Capitol Alert

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to hit California’s highest-income taxpayers with billions of dollars in new taxes, and is jousting with other groups with their own tax-the-rich measures over which, if any, will win voter approval.

But the number of Californians with $500,000-plus annual incomes declined dramatically from 2007 to 2009 as the state’s economy stagnated, leaving fewer to tax, the California Taxpayers Association points out in a compilation of data from the Franchise Tax Board.

The latest FTB statistical report covers the 2009 tax year, and Cal-Tax points out that it listed just 98,610 California tax returns with adjusted gross income of $500,000 or more, down nearly a third from the 146,221 in 2007. Data for 2010 are not yet available.

Those 98,610 tax returns were just over a half-percent of the 14.6 million returns filed for 2009, but they accounted for 18.8 percent of the taxable income and 32 percent of the income taxes paid that year.

Economists believe that most of the decline reflects lower incomes, rather than an exodus of high-income taxpayers from the state, but there are no hard data on that point.

Oh but there is plenty of hard data on that point. In fact, this is nothing new. Over the last few years, we have been witnessing more than $100 billion in combined state deficits and the governors of these states such as California, New York, and Illinois to only name a few, are trying the Obama-style soak the rich policies.

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I say offers little but in reality Romney has more to lose than Santorum does to gain. The contests in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado were all non-binding, which means it was nothing more than a beauty contest as no delegates will be awarded to Santorum. But the trifecta — there’s always a but — means the race will be extended.

Politico

Santorum, who faded quickly after his narrow win in Iowa last month, now has his best and almost certainly last chance to show that he can compete at the same level as Romney and Newt Gingrich. In a month his campaign hoped to use as an opportunity to outflank Gingrich on the right and establish himself as the primary alternative to Romney, Santorum is on his way to accomplishing both goals.

There is a catch, however: Santorum still needs to prove that he can hold and sustain political momentum on a grand scale. The trick is maintaining his forward motion as the primary process expands to truly national proportions and stretches Santorum’s already-taxed resources and organization thinner than ever.

Still though, this raises questions about Romney’s appeal outside of the more high profile states where money and media is essential. Consider this: Romney’s campaign is looking a lot like Hillary Clinton’s. They won the same key states early in the contest and Clinton later lost to Obama off the well beaten path in other states. It was death from a thousand cuts. I’m not saying the same results are likely, I’m only saying the on again-off again surges Romney is battling against is expressive to conservative feelings and misgivings. I said not likely, but it should be considered a possibility.
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Just hours after winning the Florida primary, Mitt Romney let loose a potential gaffe that turned what should have been a rallying moment for Republican supporters into an uncomfortable position of having to defend the man that is likely to face Obama in the general election.

If taken out of context, which the media is very adept to doing, Romney’s comment, “I’m not concerned about the very poor” sounds heartless and indefensible. In fact, that is exactly how many conservative commentators reacted.

From a purely political position, the criticism is reasonable. Romney effectively handed Democrats a shiny set of brass-knuckles to use against, not only him, but the Republican Party in general as being out of touch with every day Americans. As NRO’s David Kahane put it, “In the Fight of the Century between the Apologetic Oligarch and the Tribune of the Folks, who do you think the fans will be rooting for?” In other words, Romney unwillingly played into the class-warfare meme that Obama has wrapped himself in.

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Oh how easy at times it has been to make fun of Gingrich’s penchant for grandiosity. However, this isn’t one of them. Call me nostalgic or a victim of selective recall when it comes to history, but I see a real need to channel some of our restlessness and negative energy towards big projects. Projects that can capture the imagination of the nation and instill a sense of national pride. That has always been the American model for nationalism.

Give Newt credit, he can deliver ideas on such projects with a straight face and then dare you to scoff at him for being, quintessentially, American. One president can gut NASA and make it irrelevant, another can give it a new mission and focus.

“By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American,” Gingrich said to applause.

He said the development would include commercial and private efforts, and will make apparent, “we clearly have the capacity that Chinese and the Russians will never come anywhere close to us.”

Gingrich also said he would push to develop propulsion technology that would get man to Mars.

He emphasized that it doesn’t have to be expensive, exploration in partnership with private companies can lower the cost.

“If it’s cheaper and it’s faster and it works, do it,” he said (Politico).

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A lot of attention has been drawn to the official White memo authored by economist Larry Summers that shows the Obama administration purposely hid costs of Obama’s healthcare legislation and his overall agenda. Ryan Lizza at The New Yorker released the full document.

Many have waded through the document and came to an obvious conclusion.

James Pethokoukis | The Enterprise Blog (see the analysis for each point).

1. The stimulus was about implementing the Obama agenda.

2. Team Obama knows these deficits are dangerous (although it has offered no long-term plan to deal with them).

3. Obamanomics was pricier than advertised.

4. Even Washington can only spend so much money so fast.

5. Liberals can complain about the stimulus having too many tax cuts, but even Team Obama thought more spending was unrealistic.

6. Team Obama wanted to use courts to force massive mortgage principal writedowns.

7. Team Obama thought a stimulus plan of more than $1 trillion would spook financial markets and send interest rates climbing.

8. Greg Mankiw, economic adviser to Mitt Romney, was dubious about the stimulus.

9. But the Fed was a stimulus enabler.

10. IPAB was there at the very beginning.

11. The financial crisis wasn’t just Wall Street’s fault.

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With New Hampshire secure, Romney became the first Republican non-incumbent presidential candidate to win both Iowa’s and New Hampshire’s primaries.

“Tonight we made history,” Romney told cheering supporters before pivoting to a stinging denunciation of President Barack Obama. “The middle class has been crushed,” in the past three years, he said, “our debt is too high and our opportunities too few” – remarks that made clear he intends to be viewed as the party’s nominee in waiting after only two contests (Associated Press).

New Hampshire was a no-contest, really, as Romney’s ground game and support was too much for any candidate to overcome. Ron Paul and John Huntsman each made hardy efforts in the state but were unable to effectively challenge Romney. Since Huntsman chose New Hampshire to make his stand and finished third, it’s hard to see the wisdom of staying in. If he was unable to convince New Hampshire, there’s no way he can convince the folks in South Carolina. (more…)

If you allow the media to tell the story about Mitt Romney’s comment, “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me” you can easily be mislead that Romney is a emotionless, suit and tie wearing, profit hoarding CEO. On second thought, that last part may be entirely true. Aside from that, what’s even truer, and totally acceptable, is Romney’s attitude.

Yes, it is perfectly OK to fire someone if you are not satisfied with their performance or service, especially if you are the one forking over the dough. That is what makes a free market, capitalist system run in high gear. It feeds competition and pushes service providers to deliver the very best quality. Accountability is an important reason why free societies produce more than controlled societies. Moreover, it’s why many trust the private sector over government. This was precisely what Romney was referring to. Anyone who pays for a service ought to have the ability and right to terminate any agreement with a service provider if certain expectations are not met.

Answering a question about health care Monday morning, Mr. Romney said he would allow individuals to have their own insurance because it would provide the insurance company with an incentive to keep its clients healthy.“It also means that if you don’t like what they do, you can fire them,” Mr. Romney said. “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”

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I wouldn’t say its been a well kept secret, but Santorum’s previous level of obscurity for  the GOP nomination prevented his legacy of earmarks from getting its due mention.  Senator Santorum’s career in Congress was during the heyday of big government conservatism.

I once wrote a spending bill thiiis big.

With GOP colleagues like Tom Delay and Dennis Hastert, Rick Santorum was very much apart of that infamous class. For Delay, he was then ,just as he is now, an outspoken supporter of earmarks. When the new GOP class promised to curb earmark spending, Delay was quick to voice his opposition.

“I am not one of those guys. The purse strings belong to the House of Representatives, and earmarks are one of the ways to keep the executive-branch honest,” DeLay said. “Why would you give up your responsibility and your authority to the executive branch?”

As for Dennis Hastert, the former longest serving speaker in Republican history left a long legacy of earmarks and questionable deals (but not illegal from Congress’s exemption to insider trading laws) that netted both him and his associates major profits. The story goes that Hastert owned some land that was of minimal worth, so he used appropriated funds stuffed inside a transportation bill that funded a highway project near the property. The new access road caused the value to increase. Hastert then later sold the property for a substantial profit, clearing $2 million. That seems easier than bending down to pick up a quarter on a sidewalk.

These were the dark days of “compassionate” conservatism, where wild discretionary spending was available for anyone in Congress with a pen. For Rick Santorum, he used his pen towards the sum of at least $1 billion in pork-barrel projects.

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President Obama has not been defeated. He still occupies the White House, and that will continue until next November. But the nation is readying itself for what will prove to be a high octane race for the presidency. President Obama will have a mountain of cash to spend and will attempt to campaign energetically. I say “attempt” because he’ll find defending his administration will be much harder than his last campaign when he was a fresh-faced Senator billed as an outsider who used rhetoric and platitudes in place of actual accomplishments.

Team Obama will likely select only a few issues. The economy, of course, will be a big part, because he can’t very well ignore it. So he’ll spin it in a way to suggest he actually saved it from collapse. In the process, he will not even so much as mention our nation’s debt and deficits.

Instead, he’ll the talk up the bold raid into Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden and the recent withdrawal from Iraq. He’ll leave out things like Russia, China, Iran, and forfeiting our missile defenses and snubbing our allies in Eastern Europe, our strained relationship with Israel and the quickly deteriorating situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Domestically he’ll speak of progress, sacrifice, and the pains his administration helped to soften. He’ll not mention his divisive comments that he and Eric Holder have made and the social resentment he stirred through class warfare. Lastly, we can expect amnesia over our nation’s credit downgrade and the ever-climbing debt ceiling. (more…)

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich has come under fire for his amnesty plan. Most Americans cringe at the word “amnesty.” After all, most citizens view it as government acquiescence for political expediency, and, of course, they are right to feel that way. Amnesty is nothing more than to say that elected officials do not possess the will to enforce federal laws — the very thing they take an oath on before assuming their congressional duties.

With that being said, the details for amnesty make the whole gimmick all the more preposterous. Take Newt Gingrich’s plan, the Pew Hispanic Center concluded in their research that an estimated 3.5 million illegal aliens would qualify for amnesty under Gingrich’s plan. That means roughly 30% of the estimated 11 million illegal aliens would be “graced” into society after arriving here illegally. If the number is much higher than 11 million, which many experts say is very likely, then the prospects of amnesty will never really reveal the actual problem and will offer no incentive to fix it.

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When one hears someone say “communism is a great concept, a wonderful idea on paper, etc,” you know right away one is dealing with a political novice. For someone to make such a ludicrous statement in light of insurmountable evidence is either ignorant or is willing to suspend reality to entertain their own thinking, which is in essence, liberalism.

Communism runs counter to everything we know about human nature. Humans cannot reach their fulfillment while existing under arbitrary restraints. Communism is indeed a concept; a concept of shared misery. Liberals only fluff up the language and call it shared sacrifice. Either way, it brings man down to a lowly state of existence by force of a badly flawed human idea and, if removed, humans will do what comes naturally. That is produce, trade, think freely, and continuously challenge their environment where innovation and abundance comes naturally.

To say communism is a great idea on paper is like an engineer who designed a bridge except once the bridge was constructed it collapsed under its own weight. The engineer would certainly not say his design was right on paper. He would have to concede that his idea was flawed from the start, both on paper and in application.

The great flaw of communism was identified in the earliest days of the communists heyday. Back in 1920, Ludwig von Mises, argued that communism calls for the abolishment of free markets and because of this, central planners would effectively be flying blind during planning production. “Every step that takes us away from private ownership of the means of production and from the use of money also takes us away from rational economics.”

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Oh contraire mon fraire. You were the one who caused fainting spells on your minions. It was you who said you would heal the planet and tame the rising seas. You set the standard. You made the promises. You would fundamentally change the country (sadly, you have nearly accomplished that one).

It is because of this empty rhetoric that exclusively targeted the grownup children of the country that President Obama should not be allowed a pass on his failings and shortcomings. Remember that everything was going to change in America and the world. Peace was at hand. Poverty would be a thing of the past and the nation would enjoy a new golden era ushered in by a post-partisan, post-historical Obama presidency. Obama possessed within him only the very best qualities of Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy and, oddly enough, Reagan. All because Obama was a fresh face whose mom was a “white woman from Kansas and his father a black African from Kenya” and would be the nation’s first black president.

Would you like to see the bullet proof formula that catapulted him to victory in 2008?

1). Election

2). ???

3). Utopia

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So much for the argument that renewables don’t compromise our national security the way fossil fuels do – but try telling an environmentalist as much. While it was first reported more than a year ago that wind farms were interfering with military radar, making airplanes disappear from sight on screens and cluttering those same screens with the blade-rotation changes of turbine blades, not much was said on the matter until this month, when the Department of Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) proudly unveiled the Renewable Energy and Defense Database. The REDD is an interactive tool that allows renewable-energy developers to locate military installations with a view toward avoiding them in deciding where to construct future projects.

According to a Nov. 9 DoD press release, the “labor-intensive, very time-consuming project” was primarily an effort of the NRDC and didn’t cost the federal government a dime. Unfortunately, this assessment fails to take into account the hefty national security toll wind farms have already taken – and will likely continue to take unless the current premium placed on “green” energy isn’t removed.

As of 2008, wind turbines had compromised almost 40 percent of U.S. long-range radar systems (h/t masterresource.org). Here’s just one example of how: In 2007, two wind-farm projects slated for the area near Travis Air Force Base in northern California came before the county planning commission. The base and a county airport land-use body sought to have the projects delayed until turbines’ effects on radars could be further studied. But when, the following year, a project supporter donated $1 million to the base, Col. Steven Arquiette, commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, “was told by his superiors to accept the money and withdraw his complaints,”according to Masterresource.org blogger Lisa Linowes, despite the fact that nothing about the plans had changed substantially.

Now pilots coming in to Travis are urged to turn on their aircraft’s transponders as a way of announcing their presence, since they still cannot be seen on radar. This poses a sizeable security threat given that it could easily be emulated by terrorists – and has been. As Linowes notes, among the first actions the Sept. 11 perpetrators did was turn off the transponders of the planes they hijacked.

Wind farms have also dramatically slowed the Federal Aviation Administration’s review time for project proposals. While it once took a month for construction of a project to be approved or be declared hazardous, now similar projects stand to wait up to three times that long.

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Read with caution. This is the kind of hell big government liberals can unleash on American citizens from their lofty perches in Washington DC.

In addition to having nearly unhindered access to our southern border, the most violent gangs in the Western hemisphere were armed to the teeth by the US federal government. The results are what one would expect. We know at least one US Border Patrol agent and hundreds of Mexican citizens were killed as a result. The guns are still out there and so are the gangs. Meanwhile, local law enforcement and border patrol agents must contend with the consequences created by elements outside of their control.

Their job is to prevent infiltration of guns, illegals, and drugs from entering our country and using local communities as bases of operation. Secretary Napolitano, with the approval from the Obama administration, has done her best to prevent border agents from doing their jobs. The Government Accountability Office estimated that only 15 percent of our southern border is actually operationally controlled. Inaction doesn’t do enough to explain this.

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We are squandering a great opportunity to become energy independent and put millions of Americans back to work with moratoriums and still more regulations. To say more would only be repeating what has been said in the past. With reckless spending and willful deflect of our exploding debt our economic freedom in this county is being questioned unlike anytime before. It is almost cliche to say that government is the problem, however, in light of our current predicament it’s worth repeating. The only mechanism that can create jobs and prosperity is the free market. The arena of ideas, opportunity, and work. You read where how I got to these conclusions below:

• Obama: One Step Forward, Three Steps Back On Job Creation
• Obama Job Plan: Regulate America to Oblivion.
• Putting ‘Big Oil’ to Rights

Now, the folks at Economic Freedom have a simple three minute video that highlights all of these concerns. It’s worth your time. Enjoy.

Austerity has become a household word. It’s been mentioned and repeated so many times that Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary honored the term as its word of the year in 2010 — that’s how many web searches were conducted on the “austerity”.

Fiscal austerity is simply a means by the government to control spending and increase revenue. Presumably, this is done by reducing the amount of money it borrows in order to cut the fiscal deficit, find new and fun ways to raise taxes, while simultaneously cutting government programs. However, this is usually done during tough economic times. Those most affected by unfavorable economic conditions will also be hit the hardest by the newer tax burden and cuts in goods and services.

IBD editorial:

When Republicans took control of the House in January, they pledged to make deep cuts in federal spending, and in April they succeeded in passing a bill advertised as cutting $38 billion from fiscal 2011′s budget. Then in August, they pushed for a deal to cut an additional $2.4 trillion over the next decade. …

But data released by the Treasury Department on Friday show that, so far, there haven’t been any spending cuts at all.

In fact, in the first nine months of this year, federal spending was $120 billion higher than in the same period in 2010, the data show. That’s an increase of almost 5%. And deficits during this time were $23.5 billion higher.

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The narrative has thus far been that the #OccupyWallStreet crowd is one of outrage over the country’s financial sector, corporate greed, and the growing disparity between work and profit. The protesters are a culmination of these factors against the forces that have limited upward mobility, controlled wages, and dictated the livelihood of the American people. After all, who can possibly forget the endearing image of the brave man who dropped trou and took a dump on a police car? That single act made the Tiananmen Square look like child’s play.

Of course, in reality the protesters are nothing but a mob. A mob of “useful idiots” as Mike Elliot, my writing partner once covered, that has generated at least 1,500 arrests across the country and counting.

If you have never heard the term “useful idiot” it was the attitude held by Vladimir Lenin towards communist sympathizers in the West. While Lenin and the Soviets held them in utter contempt they also viewed them as tools for dispensing communist propaganda to other countries, thus infecting foreign cultures with their totalitarian tripe. After their mission was complete, they were no longer “useful.”

So disjointed is there message that the American Nazi Party and the American Communist Party have voiced solidarity with the movement. The Communists have joined because they hate capitalism and the foundations on which our country stands. The Nazis have joined because they never miss out on an opportunity to blame Jewish bankers and Israel.

The tent widens from there. The Democrats and even the President of the United States have expressed sympathy with the Occupiers. Keep this in mind, China as well as Iran have also expressed support for the occupiers. The decision is make-or-break for Team Obama. They are looking for anything that will raise the passions for their re-election chances. The media, too, has jumped on the bandwagon. They noticed the myriad of positions and statements and so have lent a hand in public relations to help mold the rabble-rousers into a bona fide Leftists movement. Even Martin Luther King Jr. posthumously gave an endorsement.

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“… freedom without Socialism is privilege and injustice… Socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality.”

~ Mikhail Bakunin

There is more to the disheveled crowd that has been entertaining Americans for the past three weeks than meets the eye. Don’t let looks fool you. Sure it’s hard to overlook the general lack of hygiene and proper grooming. Some may go without bras while others sleep on sidewalks. So are we to somehow be convinced that a bunch of dirty children can produce this much attention?

The protesters have railed against food corporations because they believe their products are altering their DNA. They want free education so they don’t have to work or join the military to payoff student loans. They have called for a living wage. They take pride in disrupting the lives of working Americans because they do not share the same work ethic. Furthermore, they want to end wealth in America and replace capitalism with a system of sharing that gives out really cool stuff. These are but just a few of the mob’s demands. Mikhail Bakunin, the Russian author of the quote in the heading, was considered the author of violent social anarchism. Bakunin advocated atheism and violence as well as terrorism, revolution and destruction. Is it coincidental that the Wall Street Protestors have been heard shouting death threats against cops, Jews, and the wealthy?

“We must demand that the individual shall be willing to lose the sense of personal achievement, and shall be content to realize his activity  of the many.”

~ Jane Adams

So how does a group of unkempt undergraduates built upon such empty and disjointed demands carry this effort on scrawny shoulders and sunken chests? Please read further.

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The Florida GOP took bold action in moving their state’s primary up in line with the other carve out states. By seeking a bigger role in choosing who the GOP candidate against Obama is Republicans in Florida have caused other states to move their dates up. The reason for that is simple: less profusion of blood.

There is more significance beyond that. With the first ballots expecting to be cast just months away, the front runners, Romney and Perry, have a divisive advantage over the field – Romney more so because of his broad appeal in all early states.

Florida Poll
Mitt Romney: 28
Herman Cain: 24
Newt Gingrich: 10
Rick Perry: 9

This may have been a calculated move by the GOP as a whole. End the fighting early, rally around the candidate, and begin raising serious cash with a settled candidate. However, the flip side to this is that the front runners are susceptible to momentum and excitement from another candidate. Herman Cain is presently that candidate. Cain enjoyed a huge bounce in September. If he can win Florida and do reasonably well in another early state, which will obviously be to the great loss of someone like Perry and certainly Bachmann, he can knock Perry from this race early. Though currently, South Carolina is being very kind to Perry  but not nearly enough to seal Romney’s fate in the state.

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In light of a recent poll showing America’s distrust of the national media, I thought I would pick a topic for a case study. What better topical study is there when exploring the media’s methods and concerns than with the Tea Party?

My approach was simple. I took data from 2010 and up to this point in 2011 based off key word searches in Google. For example, In 2010 I searched “Tea Party and racists” and pulled the number given from its search engine. On a positive side, as you can see from the chart, spending was a major keyword associated with the Tea Party in 2010. My, though, how the change a year makes.

In 2011, the tea party/racists word association climbed to over one million results, an increase from the year before.

The tea party/terrorists word association increased by over 10 million results from the year before.

As one would expect, tea party/spending word association dropped from over 17 million hits in 2010 to just over 300,00 heading into the tenth month of the year.

Some limitations to my approach

As I searched through the fist couple of pages of results, it became apparent that not every headline used “racism” or “terrorists” negatively. For example a writer at National Review Online or Big Government may use those two words in a headline, but it would be so to point out some ridiculous claim made by a blogger or media personality, etc. However, the fact that it must be done, that the words “racism” and “terrorists” are so commonly associated with the Tea Party around the web, and that point become moot. Because instead of laughing the assortment of yahoos who make these claims off the planet, conservatives and civic minded people busy themselves with defending the accusations.

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