Tag Archives: Democrat

Getting it Done the Right Way

Posted on December 10, 2009 | 4 comments

I am a firm believer that education dramatically shapes the adult life of a child.  Take two children from similar backgrounds and have one graduate high school and the other drop out–the graduate will see dramatic social and economic benefits.  Further, the society around him will be better off as well.  High school drop-outs cost us, all of us, millions of dollars a year in physical damage and management.

And so, of course, it makes sense to have a system of public education.  What I find interesting is how each side of the political spectrum would explain such an entitlement program.  For example:

  1. The Left.  This one is easy.  The Left clearly feels that wealth and accumulation is something that springs up from the ground and is obtained by the “lucky” or “greedy” by muscling and elbowing out the less fortune or the week.  The Left would gladly take from the rich and distribute to the poor so that everyone had an equal chance.  Predictably, this typically make me lose my belly whenever I think about it.
  2. The Right.  This one is harder.  The Right, you see, is against entitlement programs almost all of the time.  No government provided health insurance.  No government provided mass transit.  No government provided welfare.  All of it.  “Man is free; let him obtain that which he needs” is their mantra.  While acknowledging that the Right could use a marketing approach that vastly improves the tone of their message, I emphatically agree with this take.  It is one of Individual Liberty that necessarily acknowledges Individual Responsibility.  The subtle and yet critical distinction is that in almost ALL cases, children in our society are incapable of expressing their Individual Liberty.  They either are lacking the intellectual capacity to express that Liberty [they are children after all, incapable of crossing the street in many cases] or they lack the legal status to exert that Liberty.  As such, it becomes incumbent upon us to restore to that child a reasonable course of action, which, through no fault of their own, they have been prevented from following.  In other words, just because Johnny’s mommy and daddy are fools who don’t take care of their child by sending him to school, does not make it Johnny’s fault.

And so it is that I agree with both the Left and the Right.  But I feel that the path each takes to their respective positions is wrong and illogical.  Further, because I believe as I do as expressed in #2 above, I do NOT agree with the right that we Ought take public monies meant for Public Education and dispense it in the form of vouchers for private education.  The monies collected and spent is for the general public, not for the individual child or family.

The way to make sure that kids get the education they need?  By doing it the right way:

Durham, N.C. — Family income should not determine a child’s destiny. That’s the premise behind Union Independent School, a new private school that opened this year in Durham.

…

Thanks to private donations and contributions, including $2 million from Union Baptist Church, the school has 74 students in kindergarten through second grade. The students are chosen by lottery and attend for free.

…

Thanks to private donations and contributions, including $2 million from Union Baptist Church, the school has 74 students in kindergarten through second grade. The students are chosen by lottery and attend for free.

This, ladies and gentlegerms, is how things get done in the real world!

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

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Risk Gain

Posted on December 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

I’m not sure that Government understands risk:

State officials said they believe Dell also should give back about $6 million in tax breaks the company received between 2005 and 2007, but a Dell spokesman said the company is entitled to keep the money since it was operating at the time.

…

“Our belief and our understanding is that we met the performance thresholds required for those incentives during those years, and are not obliged to repay those,” spokesman Jess Blackburn said.

The state of North Carolina negotiated with Dell to open a plant here.  To incent the company to do so, we offered them tax breaks and grants, both locally and at the State level.  It was understood that if Dell left or closed, that money would have to be returned.

Well, Dell did leave, the plant did close and:

…the company agreed to repay more than $26 million in local grants and $1.5 million in state grants, acknowledging that it didn’t live up to its end of the deal by not keeping a specified number of jobs in Forsyth County.

So.  What is all the hullabaloo about?

Turns out that the State of North Carolina is in a bit of trouble financially.  And they could use any money they can wrangle out of the evil capitalists.  And why not, the Feds are doing the same thing with great success.  So our good Govna is going out, bad mouthing Dell and demanding that they pay money back:

“I will fight them if they want to fight about this,” Perdue said. “They made some agreements. We offered some incentives. The locals offered some incentives, and they need to live up to their side of the bargain. If that means going to court, I guess we will.”

Turns out, however, that the money she wants to get back is money that Dell “saved” while they were in business and operating.  This isn’t money that we paid to Dell, it was simply money that they didn’t pay to us while they employed our people.

House Minority Leader Paul Stam issued a statement Tuesday saying the dispute could have been resolved long ago. Lawmakers defeated an attempt to include language in the state incentives package that would have required Dell to forfeit all credits it received from the state if it didn’t have at least 1,200 employees at the computer plant within five years, said Stam, R-Wake.

So not only is Purdue going after money that Dell doesn’t really owe us, she is poisoning the well in doing so.   Who in the world is going to wanna open a business here when they get treated like this?

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Posted in Politics: North Carolina

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And I Will Name Him — Success

Posted on December 9, 2009 | 6 comments

I can’t prove it, of course.  And, in fact, it may not even happen.  But I swear to you that I won’t be surprised if the recent reports of H1N1 vaccine being available is reported as reducing the number of cases of H1N1.

Back in late November, experts were calling the H1N1 peak:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they cautioned it was far from over.

Not sure that a lot of people caught that.  And for those that did, they may have responded like I did:

Big “effin” deal.  My family already got it.

But, when you combine the news that the outbreak has peaked with this bit of good news:

Raleigh, N.C. — About 200 people showed up Tuesday morning at the Wake County Public Health Center in Raleigh to get the H1N1 flu vaccine.

…

Tuesday was the first day the county opened the vaccine up to anyone over 6 months old.

Traffic was slow and steady at the Sunnybrook Road location, as well as three other health department sites in Fuquay-Varina, Wake Forest and Zebulon.

Ray Martin, 71, said he was in and out of the Raleigh site in 15 minutes – a stark contrast to earlier this year, in which hundreds lined up and were turned away due to a limited supply of the vaccine.

Now look, I for one am very pleased to see that those folks who need a shot are getting one.  But really.  Providing a shot to people older than 6 months of age fully 2 weeks AFTER the peak is not really A-Okay in my book.  Especially considering that the vaccine takes nearly 2 weeks to fully “bake-in”.

Sadly, I am afraid that this is what we have to look forward to in the Government sponsored health care.  See, in the world of government, a vaccine is an expense that needs to be minimized.  In the private world, the vaccine is a product that needs to be available, marketed and sold.

‘Nuff said.

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Posted in Economics, Health Care

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Where a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Posted on December 8, 2009 | 2 comments

I like this picture:

National Job Approval" Barach Obama December 8, 2009

Partly because it’s showing the shine is wearing off and America is starting to understand what many of us saw at the outset.  But also because this is a “poll of polls”.  Go to the site and see for yourself.  Each dot in the graph shows the results of an independent poll.  USToday, CNN, Gallup and so on.  And, in short, the survey SAYS!

NoBama.

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Posted in Politics: National

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Poor Form

Posted on December 8, 2009 | Leave a comment

I get why people hate politics and politicians.  Heck, I hate politics and politicians.  We should be able to get to the point where we can disagree and yet still have the class to let someone go to the restroom:

After 75 minutes and 14 split votes Monday, Tony Gurley and the GOP regained the top spot on the Wake County Board of Commissioners – on a tie-breaker achieved only when member Betty Lou Ward took an unexcused bathroom break.

See, the Wake County Board is made up of 7 members.  Right now the Democrats have control of the Board 4-3.  One of the members, a Democrat suffered a stroke and has been unable to attend meetings; that makes it 3-3.  Last night the board was electing a new chairman and after 75 minutes and multiple votes, could get past the 3-3 tie.  That’s when Ms. Ward went to the bathroom.  Because she didn’t officially request an absence, the Board was within it’s right to vote without her, and they did.

Legal?  Yes.  Without class?  Absolutely.

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Posted in Politics: North Carolina

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The Fruits of Our Labor

Posted on December 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

Quick.  Below, which company would you want to own?

52 Week View Range: $0.06 - $5.10

This is one Company.  See the second one below.

52 Week View Range: $1.50 - $9.14

Is it even close?  One company is taking off.  Not hard to do, the market has come back by some 60%.  However the other company, even in one of the best markets we have seen in years, is tanking.

The first company is Government Motors.

The second one is Ford.

Go Obama!

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Posted in Economy, Politics: National

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Note to Obama

Posted on December 3, 2009 | 2 comments

Obama is having his jobs summit today; in fact it may already be over.  In the spirit of wondering how to create more jobs, I noticed that Krugman has a solution:

Meanwhile, the federal government could provide jobs by … providing jobs. It’s time for at least a small-scale version of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration, one that would offer relatively low-paying (but much better than nothing) public-service employment. There would be accusations that the government was creating make-work jobs, but the W.P.A. left many solid achievements in its wake. And the key point is that direct public employment can create a lot of jobs at relatively low cost. In a proposal to be released today, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, argues that spending $40 billion a year for three years on public-service employment would create a million jobs, which sounds about right.

That got me to thinking.  There are currently about 15.7 million unemployed people in America.  Almost all are receiving some form of unemployment benefits.  How about instead of spending $40 billion a year for 3 years like Krugman says, we just make these people do the work he is suggesting and call ’em jobs?  Why would we create a program to offer “relatively low-paying” jobs for people to work when we already have a program that offers “relatively low-paying” jobs where people have to do–NOTHING!?

Krugman.  Sheesh.

Hat tip:  Forbes

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Posted in Economy

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California: Part III

Posted on December 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

Water water everywhere.  And not a drop to drink.

Sounds like California is thirsty:

Operators of the sprawling state system that supplies water to 25 million Californians from Butte County to San Diego issued their lowest-ever estimate on the amount of water they will be able to deliver.

Officials predicted Tuesday they will be able to offer only 5 percent of the total volume of water requested by California cities and farms next year. That’s the smallest water allocation the agency has released since its creation in 1967.

Government in Action

That’s quite a gap.  Now, to be fair, you can see in the chart above that there are years in which the water allocations eventually meet 100% of the need, but more than often, they don’t.

Makes you wonder why this is, right?  I mean California should have plenty of water to supply their need.  Why are they so short so often?  What could possible cause a shortage in a specific commodity?

Well, I just finished a fantastic book:  Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell.  And it just so happens that Mr. Sowell does indeed talk about shortages and what causes them.  One word:  Regulation.  For example, have you ever noticed that it always seems the grocery store is out of Coke when you go to buy some?  Or that gas stations always seem to be empty when you need to fill up?  I know I know.  Every time you go to buy a pair of sunglasses, there are none available?  Huh?  Never happens?  Wanna know why?  Because no one is regulating the price of these products.  They are selling at a price the market can bare.  And so supply is nearly always available.

Now, if I told you that Wal-Mart was going to be selling Coke 6-paks for a dime starting at 6pm tomorrow night, what do you think the scene would be?  Packed initially and then finally, they would run out.  They would run out when under normal circumstances, they would have a predictable supply for anybody to come and buy as much as they need/want.  And why doesn’t someone come in and buy all of the supply of Coke now?  Because the marginal cost of Coke dictates that we won’t waste or hoard it.

So, again, what cause a shortage?  Regulation; specifically the imposition of a reduced price when supply remains fixed.  So, why do you think that California State Water Project has problems meeting 100% of need?  Because they are regulations in place that reduce the cost of water for significant portions of the population:

In 2002, the average price paid for irrigation water from the CVP (Central Valley Project-An agricultural district) was less than 2 percent of what residents of Los Angeles pay for drinking water, and less than 3 percent of what residents of San Francisco pay.

What does this mean?  It means that farmers can grow crops in regions where those crops wouldn’t normally grow because it’s too dry.  But because they are getting water at less than the market rate, these farming practices are continued and water is going where it wouldn’t otherwise go.

The lesson is simple, if you want there to be a 6-pak of Coke at the local Wal-Mart, you better hope that it’s expensive enough to be there.

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Posted in Economics, States Behaving Badly

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OJT: On the Job Training

Posted on December 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

Barack Obama.

You know it’s bad when the far left begins to give you economic advice:

Liberal Democratic lawmakers, including the Congressional Black Caucus, are unhappy with the Obama administration’s pace of efforts tackling the unemployment rate, which is a whopping 10.2 percent and expected to rise.

The CBC, in particular, say Obama officials have not done enough to address the severe economic problems in the black community. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, reportedly issued a warning Wednesday that the 43 members of the caucus are planning to vote with the GOP to derail a number of Democratic bills if it isn’t addressed.

However bad it is for Obama this, at least, is encouraging:

Labor support is more in favor of funding labor projects, in terms of public works, putting more money into the states and cities but the White House is concerned about the deficit.

Finally.

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Posted in Economy, Race

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Where Red is Blue and Blue is Red

Posted on December 3, 2009 | 1 comment

I have been following the WCPSS drama for nearly three years now.  Besides the pure raw emotion poured into this debate, the shocking role reversal has been astounding.  Now, you would be hard pressed to find anything more local than a school board; perhaps a Home Owners Association or maybe a PTA board, but really, for all intents and purposes, the local school board is as close to the people as government is going to get.  And with that in mind, the folks involved, on both sides, really do try and give the appearance that they are not affiliated with any major political party.

But they are; they all are.

The support and the money breaks too neatly down party lines for it to be ignored.

All of which gives me a moment’s pause.  You see, when it really comes down to it, we have conservatives acting like liberals and liberals acting like conservatives.   And I say that from a conservative view-point.  See, normally, we on the right are acting from a standpoint of Liberty and freedom.  But here, the Republicans are acting like they can ignore such things.  For example, given two quotes, tell me which is the conservative and which is the liberal:

Politician One:  “We have to do something and move forward,” Politician One said. “Parents have a right to decide if they want a year-round school.”

Politician Two:  “If we’re talking about doing away with year-round schools, we’ll have to raise taxes,”

See what I mean?  You can’t tell.  You can’t tell because you know what the answer SHOULD be, but because I have been ranting you feel suspicious.  In this topsy tervyy world that is WCPSS, you have conservatives claiming they have a “Right” to select the location of their public education and you have a liberal resisting a tax increase.  Amazing.

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

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