Use what talents you possess:
the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there
except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke
Did You Notice Sen. Manchin's (D-WV)
Loan vs. Grant Proposal?
In Wednesday's post, at a point of exasperation in discussion of the Stimulus 2.0 state/local bailout proposal, I wrote: "why aren't state and local governments borrowing the money vs. getting federal grants?" Then the next day I was watching Fox News when I saw Sen. Manchin suggest exactly that--at least in terms of education funds, as it turns out. (Before going further, let's just say I will likely support his opponent next year, because I don't like his voting record, including his general support of this bill. Manchin LOVES to support infrastructure boondoggles. After all, West Virginia never has enough infrastructure: there're Robert C Byrd Bridges (2), Interchanges (2), Life Long Learning Center (2), Library (2), US Courthouse and Federal Building (2), Community Center (2), Clinics (2), Health Sciences Center (2), Manufacturing Technology Center (3), Correctional Institution (of course), Locks and Dam, Drive, Expressway, Freeway, Highway, High School, United Technical Center, Science and Technology Center, Technology Center, Industrial Park, Hilltop Office Complex--and I'm tired of typing: the remaining are listed here, including the ones after his wife.)
In the unlikely event any statue is created in my honor, please ensure that taxpayers aren't on the hook for cleaning bird droppings or rotten eggs thrown at it...
I did a quick Internet search to see if I could find a source reference to the Fox News clip and came across a relevant WV post from a month ago. Manchin, the popular governor at the time of Stimulus 1.0, mentioned how his government had exercised budgetary discipline and was able to withstand the recession without making teacher layoffs. West Virginia share of the stimulus loot for education then was $218M (no doubt use-it-or-lose-it: guess what government bureaucrats will do 100% of the time: if you seriously thought that WV was going to send the money back, well, you must be one of the same people whom thought Buffett was going to send a check to the IRS to make up for his "fair share" of taxes.) So the WV budget wizards came up with the so-called backfill method. This is a budgeting shell game: you create a "rainy day" account and then cut just enough from your education budget to accommodate your "fair share" of Stimulus 1.0 and put the "budget cuts" into the rainy day account. (Well, some of the displaced education funds got spent in other departments: how many times have I written in this blog MONEY IS FUNGIBLE?)
Manchin intuitively seems to realize it's wrong for the federal government to send funding for a state that doesn't need it as prescribed but thinks that states accepting aid should commit to paying the money back as their revenues improve. Now, really: would any investor in his right mind trust Governors Brown (CA) or Quinn (IL) to pay back what they owe?
Finally: The End of the Road in Iraq
The United States has achieved something remarkable. Obama and Biden are announcing something for which they cannot claim credit. Obama can spin this anyway he wants, but he was barely on speaking terms with General Petraeus and in a state of denial over the successes of the counterinsurgency strategy during his Presidential campaign. The strategy worked, leaving a reasonably stable national government in Iraq. In contrast, Biden, in fact, had promoted subdividing Iraq into three sectarian entities, and both actively pursued a cut-and-run strategy.
What I just said was not an exoneration of Bush, particularly during 2004-2006; I had a nuanced position. I accepted Colin Powell's argument: "you break it: you own it". In my view, leaving the country in the middle of a sectarian civil war would almost certainly result in a regional war. I never saw an exit strategy as depending on unrealistic expectations of resolving generations or centuries of historic sectarian rivalries.
Are there any guarantees against a revival of sectarian problems without a trusted honest broker like the United States between the minority Sunnis and majority Shiites? Of course not. But I suspect that the memories of 2004 through 2007 are strong enough for each side to maintain peaceful coexistence. If this government fails, it is not the responsibility of the US government but of the Iraqi people.
For some reason, the Obama Administration was trying to extend the agreement but negotiations broke down over ongoing immunity of US soldiers from Iraqi prosecution. From my perspective: GOOD! We've completed our moral obligation some time ago. If it had been my decision, we would already have been gone.
What Obama is doing, by essentially declaring mission accomplished and keeping his campaign promise, is putting lipstick on a pig. What were all these negotiations over immunity about? Staying past the end of the year. Are we staying past the end of the year? No. Either he was negotiating in good faith or he wasn't. If he was negotiating in good faith, he failed at the negotiation. He didn't have to do anything to get us out by the end of the year; George W. Bush had negotiated a 2011 exit 3 years ago. Obama fulfilling Bush's exit agreement is fulfilling a campaign promise? What hubris!
Let Them Eat Cake...
Do we really need a White House cooking staff? How much assistance would I need as President to pop a Lean Cuisine into a microwave? One of the things I respected about Sarah Palin was that she got rid of the staff at the governor's mansion when she moved in. The first-term Governor Jerry Brown refused to move into his governor's mansion, decided instead to live in his own bachelor pad. And then--there's our arugula-loving President from the hood.
Methinks the scourge of the top 1% doth protest too much. Here is an interesting bit of trivia about an Obama luncheon at the White House for innovative company CEO's, a meeting which the late Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple, had suggested and attended:
Jobs also objected to the menu of that meeting, telling a venture capitalist that shrimp, cod and lentil salad was “far too fancy” and objecting to a chocolate truffle dessert. The White House overruled him, according to [Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography], citing the president’s fondness for cream pie.I can only imagine what the White House event organizer had to say for those people whom didn't want chocolate truffles....
Sigh! I'm a native Texan, and I have this sudden craving to go back to Luckenbach, grab a longneck, find a pretty Texas girl to sit down next to and listen to one of the best baritone performances ever...
Obama's Business Tax Agenda
In the above-cited new biography of the late Apple co-founder, there is this interesting piece of advice that Steve Jobs gave Obama, whom, of course, ignored it:
Jobs also told Obama that “regulations and unnecessary costs” put the United States at a competitive disadvantage with China, where companies can build factories more cheaply.Obama has this bizarre, myopic, double standard vision of the American economy that is incomprehensible to any legitimate pro-growth conservative, like myself: Obama wants to give small companies nice little tax breaks, but the package comes wrapped in lots of government rules and regulations and strings attached with various mandates.
It's difficult to rationalize, for anything short of purely ideological reasons, why you pick and choose tax cuts based on business size? If the intent is to encourage growth, you want EVERYONE to win. I mean, seriously: if you're unemployed and in danger of losing your house, are you going to say, "Well, I've got my application in to Solyndra... I would rather lose my house than take a good-paying job with Exxon or BP. I do have my standards..." If you're unemployed, you're looking for a decent job wherever you can find it: big company, small company. You want as many work opportunities consistent with your skills and experience as you can find. You really don't want or need President Obama picking what companies he thinks you should work for. Quite frankly, it's none of his business, unless you're a crony working for his anti-business administration.
Musical Interval: My Favorite Groups
CCR, "Green River"
