First Conservative Blog

Conservative Blog post – supplemental for October 15

White House spin meisters have a real headache on their hands this morning, as former Clinton Labor Secretary and current Obama economic advisor Robert Reich appears in a speech revealing the partial truth about the Obama health care plan.   Reich said:

“We’re going to have to, if you’re very old, we’re not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It’s too expensive…so we’re going to let you die.”

That Democrats plan to cut costs by cutting short the life span of Senior Citizens is no surprise.  The real shock is that Reich felt he had to at least tell part of the truth – perhaps to maintain some manner of personal integrity. 

The truth that is left out of Reich’s statement though, surrounds the term ‘couple of months.’  Every nation that controls health care costs via a national delivery system makes an actuarial decision about every treatment request relative to cost and expected life span.  The more expensive the request, the lower the chances are of receiving the treatment.  And of course the older the patient, chances for receiving government approval for the expenditure declines further.  Unless the patient is able to return to work somehow to repay costs through his productive work and taxation, the actuarial decision almost always falls into the ‘no’ category.   For Seniors who really would like to live a couple more years, this is an early death sentence courtesy of their federal government.  Decisions that will directly extend the life of senior citizens by years and not months will in all probability be rejected – especially if they are in any way experimental or expensive.  (As seniors were to a large extent responsible for electing this government, they need to stand up and motivate their representatives to reject this plan entirely.)

Adding to the White House Press Office Misery Index (WHoPOMI) Reich is also on tape saying:

“(The government is) going to use the bargaining leverage of the federal government in terms of Medicare, Medicaid—we already have a lot of bargaining leverage—to force drug companies and insurance companies and medical suppliers to reduce their costs. What that means, less innovation and that means less new products and less new drugs on the market which means you are probably not going to live much longer than your parents.“

Setting realistic expectatons is an honest way of selling an idea.  And now that a senior level Democrat has been revealed speaking about the inevitable consequences of the health care takeover, the internal misery index is increasing right along with the unemployment numbers.

If Reich is true to his credentials as an economist, he must stand by these statements.  This of course puts him at odds with the current President who has promised exactly the opposite of what Reich points out to be the obvious results of the proposed health care takeover legislation.  

Check out the video itself – courtesy of Newsbusters. 

Conservative Blog Post for October 14, 2009

Coping with a Bad Boss – The Voters Guide to the Obama Presidential Style

Literary works dedicated to helping citizens cope with common, everyday problems are usually found in the ‘Oprah Winfrey Recommends’ corner of the local bookstore.  However, authors Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster recently released a highly useful piece entitled “Working for You Isn’t Working for Me.”   Not only does the work provide insight into several types of business leadership characteristics, the descriptions nicely illustrate the current state of Obama Presidency – except that all of the ‘bad-boss’ characteristics all seem to be rolled into one.

Given the current state of the Presidency, the book allows several insights into how ‘bad bosses’ mismanage or manipulate their positions to the detriment of the organization.  The work also provides guidance as to how individual citizens might cope with and survive bad bosses as well as the Presidency of Barack Obama.

Americans look to their President as a leader – not as a ‘boss.’  That distinction seems to be lost on the current White House occupant.   The Founding Fathers envisioned a republic where the government was always relegated to the role of people’s servant with its powers strictly limited by the Constitution.  In fact the Second Amendment was included to guarantee that relationship.  However, Obama would certainly like to redefine which party is the boss and which is the employee. 

Obama certainly envisions himself as ‘the boss.’  With no offense to Bruce Springsteen, this boss intends to take over health care, ram through massive energy taxes and in the end, enslave the people to its government and to the liberals that run it.  It therefore bears careful analysis of the type of ‘boss’ the President actually is.  Below are five ‘bad boss’ types.  Evidence of each is readily visible in the workings of the Obama administration.

 “Control Freak” – Of course this suits Barack Obama perfectly.  That the Prez is a control freak was evident from the start.  On election night, the Chosen One didn’t even allow others on stage with him while he spoke to the excited crowd.  Cameras were compelled to focus on Him alone.  That is exactly as He wanted it.  And going back to the Democrat Convention in Denver, the gaudy Greek stage was designed to present the nominee as an Olympic god.  (Interestingly, the Olympic Site Selection Committee did not buy into those theatrics.)

Surviving the Control Freak usually involves two strategies; comic relief and an exit strategy.  Saturday Night Live led the way in finally examining this Presidency in tones that engender the laughter it deserves.  CNN was so humiliated that it undertook to ‘fact check’ the SNL sketch and only humiliated the network further.  Comedy is indeed the best medicine for surviving a control freak.

In addition to comic relief, an exit strategy is important as well.  Voters began employing the exit strategy at the last Obama Press Conference on the health care takeover – few people watched.    Voters have an additional tool that they will be employing soon enough though, and that is to impose an exit strategy on current office holders.  This will begin in earnest next autumn.

The “Tell all Boss” – This ‘boss’ type is one that needs a constant audience.  In looking back at the last Presidential campaign, this also fits Obama perfectly.  Obama and his VPL MA (Vice President with Limited Mental Ability) worked their way in front of every available camera.  Once the election was won, neither Obama nor Biden could figure out how to act without the cameras or a teleprompter.  Accordingly, they started calling press conferences – lots of them.  And they began to take high-profile trips – lots of them.  And at each campaign-style appearance, they held themselves – not their policies –out to be the center of attention.  As the press corps never asked any meaningful questions during the early stages of Obamamania, these were beautiful performances.

Coping skills for this ‘boss type’ also include the comedy and exit strategies, but also contain a more serious effort at trying to get some real information out of the leader.  Although NBC and CNN cannot be counted on to ask the President any difficult question, a few others are getting so bored with the same Obama adoration festivals that they are willing to risk their table at the Press Club Dinner by posing questions like ‘how in the world can the country pay for the Stimulus package?’  And, ‘don’t you think elected representatives should read proposed legislation prior to voting on it?’  (Alright, no one has the nerve to ask the Chosen One this second question, but it was a nice thought.)  In short, the DC Press Corps is showing signs life and seems to be growing tired of playing the role of Presidential lap dog.

The ‘Checked Out’ Boss – This type of leader couldn’t really care less about many important issues.  Granted, Obama cares a great deal about taking over the health care industry and in fact does care a great deal about his re-election prospects.  However, this President has adopted a unique ‘check out’ style regarding important international issues such as missile defense and Iran’s nuclear bomb development. 

Not wanting to provoke the Russians, Obama laid down under Putin’s demand that the US remove its missile shield from Eastern Europe.  The general feeling in the White House was ‘so what?’  So what if the Poles are put at risk?  What is it to Obama?  And what of Iran’s nuclear program?  The administration seems content to let the UN handle that one.  So what if Israel loses 80% of its population to a nuclear strike?  That would just be another opportunity to intervene and win another Nobel Prize.

Of course the obvious evidence that Obama is a ‘checked-out’ boss is when discussion of cost for his big government programs arises.    The ‘so what?’ answer emerges time and again along with ‘we had to do something’ whenever discussion of the Stimulus and the recession are attempted.  President Obama has never provided anything resembling sound economic justification for spending nearly a trillion dollars at a time when the dollar is heading for record low values and joblessness is outpacing even Team Obama’s expectations.  

The ‘Indecisive Boss’ displays an uncanny inability to make a decision – like deciding the future of the  Afghan War.   Crises only elevate this boss type’s inability to make a decision.  Dithering on the Afghan troop request for weeks now when there really are few other options reflects a President who doesn’t want to lose a war but doesn’t want to fight it either.  Locked in this internal battle of competing interests, Obama hosted meeting after meeting after meeting hoping for a glimmer of wisdom from an unknown source.  This ‘Dilbert’ method of management is growing comical as well.

Coping with an indecisive boss requires allowing one’s impatience to find a place to vent.  In Obama’s case, the national ‘venting’ may occur when the President decides to give a press conference on whatever His decision on prosecuting the Afghan War might turn out to be.  Ooop, wait… He will never give a press conference on this as it would require answering difficult questions without His teleprompter.  Voters’ impatience will find itself reflected in a growing chorus of demands from the few journalists in the press corps who want to provide meaningful information to their viewers and readers.

The “Rule Changer” boss orders modifications to existing policy at a whim and without concern for consistency.  Recalling the national outrage when it was revealed that AIG and Bank of America execs received outrageous bonuses paid for by taxpayer bailout funds, Obama gave a quickie press conference at which He called the practice despicable and announced His intent to put legislation in place to prevent it.  On His way back to the Oval Office, it was pointed out to the modern day political Einstein that the guys that got these bonuses were in fact big Democrat contributors.  No problem.  Team Obama then manufactured the argument that it would allow these bonuses to prevent a ‘brain drain’ on these companies just when they needed experienced executive leadership. 

Team Obama puts the Clintonista spin machine to shame primarily because it does not feel the need to justify its decisions.  Voters fortunately get to exercise their right to exit those in power for ones they believe will serve them better.  Unless Obama succeeds in changing the fundamental relationship between who is the employee and who is the ‘boss’ this should take place at every election between now and 2012.

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Conservative Blog Post for October 13, 2009

‘Duh’ Economics   

Democrats this morning scrambled to contain damage resulting from release of a report highly critical of the health care takeover plan currently being debated in the US Senate.  The report – paid for by the Insurance industry and undertaken by highly respected Price Waterhouse Coopers – claims that the current plan would drive costs for an average individual up by at least $600 per year and would result in additional premiums of $1,700 per year for family coverage by 2013. 

This prediction drew the predictable Democrat reaction.  “Hatchet Job,” said a spokesperson from Senator Max Baucus’ (d-MT) office.  “Fundamentally Flawed” added AARP.  Without specifically addressing the reasons the study was flawed or incorrect, liberals proceeded with their usual method of handling dissent – impugning the motivations of the messenger.   “Insurance Company and Industry Greed,” seemed to be the central theme coming from Congressional Democrats. 

Price Waterhouse Coopers has been crunching numbers well before Barack Obama was riding the waves and attending his private high school in Hawaii.  The well-respected firm wouldn’t put its professional reputation into the cross-hairs of the Democrat party character assassination squads unless it was absolutely sure of its position – regardless of who paid for it.   Despite what Democrats claim, corporate integrity is alive and well in the US. 

The study identifies three central economic themes that Democrats can’t seem to grasp.  So for the purpose of identification, we’ll call these  ‘Duh’ principles .  Leftists who reject or can’t understand the principles of Economics just won’t get it, but perhaps the use of ‘Duh’ can shame them at least into listening.

‘Duh’ Principle 1 – Additional requirements placed upon an industry drives up costs to providers. 

As the Price Waterhouse Coopers study points out, heaping more responsibility on the industry will result in rapidly escalating costs to those organization that currently provide insurance services.  The only thing difficult to understand here is why Democrats have such a hard time understanding. 

Covering pre-existing conditions – although perhaps a noble objective – requires the industry to assume payment responsibilities for conditions they do not currently have to cover.  Does this increase their costs?  Of course it does!  There are a myriad of new requirements in the proposed legislation under consideration in both houses of Congress as well.  Each will drive up provider costs.

‘Duh’ Principle 2 – Higher provider costs means higher prices for consumers.

Will these new requirements directly increase costs to consumers?  It better or the company will soon fail.  Every organization must generate a profit for its shareholders or owners to remain viable.  It also may be that the government intends for insurance providers to fail so that the government option – or complete federal takeover of the insurance industry – will become the only remaining course.

When Democrats can’t tax value from an offending group or industry, they typically resort to adding costs and responsibilities to somebody else.  Astonishingly, the Democrat theme is that shareholders – not customers – absorb cost and tax increases.   As shareholders are viewed as members of the oppressive wealth class, this is an acceptable course.  

Shareholders can’t operate any business without a respectable profit margin.  They will compel the organization to pass on any additional costs to consumers.  And if all insurance providers must meet the same new set of requirements, all insurance company prices will rise concurrently.  There will be no advantage in moving from one provider to another.   One additional note on shareholders; most of these folks are average Americans that own portions of health provider companies as part of their stock holdings or 401(k) plans.  These aren’t rich New Englanders (like the Kennedys and Kerrys) who spend their summers on Martha’s Vineyard.

Unfortunately for them, Democrats are going to get blamed for rising health care costs at the same time service levels to customers will decrease.   As there are no Republicans around to blame, Washington lefties will have to face public wrath on their own.    So what are they to do?  There really is only one option – which the left will never accept.

‘Duh’ Principle 3 – Only by decreasing operating costs and lowering risk can the cost of health care be reduced. 

In addition to dumping service requirements on the health care industry, Government can influence the cost of doing business in only two additional ways; setting legal standards and taxation.  Democrats have allowed the legal industry to drive the cost of American health care well above the rate of inflation. Risk of being sued is a primary financial consideration for every medical professional.   And although nearly all Americans agree that fair compensation should be paid to victims of malpractice, the punitive damages – those damages that are awarded to a victim and his attorney as punishment for a wrong doing – are out of control.   John Edwards has a mansion and a mistress as proof of how much money the legal industry bleeds from the misfortunes of others.

Physicians must limit their exposure to lawsuits by ordering every test, exam and treatment imaginable for each patient – regardless of the likelihood of success.  This is termed ‘defensive’ medicine, which provides only marginal benefit to the patient and significantly escalates cost to the provider.  A legal reform effort that would limit punitive damages but leave actual damages up to court discretion would be hugely helpful in lowering the cost of doing business in health care.  And lowering costs allows physicians and insurance providers to compete for customers with better rates.   Unfortunately, the American Bar Association and the legal community is a primary owner of the Democrat party and will never allow their ability to leech a huge income off the misfortunes of others to be restricted. 

Increased taxation only elevates costs to the provider and applies further upward pressure on the price structure.  Upward pressure applied to the entire industry only raises internal costs, and as we have already seen raises costs to consumers. 

So the three ‘Duh’ Principles of Economics are obvious to all who look, read and research the health care issues.  Democrats who live as ostriches or only watch CNN, continue to believe that laws of economics do not apply to them or their policies.  And even though consumers may be gullible for a while, consumers can add and subtract.  When they see their costs outpacing their ability to pay, Democrats will be held accountable. 

Conservative Blog post for October 12

Another News Flash – Obama’s Face to be added to Mount Rushmore!

National Parks Chief Ron Jarvis revealed over the weekend that the National Park Service – which oversees the Mount Rushmore National Memorial – that preparations are underway to carve the face of current President Barack Obama into the granite face of Mount Rushmore. 

“It doesn’t make any sense to put this off” said Jarvis, adding “if we start now, we can have the face engraving done on this massive scale by the time of our great President’s second inauguration.  That would be a fitting tribute to the greatest, kindest and most intelligent US chief executive in history.”

Problems have arisen though as part of the mountain may be unsuitable for the addition of another Presidential face.  Carving the Obama face to George Washington’s right may be the appropriate place, but would point Obama’s face well to the west of most viewing points.  Placing the 44th President’s face to the left of Abraham Lincoln might also work, but fissures and cracks in that part of the mount may make a clean, clear etching impossible.

“To overcome these difficulties,” Jarvis said, “we are making contingency plans to replace Teddy Roosevelt’s face with that of Barack Obama.  As Roosevelt represents an America that bullied its neighbors and as he hailed from a political party that repressed populations elsewhere in the world, replacing Roosevelt with Obama makes sense.  In effect, this would be an upgrade to the Mount Rushmore Memorial Park that would also upgrade America’s standing in the world. “

Jarvis also had some advice for the Roman Catholic Church.  “We see today that Pope Benedict has cannonized five more saints.  The church would be well advised to start the cannonization process for President Obama, seeing how it has fallen behind the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in heaping praise and adoration upon our President. “

Conservative Blog Post for October 10.

Mortgage industry execs have been excoriated (favorite word of the week) for suckering in unsuspecting home purchasers with offers of great introductory rates – with rising costs occuring later.  It was revealed by Senator Baucus yesterday that the Montana Senator’s Health Care bill would be using the same  deceitful tactic to sell voters on something that will surely bankrupt them in not-too-distant future.

Baucus confirmed that under his health care plan, the government would initiate the myriad of tax increases as well as execute the promised Medicare cuts up to a full three years before any benefits would be paid out!  This three year plan would allow the government to save or ‘bank’ income from the tax increases as well as the Medicare savings (if any actually materialize) well prior to paying out any benefits.  This accounts for the CBO report that the program would be essentially ‘deficit-neutral’ for ten years.  

Unfortunately, the CBO isn’t allowed to look at the proposal’s impact beyond that ten year point.   Again, our future generations will be saddled with an unpayable leftist albratross that will strangle jobs and prosperity for the purpose of providing health insurance to a very small percentage of Americans and a high number of illegal aliens.  Hoodwinking taxpayers into believing that taking over health care will be deficit-neutral indefinitely is truly deceitful.  Just wait until the government ’savings account’ from these first three years runs out.  The federal government will be forced to dramatically increase taxes or print the money it needs.  Both of these are horrible for the future of job growth.

That the government is capable of saving income is in itself laughable.  Baucus naive conclusion that any savings can be found in Medicare is also unbelievable.  GW Bush attempted to open up Medicare producrement contracts to competitive bidding in 2006, but the proposals were killed by the Pelosi Congress.  It should be very clear that any attempt to save money in Medicare will result in Democrat intervention to prevent just that. 

And now that folks are tuning in to the health care takeover debate, these little details will be more difficult to hide. 

Conservative Blog post – supplemental for October 9

The Obama administration this morning announced huge grants to the Jay Leno Show and to Saturday Night Live. The gift of an infinite supply of joke material was provided to America’s comedy institutions this morning following the absurd announcement that President Barack Hussein Obama had been named the Nobel Peace Prize winner in honor of… well… in honor of him not being George W. Bush.

Jokes should be forthcoming . Leno and SNL would not say whether they will accept the award of an infinite wealth of absurd humor material, but spokespersons said to tune in to find out.

Conervative Blog post for October 9

Doubling Down on the Stimulus

Congressional Democrats revealed Thursday that they possess some kind of unique political learning disability.  After the utter failure of the original Stimulus – even though some really cool airports were built for towns of 225 people, Congressional lefties are looking at the rapidly escalating unemployment rate in complete shock that their cherished raid on the nation’s financial future has not generated any new jobs.  So to compound the disaster and perhaps ensure a Republican sweep in 2010, Pelosi and company revealed Thursday that they were considering a second Stimulus bill.

Many of the usual lefties – Obama included – insist that the original Stimulus monstrosity has helped the economy.   This is similar to the constant repetition that the health care takeover will not result in rationing of health care.  The Dems seem to believe that repeating the same lie over and over again will somehow make it truth.     

The Stimulus though, has been a horrible failure.  We know it is a failure because the very people that put it together insisted that unemployment would reach a maximum of 8% if the thing wasn’t passed.  The Democrat Congress and a couple Republican traitors passed the bill thing pretty much as President Obama wanted it, so according to these wizards, unemployment should have held at 8%.  The net result of course was that the President and His advisors drove the unemployment rate nearly to 10% and it is still climbing.

Failing to learn this lesson, the lefties are now rooting around in the debris from the first Stimulus bill to see what might be resurrected for inclusion in a second massive government pork bill.  Keep in mind that these proposed new expenditures would be on top of the 1.4 trillion dollar federal deficit that was projected earlier this week.  

Democrats just do not learn.  And if they keep this up, they won’t be around for the concluding lesson.  Stimulus borrowing has already driven the dollar to its lowest value in a generation and the upcoming inflation from these outrageous deficits will in 2010, cause the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.  And that little action starts the snowball roll to economic Hell.  The Saudis and Chinese will begin demanding higher interest rates to purchase US debt instruments.  Business interest rates as well as consumer and mortgage rates will escalate beyond control.  The US will have to keep ahead of inflation with interest rate increases or see the asset value held by each American decrease very significantly – and ultimately the government would lose control of the economy altogether.   And the real kicker; increasing interest rates drives down consumption which drives unemployment up.  These are just fundamentals of Econ 101 that the lefties always fail.

How do we know this?  It has all happened before under the simple and economically ignorant James Earl Carter.  (We shouldn’t refer to Carter as a peanut farmer any more.  It turns out that he was as good at goober farming as he was at dealing with Iran).   The wizards that Obama has brought in to sail the economic ship – the same folks that predicted unemployment would reach 8% if we didn’t pass the first Stimulus Bill – are now considering a second Stimulus.

In an interesting twist to all this, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers need to hear from economists before settling on a package. “What is it that we can afford? What works the fastest?” Pelosi said Thursday.  It hasn’t occurred to the Speaker or the President that the federal government has no money.  In fact no government has money that it first doesn’t extort from taxpayers.  It was unclear which economists Pelosi would like to hear from, but given her listening skills, it wouldn’t be a productive session.   The Speaker will spend whatever she wants without regard to the debt load heaped on future generations.

Conservatives should be emboldened by all this.  Conservatives also need to figure out a way to fight more effectively.  The Maine Girls (Snowe and Collins) along with Arlen – ‘give me a home’ Specter, sold out the country and conservatism by agreeing to the first Stimulus.   It will be very interesting to see who supports this second round.  And it will also be interesting to see what questions are asked of the President’s economic team should they crawl out of the White House basement to answer questions on Capitol Hill.  Conservatives should buy tickets to this.

And especially if Senator Snowe sells out conservatives and seniors by supporting the health care takeover, there will be a major political bloodletting within the GOP as well.  Party Chair Michael Steele already told the GOP leadership in Washington how difficult it would be to raise money for Republican Senatorial and Congressional funds when Snowe and Collins sell out their conservative GOP partners.  The old GOP guard didn’t like the message, but at least understood it.  No backbone for conservative issues, no money.  No money, no campaign success. 

The Democrats on the other hand, have no clue about either history or economics.  Jimmy Carter ruined the economy using the same spending and borrowing policies as Obama and at least succeeded in igniting the Reagan Revolution. 

Obama is Jimmy Carter on steroids though.   The next Reagan could be King Kong. 

Conservative Blog post for October 8

Transparently Foolish

The Obama administration has no problem ‘calling out’ people that it doesn’t agree with.  Remaining true to its south Chicago roots, Team Obama is not above sending surrogates to assassinate the character of those that oppose the health care takeover, cap and trade or other liberal objectives.  Unfortunately, the lefties are so thin-skinned that they couldn’t take a Saturday Night Live parody about Obama’s lack of accomplishment.  For each of the supposed failures, conservatives breathed a sigh of relief.

Obama entered the Presidency with a promise to change the direction of the Country.  The problem is that the country doesn’t want to go there.  The President’s team can’t seem to figure out why – after a significant election victory – the public has so quickly turned against them.  Obama has experienced the fastest drop in approval in a generation.  The smarter members of Team Obama are not trying to figure out why, but are trying to come up with a way to stop the skid.

Returning to the south Chicago methodology, the smarter politicos on Team Obama have determined that the best way to end the President’s skid is to stop telling people what their elected President is actually doing.  White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is particularly gifted at this, usually talking for an hour each day or more without saying anything meaningful.  This is usually enough for CNN as they can’t seem to process information flow in a way that can be effectively communicated to its viewers.  Accordingly, that network relies on emotionalisms and school kids singing the praises of the Obama Health Care Takeover live on set. 

Restricting information flow – long a tactic of tyrannical dictatorships and leftist butchers – now seems to be the standard MO for Team Obama though.  If all networks were as obedient as CNN and there were no Conservative Blog types, all would be rosy because no one would ask any tough questions.   The challenge for the Obama White House is then to try and stifle Conservative Blog operators who seem to be the only ones capable of performing anything resembling investigative journalism or logical critique.

Candidate Obama promised journalists that He would operate the most transparent administration ever.  CNN swooned, thinking that they might finally have access to the President whenever they wanted.  MSNBC cheered, believing that a President might actually give them information they were capable of understanding.  Initially, Obama met those expectations.  Being honest about socializing medicine and buying off special interest groups with taxpayer funds via the Stimulus package caused his poll numbers to fall off the cliff.

The President’s promise of transparency has morphed into a fatherly admonition similar to stating that the kids really don’t need to see what is in the liquor cabinet or understand why dad gets home late on Tuesdays.   In short, an Iron Curtain has fallen over information about the President and His policies.  Obama aides now insist that the public wouldn’t understand such technical issues as how best to ruin American health care or jack up the costs for home heating oil for senior citizens.   

Fortunately, Conservative Blog operators have figured out ways to peek under this Iron Curtain.  And what they’ve seen reveals the President’s transparently foolish and inept management of several key issues, including:

 Unemployment – Growing the jobs base requires the availability of reasonably priced capital.  Obama has personally driven up the unemployment rate with the Stimulus and budget spending.  The feds now have to compete with business and industry on the world financial markets for capital.  Capital that once went to support free enterprise at market prices now goes to fund federal government projects such as building a $14 million dollar airport in an Alaskan town with 225 people.  This drives up the cost of capital and drives down industry consumption, orders and ultimately employment. 

Inflation – Team Obama doesn’t see any real correlation between government spending and inflation.  Geithner paid some lip service to inflation a month ago, but hasn’t made a peep about it since after being hauled behind that curtain and scolded.  Inflation is the cruelest tax of all, since those impacted most are low and lower middle class Americans who can’t buttress their finances against rising costs – particularly for consumable necessities like food and fuel.  As Obama prints more money for His spending, the value of what each American earns and owns decreases.  If one is lucky enough to still have a job, those wages are worth less and less.  Look for this to be a huge problem in 2010.

Stimulus – Building airports in Alaska may be fine, but where did most of this money go?  Don’t know? The lunatics that voted for it don’t know either.  That is because none of ‘em read the danged bill before approving it.  Believing the American public too simple or stupid to understand, the lefties – with a couple notable GOP traitors – passed it without reading it.

Budget – It doesn’t appear that anyone read this either.  And with all the Democrat bluster about waste, they can’t seem to find any to cut. 

Cap and Trade – This seemed like such a great idea before people started thinking about it.  And that is exactly what Team Obama wants to prevent.  Jacking up the heating costs for folks on fixed income is a troublesome matter.  Team Obama understands that Cap and Trade will elevate costs.  The surprise to the country is that He is okay with it.

Card Check – Fortunately, this initiative has been exiled to the back burner.  During the health care takeover debate, several purple shirted SEIU thugs tried their best to intimidate opponents.  They even beat up a few of them.  This makes the argument that voting for union membership should be done in public and not in a private vote a little more difficult to make. 

Health Care – Oh what can be said about this except for not many of the folks supporting it have actually read it.  Seniors that oppose it have read the proposed legislation though and it caused them to get out of the LaZboy and head to the town hall meetings. Pelosi responded by calling Granny and Gramps ‘Nazi’s’ but that hasn’t helped.  And the illusion that there is half a trillion dollars of waste in Medicare begs the question “why isn’t Obama cutting that waste right now regardless of whether or not there is a health care takeover bill on the table?”   George Bush actually had a proposal to make Medicare submit its procurement to open bidding to drive down costs, but – you guessed it – Democrats killed it in 2006.  There won’t be a dime of Medicare savings in any health care takeover – except by arbitrarily reducing the amount of funding provided to physicians for certain treatments. 

Global Warming – School districts in Idaho had the earliest school closure day in its history due to snow on Wednesday.  Also on Wednesday, a ski area in Colorado celebrated the earliest opening of a ski area in the continental US.  Global warming is a tough case to make when things are getting cooler.  The earth has in fact experienced a general cooling since 1996 – apparently owing to a relatively low level of sun spot activity.   That global temperatures are primarily influenced by the sun has taken many Democrats by surprise. 

Conservative Blog post for October 7

Washington Box Office Flops

It was reported this week that Hollywood is finally reacting to the economic downturn and is expected to drastically reduce its collective costs and overhead for future releases.  The request for a bailout has not been made public yet.  Maybe Tom Cruise will finally be laid off too.  Although quick to blame the economy for most of the missed revenue expectations, Hollywood would do well to look at the actual product they are producing.  It would seem that Hollywood expected Americans to pay a lot of money for junk. 

Heads are expected to roll out of the So Cal executive suites this week as punishment for decisions such as putting out two horrible films; Funny People with Adam Sandler, and Land of the Lost with Will Ferrell.  These films collectively cost some $170 Million to make and grossed but a small share of that figure in sales.  This must be why Hollywood is so qualified to offer advice to our elected leaders.   If Congress and the President made decisions like these, the nation would soon be headed for bankruptcy.  Of course… the country is headed exactly there.

It is interesting how Hollywood and Washington DC have merged their methodologies.  DC politicians have adopted the Hollywood belief that a good performance makes up for terrible policy.  DC liberals have extended their belief that a dramatic display of concern can override the laws of economics.    In the end the main characters in DC and Hollywood discover that efforts to change others’ behavior always carry unforeseen negative consequences.  In the Democrats’ case, these consequences will be felt in November of 2010.

Hollywood invests heavily in films that offer performances by big name stars.   Washington also wants its big name stars to carry the flag for things like the health care takeover.  Big names though don’t necessarily mean success.  And as Obama Himself discovered, even His great oratory cannot repeal the fundamental law of supply and demand.  Hollywood paid Sandler and Ferrell handsome sums prior to making Funny People and Land of the Lost.  The investors lost big money and the execs that made the bad decisions are going to walk the plank.  In Washington, the plank stroll takes place next year. 

Funny People and Land of the Lost do have several similarities to the way Washington is now handling key issues:

Funny People and the health care takeover.  The central storyline of the Hollywood picture surrounds a comic who is diagnosed with an incurable disease of some sort.  This causes him to change his life, take some chances and of course learn some things before bucket time.   No matter how one tries though, death just cannot be made very funny – unless it is Osama Bin Laden bungee jumping with a cord that is greater than the height of the bridge he swan dives off of.

In the Washington storyline, the insensitive reference to death reflects Team Obama’s willingness to restrict or control life extending treatments for Senior citizens in the interest of saving money.  Saving money is in itself a laughable storyline conflict, because government in general and Democrats in particular never, ever are willing to take action to save a dime on anything.  So changing liberal behavior is an irrational and illogical part of the DC storyline.

To save the story, President Obama invests himself in persuading senior citizens – who interestingly have read the proposed legislation that Obama wants.   Seniors, falling back on their wealth of life-experience, have seen snake oil salesmen before and are generally smart enough to have the offender tarred and feathered.  The Washington/Hollywood response has been to roll out the biggest name star in the arsenal – Barack Obama Himself – to bring people to the show and separate them from their money. 

Team Obama insists of course that there will be no rationing of health care – even though it occurs in every nation on earth that has tried this kind of medical delivery system.  Pelosi, Reid and company believe in themselves so much that fundamental economics escapes them.  They appear to be the evil characters in the film and they fully understand what takeover of the health care industry will look like – and they like it.  Pelosi and Reid in fact don’t want to release the story until after the damage is done; they are actively opposing a bill that would require posting the health care legislation on line prior to voting.   

The Obama persuasion methodology has simply been to repeat the same old lines over and over and to appear again and again at press conferences, speeches and a White House remake of Dr. Kildare.  No matter how hard He tries, He just isn’t funny.  The story isn’t logical.  And besides, the public is tired of disaster films – especially when they are in ‘em.

Land of the Lost – Lost in Foreign Policy.  This is almost too easy.  Will Ferrell is a washed up, has-been scientist that somehow gets sucked through a ‘way back’ machine to land in an alternate universe.  Obama thinks He lives in an alternative universe where adoration for Him personally will make all His leftist dreams come true.  While the Hollywood film has Ferrell and company fighting for their lives, Team Obama will be fighting for their political futures soon enough.  They will be looking for their own ‘way back’ machine to take them back to the era when the press never asked any challenging questions and Saturday Night Live only made fun of the GOP VP candidate.

Like Ferrell being unprepared for his trip into prehistory, the Obama administration was completely incapable of reading the mood of the country – even after the election.   An overwhelming Democrat majority in both houses, the reasoning went, should enable Obama to radically transform the country in the first 100 days.   Obama did run up the country’s credit cards far beyond our reasonable ability to pay, but other than that, most other initiatives have thankfully stalled. 

Most of Obama’s troubles can be traced to the fact that He has never had a job where He had to produce any tangible result.  Accordingly He doesn’t know how to manage others to do the same.  The greatest asset that most in Team Obama contribute is the ability to complain and demonize conservatives.  This makes the Chosen One a perfect Hollywood resident.  Most actors couldn’t hold a real job if their lives depended on it.

Obama is just plain lost.  Dithering on Afghanistan – looking for a way to fight the war He promised to competently lead and win and at the same time appeasing His leftist base by pulling out.  This is an impossible storyline and one side or the other is going to lose.  That is why Obama keeps putting off any decision.   Don’t’ look for any decision on Afghanistan until the health care debate is settled.

Compounding the intrigue, it was also reported today that Team Obama is considering firing White House Counsel Greg Craig for botching the closing of Guantanamo Prison.  Even though Obama Himself believed that Guantanamo was the source of distain for America, He was utterly unprepared to actually close it down.   Again, this is where some real job experience would have helped.  The Great Leader would have understood that these decisions have to be executed and that before one makes a drastic decision, it is wise to have some kind of plan.

In keeping with His Hollywood theme, the President made a big theatrical production out of signing the closure order on day one of His presidency.  One problem – no one had any idea what to do with the trained killers locked up there.  And surprise of surprises – even Nancy Pelosi didn’t want any of them near her district.    So… getting the storyline to reconcile with reality requires the firing of Mr. Craig.   This story isn’t over though.   It is completely unfair to punish the attorney (even if he is an attorney) for the Chosen One’s horrible decision. 

All Hollywood lefties are incredibly egocentric.  Like Obama telling the UN that since He was inaugurated, America is now a good place.  When Obama told the Olympic Selection Committee that holding the Olympics in Chicago would help America rebuild its image abroad – ostensibly because the nation had essentially been evil prior to his election – the Olympic Committee headed for the exit and demanded a refund.  By bouncing Chicago in the first round of the selection process, the Olympic Selection Committee walked out on the film. 

US voters are going to walk out on this disaster picture in 2010. 

Conservative Blog post for October 6

The Liberal Class Warefare Trap

Excellent piece over the weekend by NYT’s Ross Douthat who outlines the essential reasons Democrats will fail again on their pet issue of wealth re-distribution.   Long used as a wedge issue to separate Americans from their shared interests (as well as from significant amounts of their cash), class envy and class warfare have been carefully nurtured as a Democrat talking point to stir up the masses against evil Republicans.   The problem now is that Democrats are the party of wealth and privilege.

According to the Wall Street Journal, of the 25 wealthiest Congressional districts, 14 are now represented by Democrats – some of the hard left variety such as Jared Polis of the Colorado 2nd, a district which includes the People’s Republic of Boulder and several Colorado ski towns where only the very wealthy can afford to live.  Polis is feeling the pressure on the President’s health care takeover bid as some of the ideas being floated include soaking his constituents in Colorado ski country.  This probably won’t be enough pressure to compel Polis to vote against the Chosen One’s takeover plan, but it is pressure. 

 Highlighting the fact that Democrats are as much the party of Wall Street and the wealthy, Douthat’s piece warns the left that promising to fix wage inequality is a guaranteed campaign loser because the very things that cause it are rooted in constituent interests of those that support the party.   In other words, Democrat policies create radical wage inequality.  Particularly by encouraging large numbers of illegal immigrants to settle within the US, Democrats force down wages for the all unskilled workers and make upward income mobility for all much more difficult.   And proposing ever-increasing tax rates on the wealthy endangers their re-election bids.

As we learned during the early stages of the housing crisis, several Connecticut big-wigs in the home lending industry were solicited by lefty crook Senator Chris Dodd during his last election effort.  These well-heeled execs coughed up big chunks of their salaries for Dodd’s campaign at the demand of those running their companies.  Several mortgage executives in that state compelled workers elsewhere in the hierarchy of their companies to contribute the legal limit to the Dodd campaign and to send copies of the checks to the CEO’s office to enforce compliance.  With executive patronage at the top of its game, Dodd easily won that election.  Dodd then dutifully overlooked mortgage mis-management which led to the bursting of the housing bubble, but still allowed senior execs to take huge bonuses.  With these stories now on display under the light of day, 2010 may be quite a different story for ‘ol Senator Chris. 

Among the most interesting points made by Douthat concerns the public education system.  Citing the incredibly arcane and illogical methodologies that must be followed to fire a rotten teacher, Douthat reasons that the education system –without genuinely meaningful reform – will continue to turn out poorly educated students.  Anyone who has tried to hire a high-school graduate for a temporary position has already learned that.  The natural extension of this point is that poorly educated US students will wind up competing with unskilled immigrant labor for service sector jobs.  This will only depress the wage scale further. 

As the Democrat party is ‘owned’ by among others – the teachers unions – any meaningful reform is highly unlikely.  Firing a public school teacher would require implementation of exceptionally expensive re-training program to give the incompetent employee a chance at a career change.  With budgets already stretched, Democrats just want this problem to go away and for now seem content with just letting public education turn out uneducated Democrat voters.  Still, running through the same talking points about how wage inequality is tearing the country’s social fabric it is ironic that the left’s own policies enable the disparity.  

Another favorite Democrat tactic, federal intervention in the form of increasing minimum wage requirements – only fuels inflation, restricts employment and again exacerbates wage disparity.     By raising the minimum wage, employers restrict hiring below a level that they otherwise would if not hindered by minimum wage requirements.  This deprives the unskilled of needed experience required to move up the economic ladder.  Here again, Democrat initiatives to increase minimum wages only restricts employment opportunities and drives up the unemployment rate.  Of course both of these trends contribute to the escalating wage disparity between unskilled and professional workers.

Another observation – and one that seems entombed in US eastern liberal thought – is that the only thing that can bring about wage equality is cycling the entire productive capacity of the country through the government.  Douthat points out that this has succeeded in Western Europe where the size of say, the French state has brought relative wages for workers at all levels into closer proximity to one another.   The major omission is that although some low-level workers may be well paid for what they do, the highly skilled professionals are incented to leave the country to earn a better living.  Many wind up here in the US. Removing the most highly skilled professional workers from the calculation is a major reason for Europe’s relatively low (compared to the US) producing economies on a per capita basis.  And of course by making the executive level relatively ‘poorer,’ the wage gap narrows.    In a sense, though, Europe has succeeded in bringing some level of wage parity to reality – by making all people poorer than they would be in a free economy.

Douthat concludes his piece with an admonition that the price for making wage equality may be too high for Democrats to bear.  One can only hope.  For the complete text, click here .