China’s economy to collapse???

A good news article at politico.

Is China headed toward collapse?

Chang argues that inconsistencies in Chinese official statistics — like the surging numbers for car sales but flat statistics for gasoline consumption — indicate that the Chinese are simply cooking their books. He speculates that Chinese state-run companies are buying fleets of cars and simply storing them in giant parking lots in order to generate apparent growth.

The world economy is on the brink due to debt of governments, they loan each other fake paper money and then pretend everything is OK.

Maybe Obama Finally gets it

Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’

May 14 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”
…………….

Us conservatives have been railing against government spending for many, many years and have been saying it is not long term sustainable and will cause huge inflation and high interest rates.

We will see if he actually does cut government costs significantly (25-50%) or is another lip service politician which says one thing and does another, like add a few trillion more in government spending for universal health insurance for the 3 or 4 million American citizens which do not have insurance for the long term.

Adding the 12 to 15 million uninsured illegal immigrants will bankrupt any government system. The other 12 to 15 million which are already eligible for government insurance (SCHIP or MEDICAID) and do not use those programs. That is 25 to 30 million of the 45 million the Single Payer Health insurance people talk about, then there are 10 million transient people (between insurance coverage) and 5 to 10 million who do not choose to buy health insurance.

Effects of Stimulus Plan

1) As part of California’s attempt to balance its budget earlier this year there was an agreement to reduce some union labor rates that work for the government. Now the federal government (Obama administration) is telling California that unless it recedes the wage cuts, California will loose $6.8 Billion dollars in federal stimulus plan money.
California Officials Question Union’s Role in Federal Stimulus Ruling
Lawmaker angry over federal stimulus money decision

2) Spending the U.S. stimulus: states can’t afford it

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One of the greatest challenges U.S. states face in spending federal stimulus money is funding the burst in bureaucracy that accompanies the funds, a government watchdog said on Thursday, as the Obama administration pledged to give states more help.

Revenue has been dropping in most U.S. states for a year, and many governments have cut staff. But the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act flooded states with money for programs and required them to keep the public and federal government apprised of their spending, all of which requires more workers, said the Government Accountability Office.

“Due to fiscal constraints, many states reported significant declines in the number of oversight staff — limiting their ability to ensure proper implementation and management of Recovery Act funds,” the GAO’s nearly 300-page report on the stimulus plan said.
…………

3) STIMULUS WATCH: Jobs, but not where needed most

WASHINGTON – The billions in transportation stimulus dollars that President Barack Obama promoted as a way to create jobs shortchange counties that need the work the most, an Associated Press analysis has found.

The AP’s review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide is the most complete picture available of where states plan to spend the first wave of highway money. It reveals that states are planning to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than in communities with the highest. The Transportation Department said it will attempt to replicate the AP’s analysis as it continues pressing states to dole out money fairly.
……

Results of the stimulus plan, direct political payback to unions that supported the Obama campaign, creating jobs where there is low unemployment and states can’t spend the money due to lack of resources.

As usual, the government is trying to help and puts resources in the wrong spots and the controls decisions which have nothing to do with the original area of concern.

Yup, just the new business as usual from the hopeychange administration.

Worst Supreme Court Decision Ever

A case nobody has probably ever heard of is one of the most influential to date and controls more of Americans live than anyone can image.

Wickard v. Filburn
link to Wikipedia
link to Conservapedia

This case gives the federal government the ability to regulate someones activity to engage in a act which has no commercial value because it may indirectly influence the commercial activity somewhere else.

I know that sounds far fetched but it is true.

From wikipedia

Roscoe Filburn was a farmer who produced wheat in excess of the amount permitted. Filburn however, argued that because the excess wheat was produced for his private consumption on his own farm, it never entered commerce at all, much less interstate commerce, and therefore was not a proper subject of federal regulation under the Commerce Clause.

[edit] Amount of wheat at issue

In July 1940, pursuant to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, Filburn’s 1941 allotment was established at 11.1 acres (45,000 m2) and a normal yield of 20.1 bushels of wheat per acre. Filburn was given notice of the allotment in July 1940 before the Fall planting of his 1941 crop of wheat, and again in July 1941, before it was harvested. Despite these notices Filburn planted 23 acres (93,000 m2) and harvested 239 bushels from his 11.9 acres (48,000 m2) of excess area.[1]

……..

The Court’s decision

The intended rationale of the Agricultural Adjustment Act was to stabilize the price of wheat on the national market. The federal government has the power to regulate interstate commerce through the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution. In Filburn the Court unanimously reasoned that the power to regulate the price at which commerce occurs was inherent in the power to regulate commerce.

Filburn argued that since the excess wheat he produced was intended solely for home consumption it could not be regulated through the interstate Commerce Clause. The Supreme Court rejected this argument, reasoning that if Filburn had not used home-grown wheat he would have had to buy wheat on the open market. This effect on interstate commerce, the Court reasoned, may not be substantial from the actions of Filburn alone but through the cumulative actions of thousands of other farmers just like Filburn its effect would certainly become substantial. Therefore Congress could regulate wholly intrastate, non-commercial activity if such activity, viewed in the aggregate, would have a substantial effect on interstate commerce, even if the individual effects are trivial.

This court case precedent will be the centerpiece in the argument between states rights with the Montana and Utah laws on gun rights and commerce recently passed.

An overturning of this case would/could dramatically change how the Federal Government works and put restrictions on the federal government. Anyone who wants a smaller federal government needs to hope that the Supreme court takes up a case which will allow this to be precedent to be overturned. This is more important than any other issue, it if for the continuing existence of states and personal liberty.

HR 1913 – Hate Crime – Perceived intent added to offenses

Text of H.R. 1913: Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009

Another redundant unnecessary feel good law passed in the house by democrats that will let the justice department have someone put on trial because a politically appointed lawyer (prosecutor) perceives that the person on trial for committing a crime may have thought something before or during the committing of a crime.

Some excerpts from the law

(1)OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person–
………………..
(2)OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-
‘(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerouse weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person–

I am pretty sure is is already against the law for anyone to burn, shot, beat, stab or blow up someone else in America. It should not matter if any perceived prejudice is present just that one individual (or group) tried to harm or succeeding in harming another individual.

Passage of this bill and signing into law will make any crime a hate crime because one can now be prosecuted on the perception of a prejudice.

Under this law any crime in which the attacker can be categorized as different is some way from the victim is now a hate crime.

So much for equal protection under the law, one is only equal to one that the government classifies as the same not everyone. This is a tragedy and a shame that the punishment for all crime is not the same regardless of government classification for the perpetrator and the victim. Everyone will now be unequal under the law.

This is the “thought” police at work. Bring on Big Brother, it is 1984 Mr Orwell.

Economy is OK if the news is NOT AS BAD AS EXPECTED

Recent news which is said to be good since it is not as bad as predicted.

Fed’s Bank Results ‘Reassuring,’ Show No Insolvency

…….
Federal Reserve stress tests on the 19 biggest lenders show Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. together require about $54 billion, said people familiar with the conclusions.
…….
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday suggested that the Obama
administration may seek management changes at some banks. Officials will want to “ensure that going forward they felt that the management was in place to remedy the situation and ensure long-term viability without continued government assistance,” he said.

Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis, 62, was ousted as chairman on April 29 ……….

Jobs Report Giving Investors Mixed Picture On US Economy

The pace of layoffs slowed in April when employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent,………………..

Job losses in February and March turned out to be deeper, according to revised figures. Employers cut 681,000 positions in February, 30,000 more than previously reported.
They cut 699,000 jobs in March, more than the 663,000 first reported. The deepest job cuts of the recession —741,000 came in January.

Jobs: A little less bleak

……………
Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner and Gilliam both say they’re worried about the impact on jobs in coming reports from the bankruptcy at Chrysler, which will result in a 30-to-60 day shutdown at all of its plants, and the possible bankruptcy at General Motors (GM, Fortune 500). The loss of jobs — not just at those companies but at their dealers and suppliers — will be substantial.

And Vitner said that while Wachovia is projecting that there will be economic growth by the fourth quarter of this year, it’s projecting that unemployment will continue to rise into 2010, topping out at 10.8% in April of that year.

“We are moving in the right direction, but the recession is not over, and even when it’s over that’s not an end of the tough times,” said Vitner.

Wow a bank stress test with an 8.4% unemployment shows the banks will be OK, current unemployment is 8.9% and expected to exceed 10% in the next year.

I wonder if a new stress test will be needed so that the federal government can take over the banks.

GM & Chrysler Bankruptcy

G.M., Leaking Cash, Faces Bigger Chance of Bankruptcy

Even after receiving $15.4 billion in federal loans, General Motors is once again on the brink of financial collapse.

The automaker’s first-quarter earnings released Thursday showed that G.M. was losing more money and sales than it was in late December, when the government began its bailout…………..

This is occurring as Chrysler is in Bankruptcy

Chrysler Files to Seek Bankruptcy Protection

President Obama forced Chrysler into federal bankruptcy protection on Thursday so it could pursue a lifesaving alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat, in yet another extraordinary intervention into private industry by the federal government.
Flanked by his automobile task force of cabinet secretaries and business advisers in the White House’s grand entranceway, Mr. Obama announced a plan that would allow the United Automobile Workers, through their retirement plan, to take control of Chrysler, with Fiat and the United States as junior partners. The government would lend about $8 billion more to the company, on top of the $4 billion it had already provided……

If this is the good things that comes out of companies being to big to fail and then being supported by a federal government which is to big to fail.

This just proves that the US federal government is to bg and needs to be dismantled and let the states try to run things since the feds have screwed things up so badly.

GM will move jobs out of US using Taxpayer Money

This is our wonderfully brilliant central government planning that was started by Bush and is being completed by Obama.

Under Restructuring, GM To Build More Cars Overseas

The U.S. government is pouring billions into General Motors in hopes of reviving the domestic economy, but when the automaker completes its restructuring plan, many of the company’s new jobs will be filled by workers overseas.

According to an outline the company has been sharing privately with Washington legislators, the number of cars that GM sells in the United States and builds in Mexico, China and South Korea will roughly double.

The proportion of GM cars sold domestically and manufactured in those low-wage countries will rise from 15 percent to 23 percent over the next five years, according to the figures contained in a 12-page presentation offered to lawmakers in response to their questions about overseas production.
…….

Everyone needs to call their congressman (woman) and tell them thanks for letting the executive branch of the federal government spend out tax dollars to send jobs out of this country.

Just the normal expected result of the government helping out.

Government Energy Policy – Dems & Bush

This should be the expected result of poor centralized planing of the US energy Policy. The democratically controlled congress in 2007 passed its energy bill which Bush signed over the objections of conservatives as a show of bi-partisanship due and all the liberals hate Bush since he would not cooperate. The last 2 years he rubber stamped almost everything that the Dems (Reid, Pelosi) wanted and we are starting to live the consequences of these decisions.

Paper companies get unexpected tax-credit windfall

A law to make the earth a little greener is giving paper mills an unintended multibillion-dollar tax windfall with the help of a little diesel fuel.
…..
The alternative fuel credits were projected to cost the federal government $61 million a year in lost taxes…….
A preliminary estimate being circulated among lawmakers by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation now puts the price tag at $3.3 billion.
…..

This is the result of the government controlling businesses with Tax laws. The businesses are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. Maximize profit for shareholders.

Another reason for a flat consumption tax and eliminate the income and corporate taxes, in the end consumers pay all taxes anyways so why not make it a direct payment and eliminate the trillions of dollars spent on US tax law compliance.

HR 676 – National Universal Health Insurance – Scarily non-specific

Library of Congress site

Actual PDF

only 27 pages, no specifics, lots of generalities which create new Boards, administrators and government employees to run a universal health insurance.

Some excerpts – Bold parts which define non-US citizens are eligible

TITLE I—ELIGIBILITY AND BENEFITS
SEC. 101. ELIGIBILITY AND REGISTRATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—All individuals residing in the
United States (including any territory of the United
States) are covered under the USNHI Program entitling
them to a universal, best quality standard of care. Each
such individual shall receive a card with a unique number
in the mail. An individual’s social security number shall
not be used for purposes of registration under this section.
(b) REGISTRATION.—Individuals and families shall
receive a United States National Health Insurance Card
in the mail, after filling out a United States National
Health Insurance application form at a health care provider.
Such application form shall be no more than 2 pages
long.
(c) PRESUMPTION.—Individuals who present themselves
for covered services from a participating provider
shall be presumed to be eligible for benefits under this Act,
but shall complete an application for benefits in order to
receive a United States National Health Insurance Card
and have payment made for such benefits.

Congress shall divide the country into regions that will get a heath care pool of money which the regional director spends as that person deems neccessary.

REGIONAL ALLOCATION.—After Congress
appropriates amounts for the annual budget for the
USNHI Program, the Director shall provide the regional
offices with an annual funding allotment to
cover the costs of each region’s expenditures.
Such allotment shall cover global budgets, reimbursements
to clinicians, and capital expenditures. Regional offices
may receive additional funds from the national
program at the discretion of the Director.

Government sets payment level to doctors, hospitals, everyone

FEE FOR SERVICE.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Program shall negotiate a simplified fee schedule that is fair with representatives of physicians and other
clinicians, after close consultation with the National Board
of Universal Quality and Access and regional and State directors. Initially, the current prevailing fees or reimbursement would
be the basis for the fee negotiation for all professional services covered under this Act.

Government will forbid payment outside this system, if a service is covered and the doctor thinks you need it and the government will not pay, you do not get the service.

(E) BILLING.—Under this Act physicians shall submit bills to the regional director on a simple form, or via computer. Interest shall be
paid to providers whose bills are not paid within 30 days of submission.
(F) NO BALANCE BILLING.—Licensed health care clinicians
who accept any payment from the USNHI Program may not bill any
patient for any covered service.

Funded through tax increases on top 5% of wage earners, payroll tax increase and stock & bond transactions. What the tax is not defined, but can be whatever is necessary to fund the act. That is clearly defining the costs.

Subtitle B—Funding
SEC. 211. OVERVIEW: FUNDING THE USNHI PROGRAM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The USNHI Program is to be
funded as provided in subsections (b) and (c).
(b) ANNUAL APPROPRIATION FOR FUNDING OF
USNHI PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act such sums as may be necessary.
(c) INTENT.—Sums appropriated pursuant to subsection
(b) shall be paid for—
(1) by vastly reducing paperwork;
(2) by requiring a rational bulk procurement of medications;
(3) from existing sources of Federal government revenues for health care;
(4) by increasing personal income taxes on the 25 top 5 percent income earners;
(5) by instituting a modest payroll tax; and
(6) by instituting a small tax on stock and bond transactions.

Who will be on the NATIONAL BOARD OF UNIVERSAL QUALITY AND ACCESS.

(A) Health care professionals.
(B) Representatives of institutional providers of health care.
C) Representatives of health care advocacy groups.
(D) Representatives of labor unions.
(E) Citizen patient advocates.

Why are labor unions reps on this board? Others make sense.

I am terrified of this government action.