Over 60,000 protesters took to the streets in Greece to protest the coming budget cuts, and it didn't take long for it to turn violent. Riot police tried to contain the crowds and avoid the homemade bombs being tossed everywhere.
Cars and stores were burned by protesters who were largely anarchists — and union members. Gee, that was helpful. SEE STORY
Since we are doing the exact same things Greece has been doing (spending what we do not have) – why should we expect a different result?
This time it is the Baghdad and London Embassies that Ron Paul pointed out to Hillary Clinton.
Once upon a time…. there was a congressional representative names Nancy — Nancy Pelosi.
Nancy liked giving money to pornography projects in her San Francisco (as well as to her Harvest Mouse).
Though the mouse did get more – 16 million!
Anyway… Nancy and her boss, the mythical Bama-O, decided to give away a whole lot of money and some of that went to pornography. It needed stimulation.
True story.
$25,000 of YOUR money went to Cindercrack, a porn project in San Fran.
More went to the Symmetry Project involving nude children and adults in various poses.
What’s wrong with doing symmetry with flowers? Oh well.
Your hard-earned money at work….spent by the Democrats, the party of asses.
Who spends $18 million to redesign a website? I mean you designers out there – have you ever charged that and gotten it? Hey, I dabble with site design and building. So how can I get this gig?
But that is the figure Obama’s site apparently needs. And you thought $600 was a lot for a toilet seat? Hold on. The spending trip is a bumpy ride.
The site was first mentioned – well, sort of — by crazy Joe Biden. In an interview he couldn’t remember its number…. "You know, I’m embarrassed. Do you know the website number? You know, I should it in front of me and I don’t." to quote Biden.
Recovery.gov. I went there today. Looks damn good to me as far as design goes.
This though, made me laugh:
Report misuse of Recovery funds to Inspectors General Hotlines and find Whistleblower Information.
Um, isn’t that what Walpin was doing — his job as Inspector General and pointing out the millions of fraud, waste, and abuse at Americorps — and Obama fired him!
How easily they lie as they set their traps for us….
A Brainwashing site….
For example it says Americans are getting a really big slice of the stimulus pie in the form of tax credits. Where? I have not seen one penny and I earn way below any figure Obama has mentioned.
But now I learn it is costing US, WE the PEOPLE, $18 million to revamp this site.
So that’s where our money is going.
Gee, I feel so much better.
President Obama is betting your life and future on his insane mission to grow the government and finance it with more and more taxes. It’s hard to miss the irony that he’s pitching this change in Washington even as the same governance model is imploding in three of the largest American states where it has been dominant for years — California, New Jersey, and New York.
California, New Jersey, and New York were booming a mere ten years ago. California was the world technology center; New York was a financial capital, and New Jersey was the third wealthiest state in the nation (after Connecticut and Massachusetts).
Not any more though. All three have huge budget deficits as the bills for years of tax-and-spend governance come due.
These states have been models of "progressive" policies that spend, spend, spend. None of it created any wealth — just the opposite — as your common sense will tell you. High tax rates on the rich, lots of government "investments," heavy unionization, and a large government role in health care will break the bank. You will end up broke.
Check these Failed Policies:
1. Government spending as economic stimulus.
State-local spending per capita is $12,505 in New York (second highest after Alaska), $10,136 per person in California (fourth) and $9,574 in New Jersey (seventh).
None of this, let me repeat: NONE of this has created jobs. California had the nation’s third highest jobless rate in May (11.5%). New Jersey and New York had below average unemployment rates in May compared to the national average of 9.4%. People are leaving those states in droves.
Guess that doesn’t work so well BO.
2. Soak the rich.
Obama plans to pay for his government investments through higher tax rates on the top 1% and 2% of taxpayers. California, New Jersey, and New York already do that. The highest state-local income tax burden is in NY. The second highest is in CA. NJ has the sixth highest. New York City has the highest business tax rate, 17.6%, and seven of the 10 highest property tax counties in America are located in New Jersey.
So they are aleady being soaked and the states still have deficits. California’s deficit for 2010 is projected at $33.9 billion, New Jersey’s $7 billion and New York’s $17.9 billion, despite multiple tax increases this decade.
Bottom line: Doesn’t work yet Obama is pushing for this.
3. Powerful unions.
Obama is pushing this union idea. The middle class is getting creamed in all three of these "progressive" states, where organized labor is king. The unionized share of the workforce is 20% in California, 19% in New Jersey and 27% in New York compared to 13% across the country. All three are non-right-to-work states, have super-minimum wage requirements and provide among the nation’s most generous public-employee pensions.
Not a worker’s Utopia — they are leaving. Another thing these three states have in common — New York is number one, NJ is #2, and California is #3 in moving vans leaving the state. A study by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research shows that high-union states (mostly in the Northeast) have a much lower job growth than in the states with less unions penetration.
So unions are not helpful at all and make the problem worse — and Obama insists on this.
4. Government health care.
New York, New Jersey and California are among the leading states in government spending / intervention in health care. A 2008 study by the Pacific Research Institute shows New York is most regulated, while New Jersey ranks sixth and California seventh. "New York," the report declares, "suffers from government health programs that are out of control, a grossly overregulated private insurance market and almost completely uncompetitive provider markets."
So government controls and Medicaid expansions have pushed health care costs skyward. For family coverage annual premiums in 2006-07, the national median cost was roughly $5,300; in California it was $5,884, in New Jersey $10,398, and in New York $12,254. New York’s coverage mandates cause families to pay more than twice what they do in other states for insurance.
This means that less people are covered. More government involvement in health care in California, New Jersey and New York has raised costs and often reduced private coverage. That’s hardly a model for the nation.
So take a good look at the real-life experience of progressive governance, with heavy tax burdens financing huge welfare states, and state capitals dominated by public-employee unions.
They used to be rich states, but now are known for job losses, booming deficits and debt, wage stagnation, out-migration and laughing-stock legislatures.
WSJ: At least Americans have the ability to flee these ill-governed states for places that still welcome wealth creators. The debate in Washington now is whether to spread this antigrowth model across the entire country.
STOP HIM WHILE YOU CAN
The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14
