Big government is metastasizing the private sector

Just as one rotten strawberry ruins the bunch, government regulations and social engineering are metastasizing industry.
First it was the judicial system allowing lawyers to collect outlandish awards, restricting behaviors and sending jobs overseas. The insurance industry distributed the cost to us all. Then the Dems decided that everyone should own a home, eventually sending the construction, real estate and banking industries into a tailspin. Obama’s war on carbon and premature subsidies of ‘renewable’ energy has jacked up prices and set the green movement back decades. Cash for clunkers left nothing but more debt. Health care will soon be regulated by the same crowd that does such a fine job of running the Post Office.
Much needed attention is now focused on the student loan bubble. The government push on college degrees causes students to incur more debt than they can repay, institutions to spend more than they can sustain and future generations will be left with mountainous debt.
Our government does some things well – defense, treasury and transportation. But the government‘s push for ‘social justice’ has had tragic consequences - unintended social damage, bloated debt, rampant abuse and waste, and loss of individual freedom.
It’s time we elect representatives who can balance a budget instead of just thinking they’re in office to impart their personal judgment of how we should live our lives.

Who cut that?

I saw President Obama on the Jay Leno show the other night. He reminds me of the guy who farts in a crowd and is then the first to complain about the smell.

Rabble rousing Democrats tearing country in two

On one side you have the Tea Party - working people and retirees speaking out when the onslaught of government taxes, regulations and debt became destructive. On the other side are the Occupiers who want the government to level income and forgive our debts (no word yet on where the money will come from).
The left wants to defy nature by piling on rules. Their lack of knowledge and experience, and sour generalizations are a form of bigotry.
And who is giving the freedom-defiers support? Democrats, supported by the media. Barack and other Dem leaders are running around the country campaigning for bigger government and more debt on our kids. My former neighbor, Joe Biden, is a poster child of shrill rabble rousing.
We elected the fancy talkers in 2008 and it failed. What will happen when the country elects more responsible leaders next November? If the Democrats don’t tone it down, it won’t be pretty.

Return Churchill bust to the Oval Office

How gracious of the Brits to offer a valuable bust of Churchill to the U.S. as symbol of solidarity following 9/11. And how bizarre that Barack Obama returned the bust in his first days of office.

America has been schooled on fancy talk over the past three years. Have we ever had a more erudite president who has done more damage? Big hat, no cattle.

Mitt Romney said in the Florida debates in September that one of the first things he would do as president is return the Churchill bust to the Oval Office. Very clever.

Twain, Churchill and Reagan could capture complex sentiments in a few words. Romney did that for me.

Solargate brush off

The petty break-in and attempted cover-up at the Watergate offices in the 1970s became the biggest scandal in modern times. The media hysteria led to Nixon’s resignation. But really, what was the damage to anyone?
We have very real corruption and damage in the Solyndra and other green company Stimulus cases. Watch how the media sweeps this under the rug.

One boneheaded, job-killing act after another

Last week, employers received orders from the NLRB that they must post a notice informing employees of their right to organize. Sounds harmless enough, but the heavy-handed action is just another disincentive to hire, or keep your company in the U.S. And it's another clear example of the Obama administration's intent to rule without Congress or the will of the citizens.
Highlights of recent NLRB edict

I'm glad someone is tracking the nonstop flow of 'progressive' measures that kill jobs in America.
Recent Forbes article

Happy Labor Day.

Obama rules like a teenager

My teenage daughter plans to take her first road trip. I offered her some advice, but she feels she knows all she needs to know. After all, she’s made scores of trips to school or the store without any accidents or tickets. She sincerely thinks she’s qualified.

Obama began ruling our nation like a teenager – long on confidence, short on experience. Despite his nontraditional upbringing, elite school education and never having held a real job, he was cocky confident that government should drive the economy. With his brand of social engineering.

I like the way Obama stays healthy and seems dedicated to his family. He’s clearly book smart and a gifted talker. I thought he was sincere. Even though I disagree with nearly all of his policies, I thought the American economy was resilient enough to withstand his lack of leadership experience.

But our economy is in trouble. Either Obama doesn’t see it, or he is hell bent on driving his agenda, regardless of the damage.

Both my daughter and Obama have sincere confidence that they can reach their goals. However, if my daughter has trouble on her trip through the friendly back roads of Georgia, she will seek help.

Obama is going the wrong way on a crowded Interstate in D.C. Instead of seeking help or changing direction, he just keeps accelerating.

Malfunction

Dog and cat owners know that malfunctioning ‘scent glands’ can be quite unpleasant – foul odors, diarrhea, bad humor and that crazy ‘scooting’ action. I think the President’s sense glands are malfunctioning.

Bloated government is terrorizing U.S. job market

Years ago, if you wanted to start or grow a business, you hired workers. Nowadays, the first people you hire are accountants and lawyers to deal with the avalanche of government regulations. Resources once used to pay and reward employees are diverted to proving to bureaucrats that you’re not dishonest. The rules are mind numbing and the big brother treatment is demoralizing.
Here is a smattering of the crud business people are forced to deal with:
Sarbanes Oxley (aka: the accountants full employment act) – a wet blanket of financial rules spread across everyone because some company, 20 years ago, ran afoul.
EPA – their threats force any organization using air, land or water to pay lawyers and engineers to chase rules written by lawyers and engineers with agendas.
Labor laws – hoards of new DOL agents enforce FLSA and other rules that no one understands. Labor unions demand that firemen remain on electric trains.
Retirement regs – more accountants filing more reports to more bureaucrats who can’t understand what they got.
Workers Comp and unemployment– squishy policies enforced by capricious officials encourage abuse.
Insurance – Premiums spread the burden of lawsuit abuse, and government mandates such as the latest preventative health rules, on everyone.
Obamacare – The mother lode of hidden taxes and ambiguity. The only thing that is certain is that we’ll all have universal coverage in a few years. It’s called Medicaid.
Industry specific rules – I am so glad I don’t have to deal with the banking regs. You should be glad you don’t have to deal with ED. Then there’s the FTC, DOC, HHS, FDA, ICE, NLRB and on and on.
Disclosures – does anyone read all the crap you get in the mail or with a contract? Talk about a waste of trees.
IRS – they will keep adding rules and agents until, one day, every citizen will be a criminal.
ADA, OSHA, EEOC – Unlimited cost of compliance and threats of claims.
Government employees – job security, raises, generous benefits… and police powers. I’ll bet an eye-popping percent of government workers are on disability (can’t take the heat, feel blue).
Wrongful dismissal , retaliation, discrimination – a lawyer’s paradise of high stakes ambiguity.
To increase jobs in the U.S. (and treasury revenues), we must reverse the suffocating burden of compliance to the ever growing heap of government regulations.

Democrat is next to demagogue in the dictionary

Demagogue: a leader who uses popular prejudices and false claims and promises to gain power.

I’m personally very worried about what kind of country we’re leaving our kids - titanic debt, mushrooming intrusion of government and burgeoning sense of entitlement.
Clearly the Democrats know they are in big trouble in 2012 because the demagoguery they and their media sidekicks are slinging around is getting ridiculous. A few examples…
• Bush did not cause the 2008 meltdown. Blame those who encouraged banks to overextend credit on the assumption that the real estate market would keep booming forever.
• Democrats want to raise taxes on the top earners and employers who already pay the lion’s share of taxes. Hey, take a minute to study the Laffer curve. Bone up on your history to see that that class warfare is an economic death spiral.
• Had Obama decreased taxes instead of wasting nearly $1 trillion on silly stimulus projects, we’d be out of this economic funk by now.
• Obamacare, higher taxes, more regulations, unions, minimum wage, drilling bans and such are all kryptonite to business people who create jobs.
• A fancy-talker like Obama could have succeeded by surrounding himself with a strong team. Instead he hired political hacks and crony czars.
• The mainstream media has lost all credibility by coddling Obama and attacking his opponents, especially conservative blacks and women.
• If Obama spent as much time working with Congress as he does playing golf, taking extravagant vacations and raising money for his re-election, we might be on the way to recovery. And if he put a buck in the jar every time he says “I” and “me”, we could balance the budget.
• Obama deserves as much credit for nailing bin Laden as Nixon does for putting a man on the moon (both happened during their terms).
We could be so much better if there was less rabble rousing and more statesmanship.

Time for less butter

Many moons ago, when I was in school, the big discussion was whether the government should be spending on defense and infrastructure, or social programs such as health, education and welfare. Well, the butter people won that ‘guns or butter’ argument, and you can see where it got us. We now have mountains of debt and the social demands are growing exponentially. We don’t even maintain the roads and infrastructure we have, not alone expand. One of the best programs the government ever initiated – space exploration – is grinding to a halt.
It takes extra effort and curiosity to understand how supply economics works. It takes courage to say no to the demands of people, knowing you are helping them in the long term.
I compare government policy to the way mothers and fathers raise a child. The balance of protective cuddling from the mom - and ‘suck it up’ demands from the dad - produce a balanced kid. If the dad starts acting like the mom all the time, the kid may never be all she or he could be.
You would think we would look back over the past few decades to realize that public policy in this country is out of balance. We need to get back to lower taxes, less regulation and less social engineering. Restore liberty and personal responsibility. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Stay to the left and speed up…

The year is 1912. Captain Obama hurries to the bridge of the huge passenger ship, agitated at being called away from a celebrity-packed party on the luxury deck. “Ice ahead, Captain,” says the worried officer. “Could be an iceberg.” The Captain looks out into the darkness. He’s never commanded this ship in these waters before; in fact, he’s never been at sea. But he learned to appear confident in college, and he’s anxious to get back to the party. “Oh, it’s just a big chunk of ice. Stay to the left. This ship is unsinkable. Plus all the world’s ice is melting. Full speed ahead! In fact, increase our speed by ten knots.” Unlike the Titanic, our country has negotiated around some major economic icebergs in the past. But it’s 2011, our debt now exceeds our GDP, and our leader is more concerned with holding his office than dealing with the issues. Disaster can be avoided, but time is running out. We can’t balance the budget with tax increases; spending and promises must be reduced. And the media has to stop handing the mic to Democrats who still blame Bush and repeat the same old worn-out class warfare nonsense. Democrats control the government – the White House, the Senate, the bureaucracy, the media, government education and the courts. It’s time they put down the violins and step up to the challenge.

Democrat’s kabuki dance

Rush Limbaugh’s use of the term kabuki dance last week caught my attention. I thought it was some African term that was sure to get the lovable little fuzzball in PC trouble again.
It turns out that kabuki is a form of Japanese dance that features over-the-top costumes and makeup, exaggerated theatrics, and farce. What a perfect description of Washington today!
Come on, Democrats. Stop the kabuki dancing and get serious about fixing the current unsustainable level of government spending and future promises.

The wet blanket of statism

Progressive people like to fix what they consider unfair. It might be some disadvantaged soul who needs a hand, or some money-wasting, environment-damaging corporate type who needs to be taken down a notch. Government is their vehicle and Western Europe is their model.

Well, after 80 years of social engineering through regulation, it ain’t working. Instead of improving poverty, health, civility and education, big government has become a wet blanket over the entire economy. Fannie Mae, health care reform, stimulus... good grief. A once great, thriving nation is drifting into oblivion. Obama didn’t start the decline, he just stomped on the accelerator.

Change may get ugly. After all these decades, the Washington bureaucrats, the media, and the unions are deeply entrenched. But better now than later. My generation made the mess, and we ought to step up to fix it.

In addition to dramatically shrinking the government, we need to face up to some facts of life. Accidents happen. Outcomes vary despite equal opportunity. Good intentions aren’t enough. You can’t reason with truly evil people. Redistribution spreads misery, not wealth.

We need leaders like Paul Ryan, Mitch Daniels and Marco Rubio to take charge. Heck, Donald Trump would be more effective than Barack Obama and his czars.

Better weather approaches. It’s time to get out from under the wet blanket.

Misplaced grief

I feel bad for the families of the Tucson shooting victims that such a tragic event was so politicized and hijacked in the media.
I was hoping those people who immediately used the tragedy to promote their busted old rants about censoring the right and gun control would disappear after learning that the shooter was deranged and not at all influenced by conservative talk. Maybe they would see how insensitive, hypocritical and inaccurate they were. But as late as Friday, the Telegraph was still at it, running some stupid opinion cartoon of the image of a weapon formed with the names of Limbaugh, Palin and other conservatives.
Such partisan rants only serve to drive the wedge deeper. If we must play the blame game for Jared Loughner’s actions, let’s start with the ‘progressive’ culture of decriminalizing drugs, embracing toxic music, TV, and movies, squelching our Judeo-Christian traditions, and sweeping acts of terror under the rug of political correctness.
It’s bad enough that our country is becoming desensitized to evil. What makes it worse is that some in this country use any crisis to promote their agendas.