The Crisis of American Self-Government
'We have now an American political party and a European one. Not all Americans who vote for the European party want to become Europeans. But it doesn't matter because that's what they're voting for. They're voting for dependency, for lack of ambition, and for insolvency."http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323751104578149292503121124.html
Will We Ever Get Our America Back?
The only reason we haven't felt the economic pain from all this deficit spending over the past 25 years is that we have successfully put off the paying the bills by putting it all on a national credit card (throwing away billions in interest) while continuing to stuff our faces. We might be fat and happy now, we might feel really good about ourselves willing to give so much to so many, but we are as dumb as a sack of hammers.Doesn't anyone ever consider that the public treasury isn't ours to give? Let me be clear: giving is great, giving of our own accord is doing the work of the Lord. Giving away the labor of others, being generous with other people's money, is not moral -- it's a grave and dangerous character flaw. For who but a robber takes great joy in taking or giving away another man's treasure? Who rests comfortably at night with a clear conscience after giving one man the labor of another? Does anyone -- let alone the cold faceless State -- have the ability to "love your neighbor" for you?
The taxes in the public treasury belong to "the people". We need to understand that this is an account of trust, governed by Constitutional law. The public treasury isn't a gift bag to be given to the constituency of the winner of an election. Nor is it to be spent any way one person or party believes it should be. There are rules to follow, though you wouldn't know it from national politics today.
This may appear to be merely an economic and fiscal crisis -- but it really isn't. At its core it is the culmination of a moral collapse that started long before the economic derailment. It is the result not so much of presidents and the powerful but a populace that has chosen for far too long to be conscientious objectors in the war for the soul of the Republic and the rule of Constitutional principles. Welcome to the rise of bureaucratic despotism. The future will soon look like the past -- the very long ago past of marauders and peasants with pitchforks and torches -- and it won't be pretty.
What We Should Care About
When our interest in government is really an interest in prosperity, then we risk losing everything, including prosperity, although that is the slightest of the losses. We really don't need more stuff. Our greatest health problems today are not hunger or overwork, but rather overeating and boredom. The aching emptiness in our body politic is not material poverty, but a poverty of honor and moral purpose. Not only are we Americans not poor, but even relatively poor Americans live better today than affluent Americans did in 1950.Our republic was constructed around ideals out of which, on balance, many good things would probably follow, but vitally those ideals should be followed whatever the impact on society as a whole because these ideals are, per se, good and noble. This is even more imperative when our material wants are already largely sated. Our battle is not, and must not be, simply a battle for stuff. If it is, then we have lost the battle even when we win.
Tax Fairness for Obama’s Friends, But What About the Rest of Us?
By Gerri Willis
Also on the topic of taxes tonight, Costco cofounder and CEO, Jim Sinegal, is in the headlines because of today’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal. The executive has supported the president, and has even spoken on his behalf at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte earlier this year.
So, it was surprising when Costco became one of the scores of public companies awarding a special dividend to avoid Mr. Obama’s dividend tax increase. Other companies are moving existing dividend payment plans into this calendar year for the same reason.
Here's the math: Costco will pay $7 per share this month or $3 billion to shareholders. Here's the rub, the company will borrow to do it. Dividends are typically taken out of earnings.
I fully support executives opting to take dividends early, but for Sinegal, who's apparently been a supporter of Obama and his idea of "shared sacrifice”, it’s disingenuous at best.
Sinegal will make $14 million, or $4 million more than he would have had he waited.
Tax fairness? Shared sacrifice? For who?
http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/willis-report/blog/2012/11/30/tax-fairness-obama%E2%80%99s-friends-what-about-rest-us
$16 Trillion in Debt, but $80 Trillion In Unfunded Liabilities
We hear all about the $16 Trillion dollars in debt that our country is in, but the much larger problem and the one that our politicians and citizens do not want to talk about honestly is the $80 Trillion Dollars in Unfunded Liabilities at the federal level.The hard thing to understand is that the economic collapse does not only effect the United States alone but also the world economy as a whole. There are different ways that people think that we can start climbing out of this from raising taxes to creating the mechanisms for inflation to increase. All of these things sadly are going to occur regardless under the current path that we seem to be going down. We hear so much about raising the taxes on the upper percent, but what so many fail to understand is that we are obligated to around $7 Trillion dollars a year on average just to cover our obligations from pensions to Medicare and Social Security and that is just going up as the baby boomer generation hits full stride in retiring. Raising taxes is not the only way to get out of this problem long term, we have to reduce our obligation to these liabilities and reduce the coverage over all in the end. It will not happen today because no one in politics has the guts to do so because they are all too worried about getting reelected, but at some point economics catches up to politics and we are on the verge of crossing the Rubicon now and in the near future.
Massive Anti-Obama Rally Planned for Inauguration Day
Inspired by concerns of unemployment, the economy, Benghazi, and matters of foreign policy; organizers are promoting a “Massive Anti-Obama Rally @ Obama’s Inauguration Day.” Their goal? 500,000+ protesters armed with signs identifying the reason for their participation in the rally.The invitation expresses the following:
“If you are unsatisfied with
President Barack Obama’s reelection win and you further feel that he
will ultimately destabilize America completely, then let us join
together with bold Anti-Obama signs clearly stating our main
grievances…”
Organizers are encouraging those who aren’t able to participate in the rally, on Washington D.C.’s National Mall, to form groups and hold non-violent protests at state capital buildings or other local government venues.
Is there cause to protest? Absolutely. Will it change the state of our nation, or the fact that the most corrupt President in the history of our country is being inaugurated for the second time? Most certainly not. But, to be doing ‘something’ on ‘that’ day might feel better than letting it go unchallenged. After all, isn’t there a saying that declares it’s better “to go down fighting?”
http://MinuteMenNews.com/2012/12/massive-anti-obama-rally-planned-for-inauguration-day/#ixzz2DqJENwoC
Port strike update: SoCal at a standstill, shippers moves to Mexico, retailers beg Obama for help
By Michelle Malkin
In case you missed it last week during the holiday, I discussed the port strike chaos on the Cavuto show and pointed out that shippers were redirecting traffic to Mexico. As the L.A./Long Beach port strike drags on this week, southern California is losing even more business.
One container ship laden with goods to be imported into the U.S. has already been diverted to Oakland because of the strike, which that has idled 10 of the 14 cargo terminals at the nation’s busiest seaport complex, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
A second ship that was also bound for San Pedro Bay has been diverted to a port in Mexico, said Capt. Dick McKenna, executive director of the Marine Exchange, which tracks local ship movements.
Three more container ships that were expected to arrive at either Los Angeles or Long Beach but are significantly overdue are presumed to have also been diverted to other ports, McKenna said.
This means that a strike that began at just one cargo terminal Tuesday and spread to nine more on Wednesday is already resulting in lost work for product supply chain employees such as truck drivers, railroad workers, warehouse workers and logistics employees, among others.I am going to continue to post and re-post the FACTS about the striking ILWU clerical workers because pushback against Big Labor’s false narratives is vital. The rest of America’s workers (and those seeking work) need to know what these goons are really up to as they monkey-wrench the economy.
The OCU [clerical workers' union] enjoy extremely generous paid time off benefits (with average absenteeism from vacation, sick leave, holidays, and other leaves totaling over 29%, or three and one-half months, of the year). In the face of this absenteeism, the OCU demand that when employees are absent, for whatever reason, the employers must call in a temporary employee to fill the vacancy on the first day and for the duration of the vacancy.
• The OCU also insist that the employers hire a new employee every time an employee retires or quits, even if there is no work for the new employee to perform.
• The OCU’s last written proposal before the strike includes an unlawful demand that employers convert some managers to union-represented clerks as a reward for giving the OCU misleading and/or false information that the OCU sought to use against the employers during contract negotiations.
…The OCU are already the highest paid clerical workers in America. The employers’ latest proposals would increase OCU annual compensation packages to over $190,000 in wages and benefits by 2016, including:
• Average annual wages up to approximately $90,000;
• Pensions of up to $75,000 per year;
• Maintenance of all benefits in the OCU’s extremely generous health plan, for which the OCU pay nothing (benefits include, e.g., $0 co-pay for generic drugs; $0 for x-rays, diagnostics, and lab tests; $5 office visit co-pays; 90% coverage for infertility; and more);
• Maintenance of all other employment benefits (an average of 12 weeks of paid time off every year; meal and transportation allowances; early retirement with full benefits; education reimbursement; etc.).
Retailers have asked the White House for help. Good luck with that.
The National Retail Federation has urged President Obama “to use all means necessary” to restart stalled contract negotiations between management and striking union workers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.http://michellemalkin.com/2012/11/30/port-strike-update-socal-at-a-standstill-shippers-moves-to-mexico/
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit has placed pickets outside a majority of terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and other longshoremen are refusing to cross the picket lines. As a result, ships are not being loaded or unloaded and trucks and trains cannot move containers on or off 10 terminals.
The Los Angeles Times reported that two ships have been diverted to other ports, one to Oakland and another to an unnamed port in Mexico.
“A prolonged strike at the nation’s largest ports would have a devastating impact on the U.S. economy,” read a letter from NRF President and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Shay to the president. “We call upon you to use all means necessary to get the two sides back to the negotiating table.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
NRF noted that in 2002 a 10-day lockout at West Coast ports led to significant supply chain disruptions, which took six months to remedy, and cost the economy an estimated $1 billion a day
Local news: Courthouse workers reject contract offer
Yellowstone County courthouse workers on Friday voted down the latest contract offer from the county and authorized a strike.
Darcy Dahle, field representative for the Montana Public Employees Association, which represents about 100 courthouse workers, said the employees rejected the offer and authorized a strike, both actions approved by “wide margins.”
The union is still willing to negotiate with the county, Dahle said.
The MPEA negotiating team will be meeting on its next steps, she said.
The bargaining unit rejected an earlier offer from the county. Mediation between the parties also failed.
The county presented its latest offer on Nov. 15 and met with Dahle and courthouse workers in a negotiation session on Nov. 21
.
County commissioners said in a letter to Dahle this week that if they did not receive acknowledgement of acceptance or rejection of its Nov. 15 offer by 5 p.m. Friday, it would consider negotiations to be “at an impasse.”
The financial offer was for a two-year contract with a 3.75 percent salary increase the first year, longevity pay and a market adjustment of 25 cents an hour for those workers on the lower end of the classification, with a lump-sum payment instead of retroactive pay. The whole first-year package totaled about 4.5 percent.
The second year offered a 2.75 percent wage increase, longevity and a market adjustment of 25 cents per hour for workers in the lower end of the classification. In addition, workers with 12 years or more of employment whose wages were below the midpoint of their grade level would get a 25-cent-an-hour adjustment. The second-year package totaled 3.75 percent.
County officials said the decision to include a market adjustment recognized that some courthouse workers are paid less than workers in similar jobs in Gallatin, Missoula and Flathead counties and that some long-term employees still had not reached the midpoint pay level for their classification.
Dwight Vigness, the county’s human resources director, said the offer was higher than the county’s previous offer.
“It seems to be a pretty good offer,” he told commissioners earlier this week.
The MPEA disagreed. The 25-cent-an-hour adjustment "is not going to bring them to midpoint,” Dahle said.
The “overwhelming concern” of the unit is that some long-term employees are not at the midpoint of the pay scale, even after 30 years of service, Dahle said.
The workers want adjustments not only for those at the lower end of the scale but also for the long-term employees, Dahle said.
“These people are the hardworking backbones of the county,” she said.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/courthouse-workers-reject-contract-offer/article_a893a380-9f1b-56a3-85a3-b9397b0fb0c5.html
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