November 3rd, 2009, 4:47 pm by Mark Landsbaum
Today’s Quote of the Day on the subject of taxes comes courtesy James Taranto, blogger and columnist at the Wall Street Journal, another newspaper.
“Tax refunds are evil, because they fool people into thinking they’re ‘getting’ something from the government, when in fact all they’re receiving is their own money, months late. If the private sector tried this–say, your insurance or power company ‘borrowed’ money by tacking $20 on to your monthly bill and refunded it, without interest, the following year–it would be a pretty clear case of fraud.”
To Mr. Tarannto’s observation we will add our belief that not only are tax refunds evil for the aforementioned reasons, but so too are tax credits.
Tax credits - those delightfully enticing “gifts” from the government - are arguable “better” than tax refunds because they allow you to reduce your taxes dollar for dollar, so the government never gets the benefit of using your money without paying you interest.
But here’s the evil part: not everyone gets tax credits. They are graciously (that’s sacrasm, if it wasn’t clear) allowed to some taxpayers in order to pr0d them into government-favored behavior. Buy something greenish and you can take some money off your taxes. The poor slob who isn’t green enough pays up.
Now, if you find nothing wrong with government playing favorites with OTHER PEOPLES’ MONEY, you might find tax credits to be just peachy. For our money (that’s almost a pun), they are evil.
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Posted in: Policy • Tax • Taxes • Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009, 3:55 pm by Mark Landsbaum
One of the loudest fictions in the so-called health care debate is that these massive government mandates and regulations will some how make things less expensive.
Gee, that’s probably true if you don’t consider the added taxes, regulatory expenses and, oh yeah, bringing the rest of the nation under controls now experienced by the old and the poor. Government’s operations will increase many times over. Who pays for that?
CNSNews.com reports this little inconvenient factoid:
(CNSNews.com) - The House Republican Conference has compiled a list of all the new boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs created in the House health care bill. The Republican conference describes H.R. 3962 as “Speaker Pelosi’s government takeover of health care.”
The list of 111 new bureaucracies is reprinted here:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Budget • Congress • National • Obama administration • Taxes • White House | 29 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009, 1:39 pm by Mark Landsbaum
You probably won’t read this in the mainstream press, enamored as it is with the scare-story of global warming devastation. But one of the nation’s foremost meteorologists from MIT says the global warming debate is over, all right.
But the conclusion isn’t the one popularized by those cashing in on presumed catastrophe or the one held by those who want to roll back civilization to pre-industrial prosperity. In fact, D. Richard T. Lindzen says, the proponents of anthropogenic global warming have lost the argument.
It’s not just Lindzen who says so. The science says so. Humans don’t affect climate in any meaningful way, he says.
Lindzen says if others had done their research as he has done, they would deny AGW as well. But it’s popular to parrot the presumption of global warming and its presumed resultanting catastrophe.
Dr. Lindzen related an experience with a leader from the eco-alarmist movement who said that global warming was “accelerating.” When he asked her for scientific proof of accelerating warming, she was unable to provide it.
“To think of [global warming] as accelerating is bizarre,” Lindzen said. The media make a lot out of shrinking polar ice caps, but Lindzen says there’s no such problem. Rather, ice caps grow and shrink annually based on annual climate alone-regardless of long-term climate changes.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, as it were…
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Posted in: Environment • Global Warming | 31 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009, 12:38 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer
I didn’t mention it yesterday though I’ve been mildly aware, but a comment on Cillizza’s blog and this CQ story reminded me. There’s a special election in California’s 10th CD up north, around Walnut Creek, being vacated by Ellen Tauscher, pitting Dem. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi (who must have run for every conceivable office in California by now, bless him) against Republican longshot David Harmer. Garamendi is better-known and has outspent Harmer about 10-1, but Harmerites cite a poll showing Garamendi ahead only 50-40 and Obama fatigue. A Harmer win seems very unlikely to me, but even coming close might be encouraging to Reps. in general.
Posted in: California • Election 2009 • Calif. 10th CD | 4 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009, 10:51 am by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer
If you’re a complete election geek of the kind who gets off knowing what early returns in Bergen County might mean for New Jersey, or how the Syracuse media market affects NY 23 or how important Fairfax County is in Virginia, this Fix from WaPo’s Chris Cillizza might interest you. He promises updates as early returns come in.
Posted in: Congress • Election 2009 • Chris Cillizza • New Jersey • New York • Virginia | 5 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009, 10:40 am by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer
It’s not exactly a news flash, but it’s interesting that he came right out and said it. Bill Clinton told some group in Istanbul that if not for term limits, he would have stayed in the White House “until they carried me away in a coffin or I lost an election.” He’s not complaining about his life now, he says, but being president was obviously pretty intoxicating. It’s hardly news that those with a taste for political power can seldom get enough of it, but most politicians prefer to couch it in terms of “serving the people” or putting forward the ideas and principles that are vital to saving civilization. One of the nice things about Bill Clinton is that although he can fling the rhetoric pretty well he doesn’t come with a lot of pretenses. He likes that power, man.
Posted in: Culture • National • White House • Bill Clinton • the presidency | 20 Comments »
November 2nd, 2009, 6:13 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer
Jason Zengerle at TNR wonders whether or not Afghan president Hamid Karzai didn’t play the Obama administration like a violin in the recent contretemps over the late, lamented Afghan election. So Abdullah quits and so the runoff election is canceled and Karzai resumes the presidency. Pretty convenient, and it buys him time, especially since the Obamaites won’t really be able to assess whether he’s fighting corruption (sure, he’ll discipline his brother) until well after the U.S. has committed (or not, but I’d bet on the former) more troops to a country that doesn’t really want a strong central government.
Posted in: International • War on Terror • Afghanistan | 2 Comments »
November 2nd, 2009, 5:01 pm by Mark Landsbaum
We were pleased last week to have put this sordid affair behind us, and a reader or two thought that was wrong of us to breathe relief.
Well, it’s baaaaaaaaack. A female lobbyist identified in media reports as ex-Assemblyman Mike Duvall’s mistress said through an attorney today she is exploring legal remedies for the personal and professional damages she suffered.
Duvall, who resigned his office after a recording surfaced in which he bragged about having sex with two women, later said he didn’t really. It was just, “inappropriate storytelling,” he said.
The woman, whom we will not further defame by naming, has maintained all along nothing untoward occurred. (For those who arrived at a knee-jerk “she’s guilty,” take a moment to imagine your wife, daughter or mother in this spot.)
Now the Fair Political Practices Commission has found insufficient evidence to investigate whether laws were broken, as have the U.S. Attorney and FBI. The woman’s employer reports she will be returning to work after a leave of absence.
“I did nothing whatsoever illegal or unethical with former Assemblyman Duvall or anyone else,” the lady said through her attorney delivering her statement to the press. “What is shocking to me and my family is that anyone would have taken seriously the statements of someone boasting about his alleged exploits or even believed for a moment that they were true.”
The woman says this has been a “professional and personal nightmare.” We suspect the potential legal remedies might be someone else’s nightmare before this is over.
(As a postscript, we recommend that those who “know” this woman to be guilty of something review the record. It’s just a hunch, but we suspect her job - lobbyist - may have been cause for rush to judgment. There never was any other on-the-record or legitimate evidence we’re aware of that made Duvall’s locker room boasts even remotely credible.)
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Posted in: California | 6 Comments »
November 2nd, 2009, 4:38 pm by Mark Landsbaum
What gracious folks we have in Washington, who while threatening to shove down America’s throat a “public option” for health insurance coverage, in their big-hearted way may allow states to “opt out.”
Admittedly, I haven’t delved into all 1,995 pages of the latest version of this monstrosity (have you?), but we have some familiarity with other federal government opt-out options.
Perhaps this one will work like the federal opt-out option for federal guidelines for education in which states are entirely free to reject the rules - at the expense of collecting any federal funding for education.
Or maybe it’ll work the way opting out of regulating speed limits worked, as the feds allowed back in the day when Washington dictated how fast you could drive your car. All it costs states then to opt out was losing their federal highway funding.
What’s that saying about he who pays the piper?
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Posted in: Congress • Health care • National • Obama administration • White House | 7 Comments »
November 2nd, 2009, 4:34 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer
The gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia will be watched for hints that the Obama administration and/or Democrats have lost tractions and the Republicans are back. In New York’s 23rd, where the Republican moderate has dropped out and endorsed the Democrat, it will be interesting to see whether a Conservative Party candidate can beat a Democrat in a district that has traditionally elected Republicans but more moderates than conservatives. (We’ll have an editorial pondering all this tomorrow.)
There’s other interesting stuff too. Maine and Washington state have referenda on gay marriage (Maine, where it was approved by the legislature) and marriage-in-all-but-name (Washington). Maine will also have a measure expanding the number of ailments for which medicinal marijuana can be recommended and authorizing non-profit dispensaries (a 1999 measure approved medicinal marijuana but didn’t include a distribution method). Ohio will be voting for the fifth time since 1990 whether to authorize casinos in the state.
Posted in: Congress • Conservatism • Culture • Election 2009 • Medical Marijuana • National • New Jersey • Republican split • Virginia | 1 Comment »
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