Voice in the Wilderness

Are Our 401k's Going to Be Nationalized?

Nothing like reading about next session's Congress to create a reverse Chris Matthews effect (a chill running down your leg).

Thursday morning's Wall Street Journal reviewed the likely Congressional leaders during Pres. Elect Obama's first two years. The following passage was particularly haunting:

Some Democrats are starting to target the tax subsidies for 401(k)s and other private retirement options. [George] Miller, who heads the House Education and Labor Committee, calls them "a big failure" and recently held a hearing to ponder alternatives, including nationalizing pensions and replacing them with special bonds administered by Social Security.

"Nationalizing" is a frightfully antiseptic way of saying "the government seizing and promising to give you something else later on". Unfortunately, other countries are pondering nationalizing pensions. President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina recently proposed nationalizing the nation's private retirement account system. Said Pres. de Kirchner "While the U.S. and other countries are stepping in to rescue their banks, Argentina must protect our retirees."

"...Argentina must protect our retirees." You see how it's like Halloween: the politicians dress up like knights in white shining armor, knock on your, and say trick or treat, where the "trick" is the threat of losing your retirement and the "treat" is your current retirement savings. Then, like the normal trick-or-treater, once they have your treat they saunter off, not to be seen again until next year.

The government taking ownership of citizens retirement money sure is an odd method of protection. It's more likely a ghoulish masquerade to help prop up government revenue, that has recently fallen short because of an economic slowdown. Can you think of any other governments who are facing their own fiscal scares that are likely to come trick or treating at your retirement account door?

Bailout Opens Door to Shariah Compliant Finance

Amid the post election euphoria, it is helpful to keep in mind that we still have Islamofascist enemies determined to do us harm and overthrow our way of life. Their latest stragem is Shariah-Compliant Finance, which is now a much greater threat due to the recent $700B US Government bailout of the US financial industry.

This article by Frank Gaffney Jr. does a good job at spelling out the chilling details. Money quotes:

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kimmitt set the stage with his recent visit to Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Persian Gulf states. His stated purpose was to promote the recycling of petrodollars in the form of foreign investment here.

Evidently, the price demanded by his hosts is that the U.S. government get with the Islamist financial program. While in Riyadh, Mr. Kimmitt announced: "The U.S. government is currently studying the salient features of Islamic banking to ascertain how far it could be useful in fighting the ongoing world economic crisis."

Well I can see why the Treasury Dept. is going around with their hat in their hand: with the economy slowing down and tax receipts decreasing, they need to come up with the $700B from somewhere. But,correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Saudi Arabia one of the leading exporters of Wahhabi Islam, the animating spiritual force of Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists? Surely, a US government agency would never allow the nation to become financially dependent on such a malevolent force.

"Islamic banking" is a euphemism for a practice better known as "Shariah-Compliant Finance (SFC)." And it turns out that this week the Treasury will be taking officials from various federal agencies literally to school on SFC. The department is hosting a half-day course entitled "Islamic Finance 101" on Thursday at its headquarters building.

Opps, I guess I gave them too much credit. Sadly, the danger won't be confined to the Dept. of Treasury.

Thanks to the extraordinary authority conferred on Treasury since September, backed by the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the department is now in a position to impose its embrace of Shariah on the U.S. financial sector. The nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Treasury's purchase of - at last count - 17 banks and the ability to provide, or withhold, funds from its new slush-fund can translate into unprecedented coercive power.

The Islamofascist financiers will be dicating lending terms to the Dept. of Treasury, who will then dictate terms to lending institutions, who will then dictate terms to individual and corporate borrowers. What could this mean for average, everyday, Joe Sixpack trying to get a mortgage or small business loan?

Could it mean that mortgage loans would be made on the condition that women in the house ascribe to certain shariah codes on women's role in the family and society?

Could it mean small business owners would be limited or sanctioned for doing business with Jewish-owned businesses or selling to Jews?

And, by the way, a certain percentage of the profits would go to Islamic "charities" that fund Islamic terrorist groups seeking to kill US soldiers abroad and US citizens at home.

One can only hope that the President Elect will change this sad state of affairs.

Do Texas Early Vote Totals Belie Low Republican Enthusiasm Meme?

One of the popular themes in the Austin local media last week was the high early vote turnout in Travis County, the academic, uberliberal county of Texas. Thunders Saturday's Austin American Statesman:

"Almost half of Travis County's 609,224 registered voters had cast their ballots by the time early voting ended Friday, easily shattering previous records. "

So how are the early votes breaking?

"When a list of general-election voters is released, political analysts, such as [Leland] Beatty, match the names to the roster of Democratic and Republican primary voters, thereby predicting how many votes will fall to one party or the other.

In Travis County, Democratic primary voters outnumbered Republicans nearly 4-to-1 in early voting as of Wednesday, when the most recent statistics were available, Beatty said....

"We've never seen anything like this election," Beatty said, adding that he thinks Democrats will make gains throughout the state. "

Combine this story with a recent hilarious AP pyschoanalysis claiming Obama supporters are "enthusiastic" and McCain supporters "glum", you might think that Texas Republican voters are just going through the motions in anticipation of an Dem landslide.

But what do the statewide early vote turnout numbers really show?

According to the Texas Secretary of State 2008 early voting page, and 2004 Presidential election page, of the 15 largest counties in Texas, four of the top five in terms of early voting percentage went big for Bush/Cheney in 2004. On the other hand, the bottom five on that list went for Kerry/Edwards or only moderately for Bush/Cheney in 2004. Below is a full list of how the numbers break down:

Remarkably, the leader in Texas early voting turnout at 45.5%, Collin County, went huge for Bush in 2004 (71% to 28%). Assuming that the 2004 election is a reasonable predictor of county voting behavior and assuming that early voting turnout is a proxy measure for voter enthusiasm, it appears that Texas Republican voters are actually more enthusiastic than Democrats.

But wait, a Democratic consultant might point out, traditionally Republican counties showed a big increase in Democratic primary voters this year, followed by the normal, dreary Dem talking points about the people being fed up with the last 8 years of Bush policies yadda yadda yadda.

But what this point of view does not take into account is Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos, whereby Republican voters purposely voted for Hilary Clinton in the Texas primary to prolong the internicine bloodletting on the Democrat side. Since McCain all but had the Republican nomination sewn up by the Texas primary, it is reasonable to assume that a significant number of Republican primary voter heeded the call to stick it to Obama. Perhaps those same voters are sticking it to him now.

I won't go as far as saying that all this big Texas turnout means McCain and the Republicans are going to blow out the Dems nationwide, but I think this is a data point that shows the results may be closer than the polls lead us to believe.

Vote Tuesday!

Permalink posted by Travis Fell @ 9:14 AM 1 comments links to this post

The most important word in the phrase 'free markets' is not the word 'markets'

President George W. Bush from Texas seems content to simply throw money at the financial crisis. Thankfully, other Texans are illuminating a different path.

Texas Public Policy Foundation board member Jeff Sandefer recently penned a short missive on the Fed bailout and how we should proceed from here.

Money quotes:

Many people have played into the hands of big-government apologists by arguing that free markets are "better" because "they work," rather than defending freedom as a fundamental, God-given right for everyone.

A little reported, and even less understood, facet of the current crisis is that freedom is again in the cross hairs of big government apparatchiks. With Federal mandarins pulling the levers of home mortgage and finance, they will be in better position to determine economic outcomes....according to their politically correct notions of "fairness".

I was fortunate to be with Margaret Thatcher once in England when she reminded a group of Americans fretting about a temporary dip in the stock market: "The most important word in the phrase 'free markets' is not the word 'markets.' You cannot justify your freedom based on today's Dow Jones Industrial Average." Her words ring true, as Bush appointees scramble to stoke the engine of our economy by tossing in ever-larger quantities of our tax dollars and freedom.

We need a Thatcher to step up and compellingly proclaim the truth described above, as well as outline easy to understand principles for how to move into the storm and through the storm.

Fortuitously, another Texan, the Twittering Rep. John Culberson, is making a run at neo-Thatcherism with his statement on the principles that a rescue package should include:

I will not vote to bankrupt future generations to protect Wall Street investment banks from their own mistakes. The best solution to this crisis is to

• Suspend mark-to-market accounting rules
• Establish a mandatory insurance/guarantee program to cover the banks' losses at no expense to taxpayers
• Cut the capital gains rate to zero
• Cut taxes for offshore dollars repatriated back into the U. S.
• Cut corporate tax rates dramatically to encourage investment and lending

Changing the mark to market accounting rule alone will allow banks to keep non-performing assets on their books until they recover their value, and solve a huge part of the problem.

Finally, personal finance radio show host Dave Ramsey, who's from Tennessee but sounds like he could be from Texas, created a three step action plan reflecting the principles above that all of us can follow:

1. Pray for our leaders: If there's ever a time when the nation's leaders need the wisdom of Solomon, that time is now.
2. Send them the The Common Sense Fix to your Senators and representatives . The Common Sense Fix involves creating an investment insurance agency, temporarily suspend mark-to-market rules on subprime loans, and totally remove the capital gains tax to spur investment and liquidity.
3. Tell others about it. If you're pressed for time, send a link to this blog post.

Labels: Bailout

Your Humble Blogger is the Texas Editor

A few weeks ago, a Texas page was launched for RedCounty.com, a community portal for state and local politics from a conservative point of view. I was honored to be asked to be the Editor for the RedCounty.com Texas page.

The revolution in web 2.0 technologies like blogs, texting, Twitter, and streaming digital video are providing regular citizens not only additional news sources but unprecedented channels for providing news content and commentary.

Building on the aforementioned tools, RedCounty.com/Texas is meant to be a common rallying point for Texas citizens interested in state and local politics who believe in from the point of view of limited government, individual freedom and responsibility, free market policies, traditional values, strong national defense and borders. Our goal is to build an alternative media forum that brings forward compelling content on state and local candidates, races, and issues and provide everyday Texas citizens the opportunity to learn what they need to know about the state/local races that affect them and make their voice heard.

Join the conversation at RedCounty.com/Texas.

Local Anarchist Group Has Affinity for Violence

590 am KLBJ reports this afternoon that the Molotov cocktail plot involving two Austin men at last week's Republican National Convention may be connected to the recent fire at the Texas Governor's Mansion.

Two members of an Austin based anarchist group called "The Austin Affinity Group" are locked up accused in a plot to use Molotov cocktails to disrupt the Republican Convention. Now investigators are trying to determine if the pair are connected to the fire that destroyed the Governors Mansion. News Radio 590-KLBJ'Security Analyst, Fred Burton from Stratfor.com says the "Austin Affinity" may have worked with some other groups.

Stay tuned....

Some Protests Generate More Heat than Light, But This is Ridiculous

This morning's Austin American Statesman reports that two fine, young citizens of the Capital City had planned to bring a little more...uh, "excitement" to last week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN than the convention organizers had planned on:

Austinites David McKay, 22, and Bradley Crowder, 23, were arrested last week on charges that they constructed Molotov cocktails to throw at police during the convention in St. Paul.

Nothing like some wood alcohol, glass bottles, and burning wicks to support the free expression of ideas and and show your tolerance for dissenting political views.

Is this tolerant?

But if you happen to get caught just have some community organizer explain it all away...

An Austin activist who said she met McKay and Crowder in St. Paul said she did not get the impression they were prone to that kind of violence. Lisa Fithian said they were "young men concerned with this country and the direction the Republicans are taking it."

Lisa Fithian, of course, is a long time professional protester, most noted for pulling Cindy Sheehan's strings during the latter's 2005 potemkin "mourning" tour.

What would cause two young men with an otherwise promising future to stray from the true path? Could it be that the University of Texas at Austin does not foster an environment of tolerance, that allows for divergent political views to be respected and peaceably expressed? Perhaps, though AAS commenter monty c has another theory:

they have spent too much time watching MSNBC, this is one sick bunch.

Olberman and Matthews made them do it....Classic.

"It is the cock the crows, but the hen that lays the eggs."

Friday's Wall Street Journal carried a story highlighting the parallels between the new Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, and erstwhile British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In the Iron Lady, it seems there is ample precedent for conservative women to face down the unique opposition they face from both the Left and the Right.

Money quotes, on feminists:

The metaphorical hair stood up on the back of every licensed member of the feminist movement who could immediately see she was a monster out of a nightmare landscape by Hieronymus Bosch. ...

The hypocrisy was breathtaking. Only nanoseconds before the choice of Mrs. Palin as VP put her a geriatric heartbeat away from the presidency, a woman's right to have a career and children was a shibboleth of feminism. One always knew that women with views that opposed those of official feminism were to be treated as nonwomen

On how to stand her ground:

Mrs. Thatcher would have recognized the guns aimed at Sarah Palin as the weapons of the left with feminist trigger-pullers. She also would have known that Mrs. Palin has less to fear from East-Coast intellectual snobs in egalitarian America than she had to fear from her own Tory base in class-prejudiced Britain. She would have told her to stand her ground and do her homework. Read your briefs, choose advisers with care, and, as she once said to me, my arm in her grip and her eyes fixed firmly on mine, "Just be yourself, don't ever give in and they can't harm you."

And finally, on the former, self-appointed masters of the female political world:

And that family of hers: Next to the Clintons with their dysfunctional marriage, her fertility and sexually robust life could only emphasize the shriveled nature of the one-child family of the former Queen Bee of political female accomplishment.

Shriveled nature?!? Zing!

Mrs. Palin's ascendancy has also revealed the impotency of feminism as a political movement. Purporting to speak for "women's issues", modern feminism does nothing but dress up identity politics and Marxist economic theory in power skirts and high heals. How appropropriate that, at the hand of the moosehunter Palin, that this old beast, that has tormented western society for two generations, can at last be slain.

Despite Decline in Actual Market Values, Austin Suburb Appraisals Increase and Eat Up Property Tax Rate Cut

In a recent post, I lauded the Austin suburb of Leander for reducing their property tax rates. Yet, we learn today from the Hill Country News that local tax bills are actually going up because the appraisals on property are increasing.

In a thriving community where homes, businesses and schools are sprouting
like Texas bluebonnets in the spring, appraisal values continue to soar.

I knew there had to be a catch. Since property taxes equal appraised valuation times tax rate (for each taxing jurisdiction to which a property owner belongs), there are two variables that can be tinkered with to get to the final tax owed. With the tax man, if the left hand doesn't get you, then the right one will.

But what makes this increase a harder to swallow is market values for the area are actually decreasing.

According to the HCN story, the average tax bills in Cedar Park look like this over the last four years:

• 2005-06: $4,114.80
• 2006-07: $4,112.10
• 2007-08: $4,209.81
• 2008-09: $4,618.17

The change from last year is a 9.7% increase. Since the taxing rates for most jurisdictions have gone down or not changed, the increase comes from valuation increases. Again, according to the story, the average home value in Cedar Park went from $173,521 to $189,900, an increase of 9.4%.

However, according to City-Data.com, the median home sales price dropped from approximately $240K in the second quarter of 2007 to around $200,000 in the second quarter of 2008, nearly a 17% decrease. Home sales also decreased over the same time from approximately 600 to 350, a 41% decrease.

To be fair, the local pols are grappling with how to serve the needs of a booming community and are, perhaps, to be given credit for not heaping a larger rate onto the increased appraisals.

But in any event, the information above should prove that there is no true linkage between property appraisals done by the local appraisal district and actual market data. Perhaps citizens protesting their property tax increases now have new ammunition?

While Prez Election Cranks Up, Texas State Bureaucracies Grind On

Obiden! McCain! Palin! Bristol!

The airwaves and blogosphere is fairly crackling with talk on the upcoming presidential election. With the conventions just half over and a little over 60 days left, the moment is certainly ripe to start schooling up on the who will be the US Chief Executive over the next four years.

Yet, there are other concerns, more close to home, that should also pique taxpayers' interest: Now is the time when Texas state agencies start issuing their legislative budget requests. In other words, now is the time we're going to get our first idea on how much Texas taxpayers are going to pony up to run the government the next two years.

The incomparable Will Lutz of the Lone Star Report recently provided some simple guidelines on how taxpayers can assess the state's proposed spending:

• What kind of surplus/shortage will we have? Compare the Texas Legislative Budget Board's (LBB) estimates to the Comptroller's estimate of revenue.
• How do we know what is happening with entitlement spending? Entitlements are government financial obligations, mainly public welfare programs, that taxpayers are on the hook for supporting no matter what. Generally linked to caseloads, entitlement spending is a very large and hard to reduce item in the state budget.
• What are going to be the big-ticket budget debates in the upcoming session? Check out exceptional spending items from agencies as clues. See below....
• How can interested parties and the public follow these debates? The Internet affords many opportunities for additional citizen insight into the budget process.

On the last point, I recommend having a look see at the Texas Legislative Budget Board's website, especially:

• The Texas Budget Source: This is basically a window into the actual numbers fed into the state budget process by state agencies. Come here to get the base numbers.
• Texas Fiscal Size Up: More detail than you'd ever want on how the trends in Texas government revenue and spending trends. This document is a good resource for examining revenue by source (including federal source), spending by function, and how those two trends compare to population and personal income.
• Budget 101: While not exactly light reading, this 74 page document is a good overview of how the Texas state budget process works. However, it does not show the "process behind the process", that is the method by which lobbyists put forward the interests of their clients in hopes of driving business from the state.

Happy analyzing and remember, sunlight is the best disinfectant.