The Monster That Will Not Die! Export/Import Bank

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

godzilla The Monster That Will Not Die! Created 80 years ago by the hand of a single misguided man, it grew – and grew – and grew. And now it can’t be stopped!

No, it’s not Godzilla. It’s just another federal government program – the Export/Import Bank. FDR created the thing in 1934 by executive order to make loans to Russia and Cuba. In its early years it benefited the country by making loans to foreign governments and companies so they could buy exported US goods.

But like almost all federal programs, even if it is obsolete, corrupt and hemorrhaging money, it seems like it will never die. It will grow its budget every year, employ an army of faceless bureaucrats, and grease its own skids. You see, a government agency or program can only do one thing – spend the taxpayers’ money. Somebody receives or uses that money, and would not enjoy seeing the spigot shut off. So Congress is “encouraged” by these somebodies to keep re-authorizing the program.

The somebodies who benefit from the continued existence of the Export/Import Bank top the charts in corporate profits – Boeing, GE, Caterpillar, John Deere. Do these mega-monster companies really need taxpayer-backed loans to their less-than-creditworthy foreign customers?

The Ex/Im marketing department says that the Bank helps US companies make sales to foreign entities who could not get financing in the private market. (Hmm, I seem to remember something like that a few years ago, when the housing bubble burst, nearly destroying our economy.) The Bank claims they do not compete with private banks, they merely make loans that the privates can’t or won’t. (How convenient that the government can create money out of thin air to loan to foreigners and does not have to worry about interest costs or defaults.)

Supporters of the Ex/Im have claimed that it returns profits to the government every year. But it turns out they have been cooking the books and are not playing by the same rules that private sector banks do. The Export/Import Bank holds about $140 billion in taxpayer-backed liabilities and is losing money. It is reportedly rife with corruption and ineptitude.

The Export/Import Bank no longer serves any public purpose. If your congressman votes to re-authorize this Godzilla in September, you should look at his or her list of campaign contributors. If Boeing, GE, Caterpillar, and John Deere appear on the list, maybe your congressman should not be re-authorized at election time either.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Oh no, they say he’s got to go
Go go Godzilla!
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla!
History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men
Godzilla!

Go Go Godzilla – Blue Oyster Cult

The Wizard of IM – Immigration, That Is

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 1

wizard-of-Oz Tin Man: “If I only had a heart – I would see poor immigrant families risking their lives to follow the yellow brick road to prosperity in the United States. They borrow money from their families in Mexico and Central America to pay a “coyote” or some other shyster to get them over the border, and If they survive the trip, many end up working for slave wages and living in the shadows. Some fathers leave their wives and children behind, sending their pay back home to feed the family and pay off debt. Those who bring their families with them dodge immigration officials and hostile neighbors who don’t want them in their neighborhoods and schools.”

Scarecrow: “If I only had a brain, I would know that the US economy can’t afford the loss of millions more jobs. The huge influx of low-skilled immigrants only pushes down wage rates, and the cost of social services for them is unsustainable. And our open border allows more than just immigrants to enter the country – do we need more drugs, crime, and terrorism?”

Cowardly Lion: “If I only had the nerve, I would stop worrying about getting elected. I should be doing the right thing for the future of our citizens, their kids, and even our neighbors who want to live the American dream. I would come up with a plan that protects the security and prosperity of legal Americans, creates a sensible way for productive foreigners to share and contribute, and allows families to improve their lives through effort and ingenuity.”

Dorothy: “I think I’m still in Kansas. Why is everybody speaking Spanish?”

Wizard: “Don’t look behind the curtain! Nothing to see here! I uh, I’m the Wizard, and everything will be, umm, all right . . . oh blast it, I don’t know what I’m doing!”

Well, there’s the script. You can choose your own favorite actors to play the parts (I have a favorite for the Wicked Witch, too).

Unfortunately, there is no resolution to the plot. Everybody is looking at the symptoms instead of the cause of the problem.

It’s understandable that people want to move here – we have a rich history of opportunity and economic success due to our free market economy, honest government and commonly-held values. Even though these staples of our American heritage are at risk, enough of our founding fathers’ wisdom still remains to make the United States a leading attraction to the world’s strivers.

There is only one way this story can have a happy ending. We have to deal with the reason why Latin Americans want to leave their homes and move to the United States: their own governments are corrupt and dysfunctional.

What prevents our political leaders from devising a plan to help our North American neighbors improve their own nations? Cost can’t be the problem – we are apparently willing to risk all of our wealth – and that of our children and grandchildren – to allow them to move and stay here. It’s not that the people of other nations don’t want to be like us. If that were true, they wouldn’t be risking all to be here. And it can’t be that we don’t want to exert undue influence on how neighboring countries manage their affairs. We don’t seem to have a problem meddling in other parts of the world.

If we are going to spend a bazillion dollars accommodating people who leave their own countries to come here, why not try spending a half a bazillion to make their home countries livable? We might even find out that our neighbors can help US with some things if we treat them like friends instead of poor cousins. Obviously, some regime changes would be in order in some of these countries. Maybe even in ours.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn’t, didn’t already have

Tin Man – America

Here’s a great clip from an amazing but somewhat overlooked duo – America. Enjoy.

My Best Friend, Barack, Would Like You To Have A Free Cell Phone Too!

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 2

As you know, my friend Barack gave me a free cell phone a while back.

I don’t use it, but I still have it just in case I need to call Hillary and ask her who wrote Susan Rice’s make-believe talking points about the Benghazi attack. You know, after seven committee investigations, they still haven’t got around to answering that simple question.

Or I might need it to ask Speaker John Boehner why he doesn’t think Susan Lerner needs to explain how so many Tea Party groups and their contributors got singled out for “special treatment” by the IRS.

I probably should use my Obama Phone to call my friend Barack’s wife, Michelle. I have been meaning to ask her how many of the Nigerian girls were released by the terrorists after she “selfied” her hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

Anyway, it looks like the Obama Phone (Lifeline Assistance) program is still going full speed ahead. I got a letter the other day asking me if I have any friends or relatives who might need a free cell phone. It says:

Dear Tom: (I was kind of surprised they used my name — Barack always calls me “Friend”) We hope you are benefiting from your (free phone). Now you can help others benefit too, by spreading the word to your family and friends! If eligible, they can also apply for Lifeline Assistance and get a FREE phone with 250 FREE voice minutes each month and 250 FREE texts each month. Voicemail, call waiting and caller ID included!

We’ve enclosed two applications for you to share with family and friends who live at a different address. If you need more applications, please ask your family and friends to visit (our website) or call (our number).

Since you are my friends and family, I thought I had better let you know that our government would just love to give away more free cell phones. You know, they are printing all that money at the Federal Reserve, and it just keeps piling up and getting in the way. My friend Barack and all of the wonderful people in Washington, DC want to keep their streets clear so their limos can get to those fun parties, like the correspondents’ dinner. You can help them out! Just take one of these free Obama Phones, and they can shovel up some of that money and send it to Carlos Slim (the world’s richest man, and a big Obama donor).

Isn’t it wonderful living in America, where anybody can get a free cell phone, and nobody has to pay for it? We get free food stamps and free Obama Care. I can’t wait until the Obama Cars program starts up and we all get free cars!

Our friends in Washington, DC, like Barack, and Boehner, and Pelosi and Reid promise they will give us Americans free stuff as long as we vote for them. And they will even give free stuff to people who are not Americans as long as they vote for them too! How cool is that!

Boy, have we got it good, or what?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

People let me tell ya ’bout my best friend!

Tell Me Again – Why Do You Support Amnesty and Illegal Immigration?

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

ramirez10 So tell me again – why do we want to offer amnesty to illegal immigrants and encourage even more legal and (mostly Mexican) illegal immigration? (statistics from Mark Levin’s outstanding book “Liberty and Tyranny”, comments by me)

Mexico only requires school attendance through the eighth grade. One third of Mexican immigrants to the US have not graduated from high school. Any wonder why our literacy statistics are headed south? Or why the flood of unskilled and uneducated immigrants is pushing down pay rates in the US?
One third of immigrant-headed households are on at least one major welfare program. No problem, we can just print more money, right?
One third of immigrants lack health insurance. These are the uninsured “Americans” that we are compelled to cover under ObamaCare.
Over one half of Mexican immigrants are here illegally. If our federal government and “sanctuary cities” do not enforce immigration laws, we encourage even more illegal immigration.
9 percent of the population of Mexico was living in the US in 2004, and in 2007, 27% of Mexico’s labor force was working in the US and sending home $20 billion per year. Mexico’s corrupt government and dysfunctional economy cannot sustain its growing population, so they export their labor force to the US, and the proceeds are sent back to Mexico – representing a major proportion of that nation’s income.
One out of five students in 2006 was Hispanic, and at current growth rates by 2050 the majority of US students will be Spanish speakers. The stress put on US schools by immigration is reaching crisis proportions.
More than 55 million individuals in the US speak a language other than English at home – 34 million speak Spanish.
The current level of assimilation of all recent immigrant groups is lower than at any time in US history, and Mexicans are the least assimilated of any group. Immigration no longer produces the “melting pot” of grateful and talented immigrants who became patriotic Americans and made our nation great. Instead, we are rapidly becoming a balkanized, polarized country.
Mexican adolescents are imprisoned at rates 80 percent greater than the general immigrant adolescent population. The US already has by far the greatest incarceration rate in the world.
Hispanic women have the highest unmarried birthrate in the country – over three times that of whites and Asians, and nearly 1.5 times that of black women. We already know how destructive the increased number of unwed mothers is to our economy.

I will be accused of racism for reporting these truths. Believe me, I have no ill will toward Mexicans or any other ethnic groups. My only aim in presenting this argument is the economic survival of the United States. Mexico certainly does not allow illegals to cross their borders.

The percent of US residents actively working is now at an all-time low. Wage rates continue to decline. Our competitive edge against other nations is gone due to our relative lack of skills and education. What could possibly justify encouraging and allowing more unskilled and needy immigrants to move in? If we stopped the flow of low-wage unskilled workers into our economy, businesses would adjust – they would increase labor rates and/or efficiency. As long as we tolerate the status quo, businesses will take advantage of the profit opportunity – and the immigrants.

Obviously there is only one justification for amnesty and tolerance of illegal immigration, and it applies only if you are a liberal politician or bureaucrat who cares nothing for the future and security of American families. You want to accumulate as many bodies as possible to be dependent on you, to vote for you, and to keep you in your permanent political positions of power.

Ugly, isn’t it?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Tell me why you cried
And why you lied to me!

Tell Me Why – the Beatles

Amazing colorized footage of the Beatles from their first movie “A Hard Day’s Night”

Inequality – It’s What Made Us Great!

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 1

November, 1964 – another crisp, sunny afternoon in Great Falls, Montana. We got out of McKinley Elementary at 3:15 and like most other days headed over to the Willetts’ house to see if the other neighborhood kids were up for some football.

The Willetts’ house was set back quite a ways off the street, and had a big front yard of thick, green grass littered with fat orange, yellow and red leaves from the huge maple trees that graced our older middle-class street. It was irresistible to a bunch of grade school boys with lots of energy and no homework.

By 3:30 a dozen or so kids had arrived, and the captains picked their teams. The team captains were the biggest, toughest, or oldest kids – the alpha males of the bunch. You were proud if you were one of the first boys picked, and kind of embarrassed if you were the last. But everybody got to play.

Seems like the captains always got to play quarterback, too. Like it or not, they were the natural leaders. There might be an occasional challenge – “Hey I want to be captain!” – but usually it was pretty evident who was going to be in charge. The captain had to be smart enough to call a play that actually might work. He was usually the best athlete. And he had to have the respect, or at least the obedience, of his teammates.

Bobby was fast as the wind, a natural running back. Randy could catch anything. He always got to be a receiver.

Roger, the fat kid, always had to play center or guard. I mean let’s face it, he just couldn’t run fast enough to catch a pass or defend one. Plus he had no idea how to call plays. But Roger didn’t mind, he knew his place. And heck, he could block two or three of us at a time.

Our neighborhood was very mixed, from one end of the socioeconomic scale to the other. Some of us were scruffy kids from poor families. We were the ones with no dads at home. The middle-class boys had real families and belonged to the cub scouts. They had to be home at 6:00 for supper. Some of the gang were actually upper-crust; in fact, Mr. Willetts ran for mayor.

But on a blue-sky late autumn afternoon in the sixties it didn’t matter what your dad did for a living, or if you had one. It was all about run, throw, catch, score, and WIN. Nobody cared what you looked like or how worn-out your shoes were. You succeeded or failed on your own, and you weren’t going to get any respect for free.

We learned about leadership. About the joy of competition. About how to fit in and contribute to a team effort, and to share in the rewards. About getting knocked on your butt, and getting back up. Some kids learned that they just weren’t cut out for football. They found something else they could do well. Or not.

And all of this happened without worried parents hovering over us, coaches having tantrums, or lawyers and TV news crews waiting for somebody to get hurt. No rules committees, safety equipment, or umpires. No government programs to shelter us and tell us what to do.

There was never any mention of “inequality”. Everybody got to play, and the boys who had the most skill, experience or drive had the most success, and the most fun. But we all wanted to compete, and to win.

That bunch of boys became men, and our generation did pretty well with what we learned on our own in those front yards and vacant lots. Now, sadly, the notion of kids being able to – and allowed to – organize their own rough-and-tumble football games is unthinkable. That level of freedom and opportunity for kids is long gone.

In today’s “fairer” progressive social structure, everybody will get to play quarterback. We will all have new shoes, but they will be low-quality, made in China. We won’t pick teams or keep score because that is just too damaging to self-esteem. There will be no losers, and no winners – just shared mediocrity.

I don’t know about you, but if Roger is going to be the quarterback, I don’t even want to play.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Ooh, it takes every kind of people
To make what life’s about, yeah
Every kind of people
To make the world go ’round

Every Kind of People – Robert Palmer

“Science Deniers” vs. “Economics Deniers”

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 2

mad scientist According to the Left Side, we Neanderthals who Rock on the Right Side don’t buy that mankind is destroying the earth, so we are, by definition, “science deniers“.

How dare we question them? They are the ‘intelligentsia’. They own the facts. Their “science” is unassailable. They don’t really have any proof, but if you don’t agree with them, you must be an idiot. You probably think the Earth is flat! You probably don’t even accept that Albert Einstein’s great-great-great grandmother was a newt!

Well, I may not be an Einstein, and I admit I got a C in eighth grade science (actually Mr. Anderson paddled me for passing notes in class, that didn’t help). But I have a question for you scientists:

If your “science” is so perfect, and you are so sure that mankind is destroying the earth via “climate change”, why have none of your predictions come true?

In 1975, according to Newsweek Magazine, you scientists were convinced that global cooling would “portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now.” News Flash: didn’t happen.

Then in 2007 Al Gore predicted that “all Arctic ice would be gone by 2013”. Um, Al, if that’s your science, I think I can safely deny that. Didn’t happen. In fact, there was a record ice-pack in 2013.

Go ahead, Left Side. Call me a “science denier”. I’m not convinced that man is capable of causing global climate change. Don’t these same scientists admit that the earth was much warmer — and also much colder — in prehistoric times, well before Lady Gaga was “born this way”?

I’m pretty sure all of the uproar about climate change is more about power and money, and not so much about temperature. Al Gore charges $100,000 per speech and his Global Investment Management company has made a killing dealing in Climate Change drama. And the UN building is full of little despots rubbing their fists at the prospect of slipping some carbon-tax guilt money into their pockets.

Speaking of money, it seems to me that the Left Siders are “Economics Deniers”.

They won’t accept that printing and distributing ever-growing gobs of cash waters down the value of existing dollars. They can’t believe that paying people not to work for several years contributes to unemployment. It doesn’t make sense to them that flooding our country with cheap foreign labor results in lower wage rates.

They don’t believe in the power of the free market, and the flawless balance of supply and demand. They can’t accept that $17 trillion of debt is a problem for our children.

They won’t buy that unequal incomes are the result of unequal effort or talent.

The Left Side are the ones in denial. The Economics Deniers.

But let’s not talk about that! Let’s talk about gay marriage! Or how barbaric it is to expect women to buy their own birth control pills! Or how those stupid Right Siders are “Science Deniers” who don’t care about global warming!

So far the Left Side has not blinded the Right Side with their “science.” Good thing.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

The spheres are in commotion
The elements in harmony
She blinded me with science
“She blinded me with science!”
And hit me with technology

She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby

Watch this great live performance by Dolby – glad to see an old-school Telecaster in the studio with all that SCIENCE!

Cut the Corruption!

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 1

piggies cake Americans don’t like their elected federal officials very much. A few months ago Congress’ approval rating hit a rock-bottom 9%. While their rating has rebounded slightly, President Obama’s just hit an all-time low. Granted, the approval ratings are a pretty dumb measurement: I might dislike a given official because she is too liberal, while my neighbor might disapprove because she is not liberal enough.

Still, it’s fair to say we don’t think all is going swimmingly in Washington, DC.

I think a major contributor to our disrespect is the daily reporting of corruption in our nation’s capital. It permeates the White House. It fouls the air in the Senate chambers. It slimes the floor of the House. The Republicans smell. The Democrats stink. The reflecting pool on the National Mall has become a cesspool.

While government corruption is not a new phenomenon, it sure seems to be more widespread lately. Our president shamelessly funnels wads of cash to campaign bundlers. The administration’s leadership posts are filled with party hacks and cronies whose only qualification is the ability to extort money from corporations. Most of our congressmen have “leadership PACs” which allow them to accumulate ridiculous sums with no strings attached to their spending on lavish lifestyles and backroom political deals. Many, like Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Roy Blunt, have armies of relatives at the public trough through questionable employment, purchased political offices, or shady lobbying relationships. Our DOJ and SEC choose (or are assigned) political targets and then find (or write) obscure regulations to either punish them or take their lunch money. At the same time, proven billion-dollar thieves like Obama cash-bundler John Corzine slither past the enforcers scot-free. The IRS blatantly targets conservative political opponents, an Obama campaign contributor is assigned to investigate, and then the head honcho pleads the fifth.

Corruption was once driven by outsiders seeking favors from vulnerable DC politicians. Now the mojo is on the other side. Peter Schweitzer points out in his blockbuster book, “Extortion”:

“In Washington today corruption is driven more by extortion than by bribery . . . Our reform efforts have been almost exclusively devoted to restricting the activities of these special interests – in other words, ourselves – as opposed to the activities of the Permanent Political Class”.

Schweitzer suggests bans on contributions and solicitations involving lobbyists and government contractors, and contributions from anyone during congressional sessions. He would restrict the selling of votes (which, believe it or not, is now perfectly legal), prohibit family members from employment and lobbying, and ban leadership PACs.

I would take it a step further. We need to get our congressmen out of Washington, DC and back to their home districts to face their constituents the majority of the time. In this era of instant electronic communication, elected officials no longer need to schmooze face-to-face with their counterparts and with the concentrated purchasing power of DC lobbyists.

The Corruption Cake, frosted with seemingly endless layers of DC money, must be replaced with something healthy. Soon!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Cut the cake!
Don’t you know that I’m a greedy man

Cut the cake!
Don’t you know that I’ll do the best I can

Cut the Cake – by Average White Band

Funkiest . . . band . . . ever! and man, have they aged well. Enjoy this great video by the Average White Band from Scotland.

)

Run! It’s Those Scary, Racist Tea Party People!

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 6

image courtesy of SodaHead.com

Bigotry and disinformation are alive and well in the USA.

In Washington, DC for a Tea Party Patriots leadership conference, my wife and I entered our hotel elevator and joined three black women, expecting a friendly conversation with some locals. Their eyes dropped to the prominent “Tea Party” ID badges we wore, and the reaction was stunning.

The youngest of them jumped back against the wall, her eyes wide with palpable fear. The other two also shrank back, hands over mouths, mumbling obvious displeasure. It was as if Count Dracula himself had appeared before them.

“Hmmph. Tea Party, huh? Mmm, mmm, mmm, not good, not good . . . ,” the older ladies lamented.

We were stunned speechless. Before we could come up with a response, the door opened at our floor and the younger one jumped past us to the hallway. We followed.

“You people are trying to take my job away from me!” she shouted over her shoulder, rushing away from us as quickly as possible.

My wife and I looked at each other, wondering what her job is, why we would want to “take it” from her, and what we would do with it if we got it. As the young lady fumbled for the key to her room, I blurted out, “Wow, if you are afraid of Tea Party grandmas and grandpas, you need a new source of information!” Her door slammed.

Back in our room we tried to make sense of what we had just seen and heard. While race wasn’t mentioned, I’m very sure it played a role, because the left and the media have so successfully branded the Tea Party as racists.

My mind went back to the speakers we had just enjoyed at our Tea Party Patriots 5-year celebration event. One was Sonnie Johnson of Breitbart News, a bright and beautiful young African-American woman who abandoned her prepared speech to talk instead about something that “hit her heart”. Miss Johnson decried the federal government’s quest to replace God and religion with government dependency. She passionately prayed for the success of the Tea Party and America.

I remembered the fiery words of Anita Moncrief, the hard-nosed little African-American woman who, as an ACORN official, finally had to blow the whistle on the corruption that oozed between that organization and the Democrat party during the Obama campaign. “That was not helping people,” she cried. “I got tired of the victimhood and the race card.” She now works with True the Vote.

K Carl Smith, black Tea Party leader, spoke eloquently of Frederick Douglas‘ respect for the constitution and belief in limited government. US Representative Raul Labrador joked about his status as a “Puerto Rican Mormon Tea Party Member”. George Rodriquez, Mexican-American radio host and president of the San Antonio Tea Party, observed that every family wants the same opportunities for prosperity, regardless of race.

These people, and so many like them, not only know the Tea Party, they ARE the Tea Party. Which raises the question: Would the black ladies in the elevator have feared Sonnie if she had entered the elevator instead of my wife and I?

The Tea Party Patriots want to ensure that the children and grandchildren of all Americans have a chance to enjoy the freedoms and economic opportunities that we did. Yet the hateful left and the mainstream media have demonized us so successfully that under-informed black women fear for their safety in the presence of white grandparents wearing Tea Party badges.

It’s sad. And it has to stop.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

We can’t go on together
With suspicious minds
And we can’t build our dreams
On suspicious minds

Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley

We Care So Much About You, We’ll Spend All Your Money To Prove It!

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 1

Winter Prep It snowed in Charlotte last week. What a perfect opportunity for local officials to demonstrate what’s wrong with government.

It seems that nothing is more important to public officials than public relations. They are compelled to show that they really, really “care” about us and our safety. After all, their mission is to protect us from anything evil that could possibly harm us, right?

This need to be seen as our faithful guardians often transcends common sense, and economic sense.

On Saturday the meaty urologists (weathermen) predicted rain and snow to arrive by the middle of the next week. So on Sunday, three days before the expected weather event, the DOT sent out an army of trucks, each manned by a driver and a second guy riding shotgun (maybe to balance the truck so it would not have uneven weight distribution causing premature tire wear?) to spray little white lines of brine on the streets. Surely seeing these little white squiggles made Charlotte drivers feel warm and fuzzy inside, knowing that their government officials really care about them and their safety.

But wait a minute . . . the snow is not coming for three days, right? And this is the South where it ALWAYS rains before it snows, so the rain will wash all the brine off the roads and into the sewers before it snows, right?

The forecast was accurate – it rained heavily on Tuesday, and then snowed big time on Wednesday. The Charlotte streets were a real circus, complete with clowns and daredevil acts. It didn’t appear to me that the huge expense for trucks and gas and drivers and weight-distribution passengers on overtime and the brine was a very good investment of taxpayers hard-earned money.

But that’s government work. All that really matters is our government CARES. Gotta love that warm and fuzzy feeling.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

When I’m tired and thinking cold
I hide in my music, forget the day
And dream of a girl I used to know
I closed my eyes and she slipped away
She slipped away

More Than A Feeling – Boston

Here’s a heapin’ helpin’ of guitar tone to warm up your day – Boston live, 2008

Is the “Money Game” Dying in DC?

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Tom Balek Standard 4

ChangeCongress-FollowTheMoney696 In my last post I decried the incessant corruption in Washington, DC. I recently read Peter Schweitzer’s amazing book “Extortion” and suddenly I see the baffling events inside the Beltway with new clarity.

Yesterday Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor got 26 other Republican congressmen to join 200 Democrats and pass a “clean” bill to extend the debt limit until after the election. All the other Republican congressmen sensibly voted against passage.

Today the Senate, with Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Whip John Cornyn voting along with the Democrats, passed the bill for President Obama’s signature. As a result the national debt will rise to at least $18.2 trillion while our government does nothing but accelerate the calamitous decline in our economy.

Until I read Schweitzer’s book I could not fathom how the Republican leadership of both houses of Congress could vote not only against the wishes and interests of their constituents, but also in defiance of their own body of legislators. The Republican majority-holding members in the House could have stopped this travesty in a heartbeat, and would have, were it not for John Boehner and the other Republican leaders. What kind of evil pathology is this? How can we face our children?

It just didn’t make any sense to me. Until I learned about “the money”.

I learned from Schweitzer and subsequent research that the game of government in DC is all about “the money”. A congressman cannot get elected without “the money”. Once a candidate is anointed by his party (both teams play by the same rules) and then elected, he is immediately indebted. He is required to not only raise enough funds to win his own re-election, he also must also raise funds to sustain the party. And let me tell you, these are some high stakes.

Committee assignments and leaderships are granted to legislators based on the funds they raise. Votes are bought and sold. Party leaders can financially make or break any member in a heartbeat. None of the attributes a congressman brings to his position – knowledge, experience, skill, hard work – matters at all. One’s status and hope for re-election is solely the result of how much dough he raises for the party. The vast majority of a legislator’s time is spent chasing “the money”.

While you never hear about this “Lord of the Flies” culture in the press, it is no secret inside the Beltway. It has been in place for a long, long time.

But a change took root in recent years. Conservative voters, seeing that the entrenched political class in Washington, DC no longer took any interest in limiting government, supporting constitutional rights, and passing reasonable budgets, began sending principled men and women to the nation’s capital. These newcomers were less engaged in “the money” and more driven by practical economics and common sense. As the Tea Party influence became more pronounced, and fewer members feared the leadership’s “protection racket”, the DC money machine started to break down. The Republican war chest was depleting. And the central control of the Republican leadership started to crack.

For a candidate, the worst thing about the Tea Party is that they will work hard for you, but they won’t bring you a lot of money. The best thing is that you won’t have to sell your soul to pay them back.

Boehner and friends have thrown in the towel. From the Huffington Post:

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he “hoped to find 18 of them to join 200 Democrats to get the job done.”

“The fact is, we’ll let the Democrats put the votes up,” Boehner said. “We’ll put a minimum amount of votes up to get it passed.”

The new conservatives don’t care that much about raising money and are not indebted to the leadership. They voted a resounding NO, and led most of the Republican membership into the light with them. The old guard Republican leadership hunkered down in their central command, clinging to the hope that they could keep hold of their power and positions, and “the money”, by caving in, again, to their Democrat opponents. In his final hurrah, Boehner bought just enough votes to do the deal and now he is broken and broke, along with Cantor, McConnell and the others. “The money”, and the power structure it bought, may soon be extinct.

I hope we will look back at this day as a pivot point. It was a battle lost, but one that could light the path to winning the war, where true conservatives stand on principle and vote for the people, not “the money”.

(To my Montana friends – The “Responsible Republicans” in the Big Sky State should take note. Their future may look a lot like that of Boehner and friends.)

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You never give me your money
You only give me your funny paper
And in the middle of negotiations
You break down!

You Never Give Me Your Money – the Beatles
covered by the Ed Turner Band