Big Dogs House

Obama Cuts Off Constituents

Jul 23, 2010 Political

The good news for taxpayers is that Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday legislation that is supposed to prevent about 50 billion dollars from going to people who are not supposed to get it. The dead, those in jail and fugitives have been paid money they are not supposed to get.

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed legislation intended to slash by $50 billion the taxpayer money improperly paid to dead people, fugitives and those in jail who shouldn’t be getting benefits. Yahoo News

The bad news is that this will only reduce by about half the number of such payments.

This is what happens when government is involved. Programs are put into place and they grow because government never shrinks. As they grow, they become more difficult to manage and oversight (if any existed to begin with) is lost in the massive bureaucracy. People who have died or are incarcerated continue to get paid because no one is able to decipher what is going on.

This happens in all government programs and will happen in the new health care takeover.

Interestingly, this kind of waste is generally shrugged off but let a contractor (like Halliburton) get paid to much and all hell breaks loose. I fully agree with holding contractors accountable but how can they be held to standards that the government cannot achieve?

This is one of the problems with the financial takeover bill that has been disguised as a reform bill. The very people who spend too much and waste our money have put in place a law telling private businesses how to do things, as if the government knows. To top it off, the two biggest criminals in Congress (with regard to financial items) wrote the bill. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are directly responsible for the economic collapse because of their legislation and support of companies involved in the mess (hard to bite the hand that is feeding you).

So we reward these morons by letting them write the legislation to supposedly correct the mess they caused.

Only in our government can such stupidity take place.

Another bad news item for Democrats is that Obama has cut off about 50 billion dollars from their constituents.

There are a number of dead people in Chicago now considering staying home on election day…

Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: dead people, dodd, frank, government waste, Obama, taxpayer

You Can’t, Unless You Are The Government

Jul 16, 2009 Political

In February of this year, during a speech. Barack Obama admonished companies by exclaiming:

“You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.”

This was a direct stab at the companies that had taken, or in many cases forced to take, bailout money. He wanted to make it clear that as long as the taxpayer was footing the bill there would be no trips to these kinds of places no matter what the reason.

Of course this idea did not stop Obama from attending a fundraiser for Harry Reid in, you guessed it, Las Vegas. And he did it on the taxpayer dime.

It would appear as if it is OK to take these kinds of trips if you are the government because now we have word that the Social Security Administration sent at least 675 employees to Phoenix Arizona for a conference at the Valley resort. The cost of the trip was $700,000. This is 700 thousand dollars spent by an organization that has been raped of all its money by the federal government and will be in the red by 2016. They spent close to three quarters of a million dollars on a conference with classes such as “Techniques to Empower You,” “Mentoring the Generations,” and “Emotional Intelligence.”

The article also states that the SSA did not mention the after hours activities though I am not sure any of them cost the taxpayer because I would assume they were not paid for with taxpayer money (though it would not surprise me if taxpayer money was used).

Considering how terrible Social Security is and how it only allows people to live at poverty level while it plummets toward insolvency, one has to wonder who thought this would be a good idea.

Social Security is a boondoggle to begin with and should be gradually moved over to the private sector where the money people pay in belongs to them and they can decide how to invest it. This would generate more wealth and allow people to retire in comfort (something Democrats oppose because self sufficient voters are harder to scare into voting Democrat). This incident just demonstrates the atmosphere in the SSA. Waste money, make poor decisions, and don’t worry about it. The taxpayer will foot the bill.

If accounts were private we would not need 675 managers to run things (not to mention the tens of thousands of employees) and they could not go to training conferences that cost a fortune. There would be no need for all these people who run a poor system that has a return of less than 1% on investment.

Maybe that was their share of the bailout money.

You can’t waste taxpayer money unless you are the government.

Gotcha.

ABC 15.com

Tags: boondoggle, insolvency, social security, taxpayer, trip, waste

Taxpayers Will Get Screwed On Auto Maker Loans

May 19, 2009 Political

Just Like I said they would

I wrote before that the bailout of the major auto makers was only going to delay the inevitable and that they would eventually file for bankruptcy. I also wrote that when they filed for bankruptcy the bailout money they received would be lost forever because they would not have to pay it back. This was one of my arguments against bailing out any of them. It would appear as if I was right on the money.

GM is filing for bankruptcy and it hopes to sell off part of the company to a company that was owned, for a brief time, by the government. The plan will call for GM to give stakes in the new company to the union and the bondholders.

When a company files for bankruptcy it is supposed to reorganize and figure a way to restructure debt in order to pay creditors. Some of GM’s assets will stay in bankruptcy in order to satisfy any outstanding claims, except those of the US taxpayer. GM will not have to pay back most of the 15.4 BILLION dollars in loans it received from taxpayers because the government will forgive the loans. The US government is awfully generous with OUR money.

In addition, the government would extend a credit line to the new company and forgive the bulk of the $15.4 billion in emergency loans that the U.S. has already provided to GM, the source said. al-Reuters

In addition to forgiving the loans the government will extend a line of credit to GM. How nice, we will let them spend more of our money on credit. How long will it be before that is forgiven as well?

The government is supposed to be good stewards with our money. The taxpayer was forced to hand money over to GM and we should be protected. Those in private industry who invested in GM should take a hit before taxpayers because they had a choice and invested in order to make money. Their gamble did not pay off.

The government had no right to spend OUR money on a private company to begin with. They did so under the guise of it being a loan that would be repaid. Now the government is kissing that money goodbye. We have no chance now of ever getting it back, just as I stated. The Socialist government gave the unions and bondholders a 15.4 BILLION dollar gift because they get part of the company but will not be saddled with the debt the company incurred.

This should disgust everyone. I would like to see all incumbents voted out of office but at the very least every person who voted for the bailouts should be sent packing. People, this is 15.4 BILLION dollars of your money that the government decided to “forgive.” Do you suppose they will forgive your tax bill when it comes due?

As for GM, I will NEVER buy a GM product. I had stated before that I would not buy from a company that received bailout money and I will never buy from one that is owned by the union. I will certainly not buy from any company that raped the US taxpayer. Boycott GM and put them out of business.

Ford did not take bailout money. It pains me that Chrysler did because I own a Jeep and had planned on buying another in a few years (assuming you can still get them after the CAFE and global warming stupidity is added on) but now I will need to find another SUV.

Maybe someone will buy Jeep from Chrysler…

Tags: bailout, forgiven debt, gm, taxpayer

Obama The Car Salesman

Mar 31, 2009 Political

When people describe the sleaziest workers they usually mention a used car salesman or a snake oil salesman (of which Obama is both). Looks like Obama has made the government the new car dealers for America. The government has so much interest in two of the big three that Obama basically fired the head of GM and most of the board. I am not saying they did not have to go but the government should not be in this business. BTW, did Obama fire any leaders of the UAW? Bet that will never happen.

The government involvement in the auto industry is troubling. We have forked over billions of dollars and now the sainted one says he is Ok with them going into bankruptcy. They could have done that last year and saved us billions of dollars. It would also have brought about renegotiation of the union contract. That is something that needs to be done. Everyone should be feeling the pain at the automakers.

Obama laid out a bunch of things with regard to how the automakers would run. It seemed to me that he was in charge of the companies instead of the country. Oh yeah, the country is in charge of them because we own part of them. I hope this enlightens other companies that are considering asking for taxpayer money. If you don’t want Obama and the government in your knickers just say NO.

One of the most troubling parts was when Obama said:

It is my hope that the steps I am announcing today will go a long way towards answering many of the questions people may have about the future of GM and Chrysler. But just in case there are still nagging doubts, let me say it as plainly as I can — if you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired, just like always. Your warrantee[sic] will be safe.

In fact, it will be safer than it’s ever been. Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warrantee[sic]. UK News Yahoo

This is troubling in two areas. One, have you ever known the government to run anything well? They are backing warranties and have no idea about what is involved. Under the Socialists in the Obama administration the backed warranty might mean you get a new car every time some little problem occurs.

The second issue is when he says the government will back the warranties. No, the taxpayer will back them. If this involves any money then that money will come from the taxpayer.

Not only are we paying for banks, insurance companies, Wall Street, reparations studies, rebuilding Gaza, Palestinian training camps, everyone’s health care, other people’s houses, other people’s children’s college education, and abortions around the world, now we are going to pay for warranty work done on cars manufactured by automaker employees who are members of the UAW.

Talk about incentive not to do a great job.

What else will the taxpayer have to pay for Mr. Obama? What else will we guarantee? How stinking far into our pockets are you going to reach?

One day you are going to reach too far and that hand is going to be removed.

Forget throwing tea in the harbor. Let’s throw all the politicians in the harbor.

Better yet, let’s throw them in the ocean with lead filled life vests.

Related:
Wall Street Journal

Tags: automakers, chrysler, gm, Obama, taxpayer, uaw

What Happens In Vegas Is Only For The Feds

Feb 13, 2009 Political

Barack Obama is in a bit of hot water with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman after the sainted one leveled his scorn at companies that have received taxpayer bailout money taking their employees to Las Vegas for business meetings. Goodman said it makes no sense for them to cancel and move the meeting to San Francisco based on what Obama said.

I have to agree that it makes no sense to force a company to cancel a meeting because it is a waste of money if they are only moving to another location.

I imagine that Obama was upset that taxpayer money was wasted on a meeting in Las Vegas. He had to make an example of the companies so that people would understand that he would not allow their money to be wasted.

The only problem with that is that about 220 of his employees will be going to Vegas for a meeting in May and the entire trip will be paid for by taxpayers. In these tough times it is inconceivable that taxpayer money would be used so that employees can go to Vegas for a meeting. All this at a time when record amounts of money are being borrowed to waste on a recession and while people are losing their jobs.

The employees in question are those who work for FEMA, the much maligned organization that made a cursory visit to Kentucky during the recent ice storms that killed about 50 and left half a million or so without power in the dead of winter.

Can anyone, even Dr. Joan maybe, explain how it is bad for businesses that have received taxpayer money to go to Vegas for their meetings but not bad for taxpayer money to pay for government employees to go there? Couldn’t FEMA use those modern methods of communication that Obama is all in favor of to have a virtual meeting? VTC, web collaboration, stuff like that.

I bet it would save a bunch of taxpayer money and demonstrate that the Obama government is no better than the private businesses he chooses to scold. It would also show that he wants to be as good a steward with our money as he expects the bailout recipients to be.

Then again, if that were the case he wouldn’t be spending a TRILLION dollars of money we do not have. It is the cost of the plan plus the interest that makes it over a TRILLION dollars. Just wanted to point that out to those who don’t understand a budget, financing, and business.

Source:
Federal Times

Tags: business, fema, las vegas, Obama, taxpayer