The country does not need to create another federal agency when the federal debt is over the $13 trillion mark and climbing at the rate of over 3 million dollars a minute.  That’s $4.3 billion added per day.  Your share of the federal government debt is $42,800 and climbing by the minute.  Not a small sum in my neck of the woods.

Can it be paid off?   Ain’t no way.  Only once in our history has the US been debt free.   So what’s all the fuss about.  It’s natural for the federal government to operate in the hole.  Right?   We’ve all taken it for granted that it must assume debt because of the unexpected that will happen just around the corner.   Things like a war, or a hurricane wiping out a community, a tornado tearing up towns, or a flood like Katrina devastating millions.  Then the feds must act to alleviate the suffering of the people, which causes a drain on resources.   And we expect them to do their best protecting we the people.  

But this debt is not because of natural disasters, and just a small part of it is because of wars.   It’s the daily spending and expansionary programs that hurts.

We can and should hold the elected people accountable for this humongous debt.  But do we?   No, we just keep on putting them back into office election after election. 

 

So, we the people are responsible for this.  Huh?  You say.  Yes, we are.  We the people keep re-electing the ones who have added to this debt by piling on one pork barrel project after another, expanding the reach of federal power way beyond any common sense reading of the constitution.   What do we do?  We’ve applauded these people when they bring home the money for some “worthy” project in the home district.  The local news broadcast these projects as good news for the community, good for the local economy, long waiting for this and needed for that.  And then we the people send them back to Washington to get us more tax funded projects.  

Them days should be ending right now, this year, this November and then again two years from now, and repeated every two years from now on out.

How can the debt be kept from increasing?   Duh.  Stop spending more than taxes bring in.  Economics 101 calls it a balanced budget.

So, to get matters under control, a balanced budget amendment to the constitution would be a good place to start.

Second, stop creating new offices and new agencies.  Stop it immediately.  No new offices should be created under any other federal agency.  Put a freeze on new hires for new positions.   No new positions in any agency.  Just stop expanding the federal government.   Why should our federal government get away with creating a budget deficit so huge it’s unimaginable?   So huge, it is pushed off as impossible to do anything about.

We got to start somewhere.  Start with stopping the newest expansion.

“In June 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined together to form the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an unprecedented agreement to coordinate federal housing, transportation, and environmental investments; protect public health and the environment; promote equitable development; and help address the challenges of climate change.”   White House Blog.

A new bill ( S-1619 Livable Communities Act of 2009) was just passed out of committee that would create a New Office (the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities (OSHC) under the current Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).   Introduced and sponsored by Chris Dodd (member of congress since 1974).

The purposes of this Act are–

(1) to facilitate and improve the coordination of housing, community

development, transportation, energy, and environmental policy in the

United States; 

(2) to coordinate Federal policies and investments to promote

sustainable development;

And 7 other purposes.  Read the PDF

This one must be stopped.  Read the bill and keep in mind that when any federal office or agency is created, it never goes away, it just keeps getting larger and larger with increased far reaching powers.   The Fedzilla gets bigger with more control.  It would be a good prognosis that 20 years from now this new office will have thousands of federal workers shuffling papers and telling local communities where and how to expand the city, even reaching out to the small 300 people bergs all across America.  The local mayor and council will have to get approval from the feds to zone land for building a new housing development.  Why, those homes must be energy efficient, they must be in a sustainable affordable planned community with bicycle trails, mass transit availability, schools within walking distance, shopping within a bike ride, parks for recreation meeting the goals of “healthy, safe, and walkable neighborhoods—rural, urban, or suburban”

 

They are the experts after all.  What do we know about building people friendly sustainable communities?  

 

We the people must put a stop to the spending habits of congress and the executive branch as well.  No new agencies.  Incumbents must be put on notice and sent back to civilian life ASAP.

 

According to the thousands of University research projects being funded with the Recovery Act and Reinvestment Act funds, humans should expect in a few years to see an upbeat in the overall health of everyone that abides near and far.   The National Institutes of Health (NIH), part of the Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) agency, has received $21.5 billion of the $787 billion ARRA funds, which is being funneled to our University health research projects.   The labs will be busy.

You’ve got to give the agency credit for at least detailing the funding breakdowns so that average Americans like me can actually see where some of our tax monies are being spent in the name of stimulating the economy.  The $21 billion is going to Universities for research by professors, scientists and students looking to possibly discover a new cure for ADHD, and a host of other ideas the scientists have come up with.

For those who might be interested in the details, NIH has developed a clickable map with each states list of pork barrel funding projects along with the dedicated democrat researcher getting the funds and how much, the name of the project and purpose.    Just for curiosity, I clicked on my state, Oklahoma which has 79 different grants, compared to New York, which has 1571, North Dakota 20 ($2,674,788), but the winner is California ($917,499,705) with 2275 different research projects.   California just must be the center of health research.  These scientists must be thrilled to see all that money flowing out to their particular University, their particular lab.   These are the “shovel ready” projects for the reinvestment act that each state, each school put together that the governors, the city mayors, and University heads put together and had ready to hand to the Obama staff.

Here are a few samples:

U.S. Gives Yale Researcher $3.9-Million in Tax Dollars to Develop ‘Avatar’ Sex-Ed Video Game for Kids

U.S. Spent $2 Million on Study Promoting Condom Use Among Intravenous Drug Users in Kazakhstan

U.S. taxpayers are spending $12.2 Million getting University scientists to facebook with each other.

Taxpayers are spending $27 Million in Recovery Act Funds to Enhance Scientist and Resource Networking.

US taxpayers will spend $146,093 on A PROGRAM TO INCREASE LIVING DONATIONS IN AFRICAN AMERICANS.

Now here’s a goodie.

(CNSNews.com) –The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $181,406 this year to a researcher at the University of Kentucky to study how cocaine enhances the sex drive of Japanese quail.
“NIH’s two-year infusion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds will empower the nation’s best scientists to discover new cures, advance technology, and solve some of our greatest health challenges.”

The scientists receiving these grant monies are already employed, so the jobs part of the stimulus rhetoric does not apply here.   I guess we are supposed to be excited about how much the government cares for you and me by sending scientists into spiffy clean labs to find cures to all sorts of medical problems that are causing us all great strife.  Somewhat like today in Oklahoma where the temperature is hovering around 90.  Hot, yes.  But not really hot.  Humid, yes.  Very humid.  Listening to the radio news, the announcer keeps telling us that the heat index is 115.  Are we the people considered so stupid that we don’t know when to come in out of the heat?  Cold?  Rain?  Snow?  Thunderstorm?  Hey, I’ve got a health related study some scientists should undertake - - - How does the media news shape our physical/emotional well-being?

How did we manage to live, progress and invent all of our current technology back in the days when when we did not depend on the broadcast news to tell us how to navigate through our daily activities.   The federal government has enough to worry about in protecting me from foreign invasions than to pay scientists to research the daily sex drive of Japanese quail.

39 new drilling permits have been issued this week in the north western part of North Dakota.  26 permits were issued last week.  517 new wells were drilled last year, and 553 wells were completed in 2008 with a success rate of 98%.   Huge.

So, what’s going on in North Dakota?  Read more of it Here.  and Here.

The U.S. Geological Survey called it…

 

They’ve found one of the biggest oil deposits of all time right here in our own backyard, and there’s even speculation that there’s enough crude in the Bakken area to get the US totally out of relying on Middle Eastern oil imports.

Eh.  Go get it boys.  Drill baby Drill.

Oh, but not so fast say the politicians.   And where is the main stream media, the ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN digging into this discovery of oil independence?   Why are they not broadcasting this stuff to the average Joe, fearful of the price of gas going through the roof because of the billions of oil floating in the Gulf.  Why aren’t the politicians grabbing the microphone and telling the people “don’t worry, we’ve got the oil independence situation all wrapped up with the new finds in the Bakken/Williston North Dakota area.”

They should be telling us that we Americans can have our oil and at the same time allow the alternative energy field to develop their products for consumer use.  We’re also talking job creation as pipelines need to be built to route the oil to the refineries, and since ND has just one refinery, more need to be built to refine those billions of barrels, and then truck it out of state to the consumer.  Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.  Oil, Oil, Oil.  Independence.

Why are the politicians not delivering this message?

Not their language.  Change is what they want.  Politicians want the end of fossil fuels.

That just does not make sense, does it?  Why do they do that to us?   Environmental wackos are in charge.  This is free market stuff and our current politicians think free market capitalism can’t be trusted to deliver the goods,  but of course government (the bigger the better) can be trusted to deliver the goods.  Wind farms must be subsidized by the government (taxpayers).  Solar panels subsidized by the government (taxpayers).   Hey.  Listen up you elected idiots.  If wind farms are the thing of the future, then let them prove it . . . . . on their dime, not ours.   If solar panels are the thing for every household in the future, let them prove it viable . . . on their dime, not one cent subsidized by our stupid economically illiterate politicians.    Go back a few years when wireless telephony made it’s introduction to the market.   Was it subsidized?   Go back even further when thousands of women lost their jobs as operators when automatic routing techniques hit the telephone industry.  Was the new technology subsidized?  Were the laid off operators promised unemployment benefits to last years until . . . ?

Drill, baby Drill.

While WH spokesperson Gibbs won’t directly answer questions, czar Obama is pushing the idea that raising and/or extending unemployment payments is an economic stimulus.  The thought goes something like this.  People are out of work with no cash coming in who have needs to feed the family and continue the contracts on the cell-phones and Dish network, would spend the government checks on feeding and clothing the family, maintaining the lifestyle while looking for work, and thus those people who are still working in those areas would see those businesses remain stable, and the workers be able to keep their jobs.  It’s put forth as a win-win situation.

However.

Where does the government get the money to back up those checks given to the unemployed?   I guess the people who are working should be so grateful to the feds for seeing that those who lost their jobs have income to spread around to those who are working and in business so that they can pay their taxes so that the unemployed can continue to spread the wealth of the others around.   The circle continues as the tax payers group gets smaller and the unemployed get larger until riots break out because the money coming in is much less than can be paid out.

However.  There’s a part within the human being that is lazy, and if that lazy attribute is encouraged and fed, it will grow and grow into a giant blubber balloon that will pop only by a catastrophe of sorts.

Imagine what the unemployment rate would look like if unemployment benefits were universally $150,000 per year. My guess is we’d have a heck of a lot more unemployment. Common sense and personal experience indicate higher unemployment benefits will make unemployment less unattractive and thereby increase unemployment even in the Great Recession.   

Let’s not reduce the incentive to find work. A federal tax holiday is a better way to cut the high jobless rate.

Mr. Laffer ends his article with the idea of instituting a federal tax holiday for 18 months.

Any government program that would reduce unemployment has to make working more attractive for both employer and employee. Since late 2007 the federal government has spent somewhere around $3.6 trillion to stimulate the economy. That is a lot of money.

My suggestion would have been to take all $3.6 trillion and declare a federal tax holiday for 18 months. No income tax, no corporate profits tax, no capital gains tax, no estate tax, no payroll tax (FICA) either employee or employer, no Medicare or Medicaid taxes, no federal excise taxes, no tariffs, no federal taxes at all, which would have reduced federal revenues by $2.4 trillion annually. Can you imagine where employment would be today? How does a 2.5% unemployment rate sound?

Sounds good to me.  And then during the process, eliminated forever the payroll tax, eliminate forever corporate taxes, eliminate forever the IRS and install forever the details of the FairTax.

Let’s not forget, that come November, incumbents of the House and Senate need to be retired, sent back to civilian life.

Touting the employment figures for May, Obama said “This report is a sign our economy is getting stronger by the day.”   The report for May indicated that 431,000 new jobs were created and 411,000 census workers were hired to finish counting those who had not notified the bureau of their race, their sexual identity and age information.

Let’s see then.  Those extra people employed to clean up the oil mess along the coast is then also good for the economy.  The feds also intend to hire 57,000 young people to work for AmeriCorps mentoring children, cleaning up parks or buildings and weatherizing homes for the poor among other activities. Some get a living stipend while they are working for up to a year. Most participants, who are predominantly 18 to 26, get about $11,800. 

Part time work for the government is good for the economy.  Workers who are employed by the government and paid from tax revenues by the people who work for a living.  Also known as redistribution of wealth.

No.  Say it ain’t so.  Not possible.  Not even being considered.  But yet it is, and that’s the way it works in our political climate.   A big, I mean really BIG backer of political candidates, the unions, are being considered for a bail-out package.  Why?  They need the money for their pension funds.  Why?  Because it’s been mismanaged.   Donations to politicians?  Hmm.  The UAW donated $13 million to the Obama campaign.   Could that money be used to help shore up their shortfall?  No doubt the state of the market has had a part in the devaluation of their reserves.  Well, so what?   The state of the market has hit every American’s investment portfolio, but is that body of representatives in Washington talking about bailing-out all of the private investments for everyone?   No.  But they are considering the unions.   Small businessman. . . Tough.  Private investor. . . They feel your pain.    

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled union pension funds.  If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

So, this senator got a call from his union supporter.   “We sure could use some cash as our retiring employees may not get as much as promised because our pension fund reserve is collapsing.  And if you could find a way to help us out, we’d be more than grateful and would not be shy with our expression of our gratefulness.   Thanks, I’ll keep in touch.  Oh just another question.  How is your re-election campaign going?” 

What’s the use of working hard anymore?  Why should we toil day after day to keep food (governed by the FDA) on the table, and live in a home (regulated by the EPA) send our kids to school (regulated by the NEA), drive a vehicle (built by the Feds), and try to save (regulated by Barney Frank) for a rainy day?  Why?  It used to be the American way to work hard to achieve, to exceed, to excel, to enjoy the fruits of our labor.   It used to inspire us to work harder.  We used to dream of a better life than what granddad had, a bigger and more equipped home in the suburbs away from the crime and corruption of the big congested cities, a place where our kids could be safer, play safer in the streets and parks, be involved in local sports and activities, and get a better education under teachers and administrators who were truly interested in seeing the students learn about this great country called America.

No so anymore.

The Speaker of the House, elected by the people, speaking from her heart and soul had this to say: “. . . if you want to be creative and be a musician or whatever, you can leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill, your passion, your aspirations because you will have health care.” 

So, if you have not yet developed any skills necessary to make a living, so what.  You can now quit the job you use to support yourself while you brush up on those skills in the evenings so that later on those skills may be marketable.  Just quit and go on welfare.  The rest of us will take care of you.  You’ll still have your health care coverage.  Nancy will see to that.  You can divorce your wife but still cohabitate and the feds will send you more cash.  Obama will see to it.  The liberals will see that your every need will be met.  You can still hold onto the HD TV, the fancy furniture, the nice comfy place to live, a good dependable car to drive, etc and etc.  On top of that, they’ll provide a good retirement account too.  Congress will see to it. 

Government is at your side every step of the way so that you can rest easy; no risks, no chance of failing, no chance of being fired, no chance of being offended.  

 

America, where have you gone?

When you see insects eating away on a rose shrub, what do you do?  When your precious tomato plant is being devoured by insects, what do you do?

All gardeners know that a jar of insecticide must be kept handy to use against the varmints that suck the life out of your beautiful rose or tomato bush.  You’ve got to get those invaders once they start showing themselves.  They can be hand picked and stomped on.  But you won’t get them all, nor will you even see them all.  Better yet is a preventative program that puts up a shield of protection against the enemies; like a pre-mixed solution saturating the ground the plants send their roots into.  But once that’s been accomplished, a continual inspection of your roses and tomatoes for those insects that are still able to get through all of your previous techniques, is needed so that all your hard work will not be spoiled.  

It’s work to bring a tomato plant to harvest.  It diligent work to tend the roses so their beauty will manifest itself.  

Our congress and the federal agencies are full of insects who are sucking the life out of America and they need to be removed.   They can be hand picked and removed, but if that don’t work to revive America the Great, probably then the entire body will need to be sprayed. 

It’s a common practice to spray rose bushes every two weeks, so think of congress as needing to be made insect free every two years.

 

If you’re against using an insecticidal spray because of purest environmental reasons, then you’d better just forget about taking a salt shaker out to the garden, picking a nice juicy ripe home grown tomato, biting into it and savoring each chew, or enjoying the splendor, the aroma and beauty of a bush full of magnificent roses.  Ride your bike to the store and buy the tasteless canned tomatoes lacking the natural nutrients of a fresh vegetable.  Get a villa or a high rise apartment, stay out of the way, stay home and leave the ground work of building America to the millions of us who are willing, able and with diligence select and elect politicians who will hold the constitution of ours in high esteem with a return to federalism.

WASHINGTON — Oklahomans hoping to have older homes remodeled or even worked on (by painters, plumbers, electricians, roofers, window installers, etc) could see projects come to a standstill or even be canceled because of a federal rule designed to protect children from lead poisoning.

That’s the warning from state homebuilders.

That’s the EPA ruling.

That’s YOUR federal government protecting and watching over you if your home was built before the stroke of midnight January 1, 1979.

Do it yourself and stuff it to the contractors, that’s OK.  

If you don’t have the time to do it yourself and want to hire a professional to paint the place, to fix the plumbing, to rewire, to upgrade the windows, to repair a roof damaged by hail, then get in line and save some additional cash for the project because the price just went up.

So you wait and wait to hire one of the few contractors who will have taken the course and are now certified to paint a pre-1978 home.   Some of the other neighborhood homes were constructed after 1978 and they can get the job done by the cheaper immigrants.  

Now that the government is watching over you, don’t you feel a whole lot better.

Just wondering if the next step to insure the program does indeed protect homeowners will be requiring builders supply stores to inspect the actual property deed prior to selling any products meant to improve a home.  A renegade homeowner might decide to do the work himself and not meet the new requirements. 

Look at all of those people attending the 800 some Tea Party rallies across the nation yesterday protesting “Taxed Enough Already” thoughts.  Add the turnouts together and it was in the millions.  Many of them were holding up signs saying things like “Don’t tread on me”, “No more earmarks”,  and “I want You to vote to Take America Back”.   “It’s the Spending Stupid.”  And then there was this homemade sign saying: “BO stinks and so does Pelosi”.   What’s the beef?   Why are millions of average Americans so upset?  How do the leaders view these protest gatherings?

The USA Today front paged an article intimating the current Tea Party movement as similar to the protests preceding the Oklahoma City bombing 15 years ago. 

Militias and "patriot" groups burst into the vanguard of a seething anti-government campaign, fueled by anger over the Clinton administration’s push for landmark gun-control legislation and federal officers’ aggressive tactics in high-profile standoffs with groups such as the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.

. . . .

"It feels a lot like the run-up to Oklahoma City," says Mark Potok, Intelligence Project director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks U.S. hate groups. "Will we see another Oklahoma City? Nobody can really say."

The NY Times went along with the same, Recalling ‘95 Bombing, Clinton sees Parallels, quoting X-President Clinton as saying: “Because of the Internet, there is this vast echo chamber and our advocacy reaches into corners that never would have been possible before,” said Mr. Clinton, who said political messages are now able to reach those who are both “serious and seriously disturbed.”

And then the most high, President BH Obama was amused by the protests saying to a handful of financial supporters in Miami: "You would think they’d be saying thank you,"

To put that statement in plain English:  “You bunch of ungrateful fools.”  “You idiots don’t know how lucky you really are.”  “We allow you your freedom of speech and this is how you show respect.” 

Oh yes, we should say Thank You for leading America into a European style Socialist Marxist government.   You’ve taken over the auto industry.  Your working on the banking industry.  You’ve put a blind eye to the stupid tricks of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack.  You’ve talked down to Israel and talked up to our enemies, who have repeatedly said America is the great Satan, and Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth.  You’ve spent our hard earned tax monies as if they were your jack pot lottery winnings.  You’ve increased the size of government calling it creating jobs.  You can’t quit smoking yourself, indicating that you’re weak mentally and morally, allowing an addiction to ride roughshod over you, but yet you preach to us on a daily basis on what we should do . . . to help you gain more control over us. 

Forget it! 

You, Mr. President, are the ungrateful one.