President Obama’s plea to ban Congressional insider trading may poll well and have bipartisan support, but it’s already facing stiff resistance from lawmakers the morning after his State of the Union address.

On Tuesday night, the president spoke in no uncertain terms: “Send me a bill that bans insider trading by Members of Congress, and I will sign it tomorrow,” he said. “Let’s limit any elected official from owning stock in industries they impact.” The remarks were cause for celebration for Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer, who authored a 2011 book exposing Congressional insider trading, and 60 Minutes, which ran a widely-viewed segment based on his book (CBS quicklyuploaded the portion of the speech last night). But early reactions from Congress (Republicans and Democrats) shouldn’t encourage much optimism.

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In a move that grabbed attention among the technology and retail business communities, three senators—Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)—introduced legislation aimed at allowing states to require online-only, out-of-state retailers to collect and remit to states tax on sales made to residents of those states.

In a press release, the three senators touted their legislation as an effort to give states “the option to collect sales and use tax revenues from out-of-state sellers through a new, simplified tax system,” but “only if they adopt certain minimum simplification requirements and provide sellers with additional notices on the collection requirements.”  The Enzi-Durbin-Alexander bill also “exempts sellers who make less than $500,000 in total remote sales in the year preceding the sale.”  It reportedly has the support of big bricks-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, as well as Amazon.com.

In multiple states around the country over the past year, legislators and officials have been looking to sales made by out-of-state, online-only retailers as a potential revenue stream capable of being tapped in order to help fill budget holes. California has been notably aggressive in pursuing a so-called “Amazon Tax,” which would force retailers like Amazon.com and O.co to collect and remit to the state sales tax on sales made to Californians.

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When Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was convinced by a retailing giant to enact legislation imposing price controls on credit card transactions he engineered a massive wealth transfer from credit card companies to retailers – a cost that would ultimately be borne by consumers.  Opponents of Durbin’s fee warned of the consequences of his actions including increased costs for consumers and elimination of credit card incentive programs.  As Milton Friedman said, “there is no free lunch.”

After the government imposed their fee cap, the marketplace responded predictably.  Banks, including Bank of America, raised fees on consumers in order to cover the cost imposed by the Durbin Amendment.  Caught with his tail between his legs, Durbin and his allies declared war on the banks.  In a letter to the newly codified Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Durbin accused banks of trying to “sneak fees past” consumer and “urge[d]” the CFPB to “swiftly require financial institutions to post on their websites a standardized, concise and consumer-friendly disclosure form that lists the fees and key terms associated with checking accounts.”

Whether Durbin is successful in fighting back remains to be seen but what we do know is we now have a government agency at the disposal of elected officials that will police marketplace policies, fee structures and pricing decisions.  If it’s not bad enough that the Bureau will make regulatory decisions based on the political whims of politicians, their own justification for regulations are worse.  Much worse.

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On Fox Business’ Freedom Watch last week I sat down with Democratic strategist and former Chuck Schumer aide Christopher Hahn to discuss the “ Durbin amendment” to the Dodd-Frank Bill.  If you are unfamiliar with the attachment to the bill, you may nonetheless be feeling the effects soon enough in the form of higher banking fees from checking account maintenance to debit card usage.

What the amendment (that went into effect on October 1st) does is place a cap on per-transaction “swipe fees” that banks charge retailers when purchases are made via debit cards.  They used to charge retailers roughly 44 cents per transaction.  Dodd-Frank limits this to 21 cents.  Since these fees are absorbed by the retailers, it doesn’t take a Wharton Business School degree to see that the immediate beneficiaries of this government intrusion into the private sector are the so-called big-box, high-volume retailers such as Walmart, Walgreens, Home Depot, Target, and others.

Mr. Hahn may have offered the weak Democratic operative/apologist defense of the bill in that Durbin was just doing what Senators do by helping his constituents, but I made it a point to remind him that the populist senator’s constituents in this case are not the consumers in his state but rather Big Retail.  The last time I checked, many retail titans are far wealthier than most Wall Street “fat cats” already.  The Walton family’s combined wealth far outstrips Warren Buffett’s (or Bill Gates’, for that matter), making them the de facto richest family in the world.  They are about to get a little wealthier as Walmart reaps its share of this estimated $7 billion annual windfall the Durbin amendment shifts from the banking to the retail sector. (more…)

President Obama called for tax hikes worth $1.5 trillion on Monday, but in a less remarked-upon move, members of Democratic leadership in the U.S. Senate have also been pushing for tax increases of their own.  However, unlike Obama’s proposal, which is squarely focused on enhancing the revenue that upper-income taxpayers are required to pay out, the proposal being pushed by Sens. Durbin, Murray and Begich (respectively, the Assistant Majority Leader, the Secretary of the Conference and the Chair of the Steering and Outreach Committee) aims to raise taxes significantly on some of the poorest Americans.

Via the Winston-Salem Journal:

A group of 14 U.S. senators — all Democrats — are using a familiar strategy as they try to raise the federal excise tax on tobacco products.

Senate Bill 1403 would provide annual funding to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by essentially doubling the excise tax on cigarettes and small cigars.

[...]

For example, the federal excise tax for cigarettes would go from $1.006 a pack to $2.01.

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In July of 2010, Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank bill into law. Forcing this unpopular piece of legislation upon the American people was akin to tossing a hand grenade of regulation into the banking industry and ducking to avoid the inevitable splatter. The problem is that instead of only damaging the profits of the people that Barney Frank claimed were responsible for the 2008 fiscal meltdown, the shrapnel went into the general populace. Those Americans who enjoyed the benefits of their banks debit rewards programs will find that particular perk is becoming extinct.

So what does this mean to the average American? Fall starts the season where consumer spending ticks up dramatically. We are spending money to send our kids back to school. Halloween has also become a bigger ticket holiday for many of us and of course there is the spendgasm of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Millions of people would accumulate points and use those during this time to subsidize the cost of school supplies and the slew of fast approaching holidays. For those people the end of these rewards programs takes literally hundreds of dollars out of their pockets.

The culprit in the Dodd-Frank bill that resulted in many banks pulling back their debit rewards programs is the Durbin amendment. In a nutshell, each time your debit card is swiped at a store or restaurant, that merchant pays a transaction fee. The benefit to the merchant in paying this fee is that they get to accept your card. That is why the door of most establishments displays the Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and other logos from financial service companies. The more methods of payments they accept the deeper their pool of potential customers.

There is no doubt that a business would do itself great damage by not accepting credit or debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo on it. On the minus side, they must pay for this privilege. The purpose of the Durbin amendment was to put a cap on this transaction fee, and limit the profits that the banks could make from merchants.

According to the Durbin Amendment, a hard cap of 12¢ per transaction will be put into place. This replaces the previous method of calculating transaction fees based upon the cost of the item. Before the Dodd-Frank bill, banks would charge a transaction fee of approximately 1% of the total cost of the goods or services that had been purchased. The 12¢ rule is now in play whether you are buying a Cadillac with your card, a computer or a can of Mr. Pibb.

According to J.P. Morgan, this cap will cost them over a billion dollars in lost revenue. In fact many banks claim that 12¢ is too low, and that it costs them more than that to process each transaction. In short, the Durbin amendment removes the incentive for banks to encourage their customers to use debit cards as a method of payment. So as a result, the debit rewards program that many of us have come to rely on are going away.

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When Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) announced Tuesday that he will hold a hearing next week in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the civil rights of American Muslims, everyone thought it was a joke. No other group gets the extraordinary, unconstitutional special status that Muslims enjoy. The Muslim Brotherhood, an organization whose stated goal is to destroy and eliminate America from within, has accessed and secured extraordinary power at senior levels of the Executive branch, the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, State Department, Homeland Security, etc.

One can point to Alger Hiss or Benedict Arnold for like historical antecedents. The difference between then and now is that we didn’t know that Hiss et al were seditionists whose objective was to overthrow the government. We know who and what the Brotherhood is, but the political elites, the chattering classes and the media elites have taken up their considerable weapons against those who are exposing this century’s Nazis.

Dick Durbin’s hearing – with the Orwellian title “Protecting the Civil Rights of American Muslims” – is intended to serve as a counterpunch to the much more sensible and logical (although still toothless, as I explained here and here) House Homeland Security Committee hearing led by Chairman Peter King (R-NY) two weeks ago on the radicalization of Muslims in the U.S. Senator Durbin’s press release announcing the hearing said that it was being triggered by a non-existent “spike in anti-Muslim bigotry in the last year.” Apparently, the numerous acts of terrorism committed by American Muslims, and the warnings that have even come from the Obama Administration about the homegrown radicalization of Islamic jihadists, are to be deliberately ignored in deference to Islamic demands and supremacism.

In my previous oped piece on the Durbin debacle, I thought that a hearing on “Muslim rights” would be a good idea if it addressed the increasing surrender of secular law to Islamic law, and the assertion of Islamic supremacism over the rights of all others. We need hearings on the Florida circuit court judge who just ruled that a case be decided according to Sharia law. We need hearings on the special rights being afforded Muslims at the expense of everyone else. We need hearings on the Obama Justice Department’s suing a school district for not allowing a Muslim woman to take nearly three weeks off during the school year to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

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From the same MoveOn.org rally that brought us video of the now infamous foaming liberal, who proudly “declared war on righties, Teabaggers and Republicans” over at the always sunshine and roses hotspot known as Daily Kos, we bring you yet another performance from an angry liberal.

Just moments after Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) gave a rousing speech at MoveOn.org’s “Solidarity With Wisconsin” rally, urging Americans to preach our principles and values across the country and around the world, this self-professed “Left of Lesbian” progressive took to the microphone to follow the Senator with this his own display of values:

“It’s time for Barack Obama to do what he did in Tucson – show up.”

“If you want to know the difference between Egypt and Madison:   Mubarak is a Tyrant.  Scott Walker’s an Asshole”

(I’m thinkin’ Hyde Park Johnny over at the Daily Kos may want to update his post.  He thought there were “no tea partiers in sight.”)

If this man looks and sounds familiar to you, he should.  This clip of him on Mediaite made the rounds on the day of the Tucson, AZ shooting, when he used an impromptu vigil as an opportunity to push Sarah Palin into the fray, as did so many others on the left that day.

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Yes, the Democrats killed it (can we still say that) and I’ve been calling out the party of good will, kindness, caring, and tolerance Democrats for more than a year about their shameful and deliberate actions.  And now, it’s game on:

The speaker, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., on Wednesday plans to introduce legislation to revive a controversial program that provides private-school vouchers for kids of low-income parents in Washington, D.C. Boehner has long been a supporter of that program, which started to wind down in 2009, but is devoting some serious political capital to the cause this week.

[snip]

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, as it is known, was launched in 2004 as the first federally funded program providing K-12 education grants. Though supporters say it gives poor students an alternative to the city’s underperforming public school system, teachers unions and other opponents say it draws sorely needed money away from the public system.

Lawmakers opposed to the program succeeded in eliminating it after Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. — who could not be reached for comment Tuesday — attached an amendment to a 2009 spending bill. President Obama stepped in and agreed to allow students currently enrolled to graduate. But the program is no longer accepting new applicants.

To recap, the Omnibus appropriations act of 2009 defunded (roll call vote here) the successful program–effectively eliminating any opportunity for poor DC schoolchildren to escape the horrid DC public schools.  The Democrats, namely Dick Durbin, claimed that the program funding would take away from the money the DC public schools needed.

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It’s been revealed that the Obama White House is trying to beat Marco Rubio to keep Hispanic-Americans from having a choice when it comes to political parties. This is the second time Democrats have done this, and the fact that they’re willing to take down another minority candidate to do so shows that it’s the Democrats, not Republicans, who are trying to keep minorities down in America today.

With the White House’s approval, President Bill Clinton tried to convince Congressman Kendrick Meek—an African-American Democrat—to drop out of the U.S. Senate race in Florida, and support independent (and former liberal Republican) Charlie Crist.

They did this for one reason: They want to deny minorities a choice, deceiving them into thinking that only the Democratic Party cares about minorities. They are happy to take down minority candidates—even Democratic candidates—to perpetuate this falsehood.

This is the second time Democrats have done this to a Hispanic. In 2001, Miguel Estrada was nominated to a seat on the nation’s second-highest federal court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Estrada was an American success story, a child immigrant from Honduras who didn’t speak English, who went on to be a top graduate from Columbia, then Harvard Law School, later clerking for the Supreme Court and serving under the U.S. solicitor general in both Democratic and Republican administrations. He’s a partner at Gibson Dunn, one of America’s top law firms.

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The indiscreet voicemail, left by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) for a lobbyist, sounded a bit like a “shakedown”, which is no big surprise.

I know from first-hand experience that Ms. Norton can use veiled threats and thuggish behavior when she wants to have her way.

During my time as the Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), I was the recipient of late night phone calls at my home, during which Holmes wanted to “discuss” why GSA wasn’t doing more to house government agencies in certain parts of the District of Columbia, in particular, in areas where gentrification was occurring slowly.

Norton’s voracious appetite for “more” often led her to raise her voice and make veiled threats.  Once, she even trumped up a meeting where she advocated for more business on behalf of a real estate organization that I later learned had donated to her campaign.  When I protested these tactics and refused to attend further such meetings, the political pressure was cranked up and political unpleasantness became the norm.  Norton always claimed she was just doing her job.

Many Americans may be shocked to hear Holmes’ indiscreet voicemail, but, from my experiences in Washington, it seems that Holmes may have learned these tactics from the top leadership of her party.  Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Majority Whip, has been especially thuggish in the past, screaming and issuing threats at the homes of federal agency leaders, should one of his pork projects be questioned.

The “gimme”, as practiced by some Democrat legislators, can range from subtle and respectful, as is probably appropriate for any request, to disrespectful and threatening.  It seems as if there are some legislators who want to make sure there is no doubt in your mind that if you don’t cough up the goods during the shakedown, then negative consequences will occur.

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Yet another story not from The Onion. From WGN Chicago:

The White House has tapped a former leader of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana Wildlife Federation as the Asian carp czar to oversee the federal response to keeping the invasive species out of the Great Lakes.

On a conference call today with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and other congressional leaders, President Obama’s Council on Environmental Quality announced the selection of John Goss to lead the near $80 million, multi-pronged federal attack against Asian carp.

“This is a serious challenge, a serious threat,” Durbin said. “When it comes to the Asian carp threat, we are not in denial. We are not in a go-slow mode. We are in a full attack, full-speed ahead mode. We want to stop this carp from advancing.” (more…)

Will the madness ever stop?  Just over two weeks ago, Congress passed a $10 billion “Education Jobs Fund” that gave money to cash-strapped states to keep teachers and other school employees on the job.  It was spun as a victory for the kids, but the real winners were the teacher unions who were spared from making any concessions on pay and benefits that are necessary to balancing school budgets.

Once that $10 billion is spent, the structural problems of school spending will still remain.  A recent study from the Manhattan Institute and the Foundation for Educational Choice finds that “teacher pension liabilities for all 50 states now total almost $1 trillion….almost triple the cost of what state officials have on their balance sheets.”  The study concludes that these unfunded public burdens “could bankrupt state budgets including education programs.”

While the teacher unions won a temporary victory, we have to believe that they are paying careful attention to another, bigger bailout that is lurking in the shadows.   And this time, there is more at stake than just a few billion dollars.  If this latest bailout becomes law, it will mark the first time in American history that tax dollars are used to fund the pension plans of private—unionized—industry.

The teachers unions know that their lavish pension plans will result in a financial tsunami for the states.  Should this new bailout go through, it will pave the way for a massive bailout for the teacher unions, the likes of which have never seen.  This is a very big deal.

In late July, Sen. Dick Durbin (D – IL), the second most powerful Democrat in the U.S. Senate, announced that he is supporting the “Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act of 2010.” This proposed bill that would make certain labor union pension plans the “obligations of the United States.” Put another way, the American taxpayer will be on the hook for financially disastrous pension plans.

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In last year’s federal budget, Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky introduced and then withdrew what appears to have been a multi-million dollar earmark for the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF), a now-defunct nonprofit that claims to have provided first aid training for nearly two million students, many of them in the Chicago Public Schools.

Problem #1: Three years earlier, SALF had been the subject of a series of hard-hitting ABC7 Chicago investigative reports that raised serious questions about every aspect of the organization: its founder, its operations, and its funding.

Problem #2: The Chicago Public Schools can’t or won’t produce records that support SALF’s claims.

Problem #3: Rep. Schakowsky won’t answer easy questions like these:  What was the dollar amount of her intended earmark for SALF? Why was she funding a non-profit that years before had been the subject of four scorching ABC7 exposes? What’s her relationship with the charity’s founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri, a convicted shoplifter who obtained millions in federal and state funds over the years? Does Rep. Schakowsky think SALF should be investigated in order to determine if those millions were properly spend?

The Progressive Politician

Jan Schakowsky’s district is north of Chicago and includes Evanston, Skokie, and west to Des Plaines. She’s the Democrat’s Chief Deputy Whip in the House and serves on the Steering and Policy Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, and chairs the House Select Committee on Intelligence’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. A member of the Democratic Progressive Caucus, she’s considered one of the most liberal members in Congress.

The Discredited Foundation

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The violent left has attacked conservative activists protesting big government, big spending and big bailout scheme proposed by Congress.  Tea Party activists in Tampa and St. Louis were beaten by left wing activists earlier this year.  Add Greensboro to that list.  This week, a group of local citizens in North Carolina protesting the Financial Reform bill and the Durbin BP Bailout amendment were accosted and then physically attacked by a left-wing activist who blamed George Bush for America’s ills.  Here is the video:

Like a bad cold it can’t shake, the left continues to attempt to blame every ill on George W. Bush.  But as one activists in the video pointed out, its actually one Barack Obama and Senator Dick Durbin who are about to hand a massive check to the very company responsible for one of the worst environmental disasters in history.

The Durbin Amendment to the financial reform bill is the latest government policy proposal that will pad BP’s bottom line.  The amendment would create a government imposed price control scheme that would shift billions of dollars away from consumer to retailers (British Petroleum, Exxon, WalMart).  That’s why the Durbin Amendment is supported by the  big retailers like Walmart, Petroleum Marketers Association and other prominent lobbyist groups which are funded, in part, by British Petroleum.

Proponents cynically and falsely claim it would help consumers, but its hard to see many consumers feeling benefited by paying higher prices while mega corporations increase their profits.

Just look at who is pushing this amendment—oil Companies and giant retailers.

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The Senate will soon vote on the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act; a counterproductive bill that, purportedly, extends unemployment benefits for millions of out of work Americans. And yet ironically, found in the bowels of this legislation is a dangerous, anti-business tax increase that promises to harm American investors, kill American jobs and slow the nation’s long-term economic recovery.

A little-known element of the version of that legislation adopted last week by the House, the “Carried Interest Tax” raises taxes on private equity firms, venture capitalists and real estate partnerships. These partnerships make much-needed investments in American startup ventures, and their returns, upon which they rely for sustained investing, are taxed at the regular capital gains rate of 15 percent.

But under the pending bill, taxes on these investments would increase 40 to 150 percent. Such a tax increase would severely curtail investment, development and growth in urban communities nationwide where real estate investors have created jobs and had a substantive impact on the lives of low-income families. Business leaders and think tanks alike have panned the idea; Steve Forbes characterized it as “economic suicide.”

Of course, the bill’s fate is not sealed.

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When Washington opened the doors to taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street firms they set off a modern day gold rush for lobbyists, corporations and unions looking to get their piece of the pie. The car companies lined up for their handout. Big labor and their failed underfunded pensions are angling for bailouts. And now major retailers like Walmart and oil companies like British Petroleum are lobbying for their government created wealth transfer payment. Welcome to the world of the Durbin Amendment to the Financial Reform bill — a new bailout attached to a giant bailout bill.

A coalition of lobbyists for oil and gas companies, convenience stores, giant retailers and petroleum marketers have conned Senators into supporting a provision that is tantamount to a bailout for perfectly profitable multi-billion corporations.

There was a time when a business was looking to cut costs, they would tighten their belt and make changes within their company to ensure profitability. No longer. Now companies hire Washington lobbyists who push schemes to shift costs from the company to other companies, or worse yet, the consumer. That is exactly what the Durbin amendment to the Financial Reform bill is all about.

When giant corporations like BP and Walmart accept payment via credit cards, they pay a fee for processing services. The Durbin amendment empowers the Fed to cap the cost of those services to these industry giants. Proponents of the so-called “swipe fee” amendment have cynically argued that this amendment would somehow benefit consumers. But in reality, the Durbin amendment is a lobbyist-written, government imposed price control program that will shift the cost of accepting credit cards from mega corporations to consumers.

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It’s hard to imagine that the Senate Financial Reform legislation could get worse, but thanks to an amendment offered by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), not only did the legislation get worse, it now adds insult to injury.

It’s no secret that the Financial Reform bill will end privacy for financial transactions, create a regulatory bureaucracy like we have never seen before and make bailouts of big banks and Wall Street the permanent policy of the US government.  What most people don’t realize is the latest Durbin amendment extends what amounts to a bailout to major retailers and big oil companies.

At the same time when oil companies are shattering profit records and British Petroleum (BP) is spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf Coast polluting the environment the Senate decided to hand them a massive check — paid for by consumers.

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The race issue refuses to disappear from American politics because problems tied to race persist.

Just as children are often the best witnesses to the shortcomings of parents, so the ill treated are often testimony to a nation’s shortcomings.

Sen. James Meeks (left)

The civil rights movement showed that in a nation which is free, civil, and moral, a few can create a non-violent revolution and change the world when their claims are just and moral, and when they are willing to fight and persist.

Just as that movement, starting with a few black leaders in the 1960’s, showed that our nation was sick and needed to be healed, the same thing is happening today.

A superb example is the remarkable leadership of Rev. James Meeks in Chicago.

Pastor Meeks, the spiritual leader of one of Chicago’s largest black churches, is also a Democrat senator in the state legislature.  Working with both Democrats and Republicans, and with the help of a free market think tank in Illinois, Meeks put together legislation to provide vouchers for kids in Chicago’s worst public schools to escape and attend a private school.

Increasingly, school choice initiatives around the country are being championed at the grass roots by local black leaders, often Democrats, for whom the truth is too straightforward to deny.

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On April 30th, Progressives marched on Wall Street to vilify Wall Street banks and bankers. Who organized that march? It was a group called National People’s Action (NPA), and their anti-capitalist campaign is ominously titled Showdown In America.

You might be thinking “Crap. Not another Alinsky community organizing group and its damn acronym!” – but this is one to which you need to pay very close attention. This group is at the very center of the real estate bubble-bust brought on by the dreaded CRA, and they are organizing an army of unions to march on Wall Street and blame the entirety of the economic disaster on the evil rich.

The first thing that you need to know about NPA is that their now-deceased leader, Gail Cioncotta, is credited in community organizing circles for authoring the Community Reinvestment Act. Her group is also credited with honing the tactic of storming into banks and occupying their lobbies.

Another thing you need to know is that in 2003, NPA’s sister organization, the National Training and Information Center (NTIC), was busted by the Justice Department for misappropriating millions of federal grant dollars from community development projects,  using the funds instead to train community organizers to lobby the government. On top of that, the Justice Department found that they committed fraud as they tried to cover up their actions.

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