California, Here We Come

George Will recently wrote a brilliant column titled "Golden No Longer" in which he correctly asserts that California is in a chaotic financial mess as a result of the liberal, socialistic policies, laws and programs that have been put in place there by the liberal Democratic legislature over the past 25 years or so. You can read this article by going to http://townhall.com . The legislature of California has acted with the support and guidance of their national, office-holding, liberal Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. Billions and billions of taxpayer dollars from around the country have been funnelled to California by liberal Democrats in Washington to help buy their 55 electoral votes every four years in the presidential elections. By wildly raising the taxes of the citizens and businesses of California and combining that with all the money coming from Washington, the liberal and socialistic Democrats have been on a spending orgy that defies belief. They have vastly expanded government and added hundreds of thousands of government employees with your tax dollars! Welfare costs have skyrocketed as well, mainly due to the liberals trying to court the millions of illegal immigrants pouring in there. I used to wonder how idiots with a room-temperature IQ,s like Pelosi and Boxer could get elected. It is obvious, they have been buying the elections- WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS! Now the chickens are coming home to roost and the state is bankrupt. Last year government workers were furloughed, work weeks shortened and a bunch of other cuts were made but the state had to have billions of our tax dollars sent out there to bail them out. That bailout got them to the end of 2009 and now the "Governator" is crying for another federal bailout to keep the state going and we are not half way through the first month of the year. Sadly the entire USA is just like California, bankrupt, except the US Government can print money.

I would like to expand and amplify a couple of points about California before I take this matter on to the USA and West Virginia. In California there has been no serious effort to reduce the size of government, shrink the welfare roles or get rid of all the illegal aliens. Instead of addressing the current problems they are cutting things that will greatly harm them in the future. George Will states the they have cut their college funding 20 percent, raised tuition by 32 percent, reduced enrollment by 40,000 and reduced the hiring of college instructors by 83 percent. By raising taxes and cutting essentials, the mass exodus of businesses and contributing citizens has begun. In 17 years, California lost 26 percent of its manufacturing jobs and 35 percent of its high-tech jobs. So, if their wealth creators are leaving, how is it that their population has been increasing, not decreasing? Mr. Will mentioned in passing in his article that 3.4 million more Americans had moved out of the state than Americans that had moved into the state. That means that the number of aliens, legal and illegal, now living in the state is 3.4 million plus the overall population increase of California from 1990 to 2007, which is millions. What's that you say? If there are fewer Americans in California now than in 1990, how can they have more members in the US House of Representatives, giving them more electoral votes? The number of of representatives each state has is based upon the number of citizens they have and the percentage of the total US population they have, right? George Will did not address this amazing paradox in his essay but I will do it for you.

Last year the Obama administration quietly announced that aliens and illegal immigrants would be counted in the 2010 census. This was intentionally announced during the height of the health care debate so as not to be noticed. It worked, hardly a ripple was raised and none of the lame stream, state-run media mentioned it. This has enormous consequences for everyone in America, especially those in states with very few aliens and illegals. Why is that? The more aliens and illegals you have, the more representatives and electoral votes you have. Don't forget that the number of representatives is fixed at 435. If one state gains representatives another state(s) must lose representatives. You can and will have states that could gain in numbers of US citizens but lose representatives to states that have have large and growing numbers of aliens and illegals like California, Florida, New York and Texas, EVEN WHILE LOSING US CITIZENS! Why was this announcement made last year? Simple- it was already being done!! An illegal and unconstitutional practice needed legitimacy. That my friends is how California gets more tax dollars and more electoral votes while its US citizen population declines. Catching on? That's why the liberals want amnesty for illegals. Bring them in and buy their votes with your tax dollars! Do you think California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are going to control their borders and keep all these gold mines from walking in? Federal tax dollars are allotted to the states based upon the population count of the US Census Bureau. Are you getting this? Do you now understand why nothing is being done about controlling illegal immigration? Do you see why California was letting government employees retire at age 50 with 90 percent of their pay? Do you see why the number of government workers grew by 24 percent from 1997 to 2007, just 10 years? California has it wealth creators, businesses and US Citizens, leaving by the droves and they are being replaced by aliens and illegals who do not pay taxes and most often on welfare rolls as well. That is why California is bankrupt, New York will be bankrupt before the end of this year and you will soon see this same scenario played out in Florida. Other states are developing severe fiscal problems as well. Not on the scale of New York and California but severe none the less. West Virginia is a perfect example.

Right now West Virginia is in good shape fiscally from the standpoint that there is no budget deficit. West Virginia law does not allow the fiscal year to end on June 30 with a deficit. It would be nice if all the states and the US government had the same requirement. None the less, West Virginia has some severe financial problems coming down the road. I will not mention all of them but one of them is trying to find money to give pay raises to essential employees like teachers, police and firemen. WV must now find almost 700 million dollars to fund the additional people that will be put on Medicaid by Obama's health care bill if it passes. That's right, the states have a matching fund liability for Medicaid, the federal government only pays part of it. Obama says the federal government will pay the additional state share during the first two years only. WV is also facing a huge revenue decline because the economy and the coal industry in particular are down right now. Obama's EPA (Hitler had the SS) is trying to shut down the coal industry which would devastate WV. Our state is also being confronted now with a huge public employee retirement liability. This has become a huge problem because WV has had a declining population, particularly in young people, but an increasing population of older and retired persons. Simply put, there is now more money being paid out than is being taken in each year. Most state politicians say there is no where to find money for pay increases for essential personnel like teachers and state police even though they are almost the lowest paid in America. WV like California now finds itself trying to find money for essential government personnel and functions but the politicians say we don't have it. Unlike California though, WV doesn't have a huge and unmanageable deficit. So where does WV, other states and the federal government find funding for essential functions and personnel? The answer is in real budget cuts: reducing the size of government and eliminating non essentials.

Let me propose a solution for WV and I'm sure that similar action could be taken elsewhere. WV has 1.9 million people, less than it had in 1950. We use to have five US Congressmen and we now have three. The 1.9 million people in WV are governed by a large and growing state government, 55 large and growing county governments and an untold number of growing municipal governments. New York City has 8 million people, four times WV, and has far less government than that which takes care of WV. Our state government could be reduced dramatically and we don't need 55 counties in a state this small. About 16 counties would be plenty and you could find a lot of money for teachers, police, and firemen if 39 county governments were eliminated. Surely with the technology we have now and the improved highway system we don't need the same amount of government we had in 1950! Look at the school system administration we have now. There are fewer schools, fewer teachers and fewer students but we probably have more personnel working in the board office in every county of this state. Maybe the technology we have has made us less efficient? One of the legal ways to buy votes is to reward supporters with government jobs. Create new agencies, departments and positions to keep the votes coming in. The less-than-polite term is cronyism. Giving expensive perks to these cronies costs a lot too. Last year the state of WV paid 61million dollars for state employee's vehicles! States as well as the Federal government have spent wildly during the good times and have placed debts and obligations on children and grand children that cannot be met.

The United States currently has more than 100 TRILLION DOLLARS of liability with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the national debt and current budget obligations. How has Obama addressed this? The 2009 budget deficit is greater than the deficit accrued in all eight years of the Bush administration. In addition to that, we have given 750 billion dollars in bailouts to banks, investment firms and automakers. We are in the process of giving out 787 billion additional dollars with the so called "Stimulus Package". If that is not enough, let's throw in a few trillion more dollars to run another vote buying scheme, government-run health care. So it is easy to be critical of California, New York, Florida and other states who have lived far beyond their means but in reality, they are only following the lead of the US Government. Now it is time to pay the preacher. The US an all the states are at a crossroad. While fixing the problem will require several solutions and a lot of debate, the one thing we can do now is STOP MAKING IT WORSE! When you find yourself in a hole, STOP DIGGING! Yes, California is bankrupt but if the federal government and the rest of the states keep doing what they are doing, all I can say is: "California Here We Come".

Double Standard

There is a lot of talk today about Prince Harry Reid's racial remarks about King Obama. As expected, Reid gets a pass from Blacks and the media. They say that Reid just made an inappropriate comment. When the Republican head of the Senate, Trent Lott, made similar remarks in 2002 he had to resign from the Majority Leader position and then retired from the Senate after being hounded by Jessee Jackson, Al Sharpton and many others including Ted Kennedy! Remember Ted leaving Mary Jo Kopechne to drown in a river? Kennedy had taken Mary Jo from a party with the intent of romance even though he was married. Kennedy, probably drunk at the time, ran into a river on Saturday evening and swam to shore. He reported the incident to his family Sunday morning and the police were notified Sunday afternoon, allowing Kennedy time to sober up. Police reported finding scratch marks inside the car where Mary Jo tried to claw her way out but failed. Kennedy was never chastised for having an affair, drunken driving, negligent homicide, leaving the scene and failure to report. Kennedy, a liberal Democrat, was given a pass and remained in office until he died from cancer last year. He was praised by his liberal cohorts as a great American, a great Senator and a hero.

The liberal hypocrasy with Ted Kennedy is almost surpassed by that for Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Byrd was a card-carrying member of the Klu Klux Klan and opposed many civil rights actions for Blacks. Robert Byrd filibustered civil rights and voting rights bills in the Senate along with most of the other Senators from the South who were all Democrats at that time. Of course Byrd, a Democrat, is not held accountable by the media or the Black community.

Both Republican and Democratic politicians have had major indiscretions and have done egregious things. The difference is Republicans are booted out of office and the Democrats are given a pass and continue on. Why is that? To undertand why, you need to remember the history of the left-wing, marxist movement in the USA. This movement is now laughably called the "Progressive Movement". I refuse to refer to these communists as progressive: if anything, I call them "REGRESSIVES". At any rate, this political persuassion was pushed a little by Teddy Roosevelt and then pushed very hard by Woodrow Wilson. America rejected Wilson's ideas including the League of Nations. After Republicans took control of the White House again a new "Regressive" came along. FDR realized that the Democratic Party needed a game changer to get the upper hand on the Republicans. FDR came up with a vast expansion of socialism in America called the "New Deal". Expansion of government and government jobs, social security, welfare programs, etc. kept the Democrats in pretty good shape for many years. The Democrats knew they were in serious trouble after the civil rights movement was implemented in the early and mid 1960's. The national democratic party made a major switch and started advancing civil rights issues and fearing the loss of all the southern states they came up with the next great wave of socialism in this country: LBJ's "Great Society". The "Great Society" has nearly bankrupted this country and like FDR's "New Deal", was nothing but a scheme to legalize vote buying with taxpayer money.

After Republican White House control with Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II plus the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994, the Democrats knew they had to find a way to buy more votes. Presto, you have Obama, Reid and Pelosi spending trillions of dollars to expand government and welfare (Democratic base) while doing nothing to help the private sector (Republican stronghold). All the political activity going on in this country now is not about making the country, states, cities, counties or people any better- it is about control. That is why liberal Democrats who are giving your money away get a pass while Republicans are tarred and feathered. IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTROL! Control of you, your money and your life. As soon as the Regressives get about 20 million more illegal aliens added to the voting rolls they will have total control of the country and they can legally take everything you have, including your freedom. It is time to wake up and smell the coffee!

"Cash for Clunkers" was a "Clunker"

I, like most of you, was disappointed when the government took money from the taxpayers and gave it to people to trade in their cars. Supposedly, the program was to remove old and inefficient cars from use and boost the economy by increasing car sales. The price tag to the taxpayers was to be $4,500 per clunker. Well, it didn't work out that way. A government program that didn't go the way it was supposed to! Can you believe that?

As Paul Harvey used to say, "Now, here's the rest of the story!" The "Cash for Clunkers" program actually cost the taxpayers $24,000 per car, not the $4,500 that had outraged almost everyone. However, that is only a 600% overrun, better than most government-run programs. Still think the proposed health care program will only cost a trillion per year?

Another big problem with the Clunkers program was that it did not increase auto sales. Sure, sales increased during the month it took to burn three billion dollars of taxpayer money but then sales dropped off dramatically. Auto dealers were already running big incentive programs during the first month introduction of new cars because people were not buying. Our tax dollars were used to shift car buying, not increase it.

Another thing that happened with the clunker program that surprised a lot of people was well-to-do people trading in older cars on new luxury cars. Luxury cars from Europe and Asia, not America!

Finally, a big negative consequence to the Clunker Program is the removal of millions of good used cars from the inventory that poor and disadvantaged people usually buy because they cannot afford new ones. So the final summary of this program is the poor people got screwed and the taxpayers got robbed- the trademark of government run programs...

Stimulus Package Reaching Clarity

Earlier this year the Democratically controlled Congress passed (in a partisan vote) and the President signed a 787 billion dollar "stimulus" bill. Conservatives rightly stated that this bill would have little or no stimulating effect on the US economy. This massive, 1,100-page bill was rushed and passed without being read or studied by either the Congress or the President. It came to light after passage that the radical group ACORN actually wrote and crafted a large part of the bill! Obama stated that if the bill was passed, unemployment would stay below 8%. We now have a reported unemployment rate of 10% and it is still growing. An Obama official this week stated that the stimulus bill has already reached its maximum influence on the economy. It is now reported that only 14% of the authorized money has been spent. So what does all that mean? Are you starting to see a strategy develop?

Almost everything the Obama administration has done so far is to further his radical, left-wing, socialist agenda. Most of the money that has been spent has been to take care of unions and government-sector employees, his political mainstays. The private sector has received nothing, thus the continued rise of unemployment. There are many experts who state that the current unemployment rate is really about 18% if you include the discouraged workers who are no longer seeking employment. Home mortgage foreclosures and bank failures continue to rise while Obama is working on social engineering instead of fixing the economy. One would think that the President is committing political suicide with this strategy but is he?

To me it is obvious what the President and the socialistic followers are doing. They knew two things when they took power in January of 2009: (1) They would be on a "honeymoon" with the American people and the press for 12-18 months which would allow them to carry out an outrageous agenda without much criticism and (2) If the economy was fixed first, there would not be any money left for his socialist agenda or it would be so large the people would not accept it. Obama and his left-wing clan created an 877 billion dollar, political slush fund that will be used in 2010 and 2012 to buy enough votes so the American people will not throw them out of office once they they turn America from a capitalistic nation into a socialistic nation. Their plan is simple: Do social engineering and then redistribute taxpayer money to buy enough votes to stay in power. My friends, your tax dollars are being used to pay for your downfall. This is not complicated so don't make it so.

Rocky's Road for the Public Option

Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee ran Jay Rockefeller's "public option" amendment to health care reform off the road. I wonder if Rocky now thinks he might be wrong about this issue since a lot of the Democrats and none of the Republicans are for it? I doubt it. In 2008 Rocky, as a "Super Delegate" to the Democratic Convention, came out in support of Obama knowing that 75% of the Democrats in West Virginia were for Hillary Clinton. Before reversing his position, Rocky was once against surface mining in West Virginia even though the majority of the citizens of West Virginia were in favor of it. Now he proposes the public option knowing that 56% of the people in the USA are against it and a higher percentage in West Virginia is against it. Rocky has not been held accountable by the voters of West Virginia in the past for turning his back on the voters and he probably thinks he won't be in the future. How can Rocky continue to "thumb his nose" at the voters of this state? Rocky probably will not run for Senate again (age and back trouble). He is no longer worried about the voters and citizens of West Virginia. Being a liberal elitist who knows what is best for everyone else, he is going to vote his will (or that of his liberal, socialist advisors) and let our children and grandchildren live with the mess. Sadly, Rocky has not taken a position on the "Cap and Trade" Bill (aka "The Kneecap our Trade" and the "Cap and Tax" Bill). This bill will do nothing to improve the environment, will put American business at a competitive disadvantage and will be the largest tax increase in our history. This bill will devestate the mining industry and West Virginia which depends so heavily on it. If you were to go after Disney, everyone in the Florida delegation would be screaming at the top of their lungs. Mining is under attack from the Obama Administration and From Byrd, Rockefeller, Rahall and Mollohan the silence is deafening...

Health Care for Illegal Aliens

Today, liberal Democrats are demanding free health care coverage for illegal aliens! First of all, neither legal or illegal aliens pay taxes in the USA, therefore they deserve nothing from the US taxpayers. The liberals are arguing that we can provide health care coverage cheaper than letting the aliens go to emergency rooms and pay for that. Well here is a novel thought for all my liberal friends: Let's get the illegal aliens out of the country and we don't have to provide health care coverage or emergency room care. Maybe we could make an attempt to keep the illegal aliens from entering the US....

Hello and Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I will be posting comments on current events, persons in the news and other commentary on American life. It is my intent to address these matters from a common sense viewpoint that reflects traditional, conservative values that made America the greatest nation on Earth. I am hopeful that I can in some way stop the erosion of our values and help to maintain our civil society. Let's re-capture true values!