This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Economy

  • Jimmy Carter once again

    Over the past few years, several bloggers have made the comparison between President Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, and every time Obama has lived up to our comparisons. Well, here we go again. In today’s Washington Times, Joseph Weber writes that Obama is backing the first nuclear power plant construction in decades.

    President Obama on Tuesday announced roughly $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to build the first U.S. nuclear power plant in three decades.

    The president said the initiative was part of his administration’s ongoing effort to develop “safe, clean” energy and reduce the country’s dependency on foreign oil.

    However, he also used the announcement to issue stern warnings about the United States falling behind others countries and about how upgrading the domestic power grid and making high-tech batteries in U.S. factories through the American Recovery Act is not enough.

    Ya know what else happened three decades ago besides the fact that we stopped building power plants? Jimmy Carter, in his “malaise speech”, sensing that he was in political trouble if he didn’t do something about the energy crunch, said this;

    To make absolutely certain that nothing stands in the way of achieving these goals, I will urge Congress to create an energy mobilization board which, like the War Production Board in World War II, will have the responsibility and authority to cut through the red tape, the delays, and the endless roadblocks to completing key energy projects.

    We will protect our environment. But when this nation critically needs a refinery or a pipeline, we will build it.

    Yeah, not one more refinery has been built since the day Carter gave that speech. Our domestic resources remain unused and undeveloped.

    I do not promise a quick way out of our nation’s problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act.

    Yeah, he acted by forming the Energy Department, and then nothing. Democrats have thwarted our energy independence ever since they promised to solve it. What makes this Democrat any different?

  • First good advice from Obama Administration retracted

    So someone in the Obama Administration finally gave the American people good advice about something and then he backed away from it. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, when asked by the House Appropriation Committee what advice he’d give Americans in regards to the Toyota recall, Fox News records;

    “My advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to the Toyota dealer because they believe they have the fix for it,” LaHood said.

    Afterwards he told reporters that wasn’t what he meant to say.

    “What I said in there was obviously a misstatement,” LaHood said outside of the hearing room. “My advice is if you have one of these vehicles, if you are in doubt, take it to the dealership today.”

    DOT spokesman Bill Adams said in an email, “The DOT is advising owners of recalled vehicles to contact their local dealerships to arrange for fixes as soon as possible.”

    The Japanese auto maker said Monday it has the fix for the problem and would begin shipping the new parts to auto dealers.

    A Toyota representative couldn’t immediately comment on LaHood’s statement.

    Instead, they want you to drive around in a potential death trap until it kills you.

    Me? I’ve never owned a rice burner, but if Toyota had done that to me, knew about the problem since 1997 without telling anyone, I’d drive it right up my dealer’s ass.

    But this is just the latest recall – Toyota’s recalls exceed those of the Big Three American Automakers combined.

    Yeah, yeah, I know – your Toyota has 8 billion miles on it and you’ve never put a drop of gas in it. It’s those last three feet that’ll kill you. I was raised by WWII vets and we still don’t trust those sneaky Japs.

  • Military retired pay drops

    This is more informational than a personal complaint, but retired military pay dipped in real dollars this year for the first time my memory – just like it did for Social Security recipients. How’d it happen?

    Well, the Obama Administration and Congress didn’t give SS folks and retired military a cost of living allowance, even though the cost of living has gone up this year. However, because Medicare went up for SS recipients, and we lost our “tax cut”, which wasn’t really a tax cut anyway, Our payments went down. Sure it was just a little bit, but it happened despite all of this talk about taking care of the needy and the little guys.

    It was just a coupla bucks for me, probably so small that it would have got eaten up in taxes anyway, but that’s not my point. There are people out there who depend on every penny they get from their SS and retired paychecks, despite the fact that the six-figure crowd in DC think it’s a tiny amount. How many times have we been bombarded with ads that tell us that seniors have to choose between food and medicine – yet that’s exactly who gets stiffed by this administration.

    Now the Bush Administration made sure we got our COLA increases even when inflation was minuscule, but that didn’t stop the AARP crowd from complaining that it wasn’t enough (it’s not a merit increase, for Pete’s sake).

    Regardless of what you think about retired military pay or Social Security, you still have to admit that those folks were promised those checks and fulfilled their end of the bargain, but the government doesn’t feel that it has to meet it’s obligations and that’s just not right.

    Sure it probably helps with the national budget, but it seems that the people who’ve always sacrificed (since the Depression) are always expected to suffer in silence. I just thought they needed someone to speak up for them today.

  • Biggest tax cheats? Federal employees.

    The other day we learned that Federal employees continue to get cost-of-living pay raises, even though the cost of living doesn’t rise. Today, we learn that Federal employees are some of the biggest tax cheats, too;

    Federal workers owe more than $3 billion in income taxes they failed to pay in 2008. According to Internal Revenue Service documents, 276,300 federal employees and retirees owe $3,042,200,000.

    You’d think the IRS and Congress would be free of this type of fraud, wouldn’t you? You’d be wrong;

    The IRS is the only federal agency where employees can be fired for not paying their taxes. The non-compliance rate for IRS employees in 2008 was 0.76 percent — down from 0.89 percent in 2007.

    # Executive Office of the President (includes the White House): 50 employees owe $812,917;
    # U.S. Senate: 231 employees owe $2,469,026;
    # U.S. House of Representatives: 447 employees owe $5,809,631;

    OF course, the Feds claim they can’t fire their employees for not paying their taxes – apparently they don’t make it the least bit uncomfortable for them, either.

  • Obamaville

    obamaville

    While Obama is inflating his own grade, some Americans are taking a far dimmer view of his administration of the government thus far;

    I’ve had trouble embedding the video, if it doesn’t show here try it at this link.

    Well, Hoover had to deal with “Hoverville” signs, I guess Obama will just have to factor this into his grade. I guess this won’t help though; Reuters reports that Obama’s IRS has hired a battalion of “wealth police”;

    The IRS high wealth unit, part of a broader effort to combat international tax evasion, is focusing on “the entire web of business entities controlled by a high wealth individual,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman told a tax conference this week.

    Another IRS official told Reuters “hundreds” of people have already been hired to staff the new unit, including some from within the agency.

    “We have drawn top talent within the IRS that have expertise involving wealthy individuals as well as examination of their related entities,” said Mae Lew, an IRS special counsel.

    Nothing “class warfare” about that, is there? That ought to stop the complaining.

  • The definition of insanity

    So, while his popularity falls because unemployment is rising (against his promises), manufacturing continues to decrease, the President decides that he must be doing something right so he proposes more of the same unrestrained government spending;

    President Barack Obama outlined new multibillion-dollar stimulus and jobs proposals Tuesday, saying the nation must continue to “spend our way out of this recession” until more Americans are back at work.

    “Spend our way out of a recession”. That’s like killing off a few million people to lower the rate of suicide.

    OK, he inherited a bad economy – just like George Bush inherited a bad economy – but he hasn’t done anything to fix it except drive us deeper in debt and our currency (and ability to borrow) is now in danger because we’re about to lose our AAA bond rating. SO let’s spend some more.

    Voters should remember this line from today’s speech when they go the polls next year “And we were forced to take those steps largely without the help of an opposition party….”

  • Washington Times cuts back staff

    According to Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz, the Washington Times is planning to draw down their staff and make some changes in subscriptions and purchase rates;

    Nearly three decades after its founding by officials of the Unification Church, the Times said Wednesday it is laying off at least 40 percent of its staff and shifting mainly to free distribution.

    In what amounts to a bid for survival, the company said the print edition will focus on its core strengths: politics, national security, investigative reporting and “cultural coverage based on traditional values.” That means the Times will end its run as a full-service newspaper, slashing its coverage of local news, sports and features.

    When I moved here over ten years ago, the first thing I did after we moved our furniture into the new apartment was walk down to the store to buy a Washington Times and I’ve done it every single day since – well, actually, I subscribed and had it delivered.

    You’ll notice that I source a lot of stuff to the Times these days because they’re the only newspaper in the country that’s reporting a lot of the news no one else is. In fact, they’ve been on fire since the last Presidential election. If you want to read White House press releases, get the Post. If you want the news, get the Times.

    To demonstrate how smart they are at the Times, they turned me down when I applied as a part time copy editor there about nine years ago. Shows you how brilliant the copy staff are there.

    The Washington Times reports that it will remain in business and adjust it’s business model to the changing economy and technology;

    The online edition of The Times will continue, with a greater focus on breaking news and updates. The local print edition will be distributed at no cost in some key areas, and offered for normal single sales through retailers and news boxes.

    The company plans to expand TheConservatives.com, its newly launched Web site that showcases op-eds, think pieces and other news of particular interest to conservatives. “America’s Morning News” — a daily national syndicated talk radio that is broadcast from a studio just steps from the Times newsroom — will also continue, and is thriving, Mr. Slevin said.

    The program, also billed as “Washington Times investigational radio,” has now expanded into 70 marketplaces across the country.

    I hope it works out for them because they filled a void in the market at a crucial time (1982) and we need the Times to continue.

  • Hey! Why is my pantleg wet?

    Oh, Obama says it’s raining;

    President Barack Obama said new figures released Friday showing national unemployment has hit the double-digit mark are a sobering reminder of the challenges still facing the U.S. economy.

    Standing in the White House Rose Garden a few hours after the government reported that the jobless rate hit 10.2 percent last month, Obama said his administration is working hard to restore the struggling economy.

    It’s a good thing Joe Biden is watching that stimulus distribution, or we’d be in deep kim che about now.