Lawmakers, aides may get Obamacare exemption

Politico:

 Congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, sources in both parties said.

 One of the hallmarks of a too powerful government is when the ruling class exempts themselves from the laws their subjects must follow. Last week, congress quietly repealed much of the STOCK Act, last year's well publicized law that finally made insider trading illegal for congressional employees acting on proprietary legislative information. You'll still go to jail for that, but your betters in Washington? Some animals are more equal than others.

Update: John Boehner has quickly distanced himself from this:

Democrats: Republicans are stimulus hypocrites, or something

Notice that Democrats aren't defending the stimulus, but are instead employing the "you did it too" tactic.



Once this boondoggle was passed, every American taxpayer became responsible for its payments. At that point, Republicans had the choice of either getting some of that money back for their taxpayers or keeping it in the slush fund to buy Democrat votes. The money was going to be spent no matter what.

So now the Republicans are hypocrites for trying to get back a piece of the pie Democrats stole from their constituents? Sure, they could have stood on principle, but the damage was already done. Leaving all the money in Democrat hands would have only made it worse.





More at Hot Air.

The Biggest Jerk in Congress

From Human Events:

“Every school, club, or company has a loudmouth whose outrageous statements and failed attempts at humor cause his friends to shy away, feigning laughter and everyone to think ‘what a jackass.’ Congress always has more than its fair share of such people, and suffers them gladly. Well, most of them. But this congress contains a man who rises above the rest, distinguishing himself beyond all others as this session’s ‘Biggest Jerk In Congress.’ He is Representative Alan Grayson, a first-term Democratic Congressman from Florida’s historically Republican 8th Congressional District, which includes Orlando.”

I disagree. Grayson's world class jerkiness is merely a symptom of his underlying insanity.

'Doom' talk scored as 'not presidential'

Joseph Curl At The Washington Times describes the economic panic Obama and congressional Democrats are fomenting in order to garner support for their power grab stimulus bill:

"Mr. Obama has gone much further than that. Just Friday, Mr. Obama said a report that 600,000 jobs were lost in January meant "it's getting worse, not getting better. ... Although we had a terrible year with respect to jobs last year, the problem is accelerating, not decelerating." Last week he said, "A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."

But he isn't the only Democrat ramping up the rhetoric while talking down the economy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said last month that our economy "is dark, darker, darkest." Rep. David R. Obey of Wisconsin said, "This economy is in mortal danger of absolute collapse." And Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said of the economic-stimulus bill, "If we don't pass this thing, it's Armageddon."

So much for Hopenchange and moving away from the politics of fear. This type of rhetoric is a favorite of demagogues and sleazy salesman when they want to sell a bag of crap. They get in your face with anxiety inducing hysteria in order to get you to buy without opening the bag and giving it the smell test.

Republicans have done the country a service by slowing down the process and giving the public a chance to examine this stinky mess. They are and increasingly don't like what they see. You can see that as Obama becomes more unhinged (and unpresidential) by the day.

This is becoming a self fulfilling prophecy however, as this rhetoric has a paralyzing effect on consumers and businesses. Fear and uncertainty will stop an economy dead in its tracks every time.

The economy is now being damaged deliberately by Democrats in order to enhance there own power. No one should be surprised since they got real people killed when they undermined the war effort and rooted for our failure. When you can do that for political purposes, nothing is off limits.

But they care about you. I know because that's what they tell me.

Barney Frank: They Hate Me Because Bankers Aren't Cool.

Not too long ago Barney Frank was whining that his unpopularity was due to Homophobia. Now he views the country as one big High School and it's the Bankers fault that everyone is giving him wedgies:

"Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has this very blunt message for bankers: “People really hate you, and they’re starting to hate us because we’re hanging out with you. And you have to help us deal with that.”

Again Barney, you generate hatred just fine all by yourself. Maybe if you took some responsibility for your major role in the collapse of the credit markets and the creation of this recession, people might not think of you as the douchebag you are. Well, maybe not as much.

"The financial institutions that need congressional help “need to avoid being stupid,” Frank told reporters Tuesday during a briefing on his agenda as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee."

Oh brother. you need to realize that no one is buying your attempts to place blame on everyone but yourself. We have the record, Barney. How stupid are you? How stupid do you think we are? Stop embarrassing yourself and the country.

Killing Off Capitalism

WASHINGTON -- Congress and the White House inched toward a financial rescue of the Big Three auto makers, negotiating legislation that would give the U.S. government a substantial ownership stake in the industry and a central role in its restructuring.

Nowhere in the constitution does the government have the right to own the means of production, which is the very definition of Socialism. The management and shareholders are willing to sell their capitalist souls in order to avoid the uncertainty of the bankruptcy courts.

In return their companies will be run by politicians, whose interests do not include sound business practices and the taxpayers will yet again pay the price for their incompetence. Even the French finally saw the folly of a sclerotic government attempting to compete in a worldwide competitive market when it privatized Renault.

Socialism is not only immoral, it never works. But their are always power hungry statists who believe they are the gifted enough to do the impossible.

Most of the cars I've owned have been American. If this Anti-American plan goes through, I wont buy another one again.

This is only the beginning. When Democrats take full control of the Government, we will go headlong down the road to economic destruction and the loss of liberty.

Chris Dodd's Brass Balls

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Richard Wagoner should be replaced as a condition for federal aid and Chrysler LLC may have to merge to survive. “You’ve got to consider new leadership,” Dodd said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Wagoner, he said, “has to move on.”

This from the guy who along with Barney Frank, oversaw and did nothing about the financial meltdown his party caused by forcing lenders to make loans to people who couldn't pay them back. Not to mention Dodd's own sweetheart loan from Countrywide that was an obvious payoff.

Dodd is not only still a Senator, he's still in charge of the same committee and is lecturing us on how the auto industry should be run. The only place he should be is federal prison.

UAW Guilt Trip Ad

Complete with veiled threats and class warfare, the UAW is begging us to use our tax money to save their uncompetitive and unsustainable contracts. They must think they should be excused from the bankruptcy courts by virtue of their sheer numbers, as if everyone Else's job is less important than theirs.

Another part of the UAW's argument is that since we wasted money on a bailout for Wall Street and Fannie and Freddie, then they deserve it as much, if not more.

Let's be clear. Bankruptcy would mean a temporary loss of jobs since the demand for autos wouldn't stop and other companies would quickly pick up the slack and the pieces of the Big Three in a more efficient manner that would benefit everyone.

The only thing these parasite are offering is to take your money and throw it at an obsolete business model that has no chance for survival in a competitive free market.

H/T to Hot Air

Power Mad Fools

First we had the Government induced Dodd/Frank Mortgage and Banking Meltdown. Now these same incompetent, corrupt boobs are heading up efforts to bring congress' scary business talents to bear on the Auto Industry. Investors Business Daily puts this insanity into perspective:

"...That leaves the latest bright idea from Congress: a broad, federally mandated restructuring of the Big Three in exchange for financial help. Congress would in essence become the Big Three's uber-manager, telling them how to become profitable again.

Excuse us, but are we supposed to believe that the same Congress responsible for next year's estimated $1 trillion deficit can profitably run a market-sensitive company like a car manufacturer?

Or that the same Congress that sat on its hands as the financial meltdown unfolded and helped create the mess will know how to financially restructure America's highly complex auto business?

Or that the people who just last year imposed $85 billion in new "efficiency" standards on a teetering industry will be savvy enough to run them anywhere but further into the ground?

Does Congress have the know-how to do this? We looked up the background of the majority Democrat members on the Senate Banking Committee who grilled Big Three CEOs last Thursday, and who will decide the outlines of any bailout plan. Out of 11 members, just one — Montana's Jon Tester, a farmer and former manager of a butcher shop — had any real business experience.

None of the rest, from committee chairman Chris Dodd on down, has any private-sector experience to speak of, apart from brief stints at law firms. Fact is, Congress isn't equipped to run anything... "

Dear Baltimore Sun: Politicians Aren't Business Experts

Why the hell are we allowing the incompetence of the Big Three to be "fixed" by people who are not only more incompetent, but completely unqualified? Oh, and they're doing it with our money. Insanity? You bet it is.

From BMI


Dear Editor:

You opine that Detroit automakers "need to explain in detail to Congress how they intend to eliminate thousands of uneconomical dealerships, swiftly bring their labor costs closer to what Toyota pays its workers in this country, and quickly produce more energy-efficient cars that Americans will want to buy" ("Selling American cars," Dec. 4).

No. These companies deserve investment funds only if they're able to make cars that will sell AND can demonstrate this ability to private investors. Congress is manned by people who specialize in winning popularity contests called "elections." These are not people expert in judging business models, or at pondering the pros and cons of different retail-distribution methods, or equipped to accurately discern the nuances of consumer demands for automobiles, or even – judging from their track record – aware of the most elementary principles of finance and economics.

If, say, you're looking for someone to manage your 401(k), would you entrust that job to Sen. Mikulski or Rep. Hoyer? Of course not, for that's not what they do. So why entrust them and other politicians with the job of investing on a vastly larger scale?

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

Don Boudreaux is the Chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University and a Business & Media Institute adviser.

Gov't Run Auto Bailout Likely

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government would order a major restructuring of Detroit's struggling Big Three auto companies in exchange for a multibillion-dollar bailout under a plan circulating in Congress

Great. Political hacks will now do for the Auto Industry what they did to housing and mortgages. And the same corrupt perpetrators, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, will be in charge again. These two should be in federal prison but Democrats think they're doing a fine job.

The bankruptcy courts are where every other failing company gets restructured, but Democrats can't resist the prospect of taking over a major industry with Soviet style central planning. Besides, the Democrats union buddies would see their fat, uncompetitive contracts disappear in a responsible bankruptcy plan, so taxpayers will now be on the hook for something private investors and lenders wont touch with a ten foot pole.

This will also be an opportunity for the Big Government socialists to micromanage industry and force the big three to produce enviro-friendly crap boxes that no one wants. It looks like the Eco-Marxist's Global Warming hoax may finally pay off. Remember the Yugo?

Bailout Monitor: We don't know what we're doing

From The Herald Tribune:

The head of a new congressional panel set up to monitor the gigantic U.S. government bailout says the government still does not seem to have a coherent strategy for easing the financial crisis, despite the billions it has already spent in that effort.

Elizabeth Warren, the chairwoman of the oversight
panel, said in an interview Monday that the government instead seemed to be lurching from one tactic to the next without clarifying how each step fits into an overall plan.

"You can't just say, 'Credit isn't moving through the system,' " she said in her first public comments since being named to the panel. "You have to ask why."

Why indeed. Why does anyone with an ounce of sanity and common sense think that just throwing borrowed and stolen money wiily nilly at the largest and most complex economy in the world is going to have any predictable or desired effect?

And it's not as if we don't have dozens of examples of when this was tried and failed in the past and none where it succeeded.

Arrogant, Ignorant and Dangerous

The most frustrating thing about watching congress strut around telling us they're going to solve a financial crisis they created is the fact that they no nothing about the subject. They repeat politically expedient myths and lies about market economics and the equally ignorant public nods their heads at any simplistic explanation of a complex problem.

Look back at the oil bubble of this past summer. One of the favorite scapegoats was speculators in oil futures. It was said they were driving up prices for profit at the expense of the public although none of these demagogues criticised them when the price plummeted. It was never explained or understood that futures traders were just predicting future supply and demand and that all trades require a buyer and a seller.

John Lott warns us not to trust control of our economic lives and individual decisions to government force run by by people who wouldn't know a balance sheet from a bed sheet:

"Politicians pose as the ultimate experts. They may never have worked in an industry or studied an issue before, but after few months of time on a topic they know everything: the types of cars that should be produced, the science of global warming, and how much doctors should charge for different types of surgery...

Outside of studying law, few in Congress even have backgrounds that are closely related to some of the issues covered by government. Just take the Senate this year, almost half, 45, are attorneys. Only one doctor, four farmers, 13 business people, seven teachers, four professors (all law, and three are listed as just adjuncts), and virtually all the others list their past experience as professional politician. No members of the Senate are scientists or economists. One member of the Senate played professional sports, and another owned a professional sports team...

...Harry Reid says Congress will give the automobile companies another $25 billion when they provide a “viable plan.” But how is Congress going to evaluate what a “viable plan” is better than the shareholders and bankers whose money is at stake? The auto companies presumably have to turn to Congress for money because others don’t think that they are good investments.

Would you want to invest in a company that congressmen tell you is a viable investment, or in companies where shareholders and banks are willing to put their own money?"

Dems Will Make It Worse

There are two types of economists. Those that don't know and those that don't know they don't know. Peter Schiff however, now looks like a genius after he correctly predicted with great certitude, the current economic mess we find ourselves in. What's more amazing is that he not only called what would happen but was dead on as to the why. As a side note, he must be having a lot of fun watching the other so-called experts rudely dismissing him while making now laughable predictions of their own.

Now Schiff is predicting further disaster as Obama promises to crank up the presses in a futile attempt to prop up an economy that needs to fall. (Video Below) Democrats are offering more government solutions from the same government that tripped everything up in the first place.

We will have more government spending on inefficient make work projects that take money from the private sector or borrow more on the country's already maxed out credit. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will pass protectionist policies and block free trade deals that will result in retaliatory tariffs overseas. This will be on top of even more uncompetitive new regulations, labor laws and tax increases.

Buckle up and pucker your sphincters folks. It's going to be a wild ride.

Much thanks to Hot Air

Here Comes the Tyrants

Obama wins and now we will have a President who is at best ambivalent about his own country, its history and its very constitution. He will have the cooperation of a like minded congress that will move swiftly towards as much more government control of the individual in every aspect of life.

** The best example so far of Democrat congressional arrogance and contempt for dissent is Jim Moran who decries "the simplistic notion that those who have wealth are entitled to keep it." He then goes on to berate those who would even suggest that Democrats had any responsibility for the mortgage crisis. Expect a lot more of this intolerance and heavy handedness. This is what you get when ask government to improve your life by force.






Chuck Schumer has already started to justify coming attempts at censorship by setting up an incoherent and illogical comparison of talk radio to pornography.




These are just two examples of the type of dictatorial high-handed attitude we will see constantly from an imperious Democrat controlled federal government. Remember, to them the state is the church and to question the hierarchy is blasphemy

Barney Frank Whines: They Hate Me Because I'm Gay

Via Yid with a Lid we have another Democrat attempt to shut off speech with the bigotry card. This time it's Barney Frank trying to intimidate Mc'Cain criticisms with bogus charges of homophobia.

"Frank yesterday dismissed McCain's words as "an appeal to prejudice" that he said reminded him of past Republican efforts to raise voter concerns about the prospect of congressmen Charles Rangel and John Conyers, who are black, becoming committee chairs.

"I'm flattered by this," said Frank, who is gay. "But I don't think I'm
the single most important member of the House after Nancy Pelosi. There are also a lot of straight white men who are committee chairmen."Source Boston Globe,

No Barney, there's plenty of better reasons to criticise you. How about the fact that you're a moron, a crook and a tyrannical little shit. Actually, the only thing that disturbs me about your sexuality is thinking about what kind of guy would sleep with a fat, fugly douchebag like you.

Howard Fineman: Just Lie Barry!

Since when does Obama need to be told to blow smoke in our faces? Well just to make sure, Howard Fineman reminds The One of Democrat campaigning 101.

CHICAGO – Here’s my advice to Sen. Barack Obama’s supporters: Stop predicting that the Democrats will sweep into the White House and Congress come January with a mandate to expand Big Government.

That prospect, coupled with some of your candidate’s own tax and health-care plans, could scare swing voters you need next Tuesday...

...Obama needs to underscore — there's no risk of doing it too much — that he doesn’t like government for its own sake, but for the sake of individuals and families.

And now for the Big Lie:

"On these and other issues, he also needs to reassure voters that he will not necessarily march in lockstep with resurgent Democrats who will want to launch a top-to-bottom New New Deal and reverse the Reagan Revolution 28 years after it took place. "

That's right. Forget the fact that Obama has never voted against his party, for less government or lower taxes. Obama will do a complete about face on the statist philosophy he's held his entire adult life. Yeah, that's the ticket!

The End of Prosperity

The history of government meddling in free markets has such a long record of failure that only the wilfully ignorant and die hard socialists can fail to see it. FDR's constant and unpredictable inteference prolonged the Great Depression by several years. Nixon's wage and price controls and Carter's windfall profits taxes were among the many things that turned the 70's into an economic disaster. Arthur Laffer explains:

"When markets are free, asset values are supposed to go up and down, and competition opens up opportunities for profits and losses. Profits and stock appreciation are not rights, but rewards for insight mixed with a willingness to take risk. People who buy homes and the banks who give them mortgages are no different, in principle, than investors in the stock market, commodity speculators or shop owners. Good decisions should be rewarded and bad decisions should be punished. The market does just that with its profits and losses.

No one likes to see people lose their homes when housing prices fall and they can't afford to pay their mortgages; nor does any one of us enjoy watching banks go belly-up for making subprime loans without enough equity. But the taxpayers had nothing to do with either side of the mortgage transaction. If the house's value had appreciated, believe you me the overleveraged homeowner and the overly aggressive bank would never have shared their gain with taxpayers. Housing price declines and their consequences are signals to the market to stop building so many houses, pure and simple.

But here's the rub. Now enter the government and the prospects of a kinder and gentler economy. To alleviate the obvious hardships to both homeowners and banks, the government commits to buy mortgages and inject capital into banks, which on the face of it seems like a very nice thing to do. But unfortunately in this world there is no tooth fairy. And the government doesn't create anything; it just redistributes. Whenever the government bails someone out of trouble, they always put someone into trouble, plus of course a toll for the troll. Every $100 billion in bailout requires at least $130 billion in taxes, where the $30 billion extra is the cost of getting government involved."

Fred Thompson Warns of a Left Wing Government

A lot of us have been warning of what an unrestrained Democrat Congress along with an Obama Presidency would mean. The RNC now does it as well using Fred Thompson's considerable communication skills. Sadly, this also reminds me of what could have been had Fred run a more energetic campaign.

More at Hot Air

Cuba Claims Huge Gulf Oil Reserves

BBC-The state-owned Cuban oil company says the country may have more than 20bn barrels of oil in its offshore fields - more than double the previous estimate.
Cubapetroleo's exploration manager said drilling in the offshore wells would
begin as early as the middle of 2009. Such reserves would place Cuba among
the top 20 oil producing nations. MORE

No word yet on whether US enviro-nuts will be running to Havana and filing lawsuits to stop the drilling. Don't worry. Nancy Pelosi is going to save the planet by preventing drilling on our side of the Gulf.