A Look into the Future

New York state, like California, once a great place to live, will soon be uninhabitable. The worst part is these two coastal states may be a glimpse into our own future in this country as a whole: taxes, taxes, taxes! 

Now that New York has governed itself into massive debt they've decided the best way back out is, you guessed it, higher taxes and more spending! I do really wish someone could tell me how massive deficit spending actually reduces debt; they seem to be going along those lines up in New York and I know the Obama administration has made that claim. Nonetheless New York governor David Paterson has just unveiled his $131 billion (yes, billion, with a "b," in a state budget) budget plan. What fun things are inside?

Well of course the first thing is to, you guessed it, raise taxes on "the rich." "The rich," says governor Paterson, "are going to do their fair share in trying to close this budget deficit and now all those that were yelling for them to do it need to do the same." The way Paterson talks you would think it was the rich that spent New York into massive debt while Paterson and the state legislature were just innocent bystanders. Unfortunately, in NYC, the rich are paying their fair share plus about 170 other people's shares. 

Earlier this year NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg basically admitted the rich were already paying their fair share. He said that about one percent of NYC residents were paying 50% of the taxes and a little over half of the other residents pay no tax at all. So in a city of eight million people there are about 40,000 that support the entire welfare state within it not to mention essential services. "The question is," Bloomberg asked, "'What's fair?' If one percent are paying 50% of the taxes, you want to make it even more?" 

I also love Paterson's line about those that were yelling for the rich to pay more taxes now have to do the same. I bet they never thought that was part of the deal! I'm sure they just assumed that the rich would be stuck with the bill and they could sit back and feel good about themselves. I wonder how these people feel now knowing they also get to pay "their fair share" as defined by governor Paterson? Critics are expecting that these average people will be paying about $5,000 more a year in taxes and fees.

So how much will taxes go up? For those earning over $500,000 it will be a raise of 31%. For single people earning between $250- and $500,000 a year and married and joint filers earning $300- to $500,000 taxes will go up 14 and 1/2%. Even for those that earn up to just $65,000 a year (not much in New York) taxes will be at a rate of 6.85%. You have to realize that, by New York standards, $300,000 isn't rich! And all of this is supposed to generate an additional $4 billion? I doubt it. How many of these people will leave (radio host Rush Limbaugh has already vowed to leave)? How many will just work less. Rush himself summed it up pretty well: "It's axiomatic: when you raise taxes on an activity, you reduce that activity. People start doing that activity less. In this case: working."

In addition to raises in income taxes, the state is also planning to hike fees on everything imaginable. Motor vehicle registration will go up, public college tuition will go up (I thought the Democrats were always complaining about the high tuition costs, yet it's the Democrats raising the tuition fees!), even bottled water! They're now proposing a nickel deposit on bottled water! And of course there's the obligatory tobacco tax, now raising taxes on cigarillos to bring them in line with cigarettes. 

And how does Paterson and the Dems behind this budget expect to get it passed? By using the oldest scare tactic in the book; claiming that if the budget isn't passed essential services, such as police and fireman, will have to be cut. That is a complete lie. There are thousands of other unnecessary, redundant government services that could always be cut instead of essential services, but doing so might make people less dependent on the government and votes may be lost so of course that can't be done. 

Sadly, this may be a view into what is planned for our country as a whole; higher taxes, more fees, less freedom. The Democrats are already in a full out class war in an effort to get "the rich" as hated as possible. Once we all hate the rich it will be easier to raise taxes on them. But what people don't realize, and what Paterson said is, "now all those that were yelling for [the rich to pay their fair share] need to do the same." 

Luckily at least some are standing up to the budget. State Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican from Long Island, said, "These numbers are absolutely staggering, and the height of irresponsibility on the part of the Democrat leadership in this state. The public should be outraged." I'm sure some people are, but most people, I'm sure, have no idea what's really coming their way.

Floe from Glassworks by Philip Glass

Time for a break from the political side of things for a little music. Floe from Glassworks is one of my favorite pieces by Philip Glass the minimalist composer. I prerecorded four of the parts and then added the rest in real time. Some parts had to be omitted due to equipment limitations and the fact I only have two hands. The time signature changes part way through from 4/4 to 3/4 and that transition is a little awkward due to the fact I had to record each part separately. I will have to work on fixing that in the future. 

Why it's a Bad Idea to take Government Money

If you don't know why it's a bad idea to accept "free" money from the government, why don't you ask now former General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner. He begged the government for money and now it's time to call in some of the debt. How so? The Obama administration has asked (more likely demanded) that Wagoner quit.

Was Wagoner really that bad of a CEO? I doubt it, he had more than 30 years of experience at GM and eight were spent as chairman. GM got into trouble due to union contracts that finally caught up to them (along with the other automakers). When times were booming it was no problem to honor the contracts, but when things slowed down the company simply ran out of money. Was this GM's fault. Of course! But getting in over your head with labor contracts and just running a car business poorly are two different things.

In an article at the Politico by Mike Allen and Josh Gerstein claims that Wagoner brought the company down because he became focused on large trucks and SUVs "at the expense of the hybrids and fuel efficient cars that have become more popular in the last couple of years." I think this should have been written as hybrids and small cars since people will always go for the most fuel efficient car they can get, but they won't always trade efficiency over roominess and safety. Even so, this is just bogus. Trucks and SUVs were the most in-demand vehicles until gas prices rose to four dollars (thanks to government restrictions on drilling and building refineries), and since gas prices have come down again trucks and SUVs were good sellers again until the economy soured.

I think the whole popularity of hybrids and small cars has been mostly made up too. There's a certain demographic of people that these types of cars are popular with, but the vast majority of Americans will take a truck or SUV over a Smart Car any day. Small cars have been made to look popular in the hopes the rest of us will believe it and then actually buy those cars. I think it was an executive at Ford that was advocating higher gas taxes to keep gas prices high so they could actually sell their tiny cars they have a backlog of. High gas prices are the only way they do sell!

Actually it wouldn't surprise me that Obama got rid of Wagoner precisely because he was pushing larger vehicles. What is part of Obama's agenda? To become "environmental stewards" and "more European" which means smaller cars. Obviously a lot of auto makers aren't simply just following suit (because they can't sell them) so a government takeover is the perfect chance to finally force us into small cars. Sound radical? It shouldn't, we're already forced by the government to do a lot of things. Heck, California is even planning to ban black cars in that state because the use more air conditioning in the heat than lighter colored cars.

So now the government is forcing CEOs out of a private business. Yes, GM did take our money, just like AIG, but this is a dangerous precedent that is being set. It will start with companies that took federal money but before long it will be ALL businesses the government disagrees with. The only way a CEO should be removed is when the share holders say so. It's their business, not the governments!

The lesson here is never accept "free" government money. There will always be a cost associated with it, and it will usually be more than just repaying the money. It will be more regulations, more control, and the government deciding who will run the business. Ask Rick, I'm sure he can tell you the real cost of government money.

Fargo

Fargo, North Dakota, a town most people only have heard of from the Coen brothers' movie of the same title, is today making national news. Unfortunately it's not good news. The largest city in the state, along with neighboring Moorhead, MN, and various small communities along the Red River, are all about to be severely water-logged. That's the bad news. The good news is the amazing effort being put into stopping that from happening.

I grew up in North Dakota and spent over five years living in the Fargo/Moorhead community. I know the people and the way they're pulling together and working to just get the job done is a shining example of what make the people so great. There is no waiting for someone else to come do the job, they all pull in and get down to business. It's that midwestern work ethic you hear so much about. Not to mention the optimism.

The Red is expected to now crest at three to four feet higher than it did during the disastrous flood of 1997. In '97 the river was at nearly the breaking point for Fargo, and it was far beyond the break point for Grand Forks. Just a few more feet could really do serious damage to Fargo (Grand Forks is now very well protected after the building of dikes to prevent another 1997). But did the folks of Fargo give up? Absolutely not, the new, higher crest predictions may be a setback but there's still hope, there's still optimism that the Red can be held back. That's the wonderful upper midwest spirit.

I do hope that the citizens of Fargo/Moorhead succeed, and in a day or two we will know if they did. I really wish I could be there helping out. I wouldn't mind throwing a few sandbags around. That's part of my North Dakotan coming out, volunteering for manual labor even though I have no stake in it. And that's what's great about the people. It's not about them, it's about their neighbor. 

I wish the Fargo/Moorhead residents the best of luck. I know they can succeed.

When are we going to get Serious?

OK Obama, you've had the fun of playing President for a while, now I think it's time to get serious. Everyone below me at work today was laid off and other friends in the industry are being cut off every day. The sad part is we all started work at the same time a year ago and there was more work than we could handle. Today we're all wondering who's going to get cut next.

But instead of getting serious about actually turning this recession around what is happening instead? Obama's busy making fun of Special Olympiads, bowling, and laughing at the economic situation. Barney Frank is busy shutting down debate in the House and plotting ways to take over more business and target private citizens for destruction. Unions are busy pushing card check so that they can gain more members through intimidation. Anti-capitalists are busy protesting AIG executives and vandalizing property. And all of it's a distraction.

Yes, a distraction. It's all meant to get us looking the other way while the government grows and amasses more power and takes away more of our freedom. While we're busy being mad about contractually obligated bonuses to AIG execs (who can't raise our taxes or pass more regulations) Barney Frank and Obama are coming up with plans to nationalize more business. And as the economy worsens day by day Obama offers up feel good solutions and we gladly give up more of our freedom for these solutions that do nothing that make it worse.

So when are we going to get serious? When are we going to actually cut taxes, both income and capital gains? When are we going to just let the weak businesses fail and the strong ones survive instead of throwing money down a bottomless pit? When are we finally going to stand up and say, "enough is enough! You got us into this mess so why should we think you can get us out." 

When did the White House become the Frat House?

In a March 11 post at Salon.com Camille Paglia, writing about the White House attacks on radio host Rush Limbaugh, said the White House was appearing like "an oafish bunch of drunken frat boys." I think she's partially right on this one. The whole group does remind me of a cliquey group of know-it-all college students. Probably not frat boys, Obama seems too elitist for that. Perhaps a group of pretentious art students that spend most of the day sneering at the rest of us while smoking cigarettes out in the commons.

One of the first things that made me think of a bunch of snobbish college kids was Obama's gift gaffe with English prime minister Gordon Brown. Brown gave Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the anti-slavery ship HMS Gannet. This gift was particularly well thought out as the desk in the oval office was made from wood from the Gannet's sister ship HMS Resolute. In addition Brown also gave Obama a framed commission for the HMS Resolute and a first edition collection of the biography of Winston Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert. Do you remember what Obama gave Brown in return? 25 DVDs of "classic" American movies such as ET: The Extra-Terrestrial and Citizen Kane. Of course no one bothered to make sure these DVDs were formatted for English players so when Brown sat down to watch Psycho the screen remained blank.

Then there was Hillary Clinton's gift gaffe with Russians. She presented them with a button (that looks a lot like the Staples Easy button) with words, written in Russian, that were supposed to say reset. She said, "We want to reset our [US/Russian] relationship." Unfortunately no one bothered to check the English to Russian translation and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointed out to Clinton, on stage, with cameras rolling, that the word on the button actually said "overcharge." "We won't let you do that to us," said Clinton, all the while cackling away.

And the coup de grace? Obama's recent television appearances on Jay Leno's show and "60 Minutes." On Leno Obama trashed the Special Olympiads by comparing them to his lousy bowling. On 60 Minutes Obama was laughing and joking around about the economy, like it's no serious problem (to which host Steve Croft asked Obama, "are you punch drunk?"). In fact both appearances gave me the impression Obama really isn't concerned with the problems facing him. He can find time to bowl and appear on TV talk shows, but what about time to actually do Presidential work (on second thought, maybe it's best he's not "working" to "fix" the economy)? Bush gave up golfing after the war started.

So what about the college student part? Well, it seems like we've given the art students the keys not only to the gallery but also to the dean's office and they're all in there having a grand old time, sneering at the rest of us outside. And what about thanking us for giving them the keys? Well, that's an afterthought. You should just be happy we have the keys, but to make it look good we'll send somebody over to Best Buy and Staples to pick up a few things before we get to hang out with Jay. 

And I thought Bush was the frat boy President!

What Happened to our Sense of Decency?

I sometimes wonder if people no longer have shame. Has our culture of do-what-you-feel and non-judgement finally taken away any sense of decency? Have people become so self-centered and selfish that they feel they can get away with anything?

Why do I ask this? I took the Metra train into Chicago today starting out of Fox Lake. Very few people boarded at Fox Lake, myself, a few families, with kids, and a couple of younger people. Oh yes, and then there was this woman that sat behind me. She was on the cell phone not one minute out of the station. So what's the problem?

It was her subject matter and vulgar language.  For 20 minutes I had to listen to her tell her boyfriend she hates him because he stinks like other women. I also had to listen to her then scream at him about where she place a jar with money in it. And I do mean scream! There's no way not everyone in that car heard her. Lace that with "colorful" language. Remember, I said there were kids on this train.

At no point did she even attempt to keep her voice down which tells me she doesn't care if people heard her. What was only important to her was her cell phone call. There was no shame, no decency. 

I'm not saying we should go back to the Victorian Era, but really, where has our decency gone?

Is Barack Obama following in the Footsteps of Ron Burgundy?

For those of you that saw the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy you'll remember that the teleprompter used by Ron (Will Ferrell) would eventually lead to his downfall. After someone put a question mark at the end of what should have been a declarative sentence the producer, Ed Harken (Fred Willard), had to remind everyone that Ron will read anything that's put on the teleprompter. In order to get back at Ron, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) uses this knowledge to her advantage. At the end of a broadcast Ron then reads exactly what Veronica wrote: "Go fuck yourself San Diego." 

Obama seems to be heading down the same path as he seems to read whatever is on the teleprompter as well. On March 17, St. Patrick's Day, Obama was hosting a White House party with Irish prime minister Brian Cowen. After Obama finished his speech Cowen got up to the podium to give his. However, no one changed over the speech on the teleprompter so for 20 seconds Cowen was repeating Obama's speech that had just been given! After making light of the mistake Cowen stepped down and Obama came back up. Meanwhile the teleprompter had been changed over to Cowen's speech. This is where it got fun.

Obama, permanently attached to his teleprompter, then began to read what was on it (Cowen's speech). It was here that Obama thanked himself for throwing a party. "First, I'd like to thank President Obama..." Now, wouldn't you think you'd see that and stop before embarrassing yourself? I guess not if you're as dependent on a teleprompter as Obama is. Interestingly there is no video of this even though cameras were rolling. Why won't anyone post it? It'd be all over if it was old "W," but I guess Obama gets a pass on this.

So the question is, how long will it be before Obama says, "Go fuck yourself San Diego?"