Top 5 Stop Spending

Ok everyone.  Listen up.  I am hearing over and over again that this new Bill is going to put a lot of people to work.  I TOTALLY agree.  The government is good at creating work but there is a HUGE difference between creating work and creating jobs.

Let me explain.  We keep hearing about all these new roads, bridges, buildings, etc that are going to be built.  That’s great if you are a construction worker.  It’s great if you land that particular contract.  But it is all WORK.  It doesn’t create a long term job for you.  It’s a tactical move not a strategic one.  What happens when all the government sponsored roads and bridges are built?  Well, those people that WERE working are no longer needed.  Is this the plan?  Really?

The only way to create long term jobs is through growth.  When companies are growing, they hire employees; plain and simple.  Building roads will create work that needs to be done.  Helping companies grow will create jobs.  That is the difference between Job Creation and Work Creation.  The government is great at creating work but not so good at creating jobs.  This stimulus package focuses on creating work, not jobs.

Just listen to all the supporters of the stimulus package.  They all talk about putting people to work.  They use very specific language.  The Republican opposition says they are not going to back anything that doesn’t create jobs.  Again, very specific language.  I think there is a need for both but this Bill is loaded with short term, tactical work creation.  We need jobs.

Politics Obama Change

Here is yet another piece of legislation that we can all get behind right?  Well, maybe not.  It’s called the Employee Free Choice Act.  Now while I agree with many of the “ideas” behind it, the execution of it is totally off base.

First, some of the marketing is very misleading.  For instance, on their site they say that “American workers want to form unions” and then goes on to say that 60 million workers want to form unions.  That’s all good and dandy, too bad there are about 140 million workers in the US.  So a minority of workers want to unionize so we NEED unions now?

Unions are “key” to turning the economy around?  Really?  Last I checked unions were a big reason why American car companies are failing.  They force the company out of competitiveness.

All of the reasons behind, the real problem that I see is that voting to unionize would no longer be based on secret ballots.  Why on God’s earth would you want this?  Well, the only reasonable explanation I have is to give the union supporters the ability to intimidate those who do not want to unionize.  Why else would you do this?  Please, someone explain this to me.

So here we go again, change for the sake of change; good or bad.  You all voted for change so enjoy it.

Politics Obama Change

So I’ve been reading how the Obama Administration wants to put oversight of the Census into the hands of Rahm Emanuel…or better yet…the White House.  This might not seem very significant but the implications could be.

The Census plays a part in determining a number of government policy.  It’s used for the Electoral College.  It’s also used to figure out allocation of federal funds.  You can see how having a partisan run the Census is a bad thing.  At a minimum the out of power party should ALWAYS have the ability to observe the process to make sure that the numbers are artificially being stacked in favor of the party in power.  Well it seems like this is going to end.

So here is another example of change.  So all of you that voted for the sake of change…here you go.  Change for the sake of change; good or bad.  I guess it doesn’t matter because it’s change.

Politics Obama, Obama Change

So I have been trying to go through the full text Stimulus Bill line by line to pull out the dollars and what they are for.  It is 778 pages long and you need a Batman decoder ring for many of the items to even figure out where and what the money is going to.  This Bill is totally out of control and anyone voting for it should be ashamed.  Anyway I got about 10 pages into this and saw that it was going to take forever to go through the entire Bill.  So here are some of the items I documented before I quit.

At the bottom are links I found to the Bill and a document that line items the money from the Bill.

This is a bad bill people.  I hope all of you that voted for these idiots are by now wondering if you did the right thing…at a minimum.  You loaded up the House, Senate, and White House with Democrats.  Everyone warned you.  Now it’s time to pay.  Not only are you going to pay but your kids, your kids kids, your kids kids kids, and so on are going to be paying.  An you thought the Republican deficit was bad…

This shouldn’t be about Democrats or Republicans.  It should be about doing the right thing for the American people.  Unfortunately the American people are a side note in this Bill.  This Bill is about paying off special interest groups and their constituents.  See for yourself.

One final note, every Senate Republican is against this and about 11 or so Senate Democrats.

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

200M - for necessary replacement, modernization, or upgrades of laboratories or other facilities to improve workplace safety and mission-area efficiencies as deemed appropriate by the Secretary:

22.5M - for oversight and audit of programs, grants, and activities funded under this title

COOPERATIVE STATE RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC SERVICE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION ACTIVITIES

50M - for competitive grants

FARM SERVICE AGENCY AGRICULTURAL CREDIT INSURANCE FUND PROGRAM ACCOUNT

400M - farm ownership loans

NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE WATERSHED AND FLOOD PREVENTION OPERATIONS

275M - Watershed Rehabilitation Program

80M - Rural Development Salaries and Expenses

FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS

100M - to carry out a grant program for National School Lunch Program equipment assistance

500M - of which $380,000,000 shall be placed in reserve to be allocated as the Secretary deems necessary, notwithstanding section 17(i) of such Act, to support participation should cost or participation exceed budget estimates, and of which $120,000,000 shall be for the purposes specified in section 17(h)(10)(B)(ii): Provided, That up to one percent of the funding provided for the purposes specified in section 17(h)(10)(B)(ii) may be reserved by the Secretary for Federal administrative activities in support of those purposes.

PAYMENTS TO ELIGIBLE PERSONS WHO SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES IN THE FAR EAST DURING WORLD WAR II.

198M - to be paid to these people

Here is the full text Bill - http://michellemalkin.cachefly.net/michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/amdth1.pdf

Here are the line items from the Bill - http://senateconservatives.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/nelson-collins-stimulus-final1.pdf

Politics Obama, Obama Change, Taxes

Wow.  Now this is change we can all get behind.  Has this country completely lost its mind?!?

So here are the basics; local governments have been raking in truckloads of money collected from gas taxes.  That is a problem for a number of reasons.  People are just driving less which translates to fewer fill-ups.  People are buying more fuel efficient cars which translates to fewer fill-ups.   I know that I have been just slowing down, changing my driving habits to get better mileage out of my existing car.  I have heard a number of other people doing the same.  All of this means less money in the government coffers.  So this is the perfect scheme to continue squeezing money out of us regardless of how many fill-ups we have.

So the global-warming-alarmist-green-tree hugging-freaks of the country love the idea.  It will basically get people to stop driving their cars as much…which is, of course, good for the environment.  Government loves the idea because this tax has nothing to do with the price of gas.  It is a never ending source of revenue.  Oh, and guess what?  Once those GPS devices are in your car, be prepared for the automatic ticketing program to go into effect.  While we are at it, we may as well govern cars speed limits and levy massive fines if you drive over 55 right?

Where does this end?  People, wake up.  Two things are certain in life; death and taxes and as far as the government is concerned, the more taxes the better.  Taxing people out of their cars is an idiotic idea.  Taxation does NOT, I repeat, does NOT stimulate growth, it stifles it.  What do you think is going to happen to all those goods you buy from your favorite stores?  Chances are they got there by truck (still the cheapest way to ship).  Well you guessed it.  The prices are going to sky rocket.

Politics Taxes