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Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - The Law

President Obama’s Case Against Healthcare Reform

July 28, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

If you take President Obama’s example at face value concerning unnecessary tonsillectomies here are six points to consider why he basically made the case against his so called Healthcare Reform Plan (ObamaCare):

1) He accused doctors of unnecessary medical procedures. His example was a pediatrician profiting from tonsillectomies. Since when does a pediatrician perform surgeries? They don’t, a (pediatric) surgeon does. A pediatrician does not get any kickback or money from the surgeon for the referral. His example shows either a profound ignorance of the division of labor within health care or a deliberate deception. In fact under his example, the pediatrician would make MORE money from seeing the child repeatedly over a period of months by collecting the copay at each visit under a PPO arrangement. In an HMO where the doctor makes most of his money on a flat rate per patient per month regardless of the number of times the person sees the doctor. Under an HMO, the pediatrician would make money by making the tonsillectomy referral since seeing an individual LESS would mean having more patients on the roster thus collecting more money in the aggregate. However, most HMOs would ding the pediatrician for having a higher rate of referrals thus restricting their medical practice to stop such abuse.

2) All medical procedures on a child or adult are done with the prior CONSENT of the guardian or patient. If you are going to question the integrity of doctors, you will also have to question the motives of guardians and patients for acting proactively.
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President Obama’s Case Against Healthcare Reform”

Barack Obama - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Police - President - Race - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

Acting Stupidly

July 26, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

At the end of President Obama’s health care sales pitch he made some remarks, which revealed elements of his worldview. He said the police acted stupidly with the preface of not knowing the all the facts, what does this say of Obama’s worldview? President Obama says he respects the efforts of the police whom he then claims they acted stupidly. He admits he doesn’t have all the facts and then pronounces judgment. Equally as revealing were the Harvard Professor Gates’ attitudes toward the white cop, i.e. the police. He made the same assumptions as President Obama. The common element between both of them is their liberal worldview. When someone axiomatically assumes a certain cause for the effect without ANY attempt to determine what the facts are, it says this person is operating on stereotypes. This would be like Archie Bunker assuming the burglary next door was committed by Blacks. Or the owner of the fancy house down the street is a Jew. I submit Barack Obama is nothing more than a modern day Archie Bunker. Just as Archie Bunker was the caricature for conservatives, Barack Obama is the caricatures for liberals. The obvious exception is that Archie Bunker was a fictional character whereas Barack Obama is not.

Here we have the demonstrated epitome of liberal stereotypes and jurisprudence, you are presumed guilty of all negative stereotypes unless you provide concrete proof to the contrary. The Archie Bunker of liberalism has spoken his truth but what truth was it? Was it race? Here’s something to consider, a Hispanic cop and a Black cop back up the actions of a White cop, however the common element between all three is BLUE. The Great Divider tossed the ethereal version of the race card. Perhaps we have all misunderstood his statement, because he said he was sorry that we misunderstood, but he did not say he was sorry for what he said. We were supposed to get the US VERSUS THEM against the police, but being the dolts we are, we thought he was alluding to race, i.e. the color of his skin because the arresting officer was white. Clearly the professor saw the other two cops of different races, so like Obama, he was claiming Blue racism against Blacks. Interestingly, the police union didn’t misunderstand Obama’s message, hence their demand for an apology. Both Obama and the police are operating on the same wavelength.
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Acting Stupidly”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Liberals - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes

Liberal Mantras

July 21, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

The new liberal mantra regarding the current drive to quote, reform our health care system, unquote, is that the current system is broken and furthermore, we have debated the idea for 40 years as thee reasons for change. On the surface, the sales pitch is compelling, but like all things liberals attempt to sell the public they are short on details and when those details are revealed, the whole system is found to be one big unworkable boondoggle. One thing we have learned over the years is that liberal assertions are nothing more than falsehoods waiting to be exposed. I don’t know about you, but once I determine someone is misleading me, I stop believing anything they say.

How is our health care system broken? Most citizens have health care via insurance or direct pay, 1. Employer sponsored plans, 2. A COBRA plan because they are unemployed (indirect pay), 3. An individual plan (indirect pay), 4. Medicare if you are over 65, 5. Medicaid if you are indigent or 6. The wealthy that for their own reasons pay the bill presented by any health care provider directly. The observed facts say the system works for the majority of users. For a system that is supposedly broken, thousands of foreigners flock to the US to receive health care they see as clearly second to none. The system is said not to work for illegal aliens, the young who choose not to have insurance and those between jobs who elect not to take advantage of COBRA or get an individual policy. Who are we missing here? Those people who choose not to prioritize monthly health insurance payments over that of their other personal priorities.
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Liberal Mantras”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Socialism - Taxes

Stealth Wealth Redistribution

July 7, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

A number of warnings have gone out about the printing of money. The Federal Reserve has been injecting money into the economy by buying US Treasuries in an attempt to keep down interest rates. Their efforts thus far are beginning to fail as bond rates are starting to climb. As we all know, the US Treasury has been forced to issue ever increasing amounts of bonds to finance Congress’s irresponsible spending. The chilling part is the bulk of the Stimulus money has yet to be spent meaning the US Treasury will have to significantly ramp up its bond sales to finance government operations. That on top of the trillion dollar budget deficit this year, next year and years to come.

Given the massive amounts of debt issuance, one must wonder if we are about to become another Zimbabwe experiencing hyperinflation. While the US Treasury, who is tasked to raise funds for government operations, doesn’t have the authority to say no to Congress, the Federal Reserve does. At what point is it the Federal Reserve’s responsibility to say to Congress we can’t print anymore money regardless of your desire to spend it? If the Federal Reserve did so, interest rates would shoot up due to the US Treasury attempting to meet the spending levels. Recently, I have begun to rethink the threat of hyperinflation due to all the wealth destruction over the past year.
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Stealth Wealth Redistribution”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Race - Religion - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Terrorism

Did We Just See Obama Squirm?

June 30, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

Two international occurrences over the past month have given us an interesting insight into President Obama. The first being his initial tepid response to Iranians demonstrating non violently in the streets over a very suspicious election result and the Basij murdering seven demonstrators in a staged attacked to make the demonstrators look violent. The purpose of the attack was to delegitimize a peaceful movement and their dissent in order to shift the focus away from a less than believable election result. One cannot count millions of hand marked paper ballots in a matter of four hours, not even in the US. No one bought the staged attack anymore than the phony election results. However, President Obama curiously refused to support the demonstrators under the rationalization that it would appear as meddling in Iranian affairs and would compromise future nuclear weapons negotiations. It wasn’t until more demonstrators were murdered and President Obama was essentially shamed into it by Congress and then being accused by Iran of meddling that he finally found his rhetorical voice to speak words of support for the demonstrators. Obama affirmed the right of peaceful dissent for the Iranian demonstrators and that the Iranian government should allow them to speak their piece without use of force. He said nothing about the legitimacy elections.

The second insight into President Obama came this week when President Zelaya of Honduras was arrested by the Army removing him from power. President Obama called for the Rule of Law in opposing the ouster of Zelaya. Interestingly, it was the Rule of Law that Zelaya broke and that nation’s Supreme Court ordered his arrest. It appears he wanted to follow in Chavez’s footsteps to become president for life by holding an illegal referendum removing term limits. It was all very democratic, except the part of not following the Constitution of Honduras and President Obama knew this.
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Did We Just See Obama Squirm?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Communism - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Family - Liberals - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Welfare

Screwing Over The Poor Again!

June 23, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

In another example of feel good legislation Congress has once again come up with a plan to help their primary constituents, the unions under the guise of advancing environmentalism and helping the economy. The cash for clunkers act as it is named will pay anywhere from $3,500 to $4,500 for any vehicle sold in a transaction to purchase a more fuel efficient one. As with most feel good legislation, it is ill considered with unintended consequences and a waste of taxpayer money.

Let’s examine the pertinent numbers. Under the act, $1 billion as a starter will be spent by the taxpayer to buy up (and scrap) a vehicle that gets less than 18 mpg. The better gas mileage the newer vehicle gets, the higher the amount of taxpayer money you get. Using an average $4000 as the credit that would take approximately 250,000 used cars off the road. As of 2006 there were roughly 135.4 million passenger cars, 6.7 million motorcycles and 99.1 million light trucks and SUVs. In that same year, roughly 42.6 million used vehicles were sold. Why is that important? Approximately one sixth of the total vehicles on the road are re-sold each year and that’s a sizable market. Taking 250,000 off the road would barely register at 0.6% of the annual sales volume of older vehicles. While this is a very small percentage, it will have a most pernicious effect of setting the base price for any used car at $3,500.
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Screwing Over The Poor Again!”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions

Healthcare Reform Flim-Flam

June 16, 2009 by 5 Comments

-By Dan Scott

President Barack Obama is seeking to help pay for his healthcare plan by sharply reducing the government’s medical spending, mainly by trimming payments to prescription drug makers, hospitals and other care providers and then hiking taxes.

…In his weekly Internet and radio address Saturday, Obama proposed cutting $313 billion from the programs over 10 years. That’s in addition to the $635 billion “down payment” in tax increases and spending cuts in the health care system that he announced earlier…

…He would cut $106 billion from payments that help hospitals treat uninsured people because his plan would cover nearly every American.

Source

Of course we could suspend our disbelief of Obama’s claim that he can insure 47 million people by cutting Medicare and raising taxes. Now I want someone to explain to me how you can cut Medicare reimbursements to doctors and hospitals and keep the same level of service when in fact the reimbursements are at or below cost to the medical providers? This is outright flim-flam to make such claims.
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Healthcare Reform Flim-Flam”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Liberals - Society/Culture - Taxes

Subprime Car Loans Coming Your Way

June 8, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

It really is amazing how predictable an inevitable disaster is to see. The housing bubble created by Congress, the spike in fuel prices created by Congress (now going for a second go round), massive deficit spending again by Congress and the effect yet to be experienced by printing money, i.e. inflation. The failure of the auto company bailouts is now unfolding, they were supposed to prevent bankruptcy and didn’t and now the inevitable tossing of good money after bad in the vain attempt to save the unions, I mean the car companies.

In the examples I listed above, Congress through its transparently well-deliberated infinite wisdom meddled in the economy to come up with these results. Surely, no one is going to deny placing economically disadvantaged people, prone to layoffs in a financially dicey situation will have any other result than failure? Of course liberals denied this and thus increased the price of gasoline with the drilling ban, the results were predictable and inevitable, unemployment went up and so did mortgage defaults. So what is Congress now laying the groundwork for in regards to selling cars from their newly minted Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs)?
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Subprime Car Loans Coming Your Way”

Budget - Business - Communism - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - Media Bias - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes

Another Example of Central Planning Failure

May 19, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Dan Scott

I find it particularly amusing when liberals proclaim the end of capitalism by their self-righteous actions of micromanaging companies they plan to make the centerpiece of their social responsibility. Of course, since I am not directly affected as an employee or investor, my sense of humor might be lost those who are being manipulated for the so-called benefit of society. Chrysler has become the liberal showcase of what they can do when their “superior intellect” is employed. In Chrysler we have fascism, environmentalism, unionism and redistribution of wealth all mixed into one big bubbling pot of failure. While I do feel for the employees and investors of Chrysler and shake my head at the billions of taxpayer dollars yet to be expended on top of that already wasted, I can’t help but smirk at the inevitable debacle of feel good, we must do something, liberalism. As a conservative, I’m not into the self-righteousness thing of projecting an image to get people to like me or manipulate them into doing what I want.

In show of power, Obama’s political appointees running Chrysler recently slashed the company’s advertising budget in half during the bankruptcy process. It’s rather ironic that the very group of people who depend upon the marketing of their image should make the first blow to Chrysler’s ability to sell the vehicles currently sitting unpurchased on the dealership lots. I’m sure the dealerships appreciate the government for having no interest in moving the existing inventory. Apparently, they believe they must look to the future promises of green cars while ignoring current reality of the 80,000 people employed selling cars. What do they care? Chrysler doesn’t own those cars anyway; the dealerships do and are paying interest on the unsold inventory sitting on their lots. It seems Obama’s flunkies either believe cars will magically sell themselves or the surviving dealerships must be made to share in their cause of wealth redistribution occurring at Chrysler by making them expend more money to offset the loss of advertising.
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Another Example of Central Planning Failure”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture

Happy Talk

May 12, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

Recently a number of overly rosy pronouncements have been coming out of the Whitehouse in an attempt to talk up the economy and consumer confidence. In the corporate world, putting a brave face on a bad situation is called Happy Talk. The CEO comes out with the pep talk to boost flagging employee morale to keep up productivity and key employees from jumping ship. The positive spin can be come from true concern for the drag on team spirit that would make the difference between success and failure through vision and teamwork. The overly positive spin is done cynically in the knowledge the company leadership has made some bad decisions which are about to have very negative consequences and is done to prevent employees from taking any action to protect themselves. Many things can sink a company, poor attitude, low morale, bad decisions, natural disasters and fraud among the many, but how you characterize the situation speaks volumes as to your intent. In the corporate world, the dividing line between Happy Talk and vision is denial, ignorance and deception.

The Tim Geithner Stress Test for the Banks is an example of such Happy Talk. The results were positively optimistic and a number of banks were told to increase their reserves just in case there was an unexpected drop in the economy. What Geithner and the MSM didn’t say was there are other independent companies who regularly evaluate the health of banks beyond the FDIC conducting periodic evaluations of the banking industry. One such company is called Institutional Risk Analytics (IRA). IRA rates banks via an index based on the year 1995 being a rating of 1. The relative strength of the institution drops as the index number increases.
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Happy Talk”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Congress - Constitution - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions

Chryslergate

May 6, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

Last week on WJR radio Frank Beckmann conducted an interview of Tom Lauria, a bankruptcy lawyer who represents some of the bondholders who loaned money Chrysler. During the course of that interview Mr. Lauria dropped a bombshell that implicated the Whitehouse in an extortion plot against a bondholder potentially involving almost a billion dollars amounting to fraud.

The threat that amounts to extortion:
“I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday. One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House, and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.”
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Chryslergate”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes

The Fiduciary Trust

April 28, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

Everyone who is responsible for financial transactions and decisions that effect the wellbeing of others understands the term, fiduciary. There is a code of ethics and duty which governs that relationship. I will quote the on line Business Dictionary to help you understand this idea of fiduciary so you may see how essential it is in the conduct of business affairs: (bold is mine)

Special relationship of trust and confidence which, in the words justice Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (1870-1938; US Supreme court judge from 1932 to 1938) is “something more than the ordinary honor of the marketplace … the very punctilio of honesty and forthrightness.” Fiduciary relationships exist between an agent and principal, testator and trustee, testator and executor, ward and guardian, customer and bank, client and attorney, patient and doctor, partner and partner, stockholders (shareholders) and directors, etc. In these relationships law demands a higher than ordinary degree of care and responsibility from the dominant or trusted party.
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The Fiduciary Trust”

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Constitution - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes

The Big Question

April 14, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

This April 15th, millions of Americans will be protesting the rampant deficit spending of Congress (and the Obama Administration by encouraging it). Tea Parties will be held in every State of the Union. On that day, we who oppose reckless spending will have a cathartic moment having vented our spleens at the irresponsible behavior of those running government. We the People will have spoken, politicians will condescendingly notice, the MSM will spin the story line to minimize it and of course the Left is unhappy calling us sore losers and unpatriotic. But on April 16th will anything have changed?

When it comes to Congress acting as an agent of the People, the record is pretty spotty.
When a number of people in power attempted to give a blanket amnesty to illegal aliens, We the People hounded our representatives to the point the email servers crashed and the telephone switchboards couldn’t handle the traffic. The people in power got the message loud and clear, NO (almost a year before the 2008 election). When those in power attempted to pass the first bail out package, the People spoke and they narrowly defeated the bill (shortly before the 2008 election). Through bribery (sweeteners via minimal changes in the bill), stealth and fear, the leaders of the House and Senate convinced just enough members of Congress to pass the bailout bill over the objections of the overwhelming majority of the People. Again, just before the 2008 elections. Through clever deflection under the cover of the Presidential election, those who voted for the bailout package were never held to account for their vote. Since then, We the People have come to regret failing our chance to hold these people responsible. Congress passed a so-called stimulus bill over the objections of the most people via a party line vote. Congress has passed a number of other bills with little popular support. Many of us have thrown up our hands in disgust not knowing what to do and many will be protesting on April 15th.
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The Big Question”

Barack Obama - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Liberals - Media Bias - Military - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

Paper Tigers

April 7, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

The world can be a dangerous place and even more so when we fail to understand the motivations of the various actors on the world stage. Recently, North Korea (DPRK) has provoked the world yet again with the launching of another alleged missile over Japan. For well over a month there was an uproar over the impending launch with warnings and counter warnings. The US threatened to shoot the missile down and the DPRK said shooting their satellite down would be an act of war thus the line was drawn in the sand, each side daring and doubling daring each other. The DPRK claims it was a satellite and most of the world says it was a missile. The DPRK launches and says the satellite is harmlessly orbiting the earth broadcasting patriotic songs but the US says it shot the third stage down. So whose truth (sarcasm intended) do we believe? I guess that depends on the most probable believable story. The US has already demonstrated it can either shoot down a missile in flight or a satellite in orbit. Given the anti-war stances of President Obama, would he risk war with the DPRK in shooting down a missile? Given the Dear Leader’s cushy little spot in power would he risk finding himself in the same position as Saddam Hussein??? The Dear Leader is no slouch in world affairs, after all he got Madeline Albright to play basketball! Maybe the most believable story is the dummy load fell into the Pacific Ocean instead of achieving orbit and Obama never gave the order to shoot down the alleged missile. So both the Dear Leader and President Obama claim victory and war was averted, works for both of them doesn’t it?

For those who don’t know the Dear Leader, I am speaking of Kim Jong-IL, the dictator of North Korea. Under his and his father’s rule, the people of North Korea have been reduced to abject poverty to the point even the city lights at night don’t up on satellite pictures save for his capitol Pyungyang. He is known to his people as the “Dear Leader”. His activities include: the production and distribution of narcotics as well as the counterfeiting of foreign currencies, cigarettes, and pharmaceuticals. To give you the full understanding of this man’s idea of truth, North Korea is formally known as the DPRK – Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
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Paper Tigers”

Barack Obama - Congress - Constitution - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes

The Train Wreck

March 31, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

A number of people recently have been commenting on how the economy seems to be showing signs of recovery, all without a single penny of the so called stimulus bill having been spent. The stock market has been moving up of late giving investors a sense of hope that the bottom has been reached signaling an end to their financial losses. Hope is good but false hope is dangerous as it causes people to lower their defenses against the oncoming train wreck. Counting on an economic recovery is occurring due to a bear market rally, is false hope. The psychology of the bear rally is based on false hope.

Have you noticed the price of gas lately? Its been creeping back up and now is up to $2/gallon. It’s not due to domestic demand but the world price of oil. Because of the misconduct of the RULING POR (Pelosi, Obama, Reid) Party causing over a trillion dollars to be printed, the dollar is devaluing and the price of oil is going up as a result. If the price of oil continues to rise we will soon reach the tipping point where the economy will stall again. That tipping point is somewhere around $2.50/gallon based on what happened in January 2007 when unemployment started it’s steady climb. The economy then took a nosedive as the price of gasoline hit $4/gallon. Of course President Obama continues to talk in non-sequiturs claiming in order for the economy to recover he must impose a carbon tax to create “green jobs”. He plainly admitted such a tax scheme would cause the price of energy (electricity) to “skyrocket”, his term not mine. While he was specifically speaking of coal in regards to electricity, such a tax would also hit petroleum products like gasoline almost as hard.
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The Train Wreck”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes

Corporatism, Corruption and Fascism

March 24, 2009 by 2 Comments

-By Dan Scott

The current anger over the AIG bonus money is bringing a long-standing issue to a boil, Corporatism. Corporatists are politically connected business people who influence government policy and laws to financially benefit themselves. One of the marks of a corporatist is that they have fed from the government trough so long that the company losses its ability to compete in the market place. Feeding at the government trough becomes an addiction, and like all addictions binds it’s user’s life to be defined by it. Once addicted, there is no life outside and thus all attempts to reduce their dependence is met with screams of pain from withdrawal and claims you are the villain for inflicting that pain. Whether the company stands or falls is based strictly on government funding. AIG, GM and Chrysler come to mind.

The Democrat Party has had a long-standing love affair with the Corporatist as typified by Senator Christopher Dodd’s (D) less than transparent insertion of language specifically allowing taxpayer funds to pay for bonuses. Notice that only one political party was allowed to write that law in secret to the exclusion of any other voice or oversight. The relationship between Christopher Dodd and AIG has been lucrative for both parties to say the least. Say what you will about AIG being broke now, but prior to 2008’s meltdown of the market they were making money hand over fist. The supercharging of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) under Clinton made billions for the investors of AIG it’s officers and employees (including those who ran Freddie Mac – Rahm Emanuel and Fannie Mae – Franklin Raines). In this light, the CRA was a Congressional Quid Pro Quo for financial campaign supporters of politicians like Dodd, Obama and others in a mutual self enriching scheme at the expense of the country and specifically the poor. Let’s not forget that Barrack Obama was the lawyer for ACORN who forced Citibank to make unsound loans under the CRA. Makes you think of why Bears Sterns gave over $500,000 to Barrack Obama, a junior Senator with no supposed connection or benefit to them. They were connected alright, Obama’s legal work set the framework for companies like Bears Sterns for a lucrative business in CDOs up until the debacle. AIG provided the insurance on those CDOs because they all were mislead by the officials (political appointees such as Franklin Raines and Rahm Emanuel) into believing the mortgage based financial instruments had the FULL FAITH AND BACKING OF THE US GOVERNMENT, i.e. the taxpayer.
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Corporatism, Corruption and Fascism”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Liberals - Media Bias - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Time For Tough Love

March 17, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

Recently China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said out loud as a foreign leader what most of us have been thinking and saying for months now. The government headed by Barrack Obama needs to get its financial house in order and the policy chosen by him to borrow his way to prosperity is not what China is going to subsidize. Other Chinese government leaders have characterized President Obama’s current behavior as “reckless policies.” We, who are conservatives, wholly agree with this assessment. It’s ironic that US conservatives and the leaders of China who were formerly ideological enemies are in complete agreement in seeing Obama and the Democrats policies as reckless. This is not to say we agree on other issues like China’s one child policy for population control or their attitudes toward private property both indicating the Chinese government’s right to micromanage the affairs of individuals. To further underline the irony of this agreement both US conservatives and the leaders of China see nothing wrong in wealth disparity and furthermore it is beneficial to the uplifting of society as a whole. This is in complete contradiction to the President Obama’s stated enmity toward the top 1% of wealth producers in this country. Obama’s budget, a federal document, actually identifies the wealthy as the cause of the country’s woes!
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Time For Tough Love”

Budget - Congress - Dan Scott - GOP - News - Republicans - State Government - Taxes

Earmarks And The GOP

March 12, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

Since I have repeatedly taken the Democrats to task for their lack of transparency regarding the federal appropriations process, it is only fair that the GOP should be chastened for their part and collaboration with our dysfunctional government. What I heard recently from two GOP politicians caused me to shake my head violently in revulsion as to how my tax dollars were uselessly appropriated and my future mortgaged by a group of people who were playing the proverbial victim game instead of being in control of the budget process. Listen closely to the rationalization both these men used to justify their actions. If members of the GOP think this way, is it any wonder the Democrats are mystified at the decrying of earmarks?

Senator Robert Bennett (UT – R) made an argument about earmarks on FNC the other day which was later repeated by Representative Ron Paul (TX – R) . The premise of their argument is if they don’t earmark funds then the money allocated will not be specifically spent and the process will not be transparent! The argument advanced is the money will be spent regardless, so they want to insure some of the money goes to their district. In the case of Senator Bennett his earmark had to do with the Mormon Cricket . Every year he earmarks federal funds for eradication of the insect as a set aside from the Department of Agriculture funds. It’s ironic that the government is engaging in pest control when clearly the $375 million industry it effects has sufficient resources to deal with it’s own pest control issues not to mention it’s an annual natural phenomenon that will recur regardless of any actions taken. There is no defense for the waste of federal dollars even using the rationalization of making sure some of it is wasted in a specific geographic area under the pretense of fairness or proportionality.
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Earmarks And The GOP”

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The Value Of Propaganda

February 12, 2009 by 3 Comments

-By Dan Scott

President Obama went on the road this week to sell his supposed economic rescue bill and naturally talked up the need for the bill. What was fascinating were the Orwellian like claims he used and the stark terms of catastrophe if we don’t do as he demands. He made demonstrably false claims like there is no pork in this bill and he did so with a straight face. It seems pork is not pork if Obama says it’s not. His entire case rested on the premise, “we must do something, doing nothing is not an option.” The premise is also false since the CBO scored the bill as totally ineffective in the long run and in fact harmful to the economy as it would reduce, not increase economic output over the years of it’s implementation. President Obama would have you believe there aren’t any alternatives to the one that is on the table, a demonstrable falsehood. The GOP alternative is half the price with twice the results and even Obama’s own economic advisor admits to it.

Setting aside the reasons for President Obama’s false statements, whether that be of sheer incompetence and ignorance of economics or his willingness to say anything to sell something to which he stakes his name (ego) or if he has a hidden agenda of malice, it is the tactics in which he and his associates uses that should be at issue. Making demonstrably false claims by public officials is a violation of the public trust no matter how well intentioned (political direction) and rationalized (fear) they may be. The MSM is also complicit in supporting this never-ending stream of misstatements. Lying, misrepresenting or deceiving is not an act of Transparency.
Continue reading “The Value Of Propaganda”

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Equal Pay

January 30, 2009 by 2 Comments

-By Dan Scott

To hear the AP story of President Obama signing the Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act one would think a new page in civil rights has been turned. However, like all things liberal Democrats foist upon the public these days using their salesmanship it’s the details they gloss over that are particularly problematic. The AP story was devoid of detail that would allow a reader to consider the facts.

Here are the details that should raise some red flags in every employer’s mind.

“Ledbetter was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s plant in Gadsden, Ala., from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, a position largely occupied by men. Initially, Ledbetter’s salary was in line with the salaries of men performing similar work.

Over time, her pay slipped in comparison to the pay of male area managers with equal or less seniority. By the end of 1997, Ledbetter was the only woman working as an area manager and the pay discrepancy between Ledbetter and her 15 male counterparts was stark: Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month; the lowest paid male area manager received $4,286 per month, the highest paid, $5,236.
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Taxpayers of America Unite!

January 28, 2009 by 4 Comments

-By Dan Scott

Now that a tax cheater, I mean former tax cheater, Timothy Geithner has been officially confirmed by the Senate to become Secretary of the Treasury, we, the taxpayers, have the poster child of government fiscal irresponsibility. President Obama’s particular choice of this flawed person gives us a valuable insight into how he intends to squeeze us, the taxpayer, of every last penny. Who better than the very person who specializes in financial rescues would best be suited to the job of propping up failed government policies by finding yet more creative ways to fund those failures?

Picking up on Thomas Brewton’s theme of Social Justice, liberals have a faulty worldview in regards to the cause of crime and poverty, that being unequal wealth distribution. In the liberal worldview money and the resources it buys is the answer to their Utopian dreams. This worldview is based on the trope that given enough money literally anything can be made to work. This is why liberals continue to insist the public school systems of the US are under funded, when in fact every year more money is spent for a continual diminishing return evidenced by higher drop out rates and low test scores. In the liberal worldview, not enough money has been spent to make it successful and that’s why it’s a failure, to them the teachers, students, parents and methods have little to do with the results. There is no such thing as personal responsibility, just social responsibility. Where does the money come from? The taxpayers.
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Economics Shotgun Style

January 24, 2009 by 3 Comments

-By Dan Scott

Most of what we hear from the MSM and politicians is our current economic crisis is national in scope requiring a massive government spending spree to pump prime the economy. The proposed plan is national in scope and diverse in its approach to doling out the cash to various pet liberal causes. All of this is under the guise that we need to create or save 3 to 4 million jobs. So which is it? Create or save them? The premise of the claim is to save the jobs lost and create additional jobs to employ all the high school and college graduates who need them as well. That’s right, not only do we need to re-employ the over 2 million plus people who lost their jobs in the last 12 months, come May and June 2009 we have another 3 to 4 million young adults needing jobs on top of this number. Expect the unemployment rate to hit 10% by July. We are told government is the only entity that can do this.

Not to belabor my previous criticisms of the Democrat led plan, government policy was the cause of the current debacle and reversing failed government policy is the answer to the situation. Claiming that a massive deficit spending increase in liberal agenda items is economic stimulus is like claiming a drunk person should double down on the amount of alcohol consumed to make them sober. The liberal agenda is to the economy as drinking is to sobriety.
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Blagojevich’s Mea Culpa

January 13, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

The recent vote of 114 to 1 to impeach Governor Blagojevich was a seeming triumph of bipartisan political will or was it? Governor Blagojevich’s response was by all accounts a non sequitur citing Tennyson, claiming he was doing good with implementing Health Care and quoting the Bible or was it? Both quotes were quite revealing of Blagojevich’s mind set and belief system. It is also revealing of the Illinois political culture of corruption.

Let’s examine first the charges then the quotes:

The committee on Thursday unanimously recommended impeachment based on the criminal charges but other allegations as well — that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without proper authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions of dollars on foreign flu vaccine that he knew wasn’t needed and couldn’t be brought into the country.
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The Good Old Days

January 9, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

The more we hear Obama and Pelosi talk of government stimulus projects to jump start the economy, it seems they are attempting to recreate the conditions of the Great Depression for their own political gain. It should be noted that the outcome of the Great Depression in political terms was the Democrat Party holding control of the House and Senate for nearly 50 years until 1994 when the Contract With America brought on end to their hegemony. The public was finally fed up with the never ending spend thrift ways of a Democrat controlled Congress. Actually, it’s uncanny how the Democrats are playing their cards to faithfully reproduce FDR’s policies. History tells us that FDR was popular for the very fact that he by the public view seemed to be doing something constructive upholding the line “we must doing something”, even if what he was doing was in reality self defeating by robbing the economy of investment capital through taxes and borrowing. For appearances sake, digging ditches and the like were visible to all and thus gave the false impression people were working. A recession is in the Democrat’s political best interest, it doesn’t matter who gets hurt in the process.

Socialism when viewed in the context of history always it seems focuses upon keeping people working. The Chinese, the Russians and others always kept people busy with some task as though going through the motions was an all important end in itself. Unemployment was abolished under the Communist system since everyone worked for the state as they defined success in terms of full employment and factory production output, not GDP, profit, efficiency or the quality of the goods and services. In other words, their system was focused on maintaining the status quo, not increasing the standard of living or wealth creation. John Maynard Keyes was heard to say, we can employ one group of people to dig holes and another group to fill them up to give them spending money in their pockets. (sound vaguely familiar?) While few rational people will disagree that work in and of itself is good for character and a person’s self worth, work must have tangible results to have any meaningful effect in this regard. Which brings us to the fatal flaw of the Democrat’s stimulus plan, it’s definition of success. Modern day Democrats are only a little more sophisticated than those of the 1930s in that their proposed make work jobs program will build something overpriced that may be useful like road improvement (repair) projects, mass transit, school modernization, etc. Their definition of success like the Communists and Socialists is the appearance of full employment and maintaining the status quo to keep up with the cost of living, not increasing the standard of living via wealth creation as reflected in rising GDP, profit, efficiency or the quality of goods and services. Every job in the private sector exists for one primary purpose, wealth creation – profit. Every job in the government sector goes to one primary purpose, consumption – a zero net gain, if it were not so then Cuba, where virtually everyone works for the government, would be the richest country on earth, it’s not even close.
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Munchausen’s by Proxy

December 30, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Dan Scott

As a normal person viewing the entire taxation and government benefit program structure one could not blame them as concluding it is a Rube Goldberg approach to governance. Government policy or more accurately liberal policy is about taking money only to give it back in a convoluted scheme to somehow bring about equality. A myriad of taxes are taken at every level of business and personal activity. This is justified under the guise of government meeting the needs of the people. To decide whose needs the government should be serving, groups of people are stereotyped and assigned victim status being called the poor. The poor it is said needs the government to help them because poverty is not a choice but an accident of birth. The logic goes like this, if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you obviously will want for nothing since your caretakers will meet all your needs and give you every advantage to succeed in life whether that be a guaranteed income for life, a job in the family business, a higher education to work a well paying job, good health care, etc. On the other hand if that same baby were born into a poor household, he/she would have none of those advantages and therefore is it unfair. Since America is a wealthy society, it falls upon society to make it fair by giving everyone a chance to be equally successful.

On the surface such an argument about equality may make some sense until you delve into it’s assumptions. The first assumption is about poverty and wealth being an accident. Neither is an accident, making bad financial decisions doesn’t make you wealthy nor does making good financial decisions make you poor. Success is a choice, not an accident. This is called sophistry, making false assertions using false arguments. It follows that parents are responsible for the care of their offspring and therefore how that parent carries out that responsibility affects the outcome. It is the parent’s responsibility to make good decisions that will benefit the child and themselves. The ability of a parent to give equal opportunity as another parent is an impossibility. The ability of one individual to be equal in every way (both mentally and physically) to another one let alone an entire nation of individuals is also impossible. Inequality is a fact of life and therefore to demand what is impossible is sophistry. The equality argument advanced by liberals is based on the fallacious impossible premise of total equality. The equality as advanced by the Constitution and Declaration of Independence is one of opportunity under the Law with limitations on “government’s ability” of giving one group or individual more to one than others.
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Figurehead Of the United States

December 17, 2008 by

-By Dan Scott

It seems the American people have had a bait and switch played upon them. Everyone thought they were electing a president, but according to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Party leadership we elected a figurehead.

In talks with Emanuel and others, sources say, Pelosi has “set parameters” for what she wants from Barack Obama and his White House staff — no surprises, and no backdoor efforts to go around her and other Democratic leaders by cutting deals with moderate New Democrats or conservative Blue Dogs.

Specifically, Pelosi has told Emanuel that she wants to know when representatives of the incoming administration have any contact with her rank-and-file Democrats — and why, sources say…
…
Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are signaling that they won’t tolerate a repeat with a Democrat in the White House and Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate.

According to Pelosi’s dictum, America didn’t elect a President/leader, they elected a figurehead who will rubberstamp Democrat Party policy. I would characterize Obama as a puppet on a string doing the bidding of his political masters in the Democrat Party. A perfect example of Plantation Politics where the individual claims to be his own man, but displays no independent action apart from the group. Obama make his own decisions? It will be Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid with the rest of the Democrat leadership directing from the shadows. Barack Obama is an order taker, not a leader. As a narcissistic opportunist he will gladly take credit for all liberal ideas because he has become the face of liberalism, he has no need for depth, an empty suit is all that is necessary. The Democrat leadership will be allowed to pull Obama’s strings as it is a mutual pact between them.
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President-Elect Oblivious

December 13, 2008 by 5 Comments

-By Dan Scott

The recent scandal involving Barack Obama’s former Illinois US Senate seat reveals a great deal about the man who would be President of these United States. So far Barack Obama has denied ever having spoken with Governor Blagojevich regarding his personal preference for the person to be selected for that position. It is well known that Valerie Jarrett was the person Obama wanted to take over for him and she was referenced as Candidate 1 in the FBI’s criminal complaint. That a discussion did occur between Blagojevich and Obama can’t be denied at this point since Blagojevich has publicly stated before the scandal broke that he and Obama were talking about it (whether that be face to face or via intermediaries, i.e. staffers). Obama is foolish for denying the obvious since this makes him look guilty of a cover up.

At this point Obama is being very careful so as not to get himself entangled in a conspiracy charge. However, this is a case where Obama’s lawyerly thinking is going to get him into trouble. The mere fact he and his staffers had discussions with Blagojevich could be viewed by the FBI as being part of the pay for play deal making. Giving Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt, what in all probability happened was his staffers relayed the offer, Obama rejected it and when Blagojevich threatened to hold the appointment hostage for his own purposes Obama pulled out of the discussions. If he were smart he would have characterized the whole episode as “my staff” upon hearing Governor Blagojevich’s demands/suggestions of pay for play did the right thing by taking the initiative and said the seat is not for sale, thus accounting for the Governor Blagojevich’s cussing mad outburst…MF comment regarding Obama. The MSM gave Obama the perfect opportunity at the press conference to say “his staffers” did talk with Blagojevich’s staffers (acknowledge the obvious) and they refused to play the game, but he chose the road of denial. It seems eventually Obama is going to claim he, Obama, was kept out of the loop by protective staffers once the documentation comes out that there were in fact discussions between staffers of both politicians. What could be going on here is Obama is playing things close to the vest because he doesn’t know what conversations were recorded between his and Blagojevich’s staffers.
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The Great Money Printing Cover UP

December 3, 2008 by 5 Comments

-By Dan Scott

This morning to my dismay I see the headlines in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Fed Signals More Action as Slump Drags On, with the summary line of “Recession Began a Year Ago, Making It Longest Since Early ’80s, Panel Says; Bernanke Considers Rate Cuts, Bond Purchases” The part which caught my eye was “Bond Purchases.” As I read the article I was stunned at the rationalizations being offered why the Federal Reserve should take actions that ordinarily would be considered extremely foolish in the light of history.

Earlier this week The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) had pronounced the country was in recession since December 2007. A rather odd pronouncement since we only had one confirmed quarter of negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and we are assuming this current quarter is also in negative territory, thus giving us the recession which the MSM and Democrats have so longed for in the past five years. NBER gave a rather interesting definition of a recession: A recession begins when the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends when the economy reaches its trough. Between trough and peak, the economy is in an expansion. So in essence if the economy is not climbing to a peak, it must be in recession, an interesting mental summersault since what they are saying is if two months in a row showed no increase or decrease, then according to their definition, the economy is in recession. Then comes the next interesting comment, The committee believes that the two most reliable comprehensive estimates of aggregate domestic production are normally the quarterly estimate of real Gross Domestic Product and the quarterly estimate of real Gross Domestic Income, both produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In concept, the two should be the same, because sales of products generate income for producers and workers equal to the value of the sales. However, because the measurement on the product and income sides proceeds somewhat independently, the two actual measures differ by a statistical discrepancy. (emphasis mine) So now according to this committee the volatile Gross Domestic Income (GDI) is an equal measure to the GDP? What the NBER committee did not tell us is that GDI is affected by productivity. A spike in productivity will drive down the GDI and those who gauge the economy based on the GDI will erroneously assume an ailing industry when in fact automation and better production methods reduced employment payroll but profits either remained the same or increased. An example of this would be the Auto Industry when gas prices were down before 2005, manufacturers shed 30% of their labor force over 10 years but made the same number of cars and trucks. Notice their definition excludes profits, how socialist of them. Using the GDI would essentially mean the old Soviet Union was going swimmingly until they collapsed for some mysterious economic reason. Continue reading “The Great Money Printing Cover UP”

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Private Health Care Alternative To Socialized Medicine

November 20, 2008 by 4 Comments

-By Dan Scott

If anyone has gone through their yearly renewal of health insurance plans either through their company sponsored plan or private insurance plan, the immediate shock was how much monthly insurance premiums actually are. For just a run of the mill plan for a medium sized company over 50 employees, monthly health insurance fees run approximately $400. Depending on the employer, they may pay half to all of that amount. If you want coverage for your spouse and child add another $500 a month usually at the employee cost. Even deductibles can be high in the $1,500/$3,000 (per individual/family). Then come the co-pays the employee pays for doctor and specialist visits which do not apply toward the deductible.

Medical care is not a cheap proposition when one requires it. However, the issue becomes who is responsible for the bill when it comes due. Medical care like any service in the market place is an individual responsibility for the consumer, not a government issued right at the taxpayer’s expense. This is where Socialists and Capitalists depart company since Socialists define health care as a basic human necessity that must be underwritten by society. To a Capitalist, medical care like eating, housing and clothing is a personal responsibility governed by individual choice, not subject to government meddling. The only common ground is providing for a legal means to recover damages when that care is done poorly or negligently resulting in injury or death.
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The Opposition Response

November 10, 2008 by 6 Comments

-By Dan Scott

Barack Obama gave his press conference outlining his general plans, which include everything from a stimulus package to extending unemployment benefits to bailouts for virtually everyone and their brother, along with other Democrat priorities. He called for quick action by the lame-duck Congress to implement these plans before he even takes office. The GOP seems to be either still in shock or simply mesmerized by the imperative of we must do something so let’s go along otherwise we will get blamed for being bipartisan or not being relevant. The lack of response is to say the least is shocking and reflects either incompetence on their part or a lack of courage by simply laying low to see what shakes out. Since Obama is bound and determined to follow the Democrat path of redistribution of wealth instead of wealth creation to solve the current economic crisis, and the GOP it seems is willing to shirk it’s responsibility as the opposition party, we as conservatives will give the response instead.

First off, an analogy will be helpful in helping describe what the proper response is to get the economy out of the current tailspin. When a pilot loses control of a nose diving plane that goes into spiral, the intuitive response of a novice pilot is to grab hold of the controls and fight the spin to regain control of the plane. This is precisely the wrong thing to do, the proper response is either to steer in the direction of the spin or to let go of the controls and the plane will right itself by doing exactly the opposite motion that a pilot would direct it. This same principle of recovering from a spin also holds for a car by turning in the direction of it and not applying brakes.
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