Tag Archives: Economy

Economy, Florida, Immigration, Obamacare, Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics

What’s Next For Big Labor?

Labor unions today have unknowingly fulfilled a self-fulfilling prophesy. By leveraging unfair practices upon workers to build union Labor-Unionsmembership, they did such a good job that they have lost their only reason to recruit.  Now they are left with ancient history, the mid twentieth century, to fall back on. And for the most part, no longer have a reason to exist.

BIG LABOR advocates say “Without America’s labor unions, we wouldn’t have many of the protections and benefits that we have today.” That’s a true statement. It was true 30 years ago too! Thanks to the ‘wake-up call’ delivered to employers by organized labor decades ago, which was “treat your people right or lose,” the labor movement has successfully put itself out of business so to speak. Their usefulness has diminished due to their earlier success as shown by their decreasing member rolls.

  • Total percentage private sector and public sector labor union workers: 2002 13.3%, 2012 11.3%
  • Percent of private sector labor union workers: 2002 8.6%, 2012 6.6%
  • Percent of public sector, government, labor union workers: 2002 37.3%, 2012 35.9%
  • Total number of union workers, public and private sector: 2002 16,145,000, 2012 14,366,000

Continue reading What’s Next For Big Labor? →

Economy, Politics

Obama’s Taxes, “Less Than His Secretary”

By his own standard, President Obama did not pay his fair share in taxes. He paid $112,214 in taxes for 2012, putting his effective federal tax rate at 18.4 percent. Curiously, he didn’t voluntarily pony up to the 39%, and then some, that he expects of the other one percenters.

Things are tough for the President in 2012. A victim of his own making. Being on a fixed income, he managed to earn less in 2012. This, due to decreasing sales in his books. Who knows, maybe everyone who is going to buy one, has one now? Maybe people know that his hope and change, along with his campaign rhetoric, is a bunch of BS now? Maybe a little of each? Who cares now anyway? But it does fully explain the never-ending campaign.

Link: Effective federal rate is 18.4% on $608,611 income

Economy, Gun Control, Obamacare, Politics

The Blind Leading The Blind

But you know, it only makes sense for this administration. Here’s the lead Democrat Gun Bill sponsor that doesn’t know squat about diana-degette-gun_bill_sponsorfirearms. Thinks clips and magazines are a single-use accessory.  more . . .

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, the lead Democratic sponsor of a federal bill to ban high-capacity magazines . . .

I will tell you these are ammunition, they’re bullets, so the people who have those now, they’re going to shoot them. So if you ban them in the future, the number of these high-capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time, because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available.

The reason it only makes sense is because we have a community organizer for a President who has never run a business, but got elected twice to run the country and take over 20 percent of the economy in the form of nationalized health care. One could expect that the proposed gun control legislation will work as well as everything President Obama has done to create jobs, grow the economy, and increase the quality of health care for everyone while covering 30 or 40 million more people, all while lowering its cost. How’s that working for you?

Note: No offense to the visually impaired is meant by the title. People who are blind see things better than this politician.

h/t Bluegrass Pundit

Economy, Politics, Race Relations

Fourth Vacation In Three Months

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If taken on his word, you should be feeling that everyone that wanted a job now has one. And over 14 percent unemployment (U-6) is the new normal. That’s because President Obama told us how he would not rest until that was done.

He has been under a lot of criticism for his many vacations and golf outings over the course of his first term. Living the high life while people are losing their jobs and moving back home with their parents. His second term isn’t any better. In fact, it’s worse. It is this “in your face” arrogance that Barack and Michelle have exhibited that reminded me of a term that I had not thought of or heard said in a long time, while The White House (the people’s house) has to be closed for lack of money, that seems to fit this President.

I consulted the urban dictionary on this and half expected to see Obama’s picture there. For all who are quick to yell “racist,” you should know that this term is not race-specific. It describes the behavior, not the skin color. They, by any way you want to measure it, come in all colors. OK?

Links: Urban Dictionary, Nigger Rich  | The First Family enjoys FOURTH vacation in three months

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Education “Cost” Just Went Up

If you think increasing spending on education is just “for the children,” you would be mistaken. No oldschool_teachermatter what the figure you see published about the spending per student is, you can add about $1000 to that, per student, if you include teachers pensions. Regardless of whether they are funded or unfunded. Can you say “transparency?”

 

Link: Revealing What States Are Hiding

Economy, Europe, Politics

How Much Pain Do You Want? Update 3/23/2013

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of economists that will tell you that if you want to see where we are headed if we don’t fix our cyprusw2-webfiscal house, all you have to do is look at Greece, Europe, and the EU. Just as many will also tell you that the “fix” for our exploding national debt and debt to GDP ratio will be harder to swallow the longer we wait for this “not immediate” crisis to become immediate.

How hard? Let’s look at what Cyprus is considering for their $7.5 billion EU bailout. They want to dip in to the checking accounts of depositors, charging them a tax on their insured deposits. Can you say “run on banks?”

Cypriot banks are holding $88 billion in deposits, including $49 billion in accounts of more than 100,000 euros. A “huge amount” for a country of 1.1 million people. Many of the biggest depositors are foreigners, including rich Russians, (Russian Mob money). President Putin is not happy about it.

Do you believe something like that could not happen here? Right now, there are ‘tax and spenders’ trying to figure out how they can get away with a “wealth tax.” Others have their eyes on your 401K and other retirement plans. Cyprus has their version. Don’t think for a minute that something like this isn’t on Mr. Fair-Share-Redistribution-of-Wealth-Social-Justice Obama’s mind. Why else would he say we don’t have a spending problem and instead have a revenue (not-enough-taxes) problem?

As part of the EU’s bailout, here’s what Cyprus is considering . . .

Those with under 100,000 Euros in their accounts are slated to receive a 6.6% haircut while those with more than 100,000 Euros in their accounts will be docked 9.9%.

Europeans know that the welfare state they made for themselves has become unsustainable. The fix for them now is causing rioting in the streets. There aren’t too many Americans still alive that remember the run on banks and the depression that followed. But if we’re not careful, if we don’t turn this ship around, we have a good chance of seeing history repeat itself.

Link: The EU Crosses the Rubicon | Cyprus president in desperate bid to prevent run on banks  |  Watch Out: Your 401(k) Is Being Targeted  |   Gartman Warns Cyprus: One Does Not Steal Russian Mafia Money And Get Away With It  |  Cyprus closes in on E.U. bailout, U-turn on levy

Economy, Media, Politics

Tale Of Two Cowards, Obama & Boehner

Fascinating interview this on the March 17, 2013 edition of ABC’s “This Week” with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), on two counts. boehner_obamaFirst is the headline, “House Speaker John Boehner says he ‘absolutely’ trusts Obama, trying to bridge differences.” I guess the qualifier is the “trying to bridge differences” part. But I’d really like to hear Boehner define that in his own words. For example, what basis do you have to trust President Obama after he said that the Affordable Care Act would not add one dime to the deficit and to the national debt? It was the president himself who said that he would not sign the Affordable Care Act if it would add a dime to the deficit. That’s just two examples, but there is a laundry list of similar cases where the words are 180 degrees from reality. Just where does this basis of trust come from Mr. Boehner?

Next in the theater-of-the-ridiculous is that Obama and Boehner agree that the country doesn’t have an immediate debt crisis. Boehner says a debt crisis does loom in the years ahead because entitlement programs are not sustainable if they aren’t changed. Once again, I guess it all depends on what the meaning of “immediate” is. The Associated Press apparently doesn’t have a clue, or independent thought on the subject either. They just report what “some conservatives” say. What it means to each of these two is the crisis won’t happen until I’m out of office (if not Speakership) so it may as well not exist. It also means that they, unlike House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, don’t have the balls intestinal fortitude to tackle the problem before it becomes a crisis. When the fix will be more painful. The lack of leadership in both of them is astounding. I am reminded of a line that James Carville said about then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and candidate Obama; ‘if Hillary gave [Obama] one of her balls, they’d both have two.’

Economy, Media, Politics

Alternate Universe Defined

Daily Beast and Newsweek contributor Michael Tomasky defines the Left’s alternate universe in one sentence. On advising Obama on how he should respond to the “deficit hawks” over House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s budget (that the president should listen to advice from the media is another topic), Tomasky says, “Obama should ignore them—and make it clear that jobs, not deficits, are his main priority.”

The alternate reality is that the only thing we’ve seen grow since Obama took office is deficits and debt. Not jobs. Which for normal people, begs the question whether Obama is sincere, lying, or has a clue on how to create jobs in the private sector? The left-leaning media, like Obama, don’t care about deficits and the national debt. In fact, reducing the national debt and arriving at a balanced budget isn’t in Obama’s proposed budget. And that alone should be cause for concern.

The reality is that Obama’s policies and deficit expansion have only worsened unemployment and expanded the need for government help. It doesn’t matter that he says jobs are his main priority. He’s been saying that since before his first inauguration. Both he, and Mr. Tomasky are of the belief that we can spend our way to prosperity and borrow our way out of debt. How’s that working for you? The reality is, the only way either of those things will turn around is by turning loose this economy and let it grow, instead of sapping the blood from it and holding it back. That’s when real jobs, not government jobs, will be created.

Note too that the Left has a word for being responsible with the people’s money. If you think that the government should not spend more than it takes in, then you’re a deficit hawk. Which ostensibly must be as bad as a defense hawk or war hawk. It follows that you’re a deficit dove (or ignoramus) if you think money grows on trees and can spend and borrow as much as you want, with no limit whatsoever. Which label do you think the low information voters identify with?

Link: How Obama Should Respond to Ryan

Economy, Florida, Politics

RPOF, On Notice

OK, this is the last straw. The Republican Party Of Florida sent me an email, ostensibly supporting an article in the Daily Caller, Rick_Scott_official_portrait“Conservatives are wrong to attack Rick Scott.” They say, don’t fight this, Obamacare. The Democrats will demagogue you (like they always do) and Scott will lose a supposed tight race against (wait for it) Charlie Crist. I’ve never known Rick Scott to be so timid, nor to make judgements based on his political future instead of the future of the State of Florida.

The good news is that today, the Florida Legislature is on record opposing Gov. Scott’s decision to acquiesce to President Obama’s signature nationalized health care bill, aka the Affordable Care Act. Which, is anything but affordable.

The Florida Legislature makes it clear that it will oppose Gov. Rick Scott on the question of expanding Medicaid. On Monday, a Senate committee voted against an expansion of Medicaid under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Last week, a House committee led the way in the Legislature’s opposition to the idea.

I’m sick and tired of Republicans allowing themselves to be intimidated by demagogues and caving on principle. When will they ever learn that they are the ones following the Left’s plan? Let’s have this fight on Medicaid Hill Gov. Scott. There are better ways to solve the State’s, and the nations’, health care needs than socialized medicine.

The RPOF got my response:

Sorry RPOF. But I doubt Gov. Scott would have won the primary had he supported Obamacare.  Now, he has betrayed our (conservatives) trust. We’ve been there before with Charlie Crist. And let’s see, Jumping Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter, Scott Brown, Cristy in New Jersey.  Been there. Done that.

You’re not a conservative if you are willing to sacrifice the future for a short-term gain, which is what (just like Charlie did) Rick is doing. NO, the answer is NO. There is a better way to solve our health care issues than this. Don’t go for it just because it is there. That’s what the administration is counting on. It’s the carrot, or outright bribery, that enabled the community organizer to get that bill passed in the first place. Well, that and a complacent Republican party, and candidate, afraid to stand up and fight back.

And while you poo poo conservatives for being conservative, as far as I’m concerned, McCain and Graham may as well fold their tent. They’re in bed with the devil too.

Some free advice; the RNC and ever other R party organization, can wait until hell freezes over before I’ll contribute to them. I, like others I know, will be contributing directly to people we know to be conservative and who will stay that way. You decide who you’re going to support. And if we’re lucky, it will be the same candidate. I’ve had it with the ‘establishment’ republicans pissing on conservatives. They are the ones that need to wise up, smell the coffee, and fight for first principles. Period, end of story. Beginning with Bush 43, the notion that the Republican party is conservative has been withering on the vine. Why no one is looking to repeal his new entitlement drug program is beyond me as well.

Now, you would be hard-pressed to convince me that there’s still something left to lose.

Links: Florida Legislature opposes Gov. Rick Scott on Medicaid expansion | Conservatives are wrong to attack Rick Scott  |  Statement by President Gaetz Regarding Senate PPACA Committee Vote on Medicaid Expansion