From IBDeditorials.com:

When a private employer offers a job and the offer is accepted, the welfare of both the employer and employee is improved. The employer has a new worker who will make the company more productive and the worker has a job to meet his needs.

But when a government job is filled, a third party is involved, and the welfare of that party — the taxpayers who pay the public employee’s salary — is harmed and the economy ultimately damaged.

It’s hard to make a reasonable argument that the country needs 22 million public sector employees. With a total population of 304 million, that’s one government worker for every 14 Americans.

The full editorial is really worth the read, but that is the part I wanted to point out.  For every 14 Americans there is 1 government worker.  There are more workers in government than in manufacturing!  So wouldn’t real economic stimulus be in reducing the size of our government?  This would reduce the cost of operating along with freeing up resources that would actually contribute to the economy in general.

Sadly, I see the reverse being far more likely in our new administration.  (Bush really didn’t have any redeeming qualities in the smaller government area either – so certainly not a partisan argument there.)

It has been projected that less than half of the stimulus money Obama is planning on “pumping into the economy” will be spent in the next two years.  So my question is: Then what is the freaking point???  If it is going to be too late to be effective, then is it really needed?  The answer is no, but with a big government “spend our way out of our problems” looming, I am guessing it will happen regardless of whether or not it is a good idea.  (See Rob’s post on the issue.)

The whole point is that the government is increasing its drain on the economy – not stimulating it.  Bailouts, stimulus packages, etc are making an exploding national debt worse.  In this drives inflation and not only will it not really help in the short run, will quite possibly make things much worse in the long run.

Cross-posted at Sayanything.com Reader Blogs.

Technorati Tags: Politics, Bailouts, Stimulus

Post from: Jake's Corner

Why we don’t need more stimulus bills

I have linked as much as possible to a reference site for each for those interested.

Event agenda:

Participating Organizations: ND Policy Council, Citizens for Responsible Government, SayAnythingBlog.Com, ND Hospitality Association, Land Owners Association of North Dakota, (Attending: ND Farm Bureau, NFIB, ND Petroleum Marketers, ND Stockmen Association)

9:00 – 9:15: Welcome/Intentions/Goals

9:15 – 10:05: Property taxes

10:15 – 11:05: K-12 Education

11:10 – 12:00: Higher Education

12:00– 12:45: Lunch: Keynote Address: Kevin Cramer

12:45 – 1:15: Government Transparency

1:20 – 1:50: Economic Development

1:55 – 2:25: Taxpayer-funded Lobbying

2:30 – 3:00: Extraterritorial Zoning

So that is the list of sessions that we can attend.  Quite the wide range of topics, but should be interesting.  ND having been my home for almost 10 years now (and going to be much much longer now as I live/work/own a house here) this should be quite the opportunity for me to dig deeper into ND politics/government.

Side note – any Bismarck friends who might be around, Shane and I are planning a Buffalo Wild Wings pilgrimage while in town.  So let me know!

Technorati Tags: North Dakota, Politics, Sayanythingblog, Rob Port, ND Public Policy, Jake Barnard

Post from: Jake's Corner

North Dakota Public Policy Institute – Sat Dec. 20th

Really the best part of this contest for me has been discovering some new blogs.  This has been probably my favorite discovery so far.  As you will see by the name, and looking through the site, they are a “fire family.”  The husband (called FireDad on the site) is a 26 year old career firefighter.  The wife (aka FireMom) is a 27 year old freelance writer and mother of 2.  So seeing similar ages, interests, blogging, and loving all things department related, perked my interest to the site right away.

They are starting their contest today: Stop, Drop, and Blog.  Here is the post for the HP contest. (Each site has their own rules, so make sure to read the contest rules before commenting.)

Disclamer: this post counts as an additional entry to the contest… but I also thought it would be fun to share how winning (if chance likes me) would impact my family, friends, and readers.

First, I would replace our aging family laptop, but more importantly I would give one to my wife so she can finally have her own computer. (Neither is in the Christmas budget this year.)

Secondly, I would see if anything would be of use to my (fire) dept. – I am guessing the photosmart the guys would have a lot of fun with and actually use productively. (Well sometimes.)

Last, I would share online as well by having a contest of my own on supergeekblog.com – not only would it be a blast, bring a lot of new readers, but someone I don’t even know would have a better holiday season as well.

So winning would have a positive, lasting, impact on myself and others.  I encourage everyone to head on over and check out the Stop, Drop, and Blog site.  It is a blast

Technorati Tags: HP Magic, Supergeekblog, Contest, Jake Barnard, Olorinpc

Post from: Jake's Corner

Stop, Drop, and Blog – HP Contest

Source.

Not much else really needs to be said, it is supposed to be saterical and thought provoking.  (Along with funny of course.)

Technorati Tags: Bailout, Auto Industry

Post from: Jake's Corner

From the Auto Industry

A bailout of the auto industry will save a few jobs for a little while.  OK, it will save a lot of jobs for a little while.  But in the long run, a bailout reduces everyone’s standard of living.  It’s interference in the free market, and causes a misallocation of resources.  It’s a misallocation because the market has already given the company the thumbs-down, in that the company has not been able to deliver a product profitably at a price that the market is willing to pay.  A bailout says to the market: “You’re wrong.  This company deserves to stay in business.”

This wouldn’t be the first time we have bailed out the auto industry either.  Since they are back for a handout again, doesn’t that imply that bailing them out just doesn’t work?  If I start a small business and run it into the ground should someone bail out me?  Certainly not, it would turn into a failed business.  I would have to evaluate why it failed and how to avoid that in the future.

The article makes a number of good points, this one being key as to why bailouts are bad:

We all lose because the resources have been re-allocated inefficiently by force, against what we, the customers, have already said we want.  We instead get more of the failing business’s products and less of the succeeding business’s products, and have to pay for this situation to boot.

Short version: They failed, you have to pay more for a product (due to higher wages, poor management, etc) AND foot the tax bill for the bailout.  I encourage you to go read the full article over there.  It makes some excellent additional points.

Technorati Tags: bailout, politics, auto bailout

Post from: Jake's Corner

Bailouts hurt our standard of living

Hoeven’s budget requests $3.11 billion in state general fund spending from July 1, 2009, until June 30, 2011, an increase of 26.4 percent. North Dakota’s general fund is financed mostly by taxes on sales, income, energy, corporations, tobacco and gambling. Total spending, which includes federal funds, state gasoline tax collections, and other revenues, would rise 19 percent, to $7.71 billion.

I agree with Rob 100% on this part – [Hoeven is talking about] “one time spending.” Which is baloney.  If you increase spending on an agency that is on going spending. Ummmm duh.  It is in government agencies best interest to perpetuate their own existence.  They will never voluntarily cut their own budgets.  So increasing them is not “short term.”  Whoever thinks so is smoking some really good crack.

Rob goes on to cover other points in his article, so very much worth reading.  The only other part I really can contribute is the fact that part of this budget is raiding the oil tax trust fund.  (To the tune of $562 million)  With oil prices going down, that fund will not be replenished quite as quickly.  So does draining it really make sense?  That is exactly why I was so disappointed the protection measure on the ballot this year was defeated.  It would have prevented this exact situation.

View Rob’s original post here.

Technorati Tags: Hoeven, North Dakota, Taxes, Politics

Post from: Jake's Corner

Tax And Spend: Hoeven Announces Plans For A 26% Increase In Government Spending

If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars.

People have a hard time conceptualizing very large numbers, so let’s give this some context. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history.

Crunching the inflation adjusted numbers, we find the bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

Does anyone else thinking this is starting to get insane?  Bailing everything out will reduce us to a broke welfare nation.  It seems to have gotten to the point where the numbers have lost all meaning.  It has gotten so large that a trillion just doesn’t mean anything anymore.  Perhaps if more people look at the above numbers, some meaning will be brought back to it.  This is also why we should say no to more bailouts.  We have to draw a line somewhere.

Technorati Tags: Bailouts, Jake Barnard, Olorinpc, Politics

Post from: Jake's Corner

Costs of a bailout

From Mark Perry’s blog. “Helping one’s fellow man in need, by reaching into one’s own pockets, is a laudable and praiseworthy goal. Doing the same through coercion and reaching into another’s pockets has no redeeming features and is worthy of condemnation (see cartoon above).”

Check out his blog for the full text that went with the comic.

Technorati Tags: Socialism, Politics, Olorinpc, Comics

Post from: Jake's Corner

Why Socialism is evil

“Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a hastily called news conference in the Capitol. “Hopefully in another week or two we can see a plan.” – USA Today

That is the part that scares me.  By telling them they must have plan, you are implying that we are just going to hand them the money when we do.  When is this crap going to stop?  Business’s run themselves into the ground, and instead of failing and learning from it like any normal business, we hand them billions and say “do better.”  Where the hell is the incentive for them to do better?

Rob over at Sayanything blog had an excelent post on this issue just yesterday.  Basically Mitt Romney says to let Detriot go backrupt, for a lot of the reasons I mentioned above.

That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.

Second, management as is must go. New faces should be recruited from unrelated industries — from companies widely respected for excellence in marketing, innovation, creativity and labor relations.

Will it be bad for all of us in the short term?  I am sure it will.  Jobs will be lost, companies will have to restructure, etc.  Will it force the automakers to kick it into gear and actually make their companies profitable?  Yes.  Bailouts are incentive to continuing the bad behavior that got them there in the first place.  Hopefully our elected leadership will catch onto that.  (Especially since the 700 billion bailout plan isn’t going like they thought it would… though it is going like a few of us feared it would.)

Technorati Tags: auto bailout, politics, government

Post from: Jake's Corner

Auto Bailout on Hold – Good

Working with President Bush economic team

Immediately after becoming president focusing on the economy.

Introducing the transition team… discussed most immediate

Rescue plan for the middle class – invest in jobs, relief for families.

Unemployment insurance plan

Economic stimulus plan to jumpstart things

Financial sector crisis, must remember its global.

Auto industry – backbone of industrial – policy options to help auto industry adjust. What we can do under current law or what legislation might be needed.

Helping homeowners and not management. Critical that treasury work with HUD, FDIC, etc.

Setting policies to grow middle class and strengthen economy.

Further action will be needed during the transition period.

Now taking questions.

All in all, very little in the way of specifics with one glaring exclusion.  A new “Stimulus Package” is mentioned a couple of times.  During this Q&A time he mentions it as a certainty that one is needed and will be worked on.

He wants to see it sooner rather than later.  If it isn’t done during the lame duck session, it is going to be his first action as President.  He is also doing a good job at reminding people that he is not President yet.  Though the place card with “Office of the President-Elect” does seem to contradict that statement a bit.

Update: (Follow up stuff from the Q&A session.)

What are you doing to get ready?

-Speaking to former presidents? I have spoken to all of them living. I have reread some of Lincolns writings. Former presidents have been very gracious and offered any help that I can use.

My tax plan represented a net tax cut. He goes into the 95% Americans bit. Priority is going to be how to we grow the economy and jobs. Boost the economy from the bottom up.

Jake’s final thoughts:  All in all, pretty much as expected.  He still seems a bit rough though I would say he did a good job with the Q&A.  I don’t agree with his policy directs, so leery of that, but he was quite forthright and up front about his priorities and did give us some specific answers.

Technorati Tags: live blogging, Obama, politics, olorinpc

Post from: Jake's Corner

Live blogging Obama address, updated