Garden State Patriot

Economist Art Laffer - renowned, of course, for the Laffer curve, a centerpiece of Reaganomics in the 80’s – has penned a piece on healthcare in today’s Wall Street Journal.

Put up to this, no doubt, by the insurance companies Laffer delivers a terrific ’sucker punch’ to the administration [emphasis added].

According to research I performed for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a $1 trillion increase in federal government health subsidies will accelerate health-care inflation, lead to continued growth in health-care expenditures, and diminish our economic growth even further. Despite these costs, some 30 million people will remain uninsured.

Implementing Mr. Obama’s reforms would literally be worse than doing nothing.

I recommend reading Mr. Laffer’s entire piece here.

And when you’re done, don’t forget to tattle on him to the White House for spreading this ‘disinformation’ (flag@whitehouse.gov).

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

You may recall back in June, I wrote two posts on the silly ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program spurred on by Congressman Rothman. In my initial post I questioned just how the program would be paid for – and in my second post the Heritage Foundation affirmed my concern, indicating that only $1B of the necessary $4B needed for the program was set aside.

Well, apparently Heritage’s prediction has become reality. According to the AP, the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program is being forced to a grinding halt because of a lack of funds.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Congressional officials say the government plans to suspend the popular “cash for clunkers” program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases. The Transportation Department called congressional offices late Thursday to alert them to the decision to halt the program, which offered owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns of large backlogs in the system, prompting the suspension. 

Further Entangles Government in Market: The program has already spent $150 million and has another $800 million to $850 million in obligations. What that means is that the nation’s auto dealers have already paid car buyers almost a billion dollars but are still waiting for their cash from the federal government. The USA Today reports: “Carmakers and dealers have booked expensive advertising to capitalize on buyers’ interest in CARS, and now will be left promoting a tie-in with a discontinued government program — one that wasn’t supposed to end until Nov. 1. “Disappointed,” said Chrysler spokesman Scott Brown. “It’s too late to recall the ads,” says Beau Boeckmann of Galpin Ford, the nation’s largest Ford dealer, in Los Angeles. “We had increased our ad budget to get the word out. We are very heavy on radio, newspaper and getting direct mail together,” Boeckmann says. “Now what do you tell people when they walk in” for a clunker deal? “It’s tough.”

Honestly, this is just comical. All these auto dealers thought they had a great thing going, spent money to advertise and now the program has been halted (in fact, I just heard an ad on the radio a minute ago). On top of that they don’t yet have the money from the government to pay people their “Cash for Clunkers” refunds.

And these are the people who we should empower to run our healthcare? Egads! 

Seth Grossman of Shore News Today has an interesting piece on the c(r)ap and trade bill passed by the House last Friday. According to Seth, this damaging legislation is nothing more than a slush fund for Obama and his cronies. Nice.

Last week the House of Representatives approved HR 2454, the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” by a vote of 219 to 212. If the Senate agrees, this proposed new law will create a huge slush fund of billions of dollars by jacking up every gas and electric bill in America. The money would then be “redistributed” to selected businesses, unions and other groups who are “friends” of Obama and the Democrats.

The House almost rejected the bill when 45 Democrats with principle voted no. The bill passed only because eight unprincipled Republican Congressmen sold out to vote yes.

Three of those “traitors within the gates” are from New Jersey – Frank LoBiondo (Salem, Cumberland, Cape May Gloucester, and Atlantic counties), Chris Smith (Mercer, Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean counties), and Leonard Lance (Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties). All three were strong backers of Chris Christie for governor over Steve Lonegan during last month’s primary election.

Left-wing Democrat Henry Waxman of California introduced the bill as a 1,200-page proposed law just six weeks before it was brought to a vote. Hundreds of pages with special “earmarks” were later added to buy enough congressmen to win passage. One amendment of more than 300 pages was added at 3 a.m. the morning of the vote. Nobody knows exactly what is in it.

(more…)

Yesterday, the destructive, job-killing Waxman-Markey C(r)ap and Trade bill passed the House. While numerous Democrats broke ranks to oppose this bad legislation, it passed with some Republican support. That support, unfortunately, came from three so-called Republicans right here in New Jersey. Their names? Leonard Lance, Chris Smith and Frank LoBiondo.

Their votes in favor of this bill represent nothing less than a betrayal of Republican principles. Waxman-Markey, as I have pointed out previously, is a repressive tax for Americans. It will impact everything we produce and result in lost jobs and higher energy bills to the tune of up to $3,000 a year for the average family.

Lance, LoBiondo and Smith have now elevated themselves to the same level as Arlen Specter. Their votes are no less a betrayal as Specter’s was for the Porkulous bill.

As such, each of these Congressmen now no longer deserve our support. Each of them needs to be primaried out. Republicans need to send a strong and clear message that on certain issues you must toe the line and breaking ranks will not be tolerated. If you are a constitutent in the districts represented by these Congressmen make no mistake, they have not represented you, let alone this state and our nation. They need to be voted out.

I, for one, will do all I can to see that that is exactly what happens next year.

My understanding is Congressman Frelinghuysen may vote for the destructive C(r)ap & Trade bill. There’s no time to lose so start contacting his office now.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
2442 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3011
(202) 225-5034

Legislative Office
Chief of Staff – Nancy Fox
Senior Policy Adviser – Steve Wilson
Scheduler – Tina Wei
Legislative Aide – Kathleen Hazlett
Legislative Aide – Dan Ostermueller
Legislative Aide – Marissa Watkins
Legislative Correspondent – Jeff Brabant

Open: Mon. – Fri., 9am to 5:30pm

NEW JERSEY
30 Schuyler Place, Second Floor
Morristown, NJ 07960
(973) 984-0711

Constituent Service Center
Constituent Services Manager – Pam Thievon
Scheduler – Michelle Moallem
Constituent Services Representative – Joan Hamilton
Constituent Services Representative – Kristin Jones
Staff Assistant – Judy Ceballos
District Staff Assistant – Mary Provost
District Staff Assistant – Bernie Tyson

Open: Mon. – Fri., 9am to 5pm

Want to see where your tax dollars are going to waste in Bergen and other parts of the 9th Congressional District?

Then click here.

Thanks to Congressman Rothman we can see where the so-called stimulus money is going right on Google maps. How exciting.

Perhaps then you can tell me how spending on the projects listed actually creates jobs. 

Additional links: Rothman,  New Jersey Wreckovery

Last week I posted about the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ bill being supported by Congressman Rothman. Among other things, I wondered just how this would be paid for. Apparently, that thought had merit because the bill is working its way through Congress with only $1B of the needed $4B needed to fund the program in place. In fact, according to Heritage the program is nothing more than way of bailing out the auto industry (shock!).

After passing in the House, the stage is now set for a Senate vote to pass the “Cash for Clunkers” bill that would offer up to $4,500 to trade in a used vehicle for a new one. Although the idea sounds good on paper, we’ve outlined a number of problems with the bill: Consumers typically replace clunkers with slightly newer clunkers or used cars, the program would distort the used car market by reducing the supply of used cars at a time when demand has been increasing, the voucher exceeds charity tax deductions for used cars, the environmental benefits are dubious, and its estimated cost of $4 billion is largely unfunded:

“But the $1 billion set aside for the auto-purchase program is far short of the full cost of such an effort, estimated at $4 billion. The $1 billion is expected to fund the program through Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year, according to two congressional sources close to the negotiations who asked to remain anonymous.

This week, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, who sponsored the Senate version of “cash for clunkers” legislation, said she was comfortable with winning approval for money to start the program, with the idea that additional funding could be approved later.”

So, what else is new? Another bill to pay off special interests without the money there to pay for it. And ironically, the bill would actually undermine the very same fuel efficiency standards liberals also love.

I think we can see where this clunker of a bill is headed. Maybe this will capture it for you:

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Newt Gingrich’s latest article is a must-read. While I appreciate that some people promote ‘buying American,’ if you buy a Chrysler or GM car you are not ‘buying American’ you are ‘buying UAW.’ You are simply lining the pockets of a corrupt union who is as responsible for the automakers problems as any entitity this side of the federal government itself. 

There was a time when we would have called it a scandal.

In 1921, oil tycoon Harry Sinclair gave several prize head of cattle and around $269,000 to President Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall.

In return, Sinclair got the exclusive rights to drill in an oil field in Wyoming.  Sinclair’s no-bid contract became the Teapot Dome scandal, the most notorious example of political corruption in America prior to Watergate.

Between 2000 and 2008, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union gave $23,675,562 to the Democratic Party and its candidates.  

In 2008 alone, the UAW gave $4,161,567 to the Democratic Party, including Barack Obama.

In return, the UAW received 55 percent of Chrysler and 17.5 percent of GM, plus billions of dollars.

But nobody’s calling this a scandal.  It’s time we start.

Continue reading here.

Previously:

UAW Employees Earn $130,000 A Year

Let The Auto Industry Crash

While Barack Obama still enjoys fairly solid approval ratings – for now anyway – Congress’ ratings have remained in the toilet. Now, a Rasmussen poll finds Republicans leading Democrats on 6 of 10 key issues.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues, while 39% trust Democrats more.

This is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held the advantage on this issue. The parties were close in May, with the Democrats holding a modest 44% to 43% edge. The latest survey was taken just after General Motors announced it was going into bankruptcy as part of a deal brokered by the Obama administration that gives the government majority ownership of the failing automaker.

Voters not affiliated with either party now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues by a two-to-one margin.

Separate Rasmussen tracking shows that the economy remains the top issue among voters in terms of importance.

Issue	Democrats	Republicans
Health Care	47%	37%
Education	44%	37%
Social Security	43%	37%
Abortion	41%	41%
Economy	39%	45%
Taxes	39%	44%
Iraq	37%	45%
Nat’l Security	36%	51%
Gov’t Ethics	29%	35%
Immigration	29%	43%

This obviously is good news for Republicans as we start thinking ahead to this November, as well as the 2010 off-year elections.

I also find it interesting to see Republicans so far ahead on the issue of immigration considering how it has been used as a wedge in the battle over the ‘Latino vote’ and with McCain losing the Hispanic vote last year by such a wide margin.

While it’s not surprising to see Dems leading on social issues like health care, this is going to be a huge, huge battle in the very near future as Obama & Co. push for socialized medicine. It is a battle Republicans must be prepared to fight with everything they have.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

The Heritage Foundation has done an exhaustive analysis of the C(r)ap & Trade legislation being readied in the House. The Waxman-Markey bill [logically so-called for the bill's main sponsors, Henry "The Taxman" Waxman (CA) and Ed Markey (MA)], would have significant and drastic negative effects on our economy according to Heritage. Consider that Waxman-Markey, by 2035, would:

Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $7.4 trillion,

Destroy 844,000 jobs on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 1,900,000 jobs,

Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation,

Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent,

Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent,

Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,500, and

Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 29 percent, or $33,400 additional federal debt per person, again after adjusting for inflation.

Sound like change you can believe in?

Read the rest of the heritage analysis here: The Economic Impact of Waxman-Markey