Category Archives: Politics: National

Obama's Numbers

Posted on October 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

The Democrats are reeling.  Support for the Leftist Congress is plummeting. Voters are ready to fire them with only 2 points to spare and closing fast.  {though if you ask Rasmussen, you get a different picture}.  Governors in two key Democratic states are going to flip.  Support for the health care bill is down and even Obama himself is seeing his numbers plummet.  {again, if you ask Rasmussen you will see a bigger decline}

But the real telling sign is the battle in the blogosphere.  Where once the debate wasn’t so much if the country loved Obama, it was about how many did.  The media was fawning all over the man what with men’s legs shivering in his aura.  Now?  Now the battle isn’t over whether or not CNN is biased, but rather if it’s biased to the left or to the right.

Wanna put into perspective how bad this President is?  His approval rating is lower than Carter’s.

Music.  Sweet music.

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Media Bias: Brad and Britt Have It Wrong

Posted on October 19, 2009 | Leave a comment

This morning on the Brad and Britt show the conversation was concerning the continued attack on Fox News from the White House.  I only was able to catch a small part of the show, but the general gist was that, in fact, Fox News as an organization is slanted to the Right.  I got this impression from the conversation between Brad and Britt regarding the Fox Radio reporters that the show dealt with for the first 3 years of the station’s existence.

Britt commented:

During this time he and Brad often spoke to those reporters and during those conversations, where it was just one on one, the reporters would often come across as genuine and fair, as if they were liberated from the corporate expectations of Fox.

I waited for the comparison to ABC Radio and its reporters.  I would expect that if Fox had certain expectations than ABC must also.  And if the Fox reporters felt liberated in one on one conversations with peers, it would hold that ABC reporters would feel the same way.  I was rewarded with no such point.  So I was left with the feeling that:

  1. Yes.  Fox News does expect a Conservative slant.
  2. Yes.  That expectation is wrong.

So I started to wonder.  Many folks say that America is a “Center Right” nation.  So maybe Fox is just right on the money when they report as a “Center Right” network.  Which in turn got me to thinking, how far “right” is Fox?

So I checked.  And this is what I found:  A report titled:  A Report on Media Bias

It turns out that two researchers conducted a study.  And a rather clever study at that.  The researchers

count the times that a media outlet cites various think tanks and other policy groups.  We compare this with the times that members of Congress cite the same think tanks in their speeches on the floor of the House and Senate.  By comparing the citation patterns we can construct an ADA score for each media outlet.

Then, by ranking these ADA scores, the report was able to rank not only how liberal or conservative a news outlet is, but also how far from “Center” it is.

The results?  Surprising only in the fact that SO many sources are liberal, by how far and even how traditional conservative sources are really liberal:

Media source and ADA Score

Media source and ADA Score

Sources are listed in the order of the distance they are from center.  The lower the number, the more conservative; the higher the more liberal.  Average is 50.06.   So, where does Fox news sit?  5th.  They are the fifth closest to center with a 39.7 ranking.  Every other source from 6th through 20 is further from center than Fox and all of them save 1 has a liberal bias.

The report is informative in 2 other aspects:

  1. Aaron Brown doesn’t host on CNN any longer.  That honor goes to the decidedly more liberal Anderson Cooper.
  2. MSNBC isn’t even on the list.  Yowza.

So I ask you gentle reader; who is really in the tank for who?

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Posted in Politics: National

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Cause Ya Have to be Legal to Work in the White House

Posted on October 14, 2009 | 1 comment

I’m actually surprised they stopped at reduced penalties and no jail:

WASHINGTON – Some 7,500 international tax dodgers have applied for an amnesty program that promises no jail time and reduced penalties for tax cheats who come forward, the Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday.

…

The program is part of a larger effort by the Obama administration to crack down on Americans who evade U.S. taxes by hiding assets in overseas accounts.

I mean, most of his staff fit this bill.

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Posted in Politics: National

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12,000 Jobs Created

Posted on October 13, 2009 | Leave a comment

Minnesota is reporting that they have saved or created nearly 12,000 jobs due to the stimulus package. That’s more than 1 per lake, and Minnesota has a lot of lakes!

So, how much stimulus money did Minnesota get? About $4.7 billion.
How much has Minnesota spent? About $1.6 billion.
So, at this rate, how many jobs is Minnesota predicting? 35,000.
And the White House, how many did THEY predict? 66,000.

So, even using their own numbers, the White House and Minnesota is falling short by 47% of the predicted total, or 31,000 jobs.

And the jobs that WERE created? Let’s see:

  • $16.6 million to put 5,800 youth to work over the summer.

So, let’s see.  The state spent $16.6 million to hire a bunch of kids for the summer?  And that counts as a job saved or created?  So, really, what Minnesota is saying is that they saved or created 6,200 jobs.  5,800 high school kids having summer jobs doesn’t count.

Way to go Minnesota!

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

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Poor Democrats: Responsibility

Posted on October 12, 2009 | 8 comments

As we are beginning quarter 4, 2009, it is becoming clear that what we already knew was going to happen is, ahem, going to happen. That is, we are most certainly going to see the end of the recession between April and September of this year. Further, the unemployment rate is going to continue to rise and rise for quite some time.

As I mentioned, this is not surprising or new information.  What IS surprising, however, is that there is a group of people who find themselves in an uncomfortable position; the Democrats.

Job losses are expected to continue at least into the middle of next year, likely driving the unemployment rate above 10 percent from 9.8 percent last month. It could take three or four more years for it to fall to normal levels.

The longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression has claimed 7.2 million jobs since it began in December 2007. Analysts figure 750,000 more jobs could disappear over the next six months.

And why is this?  It’s a perfect storm of sorts for the Democrats.  They are dealing with both long term and short term trends.  On the one hand, we are now paying the piper for the incentives given to banks, lenders and individuals to buy/sell houses to people who couldn’t afford them.  That’s the long term.  The short term?  The whole stimulus package including, to be fair, the Republican led TARP disaster.  And the medium term?  The rise of the minimum wage, which, by the way, is coinciding with a very bad labor market.  Right when we should be trying to incent people to hire other people, we instead are raising the cost of labor; even beyond what that labor is worth.

And what are the Democrats going to do to try to help us through this period of adjustment?  Why, a second stimulus perhaps?  Some are even considering raising that minimum wage even higher.  And the doubly whammy?  Cap and Trade along with Universal Health Care.

If you wanna implement policies that promise to rise the people up but in reality strip those same people of economic health and vibrancy?  Hire a Democrat; just remember that when their policies fail, it’ll get harder and harder to hire them in the next election.

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Posted in Economy, Politics: National, Politics: North Carolina

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Jindalcare

Posted on October 6, 2009 | 1 comment

Alan Colmes is talking about the new health care plan proposed by New Orleans governor Bobby Jindal.  Jindal outlined his plans in a Washington Post article. Now, I have been saying for a long time that the Republicans need to step up and stand out.  For sure the plans offered by the Democrats are in huge need of being said “No” too, but at some point, you simply have to bring a plan to the table.  A vibrant plan.  A plan that’s marketed and jazzed and finally sold to the public.

Jindal is doing that; or trying to.  He correctly points out that Washington’s plan is dead and going no where.  In fact the public is tired of see Obama and his administration rehashing the same old talking points over and over again.  Even The Chairman himself is no longer able to “Shine the sun of his personality” to make this problem of his go away.  So, Jindal is trying to seize the opportunity and stand out.  Announce his own plan and see if he can get the Conservatives to back him.

I’m guessing they won’t.  And hoping.

I get the fact that there has to be some compromising in this.  I understand that a world run exactly as I want is as bad a place as a world run exactly as you see fit.  It takes the best of both of us to build what we have.  Key word; Best.  Not worst.  And that’s what Jindal is suggesting.  He wants to take one of the two worst aspects of Obamacare, roll it in some Jindal speak and sell it as a better package.  It ain’t.

Require coverage of preexisting conditions: Insurance should not be least accessible when it is needed most. Companies should be incentivized to focus on delivering high-quality effective care, not to avoid covering the sick.

You can not guarantee coverage disregarding preexisting conditions.  Because if the government does that, the government  HAS to make it affordable.  And if you do THAT, you break the system and you have a plan no better than Medicare/Medicaid.  Broke and getting broker.  By the day.

According to their own auditors, Medicare knowingly overpays for almost everything it buys.

Jindal is right in a lot, but wrong where it counts.

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: National

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The Power of Capitalism

Posted on September 26, 2009 | 1 comment

Never, in the history of mankind, has a nation been as wealthy as when it is free.  Free to allow markets to provide to its citizenry the choice of products at a price that reflects their value.  When governments restrict this choice, restrict this trade and restrict these rights, the people of those nations suffer, become less free and less wealthy.  In short, they are worse off than they otherwise would have been.

Proof of this, as if it needed to be proven yet again, has been demonstrated in such remote places as Kenya.  Mobile phones are being used as means to transport and transfer money.  This allows people the opportunity to spend, sell and save capital and, without surprise, increases their well being.

All this without, I dare say IN SPITE OF, government regulation.

ONCE the toys of rich yuppies, mobile phones have evolved in a few short years to become tools of economic empowerment for the world’s poorest people. These phones compensate for inadequate infrastructure, such as bad roads and slow postal services, allowing information to move more freely, making markets more efficient and unleashing entrepreneurship. All this has a direct impact on economic growth: an extra ten phones per 100 people in a typical developing country boosts GDP growth by 0.8 percentage points, according to the World Bank. More than 4 billion handsets are now in use worldwide, three-quarters of them in the developing world

Extending mobile money to other poor countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, would have a huge impact. It is a faster, cheaper and safer way to transfer money than the alternatives, such as slow, costly transfers via banks and post offices, or handing an envelope of cash to a bus driver. Rather than spend a day travelling by bus to the nearest bank, recipients in rural areas can spend their time doing more productive things. The incomes of Kenyan households using M-PESA have increased by 5-30% since they started mobile banking, according to a recent study.

Less restriction, more freedom.  Bring on the free market!

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Posted in Economy, Politics: National, Politics: North Carolina

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Finally, Change I Can Believe In

Posted on September 8, 2009 | Leave a comment

Usually when the government gets in involved in programs to make a certain thing better, more often than not, what is happening is that one group of people benefits while another group takes the hit.  For example, when Unions benefit by allowing the minimum wage the rise, the losers are the people priced out of the employment market.  Another example is when farmers are assisted by pushing ethanol programs the food market suffers as prices for corn, soy and wheat based goods suffer.  Very rare is the program initiated by the government that actually serves everyone well.

Recently the Obama administration rolled out just such a program.  In it, the President speaks to the idea of individuals saving for their own retirement “nest eggs”.    Anything that can be done to make this easier, all the while keeping the responsibility on the individual worker, is a fantastic idea.  In most cases government adds complexity to what could otherwise be simple and straight forward processes.  In the ideas that Obama is speaking about, he is making it easier to save.  He isn’t creating programs, isn’t creating unnatural incentives, he is simply making it easier.  And THAT is good.

However, he does speak to changing existing law or regulations.  He would like to change the way in which auto enrollment is handled.  Rather than having to opt in to a savings plan, he wants to be able to have the language stat that an employee needs to opt out.  When done in this manner, he could increase tha rate of those who save from 70% to about 90%.  A fantastic number.

In short, emphasis on savings and hard work coming from Washington that speaks to individual responsibility is a great thing.

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Posted in Economy, Politics: National

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Heh

Posted on July 17, 2009 | 2 comments

An article from the Washington Examiner makes you wonder what the whole point is:  HatTip SayAnything.

Area drivers looking to outwit police speed traps and traffic cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras.

That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to   counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints.

“I think that’s the whole point of this program,” she told The Examiner. “It’s designed to circumvent law enforcement — law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives.”

As a geek, this is COOL.  But aside from that, what is the whole point of the cameras in specific and “law enforcement” in general?  It’s to make people follow the rules; in this case, the speed limit.

Lanier said the technology is a “cowardly tactic” and “people who overly rely on those and break the law anyway are going to get caught” in one way or another.

The greater D.C. area has 290 red-light and speed cameras — comprising nearly 10 percent of all traffic cameras in the U.S., according to estimates by a camera-tracking database called the POI Factory.

Lanier said the cameras have decreased traffic deaths. Red-light and speed cameras have been a hot topic in Montgomery County since Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a bill in May allowing local governments to place speed cameras in school and highway construction zones.

Not for nothing, but what I think is cowardly is hiding cameras, taking pictures of speeding cars and then mailing out a ticket.  THAT’S cowardly.  But other than that I am stunned by Ms. Lanier’s comments.  It’s as if she is more interested in capturing people who break laws than in motivating them to not break laws.  I mean, all she has to do is ask herself how those cameras decreased traffic deaths?  Is it because cameras allow drivers to view video on poor driving and make better decisions?  Is it because drivers are able to see video of traffic accidents and get scared [think drivers ed]?  Or is it, because when people know that a camera is there they SLOW DOWN!

So, does Ms. Lanier wanna catch bad guys or have people slow down.

You know, back in college I was all ready kinda on to this.  So, we did a lot of driving back and forth between home and school.  Sometimes to my place, other times to my buddy’s.  And we had a “fuzz buster”.  You know that little device that detects police radar and beeps or screams at you.  Well, every time, EVERY SINGLE time that we heard our little gadget even chirp we promptly brought our speed right to the speed limit.  And we smiled.  We thought we were out thinking the law.  But one night it occurred to me that we were doing exactly what they wanted us to do; slow down.  THEN it occurred to me why they even ran squad cars at all?  Why not just prop up a radar and turn it on.  Drive away and plant another one?  Us silly stupid college kids would slow down for each one.

Anyway, these cameras act exactly like a radar detector, except they are announced.  Why this police chief should get upset that people are advertising where to slow down, then slow down, is beyond me.

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Posted in Politics: National

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Fruits of Our Labor – II

Posted on July 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Some time ago I wrote about the impact of the new consumer protection measures.  In fact, I was keyed onto this by a post from Dave Ribar on the subject.

Dave’s main point was that credit card companies won’t raise the annual fees they are charging their best companies; so far he is right.   But those credit card companies ARE doing other things.  According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, we are seeing:

Credit-card issuers increasingly are moving consumers into variable-rate cards rather than fixed-rate ones, due in part to the new credit-card law slated to go into effect in phases starting in August.

What this means is that credit card companies are simply determining that government regulation is correctly seen as “damage” and they are routing around it.  See, by definition, the variable rate cards are not subject to the new law passed by Congress.

The new law limits creditors’ ability to raise interest rates, but it can’t control changes in the prime rate – the index that’s the basis for most variable-rate cards. So even after the new law starts to limit rate increases, variable-rate cards will still change if and when the index they’re based on changes.

Again, this law is another example of the government stepping in to rescue people who are simply demonstrating irresponsible behavior.  If I have money to borrow, and I determine that Pete is less trust worthy than Sally, there is only on way in which I borrow to Pete; charge him more.  If Pete would like to enjoy better terms, he could accomplish that by proving that he is more trustworthy.

Again, if a certain group of people feel tha high risk borrowers should be afforded credit, they are free to do this with their own money.  Forcing others to do it by rule of law is ignoring basic laws of economics as well as going against human decency.

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Posted in Economy, Politics: National

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