• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 2nd from 14:05 to 14:10

    These are my links for March 2nd from 14:05 to 14:10:

    • California Still Barking Up the Wrong Tree for Taxes – The Amazon tax is back for debate. Again.  Despite court rulings that the thing is unconstitutional, despite proven records of failure in those states who have tried it, California’s Democratic leadership is again proposing the online tax.

      None of the excuses for this wasteful proposal make sense. Some retailers claim that taxes are needed to even the playing field between brick and mortar stores that do collect tax, and online retailers who do not. After all, that is why our local WalMart is suffering, right? But a recent LA Times article shows that retailers such as WalMart are hurting, not because they compete with Amazon, but because they have scaled back their merchandise offerings, forcing customers to look elsewhere to complete their shopping lists.  In fact, WalMart is not losing customers to online retailers so much as they are losing their customers to even lower priced offerings such as dollar stores. 

      Meanwhile, retailers like Amazon, using technology to streamline delivery processes, and offering a wide variety of items,  just posted major increases in sales. In this video from CNN  executives claim Amazon shows 26-40% growth, from the same time last year, with 15,000 employees hired in 2010. And yet, California’s Dems want to effectively slap one of the major employers in the US who is actually offering good paying jobs, with benefits.

      ++++++++

      But, California Democrats in the state legislature have never met a tax they did not like – even if it does not involve capturing that much revenue.

      To the LEFT, it is more about punishing people in the marketplace in search of a social justice "fairness."

    • Koch Brothers Receive Praise From Obama Administration – Progressives may have decided that businessmen and libertarian political benefactors David and Charles Koch are the latest harbingers of the vast right-wing conspiracy, but they could be shocked to learn that several Koch Industries subsidiaries have been working closely and productively with…the Obama administration.

      Specifically, it’s with Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency that Koch Industries has been playing nice. In Texas last fall, for instance, the Koch-owned Flint Hills Resources helped forge an agreement between the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Equality in a regulation dispute. The move got the company praise from the EPA, calling the agreement a “model for other companies.” (…)

      The EPA under President Obama has also praised Koch subsidiaries Georgia-Pacific and Invista for their cooperation with the agency. Georgia-Pacific even won an award from the EPA in 2009. Leftists may complain that these right-wing bogeymen are unfairly challenging federal environmental regulations so they can “keep pumping out pollution for free,” but it seems the Obama administration has a lot of positive things to say about the brothers Koch.

      ++++++

      The Koch Brothers are businessmen and it is in their interests to NOT pollute the environment and alienate/poison their customers.

      The LEFT is laughable in their conspiracy theories regarding the Kochs

  • Charles Koch

    Charles Koch: Why Koch Industries is Speaking Out

    Charles Koch of Koch Industries

    A piece in tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal lays it out.

    Years of tremendous overspending by federal, state and local governments have brought us face-to-face with an economic crisis. Federal spending will total at least $3.8 trillion this year—double what it was 10 years ago. And unlike in 2001, when there was a small federal surplus, this year’s projected budget deficit is more than $1.6 trillion.

    Several trillions more in debt have been accumulated by state and local governments. States are looking at a combined total of more than $130 billion in budget shortfalls this year. Next year, they will be in even worse shape as most so-called stimulus payments end.

    For many years, I, my family and our company have contributed to a variety of intellectual and political causes working to solve these problems. Because of our activism, we’ve been vilified by various groups. Despite this criticism, we’re determined to keep contributing and standing up for those politicians, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who are taking these challenges seriously.

    Both Democrats and Republicans have done a poor job of managing our finances. They’ve raised debt ceilings, floated bond issues, and delayed tough decisions.

    In spite of looming bankruptcy, President Obama and many in Congress have tiptoed around the issue of overspending by suggesting relatively minor cuts in mostly discretionary items. There have been few serious proposals for necessary cuts in military and entitlement programs, even though these account for about three-fourths of all federal spending.

    Yes, some House leaders have suggested cutting spending to 2008 levels. But getting back to a balanced budget would mean a return to at least 2003 spending levels—and would still leave us with the problem of paying off our enormous debts.

    Federal data indicate how urgently we need reform: The unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid already exceed $106 trillion. That’s well over $300,000 for every man, woman and child in America (and exceeds the combined value of every U.S. bank account, stock certificate, building and piece of personal or public property).

    The Congressional Budget Office has warned that the interest on our federal debt is “poised to skyrocket.” Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is sounding alarms. Yet the White House insists that substantial spending cuts would hurt the economy and increase unemployment.

    Read the rest here.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links for February 24th from 05:58 to 06:22

    These are my links for February 24th from 05:58 to 06:22:

    • Why Does Walmart Get a Pass? Re: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker – Indeed, the Center for American Progress goes on (in this post and several others) to indict pretty much every major organization, company, or individual who ever gave to Walker—and even some of the organizations that gave to organizations that supported Walker.

      Never mind that Walker has devoted his entire career in public service to reducing government spending, reforming budget processes, and reining in public-sector unions—this is about wild conspiracy theories, not the impressive, smart, likable young governor taking on an entrenched, corrupt and incestuous relationship between public-sector unions and public officials.

      But there is, oddly, at least one major corporate donor to the Walker for governor campaign that the Center for American Progress has given a pass. Walmart, one of only two corporations to fall in the top ten list of donors to Walker’s campaign, has never been mentioned in connection with Walker by the intrepid Googlers at the Center for American Progress. Not even once.

      Coincidentally, Walmart has been, and by every indication continues to be, a major donor to … the Center for American Progress. John Hinderaker notes this connection in his own post at Powerline, picking apart the shameless hypocrisy of the corporate-funded Center for American Progress's attacks on corporate money in politics.

      You'd think Walmart, with its long record of hostility to unions (which just maybe has something to do with the million-plus jobs the company has created), would be a top target for the group. Or could it be that the Center for American Progress reserves its ire for individuals and entities that do not contribute to the Center for American Progress?

      +++++++

      Hypocrites all

    • The Left’s War on the Kochs – The most extraordinary story in the news these days is the all-out assault that the Left is mounting against Charles and David Koch and their company, Koch Enterprises. A day doesn't go buy–hardly an hour goes by–without some new attack being launched against these two lonely libertarians.

      Why? Simply because they are rich–their company is one of the best-run and most successful in the world–and conservative. The Left is trying to drive them out of politics and, more important, to deter any other people of means from daring to support conservative politicians or causes.

      Understand, the Left has nothing against rich people participating in politics. Most rich people who are politically active are liberals, and the Democratic Party gets much more of its support from the wealthy than the GOP. George Soros is only the most famous of a battalion of sugar daddies who fund every left-wing cause. But the Left wants a monopoly. They want wealthy people to be barred from political participation unless they toe the liberal line. Hence their increasingly vicious attacks on the Koch brothers; they are trying to make an example of them.

      ++++++++++++++++++

      Read the entire piece

    • Right Turn – Mitch Daniels’s Damage Control – I asked a Daniels spokeswoman repeatedly why Daniels had to throw in the towel on right-to-work legislation since he got two school reform measures through the state senate with only Repubican votes. She never answered. The question remains: What was the purpose of his capitulation last night?

      Daniels, in essence, has admitted he screwed up. Whether his apology will allay the conservatives who will be Republican primary voters in 2012 remains to be seen. But one longtime Republican observer e-mailed me, "The right to work free of compulsory association with, and dues paid to, any particular group, is as close to a basic liberty as can be imagined. If Daniels won't stand up for that, he can't be counted on for ANY subject aside from green-eyeshade accounting." I suspect that sentiment is rather widespread.

      ++++++++++

      Yes, pretty weak sauce from Mitch Daniels