Posted on February 5th, 2009%
From The Wall Street Journal, via Cato.org:
The December unemployment rate was only 2.3% for government workers and 3.8% in education and health. Unemployment rates in manufacturing and construction, by contrast, were 8.3% and 15.2% respectively. Yet 39% of the $550 billion in the bill would go to state and local governments. Another 17.3% would go to health and education — sectors where relatively secure government jobs are also prevalent.
If the intent of the plan is to alleviate unemployment, why spend over half of the money on sectors where unemployment is lowest?
… [O]nly a fifth of the original $550 billion is left for notoriously slow infrastructure projects, such as rebuilding highways and the electricity grid.
What a disaster. Government picking winners and losers with our money (after all, it’s taxpayer money they spend reallocate) is a recipe for disaster. This time, they want the recipe in order of some $800 billion, with no real guarantee that it’ll help anyone aside from . . .
→ Read More: $646,214 Per Government Job, or $2,000 per citizen?
Posted on February 5th, 2009%
The appointment of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, and the subsequent appointment of (former Representative) Kirsten Gillibrand to replace her, has left a void in Congress. A special election is pending – and, if you’re among those eligible to vote in it, you should vote for Eric Sundwall to fill that void.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never met Mr. Sundwall, nor do I pretend to know him personally. I do know him as the Chairman for the Libertarian Party of New York, and I do support him for the following reasons.
He’s an IT guy. Many readers of my blog are IT people, and as we all know, IT people are typically smart, pragmatic, and results-driven. No doubt Sundwall shares those characteristics.
He’s a small-government guy. Sundwall recognizes the danger in deficit spending (which simply puts the burden of payment to our children), and no doubt would be strongly against the $800-billion (so-called) bailout.
He recognizes the limitations of . . .
→ Read More: Support Eric Sundwall for Congress
Posted on January 9th, 2009%
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight proudly proclaims the following on its web site:
Our Mission: To promote housing and a strong national housing finance system by ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Just in case they take it down, here’s a screenshot, taken just a moment ago:
Still not convinced of their mission? From their Supervision & Regulations page: . . . → Read More: Time to shut down the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight
Posted on January 8th, 2009%
Via CATO@Liberty…
CNN reports:
Another major American industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis continues: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion for a bailout of the adult entertainment industry.
I’d bet they have real good lobbyists…
. . .
→ Read More: Next in line for their TARP bailout is…
Posted on January 8th, 2009%
I just wrote a message on the CSFBL forums where I said, “My two cents.” Which got me wondering… How long has the expression, “my two cents” (and its many variations) been around?
Like most Google searches, I quickly was brought to a Wikipedia article, My two cents (idiom). In it, we can review a speculative history of the phrase “my two cents”:
The American phrase “my two cents” derives from the British phrase, “my two pennies worth.”
That British phrase derives from a 16th century expression, “a penny for your thoughts” (not the later “a penny for your thoughts, nickel for your kiss, a dollar to tell me you love me”).
OK, so the “my two cents” phrase has origins going back some 500 years. How do we figure out how much two . . .
→ Read More: How much are your two cents worth?
