The Year of the Child

    As I get older I fear sounding like Ebeneezer Scrooge - particularly at this time of year - but a number of recent events have made me look askance at the behavior of the children (with an apology to those under 20.)

    WikiLeaks. A definitive article by George Friedman in STRATFOR on the three rounds of disclosures points out that none have provided "new news" for those who have been paying attention, that the first two on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq put some of those who have helped us at risk, and that the State Department cables reveal no duplicity or illegality.  One striking point ignored by the site's founder, the naive anarchists on the Berkeley City Council, and the Russian call for a Nobel Peace Prize is that conflicts between countries can be solved by armed conflicts or by diplomacy, and diplomacy requires frank discussions and exploration of alternatives with confidence that such conversations will be handled discreetly. The press focuses on the gossip and the anti-Americans have a brief high, but American diplomacy is the real casualty.

    The end of the party. Not to be confused with the $858 billion bill to extend tax rates, prolong unemployment insurance, and reduce Social Security tax rates (plus some help for ethanol and other stuff), on December 14 the Senate Democrats sprung a 1,924 page $1.1 trillion "omnibus spending bill" for 2011 (with over 6500 earmarks) which must be approved by December 18 to avert a government shutdown. (Concurrence with the House's proposition to punt to the new Congress had been expected.) Congress has been operating on "continuing resolutions" (spend at current levels) since the fiscal year began on October 1 rather than go through the messy hearings and trade-offs of doing a real budget and passing targeted appropriation bills. This last suck at the punch bowl may be defeated in the Senate or House, but many lame duck members are deaf and it may actually pass. (Update: After publication Senate Majority Leader Reid, recognizing unified Republican opposition, withdrew the bill while citing the legitimacy of earmarks and the independence of the Senate from the White House.)  Circle January 3 on your calendar for when the adults arrive.

    Playing with trains. Out here in California we are thankful to Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood (and the newly elected governors of Ohio and Wisconsin who rejected the gift) for the recent $3.5 billion of Stimulus funds to lay track (without electrification or trains) between two small towns in the Central Valley. This is a bit hard to explain to folks east of the Sierras, but in 2008 we passed an initiative for a $40 to 50 billion high speed rail network, with a first $10 billion to pay for the consultants, lobbyists, designers, and prototype folks with the expectation that the feds (you) would pay for the rest. Meanwhile we are stalled on a $13 billion project to supply water for one fifth of our population, the farmers in the Central Valley, and the delta smelt ... oh, and we are broke. I have visions of the grandkids some day going to visit this quaint "short line" partially covered by sand dunes.  

    But that's not the way that Bob Cratchit would see it. Next week I'll try to find something in the spirit of the original Tiny Tim.    

                                        ---- 

     Actually, regular reader Herb McClannan has submitted this video which strikingly shows the health and wealth progress of mankind over the past couple of centuries. Spectacular. Perhaps we just need a long enough perspective and a good statistician.

bill bowen - 12/17/2010

Comments

[Bill McCormick]

A NEW START!

2011 shall bring a new look. Now both parties have the ability to block each other. After a massive spending binge bringing the national debt and deficit to catastrophic levels, the nation now faces the challenge of beginning to solve the long term problems of debt and deficits while at the same time trying to stimulate job growth. No easy task. And, both parties have the ability to prolong the crisis if they refuse to cooperate. I find it unlikely that the progressives are going to sit by and agree to a dismantling of what they have waited so long to impose on America so I expect legislative war. I hope I'm wrong and cooperation prevails.
Thanks to Bill Bowen for writing this informative blog that allows for the exchange of views among us. Hopefully, next year will bring more people into the debates. But, mostly I hope that the country begins to recover economically for the sake of the millions of small business people and the people of this country who want nothing more than to earn a living and provide for their families.
Merrry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.
Much success and a healthy 2011!

Bill

[bbowen7]

On the Jerry Brown comment: If there is any hope for a "grand bargain" in California, it lies with the former governor and Jesuit student. On the plus side,he knows how Sacramento works, understands the depth of the problem, is cheap, and has promised not to raise taxes without a public vote. On the minus side, he has a long history of helping labor, who paid for his campaign and (in the form of public employee pensions) constitute a significant part of California's problem. Coming from the opposite side, he has some of the same personal characteristics as Chris Cristie.

[Bill McCormick]

Interesting the way Obama works:

----Governor Richardson,not Bill Clinton, this time goes to N Korea to give them some "attention" while S Korea runs a 1 hour artillary test in the face of the nuclear threat.

----VP Biden accuses the Republicans of holding the unemployment benefits hostage for the Tax cuts and vows to revisit the Tax issue in just two short years. Meanwhile President Obama is holding court praising the new tax extension bill as a model of bipartisan cooperation.

----This is an administration that talks out of both sides of it's mouth using different people's mouths. Biden talks to the left parroting Obama's rant one day after agreeing to the tax exention while Obama now the great compromiser speaks of the benefits of bipartisan cooperation. Governor Richardson takes on the role of Secretary of State in unofficial form and runs to North Korea to "avoid nuclear conflict".

----Meanwhile while all this is going on Senators Kyle and McCain propose an amendment to the START treaty in return for passage (in true Obama bipartisan fashion) and Senator Kerry (the perfect person to negotiate with the russians on nuclear arms) in true former Obama partisan fashion insists there will be no changes allowed to the START treaty. And, so exactly why did the founders require a 2/3s vote to ratify Treaties if the Senate was just "rubber stamping" them for the Administration as Senator Kerry surely speaking for the real President Obama insists? This is beginning to look more like a puppet show designed to keep the people guessing who is in charge and what they really stand for. Unfortunately, for Democrats this is exactly the show we watched in the election process that led them to devastation. The only group who believe in them were the illegal mexicans who kept the Dems in power in Nevada and California. And, they just lost the vote on the Dream (On) Act.

----Jerry Brown now faced with the California budget mess is beginning to talk about the entitlements of California state workers gained through their Unions. Could Jerry be the next Governor to take on the public unions? Why not---did you hear nay of that from him in the elections, Bill? Perhps he's seen how popular NJ's new governor is becoming. Or perhaps he is actually looking at a balance sheet. That would be different for a California politician!

[Deekaman]

We, the Conservatives of Wisconsin are more than happy to give you the "gift" of what we affectionately called "car-speed" rail. The train was to be developed in a manner similar to the process by which we transitioned to the metric system in the 1970's. We would start with a conventional train on existing tracks while more money was stolen from taxpayers and given to "consultants" and lobbyists to "study" the next phase. I'm sure this would work....look at how well we transitioned to the metric system.

[Bill McCormick]

On the Year of the Child:

This Congress will have the distiction when it is finally gone of adding more debt to the US people than any in history and are attempting to leave office with a final spending binge. It appears they will punt the budget process to the new Congress avoiding for a while a track record of their recklessness. To make matters worse we have this "cast" of children being led by the "I" man, the massive income distribution spender of all time himself a spoiled idealist now executing a strategy of defending his past policies by his usual smoke and mirrors lectures of "this is what compromise looks like", my children. As if he had any willingness to comprmise unless he is forced to. the next Congress will aggressively move to make changes to his policies but the "I" man and his team are well positioned to block the House led assualt in the Senate. Watch the mirrors closely over the next 22 months as the magician performs trying to persuade us that he is indeed a "compromiser" who deserves to be reelected to serve "All America" once again.
The kids in California will be playing with their trains trying to assemble the remaining pork to join up with Nevada's high speed train "earmark" from the stimulus bill. A movie should be made when they join up with Boxer, Brown and Reid all there in the middle of the desert driving the final golden stake.
I am working on an accounting of where the stimulus money actually went. More on that $850 B rip off of the American worker in the name of stimulus for job creatin later.
And, one last note on the Tax/unemployment extension bill: anyone ever wonder if the unemployment rate would actually go down if we didn't pay people to be unemployed?

[Bill McCormick]

Herb's video is a remarkable display of economic evolution. One could conclude that the USA has led the world toward the "land of rich and healthy". Our technology, out military intervention in WWI and WWII, our industrial strength, our medicine and the openness of our markets have all contributed to this improvment. And, yet, the progressives would hope to see us move away from this system of capitalism, military intervention and more toward the economic systems of the trailing countries. I can only hope that my children and grandchildren have the opportunity to lead and not follow through the free enterprise system. And, not through a government led social state. I note that if you carefully study this data you will see that the US under the Marshall Plan returned Europe and Japan, despite the massive devastation of WWII, to healthy,wealthy status in only 4 short years. America is the most benevolent and powerful country on earth. Why is the left so anxious to change it?