Hopenchange

H/T: Grouchy Old Cripple

Walker in WSJ

Opinion from February 28, 2008 Wall Street Journal:

Why I'm Not Lining Up for Stimulus Handouts
We've been down the spending road, and the result is a state budget in terrible shape
By Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker

Recently, a firestorm ignited in Wisconsin when I, as Milwaukee County executive, refused to submit a wish list to Gov. Jim Doyle for items in the federal "stimulus" package.

Gov. Doyle -- like other politicians -- had lined up at the federal trough begging for billions in "free money" to cover budget deficits and to fuel new spending. He and others simply couldn't understand and were outraged that I didn't join them, and that I didn't relent even after the president signed the stimulus bill into law.

My explanation is simple. First, this money isn't free. Second, under Gov. Doyle our state has borrowed vast sums of money and avoided making tough budget decisions while expanding government programs. In three biannual budgets since he took office in 2003, new state bonding exceeded new tax revenue collections by $2.1 billion. During good times, the governor had been borrowing money to underwrite expansions of health care, education and environmental programs. If he is bailed out now, the federal stimulus funds will only enable the governor and others to go on spending and even taking on new obligations that will lead to larger deficits down the road. Third, if we grow government rather than private-sector jobs, we will not help the economy. Strong leadership, honest budgeting and tax cuts would do a lot more.

This burst housing bubble that led to the recession was created when millions of people were allowed (or encouraged) to spend borrowed money on homes they couldn't afford and were later forced into foreclosure.

Apparently Washington politicians learned nothing from this process. They rushed to spend $787 billion of borrowed money on new government programs in the name of economic stimulus. But even this loan of taxpayer money -- essentially the largest mortgage in history -- will come due. When it does, our children and grandchildren will pay for this imprudence.

As popular as the federal "stimulus" package is with Washington politicians, it is more popular among state and local politicians who view federal money as a cure for their fiscal woes.

Wisconsin is afflicted with fiscal woes. In every budget he has signed, Gov. Doyle postponed difficult decisions using accounting gimmicks and excessive bonding to pay for ongoing operational costs. The most egregious example is the damage done to the transportation fund over the past six years, which uses state gas taxes and vehicle registration fees to fund road projects. The governor has raided the segregated fund for a total of $1.2 billion to cover ongoing operational costs for government programs. He's partially replaced the raided funds with $865.5 million in bonds.

As a result of borrowing against tomorrow to live for today, the governor left Wisconsin's budget vulnerable. So in the fall of 2008 when recession caused a sharp decline in tax revenue, the state was forced into the red.

Wisconsin now faces an unprecedented $5.75 billion budget deficit, fourth-largest in the nation. Many municipalities also face deficits. My county, however, finished fiscal year 2007 with a $7.9 million surplus and will break even for fiscal year 2008 when the books are closed next month. Why? Because we made tough budget decisions demanded by the taxpayers.

State and local officials who failed to do so are looking to the federal government for a bailout. But what happens when the stimulus money is gone? Is the federal government committed to funding the projects it will now underwrite forever? I'm not willing to bet on it.

The stimulus is a classic bait-and-switch. Once the highways are built and social-service case loads have increased, Wisconsin will be left with the bill to maintain the new roads and services. This will force Wisconsin to raise new taxes. Gov. Doyle and legislative Democrats are already discussing higher taxes on hospitals, retailers, employers and even Internet downloads to feed their spending addiction.

The stimulus is also a bait-and-switch on employment. While the stimulus package might create a few construction jobs, the federal money will run out and those workers will lose their jobs. Even worse, most of the money is actually spent on new government programs and on bailing out failed state and local governments.

For the vast majority of residents of my state, the stimulus funds will not help them pay the mortgage or replenish their depleted retirement savings as they worry about being laid off.

True economic stimulus creates sustainable private-sector jobs. The fastest, most effective way to create them is to reduce taxes and implement regulatory and fiscal policies that encourage job growth and economic investment. History has shown repeatedly from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan that as taxes are cut, consumers spend more and investors put more money in the economy. This, in turn, creates jobs, and grows the economy.

Too many politicians confuse more government spending with economic recovery. I believe that's the wrong approach, and I will not submit a wish list for new government spending. Excessive spending will only lead to higher taxes, and that will drive jobs away when we need them the most.

We need to use these challenging times as an opportunity to streamline government and reduce the tax burden on working families. In 2002, during my first campaign for county executive, I promised to spend taxpayer money as if it were my own. If government -- at all levels -- were to do just that, we could reduce taxes and stimulate the economy. That would put people back to work again. And that is something on my wish list.

Spain, Train and Pain

Spain, Train and Pain

Brought to us by our dear governor, Jim Doyle.

Governor Doyle and his democrat minions in the Assembly and Senate dump a $1.2 billion. They passed this drivel in order to fill a budget hole they created in this year's budget.

Dear Leader governor then dumps a proposed budget with more horrifying tax increases of over $1 billion more.

Next Governor Doyle packs his backs and a bunch of government employees and heads to Spain. Of course, the taxpayers are paying for this trip. Why Spain?

Well, duh? Governor Doyle wants to see a train being built. After all, Governor Doyle expects us, the taxpayers, to fund a multi-billion project to pay for high speed rail. Oh, don't worry about the fact that we cannot afford it during the downturn in the economy! The Governor will just raise taxes to pay for it. See...no problem.

In the meantime, announced just yesterday (as governor Doyle enjoys looking at trains in Spain that we cannot afford), those of us back in the Wisconsin barn found out that our unemployment rate jumped to a whopping 7.6%. This is slightly above the national average.

Yep- you gotta love our dear governor:

Governor Doyle is in Spain to look at a train while the rest of us are in pain!.

Thanks for nothing, Governor Doyle!

Iraq, Obama and Bush-Sound strangely familiar?

I believe the extreme lefties have picked up on it, and now a couple of outsiders are figuring it out...

Some of the words coming out of President Obama's mouth during his big announcement of withdrawing troops sound strangely familiar:

Troop withdrawal beginning in 2010

Majority of troops out by middle of 2010

Residual forces left behind for Iraqi stability

Residual forces out by the end of 2011

Events on the ground will dictate the exact timeline for withdrawal

Sound strangely familiar?

Yep- this does sound familiar. In fact it sounds like the plan laid out in the Status of Forces Agreement signed by President Bush and the Iraqi government in December.

There are plenty of anti-war lefties coming unhinged today because of Obama's big announcement yesterday.

I can understand why the lefties are coming unhinged...

President Barack Obama's plan is President George Bush's plan. There is just a different signature at the bottom of the page.

I will continue to support Governor Sarah Palin and Governor Bobby Jindal

First it was Sarah Palin, now it is Bobby Jindal.

The public lynching of conservative on conservative has taken yet another turn.

I have a question. Will the conservative media elitists ever be happy?

I mean, Governor Sarah Palin was assaulted by the so called “conservative” media elitist due to one bad interview with Katie Couric. Anybody who watched that interview realized that Katie Couric was out to get Governor Palin, and Governor Palin did not react well to her questions.

Still, the media has used that one single interview to define Palin as an idiot without any substance.

Well, we just let the media get away with it again when it came to Governor Bobby Jindal. I have spent the last couple of days thinking about this. Originally I had not seen either the President Obama’s speech or Governor Jindal’s response. After seeing the reaction from the pundits about Jindal’s speech, I went and watched it. I didn’t think it was horrible, but it certainly was not the home run that we needed as conservatives.

That being said, I do not believe that this was the political disaster that many in the “conservative” media are telling you it is.

For weeks, the media has been setting Governor Bobby Jindal up as the Anti-Palin. He is brilliant and she is not. That was until this past Tuesday night when he flopped.

Now they are going after Jindal for not only his boring style but just like Palin, they are going after him in substance too. Now Jindal is a Rhodes Scholar, so it will be tough for the media to convince people that he is an idiot, but you can already see the beginning pages of the dialogue they are writing about Jindal.

NRO- The Corner

But I didn't think that either Jindal's substance or his style was right on Tuesday night, and I make no apologies for considering style important.

Once again, it is these so called “conservative” media elites that are going off on a tangent once about substance. I believe it is the substance that these elitists are having a problem with. These elitists do not like real conservatives. They say they do, but then you see them fawning all over Obama’s programs. This same guy, Ramesh Ponnuru, has gone after Governor Palin also. Of course, he always qualifies his statements with a “I really like them but...”


These media elitists are not conservatives, period. Guys like David Brooks continue to criticize both Palin and Jindal over their conservative principles.(substance).

The idea that these guys continue to be quoted as “conservatives” is really annoying. Worse yet, these guys are allowed to hang out and post at Townhall and the NRO. These elitists are Obama lovers, not conservatives. They believe in Obama’s liberal principles not in limited government.

These elitists got away with this garbage when it came to blasting Sarah Palin. Are we going to allow them to do this to another young promising conservative in Bobby Jindal?

These elitists better think again if they believe the grassroots is going to follow them down the liberal road of big government! Sorry, we plan on following Governor Sarah Palin and Governor Bobby Jindal, no matter what the not so conservative elitists continue to tell us.

I will continue to support Governor Sarah Palin and Governor Bobby Jindal. They are our future.

If this upsets the elitists, well...I could not be more excited about that!

Attention Conservatives and Liberals

No matter which side you lean, tell me this is not funny:

Click on photo to enlarge

Hat tip- Hot Air

Caught Napping-Obama's #1 economic advisor

Caught Napping-Obama's #1 economic advisor.

Ya'll think I am kidding, huh?

Nope.

Larry Summers, Obama Economic Stimulus Guru, and the head of his National Economic Team was caught napping during the big important summit that Obama called together.

No kiddin'




Could someone toss him an elbow next time. Geez... Some of this stuff might be important!

Hat Tip WISGOP blog.
'

Obama's newest spending bill- $410 billion

The $410 billion more dollars is just to finish funding government until the end of September of this year:

WASHINGTON — A $410 billion spending bill unveiled in Congress on Monday includes at least $3.8 billion worth of funding for the kinds of lawmakers' pet projects that President Obama has pledged to trim from future budgets.

The bill is meant to end a budget impasse left over from last year, after President
Bush threatened to veto the Democratic-controlled Congress' plan because of its cost. It would fund most federal agencies through the end of the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Those agencies are operating under a congressional extension of last year's budgets that expires next week. Congress approved full-year budgets last fall for only three departments: Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

Of course, it is packed with earmarks, almost another $4 billion is pet projects.

But, but, but... I thought hero Obama was supposed to cut earmarks. That's what he PROMISED!

Happy 153rd Birthday RNC!

Happy Birthday to the Republican National Committee, established on this day in 1856 to coordinate nationwide opposition to the pro-slavery policies of the Democrats.

Republicans from many state parties held their first national organizational meeting in Pittsburgh on February 22, 1856. Presiding over this preliminary session was former U.S. Senator Lawrence Brainerd (VT), a resolute anti-slavery activist.

The next day, delegates chose the first Republican National Committee. New York's Republican state Chairman, Edwin Morgan, was then elected the first Chairman of the RNC. He had the immense responsibility of organizing the first Republican National Convention, to be held just four months later in Philadelphia. Morgan would later be elected Governor of New York and U.S. Senator.

So, today is the 153rd anniversary of the RNC. We honor the patriots, the heroes, the visionaries who gave us our Grand Old Party.

From: Grand Old Partisan

40 Days 4 Life With Sarah Palin

This is not about protesting or marching on Washington, it is simply about saying a prayer each day starting this Wednesday and for the next 40 days after that.

The gift of life is so precious and there still so many willing to discard it and throw it away.

Huh? Obama flip flop?

Oh what a mess.

First, in December, our wise President stated unequivocally he would close Gitmo. The lefties cheered.

In January, our wise President stated that yes, Gitmo would be closed, but not for at least a year. The lefties were not a cheerful.

Now, in February, Obama's Pentagon is now stating that there really are no human rights violations at Gitmo, prisoners are being treated humanly. Now the lefties are upset and plan to challenge the assertion.

More Bumper Stickers

Feingold - Still Toting the Party Line

I e-mailed my "great" U.S. Senator about the porkulus bill a couple of weeks ago. I finally got a response today:

Thank you for contacting me about H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I appreciate hearing from you.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed by the United States House of Representatives on February 13, 2009, by a vote of 246-183, and passed by the Senate the same day by a vote of 60-38. It was signed into law by the President on February 17, 2009.

I supported the economic recovery package because with unemployment continuing to rise, including the highest levels Wisconsin has seen in twenty years, we need to act quickly and responsibly to create jobs and get our economy moving. Though not perfect, the economic recovery package does take important steps to create or save millions of jobs while addressing our country's energy and infrastructure challenges. It includes funding for highway and bridge construction, individual and business tax breaks, Medicaid, education and many other priorities

For more information on the economic recovery package you can visit www.recovery.gov. I will also have more information about how the recovery affects Wisconsin on my website, www.feingold.senate.gov/recovery.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please feel free to do so on this or any other issue.

It's great to see my so-called "maverick" senator toting to liberal party line.

How much funding is in there for highway and bridge construction?

How much individual and business tax breaks are in the bill? I know they cut the tax breaks from $1000 to $800 in the final bill. Thanks, Russ.

How much more is Medicaid getting funded?

How much for Education?

What are your so-called "priorities" that I, as a taxpayer, am being forced to fund?

Abortions in other countries? Yep.

ACORN? Yep.

What else???

Sen. Feingold, how many phone calls/emails did you get against the stimulus package?

How many for it?

It's bad enough we have a do-nothing senator in Herb Kohl, but it's good to know we have another senator that doesn't care what his constituents think, but is only concerned about toting the liberal party line.

Shovel Ready

Hat Tip- Hot Air

Cannot afford my own house, but...

I cannot afford my own house, but apparently Obama and the Democrats believe that I should bailout a bunch of people that should never have purchased the homes they have.

Cost to me, your average taxpayer???

$85,000,000,000

That's all?

I guess that means I will never get a house as long Obama is president.

Bumper Sticker

Who did you vote for?

It is a 2 billion dollar tax increase

As I stated this morning, we had to be getting close to $2 billion in tax increases suggested by our governor in the last week or so.

I was right.

WPRI has the entire break down.

H/T Charlie Sykes

Tax Increase	FY 2010	FY 2011
Adopt Combined Reporting	$75,600,000	$111,700,000
Adopt Main Street Equity Act	30,300,000	31,000,000
Extend Sales Tax to Digital Personal Property	4,200,000	6,700,000
Cigarette Tax Increase	127,400,000	130,300,000
Tobacco Products Tax Increase	15,200,000	18,000,000
Very High Earner Income Tax Bracket	175,563,000	136,194,000
Reduce Capital Gains Exclusion to 40%	85,100,000	95,500,000
Nonresident Pass-Through Withholding	38,500,000	0
Decouple from Federal Qualified Production Activities Deduction	38,200,000	33,500,000
Affiliated Entities Sales Tax Treatment	19,800,000	21,000,000
Fully Recognize Throwback Sales	57,700,000	37,500,000
Air Carrier Definition	4,000,000	4,000,000
Economic Nexus Standard for Internet Businesses	1,500,000	1,500,000
Internal Revenue Code Updates	-40,560,000	-5,490,000
Angel and Early Stage Seed Investment Credits Revisions	0	-7,000,000
Increased Research and Development Investment Credit	0	-5,000,000
Sunset Film Production Services Tax Credit	5,000,000	5,000,000
Delay Credit for Medical Records Technology Investments	4,500,000	10,000,000
Next Generation Farmer Tax Credit (effective 2011)	0	0
Dairy Cooperative Tax Credit	-600,000	-700,000
Meat Processing Facility Tax Credit	-300,000	-700,000
GPR Total Tax Changes	$641,103,000	$623,004,000
Hospital Assessment	$310,021,000	$339,695,800
Oil Company Profits Tax	100,324,900	171,490,300
SEG Total Tax Changes	$410,345,900	$511,186,100
NET TOTAL ALL FUNDS	$1,051,448,900	$1,134,190,100
Total 2010-11		$2,185,639,000

Before you get too upset by this, just wait...The Democrats controlling the state legislature have not lumped in their tax increases for their pet pork projects.

Remember the $15 billion payroll tax increases in health care? Yep, that could be what they are plotting right now!

Okay so every man, woman and child living in this state, about 5.5 million of us will have to shell out about $3973.93 each over the next two years.

Tax increases on steroids

Clearly , Our Democrat governor and his Democrat controlled state senate and state assembly are on the tax increase 'roids again.

Think of the tax increases we have learned about in the last several days. From last night:

The tax increases include: $540 million paid from oil company profits; $318 million by creating a new 7.75% tax rate for the richest 1% of taxpayers; $290 million in higher taxes on cigarette smokers; $215 million in higher corporate income taxes; and more than $85 million paid on capital gains.

Let we forget, just a few days ago, the budget repair bill also increased additional taxes on business, hospital taxes and increased internet taxes:

The bill would:
• Tax parent companies and their subsidies as one entity. The rewrite of the corporate income tax code would cost businesses $215.7 million over three years.
• Tax hospital revenue to bring in more than $900 million in federal dollars, some of which will be used to pay for state health programs.
• Cut state spending by $125 million.
• Change tax laws to require online retailers to charge sales taxes for tangible products as well as Internet downloads of songs, video games and e-books.
• Authorize $300 million of federal stimulus funding for shovel-ready transportation
projects.
• Provide $3.6 million for worker training programs.
• Increase regulations to protect homeowners and tenants during foreclosure proceedings.

We have got to be pushing close to $2 Billion worth of tax increases in the last week handed down to us .

There went your $13 a week given to you by Barack Obama.

No stimulation here people, move along.

Again with the GOP Governors and the stimulus

I cannot help but notice that the main stream media is once again attempting to pull the GOP into the mess of a boondoggle with them.

New York Times

My guess is that the main stream media is desperately attempting to provide cover for President Obama and the Democrats when this plan fails.

Otherwise, who gives a rip if the any GOP elected officials actually support the stimulus? Seriously, if this moment is really the celebration for Obama and the Democrats that the media keep telling us it is, why give any of the GOP governors any props?

Clearly the mainstream media must believe like the majority of Americans believe…either this stimulus will do very little or it will hurt us. Per Rasmussen, 53% believe it does nothing or will hurt us, 38% of voters believe it will help us.

What I do find very interesting about this article is the names that are missing from this wonderful list of GOP governors that supposedly support President Obama’s stimulus?

Names like:

Governor Sarah Palin
Governor Mark Sanford
Governor Bobby Jindal
Governor Haley Barbour
Governor Rick Perry

Obviously the implication is that all GOP governors support a bailout. That is far from the truth.

In fact, the NYT speaks about 14 Democrat governors and 4 “wise” Republicans acknowledging how brilliant and wonderful Obama’s plan is.

Recently, Governors Schwarzenegger, Crist, Douglas and Rell joined 14 Democratic governors in signing a letter to Mr. Obama lauding his economic plan.

I believe that we still have 50 governors(or 57 if you are Obama) and a majority of the governors did not sign on to Obama’s brilliant plan. Not even a majority of Democrats signed on???

Sarah Palin: Obama Should Veto Stimulus

I am with you, Governor Palin...

Obama should veto this piece of garbage

Oh, sorry...forgot to link to the original H/T Conservatives for Palin