You just gotta laugh

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in the middle of a sitcom.

It's funny enough listening to a president who just signed a $700 billion bill full of pork and wasteful spending lecturing us on fiscal responsibility. But Vice President Biden takes the cake for humor. You just have to laugh.

Check out his advice to a small business owner wanting to know how the "stimulus" bill will help her.

"I would recommend that woman call my office directly, and I will be able to guide her as to what pieces of this package would be directly helpful to her. For example, it may very well be that she's in a circumstance where she is not able, her customers aren't able to get to her, there's no transit capability, the bridge going across the creek to get to her business needs repair, may very well be that she's in a position where she is unable to access the -- her energy costs are so high by providing smart meters, by being able to bring down the cost of her workforce."

But it gets funnier. In his speech Tuesday night, Obama talked about how tough ol' Joe is, and tapped him as the "recovery" oversight Czar.

"That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort,because nobody messes with Joe." The audience -- and Biden -- laughed and cheered.

The next day - Biden didn't even know the Web site.



Change we can believe in!

Tax facts

President Obama thinks the rich should pay more in taxes. Most people agree. We love to tax the rich because most of us don’t fall into that category. Most think the rich don’t pay their fair share.

Here are the facts based on IRS figures from 2006. (the last year available) Incomes listed are adjusted gross income.

The top 1 percent – making over $364,657 per year pay 39.38 percent of the total taxes

The top 5 percent of taxpayers – making more than $145, 283 per year pay 59.67 percent of the total tax burden.

The top 10 percent of taxpayers – those making more $103,912 pay 70.30 percent of all income taxes.

The top half - those making above $30,881 pay 96.93 percent of the income taxes.

The bottom half of the wage earners in this country pay only 3.07 percent of the tax burden.

The bottom 40 percent pay no income taxes.

From 2000 to 2004, the share of all individual income taxes paid by the bottom 40 percent dropped from zero percent to –4 percent, meaning that the average family in those quintiles received a subsidy from the IRS.

Bush tax cuts for the “rich”

The total federal revenue in 2003 when the Bush tax cuts went into effect was $178.5 billion. In 2006, the total revenue was $247.3 billion.

Tax revenues in 2006 were 18.4 percent of gross domestic product, which is above the 20-year, 40-year, and 60-year historical averages.

The 2000 budget baseline (figured before Bush cuts) projected 2006 revenues at $2,465 billion. They came in at $2,407 billion. Even with the tax cuts, the revenues came in only $58 billion below 2000 projections. The same 2000 budget baseline estimated 2006 spending at $2,407 billion. The actual spending came in at $2,654 billion – a whopping $514 billion above the estimate. In other words, one can contribute the Bush deficit 10 percent to revenue shortfall and 90 percent to overspending.

The top 1 percent paid 34.3 percent of the tax burden prior to the Bush cuts and 39.38 percent after. The Bush tax cuts on the rich actually resulted in the rich paying a higher percentage of the total tax burden. The Treasury Dept. estimates the top 1 percent would have paid about 31 percent had the Bush tax cuts not been enacted.

A poignant warning from Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin hardly counts as a right wing zealot, making his comments in a speech before the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland even more intriguing. He provides a poignant warning from a country with a history of state controlled economic policies.

Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state's omnipotence is another possible mistake.

True, the state's increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent.

The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in virtually every nation.

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.

Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.

And one more point: anti-crisis measures should not escalate into financial populism and a refusal to implement responsible macroeconomic policies. The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing.

Whose money is it?

Sen. John Kerry’s comments on the Senate floor during the debate over tax cuts in the economic stimulus plan belie a misunderstanding common to the governing class.



Politicians operate on a fundamentally false belief, and unfortunately many citizens have bought into this fallacy, consciously or not. Politicians think that all of the money and resources in this country belong to them and they get to decide how much of it we the people get to keep. They believe that they can better handle our money than we can. That’s why they act like a tax cut represents some kind of gift. In reality, a tax cut simply allows citizens to keep more of their own money.

IT’S OUR MONEY!

We worked for it. We earned it.

Lexington mayor on Fox News

Watch Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry embarrass himself on national TV.

Hope?

The stock market represents investors view of the future. Apparently President Obama has failed to inspire a lot of hope on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones stood at about 9,300 on Oct. 31, 2008; as of Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009, it had fallen about 1,400 points.

Obviously we can't blame the steady downward market trend completely on Obama, but it certainly does not indicate that the business world places a lot of hope for the economy under our new president.

Big money coming our way

According to an AP report, the tax cuts in economic stimulus plan, dubbed “Making Work Pay”, were scaled back in the final version of the bill.

Instead of a $500 tax cut, individuals will receive $400. Couples will benefit to the tune of $800 instead of a $1000.

That translates to a whopping $7.70 per week for the average American.

Meanwhile, GM gets a $3.2 billion tax break. You’ve got to love the government propping up failing companies.

I will refrain from making big plans for my windfall, since the inflation inherent in all of this government borrowing and printing of money will likely wipe out any gain.

Click for the AP story

A voice from the past

"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started and an enormous debt to boot!"

-Henry Morgenthau, FDR's Treasury secretary

Stimulus?

While members of Congress demonize the use of private corporate jets, Cessna continues the process of laying off 2,500 workers.

Send Schumer some pork

During the debate on the Economic Stimulus Bill, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the American people don't care about pork.

"And let me say this - to all of the chattering class that so much focuses on those little tiny -yes, porky amendments. The American people really don't care."

Leland Conway, a Lexington radio talk show host on 630WLAP, decided to show just how much the citizens of Kentucky DO care. He is collecting bags of pork rinds at the radio station to send to Sen. Schumer.

Readers can drop off some pork at the station until noon Friday.

2601 Nicholasville Road
(look for the big, blue ClearChannel sign)

Getting a little cloudy in DC

During his campaign, President Obama promised to bring more transparency to government. Among his pledges was proposal to post all non-emergency legislation for five days for public examination before he signed it.

"Among the proposals in Obama's plan to open government are: putting government data online in accessible formats; airing live webcasts of agency meetings; restoring scientific integrity; allowing people to track federal grants, contracts, earmarks and lobbyist contacts online; and allowing five days for public to review and comment on legislation online before its signed."

Today Obama will sign the SCHIP bill, expanding health coverage for children.

It passed yesterday.

Government power run amok

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”
-President Gerald Ford

Citizens of this great nation should seriously consider the ramifications of President Obama’s order today that limits executive compensation for companies that take federal bailout money to $500,000 per year. In reality, the order goes further, placing limits on “any expenditures related to aviation services, office and facility renovations, entertainment and holiday parties, and conferences and events.”

Doubtlessly, many readers will applaud the action. Who doesn’t like to see “greedy” CEO’s get theirs?

In reality, the government has no business dictating business practices of private companies.

But companies that accepted the bailouts gave up their right to run their business as they see fit. Now they must operate under the dictates of bureaucrats that have no clue about their business and no consideration for the market factors influencing their operation – dictates based on arbitrary feel-good notions of fairness.

Therein lies the lesson. When we look to the government to solve our problems, we grant them the power to interfere in our lives as they see fit. We may gain a modicum of security, but we have traded our liberty.

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
-Benjamin Franklin

Keep this in mind as we march toward more and more government intervention in the economy. Keep this in mind as we nationalize our healthcare system. We may get “free” insurance, but we will also invite the government to tell us what we can and can’t eat, how many kids we can have and what medical procedures we are allowed to undergo.

I for one am not willing to make that trade off.