Hooray! U.S. House votes “No!”

September 29, 2008 — buckeyerino

By no means are we out of the woods when it comes to economic crisis.  I’m not cheering the fact that our economy will be rocked severely.

I am happy, though, that I still live in the U.S.A., not the U.S.S.S.A (the United Soviet Socialist States of America).

Congress must still take action, but the message is clear:  Stop the march toward nationalization of our financial sector.  Stop the march toward socialism.

We can regulate.  We can reregulate.  We can stop the fraud and the cheating.  We will be financially in dire straits, but we’ll still be free, and the market will eventually correct itself.

My favorite John Kerry quote (though referring to different circumstances when delivered at the DNC in 2004):  “The future doesn’t belong to fear.  The future belongs to freedom.”

Posted in National Politics. Tags: . 2 Comments »

Does Kofinis know what’s good for the country?

September 28, 2008 — buckeyerino

I see Democrat strategist Chris Kofinis bloviating on MSNBC about the prospects of passing a bailout bill.  Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want a floor vote on the bill until she is assured that about a hundred House Republicans will go along with the measure.  Everybody’s pacing the floor while the House Republicans are huddled in their chambers poring over 106 pages of legislation.

Chris Kofinis is saying that the the House Democrats, the White House, and the Senate don’t like this bill, but they are doing it because it’s what’s good for the country, and that House Republicans are trying to play politics with this instead of doing what’s right for the country.

I have to ask, what country do we live in?  The U.S.A.?  Or the U.S.S.S.A (The United Soviet Socialist States of America)?  This vote is pivotal.  This vote tells us whether we are a capitalist democracy, or a socialist bureaucracy.  The political risk for bailing out Wall Street is that if the people of the United States voted on the matter directly, we’d retain our capitalist economy, even though it falters from time to time.  Since Congress is willing to buck the will of the people, they are fairly confident that incumbency will protect them from blowback as they seem poised to become the elites of a socialist state.

If this is still the U.S.A., then Chris Kofinis is no patriot, and is clueless about what’s good for the country.

Posted in National Politics, Politics in the MSM. Tags: , . 5 Comments »

Eye-popping video of the Franklin Raines era

September 28, 2008 — buckeyerino

These are excerpts taken from Congressional hearings about the dealings of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae back in 2004.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

Raines characterized housing as a riskless investment asset.  Wow!  That turned out to be dead wrong, but that’s not all this YouTube video reveals.

Posted in National Politics. Tags: . 2 Comments »

More PBS broadcasts about Ohio political blogs

September 27, 2008 — buckeyerino

“The State of Ohio,” a weekly half-hour show that airs on Ohio PBS stations, will be broadcast on Sunday morning (that’s September 28th) in several media markets.  For a little more background, see my original post about the current week’s installment with a feature about Ohio’s political blogs.

WCET-TV 48 in Cincinnati is slated to air the show at 6:30 AM.  WPTD-TV 16 in Dayton airs it at 7 AM.  WPTO-TV 14 in Oxford airs the show at 10:30 AM.  WBGU-TV 27 in Bowling Green will air the program at noon, when WVIZ-TV 25 in Cleveland is set to air the show for a second time.  WOUC-TV 44 in Cambridge and WOUB-TV 20 in Athens will air the program at 12:30 PM, early Sunday afternoon.

For cable TV markets that receive The Ohio Channel, the show will air on Monday at 10 AM and 6 PM, with a wee-hour-of-the-morning showing on Tuesday at 2 AM.

Posted in Political Blogosphere. Tags: . 1 Comment »

Irked by Obama

September 27, 2008 — buckeyerino

I watched the entire debate between McCain and Obama last night, and thought that both sides could see some positives in the performances of whoever their favorite candidate was.  So I would mostly leave the debate topic alone, as there were no decisive blows, and emotions stayed on an even keel.

Except for one thing.  One thing that irked me.

And since it remained on my mind, and I couldn’t sleep, I figured I’d better blog about it.

Since Obama’s early campaign appearances, he’s been talking this nonsense about him, as U.S. President, willing to meet anyone, including enemies, including Iran, face to face, to engage in diplomatic negotiations.

Last night, Obama said it again, only this time, he said that 5 prior Secretaries of State agreed with him.  I watched that special on CNN hosted by Christiane Amanpour with 5 Secretaries of State (Henry Kissinger, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, James Baker, and Colin Powell).  Zero of them agreed with him.  And that’s what irked me.  That’s what made me mad.

None of those 5 Secretaries of State talked about meeting with Iranian leaders at the Presidential level without preconditions.  All 5 of them agreed with having talks with Iran, which is something McCain agrees with, too, but the highest level of talks any of them spoke about without preconditions was at the Secretary of State level.

I repeat, the Secretary of State level was the highest level recommended by any of the 5.

Obama even named Kissinger as someone who agreed with him.  McCain called him on it, clarifying that there would be talks with Iran in a McCain Administration, but not at the Presidential level without preconditions, and that Kissinger agreed with McCain.  CNN’s fact-checkers confirmed that Kissinger sided with McCain.

But after being called on it by McCain, Obama backpedaled, as if to dismiss the notion that he, Obama, was referring to talks at the Presidential level, and tried to utter some nonsense about preparation, but that just irked me.

Obama had better decide what he’s saying.  He can’t say contradictory things at once.  Either he’s talking about Presidential summits with other world leaders with no conditions, like he’s done since the beginning of the campaign, or he’s talking about diplomatic communications at the lower levels, not at the Presidential level, which means he has to say that he is retreating from the position he took at his campaign’s outset.  I’m not letting Obama have any wiggle room on this.

In international affairs, one must keep in mind that despite the long distances and large regions of the world that are involved in such discussions, “all politics are local.”  Leaders of foreign countries have to worry about their own domestic bases of power.  Often, the posture these foreign leaders assume on the world stage has everything to do with how they are viewed by the people at home, within their own countries, and not so much to do with what is accommodating to outsiders.

Keep that in mind.

If you are a President of the United States, you are a very busy person.  Though very many people want to infringe upon your time, though many people want an audience with you, you have to be very judicious with how you spend your time.  You have many very weighty responsibilities.  You have to prioritize who gets access to you and who does not.  For those who don’t get access to you, you have to allow them access to someone that you authorize to act on your behalf.  For foreign governments, you authorize the Department of State, which has many capable diplomats in its ranks working on behalf of the President and the American people.  The State Department can handle whatever diplomatic tasks you choose to delegate to them.  There are, however, certain circumstances where you may decide that something is important enough that you do not delegate a matter to the State Department because you choose to deal with it yourself, as President.

Question:  Would I, as President, want to allocate my scarce time to negotiate directly with an enemy foreign leader with no preconditions?

Answer: No.

Question: Why not?

Answer: If I set no preconditions, then I have no indication from the enemy foreign leader that negotiations will lead to anything productive.  When preconditions are met, that is a signal that negotiations might lead to a favorable outcome. Therefore, if there are no preconditions, or preconditions are not met, a summit could easily be a total waste of a President’s time.  Therefore, delegate the matter to the State Department to handle until such a time arrives that the enemy foreign leader exhibits some sign that a summit might lead to progress.  Unless an enemy foreign leader gives some signal that compromise is possible, having a summit with that leader would be trying to negotiate from a position of weakness.  The President would be seen as caving in to the obstinate foreign leader, in which case, negotiations can only go badly, as only the United States is signaling a willingness to compromise.  The President must be at least on equal footing, if not on firmer ground, in order to negotiate from a position of strength.  Furthermore (and this is where the adage “all politics are local” fits in), if an obstinate foreign leader is granted access to the President without meeting any preconditions, the comparative weakness of the President will be exploited for domestic consumption by the enemy foreign leader to consolidate power within his/her own nation, further hampering future efforts to gain any concessions at all from the foreign leader.

The enemy foreign leader will brag.  BRAG!  The enemy foreign leader will brag to the people of his/her country that the uncompromising stance they took was able to humble the United States, forcing the U.S. President to crumble, and come crawling on their knees and begging for a concession, and the foreign leader defiantly and triumphantly decreed, “No!”  Thus the enemy foreign leader becomes a hero/heroine in the eyes of his/her people that they were able to subordinate the United States to their will.

That is what John McCain means when he says that meeting with enemy foreign leaders at the PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL WITH NO PRECONDITIONS legitimizes tyrants.  John McCain, as President, will not offer himself as fodder for the propaganda machine that tyrants employ to legitimize themselves and consolidate power.

Posted in International Politics. Tags: . 6 Comments »

Voters’ rush to judgment

September 26, 2008 — buckeyerino

“He presented for the first time in a long time an intelligent counterargument to the Democrats.  He’s not going to change me into a Republican, but it’s refreshing to hear someone say something with that much authority and understanding.”

That quote comes from an 18-year-old Oberlin College student who had just finished listening to a speech given by former Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, as reported by the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram’s Jason Hawk.

Newt Gingrich’s views have been publicized all through the MSM before, but here’s a person of voting age who didn’t suspect that Gingrich would have something “intelligent” to say.  Wouldn’t it be nice if all persons of voting age had the opportunity to hear diverse political views unfiltered by the MSM?  Most of the TV networks would never allow Gingrich to be portrayed as “intelligent” during the course of their news coverage.

But the Chronicle-Telegram also has this story reported by Cindy Liese:

Beginning next week, buses will cart hundreds of Oberlin College students to the Lorain County Board of Elections office in Sheffield Township so they can cast their ballots early.

Within 24 hours of an e-mail notice of the buses, 500 students had signed up, said Scott Wargo, college spokesman.

The college is paying for the buses, although the cost was not available Tuesday.

Ohio’s early absentee voting gets underway on September 30th, 35 days before Election Day, and the presidential candidates are trying to bank votes early.  These college students finally had an unfiltered opportunity to hear a McCain surrogate speak, and if they listen to the Presidential candidate debate tonight, they’ll be able to contrast the two candidates as words come “straight from the horse’s mouth,” but what about the other races on the ballot?  State and local elections are important, too.  Will these Oberlin College students have an opportunity to learn about the nether regions of their ballots?

There are opportunities that lie ahead that would allow these students to learn about lower-profile races.  Consider the candidate forum to be sponsored by the Coalition of Hispanic Issues and Progress (CHIP) in nearby Lorain, that the college students could see on a cable channel carried throughout Lorain County.  The Morning Journal reports that this forum won’t be held until October 15.

The free event, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., will include State Rep. Matt Lundy, D-Elyria, and his opponent Republican Dan Urban; Lorain County Commissioner and Democrat Lori Kokoski and her opponent, Republican Martin O’Donnell; Lorain County Commissioner and Democrat Ted Kalo and his opponent Republican Nick Brusky; and U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, D-13, and her opponent Republican David Potter.

Granted, the state rep and Congressional candidates listed on the program aren’t the ones that will appear on the Oberlin ballot.  For state rep, incumbent Democrat Joe Koziura is running unopposed, and Republican Bradley Leavitt is challenging incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur for a seat in Congress.  The county commissioner races, though, are VERY consequential.  I hope the Oberlin College students study up on the commissioner races before going to the polls, but I don’t think that’s likely if they’re among the 500 that signed up to ride buses for early voting just next week.  Besides the CHIP candidate forum, Lorain County Community College usually hosts a candidate forum in even-numbered years, and Oberlin’s League of Women’s Voters usually hosts a candidate forum every year–but those forums are usually scheduled just a matter of days before election day, so they’ll likely occur LATER in the election cycle, NOT earlier.

I’m a former resident of Oberlin.  In fact, in 2004, when Senator John Kerry challenged incumbent George W. Bush for the U. S. Presidency, I was on the ballot as Joe Koziura’s opponent in the state rep race.  I remember going to vote on election day, in a precinct that included a lot of Oberlin College students.  The turnout was enormous.  I waited for two-and-a-half hours in line to cast my vote.  I can understand why the students would want to vote early.  Waiting that long in line could cause someone to miss some important activities on one’s schedule, even if one doesn’t have class on that day.  The students were quite sociable, so they conversed with me and others around them as we all waited.  They had turned out in huge numbers to support John Kerry, but many of them had come to study at Oberlin College from distant parts of the country.  They frankly admitted that they knew nothing about the local candidates, so they voted a straight Democrat ticket, something that the Democrat machine in Lorain used to their advantage to sweep county offices.

Among the most egregious picks of the voters was the election of Ted Kalo as county commissioner.  He’s been one of Lorain’s good old boys for years, among the privileged that pull the strings of Democrat officeholders in the decaying rust-belt city of Lorain, who was probably the most clueless of all the commissioner candidates that year (8 Democrats and 2 Republicans ran for county commissioner in 2004).  After winning office, he promptly redecorated the commissioner’s office he worked in with new flooring, furniture, and even a plasma-screen TV!  Lorain County is not so financially well off that it can afford splendor.  Kalo has trouble balancing his books as a businessman (at one point, grossly delinquent on remitting sales taxes from his business, more recently filing bankruptcy for his business), so when the county’s revenues weren’t keeping up with expenditures, he led the commissioners in voting to increase the county’s sales tax.  Unlike Barack Obama, who says he’ll only increase taxes on the rich, a hike in the county’s sales tax affects everyone, old and young, rich and poor, with no exceptions, not even for college students purchasing textbooks.  Some voters took measures into their own hands and filed petitions to put the proposed sales tax hike on the Lorain County ballot in fall of 2007.  When the votes were counted last November, the rough totals showed that 80% of county residents opposed the sales tax hike.

And here’s the reason why the county commissioner races are so consequential:  Commissioners comprise the legislative branch of the county.  They are to impose the people’s will on county government.  They have power of the purse.  However, incumbents Ted Kalo and Lori Kokoski have said that if elected, they will again attempt to hike the sales tax, despite the demonstrated will of the people.  Both incumbents hail from Lorain, a city headed toward, if not already in, economic ruin.  These two don’t understand the economy, and they evidently don’t understand their responsibility to represent the people.  Challengers Nick Brusky and Martin O’Donnell have both served on city councils in cities that have been two of the three bright spots in the Lorain County economy (much of the county is economically distressed).  They have an understanding of the economy.  They have a track record showing that they know how to prioritize when resources are scarce.  They have pledged to not hike the county sales tax.  They understand that a commissioner is supposed to represent the people of the county, and act according to the people’s will.  Electing Brusky and O’Donnell as county commissioners will help put the county on better footing, so I hope these college students are aware of this when they vote.

Of course, readers of this blog are seeing the commissioners’ races through my filter, my lens, my prism, my perspective, as they peruse this message.  But there are opportunities to see the candidates unfiltered, and I hope that voters avail themselves of those opportunities before rushing off to vote in a hurry.

Posted in Local Politics. Tags: . 9 Comments »

Ohio political blogosphere featured on PBS show

September 26, 2008 — buckeyerino

Hey, Ohio political blogosphere, are your ears burning?  Somebody’s been talking about you behind your back.  A couple of blogs/bloggers were even singled out by name.  Ohio’s PBS stations broadcast a half-hour-long weekend show (schedules vary, so check your local PBS or Ohio Channel listings) called “The State of Ohio,” hosted by Karen Kasler.  Eric Vessels of Plunderbund and Progress Ohio participated in the taping of a 20-minute segment, along with yours truly, the Buckeye RINO.  The debate between Obama and McCain is shuffling the schedule for some of the PBS stations, so I’ll provide a later post when I can nail down the air times better.  So far, though, WOSU-TV 34 of Columbus and WPBO-TV 42 of Portsmouth are scheduled to lead off at 5:30 pm, tonight, the 26th, with WVIZ-TV 25 of Cleveland airing the show tonight at 7:30.  In the early hours of Saturday morning, WEAO-TV 49 of Akron and WNEO-TV 45 of Alliance are scheduled to air the show at 5:30 AM.

Posted in Political Blogosphere. Tags: . 6 Comments »

Are we capitalists or socialists?

September 25, 2008 — buckeyerino

Why do the Congressional Democrats say that they will only greenlight a $700 billion bailout bill if they’ve got the support of a significant number of Congressional Republicans?  The Democrats are in the majority in both houses, and the U.S. President is siding with them, so why the uproar over the Republican holdouts?

The reason why some Republicans are holding back is because the bailout converts our financial sector from capitalism to socialism, and they don’t believe we should be socialists.  I agree.  I don’t think we should be socialists.  I’m sure Congressional Democrats understand where these Republican holdouts are coming from.

Therefore, if the Congressional Democrats are so certain that these Republican holdouts are in error, and they think they have the correct solution, then they should act on their convictions, just as the Congressional Republican holdouts are acting on their convictions.

The ball really is in the Democrats’ court, but I guess they don’t really want the ball to be in their court.  Why do the Democrats hesitate?  Do they also feel an inner conflict?  If so, then perhaps they’ll have enough of an open mind to consider my question:  Are Americans capitalists or socialists?  What’s your answer?  If the former, then go back to the drawing board and figure out something besides bailing out with the taxpayers’ money.  If the latter, then ACT!!!

Posted in National Politics. Tags: . 5 Comments »

Connecticut group think

September 24, 2008 — buckeyerino

I happened to see this AP article by way of Yahoo that says Connecticut Democrat Party leaders want to exile U. S. Senator Joe Lieberman.  It made me laugh.

The G.O.P. is making no such moves against those who endorsed Obama for U.S. President at the Democrat National Convention.  The G.O.P. is more tolerant of diverse opinions.

In Ohio, the Democrats made a move to banish Marc Dann, but they did the right thing because of Dann’s ethical lapses.  No one in Connecticut is accusing Lieberman of promoting a frat house culture within his Senate office.  Apparently, Connecticut Democrats expect their politicians to be mere puppets.  If you can dance without strings, then you don’t qualify to be a Democrat in Connecticut.

One of the Democrats, Audrey Blondin, pushing for a censure resolution against Lieberman said:

“If you have someone who says they’re a Democrat, who is registered as a Democrat and is a national figure supporting a candidate who is opposed to all the ideals and beliefs and positions that we hold as Democrats, he’s diluting — in my opinion — the meaning of our party.”

Oh, no!  The Democrat Party in Connecticut could be diluted!  If left unchecked, the reliably blue state could turn red!  (I wish!)  And Lieberman would be the cause!  (Yeah, I suppose the extreme ideological intolerance by the Democrats as shown by their vilification of Lieberman wouldn’t turn anybody off.)

Go ahead, Connecticut Democrats.  Start an inquisition.  Purge your party of all infidels.  I wouldn’t want you to feel as if your party had become diluted.

Posted in National Politics. Tags: . 2 Comments »

Carnival of Ohio Politics #135 posted

September 24, 2008 — buckeyerino

For a round-up of the best blog entries about Ohio politics for the past week, check out the Carnival of Ohio Politics.  Jill Miller Zimon of Writes Like She Talks edited this week’s installment, Carnival #135.  Thanks, Jill!

Posted in Political Blogosphere. Tags: . 1 Comment »

A new “Ellis Island” could help

September 24, 2008 — buckeyerino

I’m talking about the benefits of opening the floodgates of LEGAL immigration.

Let me be very clear at the outset that I support securing our borders, including continuing with construction of the border fence.  Also, those who are in the country illegally ought not to be first in line to receive legal status.  I favor a beefed up Border Patrol and ICE.  Some businesses and the politicians that those businesses own have benefited from an underground labor market that undermines the legitimate labor market.  Those guilty of such should be prosecuted for human trafficking crimes.  I oppose new guest worker programs because we already have provisions in place for temporary work visas and because we have no effective strategy for dealing with those who overstay their temporary guest visas.  Michelle Malkin also makes a connection between illegal immigration and the high-risk-taking on Wall Street that has brought the nation to the brink of a depression, or socialistic taxpayer-financed bailout, or both.

By the way, on the topic of the bailout, I do not favor it.  I don’t want to see a socialization of our economy.  I don’t have confidence that the bailout will avert severe economic shocks.  I think that the House of Representatives passed a bailout measure quickly because all 435 Representatives are up for election at the beginning of November, and they want to delay the day of reckoning until after these incumbents have retained their seats, whereas only about one-third of the Senate is up for election in any given even-numbered year, which is why they are being more deliberative than the House.  I know that without the bailout, the nation would endure severe economic shocks, but I think the American people are rooted in their views of justice and facing the music.  Our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents have suffered devastating times through two world wars and the Great Depression, and heroically survived to tell the tale, and so the current generation of Americans have within them the mental toughness to see beyond the current calamity, as many other Americans besides myself are opposed to continued bailouts, especially when the collective price tag reaches above a trillion dollars.  Many of us instinctively know that if the Federal government tried to swallow up whole segments of the private sector in this socialist tsunami that the Federal treasury, itself, would become insolvent, and our government would default in addition to the other economic woes, thus devaluing our currency and destroying the security of government-issued bonds.  Artificial attempts, for purely political purposes, to manage the market corrections that must take place will only prolong the time it will take for recovery to begin, as shown by the Japanese and the financial crisis that enveloped them in the mid 90’s.  I do, however, favor transparency, oversight, accountability, and unambiguous regulations to curb such scandalous financial practices in the future.

How do we recover?  With credit frozen up, with houses for sale with more being foreclosed upon, with business failures and job losses looming, how do we begin to pick up the pieces?  There are many things that the “invisible hand” of Adam Smith economics will put in motion for equilibrium to be restored, but I want to elaborate on expanding legal immigration and how it could help economic recovery.

Think of a river with levees along the riverbanks.  Think of a flood.  The levees will hold for awhile, but levees can be breached when the rivers are swollen enough.  Also, think of the fertility of river bottoms, and the ecosystem within the river.  When a natural river is artificially channeled, the ecosystem of the river is altered.  Though floods can devastate structures, they can also improve the fertility of the soil along the river bottoms.  So do we want to allow flooding from time to time to maintain the fertility of the soil and viability of the stream?  Or do we want protection from flooding devastation?  Innovations in civil engineering in recent years have allowed us to have the best of both worlds, with mechanisms that can limit the risk of devastation, yet allow for nature to run its course some of the time.

For scores of years from the foundation of our country until the very early part of the 20th century, we permitted immigrants to flood our soil, and our nation flourished.  But after a couple of decades into the 20th century, the flood of immigrants was too overwhelming, and we constructed the bulwarks to shut off the flow.  For the better part of a century now, we’ve constricted legal immigration, setting artificial ceilings on who can migrate here from where and for what purpose.  The demand to migrate here, though, has breached our flood control measures.  Therefore, we have standing pools of illegals within our population, and those waters are brackish.  Some of the illegals crossed our borders without papers.  Others came with temporary papers that have since expired.

The underground economy resulting from the presence of illegals has besieged the above-ground economy, as sweatshop work conditions violate human rights, wage levels are eroded, the tax base is eroded, and government outlays for medical care, crime-fighting, and public education have increased.

Those who want to come to the USA through the front door, especially for permanent resident visas, experience delays that can last for years.  A university student from overseas can get a visa in a matter of weeks.  Why does the vetting process for a temporary visa, for example, an F-1 visa for a university student, require much less time than does the vetting process for a permanent visa?  Many of our current population of illegals have overstayed their temporary visas, so, should we have vetted them more carefully before issuing the temporary visa?  Or should we just have better enforcement actions against those who’ve overstayed?  Or should we totally rethink the concept of temporary visas and provide conditionally permanent visas, instead?  The lengthy delays in granting the permanent visas are swelling the ranks of those who never make an attempt to come through the front door in the first place.

I think immigration reform measures should beef up INS, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, not just the Border Patrol and ICE.  A beefed-up INS can help ICE follow up with those who have overstayed their visas.  A beefed up INS can have an increased capacity for vetting those who apply for visas.  A beefed-up INS can speed up the processing time for immigrants coming through the front door.  A beefed-up INS can handle a larger workload that comes with allowing greater numbers of immigrants.

Let’s open the floodgates to legal immigration, with conditional permanent visas (a visa designed for permanent residency that has conditions which allow for revocation within the first five years).  The flood will fertilize our soil at a time of economic devastation, and within a couple of seasons, we will have a great harvest, recover from the devastation, and, if we choose, close the floodgates again.  The criteria beyond establishing that they are not criminals or terrorists?  Those applying for the permanent resident visas must be able to buy a residence with cash, and they must sign a waiver that they must not apply for government assistance (welfare, social security, medicare, medicaid, government student loans–requirement waived for individuals honorably discharged from the U.S. military) within the first five years of residence.  How they earn their living is something we can let them work out on their own so long as they aren’t living off of government assistance and so long as they are in the above-ground economy (working in the underground economy would be just cause for visa revocation and deportation).  Just the fact that they can buy a residence with cash can help our housing market recover during a credit crunch.  The swell of population in the above-ground economy will increase demands for goods and services, further stoking the economy’s recovery, plus our tax base will be expanded.

If some compassionate Hollywood types want to sponsor some immigrants by plunking down cash to get them a house, so be it, so long as the immigrants can make it through the vetting process.

So what do we do about the low demand for homes sitting vacant in Ohio, in Florida, in Michigan, in every state in the country?  Let’s turn on the supply-side spigot by allowing good people from beyond our borders to have a chance at the American dream.  The bursting of the housing bubble is what brought down the entire financial house of cards, so addressing the housing crisis at the bottom-up level can assist with the recovery.  While these new legal immigrants embark upon the American dream, our American nightmare can be speeded toward its conclusion so we can wake up to a new America.

Posted in National Politics. Tags: . 3 Comments »

Bailing out Congressional approval ratings

September 24, 2008 — buckeyerino

With Obama and Democrats throwing the kitchen sink into the bailout plan, it’s obvious that the bailout is not just for Wall Street or Main Street.  It’s really an attempt to bail the Congress out of DISMAL approval ratings, as Congressional incompetence has been put on display during this crisis.  The MSM usually hides Congressional fumbles, but there’s no way to avoid shining a spotlight now.  The Republicans in Congress that are most ready to jump on the bailout bandwagon are also the Republicans most in need of image makeovers, too.  Senators and Representatives are hoping to score points by all their talk of helping Main Street, but I’m not so sure Main Street is convinced this bailout is about them.  This is a pathetic attempt by Congress to appear to be heroic when they’ve already been exposed as self-dealing schemers whose actions show they want to continue to live their lives of privilege and to dodge responsibility for their abject failures.

Posted in National Politics. Tags: . 1 Comment »

“Blog Bunker” retrospect

September 23, 2008 — buckeyerino

At 5 pm today, the 23rd, I participated on the “Blog Bunker” program on Indie Talk 110, on Sirius, a subscription satellite radio medium.  The host for today was Joe Salzone.  He dedicated the entire show to the Wall Street meltdown and the bailout proposal before Congress.  I wanted to talk a bit about how that issue plays out in Ohio, especially from the perspective of a McCain supporter.  Mr. Salzone is one of those rare persons supporting Bob Barr.  The host was very gracious.  He allowed callers to have their say without interruption. The callers were excellent, and a few had some very poignant information to share.

I had to admit that polls show that voters favor Obama on the economy.  I acknowledged that Republicans in Congress are divided about how to proceed.  I also conceded that John McCain is still gathering and processing information on the matter, and is still crafting his approach to the matter.  I credited Ron Paul with being accurate in his predictions about our economy.  I acknowledged that there is plenty of blame to go around between Wall Street, the White House, past Presidential Administrations, and both parties in Congress.

I opined that McCain is still in the hunt because of his reassuring message of reform and his leadership image.  I opined that Obama hadn’t closed the deal yet because his economic proposals, as presented at townhall meetings, are often buried deep in a stump speech that is devoted mostly to blaming Bush, Wall Street lobbyists, and Republicans in Congress, notably McCain.  While the Obama camp may hope that he is capable of portraying McCain as Herbert Hoover, it hardly seems the stuff of leadership to just rant and rant and rant about McCain without putting his own proposals front and center, first and foremost.  By contrast, McCain and Palin have been highlighting their proposals BEFORE delving into their prepared stump speeches. They don’t dwell for dozens of minutes on end on playing the blame game, but they do spread the blame to everyone, including those in their party.  They reiterate that they’ve both had to upbraid members of their own party from time to time in order to do the right thing.  Their prepared stump speeches then reinforce their reform message, and coupling that message with that image of leadership has kept McCain from falling far behind Obama in Ohio.

I counted myself among those who are opposed to the bailout.  I noted how long the Japanese financial crisis has dragged on because they also attempted some artificial market interventions to soften the blow.  I said that we do need accountability, enforcement of existing regulations, correction and introduction of other regulations, plus more effective oversight, but I’m not in favor of socializing the financial sector and using $700 billion of taxpayer funds to bail out Wall Street.  I expressed skepticism that the bailouts would stave of severe economic shocks.  I am of the opinion that whether we proceed with bailouts or not, that other dominoes will fall, and that severe economic shocks will follow, so, why proceed with bailouts?  If we don’t proceed with bailouts, but we put good governance structures and regulations in place, I think the market can correct itself faster than if we proceed with bailouts.  I also admonished that families need to prepare themselves for future economic shocks, mentioning a prior blog article that encouraged families to stockpile household goods to better weather the bigger economic storm that may be headed our way.

The conversation was quickly-paced.  I’m not sure that I was always relevant or on point or had my wits about me all the time, but I had fun.

Posted in National Politics, Political Blogosphere, Politics in the MSM. Tags: , , . 7 Comments »

Deep-six Issue 6

September 23, 2008 — buckeyerino

Last night I saw a television advertisement promoting a “yes” vote on Issue 6.  Barf!

I want to urge all registered voters in Ohio to vote “NO!” on Issue 6.

I really wish the casino gambling industry would leave Ohio alone.  How many times have Ohio voters already voted “No” on these casino schemes?  So many that the casino industry should have gotten the message by now.

The tired old message of the advertisement was that some Ohioans travel out of state to gamble.  Big whoop-de-doo.  I’d venture to say that those making the casino trips are becoming fewer in number as time passes.  For one thing, it seems same-store revenues have leveled off and are currently waning in Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia.  Even those who stay home and play the lottery are not participating as much.  Keno was supposed to fuel a new infusion of revenue into the lottery, but the word on the street is that Keno’s debut wasn’t all that successful.  Are these neighboring states really raking in a huge windfall from gamblers that are Ohio residents?  It sure doesn’t seem like it, with the way the economies of those states are tanking just like Ohio’s.  In every issue campaign to expand gambling in Ohio so far, the gambling industry has always tried to portray itself as a cure-all for what ails Ohio.  Yet, gambling surely hasn’t cured anything in neighboring states.

Issue 6 backers have their own web page.  The first tab I clicked on was labeled “Myths and Truths,” which only had a message of “Coming Soon,” on it.  Since, as of this writing, they haven’t discussed any myths or truths, let me share just a few.

THE BIGGEST MYTH OF ALL:  YOU WILL WIN THE JACKPOT

Truth: All the grandiose claims of the new jobs and tax revenues that the casino will generate is based upon . . . LOSERS!  The casino industry exists because it’s designed to make you LOSE money.  The casino can’t pay any taxes or any of its payroll unless customers lose.  However, the casino lures customers by pumping up their hopes of WINNING.  Another word for this seeming paradox is FRAUD.  Legalizing casinos is legalizing fraud.  A customer goes to the casino buying into all the hype about winning, but leaves empty-handed.  The customer did not receive what they paid for.  Fraud.

All the other myths, including the one on the website’s front page about the casino generating up to 5,000 new jobs, tie into the biggest myth of all, and tie in to the truth behind the myth, which is that people LOSE.

And what about that claim of up to 5,000 new jobs generated by the legalization of this solitary casino along a stretch of I-71 between Columbus and Cincinnati?  The key words are “up to,” which renders the number, itself, meaningless.  “Up to” means it might get as high as that number, but it might not.  So I can say the casino might create up to 5 jobs.  It might generate 5 jobs.  It might not.  I can say the casino might create up to 50 jobs.  I can say it might create up to 500 jobs.  It might create up to 5,000 jobs.  It might create up to 50,000 jobs.  It might create up to 500,000 jobs.  It might create up to 5,000,000 jobs.  What if I said legalizing this casino might create up to 50,000,000 jobs, but it, in reality, only created 50 jobs?  Did I lie?  No.  Because I used the words “up to,” which doesn’t indicate any minimum, only a maximum.  I never used the words “at least,” which would would have indicated a minimum.  So, don’t pay any attention to the number, as it’s meaningless when preceded by the words “up to.”

Another myth is what each county will receive in taxes on gambling revenues.  The projections mean nothing because they really don’t know how much revenue they would receive.  Also, the assumptions about the tax rates are based on the assumption that this casino would enjoy a monopoly in Ohio, with no competitors.  That’s a really huge assumption.  Can this solitary casino maintain it’s monopoly in Ohio?  Nope.  Native American nations, like the Eastern Shawnee, have already staked claims for where they will build casinos.  The only catch is that Ohio doesn’t allow casinos, so these claims have laid dormant.  Once Ohio allows this first casino, there is no way that the other claims can be denied.  The first casino may fight the efforts to allow competition (here’s their flimsy, wishful-thinking argument) from the Eastern Shawnee and other Native American nations, but once the issue reaches the courtrooms, forget about it.  Existing Federal laws will permit the Native American nations to operate casinos in Ohio once the state opens the door for the first casino.  The tax deal accompanying Issue 6 says that if the first casino doesn’t maintain its monopoly in Ohio, that it would be taxed at the same rate as the competitor that pays the lowest taxes.  The Native American nations are exempt from paying taxes on their casino revenues.  Therefore, once the Native American nations break the casino monopoly, $0 tax dollars will be generated by the casino legalized by Issue 6.

Middle-class Americans fork over their hard-earned dollars to Middle East oil barons, and we run the risk of terrorist threats because of it.  Middle-class Americans fork over their hard-earned dollars to pay the mortgage, and Wall Street mishandles it.  Middle-class Americans fork over their-hard earned dollars to the Federal government, and the Federal government uses it to bail out the same Wall Street bigwigs that mishandled the money we sent them.  Why should middle-class Ohioans fork over their hard-earned dollars to line the pockets of some filthy stinking rich casino owners?  I’m sick and tired of the filthy stinking rich, whether they be in the Middle East, in Washington, on Wall Street, or anywhere else, always conniving new ways of reaching into our pockets.  Stay out of my pocket!  And that includes the casino owners!

For those who are Libertarian who think that Ohio ought to allow casinos, let me assure you that Issue 6 is no Libertarian proposal.  If it were a Libertarian proposal, then we wouldn’t be talking about legalizing a casino monopoly within the state.  If it were a Libertarian proposal, it would simply be a blank check allowing anyone to open a casino in any community in the state without any barriers to competition, much like anyone can open a restaurant or a convenience store in any community in the state.  Issue 6 still makes it illegal for the ordinary person to open a casino.  Only one entity will be permitted to open a casino, and that entity is described thusly:

The MyOhioNow.com project is a joint venture with Lakes Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: LACO), operators of premier gaming facilities located nationwide.

Looking over the petition language, I am reminded of the handiwork of disgraced former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who always carried water for the gambling interests.

CERTIFICATION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL

Without passing on the advisability of the approval or rejection of the matter referred, but pursuant to the duties imposed on the Attorney General’s Office under Section 3519.01(A) of the Ohio Revised Code, I hereby certify that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the proposed initiated constitutional amendment, adding Article XV, § 6a(A)-(G).

Marc Dann
Attorney General
December 20, 2007

Finally, I want to talk a little bit about gambling’s REAL impact on the economy.

If I were to buy a sofa from a store, I would gain something tangible, a sofa.  The store I bought it from would gain something tangible, my cash.  With the cash, the store would meet its financial obligations, like paying rent to the leasing agent, and paying the wages of the sales associates.  Furthermore, the store would seek to replenish its inventory, so it would place an order for a sofa to be shipped from a distribution center.  The distribution center would ship another sofa to the store.  The distribution center would receive more sofas from the manufacturer to maintain the distribution center’s inventory.  The manufacturer would keep on churning out new sofas.  In addition to paying worker wages, the manufacturer also orders components and supplies with which to make the sofas, so orders are placed for wood, fabric, screws, etc.  Buying a sofa has a multiplier ripple effect on the economy.  A lot of economic activity is sustained by purchasing a product.

In contrast, if I took the same amount of money needed to buy a sofa and I lost it all while gambling in the casino, I bring home nothing tangible.  The casino owner has to pay a few employees and a few utility bills in order to keep operating, but that’s it.  Since you went home empty handed, no inventory had to be replenished, so your hard-earned cash never went up any supply chain creating more ripples in the economy.  Your money went into the pocket of a casino owner, who was rich to begin with, and didn’t really need your money, even though the casino owner was greedy for your money.  What does the casino owner do with the money?  Maybe the money gets stashed in an off-shore bank account in the Cayman Islands.  The money was siphoned out of the economy.  It’s no longer in circulation.  The money is gone and you’ve got nothing to show for it.  This is why Indiana’s economy is not being helped by the casinos.  This is why Michigan’s economy is not being helped by the casinos.  I could keep going.  The point is, Ohio’s economy won’t be helped by a casino.  It will only seek to further impoverish Ohio’s population to satisfy its own greed.

Posted in gambling, State Politics. Tags: , . 11 Comments »

DJW debut on satellite radio

September 23, 2008 — buckeyerino

Yours truly, the Buckeye RINO, has been invited to participate today, September 23rd, on “The Blog Bunker,” a Sirius satellite radio talk show on Indie Talk 110, beginning at 5 pm EDT.  On the Indie Talk Channel 110 program line-up page, the listing for “The Blog Bunker” is accompanied by this program description:

A cutting-edge roundtable featuring a selection of the over 100 million bloggers around the globe.

If you are a Sirius subscriber, you are welcome to listen in and call the program with your comments.  I don’t know how well or how poorly I will do, but, if you’ve seen my photo on my “About” page, you surely realize that, at least, I have a face for radio.

Posted in Political Blogosphere. Tags: . 5 Comments »
« Older posts
Newer posts »