Current Events Watch

Thanks to The National Review for the information and all their hard work.

Here comes 20,000,000 new government jobs…………..The New Slavery.

$3,400,000,000 for the State Energy Program (I hope this money is used to encourage states to adopt green energy technology.)

$200,000,000 for state and local electric-transport projects (I’m not sure what they mean here, is this to improve transmission from the power plant to customers or is this for electric vehicles?)

$300,000,000 for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs (As a housewife, I am all for rebates. The problem for poor people is affording the appliance in the first place. A rebate doesn’t do you any good if you can’t afford the product in the first place.)

$400,000,000 for hybrid cars for state and local governments (All electric would be better, but hybrid is a good start.)

$1,000,000,000 for the manufacturing of advanced batteries (Better batteries mean better hybrid and electric vehicles, so I’m all for this.)

$1,500,000,000 for green-technology loan guarantees (I’m curious if this is for businesses or individuals, either way, it’s encouraging people to think green and that is a good thing.)

$8,000,000,000 for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program (Innovation is good, it’s what made America great.)

$2,400,000,000 for carbon-capture demonstration projects (I’m a skeptic when it comes to carbon capture. Even if we do develop a good method of capturing carbon, there is still the question of what do we do with the carbon after it’s been captured.)

$4,500,000,000 for electricity grid (After going without power for a week during Tulsa’s ice storm, I am totally ok with anything that improves the current grid.)

$79,000,000,000 for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (Stability is good, and some states are already desperate, California for one.)

$585,336,000,000 Total

It does seem like a crazy amount of money, but let’s face it; our government has grown accustomed to throwing around obscene amounts of “money” to accomplish whatever they see as the necessary task at hand.

Whether it’s forcing other countries to fall in line with our drug laws or conning the American populace into voting against their own best interests, Congress is very good at manipulations. It is all they do; money, votes, media, or political constituents, manipulation is the key to power.

As far as the “new slavery” goes, we’ve been slaves to our wages in this country for a long time. There is nothing “new” about it. What is new are the people finally paying attention and voicing their opinions loudly and publicly.

Thanks to The National Review for their hard work.

Here comes 20,000,000 new government jobs…………..The New Slavery.

$2,000,000,000 for renewable-energy research ($400,000,000 for global-warming research) (Another one I don’t really have a problem with, we need renewable and sustainable energy sources.)

$2,000,000,000 for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois (This one, though, is utter bullshit. There is no such thing as a “clean” coal power plant. It’s a myth. The truth is that the coal industry does not currently have “clean” technology. They want to build new plants and then retrofit them with “clean” tech when it becomes available, which may be years from now.)

$6,200,000,000 for the Weatherization Assistance Program ( This is a Community Action Program that helps low income families make their homes more energy efficient. We had their help a few years ago when my daughter was in Headstart. Headstart is another program the CAP manages. The weatherization team made sure our home wasn’t losing us money. They went over the entire house, checking everything from foundation to roof to make sure the house is “weather tight”, meaning no air, heated or cooled was leaking out and wasting our heating/cooling dollars. They replaced one window, and sealed other leaks. It may not have made the house “airtight”, but it came pretty close. It seems like a lot of money, but there are a lot of poor people in this country living in “unhealthy” and inefficient houses. If this money helps to improve that, I’m all for it.)

$3,500,000,000 for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants (Conservation and energy-efficiency are good things. My only beef here is: I wish the general population had more say in who gets these grants. Sorry, I just don’t trust our “elected” officials to have good judgment when it comes to spending money. They have not proved themselves trustworthy in this matter, which is why I’ve been writing on this topic for the last week or so. The people have a right to know where “our” money is getting spent. We should have the right to veto any ridiculous spending, but we don’t.)

Tomorrow: money for green tech and state support…

Thanks to The National Review for their hard work.

Here comes 20,000,000 new government jobs…………..The New Slavery.

$87,000,000 for a polar icebreaking ship (What polar ice? I thought global warming was melting it all.)

$1,700,000,000 for the National Park System (More park rangers, facilities repaired and/or upgraded, roads and land management, there are plenty of ways to spend that money.)

$55,000,000 for Historic Preservation Fund (How important is history anyway? It’s always written by the winners to suit themselves. True history doesn’t usually come out until everyone involved in the story is long dead. By then, no one cares enough to pay any attention to the truth of the past. It’s not like we could learn from history or anything. Right?)

$7,600,000,000 for “rural community advancement programs” (That is some serious advancing. I know Obama wanted to increase broadband internet access for rural communities. I agree with that. Giving more people access to media resources is a good thing. People should be encouraged to get out there and learn what’s going on in the world for themselves. You don’t have to learn everything from the talking heads on tv.)

$150,000,000 for agricultural-commodity purchases ( Why? Is this the federal version of grocery shopping? Exactly what commodities are they buying with all this money? Is this a way to affect the prices of US commondities?)

$150,000,000 for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish” (The bees need all the help they can get. I only hope the livestock and fish farmers being subsidized are providing us with clean and healthy food, not filled with hormones, pesticides and other harmful chemicals. And if it’s been genetically modified, I need to know that. All human beings, not just Americans, have a right to good, healthy food.)

I’m still not through the list of spending, so more tomorrow…

Thanks to The National Review for their hard work.

Here comes 20,000,000 new government jobs…………..The New Slavery.

$89,000,000,000 for Medicaid (Healthcare for everyone? I certainly hope so with a budget this big. For profit medicine was/is a bad idea. You should not have to be rich to be healthy, in this country or anywhere else.)

$30,000,000,000 for COBRA insurance extension (Do you know what COBRA insurance is? I think most of us don’t. And the people who do know what it is don’t always know what their options are. Let’s hope some of this money goes to increasing awareness and understanding of the program and how it works as well as expanding the eligibility of our currently unemployed workforce.)

$36,000,000,000 for expanded unemployment benefits (With more people losing their jobs everyday, we are going to need this. I’m just afraid even this huge amount isn’t going to be enough. People have kids to feed and bills to pay whether they have a job or not.)

$20,000,000,000 for food stamps (This is another one, besides unemployment benefits, that I don’t have any problem with the amount. I just hope it’s enough for all the families with kids to feed. I know that food stamps have saved my own family plenty of times when the economy sucks and we’re having trouble making ends meet. Hell, just eliminating the tax on groceries would be a huge relief for a lot of people in the country right now. I remember first moving here to Oklahoma, going grocery shopping and being charged tax on the food was like, “What the hell? Who charges taxes at the grocery store?” Growing up in California and Texas, we never paid taxes at the grocery store and were stunned that we had to pay taxes on food here in Oklahoma. It’s ridiculous. Farmers are taxed for growing food, then it gets taxed at the processing level, again at the shipping stage, then the retailer is taxed before taxing you again at the register. So, let’s see, that is a total of 5 times that the same product gets taxed before reaching your dining room table. Ridiculous, no wonder everything costs so much.)

$4,500,000,000 for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (I hope they spend it more wisely than in the past. I think one Katrina/New Orleans epic disaster is enough for the next several generations, don’t you? )

$850,000,000 for Amtrak (Maybe I’m a romantic, but I like the idea of trains. Electric over coal of course, and preferably green electric from renewable, sustainable sources. I think it was a mistake to abandon our rail system for the highways and would like to see some focus shifting back to trains. We still move a good amount of cargo by train, but I never see a passenger train coming through Tulsa. The closest train station is in Oklahoma City, two hours away. Would love to see one here. Taking a train ride is on my bucket list.)

We’ll look at a few more expenditures tomorrow…

Thanks to The National Review for their hard work.

Here comes 20,000,000 new government jobs…………..The New Slavery.

$448,000,000 for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters (Why does it have to be new? What is wrong with where they are now? At least with giving the department new headquarters,workers will be hired to build them. Isn’t that a good thing in this economy?)

$600,000,000 to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids ( I would prefer all electric, but it is a step in the right direction. Whatever you think of global warming, putting less toxins in our environment from burning petroleum products is a good thing for our health, nevermind the planet’s.)

$450,000,000 for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”) ( For this much money, can you give us some details? What kind of “climate research” missions, and where? How are these missions getting us closer to “off this planet”?)

$600,000,000 for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”)( Holy cow! That better be one hell of a model. How is this very expensive model going to benefit the taxpayers footing the bill for it? Times are tough, and unless this model creates jobs or provides other tangible benefits for us, I think it can wait.)

$1,000,000,000 for the Census Bureau ( Damn. There has got to be a less expensive way to count all of us. I hope some of this will go to paying people to count people. I’m sure computers do a lot of the work, and that’s probably cheaper, but I have to think that some actual human beings are involved in the process too.)

I continue this in part five tomorrow.

Thanks to The National Review for their hard work.

Here comes 20,000,000 new government jobs…………..The New Slavery

$500,000,000 for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities ( Does this include new facilities for stem cell research? Obama promised that science would come before politics during his campaign. Is this a first step in putting science back into our politics? We’ve had faith/religion in politics long enough, it is past time for science/reason to return to this country’s policies. It does seem like an awful lot of money, We need to see some real medical breakthroughs come from it.)

$44,000,000 for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters (What? Monsanto doesn’t pay them enough to make building repairs? Oh, that’s right, their money goes to pay off politicians and DoA officials. Guess that means those bureaucrats have to keep accepting bribes in their old DoA headquarter.)

$350,000,000 for Agriculture Department computers (How many computers do they need?!? You could buy computers for 350,000 people with that much money. How many employees need what kind of computers to justify this cost?)

$88,000,000 to help move the Public Health Service into a new building (What is wrong with the old building? Is it falling down; without plumbing, heat, or air; the electric wiring shorting out; if not, then too bad, no new building for you. Do like most Americans are having to, suck it up and make do with what you have now. Maybe you can have a new building when we can have decent health care for everyone.)

Part Four on Monday

Thanks to The National Review for their hard work.

Here comes 20,000,000 new government jobs…………..The New Slavery.

$4,200,000,000 for “neighborhood stabilization activities” (What does that mean, “stabilization”? Stabilized how, economically, socially, physically? Why are politicians always so vague on details?)

$650,000,000 for digital-TV coupons; $90,000,000 to educate “vulnerable populations” (Because Faux News is so educational? Or because digital tv is easier to manipulate?)

$15,000,000,000 for business-loss carry-backs (I had to look this one up. Here is what I found: “This provision allows businesses to file amended income tax returns for past years in which they were profitable, use current year business losses to offset those profits, and receive refunds of excess taxes paid in past years.” Are you kidding me? Who came up with this bullshit? I want to go back and pay less taxes on my “profitable” years, too.)

$145,000,000,000 for “Making Work Pay” tax credits (The Making Work Pay credit would fulfill President Obama’s campaign promise to cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. It provides a tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. I just can’t see Repugs letting this pass, since they hate the poor and this puts money in poor people’s pockets.)

$83,000,000,000 for the earned income credit (Another plus for the poor, hated by Republicans.)

$150,000,000 for the Smithsonian ( Is this for repairs, upgrades, expansion, acquisitions? Need more details.)

$34,000,000 to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters ( Unless the building is falling down or is in some other way unsafe or nonfunctional, then suck it up. Commerce in this country has not been properly “encouraged” and “stimulated”, it’s been exported. The Department should be in a landfill with the rest of the rubbish.)

Thanks to The National Review for their hard work.

Here comes 20,000,000 new government jobs…………..The New Slavery.

$50,000,000 for the National Endowment for the Arts (I would like to see more art taught in public schools, I’m less concerned about supporting “starving” artist types. If this is for museums, building new or repairing old ones, then it is all good with me.)

$380,000,000 in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program (What kind of person would object to providing milk and cheese to hungry, pregnant women and their babies? Not me, I’ve been one of those women on WIC)

$300,000,000 for grants to combat violence against women ( I don’t object to protecting women, including me, from violence; but, shouldn’t we protect everybody equally?)

$2,000,000,000 for federal child-care block grants ( Child care is hard to find, good child care is next to impossible if you’re poor)

$6,000,000,000 for university building projects ( Only if it’s for building and/or updating state schools that working class and poor kids have a chance at attending.)

$15,000,000,000 for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships (Pell put my mom through school. Hopefully, it will still be around to put my kids through college. I sure can’t afford to send them.)

$4,000,000,000 for job-training programs, including $1,200,000,000 for “youths” up to the age of 24 ( It’s hard to support yourself, much less a family, if you don’t have any marketable skills. Most of us don’t have daddies who can hand us a white house.)

$1,000,000,000 for community-development block grants ( How vague. What kind of developments are we talking about? Community gardens, yay, community detention centers, not so much. We need specifics here people.)

continued tomorrow….

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Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven meeting in Rome were looking to U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner to provide specifics on his $2 trillion plan to tackle the financial crisis that started in the U.S. 18 months ago and has since spread across the globe. The G-7 predicted a “severe” economic slump that will persist for most of 2009.

Geithner discussed the administration’s strategy of using public and private funds to tailor solutions for specific banks with senior finance officials from the world’s leading nations. Geithner was considered particularly helpful in explaining how the various elements of the administration’s initiatives tie together, as well as how he plans to combine public funds with private resources to get more bang out of every rescue dollar the governments spends.

The G-7 talks gather the United States, Canada, Japan, and four major nations from Europe.

Geithner laid out for finance ministers the thinking behind the $787 billion economic stimulus and the U.S. financial rescue, which could contain more than $2 trillion in public and private spending. The initiatives, Geithner told the officials, were designed to be massive enough to address the depth of the U.S. crisis and last long enough to stimulate the economy for the duration of the recession.

“Geithner did not press other nations to adopt the same approach, officials said. But in describing the U.S. response, he delivered clear messages: Be realistic about the trouble facing your economy. Develop rescue initiatives sooner rather than later. And make them big enough to meet the challenges ahead.” - David Cho, Washington Post

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner meets journalists at the end of the G-7 meeting in in Rome on Saturday.

Geithner is a familiar face to many of the G7 ministers, having worked at the New York Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund and in international affairs at the Treasury.

According to a new report from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), as of 2008 the U.S. has become the world’s largest player in terms of total wind power installations. With a total installed capacity of 25 GW installed, the U.S. has now officially overtaken Germany, with 24 GW of wind.

The U.S. wind energy industry installed 8,358 MW of new generating capacity in 2008, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). AWEA says the combined development channeled investment of some US $17 billion into the economy, positioning wind power as one of the leading sources of new power generation in the country today.

“The U.S. wind energy industry’s performance in 2008 confirms that wind is an economic and job creation dynamo, ready to deliver on the President’s call to double renewable energy production in three years,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “The hope is that provisions such as those included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act bill to restore the effectiveness of the tax incentives for renewable energy will quickly become law and provide the capital needed to continue to build projects,” said Bode.  “Because wind projects can be built quickly, positive legislation from Congress will have immediate and visible effects.  Looking forward, it will also be important for the new Administration and Congress to put in place long-term, supportive renewable energy policies to make the new clean energy economy a reality.”

Wind energy is a smart, practical investment.  I’ve seen windmills that were hundreds of years old still in operation doing the work for which they were originally built. The fuel to run them still costs today what it cost the day they were built—-exactly 0. It is also an investment that puts citizens’ money to work in their own economies rather than transferring it to a handful of fuel-exporting nations that may not always be “friendly”.

Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz talks about nationalizing banks, the outlook for developing countries, and the need for an international financial regulator.

On comparing the current economic crisis to the Great Depression:

“We live in a very different world than during the Great Depression. Then, we had a manufacturing economy. Now we have a service-sector economy. Many people in the United States are already working part time because they can’t get full-time jobs. People are talking more about the ‘comprehensive’ measures of unemployment, and these show unemployment at very high levels, around 15 percent. So it clearly is a serious downturn. Another big difference between now and the Great Depression is then, we didn’t have a safety net. Now we have unemployment insurance.”

On the nationalization of banks:

“The fact of the matter is, the banks are in very bad shape. The U.S. government has poured in hundreds of billions of dollars to very little effect. It is very clear that the banks have failed. American citizens have become majority owners in a very large number of the major banks. But they have no control. Any system where there is a separation of ownership and control is a recipe for disaster. Nationalization is the only answer. These banks are effectively bankrupt.”

On the private flow of capital to developing countries failing and destroying those economies:

“I think many governments of emerging nations actually have a much better central banking system than the United States. They realized the risks of excessive leverage, excessive dependance on real estate lending and so they took much more prudent actions. Many developing countries also built up large reserves and are in a better position to meet this crisis than they were a decade ago.

But some will face very difficult times, potentially defaults. Some of these countries are suffering from having paid too much attention to what has gone on in the United States.

I think it is absolutely imperative not just for the interest of these countries, not just from a humanitarian perspective, but from the perspective of global stability. It is not possible to have a strong global economy when there are large pockets of economic turmoil.

The World Bank has called for advanced industrial countries, as they are bailing out their own industries and providing subsidies, to set aside some amounts for the developing countries, who can’t compete on this uneven playing field.”

On Obama blasting banks as “shameful” and “irresponsible” for paying out billions in bonuses to executives while still on the brink of collapse:

“…It is shameful and irresponsible. But it is not a surprise…for years the executives of American firms have defended their outrageous compensation, saying it’s important as an incentive scheme. How in the world can you give bonuses of billions of dollars when your firm has had record losses of billions of dollars? Unless you’re rewarding people for failure you shouldn’t be getting bonuses, you should be getting penalties.”

From an interview by Michael Kniggs for Deutsche Welle.

Joseph Stiglitz accepts the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001.

Joseph Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001. Under US President Bill Clinton he served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1995- 1997. He was chief economist of the World Bank from 1997-2000 and was a lead author of the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He is currently a professor at Columbia University in New York.

Tony Blair is poised to become the first President of Europe after it was confirmed that French leader Nicolas Sarkozy is determined to help him win the post.

A senior aide to President Sarkozy told a private gathering of senior British and French politicians that he is to tell fellow EU leaders that Mr Blair is the only man who can help Europe stand up to the rest of the world.

nicolas-sarkozy-wants-tony-blair-to-become-the-first-eu-president

Mr Minc, a political wheeler-dealer, entrepreneur and TV show host, was attending a meeting last month of the Franco British Colloque, a high-powered discussion group of British and French politicians, civil servants and opinion-formers.

Members are under orders not to reveal the confidential discussions, but The Mail on Sunday has established that Mr Minc used the meeting to win support for Mr Sarkozy’s campaign to ensure Mr Blair becomes the President of Europe.

The role is due to be created next year – but only if the EU’s controversial Lisbon Treaty is ratified in the autumn by Ireland and the Czech Republic, the two EU countries which have so far refused to do so.

Mr Minc told the gathering, which was also attended by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon: ‘When the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, Europe will move into a new phase. Europe will need a strong leader and Nicolas Sarkozy will nominate Tony Blair for the position.’

Mr Minc explained why Mr Sarkozy was determined to overcome opposition to Mr Blair from a handful of EU leaders, notably German chancellor Angela Merkel.

He said: ‘We have to unite and say to Mrs Merkel that we cannot afford not to have Tony Blair, who will be a strong figurehead, is entirely respected around the world, and will be a commanding leader at the helm of Europe.”

The conference took place in Versailles, days after Mr Blair visited Paris to chair a conference for Mr Sarkozy on the economic crisis, in what was seen as the latest part of a charm offensive to boost his chances of winning the EU presidency.

Mr Blair paid glowing tribute to Mr Sarkozy’s recent performance in the rotating EU presidency, saying: ‘Under his leadership, Europe looked as if it were acting in concert.’

The post of President of the EU’s Council of Ministers will replace the current system under which the EU presidency rotates among EU nations on a six-month basis.

Supporters say it is the only way to give the President a strong voice.

Critics claim it is another step on the road to a European superstate.

Mr Minc was not the only person at the conference to make provocative remarks about ‘President Blair’.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell, tipped to succeed Mr Brown as Labour leader, is in hot water after apparently backing the idea.

Asked if Mr Blair was the right man for the job, Mr Purnell said:

‘We need someone who is a world-respected statesman, has experience of being involved in intractable international issues like the Irish peace process, and, while being on the Centre Left, understands how the markets work and sparkles with charisma…’

As Mr Purnell, a close ally of Mr Blair, paused for effect, there were gasps from some in the audience who realised they were meant to think he was referring to Mr Brown’s predecessor.

He then added: ‘…which is why I nominate Bill Clinton.’

The joke was not lost on fellow guests, who knew that, as an American, Mr Clinton is not eligible.

A spokesman for Mr Purnell said: ‘It was an after-dinner gag. He did not endorse Mr Blair.’

This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.

Q.  What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn’t that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. Shut up.

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:

• If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to  China.
• If you spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs.
• If you purchase a computer it will go to India.
• If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala (unless you buy organic).
• If you buy a car it will go to Japan.
• If you purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan.

And none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America. You can keep the money  in America by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball game, or spend it on prostitutes, beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only businesses still in the US.

Source

This cracked me up when I read it. Which is what the author intended, of course, but spiker has a point. What was the last thing you bought that was made entirely in the US?

I don’t even know anyone with a manufacturing or production job. The people I know all have clerical, IT, sales, security, service, or manual labor type jobs. I’ve met a few small independent farmers, and they’ve all been struggling for years. I’m not even sure how many of them have managed to hang on to there farms at this point.

Obama’s stimulus package is not perfect. I for one would like to see a lot less money going to “defense”. On the other hand, I am happy about the increased education budget. That has been needed for a long time.