From Today's Inbox -- Cutting the Deficit

Pepper forwarded this to me today.  It really puts things in perspective:

object: I'm cutting back and you may want to also!

I'm cutting back and you may want to also....

    I'm going to bite the bullet, too!!!!

President Obama ordered the cabinet to cut $100,000,000.00 ($100
million) from the $3,500,000,000,000.00 ($3.5 trillion) federal
budget.

I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same

thing with my personal budget. I spend about $2,000 a month on
groceries, household expenses, medicine, utilities, etc., but it's
time to get out the budget cutting axe, go through my expenses, and
cut back.

I'm going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio (1/35,000) of
my total budget. After doing the math, it looks like instead of
spending $2,000 a month, I'm going to have to cut that number by six
cents. Yes, I'm going to have to get by with $1999.94, but that's what
sacrifice is all about.

I'll just have to do without some things, that are, frankly, luxuries
- six cents worth.

Did this President actually think no one would do the math? Please
send this to everyone on your list so people understand how idiotic a
$100 million cut is in a $3.5 trillion budget - ludicrous!!!!!!!

"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation...

    One is by sword...

    The other is by debt."

    John Adams 1826



*sigh*

Your Government Scam du Jour

All I have to say about this is:  Holy.  Crap.


We are doomed.

Check. Next Crisis, Please.

Sorry I've been AWOL for awhile.  We're getting ready to start a construction project in Little Rock -- adding on to our little rent house there -- and I'm kind of the project manager, travelling back and forth.  It should be an "interesting" couple of months, leading up to starting on Moogie's Retirement Villa.  I wish I had Lou and Toby around to advise me!

Anyway, I'm choosing to side-step the whole debt ceiling mess for awhile with one small exception --

Although, I'm not so sure the Young President can claim a victory lap on this one.  The Conservatives seem to have taken the biggest chunk out of the compromise pie (except for the not really cutting any spending part -- it's really just not spending as much more as the left would like to spend).  Kind of refreshing -- And promising.  Sort of.  Moogie appears to be wearing those rose-colored glasses again.

Well, maybe I made a medium-sized exception.  Hey, we all have to take a "balanced approach," right?

 P.S. -- the Young President is yammering again, after the vote in the Senate on the Debt Ceiling debacle-bill.  Egad, if he doesn't go on a golf trip or junket or climb a mountain sometime soon, and STFU, I may lose it.  He needs some new speechwriters -- every time he gets to a microphone lately, what comes out of his mouth turns into a key-word-trigger drinking game opportunity.  AA must have seen a big uptick the last few weeks.) 

P.P.S. -- I REALLY don't like this "Super Congress" thing.

In Today's Inbox

[I don't know who started this email, but I like it. Not the idea behind it, of course, I just like the way it crawls down into your stomach and just grinds. Sorta.]:




Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.

Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night."

So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?"

So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?"

So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One was to do the studies and one was to write the reports.

Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?"

So they created two positions: a time keeper and a payroll officer then hired two people.


Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"

So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one Year and we are $918,000 over budget, we must cut back."

So they laid-off the night watchman.


Let this last statement slowly sink in.


Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.




Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.....
during the Carter Administration?

Anybody?

Anything?

No?


Didn't think so!

Bottom line is, we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency....the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!

Ready??

It was very simple... and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977,


TO REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh???

AND NOW IT'S 2011 -- 34 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE!

(THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?")

33 years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports. Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.

Ah, yes -- good old Federal bureaucracy.

NOW, WE HAVE TURNED OVER THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT?



Hello!! Anybody Home?

[Can you say "Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act?" Gives you the creeps, doesn't it?]

Thank God for Right-to-Work States and Their Thinking Citizens

I must say, I have never been quite so pleased to live in a right-to-work state as I have this last week.

To my way of thinking, the public unions in Wisconsin have shown at least the dark underbelly of their self-perpetuating existence, and at worst, they've shown their intent.  Their intent can be no less than to choke every last concession possible out of the taxpayers even if it means taking down the whole state with them.  What will happen when the layoffs start and union dues revenue falls off as a consequence?  We just might see the leopard's true spots at that point -- and it ain't a leopard at all, it's a jackal.

George Will had a pretty good column today in which he lays out some of the economic issues surrounding the bill, i.e., pension and health insurance contributions by the public employee.  Will notes that Wisconsin's Civil Service law is the source of most worker "rights," not collectively bargained union contracts.  He also compares and contrasts the "leadership" qualities of Wisconsin Governor Walker and President Barry Obama, and it is George Will, so you can count on it being elegantly stated.  And accurate: the Prez comes off as an interloping cheerleader.  A somewhat prevaricating interloping cheerleader.

Most of the debate about this Bill revolves around collective bargaining and economic issues.  What has gotten short shrift in most media coverage of the shenanigans going on up north, however, is the simple fact that Wisconsin public employees are currently de facto members of a "Union Shop" or "Agency Shop," (under which payment of union dues and/or membership in the union is required of every employee).  These arrangements are permitted under current federal law (the Taft-Hartley Act), but not favored, and they lead to some very powerful unions and union leaders.  The proposed Wisconsin statute would require unions to submit to an annual representation vote (to prove that more than 50% of the affected employees want continued representation by that particular union); would permit affected employees to opt out of union membership; and would do away with dues "check-off" (a practice in which the employer automatically deducts union dues from employees' paychecks and turns the dues over to the union -- see also, the Employee Free Choice Act).  I see nothing wrong with these proposals whatsoever.

I understand that some people get a lot of satisfaction from membership in a union, and I really don't have a problem with that.  Let those who want to go to Labor Day picnics with their brethren have their way!  I get satisfaction from supporting several organizations and going to their gatherings, too.  But that is my choice.

Like I said, I'm really pleased today to be living in a right-to-work state where the individual gets to decide which organizations he wishes to join and support.

Now, that whole "demanding that the taxpayer subsidize public union employees' pensions and health insurance" thing is a big ol' can of worms, and I think I'd rather not go fishing anymore today, thank you very much.

Leak Begone!

Ahhhh, the delivery of city services is a thing of wonder to behold!  Yep, you guessed it -- the Sewerage and Water Board finally showed up today to fix the leak at the water meter.

You remember that leak -- I first introduced you to it on June 11 when we got a $436 water bill.  Then I updated the scenario on July 9th when the enormous bill was (sorta) corrected, but no repairs had yet been effected.  I next brought you up to date on August 10th to let you know that the gas and cable folks had painted stuff on the street 15 days earlier, telling me that the S&WB should be there within 10 days.

And today is September 1st.  The entire city has been paying for that leak since I first reported it to the S&WB in, oh, about March. 

I sent Pepper an email this morning to let him know that work was happening and he replied, "I saw the truck rolling around the corner Monday, and was afraid he had missed the spot – but apparently supervisors don’t have to get out and look at things."  Heh.

A few hours later, when the deed had been done, I sent him another email:  "This has been a hoot. They changed out the bad meters, but it took 2 enormous trucks, a backhoe, and 5 guys to do it. Then they washed off at the fire hydrant they had opened an hour or 2 earlier."

I have no idea why they needed a backhoe on site, but they apparently opened the fire hydrant so they could bathe later.

Of the 5 guys, 2 actually worked on replacing the meters, one had to keep the big pump truck in place by leaning on it, one carried around an ice chest, and the last guy watched the others.  And they all talked REALLY. LOUD.  A lot.

You'll have to excuse me.  I need to go run all the air out of the pipes.  Glad I wasn't in the shower when they cut the water off!

And, I wonder how often they open fire hydrants and let them run for hours?  Egad.

Going Green Can be a Good Thing

What?  The tee shirt is green, isn't it?

Yeah -- I'm definitely looking forward to doing this!

Who's Scamming Whom?

A Facebook friend posted this little vignette today:

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.”

The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!”

Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?”

The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”

So -- is the kid a clever capitalist? Or is he a clever recipient of government (givernment?) handouts?

Of Pigs, Wearing Beagle Suits, at the Trough: A Cautionary Tale

Since we lost our Wendy Whiner beagle girl, I've noticed a change in the eating habits of Bouie, the sweet young lab, and Rosie, the geriatric mostly-blind-and-usually-deaf shih tzu.



Supper Time used to be a closely monitored activity. There were three bowls, in three different spots in the kitchen, and the bowls for Bouie and Rosie were not set in place until Wendy had her bowl. Rosie and Bouie had to wait because, otherwise, Wendy would nudge them out of the way and glom theirs down before they had a chance even to sniff their food; but, if she was preoccupied with her own bowl, the other two stood a chance of getting to eat.


Wendy never left a morsel in her bowl. Holding it down with one paw (quite the clever and talented hound dog), she always licked the bowl down several times, even after it was empty, digging in to scrape the last tiny morsel out of the creases in the bottom with that all-powerful beagle tongue. After she gave up on finding anything else in her own bowl, she would slyly (in her own mind!) set off to check out the others' bowls, hovering near them and staring down her canine brethren much like Snoopy did when he was pretending to be a vulture, willing them to step away from the bowl. If, by chance Rosie and Bouie didn't finish the whole serving, Wendy would take care of that for them, licking their bowls doubly clean as she had her own. On more than one occasion we feared she might explode. So, we took to picking up Rosie's and Bouie's bowls when they left something in them, both to preserve what was theirs and to prevent a bursting beagle. It was time-consuming, but worth the effort in the end, even if sometimes Rosie and Bouie didn't get quite full enough.


Since Wendy has been gone, the other dogs have felt free to nosh at will, not feeling obligated to clean their bowls all at one time; knowing that what they left would still be there waiting for them later when they felt like a little snack, but still willing to let the other have a nibble or two if he or she felt the need.


I think there's an allegory in there somewhere: the Tale of the Federal Government and the Taxpayers at Supper Time, starring Wendy as the Feds (and featuring Bouie and Rosie as The Taxpayers).


We should all take heed of the tale -- sometimes The Feeder has to monitor the action and pick up the supper bowls early; sometimes the beagle explodes and everyone has to clean up the mess.


The Feeders still have a choice -- for awhile.

Too Frightening to Contemplate?

I just ran across this at Chicks On The Right. The post originally ran back in March as the healthcare debacle was winding down, and documents our IRS in action.

I think the poster bears re-running today in connection with the Gulf mess.

And maybe again near Halloween -- it's definitely scary.

You Don't Know What You Got 'Til It's Gone . . . .

YES! Please come back, T.J.!

Continuing Census Education

I just saw this at Michelle Malkin's blog. It makes the Census waste detailed in my little post a few days ago look thrifty.

As an added bonus, this anonymous Census Corps emailer also enlightens us about even more Census Bureau titles and jobs -- Census Enumerator and Census Quality Controller. Plus, we get a vivid description of our government at work, teaching the masses in the heretofore unknown bastion of higher education, Census University!





By Michelle Malkin • March 30, 2010 04:10 PM

If even half of what this anonymous reader who e-mailed about his experience as a Census worker is true, imagine the squandering of tax dollars taking place on a mass scale. Crikey.

Hi, Michelle:

I would first like to apologize for stealing your tax dollars, but if it wasn’t me, it would be someone else. I am an underemployed 20-something Tea Partier, and after reading about how much government waste was going to the 2010 census, I figured that I might as well “git me some of dat Obama money” until I find something more solid.

…I’m currently in my second tour of “temporary employment” with the Bureau….I’m not participating in or approving of what the census data I collect could likely be used for, but all I am is data entry at the moment.

Last summer I participated in the ‘address canvassing’ (AC) project. What this entailed was walking around a neighborhood, literally door to door, with a little hand held computer. My job was not to enter addresses so that these people could receive their form, but to make sure that the addresses that the first wave of people put into the system and appeared on the computer was actually there. 99% were. Sure there were a few missing that you did have to manually enter, but out of the thousands of address that I checked, we’re talking 20 or less that had to be manually entered. I didn’t have to knock on any doors or ask any questions, unless someone came out and was angry that I was walking around the neighborhood looking at pretty address numbers on door frames. If they were mad, I gave them a little sheet that explained the confidentiality of the census. But mostly, it was me getting paid $15.25/hour plus mileage to take my dog for a walk and pushing a few buttons.

In an average suburban neighborhood where the houses are somewhat close to each other, it was no problem to do about 35-40 addresses per hour once you learned how to quickly enter data into the computer. The census said that I should be doing about 12-15 per hour. My direct bosses told me that I should NOT be doing 35-40 because it was making them and other people look bad. So instead of walking at a snails pace, I just did my 35-40/hour and doubled my time when I submitted my hours. Again, sorry for the tax dollar grab, but I was told not to be so darned efficient or else I’d be cut!

To recap: A first wave of people spent god knows how many hours finding the addresses on every street in America. I’m in the second wave, making sure they did their jobs. Then there were people (Quality Control), who were the third wave, making sure I did my job! I was not fortunate enough to get a QC position.

Let me get into another area. Training. To do the above job, I could have been trained in a single morning learning computer functions and mapping, maybe a little bit of recap after a lunch break. No way it should have gone longer than 5 or 6 hours, being generous. Turn on the computer, find your area that you were assigned, learn how to enter the different kinds of dwellings, and how to use a stylus. But no. We were subjected to a 5 day, 40 hour training period that made me want to tear my hair out. Because what I, a college educated non-moron, could have learned in 5 hours, 80% of my class of trainees were aggravatingly slow and confused by the process. Old people, high school dropouts, flat-out idiots. The census takes all comers. Oh and the stupid questions they ask! Thinking back gives me nightmares. I’m really not turning my nose up at these people, but it just saddened me to see good people struggling with such a menial task.

So much time was wasted on the first day, for the rest of the days, I just sat in the back reading the paper, books, staring at the ceiling. At the end of the training, you are given a written test. You have one hour to complete the exam and only need to get 60%. I flew through it in 15 minutes, missed one question, and was a full-fledged graduate of Census university. For $15.25/hour, plus my mileage at 50 cents per mile to a facility which was round trip about 80 miles. So training alone wasted about 35 hours and 320 miles. That’s about $700 right there. Thanks, taxpayers!

Now to my second wave, which is something called Group Quarters Enumeration. This is something I could have learned to do over breakfast. We got a 3 day training. This one is going to places considered group quarters, i.e. nursing homes, soup kitchens, churches where priests live, and the like. Not apartment buildings or anything like that. And of course homeless, people, let’s not forget that.

This one is about to start. My first assignment is a [redacted] in which I have just learned there are no inhabitants who live there full-time or the majority of the time. After talking this over with my boss and feeling cheated that I’m losing hours since there’s nobody to distribute census forms to, I have been told to drive to this [place] (25 minutes from my house), confirm in person, and drive back. Credit me with half an hour there, half an hour back, and half an hour confirming, and I’m getting an 1.5 hours plus the mileage. What a wonderful use of funds!


Why didn't I think about doing this?!?!