Govt. Spending Priority List – It’s Upside Down!

Posted on by Standard Reply

upside-downYou might think our free-spending government does not have a priority list.  From all appearances, once they have spent on an item or a program, they will continue to spend on that item or program forever – adding new items and programs to the list, but never removing any.

If we taxpayers wrote a priority list, at the top would be the things that are most important to us, and at the bottom we would put the porky programs that don’t accomplish anything, are obsolete, are wasteful or are flat-out fraudulent.  If we needed to cut the budget, we would go to the bottom of the list and start whacking away.  The stuff at the top would be protected.

The government priority list is the same as ours, except upside-down.  Whenever taxpayers balk at spending more money, or increasing the debt limit, the government threatens to cut the things that are most important to us:

Cut spending?  Why, we’ll have to get rid of all the teachers and firemen!  No social security, either!  And we’ll have to stop national defense completely!  Why, if we cut taxes, we can’t afford to provide any help to the disabled! 

Of course, we will have to keep funding the Essential Air Service program and subsidizing $3,652 for every airline ticket to Billings – that’s essential!   And how could we cut the subsidies to our campaign contributors in the Green Energy business?  They are broke!  They need our help!  And of course our unionized government employees are entitled to earn double the rate that taxpayers earn, for half the hours of work, and get fat guaranteed pensions at a young age.  How could we cut back there?

no_mosquito_controlWhen I lived in Topeka, KS, we had a mosquito problem every summer.  And the county government milked that baby for all it was worth.  Whenever the county wanted more money for whatever frivolous reason, they would threaten first to stop spraying for mosquitoes.  Worked like a charm.

Oh yes, the government has the same spending priority list we do.   It’s just upside down.



Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Upside down, boy, you turn me
Inside out, and round and round
Upside down, boy, you turn me
Inside out, and round and round

Upside Down – Diana Ross

Didn’t know she could dance!  Watch Diana bust a move with Michael Jackson!

Cowboys and Cowgirls Needed – Apply Now

Posted on by Standard 1

john_wayneI am more concerned every day about the lack of leadership in our national affairs.   As the well-being and security of our citizens continues to decline, the dearth of leadership among our federal political officials becomes more evident and more critical.

There’s a big difference between leadership and arrogance.  Just saying “follow me” isn’t helpful when the leader is stumbling off a cliff.  A true leader must have:

  • vision – a clear understanding of the situation as it is and the correct path to what it should be
  • honesty – zero-tolerance of any person or action motivated by personal gain ahead of mission
  • optimism and inspiration – the genuine desire to make things better for all, and the belief that improvement is not only possible, it is necessary
  • resolve – shared goals that are unshakeable, and determination to accomplish those goals
  • responsibility and accountability – willingness to shoulder burdens for the benefit of others, to admit and recover from failures, and to be open to criticism
  • courage – the ability to stay cool under fire and focused on the goal

Where are the true leaders today?  We have plenty of idealogues.  Demagoguery has become an art form.  Politicians have learned to exploit the weaker instincts of their constituents – fear, envy, selfishness and laziness – using psychology to manipulate voters.  Public officials seem to be only inspired to gain and hold power, without even bothering to seek solutions.

Where are the principled journalists?  The pursuit of truth has been replaced by a vapid addiction to titillation and sensationalism.  We are told that “sex sells”, and that the pursuit of profit is now the sole motivator in the the news business.  That in itself is deceitful because consumers of news are not given a choice.  The reality is our elite news media seek to empower themselves using the same psychological manipulations employed by our self-serving political leaders.

Is the lack of leadership a symptom of what’s wrong with America?  Or is it the cause?  Do we still believe that the qualities of true leadership matter?  Do we employ them in our own lives?

I contend that we don’t need more new ideas.  We don’t need more laws.  We certainly don’t need more self-absorbed charlatans in public office.

We can get out of this mess and back on the right track.  We just need to find, encourage, elevate, and empower true leaders at every level of our society, bottom to top.    Are you one?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Where is my Marlboro man?
Where is his shiny gun?
Where is my lonely ranger?
Where have all the cowboys gone?

Where Have All the Cowboys Gone – Paula Cole

Can We Forget About Electric Cars Now?

Posted on by Standard 5

kid_carWhen I was little, my dream was to have one of those battery-powered kiddie cars that I could sit in and drive around the neighborhood, waving and showing off to my friends.  Whenever we got a new Sears catalog, I would flip right to the kiddie cars.   The brightly-painted toy cars were always on one of the full-color pages,  and looked just like a real car!  I could only imagine what it would be like to be a rich kid.

The electric kiddie cars never did sell very well, because they were expensive and unreliable.  Everyone knew that they would only work for a short while and then break.  With a brand new battery, the toy cars barely had enough power to move a 40 pound kid, and even then only for a few minutes.  But they sure looked cool.

Unfortunately, nothing much has changed.

Back in October of 2009, Vice-President Joe Biden bleated his excitement over the federal subsidies granted to electric-car maker Fisker, who promised 2500 Delaware jobs and the resurrection of a mothballed GM plant:

biden“While some wanted to write off America’s auto industry, we said no.  We knew that we needed to do something different – in Delaware and all across the nation,” said Vice President Biden.  “We understood a new chapter had to be written, a new chapter in which we strengthen American manufacturing by investing in innovation.  Thanks to a real commitment by this Administration, loans from the Department of Energy, the creativity of U.S. companies and the tenacity of great state partners like Delaware – we’re on our way to helping America’s auto industry reclaim its top position in the global market.”

Today it was announced that the state of Delaware stands to lose $21 million it had committed to Fisker, and the Obama administration has been predictably quiet about how much of its $529 million loan is at risk.  It turns out that not only has there never been a car produced, the plant still stands empty, with the State of Delaware paying to keep the electricity turned on.  What a surprise.

Toyota has scrapped plans to release its new mass market e-car, the ‘eQ’.   The Chevy Volt has required massive subsidies and tax incentives to generate unit sales to the public and the government has bought many of those produced.  With cheap and seemingly limitless natural gas available in the US, why should taxpayers be forced to invest in electric-car companies when private investors won’t?  And why should taxpayers pay $7,500 to $10,000 to every buyer of a Volt – especially when the average income of Chevy Volt buyers is $170,000 per year?  Is this the administration’s idea of “fairness”?

The electric-vehicle debacle is only a tiny portion of the Green agenda promoted by the Obama administration, and which continues to be their corruption-vehicle of choice.  A scam was just revealed by the CBC in which a train loaded with bio-fuels toodled around crossing in and out of Canada 24 times and playing Chinese-fire-drill with its cars, without ever unloading a drop of product.  It seems that every time the train crossed the border it was given brownie points under an EPA program, which it can sell for millions of dollars to other carriers.

According to the Washington Post, a US Treasury investigation of the Obama’s clean energy program revealed a cesspool of corruption:

(Townhall.com) After an exhaustive analysis of thousands of memos, company records and internal e-mails about Obama’s green-technology spending program, the Washington Post concluded that it was “infused with politics” at every level of the decision-making process. Political considerations dominated the White House’s deal-making and all too often overruled warnings that billions of tax dollars would be lost on shaky energy projects that should never have been approved.  “Overall, the Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers,” the newspaper reported at the time.

At a time when it is universally understood that our nation can not survive another four years of drunken-sailor spending, can’t we put this Green Energy nonsense to bed once and for all?  And couldn’t we solve a major portion of our economic woes by eliminating the EPA?

We all know only the rich kids can afford electric cars anyway.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Here in my car,
I know I’ve started to think
About leaving tonight,
Although nothing seems right
In cars

Cars – Gary Numan

Magic! We’ll Never Have To Work Again!

Posted on by Standard 5

Readers of my blog have often heard me proclaim my faith in basic economics.  I still have that faith.  At it’s most basic level, here’s what I believe:

  • every person on earth wants to improve his or her family’s standard of living
  • the more scarce something is (goods, talent, labor), the higher its value
  • we obtain things that we want by providing somebody else something they want
  • rather than exchanging chickens for gasoline, and labor for nails, we use a “medium of exchange”

IOUMacroeconomics makes sense as long as we have a medium of exchange that we can trade back and forth with each other, and we all agree on its relative value.  Here in the United States we use dollars.

Sam’s employer will give him twenty dollars for loading a truck for an hour.  Sam will give twenty dollars to the pet store for a bag of dog food.  The store will give twenty dollars to the utility company for an hour’s worth of electricity.   It works great as long as we all agree on the relative worth of twenty dollars.

Here’s where it gets tricky.  Twenty dollars is a piece of paper in your pocket.  You can’t eat it.  It won’t keep you warm.  It has no intrinsic worth at all.  There was a time when that piece of paper could be exchanged for gold (a scarce commodity) at our national treasury, but those days are gone.  Now a twenty-dollar bill is nothing more than an IOU – a promise to pay.

Unlike you, the government does not create any wealth.  It can take IOUs from one person and give them to another person.  And if that’s all it did, the economy would still work.  But the government now gives out more IOUs than it takes in.  It can do that, because it can print IOUs.

Stick with me now.

It should follow that the more IOUs that are out there, the less each one is worth.  Supply and demand, right?

If this were not true, NONE OF US WOULD EVER HAVE TO WORK AGAIN.  We could just print as many IOUs as it takes to buy whatever we want, just like our government is doing now!

But our government continues to tell us that there is no inflation, they don’t expect inflation, and everything is under control.

You’d have to believe in magic . . .

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

You have to believe we are magic
Nothin’ can stand in our way
You have to believe we are magic
Don’t let your aim ever stray
And if all your hopes survive, destiny will arrive
I’ll bring all your dreams alive, for you

Magic – Olivia Newton-John

 

You Paid $3,652 For My Short Flight. Thanks!

Posted on by Standard 7

Silver Airlines*update 6/13/2013 – common sense prevails as Essential Air Service subsidies for Lewistown and Miles City are finally cancelled! 

 

Thank you, taxpayers!

I just booked a flight from Lewistown to Billings.   I fly frequently out of Billings, and usually I just drive to the airport – it’s only a two-hour trip.  I often stay overnight at a Billings hotel so I can leave my vehicle there until my return, because long-term parking at the airport is pretty expensive.  But last week I read in our local paper that we are only averaging one passenger per day through our Lewistown airport.  That’s one passenger for two flights in and two flights out.  Per day.  Kind of embarrassing.

So I thought I would check it out.  My airfare was only $71!  Heck, I would spend that on gas taking my truck to Billings and back, plus I would have to pay for a hotel or parking.  Why not?

How, you may ask, can air transportation from a little town like Lewistown be such a bargain?  It’s called Essential Air Service.   You wonderful taxpayers subsidize our tiny airline to make sure we don’t have to buy gas from a greedy privately-owned gas station and spend money at some evil, profit-hungry privately-owned hotel.  It’s one of those programs that our federal government says we just can’t live without.   In fact, they absolutely must raise our taxes because programs like this are . . . well, essential.

I am just overwhelmed at your generosity.  I looked up the Essential Air Service subsidy for Lewistown to see how much you are paying for my trip.   Let’s see, the most recent annual contract provides a $1,325,733 subsidy to Silver Airlines for serving Lewistown.  One passenger per day for 365 days, that’s about 365 passengers per year . . .  hmm, according to my simple math, you taxpayers are paying about $3,632 for my short trip to Billings.

Denny Rehberg and Jon Tester and Max Baucus are all big supporters of Essential Air Service.   Some other stingy Congressmen tried to shut down the program, but your Montana buddies don’t have any problem with you guys paying $3,632 for me to fly to Billings.   Oh, plus $3,632 when I return.  I mean after all, heh heh heh . . . it’s not their money!

So thanks again, I’ll be thinking of you as I glide over the Rimrocks into Billings-Logan airport to make my connecting flight.  You know, the Rimrocks sure are pretty, you can look right over the fiscal cliff . . .

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right SideGimme a ticket for an aeroplane
I ain’t got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone, I’m a-goin’ home
My baby just wrote me a letter!
I don’t care how much money I gotta spend
Got to get back to my baby again
Lonely days are gone, I’m a-goin’ home
My baby just wrote me a letter!

The Letter – by the Box Tops

Don’t Cry for Argentina, Cry for Us

Posted on by Standard 4

All of this talk about “the fiscal cliff” sounds so sudden, so personal.  Like something that happens to you, and me, as individuals.  We fall off the cliff, like Wiley Coyote, and it hurts for a minute.  Then we are right back chasing the Road Runner.


The dirty little secret is we have screwed things up so badly for the next generation – maybe several generations – that it is beyond the point of repair.

Economics is not a mystery.  There is a ton of historical evidence about what happens when you try to goose the economy and stave off debt by printing fiat money – it’s called inflation.  Argentina wrote the book on how to create rampant inflation.

In the 1980s the inflation rate in Argentina ran in the triple digits.  When it hit 12,000% in 1989, suddenly everybody was broke – even those who worked hard, saved money, and played by the rules.  You have money?  Big deal!  It doesn’t buy anything!  All of the predictable ugly behavior occurred – stores were looted, violent protests  erupted, and politics devolved into a cesspool of corruption.

Argentina_158624432_620x350 In 2001 the IMF bailed out Argentina, preventing bloody revolution.  In exchange, there were strings attached:  you will manage your economy conservatively, and you will hold inflation to sane levels.  Twelve years later, Argentina is on the verge of being tossed out of the IMF, and perhaps the G20 for failing both dictums.  Stores are again being looted.  Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is accused of “cooking the books” by reporting much lower inflation rates than actual.  While government reports claim inflation rates of 8% to 10%, life on the street shows a rate closer to 25%, and accelerating.

Sound familiar?

Our Federal Reserve, in cahoots with our administration, is pretending that we have no inflation in the US.  By holding interest rates to near-zero, they “think” they are stimulating the economy and tempering unemployment.  But it’s not working.  Banks, because of the risk of a rapid increase in interest rates down the road, aren’t loaning money to businesses.  Consumers who rely on interest from savings have puckered up.   And investors seeking decent returns gobble up riskier investments, building dangerous bubbles just waiting to pop.

Our government is trying the old “cook the books” strategy too.  While our administration claims success at creating jobs, our rate of labor force participation declines, and “real unemployment” takes a toll on American workers.  Last week 20,000 applicants scrambled after 1,500 available  flight attendant jobs at bankrupt American Airlines, who cut 2,200 higher-cost employees in a contract buyout.  And another 90,000 Americans chose permanent disability over the fight for jobs in December – breaking another record and holding unemployment rates conveniently and artificially low.

We are told that there is no inflation in the US.  But anyone who has been to a grocery store, a gas station, or any other destination not frequented by beltway-insiders knows better.  I freaked when I recently saw plain old hamburger at $6 a pound at a discount supermarket.

In 2001, Pat Buchanan wrote a blistering and revealing article about the debacle in Argentina.

It is a catastrophe for South America’s second economy and nation. Four years deep in recession, with unemployment at 18 percent, tax revenues vanishing and credit rating ruined, Argentina will now resort to the printing press. Fiat money – a “third currency,” the “argentino” – will be introduced in January.

“Printing money to satisfy the popular desire for spending unmatched by taxation is a recipe for chaos,” warns the Financial Times. “The new currency would then swiftly disappear into the hyper-inflationary flames.” Rely upon it. For the Peronists are less concerned with chaos than victory in the March elections.

For this disaster, Argentinians are, themselves, to blame. They have repeatedly elected demagogues and wastrels who misruled and looted their nation.

His scary prediction came true then for Argentina.  We’re next.

Who will write our epitaph?  And will our children and grandchildren forgive us?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Have I said to much?
There’s nothing more I can think of to say to you
But all you have to do
Is look at me to know
That every word is true

Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina (Evita) – Madonna

Herman Cain Calls Out the Racist NY Times

Posted on by Standard 1

I was reminded today why I am such a huge Herman Cain.   Here is a man with that rare gift of clarity – the ability to cut right through to the truth.  I call it “lazer vision”.  My wife has that gift too, and it’s why I don’t try to pull even a thread of wool over her eyes.

Just to be clear, I don’t favor Herman Cain because he is African American.  I abhor bigotry of any kind, in any direction, by anyone against any perceived or actual “group”.   I couldn’t care less what color Cain, or any other public figure, is.  What I like is his strong conservative values, his business sense, and his ability to filter out all the nonsense and get down to what’s important and what’s right, with a brevity that every writer or speaker should envy.

Today’s reminder is the response he wrote to a New York Times article by Professor Adolph Reed, Jr.

Professor Reed was critical of South Carolina governor Nikki Haley’s decision to name Tim Scott, a black Republican, to replace Jim DeMint as the state’s US senator.  DeMint is retiring from the Senate to take a post as president of the Heritage Foundation.  Reed cynically claims that “modern black Republicans have been more tokens than signs of progress.”  He says that Scott’s politics are “utterly at odds with the preferences of most black Americans. Mr. Scott has been staunchly anti-tax, anti-union and anti-abortion.”  Is he saying African Americans are required, because of their skin color, to be pro-tax, pro-union, and pro-abortion?

Most putrid of all is Professor Reed’s contention that all whites are racist:  “whites . . . are inclined to vote Republican but don’t want to have to think of themselves, or be thought of by others, as racist.”  If he were in front of me, I would punch him in the nose.  I don’t “have to” think of myself as a racist?

Clear-thinking Herman Cain nails Reed and all the other Democrats who just can’t remove the tired, old race card from their playbooks.  Cain says:

So it’s worth asking, then: What, exactly, are “black interests”? To hear Professor Reed tell it, blacks are a monolithic group of people whose best interests are served when they can be recipients of redistributionist policies at the hands of big government. Let me simplify that for you: He thinks black people need welfare, and can’t make it under the kinds of free-market policies advocated by the likes of Samuel Pierce, Clarence Pendleton, Clarence Thomas and Tim Scott.

When are black Democrats going to reject the continuing insults and humiliation hurled at them by their sacrosanct political leaders and media?  When will they stand up and protest their second-class status in the eyes of their “benefactors”?  While I’m punching noses, I would certainly tweak the beak of anyone who told me I am so stupid and unmotivated that I, like anyone whose skin pigmentation is similar to mine, am not capable of feeding myself and my family without their merciful help .

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

(What they do)  They smile in your face!
All the time they want to take your place,
The back stabbers (back stabbers!)
They smile in your face!
Smiling faces, Smiling faces sometimes tell lies (back stabbers!)
They smile in your face!
I don’t need low down dirty bastards (back stabbers!)

Back Stabbers – the O’Jays

The End of Football – and Hillary?

Posted on by Standard 2

nfl-collisionI played high school football in small-town Montana.  I wasn’t particularly good at it, but I loved the sport.  To this day I and my family, like most Americans, spend a good chunk of our time and money following the monsters of the midway.  Football has become more than a pastime – it is a juggernaut industry, and until recently its meteoric growth in popularity seemed limitless.  But I digress . . .

It was a kickoff play, and I was the “contain” guy on the end.  My job was to make sure the kick returner did not get outside of me and have a clear path down the sideline.  He caught the kick near the sideline, on my side of the field.   I was barreling down the sideline, full speed, and the returner motored straight toward me.  Yep, it was a full-speed, head-on train wreck.

We were both seeing stars and, with assistance, wobbled off to our respective benches.  But the cobwebs cleared in a few minutes, and we were soon right back in the game.

And that is what will be the end of football.

A four-year study was recently completed on the effects of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).  Scientists studied the brains of 85 deceased athletes and soldiers, mostly football players.  They discovered that serious brain damage was not always the result of one or more major concussions; it is just as likely caused by repeated, smaller jolts to the noggin.

While professional boxers were commonly “punch drunk” after their careers, most of us were not aware of the devastating effects of CTE until we saw Muhammad Ali reduced to a mumbling zombie at a relatively young age.  There were sad stories in professional football, like Mike Webster, who suffered, among other injuries, amnesia, dementia, and depression from his later football years until his death at the age of 50.

As players get bigger and faster (largely thanks to steroids) the hits become progressively more devastating.   Many successful players have had their careers shortened by concussions, and the inevitable lawsuit barrage has begun.  Junior Seau, star linebacker with the Chargers, committed suicide in May, and CTE was implicated.

The “concussion crisis” is threatening the game itself, at every level.  Two Pop Warner kids’ coaches were suspended when five boys reportedly suffered concussions in the early minutes of one game.

While there is little doubt that CTE exists and has wreaked havoc on the lives of many sufferers, there is also the likelihood that it will serve as a handy excuse for a variety of bad decisions.  When Jovan Belcher of the Chiefs shot his girlfriend and then himself earlier this month, some were quick to blame CTE.

hillaryAnd when Hillary Clinton was called to testify before Congress about her baffling failure to prevent, mitigate, or correctly report the murder of our Libyan ambassador and those who attempted to protect him at Benghazi, she declined to appear, invoking the “concussion” defense.   She reportedly fainted from dehydration and hit her head, although she did not seek medical attention.

I’m going to miss football, but there’s a silver lining.  Next time I forget my wedding anniversary, or throw my socks in the laundry hamper inside out,  I’ll just explain, “Honey, remember that football game when I was a sophomore . . . ?”

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Don’t you know it hit me like a hammer
Hit me like a ton of lead
You know it hit me like a hammer
You know it hit me, baby

Hit Me Like A Hammer – Huey Lewis

Bless The Beasts and the Children

Posted on by Standard 6

God bless our teachers, principals and school personnel.

The trust we place in them and the responsibility they shoulder when we send our children to them every day is monumental and never to be taken for granted.

When a deranged man began his assault on Sandy Hook Elementary school last Friday, principal Dawn Hochsprung ran down the hall and attempted to tackle the shooter.   She paid with her life.  School psychologist Mary Sherlach was also shot and killed running at the gunman.  Teachers Lauren Rosseau and Victoria Soto died trying to protect their kids.  20 innocent children were murdered in their school.

The shock and horror we all felt upon hearing the news is immediately followed by the questions.  How?  Why?

My immediate reaction was:  If only principal Hochsprung had something other then her body to throw at the killer.  If only the first person to run toward the madman were trained and armed to stop the terror then and there.

The Sunday news shows were all dedicated exclusively to coverage and commentary on the Sandy Hook carnage.  I watched George Stephanopolous’ ABC news program in despair as the talking heads gravely discussed more laws, more gun control, more psychiatrists and there was NOT A SINGLE MENTION of self-defense.  The school had a new security system which didn’t work.  The state has tough gun laws which didn’t work.  The school was in a “gun-free zone” which not only didn’t work, it may have contributed to the death count.

Today I am all for higher spending for our schools.  I would happily pay any school administrator or teacher a big bonus for taking a good self-defense gun class and for keeping a weapon secured but available for quick response.  If that is too unpalatable for the majority of parents, I would support hiring an armed security guard for every school.

Our schools have rules upon rules to keep kids safe.  None of which mean a damn thing to a maniac hell-bent on murder and mayhem.

Should we be teaching our children that we all must go through life in fear of, or victims of, any soul-less, suicidal psycho who wants his 15 seconds of fame?  Shouldn’t they grow up with the security of knowing that having the ability to defend one’s self, family, friends, and innocent others is a good thing?

Priority:  We must have armed and trained personnel at every school who are capable of saving the lives of our children when the unthinkable happens.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Bless the beasts and the children
For in this world they have no voice
They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children
For the world can never be
The world they see

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them
And give them love, let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe, keep them warm

Bless the Beasts and the Children – Karen Carpenter