Category: Government at work

Nanny state takes another shot at booze

The FDA is questioning alcoholic drinks that contain caffeine.

Do-gooders are at it again.

Here's some logic: One drink with caffeine is hardly worse than one drink without caffeine. Ten rapid drinks, different story. You're drunk whether you imbibed caffeine or not.

And of course, its ritual for folks to have a few drinks and later stop for coffee. Ban stopping at Starbucks, too? Your federal government at work.

The key is personal responsibility. Not some broad federal action based on, so far, not much. The feds didn't announce any proof that alcohol-caffeine are unsafe. It's just time on somebody's calendar to harass another job-producing American industry.

Silly move because there's nothing stopping anyone from dropping a NoDoz in their beer. I'm not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line the federal government decided it wanted to me our mama. Shame on us if we let it.

The drinks in question, e.g. Joose, were already approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau -- and the FDA action suggests the federal government doesn't know what its doing, which isn't a bad surmise if you've been following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Can't wait for the feds to run health care, too. While you're waiting for help, one agency says, yes; another agency says, no.

Here for story.

Category: Government at work

Health care reform: the federal hand is in your pocket again

Another health care report:

If you're not outraged by the House proposed health care reform, you should be.

Especially if you're middle class.

The numbers have been analyzed a number of ways (see previous blog), and here's is another:

A family of four making $78,000 a year will eventually paying an average premium of $8,800 plus $5,000 copays, says the Congressional Budget Office.

Imagine that.

After paying federal income tax, state income tax, sales tax, excise tax, gasoline tax, property tax, state and federal fees and social security ax, the feds want another $13,800 out of your hide.

Odds are you'll be handing over 50 percent or more of your income so somebody else can spend it for you.

The idea of forcing families to buy something, like health insurance, is obnoxious on its face.

As economist Peter Schiff says in his books ("Crash Proof" and "Crash Proof 2.0"), people in China have more economic freedom than the U.S. That's why China is poised to be the world's next great economic power, and the U.S. is reeling.

Category: Government at work

Health care reform: Do you have $10,000 to spare?

If certain families have an income of $88,000 a year, it's gonna cost them $10,560 for health care before any subsidies kick, reports the New York Times, editorializing on health care reform.

Even the Times, which favors health care reform, calls it a "substantial hit."

Could be, some families have other priorities, such as building a college fund. Paying grandma's rent. Etc.

Here for story.

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Category: Government at work

Needed: More straight-talking, cussin' governors

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has sent a message to the girly-men in the California legislature. It's the ol' encoded F-word. He vetoed bills with a letter which is interesting if you read down the left edge of the type.

We need more decisive folks like that in office.

The guv says the wording is coincidental. Right.

Below is the love note, which must have taken an aide a little time to construct.

Category: Government at work

Feds have no idea if stimulus plan is working

Associated Press caught the Team Obama overstating the number of jobs created by the $1 trillion plus stimulus plan -- spending that will eventually contribute to the country's economic collapse.

The administration both defended its tallies and scrambled to correct them.

Here's some of what AP found:

-- Some recipients of stimulus money used the cash to give existing employees pay raises, but each reported saving dozens of jobs with the money, including one Georgia day care that claimed 129 jobs saved.

-- A Texas contractor whose business kept 22 employees to handle stimulus contracts saw its job count inflated to 88 because the same workers were counted four times.

If you like the way the feds run the stimulus plan, you'll love the way they run health care, if reform passes.

Meanwhile, the feds concede they cannot distinguish between jobs added and jobs saved.

If that's true, it means the government doesn't know squat about what's going on. If you don't know the underlying details, you can't possible know the full picture of what's happening.

We shouldn't be shocked that the Obama administration runs the stimulus plan like the Bush administration ran the Katrina clean-up -- inefficiently.

Politicians are politicians, and government is government, no matter its political stripe.

From Washington's perspective, it doesn't matter if the stimulus plan works. It's you're money they're spending. Or more accurately, your grandchildren's money.

Here and here.

Category: Government at work

U.N. investigates U.S. housing

The U.N. is sending an agent to a number of American cities to check on affordable housing -- and determine if a lack of it violated human rights.

Of course, there's no common definition of what is acceptable housing. What works for the Yanomamo won't work in Royal Oak. And vice versa.

The overall problem with the U.N. throwing its weight around is the organization's democracy deficit. Nobody elected these folks. And if power comes from the people, it has no power.

Here for story.

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Category: Government at work

Feds cut GM pay, leave own pay intact

So Team Obama is slashing the pay for executives at GM and other companies that took federal help.

How about also cutting the pay for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Fed chief Ben Bernanke, whose roles in the federal reserve system contributed to the U.S. economic woes.

Or cut the pay of regulators, who were not paying attention to the financial markets. Or maybe Congress could take a pay cut for being in bed with the finance industry.

And others.

Here for story.

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Category: Government at work

Officials to homeless: Screw you

Your local government at work:

-- Caring officials in Hillsborough County (Fla.) voted down a religious group's plan to provide an encampment to help the homeless. It's a far cry from the 1930s, when hapless families set up camp during the hard time of the Depression, and when people actually tried to help the unfortunate.

-- Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, a podunk town backed off a church's plan to help the needy. That's after police and city inspectors broke into the church to check out what was going on. It'll cost the caring city government $100,000 in a settlement.

Here and here.