Post Scripts

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by
legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one
person receives without working for, another person
must work for without receiving. The government cannot
give to anybody anything that the government does not
first take from somebody else. When half of the people
get the idea that they do not have to work because the
other half is going to take care of them, and when the
other half gets the idea that it does no good to work
because somebody else is going to get what they work
for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any
nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

~~~ The late Dr. Adrian Rogers , 1931 to 2005 ~~~

by Jack

I just got back from the 2009 World’s First Submarine race held in San Diego, Ca. This is exciting stuff. Pics show the start, mid race and end…enjoy!

Continue reading “RACE PICS” »

by Jack Lee

I know this is ancient history to some, but does anyone recall that tax rebate stimulus plan from 08? Ever wonder how it worked out, aside from the obvious, that we’re deeper in recession than before the stimulus? Well, the numbers are out there and here’s what I found:

It began with an optimistic and influential study by economists at the Brookings Institution that projected each dollar of revenue loss would increase real GDP by more than a dollar if households spent at least 50 cents of every rebate dollar. And this is how it was sold to the taxpayers.

Recent government statistics show that only between 10% and 20% of the rebate dollars were spent. The rebates added nearly $80 billion to the permanent national debt but less than $20 billion to consumer spending. This experience confirms earlier studies showing that one-time tax rebates are not a cost-effective way to increase economic activity.

Another stimulus plan way back in 1931 promised to end the depression and this was President Roosevelt’s New Deal . A long 9 years later we were still in the depression, but we had made great progression moving toward socialism! It took WWII to finally bring us out of depression.

The worst years of the New Deal came late in 1937 and 1938. The Fed increased reserve requirements for banks, thereby curbing lending and moving the economy back to dangerous deflationary pressures. Roosevelt’s policies were all over the economic map, the New Deal Plan was almost unrecognizable from it’s original form. Some policies worked and some didn’t, yet he was credited for saving us from the Great Depression, a title that was not exactly earned.

Bailouts have the effect of rewarding failure while punishing success.

There’s nothing new in government, and there’s at least a dozen examples of everything thing we’ve ever done in the past that we might be thinking about doing now. Yet, for some unexplainable reason, we rarely look at history to see how it worked before! If it’s never worked before and yet we keep repeating it hoping that eventually we’ll get different results, well, that’s just kinda crazy.

Speaking of crazy, among the “pork” in this new trillion dollar stimulus bill is $335 million for STD’s. One wonders how the STD medical project funding or the $50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts will help stimulate the economy. Almost a billion will go to preparing for a flu pandemic which may or may not happen. Less than 3% of this porky package will go to rebuilding infrastructure like highways and bridges in decay, something that would actually be useful to us.

Is it any wonder that not a single Republican voted for this bill?

I hope you will read Tina’s story, Purpose of Stimulus is Pork – Republicans Decline, it dovetails perfectly with this one.

Note: Fannie and Freddie bailout cost you $238 billion and to put that in perspective, $238 billion is more than the entire federal budget deficit in fiscal 2007.

Posted by Tina

Pork ruled the day in the House stimulus bill and Republicans declined to go along with it. Seems they learned their lesson after all. The bill passed without a single Republican vote and with eleven Democrats jumping ship as well. They didnt want or need bipartisan support:

House Passes Stimulus Plan Despite G.O.P. Opposition, by Jackie Calmes

** Without a single Republican vote, President Obama won House approval on Wednesday for an $819 billion economic recovery plan as Congressional Democrats sought to temper their own differences over the enormous package of tax cuts and spending. **

Continue reading “Purpose of Stimulus is Pork – Republicans Decline” »

Posted by Tina

** Americans may be able to rest a little easier this April if Congressman John Carter, R-Texas gets his way. *** Rep. Carter introduced a bill Wednesday to eliminate all IRS penalties and interest for paying taxes past due. *** The legislation calls for the creation of what he calls the, “Rangel Rule,” — drawing attention to the recent legal issues of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., enabling citizens who fail to pay taxes on time to do so later with no additional fees. *** Rangel, who writes the country’s tax policies, acknowledged last fall that he failed to pay thousands in real estate taxes for rental income he earned from a property in the Dominican Republic. *** As of September 2008 the Harlem Democrat reportedly paid back more than $10,000 in taxes but that did not include any IRS penalties. *** “Your citizens back home should have the same rights and benefits that come to you as a member of congress. You shouldn’t be treated any differently under the law than your citizens back home,” Carter said. *** He added that citizens should receive the “same courtesy” that the IRS is allegedly granting Rangel and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who also recently acknowledged a failure to pay taxes. FOX News

Posted by Tina

James Hansen’s former boss, on James Hansen, Lawrence Solomon

** James Hansen of NASA’s GISS has been the single-most influential scientist in the world in promoting the view that global warming represents a catastrophic risk to the planet. His former supervisor at NASA, Dr. John S. Theon, now publicly disagrees with Hansen’s work. In the correspondence below from earlier this month, Theon dismisses the validity of Hansen’s work, charges that some scientists manipulated climate change data, and formally joined the ranks of the deniers. **

Continue reading “Dr. John S. Theon of NASA Disagrees” »

Posted by Tina

** House Democrats blocked a measure that would have required new roads, bridges and schools funded by the $825 billion economic stimulus to be named after U.S. armed forces members killed in action. Democrats on the House Rules Committee nixed the amendment Tuesday in a party-line 9-3 vote. The same vote also took down four other Republican amendments that would have funded job training for veterans. Washington Times **