Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Whence the "credulity baked into the culture to make room for a Bernie Madoff"?

Pondered here rather lazily.

May I suggest:


What's the difference between Australia and The United States?

The crooks went to Australia against their will.

Most Obamacare mandate fines last year came from far more low to moderate income people than CBO estimated

In other words, Obamacare penalizes people who can least afford it.

Obamacare is just another case of liberals raising taxes on the have-nots and screwing up their healthcare in the process.

From Jed Graham, here:

What is striking about the data is that the average payment is barely higher than the minimum payment of $695. Since people were required to pay the greater of $695 or 2.5% of taxable income above the filing threshold ($10,350 in 2017), one takeaway is that most of the $2.8 billion in fines paid through April appear to have come from people with modest to moderate incomes. As a frame of reference, CBO's 2014 analysis implied that the average mandate payment for this tax season would be roughly $1,075 and that the total amount paid by people earning up to three times the poverty level would barely exceed $1 billion. ... Based on mandate collections that streamed in after April in prior years, the full-year total is likely to rise to roughly 5 million tax forms with mandated payments totaling closer to $4 billion [an average Obamacare individual mandate fine of $800].

Monday, July 31, 2017

Laugh of the Day: CNBC says US Dollar moves lower after Scaramucci fired


NASA temperature data tampering puts Amundsen's Northwest Passage in the tenth coldest year on record

Story here.

Are we sure Scaramucci's wife isn't a guy?


Out goes the Mooch after soiling the carpet

Now you see him, now you don't. A veritable turd flying at the speed of light, who wiped out both Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus in one fell swoop. Or should I say poop?

Mission accomplished, he's gone.

Wouldn't it have been cleaner doing it the usual way?

Story here.

Watch Rep. Louie Gohmert expose the FBI's Robert Mueller for his incompetence in the Boston bombing case

Watch Mueller squirm, here, as Gohmert makes him admit he was never aware the mosque which radicalized the Boston bombers was started by the convicted terrorist A. Alamoudi.

Orange County Register thinks Trump has a point, correctly calls for an end to the filibuster rule in the Senate


The 60-vote requirement to cut off debate isn’t in the Constitution. In fact, the opposite is true. The Constitution’s forerunner in 1781, the Articles of Confederation, required the approval of nine of the thirteen states to pass a law, but that supermajority provision was conspicuously absent from the document hammered out at the convention in Philadelphia in 1787 after the Articles were replaced.

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Do nothing US House begins 5-week vacation after Senate Obamacare repeal failure

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner once infamously said that Democrat President Obama had the right to set the agenda. But now that we have a Republican president, Republican Speaker Paul Ryan doesn't see it that way.

Slow-walking Trump's agenda isn't just a Democrat goal, it's an establishment goal. Republicans don't want to see it implemented anymore than the Democrats do, which is why Paul Ryan sabotaged Obamacare repeal in the Senate and promptly adjourned. His reassurances that the House wouldn't simply pass what the Senate passed supposedly were not good enough for John McCain.

But John McCain, who everyone knows is going to promptly die anyway, simply took one for the team. "Gee, what a guy. We get to run for reelection saying we voted for repeal and the dopes will believe us". 

Remember the agenda below from Trump? Seven months already have been blown on item 5, yet without success. Election 2018 is just 15 months away, and really 14 because August is a fait accompli. The prospects for getting nothing done by then of what Trump wants accomplished look better and better by the day, and that's just the way the establishment wants it.

   

Next, I will work with Congress to introduce the following broader legislative measures and fight for their passage within the first 100 days of my Administration:

1. Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act.

An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate.

2. End The Offshoring Act.

Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free.

3. American Energy & Infrastructure Act.

Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.

4. School Choice And Education Opportunity Act.

Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable.

5. Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act.

Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.

6. Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act.

Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-side childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.

7. End Illegal Immigration Act.

Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.

8. Restoring Community Safety Act.

Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.

9. Restoring National Security Act.

Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values.

10. Clean up Corruption in Washington Act.

Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.

On November 8th, Americans will be voting for this 100-day plan to restore prosperity to our economy, security to our communities, and honesty to our government.

This is my pledge to you.

Friday, July 28, 2017

Average total employment is up about 5.1 million since the Great Recession by age groups, but the net increase comes from those over 54


Laura Ingraham thinks John McCain's still a POW, too


I'm not ashamed of my vote in November 2016

I'll still take incompetence over evil any day.

Eric Cantor admits Obamacare repeal was a charade which helped Republicans get reelected


He says he wasn’t the only one aware of the charade: “We sort of all got what was going on, that there was this disconnect in terms of communication, because no one wanted to take the time out in the general public to even think about ‘Wait a minute—that can’t happen.’ ” But, he adds, “if you’ve got that anger working for you, you’re gonna let it be.”

Trump's first six months of current dollar GDP aren't awful, but that's about it


There's Trump steaks and Trump wine, and now . . . the Trump wiener


As I predicted Real Clear Markets wastes no time trotting out another libertarian to attack your mortgage interest deduction, this time from the Manhattan Institute


State capitalist cronyism in Wisconsin smells to high heaven: The state will pay $3 billion for Foxconn jobs

The cost of reelection for Scott Walker, Paul Ryan and Donald Trump.

From the story here:

What will the State of Wisconsin be paying to lure Foxconn? A steep price. It adds up to $3 billion, including tax credits, training grants and infrastructure improvements. That comes to almost a quarter-million per job, which will pay an average of $54,000 per year. In other words, the people of Wisconsin will in effect be paying the plant’s entire workforce for about five years. And the construction jobs – which make up more than three-quarters of the total – will only last about four. ...

No one knows how long the Foxconn jobs in Kenosha will last. But we do know the company has publicly committed to automating away the vast majority of its current 1.2 million jobs, most of which are located in Asia. At one plant alone in China’s Guangdong province they have eliminated about 60,000 jobs. And they certainly aren’t stopping there. They have targeted to reach 30 percent automation by 2020, and their stated goal is to eliminate almost their entire human workforce, retaining only a minimal number of workers in production, logistics, and inspection.