We Are So F**ked, Part 2

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, I sent a text to several friends and family with the not so optimistic content of "We are so f**ked". I did this after seeing then candidate Barack Obama give a speech in which I pretty much saw the ideology above all aspect of his life. Luckily, the Democratic party feels no need to back off from that position.

The "super committee" of Democrats and Republicans that is set to be put in place as a result of the "deficit deal" has its first few appointees. Senate Minority Leader Harry Ried (D. NV) has tapped fellow Democrats John Kerry (Mass.), Max Baucus (Mont.) and Patty Murray (Wash.) to serve on the bipartisan committee ordained to solve the nation's debt issues. Murray is the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Kerry was on the Sunday morning political shows claiming the S&P decision was a "Tea Party downgrade" along with every other administration official and is, quite frankly, one of the biggest pieces of crap in Congress (I normally try not to get personal other than the occasional joke, but this man served in Vietnam as a sham and then threw his fellow soldiers overboard), and Baucus...well, why pile on.

There is no guarantee that the Republicans won't mess this up just as badly, but wow, we're off to a start that is rivaled only by Apollo 1.

Modern Liberalism and the Power of the State

Michael Moore, fourth planet from the sun and liberal filmmaker called for President Obama to arrest the head of Standard and Poor's for downgrading the United States' credit rating. I'm not aware of any criminal law broken by S&P (and I again note that I do not agree with their decision). But then, if you are Michael Moore, the dullest celestial body in the visible universe, you believe that the State is supreme and any insult against it is a crime (unless of course it is being run by a Republican and not even a particularly conservative one, such as George Bush).

This is just more proof that liberals aren't liberal any more. They are Statists, socio-facsists who believe in the state above the individual as long as the state advances the group over the individual and as long as that group is their group.

The Media Has a Duty to Ignore Senator John Kerry

Former Presidential candidate and current Senator John Kerry (D. Mass.) opined that the media has an obligation to not give equal time to the Tea Party because those wacky folks want a balanced budget and low taxes apparently. Good to see that a man who once ran for President (starting in Vietnam when the most important piece of equipment he took to war was a video camera to promote himself) is so anxious to tell the media what it should and should not cover. Somewhere underneath that Leno-esque chin of his is another asshole.

On the Deficit Reduction/Debt Limit Deal

I'm sure the world has been awaiting with bated breath for my usually spectacular analysis of the deficit reduction deal recently reached by Congress. So, in an effort to satisfy my adoring public (by which I mean the homeless man on Jackson who always claps when I walk by for some reason), I present the following analysis.

1. The Tea Party won a Pyrrhic victory. The Tea Party brought the debt debate to the foreground. Normally, these debt limit votes are perfunctory matters (except when some Senators who later become Presidents with the initials BHO write letters to the President telling them it would be immoral to raise the debt limit). Now, it is a big deal to pass this without some discussion of the insanity around federal spending. One of these days I need to sit down and write a post about unfunded mandates for you guys, but I digress. However, and this is key, A DEFICIT REDUCTION IS JUST A SMALLER INCREASE IN SPENDING.

2. The spending cuts, which aren't actually cuts in spending (see above) are pretty meaningless. The federal government operates on a budget that has automatic spending increases. As far as I can tell, these cuts don't even offset the automatic increases. Further, it doesn't meet the goals set by the S&P to preserve the United State's credit rating. I'm no fan of the S&P and I actually think a downgrade could be beneficial by raising interest rates and reducing the amount of cash the morons at the Fed have been flooding into the economy. However, it simply doesn't do anything to reduce the overall debt, and, in fact, pretty much preserves spending at record levels brought on by our Lord and Saviour Barack Obama.

3. The only cuts that matter are those made in 2011. One Congress cannot bind another to abide by its will absent a Constitutional Amendment. This means that once the 2012 elections occur, the cuts, which are heavily weighed over the next ten years rather than making any significant inroads this year, have no practical effect unless they are approved by the next Congress, assuming that one bothers to make a budget.

4. OH YEAH, THERE IS STILL NO BUDGET. I border on Guinness record levels of having the least responsible spending habits in the world and even I plan on how I'm going to pay my bills from month to month. We are approaching three state years that Congress has refused to pass a budget and that Democrats haven't even bothered to propose one (other that President Obama's joke of a budget that was voted down 97-0 and actually increased deficit spending, budget hawk that he is).

5. The budgeting process is broken like Sean Penn's sanity. As I said before, rather than looking at revenues and then programs and determining spending, the federal budget is based on expected automatic increases. Then, once those are put in, every starts planning on what they want to dump on top of it (i.e., "This sign telling you that the construction that hasn't accomplished anything on the Earhart Expressway was paid for by your tax dollars in the stimulus program because we wanted you to be fully clear and aware that we are wasting your money.") Most sane people either budget based on actual revenues in which they determine how much money they can use where (zero baseline budgeting) or file for bankruptcy. Only in the public sector is it acceptable to just spend thinking that you can print money to take care of it later. (Dear Democrats, devaluing the currency to pay the debt is not only idiotic, it borders on criminal.)

6. Tax raises are not only not off the table, they are being planned for. President Obama (who should have named his dog Cerberus, not that I'm implying he reigns over hell or anything) fully plans on letting the Bush tax cuts "expire" and has already said he will veto any legislation to extend them. Guess that whole "we all agree you shouldn't raise taxes during an economic downturn" thing went out the window. Of course, the President doesn't consider that raising taxes, they are just reverting to previous rates (which is going to be my defense when I ask the IRS to send me a refund as I would like to return to my previous taxes of 1997 when I worked minimum wage while in college). But beyond that, he has stated boldly that he intends to seek "revenue increases". I can only hope beyond hope that the President realizes that the government does not produce revenue and is planning on a bake sale of some sort. I'm not holding my breath.

I would say more, but frankly, I'm about to cry. I think the title of the bill was something like "Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing" or SB BS 112.

Have You Checked With Your Boss on That?

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that the White House doesn't create jobs. While I tend to agree with Mr. Carney, he may wish to double check that statement with his employer, who constantly brags about how many jobs he has created.

Nearly a Perfect Example of Idiocy

Free cell phones for the poor because "it is a right to have peace of mind". Sometimes you read a story like this that just makes you want to give up because it seems like the idiots are destined to win. The 2012 election is going to determine that one way or the other.