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- Barker's Pre-Vacation Newsbites!
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 28, 2010
- I Wish Karl Rove Would Just Go Away
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 27, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 26, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 24, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 22 & 23
- Muehler v. Mena (Thank you, Megyn Kelly!)
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 21, 2010
- Yeah, yeah... I know... Nobody's gonna read "Graha...
- Terrance Jamar Graham, Petitioner v. Florida
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 20, 2010
- H.R. 4720 - The Where the Hell Are Boehner, McConn...
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 19, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 17, 2010
- United States, Petitioner v. Graydon Earl Comstock...
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 15 & 16
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 14, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 13, 2010
- Calling All Charleston, South Carolina Foodies...
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, May 11, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 10, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 8 & 9
- SERIOUSLY, GANG... Check Out My Nephews...!!!
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 7, 2010
- Barker's Bottom Line on Immigration Policy and "Re...
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 6, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 5, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, May 4, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 3, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 1 & 2
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May
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About Me
- William R. Barker
- Pearl River, NY High School Class of '81; Northeastern University, Boston, MA Class of '87.
22 comments:
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1467
* IT'S NOT OFTEN THAT TERM AN OBAMA ADMINISTRATION CABINET SECRETARY'S SPEECH AS A "MUST READ" - BUT THIS ONE IS.
The attacks of September 11th, 2001, opened a gusher of defense spending that nearly doubled the base budget over the last decade, not counting supplemental appropriations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which brings us to the situation we face and the choices we have today – as a defense department and as a country. Given America’s difficult economic circumstances and parlous fiscal condition, military spending on things large and small can and should expect closer, harsher scrutiny.
[C]hanging the way we operate and achieving substantial savings will mean overcoming steep institutional and political challenges – many lying outside the five walls of the Pentagon. For example, in this year’s budget submission the Department has asked to end funding for an unnecessary alternative engine for the new Joint Strike Fighter and for more C-17 cargo planes. Study on top of study has shown that an extra fighter engine achieves marginal potential savings but heavy upfront costs – nearly $3 billion worth. Multiple studies also show that the military has ample air-lift capacity to meet all current and feasible future needs. The leadership of the Air Force is clear: they do not need and cannot afford more C-17s. Correspondingly, the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy do not want the second F-35 engine. Yet, as we speak, a battle is underway to keep the Congress from putting both of these programs back in the budget...
* WE'RE TALKING WASTING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SO ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES CAN ATTEMPT TO "BUY" RE-ELECTION VOTES WITH OUR MONEY!
Consider another example. Leaving aside the sacred obligation we have to America’s wounded warriors, health-care costs are eating the Defense Department alive, rising from $19 billion a decade ago to roughly $50 billion – roughly the entire foreign affairs and assistance budget of the State Department. The premiums for TRICARE, the military health insurance program, have not risen since the program was founded more than a decade ago. Many working age military retirees – who are earning full-time salaries on top of their full military pensions – are opting for TRICARE even though they could get health coverage through their employer, with the taxpayer picking up most of the tab. In recent years the Department has attempted modest increases in premiums and co-pays to help bring costs under control, but has been met with a furious response from the Congress and veterans groups. The proposals routinely die an ignominious death on Capitol Hill.
* To be continued...
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)
Earlier this week at the Navy League, I observed that fiscal realities will preclude the Navy from reaching its goal of 313 ships if each ship is over budget and costs billions of dollars. Without exercising real diligence, if nature takes its course, major weapons programs will devolve into pursuing the limits of what technology will bear without regard to cost or what a real world enemy can do – a process that over the past two decades has led to $20 million howitzers, $2 billion bombers, and $3-$6 billion destroyers. And when costs soar, the number of ships and planes the military can buy drops accordingly. For example, the Navy wanted 32 of the next generation destroyer – the DDG-1000; because of skyrocketing costs, we will build three. The Air Force wanted 132 B-2 bombers; at $2 billion each, we built 20. This is unsustainable.
Consider the Department’s spending on operations and maintenance, a broad category that encompasses about $200 billion worth of the day-to-day activities of the military – from flight training to mowing the grass. Over the last decade, spending in this area – not counting expenses directly related to the wars – has about doubled, with large increases in administrative and infrastructure support. At the same time, the department’s spending on contract services – excluding the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters – has grown by some $23 billion. The one area of real decline in overhead was in the area where we actually needed it: full-time contracting professionals, whose numbers plunged from 26,000 to about 9,000. We ended up with contractors supervising other contractors – with predictable results.
Another category ripe for scrutiny should be overhead – all the activity and bureaucracy that supports the military mission. According to an estimate by the Defense Business Board, overhead, broadly defined, makes up roughly 40% of the Department’s budget. During the 1990s, the military saw deep cuts in overall force structure – the Army by nearly 40%. But the reduction in flag officers – generals and admirals – was about half that. The Department’s management layers – civilian and military – and numbers of senior executives outside the services grew during that same period. Almost a decade ago, Secretary Rumsfeld lamented that there were 17 levels of staff between him and a line officer. The Defense Business Board recently estimated that in some cases the gap between me and an action officer may be as high as 30 layers.
* FOLKS... YOU SHOULD FOLLOW THE LINK AND READ SECDEF GATE'S SPEECH IN ITS ENTIRETY.
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/05/14/morning-bell-congress-historic-decision-to-ignore-its-basic-duty/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) once said that the “most basic responsibility of governing is to pass a budget.” [On Thursday] it became clear that [the Democrat controlled] Congress has decided to shirk that responsibility, as word broke that the House likely will not pass a budget resolution for the first time since the modern budget process was created in 1974.
* AND YET... STRANGELY ENOUGH THIS STORY GETS FAR LESS MAINSTREAM NEWS COVERAGE THAN... OH... DISCUSSION OF AMERICAN IDOL'S STEADILY DECLINING RATINGS. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT, HUH...???
That’s earthshaking news, especially given the ballooning federal spending, which soared to an $82.69 billion deficit in April, a projected $1.5 trillion deficit in 2010, and even more deficits as far as the eye can see.
* WELL... AT LEAST ONE WOULD THINK IT WOULD RAISE A FEW EYEBROWS...
Like any American’s household budget that tracks income and expenses, budget resolutions set a framework for Congress’ taxing and spending. But it’s a framework that the leadership in the House would rather do without.Like any American’s household budget that tracks income and expenses, budget resolutions set a framework for Congress’ taxing and spending. But it’s a framework that the leadership in the House would rather do without.
* DEMOCRATS CONTROL CONGRESS. THEY HAVE SINCE JANUARY 2007. BOTH HOUSES. NANCY PELOSI HAS ABSOLUTE INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL OF THE LEVERS OF HOUSE POWER. HARRY REID IS ONLY ONE VOTE SHORT OF A VETO-PROOF MAJORITY. AND THESE FOLKS AREN'T EVEN TRYING...
(*SIGH*)
The news came from Rep. Hoyer himself, who said “It’s difficult to pass budgets in election years because they reflect what the [fiscal] status is.”
(*SNORT*) FOLKS... I COULDN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP IF I TRIED! THIS IS AMERICA IN THE AGE OF OBAMA...
[T]he failure to pass a budget resolution prevents Congress from capping discretionary spending for FY2011, and it’s an indication that Congress won’t find a way to limit runaway entitlement spending. It also means that other priorities, such as extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will fall by the wayside, leading to steep tax hikes, all while America is in the midst of a recession.
In the middle of this leadership vacuum, President Obama is touring the country in an attempt to convince the American people that his economic policies have steered the economy in the right direction.
* HEY... LET'S BE FAIR TO THE PRESIDENT... HE'S ALSO PRIORITIZING HIS TIME SO AS TO GET IN SOME HOOPS AND A BIT OF GOLF!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/14/AR2010051401407.html?wprss=rss_world/wires
A powerful bomb exploded inside a courthouse in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki Friday, sending smoke billowing in the building and wounding one person.
It was the second bombing in two days - after a blast Thursday outside a jail in Athens that also wounded one person - raising concern that a recent crackdown on Greek militant groups could spur a new series of attacks.
Bombings and other militant attacks are frequent in Greece...
* YOU FOLKS DO REALIZE OF COURSE THAT GREECE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A CIVILIZED WESTERN EUROPEAN NATION... A MEMBER OF NATO... AN ONGOING RECIPIENT OF US TAXPAYER LARGESS...
(*SIGH*)
The attack came less than a day after a powerful bomb exploded Thursday night outside Greece's largest prison, Korydallos, in the Greek capital, Athens.
Last month, authorities arrested and charged six people with membership of Greece's most active militant Left wing group. The Revolutionary Struggle organization fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. embassy in Athens in 2007Last month, authorities arrested and charged six people with membership of Greece's most active militant left wing group. The Revolutionary Struggle organization fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. embassy in Athens in 2007...
* AGAIN... WESTERN EUROPE...
(*SIGH*)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051304352.html?wprss=rss_world/wires
Gunmen killed a candidate for mayor Thursday in a northern border region where his party says politicians are too scared to run for office because of death threats and rampant drug gang violence.
* NOTHING TO CONCERN YOURSELVES OVER, FOLKS... (*SMIRK*)
* HEY... HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THAT BIG SALE THEY'RE HAVING OVER AT KOHL'S...???
Violence has swept Tamaulipas recently amid a fierce turf battle between the Gulf cartel and its former ally, the Zetas gang. Federal troops, deployed to the state under Calderon's nationwide offensive against cartels, have come under systematic attack, and civilians have increasingly been caught in the crossfire.
Mexico has long struggled to keep organized crime from infiltrating politics. Twelve mayors in the Pacific coast state of Michoacan were arrested last year for allegedly protecting a drug cartel, though most have been let go for lack of evidence. Last week, an ex-governor of eastern Quintana Roo state was extradited to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.
* NOPE... NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT... (*SIGH*)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100514/wl_africa_afp/nigeriachinaoilrefinery
Nigeria and a Chinese state firm have signed a $23 billion deal to build three refineries and a petrochemical complex in one of Africa's biggest tie ups with China, officials said Friday.
* BUT, HEY... IN CONTRAST, HERE IN THE GOOD OLD USA KOHL'S IS HOLDING A 40% OFF SALE ON UNDERWEAR! (MADE IN CHINA OF COURSE...)
* WHERE ARE OUR DEALS...??? WHERE ARE OUR NEW REFINERIES AND PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS...???
(*SIGH*)
China is already the number one investor in Africa - ranging from oil in Algeria to mines in Zambia...
(*SIGH*)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100518/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_souder
Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder acknowledged an affair with a staffer Tuesday and unexpectedly announced his resignation, giving Democrats a chance at capturing what many had thought was a safe Republican seat.
* GOOD! HE'S A SCUMBAG. LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/us/19dead.html?partner=MYWAY&ei=5065
On Tuesday, the toll of American dead in Afghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicide bomb in Kabul killed at least five United States service members.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7009807.html
Texas doctors are opting out of Medicare at alarming rates, frustrated by reimbursement cuts they say make participation in government-funded care of seniors unaffordable.
* HEY... I'M SURE THE LAWYERS AND POLI-SCI MAJORS WORKING FOR GOVERNMENT WILL FILL THE GAP QUICKLY AND COMPETENTLY... (*SMIRK*) (*CHUCKLE*)
Two years after a survey found nearly half of Texas doctors weren't taking some new Medicare patients, new data shows 100 to 200 a year are now ending all involvement with the program. Before 2007, the number of doctors opting out averaged less than a handful a year.
* HMM... WHAT WAS IT THAT HAPPENED IN 2007...??? OH, YEAH! DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS!
“This new data shows the Medicare system is beginning to implode,” said Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the Texas Medical Association. “If Congress doesn't fix Medicare soon, there'll be more and more doctors dropping out and Congress' promise to provide medical care to seniors will be broken.”
* YA MEAN "FIX" AS IN THE WAY CONGRESS HAS "FIXED" THE BUDGET...???
* JEEZUS... WHAT'S IT GONNA TAKE TO GET THROUGH TO PEOPLE... (*SIGH*)
More than 300 doctors have dropped the program in the last two years, including 50 in the first three months of 2010, according to data compiled by the Houston Chronicle. Texas Medical Association officials, who conducted the 2008 survey, said the numbers far exceeded their assumptions.
* YEAH... FUNNY HOW ROSY "ASSUMPTIONS" ARE SO OFTEN BRUISED WHEN REALITY INTERVENES. (*SMIRK*)
The opt-outs follow years of declining Medicare reimbursement that culminated in a looming 21 percent cut in 2010. Congress has voted three times to postpone the cut, which was originally to take effect Jan. 1. It is now set to take effect June 1.
* GUESS WHAT, KIDS... THAT "CUT" WAS FIGURED IN THE OBAMACARE "ASSUMPTIONS" CONCERNING.. er... PROGRAM COSTS. LIES PILED UPON LIES PILED UPON LIES... WELCOME TO "CHANGE" IN THE AGE OF OBAMA.
http://www.concordcoalition.org/washington-budget-report/267215/19-2010#article-2
A key test of the new pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) law is taking shape as Congress considers how, or whether, to pay for the extension of major tax and spending policies.
* YOU CAUGHT THAT, RIGHT? "...OR WHETHER..." (*SNORT*) HELL OF A WAY TO RUN A COUNTRY, HUH?!
This week the House may take up a small portion of these policy extensions. The details have not been announced but two things are certain: 1) the package will not be fully paid for and; 2) more expensive extensions are yet to come.
* SO MUCH FOR PAYGO... (*SMIRK*)
Waiting in the wings is the planned extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for middle class taxpayers, at an estimated cost of $2 trillion over 10 years. This entire sum has been exempted from PAYGO by law.
* YEP... YOU READ THAT RIGHT - $2 TRILLION IN ESTIMATE FUTURE SPENDING "EXEMPTED FROM PAYGO BY LAW."
* CHANGE... HOPE AND CHANGE... (*SNICKER*)
http://www.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,tx14_paul,blog,999,All,Item%20not%20found,ID=100517_3701,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml
[The] free flow of fiat money from around the globe to Greece will not really save Greece as much as it will grant a temporary reprieve to central bankers from the consequences of their mistakes. Sadly, this will come at the expense of the Greek people and taxpayers in Europe and America. Taxpayers are of no consequence to either European or American central bankers.
* REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED TO STOP THIS BAILOUT; THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND THEIR ALLIES IN THE DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED HOUSE AND SENATE HAVE OPENED THE SPIGOTS. THAT'S THE REALITY; "THEM'S THE FACTS." (*SHRUG*)
Even the mere desire for complete information on what they are up to in our name is rebuffed, as we saw last week in the Senate with the failure of [Republican] Senator Vitter’s amendment containing [Republican Ron Paul's] language to fully audit the fed. The hubris of powerful and secretive central bankers seems to know no bounds.
* HEY... OBAMA REAPPOINTED BERNANKE! HEY... OBAMA'S BIGGEST NON-UNION CAMPAIGN FUNDER WAS GOLDMAN SACHS! (AGAIN... THESE ARE THE FACT, FOLKS...)
We have reached the point in the United States where the debt our government has accumulated against us is mathematically impossible to pay off. Harder times, likely due to a wave of hyperinflation, will eventually find its way to our streets and I am fearful of how Americans will react.
* SO AM I, CONGRESSMAN PAUL... SO AM I..
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.41ab1a90163be7c3992b00f096b0c732.8e1&show_article=1
* THE HEADLINE READS:
Canada campaigns against global bank tax
Canada will "resist" a bank tax, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Tuesday as ministers fanned out across the world to raise opposition to the proposal...
"Canada is, and will remain, opposed to a tax that would penalize financial institutions that remained strong and prosperous while many of the world's banks failed," Clement told a press conference with Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon. "We will resist the bank tax here at home and we seek to convince other heads of government of the virtue of our position," he said as senior ministers echoed his message in Mumbai, Beijing and Washington.
(*WILD APPLAUSE*) (*BELTING OUT "OH, CANADA" AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS*)
Nations including Canada and Brazil, whose banking sectors emerged largely unscathed from the financial crisis, objected to the plan, favoring higher capital reserve requirements instead.
(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
Clement said the bank tax would "encourage risky behavior" if it is used to create a bank bailout fund and "reward bad behavior" of those institutions responsible for the recent financial crisis in the first place.
As well, it would "unduly burden" Canadian banks and put them at a "competitive disadvantage" to other financial institutions.
"This tax would reach into consumers' pockets and punish our financial institutions which have taken precautions to avoid the very turmoil that is afflicting other parts of the globe," Clement lamented.
* AND THE PROPOSED TAX WOULD REACH INTO AMERICAN CONSUMERS' POCKETS AS WELL; GOD BLESS CANADA!
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/05/18/mass_insurers_report_hefty_1st_quarter_losses/?page=full
The four major Massachusetts health insurers yesterday posted first-quarter losses totaling more than $150 million, with three of them blaming the bulk of the losses on the Patrick administration’s decision to cap rate increases for individuals and small businesses.
The carriers attributed $116 million of their $152 million in losses to the April 1 ruling by the state Division of Insurance to deny most proposed premium increases for the so-called small-group market. That category covers 800,000 residents who are self-insured or employed by companies with 50 or fewer employees.
Yesterday’s financial reports renewed the dispute between state officials, who say they are protecting consumers from excessive rate hikes, and the health insurance industry, which complains it is being unfairly blamed for surging medical costs and being forced to sell policies at rates that cause them to lose money.
* WHETHER ONE "BELIEVES" THE INSURANCE COMPANIES OR NOT, THE FACT IS... IN THE REAL WORLD YOU CAN'T STAY IN BUSINESS IF YOU CAN'T MAKE A PROFIT.
“The health plans are not collecting enough premiums to cover their costs,’’ said Lora Pellegrini, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans. “These results support what we’ve said: that the plans would lose millions of dollars from this scheme and it would do nothing to control underlying health care costs.’’
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest health insurance carrier, reported a $65.2 million net loss for the three months ending March 31. Its operating loss was even steeper, $95.5 million. (The net loss for Blue Cross-Blue Shield was partly offset by $26.7 million in investment income in the first quarter.) “We are locked into inadequate premiums, and we’re locked in for a year,’’ said Allen P. Maltz, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Blue Cross-Blue Shield.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care posted a quarterly net loss of $27 million and an operating loss of $28.6 million... During last year’s first quarter, it had a $3 million net loss and a $6.9 million operating loss.
Tufts Health Plan reported a net loss of $51.9 million and an operating loss of $59 million for the quarter. ... For the same period last year, Tufts had a $13.1 million net loss and a $16.5 million operating loss.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/18/riedl-the-tax-cuts-didnt-cause-the-budget-deficit/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/18/riedl-the-tax-cuts-didnt-cause-the-budget-deficit/
[A]mong tax-increase advocates, it has become an article of faith that President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts caused the budget deficit.
Newsweeks Fareed Zakaria echoed this conventional wisdom recently: "The Bush tax cuts are the single largest part of the black hole that is the federal budget deficit."
Similarly, in 2004, when Sen. John Kerry , Massachusetts Democrat, accused Mr. Bush of having "taken a $5.6 trillion surplus and turned it into deficits as far as the eye can see," he focused on "Bush's unaffordable tax cuts for the wealthiest people."
These assertions are demonstrably false.
First, that $5.6 trillion surplus never actually existed (the budget surplus peaked at $236 billion in 2000).
* AND EVEN THAT IS A FALSE NUMBER BECAUSE OF THE WAY SOCIAL SECURITY FITS INTO GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING. IN REALITY, WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY GET TO SURPLUS.
Instead, $5.6 trillion represents the cumulative 2002-2011 budget surplus that was projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in early 2001. Instead, the United States is now projected to run a $6.1 trillion deficit over those 10 years - an $11.7 trillion swing.
The surplus projection itself was completely unrealistic and wildly optimistic. It assumed that the late-1990s economic and stock market bubbles would continue forever (and bring tax revenue to record-high levels). It assumed no recessions, no terrorist attacks, no wars, and no natural disasters. And it assumed that discretionary spending as a percentage of the economy would fall to 1930s levels. There was no way this projected surplus would ever have materialized.
In its subsequent 28 budget baseline updates since January 2001, CBO has catalogued the cause of this $11.7 trillion swing from surpluses to deficits. Their data shows that at a cost of $1.7 trillion, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are responsible for just 14% of the fiscal decline. And even that excludes all positive economic effects that replenished a portion of the lost revenue.
* 14%. ACCORDING TO CBO. PELOSI'S CBO. (*SMIRK*)
Furthermore, Mr. Kerrys quote further singled out "tax cuts for the wealthiest people." On that theme, Mr. Obama has proposed ending the tax cuts only for those earning more than $250,000 annually. Yet CBO data shows that just 25% of the tax cuts went to those making more than $250,000. Therefore, the "tax cuts for the wealthiest" come to approximately 4% of the total swing from projected surpluses to actual deficits.
Read that last sentence again. Just 4%.
http://article.nationalreview.com/434300/bye-bye-calworks/stephen-spruiell
In the early 1990s, Bill Clinton campaigned on a promise to “end welfare as we know it.” Republicans in Congress called his bluff, and the result - the landmark 1996 welfare-reform bill - ushered in a decade of plummeting welfare rolls and declining poverty.
Now California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, no one’s idea of a staunch conservative, has done Clinton one better: He has called for the end of cash welfare in California, period.
First things first: No one should expect the Democrat-controlled state legislature to play along. Schwarzenegger made the same proposal last year and was rebuffed.
Despite having 12% of the nation’s population, California has 32% of the nation’s welfare cases, and one reason is that California’s welfare system contains numerous loopholes and exemptions that keep benefits flowing to children whose parents have “lost” their benefits by breaking the rules or failing to find employment within the five-year time limit.
Critics of Schwarzenegger’s proposal argue that two-thirds of the 1.4 million people enrolled in CalWORKs are children. The problem is that the children don’t get the checks; the parents do. As when humanitarian aid is delivered to a corrupt banana republic, the money ends up rewarding the bad actors.
http://article.nationalreview.com/434338/governor-freeze/josh-barro
[New Jersey] teachers made an average of $60,000 per year in 2007, plus generous health and pension benefits, for working approximately 80% of the number of days that most full-time workers do. Only in California and Connecticut do teachers make more.
In the past decade, New Jersey school districts have seen sharp increases in payroll costs. From 2001 to 2009, the costs associated with wages and salaries grew 43 percent. While school enrollment grew only 3% over this period, school employment grew 14%. New Jersey schools added one new teacher for every two new students.
Teachers’ wages grew slightly faster than those in the private sector, and benefit costs soared. From 2001 to 2006 (the latest year for which data are available), school-employee benefit costs increased 115%, in part due to sharply rising health-insurance costs. Unlike most workers in the private sector, New Jersey teachers generally did not bear any of the rise in health-insurance costs, because 100% of their premiums are paid by [taxpayers].
The experience of New Jersey teachers is not unique. In fact, most public employees could be excused for not noticing the recession, given the strong employment and wage growth their sector has experienced over the past several years and continues to enjoy. Since the start of 2007, as the number of jobs in the private sector declined by 7%, public payrolls have seen a 2% increase, adding over 350,000 jobs nationally. New Jersey lost 220,000 jobs in the private sector while gaining 11,000 local-government education jobs.
In the last three years, state and local government-employee compensation grew 9.8%, compared with 6.9% in the private sector. That’s $1.43 in compensation growth for public employees for every $1.00 in compensation growth for private employees.
John Flanagan, a Republican in New York’s state senate, says he will introduce legislation that would freeze employee wages at all levels of New York government - notwithstanding existing employee contracts. Such a law is likely to hold up in court; previous wage freezes in Buffalo and New York City withstood legal challenges.
Like New Jersey’s, New York’s teachers have seen wage and benefit growth that outstrips that of their private-sector peers. School employees have on average gotten a 5% increase in wages and benefits over the last three years. A pay freeze would do much to bring the trend in public-employee compensation back in line with that of the private sector... A blanket wage freeze would save New York localities $1.6 billion, and New York State $285 million, in the first year. Extending the freeze for additional years would significantly slow the rise of state spending.
The average MTA worker makes $68,000 in annual wages, plus $26,000 in benefits. Commuter-rail employees make even more - fully $120,000 in total compensation. These workers are allowed to retire on full pension at age 55.
In New York, public-employee unions are pushing a tax-increase package... In Illinois, meanwhile, unions are lining up with the governor to urge a 33% increase in the state’s flat income tax. And in California, public-employee unions are pushing...a 55% increase in the sales tax [along with other tax and fee increase proposals.]
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=534273
The Obama administration last summer handed over $49.5 billion in taxpayers' money to...money-hemorrhaging General Motors. [T]he greatest beneficiary of the GM bailout was the United Autoworkers union hierarchy. Along with sympathetic Obama agents, union officials were effectively left in charge of the company.
A UAW-controlled auto retiree health care fund was owed $20 billion by GM before the bailout. Under the White House-dictated terms, UAW-appointed fund managers got back half of what they were owed in cash, whereas taxpayers who were owed $19.4 billion didn't get a dime back in cash.
* NICE... (*SMIRK*)
Instead, the Obama administration "forgave" this entire loan on taxpayers' behalf and earmarked an additional $23.5 billion for the company's trip through bankruptcy.
* DID YOU FOLKS KNOW ABOUT THIS - THIS "FORGIVENESS" BUSINESS?
In exchange for the nearly $43 billion funneled to GM, taxpayers acquired a "60.8% equity stake" in GM.
* AND THAT DOES EXACTLY WHAT FOR ME AND YOU...???
GM has lost additional billions of dollars and seen a continued decline in its market share after it formally emerged from bankruptcy last year...
GM's reported U.S. employment shrank by nearly 25% just since last year's bailout and is almost certain to continue falling.
In a weekly radio address to the nation late last month, President Obama suggested that the fact that taxpayers have now recouped 14% of the taxes he diverted into GM coffers on their behalf vindicates his decision to bail out GM and the UAW brass. But ordinary Americans, with whom the GM and Chrysler bailouts have become overwhelmingly unpopular over the past year, are unlikely to agree. Especially not if they learn that GM was able to "pay back" the loan only because it had not yet spent all of the other $43 billion in taxpayer money it raked in last year. In short, as a New York Times headline observed, GM "repaid" taxpayers "with their own cash."
* AS REGULAR READERS OF BARKER'S NEWSBITES ARE WELL AWARE!
[T]he apparent motive of Obama-selected GM CEO Ed Whitacre and UAW officials in repaying the $6.7 billion now is to pave the way for the company to secure a new $10 billion loan from taxpayers at an interest rate of just 5%, two points lower than the previous rate, to pay for the retooling of its plants to meet the government's new, stricter fuel-economy standards.
* NICE, HUH... (*SNICKER*)
If the GM/UAW "zombie" corporation obtains the new $10 billion government loan, it will end up even more deeply in hock to taxpayers than before, after having gotten good PR and kudos from the president for having paid off its original loan "in full."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703957904575252002395057826.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_markets
An early, strong rebound in crude-oil prices faltered, as stock prices fell and the euro weakened against the dollar, leaving the benchmark oil contract at the lowest close since Sept. 29, 2009.
* THIS IS GOOD NEWS FOLKS; LET'S HOPE OIL PRICES CONTINUE TO FALL!
The price of the light, sweet crude-oil futures contract for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 67 cents, or 1%, to $69.41 a barrel...
(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
July crude, which takes over as the front-month contract after the June expiration on Thursday, fell 62 cents to $72.70 a barrel. On the ICE, July North Sea Brent crude fell 67 cents to $74.43 a barrel, the fourth-straight decline for front-month Brent and the lowest closing price since Feb. 15.
* BRAVO...!!!
OPEC has said it considers oil prices in a range of $70 to $80 a barrel to be an ideal level...
* AND BILL BARKER SAYS OPEC IS FULL OF SHIT; OPTIMUM PRICE LEVELS SHOULD FLUCTUATE BETWEEN $45-$60 A BARREL.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703957904575252124196006494.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews
Pfizer Inc. will cut about 6,000 jobs over the next five years as the drug maker exits eight manufacturing sites and reduces operations at six others in an effort to control costs after its acquisition of Wyeth.
The cuts are part of the company's larger plan to eliminate more than 19,000 jobs by the end of 2012, a goal the company remains on track to meet, said Ray Kerins, Pfizer's vice president of external affairs.
* GREAT NEWS, HUH? (*SMIRK*) THE AGE OF OBAMA MARCHES ON!
Since closing the Wyeth deal in October, Pfizer has cut 6,900 jobs, primarily in its U.S. sales force, manufacturing and research and development.
* OH, YEAH... GREAT... WHO NEEDS R&D ANYWAY... OBAMA WILL PROVIDE...!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703460404575245131133946948.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTSecond
The amount of energy America's economy consumes is rising, and oil is a significant portion of its generation. But the domestic production of American oil is falling, and that means that imports must increase each year, which is why increasing the amount of our offshore drilling is a critical component of our energy future.
Our nation's total energy requirements oil, coal, natural gas, electricity - are increasing. From 1980 to 2008, America's annual energy usage increased from 78 quadrillion to 99 quadrillion British thermal units. It is estimated to increase to 111 quadrillion BTUs by 2030. Yet while energy needs are increasing, annual domestic oil production is declining, from 3.1 billion barrels in 1980 to 1.8 billion in 2008.
To make up for these decreases, we have dramatically increased imports, from 483 million barrels in 1970 to 1.9 billion in 1980 and 3.6 billion in 2008.
Back in 1970, U.S. oil production accounted for 88% of our consumption, while today it is only 34%. Imports now account for just under two-thirds of the oil we use. More than one-quarter of our foreign oil comes from two potentially unstable countries: Saudi Arabia (15%) and Venezuela (11%).
[T]here is no question that America needs to drill for more oil, both onshore and offshore. Unfortunately some of environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and World Wildlife Foundation, want to curtail offshore drilling. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is introducing legislation that would halt currently planned offshore drilling expansion on America's Outer Continental Shelf, and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) wants to ban it off of California's coast. The White House is thinking about that sort of policy change too.
Oil is the lifeblood of our economy. Limiting or reducing a significant portion of our homegrown oil supply would be both an economic setback and a national security risk. We have to convince our federal government that eliminating offshore oil drilling is the wrong approach, that we do need the oil, since the current drilling limitations are rapidly pushing us into the control and possible limitation of our energy needs by the foreign governments that provide so much of our oil.
As USA Today recently editorialized: "Decades of refusal to expand domestic drilling . . . has left the nation addicted to foreign oil. . . . This is an invisible, slow-motion disaster" that transfers our dollars and leaves us vulnerable to political instability overseas.
* I AGREE COMPLETELY!
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/18/94386/senators-load-financial-overhaul.html
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, wants the government to finish building the 700-mile fence between the U.S. and Mexico. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, wants to end the health insurance industry's antitrust protection. West Virginia's two senators want help with mine and oil rig safety. They all want to add these things to the financial regulatory overhaul bill that's moving through the Senate, even though their ideas have little or nothing to do with oversight of financial markets.
* ONCE AGAIN... ONE KEY GENERAL REFORM OF CONGRESS MUST BE THAT BILLS ARE LIMITED IN SIZE AND SCOPE. I'D RECOMMEND NO BILL BE LARGER THAN 4X THE NUMBER OF WORDS OF OUR CONSTITUTION AS FIRST RATIFIED. AS TO SCOPE, ALL BILLS MUST REMAIN ON POINT.
* IN OTHER WORDS... AS MUCH AS I LOVE JIM DEMINT... HE NEEDS A SMACK IN THE HEAD THE SAME AS THAT IDIOT LEAHY AND THE TWO CLOWNS FROM WEST VIRGINIA.
Christopher Dodd, D-CT, the Senate Banking Committee Chairman, saw a darker motive: "This is one way to delay the bill," he said.
* WELL IF THAT'S TRUE THAN PERHAPS DEMINT GETS A PASS AFTER ALL... (THE BILL STINKS!)
Adding extraneous amendments to legislation is hardly unusual...
* WHICH IS A MAJOR REASON WHY WE'RE SO SCREWED...
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/05/18/holder_tightens_grip_on_intelligence_agencies_105623.html
The National Security Act (50 USC Sec 413 and 413(a)) requires the Director of National Intelligence and all intelligence agencies to keep the House and Senate Intelligence Committees "fully and currently informed of all intelligence activities" other than covert operations and furnish those committees any information regarding the intelligence agencies' activities which the congressional committees request.
The Attorney General has no role in that process. But Eric Holder has - with the president's support - seized control of that and other intelligence agency functions.
* THE AGE OF OBAMA, FOLKS... THE AGE OF OBAMA...
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