Bureaucrats gone wild

With gas prices reaching historic seasonal highs, Americans are asking themselves what’s going on. What’s going on is plenty, and all of it in the wrong direction under the Obama Administration.

One wrong-headed move follows another with this president, and listing them would take days. Drilling bans, ridiculous regulatory burdens, locked up lands, and halting the Keystone Pipeline come quickly to mind, but there is more. Two moves currently underway underscore the problem. The first is the “Menendez Amendment” that may be introduced as part of the coming highway bill in the Senate. It is yet another run at taking away “loopholes” from American oil companies – “Loopholes” that are available to every other type of American company for ordinary manufacturing tax credits and to avoid double taxation when foreign taxes on some profits have already been paid. So Senator Menendez – at the STate of the Union urging of the President – wants to single out U.S. companies for “special” treatment.

(Of note: Orrin Hatch voted for a similar tax hike back in December of 2007. Bob Bennett’s no vote was the margin by which it was defeated…)

Meanwhile, foreign oil producers like BP and Shell, and the national companies from Venezuela and Iran, get yet another competitive advantage. 

What happens if we raise taxes on oil and gas producers? Well, you think four bucks a gallon is bad…

But even that is not enough for this administration. Now the SEC is looking to force those same U.S. oil producers (as a little known part of Dodd/Frank, naturally) to disclose sensitive competitive information about monies paid to foreign governments to the whole world – including those same foreign companies against which American producers compete! U.S. companies that are publicly traded would have to account publicly for every payment down to the level of individual well leases. No one is opposing transparency here, but to have an American bureaucracy impose this kind of regulation ONLY on publicly-traded, AMERICAN companies is yet another example of the wrong move at the wrong time. Disclose total payments to particular countries? No problem. To give away the store to Venezuela and Iran? That’s a problem. 

Do the Obama-ites even realize who the really Big Players in the world oil market really are? You don’t get to companies like Exxon-Mobil till you’re way out of the Top Ten. To force U.S. producers to open their books to all their foreign competitors more than wrong-headed, it is insane.

It is just one more example of “Bureaucrats Gone Wild” under this administration – and one more explanation of four-dollar gas. If the Obama Administration gets its way on Menendez and Dodd/Frank disclosure, five bucks is just down the road.

Republicans attacking the free market?

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. ~ Milton Friedman

You have to wonder what kind of topysy-turvey world we live in when Reublicans – REPUBLICANS! – start attacking the free market. The GOP is supposed to represent liberty, freedom, and individualism. Yet the intra-party attack du jour is to go after those who have had success in the free market. What?!

Creating jobs is now a bad thing. Freedom to try – and to fail – is now frowned upon by some who claim the mantle of Republican. If we refuse to let people fail, doesn’t that then make us the party of bailouts and big government? The beauty of the free market is …. wait for it…..that it’s free! Free to try, free to win, free to fail and free to try again.

Overly burdensome regulations. Heavy taxation. Uncertainty in the market place. All crushing to innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. What business owner in Illinois wants to stay when corporate income taxes went up almost 50% and personal income tax went up 66% – in one year? What business wants to invest in growing when the rules could change on a whim? Businesses that want to be successful in today’s global economy are flexible, nimble – and smart. They grow, they move and they adapt to a changing market – but they don’t stick around waiting to be destroyed by government.

Freedom in the marketplace (and elsewhere!) means freedom to fail. Guaranteeing employment by never firing people is what leads to bloated, inefficient bureaucracies. I fire people all the time and so do you. If I go to a restaurant and the service is poor, I might fire that restaurant by never going back. If I go to a service provider and they are surly and rude, I fire them by taking my business elsewhere. If I buy a product that turns out to be poor quality, I fire the company that made it by not buying their products again. Imagine being forced to eat at that restaurant, go to that provider or buy that product – and to fund this businesses out of your own pocket. That’s a mandate I know *I* don’t want imposed on me, nor on anyone else. So how is it possible that Republicans are now picking up the Obama line?

Obama has set his sights on Mitt Romney, a successful businessman in today’s global economy, for well, being successful. Whether you support Mitt or not, Republicans should be outraged at the attacks on the free market – not joining those attacks. Newt Gingrich, called a “human hand grenade” by Peggy Noonan, looks like an idiot for siding with Obama and arguing against success. It’s not just happening on the national stage, either. This week, Senate candidate Dan Liljenquist was attacked for being a successful businessman, competing on a global stage. Perhaps his detractors need a reminder of what the free market is all about…..

Momentum – Dan Liljenquist’s got it!

Join us!

Dan Liljenquist: Politics and Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Our politics have become a high-stakes game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos. 

 

 

It’s time for that to change. We need more of the “Audacity of Nope.”

 

Familiar rhetoric?

I thought the State of the Union address sounded familiar. It wasn’t just the repetition – it was all of the Republican soundbites tossed in there as well.

Free at last!

Today as we honor Dr Martin Luther King, I came across this video clip of Carly Fleischmann. Carly has autism and is non-verbal but she broke free thanks to a computer. Check out this video as you think about what it means to be “Free at last”.

Carly also has a blog and a Twitter feed. Check them out.

I resigned today

This morning, I tendered my resignation as a member of the Utah House of Representatives to join the Dan Liljenquist for US Senate campaign.

It has been an honor to serve the people of District 57. I thank them for allowing me to serve them for the past year. I have SO enjoyed the opportunity to represent them and hope I was able to add to the dialogue on Utah’s Capitol Hill.  I am pleased to say there are many good people in Pleasant Grove who could step into the legislature and continue to advocate for limited government and fiscal restraint. The people of District 57 are good people and I am confident the delegates will choose my replacement wisely.
 
It was a difficult decision for me and not one that I made lightly.  As I decided to join Dan Liljenquist’s campaign, I knew I could not in good conscience focus on a Senate race AND be fully present during the legislative session.  It would not be fair to my constituents to be distracted by another campaign.  I will continue serving whole-heartedly – it will just be in a different capacity.  At the end of the day, we need good government at ALL levels – and that includes the federal level.

After decades of politicians centralizing power and money in Washington in the misguided belief that somehow a bloated federal government knows best, we have arrived at a critical juncture. Do we continue down the road of big government and massive spending? Or do we face reality, rebalance as a nation and move forward with a limited government that lives within its means? I have not given up on America, but to reclaim its greatness and its shining spot on the Hill, we must change the “business as usual” in Washington. To do that, we must change who we send to represent us.  We need leaders who understand that our debts must be paid, that we must stop spending money we do not have, who will look the American people in the eye and tell them the truth and we need leaders who care more about the next generation than the next election. Dan Liljenquist is that type of leader.

As my children continue to grow up, I’ve had to answer hard questions about the massive debt our generation has saddled them with – $48,500 per person and rising. I am beyond concerned at what their future looks like if we continue down the same path of economic uncertainty, regulatory strangulation and the punishing of innovation and success. Utah enjoys being ranked the best managed state in the nation – but if we cannot fix things at the federal level, it simply will not matter.  We need bold, new leadership and we need it now.

Orrin Hatch ran against incumbent Frank Moss in 1976. As he campaigned, he asked repeatedly “What do you call a Senator who has been there 18 years? You call him home.” Now, almost 40 years later, he has been in office longer than 60% of this state has been alive. He was elected during the Bicentennial year, in an era of wood-sided station wagons, gold shag carpeting, bell bottoms – and a belief that government held the solution to our problems. 

Over the years, his votes have demonstrated a consistent belief that government – particularly the federal government – knows best.  Hatch voted for spending bill after spending bill filled with pet projects and pork, adding millions and millions of dollars worth of his own requests.  He voted time after time after time to increase the debt ceiling, giving us trillions of dollars in debt we have no realistic way to pay for. He laid out the Constitutional arguments for the individual mandate in healthcare – the very arguments later used by others to justify Obamacare. After Hillarycare was killed in the late 90′s, he personally partnered with Ted Kennedy to resurrect part of it, rename it SCHIP and pushed hard to get it passed – over the objections of many fellow Republicans. He decided to pull educational decisions from the states when he created the National Department of Education and then later advocated for No Child Left Behind.  He championed Medicare Part D, the largest entitlement expansion in decades, one that added TRILLIONS in unfunded liabilities OVERNIGHT and called “the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960′s” by the former Comptroller General of the United States.  Just a couple of months ago, our senior Senator went on Fox News and said that we did not need to cut entitlements. The truth is, if we ignore entitlements – the big 3 of “Mandatory spending” – there is no way to pull ourselves out of the abyss we are in.  

We need leaders willing to lay it all on the line and work to fundamentally reform the biggest problems we face today – runaway spending and unlimited debt. We need leaders who will look down the road – not just to the next election – and who will do what needs to be done. Dan Liljenquist has done that in the Utah legislature.  He will do that in Washington. It has an honor to have been asked to join him in his campaign.  There is no question that he is up against a formidable opponent with virtually unlimited amounts of money. This campaign will require lots of hard work from a lot of people. 

I invite you to join me in getting Dan elected. Check out his website at www.DanForUtah.com, “like” him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @DanForUtah, donate time and/or money and join me in being a Dan fan. It’s Time!
 

Dan Liljenquist in US Senate race

Meet Dan Liljenquist!

Retire, collect $500,000 in pension, go back to work

Taxpayers in Philadelphia are stuck with hefty bills because of sky-high pension benefits for people who retire for a weekend, then come right back to work.  City Councilwoman Marian Tasco retired Friday, collected almost a half a million dollars in pension benefits and returns to work today, when she will be sworn in to serve a seventh term.  She will be joined by  Ronald Donatucci, who will collect $366,797 when he returns to work after a week-long retirement and they both join colleagues who have previously done the same thing.

The city offers a “Deferred Retirement Option Plan” that allows workers to collect a salary AND build up pension money during the last four years of their employment. Touted as revenue-neutral when it originally passed, Philly’s DROP program has cost the city a quarter of a billion dollars in just 10 years. Mayor Nutter has vowed to “work tirelessly” to abolish the program but right now, just shy of 400 people have signed up for it, declaring they are within their last 4 years of work.

This fall, the Philadelphia city council voted to override the mayor’s veto of a bill that preserves the program – a bill sponsored by none other than Marian Tasco. The city council has also raised taxes two years in a row and now the best solution they appear to have come up with is simply stall for time while more and more people move through the system, collect 6-figure payouts and go right back to work.

Citizens are starting to catch on. Four retiring council members are DROP participants while one incumbent lost his re-election bid in part because of his participation in this giant albatross of a program.   What were they thinking?!

Utah Dr charged with murder

Remember Nicola Riley? She is the still-practicing Utah Dr who had her Maryland physician’s license stripped last year because of “unprofessional conduct” while performing abortions in that state. She has been arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy following a 16-month investigation.  A botched abortion leaving an 18 year-old woman in critical condition with a ruptured uterus was the starting point of this investigation. If you remember the very disturbing story, when the abortion clinic where she worked was searched, a freezer full of dead babies was found, including one within a month of his or her due date.  Maryland is one of 38 states that allows murder charges to be brought against someone accused of killing a “viable fetus.”

Nicola was dishonorably discharged from the US Army following a court martial for credit card fraud 20 years ago. She served a year in Leavenworth. Earlier this year, she agreed to surrender her Wyoming medical license for misrepresenting those earlier charges, ones she also mis-represented on her Utah application.

So what does Utah do, not only with misrepresentation, but losing her license in two states?  The Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing lets her keep her license, but makes her write an essay, saying 1000 times “I will not lie on my DOPL application”. Oh wait – that’s only half true – she did have to write an essay but she merely had to describe her “unprofessional conduct.”  Unbelievable.