What was that?

Before we get too far from the political earthquake that shook the nation last week, I wanted to address the issue of why Massachusetts, California, and New York decided to go in one direction (to the Democrats), while everybody else in the country decided to go in the other direction (to the Republicans). Although MA saw a small tremor from the earthquake, in that the number of State Reps to Beacon Hill doubled, an entire ticket of very well qualified Republicans went down to defeat. From Governor to Auditor, from US Congressman to State Senators to Attorney General, MA voters seemed to reject the Republican messaged en mass. The mess that is Washington, the mess that is MA finance, did not reverberate here the way it did in the rest of the country. The question is, why?

This is not the first election the MA has swerved liberal while everyone else swerved conservative. For many years I have had a theory on why this is so: with every election that puts looney lefties in office in MA, non-looney people move out of the state. So for the next election, there are even less Republicans, and the state goes more looney. This theory hit me first in 2004, when many highly qualified challengers went down to defeat (Jim Coffey comes to mind). After that election, a surprisingly large number of the activists who had fought the good battle up and left. Many for North Carolina, a few to Texas.

But looking at the results of this election, I think the dynamic is broader. It’s not that California and Massachusetts are losing Republicans, but rather they are losing the middle class. Here’s what is left: very high-earning voters who do not care what their taxes are, and very low-earning voters who are more than willing to vote for the taxes that re-distribute wealth from the high and middle income to the low income. The only voter that gets squeezed is the middle class, for whom the high taxes ARE a problem.

Add to the high/low earning voter dynamic the public unions, and there is a perfect combination of interests to continue voting Democrats into office. And this dynamic would not even be a problem – tax the rich, feed the poor, let the middle class move out, more power to the public employees unions – EXCEPT that the taxes on the rich are not enough to pay for everything else. As the tax rates go up an up chasing more revenue, the number of people who fall into the ‘it is time to move’ category moves up as well. Eventually the highly-indebted states will default on their municipal bonds, and the entire house of cards will come crashing down. The only hope California and Massachusetts had was for Democrats to continue to hold the power in the US Congress, and could re-direct federal taxes (from the well-managed states) to the fiscal basket cases such as CA, NY and MA. Clearly the results of the last election would seem to indicate that the federal spigot is likely to be shut down.

So is it hopeless for Republicans in Massachusetts? Not necessarily. The wacky liberals are never going to ‘get it’, and will always vote for higher taxes (Cambridge, I’m talking to you). But the pain that comes from a poorly run state WILL become obvious eventually. In the meantime, we need to convince the 50% of MA voters who are ‘independents’ that there is a better way – the Republican way. The public employee unions will continue to be a financial black-hole, sucking in all tax revenues, until OTHER constituencies that need public monies finally get squeezed enough to realize what is happening. California will go over the fiscal cliff first, but Massachusetts will not be far behind. As Republicans in a very blue state, we need to continue to make the case to our Un-enrolled neighbors that the Democrat policies lead to failure. By doing so we can hasten the arrival of the time MA wakes up and sees what the rest of the country saw last Tuesday: the way forward is to vote Republican.

I will not renege, I do not accept. I will fight.

The founding fathers bequeathed a stunning legacy to every generation of Americans that has followed – a legacy of freedom, a legacy of self-determination that allows everyone to lead the life they want to lead.

Every generation from 1776 to the present has fought to maintain that legacy. Many have died so that I might enjoy a life free from government shackles, free from the whip of the tyrant. I look around and see many people going about their daily business, taking this legacy for granted, just assuming it has always been here, and will always be here. But that is not necessarily so. As those that came before me fought so that future generations would inherit the legacy, so too must I fight to pass on the wonderful experiment that is America to my children, to my grandchildren, and all those that come after me. It’s a debt I owe to those who came before. It is a gift I want to give to my kids.

The exceptionalism that is the United States of America is, right now, under the biggest assault in its brief 234 year history. Creeping socialism, assault on free enterprise, blatant ignoring of the Constitution, the bankrupting of the treasury – all of this has gained remarkable ground in the past 19 months. Unchecked, the cancer that is Progressive Liberalism WILL bring this country down as it has brought down so many others. To stand by and make no effort against these forces is to simply renege on the debt I owe, and accept that my children’s future will be bleak. I will not renege, I do not accept. I will fight. With every resource at my disposal.

There is a major political war underway right now, and the winner will be determined on November 2nd. If you believe as I do that we are as close as we have ever been to losing our legacy of freedom and self-determination, join me and the Republicans in this battle. Hold a sign, make a phone call, help with a mailing, donate some money, hold a fundraiser, GET INVOLVED. Join the fight - it’s important.

Fire the clowns on November 2nd

If deficit spending really acted as an economic ‘stimulus’, the MA economy would be booming. According to Moody’s Investors Service, Massachusetts has the second highest state debt per capital in the country – only Connecticut has a higher debt burden on its citizens. The financial hole dug by our politicians is a big one that will weigh on economic growth for years.

Now, the Legislators will point to municipal healthcare costs, and pension obligations, and say “there’s nothing we can do”. And yet, 48 other states, including California, seem to have figured out how to manage things without digging a huge fiscal hole. The problem in MA is two-fold: the elected Democrats do not understand economics, and those same Democrats believe tax dollars are there to buy votes for the next election. Every few years it is necessary to elect Republicans to clean up the spending mess. This is one of those year. Vote Republican on November 2nd.

Same old, same old

Speaking of a total lack of ethics at the State House, here is yet another story of politicians lining the pockets of family and supporters at the expense of the rest of us.

A legislative leader whose wife, former aide, and scores of financial supporters have received jobs in the state Probation Department is fighting a subpoena ordering him to appear before an independent counsel investigating allegations of corrupt hiring practices within the agency.

Independent counsel Paul F. Ware had ordered Representative Thomas M. Petrolati, the third-ranking leader in the House of Representatives, to appear before him last week to answer questions about his efforts to secure probation jobs for his family, friends, and supporters. Ware also demanded documents about Petrolati’s relationship with Probation Commissioner John J. “Jack’’ O’Brien, who was suspended from his job in May after the Globe revealed a pattern of political favoritism in hiring.

Catch that? “Third-ranking leader of the House of Representatives”. In the tradition of Salvatore DiMasi, Tom Finneran, and Charles Flaherty – the last three leaders of the House of Representatives, all of which resigned due to ethical lapses – Petrolati saw how the system worked, and worked the system. How many other Representatives learned the same lessons? It’s time to clean the House – vote the clowns out on November 2^nd.

Thanks a lot, Dems

There’s an interesting article in today’s Boston Globe talking about the weakness in the healthcare sector, and how that weakness is likely to pull down the MA economy.

From the article:

A slowing health care industry would have broad implications for the Massachusetts economy. Health care is the state’s biggest employment sector, accounting for about one in six jobs, and has provided stability through downturns and support for recoveries.

If health care continues to sputter now, the state conomy would lose an important engine of growth as it tries to sustain a still nascent recovery. In addition, the state is more vulnerable to economy, regulatory, and policy changes buffeting the industry since Massachusetts has a larger helath care sector than the nation as a whole. Health care accounts for more than 15% of employment in Massachusetts, compared with more than 12 percent nationally.

The federal health care overhall, which will be phased in over the next few years, will add more pressure to control costs, analysts said. And in an industry where labor accounts for 70% of expenses, controlling costs means slower employment growth.

The national debate on whether to ‘constrain’ healthcare costs is certainly one worth having, but if you are an elected official from Massachusetts, it would be insane to support Obamacare’s effort to cripple the healthcare sector. And yet, 9 of 10 of our congressmen did just that (only Stephen Lynch, MA9, voted no). Barney Frank in MA4 voted for it. So did Ed Markey in MA7. So did Jim McGovern in MA3. What are these politicians thinking? Why would they vote to infuse government control of the state’s growth sector? Now that engine for economic growth in the state is stalling, and the unemployment hole is set to get deeper. Thank your elected officials on November 2^nd.

Where's Waldo?

Did you know that our Governor, Deval Patrick, is currently making a tour of the mid-east? He has been to Iraq and Kuwait, and is now in Afghanistan. He was even briefed by General Patreus. Now what policy concerns of the state of Massachusetts could Patrick possibly be tending to in the mid-east? Does General Patreus really have nothing better to do with his time than brief state Governors?

Deval Patrick had no executive experience coming into office, and the voters of Massachusetts have been paying the price for poor leadership for the last three and a half years. Tell this left-wing progressive ding-bat we have endured incompetence long enough – vote for Charlie Baker this November, restore professionalism to the Governor’s office.

Economic Malpractice (continued)

The economic news continues to be bad, as the Democrats continue to pretend they know what they are doing with economic policy. Unfortunately for the country, they don’t. Unemployment remains sky-high, and every effort the Democrats have made to shovel tax money at the problem has failed to reignite the economy. If it is true we all are Keynesians now, the country is in big trouble.

The latest news to hit the tape is the housing start numbers, which show very slow activity. That should not really be a surprise, because the Democrat-controlled government decided to give subsidies to people buying new homes through the spring, and has now moved to stop the free give-away. Currently there is an enormous inventory of foreclosed housing. Why was the government subsidizing new housing? I have no idea. To prop up the construction unions I guess. But now that the spigot has been turned off, housing starts have crashed:

“Permits for single-family homes -- considered by many to be the most vital number in Tuesday's release -- fell 3.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 421,000, the lowest level since April 2009.

Permits and starts had risen smartly earlier in the year, as builders stepped up their pace to meet the deadline for the federal home buyers' subsidy. Economists say the tax credit served to pull demand forward into the spring that might have been spread out through the year.”

So the government spent tax dollars to move demand from the back of 2010 to the front. I hope the Democrat plan was to artificially make the economy look strong in the early part of 2010 in order to position better for the fall elections. Because if that was not the plan, they just wasted a lot of money on a completely futile exercise with a completely predictable outcome. For some reason it makes me feel better if we are run by smart people acting against the best interests of the country rather than if we are run by stupid people. I have not decide what the current situation is, but I know one thing: it’s one or the other. And neither scenario leads to a stronger US.

Pick a Republican candidate – any Republican candidate – and go help that person get elected. The election is less than four months away.

Barney Frank said WHAT?

As a follow up to my last post, in which I was wondering if American Jewish voters fundamentally disagreed with Israeli Jews on the right of Israel to defend itself, we have yesterday's comments from none other than Bumbling Barney Frank:

“Once you have a combat situation and innocent people die, I mean, you know, look at our problems in Afghanistan, and we have an obligation to try and avoid it.”

Innocent people die? Really? It seems pretty obvious from the video that the Israeli soldiers acted in self defense. It was the sixth boat they had boarded that day, and no shots were fired on the other five. Israel has a right to prevent the re-arming of Hamas. That Barney Frank would not understand the dynamic is astonishing. That the Obama administration would not support Israel at the UN is just a disgrace.

Barney Frank is Jewish, which speaks to my profound confusion as to why US Jews support President Obama’s anti-Israel policies. From the standpoint of Obama, his policies regarding Israel are completely consistent with his statements and previous actions. I do not wonder what Obama is doing, he has been clear: Israel is at fault for tensions in the mid-east, and will be punished accordingly. What I don’t understand is why US Jews such as Barney Frank support those policies.

Helen Thomas: Get the hell out of Palestine and go back to Germany & Poland!

Israel on the brink

Thanks to misguided foreign policy decisions by the Obama administration, Israel finds itself isolated and on the brink of war. The path from President Obama’s election to this point has been fairly clear since well before the 2008 election, with Obama’s lack of commitment to our mid-east ally well documented. With US Jews supporting Obama with 77% of their votes in the election, the question arises: did US Jews really intend to put Israel on the path to destruction, or did they just not realize who they were voting for? Either way is scary.

The November 2010 elections will answer the question. If US Jews support the Democrats in large numbers as usual, it will be clear that there is a huge divide between Israel and its diaspora in the US, and that US Jews are ready to sacrifice territory (Israel) for the sake of ‘peace’ with Muslims. If US Jews switch in large numbers to the Republicans, who are staunch supporters of Israel, it will be clear that US Jews just fundamentally mis-judged Barak Obama.

Unfortunately, events have been put in motion that are likely to come to a dramatic flash-point before the November elections. Israel’s enemies are emboldened by Obama’s weak support for Israel, but they know the clock is ticking, and need to move NOW, while they have an ally in the White House, to crush the Jewish state. My bet is that Israel will be at war on multiple fronts by September, and will be fighting alone, without the support of the US government, probably with and against nuclear weapons. The flotilla attempting to run the Gaza arms blockade may just be the trip wire, but if not, it will be something else that causes the Mideast meltdown.

I hope that’s the outcome US Jews were hoping for from the 2008 election, because that’s what is coming. And it was clear then for anyone paying attention that the election of Barrak Hussein Obama would not be a good thing for Israel. For Unions, tort lawyers, and Wall Street yes, for Israel no.

Author: Mark

Economic Malpractice

The graph below shows the unemployment rate over the last 10 years. Note: the rate began accelerating in 2008, and has stayed stubbornly high at around 10%; and the recession is now going on two years. Eventually the economy will start growing again, but the question is, why has the economy not bounced back quicker out of this recession, similar to other recession?





When an economy hits a recession, the path out is tried and true: cut taxes, cut government spending. President Bush pulled the right levers and avoided a major recession. The Democrats decided to go back to a strategy that had been tried many times over the years and always failed: raise taxes, raise government spending – ‘stimulate’ our economy back to life with massive government spending. There’s a name for that: “Keynesian economics”. Never works, not working this time. Higher tax burdens on employees, they spend less, and the economy slows. Higher tax burdens on companies, and they hold off hiring.

Below is a story from the Associated Press on May 20th, talking about the unexpected rise in people filing for unemployment benefits:

WASHINGTON – The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week by the largest amount in three months. The big surge was a setback to hopes that layoffs were declining. The Labor Department says that applications for unemployment benefits rose to 471,000 last week, up by 25,000 from the previous week. It was the first increase in five weeks and the biggest jump since a gain of 40,000 in February.
The forecast had been for claims to fall by around 4,000 from the previous week. The unexpectedly large rise in new claims underscored that even though the economy is growing, improvements in the labor market are coming in fits and starts.
- AP, May 20th, 2010.

So what seems to be the problem here? Policy distraction, with a year spent on healthcare instead of the economy? Or perhaps too many lawyers handling the issue, and not enough economists? Surely there must be some economic advisors with a ‘D’ next to their registration that understand how an economy works and can call in some suggestions. Robert Reich, Paul Krugman – these two dimwits certainly have no clue, but there must be SOMEONE on the left that has taken Economics 101. The unemployment rate is sky-high, even counting the temporary census workers – is it not time to try something besides massive deficit spending? The calamity that is Greece should be providing a ‘teaching moment’ to our friends across the isle, but it clearly is not.

The big question is, why did voters in 2008 conclude that that the party of lawyers, unions, community activists, college professors, and Hollywood would have the first clue to running an economy? When history looks back at the Obama administration, and the Democrat enablers in Congress, the verdict will be clear: Economic Malpractice on a massive scale that set our country back years.

Author: Mark

Congratulations Richard Ross!

I just wanted to make note of the win last week by Richard Ross, in the special election to replace Scott Brown as MA State Senator. Congratulations Richard, the Republican brushfire in Massachusetts is going strong! In the areas of the district that know Richard best, the southern area of the district where he was a State Rep, Richard won by an overwhelming majority: 1,897 to 308 in Wrentham, 1,480 to 419 in Plainville, 2,249 to 612 in North Attleboro, 1,067 to 516 in Attleboro. HUGE majorities. He even won in Needham, 2,717 to 2,495 and Sherborn 712 to 615.

And yet, and yet… he lost in Wellesley, Wayland, and Natick. All three towns are towns Scott Brown lost in his race for US Senate. In all three towns the Democrats vastly outnumber the Republicans. In Wayland, the very top of the district, Ross scored 40% of the vote. In Wellesley, 44%. In Natick, 45% (982 to 806). There are roughly 1,200 republican voters in the four Natick precincts in the Ross district (Precincts 6,7, 9 and 10). If just the Republicans had turned out, Ross could have won in Natick without picking up a single Unenrolled or Democrat. Voter turn-out is everything, and we need to remember that as we head into November. Wake the kids, alert the neighbors, there’s a critical election coming up this fall, and we need to drive Republican turn out higher.

Water water everywhere, not a (bottled) drop to drink

In Concord, the good liberal voters have outlawed bottled water.

Instead of campaigning for recycling, or campaigning to convince people to stop buying bottled water, Concord has voted to extend the hand of big-brother government to restrict what should be an individual decision. Is bottled water safer than tap water? I’ll make that call myself, thank you very much.

I would guess that the restriction will be challenged in court and Concord taxpayers are fine with footing the legal costs of making such a statement. It certainly should be a consideration of anybody deciding whether to purchase a house in Concord: “should I live in Concord and be forced to drink tap water and pay higher taxes for the legal fight, or should I move to Carlisle and get to chose what I drink?”. Seems to me the housing values in Concord should adjust downward to reflect the added expenses and restrictions to personal freedoms. But perhaps Concord is simply trying to attract people from Cambridge.

The move by Concord liberals to dictate drinking choices reminds me of the following comparison of liberals and conservatives:

If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.
A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a black man or Hispanic is conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.
Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it’s a foreign religion, of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.

A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed.

If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he's in labor and then sues.

If a conservative reads this, he’ll have a good laugh.

A liberal will delete it because he's "offended".

Are the Democrats serious?

Arizona just passed a law making it illegal to be an illegal alien. From the Washington Post :

The legislation, sent to the Republican governor by the GOP-led Legislature, makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It also requires local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants; allows lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws; and makes it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them.

My question is: why is such a law necessary? You mean it was NOT a crime under state law to be in the country illegally? It was NOT illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor? According to this poll, 70% of Arizona voters approve of the new law. The murder of rancher Robert Krentz probably has something to do with the more serious approach to border enforcement.

The far left, including President Obama, opposes the law-enforcement efforts, preferring to enable the flood of illegal immigration currently overwhelming our southern border. Look for another nutty initiative sweeping out of DC over the next few months to legalize illegal aliens.

It’s the next logical step as the country continues its jolly jaunt down the path of unseriousness.

The Democrats debate

Channel surfing the local access stations today I came across an interesting debate between the two Democrat challengers running for Scott Brown’s old State Senate seat. There is a special election on May 11^th, and a primary for the Democrats will be held this Tuesday, April 13^th. There is no Republican primary as there is only one Republican running, Richard Ross.

The Democrat debate pits a long-time Beacon Hill hack Lida Harkins against a political new-comer/Doctor Peter Smulowitz. In my opinion the newcomer doctor won the debate handily, even though his political positions seemed to the left of Ms. Harkins. Ms. Harkins has been a State Rep for the last 22 years, and has carried water for some of the most infamous House leaders such as Sal DiMasi,Charles Flaherty and Tom Finneran. The contrast between the cog in the State House machine and the fresh face of Mr. Smulowitz was fairly dramatic, in my opinion.

Of course both were wide off the mark in terms of coming up with any solutions to the state’s problems. Mr. Smulowitz, when asked how he would jump-start employment in the state, indicated that he would address the healthcare burden on small businesses, which jumped dramatically last year. He seemed to identify the problem correctly, but failed to make the next mental leap to the cause of the problem: the state’s version of Obamacare passed into Law under Mitt Romney. Mr. Smulowitz is a big supporter of Obamacare.

Ms Harkins solution to the unemployment problem seemed limited to ‘spend more money’ and ‘build casinos’. She seemed to acknowledge that there were serious harmful effects that were likely to develop from casino construction, pointing out herself the likely negative effect on the lottery and local aid, but she indicated she was willing to take that risk to get some work for construction unions. Mr. Smulowitz is against casino building.

Bottom line: watching these to leading lights of the Democrat party debate brought home in spades why Massachusetts has run aground under Democrat leadership. Lets begin fixing the mess: vote for Richard Ross on May 11^th.

Big brother takes aim at Big Business

Over the last week many companies have announced significant charges to earnings due to the increased cost of healthcare following the passage of Obamacare. From Byron York at the Washington Examiner:

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, has summoned some of the nation's top executives to Capitol Hill to defend their assessment that the new national health care reform law will cost their companies hundreds of millions of dollars in health insurance expenses. Waxman is also demanding that the executives give lawmakers internal company documents related to health care finances.

On Thursday and Friday, the companies -- so far, they include AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, Deere, Valero Energy, AK Steel and 3M -- said a tax provision in the new health care law will make it far more expensive to provide prescription drug coverage to their retired employees.

Now where does Henry Waxman get the authority to haul CEO’s into Washington to explain business decisions? This is insane! And it is going to put all US companies between a rock and a hard place: disclose to shareholders new expenses as required by the SEC, and risk getting grilled by Democrat congressmen, or DON’T disclose the expected new costs, appease Democrat congressmen, and get run over by shareholder lawsuits (and the SEC) when such costs show up unexpectedly in the earnings reports.

Of all the absolute garbage I have seen the Democrats pull over the last several months in the name of socialized medicine, this last move has truly elevated the war between the private sector and the public sector to unprecedented levels. If the private sector does not wake up, and if voters in the private sector do not wake up, the country is heading for years and years of poor economic activity, entirely consistent with a general socialist attitude towards economic policy.

Will the private sector wake up? I hope so, but I can assure you it is asleep right now. In my ‘real’ job, I analyze companies for a living. I called up two large ones I know quite well, and asked “what is the effect of Obamacare on your bottom line – are you going to restate earnings like so many others?”. Both companies told me it was too early to tell the effect. TOO EARLY?! You mean these companies did not work out the math ahead of time? Did not insist from their congressman the details of how this new law would effect them? Did not lobby for or against the law? One of these companies is one of the largest employers in Massachusetts – and YOU DON’T HAVE ANY IDEA? BECAUSE IT’S TOO EARLY? My god man – IT’S TOO LATE!

So we have two issues here – Congressmen intimidating companies for admitting Obamacare is going to cost them a lot of money, and some companies that failed to do the homework on these costs ahead of time. It almost seems the companies that did not do the homework deserve what they get, however those companies are employing a lot of people. It is not right that employees are going to suffer because management dropped the ball in opposing Obamacare. Wall Street and Silicon Valley were big backers of the Democrats the last go round – elections have consequences, as many in the private sector are now finding out with dismay.

November is looking a long way off right now.

Author: Mark

Remember these names

Here is how the MA delegation voted on Obamacare. As the health care system morphs into the Post Office, remember these votes:

Capuano, Y

Delahunt, Y

Frank, Y

Lynch, N

Markey, Y

McGovern, Y

Neal, Y

Olver, Y

Tierney, Y

Tsongas, Y

Once again it going to be left to the Republicans to clean up the mess.

Frank, Markey, Capuano – it’s time to clean the house! Get involved!

Author: Mark

PS: Stephen Lynch, good for you!