Tag Archives: President

Oct 17 2011

Oops-the litany, the legacy.

Oops-the litany, the legacy.

 

Shaken by the incessant criticism hurled at this columnist for his consistent adherence to the tenets of conservatism, the Maine Conservative Voice has decided to try and step away from the several writing techniques my critics have deemed boring and unimaginative.  No longer will there be the drab, predictable, irrefutable facts interlaced with bland, cagey, endearing, sarcastic humor.  No, it is time to step it up a little bit, take it to the next level and engage the audience with the scintillating and sensational.  Mothers, hide your children as MCV moves into uncharted waters.  Behold, the jaw-dropping, mouth-gaping, riveting…graph.  Come on!  Don’t be shy.  Look at it.

 

Wage earnings                    Avg tax%

$20,000-30,000                    5.7%

$40,000-50,000                    12.5%

$50,000-75,000                    15%

$1,000,000+                         29.1%

 

Now that this moment of guilty pleasure is over, we can wipe the sweat from our brow, pull ourselves together and concentrate on the reason for this shocking revelation.  The information here was put together by the Associated Press to verify President Obama’s assertion that middle class America is paying more taxes than the wealthy and that it is time for millionaires to start paying their fair share.  You know, I’m still having a hard time getting my head wrapped around “New Math” but, for those of us who are still paddling around the 5.7 mark, 29.1 still seems like a lot more.  Maybe we all just need to have Warren Buffet explain these numbers to us the way he has explained it to the President.  Mr. Buffet wants millionaires to pay more taxes, as long as it is not he.  Mr. Buffet is under investigation for tax evasion issues.

Here at home, Ms. Quimby wants to turn all her landholdings into a Federal Park.  It is her land.   She can do what she wants with it except….when….it….effects other people’s land and their livelihoods.   Governor Lepage has worked hard to secure the sale and restart of paper mills in Millinocket.  People are headed back to work.  But if Ms. Quimby has her way, Federal Park regulations would block the harvest of wood fiber, which is essential to the survival of the Millinocket mills.  The Democrat Party is a huge supporter of Ms. Quimby’s plan.

Democrats Chris Dodd and Barney Frank want at least one more financial crisis to add to their legacy.  They along with Dick Durbin have allowed banks to charge heavy fees to you the consumer for having….money.  Yes, the banks can now penalize you based on the fact that you have money in their bank.  Talk about a sound fiscal model for economic recovery.   Can anyone say “money in my mattress”?  How about one more Dodd/Frank banking collapse?  This is inevitable when patrons begin wholesale withdrawals.

Corruption is coming to light fast and very furious, as one CBS investigative reporter has found out.  The White House, for her dogged investigation into the Fast and Furious scandal, deemed Sheryl Attkinson “unreasonable”.  Members of the President’s staff and Department of Justice screamed and shouted explicatives at Ms. Attkinson as she asked for answers to the cover-ups.  From my limited past experience, this loss of control means that a “whole lotta smelly oopses” are about to hit the fan.

Speaking of the fan, before the aroma of the “Solyndra Oops” was scattered across America, the President was poised to give another loan to the bankrupt solar company.  How big of a funnel was he trying to fill anyway?  Now, the President wants to encourage spoiled college students to shut down Wall Street.  The “oopses” are just piling up both here and abroad.

Oct 11 2011

Oops…again!

Oops….again!

 

News Flash!  In a rush to beat the final deadline, this past week the Obama administration had to ramrod the last 5 billion dollars of taxpayer funded stimulus out the door in a frantic effort to ensure that its mandate on green energy business is realized.  With most of these companies going bankrupt and many more on the way, it is easy to understand the helpless anger that is boiling throughout America despite efforts of the media to cover for the President.  Where is all this money going?  What kind of return are American citizens getting for their tax dollars?

Several million dollars were given to the brother-in-law of Nancy Pelosi to start a green energy business.  Now it comes to light that his business has created twelve jobs.   Twelve jobs?  For…. how much?  So this begs the question – what are taxpayers spending per green job created?

For every green job created, it is costing the citizens of the United States 20 million dollars.  Green energy is cutting-edge business and inherently risky, no one is arguing that.  But risky is one thing, stupid is another.  Unless these employees are being outfitted with Bionics, a 20 million dollar employee seem a little pricey to the average man.  How can Americans expect to realize a return on investment capital with such expensive employees?  This would be virtually impossible even with a solvent business.  But these businesses were going bankrupt from their inception.  Their business models screamed failure from the very onset and, yet, the White House fell all over itself to infuse monumental amounts of cash from a cash-strapped nation into a yawning, gaping, green vacuum.  Americans now are green with the nausea that comes from the sinking realization that you have been taken and were helpless to prevent it.  Bankrupt green energy is now sending employees back to the jobless ranks at $20 million a pop.

Compare that to the State of Maine.  Hundreds of jobs are coming back to the Millinocket area and what did it cost Mainers?  The Governor’s salary.  Wait, you say, doesn’t he get paid that anyway?  Exactly!  The Governor did not ask for Mainers to dig a little deeper, sacrifice a little more and stop being soft.   Instead, he worked harder to help convince out of State investors that a more business friendly Maine is in the making. Business owners trust Paul LePage because they have seen him in action in the private sector.  They know his record.  So the private sector is investing in Maine.  People in Northern Maine, even in little towns like Brownville Junction, are seeing the hope of new jobs created without it costing anyone a dime.

When the government creates jobs, good or bad, it costs the taxpayer.  At one time the automobile and the assembly line was cutting-edge technology.  The government didn’t force it down our throats nor did it try to prop up the carriage industry.  The free market played out and Henry Ford succeeded, while a successful carriage maker saw the handwriting on the wall, sold out and formed General Motors.

Job creation should not be hurting Americans.  It should be helping Americans.  Call me simple, but it seems like common sense.  The President now wants us to entrust him with another $447 billion in stimulus…yeah.  Perhaps, Mr. President, if your campaign donors could return the billions of our money you gave them; it could help the nation recover from the green nausea that is sweeping the nation….perhaps.  On a personal note, thank you, Governor  Paul R. LePage :-)!

Aug 7 2011

THE UNFIXABLE

THE UNFIXABLE

 

And they thought the Governor was joking.  At the recent Piscataquis “Capital for a Day”, Governor LePage and Treasurer Poliquin both explained the dire fiscal picture they found painted on the books of the accounts in Augusta.  They revealed to us that one of the first hurdles for the duo to overcome was convincing the S&P not to downgrade the credit rating of the State of Maine, which they had learned was imminent.  Those of the “People are Merely Percentage Points” ers crowd scoffed at this revelation.  It was unthinkable that we would receive a credit downgrade.  Just scare tactics, stuff and nonsense.

Yes, thankfully the strength of leadership shown by the Governor and the Treasurer has saved Maine from such an embarrassment; in fact, a recent listing of the worst States to do business did not even mention the State of Maine.  It is quite a turnaround in seven months to go from a “top of the list regular” to a “no show”.  There is some recognition we’d rather not have.

Not so good though for the President and his merry band of obstructionists.  While the “Hope and Change messiah” has yet to lower the sea level, he has succeeded in lowering our credit rating for the first time in the history of this great Nation.  It was simple really.  Standard and Poor’s wanted 4 trillion in deficit reduction.  Paul Ryan and the Republicans wanted 4 trillion in spending cuts.

Enter Harry Reid.  Nevada must be so proud.  Smugly preening his arrogance before any microphone and camera he could find, Harry, no he’s not a Prince, promised that he would kill such a plan in the Senate.  He did.  Nevada must be so proud.

The President and the Senate President balked and stonewalled until they were forced into a desperate last minute anemic $2.4 trillion compromise that still raised the debt ceiling.  The S&P was not bluffing.  They lowered the credit rating of the United States for the first time in its history.  They have also warned in no uncertain terms that if remaining cuts are not found to reach the $4 trillion mark, where have we heard that before, they will downgrade our credit rating once again.

So the unthinkable has happened.  This begs the question- is Washington fixable?  I think not.  As we watch all the posturing, playacting and nonsensical behavior, it becomes more apparent the Federal government is a delinquent who is completely out of control beyond the reaches of reason.  Our Governor calls their actions “antics”.  Treasure Poliquin aptly calls them “poison”.  The restoration of this great nation to its once proud glory will not come through the Federal government.  We the people must look to our several States and local Counties to apply pressure upon our state officials to be fiscally prudent in their approach to governing.  As we strengthen the might of our States from the Counties up and wean them from their dependence upon the Federal government, we will find that the pathetic behavior of our Federal officials will have much less the detrimental effect on our lives.  Perhaps if those in Washington come to realize that they have thought of themselves more highly than they ought, they may start to behave better.