Archive for June, 2009
House Passes Climate Bill
The government is trying to further hamstring the productive elements of this country. This 1,200 page bill, if passed by the Senate, will raise energy costs. It will also direct resources into expensive, politically motivated projects that will be ripe with cost over-runs instead of left in the market to serve consumers. The estimated cost to each household is $175 according to the Congressional Budget Office.
WASHINGTON – Hours after the House passed landmark legislation meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions and create an energy-efficient economy, President Barack Obama on Saturday urged senators to show courage and follow suit.
The sharply debated bill’s fate is unclear in the Senate, and Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to ratchet up pressure on the 100-seat chamber.
“My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this,” he said. “We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don’t believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth.”
CPI Inflation Calculator
Check what a dollar of the year of your birth is worth now. Also compare between the value between a dollar from when the Federal Reserve started (1913) and now.
Thomas E. Woods, author of Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, discusses Seymour Melman’s [.pdf] research into the societal repercussions of a military economy, the diversion of research scientists from the private sector to Cold War military programs, the transformation of the U.S. university system into a DOD jobs program and the corruption of defense contractors into companies that can’t compete in a free market.
My Letter to Rep DeFazio
This is in reference to HR 2454 which is appears now to be HR2998
This massive bill will only add pointless regulation and excessive costs on America. Other than increasing the size of government, this bill if passed, will slow an already hurting economy further.
What is your position on it?
By the time this bill is presented for a vote, will you have read all 900+ pages of it?
How Many Pages of Laws?
Every week there it seems that there is major legislation passing in Washington DC. The actual text of the bills often balloons to 1,000 pages or more. Considering how quickly the bills come up for a vote, one is forced to wonder; do members of Congress read what they vote for? Of course the answer is almost always a no.
With the clauses that are buried deep in these tens of thousands of pages, we won’t figure out the total effect of these new laws on our country for years to come. In a perfect world, each clause would have to be voted on individually. If that was the case, I doubt that half of them would be passed.
Last month, when Republicans tried to stall energy legislation with hundreds of amendments, Democrats hired a speed reader to get through them all. Now, with Democratic leadership barreling through its hefty agenda this summer, it looks as if the speed reader’s services may be needed once more.
Various grassroots organizations are blasting Congress for not taking the time to properly consider the energy bill or health care reform — two very significant pieces of legislation.
Let Freedom Ring, a non-profit, grassroots organization that supports a conservative agenda, announced an initiative today urging members of Congress to sign a pledge to read and give citizens the opportunity to read any health care reform legislation before voting on it.
Check it out at Campaign for Liberty
Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill continues to gain momentum! 290 would be 2/3, if it gains that much support, passing the Senate might be possible too.
Iran thwarts opposition protest
Hundreds of Iranian riot police have deterred opposition supporters from staging a rally near parliament in Tehran to protest against the outcome of the presidential election held on June 12.
Witnesses said security officers, armed with batons and shields, filled the surrounding streets on Wednesday and forced the protesters attempting to gather in Baharastan Square to disperse.
“Yasmin”, a student protester, told Al Jazeera that several hundred people had gathered in metro stations, pretending to be just passing by, to avoid the police.
“But it’s very difficult for us,” she said.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated main opposition candidate in the presidential election, has distanced himself from the protest with his official website saying the proposed rally was an independent initiative and had not been organised by him.
WASHINGTON — During the debate over financial regulation, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, has been surprisingly quiet.
But behind the scenes, he has been a forceful proponent of giving the Fed more power, both defending his management of the economic crisis and arguing that more authority would help the agency act more decisively to reduce the chances of a recurrence, according to interviews with lawmakers and officials from the Fed, the Treasuryand the White House.
Despite criticism by some lawmakers that the Fed failed to anticipate the problems that led to the crisis, Mr. Bernanke has told associates that such critics fail to recognize the extraordinary actions taken by the central bank over the last year.
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