Editorials

Why would you not vote?

January 2012

One of the latest battle cries emanating from the port side is how plans to require voter ID will “disenfranchise” voters, but democracy has a problem several orders of magnitude worse. Our nation has 235 million eligible voters, but in the 2008 Presidential Election, only 129 million voters thought the election was important enough to attend; 106 million couldn’t be bothered to show up.

President Obama won the election with 69 million votes, a minority of the American population. If you’re content to be ruled by the minority, by all means, feel free to stay home. The president’s victory margin was 10 million votes, less than 10 percent of those who stayed home.

In Illinois, one of the favorite complaints we hear is “It’s run by Chicago.” Stephenson County has 37,000 people eligible to vote, but in the 2010 gubernatorial race only 14,000 chose to vote. 22,000 eligible voters chose not to vote — they disenfranchised themselves. Governor Quinn was re-elected with a 19,000 vote margin. Our Chicago governor could have been forever retired by Stephenson County alone.

Why would you not vote? Do you think tens of millions of unemployed Americans is OK? Is $3 or $4 gas fine with you? Would you like to see our state taxes go up a bit more, since Springfield clearly still doesn’t have enough money to satisfy their spending habits? Does dumping a crushing debt onto your children not bother you?

“Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves.”  — Thomas Jefferson

Terry Smith
Lanark

Musical Chairs

December 2011

An ocean away, we’re being entertained by the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) playing their little game of musical chairs. When the first chair was removed, Greece had no place to sit, but the IMF (International Monetary Fund) scrambled, and constructed a temporary chair for them. It wasn’t too tough; after all, the Greek $42B debt is only about 1/3 that of Illinois. The music stopped again, another chair is gone, and Italy has no place to sit. There’s no solution yet, but it appears the IMF (International Monetary Fund) may again be tapped to bail out Italy’s $2.6T debt.

Why should we care? The first reason is Europe buys about 20% of our exports, and a collapse of the Euro would certainly compound our economic woes. The second is if the US were in that group, our debt-to-GDP ratio would put us third, right behind Greece and Italy. If investors now consider them bankrupt and removed their chairs, when will they pull out our chair? And, of course, there’s no one who can bail out a country with a $15T debt.

But the biggest reason we should care is that we have “skin in the game”. President Obama and the 2009 Democrat Congress decided the United States, the most broke government in history (remember that $15T debt?), should provide the IMF with an additional $108B “investment”. So, in addition to the $6.8B we already “invested” in Greece, our current obligations to the IMF have us on the hook for up to $200B in the event Greece and Italy default.

Will Italy ever learn? Will we?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced,… , and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt." – Cicero, 55 BC

Terry Smith
Lanark

Area Debt Needs To Be Examined

November 2011

“Another day older and deeper in debt” is a line in an old song recorded in the ‘50s by Tennessee Ernie Ford. That is what the taxpayers feel like about our government. Federal debt is now almost $15 trillion, and Illinois debt is $13 billion.

From the November 2010 Stephenson County financial discloser record, the county debt is $13.6 million; the City of Freeport is $26.7 million; and all school districts in the county are $40.7 million. With the total county debt of all taxing bodies combined, (parks et. included) direct and overlapping debt is $85.5 million!

They all use the same basic play book: Go to the taxpayers for more. Public employees’ pension is one of the biggest problems. The Stephenson County Tea Party agrees with Taxpayer United of America and Illinois Policy Institute that pensions should go to a 401(k)-type system like many of the taxpayers use.

All governing bodies have their seminars they attend. They scheme how to get our money via tax increases, license fees, permits and ridiculous regulations which, if broken, result in fines. They are told to unify, work together, and not be negative. It is not being negative when one brings up hard facts about debt, taxes, spending, pensions, etc. Instead, it is apathetic when one ignores those facts and throws good money after bad.

History shows us that all great democratic societies self-destruct in less then 250 years. The liberals can complain about business, but the businesses take our money on a voluntary basis versus the government taking it by force. The Stephenson County Tea Party worked to change the Lena Park Board. Its spending has now been greatly reduced.

We need to work on the Stephenson County Board, as every board member and new applicant will be up for election. We are looking for conservative candidates, regardless of party affiliation. This topic will be addressed at our next meeting (usually the second Thursday of the month) Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Dietz’s Old School Apartments Lena.

Bill Dietz
Lena

Federal Investments Don’t Make Sense

November 2011

Our state and federal governments need even more of our money to “invest.” Our investment advisors, our president and legislators, don’t issue quarterly reports, so I thought I’d see how well our investments are doing:

You invested $500 million in Solyndra, who built a factory described by a facilities manager as a “crystal palace,” including “spa-like showers with liquid-crystal displays of the water temperature, and glass-walled conference rooms.” With your $500M, they were able to pay handsome bonuses right up to their bankruptcy. Yeah, your money is gone.

Any good advisor will not limit investments to the United States, so you invested $169 million in the Fiskar Karma electric sports car, which is being built in Finland, and $365 million in the Tesla roadster, which is built on an English chassis. Neither of these companies is bankrupt yet, but these cars do cost about $100,000.

Of course, you want diversified investments, so in the financial sector you have Fannie Mae, which lost $10 billion last quarter, and demanded you provide another $7.8 billion. You also have Freddie Mac, which lost $9 billion last quarter, and has also demanded another $6 billion. Since the money you’re pouring in is merely to cover losses, there will never be a return of your money, let alone a gain. Morningstar rates investments by giving them one to five stars, I rate these two as black holes — once a dollar crosses their event horizon, it is never seen again.

“You can never make the same mistake twice, because the second time you make it, it’s not a mistake, it’s a choice,” (author unknown).

Don’t you think it’s about time to contact your “investment” advisors to let them know what you think?

Contact information for all our legislators can be found at: www.stephensonteaparty.org/links.html

Terry Smith
Lanark

Trapped!

September 2011

Here’s a twist on the indigenous monkey trap: Our gourd full of nuts has a hole just large enough for a monkey to grab one nut, and still withdraw his paw. But a monkey is inherently greedy, and simply is incapable of limiting himself to one nut, instead filling his paw, which then leaves him forever trapped, as he cannot withdraw his nut-filled paw, and he cannot force himself to release any nuts.

US businesses have an estimated $1,000B in overseas profits (WSJ) which cannot be returned to the US due to our government's policy of charging US (and state) corporate taxes if the money is brought into the US. It would seem money is the only thing we'll stop at the border! Only a few industrialized countries even impose a domestic tax on foreign earnings, and our rate is more than ten times the average of those countries which do. If we were to impose a more reasonable rate, say 5%, this trillion dollars would constitute the largest private sector investment in history. It would also provide $50B in tax revenue/deficit reduction, something that's a bit hard to come by these days. This idea has been proposed to the President, and was soundly rejected. Like the proverbial monkey and the gourd, it would appear letting go of that 40% tax rate just isn’t possible. Mr. President, it’s a trap - let go of some nuts!

In 2010, domestic corporate profits were $1,400B (BEA), while 2010 regulatory costs were $1,750B (SBA). Contemplate this – all the massive corporate profits in the country were surpassed by regulatory compliance costs. Congress soundly rejected regulating CO2 emissions, fully realizing that this incalculable increase in regulation costs could be the final nail in the coffin for American manufacturing. This apparently doesn’t concern our president, who is using the un-elected bureaucrats at the EPA to enact his CO2 emission regulations, in absolute defiance of the Legislative Branch, along with 4,257 other new regulations. In a recent letter from President Obama to Speaker Boehner, just seven rules were projected to cost $70B, which is well over a million $50k/yr jobs. Mr. President, it’s a trap - let go of some nuts!

While the US federal corporate tax is the 2nd highest in the world, when state and local taxes are included, US employers face the world's highest taxes, more than double the European Union average, and over 50% higher than even Communist China. Of course, employer’s tax burdens will only increase when the Health Care bill kicks butt in 2014. The “corporate jet tax credit”, properly called the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System, was enacted by President Obama and the Democrat congress with no Republican votes. Even this minor credit will likely be taken away in this administration’s attempt to finish off American employers. Mr. President, it’s a trap - let go of some nuts!

“The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.” - Thomas Merton

Terry Smith

Coincidence?

September 2011

Employment data from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Many would have us believe tax rates have no effect on economic growth, in fact there are some claiming increased taxation will produce economic growth. Fortunately, the authors of the U.S. Constitution delegated sufficient autonomy to the states that they can be used as models to compare the effects of varying policies, including taxation.

In January, Illinois enacted massive tax hikes, both personal and corporate, making it the poster child for the economic fallout from taxation.

In 2010, Illinois added over 12,000 jobs per month, at a pretty steady pace. Illinois lost 15,000 jobs per month from January to July (the last month of data). It’s probably just a coincidence the job losses started at the same time as the tax hike.

Illinois is on track to hit 11% unemployment by the end of the year, also just a coincidence.

To add insult to injury, the Wall Street Journal reported Illinois median income has dropped over 7% in the last 15 years. When you consider the combined effects of fewer workers, with each making less money, it’s pretty clear the net revenue increase from the tax increases will disappear in pretty short order. So it’s a lose/lose/lose/lose situation – higher unemployment, higher taxes for those who keep their lower paying jobs, and, in the long run, lower government revenue.

"In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now."

John F. Kennedy

Folks, none of this is coincidence, and it can be fixed: Stephenson County Tea Party meetings resume on October 13, 6:30 at the Dietz Old School Apartments, Lena.

Terry Smith

Link to charts: http://illinoispolicy.org/blog/blog.asp?ArticleSource=4401

Lucy, Don’t You Dare Jerk That Football Away

July 2011

What truly upsets me about the debt ceiling debate is the media coverage. We’ve all known for years this day was coming. Paul Ryan created his Roadmap in early 2010 to address this issue. The President even created a bi-partisan Debt Commission, which released its’ report in December 2010. Many of the suggestions in the report echoed the Ryan plan, and the report was totally ignored by the Administration. And, according to the media, it's all the Republican's fault.

Remember the first deadline, May 16? This is when the Administration issued their first ultimatum, ignoring the Constitutional requirement that all spending bills originate in the House. And, it was around this time the Administration presented their 2012 budget proposal, which was so out-of-control not a single Democrat voted for it. And, according to the media, it's all the Republican's fault.

Less than a month later the House passed the 2012 budget, and it has been gathering dust in the Senate basement ever since. The Senate has had over three months to resolve this issue, instead of letting it fester into a crisis. This is no surprise, since the Senate has not passed a budget in over 2 years, even when Democrats controlled all three branches of government. And, according to the media, it's all the Republican's fault.

Fast forward to today - neither the Administration nor House or Senate Democrats have put so much as a proposal on paper, while the House Republicans, as a compromise to their 2012 budget, crafted and passed the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill, which enjoys overwhelming support by the American people. The bill isn't even final legislation; it turns final approval over to the States. The Senate refuses to even debate the bill. And, according to the media, it's all the Republican's fault.

In November 2010 the American people overwhelmingly demanded smaller government. As the President is aware, elections have consequences, and the freshmen are holding true to their word, and not betraying the American people who elected them. While many have shown great willingness to compromise (read the terms of the House Budget), there are lines they have a moral obligation to hold, and they expect Democrats to come part way, but the Democrats haven't moved an inch. And, according to the media, it's all the Republican's fault.

What we do hear (we can only hear, nothing’s in writing) of Democrat proposals appears to consist of front loaded tax increases, with promises to cut spending later. Like Lucy van Pelt, Democrats made the same promises to Reagan and Bush I, only to jerk the football away each time. News flash - we ain't Charlie Brown, and we're not falling for that crap. And, according to the media, it's all the Republican's fault.

Terry Smith

June brings back childhood memories of summer vacations, way before the days of air conditioning or GPS. Back then, Dad and Mom relied on maps and road signs. A keen awareness of our surroundings and following those road signs got us safely to our destination many a time.

A similar, keen awareness seems to be sorely lacking by some Americans as we head into this November’s elections. These elections will once again provide direction for our country for years to come. Looking at the road signs (the finance and news reports), I see there are many current U.S. policies that need a change in direction. But the one I write about today is U.S. fiscal policy and the craziness of putting more debt on top of bad debt – bailouts.

Here’s a list of the bailouts I’m aware of since 2008:

March 2008 - $29 Billion Stimulus Package – Wall Street Bailout

May 2008 - $178 Billion Stimulus Package – Average American Bailout

July 2008 - $300 Billion Stimulus Package – Homeowners Bailout

September 2008 - $200 Billion Stimulus Package – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Bailout

September 2008 - $50 Billion Stimulus Package To Guarantee Money Market Funds

September 2008 - $25 Billion Stimulus Package – Automakers Bailout

September – November 2008 - $150 Billion Stimulus Package – AIG Bailout

October 2008 - $700 Billion Stimulus Package – Banks Bailout

February 2009 - $787 Billion Stimulus Package – Average Americans Bailout

February 2009 - $275 Billion Stimulus Package – Homeowners Bailout

March 2009 - $30 Billion Stimulus Package – AIG Bailout

March 2009 - $15 Billion Stimulus Package – Small Business Loans

March 2009 - $1 Trillion “Toxic Asset” Program – Banks Bailout

March 2009 - $22 Billion Stimulus Package – Automakers Bailout

April 2009 - $1 Trillion Stimulus Package – G-20 World Leaders Stimulus

In addition, we have Ponzi schemes for retirement funds (social security system), an expensive new health care system we didn’t ask for, the government payrolls continue to balloon while the private joblessness rate hovers around 10 percent. The $787 billion bailout is heavily loaded to pay out in 2010, just before this year’s elections. It may just all come crashing down shortly after November (anyone else remember the 80’s recession?).

The current road signs don’t look good at all. Here in Illinois, our financial house is in a total mess too. As I see it, we’re basically broke as a nation, but the bankers haven’t foreclosed yet. All the signs tell me this. This out-of-control spending has been going on for many decades and it has to stop before our loans get called in (Greece anyone?).

Government was never meant to meet our needs, which is socialism (just ask Senator Maxine Waters). Only God and the abilities He gives us (grace) can meet our needs.
Please take a little time this busy summer to research who the fiscally responsible candidates are this November. Then get up off that La-Z-Boy, and go vote the big spenders out of government before the bankers come to foreclose.


Larry Jogerst
Lena