Male Bashing Stimulus?

Over at the Weekly Standard Christina Hoff Sommers explains how the 'shovel ready' stimulus package got derailed by feminist activists. What she'll soon find out is that those chickens will be coming home to roost pretty darn soon. What we're seeing in various states is that the so-called recession proof jobs such as education and healthcare are taking a beating.

Many school districts are losing population due to the economic downturn, lowering their student population, and accordingly their funding. School funding is allocated on a per pupil basis. Fewer pupils means less money. This has resulted in many first year teachers being let go, next in line are the second year teachers. Now this is based on seniority, not actual number of years in the profession. There are many teachers with decades of experience that are considered first year because they relocated from another state. The stink of it is they relocated based on marketing programs by various school boards pleading for more teachers to fill the demand. Now that demand is gone and therefore so is the money. Keep in mind that education is a profession that is part of the 'human infrastructure' - code for female dominated.

Another profession that is part of the 'human infrastructure' is nursing. It seems there has always been more job openings for nurses than nurses to fill them for the past several decades. It's been a complete crisis. Part of the problem, however, has always been the exceptionally poor working conditions and low pay that nurses receive. They enter the profession with high hopes, then bail out once they find a better paying job or a job with a better work/life balance. It just so happens a lot of those higher paying jobs were related to the construction industry. Mortgage brokers, title agents, insurance agents, and other related professionals that were formerly nurses are now unemployed. They've returned to nursing, and in many cases have many years of nursing experience to draw upon. While we certainly don't have a surplus of nurses, we no longer have the incredible demand we once did. Further, as more people lose their jobs and stop paying their health insurance premiums we can expect the formerly recession proof healthcare industry to start feeling similar pains to those in the education business.

What all this comes down to is a very simple principle. There are jobs that generate tax revenue and jobs that consume tax revenue. An inbalance in favor of generation will lead to more revenue and can lead to a reduction in taxes (LOL!) or an increase in consumption. When the inbalance tips in favor of consumption there needs to be a decrease in that consumption (ROFL!). Any attempt to raise tax rates to make up for the lost revenue will further erode revenues by disincentivizing business. Then the imbalance will accelerate in favor of consumption until the whole system falls over. See: U.S.S.R.

So, bottome line here, is that in an effort to make the stimulus more fair for a certain portion of society we find out that this particular portion has been a net consumer of tax revenues and not a generator. As such, they've been riding on the backs of those that have been paying into the system. If they don't get thrown off they'll wind up killing the golden goose. It's a pity those reposonsible for education couldn't see this coming.

Great Video about 'ISMs'

Barney Frank Denies Housing Bubble

Barney Frank caught in the act.

 

h/t Pat Dollard

Lower The Bar

We all knew after the election there'd be the need to manage expectations. After all the hype over the course of two years there'd be need for some serious lowering of the bar, otherwise those expecting the whole world to love us and the economy to bounce back would start having second thoughts. With the mid-term election a mere two years away if those lofty goals were not met then team Donkey might be in for a reversal of fortune. So now, instead of merely lowering the bar, they've gone and lowered the DOW. With their actions and talk of nationalizing this and that they've managed to encourage investors to exit the market in droves sending the DOW below 7,000 points.

Freddie, Fannie, and the Democrats have accomplished what Al Qaeda could only dream. Now that they are in a hole they just keep digging by adding to the debt. Many people, even some of the new administration's supporters, wonder why. Well I'm here to tell you, so pay close attention. The electorate are known for one consistent quality, and it's the only constant in a game with thousands of variables. That constant is known as the short attention span. In general elections nothing really matters but the six months before the election. That's the only time people are really paying attention and they'll most likely forget the previous misgivings they've had if they are doing good, relatively speaking, at that point in time.

Did you see the catch? I wrote 'relatively speaking'. That means relative not to their best ever condition, but thanks to their short term memory, it means their most recent condition. In 18 months, if there happens to be any upward movement in the market the press will be singing 'Happy Days Are Here Again' and the entire left will be chanting, to borrow a phrase, "stay the course."

It's true, as things get worse over the next 18 months, the new President will continue to lose favor and therefore political capital to advance his agenda. This, however, doesn't matter since with the new bailouts and budget he will have what he needs to press on without any new appropriations. That is why it was so important for the Democrats to get their bailout and budget passed. It's a fait accompli. They now no longer need popular support to advance their agenda.

What the Democrats are banking on is at least some semblance of a recovery from this new lowered bar within the next 18 months to pin their re-election hopes on. If they don't get that, and lose control of congress, they still have the veto pen and still have another two years to show results. For even if the Democrats lose both houses, which is The power of this huge stimulus action is that they've cleared the path ahead of any possible resistance and can just get on with it.

The RNC needs to respond to that, worry about the bigger picture, and not keep crying over spilt milk. 

Sarah Palin Abused Power

Further proof that government jobs are jobs for life. If someone is dangerously incompetent they cannot be removed from office. Will this kangaroo court decision get airplay? Much more than the strong ties between Ayers and Obama, that's a guarantee.

If team McCain is smart, and that is a really big if, they will use this as an opportunity to show the problems with government and the dangers reformers face when they attempt to 'clean house'. They should also point out that if the McCain Palin ticket is elected that the public can expect even more of this type of squealing as they clean up Washington D.C. Thus, every time the Dems try to bring this up it will turn into a negative for their side.

According to McCain he's taken off the gloves. He hasn't thrown any punches, though, and seems to be playing patty-cake with Obama. The Republican nominee has been getting all kinds of grief on the campaign trail for not fighting back, for not talking about Raines, Rezko, Wright, and all the other friends of Barack that have been responsible for bombing the US economy. Obama has had absolutely no problem blaming the economic meltdown on Bush. Neither the Republicans nor team McCain has answered that charge.

Anybody that has been reading this blog knows that most of my predictions and pronouncements have accurately predicted far too many moves during this political season to be a coincidence. I'm not Nostradamus, just someone who is actually 'in touch'. My latest prediction is as follows. If Team McCain continues this gutless campaigning, the same kind of gutless campaigning that angered conservatives when Bush ran for his 2nd term, he will begin to lose the base. He has until October 15th, the date of the last debate, to tell the American people the truth about the economy or he's an also ran. The media need to know he means business in a way they cannot ignore (what better venue than an unfiltered debate) and the Republican faithful need to know he understands their frustrations.

Largest Audience Ever for VP Debate

The AFP notes that the Palin-Biden debate was the most watched VP debate ever. It also drew a larger audience than the McCain-Obama debate. Despite the post debate snap polling declaring Biden the winner the real winner was the one person that could draw that large an audience. It wasn't McCain, it wasn't Obama, and it most certainly wasn't Biden. There was only one reason that the viewership for this debate was so large: Palin. That reality must send shivers down the spines of those that know what that means. The silent majority has found their candidate and they will turn out in droves come November.

Compare and Contrast

After watching Burnin' Down the House the following ad from the Obama camp is laughable.

Sorry, Barack, but it wasn't Bush that stifled oversight of Freddie and Fannie, it was the Democrats. Watch the video and learn something.

This ad, released today, by the way, looks like it was designed to dovetail with Pelosi's speech before the roll call vote for the bailout. She reiterated that it was eight years of failed Bush policies, not the Democrat run Freddie and Fannie scandal, that led to the current meltdown. Very similar language to that of Barack. Coincidence?

Methinks the Democrats were hoping for a passage of the bill and then use that as proof with Republicans ratifying the notion that it was failed Bush policies that led to the crisis. Now the Democrats are squealing that the Republicans had their feelings hurt and should have voted for the bill anyway. I think the House Republicans were smarter than that and recognized a setup when they saw one.

The Republicans need to make sure that the Democrats own up to their obstructionism of regulations for Freddie and Fannie. That should be a condition of any Republican support for the bill. Further, it should come from the mouth of one Nancy Pelosi, and no other. 

Burnin' Down The House

Temporary link here until the original gets new music. They should have never used copyrighted material considering there is plenty of royalty free music available online.

Bridge to Nowheres

Check it out over at Hotair. CNN actually takes on Biden and Obama. Not sure if this is to maintain some semblance of balance, but there it is, nonetheless.

$700,000,000,002.00

How did the Treasury Department come up with that number? Check it out, of all places, at the LA Times. 

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

The Cloward-Piven Strategy of Orchestrated Crisis

A very lengthy article full of quotes and links over at American Thinker. Definitely worth your time to read the whole thing. This will answer the question of 'why?' for so many conservatives. While this may be rejected by the left as conspiracy theorist pap, the truth is out there for all to see. Key paragraph:

One of two things must be true. Either the Democrats are unfathomable idiots, who ignorantly pursue ever more destructive policies despite decades of contrary evidence, or they understand the consequences of their actions and relentlessly carry on anyway because they somehow benefit.

The Hero Saves The Negotiations

To understand why the Democrats have been squealing like stuck pigs all week read up on the bailout negotiations over at Flopping Aces. McCain saved the day for the taxpayer and the Democrats had to get the spotlight off the pork barrel spending programs they tried to funnel money to, like ACORN. Lest that news actually get reported they had to give the press some red meat for which to feign indignation. McCain : fighting commies since 1967.