Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC), American Hero
Tags: Government Bail Outs.
Click here to get Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority by Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan.
Finally, someone with courage:
I find myself in a lonely position. While many states and local governments are lining up for a bailout from Congress, I went to Washington recently to oppose such bailouts. I may be the only governor to do so.
But I suspect I’m not entirely alone, as there are a lot of taxpayers who aren’t pleased with Christmas coming early for politicians. And I hope these taxpayers make their voices heard before Democrats load up the next bailout train for states with budget deficits…
…Community bankers tell me that they are now at a competitive disadvantage for being careful about who to lend to, because others that were less disciplined will get a federal bailout. This is also true for states. Those that have been fiscally responsible will pay for or lose out to the big spenders. California increased spending 95% over the past 10 years (federal spending went up 71% over the same period). To bail out California now seems unfair to fiscally prudent states.
Let GM go bankrupt – and let the States in financial trouble go bankrupt. Do you know what Schwarzenegger is asking you, fellow non-Californians, to bail out? Here’s a list of some of the agencies which have sucked dry California taxpayers and now wish to latch on to the Federal teat:
Acupuncture Board, Office of Administrative Hearings (One wonders if this was originally called Office of Office Affairs), Arbitration Certification Program, Arts Council (which wants to help “artistically underserved communities”), Asian Pacific Islander (API) Legislative Caucus (there seems to be 10 members of this), Latino Legislative Caucus, Legislative Black Caucus, Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus (ok, so who’s the trans-gender in the Legislature, and how do we know?), Legislature Internet Caucus (cyber geeks have a caucus?), Bureau of Barbering and Cosmetology (’cause cutting hair is so vital!), California Council for the Humanities, Cemetery and Funeral Bureau (provides instructions on how to dig a hole?), Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair (does anyone still repair electronics?), Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine (huh?), Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, Postsecondary Education Commission, Commission on the Status of Women…and that was just a glance through the directory. Trust me – California can get out of its mess if it just cuts spending to be in line with revenues. All it would require is forcing a lot of Californians to go out and get real jobs.
And through the States and municipalities looking for Federal swag, it is like this – totally useless spending implemented by liberals and RINOs, and now its time to pay the piper and they want you, dear taxpayer, on the hook for it.
To put it politely as possible: screw ‘em.
Thank you for visiting Blogs For Victory. If you enjoy our content, please consider making a donation to help us cover the costs of our servers.Mark Noonan is co-author (with Matt Margolis) of Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority. He also blogs at Nevada News and Views. Follow Mark on Twitter.
32 Responses to “Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC), American Hero”
Caucus of Corruption
But what about the Democrat union votes!! Ding, ding, ding! Pay for votes!! The Democrat[ic] way to victory!!
Mark,
The automotive industry employs over three million people direct or indirectly. You really want to send all of those jobs overseas? As for the other jobs you mentioned; Who are you to decide which jobs are real jobs or not. Is your job that important to our country’s economy?
Now I agree that there are probably a lot of jobs that could be eliminated. Heck, I can think of several that in our state that I would love to see go away, but then what are you going to do with all of those out of work. Let them starve? For that matter, what do you consider a “real” job? I’ve received a paycheck for 37 different kinds of jobs since my first paying job at age 15. I can’t think of any that I had that wasn’t real.
“I’ve received a paycheck for 37 different kinds of jobs since my first paying job at age 15.”
From what I can tell you should be looking for #38. I’m not surprised at all with 37. Just shows there are plenty of jobs out there. Are you counting ACORN? And Honda, Toyota and Hyundai build in the southeast, that is not overseas. A teacher should know that the southeast is in the USA.
SEW,
I’ve always worked two or three different jobs at the same time, and that’s over a period of forty years. How do you know all of those jobs will end up in the southeast? Are you expecting three million people to move? Of course if they did, we might end up with another couple of blue states.
I grew up in Flint Mi
GM, Chrysler and Ford havent done a thing for the state since the 70’s. Let em go bnkrupt. It’ll be the best thing that ever happened to Mich.
Look, I’m a small-town guy. If Ford were to go bankrupt, our town would lose 500 jobs! The reason I’ve voted Republican in the last three elections is because, deep down, I know that those guys have my best interest – and the towns best interest – at heart. So that’s why I think the Republican lawmakers should come up with something to bail out the company without giving them a blank check. Make ‘em work again. Because our town, a little slice of America, has already lost 3,000 jobs this year, and the town has a budget problem. So I have to drive my kids to school now, because there are no more school busses. Not only that, but now they have no sports program, either. I still have faith in fiscal Conservatism, but it’s drying up fast. I hope that someone can rekindle that faith that I haven’t really felt since Reagan. What happened to the Republican party that we all knew back then, anyway? What happened to us?
Capitalism is dead. We’ve all seen that. Don’t bail out the company, bail out the employees. Workers of America, can’t you see what has happened to you? The rich have taken your money, your houses, your health, and soon, they will take your lives too! Defend what is yours! Revolt against the order of things! Viva la revolucion! Viva la freedom!
Read this Wall Street Journal article from a couple years ago, and tell me you still want to bail out the big 3.
In his 34 years working for General Motors, one of Jerry Mellon’s toughest assignments came this January.
He spent a week in the “rubber room.”
The room is a windowless old storage shed in Flint, Mich. It is filled with long tables, Mr. Mellon says, and has space for about 400 employees. They must arrive at 6 a.m. each day and stay until 2:30 p.m., with 45 minutes off for lunch. A supervisor roams the aisles, signing people out when they want to use the bathroom.
Their job: to do nothing.
This is the Jobs Bank, a two-decade-old program in which nearly 15,000 auto workers continue to get paid after their companies stop needing them. To earn wages and benefits that often top $100,000 a year, the workers must perform some company-approved activity. Many volunteer or go back to school. The rest clock time in the rubber room or something like it.
It is called the rubber room, Mr. Mellon says, because “a few days in there makes you go crazy.”
The Jobs Bank at GM and other U.S. auto companies including Ford Motor is likely to cost around $1.4 billion to $2 billion this year. The programs, which are up for renewal next year when union contracts expire, have become a symbol of why Detroit struggles even as Japanese auto makers with big U.S. operations prosper.
Keep in mind that the auto company bail out, as originally proposed, would allow the Federal Government to own a stake in the auto companies. I don’t think that’s a can of worms that we really want to open.
Well, it’s late, and I screwed up the block quote. All but the first and last paragraphs were from the article.
Deleted – obscenity.
The companies obviously can’t keep hold of themselves. The government should own all of it.
“Trust me – California can get out of its mess if it just cuts spending to be in line with revenues. All it would require is forcing a lot of Californians to go out and get real jobs.”
It may surprise you to learn this, but we don’t spend all that money just for the heck of it, and we don’t just lie there slothfully while the government caters to our every whim. Californians do in fact work; we’re actually one of the ten largest economies in the world.¹ It sucks to not have a job in California just as much as it does in the rest of the country. As for cutting the budget, we’ve already done that almost to the point of crisis, which is why we have a billion-dollar surplus this fiscal year.² However, thanks to Phil Gramm’s recession, we are anticipating a substantial decline in revenues next fiscal year, large enough to turn that billion-dollar surplus into a billion-dollar deficit.
markford
been out of internet range for over 2 wks
cosmically off the back
return to hear obama wins
you must be bummin’
like a black hole suction ride
sorry…..
but do agree with your gm theory
time to let them go under
why not turn their plants into alternative energy points of love and manufacture?
Sergei,
Uh, yeah…that list of agencies I put up there are just vital to the health and safety of the people of California. People will DIE if there isn’t an Arts Council…
State and local government spending in California was $202 billion in 1998, $406 billion in 2008. Keeping pace with inflation would have got California’s spending to $260 billion. Add in population growth and bring it up, generously, to $300 billion. Once you get you State and local spending to $299 billion THEN you can come, hat in hand, to the rest of the United States and ask for help.
Addendum: As you can see, that is more than a 100% increase. Lots of States have done that – Sanford’s SC, on the other hand, has had an increase of 54% over the same period of time. Still way too much, but not the bonanza of profligate spending California has seen. America is not a bottomless well of money for government to spend.
bagni,
Not at all – Obama won, he will be my President. I will fight him tooth and nail on his ultra-liberal policies, and I’m in a very good mood these days.
RWR,
What is your locality doing to encourage new and different business to come to your area? Out here in Las Vegas the actual City of Las Vegas is endlessly trying to figure out ways to lure business and tourism back to downtown…no one ever thinks to lower the taxes in the City, of course. The reason why there is a Las Vegas Strip and not one inch of it in the city of Las Vegas? Because the taxes in Clark County are lower than the taxes in the City of Las Vegas. If Las Vegas wants some new mega resorts, it can just lower taxes rather than do what they have done – spend taxpayer money to spruce up Las Vegas casinos which still don’t draw people because who wants to go to dumpy downtown when the Strip’s fabulous new resorts beckon?
I know its rough – at my employer, we’re all waiting for the boom to fall, wondering how long we can sustain billion dollar quarterly losses without a major reduction in force (we’ve already had lay offs, but still have a large work force). If I’m still employed where I am a year from now, I’ll be pleasantly surprised…but I also don’t want my fellow Americans to bail out the corporation I work for…while it didn’t pick up quite the amount of toxic debt some banks did, it did pick up a lot, and that was just plain and simple stupid (and they were warned about it – by myself, and others). Stupidity should pay its price.
“Uh, yeah…that list of agencies I put up there are just vital to the health and safety of the people of California. People will DIE if there isn’t an Arts Council…”
The agencies you mentioned aren’t what’s costing us a lot of money. The Arts Council, for example, gets $4,286,000 of state funds.¹. That’s a whopping 0.004% of the states 103.4 billion dollar budget.².
“As you can see, that is more than a 100% increase. Lots of States have done that – Sanford’s SC, on the other hand, has had an increase of 54% over the same period of time. Still way too much, but not the bonanza of profligate spending California has seen. America is not a bottomless well of money for government to spend.”
“Lots of States” didn’t have the energy companies declare war on them. I don’t have the numbers at the tips of my fingers, but I remember that it was very expensive.
As for the numbers you mention, local government spending has nothing to do with the California state budget. As you did not substantiate your allegations, I can’t look to see what the relevant numbers were for 1998, but California’s budget for fiscal year 1999-2000 was $86.7 billion dollars.¹ That means that the increase has been a rather unremarkable 19.26%.
Sergei,
Its $4.2 million dollars of OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY the State does not need to spend. And the 2009 budget calls for $4.4 million. From what I can tell, that is an increase…
Lets look around a bit more:
Horse Racing Board – $11 million
Commission on Status of Women – $.5 million
Agriculture Marketing – $61 million
Board of Chiropractic Examiners – $3 million
Biodiversity Conservation – $196 million
Native American Heritage – $.8 million
Wildlife Conservative Board – $4 million
Coastal Energy Program – $.9 million
Postsecondary Education – $11 million
Law Library – $4 million
Professional Services (Teachers) – $46 million
Real Estate Appraisers – $4 million
Investment Program – $21 million
That will do, for now – I’ve just glanced through the budget and found things which can be zero’d and not have an adverse impact on the health and safety of the people of California…who knows what we’d find if we actually got a look at the budget details to find out what nonsense has been shoveled in to vital services. $10 billion is spent on corrections, and if you think there’s no waste to cut out of that budget, then you’ve been living on another planet….
California does not have a budget crisis – it has a “spend like drunken sailor” crisis…
And the projected CA State budget for 2009 is $141 billion….not $103 billion. You’re pulling an “Enron” in leaving off a huge chunk of earmarked funds…but which are still funds being spent and taxes being collected…
I can’t think of any that I had that wasn’t real.
Your teaching career probably wasn’t too important, given your radical shift to the left.
How much federal money goes to the NEA each year? And how much of that money actually gets down to the level that matters?
The auto industry’s critical mistake was not looking long term when it ceded the small car market to imports.
It chose to take the easy profits in the SUV and truck markets throughout the 90s. This was poor judgement but hindsight is 20/20.
Unions never want to cede any ground for fear they will never get it back. They have to share in the hard times as much as they share in the good.
If only those people in the auto industry were affected by a bankruptcy, I wouldn’t have such a problem with it. It is the millions of others who rely on the industry who I feel bad for. Through no fault of their own they will lose their jobs.
Also, the collapse of these companies would devastate market confidence. You would see more panic than you already have.
Mark seems more interested in punishment than creating efficient markets or rebuilding our car industry.
I say, if the UAW does not want the big three to go bust, they need to make some real concessions on the contracts. Major pay cuts, increases in the amount that the employee contributes for health care, realistic vacation and PTO (getting the first day of deer season off? is that really a holiday?).
I work for a small, privately own company. Several years ago they gave pay raises and removed paid vacation/PTO from the benefits. I wish they had not, but understand that maintaining profitability is a requirement for staying in business. Too bad the unions cannot realize that profits are not a sin.
Good for Sanford. Maybe he’ll get Bush’s ear.
I thought the banks were getting billions to loan to companies like, oh, GM.
If the feds are going to lend directly to businesses, the banks need to give the money back.
But King George, true to form, is leaving no billionaire behind on his way out the door.
Mark, that list has some stuff on it worth keeping. Besides, the government needs to spend, or else you get bridges in Minnesota that collapse without warning because no one spent any money on it.
Mark
all I am hearing hear is the loss of 3 million jobs.
Some one WILL step in to meet the demand for autos, and trucks.
Hopefully they would be here in the US, possibly with the same buildings and machinery.
Business has to stay competitive to survive.
They will fail with or without a Govt. bailout.
Just ask the FORMER soviet union.
Let them fail and let a leaner better company do the work.
Mark
as for California , new york etc
let them fail also. It is the only way to get rid of entrenched bureaucrats, and their looney money eating programs.
socialist
There would be money for repairing bridges if it wasnt being spent on nonsensical social programs.
Twenty five years ago in Fl. there was 1 administrator for every 10 teachers.
Today there is 1 admin for every 3 teachers…Pure insanity.
Not to mention the BILLIONS poured down the drain every rear for busing children to other neighborhoods in a futile attempt to reach racial balance.
It has helped the education system or students zero, but the socialists really love it in spite of the cost, and it’s failures.
what,
Bankruptcy, however, would clear the decks. Rather than shovel money at a failed GM, we should spend it on unemployment insurance and job training. There will be dislocations, no matter what we do – and the longer we delay things, the worse it eventually will be.
Socialist,
Government money built the bridge and government money was upgrading the bridge when it collapsed. And I’ll agree to triple bridge money if we can get rid of the Arts Council…
I’ll care what the SC governor says when his state starts refusing its $1.35 in federal money per dollar in federal taxes, and hands some of that to California with its $0.80 in federal money per federal tax dollar.
http://www.nemw.org/taxburd.htm
Mark,
You identify $363.2 million in programs you think should be eliminated. Using the figure in the budget, that works out to 0.35% of total expenditures. Using the figure you provide, it’s 0.26%.
Also, just because you don’t care about regulation, environmentalism, education, etc. does not mean that they are not important. To cite just one example, here in California, when ecosystems are not properly balanced, they have an unpleasant tendency to explode into raging infernos of blazing flame that incinerate everything in their path.
here’s an idea for getting California out of its fiscal crisis. How about a state tax on churches in exchange for access to the political process for every church in the state? Active partisanship from the pews for a slice of their huge pie.