Category — Medicare

All power to the presidential candidates for they have plans to clean up the deflationary power spiral, institute universal health care and rid the world of acne. Not to be out done, Congress puts forth wonderful ideas of how the bank shareholders can bear the entire weight of saving morons from themselves and world financial markets from meltdown. That way it’s not just some widows and orphans losing their mite.
Remember how the banks needed to be “more aware, more inclusive.” We get this; “Congress presents multiculturalism in banking and displays progressive results.”

‘Ninja’ loans explode on sub-prime frontline

It is now pretty well established, too, that these loans tended to go not merely to the poorest families, but, in general, were marketed at America’s black and Hispanic populations. They were the most likely to take on the so-called “ninja” loans (no income, no job, no assets).

Strange days are upon the residents of many a suburban cul-de-sac. Once-tidy yards have become overgrown, as the houses they front have gone vacant. Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading.
At Windy Ridge, a recently built starter-home development seven miles northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, 81 of the community’s 132 small, vinyl-sided houses were in foreclosure as of late last year. Vandals have kicked in doors and stripped the copper wire from vacant houses; drug users and homeless people have furtively moved in.

The subprime crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. Fundamental changes in American life may turn today’s McMansions into tomorrow’s tenements.

Since the politicians caused the debacle, each idea conveyed by them compounds the problem. Depositing this genie back in the bottle is unachievable, for the economic missteps are global. Caught in the liquidity trap are Europe and Asia for they bought the sub-prime loan packages through their banks. Led by Germany, the EU bankers sit in the headlight of the oncoming train.
It is instructive to do some reading about the history of the Dutch tulip debacle. More recently, look at the Beanie Baby craze for a macro of herd mentality. Follow up with the dot com bubble to get the reader to the 201 level. To round out the lesson, inquire into the silver speculation by the Hunts in the early ‘80’s.
The one common thread is the one foisted on the electorate by Washington: you can have something for nothing; get rich without work. Life under socialism is risk free.

Congress cannot fix the problem; the money is gone. It is this simple, if you borrow a dollar to purchase a pencil and when you want to sell, all you can get is $0.50, where’s your other $0.50? For you it is gone. However, you still owe one dollar to the pencil company. This is the terminus for congressional abuse of fiscal prudence; the dollar has devalued. The following expands on the condition:

The Federal Reserve’s rescue has failed

The verdict is in. The Fed’s emergency rate cuts in January have failed to halt the downward spiral towards a full-blown debt deflation. Much more drastic action will be needed.

Yields on two-year US Treasuries plummeted to 1.63pc on Friday in a flight to safety, foretelling financial winter.

The debt markets are freezing ever deeper, a full eight months into the crunch. Contagion is spreading into the safest pockets of the US credit universe. [snip]

Why won’t it end? Because US house prices are in free fall. The Case-Shiller index for the 20 biggest cities dropped 9.1pc year-on-year in December. The annualised rate of fall was 18pc in the fourth quarter, and gathering speed. [snip]

“There probably will be some bank failures,” said Ben Bernanke. [snip]

Untouched by regulation is a secret banking system built on derivatives called shadow banking. For a quick study of this go here and here.

Bill Gross of giant bond management company PIMCO says losses on credit default swaps could reach $250 billion based on historical default rates.

The candidates will need something else to occupy their time. So take a peek here for what the next president and congress will deal. Platitudes won’t work anymore. Neither will socialist panaceas or raising taxes. They cannot raise taxes high enough to stall the downturn.

The $34 trillion problem

Medicare is poised to wreak havoc on the economy. And our presidential candidates are avoiding the issue.
[snip]
Unfortunately, the day of reckoning is imminent. Sometime in the next President’s first term, Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) will go cash-flow-negative, and it’s all downhill from there. [snip]

Demand answers; how they are going to fix this mess. From where does the money come? The entire government is broke; we’ve sold out to buy votes with entitlements, special funds and all the pork spending. Barney Frank wants the government to buy up worthless mortgages. That lays the entire cost on the taxpayer. Let Frank’s constituents pay for his marvelous idea.

I’d suggest converting much equity in to metals or currency. I don’t think holding U.S. currency is a good financial choice. Look at what the rest of the world investors are doing for cues. Diversify holdings among safe harbors.

Think positive, this ’slow motion train wreck’ is good for the U.S.

Yes, America needs a recession. Bernanke and Paulson won’t admit it. And investors hate them. We’re all trapped in outdated 1990s wishful thinking about a “new economy” and “perpetual growth.” [snip]

Let’s focus on 17 benefits from this recession. [snip]

1. Purge the excesses of the housing boom
No, it’s not heartless. Not like wartime calculations of “acceptable collateral damage.” Yes, The Economist admits “the economic and social costs of recession are painful: unemployment, lower wages and profits, and bankruptcy.” [snip]

2. U.S. dollar wake-up call
Reverse the dollar’s free fall and revive our global credibility. [snip]

3. Write-offs
Expose Wall Street’s shadow-banking system. [snip]
A lack of transparency is killing our international credibility. Write it all off, now!

4. Budgeting
Force fiscal restraint back into government. [snip]

5. Overconfidence
A recession will wake up short-term investors playing the market. [snip]

6. Ratings
Rating agencies have massive conflicts of interest; they aren’t doing their job. They’re supposed to represent the investors, but favor Corporate America, which pays for the reports. Shake them up.

7. China
Trigger an internal recession in China. [snip]

8. Oil
Force the energy and auto industries to get serious about emission standards and reducing oil dependency.

9. Inflation
Expose the “core inflation” farce Washington uses to sugarcoat reality.

10. Moral hazard
Slow the Fed from cutting interest rates to bail out speculators.

11. War costs
Force Washington to get honest about how it’s going to pay for our wars, other than supplemental bills that are worse than Enron-style debt financing.

12. CEO pay
Further expose CEO compensation that’s now about five hundred times the salaries of workers, compared with about 40 times a generation ago.

13. Privatization
Stop the privatization of our federal government to no-bid contractors and high-priced mercenary armies fighting our wars.

14. Entitlements
Force Congress to get serious about the coming Social Security/Medicare disaster. [snip]

15. Consumers
Yes, we’re all living way beyond our means, piling up excessive credit-card debt, encouraged by government leaders who tell us “deficits don’t matter.” Recessions will pressure individuals to reduce spending and increase savings.

16. Regulation
Lobbyists have replaced regulation. Extreme theories of unrestrained free trade plus zero regulation just don’t work; [snip]
Get real, folks.

17. Sacrifice
“We have not seen a nationwide decline in housing like this since the Great Depression, says Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf. As individuals and as a nation Americans have always performed best in crises, like the Depression or WWII, times when we’re all asked to make sacrifices. Pampering us with interest-rate cuts and tax cuts… setting the stage for this new subprime/credit crisis.
Wake up, the train wrecked. Time to think positive, find solutions, demand sacrifices.

The only difference between the hard times of yesteryear is the surfeit of liberal thought eg. “Let the government save me while I idle away my time.” Perhaps an economic wedgie of hard conditions might change their aversion to self-sufficiency. Then again, they may just starve.

When the Democrats and RINOs tell you they need more tax revenues, ask them which tax they want to raise.

Not everyone pays all these taxes in every state; some states tax unprepared food, others like New Hampshire tax the scenic view you have from your property. To insult you further all tax, at some level, your view of the coffin lid. Politicians will look you in the eye and tell you most of these aren’t taxes, they’re fees for allowing you to exist.

This list is by no means definitive. Many more state and local “fees” are in place, limited only by the imagination of the “Elected Elite.”

• Accounts Receivable Tax
• Building Permit Tax
• CDL license Tax
• Cigarette Tax
• Corporate Income Tax
• Dog License Tax
• Excise Taxes
• Federal Income Tax
• Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
• Fishing License Tax
• Food License Tax
• Fuel Permit Tax
• Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
• Gross Receipts Tax
• Hunting License Tax
• Inheritance Tax
• Inventory Tax
• IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
• Liquor Tax
• Luxury Taxes
• Marriage License Tax
• Medicare Tax
• Personal Property Tax
• Property Tax
• Real Estate Tax
• Service Charge Tax
• Social Security Tax
• Road UsageTax
• Sales Tax
• Recreational Vehicle Tax
• School Tax
• State Income Tax
• State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
• Telephone Federal Excise Tax
• Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
• Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
• Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
• Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
• Telephone State and Local Tax
• Telephone Usage Charge Tax
• Utility Taxes
• Vehicle License Registration Tax
• Vehicle Sales Tax
• Watercraft Registration Tax
• Well Permit Tax
• Workers Compensation Tax

When you are unemployed, the tax on your unemployment check is a tax on a tax you all ready paid, same with worker’s comp.

Lock and Load!

Bush says economy is in good shape despite recession fears.

more below from him

Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright

Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.

China threatens ‘nuclear option’ of dollar sales

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

· Blog - Dollar to collapse?

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.

Canada’s Dollar At Parity on U.S. Weakness, Commodity Surge

Canada’s dollar rose, trading equal to the U.S. dollar for the first time in 31 years, as climbing commodity prices boosted the outlook for the world’s eighth-biggest economy.

Oil prices jump above $82 a barrel

Commodities prices on Wednesday rose with crude oil hitting its sixth consecutive record high above $82 a barrel and spot gold approaching a near 28-year high of $730 an ounce troy. Base metals registered rises of between 2 and 10 per cent.

Agricultural commodities were down on profit-taking and signals that some food importing countries, such as India, had bought enough cereals for their inventories.

Crude oil jumped to a $82.51 after a larger-than-expected fall in US crude oil inventories last week.

China Freezes Some Prices in Move to Contain Inflation

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government has ordered some prices frozen and told officials to closely monitor others in its most drastic step yet to contain a surge in inflation.

The order, issued late Wednesday, came after inflation rose to 6.5 percent in August — its highest monthly rate in 11 years — propelled by a double-digit rise in politically sensitive food prices.

The order stressed the importance of maintaining “market stability” ahead of a key Communist Party meeting next month. It said controlling inflation would affect China’s development, reform and stability.

Oil Up Again As Low Dollar Spurs Buying

Crude Futures Surpass $83 a Barrel, Driven Largely by Weakening Dollar

NEW YORK (AP) — Crude oil prices surged further into record terrain Thursday, breaching $83 a barrel as the weak dollar and some worrisome weather in the Gulf of Mexico spurred buying.

Gasoline futures jumped as well. {snip]

A weak dollar supports oil prices by making futures cheaper for foreign investors, noted Antoine Halff, head of energy research at Fimat USA LLC.

It also prompts buying by domestic investors, who sense that demand for Nymex oil is rising overseas, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.

Bush Optimistic About Economy

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Thursday cited “some unsettling times” in the U.S. housing and credit markets as he sought to assure jittery Americans that the economy basically is in good shape despite worries about a recession.

…and the question is, what’s this all about?”

For starters, it’s about our failure to save for the future. With childish glee we buy anything we see in a hedonistic frenzy: plasma screen TV, cars with a 60 month loan package, 5000 sq ft houses with ARMs, lavish vacations, spa treatments, plastic surgery, every electronic gewgaw, and oversized waistlines. If not borrowed through a bank, then on plastic it goes.

Given that we ceased manufacturing most of these items through offshore means and outsourced many more jobs, our capital (dollars) followed the production and jobs. This is one reason.

Here’s another. We will not fix the drain on the tax base by Medicare, Medicaid, Prescription drug plan, and Social Security. Instead, we financed this huge burden by selling Treasury bonds and T-bills. Worse, the government uses abnormal accounting methods to cover the gaps. When they amalgamated the Social Security fund with the general fund, it permitted the Great Society programs to survive until they enrolled too many voters to scrap it. When one robs Peter to pay Paul, Paul never complains.

So what happens?

The entire outflow of capital (dollars) goes somewhere; they convert to treasury notes with a guaranteed rate of return of principal and interest (future taxes). Countries are investors like everyone else; they go where the return rate is best.

The pop of the housing bubble forced banks and mortgage companies, by banking law, to initiate foreclosure proceedings. By law, at 120 days, bad loans are collected or written off against profit, which really electrifies the stockholders. The market saw them bail out of lending institutions, resulting in the drop in stock prices: Countrywide, Citi, Stanley Morgan, and Merrill Lynch to name some.

The Fed jumped in to improve liquidity by reducing interest rate by 50 basis points. The stock market went up, the banks took happy pills, and there was joy in Mudville.

Except

Other countries didn’t like the rate change (they lend money from overnight to 30 year investment bonds) and cashed in dollars for something other than greenbacks. Anything worked fine. The US is required to redeem these notes, which we pay for with Pounds, Euros, Swiss Francs, Ryials, clamshells, or worse gold. The US just became poorer.

To correct this, we will have to reduce the National Debt, (not just the deficit) by either cutting spending, raising taxes plus manufacturing goods here once more. Putting Americans to work in jobs we offshored starts the program. Getting the illegals out and cutting welfare programs forces the non-workers to change or get hungry.

We will find foreign imports more expensive; buying them will be inflationary (Remember Carter’s stagflation). To cut off the outflow of money, interest rates go up on short term borrowing which cuts into corporate growth, further damaging the economy. What say you Yogi. Something about Deja?

We can correct all this. We will have to put the socialist/liberals/Marxists on Thorzine to quiet them down

Now read the above links again to see just how serious this will be.

One more item needs addressing. China is threatening to utilize the “nuclear option” of dumping dollars onto the open market ($1.33 trillion), which would require our redeeming them, or suffer bankruptcy.

In past times, this construed an act of war.

I heard about this last week, couldn’t get info I wanted before.

Vermont wants this more than a pross wants a john; will produce the same results too.

Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2007; Page A14
…So we hope the eyes of America will turn to Wisconsin, and the effort by Madison Democrats to make that “progressive” state a petri dish for government-run health care. This exercise is especially instructive, because it reveals where the “single-payer,” universal coverage folks end up…. And, wow, is “free” health care expensive. The plan would cost an estimated $15.2 billion, or $3 billion more than the state currently collects in all income, sales and corporate income taxes. It represents an average of $510 a month in higher taxes for every Wisconsin worker. Employees and businesses would pay for the plan by sharing the cost of a new 14.5% employment tax on wages. Wisconsin businesses would have to compete with out-of-state businesses and foreign rivals while shouldering a 29.8% combined federal-state payroll tax, nearly double the 15.3% payroll tax paid by non-Wisconsin firms for Social Security and Medicare combined….As if that’s not enough, the health plan includes a tax escalator clause allowing an additional 1.5 percentage point payroll tax to finance higher outlays in the future. This could bring the payroll tax to 16%. One reason to expect costs to soar is that the state may become a mecca for the unemployed, uninsured and sick from all over North America….

See the next post for the blind leading the blind. Socialism is truly a mentally incapacitating condition.

The Politico asked all 100 Senators to explain their position on immigration. Click on the states to see their replies. (Link goes to an interactive map of the US)

“This senator (Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) feels very strongly about the provisions that affect dairy workers and the circumstances of that important industry. I also take a particular interest in the provisions that affect seasonal workers for the many Vermont businesses that require them, and in the needs of our leading high-technology companies.

“As the Statue of Liberty proclaims, America is a country that welcomes the poor and those yearning to breathe free, not just the well-educated and those who already speak English. A temporary worker program with no opportunity to share in the promise of America creates an incentive for overstays and risks creating a new population of undocumented individuals just as we work so hard to bring millions of people out of the shadows of society. I also worry that the temporary worker program included in the bill does not effectively serve the needs of American employers. I hope we are past trying to build fences and walls around America and the American dream.” Leahy supports the DREAM [Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors] Act.

Sen Leahy, the dairy industry can hire from the roll of unemployed and those receiving social services. Since many farmers provide housing for hired hands, this also will reduce the pressure on housing in Vermont while giving those on the dole a reason to exist.

Seasonal workers who pick fruit and vegetables arrive from the Caribbean islands, legally, on work visas, and GO home at the end of the season.

Except to mow the grass, high tech companies are not hiring anyone without education or skills for these positions. If these high tech companies require employees, let us educate our offspring to fill these slots. While in school they can acquire the work ethic by working on farms, mowing lawns and helping old ladies cross the street.

Vermont must start paying wages that reflect job needs, not by supply of cheap illegal workers. If a business cannot make a go of it, close the doors. Start a business that can make it, or work for someone else. That will raise the wages.

Sen. Leahy, American employers will hire from people in this country, and pay commensurate with the job requirements.  Otherwise, let them feel the pinch of falling production and sales.

 Sen. Kennedy’s DREAM Act is just another means of jacking up taxes for schools. Low wage illegals don’t pay income, property and Medicare tax. For every dollar earned, they cost nearly $3.00 in services to the taxpayer. Why would you want to raise your taxes to cover education for people, whose own country will not educate.

Leahy says he’s working for Vermonters; envisioning how he is accomplishing this from this hill in Vermont is exigent.

Trillions in debt, household liability, $516,348 each.

The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year — far more than the official $248 billion deficit — when corporate-style accounting standards are used, a USA TODAY analysis shows. [snip]

The federal government does not follow the rule, so promises for Social Security and Medicare don’t show up when the government reports its financial condition.

Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined. [snip]

The change would move Social Security and Medicare onto the government’s income statement and balance sheet, instead of keeping them separate.

The White House and the Congressional Budget Office oppose the change, arguing that the programs are not true liabilities because government can cancel or cut them.

Chad Stone, chief economist at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says it can be misleading to focus on the government’s unfunded liabilities because Medicare’s financial problems overwhelm the analysis.

“There is a shortfall in Medicare and Medicaid that is potentially explosive, but that is related to overall trends in health care spending,” he says.

Where should we focus our attention, Chad Stone?

There is the complicity of the congress and AARP members, the boomers and retirees, who will not allow for a change in course. AARP, the largest liberal horde of greedy individuals keeps the threat of seat loss in front of the rubber spine politicians who bow to more spending. Bush’s prescription drug plan is just one example.

We keep voting for the same collection of clowns in congress, who buy votes with our money. The Supreme Court didn’t miss a chance either. They are the ones who found all these extra benefits for the various victim assemblages.

By putting off sensible spending restrictions, by refusing to curb the entitlement programs, we, in fact are putting the cost on plastic. When the President files for bankruptcy, will it come out of his pocket?

“The White House and the Congressional Budget Office…because government can cancel or cut them.” Surely, they do this with regularity, so the debt isn’t part of the entitlement programs. Feel better now that they said this?

The worst of the lot is the pile of pigs in office now, they figure to be out of office with theirs when the bankruptcy materializes.

We’re lucky, Kennedy and McCain have figured out to reverse the problem. The inauguration of the Mexicans for Welfare Reform should be a boon to the solution to this accounting irregularity.

The Star Spangled Banner will no longer be our anthem, but the country’s threnody.

Speaking of Democrats spending more than Republicans, enter this year’s fiscal budget:

Congress’s budget resolution relies on massive tax increases while ignoring the coming explosion in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid spending. It pushes up discretionary spending and sets a clear path for more of the same on the mandatory side. This classic tax-and-spend budget assumes the expiration of the tax cuts that have helped to create jobs and promote economic growth. It would lead to higher tax rates for families and businesses, slower economic growth, and a nation woefully unprepared to face the coming retirement of 77 million baby boomers.

Which of course is exactly what Nancy Pelosi promised wouldn’t happen:

“After years of historic deficits, this new Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: pay as you go, no new deficit spending. Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt.”

Once you are elected though, “mountains of debt” quickly turns into investments in our future, right Nancy? Did anybody really buy the idea that Democrats would be fiscally conservative if entrusted with Congress? If you did, I’d like to sell you a bridge.

The president is playing good cop/bad cop with Congressional Democrats.  Over the weekend he was playing good cop at their retreat where he said disagreeing with him on the war doesn’t make Democrats unpatriotic.  He also called for bipartisan cooperation and highlighted issues where they do share common ground (like amnesty for illegal immigrants).  But on Monday the bad cop president released his FY 08 budget.  The new proposal includes billions more for defense spending and makes the previous tax cuts permanent.  He funded these proposals by cutting domestic spending priorities including cuts in Medicaid and Medicare, which are sure to be good fodder for stories about Republicans hating the poor.

Democrats are already rejecting the proposal.  They lament the lost opportunity to begin the bipartisan relationship with a more agreeable budget.  However, give the White House credit for playing the budget negotiation game exactly right.  The administration knows if they gave Democrats an inch, they’d try for a mile.  By setting the targets for programs they want extremely high, they can make concessions that make them look reasonable, properly fund the troops, and control Democratic gains.  It’s nice to see the president isn’t fooled by calls for more bipartisanship.  The only way he’ll get an acceptable budget is exactly the way he’s going about it.

President Bush’s State of the Union address certainly contained a lot of new spending promises. A Democrat couldn’t have done better when the president listed health care, education, global warming, and energy independence as just a few of the areas where he’s seeking to expand the budget. But while he was calling for new or expanded programs, he also pledged to balance the budget, attack earmarks, and hold the line on taxes. And so I am left scratching my head because the president has proposed policies analogous to being in 2 places at the same time. It simply can’t happen.

The president did set one budget area for cutting—Social Security, Medicare, and other “entitlement” programs for the elderly. Although as one of the chief architects of prescription drug coverage for seniors, the president’s new found concern for the budget busting demographic trends in our aging population rings hollow. But worse than the hypocrisy is the implication that programs like Social Security and Medicare are like welfare.

Welfare recipients didn’t do anything to earn their checks except live in the United States. Most elderly Social Security and Medicare recipients paid into those systems their entire working lives. They are entitled to a return on their government forced “investment”. However, demographics isn’t the only force driving our politicians desire for “reform”. They’re just as anxious to change the rules to hide the fact that there is no trust fund because they spent all the excess funds and wrote IOUs. Personally, I’m not planning on Social Security for my retirement. I simply don’t believe the government is going to keep its word.

It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how all of these conflicting priorities get worked out because they can’t all be instituted.

A wave of the chuck’s tail to Drudge

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would bring to the office a level of left-wing liberalism that will be unprecedented. In the National Journal’s 2005 ideological ratings, which were based on scores of votes, Mrs. Pelosi was ranked more liberal than 91 percent of her House colleagues on economic issues, 96 percent on social matters and 82 percent on foreign-policy issues. Here are her relative rankings (economic, social, foreign) for 2004 (93, 88, 81), 2003 (92, 89, 70), 2002 (88, 84, 90) and 2001 (94, 83, 93).
[snip]

Over the years, Mrs. Pelosi has consistently voted against welfare reform, including the 1996 bill signed by President Clinton and its re-authorization. In 1998, she opposed a constitutional amendment to permit school prayer in the classroom. In 1999, she opposed allowing state and local governments to display the Ten Commandments on public property, including schools. She has voted against education IRAs. In 2003, she opposed a $10 million program for school vouchers in the District of Columbia. That same year she voted against the 10-year $400 billion Medicare prescription-drug bill because she preferred one that was twice as expensive. Mrs. Pelosi has repeatedly voted for tax increases and opposed tax cuts, even the 2001 bill that doubled the child tax credit to $1,000, among other cuts.

As the United States has become increasingly dependent on foreign sources for oil, Mrs. Pelosi has always opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In recent years, she has become protectionist — leading the opposition in 2000 against then-President Clinton’s successful effort to establish permanent normal trade relations with China. She also opposed giving Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush trade-promotion authority; and in 2005 she voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement. In 2004, she voted to end Radio Marti broadcasts to Cuba. She voted to reduce funds for the B-2 intercontinental bomber, which performed superbly in the 1999 Kosovo War, in 2001 in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Mrs. Pelosi has repeatedly opposed anti-missile defense, even as a nuclear-armed North Korea has tested ballistic missiles.

Only one question remains, on whose side is she?

A wave of the chuck’s tail to the Heritage blog-

Today the Financial Times reports on a proposal to require the federal government to account for future entitlement spending. FT reports,

The proposal by the federal accounting standards advisory board (FASAB) – which would also require the government to account for benefits accrued under Medicare and other social insurance programmes in the same way – is unprecedented internationally. It would radically change the presentation of US government finances, in effect bringing forward the cost of rapidly increasing social security and Medicare obligations and greatly increasing the reported fiscal deficit.

Last year Alison Fraser argued why accrual accounting is fiscally responsible. She wrote,

Amending the federal budget process to include this principle of planning for future obligations would:

• Impose responsible fiscal management on the budget process. Significant policy undertakings such as the Medicare drug benefit should contain a sound financial plan and make an annual allocation toward any liability or obligation.
• Require recognition of future liabilities and obligations in annual budget plan­ning. The budget is now written on a cash basis and does not plan for the huge liabil­ities and obligations that will come due in the future. This would provide Congress with a long-term budgetary context for proposals to fix entitlement programs within which new costs would be evalu­ated against future savings.
• Force lawmakers to recognize the true cost of proposed future entitlements in the annual federal budget. This would require Congress to begin to rein in the federal govern­ment’s commitments that will come due in the future and would discourage lawmakers from voting for new benefits and passing on the cost to future Congresses.

Tell me which person in either house or senate would vote for or allow this accounting method adopted. This by itself would stop buying special interest votes.

Can you think of a better anti-incumbent requirement?

As a conservative, I must admit to a great deal of disappointment in President Bush and the Republican Party. Credit must be given for the war on Islamofascism, lower taxes, and two good Supreme Court nominations (almost only one); however, only the dollars spent separate Republican and Democratic domestic priorities.

The President and Senate Republicans support the Democratic version of amnesty for illegal aliens. They expand government at a break neck pace with programs like Medicare prescription drugs for seniors. President Bush supported the out of control spending and domestic priorities of Congress without question and waited almost 6 years to issue his first veto. I dare say a President Kerry might not have advanced a liberal domestic agenda so well given a Republican Congress would naturally have opposed him.

And do you know what really gets me down? Our future is not much brighter. Recent polling indicates Senator McCain and Mayor Guiliani are the Republican frontrunners. Both men are socially liberal and neither will advance a conservative agenda. In fact, John McCain takes great pride in not being a conservative and jabbing a fork into the eye of the conservative wing of the Party whenever he can.

With McCain and Guiliani, 2008 might play out a lot like 2000 with the Republican frontrunners trying to convince the conservative elements of the Party to support them. Remember President Bush’s “compassionate conservative”? The nomination of Dick Cheney for Vice President was designed to convince us that the emphasis was on the “conservative” part. Unfortunately for us, the “conservative” was only included to mollify us. The race for the 2008 nomination is going the same way as both candidates will work very hard to convince the base they can be trusted. I don’t buy it for a second.

Our best hope of being saved is Governor Mitt Romney. Can Mitt make a run of it? I certainly hope so because our other choices are not really that appealing if you actually want a conservative agenda advanced and not just a Republican victory in the race for the Presidency.

Democrats decided to offer an agenda after all:

Democratic House and Senate leaders are planning to reduce the cost of student loans and prescription drugs, raise the minimum wage and launch an effort to develop alternative fuels if they win back control of Congress.

They call this a “New Direction”? President Bush already gave seniors a $593 billion dollar Medicare prescription drug benefit. How much more do they want? The Federal government has subsidized student loans for decades, and numerous private sector entities are working on alternative fuels.

The word “new” belongs nowhere near these warmed over socialist proposals. Clearly Democrats have no agenda to move the country forward. I have a better and accurate slogan for our friends—Democrats: We spend more. Unfortunately, our ’06 election options are limited to the big spenders and the really, really big spenders.  There is nothing new about that.