Author: Mark Noonan

Abuse of the Welfare State

Mark Noonan77 Comments

Writ large in Michigan – from Detroit News:

…Here we go again — the cold-harded GOP elitists are balancing the budget on the back of the poor.

More than 11,000 people will see their welfare benefits end on Oct. 1.

What will they do? Well, most haven’t considered working as an option.

The Department of Human Services sent letters to 11,062 welfare recipients, notifying them their checks are coming to an end. Included was a toll-free number people could call for information and assistance.

The hotline got 1,401 calls. Of that number, only eight callers requested help in finding a job.

Many of those being cut off have been on public assistance for 14 years. That’s not a safety net; it’s a hammock…

Except for those actually incapable of work – and, remember, I have an exceptionally high bar for that – all people must work.  I don’t care if its just picking up trash in the city streets, no one should ever be allowed to sit on their rear and collect any sort of government benefit.  Furthermore, in order to ensure that the search for work is diligent, welfare should never pay more 80% of a minimum wage job.  Any job, any where – even those “jobs Americans won’t do” and are thus filled by illegals – should pay more than government assistance.  Welfare should only be just enough to keep body and soul together until the recipient finds a job.

The best estimate that I have found of non-health care, non-Social Security welfare spending by the United States government is in the range of $350 to $500 billion per year (its hard to tell because Uncle Sam – determined to not make it easy for us – doesn’t have a category of spending called “welfare”…you have to dig around for it).  I’ll bet that State and local welfare spending adds at least 25% to that figure (and it is probably higher)…even at the low end, we’re talking more than $400 billion per year spent by government in various transfer payments to people who didn’t pay any “input” taxes (in other words, didn’t pay SS taxes, didn’t pay taxes which fund unemployment, etc).  I’ll bet that three quarters (at least) of that money is going to people who can work, but choose not to.

Add in the waste and fraud in Social Security disability, the number of people who get healthcare on the public dime without putting in anything, the drain caused by illegal immigration, and the money spent on worthless aspects of education (what is that?  Worthwhile education spending:  education spending which results in an engineer, teacher or doctor.  Worthless education:  spending which results in diversity coordinators, corporate bureaucrats and lawyers) and you’re probably getting in to the range of a trillion dollars per year of drain on the economy…money which is spent that has no net, positive benefit.  Money which just goes to leeches.

This has to change – and the welfare reform in Michigan shows why:  some people are so long on the public dime that they simply have no desire to get off it.  They must be forced off – work, or starve.  A complete audit of all recipients of government money must be done…and all able-bodied people with no minor children must be kicked off of government support; those with children must be forced to do at least some work in payment for their welfare; only those absolutely incapable of working (or on a program they directly paid in to over the years) should be allowed to remain.

There is still plenty of work on the low end in the United States…work which doesn’t need even a high school diploma (how many from the backwaters of Mexico and the third world who come here illegally have such?).  It is, often, hard and dirty work…but work is honorable, and all honest work creates personal dignity.  Better to be poor digging a ditch than poor watching daytime television.  Mind you, I’ll go ten thousand extra miles to help out anyone who is working hard and still not able to make ends meet…you put in your 40 hours and you’re still short, you can count on me to either work it through charity or, if need be, enact laws to ensure that you and your family have decent food, housing, clothing and basic health care…but the first step is that 40 hours of work.

We must become a nation of hard work, thrift and careful investment…massive reforms need to be undertaken, and none of them can really be done in isolation.  Big Corporation also needs to feel the hammer; Big government, naturally; all of us have to stand up and do what is right…after generations of coasting on  borrowed money.  The only way we keep our nation is if we work for it.  Period, end of story.  Anyone who says otherwise is simply not understanding the nature of life.

 

Buffett’s Obama Bail Out

Mark Noonan9 Comments

Why  did Buffett buy $5 billion of Bank of America stock? Mish suggests that Buffett was just trying to energize financial stocks, in general, as he’s up to the gills in them and puffing them up would allow him to unload all other financials before they go “poof”. That could be it, but I think there was more going on.

Warren Buffett’s most prestigious investment these day is President Obama.  If Bank of America had failed – and it is still “one foot in the grave, other on a banana peel” – then it would likely have served as the trigger for a general financial collapse…begin Great Depression II, end of any chance for Obama’s re-election.  While this would have hit Buffett hard financially there is still the fact that if you’re worth $45 billion and lose $10 billion, you’ve still got $35 billion left.  Buffett remains rich no matter what – ego is involved here.

Buffett has specially bought in to what Obama stands for…his image of himself stands or falls with the success of Big Government liberalism.  Buffett told us that Obama was The One; Buffett tells us that if we’ll just tax and spend some more all will be made well; Buffett tells us that it is us knuckle-dragging conservatives who got it wrong.  But if Obama fails, then Buffett got it massively wrong.  Buffett is not about to be proved wrong by a bunch of bitter-clinger adherents of that worn out, has-been Constitution!

It won’t work – Buffett has seemed like a savvy businessman because he’s piled up huge amounts of cash by milking the Big Government, fiat-money, usury-based economy for all its worth.  That economic model, though, has now gone on as long as it can.  We’re bankrupt; there is simply no more money to borrow, any more printing will just touch off ruinous inflation…its all done gone up the spout, as it were.  Buffett may think that if he throws around a few billion it will change the dynamic…all it will do is delay the inevitable, and not by nearly as much as all of Bernanke’s trillions in fake money.  Not only is Buffett about to be proved wrong, he’s also going to be proved a bad businessman…someone who can only make it in a ponzeconomy, but has no relevance to one based on hard work, thrift and careful investment.

UPDATE:  Buffett is also relentlessly avoiding taxes…this report shows that he’s arguing with the IRS over taxes unpaid since at least 2002.  Yeah, he really wants to pay more…

Christie’s Error

Mark Noonan31 Comments

From Politicker NJ:

Issuing a one-year moratorium on “fracking,” Gov. Chris Christie today issued a conditional veto of S-2576, recommending changes to the legislation that balances protecting New Jersey’s environment and drinking water and encouraging cleaner energy alongside the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

As currently written, S-2576 would permanently prohibit fracking in New Jersey, a drilling technique used for the exploration or production of natural gas, even as concurrent studies on the practice are underway by the federal government and no known natural gas deposits necessitating use of the fracking process have been proposed for development in New Jersey.

“I share many of the concerns expressed by the legislators that sponsored this bill and the environmental advocates seeking a permanent moratorium on fracking. We must ensure that our environment is protected and our drinking water is safe,” said Christie. “I am placing a one-year moratorium on fracking so that the DEP can further evaluate the potential environmental impacts of this practice in New Jersey as well as evaluate the findings of still outstanding and ongoing federal studies.”

No, Governor, the complaints about “fracking” are mythical in nature…no event has happened which indicates even the slightest risk from the process, so all complaints about it are based upon guesses…and if they are guesses which in any way, shape or form stem from environmentalist groups, they can likely be considered nonsense.  Unless and until someone demonstrates  a risk, no governmental action should be taken.

The environmentalists want to shut down”fracking” because they are deathly afraid that the United States will use it and become more energy independent.  That is not an environmentalist goal – they want us paying an ever higher price for energy so they can shut down industry and force Americans on to public transportation.  To the full-blown environmentalist, the death of American prosperity is a victory for the Earth, and Earth is more important, to them, than the people of the United States.

Christie has been an excellent governor and would still get my enthusiastic support for President…but this is just caving in to environmental insanity.

Mayor Bloomberg, Numbskull

Mark Noonan30 Comments

Showing just why we GOPers are glad that people like Bloomberg leave the party – from Fox Nation:

Religious leaders are calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reverse course and offer clergy a role in the ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Rudy Washington, a deputy mayor in former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s administration, said he’s outraged. Mr. Washington organized an interfaith ceremony at Yankee Stadium shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“This is America, and to have a memorial service where there’s no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me,” said Mr. Washington, who has suffered severe medical problems connected to the time he spent at Ground Zero…

This from the guy who defended the “Ground Zero mosque”…just how idiotic do you have to be to get yourself in to that position?  Sure, put a triumphalist, Moslem religious center right next to Ground Zero…but don’t let a Christian or Jew offer so much as a prayer during the memorial ceremony!  That makes sense…if you’re an uber-rich, elitist member of the Ruling Class.

Democrats Play for the Political Middle

Mark Noonan148 Comments

By playing up to those moderate, middle-of-the-road, “mom and apple pie” folks at….Planned Parenthood – From Life News:

The chair of the national Democratic party headlined a small rally in Florida yesterday for Planned Parenthood, in what is the latest event having Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz working with the abortion business.

Wasserman Schultz was named by pro-abortion President Barack Obama recently to take over as the head of the Democratic Party nationally and prepare for his re-election campaign next year. At the time of her appointment to the position, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards praised Wasserman Schultz as a “heroine” for her extensive abortion advocacy. The appointment made it clear Obama would not run from his lengthy pro-abortion record…

Yeah, that is what the people of America want –  abortion on demand.  And, hey, if you can get it funded via ObamaCare in the by and by, so much the better.   When Americans get up in the morning, they aren’t worried about their jobs or the future for their children…the only concern they have is whether or not Planned Parenthood stays on the public teat, sucking up money for butchering children.  That is the way in to America’s heartland…be closely identified with Planned Parenthood.

These people are starting to make this too easy…

Germany Increasingly Worried About Bailouts

Mark Noonan9 Comments

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph:

German President Christian Wulff has accused the European Central Bank of violating its treaty mandate with the mass purchase of southern European bonds.

In a cannon shot across Europe’s bows, he warned that Germany is reaching bailout exhaustion and cannot allow its own democracy to be undermined by EU mayhem.

“I regard the huge buy-up of bonds of individual states by the ECB as legally and politically questionable. Article 123 of the Treaty on the EU’s workings prohibits the ECB from directly purchasing debt instruments, in order to safeguard the central bank’s independence,” he said…

Little late there, Wulff, old boy – the European Central Bank has been burying the European Union in bogus debt for three years.

This does, though, point to the end of German patience – after all, Germany can start printing Deutschmarks tomorrow and they would probably be at par with the British pound, and possibly higher.  European money would start to flood in to Germany as people seek a safe haven from the coming Euro-collapse.  It is time to call a halt to this before the entirety of Europe is brought down because the ECB wants to bail out banksters who idiotically loaned money to places like Greece, Italy and Spain.  It can’t be done – and either the PIIGS bondholders will go under, or everyone will.  If I were German, I’d be saying “bondholders go under”.

Will Germans discover a backbone and send the ECB packing, or will lingering guilt over WWII (to be sure, that is something to be guilty about) cause German’s to sacrifice their own prosperity in order to be “good Europeans”?   Time will tell…

Perry Vs Obama

Mark Noonan13 Comments

From NRO’s The Corner:

I don’t know – I have to doubt the Obama picture as I am unaware of any valid pictures of Obama smoking (and NRO notes that the picture might be of Obama prior to turning 22)…but, even if that is a bit photo-shopped, it still tells a bit of truth.  At 22, Obama wasn’t doing anything of note…Perry was.

If 2012 turns to an election on resume’, then Obama will be toast against Perry…

Obama 39%…Ron Paul 38%

Mark Noonan6 Comments

More proof that 2012 is becoming an “anybody but Obama” year – from Rasmussen:

…Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul earns 38% of the vote to President Obama’s 39% in the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters. Fourteen percent (14%) like some other candidate, and eight percent (8%) remain undecided…

The reason we’re still wondering if Palin and Christie will get in the race is because it is becoming likely that whomever the GOP nominates, if they are just a credible alternative, will be the next President.  For a Republican, 2012 might be the easiest year to run, ever.

Setting aside the usual “its a long time and anything can happen” caveats, the political dynamic is shaping up to be excruciating for President Obama and his Democrats.  Only a sharp pivot away from liberalism can possibly change things sufficiently by November, 2012…and any such pivot opens up the prospect of ultra-liberals staying home, or opting for a Third Party candidate.  An incredible run of luck can still save Obama’s bacon, but that is just about it.

So, Republicans, choose with care – the guy or gal we nominate is whom we’re likely to be stuck with for four years.  No do-overs.

 

Obamunism! Michelle Obama’s Lavish Lifestyle

Mark Noonan13 Comments

From the Mail:

The Obamas’ summer break on Martha’s Vineyard has already been branded a PR disaster after the couple arrived four hours apart on separate government jets.

But according to new reports, this is the least of their extravagances.

White House sources today claimed that the First Lady has spent $10 million of U.S. taxpayers’ money on vacations alone in the past year…

The exact dollar amount isn’t really all that important – what is important i that, clearly, the First Lady has been living a high end lifestyle while America has sunk further in to debt and poverty.  This is just insensitive…and unwise; if Michelle Obama cares anything for her husband’s political future, she’ll knock it off.

Under the best of circumstances, moving the President around takes a lot of money…just in actual staff the bill is huge.  When you add in the cost of staying some place, providing food and then the complex security arrangements necessary for the President, you start to get in to mind-boggling figures.  President and Mrs. Obama should have a little more sense – sure, the President does need a vacation.  It is the most demanding job in the world…but the White House is pretty swell and Camp David is nearby.

Hopefully the mounting criticism of the President will force a bit of re-thinking on the part of the Obamas.  It is time to live cheap, while America tries to recover.

 

 

Why Liberals Hate the “Conscience Exemption”

Mark Noonan35 Comments

From Life News:

A new study provides more good news for pro-life advocates, as it shows fewer doctors are willing to perform abortions than before — creating a situation where the lower availability of abortion may be helping to reduce abortions.

The new report, published today in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, finds 97 percent of physicians surveyed say they have encountered patients wanting an abortion while only 14 percent of doctors are willing to do an abortion. That’s lower than the 22 percent of doctors who said they would do an abortion in the last poll, from 2008…

In the main, no doctor who is worthy of the name would perform an elective abortion.  Doctors know better than most that the unborn child is a unique, human life…and anyone committed to healing and saving will have a very hard time getting around this concrete fact.

There has been, over the years, a continual drop in the number of doctors who are willing to perform an elective abortion, greatly cutting in to the availability of the inhuman procedure, even without legislative restrictions.  Because of this, the pro-abortion fanatics are determined to force doctors and other medical professionals to provide abortion and other anti-life medical procedures – these people fought hard to ensure that ObamaCare had no meaningful “conscience” clause for medical providers who feel that things like birth control and abortion are immoral…and the pro-aborts will keep at it.  And here’s the bad news – as long as Roe is recognized as the law of the land, they are in a strong position.

If abortion is a right – and if health care is a right – then no doctor can refuse to perform whatever medical procedure a patient orders.  That, right there, shows that asserting a right to an abortion is absurd – no human right can ever denigrate another human right…you do have a right to choose, but this includes the right to choose “no” when asked to participate in an abortion.  But this bit of common-sense doesn’t matter to the pro-aborts…they just want their anti-life agenda to become absolutely the law of the land, and they’ll use every tool they’ve got…including asinine judicial rulings such as Roe.  And if they have to forcibly conscript our doctors and nurses in to the abortion industry, they’ll do it in the name of a “right” to an abortion.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it – the issue of life is the most important issue facing us today.  Next to it, issues such as the debt, the economy, war and all the rest fade to insignificance.  Whether or not we survive as a people depends on what we do about life.  Look around the world today and what do you see?  A dying world.  All of the nations of the Earth are locked in a dance with death.  Only a few nations retain a robust birth rate…while some nations have already entered terminal population decline (meaning that unless there is a massive turn-around in the birth rate, they will die out, as nations, within a bit more than a century).

We here in the United States are barely increasing – and a lot of that increase is due to recent immigrants, who haven’t quite been as poisoned by the Culture of Death as native people.  But even the nations the immigrants come from are now rapidly falling in to death…our illegal immigrant problem from Mexico will shortly solve itself…believe it or not, the Culture of Death has so corrupted Mexico that Mexican women (once know for their fertility) are not having children.  Our source of cheap, imported labor is drying up at the source.

I can’t really explain the motivation of those on the side of death – certainly there is an element of despair in them (likely stemming from some species of non serviam coming from the Enemy), but I’m at a loss to fully explain why they want us to die.  The only thing I know for certain is we must fight and destroy the Culture of Death.  We must not say that Life and anti-life are equal and worthy of respect…the pro-abort position is an illegitimate abomination, which can only be adhered to out of rank ignorance, or simple wickedness.  All our policies must be geared towards encouraging men and women to marry and have children, and providing them with the economic and legal basis to sustain a decent household for the raising of children.  Anything which detracts from this must be hindered, all that advances it must be fostered.

Remember, then, why you are fighting for small government, low taxes, sensible regulations, strong morals, decent education and religious liberty…not for your own self, but for all of those here today, and for those who come after.  All our efforts are not for political victory or so we can make money, or bomb our enemies to smithereens…but just so Joe and Jane Average can get married, have kids and raise them in a decent society.  If you’re not fighting for that, then you’re not fighting for anything worthwhile.