tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65559472728512113962024-10-24T11:14:03.822-07:00Commentary from a suspicious man, lacking in altruism.GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-61852566842854193462010-03-23T11:38:00.000-07:002010-03-23T11:40:34.635-07:00

We have a Treasury Secretary who can't do his taxes correctly, an impeached former federal judge helping to craft rules in the House of Representatives, and the largest recipient of donations from financial interests overseeing the crafting of regulation of the financial industry. So should we really be surprised to find out that the head of the Department of Education was helping 

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-24954484416106104522010-03-21T16:26:00.000-07:002010-03-21T16:26:11.312-07:00

Nancy Pelosi strode into the Capitol Building bearing the gavel used in the passage of Medicare in 1965. For me, that gavel has a much different symbolism than I would guess it does for her. For me, it reminds me that Medicare cost more than seven times what it was originally projected to, and now faces an unfunded liability of over $29 trillion (summing the NPV of excess liabilities of Medicare

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-14998972057433096872010-03-18T16:24:00.000-07:002010-03-18T16:24:26.469-07:00

The Cato Institute has done a great job digging into the actual cost of public education. They go beyond the publicly stated per-pupil costs (a ridiculous $10,053 per year in LAUSD, given their performance). They include all costs to the taxpayer, including capital budgets and debt payments, and for the money hole that it LA Unified School District, find that actual per-pupil spending is vastly

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-51480808882500545792010-03-11T11:01:00.000-08:002010-03-11T11:01:13.538-08:00

Here is yet another reason why California is in so much trouble: Teachers union tops list of state political spenders Five special interests were responsible for more than half of the billion dollars spent since 2000, including:--The California Teachers Assoc., which spent $211.8 million. --The California State Council of Service Employees, $107.4 million. That's right. The teacher's

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-70495224955596617562010-02-16T20:57:00.000-08:002010-02-16T20:57:38.756-08:00

The LA Weekly has a long article describing the ridiculous hoops that administrators at the Los Angeles Unified School District (the school district I currently reside in) have to jump through to fire incompetent teachers. The most distressing revelations, to my mind, are that teachers in the district receive tenure after only two years on the job, and that the district has attempted to fire

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-75780370210564949572010-01-27T21:56:00.000-08:002010-01-27T21:57:54.457-08:00

In the State of the Union tonight, President Obama asked Congress to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong. referring to the recent Citizens United decision. Now, this decision was specifically rooted in the First Amendment protection of free speech. How, exactly is Congress going to pass "a bill" that rights this "wrong." Wouldn't that "bill" specifically have to be a Constitutional

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-31475635584216059012010-01-26T13:27:00.000-08:002010-01-26T13:27:11.036-08:00

So Obama appears to be floating a 3 year spending freeze starting at the beginning of the next fiscal year. There are some caveats. This will only apply to non-defense discretionary spending, or about one-eighth of the entire budget. Obama is being rightly mocked for this across the blogosphere and in the media. Personally,  I think that enacting a budget freeze now while touting

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-57469193390553330652010-01-23T19:52:00.000-08:002010-01-23T19:52:49.813-08:00

As California faces another $20 billion budget deficit this year, our bureaucrats are intentionally considering throwing this state even further into debt. How? By implementing a $210 billion a year single payer health system. That would pretty much double the California state budget. Of course, our rulers have no idea how to raise the revenue needed, so the bill would create

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-3700987957382794732010-01-22T14:25:00.000-08:002010-01-22T14:25:52.851-08:00

I know it might be early, but I'm making the call: Keith Olbermann garners the award for The Dumbest Commentary of the Decade here. That's right. The Citizens United decision is quite possibly worse than Dred Scott. Unbelievable.

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-42447348896762173522010-01-22T10:40:00.000-08:002010-01-22T10:40:22.840-08:00

Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down on of the most pernicious aspects of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance "reform" bill. No longer will government restrictions on corporate speech in the immediate run-up to elections be allowed. Hilarity ensued. Most newspapers carried editorial condemning the judicial activism of the Court, and bemoaning the horrible impact on democracy this will

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-57845204765816309982010-01-19T19:18:00.000-08:002010-01-19T19:18:33.425-08:00

Teddy Kennedy's seat goes to the GOP. Crazy. And a little nugget I came across today, referred to as Wheeler's First Law: "The way to get rid of corruption in high places is to get rid of the high places."

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-27675199490979734582010-01-13T21:47:00.000-08:002010-01-13T21:47:13.092-08:00

The US tax system is, by pretty much all measures, a bloated, contradictory, and overly complex mass of bureaucratic insanity. There's no time that I feel worse about my country than on or around April 15, as I struggle to figure out which targeted tax break I a) qualify for, b) saves me more money, or c) thought I would qualify for, but don't, and so have to rearrange funds at the last minute.

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-596085761160891752010-01-13T21:28:00.000-08:002010-01-13T21:28:28.232-08:00

The Treasury released their monthly statement today. Not good. The deficit is running 17% higher than last year's was at this point in the fiscal year. Tax revenues are even lower than they were last year, and outlays are nearly unchanged. Combine this with the jobs report that came out last week (and which contained some truly gruesome numbers relating to the labor force participation

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-30098613122047758032010-01-07T19:35:00.000-08:002010-01-07T19:55:04.009-08:00

My wife had our first child in mid-October. Thanks to the brilliant leadership of our political class since World War II, she was introduced to this world already on the hook for $38,606.24 in debt. The major offenders responsible for this? In order of declining culpability, they are Congressional Democrats, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, Congressional Republicans. Why do I

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-78902531066841526742009-12-19T13:44:00.000-08:002009-12-21T22:22:54.112-08:00

The decade is coming to a close, so I thought I would review the progress (or lack thereof) that the USA has made towards increased individual liberty, both economic and social. First, the good. We've seen some significant progress on gay rights. Civil unions are now available in many states, and in several the courts or legislatures have made gay marriage legal. This is a big step forward from

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-90634020184130925382009-12-02T22:43:00.000-08:002009-12-05T19:30:09.483-08:00

Note: This post was written and posted on Facebook in early November, before I started this blog. I thought it would be a good first bit of actual content. Enjoy. Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a health care "reform" bill. Included in this bill is an "individual mandate." This mandate requires that every man, woman, and child that is a citizen of the United States of America

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947272851211396.post-24043476634467553842009-12-02T20:55:00.000-08:002009-12-02T22:36:44.180-08:00

Robert Heinlein wrote, "Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly

GSWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14883756109979003060noreply@blogger.com0