A Shameful Episode

I was driving around one of the sleazier parts of Fort Worth yesterday, and saw a bunch of cop cars and a massive limo in my rearview mirror.  The vehicles were totally out of place in that neighborhood. 

I couldn't believe it!  It was Barack Obama in "The Beast" presidential limousine. 

That's something you don't see every day.  So I let them pass me and then I got in line behind all the cop cars. 

Next thing you know, I was surrounded by limousines.  It was a freakin' Congressional motorcade, driving down East Lancaster.  Where were they going?  What the hell were they doing?  Was this a fact-finding mission to investigate poverty?  A junket to research the lifestyles of crack whores?  Or maybe they wanted some really good BBQ? 

You're not gonna believe where they went. 

Barack's limo pulled up in front of the sleaziest Payday Loan facility I've ever seen.  The President Of The United States got out of his car, walked up to the storefront, and held open the door.  He looked downright giddy. 

(In case you don't know what a Payday Loan joint is, these are places where you can get a short-term loan by using your next paycheck as collateral.  The default rates are staggering.) 

Obama held the door open for at least 30 minutes while most of the Congress of the USA went inside.  (Jeff Flake, the senator from Arizona with formerly decent libertarian credentials, was hardest to recognize.  He was wearing a trenchcoat and dark glasses, and kept his arm over his face so he couldn't be photographed.)

I got out of my truck and asked one of the Secret Service guys what was going on.  "They're raising the debt ceiling again," he said.  They've been doing it for years." 

And then it got weird.....

More cops and military personnel showed up, and they had kids with them.  Cars and trucks loaded with them. 

"What the hell?" I couldn't believe it.  "What's up with all the children?"

My new Secret Service buddy grinned at me.  "Dude, you are such a Boy Scout!  You don't think this generation of swine is going to pay for anything, do you?  Nobody with any street smarts would loan these clowns a dime.  So Congress brings in all these kids to co-sign for their loans." 

"I don't get it," I said.

"Ok, take the stimulus package," said the officer.  "The economy was hurting, and your baby boom generation was slightly inconvenienced.  So these guys borrowed a bunch of money and spread it around.  These kids are the ones who will have to pay it all back." 

One of the kids made a break for it, and ran toward Canada.  The cops knocked the living shit out of him, and after that the other kids were much more sedate and well-behaved.

  
I was shocked, but the Secret Service agent was unfazed.  "That's the beauty of Keynesian economics," he said.  "It gives us a fig leaf for taking and spending what we want immediately.  Nobody even notices.  Every time a Bush or Obama or Pelosi talks about 'investing' in some boondoggle, these kids go further into debt."

And one by one, the children were taken into the loan facility, forced to sign away years of their lives, fingerprinted, and sent back out on the streets. 

 
"See you again in March!" said the business owner.  "We're pushing for another war, plus Social Security and Medicare are about to go broke." 

A few minutes later, and it was all done.  The adults were able to continue spending like drunk cowboys, the kids would have to pay for it, and business as usual was restored in Washington, D.C.

A couple of hours later, Barack Obama was on television.  "Hopefully next time, it won't be in the 11th hour," Obama said. "We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis....  I'm eager to work with anybody.. on any idea that will grow our economy, create new jobs, strengthen the middle class and get our fiscal house in order for the long term.  I've never believed that Democrats have a monopoly on good ideas.. I'm convinced that Democrats and Republicans can work together to make progress for America."

You heard what the man said.  That's how Democrats and Republicans work together to make progress for America. 
Don't thank returning veterans for their service. 
Thank your kids. 

 

Has anyone else noticed....

Has anyone else noticed that the individuals wanting to save the earth from Global Warming/Cooling/Weather/Etc. for the sake of "the children" are almost always the same people who want to avoid paying as they go for political and economic boondoggles, leaving behind crushing debts to be paid by "the children"?

It makes me nuts. 

That's all. 

Have a great Friday !! 

Simon Jester is back !!

The Simon Jester blog is back. 

Go here. 

Always good stuff. 

A typical example of their fine work.... (I woulda said "and the 12-year-old behind you has to pay for it", just to increases the guilt, but hey, it's still greatness.) 

I'm not saying the government is too big, but....

I'm not saying the government is too big, but....

if it really is too big, what would it look like? 

Here's the Samizdata quote of the day -

What if we have reached a point where the scale and scope of government have become absurdly large? What you would observe is a growing gap between the theories used to justify government expansion and its practical impact. You would observe the cost of education and health care rising, without commensurate benefits. You would observe stimulus programs that increase employment according to computer models but not in reality. You would observe crony capitalism. You would observe budgets distorted by public-sector unions. You would observe fraudulent accounting that shifts costs for pensions onto future generations.


- Arnold Kling

Well, if you're going to put it that way....

Picture of bloated guy came from here. 

Corrupt Insurance Company DOUBLES Bills After Signing Up Customers !!!

From The Washington Examiner comes an expose of unscrupulous healthcare providers quoting a low price for medical treatment and then DOUBLING the amount charged to the customer. 
I look forward to breathless editorials from the New York Times, the Washington Post and 60 Minutes condemning this practice and those who oversee it. 

President Obama's national health care law will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, according to a new projection released today by the Congressional Budget Office, rather than the $940 billion forecast when it was signed into law.

Raise your hand if you are shocked.  Anyone?  Anybody?  I didn't think so. 

Democrats employed many accounting tricks when they were pushing through the national health care legislation, the most egregious of which was to delay full implementation of the law until 2014, so it would appear cheaper under the CBO's standard ten-year budget window and, at least on paper, meet Obama's pledge that the legislation would cost "around $900 billion over 10 years." When the final CBO score came out before passage, critics noted that the true 10 year cost would be far higher than advertised once projections accounted for full implementation.

The 2014 date also got Obama past the 2012 elections and also gets some distance between the 2008 Congress and the inevitable consequences of this mess. 
This graph is old and out of date, but it's the most recent one I could find.  Like the Democrats, I like to post eye-popping charts of disastrous consequences.  In this case the chart isn't horrible enough, and I apologize. 

Today, the CBO released new projections from 2013 extending through 2022, and the results are as critics expected: the ten-year cost of the law's core provisions to expand health insurance coverage has now ballooned to $1.76 trillion. That's because we now have estimates for Obamacare's first nine years of full implementation, rather than the mere six when it was signed into law. Only next year will we get a true ten-year cost estimate, if the law isn't overturned by the Supreme Court or repealed by then.

Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn has said that ObamaCare will never be repealed.  That's why you need to start voting for Libertarians. 
Mitt Romney was the John The Baptist for ObamaCare.  He will be the Republican nominee for president.  That's why you need to start voting for Libertarians. 
Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Authority has had similar cost overruns without accomplishing much of anything but marketing.  They're trying to build a massive lake downtown that will be known to your granchildren debtors as "Lake Granger", after the family of Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger.  That's why you need to start voting for Libertarians. 

Given that in 2022, the last year available, the gross cost of the coverage expansions are $265 billion, we're likely looking at about $2 trillion over the first decade, or more than double what Obama advertised.
UPDATE: I've done another post with additional details from the CBO report.

These are the numbers from the Congressional Budget Office.  I don't think the Congressional Budget Office could properly predict the winner of a New York Giants vs. Little Sisters Of The Blind wager in the Super Bowl. Their predicted cost is very, very low.  Hide and watch. 

Why Rick Perry is wrong - Social Security is not a Ponzi Scheme

For years, I've mistakenly thought of Social Security as a Ponzi Scheme.  I was wrong.   
What's a Ponzi Scheme, you ask? 

Here's the U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission's answer:

A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors.

During the recent Republican debate, Texas Governor Rick Perry made a stir by declaring that Social Security was a Ponzi scheme.  Lamestream Media outrage immediately blanketed the earth.  Animal shelters were working overtime because of the MSNBC Talking Heads having multiple litters of kittens all over their desks.  If I remember correctly, Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews stood and ceremonially tore their garments and dipped their foreheads in hot vats of black ashes.  (I've got it Tivo'd at home, and will correct the names if necessary.)  Mitt Romney, in a white heat to look like the responsible adult in the room, rushed to the program's defense.  New York Timesians have gathered to reconcile their faith with the inconvenient evidence of Ponzi-ism. 

I laughed and laughed.  I shouldn't have. 

According to Reason magazine, my current source of infallible doctrine, Social Security isn't a Ponzi scheme.  Here's why:

1)  Ponzi schemes take money from new suckers and use it to pay older suckers.  Social Security collects money from new victims, uses some of it to pay previous victims, and spends the rest on stimulus packages, Cash For Clunkers, TARP, wars, prisons, slop, slush, and kickbacks to supporters and government drones.  Trillions of dollars from the Social Security Lockbox have been looted in this manner. 

2) Ponzi schemes attract their money through fraud and lies.  Social Security funds are collected at gunpoint.  If you disagree with that statement, try not paying for Social Security. 

3) When Ponzi schemes run out of suckers, they collapse.  When Social Security starts running low on suckers?  The men with guns simply raise your rates.  Here's the Cato Institute:

In fact, Social Security taxes have been raised some 40 times since the program began. The initial Social Security tax was 2 percent (split between the employer and employee), capped at $3,000 of earnings. That made for a maximum tax of $60. Today, the tax is 12.4 percent, capped at $106,800, for a maximum tax of $13,234. Even adjusting for inflation, that represents more than an 800 percent increase.

In 1950, every retiree had sixteen Social Security victims working to support him.  We now have only three suckers working to support every retired sucker.  In 2030, it'll be only two suckerw working to support every retired sucker.  Look for the men with guns to increase your rates. 

So.... according to Reason magazine, Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme (in the Bernie Madoff sense of the word). 

It is something much, much worse. 

I regret my previous error. 

The vintage poster came from here. 

You're gonna pay !!!

This is the best thing I've seen on our habit of passing our bills on to the unborn.  The clip of Harry Reid holding the little zygotes at gunpoint is classic. 

A suggestion for what to do about Recovery.gov advertisements

I'm on my way back from Memphis, having had a GREAT time on my Thanksgiving vacation. 
Only a few disturbances in the overall bliss of the week....(I'll post the good stuff later, but Henry, my traveling companion and driver, is going down the highway at an alarming speed, and it is hard to type.)

Every morning for six days, I had to drive past this vile symbol of theft. 

It was on an apartment building that was being remodeled.  This apartment was no different from all the others, but the owners knew someone in government, and were able to get your money for their project. 

I think we should start a movement to decorate every Porkulus Project with crime scene tape. 

I took the picture of the "Be Proud Your Stealing From Your Grandchildren" sign myself.  The crime scene picture came from this company, which actually specializes in cleaning up after crime scenes, traumatic incidents, gangsta invasions, etc.  An apt metaphor for our current economic condition, don't you think? 

Fluffee Talks - NSFW

I don't know who this kid is.
Mike Coyne sent me the link.
He says it so much more eloquently than I ever could.
Go here for more info on the lemonade stand incident. 

It could happen here....

From Oregon Live.com:

The girl worked on a sign, coloring in the letters and decorating it with a drawing of a person saying “Yummy.” She made a list of supplies…

Julie was careful about making the lemonade, cleaning her hands with hand sanitizer, using a scoop for the bagged ice and keeping
After 20 minutes, a “lady with a clipboard” came over and asked for their license. When Fife explained they didn’t have one, the woman told them they would need to leave or possibly face a $500 fine.

Surprised, Fife started to pack up. The people staffing the booths next to them encouraged the two to stay, telling them the inspectors had no right to kick them out of the neighborhood gathering. They also suggested that they give away the lemonade and accept donations instead and one of them made an announcement to the crowd to support the lemonade stand.
That’s when business really picked up — and two inspectors came back, Fife said. Julie started crying, while her mother packed up and others confronted the inspectors. “It was a very big scene,” Fife said.

Those bastards would tax the pennies on a dead man's eyes. 

(Jon) Kawaguchi, who oversees the two county inspectors involved, said they must be fair and consistent in their monitoring, no matter the age of the person. "Our role is to protect the public," he said.

No, I beg to differ.  Their role is to collect fees, put up barriers to entry, and generate enough income to pay for their pensions. 

The county's shutdown of the lemonade stand was publicized by Michael Franklin, the man at the booth next to Fife and her daughter. Franklin contributes to the Bottom Up Radio Network, an online anarchist site, and interviewed Fife for his show.

Franklin is also organizing a "Lemonade Revolt" for Last Thursday in August. He's calling on anarchists, neighbors and others to come early for the event and grab space for lemonade stands on Alberta between Northeast 25th and Northeast 26th.

Good idea.  They can't arrest everybody, can they????

LeAnn Rimes, Macaulay Culkin, Gary Coleman, Shirley Temple, Jackie Coogan, and other unfortunate children of irresponsible parents

I recently drove past  the theatre where they put on Johnny High's Country Music Revue.  It's a traditional country music show, very old school, and would probably fit better in Branson, Missouri, than Arlington, Texas.

Seeing the place reminded me of LeAnn Rimes.  (This is a stream-of-consciousness post.  Sorry.)  LeAnn Rimes got started at a very young age, singing in the Johnny High Revue and anywhere else she could find a microphone.  Then she had a mega-hit with Blue, a song written by WBAP disc jockey Bill Mack.  She earned a fortune.   

Unfortunately, her father spent most of it, and she had to sue him. 

You might be more familiar with Macaulay Culkin, the child star of the Home Alone franchise. Culkin earned a fortune as a child star, but had to sue his parents to get control of his earnings.

Gary Coleman, of Diff'rent Strokes fame?  Same song, different verse.  His parents and manager were on the losing end of a 1.3 million dollar lawsuit.  They were found guilty of ripping off the child star. 

Shirley Temple didn't sue her parents, but they spent most of her money. 

Jackie Coogan, a child star whose career began back in the silent film era, eventually sued his mother and stepfather for spending most of his earnings on jewelry, furs, and cars.  (Here's Coogan with Charlie Chapin in The Kid.) 

The Coogan incident became a media sensation and California eventually passed something called The Coogan Act to protect childrens' earnings from their parents. 

Most people don't have a problem with the actions of the Rimes, Culkin, Coleman, Temple, or Coogan parents.  They do something worse every day, and the kids have absolutely no voice in the matter.    

 

Most people continue to vote for Republican and Democrat politicians who, through cooperative, bi-partisan efforts, have managed to get every American child chin-deep in debt. 

If you look at the current debt, the children born tomorrow have a $50,000.00 hole to dig themselves out of.  If you add the unfunded liabilities, and believe me, these liabilities are unfunded, the children born tomorrow already owe $330,000.00 because of their parents' spending. 

It's as if Papa Culkin had signed Macaulay to an iron-clad contract for Home Alone, Part 4, plus Home Alone, Part 5, all the way through Nursing Home Alone, Part 37 to pay off the family gambling debts. 

Which is really the only way to look at it.   

The celebrity pics in this post came from the links by their names.  The pic of the little girl protesting her debt level came from here and is, of course, out of date, since it was taken 6 months ago.  Oh well.  All numbers in this post will be off by 20% in another 6 months. 

Child's Pay

Here's a video about the currently fashionable Loot The Children ® program.

Cincinatti Tea Party

Here are a few pics from the Cincinatti Tea Party of March 15th, one of the latest anti-tax protests.

Looks like quite a crowd. The Fort Worth protest, which was held outside a West Side bar, didn't have as much advance publicity.

There was some harsh and savage criticism directed toward the parents who took their kids to the Fort Worth protest. But here's why it's so important for kids to attend:

If you can't read the sign, it says "I'm only 8, and already $36,000.00 in debt".

The parents aren't the ones who will have to pay for this mess.

Just Say "No" to Timothy Geithner

Our government is allowed to use force to accomplish its objectives.
Therefore, all government officials appointed or elected to use force in the course of their duties should be chosen very carefully.

I pay my taxes. Many of you pay your taxes. But the current nominee for Secretary of The Treasury, the person who might soon be in charge of the IRS? He tried to avoid paying all of his taxes.

I heard on the radio that Geithner had apologized for not paying his taxes "on time". Well, Al Capone didn't pay his taxes "on time" either. That's why he went to jail.

Don't get me started about using Summer Camp as a Daycare credit.

Geithner is a driving force in the bailout - the greatest wealth transfer from the poor to the rich in the history of our universe. He is a hardcore advocate of all the Loot The Children ® programs.

Timothy Geither is a tax dodger. He is seriously being considered for the post of chief tax collector. He will soon be authorized to take your money.

Let's say that again, for the sake of those who received The Gift Of The Holy Spirit on The Day Of Pentecost, also known as The Inauguration.... Timothy Geither is a tax dodger. He is seriously being considered for the post of chief tax collector. He will soon be authorized to take your money.

Is irony dead? Are we so bedazzled by the recent annointing of the Obamessiah that we're going to tolerate this?

In short, are you willing to give this __________ your money?????

Here are the names of representatives who have voted "No" in the recent Senate Panel hearings. God bless 'em. The confirmation vote from the full senate is Monday.

Here's a link where you can email your senator, and ask them to vote NO on this confirmation.