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Score One for the First Amendment

by Bill O'Connell on January 22, 2010

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The Incumbent Protection Act, aka McCain-Feingold, took a big hit yesterday from the Supreme Court.  It is particularly timely with so many incumbents nervously eying the exits.  The McCain-Feingold bill prohibited corporations and unions from “electioneering communications” within in 30 days of a primary, or 60 days of a general election.  Those time limits probably match pretty nicely with when most people start paying close attention to elections.  So if this kind of communication is cut off, who is left with the power of name recognition?  That’s right, the incumbent and that is probably why 90% of incumbents are re-elected.

Outrage on the Left

President Obama immediately came out swinging saying it was a victory for “big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies, and other special interests.”  He somehow overlooked the SEIU union whose president topped the list of visitors to the White House.  Unions will have unfettered communications as well.  Chuck Schumer promises hearings and the Naderite Public Citizen group is proposing a constitutional amendment banning free speech for “for-profit” corporations.  I’ll give you a moment to ponder that; a constitutional amendment to eviscerate the First Amendment.

The Momentum is Building

On April 15 it will be the first anniversary of the Tea Parties that were held across the country.  Let’s raise a cup of tea, that the Ship of Liberty that was foundering on the rocks may at last be turning it’s guns on the enemy and turning the tide of battle.  Virginia, New Jersey, a close loss in NY23, Massachusetts, the First Amendment, the momentum is building.  But let’s not forget the words of Churchill:

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. — Winston Churchill

Don’t let up until we have our country back.

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Rescue Me

by Bill O'Connell on April 1, 2009

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Can liberty be saved?  Is there a chance that we can rescue our country from the federal juggernaut that wants to reach down into the deepest recesses of your life and take control?  They spend your money with reckless abandon and say, “What Me Worry?”  Those in power would have indulged in the trappings of office, sated on money and power, and be long gone with their spoils while the crumpled bill lies on the floor for you and your children and your children’s children to pick up and pay.

They have invited many to the party, to eat, drink, and be merry with promises of “middle class” tax cuts that are the greatest April Fools joke of all time.  Don’t worry we’ll get the rich to pay for it all.  You know, those evil fat cats on Wall Street.  But the Republicans on Wall Street have long be replaced by Democrats.  That’s right, Gordon Gecko is a Democrat.  60% of Wall Street contributions went to Democrats vs. Republicans.  How long will the top 2% of earners keep shouldering the burden before they slow down, stop, or emigrate.  Who will pick up the pieces then?  Who will support the drunken revelers that Obama piled on the public dole?

AIG Outrage

All of the outrage by Congressional and Administration leadership over the AIG bonuses is the epitome of hubris.  AIG contributed $104,000 to each Barack Obama and Christopher Dodd, during the recent election cycle.  Do you remember the brouhaha over language in the stimulus bill that had a loophole that allowed the AIG bonuses to be paid?  Dodd said he didn’t include the loophole.  Later he said he did include it but at the insistence of the Obama administration.  Now is it just me or does anyone else see a quid pro quo here?  Then they come out red-faced professing that the bonuses are an outrage.  Senator Schumer, who is threatening to unconstitutionally tax the bonuses into oblivion, took $112,000 in contributions from AIG.

Lessons from Hugo Chavez?

More recently President Obama effectively fired the CEO of General Motors and now speaks of bankruptcy.  I, among many others, said they should have filed for bankruptcy long before taxpayers bailed them out.  So now after we have sunk taxpayer money into GM and Chrysler, Obama steps in and effectively runs the company on “our behalf” as owners of 80% of the company and now says bankruptcy is a good idea!  When will the amateur hour come to an end?  But watch carefully, because Obama will assiduously avoid offending the auto workers union, despite the fact that the union contracts put US auto makers at a $2000 per car disadvantage against the competition.  GM (Government Motors) will now be forced to make cars that satisfy Obama’s left wing supporters but that Americans don’t want to buy.  It will be interesting to see how the government forces us to buy them.

What Do the Europeans Think?

For years we have been told by the left that we must listen to what the Europeans are saying.  They say we have to consider foreign laws in weighing Supreme Court cases.  They decried Bush’s policies as alienating our European friends.  So what do the Europeans think of Obama now?

The president of the European Union on Wednesday ripped the Obama administration’s economic policies, calling its deficit spending and bank bailouts “a road to hell.” — Washington Post, March 25

A Very Dangerous Path

In March of 1933 Adolf Hitler, proclaiming a national emergency of a potential communist revolution asked the German legislature, the Reichstag, to grant him emergency powers to deal with the situation.  Such a proposal required two-thirds approval by that body.  The final vote was 441 in favor, 84 opposed.  From that point on, Hitler was dictator. 

 Rahm Emmanuel likes to say, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”  President Obama is taking the current financial crisis to ram through a massive power grab.  The legislation is being rammed through with such force and urgency that no one has a chance to read it.  What ticking time bomb could be tucked in those pages that get voted on and passed without scrutiny?  Just look at the AIG fiasco for the answer.  No one seemed to know or admit it was in there.  If we allow this to continue, we may find some other provision included in the dead of night that will destroy our country forever.

Be on your guard.

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Bipartisanship Begins At Home

by Bill O'Connell on February 24, 2009

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New York, like many states, is in the midst of a state budget crisis.  The state is facing a $14 billion budget deficit.  The cause of the problem is pretty clear, too much spending.  State spending has grown far in excess of inflation and population growth.  What provided the wallop is the sharp downturn on Wall Street, which drastically cut revenues to the state.  But the state does not have any reserves to speak of.

We’re All in This Together, Right?

Everyone is being asked to tighten their belts.  The Democrats had previously held the State Assembly and now control both houses of the legislature and the governorship.  Among the strongest supporters of the Democrats in this very blue state are the labor unions.  They wholeheartedly support the spending increases that the Democrats propose every year especially where those increases shower wages and benefits on their members.

So while the Democrats, with no place to hide, are scrambling to close the budget gap why do I see commercial after commercial on television urging me to tell the governor and the legislature to make the necessary cuts elsewhere and not to touch their sacred cow.  The commercials are from the police unions, the teacher unions, the health care worker unions, the university professor unions, the public employee unions, all urging us to rise up and make sure the cuts are not directed at them.

Chutzpah

After years and years of spending increases under both Republicans and Democrats, and year after year of fat labor contracts for these unions because the politicians were too cowardly to confront them or turn down their money and electoral support, we are now in this mess.  But now instead of shouldering their share of the burden, some of which was a result of their greed, they are telling their fellow New Yorkers to take on more of the pain and spare them.  How about a little bipartisanship on behalf of the unions and suck it up and help your fellow New Yorkers carry the load you created.

Where’s Ronald Reagan when you need him?

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The Innocent Bystander: Government

by Bill O'Connell on February 22, 2009

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Don't Anyone Dare Say Government Caused This Mess

You can never solve a problem if you do not face up to the full scope of the problem.  In listening to President Obama, and reading liberal columnists like Maureen Dowd, in the description of what caused the current economic calamity, the government is always given a pass.

We are in an economic morass because of the eight years of failed Bush policies, greed on Wall Street, tax breaks for the rich, etc.  Government’s culpability which, I believe, is really the gravamen of our economic problems is never mentioned at all.  Democrats and Liberals don’t dare point to Democrats and liberal policies as having anything to do with the collapsing economy.  That is why they always say that this is the worst economy since the Great Depression, as they also said when Clinton ran for President.  They don’t dare say it is the worst economy since Jimmy Carter, since that would remind the American people that the Democrats screwed up that one as well.

Unmentionable Causes of the Current Economic Mess

  • Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of control.  Explosive increases in debt taken on under the leadership of Franklin Raines (Democrat), and Jaime Gorelick (Democrat), remember she also gave us the firewall between the CIA and FBI that hamstrung the investigation of al Qaeda.  Raines made over $90 million while at Fannie Mae and at the same time was accused of overstating earnings by $10.6 billion.  So, where’s the demand for a clawback of Raines’s salary?
  • Barney Frank (Democrat) and Chris Dodd (Democrat) — Frank blocked every attempt to put in place greater regulation over Fannie Mae.  The Bush Administration tried to increase regulation over Fannie Mae, but Frank blocked it.  What you hear today is that the reason for the economic problems are a lack of regulation.  Chris Dodd got VIP mortgage treatment from Countrywide mortgage before they went belly-up.  Asked to come clean on the mortgages, Dodd first said sure, we’ll get around to it.  Then he made some papers available for viewing, but not copying, and has since clammed up.
  • Community Reinvestment Act — Carter (Democrat) administration program to push home ownership for low income people, by forcing banks to report how much they were offering loans in low income neighborhoods and face the consequences if it wasn’t enough.
  • Janet Reno (Democrat) — in the Clinton Administration Reno threatened action against financial institutions if they weren’t lending enough low income individuals.  What bank doesn’t want to be publicly branded a racist institution?

So we have homeowners, who should have never qualified for a mortgage, about to receive bailouts from all the responsible people who took mortgages they could afford, when they could afford them.  Do you ever hear about any of this cast of characters mentioned by President Obama or the main stream media? No.  It wasn’t the government actively pushing social policy on those people least able to handle it.  It was greedy banks and unscrupulous lenders, trying to avoid being branded racists, who took advantage of these poor ignorant people.  Perhaps if the government hadn’t destroyed our education system, these people might have read what they were about to sign.

How Do you Solve Only Half a Problem?

As these characters are never mentioned as having a role in the problem, how can you ever hope to fix the problem if these bad actors are still going about their business doing what caused the crisis and blaming everyone else.  President Obama demonstrates his inexperience more profoundly every day, seemingly making things up as he goes along.  That is not leadership and what we need now in times of crisis is leadership.  Obama has never shown the courage or willingness to take on his own party.  Without rooting out these characters and really fixing the whole problem, it will only happen again down the road.

What we need now is a leader.  Someone who actually has experience running the executive branch of a state.  Someone who is not afraid to take on the entrenched power of their own party and has succeeded in doing so.  Is there anyone out there who fits that bill?  Gee, that sounds like Sarah Palin.

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Avoiding or Creating Catastrophe?

by Bill O'Connell on February 10, 2009

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President Barack Obama held his first press conference last night and did a masterful job of controlling the communication while dodging any hint that he let this stimulus package spin out of control, at the hands of Nancy Pelosi.

Elkhart, Indiana

I found it curious that President Obama chose Elkhart, Indiana, the RV capital of the world, as the backdrop for the current economic situation.  After all, in the campaign he said that driving SUVs and RVs was irresponsible.  What kind of gas mileage does an RV get?  He campaigned on Cap and Trade.  What would Cap and Trade do to the good people of Elkhart, Indiana if implemented?  How many people are going to out and buy an RV, which can cost up to $600,000, with the $10 per week tax cut President Obama is proposing.  Remember, he is dead set against across the board tax cuts, which could actually prompt an evil “rich person” to buy an RV.  It reminds me of the 10% tax on luxury yachts sales that killed the boat building industry and put many blue collar people out of work.

Disaster by Design

Of all the schemes tried over the years, from the Great Depression forward, to stimulate the economy, why does this President insist on going with the ones proven not to work?

No less an authority than FDR’s Treasury secretary and close friend, Henry Morganthau, conceded this fact to Congressional Democrats in May 1939: “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises … I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started … And an enormous debt to boot!”

Spending in the Great Depression didn’t work and that is according to the guy doing the spending.  Last night President Obama mentioned the lost decade in Japan.  However, all of the massive public works spending in Japan during that decade didn’t work.

What did Japan get from sustained and massive public works spending by the LDP after a real estate bubble burst in the late 1980s?  According to a recent article in the IHT, one thing is clear:  taxpayers ended up being saddled with the largest public debt in the developed world, totaling 180 percent of its $5.5 trillion economy.

While there are disputes over how to view the results, the Japanese appear to have learned a lesson, while US officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who spent time as a financial attaché in Japan after the collapse, appear to determined to repeat it on a larger scale

President Obama alluded to the “failed policies of the last eight years,” as if tax cuts created this mess. But today, Treasury Secretary Geithner opened his remarks on the bank bailout by basically saying that government action or inaction coupled with Wall Street excesses caused the financial debacle not tax cuts.  They were:

  • Interest rates too low for too long – driving up home prices
  • Complicated financial intruments that no one understood bundling mortgages
  • Failure of government oversight
  • People being encouraged to borrow beyond their means (by government)

But we are supposed to believe that only government can get us out of this.  So, government created the mess, they are ignoring what has worked in the past (tax cuts: Kennedy, Reagan, Bush), choosing those things that were proven failures (spending: Great Depression, Japan) and we’re supposed to be angry at Republicans for putting up a goal line stand to protect us from this impending disaster.

If this passes, be afraid, be very afraid

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The Audacity of Those Republicans!

by Bill O'Connell on February 1, 2009

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Frank Schaeffer writes in the Huffington Post, under the headline Republicans: “Go To Hell America”, 100% Partisan Vote”, about the vote on the so-called stimulus package.  As Shakespeare said, “Me thinks he doth protest too much.”  In actuality it was a bi-partisan vote, bi-partisan against the stimulus package.

Stimulus?

As more details about this pork-a-palooza come out the American people grow more concerned and less supportive as evidenced by a recent Rasmussen poll with support slipping from 45% to 42% and opposition growing from 34% to 39% with 19% undecided.  Which means that 3% moved from the support column and 2% from the undecided column into the opposition column.  In other words, more people supported John McCain than support this package, and McCain lost.

So why is Frank Schaeffer on the verge of having a stroke over this?  When you look more closely it’s pretty clear.  By all Republicans voting against the measure, they did not give the Democrats the fig leaf they were looking for.  If this is truly a stimulus package and if the Democrats need no Republican votes to pass it, then pass it and take all the credit when the economy rockets to life.  The dirty little secret is that the Democrats really don’t believe this is a stimulus package at all.

The Big Payoff

The purpose of this package is to help the Democrats to consolidate power.  It begins by paying back those who supported them.  Why else is there money in the package for Hollywood, family planning, teacher’s unions, massive transfers of money from the federal to the state governments?  The “tax stimulus” of about $10 per week, is aimed at those who pay little to no income taxes.  “If I give you a check for nothing today, will you give me your vote in 2010?”  They are pushing to reach that tipping point where the majority of voters pay no income tax and maybe even get checks from the government.  Once that magical 50% line is crossed look out.  By having majority rule, they can then jack up the tax rates on “the rich” to astronomical levels, and there is little that can be done about it short of another revolution.  Remember those famous words, “Taxation without Representation”?  And why should it matter to rich Democrats, since they don’t pay the taxes they owe anyway (Rangel, Daschle, Geithner).

The Republicans could have done a great thing for their party and the country: sent a message to the world — we stand together! Imagine the impact on tomorrow’s stock market, and our enemy’s view of America and our standing in the world if instead of a partisan Republican “NO” vote the backing of the recovery plan had been unanimous approval! — Schaeffer

Sorry, comrade, it’s time for Mr. Schaeffer to get a reality check.  First of all that was a bipartisan NO! Second, the stock market has fallen 1,600 points since Obama was elected.  That’s not exactly a vote of confidence from the financial markets.  Look, the measure passed.  If it is a truly good stimulus package the stock market should rise on that alone.  Does he think Wall Street cares whose vote is in which column?  Please!

The Republicans might have then shared the credit, even won a few elections in the future. Now their fate is sealed. Obama will succeed. America won’t forget who to thank. — Schaeffer

You would think that Mr. Schaeffer was born yesterday.  This package was put together by President, I mean, Speaker Pelosi.  She gave the back of her hand to the Republicans.  They had no role to play in putting this package together, so let’s put the bipartisan rhetoric back in the museum case where it belongs.  President Obama’s dinner with conservative writers, his cocktail parties, his Capital Hill meetings with Republicans were all just PR and window dressing if they have no input on the legislation.  When asked if the package was bipartisan, Speaker Pelosi said that depends on how the Republicans vote.  In other words, if they vote for what we are trying to cram down their throats, its bipartisan, if not, well just call on Frank Schaeffer to scream FOUL!

If he wants a true stimulus package, cut the pork, cut the unnecessary spending, eliminate the capital gains tax and cut tax rates, not give out $10 per week that will barely buy a pizza.  If you want to build a serious stimulus package, I am sure the Republicans would stand ready to work with President Obama, but it’s time for President Obama to realize that he’s the one with the 70% approval rating not Nancy Pelosi, whose Congress has approval ratings in the single digits.  He should take the lead not follow hers.  But for now someone has to watch the American people’s backs and their wallets, and that, my friends, are the conservative Republicans.

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Taxpayers to GM — Get Yourselves Out of This Mess

by Bill O'Connell on November 18, 2008

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It’s hard to read the news about the auto industry and not clench your fists at the outrage.  GM and to a lesser extent, Ford and Chrysler, are asking the American taxpayer to bail them out, but what is their position?

  • The unions say they are not going to negotiate anything to help the situation
  • The CEO of GM says that they are not filing for Chapter 11 and not preparing to file, despite that they may run out of cash by the end of December.  Not even as a contingency, Mr. Wagoner?
  • Wagoner refused to consider resigning, even if it would help them get aid
  • GM’s board is supportive of Wagoner

This company negotiated an agreement with its union that pays them almost full pay if they are laid off.  Let me get this straight.  You lay people off, as painful as that may be, to cut costs.  GM negotiates an agreement that keeps the costs, but sends the people away.  From their perspective, it’s free labor, they pay for it either way so put them to work!  But no, I’m sure there are union restrictions about what you can put them to work doing.

Remember the Dot.com Bubble?

In 2000 we saw the Dot.com bubble.  What was the fallout?  Millions were lost on Wall Street.  Companies by the bushel basket went out of business.  Thousands were thrown out of work.  How much did taxpayers cough up to bail them out?  Nothing.  The market dealt with it.  The strong companies re-grouped, the weak fell by the wayside.  John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, changed his own salary to $1 per year until he righted his ship.  Today Cisco has $26 billion in the bank and Chambers is still at the helm.  Nice work, John.  It wasn’t done with arrogance and going hat in hand to Washington looking for a hand out.

Deja Vu

In the 1970s and 1980s in the UK, British Leyland, maker of the Triumph, MG, Rover, Jaguar, Austin and five others, was in need of a bailout to keep going.  The British government complied eventually pumping in $16.5 billion in taxpayer money to the company.  It limped along for another few years and then went out of business.  It sold its Jaguar and Land Rover brands to Ford, which then poured $10 billion into Jaguar.  It recently sold both brands to Tata of India, getting back about half of what it paid for the brands.

Did the British economy go under?  Is the British military without tanks?  Let’s not forget that the Jeep was made by American Motors.  Where is American Motors today?  A company named AM General makes the military Hummer.  Guess what the “AM” stands for?  GM, Ford and Chrysler combined made about 17 million vehicles in 2007.  Does anyone think this demand will vanish if GM, Ford and Chrysler vanish?  Of course not.  Either GM, Ford, and Chrysler will re-make themselves, new companies will emerge, or U.S. based foreign companies will grow to take up the slack.  The jobs will move around.  The demand is there, the supply will emerge to satisfy it.

The Way Out

The way out of this mess is to go Chapter 11, reorganize, renegotiate onerous labor contracts, sell off properties no longer needed but tied up in commitments to bonds that were sold to attract a factory, etc.  The government should do their part and dump the CAFE standards.  Americans will still want high mileage cars and companies will build them.  It may not be GM, Ford and Chrysler who build them, but if they trim down, maybe they will.  But they do make a profit on their premium models and light trucks.  Let them.

But keep your hand out of my wallet.

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