poll numbers continued to drop and it was looking like a dismal election coming up in the fall.
And then, just like in the movie Rocky swings from his heels and connects knocking the champ to the canvas. In this case it was the SEC charging Goldman Sachs with fraud. Now they could fire a full fusillade of class warfare at the Republicans and either get Republicans to help pass the financial reform bill or be tarred as the party of the evil bankers and greedy Wall Street robber barons. But unlike the movie, right after knocking the opponent down, when the referee sends Rocky back to a neutral corner he slips in his own sweat, flips on his back and knocks himself out. By that I mean the news came out that employees of the SEC spent an inordinate amount of their time watching porn instead of the financial markets. How do you expand the role of government on the heels of that disclosure?
Trying to Make Up for Bernie Madoff?
When Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme was in full swing, Harry Markopolos brought the scam to the SEC practically tied in a bow. The SEC did not respond. Perhaps they were too busy…, well never mind.
With the Democrats trusty weapon, class warfare, holstered it’s time to delve more deeply into this financial reform legislation.
In a letter to Senate majority leader Harry Reid and minority leader Mitch McConnell, luminaries including former SEC Chief Accountant Lynn Turner, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, hedge fund owner Jim Chanos, former Lehman Brothers Vice Chair Peter Solomon, former S&L investigator Bill Black, former Senate Banking Committee Chief Economist Rob Johnson, economists Dean Baker, Barry Eichengreen and others pointed out that Dodd’s proposed financial reform legislation wouldn’t have prevented the current crisis … and won’t prevent the next crisis.
So tell me again why we are doing this? It’s all about more government control and more power in Washington, not about fixing any real problem. Where are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in this bill? They were at the very core of the financial meltdown. In other words it’s all politics and it’s all straight out of the Saul Alinsky tome Rules for Radicals:
Rule No. 13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and ‘frozen.’…
“…any target can always say, ‘Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?’ When your ‘freeze the target,’ you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments…. Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the ‘others’ come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target…’
“One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other.” (pps.127-134)
The target in this case, is Wall Street and the Banks. Demonize them. When the “others”, meaning the Republicans, come out to challenge the ineffectiveness of the bill, then they can be attacked as being for the fat cats and against the little guys; class warfare at its ugliest.
Follow the Money
But who is really in bed with the fat cats? The Political Action Committees (PACs), employees, families of employees and other associates of Goldman Sachs gave almost $1 million in campaign contributions to Obama. In this legislation, the concept of too big to fail remains untouched. There will be a $50 billion fund created with money from the top banks to standby if needed for a bailout, but this also gives the impression that the largest banks are now safer because of this fund and therefore can get a lower interest rate on their borrowings compared to smaller banks.
Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman said:
“The Dodd bill has unlimited executive bailout authority. That’s something Wall Street desperately wants but doesn’t dare ask for. The bill contains permanent, unlimited bailout authority.”
Why ask for it when the Obama administration will give it to you. All you have to do is let them smack you around a bit to prime the class warfare pump, and you’re all set.
If you are backstopped by unlimited executive bailout, go ahead, take bigger and bigger risks. The government will step in if you fail. So here we have yet another fat cat (Wall Street/Big Banks) wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing (the little guy; Main Street).
If you want real financial reform, then in the name of capitalism, the big banks and Wall Street have to learn to play with their own money. If they hit a home run, good for them. If they strikeout, they should lose their own money and if they don’t have enough to cover their losses, goodbye. They should not be allowed to take huge risks and if they pay off, everybody there gets a new mansion in the Hamptons, but if they go bust, hand the bill to us. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we were told were private entities, not part of the government, but wink, wink, nudge, nudge, everyone knew the federal government was standing behind them and would not let them go bust. So they too, got the kind of interest rates, half a point lower than their competitors, based on this implied backing not based on the strength of their balance sheet.
We have to fight this one too. This is just more smoke and mirrors from the Obama administration. Another power grab without any substantive benefit to the American people.
In Harry Reid’s Senate, this qualifies as dereliction of duty, as the Majority Leader said himself on Monday in defense of his frantic deal-making to get 60 votes. “I don’t know if there is a Senator that doesn’t have something in this bill that was important to them,” Mr. Reid said at a press conference that offered an unintentional commentary on modern democracy. “And if they don’t have something in it important to them, then it doesn’t speak well of them.” – Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2009
It kinda makes you feel warm all over, that our Congressional leaders are representing their constituents, selflessly doing what’s best for America in line with the consent of the governed (55% opposed according to latest Rasmussen poll).
Have you seen some of the commercials for Ally bank, where a man asks one little girl if she wants a pony and she gleefully says yes, so he hands her a toy pony. He then asks the next girl if she wants a pony and she says yes, so he calls out a live pony. The first girl, crestfallen, says, “You didn’t say I could have real pony.” To which he replies, “Well, you didn’t ask.” By now you probably know how Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Evan Byah of Indiana feel. They didn’t ask for a bribe in return for their vote on the health care bill, and like the creep in the commercial Harry Reid tells the world what a couple of saps they are for not doing so.
While Obama’s first stimulus plan lies sputtering on the ground, and he and his team tee up another one, they fail to realize that many small businesses that create most of the new jobs in this country, simply do not know what all this (health care, cap and trade, stimulus after stimulus) is going to cost them. Until they do, this uncertainty is what is keeping many of them from doing any hiring. How can you hire a new person when you no longer know how much your existing staff is going to cost when the music stops? So the unemployment picture will drag on no matter how may stimulus plans Obama rams through.
Coming to Their Senses
This is not over yet. The House version and the Senate version still have to be reconciled in committee. In the House Bart Stupak says he has 30 Democrats ready to vote against the bill, if his amendment against abortion is tampered with. The chumps in the Senate that Harry just made fools of, may re-think their support. The far left demands a public option be put in. Lieberman and a few others vow to vote against any public option. In addition, the members of Congress, when they return home to their districts, may not find them full of good cheer this Christmas, as incensed constituents express their opinions on why every Democrat in the Senate doesn’t understand 55% opposition, while they vote yea. Better watch out for flying fruitcakes, they can be lethal.
President Barack Obama
“Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game,” is what Casey Stengel reportedly said while watching his team, the New York Mets. The same could be said of the Democrats when it comes to paying taxes. The Democrats are the ones who rail against tax cuts for the rich. They don’t believe in lower tax rates to stimulate the economy, but if these wealthy Democrats find taxes problematic, they just don’t pay them.
We now hear of another nominee, Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader, has a $140,000 tax problem. $140,000! Most Americans would like to make that in income, let alone owe that in taxes. This follows on the heels of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner paying back taxes of $34,000 and Charlie Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that writes the tax laws, paying $10,800 in back taxes. We’d probably have a balanced budget if all these rich Democrats only paid the taxes they owe rather than fighting against tax cuts for everyone.
Here’s Daschle’s excuse for his tax problem:
“Mr. Daschle told committee staff that he had grown used to having a car and driver as Senate majority leader and didn’t think to report the perquisite on his taxes, according to staff members.”
Two things come glaringly into view here. First is the overall arrogance that these “public servants” feel they deserve privilege. They have no concept that in the real world not everyone has a car and driver provided by their employer. In this case the employer is all the Joe Sixpacks out there. The second thing is that these problems were discovered and fixed, in the cases of Daschle and Geithner, only after they were nominated for positions in Obama’s cabinet. So, what if they weren’t nominated? Do you think that this tax revenue that is legally owed to the government (you and me) would still be in their pockets?
We have the chairman of the committee that writes the tax laws failing to pay his taxes. We have the Treasury Secretary who oversees the Internal Revenue Service failing to pay his taxes. We have the former Senate Majority Leader who ran the senate that passes all laws failing to pay his taxes. Do you think it’s too hard to figure out how to comply with our tax code?
It’s time to scrap the tax code and go to a simple flat tax that you can file your return on a post card. Let’s put the $200 billion that Americans spend each year on tax compliance back into the economy. Let’s make sure that all these rich Democrats pay the taxes they owe. Do these two things and we probably won’t need a stimulus package.
