Oregon...beautiful scenery, dimwitted voters

President Barack Obama has agreed to go along with the compromise plan to extend the Bush era tax rates for two more years. Note there is no tax cut in anyone’s future, save for the piddling 2% reduction in the Social Security taxes; simply a continuation of the rates that already exist. But from the whining and sobbing of the Obama base on the far left, it is pretty clear where Mr. Obama’s tax policy will go when this extension runs out.

Mr. Obama will surely press to raise the tax rates on the evil rich in another politically motivated economic decision. Of course, the intention will be to increase revenues to the federal treasury which he will then re-deploy to purchase democrat votes. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Mr Obama and his democrat allies in congress will raise the tax rates and sit back and expect more revenue to flow into the Treasury.

Raising taxes results in more revenue to the treasury only if all other conditions remain the same. This is the static model that democrats always use. However, in the real world, the dynamic model, every economic decision results in changed conditions, sometimes a multitude of changes. Even tiny changes in the price of anything will result in changes in demand.

Even though democrats do not believe it, people’s behavior will change if the price of living here (taxes) goes up. They can chose to move to another jurisdiction, or they can chose to do less business if doing more results in government confiscation. Or if they are truly evil rich, they will hire smart tax attorneys and keep a couple of congressmen on retainer to ensure favorable treatment. Whatever they do, their behavior will be different than it would have been before the change in economic conditions.

Where’s the evidence on the dynamic model of the market? A glance at what has happened in the People’s Republic of Oregon this year is illustrative. The voters, ever advancing the concept of social justice, voted to raise taxes on rich Oregonians in 2009. Naturally, they expected that existing tax revenues of $180 million would go through the roof when the 38,000 “rich” people of Oregon began paying their taxes at the new rates.

What actually happened in Oregon should provide a guide to greedy democrats seeking to gather other people’s money to spend on their next vote buying campaign. Tax revenues in Oregon fell by $50 million in one year! The supposed 38,000 rich Oregonians turned out to be only 28,000. I wonder what happened to the other 10,000 rich people? They either left the state or hired a good lawyer or politician to take care of their problem. Or perhaps they simply chose to do less business and earn less money.

And how is Oregon doing in the economic recovery, now that Mr Obama and his administration have brought us all back from the precipice? Oregon is lagging just a little bit. It does not have the highest unemployment rate in the nation, but it does have the second-highest unemployment rate in the entire United States, at 12.4 percent. Only Michigan, another state owned and operated by the democrat party and labor unions, has a higher rate of unemployment.

There are none so blind as those who just refuse to see, and who continue to make economic decisions for political reasons.

Stay in your lane, Governor

Governor Not So Bright

While brutal winter weather has brought holiday transportation to a standstill in Great Britain, and massive snowfalls are pummeling the west coast, outgoing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is lobbying for a job in the Obama Administration to work on Global Warming, oh...excuse me, Climate Change.

In Great Britain, millions of travelers have been stranded in a “third-world” travel nightmare in airports and train stations all over the nation. The London Mail reports, “Heathrow, the country’s major international airport, is still effectively closed two days after the last heavy snowfall. Substantial parts of our national rail network are still struggling with deep snow, and there are abandoned cars to be seen on hard shoulders all over the country. More snow is expected today, especially in the north.”

Snowfall in Great Britain is a rare thing, and no figures are published for average snowfall. Snow does fall intermittently in northern and eastern areas, Wales and higher elevations, especially in the mountains of Scotland. Snow rarely lasts more than a week before melting.

Northern Ireland has experienced record low temperatures this week. One gent, quoted in the Mail said, “I can't remember a time when so much snow has lain so thickly on the ground, and we haven't even reached Christmas. And this is the third tough winter in a row. Is it really true that no one saw this coming?

Meanwhile, back in the states, Governor Schwarzenegger’s own state is being inundated with unusual winter precipitation whether it is heavy rain in the central valley or foot upon foot of snow in the mountains.

And yet California’s formerly republican governor, the husband of Kennedy niece Maria Schriver, is hoping to find employment by carrying the global warming, er climate change water for the Obama Administration.

While seeming to ignore the recent stories proliferating in the news confirming that global warming is a contrived hoax and that record cold temperature are being experienced all over the world, the governator continues to carry the torch for the environmental left. “I'm a big believer in environmental issues," Schwarzenegger said, who added that he wanted a post where he could use his "celebrity power … knowledge and experience" to impact public policy. "I've traveled the world. … I'm very familiar with the world."

Familiarity with the world is a good thing, governor. A measurable IQ would be pretty handy as well. Maybe you should get back to something you do well.

Mr Obama and his pal Russian President Medvedev

The Obama Administration, with the assistance of its Senate allies, is attempting another all-too-familiar scheme to ram a piece of questionable legislation through the Congress before the end of the so-called Lame Duck Session, this time with major foreign policy implications.

Sen. Reid (Democrat-Nevada) is urging senators to accept Mr Obama’s START Treaty, signed by the president and Russian President Medvedev last April. The treaty requires the approval of the senate, by a two thirds majority, before it can become law.

Republican senators have voiced objections to the treaty, claiming that ambiguous language in the treaty raises questions about the treaty’s possible limitation of U.S. missile defense. The preamble of the treaty contains language that republican senators believe could allow the Russians to withdraw from the treaty if they choose to do so. How interesting that we would involve ourselves in a treaty, which has the effect of federal law on our government, with a nation that can unilaterally decide to ignore it if they feel like doing so.

To clarify the situation, Republican senators have asked, repeatedly, for records of the treaty’s negotiations so as to decisively establish the meaning of the treaty’s language. Such requests for the negotiating record have been provided by republican administrations in 1972 for Nixon’s Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and in 1987 by the Reagan Administration for its Intermediate Range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty.
But, apparently, asking for the START negotiating record is something akin to asking for other closely held state secrets, like President Obama’s birth certificate or his collegiate academic performance. Instead, after only five days of discussion in the senate, and without having clarified the treaty’s language, Senator Dick Durban, number two ranking democrat, has urged that the treaty be brought to a vote. What is the rush, Senator Durban?

While the urgency of completing this treaty, which could have far-reaching effects on the capability of the United States to defend itself from missiles targeting U.S. cities is high on the list of democrat priorities, they did suspend debate on the measure to consider another bill of equal consequence, to them, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation that would permit homosexuals to serve openly in the U.S. military.

Democrats, and some republicans, seem inclined to accept the word of the Russians. They were also inclined to accept the word of the communist government of the U.S.S.R that preceded the current crowd in the Kremlin. They are inclined today to accept the terms of this treaty despite the evidence of Soviet-era duplicity and outright violation of previous treaties (Reagan withdrew from SALT II in 1986 after it became clear that the Soviets were ignoring the treaty). Committing the United States to an international treaty is serious business, and democrats and republicans should keep in mind that the Russians, like the Soviets before them, will always act in their own interest and never, ever in our interest.

They would be wise to consider the counsel of General George Washington to the Continental Congress on a very different matter of national interest, when he said, “It is a maxim founded on the universal experience of mankind, that no nation is to be trusted farther than it is bound by its own interest; and no prudent statesman or politician will venture to depart from it.” The Russians will always be bound by their own interests, and we should be prudent enough not to venture far from our own. Mr Obama’s treaty with the Russians has the potential to portend great danger to the United States and we should take the time necessary to understand it fully, and amend it if necessary, before making it U.S. law.

Seen on Breitbart's Big Government Blog.....

Referenceing the recent flood of classified documents from "secure" government archives to Wiki Leaks website, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is quoted as saying:

“If we want to keep our nation’s secrets ‘SECRET,’ store them where President Obama stores his college transcripts and birth certificate.”

Good point, seems nothing is more secure than Mr Obama's CV.


Columnist Thomas Sowell, commenting on President Obama leaving office after one term: “…he may also leave the voters wiser, though sadder, after they learn from painful experience that you can't judge politicians by their rhetoric, or ignore their past because of your hopes for the future.