February 24, 2009
It is very hard to predict what will happen in the future, whether that future is tomorrow or in ten years. Nevertheless, I will give prognostication a go regarding the Federal budget. Obama has been talking about “fiscal responsibility” and about balancing the Federal budget by the end of his first term in office. In view of the vast amounts of money in the “stimulus package” just signed into law, as well as the money spent or set to be spent in the bailouts of banks, the auto industry and default mortgagees how will the budget get balanced. One obvious way is to increase taxes, and this will be one of the corner stones of the Obama balanced budget effort. Income taxes will be raised on the top 5% of wage earners, taxes will also be raised on corporations after all it was those greedy bastards in big business that caused our economic difficulties. The Federal tax on gasoline will be raised from the current eighteen cents per gallon to probably a dollar. Other taxes will be invented say a value added tax on goods, or excise taxes on imports. Regardless, taxes on the American people will increase. Taxes alone, however, will not be enough to balance the Federal budget which is now so dreadfully out of balance. Some things in the Federal budget will need to be cut, but what? My prediction is defense. The U.S. military industrial complex will be gutted so that social programs like universal health care can be born. I don’t know if this is good or bad, only time will tell. For twenty-five years those on the left have been calling for exactly this scenario and now it will come to pass. Is should not come as a surprise to anyone for President Obama is a child of the left and he has not tried to hide this fact. As he has said “I won” and now he will do what he believes is in the best interests of the country. His path is completely different from the one we have been following for the past twenty-five years whether it will prove to be more or less successful will not be known for many years. I have no stake in right or left politics, so I hope he succeeds.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
February 23, 2009
The U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, provides the number of Representatives in the House of Representatives shall not exceed 1 for every 30,000 people. Public Law 62-5, passed on August 8, 1911, fixed the number of Representatives at 433, with 1 additional for Arizona and 1 for New Mexico. Thus the number 435 exists today which means that there is approximately 1 Representative for every 689,000 people (assuming a population of 300 million). If, as expected the Congress passes a law giving the District of Columbia 1 voting representative the number of Representatives will be 436.
The U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, provides the number of Representatives in the House of Representatives shall not exceed 1 for every 30,000 people. Public Law 62-5, passed on August 8, 1911, fixed the number of Representatives at 433, with 1 additional for Arizona and 1 for New Mexico. Thus the number 435 exists today which means that there is approximately 1 Representative for every 689,000 people (assuming a population of 300 million). If, as expected the Congress passes a law giving the District of Columbia 1 voting representative the number of Representatives will be 436.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Tax Fraud
The latest disclosure of tax delinquency by a potential member of the Obama administration should be met head-on by the new President. He should issue an Executive Order requiring the IRS to conduct annual tax audits of all political appointees. The tax troubles of Daschel and Rangel should also make it clear to Congressional leaders that they need to follow suit and require annual audits of all members of both houses. Somewhere down the line the American taxpayers are going to be asked to pony up for all of the stimuli now being passed, it is only fair that the people who pass and implement these bills be above reproach when it comes to paying their share of the tax burdens.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
November 18, 2008
Sam and I visited Harrisonburg, Virginia the first week in November and stayed at the Massanutten 4 Seasons Resort. We have become regulars at the Resort since Ali started college at James Madison University in 2006. Apparently it is very easy to get good deals on condos at Massanutten through RCI, we got a two bedroom complete with sauna for about $250, for the week. I played golf at one of Massanutten's two 18 hole golf courses, beautifully maintained, and we visited some Shenandoah Wineries. The wineries are just getting started save for Shenandoah Winery which has been going for about 10 years. We brought back a case of wine and all bottles have been good, however, they were not cheap.
The main purpose of the trip was to see Ali in another lead role in a JMU main stage production. This time "The Rover" an old English comedy written by a woman Aphra Behn and set in Naples in 1655. It is a battle of the sexes comedy and Ali played one of the two sisters at the center of the battle. As usual Ali was brilliant and beautiful even though the other sister, played by her friend Lauren Ramsey, had most of the funny lines. The costumes we elaborate and required several changes for the female leads. Ali's presence on stage continues to amaze me. She seems at home no matter the role, like she belongs right there at that time and place. She never misses a line, no wonder the keep casting her. I wonder where it will all lead? She longs for singing roles in musicals, but there is no question she is a natural born actor.
Sam and I visited Harrisonburg, Virginia the first week in November and stayed at the Massanutten 4 Seasons Resort. We have become regulars at the Resort since Ali started college at James Madison University in 2006. Apparently it is very easy to get good deals on condos at Massanutten through RCI, we got a two bedroom complete with sauna for about $250, for the week. I played golf at one of Massanutten's two 18 hole golf courses, beautifully maintained, and we visited some Shenandoah Wineries. The wineries are just getting started save for Shenandoah Winery which has been going for about 10 years. We brought back a case of wine and all bottles have been good, however, they were not cheap.
The main purpose of the trip was to see Ali in another lead role in a JMU main stage production. This time "The Rover" an old English comedy written by a woman Aphra Behn and set in Naples in 1655. It is a battle of the sexes comedy and Ali played one of the two sisters at the center of the battle. As usual Ali was brilliant and beautiful even though the other sister, played by her friend Lauren Ramsey, had most of the funny lines. The costumes we elaborate and required several changes for the female leads. Ali's presence on stage continues to amaze me. She seems at home no matter the role, like she belongs right there at that time and place. She never misses a line, no wonder the keep casting her. I wonder where it will all lead? She longs for singing roles in musicals, but there is no question she is a natural born actor.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
October 30, 2008
Why I will vote for Obama.
Change is good. The Republicans have held sway in Washington since 1980. Clinton was president for 8 years but for six of those years the Republicans controlled Congress. It is time for a different view of government and its place in America. Ronald Reagan said that government is not the solution, it is the problem. This has been the mantra for nearly thirty years, even though the government has grown in size and power. But government power under Republicans has not always been used for the good of the all of the people. Senator Obama now says that the government can be our friend. That it can be used to better our lives, all of our lives. He says that the upper class in this country has a disproportion of the wealth and that trickle down economics has not worked. I think he is right. At the very least I think it is time to try another way of governing. The country is truly not better off now than it was four or even eight years ago, and while all of the problems cannot be blamed on Republicans it is clear that the country now needs to go in another direction with a new philosophy.
Why I will vote for Obama.
Change is good. The Republicans have held sway in Washington since 1980. Clinton was president for 8 years but for six of those years the Republicans controlled Congress. It is time for a different view of government and its place in America. Ronald Reagan said that government is not the solution, it is the problem. This has been the mantra for nearly thirty years, even though the government has grown in size and power. But government power under Republicans has not always been used for the good of the all of the people. Senator Obama now says that the government can be our friend. That it can be used to better our lives, all of our lives. He says that the upper class in this country has a disproportion of the wealth and that trickle down economics has not worked. I think he is right. At the very least I think it is time to try another way of governing. The country is truly not better off now than it was four or even eight years ago, and while all of the problems cannot be blamed on Republicans it is clear that the country now needs to go in another direction with a new philosophy.
Monday, October 20, 2008
October 20, 2008
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people.
Ronald Reagan January 20, 1981.
If this is not exactly what is happening now in Washington I must be crazy. The same people who caused the housing bubble and the following financial crisis are now going to bail us out of the mess. Even the Washington Post is now admitting that Congress, with the complicity of the Clinton adminstration, encouraged lenders to make unwise loans in furtherance of what they call the worthy cause of home ownership. The bubble burst and the whole house of cards came tumbling down. My fear is that in our haste to dig out of the rubble of this disaster our leaders will take us down the road to socialism. As Winston Churchill once said: " The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socalism is the equal sharing of miseries."
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