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Fuzzy Math

Posted by OB Busch on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 1:27:27 PM
People in general are bad at math, especially regarding the economy
where they have a minimal of interest and little historical context. 
Liberals like to use this weakness by using mathematical comparisons
to make or advance a point. Often dishonest math is used, repeated,
and generally accepted as valid. 
A case in point is the call for higher taxes to finance a bigger
government. An often repeated refrain is that things were great in
the 50’s when the highest marginal tax rate was 91% for incomes
above $200,000. The argument is that returning to the higher rate
will actually help the economy.
While the tax rate was 91% in 1950’s the circumstances were the
opposite of what they are now.
From 1940 to 1960 the Gross National Product grew from 200 Million
to 500 million (150%), and unemployment was under 5% through all
of the 50’s and into the mid 60’s. Cars, houses, washing machines,
TV’s, and toasters could not be built fast enough.
Corporate profits rolled in despite the high taxation.
As the country moved into the 60’s demand had slowed and the high
tax rates were beginning to economically cripple US industries.
Other countries had recovered from WW2 and were catching up.
President John F. Kennedy led congress to lower the tax rates
which led to a successful recovery from the economic slowdown that
began in 1958. By lowering the tax rate Kennedy prevented large
scale lay-offs and avoided an unemployment problem.
To raise the tax rates to 1950’s levels at this time would have the
reverse effect. Unemployment is already high and would only get
higher. Demand is low for goods and services and would go
lower leading to more unemployment and an actual decrease in
taxes collected by the government.
In short, a tax rate of 91% at this point in time would turn the US
into a third world competitor with Venezuela.

 

Inside the Numbers:

http://economics.about.com/od/useconomichistory/a/post_war.htm

Tax Rates, selected years; 1929-25%, 1938-78%,1988-28%,2010-32%.

From 1945-1962 the tax rate for corporations was 52% as
compared to 28% today.

 
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Brouhaha in Wisconsin

Posted by OB Busch on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 10:42:34 PM
The national coverage of the recent events in Wisconsin by the main stream
media for the most part presented the democrats language and talking points 
which distort the issue. The cause of the uproar over Wisconsin’s  
Budget Repair Bill  is that the public employees in Wisconsin have been
unionized for many years giving them the ability to participate in collective
bargaining on wages and benefits.  Over these years a vicious cycle has
developed not only in Wisconsin but in many other states with the
same set up. In Wisconsin most public employee contracts go through
the legislature. The public unions support and pour a great deal of money
to get Democrats elected in exchange for a ‘cushy’ contract when
the time comes. These ‘cushy’ contracts are paid for by the
taxpayer and in Wisconsin, as elsewhere, the gravy train has run dry.
Now you are thinking; all we heard about in Wisconsin was the teachers.
There in lies the first distortion.
The state employees that have contracts through the state were not the
ones raising a fuss. It was the teachers unions. Their set up is
even more insidious. The teacher’s collective bargaining is with local
school districts.  All they have to do is get teacher sympathizers
on the small local school boards and then fleece the taxpayer.
When the teacher’s contract was negotiated two years ago in my
community the unemployment rate was 12%, major industries had
closed or scaled back, and unpaid furloughs and 4 day weeks were
commonplace. The teachers demanded a 3% raise. The compromise
crowed about by the local school board was that the teachers would get a
1% raise per year for 3 years.  In the midst of the current budget battle
local teachers attended a school board meeting ‘en masse’ and
demanded the school board “tax to the max”. They want the
maximum 6% increase in property taxes allowed by law imposed
on a still economically crippled community.
Another distortion that emerged was that collective bargaining is a right.
The language was consistently used by the MSM. While there is a right t
o form a union in the private sector there is no such right in the public sector.
 Even an old lefty like Franklin D. Roosevelt warned against public
employee unionization. In Wisconsin this “right” has existed for
only 50 years. For Federal employees this “right” has never existed.
Even coverage of the protests was distorted. The media made it appear
that the protesters who occupied the Capital in Madison were a collection
of concerned Wisconsin citizens spontaneously rising up to oppose
this awful bill.  The earliest protesters were teachers who called in sick
around the state and converged on the capital. Joining them were
Madison’s large population of aging hippies and current University of
Wisconsin students. After a few days the teachers and students had
to go back to school and the protesting population took its final form. 
In addition to the local lefties, rubes from the hinterlands descended
on Madison for a party and camp out, and what would a ‘60’s’ style
protest be without out of state imports and socialists?  
Christian Hartsock  reporting for Big Government provides an
in depth look complete with a disconcerting video.   Click Here
 
Thankfully the guy in the video seems rather dim. My first impression
was that if this guy walked onto a car lot and told a salesman that he
was” just looking”  he would drive away with a new car complete with
an extended warranty and all the add on packages available through
the dealership.
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Forward Into the Past

Posted by OB Busch on Friday, February 04, 2011 11:42:03 AM
A provision for High Speed Rail (HSR) was included in last year’s American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act to the tune of 8 Billion Dollars. Link.
  While this seems to be a feel good project of the Obama Administration,
in some areas it is a political game changer. That applies to Wisconsin
where High Speed Rail was the political issue that decided the Governors
race.  Incoming Republican Governor Scott Walker has vowed to kill the
High Speed Rail project begun under Democratic Governor Jim Doyle.
   The debate in Wisconsin, and I suspect every state with a proposed
HSR system, revolved around funding.  The 800 million dollars from the
Federal Government had strings attached in that it could only be used
for High Speed Rail. The argument was if we don’t get it, someone else will.
The counter argument is that once it is built the state would have to
maintain it, at the cost of millions per year. Neither side of the argument
looked at the HSR project as a potential money maker.
(There was even a trial balloon floated that a half percent increase in
sales tax would pay for maintaining Wisconsin’s passenger rail system)
   In Wisconsin the proposal is for a High Speed Rail line from Milwaukee
to Madison. Proponents point out that in the future there will be a rail
line from Madison to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) and another line from
Milwaukee to Chicago (an Amtrak train already runs this route at a loss
and is subsidized by the states of Wisconsin and Illinois). One day, the
proponents argued, there will be a nationwide system of HSR.
At this time there is a straight shot Interstate from Milwaukee to Madison,
as there are direct interstate routes between all the cities named in the
proposed rail system.
   It is in the Wisconsin debate that one can see that it is not just an
obscure piece of democrat ‘pork’ but it is part of a larger effort.
Arguments favoring HSR during the Wisconsin debate appeared in their
purist form by contributors to online discussions. Free of needing to fluff
the subject, or present it in political mumbo jumbo, writers to these
discussions go straight to the point. Here’s an example from my local paper:
“There are plenty of reasons to question the benefits that we get from cars,
from pollution, to sprawl, to supporting dubious non-democratic supplier countries.”

The train will go faster as the roads it crosses become obsolete.

A nationwide network of HSR trains would replace the archaic and
unsustainable car and road system.”  
The true believers want to take an economic and cultural step backward,
replace the automobile, and paint it with the face of progress.
Outgoing Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is not only a huge proponent of
the HSR system but also raided Wisconsin’s transportation fund of
millions to balance his entitlement budget. The transportation fund is
money set aside to maintain and upgrade Wisconsin’s roads.
These true believers over look the fact that we are committed to the car
and road system, and have been for a long time. ‘2 cars in every garage’
and the building of the Interstate system was not the death of
passenger trains, but it was the nail in the coffin of a dying industry.

Even before the Interstate System, travel by rail was diminishing:

“The pinnacle for rail travel in terms of numbers was 1920, with trains
carrying 1.2 billion passengers. In that year railroad fares were increased
by 20%, and the decade saw an almost threefold increase in the number
of automobiles registered in the U.S. As a result, intercity transportation
by trains had fallen by 18% by 1929.”
“The greater efficiency of diesel engines quickly eclipsed steam.
The lending of $3 million through President Roosevelt's New Deal program,
the Public Works Administration, assisted in the switch to diesel for many
railroad companies. By the end of the 1930s there were 90 diesel
streamliner trains operating around the country. As a reflection of the
great popularity of the new streamliners with the public and increased
speed of intercity travel, by 1939 passenger rail travel had increased
38% in six years. The actual number of passengers, however,
was still less than half of the 1920 numbers.” 

(emphasis mine)

Duke.edu “Brief History of the U.S. Passenger Rail Industry.
 
As Robert Samuelson   points out,
"We are prisoners of economic geography. Suburbanization after
World War II made most rail travel impractical. From 1950 to 2000,
the share of the metropolitan population living in central cities fell from
56 percent to 32 percent, a recent study found. Jobs moved too.
Trip origins and destinations are too dispersed to support most rail service.
Only in places (Europe, Asia) with greater population densities is
high-speed rail potentially attractive.
President Barack Obama calls high-speed rail essential "infrastructure"
when it's actually old-fashioned "pork barrel." The interesting question
is why it retains its intellectual respectability.
The answer, it seems, is willful ignorance.”

In his January 25, 2011 State of the Union address President Obama said,

"Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access
to high-speed rail. (Applause.) This could allow you to go places in
half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than
flying -- without the pat-down. (Laughter and applause.) As we speak,
routes in California and the Midwest are already underway."
Despite efforts by the left, cars will represent the primary form of
 transportation in the US for the foreseeable future. It would take
several generations and a complete change in cultural attitudes
and norms to adapt to the fixed rail system of the 19th century.
A move away from our dependence on the automobile in the short term
would have to be mandated or manipulated by government. 
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The Big Mick Theory

Posted by OB Busch on Tuesday, November 09, 2010 6:58:27 PM
In the run up for the 2008 Presidential election several regular contributors
to the Townhall comment threads postulated the theory that it would be
better for Obama to win. As one poster, Big Mick (usually found under
Ann Coulters column) put it if Obama won we would get the “full force of
socialism and the public would ‘vomit it up’” and vote the liberals out at
the earliest opportunity. Big Mick and others who agreed with him felt
that McCain would lead to a slow drip of socialism as they ‘reached
across the isle’ (code for bowing to the democrat demands). 
I was skeptical because I figured that the lefties had learned to their lessons
in going too far too fast. You would think the ‘Hillarycare’ fiasco that ushered
in the ‘Contract with America’ Republicans in 1994 would be a lesson.
Perhaps they would recall how the War on Poverty ushered in by LBJ
resulted in his bowing out of the 1968 elections; he used the Vietnam War
as an excuse. That ushered in Richard Nixon in the next 2 elections.
Unable to comprehend the lessons of History (a common liberal flaw),
Barrack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Ried went peddle to the metal
towards socialism. In the end Big Mick was right. We vomited up the
socialism that was forced down our throats.  The upside is the newcomers
are largely conservative (as in tea party) candidates instead of people
like Newt Gingrich and his band of RINO’s that won in1994.

 

Mid Term Observations

Those that speculate that Obama will move toward the center need only
contemplate the results of this election for the Dems. The gains for the
Republicans were not at the expense of the far lefties from safe
democrat controlled districts. All 14 of the so called Blue Dog Democrats
are gone along with most of the moderate and mildly left congressmen.
What remain are the hard core lefties. While they are the minority in
the house, they will be a loud and nasty minority.
Another thing that will keep the Democrats on the path toward socialism
is their conviction that they have a mandate and just haven’t educated the
public enough on the beauty of their ideas and goals.
The elections showed that the public knows darn well what their ideas
and goals are, but then the left lives in a bubble occupied only by those
that agree with them.
A good indication of the continued path toward socialism is that Nancy
Pelosi will likely be the leader of the Democrat minority in the house.

 

Mr. Smith Goes to Madison

A fascinating election outcome took place in the 44th Assembly
district in the state of Wisconsin.
The 44th Assembly district has been in democratic control for at
least 40 years. The incumbent Mike Sheridan is (was) Speaker
of the Assembly and was running for a 3rd term. The district he
represents votes democratic in almost every election.
This year was no exception.
Statewide Republicans Scott Walker (54.1%) was elected Governor
and Ron Johnson (53.5%) was voted to the Senate (ousting Democrat
incumbent Russ Feingold).
In the 44th the vote went 55.7% for Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Barrett and in the Senate race it was 57.8% for Feingold over Johnson.
The 44th assembly district challenger was a conservative Republican
named Joe Knilans a political newcomer who may have been viewed as
token opposition.  Neither the Democratic Party nor Sheridan put a
lot of effort in the campaign, while Joe Knilans knocked on doors and
appeared wherever he could get in front of a crowd.
Joe Knilans won the election with 51.5% of the vote, 8684 - 8168.
Truly a ‘Mr. Smith goes to Washington’ type of outcome.
Sheridan did have some baggage. He was involved in a sex scandal
involving a lobbyist, but democrats usually overlook those kinds of things.
As local Talk Show host Dan Conry said, the story should have
received national attention.

 

  

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The Car Business: Update Three

Posted by OB Busch on Saturday, July 31, 2010 2:00:30 PM

U.S. Auto Sales in 2009:  10.4 million. The worst year since 1982.

In 1983, 84, and 85 sales picked up and by 1986 the automakers anticipated
a big year as sales returned to normal and there was still some remaining
pent-up demand. 1986-87 turned out to be boom sales years not to be
surpassed until 1998.
The atmosphere in 1986 was much like the upcoming atmosphere
will be as the economy improves.
In 2006 U.S. Auto sales were 16.4 million.  Manufacturers have scaled back
production to match the present numbers which means the market will be
short 6 million cars. 
There will be new manufacturers in the future.  GM and Chrysler will
not open all of their presently idle plants. These locations have the
infrastructure required to build automobiles. Perhaps there will be a
new brand started in the United States.
In 1986 three new car companies entered the market; Saturn, Hyundai,
and Yugo.  Saturn was closed in 2009 by the new owners of GM, the
U.S. Government. Yugo didn’t last long.
Only one remains.

Hyundai

In 1986 2 new import cars entered the market, the Hyundai Excel and the Yugo. 
Though low in price, both were haunted with quality problems. They became the
brunt of jokes. Jay Leno quipped about how he just got back from Yugoslavia
where he saw the 100,000th Yugo roll off the line, “it didn’t start or anything, it just
rolled off the line.”  Hyundai was said to mean “hope you understand nothings
drivable and inexpensive.”
Yugo, produced by a government owned manufacturer in a socialist country,
never addressed the flaws in their product and it disappeared from the market place.
Hyundai was produced by private enterprise in South Korea, a capitalist country.  
They did address the quality problems. Hyundai invested in improved manufacturing,
quality, and design. By 1990 they had established the Hyundai Design Center
in Fountain Valley California.  By 2003 Hyundai’s quality rankings equaled
Honda’s according to Consumer Reports.  In 2006 Hyundai placed 3rd in
J.D. Power and Associates quality rankings. 
 In 2009 Hyundai sold 435,064 cars, subsidiary Kia Motors sold 300,063,
for a total of 735,127 which translates to 7% of the US market

 Hyundai

Going Green

I have heard lefties say that the government should force the manufacturers
to make more small cars. They seem to believe that people buy SUV’s
and large cars because there are more of them available.  The reality is
that good fuel efficient small cars have been available for a long time and
the manufacturers would gladly make all that you want to buy.
(It’s the ‘want to buy’ area where lefties go off the track.)
In mid eighties GM introduced the Chevrolet Sprint (later it became
the GEO Metro). It had plenty of pep, was well built, and easily got
45-50 miles per gallon. (I once grabbed 3 guys at the dealership, we all
weighed 200 lbs+, and took off in a Sprint. Even with the weight I easily
kept up with freeway traffic and even got it up to 80 MPH.)
Should have sold like hotcakes!  While the Sprint/Metro sold well enough
to be in the GM lineup for a number of years, it was not a quantity
seller by any means.
Today we have the current lefty heartthrob, the Smart Car. This small
car is good for city driving and gets tons of mileage. It is also inexpensive.
In 2009 14,595 units of the Smart Car hit the streets.
1 tenth of 1% of the market.

 

Inside the Numbers

Number of cars sold in US, 2006   16.38 million units

 9.3 million By US Automakers, 56.8%

(5 million by GM, 30.5%)

Number of cars sold in US 2008   14.1 million units

 8.1 million By US Automakers, 57.4%

(4 million by GM, 49.4%)

Number of cars sold in US 2009   10.4 million units

 4.6 million By US Automakers, 44.9%

            (2 million by GM, 19.9%)

Notes:

GM’s share of the US market dropped almost 40% in one year.

 

US Automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) lost close to
            13% of the market.

           

The ‘Big 3’: GM 2.0 million, Ford 1.7 million, Chrysler .9 million

            Imports: Toyota 1.8 million, Honda 1.2 million

 

Curious: Nissan 770,103 Hyundai 735,127
 
 

Previous Editions:

 Update 2

 

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Economic Idiots

Posted by OB Busch on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 8:32:19 PM
A manufacturer needs approval of a governmental agency to provide
products to India. The manufacturer met all the requirements and submitted
the proper paperwork.  The agency, consisting of presidential appointees,
denied the manufacturers request because several members felt
that the products going to India would contribute to global warming.
The decision, which would put thousands of U.S. citizens
out of work, was final.
While this may sound like a passage from Ayn Rand’s
novel “Atlas Shrugged”, it is a TRUE story.
A story that barely rated a ‘blip’ on the mainstream media’s radar.

Bucyrus manufactures mining equipment and had secured a major
contract to provide coal mining equipment to a company in India.
Bucyrus, headquartered in Milwaukee Wisconsin, beat out a Chinese
manufacturer for the winning bid.  It was now up to the Import-Export Bank
to approve loan guarantees for the project to go forward.  Citing
concerns about the global warming impact of coal mining equipment
the Import-Export Bank turned down the loan guarantee on that basis.
Bucyrus had complied with every rule and all the objectives laid out in
the written guidelines of the Import-Export Bank, yet were turned
down with no possibility of appealing the decision. Bucyrus announced
that thousands of workers would be laid off many of them in the
State of Wisconsin, already hit by high unemployment.

Bucyrus CEO  Tim Sullivan was not going to just fade away.
He went public with the information getting the attention of
Milwaukee talk show host Mark Belling (NewsTalk 1130,WISN-AM).  
Belling took up the cause on his show making the public aware of the
decision while the rest of the local media mostly ignored the story.
Tim Sullivan also bent the ear of Senator Herb Kohl, (D-WIS).  
While Senator Kohl ran interference and Mr. Sullivan continued his
public crusade it was a pre planned presidential trip that saved the day. 
On June 30th, 2 days after the Bucyrus announcement, President
Barrack Obama was scheduled to visit Racine Wisconsin to
eat a Kringle  and boast about his economic plan at a town hall
style meeting. He already had obstacles in that Racine County
has a 14% unemployment rate and there is still resentment over
the closing of the nearby Kenosha engine plant. Production in that
plant was sent overseas after the government took control of Chrysler.
Now this Bucyrus thing was erupting on the day of his visit.
The headquarters and factory is less than 60 miles from Racine
and rumors abounded that there would be pickets by Bucyrus
employees and their sympathizers. Not wanting to be confronted
with questions on the Import-Export Bank decision President Obama
pressured the Bank to change its decision.
To save face the Import-Export Bank imposed unenforceable
environmental restrictions on the company in India.
 
This story has a happy ending, but how many other companies
have been denied loan guarantees because the Import-Export Bank
relied on feelings over the written guidelines?
How is it that the leftist democrats make the exact WRONG
decision EVERY time regarding economic development? 
This story proves once again that the mainstream media is anything
but mainstream and barely qualifies as media.
 
About Kringles 
 
Non Townhall Members can send comments to munchmedia@aol.com
 
Watch for The Car Business: Update 3   Coming Soon
 
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End ‘Times’ Battle

Posted by OB Busch on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 1:43:55 PM
A follow-up to The Agony of Irony
Not that long ago the New York Times was THE paper. It was the universal
reference for what was in the news that day. In recent years the New York
Times has lost credibility and subscribers by the boatload. These days
they are propped up by a financier in Mexico.
So this would be the perfect situation from which to launch an attack on
a deeply entrenched 2000 old institution, the Catholic Church.
An editorial titled  The Times They Are A-Smearin in Investors Business
Daily summarizes the NY Times clumsy attempt to tie the Pope to the
their previous (2002) reports regarding sexual abuse by the clergy.
The Church has survived the Roman Empire, the dark ages, the crusades,
Martin Luther and the protestant revolt. During its history the world has
changed many times over. That’s just the external stuff.
Ross Douthat is one of those at the NY Times that ‘gets it’.
He wrote on March 28th, 2010; “During a frustrating argument with a
Roman Catholic cardinal, Napoleon Bonaparte supposedly burst out:
“Your eminence, are you not aware that I have the power to destroy
the Catholic Church?” The cardinal, the anecdote goes, responded
ruefully: “Your majesty, we, the Catholic clergy, have done our best
to destroy the church for the last 1,800 years. We have not
succeeded, and neither will you.””
On the other hand Maureen Dowd, a NY Times Communist (oops)
Columnist doesn’t seem to have a clue. Among her several columns
attacking the church and/or the Pope my favorite is

“A Nope for Pope” published on March 28, 2010.

She writes, “Pope Benedict has continued the church’s ban on
female priests and is adamant against priests’ having wives.
He has started two investigations of American nuns to check on
their “quality of life” — code for seeing if they’ve grown too independent.”
“If the church could throw open its stained glass windows and let in
some air, invite women to be priests, nuns to be more emancipated
and priests to marry, if it could banish criminal priests and end the
sordid culture of men protecting men who attack children, it might survive.”
 Complete column here
The attack on the Catholic Church started at the outset of Holy Week and
died down rather quickly after that.
Will the venerable NY Times write columns and stories on the victims of
 Sept 11th during Ramadan, which runs from August 11, 2010 to
September 10, 2010?
A better question would be; do they even acknowledge that there were
victims of 9/11?
 

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Searching for Timothy

Posted by OB Busch on Tuesday, May 04, 2010 6:32:56 PM
The recent attempted bombing in Times Square caused the left to ‘show
their hand’.  In the hours after the discovery of a bomb placed in a vehicle
the name Timothy McVeigh came up implying a plot by ‘white people’,
(ie, tea party member).
On Monday (May 4) NYPD Police Commissioner said that they were
looking for “A white male in his 40’s”.  The quote was based on a
reported video that showed a middle aged man in a nearby alley
changing his shirt.
Also this quote on Monday by New York’s Mayor:
"If I had to guess, twenty five cents, this would be exactly that,”
Bloomberg said. “Homegrown maybe a mentally deranged person or
someone with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care
bill or something. It could be anything.”

 

In the end it was probably the work of New York City and Federal
forensic teams that led to the arrest. While early reports indicated that
the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) had been altered, what was not
reported is that the VIN is in at least 2 other places on the vehicle.
Tracking the VIN led to a sale of the vehicle from Craig’s List and
the rest was basic detective work.
To no ones surprise, except the clueless left, the perpetrator of
the attempted bombing was a sympathizer of Islamic Jihad named
Faisal Shazad who was caught attempting to flee to Pakistan.

 

Watch for a similar plot to unfold next season on the CBS show CSI: NY

It seems tailor made for this popular TV program.

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Paranoia Will Destroy Ya

Posted by OB Busch on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 4:32:33 PM
So, when is it time to go from concerned to paranoid about the democrat’s
reaction to the tea party movement? First it was the fringe, Huffington Post,
MSNBC, and liberal talk show hosts, that vilified the tea party movement.
The derogatory term ‘tea bagger’ took root. The movement has grown and
so has the opposition. Former President Bill Clinton opined in the
New York Times that there was a connection between the Tea Party
movement and violence
 OpinionArticle Here
 
Brian Montopoli writing for CBS echoes the comments of Bill Clinton
and others who accuse the Tea Partiers with sedition and ‘hate’ speech.
He then offers this tidbit:
“This year, after Democrats complained amid threats to members of
Congress that members of the GOP were "fanning the flames with
coded rhetoric" with suggestions that Democrats should be put on
"the firing line" and that opponents of reform should "reload," Palin
mocked the notion she and others were encouraging violence.
Republicans offering strong rhetoric insist they are trying to
get politicians voted out of office, not attacked.”

 Montopoli Article Here


In the sixties and seventies it was these same people that held countless
demonstrations, took over college campuses, and had their ‘love-ins’.
Now that they are in charge opposition in the form of demonstrations are
something to be feared.

Or perhaps something to control?

The rhetoric of the liberals, even down to the letters to the editor in
my local paper, is calling for something to be done about those
‘tea baggers’. (Note, using the term tea bagger in a letter to the editor,
or any forum, immediately decreases your credibility to ZERO.)

 

Is it paranoid to think that comments from people like Bill Clinton will
energize the bullies and thugs among us to take action against a
Tea Party demonstration?
Is it paranoid to connect Obama’s statement during the campaign
about a National Security Force and connect it to the recently passed
Health Care legislation that authorizes 16,000 new ‘IRS’ agents?

 Barrack Obama, July 2008


Is it time to be paranoid?

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The Agony of Irony

Posted by OB Busch on Sunday, March 28, 2010 9:44:48 AM
Today is Palm Sunday which begins Holy Week, the high holy days of
the Christian religion, particularly the Roman Catholic Church.
I don’t think ironic is the word I’m looking for here in light of  the salvo
launched by  Laurie Goodstein in the NY Times (3/24/10) against the Catholic Church. 

It has all the hot buttons: a sex scandal, a cover-up, and a connection to the Pope.

 Goodstein's Article Here

Connected to the article is the document trail which tells a much
different story.
In a nutshell: Allegations of sexual abuse came forth in the spring of 1974.
Father Lawrence Murphy was immediately dismissed and his resignation
was announced in September of 1974.  Father Murphy moved to northern
Wisconsin. He was not reassigned to any Diocese or Parish.
He was in exile.
The Diocese in Milwaukee proceeded to follow the dictates of the Roman
Catholic Judicial System. The case wound itself through the Catholic
judicial system. In the process an issue involving confession required
clarification from the Vatican. This slowed the case down as the
bureaucracy of the International Roman Catholic Church is something to behold. 
Finally all the T’s were crossed and the i’s dotted the Diocese of Superior
prepared to defrock Father Lawrence Murphy. In an 11th hour letter directly
to Cardinal Ratzinger, Murphy pleaded that, being in ill health and near
death, he be allowed to die as a priest.  In a church that stands for forgiveness,
Cardinal Ratzinger suspended the process while he reviewed the case. 
While under review (did I mention the bureaucracy?)  Lawrence Murphy
passed away. The church, not wanting to beat a dead horse literally and
figuratively closed the case. (See the last letter in the document link)

 

 Link to Document Trail

 

It appears to me that the Catholic Church moved forward in accordance
with their rules and the extent of their jurisdiction. The church is not at
fault that Lawrence Murphy was allowed to live among the population.
They did not have the power to incarcerate, bring criminal charges,
or register Murphy as a sex offender. There was concern expressed
by the church over generating undue publicity but no attempt to hide
anything as their judicial proceedings are public record.

So my question is: Where was the State of Wisconsin in all this?

It is inconceivable that a popular long term priest at a deaf school suddenly
resigns and not a reporter, not a DA investigator, not a social worker,
not one state or local official looked into the matter in any depth. 
As one looks through the documents you see the large number of
people involved in the process. Do you mean to tell me that not one
of them had ‘loose lips’?
If Lawrence Murphy is the Priest that got away, it is the governments
own judicial system that failed, not the Roman Catholic judicial system.

 

Postscript

In the days between the rough draft of this article and its actual posting
the smear campaign has escalated. One 5 minute radio newscast this
morning led with “Scandal has cast a pall over Passover Celebrations
in the Catholic Church”.
The NY Times is known as the launching point for the next ‘campaign’
by the left. This is proving to be true.
Apparently these types of stories will prevail through Holy Week.
It would pay to investigate the smoke to see if there is fire.
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The Holy Grail

Posted by OB Busch on Monday, March 01, 2010 11:09:37 AM
Why are the liberals in the house and senate prepared to ‘fall on their
swords’ and defy public opposition to get health care passed? 
While health care is the vehicle the real victory is a consequence of
the democrat version of  the Health Care bill.

The control of food is the Holy Grail the liberals seek.

The template is already in place.

Once government money enters the health care system then it will
be the ‘job’ of a newly funded bureaucracy to ‘save’ the public’s money. 
Let’s say that it is determined that eating carrots can be traced to a
statistical increase in doctor visits. It wouldn’t be long before carrots
would be regulated or outlawed.
When we all cheered for the government and their attack on smoking
WE THE PEOPLE allowed the template to be put in place.
Once the government tied smoking to a statistical increase in doctor visits
it was open season on the tobacco companies. Most states shook down
the tobacco industry for millions of dollars under the banner of increased
health costs. Court challenges were won by the states and precedence’s
were established
I understand what you are thinking. Smoking is bad, unhealthy, and
creates a smelly environment. It was a good thing that the government
did all these things.
Perhaps, but the government is made up of the rule of law which applies
to the good and the bad.

In the case of food, you be the judge.

It will take years for food control to unfold if the Health Care Bill passes into law.

But unfold it will.
 
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The Car Business: Update Two

Posted by OB Busch on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 12:26:57 PM
  Toyota                                                                                                                                                                                                               The dog and pony show begins today for Toyota executives as they sit
before congress to offer their mea culpa.
This is the least of their worries.
One of the things we take for granted is the ability of our car to take us
to and from our destination in rain, sleet, cold, hot, and dusty climates.
For the most part they do that well. Cars are made of thousands of parts
that are interconnected to a whole and must to some extent work together.  
There are tried and true methods to assure that this will happen.
After it ‘looks good on paper’ engineers and designers have always built
prototypes to assure that things will work together. Also considered are
balance of the car and aerodynamics. They usually run these prototypes
on test tracks.  After adjustments they make a test run of vehicles that go
through real world testing by being parceled out to employees of the
manufacturer. More adjustments and more track testing will result in the
final production vehicle.
 
A short cut of this process is the root of Toyota’s problem.
In 2006 Toyota officials “told company engineers to rely less on virtual
engineering or computer-aided design tools and take more time to make
more physical prototypes to verify component and vehicle quality and reliability.”
Article Here
It was Toyota’s rush to get new products to market that ‘it looks good
on the computer screen’ was enough to start pounding them out at 50
cars per hour. Toyota’s image will take a hit but their years of customer
loyalty will see them through. The biggest hit will be with the all important
first time buyers. In the long haul they may lose them to Honda, Kia,
Nissan, or Ford.
 
Updates
In my last Car Business Update  I was excited about the Penske Automotive
Group Inc. purchase of the Saturn brand.  It was not to be. The Penske
group wanted to market cars that were manufactured for them.
Penske could not line up a manufacturer and the deal went bye bye.

 

The historic battle between GM and Ford appears to have been won by Ford.
(But stay tuned, it’s a strange business). Demand for cars will increase as
the economy improves and the capacity to build cars that we have now is not
enough. There is room for a new car company, or a drastic resurrection of
Chrysler. What would happen if GM goes public with almost no debt?
 
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Broken Compass

Posted by OB Busch on Monday, November 09, 2009 3:23:34 PM
The congress passed the massive health Care bill, HR3962, on
Saturday night.
The Votes Here:
http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/111/house/1/887

This bill contains among other things the public option and changes
in Medicare, items that energized the ‘tea party’ movement.
According to the latest polls a majority of Americans are against the bill.

Prior to the summer congressional recess House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
did not have the votes to pass Health Care. At the end of the summer
recess she had even less votes. Here we are 8 weeks removed from
the start of the fall session and the votes are there to pass this
unpopular legislation. That is disturbing.

In the days leading up to the vote I heard speculation as to how this
change occurred. I heard that some congressmen are ‘afraid’ of
Nancy Pelosi.  Some congressmen were threatened that if they voted
against the bill the democrats would run a lefty against them in the
primaries. Others wanted to make sure their campaign would be
supported and funded. What is disturbing is these congressmen’s
lack of a moral compass.  Some voted against their own conscience.
Many voted against the desires of the people they represent. They
ignored the heartfelt statements and stories related to them at
town hall meetings this summer. When congressmen vote in a way
that defies their constituents he or she is no longer a representative.

He or she is a tyrant.

 

This is in HR3962:

Section 2572 says, “In the case of an article of food sold from a vending
machine that – (I) does not permit a prospective purchaser to examine
the Nutritional Facts Panel before purchasing the article or does not
otherwise provide visible nutrition information at the point of purchase;
and (II) is operated by a person who is engaged in the business of
owning or operating 20 or more vending machines, “the vending
machine operator shall provide a sign in close proximity to each article
of food or the selection button that includes a clear and conspicuous
statement disclosing the number of calories contained in the article.”
(See page 1,515 of H.R. 3962 Section 2572 (H) (viii).

 

What else is hidden in those many pages?
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Boogie Man!

Posted by OB Busch on Thursday, October 15, 2009 11:03:58 AM
This is scary stuff! The left, led by the Sharpton-Jackson machine, succeeded
in turning Rush Limbaugh away from owning a small part of a National Football
League team, the St. Louis Rams.
In a nutshell, a racially charged quote was attributed to Rush Limbaugh.
Something that Limbaugh did not say. Powerline, Oct 15 2009

 

What if Rush Limbaugh really said some racial things? Would this ban him from
owning anything that he has the money to purchase, including an interest in a
football team?  Would something he said ban him from owning a hot dog stand?
How about a convenience store franchise? An office building?  A chain of
clothing stores?  A majority interest in an automobile manufacturer?
Just what is the dollar value threshold at which speech bans you from ownership?

 

Is anyone going to say with a straight face and credibility that there are no
racists among the ownership of the 32 National Football League franchises?

 

There was a time when the Main Stream Media would be sounding alarms
that a legitimate buyer is denied ‘equal access’ to the marketplace based
on political pressure. In this brave new world of hopeless change,
the MSM is piling on to the political bus.

 

In recent days we have seen the Obama administration attack Fox News.
We have seen Nancy ‘let them eat cake’ Pelosi state, untruthfully,
that a majority of America is in favor of the public option in health care.
Now we see a leftist attack on Rush and Football. 

 

The best feature of the left is their belief that there is no opposition to there plans.  
 
They are shocked when the good people of the country say enough is
enough and pushback.  

 

Well enough is enough.

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In for a Penny

Posted by OB Busch on Thursday, September 24, 2009 4:32:21 PM
A group of do-gooders, propelled by a report in the New England Journal of Medicine,
have proposed  a 1 penny an ounce tax on products containing sugar (or corn syrup),
particularly Soda Pop.  That would increase the price of a 2 Liter soda by 67 cents.
2 Liter bottles of name brand sodas are frequently on sale for 99 cents.
Your 99 cent sale suddenly becomes $1.66.
Muhtar Kent, the chief executive of Coca-Cola, called the idea “outrageous.” 
“I have never seen it work where a government tells people what to eat and what
to drink,” Mr. Kent said, according to a report by Bloomberg News. “It if worked,
the Soviet Union would still be around.”                                                                                                                                         

But hold on. Let’s look at the template.                                                                                                                                           Suppose that in 1965 someone proposed a 20 cent tax on cigarettes,
($1.35 in today’s dollars). The opposition would have been the same as this 1 cent
an ounce tax on sugar is getting today. In 1965 smoking was an acceptable activity.
There was no guilt associated with smoking. Non-Smokers rarely confronted
smokers about their habit.                                                                                                                                                                       By the early eighties smoking in the workplace (except in designated areas) was gone.
There was guilt associated with smoking and non-smokers felt free to confront
smokers about their habit.  Taxation and lawsuits coupled with increasing restrictions
on where one could smoke made smoking a ‘guilty pleasure’.  The progress of this
guilt was measured in 1988 in California.  At the time about a third of Californians
smoked cigarettes. A referendum was on the ballot in November 1988 to increase
the tax on cigarettes by 25 cents a pack. It passed with 90% of the vote. This
‘sugar tax’ will take the same route. Not that long ago a person drinking a soda
was hardly noticed.  Today there are only a few reading this that hasn’t had
someone, a co worker, relative, or friend, question them on their consumption of soda. 
The first taxes will be small, perhaps a penny per 12 or 16 ounces. 
We will comply because the guilt trippers will have made us feel bad about our soda habit.                                                                                                                        
 
Back to the template.
Cigarettes are taxed at between $2.50 and $3.50 a pack in many states.
The original taxes were small and hardly noticed. The recent taxes have come
in big chunks, such as the 75 cent per pack tax recently enacted in Wisconsin.                                                            
Enjoy your Soda!


Clunkers
Back in the 80’s when the car companies first offered factory rebates dealerships
and their financing companies allowed the rebate to act as a down payment. 
It didn’t take long before this practice was stopped due to higher than normal
defaults (repossessions).
Many of the old cars that qualified under the recent Cash for Clunkers program
belonged to people that have not had a monthly car payment for many years and
have failed to plan for one. Since their clunker was ‘worth $4500’ in trade in value,
it automatically qualifies as a down payment.  A larger percent than normal will
default when faced with the reality of a monthly payment.  
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