SOCIAL SECURITY REVISITED

In January Allan Sloan, senior editor at large of Fortune magazine wrote about privatization of Social Security:

If your year-end 401(k) statement made you feel like barfing, I have one consolation for you: it could be worse. How's that possible, given how horrible last year was for investors? Simple: If you're not close to retirement, you've got time to recover.

If, however, you were forced to buy a lifetime annuity with your current balance - when you buy such an annuity, you trade your cash for a series of guaranteed payments for the rest of your life - you'd be making your loss permanent.

Sloan argues that’s bad, because

Social Security benefits, of course, are set by a formula that isn't affected by markets moving up, down or sideways.

Those quotes interest me, since I first wrote about privatizing Social Security here. In that post I used my own FICA tax history to show that I would have gotten a much better return on the FICA withholdings if they had simply invested in the stocks comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the accumulation annuitized on retirement.

In a later post, I looked at John and James Doe, identical twins with the same minimum wage history, one invested in the DJIA and the other invested in Social Security over a 50 year period. On retirement, James, who had invested in the stock market, had a retirement income 31% greater than that of his brother.

Both of Sloan’s statements above are true, of course, but they are beside the point. The real question is this: Even if the market goes south – way south – just before retirement, are you still better off than you would be under Social Security?

The question isn’t academic to me; I’m in exactly that position. So I reopened my original investigation using today’s market drop to see what happens. Here’s the methodology.

I first calculated my Social Security income starting in January 2011, the year following my 66th birthday. I used the detailed ANYPIA calculator available from the Social Security website with my FICA contribution history. It’s accurate to within a few pennies.

I then calculated what the growth of my FICA contributions would have been had they been invested in DJIA stocks in the year the FICA contribution was made, dating from the first contribution in 1962 through the 32% market drop in 2008.

For 2009 and 2010 I used FICA contributions based on current salary, and assumed that in 2009 the market will drop an additional 16% and recover in 2010 to grow at a modest 6%.

These assumptions are roughly equivalent to market conditions during the recession of 1973-74.

I then converted the accumulated growth to a joint life with 10-year minimum payout annuity to get the equivalent Social Security payout. An annuity calculator is available here.

The results? If only the employee half of the FICA contributions had been invested in the stock market, in 2011 I would take home 20.6% more than my predicted Social Security income. If both employee and employer contributions were invested, my take-home in 2011 would be a whopping 41.2% more than Social Security.

But, you say, Social Security benefits will always be there. Sorry, not so. Social Security is already in trouble; it’s running out of money and the demographics are wrong for a tax-increase solution. I’ll probably be okay, but my children and grandchildren will not.

The truth is that the stock market will always be there; Social Security may not.

ANOTHER SLOGAN FOR "TEA PARTY" GOERS

I WILL NOT GIVE UP MY FREEDOM

Courtesy of Rush Limbaugh at CPAC 2009

TEA PARTY II

My contribution to the next round of tea parties:

If anyone uses it, please send me a picture.

DC TEA PARTY

I stopped by the Washington DC "Tea Party" anti-stimulus protest at Lafayette Park across from the White House today. There were about 500 protestors - not bad, I think, for a hastily put together protest organized over the internet. Michelle Malkin of Hot Air and Roger Simon of Pajamas Media were there, as was Reason TV. I was impressed by the quality of the crowd - these were serious people, not the usual clowns you see at most protest rallies.

Here are some photos from the protest.

The protest begins with the first speaker.

"Porkulus" - the protest mascot.

Here are some signs. Are you unhappy with your "change?" Don't worry, soon you won't have two nickels to rub together.

Are you better off than you were four weeks ago?

Michelle Malkin following her speech to the crowd.

My neighbor bought a big house and all I got was the payment.

War on achievement is not the answer.

Yes, we care. A reference to Senator Shumer's (Pork-IL) claim that Americans don't care about the "little bit" of pork in the stimulus bill.

Their mother kindly let me take a picture of this young gentleman and lady. Thank you!

It's probably safe to say he's not working too hard.

The plan for tomorrow.

And a final thought about what the protest is all about.

ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, MR. OBAMA?

My daughter had a job, not a great job, but a good job: a decent salary, life insurance, health insurance, a 401k. She had already taken a few steps up the ladder to success.

But her job was dependent in part on “the rich” and the “greedy capitalists” you and your Democrat colleagues so successfully demonized.

Now she doesn’t have a job - and neither do 15 of her co-workers.

And by the way, my wife and I will be staying in the workforce for another few years, denying those behind us on the ladder the opportunity to move up a few rungs.

Are you happy now?

WOW!

At this rate, there should be no problem breaking 7000 ... from the high side.

NO ENERGY FROM OIL SHALE?

Interior Decision on Oil Shale Locks Away American Energy Resource Larger than Total Reserves of Middle East. This is simply hard to believe. We'll pay billions for Saudi oil, but not unlock our own resources simply because it "might destroy our environment."

Here's what sticks in my craw.

As an engineer, I'm reasonably confident that American technonogy, dollar for dollar and BTU for BTU, can extract energy from the ground with less environmental damage than can any other nation on Earth.

If the environmental lobby had even an ounce of common sense, they'd be demanding that we "drill here, drill now."

But no, America is their back yard, you see.

PRAY FOR IRAQ

News reporting is that President Obama will announce a deadline of August 2010 for a complete pullout of combat troops from Iraq.

Pray for the Iraqis ... they'll need all the help they can get.

A MODEST PROPOSAL

The Obama administration is planning to finance the "stimulus" by selling Treasury bonds to China.

I have an idea. It has been a time-honored American tradition to "cut out the middleman" by selling directly to the customer. GEICO does it; Amazon.com does it; Craig's List does it. Why don't we?

Sell our personal bonds to China, that is. Cut out the Treasury Department entirely, and save our children a little money.

A TRILLION HERE, A TRILLION THERE ...

Back in the 1960's, the late Senator Everett Dirksen (R, IL) was supposed to have said "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." Today the number is a trillion, but the meaning is the same.

It is interesting to note that as an analogy for growth of government, the increase from a billion to a trillion in roughly 45 years corresponds to a growth rate of nearly 17%.

Big government, anyone?

HEARD ON THE RADIO

The Rocky Mountain News is going out of business, with the last newspaper to be published tomorrow. The reason given for going out of business: "this extraordinary economic decline."

Bull.

The reason the Rocky Mountain News went out of business is simple: it, like so many others in the news media, deliberately and with malice aforethought chose to advocate rather than report.

Now they're paying the price. Good riddance.

WALL STREET TO OBAMA

Your budget? I'm not lovin' it.

OBAMA ANNOUNCES FIRST BUDGET

What are the Democrats going to tax when it reaches zero?

FAILED INVENTIONS

The Swiss Army Banana.

OBAMA'S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

Wall Street responds.

THANK YOU SCOTT ADAMS

Via Instapundit ...

For more Dilbert, go here.

REPUBLICAN REPLY

10:38 pm. Gov. Jindal just finished. Fox is "analyzing" as mediocre and this time I disagree. I thought Jindal did well. Sorry, Fox News, this one you got wrong. I was impressed with his emphasis on the strength of America being its people, not its Government.

10:36 pm. We place our hope in you, the American people."

10:34 pm. Jindal speaks to ethics and ethics reform. Again, ignored by Obama.

10:35 pm. More drilling for oil at home. Totally ignored by Obama in his speech.

10:32 pm. "Would you borrow from your children to buy things you don't need?"

10:29 pm. "The strength of America is not in its Government; it's in its people." Good anecdote about a bureaucrat insisting that rescuers have licenses and insurance.

10:28 pm. Jindal: "I was a pre-existing condition."

10:25 pm. Waiting for Gov. Jindal.

OBAMA'S SPEECH TO CONGRESS

10:10 pm. It's over. I'll give him this: Obama is a good speaker, and has good speechwriters. Nevertheless, I'm left with the feeling of "So?" I heard nothing specific, no answers.

9:57 pm. He's speaking of deficit reduction now. The usual; reduce fraud, waste, and abuse, kill programs that don't work. Plus a reduction in defense spending from bringing troops home from Iraq. Plus Medicare - why waste money on Medicare when those old folks are just going to die?

Interesting ... Obama mentioned Social Security momentarily. Is the "third rail" finally touchable?

9:48 pm. We will provide competitive education for every child from birth until entering the workplace (read as Government-provided salt mine).

9:45 pm. Here comes the Nanny State -- big investment in preventive medicine. The health nannies are going to love dictating what we eat, how we exercise, etc.

9:40 pm. Carbon caps? "We invented the automobile; we can't walk away from it." You've got to be kidding. With $5.00 gasoline, we'll have to walk away.

9:30 pm. Energy, health care and education. Obama's priorities. I agree with the first two (but differ on "how"); I strongly disagree with the third.

9:34 pm. "I will be careful with your money - not a penny for the Wall Street executives." But Harry Reid will get his monorail to Las Vegas.

9:32 pm. No more fancy jets or new drapes for the Wall Street CEOs. Will Air Force One be grounded too?

9:25 pm. We're told that for years we've avoided doing anything, and now - right NOW! - is the time to do something. OK, well, for at least the last four years, what have the Democrats been doing? Does obstruction sound familiar?

9:21 pm. "Take responsibility once more." If only ... my questions is how "we take responsibility once more" when the Government won't let us.

9:20 pm. He's begun to speak. My initial impression was the smirk. Going to be hard to overcome as he continues.

9:15 pm. The President has arrived.

9:07 pm. Hillary Clinton walked over to speak to Justice Ginsberg. I didn't see Justice Ginsberg arrive - she looks frail.

8:55 pm. It's about to begin. The congresscritters are milling about waiting for the President to be announced.

8:50 pm. My thoughts exactly. From Dennis Kneale at CNBC:

One month later a queasy sense of dread emerges whenever he takes the lectern. As our new president prepares to address both houses of Congress at 9 p.m. eastern, the markets and investors brace for his next damaging soundbite.

Thanks to Dr. Helen.

8:30 pm. It's about a half-hour until the President speaks to Congress and us. On Fox News, Bill O'Reilly and Alan Colmes are busy trying to set expectations. My feeling is that I hope, but am not hopeful. I simply do not believe the Democrat's stimulus plan can possibly work; the best outcome will be that it does no damage.

WOUNDED WIND DUCK

After the high winds we've had all week, our poor wind duck lost his wings.
Here he is after surgery. We'll wait until the winds die down before putting him out again.

MONDAY CATBLOGGING

Shadow at his usual post on the couch.

Diamond waits for dinner.

Daisy in her afternoon nap.

MORE DEMOCRATIC ARROGANCE

Katie Allison Granju writes on Alexandra Pelosi’s documentary about Republican angst during the presidential campaign. In an interview about her documentary, Pelosi (daughter of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) spoke in detail about her identification with her interviewees’ sense of exclusion. Now Katie Allison Granju:

But then she reveals how little she actually "gets" where her subjects are coming from when she says this:

Respectfully, I wanted to say to them, I live on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. I am on the winning side of capitalism. I work for HBO, corporate America. The Man has been good to me. You, on the other hand, are driving a truck that says, "Obama is a socialist idiot," and you're in a much lower tax bracket than most of the people in Manhattan that are voting for Obama. So the times I would actually get into it would be like, "OK, explain to me why you think he's an idiot. He's trying to give you a tax cut. You understand you're voting against your own self-interest?"

Surely she can see that it's just this kind of maternalistic, elitist filter that these folks in Pelosi's documentary object to. They don't necessarily want to live on 5th Avenue or work for HBO; they like driving a truck and living in Peoria. They don't want what she thinks they want or should want.

And that, for me, is the key point ... what the Democrats know I want and what I really want are diametrically opposed.

Hat tip Instapundit

FEMINIST NONSENSE

This was written on a feminist weblog.

Along with the emancipation of women, sexual liberation has become very much a part of politics around the world. To the conservatives, both these issues challenge ‘family values’.

But what if there were no families? What if we say no to reproduction?

My understanding of reproduction is that it is the basis of the institutions of marriage and family, and those two provide the moorings to the structure of gender and sexual oppression. Family is the social institution that ensures unpaid reproductive and domestic labour, and is concerned with initiating a new generation into the gendered (as I analyzed here) and classed social set-up. Not only that, families prevent money the flow of money from the rich to the poor: wealth accumulates in a few hands to be squandered on and bequeathed to the next generation, and that makes families as economic units selfishly pursue their own interests and become especially prone to consumerism.

So it makes sense to say that if the world has to change, reproduction has to go. Of course there is an ecological responsibility to reduce the human population, or even end it , and a lot was said about that on the blogosphere recently (here, and here), but an ecological consciousness is not how I came to my decision to remain child-free.

I’ll let Protein Wisdom respond:

I say to author “freethinkr” and some of her sisters in the comments ... please, do not get married, do not have children. By all means, do not pass on your genes nor inflict yourself on any rational human being.

The author “freethinkr” must be a university student or graduate; for only on a university campus can such incredibly arrogant post-modern pap be found.

And President Obama wants to increase spending on education?

via Instapundit.

THE LOYAL OPPOSITION - 2009

Now that President Obama has been inaugurated, Andy Levy presents his “To Don’t List” for those of us on the right side of the political spectrum. Here are my favorites:

DON’T question the motives - question the policy.
DON’T make it personal.
DON’T pretend you’re being brave when you criticize your government.
DON’T use the phrase “speaking truth to power.”
DON’T say or do everything in your power to drive this country apart and then claim you want unity when it’s your guy in power.
DON’T automatically think people who disagree with you are stupid or evil.
DON’T use the fact that many on the left behaved abominably for the past eight years as an excuse to behave the same way.

Read the whole thing. It’s a good list, and one worth keeping in mind. But also read the comments. A common thread is the feeling I’m struggling with – after 8 years of Bush Derangement Syndrome and several months of Palin Derangement Syndrome from the Left, an intense desire to pull out the Clue Bat and start swinging.

MOVING GUANTANAMO

Chuck Norris gives his top ten reasons for moving the terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Alcatraz Island. My favorites:

D-Block. Not the hip-hop group, but the row of solitary confinement cells.

It is rumored that "Dirty Harry" still roams the streets of San Francisco with his .44 Magnum.

It would give Congress something better on which to spend those hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money than the current absolute waste of partisan pork.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district includes Alcatraz Island. Let her deal with the aftermath.

Better to keep them out of the US, of course, but if we have to bring them ashore, then give them to the liberals.

PALIN DERANGEMENT SYNDROME

Giving liberals a black eye.

In her quest for the Vice Presidency, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin mentioned a second-hand shop in Alaska where she sometimes buys clothes.

Apparently the name was already used by a big non-taxpaying chain of secondhand shops (in Hollywood!)— selling clothes that are donated for tax credits. Goaded on by Patt Morrison, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio commentator, the chain put the muscle on the obscure tax-paying shop in Alaska to get the name changed.

Morrison gloated about it.

Patt, you were a knothead when I lived in southern California 15 years ago. I see you’ve grown old gracelessly.

Hat tip to Don Surber

MORE SCENERY FROM IRAQ

The reeds along one of the irrigation canals are in full blossom.

A small picnic area alongside one of the lakefront villas.


Another lake view taken from one of the running trails within the camp.

ELECTRIC CARS

What happens when there's no outlet?

WHAT A MAROON

It has been almost two months, and this one still sticks in my craw.

Richard Cohen, the butter knife in the Washington Post’s columnist drawer, is amazed to find out that former President George W. Bush can read:

In what without a doubt is the most astounding op-ed piece of the year, Karl Rove reveals that his friend and former boss, George W. Bush, has read probably hundreds of books over the course of his presidency.

After a few snarks about his selection of books and the number read, Cohen admits:

Still, the fact remains that Bush is a prodigious, industrial reader, and this does not conform at all to his critics' idea of who he is.

But that won’t stop Cohen. He whines

The list Rove provides is long, but it is narrow. It lacks whole shelves of books on how and why the Iraq war was a mistake ....

In other words, Mr. Bush doesn’t read the books Richard Cohen approves of. Probably not.

I don’t read Zippy the Pinhead either.

POLITICS AND (UGH!) POLITICIANS

From Cal Thomas, writing about Tom Daschle’s tax problems: it was the late hotel magnate Leona Helmsley who uttered the immortal words, "We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes.”

“Naturally, one who had been squired around when he was a senator and public servant shouldn't be expected to drive himself and search for his own parking spot, or worse, take public transportation. Once someone has enjoyed the power and perks of the Senate, it's difficult to come down to where the "little people" live. Perhaps some counseling would have helped.”

Two thoughts:

First, mandate that all politicians, er “public servants,” be required to undergo counseling for “post-politics” stress syndrome on leaving office. Obviously they need it at least as much as our soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan need counseling for post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Second, mandate that every person elected to Federal office, and every appointed official requiring Senate confirmation, be fully audited by the IRS every year they are in office and for 5 years thereafter.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Here’s a consequence of the mortgage bailout that I hadn’t thought of – and should have, since I consider myself to be a pretty good systems engineer.

Bailing out homeowners who would otherwise be forced to find more affordable housing could hurt people who are ready to buy homes at rock-bottom prices.

There have been a number of ads on both radio and TV lately encouraging renters to step up and buy. One of my co-workers, a life-long renter, did just that a few months back.

One more reason for the Government to keep out and let the market take care of itself.

SHOVEL READY

From Michael Ramirez at Investors Business Daily.

In a related item, Mickey Kaus asks "Isn't the border fence shovel ready?"

OOPS

From Fox News: Extremely Rare Bird Found, Photographed ... Eaten

Where are the environmentalists when you need one?

OBAMA SIGNS "STIMULUS"

Fasten your seat belt ....

STIMULUS?

President Obama will sign the porkulus, er, "stimulus" bill in Denver in a few hours.

The market is already down 200 points.

LAST CHANCE

Congress will vote soon, possibly today, on the compromise stimulus bill. Now is our last chance to kill it and hope for something better. Email your congresscritter now. Here's mine.

PLEASE. Vote No on the compromise stimulus package.

This is a plan the consequences of which will still be with us when my as-yet unborn grandchild votes for the first time. Yet the details of this stimulus plan were created in secret, aren’t widely known (most likely even to you), haven’t been examined, and haven’t been publically debated.

Don’t we, the American people, deserve better?

Kill this turkey. Kill it dead. Then start fresh, in the open, with full transparency for the American public. Only then will there be a believable bill the American people can trust.

Do it now.

COMPROMISE STIMULUS BILL

Thanks to Newt Gingrich, the language of the compromise stimulus bill is here.

It's roughly 1400 pages; the final language starts about midway through the pdf.

Read it and weep.

I GOT MY EARMARK

National Telecommunications and Information Administration
salaries and expenses

For an additional amount for `Salaries and Expenses', $350,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2011: Provided, That funds shall be available to establish the State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program, as authorized by Public Law 110-385, for the development and implementation of statewide initiatives to identify and track the availability and adoption of broadband services within each State, and to develop and maintain a nationwide broadband inventory map, as authorized by section 6001 of division B of this Act.

wireless and broadband deployment grant programs including transfer of funds to Michael Hankamer for the Michael Hankamer Personal Economic Stimulus Program)

For necessary and unnecessary expenses related to the Wireless and Broadband Deployment Grant Programs established by section 6002 of division B of this Act, $2,825,000,000, of which $1,000,000,000 shall be for Wireless Deployment Grants and $1,825,000,000 shall be for Broadband Deployment Grants:

Provided, That an additional $500,000 shall be paid directly to Michael Hankamer in the form of subsidized loans that do not require repayment.

Provided Further, That the funds be used by Michael Hankamer to purchase guns and ammunition ... and a bass boat or for whatever.

Provided Even Further, That Michael Hankamer will receive free DC United soccer team tickets for life.

Provided Even Further Still, That Michael Hankamer shall be treated as a cabinet-level appointment for the purpose of income tax reporting, and therefore no taxes shall be paid on any of the aformentioned benefits.

And one more thing: "Dirty Harry" Reid is hereby expelled from Congress, effective immediately upon enactment.

Courtesy of Reason Online.

HEARD ON THE RADIO

On the radio while driving in to work, Dolly Parton was asked if she ever thought about running for President. Her response: "I think we have enough boobs in the White House."

INSANITY AT THE WASHINGTON POST

Good Lord, what is in the drinking water at the Washington Post?

Eugene Robinson isn’t the sharpest knife in the Post’s columnist drawer, but this has to be his most ridiculous column yet. Coming out in favor of the Democrats’ “Porkulus” spending bill, Robinson writes:

The most respected economic wise men and women of both parties believe a huge stimulus is needed quickly to keep a dire economic situation from sinking into catastrophe.

Two hundred economists (3 Nobel Laureates) disagree.

Normally, it would be insane to spend upward of $800 billion so fast. Given the hole we're in, however, it's insane not to.

Why?

The House of Representatives loaded up the bill like a Christmas tree as powerful Democrats found room for their pet projects. This was a good thing, not an outrage. Hundreds of millions of dollars for contraceptives? To the extent that those condoms or birth-control pills are made in the United States and sold in U.S. drugstores, that spending would be stimulative in more ways than one.

You have to be kidding! (Ed: unfortunately, no.)

One of the most effective items in the House bill was $79 billion to be transferred to state governments, which are hurting; in California, our most populous state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is ordering furloughs of state workers. Any dollar given to the states will fly out the door by sundown. That $79 billion would have instant impact.

So you’re going to spend my savings, my childrens’ earnings, and my grandchildrens’ inheritance bailing out California for its prolifigate spending?

Republicans are using this debate as a branding opportunity, positioning themselves as careful stewards of the public purse.

And for the first time in a long time, they’re right.

With this dreck, why do I bother subscribing to the Post?

IRAQ SCENERY

Even a war zone isn't all ugly. This photo was taken along one of the many man-made "lakes" within the base complex. The wall separating "us" from "them" is in the background.

One of the villas that dot the lakes. This one is now a task force office.

Here's a sunrise photo taken from my quarters.

HOME SWEET HOME

As a break from the political, here are a few more photos from my recent deployment to Iraq. These are "office" photos from the jobsite.

My office, my car on an atypical rainy day. The wall separating our camp from the rest of Iraq is in the background.



Sentry post along the wall about 100 yards from the office. The sentries have air conditioning now, quite an improvement from my last deployment in 2006.

OBAMA PREPARES FOR TAKEOFF

Via Michael Ramirez and Investors Business Daily.

LAST CHANCE

There is one last chance to defeat this monstrosity of a “stimulus” bill - when it comes out of the House-Senate conference. Contact your congresscritter and urge him/her to vote it down. Here’s my two cents:

The size and variety of all the spending programs in this bill would make a drunken sailor look like a fiscal conservative. But the message is simple: Sign on the dotted line, and now, or All Is Lost. It brings to mind the used car salesman who warns that, if we dare step off the lot, if we don't ACT NOW to grab this souped-up Super Eight with all the trimmings, catastrophe will strike.

Good judgments are seldom hasty judgments, we’re being told to accept this vast, pork-layered "stimulus" bill now. There may be times when action -- and action now -- is needed, whatever the cost, as in war. Yet the voice of experience warns: spend in haste, repent at leisure.

This "stimulus" package is larded with so many bridges to nowhere or the equivalent as to make the old, secretive system of earmarking look open and deliberate. Most of this gargantuan spending package seems devoted to make-work projects, politically correct causes, and even programs that may be worthwhile in themselves but have no discernible connection with economic stimulus.

Please, when this behemoth comes out of conference, vote NO! Then, perhaps we can take a deep breath, step back, and get to work on a meaningful stimulus package - not a grab-bag of Democrat social programs to be passed in the dark of night.

Thanks to Townhall.com columnist Paul Greenberg for much of the wording.

STIMULATED

Nice going, guys. Thanks.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Hat tip: Washington Times

I'M FROM THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT ...

... and I'm here to help you. Treasury Department Secretary Timothy Geithner announces overhauled plan for TARP funds.

BREAKING NEWS

Fox News: Octuplets' Mom on Welfare.

Was there ever any doubt?

I DON'T TRUST YOU

Heh. A liberal talk show host gets his comeuppance.



Hat tip Instapundit

OUR BRAVE NEW WORLD

A new Victor Davis Hanson essay at Pajamas Media.

An excerpt on hyperbole:

So it is unwise to use such hyperbole. Compare the Obama administration’s much ballyhooed “most stringent ethics standards”—ever!—that only leads to 10 (“exempt”) lobbyists appointed to the administration, and at least four tax cheats (an accurate rather than hyped description) nominated to Treasury, government oversight, HHS, and Labor, as well as someone like Richardson imploding, and complete silence about Rangel, Dodd, and Frank.

Likewise it is unwise to keep evoking “patriotic” to describe those who vote for the stimulus package, and cry ‘catastrophic” if opponents disagree and the $1 trillion dollar debt program is delayed. If supporters in congress of Bush and Cheney were criticized for suggesting that to cut off funds for soldiers in the field or to declare a war “lost” was unpatriotic, then surely it is wrong to do the same for an opponent of a stimulus or tax plan.

Read the whole essay.

SHOW US THE BILL

An online petition for Harry Reid and Barack Obama.

Please sign it. I did.

PUBLIC REVIEW?

During his campaign, President Obama pledged that legislation passed by Congress will be placed online for public review for five days before his signature. Will he post the “stimulus” bill online according to his pledge?

Don’t hold your breath. From the White House blog:

Since a few questions have come in, we want to update you on the President's campaign commitment to introducing more sunlight into the lawmaking process by posting non-emergency legislation online for five days before signing it. This policy will be implemented in full soon; currently we are working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar.

I’m sure the “stimulus” legislation will be far too important for us “little people” to read, understand, and comment on before implementation.

ANOTHER REASON TO SAY “NO”

Senator John Kerry explains the Democrats’ view:

I've supported many tax cuts over the years, and there are tax cuts in this proposal. But a tax cut is non-targeted.

If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there's no guarantee that they're going to invest that or invest it in America.

They're free to go invest anywhere that they want if they choose to invest.

Mary Katherine Ham: “Kerry betrays the fear that haunts every good liberal— that the American people won't spend their money on exactly what good liberals would spend it on. Good liberals must, therefore, advocate for forcibly relieving the American people of the better part of a trillion dollars of their own money to fund things like STD education, welfare programs, and water parks.”

Note the irony here. This recession was caused by the American people spending more than we could afford for the last many years, so the solution is for the Government to spend trillions of dollars beyond its means for the next many years to get us out of this recession

FINDING HIS INNER EASTWOOD

David Ignatius has an amusing column in the Washington Post arguing that President Obama needs to find his inner Dirty Harry:

Obama needs to make Washington politicians fear that if they cross him, they’ll pay a penalty .... Obama needs to tell GOP leaders what he expects, and make clear the political consequences of obstruction.

Well, yes, except that Ignatius got the parties wrong - substitute Democrat for GOP and he'd have it right.

Jules Crittenden comments:

[His inner Eastwood] That’s what Ignatius wants Obama to dig deep for as he stumbles through his economic stimulus standoff.

A man has got to know his limitations. But it starts with not caring if you’re liked, not living to be admired. Which is where this script falls apart.

RebeccaH, commenting on Crittenden’s website, nails it:

Frankly, so far the Obama Administration is coming off less like Dirty Harry and more like the Pink Panther.

SALARY CAPS

Hmm. If salary caps on are good for corporate CEOs, then why not extend the idea?

Hollywood stars, anyone? Let’s say $100K/movie, with a strict restriction against expressing political opinions. Wouldn’t a salary cap on Hollywood salaries make movies more affordable for the “middle class?”

And while we’re at it, how about one for politicians? Say expenses only while in office, with Government “stock options” tied to the Gross Domestic Product that can only be exercised after the politician leaves office? Seems like it would align the politician’s self-interest to that of the country as a whole ... and it might even encourage them to leave office sooner.

The idea extends itself: Professional sports? Media?

This sounds better and better.

IT'S A SPENDING BILL

So says President Obama:

So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? (Laughter and applause.) That's the whole point. No, seriously. (Laughter.) That's the point.

At least the fiction that this is a "stimulus" bill is over.

God help us; the Democrats sure won't.

GREENHOUSE GAS

President Obama just flew Air Force One to Williamsburg for a 30-minute address to the Democrats' Congressional Retreat -- a trip that takes me an hour and a half on the freeway.

I wonder how many tons of CO2 were expended for his excellent adventure?

STIMULUS?

This is what we're being asked to pay for?

Las Vegas wants $2 million for neon signs.
Austin, Texas says it could use $886,000 to build a 36-hole Frisbee golf course.
Shreveport, Louisiana has asked for $6 million for three aquatic centers with water slides.
Chula Vista, California wants $500,000 to create a place where dogs can run without a leash.

Four more reasons to vote “NO!” on the stimulus package.

WHERE IS AL GORE?

It was subzero in Manassas when I rose this morning. The current temperature is 27 degrees, with a wind chill of 17 degrees.

I'd like to throw Al Gore in the fireplace for some extra heat, but I don't think snake oil burns very well.

KILL THE BILL

Here's what I sent:

Even the Congressional Budget Office says the stimulus bill will be harmful over the long term. I'd much rather suffer a little now than have my grandchildren suffer even more.

Kill it. Now. Please.

Call or email your Senators. Now.

YES!

Daschle bows out.

DO ANY OF THESE PEOPLE PAY TAXES?

Glenn Reynolds asks.

The answer? No, they’re Democrats.

HUH?

Jan 29, 2009: "Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat. 'He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?' said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. 'He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.'”

Feb 1, 2009: WASHINGTON DC -- After his daughters got a snow day Wednesday, President Barack Obama "We're going to have to try some flinty, Chicago toughness to this town."

I guess that "flinty, Chicago toughness" only applies to people outside the White House.

HOPE AND CHANGE

The Obama administration bills itself as one of "Hope and Change" and I certainly agree -- I Hope I survive the Change.

Based on his Cabinet appointments (Lynn at Defense; Geithner at Treasury; Daschle at Health and Human Services), however, I think a better motto would be "Hypocrisy and Crooks."