Boulder is a Stoopid Place

Stoopidity on display at Meet the Press

2013-01-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well a combination of journalists and politicians is bound to come up with numerous displays of stoopidity. That said, a national debt graphic that's off by $3 trillion?

Obamacare surprises begin...

2013-01-06T18:01:00.001-07:00

Obamacare Layoffs, Hiring Freezes Begin The Obamacare employer mandate doesn’t go into effect until January 1, 2014, but the government requires businesses to track worker schedules for three to 12 months in advance. That means many employers plan to get a jump start on avoiding Obamacare’s $2,000 per-worker fine by firing workers now, reducing employee hours, or replacing full-time employees with part-time workers. A survey by the International Franchise Association finds that 31% of franchisees say they plan to cut staff to duck under Obamacare’s 50-employer mandate. And another study by Mercer consulting firm found that half of businesses who don’t presently offer health insurance plan to reduce employee hours to avert triggering Obamacare’s penalties.
Of course, this isn't a surprise to those paying attention. Of course, for Progressives who are orgasmic that Obamacare is the path to single payer, digging into the details is beneath their pay grade.

Politico: President Obama's debt problem

2013-01-03T12:26:00.002-07:00

Really?

The picture caption states: Obama can no longer focus on his predecessor's role in digging the hole.
Wanna bet?

Regardless of who you want to blame it on, and HOW LONG you want to blame it on SOMEONE. WE HAVE A DEBT PROBLEM.

Have a great 2013!

2012-12-31T23:18:00.002-07:00

Instapundit comment:"A reader emails that it’s lucky Hillary is a Democrat. If she were a Republican, we’d be hearing jokes like “Good news: They X-rayed Hillary’s brain and didn’t find anything!”"

2012-12-31T16:58:00.000-07:00

Indeed.

In Utah, nearly 200 teachers came out to receive free firearm training.

2012-12-29T21:55:00.002-07:00

This Is What Teachers Learning to Shoot Guns Look Like

If you read the article, reading the comments is a required assignment.

2012-12-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

While we're talkng taxes, moving on to the fiscal cliff: Higher Taxes for All: The Dems' Terrible Fallback Plan for the Fiscal Cliff

The Senate tax bill is just that -- a tax bill. It would extend the Bush tax cuts for a year for all but the top 2 percent of households, and limit the deductions they can take. It would bring the estate tax back to its 2001 level with a $1 million exemption and 55 percent rate. It would raise taxes on capital gains and dividends from 15 to 20 percent -- which is really 23.8 percent when you include the Obamacare surtax. And that's it. It wouldn't extend the payroll tax cut. It wouldn't extend unemployment insurance. It wouldn't undo the sequester. It wouldn't do the doc fix. It wouldn't start any new infrastructure projects. If you add up all of the things it doesn't do, it comes out to about 1.8 million fewer jobs in 2013 than in a world without the fiscal cliff.
Why worry about jobs when you have "entitlement nation"

From the comments: dio777: For ten years we have been told that the Bush tax cuts applied mostly to the rich. Now it is imperative that we extend them further or the middle class is going to take a big hit.
Guess the Bush middle class tax cuts didn't mean anything until they did.

Obamacare Taxes

2012-12-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

Forget the fiscal cliff: $1 Trillion Obamacare Tax Hike Hitting on Jan. 1

Obamacare contains twenty new or higher taxes. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1. In total, for the years 2013-2022, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The taxes are:

The Obamacare Medical Device Tax
The Obamacare Flex Account Tax
The Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income: This is a new, 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income
The Obamacare “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deductions
The Obamacare Medicare Payroll Tax Hike

No cost is too high to get on the road of government controlled healthcare.

Another math lesson for the innumerate members of the Denver Post editorial board

2012-12-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

And it starts like this...

Right now the Republicans and Democrats are hotly debating which of their two wholly inadequate plans we should use to avoid the fiscal cliff, but looking at the size of the deficit, they’re proposing different-sized Band-Aids where a tourniquet is needed. If you point this out, you’re called a Tea Party extremist who wants to throw old people off a cliff and deny underprivileged Ivy League law students free birth control. “You silly person. Budgets don’t have to balance. That’s just a superstition.”

To the Denver Post editorial board, I present exhibit number one: Romney makes a radical choice in Paul Ryan

Frank J Fleming: Math is Coming

To the Denver Post Editorial Board: Get the Eff Out of the Way.

It's simple math

2012-12-23T23:06:00.001-07:00

John Hinderaker: They can't argue with arithmetic

American voters accepted Obama’s claim that no change is necessary, that $16 trillion of debt is nothing to worry about. In France, voters put socialists into office, vowing not to give an inch on government benefits, ever. In Spain, Greece, and elsewhere around the world, politicians promise their constituents that nothing has to change, more money can be found somewhere. They are all lying.
And of course in the United States, we currently have present and former postal employees on a hunger strike.

John goes on to quote the majority of an article by Janet Daley at the UK Telegraph titled "The truth is that politicians are telling lies: Government is simply unaffordable." I highly recommend reading both Janet's article and John's blog posting. I'll excerpt a paragraph from each as a teaser. From Janet's article

Is this the lesson of a year of false economic hopes and cynical political deceptions? That governments will have to accomplish by stealth and betrayed promises what they did not dare to propose when running for office? Here in Britain, the Conservatives make much of their determination to cut welfare, as if out-of-work benefits were the heart of the government spending problem. But in fact, in the medium and long term, it is the state benefits that working people think of as a right that present a far more serious dilemma. The reality is that our ever-rising state pension and entirely free health care system are as unsustainable as social security and Medicare in the US. It is not going to be possible for the NHS, paid for by general taxation, to offer world-class modern medical provision – with its never-ending advances and innovations – into the indefinite future.
And the conclusion from John... Wishful thinking is a remarkably powerful force. It is beginning to appear that voters will not face reality until they have exhausted all other alternatives, which is to say, until it is too late. Which, if true, implies that a terrible crash is coming, not just in the United States but across the developed world. Demagogues like Barack Obama, Hugo Chavez and Francois Hollande may be able to fool voters, but they can’t fool arithmetic.
Ahh, if it were only so simple. I've had conversations with a Boulder liberal who insists that Social Security is solvent and in no financial danger in our lifetimes. This is because Social Security holds US Treasury bonds as collateral for the funds the government has pilfered from this program.

The problem is there IS too much debt, the deficit is too high and the future obligations of Social Security, Medicare, not to mention Obamacare are simply too burdensome. THERE IS NO EASY WAY OUT. Simply cutting the rate of growth of Social Security, Medicare and numerous other government programs elicits howls of unfairness and targeted persecution, not to mention threats of retribution. What happens when we actually CUT absolute spending or, heaven forbid, we eliminate program altogether?

Don't dare to think "outside the box" as Congressman Paul Ryan tried to do with Medicare. Then you have the pseudo intellectuals at the Denver Post Editorial Board calling you a radical. Perhaps it hasn't occurred to these idiots that it is going to take radical thinking and courageous leadership to get us out of this mess. Since they only recently figured out that Colorado may face substantial Medicaid exposure thanks to Obamacare, I feel comfortable in calling them psuedo intellectuals. There are many portions of Obamacare that one had to dig to find the information and connect the dots. The potential exposure the States have to the expansion of the Medicaid program is not one of them. Here's an example from a 2010 Heritage Foundation blog posting, although I'm sure this was pointed out by many blog and publications, probably including the Congressional Budget Office. It could only be ignored either by willful ignorance or plan old stoopidity. How anyone could advise their readers on Obamacare and have ignorance of how the expansion of Medicaid would effect state budgets boggles my mind.

Personally, by the end of President Obama's term I believe it will be too late for radical thinking and courageous leadership. I hope I'm wrong. Social unrest is not far away

Oh, remind me one more time what Glenn Reynolds says about our fiscal situation in general....

Things that can’t go on forever, won’t. Debt that can’t be repaid, won’t be. Promises that can’t be kept, won’t be.
Oh, it sure would be nice if the Senate, under the leadership of Harry Reid, would propose a budget.

John Hinderaker:"No surprise there: under government medicine, you get the same “climate of care and compassion” in hospitals as you do in the post office"

2012-12-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

Annals of Government Medicine

A National Health Service (NHS) hospital in Great Britain has paid claims by 38 patients or their families, and has apologized to all of them for the grossly negligent care it provided. The Telegraph headlines:”Hospital apologises to 38 families for appalling care that saw a patient starve to death.”
Coming soon to a country near you. The famlies of the patients who were treated so attrociously (follow the above link) received a financial settlement averaging $16,000. Didn't we see the UK bragging about their National Health Services in the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics? The NHS should be ashamed.

Out of touch postal employees

2012-12-22T22:31:00.001-07:00

Beyond idiocy: Postal workers continue hunger strike against proposed delivery cuts Six former and current postal workers, part of a group called Communities and Postal Workers United, are calling the strike “six days starving to save six-day delivery.” Their goal is to stop Congress from reducing postal delivery to five days a week.
Remind me again, how much are we borrowing a day to run the country? Oh yeah, I remember...

The country is borrowing roughly $6 billion every day, and $239 million every hour. Put another way, that's $4 million every minute.

At best the protestors are ignorant at worst their either supremely selfish or stoopid. This is one of many exhibits on why addressing both our debt and deficit problems is so difficult. When history books are written, we are going to look very very stoopid for not taking our medicine and addressing this problem.

Slate on Barack Obama's Narcissistic Streak

2012-12-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today We Are Gathered … To Hear More About Me

Someone needs to tell Barack Obama—it must get particularly confusing this time of year—that his own birth is not Year One, the date around which all other events are understood. His much-noted, self-referential tic was on cringe-worthy display Friday when the president gave his eulogy for the late Sen. Daniel Inouye, who served in Congress for half a century representing Obama’s birth state of Hawaii.
Indeed. As they say read the whole thing.

2012-12-22T18:27:00.001-07:00

Zero Hedge: "Right now we are living in a bubble of debt-fueled false prosperity that allows us to continue to consume far more wealth than we produce, but when that bubble bursts we are going to experience the most painful economic “adjustment” that America has ever gone through."

75 Economic Numbers From 2012 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

Here are a few highlights...

Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps. Today, about one out of every 6.5 Americans is on food stamps.

For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year.

The percentage of working age Americans with a job has been under 59 percent for 39 months in a row.

Right now, approximately 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty. (Editorial note: Medicaid for these families under Obamacare)

Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percentof all men in the United States have jobs.

Right now, more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government. And that does not even count Social Security or Medicare. Overall, there are almost 80 different “means-tested welfare programs” that the federal government is currently running.

The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by more than 96 percent since the Federal Reserve was first created.

U.S. taxpayers spend more than 20 times as much on the Obamas as British taxpayers spend on the royal family.

During fiscal year 2012, 62 percent of the federal budget was spent on entitlements. (Ed note: How much is enough?)

It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

Thanks to our foolish politicians (including Obama), Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately $328,404 for each and every household in the United States. (NOTE: This is Medicare, not Medicaid)

I, and many others, often refer to the city of Boulder as 24 square miles surrounded by reality. When it comes to the debt, deficit and entitlement spending, the entire United State is living in denial. It's a 24/7 fantasy land when it comes to financial logic. What is it that Glenn Reynolds likes to say?

Things that can’t go on forever, won’t. Debt that can’t be repaid, won’t be. Promises that can’t be kept, won’t be.

David Harsanyi: Obama's Four Horsemen

2012-12-22T18:01:00.001-07:00

Obama's Four Horsemen: The Disasters Unleashed by Obama's Reelection

Conquest, Famine, War, Death – the four horsemen are coming, in the form of the national debt, widespread dependence on government, turmoil in the Middle East, and the expansion of the bureaucratic state.

In Obama’s Four Horsemen, syndicated columnist David Harsanyi takes a provocative look at how the Obama Administration allowed four big problems to mushroom into looming disasters we can no longer avoid or postpone. In his famous conversational, fact-driven, and humorous tone, Harsanyi argues that President Obama’s handling of both domestic and foreign crises has set the stage for a disaster of Biblical proportions.

Under Obama, America has become a land of more dependence, more hand-outs, more federal programs, and more government agencies. The great danger is that Americans have gotten used to it. Many people today expect, as a matter of fact, that the government will hand them health insurance, student loans, birth control, and anything else they might need or desire – while they are increasingly numb to the pernicious creep of the bureaucratic state and the alarming escalation of unsustainable spending and debt.

Meanwhile, powerful forces abroad seek to destroy American and Western culture while Obama has sat on his thumbs and looked the other way, tossing out politically correct platitudes when asked about his response to their open threats and aggression. America is facing a time of great upheaval, domestic and global – Obama’s Four Horseman is a provocative expose on how we got here, and a chilling prediction of what’s to come.

From the 2nd paragraph, "Under Obama, America has become a land of more dependence, more hand-outs, more federal programs, and more government agencies.", which is exactly the world Progressives want to create. "Of course the great danger is that Americans have gotten used to it." No Kidding.

Remind me again, how much of our budget is borrowed?

At last check, it was approaching $16.4 trillion. Just four years ago, it was $10.6 trillion.
And how much are we presently borrowing? The country is borrowing roughly $6 billion every day, and $239 million every hour. Put another way, that's $4 million every minute.
The current fiscal cliff negotiations and posturing, that's simply amateur hour. As Glenn Reynolds likes to say...

Things that can’t go on forever, won’t. Debt that can’t be repaid, won’t be. Promises that can’t be kept, won’t be.

Why, oh why is this so very hard to understand?

2012-12-22T16:24:00.001-07:00

John Hinderaker on doing nothing. He concludes... In the meantime, I sympathize with liberals who say we need to do something right now…something like banning random types of firearms, for no particular reason. No, seriously–I get the fact that sometimes we need to do something, just to make a statement…to show that we care…even if what we do is only symbolic. I agree that this is such a time. So this morning, I joined the NRA.
I believe we should start expecting our Government to look into "doing nothing" as a viable alternative much more frequently.

Obesity bacteria related?

2012-12-22T16:02:00.001-07:00

Scientists link obesity to gut bacteria(registration required)

Researchers in Shanghai identified a human bacteria linked with obesity, fed it to mice and compared their weight gain with rodents without the bacteria. The latter did not become obese despite being fed a high-fat diet and being prevented from exercising.
Peer reviewed research. I expect anti-obesity crusader Erika Stutzman from the Boulder Daily Camera to pick up on this bacteria hypothesis and share it with her readers. That said, it doesn't fit the nanny state narrative of having the government control what we consume does it?

President Obama: Narcissistic

2012-12-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia's page on narcissism...

In everyday speech, "narcissism" often means egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness.
Moving on...

Obama Uses Funeral Service to Talk About Himself

President Barack Obama used the funeral for Hawaii senator Daniel Inouye to talk about himself. In the short 1,600 word speech, Obama used the word "my" 21 times, "me" 12 times, and "I" 30 times.
Perhaps Wikipedia should change the defition of narcissism in everyday speech to "President Obama". Inquiring minds want to know if Obama writes his own speeches? If not, what direction are the speechwriter's given? Are they told to turn every speech into an opportunity for Obama to talk about himself, or are they simply as narcissistic as he is so it comes naturally?

CA Tax Revenues Continue to Drop Despite Voter-Approved Tax Increases

2012-12-20T23:59:00.001-07:00

Wow, woulda thunk it?

Tax migration.

Unedited video of Union Thugs assaut of Steven Crowder

2012-12-20T12:58:00.002-07:00

Roadside sexual assault

2012-12-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Female US cop caught on tape giving two women body cavity search during routine traffic stop... and 'using the SAME gloves on both'

The Texas Rangers and the Texas Department of Public safety better get their checkbooks out.

Boulder power generation municipalization

2012-12-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

Solar power adds to nonusers' costs

Booming rooftop solar installations in California are bringing an unwelcome surprise to the homes and businesses that don't have the devices: an extra $1.3 billion added to their annual bills, more than half of that for Pacific Gas & Electric customers.

This brings up to issues related to municipalization of the City of Boulder's efforts to municipalize their power generation:

If Boulder municipalizes, they won't be able to spread their higher costs outside their borders
Yes, Solar power is expensive. Therefore, Boulder won't be able to municipalize unless

Traditional energy prices rise much higher
They simply live inside their fantasy land and lie about how much their energy will cost
They plan to get the State to subsidize them

I vote for options 2.2. Especially since the price of electricity only has to be equivalent of the Xcel price at the time of municipalization. I'm sure they can make that happen for a few months or so.

Added...

Then there are environmental concerns with wind energy.

Feds playing favorites: Wind industry keeps getting a free pass on bird deaths

Now the Feds may be willing to let innocent birds die for generation of wind energy, but the Citizens of Boulder? I can't imagine them sending innocent birds to slaughter.

2012-12-17T09:50:00.001-07:00

Green Energy Corruption: This fiasco only brings one question to our minds: Is there anybody in the world of tax-funded green energy who isn’t a sleazy thief or an incompetent idealist? The green agenda is hardly helped by these kinds of stories, though the greens are constantly telling us that everything will be fine if we just let them run the world.

Well? Abound Solar anyone?

"Andre DiMino has been running medical device company ADM Tronics since his father, who founded the decades-old firm, died in 2001. He's never laid off anybody. "

2012-12-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Medical companies brace for 'devastating' ObamaCare tax, prepare for layoffs

Taxes have consequences. Once again, whatever projected increase Progressives believe they will see due to taxing the 1%, it ain't going to happen.

Michael Barone: "Barack Obama may be holding most of the cards in Washington, D.C. But his party isn’t doing so well in the state capitals."

2012-12-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

Reddish behavior in bluish states. Specifically we're talking Washington State here.

Let's not forget Republican Governor's:The Age of the GOP Governors

This victory was important, then, both substantively and politically. And it brought into sharper focus the best news about the GOP these days: Governors. Despite a very disappointing showing at the federal level in November, at the state level things are quite encouraging. Republicans now control 30 governorships–the highest number for either party in a dozen years. (Democrats control 19 governorships and Rhode Island has an independent governor.)