Saving the Economy One Day at a Time

On Wednesday, a crew of two showed up to rip out the old ductwork.  Yesterday, three came.  Today there are four.  One plumber has come to give us an estimate on the gas leak and I'm waiting on another. Several people are working on the foundation in Little Rock and I talked to the electrician today -- after only 4 extra days, he's finally acquired the correct permit to set a temporary meter on a pole charged to the separate account with Entergy that I set up days ago so Younger Daughter and SIL#2 will continue to have power as the addition goes up.  In setting up the account, I spoke to countless people over the phone.  Several times.

I have, therefore, decided to re-name yesterday's post, "Moogie's Mansion Economic Stimulus Package."  It works about as well anything coming out of Washington, and there are people actually getting paid in exchange for "shovel ready" labor.

You're welcome for the salvation of the economy.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

"Fear the Boom and the Bust!"

I ran across this video yesterday after doing a Googley search on Friedrich Hayek.  (I neither remember nor comprehend why I was searching Hayek, so don't ask.)  It is absolutely priceless! 

John Maynard Keynes goes on a spending bender and Friedrich Hayek grabs the spotlight to explain why the stimulus can't work.  All in rap!  I dare you not to move while you watch this!



From Econstories.tv

Moogie's Got Mail! And It's From the White House!

You may recall that I've penned a few epistles to our Young President since his inauguration to express my opinion about his opinion of the Tea Party movement, and to express my dismay at his official response to the murder of a young Army soldier in Little Rock, Arkansas, by a convert to Islam.

Last week, I received a letter from him on stationery with an embossed White House logo and "recycled symbol" watermark!

My fingers trembled as I slit open the envelope -- would the Young President chastise me for my effrontery in criticizing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ? Would he posit rational alternatives to my suggestions? Would he offer sincere condolences for the senseless loss of a young soldier whose adult life had barely begun? Would he invite me to have a glass of chardonnay on the White House lawn as we debate the relative merits of health care reform with our shirt sleeves rolled up? After all, the envelope appeared to have been hand-written -- surely this letter came directly from the big desk in the Oval Office!

That would be a big negatory, good buddy.

In his endearingly personal missive, he expresses appreciation of "hearing from" me and tells me he values my "input." He trumpets the need for "swift, deliberate action," and repeats his clarion call for (1) health care reform "--this year--", (2) a clean energy economy [jobs, energy independence, global warming], and (3) complete and competitive education. Not much new there --that's pretty much the standard holy trinity held over from the campaign.

But, since he's actually been in office, he has apparently learned that there are other pressing matters in this uncertain world that also need urgent, swift, and deliberate action. Wonder of wonders, he has added new "to do" tasks to his agenda that he felt comfortable enough to share with little ol' me (since he obviously knows me well enough to assume I'd jump right up off the couch to get to work and help him check these tasks off his list)!

Ready for this?

"We need to secure our homeland against threats by preventing terrorist attacks and planning for and responding soundly to emergencies." [Translation: remove more clothing at airports and go into quarantine if you don't take your Swine Flu shot.]

"We also have an obligation to rein in our budget by cutting wasteful spending and ineffective programs." [Translation: Turn loose of that Medicare Advantage and get ready for "Money For Major Appliances!"]

Here's the best part -- I swear it says this, verbatim:

"We can do all this, and change the way business is done in Washington, by building the most open, transparent, and accountable government in our history."

Openness, transparency and accountability will arrive at some point, I suppose, after Harry Reid and Rahm Emanuel emerge from behind the Senate vault doors to announce how we are to approach health care -- and like it.

The Young President closes by sincerely thanking me once again for my "involvement," and encourages me to explore http://www.whitehouse.gov/ which is "regularly updated and more interactive than ever before."

My mind is so much more at ease to learn that another "inherited" mess -- a sloppy White House website -- has been mopped up!

I know, I know. What did I expect out of a communication from an elected official inside the beltway? Did I expect a reply that had some connection -- no matter how slight -- with the topic I took the time to write about and spent nearly half-a-dollar to mail?

Not really. But I did briefly get the pleasure of one twisted chuckle: the envelope seriously appears to be handwritten, in a slightly shaky script, until you hold it up to the light and discern that there are no pressure indentations on the paper. It's ink-jetted. And the deceptive use of that little modern process totally killed my buzz.

See, I had mental images of Michelle's aging mother addressing hundreds of envelopes by candlelight once the girls had been put to bed so she could earn her room and board. After all, it may not be lonely under the bus anymore, but it definitely has to be uncomfortable!

But, no. She's probably sitting on the White House lawn sipping my glass of wine.

Maybe I should write a letter complaining about that. Maybe Michelle would reply about the virtues of gardening in mid-calf boots, and horizontal stripes! Heh.

A Dawning Realization Before a Hot Summer Weekend

Madison Avenue has its ups and downs. Sometimes it scores, sometimes it falls flat and goes down in flames. Other times, it sets the stage to give you a decisive choice between two similar products. That "other times" hit me smack in the brain last week, and it all has to do with the whole stimulus thing.

Viagra vs. Cialis.

Now, I'm not saying that those are products that have a prominent spot in our medicine cabinet -- or even a spot -- but if they did, I've decided on what my preference would be. And, I have an excellent reason to prefer one over the other -- besides the fact that one of them has made a connection that, for all times, ruined a perfectly wonderful Allman Brothers bluesy ballad.

I gotta go with Viagra.

Think about it. With Viagra you get an attentive man who whisks you away to a gorgeous, isolated island, surrounded by azure-colored waters and boasting a cabana with billowy curtains that tempt you to step inside. Or, the attentive man spirits you away to a log cabin in the snowy woods where lazy, cozy fireplace smoke smelling of hickory curls out of the stone chimney to welcome you. I imagine there's dancing and romancing.

With Cialis, you get two, separate, claw-foot bathtubs perched out in the big middle of nowhere. You have to hike to get there. And you get to hold hands between the tubs.

In another lifetime, the bathtubs might have been an adventure; but now that I'm a woman of a certain age, the finer things in life beckon much more strongly -- and are much sexier. Being the gently-aging Princess courted by the handsome, attentive Prince ain't so bad.

Both products' commercials offer a pretty powerful warning, however, and I've often wondered about it. You know -- the warning that advises one to seek medical help for a "stimulation" lasting longer than 4 hours. Which partner, exactly, is supposed to seek the medical assistance?

Federal Health Care Land: And We're Going to Pay For This, How Exactly?

In honor of the Young President's next teleprompter-a-thon this evening, I'd like to share this little chart prepared by Congressional Republican staffers. It analyzes the House proposal for reform and flows health care from the citizen to the provider, pointing out all new and existing bureaus and agencies that will meet our every important health need. Like the Office of Minority Health. Or the Advisory Committee on Health Workforce and Evaluation. Or the Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (courtesy of the Stimulus). Or -- this one has such potential -- the Health Choices Administration. Do you wonder who's going to be doing the choosing?

And remember -- it all begins with mandatory insurance coverage! Buy it -- or provide it, if you're an employer, no matter your size -- or pay a rather substantial penalty!

Study the chart at your leisure, but be warned: it can give you a serious headache. And aspirin ain't gonna be cheap.

(You can see a full-size version here.)

From One Failed Superpower, With Love

The following is the final 2 paragraphs of an online op-ed piece chronicling America's descent into Marxism. The piece is entitled,"American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper," and is dated April 27, 2009.

"The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed
in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money
printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in
the world. If this keeps up for more then [sic] another year, and there is no sign
that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst
Zimbabwe.

"These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First
came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax
system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, los[s]es and
swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs
look [like] little more then [sic] ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear [sic] volumes. Should we congratulate them?"

The source? Pravda.online.

Scared enough?

R.I.P., Dear Goose

I just joined the Facebook group, "Stop the Stelly Tax Increase," a Louisiana measure to reverse part of the Stelly tax plan that prevents Louisiana families from fully deducting charitable gifts, mortgage interest and certain medical costs from their Louisiana state income taxes. I also started a Discussion topic entitled, "The Legislature Should Read This Obituary." Here it is:

"R.I.P., Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs. Killed by government appetite for shiny omelets, and rampant demands for increased egg output to stimulate less
productive barnyard fowl.

"The Goose leaves no survivors."

Amid reports that first quarter tax revenues are down significantly nationwide, it appears that there will soon be pretty slim pickings at Old McDonald's place

E-I-E-I-Owe.

Senator Turns Atlanta Tea Partier In to the FBI

Smshirk of Atlata posted a Discussion topic on the Tea Party Patriots main page. You may read it here.

It seems that Rhode Island Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, with whom he had engaged in a spirited correspondence, turned him in to the FBI as a suspected extremist. An agent actually showed up at his door! Fortunately, the agent was reasonable and polite.

Nonetheless, this point is -- smshirk thought twice before feeling comfortable about writing to his Senator again.

We must not allow ourselves to be silenced. Let me say that again, a little louder: WE MUST NOT BE SILENCED.

Smshirk didn't allow himself to be silenced. I think I'll go write a little love note to some folks in D.C.

100 Days at 100 Miles Per Hour

And put a little T.E.A. in that I.V. .

Would that we could . . . .

Chatting with my buddy, Senator Mary Landrieu

E-mailed to Senator Mary Landrieu (and Rep. Cao) today:

Re: the proposed budget and your mention in today's
Times-Picayune: Keep thinking no. The proposed budget is so bloated
and underfunded that it could literally break us for generations.
Taxpayers are tired of our government treating us like cash cows; we're more
like the goose that laid the golden eggs. Remember what happened to
her? That's how we have felt since the first blunderbuss, catastrophic
economic stimulus package and it's getting worse.

Please. No. Cuts must be made. Period.

Taxpayer Tea Parties, April 15th, all over your state. Check it
out.

P.S. -- the GIVE/SHARE Kennedy Act is a mistake. In trying to
"help" people volunteer, you've undercut the substance of volunteerism, at the
very least (listen to Sen. DeMint). Shame on you all for rushing this
through before adequate debate. Additionally, The Congressional Commission
of Civic Service Act creates the opportunity to do more harm to American society
than we've seen since the days of slavery. Remember the 13th Amendment
before you vote.

The tone of my communications with our elected officials remains civil, but I hope I'm conveying my growing sense of urgency that the country is going to hell in a handbasket at warp speed. Across the board.

New Orleans is Ready to Brew a Little Tea (and foment just a little insurrection)

Just a reminder -- New Orleans is good to go for its Tax Day Tea Party! April 15th, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., at the Veterans' Memorial, Causeway and Vets, by the giant flag. Bring your signs and favorite brew. Let's roll!

Obama-Speak: Constitutionality

The Young President had his cozy, little swingset-side chat with Sixty Minutes last night. He performed as if back on the campaign trail -- smooth, self-assured, witty. And a championship dodger of direct questions.

Interviewer Steve Kroft asked him, in as many words, if the YP, as a former Con Law Prof, believes the 90% tax bill on bailout-funded bonuses is constitutional. The YP's response:

"Well, I think that as a general proposition, you don't wanna be passing
laws that are just targeting a handful of individuals. You wanna pass laws
that have some broad applicability. And as a general proposition, I think
you certainly don't wanna use the tax code to punish people[.]

"I think that you've got an pretty egregious situation here that
people are understandably upset about. And so let's see if there are ways of
doing this that are both legal, that are constitutional, that upholds [sic] our
basic principles of fairness, but don't hamper us from getting the banking
system back on track." Source.

Did you hear him give a direct, responsive answer? Did you hear him utter the word, "unconstitutional?" Nope. "Inadvisable," maybe. In the second paragraph, he even suggested that the tax-flogger bill is "illegal," "unconstitutional," and "unfair." But he very carefully crafted a response that avoided accusing Congress of falling all over themselves to enact a punitive Bill of Attainder, with Nancy Pelosi screeching all the way. He just couldn't bring himself to aver, "Nancy, you ignorant slut." The YP simply can't bring himself to embarrass his congressional toadies, even when they seriously deserve it.

As a general proposition.

Congress: Drunk on Power and Flogging the Execs

Congress is drunk on power. It's over-reacting to uninformed public outrage by throwing the Constitution out the window, under the bus, and down the river. At light speed.

I'm not exactly crazy about those bailout execs living it up on the taxpayer tab, but, for crying out loud! Tax legislation like yesterday's 90% confiscation from a targeted group is precisely why the Founders prohibited Bills of Attainder in the Constitution! Check out Article I, sec. 9. It's pretty darn specific: no laws may be passed that have a "negative effect on a single person or group."

What's even scarier is how quickly they got it done. The bill passed after only 40 minutes of debate. Did they learn nothing about "haste makes waste" (and damn bad law) after the Economic Stimulus steamroller?

I pray that at least one of the bonus recipients challenges the constitutionality of this sucker, or we'll find ourselves on a slope the slipperiness of which has never been envisioned.

Tax Day Tea Parties!

Tea Party a Go Go!

Today I signed up with the National Tea Party Coalition to support the NATIONAL tea party events that will blanket the nation on April 15.

Yesterday, my husband received this email from American Solutions for Winning the Future and it's just irresistible:

We're happy to announce that on April 15th, American Solutions will be
sponsoring Tax Day Tea Parties all across the country. We've partnered with the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, and over 150 cities have already been confirmed.

You can find a Tea Party in your area by going to www.AmericanSolutions.com/TeaParty.

This is our opportunity to do two things.

First--to communicate our anger and opposition to the irresponsible, big
spending policies of Washington politicians who have failed to solve
problems.

Second--to clearly define a bold, new agenda and tell our elected
officials that they can either work for us, or we will vote them out of
office.

To help do this, we've created an American Solutions Toolkit for Tea
Parties. It includes our 12 American Solutions for Jobs & Prosperity, a few
handouts about our solutions relating to spending and taxes, and a checklist so
we can begin to find out where our elected officials stand.

To download your Toolkit for Tea Parties go to www.AmericanSolutions.com/TeaParty.

Propping up and bailing out failure with our tax dollars is not a
solution for our economy. It is irresponsible, and we must not tolerate it any
longer.

We hope you'll join us on April 15th to make this clear to Washington.

Free market-ish and entrepreneur-ily, there's even a Tea Party Gear Store where you can buy some pretty funny "Tea" Shirts and bumper stickers, complete with a contest to win some of the gear. They're trying to raise some money to send info and gear to organizers across the country. Insurrection AND shopping! Now that's a way to take some of the sting out of Tax Day.

So far there's not a Tea Party scheduled for New Orleans; Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, and Shreveport are all onboard in Louisiana. I'll wait a few days and, if no one has begun to brew, I just may have to put the kettle on the burner myself.

I wonder what a permit to hold a tea party in NOLA costs? Yard sales are pretty pricey!

A New Week in the Economic Identity Crisis

It's Monday.

Everybody's AIG-bashing, and an angry Chicken Little is ba-ack!

Watch out for plummeting chunks of the wild blue yonder.

And watch your back.

Obama's Economic Identity Crisis

Methinks the Young President is suffering an economic identity crisis.

When addressing the American people, he is Chicken Little and the economy's sky is falling.

But, when addressing China's growing concern over the state of the U.S. economy and frenetic stimulus spending, he is Little Orphan Annie, promising that the sun'll come out tomorrow.

I wonder whose hat he'll wear when he attends the G-20 conference?

Maybe it'll be Maxwell Smart -- "Sorry about that, Chief. Missed it by this much."

It's Time for High Tea

Oh, dear God. I've gotten hooked on this Facebook and Blogosphere thing, and today we had a power outage! AAGGGHHHH!!! I believe I experienced actual withdrawal symptoms -- cravings, yearnings, going to the computer to see if, through some divine intervention, it was up and online. Nope. Fortunately the power was out for only 45 minutes. Whew.

While twiddling my thumbs, having already read the newspaper, I listened to the radio. "Talk Gumbo" on WWL featured some folks who attended the "Tea Party" in Lafayette last weekend. There were apparently between 300 and 400 participants waving hand-made signs and, according to several callers, demonstrating genuine emotion. The participants were characterized as a lot of folks pushing strollers, a lot of pre-Baby Boomers, and a whole lot of Boomers who had some serious issues with the insanity emanating from Capitol Hill.

There was also a mention of the "mail a teabag to D.C. before tax day" movement being circulated via email. The email suggests mailing tea to the White House (where, yesterday, the Young President pounded the "imperfect" Omnibus bill for its porky, overwhelming number of earmarks. Before he signed it anyway. In private.) I think Congress should receive its fair share of voter revolt, too. Let's "re-distribute" the tea! I'm thinking Pelosi and Reid should be the primary beneficiaries of the bounty.

My envelopes are addressed and stamped -- now the decision is not whether I should actually mail them, it's: bag or loose leaves? Herbal or green? Cool Brew or traditional . . . . . . . . .?

Here are some easy-reference addresses. I'm not applying the honorific "The Honorable" because there is no honor among thieves:

President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House)
235 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Senator Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader)
522 Hart Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Mary Landrieu
328 Hart Senate Building
Washington, D.C.

Congressman Joseph Cao (my Representative, sort of, sometimes)
2113 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Tea Parties: From the Mouths of Babes

Today saw "Tea Party" protests against the recent economic stimulus legislation taking place, literally, all across the country. (I'm not going to refer to us as a "nation" anymore because we are nowhere near being united). Michelle Malkin's blog posted a number of photos that protesters sent her. One of my favorite photos shows a little girl in Cleveland, probably 5 or 6, holding a sign that says: “I read as much of the stimulus bill as my congresswoman.”

Okay, so she didn't really write it herself -- the point remains the same.

NO ONE IN CONGRESS READ THE COMPLETE RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT BILL BEFORE VOTING ON IT!!!

And that, my friends, is beyond irresponsible. It is approaching criminal.

Financialstability.gov -- not!

Newsflash.

Secretary Geithner's website -- the one that'll assuage all our fears by being so transparent -- is still unavailable.

http://www.financialstability.gov/

Surprise!

Ain't No Sunshine in D.C.

A post on http://www.nola.com/ notes that a Democratic Aide, when discussing yesterday's compromise economic stimulus bill and disclosing that the dollar amount of proposed tax credits had been reduced, "spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are private."

Private. Folks, this isn't the Constitutional Convention in 1787 where the delegates' very lives were in jeopardy and there was a legitimate need for secrecy. This is a discussion about how to saddle future generations with debt; a discussion about actions that will have the side-effect of rendering untold numbers wholly dependent on Government for their daily bread.

So much for sunshine.

So much for details.

So much for us being able to know what's really in that Bill.

Have you read the provisions that relate to healthcare in the version that the House sent to the Senate? At LEAST two new agencies with enormous names (the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research -- this'll be the one that decides whether it will be "cost effective" to treat your health issue, and if it's not, then it's R.I.P. for you; and the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, to be created by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH, -- this'll be the one that transmits and stores all your personal, medical information in cyberspace) are in there. Can you spell Clintonian Universal Health Care? How about Tom Daschle's Critical: What We Can Do About the Healthcare Crisis?

Atlas Shrugged?

The healthcare issues alone deserve to be debated fully, fairly, and IN THE OPEN -- not buried in some behemoth tome full of boilerplate and bureaucracy-speak. This is nothing better than stealth legislation.

There's also a planned Accountability and Transparency Board, chaired by the Chief Performance Officer (you remember that brand new position -- it's the one that our Young President's first-choice nominee was bounced for failing to pay taxes). All the other members are also appointed by the Young President. Let's see -- this is a product of the Legislative branch, yet it refers to positions and bodies that don't really exist yet, and that will be created and staffed by the President as a function of the Executive branch. And it's pre-budgeted!

And all this "debate" takes place while our Young President is back on the campaign trail, mesmerizing the masses with his silver tongue.

Folks, we're being snookered, hoodwinked, and rooked by professionals that we pay to do it to us. Without lubrication.