Cap and Tax

Clyde Middleton and I just concluded a blogger conference call with the House Whip Team. On the call were Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Erik Paulsen (R-MN).

The major news from the call was that Cap and Trade is, according to Rep. Jordan, “all but dead in the House.”...(link)

More good news from the party once called conservative. Cap and Tax err Trade is one of the biggest (not the biggest since ObamaCare is still in the works) thefts of American wealth ever put forth by any legislature.

For the purpose of 'protecting the climate' (which the bill wouldn't even do) the citizens would have to pay higher prices for energy... and of course since every product you buy has energy being used to make it, guess what would happen to the prices of all those 'luxury' goods (you know: food, water, shelter, etc.)? Of course they'd skyrocket also. Since the manufacturers would have to pay more to produce, they would charge more (not the full amount, some would be taken back by cutting pay and a very small amount eaten from profit) for their products to consumers.

So not only do you have the 'direct tax' of higher electric bills (around $1761 per year [link]) you would also bite the indirect price raise by each business that had their electric bills raised. The cost to each person would be much higher than any estimate because of the 'pass-down' method of pricing by business.

Killing this behemoth bill is a very high priority (just behind the ObamaCare fiasco) and you should let your congresscritters know how you feel on this. (easy way here)

Ed talks about this among other non-tax taxes in his latest AIP column here

Bailouts

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus on Wednesday sought a promise from the Obama administration that the government will stop rescuing huge financial institutions on the brink of failure. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner declined.

“You can’t fix the system, make it more stable in the future, by hoping and promising that you’re going to ... abolish the fire station or block the doors of the fire station when the crisis breaks out,” Geithner told Bachus during a Wednesday morning hearing on Capitol Hill. “It’s not a strategy that works.”(link)

Finally the R's are acting more and more like conservatives... now that they can't reasonably expect to accomplish anything.

If they had acted like this when they controlled Washington, we might not be in the 'dire straits' we're in now. When confronted with Democrats and Democrat-lites, the voters will usually pick the authentic ones.

Right or Left

Another study (or studies) that make you wonder why people actually have to look into this. Common knowledge should have covered it.

George Orwell once wrote that politics was closely related to social identity. 'One sometimes gets the impression,' he wrote in The Road To Wigan Pier, 'that the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England'.

Orwell was making an observation. But today a whole body of academic research shows he was correct: your politics influence the manner in which you live your life. And the news is not so good for those on the political Left.

There is plenty of data that shows that Right-wingers are happier, more generous to charities, less likely to commit suicide - and even hug their children more than those on the Left.

Read the whole thing; from money to honesty, it covers everything. Then read the comments and spot the lefties having a fit.

Tags: Daily Mail, left, right, values, Lord Nazh

Commentary - Peter Schweizer: Conservatives more honest than liberals?

The headline may seem like a trick question -- even a dangerous one -- to ask during an election year. And notice, please, that I didn't ask whether certain politicians are more honest than others. (Politicians are a different species altogether.) Yet there is a striking gap between the manner in which liberals and conservatives address the issue of honesty.

Consider these results:

Is it OK to cheat on your taxes? A total of 57 percent of those who described themselves as "very liberal" said yes in response to the World Values Survey, compared with only 20 percent of those who are "very conservative." When Pew Research asked whether it was "morally wrong" to cheat Uncle Sam, 86 percent of conservatives agreed, compared with only 68 percent of liberals.

Ponder this scenario, offered by the National Cultural Values Survey: "You lose your job. Your friend's company is looking for someone to do temporary work. They are willing to pay the person in cash to avoid taxes and allow the person to still collect unemployment. What would you do?"

Almost half, or 49 percent, of self-described progressives would go along with the scheme, but only 21 percent of conservatives said they would.

Heh I'm sure this will get a rise out of some people.

Tags: Peter Schweizer, honesty, Lord Nazh