February 8, 2009 • 3:15 pm 0
From Joe Carter at The American Spectator Blog
(a tip of the conservative ball cap-less than four days till catchers and pitchers report- to Dad29)
After all, the problem is not just that government is too big, but that it’s too complicated. No one — not even the people in power — really understand how the system works or what is going on.
Filed under: Quote of the day, government regulation , Quote of the day
December 23, 2008 • 9:11 pm 1
Emptying out my drafts folder:
Top 9 Good Habits For A Deep Recession – These are good habits when there’s no recession.
From the Pew Research Center, The Religious Makeup of Congress – a nice graphical representation of the religious beliefs of the Congress compared with the American public as a whole.
By the director of new media in Obama’s Minnesota campaign, Developing a New Media Strategy for Campaigns Large and Small. This, of course, would not contradict experienced hands as Wigderson and Fraley who tell me, depending on the campaign, that a candidate needs to go door-to-door, but would be in addition to that.
How Can Facebook Crack its Advertising Problem? One problem with Facebook–it appeals to older folks like me who aren’t enticed to click the ads.
Cory Leibman has resurrected Eye on Wisconsin. Cory is a “progressive,” but he’s also a thinker and I like to read thoughtful folks like myself. 
Massachusetts has a new marijuana law.
It sounds simple, but David Capeless, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, said the new policy presented a thicket of questions and complications.
There, now I feel better.
Filed under: Blogs - Wisconsin, Christianity, Economics, Religion and government, Spending, US House, US Senate, government regulation, liberal , Congress, Facebook, marijuana, Massachusetts, new media campaign strategy, recession, spending habits, US religion, Wisconsin blogs
October 26, 2008 • 11:21 pm 0
Where to begin? How about where we’re all hit–the wallet.
Dad29 exposes the Democrats plans for 401(k)s.
The Asian Badger links to a Wall Street Journal article that shows
that high tax rates on the “producers” cause dis-incentives on those who are the payors of those tax rates. At some point, they either stop producing or, move out of the country.
At Waukesha FYI, Darryl Enriquez notes that a local lady got her letter about the bailout printed in TIME magazine.
Politics are always on the mind. Kyle Prast wonders at Practically Speaking why Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama matters.
JJ Gravelle muses in his own inimitable way about Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama at The Daily Scoff.
Alex has a nice poll over at Hobo Springs. Go vote.
Locally, Wiggy gives us a short rant on yard signs at Wigderson’s Library & Pub.
Cindy Kilkenny at Fairly Conservative takes a critical look at Brookfield’s Vision 2035.
Meanwhile, Mayor Larry Nelson continues his steady stream of mayor memos. He’s a busy guy, I guess.
In miscellaneous posts, Bryon Houlgrave has some high school football “hits.”
MommaBlogger wonders what so secret about the 10 secrets of the effortlessly thin. You can read her thoughts at Homemaker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
At Inside New Berlin, Linda Richter informs about a year-round costume company. In New Berlin.
Find a tree? Curt Otto has reported one missing. A replacement is in the works. See Maple & Main for details.
Huckberry Dumbell adds a touch to his Ghost Blogging and Sunday Scan features. Go to Spring City Chronicle to find out.
That’s it for this week. If you see an interesting post, drop the link in a comment and I’ll add it to next week’s carnival.
Filed under: 2008, Blog carnivals, Elections, Politics, Taxes, Waukesha, Waukesha Carnival, Waukesha blogs, Wisconsin, government regulation, presidential , 2008 presidential election, 401(k), Brookfield politics, Colin Powell, dieting, ghosts, high school football, Mayor Larry Nelson, mortgage industry bailout, photos, Taxes, Waukesha blogs, Waukesha Carnival, Wisconsin
October 8, 2008 • 6:42 pm 0
Via Paul Soglin in Sunday’s WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL (Was this printed or just online. I forget),
Stung by criticism over its political activities, the state’s largest business lobby is rethinking the tenor of its election-season advertising and how it sells itself to the public.
The move by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce comes in the wake of recent criticism from former UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, major Dane County employer Epic Systems and liberal groups over its campaign ads and political activities.
“If we’re going to be perceived as the sleaze carriers in the state, I don’t want that and our members don’t want that,” Jim Haney, WMC president, said in a recent interview. “If we have to reposition ourselves a bit, we’ll do so.”
Wow, and this all happened without government intervention.
Amazing.
Filed under: Elections, First Amendment, Wisconsin, government regulation , negative campaign ad, Politics, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
September 21, 2008 • 10:08 pm 1
For example, Andrew Sullivan,
That’s a lot of zeros. But, hey, no one said socialism was cheap, did they?
(A tip of the Tampa Bay Devil Ray baseball cap to Brad V at Letters in Bottles)
While I’m on the subject of the Bailout, I can’t help but point out this multi-link post by Nick and one by this gentleman who notes,
Let’s help the innocent who will be hurt by the failure of the Wall Street giants, but we need to demand that Washington calm down and prove that we really are on the verge of the next Great Depression before their actions put us into one – only to have them look back, retrospectively, and argue, “See, I told you so.”
Filed under: Business, Economics, government regulation , Andrew Sullivan, mortgage industry bailout, socialism
September 20, 2008 • 11:56 am 1
While I don’t agree with everything in this post, he asks a lot of good questions at the beginning.
Why is that every time bad investments made by private institutions go belly up, the U.S. taxpayers are called upon to socialize the financial risk? WHY?
Why is it that suddenly, government isn’t the problem, it’s the solution? [Ed.-My word, even Krugman has some good stuff here. Is the world going to end?]
Democrats and Republican lawmakers are to blame for the current mortgage and investment banking crisis. From a legislative perspective, they saw this coming years ago and did nothing to stop it. This has happened before. Remember when taxpayers were called upon to bailout the Resolution Trust Corporation and the S&L crisis in the 1990s?
I think he gives legislators too much credit. Maybe some saw what was coming. Most just hoped something would happen (like maybe they would get their pensions) before the worst happened.
Fannie and Freddie were worthy of rescue but not Lehman Bros. Then AIG and finally the whole ball of wax is going to get rescued. Will Lehman Bros. get a do over?
Cindy Kilkenny raises the question of financial terrorism. It didn’t originate with her; see her post for more links. I’m still not so sure, but it bears watching.
The Asian Badger (who, let’s say, knows what he’s talking about) had this to say,
In a way, over-regulation was how we got here (goes back to Congress mandating the underwriting of mortgages to non-qualified buyers…so all kinds of lax standards, shady brokers, swaps to manage the new risk, etc. sprang up).
See his post for his remedies. You may not agree with all of them, but many of them are common sense solutions, e.g., #6,
6) In line with #5, above, draw the line in the sand and announce the end of the “Greenspan Put” i.e. no more bailouts…period. I’ve written about the Greenspan Put and how it erases the “stupid penalty”. Put the stupid penalty back into the markets and watch the moronic risk-taking dry up. Risk-taking would still occur…it has to for the economy to move forward…but firms would have to adequately access the risk and price it accordingly. The end of the Greenspan Put would have the added effect of enabling shareholders and potential sharebuyers to realistically evaluate financial firms. [Ed.-Emphasis mine]
McCain told us what his plans were (other than Fire Chris Cox, that is). Obama is keeping his secret (a tip of the conservative hat to Nick). Unless you can get something from this.
Cato gives another result (H/T again to Nick),
In the process of turning US taxpayers into involuntary stockholders in AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, federal bullies shoved the voluntary stockholders into the ditch. Bear Stearns stockholders weren’t treated much better.
If you’re still brave enough to own stock in other financial firms not yet blessed with such enlightened assistance from the feds, those precedents should make you nervous. So how could anyone possibly expect these “bailouts” to improve market confidence. [Ed.-emphasis mine]
I find myself agreeing somewhat with Patrick Buchanon states,
Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders. Nancy Pelosi says she had nothing to do with it. Congress is paralyzed and heading home. President Bush is nowhere to be seen.
Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail out Bear Sterns but let Lehman go under. They decided to nationalize Fannie and Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of billions, putting the U.S. government behind $5 trillion in mortgages. They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance giant sink beneath the waves.
An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.
Are we?
And what about the CEO’s who got large buyouts from these companies?
In conclusion, I know this post has been long and filled with contradictory statements from different folks. They offer different causes for the problem and propose different solutions. It demonstrates where I’ve been searching for answers.
Filed under: Business, Economics, Taxes, government regulation , federal intervention, stock market, sub-prime mortgage crisis, US economy
September 19, 2008 • 3:45 pm 1
How much is a trillion dollars?
Via Shepard Smith at FOXNews (no data at the link):
One million seconds =eleven and a half days
One billion seconds =31.7 years
One trillion seconds = 317 centuries
So, in other words, if you started counting a stack of $1 bills, it would take you 11 1/2 days to get to $1 million, 31.7 years to get to $1billion, and 317 centuries to get to $1 trillion, the estimate for what today’s government action is going to cost.
And who is it going to cost?
You and me.
Filed under: Economics, government regulation , financial industry crisis
June 6, 2008 • 3:30 pm 0
I thought I had more, but could only find this one. $100-a-month sewer bills are on horizon, MSD official says.
Of course that, in itself, says something, especially for those of us in southeastern Wisconsin under MMSD.
Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District executive director Jeff Theerman told the St. Louis County Council on Tuesday that the district’s 440,000 customers can expect to see sewer bills of at least $100 a month “in the not too distant future.”
Talk about your sticker shock. Why? I’m glad you asked.
Theerman said the sewer district will need the money to comply with a mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate sewage overflows into local waterways. The grand total could top $4 billion, he said.The overflows are an age-old problem that occurs whenever MSD’s pipes get overburdened during heavy rain or snow melt.
Sound familiar? But, as they say, wait, there’s more!
On March 1, MSD began charging property owners 12 cents a month for each 100 square foot of area that does not absorb water, such as roofs, patios, driveways or parking lots.The typical homeowner pays $3 a month for storm-water control service. That monthly bill will grow to $7.25 on Jan. 1, 2014.
Perhaps we’re seeing something in our future?
Filed under: Environment, Milwaukee, government regulation , Milwaukee, Sewer control, St. Louis
May 5, 2008 • 10:34 pm 0
A Waukesha church wants to let people make gardens as food prices skyrocket. Good idea, right?
But before a shovel is put in the ground, city officials who were caught a bit off-guard by Southminster’s plan must give their blessings to the concept.
Gardening usually is done in the backyard, where it’s out of sight. Southminster’s garden would be in full view at the front of the church, creating zoning and setback issues that might be easily resolved, said David Kopp, a city planner.
To grow vegetable gardens instead of grass, Southminster must get a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals on Monday and a conditional use permit from the Plan Commission on May 14.
Some neighbors might speak in opposition, saying the gardens will be unsightly and decrease property values, Kopp said. The permits will be only temporary, he said.
Yep, government has got to have its say.
Filed under: government regulation , food prices, government regulation, Waukesha, Wisconsin
