Archive for February, 2010

by Richard Teitelbaum, Bloomberg, Feb. 23

When a congressional panel convened a hearing on the government rescue of American International Group Inc. in January, the public scolding of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner got the most attention.

Lawmakers said the former head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank had presided over a backdoor bailout of Wall Street firms and a coverup. Geithner countered that he had acted properly to avert the collapse of the financial system.

A potentially more important development slipped by with less notice, Bloomberg Markets reports in its April issue. Representative Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, placed into the hearing record a five-page document itemizing the mortgage securities on which banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA had bought $62.1 billion in credit-default swaps from AIG.

These were the deals that pushed the insurer to the brink of insolvency — and were eventually paid in full at taxpayer expense. The New York Fed, which secretly engineered the bailout, prevented the full publication of the document for more than a year, even when AIG wanted it released.

That lack of disclosure shows how the government has obstructed a proper accounting of what went wrong in the financial crisis, author and former investment banker William Cohan says. “This secrecy is one more example of how the whole bailout has been done in such a slithering manner,” says Cohan, who wrote “House of Cards” (Doubleday, 2009), about the unraveling of Bear Stearns Cos. “There’s been no accountability.”

–SNIP–  “It’s almost too uncanny,” Calacci says. “If these banks had insight into the underlying loans because they had relationships with banks, originators or servicers, that’s at the least unethical.”

Read more at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ax3yON_uNe7I&pos=11

from CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser, cnn.com, Feb. 26, 2010

Washington (CNN) – A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.

Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government’s become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.

Read more at http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/26/cnn-poll-majority-says-government-a-threat-to-citizens-rights/?fbid=gD5tRxyq7kC

by yidwithlid, Saturday, February 27, 2010

Ever since President Obama began his public assault on Israel, I have been waiting for Congressional supporters of Israel to speak out, especially the Democrats who received 78% of the Jewish vote in the most recent election.

But the silence of the Democratic Party has been deafening, none of the usual whining from Chuck Schumer about the POTUS trying to pressure Israel while allowing the Palestinians to get off scot-free, nothing from Gary Ackerman about POTUS linking the creation of Israel to the Holocaust, even nothing from Anthony “The Weenie” Weiner about Obama’s bigoted statements saying only are not allowed to live in Jerusalem. One would think that someone like Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who never misses a pro-Israel dinner (or any dinner), would speak out about the latest Obama criticism, bashing Israel for wanting to take care of the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s tomb. Or you would expect my congressman Steve Israel to refuse the request of the White House to lend his name to a dinner sponsored by the anti-Israel group J-street.

You would expect all that, but none of it happened. As the far left progressive movement continues its stranglehold on the Democratic Party, the party faithful moves away from Israel to satisfy the progressives.

Progressive websites such as the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post contain some of the most vile Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic rhetoric on the web.

Read more at http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2010/02/democratic-party-is-no-longer-pro.html

by Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard blog, February 25, 2010

Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, just launched a full-bore assault on the faulty assumptions behind the claim that the Obama health care plan will reduce the deficit. Obama didn’t even bother questioning Ryan’s presentation. He changed the subject to Medicare Advantage. The expression on the president’s face as Ryan made his case was absolutely priceless. Simply put, he looked like someone who realizes he’s met his match.

From http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/main-event-ryan-v-obama

youtube.com, 6:11

“I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits — either now or in the future.”
(Remarks by President Obama to a Joint Session of Congress, September 9, 2009)
This afternoon Budget Committee Ranking Member Ryan walked through why the bill put forward by Democrats FAILS the Presidents deficit test.

by Brian Riedl, The Corner at National Review, Feb. 25, 2010

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has produced a new report estimating that the $862 billion stimulus has thus far saved or created 1.5 million jobs. Yet the CBO’s calculations are not based on actually observing the economy’s recent performance. Rather, they used an economic model that was programmed to assume that stimulus spending automatically creates jobs — thus guaranteeing their result.

Logicians call this the begging-the-question fallacy. Mathematicians call it assuming what you are trying to prove.

The CBO model started by automatically assuming that government spending increases GDP by pre-set multipliers, such as:

Read more at http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZWVjZTI0Yzg5MTg2YjQ3NDEyYzQ3OTNmNWQ2N2EzN2Y=

by John Hawkins, February 25, 2010

I’ve heard a lot of confusion about what the Democrats are trying to do on healthcare and the chances of it passing; so I wanted to do a brief, easy-to-understand-as-possible post to explain where we’re at in the process.

The Democrats have passed a bill through the House and through the Senate, but they’re different bills and to reconcile them would require another vote in the House and Senate. Scott Brown’s victory makes it impossible for the Democrats to get 60 votes; so this route is not open to them.

So, the strategy that’s left open to them is to use a two part strategy: The House Democrats vote for the Senate bill that has already passed “as is” and then the Senate “fixes” that bill with a budgetary procedure called “reconciliation” that requires only 51 votes to get through the Senate.

Read more at http://rightwingnews.com/2010/02/explaining-the-democratic-health-care-strategery-and-why-its-going-to-fail/

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer, Thu Feb 25, 2010

WASHINGTON – The system Congress and the Obama administration want employers to use to help curb illegal immigration is failing to catch more than half of the unauthorized workers it checks, a research company has found.

The online tool E-Verify, now used voluntarily by employers, wrongly clears illegal workers about 54 percent of the time, according to Westat, a research company that evaluated the system for the Homeland Security Department. E-Verify missed so many illegal workers mainly because it can’t detect identity fraud, Westat said.

“Clearly it means it’s not doing its No. 1 job well enough,” said Marc Rosenblum, a researcher at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan Washington think tank.

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_immigration_e_verify

And this is the same government that wants to take over our healthcare! Scary.

We need your help to elect Scott Walker as our next governor.  With all of these different options there are plenty of opportunities to get involved.  Thank you.

Guest Column: State Representative Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem)
(608) 266-0631 or (888) 534-0094
February 22, 2010

Governor Doyle’s plan for state government’s foray into the health insurance business was OK’d by the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee last week. If the state Assembly and state Senate sign off on the measure as expected, Wisconsin will begin operating the BadgerCare Basic Plus insurance plan on March 1. Adults without children who are on the waiting list for BadgerCare Plus health care benefits will be able to purchase health insurance from the state for $130 per month.

The state insurance plan will limit reimbursement to a set number of physician office visits and hospital stays to keep costs down. Other cost savings measures include exempting the state from mandates that require private insurance companies to cover specific procedures or diseases and reimbursing providers at the Medicaid rate even though these payments fall well below the actual cost of most procedures. In the end, patients who buy coverage in the private insurance market will pay higher premiums to fill the gap when government shortchanges doctors, nursing homes and hospitals.

–SNIP– If the $130 monthly premiums aren’t covering the cost, DHS will be authorized to slash payments to health care providers, scale back benefits and charge higher premiums without legislative approval. Look for one or some combination of all of them before long since state government proved long ago that it is incapable of running efficient, cost effective health care plans. Eventually, taxpayers will be picking up some portion of the tab.

Enrollment in the state’s healthcare programs exceeds 1 million for the first time in Wisconsin history – about 18 percent of the state’s population. All of these new programs, opened up to even more people by the governor and legislative Democrats, aren’t sustainable over the long run. They will increase the cost of private health insurance and require more and more tax dollars to stay solvent.

Read more at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm94/news/Huebsch%20Columns/WIPublicOption.pdf

We’re Broke - and they want to spend even more! That’s insane!

by Wisconsin Club For Growth, Feb. 24, 2010

Milwaukee Mayor and aspiring governor Tom Barrett stuck to the script last week. Unfortunately that required another flip-flop.

Just weeks ago Barrett, who signed onto the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, said if the original bill didn’t pass he’d re-engage the issue as governor in 2011.

Last week Barrett said he couldn’t support the legislation unless significant changes were made.

So what parts of a redrafted global warming bill would the mayor support?
* The 25% renewable energy mandate that will make electricity more expensive?
* The higher “public benefits” fees tacked onto utility bills?
*The low-carbon fuel standard that could add more than a half-dollar to the pump price of gasoline?
* The mandatory two-percent reduction of electricity usage?

Anybody who says Wisconsin will create jobs by making every form of energy use more expensive and dictating that we use less of it is either lying or has no idea what they’re talking about. Just to keep our current jobs from leaving they’d need to blow up the bridges across the Mississippi.

The words “global warming” and “climate change” have utterly disappeared from public statements supporting Governor Doyle’s global warming bill. Now it’s all about reorganizing our economy to give people jobs producing more expensive and less reliable electricity then we have now.

No matter how it’s sold, there’s no excuse for passing any part of this economic suicide pact, now, next year, or ever.

From http://secure.yourpatriot.com/ServicesBeta/BulkMailPreview.aspx?b49MxCSBfSKnI3WZrWIkolIjfsq29×26RZDOe4yEzgtZvc

OUR TAKE: We like it when Barrett flips, we just don’t like it when he flops!

Wednesday February 24, 2010 - Today is the last day you may renew your membership so that you can participate in the 2010 Caucus and State Convention.

To sign up online go to - http://secure.yourpatriot.com/ou/rpmc/membersignup.asp

By Patrick McIlheran of the Journal Sentinel, Feb. 23, 2010

Suppose for a minute that the $810 million that it supposedly will cost to spiff up tracks to Madison for middling-speed train service really were cash that fell from clouds like rain. Suppose it’s free, rather than borrowed from your kids by the feds.

Then the train will cost a mere, what, $8 million or so a year in taxpayer subsidies to run. Not to sound jaded, but $8 mil is loose change in government these days.

But let’s break it down. The figure is plausible, by the way. Right now, taxpayers subsidize the far more sensible Amtrak service from Milwaukee to Chicago at about $26 per ride. That is, passengers’ fares pay less than half the actual cost of their travel; taxpayers fund the rest, according to the liberal-leaning Pew Charitable Trusts’ SubsidyScope.

The state guesses that the trains to Madison (as distinct from the ones to Chicago) will carry about 372,000 passengers a year at start-up. As Madison has far fewer people than Chicago, we might guess that each locomotive is going to be pulling fewer people that Amtrak’s existing Chicago trains, but we can be charitable and pretend that the new service will still lose only $26 per passenger.

That’s $9.6 million a year that will have to be made up by taxpayers.

Read more at http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/84962162.html

By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel, Feb. 24, 2010

For the Wisconsin Center District, which operates the U.S. Cellular Arena, the Milwaukee Theatre and the Midwest Airlines Center, 2009 was the worst year in memory, new figures released Wednesday show.

The district reported a deficit of $1.83 million in 2009, much of it due to a horrible year for tax collections in trying economic conditions.

“It was the worst year we’ve had since 1996,” said Franklyn Gimbel, the board’s chairman. “It was a horrific year.”

Gimbel said business travel to Milwaukee dropped drastically, and so did the tax collections.

Consider:

• Overall tax revenue dropped 17.28% to just over $16 million. That was $3.3 million less than expected.

• Collections for the city hotel tax dropped 21.14%. Collections for the county hotel tax dropped 20.5%. Collections for the food and beverage tax dropped 5.37%. And collections for the county-wide car-rental tax dropped 17.8%.

In December, the district board approved increasing the 0.25% local food and beverage tax to 0.5%. That increase is due to become effective on July 1. But the board has already signaled that it hopes to sunset the tax when economic conditions improve.

From http://www.jsonline.com/business/85200787.html

The U.S. tax system is highly progressive. The top 1 percent of income earners paid 40 percent of all federal income taxes in 2006, while the bottom 50 percent paid 3 percent. Further, 32 percent of all tax returns with positive adjusted gross incomeTotal income (before subtracting deductions or taxes) minus deductions. , 43 million total, filed in 2006 were from people who paid no federal income tax at all.

From http://www.heritage.org/Research/Features/BudgetChartbook/Top-10-percent-of-Income-Earners-Paid-71-percent-of-Federal-Income-Tax.aspx

Come to the RPMC’s Taxpayer Hangover Rally on Fri Apr 16

Sign up for this Rally at  https://secure.yourpatriot.com/ou/rpmc/190/493/eventsignup.aspx

Download a flyer for this Rally at http://milwaukee.wisgop.info/files/2010/02/april-16-2010-taxpayer-hangover-day.pdf

by Mark J. Perry, Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Note: This post was inspired by Michael Jahr’s post on the Mackinac Center’s website, “Economy Contracts, Government Expands.”

According to a December report from the BLS, state and local government employers spent an average of $39.83 per hour worked ($26.24 for wages and $13.60 for benefits) for total employee compensation in September 2009. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $27.49 per hour ($19.45 for wages and $8.05 for benefits), see chart above. In other words, government employees make 45% more on average than private sector employees.

According to another BLS report, compensation for private industry workers has increased by 6.9% between December 2006 and December 2009, compared to a 9.8% increase for government workers (state and local) over the same period.

Read more at  http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2010/02/two-americas-public-sector-vs-private.html

by NEWT GINGRICH AND PETER FERRARA, Investor’s Business Daily, 02/17/2010

You did the responsible thing. You saved in your IRA or 401(k) to support your retirement, when you could have spent that money on another vacation, or an upscale car, or fancier clothes and jewelry. But now Washington is developing plans for your retirement savings.

BusinessWeek reports that the Treasury and Labor departments are asking for public comment on “the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams.”

In plain English, the idea is for the government to take your retirement savings in return for a promise to pay you some monthly benefit in your retirement years.

They will tell you that you are “investing” your money in U.S. Treasury bonds. But they will use your money immediately to pay for their unprecedented trillion-dollar budget deficits, leaving nothing to back up their political promises, just as they have raided the Social Security trust funds.

Read more at  http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=521423

by JAMES HOHMANN &JOSH KRAUSHAAR, politico.com, 2/16/2010

Evan Bayh’s surprise retirement announcement revealed a common theme among those bailing on Congress this election cycle: even the politicians are sick of Washington.

Bayh could not have been more blunt in his Monday speech, saying “I do not love Congress.”

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) last month said partisan rancor and the loss of comity in the Senate was driving him away.

“I wish there was less rancor and more bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate these days,” he said.

Moderates like Bayh and Dorgan used to actually work closely with Republicans – when the GOP ran Congress. Bayh’s speech was a stunning indictment of business as usual in Washington – all the more remarkable because Bayh had a double digit lead in the polls and a $13 million campaign war chest.

“There is much too much partisanship and not enough progress; too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving,” he said. “Even at a time of enormous national challenge, the people’s business is not getting done.”

But Bayh and Dorgan are not alone in ripping their own institution on the way out the door.

Read more at  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32999.html

Reid: Dems will use 50-vote tactic to finish healthcare in 60 days

by Michael O’Brien, thehill.com blog, 02/20/2010

Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months by using a majority-vote maneuver in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.

Reid said that congressional Democrats would likely opt for a procedural tactic in the Senate allowing the upper chamber to make final changes to its healthcare bill with only a simple majority of senators, instead of the 60 it takes to normally end a filibuster.

“I’ve had many conversations this week with the president, his chief of staff, and Speaker Pelosi,” Reid said during an appearance Friday evening on “Face to Face with Jon Ralston” in Nevada. “And we’re really trying to move forward on this.”

Read more at  http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/82461-reid-dems-will-use-50-vote-tactic-to-finish-healthcare-within-60-days

Who is the “They” in “They still don’t learn” ?? Democrats, who aren’t listening to citizens; and Republicans who think that Democrats going down in defeat will stop the national takeover of healthcare.

by ANDY BARR & KENNETH P. VOGEL, politico.com, 2/16/2010

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and representatives of dozens of tea party organizations met for more than four hours Tuesday to discuss how the conservative grass-roots movement and national party apparatus can find more common ground heading into the 2010 midterm elections.

Steele promised to answer every question from the roughly 50 activists who came to Washington to meet the RNC chairman in the Capitol Hill Club, only a few steps from congressional offices many of the tea partiers have attacked.

But in the end, all the two sides agreed on was to meet again — this time with regional representatives of the RNC and tea party activists.

Read more at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33056.html