July 20, 2008 03:11 PM (EDT)
ANOTHER RTBA Sponsor in Congress?
On today's Downsize DC Conference Call (2-hour radio show), which starts at 3:06 PM Eastern (2:06 PM Central, 1:06 PM Mountain, and 12:06 PM Pacific) I'll be joined by another candidate for Congress who pledges to sponsor (or co-sponsor, as the case may require) Downsize DC Agenda items. . .* The Read the Bills Act
* The One Subject at a Time Act
* The Write the Laws Act
* The Enumerated Powers Act
His name is David Krikorian and he's running in the 2nd district in Ohio. What's special about David?
Jim Babka Posted July 20, 2008 03:11 PM (EDT)
July 18, 2008 12:40 PM (EDT)
Ethanol subsidies help drain catfish ponds
The New York Times reports today . . .
"Catfish farmers across the South, unable to cope with the soaring cost of corn and soybean feed, are draining their ponds.... Corn and soybeans have nearly tripled in price in the last two years, for many reasons: harvest shortfalls, increasing demand by the Asian middle class, government mandates for corn to produce ethanol and, most recently, the flooding in the Midwest."
Perry Willis Posted July 18, 2008 12:40 PM (EDT)
July 18, 2008 11:49 AM (EDT)
A Congressman Changes His Mind
Quote of the Day: "My policy has been, and will continue to be, while I have the honor to remain in the administration of the government, to be upon friendly terms with, but independent of, all the nations of the earth. To share in the broils of none. To fulfil our own engagements. To supply the wants, and be carriers for them all: Being thoroughly convinced that it is our policy and interest to do so."
-- George Washington, from a letter to Gouverneur Morris
Subject: A Congressman changes his mind on Iran resolution
House Concurrent Resolution 362 and Senate Resolution 580 both urge President Bush to blockade Iran. President Bush could also view these resolutions as a green-light to attack. Either a blockade or an attack would remove Iranian oil from the world market, and potentially close the straights of Hormuz, through which much of the world's oil supply flows.
The loss of any oil from the Persian Gulf would send oil prices soaring and potentially plunge the entire world into an economic depression.
Your life and your future, are hanging by a thread. Congress could
Jim Babka Posted July 18, 2008 11:49 AM (EDT)
July 17, 2008 12:03 PM (EDT)
Give us a new bubble to invest in!
It says something about the world we live in that the best news and analysis is constantly provided by comedians, such as "The Daily Show" and "The Onion." Here's "The Onion" hitting the nail on the head . . .
"A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.
"What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future," said Thomas Jenkins, CFO of the Boston-area Jenkins Financial Group, a bubble-based investment firm. "We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution."...
Perry Willis Posted July 17, 2008 12:03 PM (EDT)
July 17, 2008 11:50 AM (EDT)
Subject: Falling health care prices
Overall, health care prices continue to rise faster than the rate of inflation, but there are exceptions. The cost of some procedures and drugs is falling, both in terms of time and money.
What happened? Did Congress pass a law or create a new program? No. Congress had nothing to do with it. Instead, it happened because of . . .
Jim Babka Posted July 17, 2008 11:50 AM (EDT)
July 16, 2008 08:00 PM (EDT)
When the Federal Reserve creates new money and/or expands credit, where does this new purchasing power go first? Doesn't it look like it's been sloshing from one investment sector to another?
First the money and credit sloshed into the stock market, which boomed, and then there was a bust. Then it sloshed into the housing sector, which boomed, followed by a bust. Now it seems to be sloshing into commodities.
Perry Willis Posted July 16, 2008 08:00 PM (EDT)
July 16, 2008 01:39 PM (EDT)
Billionaire uses "Operation Everywhere" strategy
Billionaire Peter G. Peterson is going to spend one of his billions promoting the idea that the federal government needs to take serious steps to address the unfunded liabilities problem for Social Security and Medicare. Mr. Peterson says, "You can buy a lot of airtime with $1 billion. People are going to hear from us."
Mr. Peterson is doing what we want to do. He's going to make this issue visible to everyone, everywhere, every day. Even better, he's going to do it on one of the major issues Downsize DC has been pushing.
Meanwhile, another billionaire, Ross Perot, is back in action working on the same issue as Mr. Peterson. He has a new website full of his famous deficit charts: PerotCharts.com
Perry Willis Posted July 16, 2008 01:39 PM (EDT)
July 16, 2008 01:37 PM (EDT)
How Things Get Too Big to Fail
Quote of the Day: "The bigger they are the harder they fall."-- conventional wisdom
Subject: How things get too big to fail, and what to do about it
When the politicians created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac they claimed that these institutions would provide stability to the housing market. But neither the housing market nor Fannie and Freddie are stable. Instead, Fannie and Freddie have brought us fear, risk, and uncertainty to the tune of $5.3 trillion.
Only the monopoly we call the federal government has the power to create a $5.3 TRILLION risk.
In a true free market the business of secondary mortgages would've been handled by hundreds or thousands of competing entities. It would've been very unlikely that all these firms would have made the same mistakes at the same time. But our government created a situation where
Jim Babka Posted July 16, 2008 01:37 PM (EDT)
July 15, 2008 11:49 AM (EDT)
"The new DownsizeDC.org website is ready to launch."
- Robert O'Gwynn, Programmer
Subject: A New Website for Our Anniversary
We have a special surprise today. And it seems fitting to do something special today because . . .
Yesterday, July 14, 2008, was the fourth anniversary of the launch of DownsizeDC.org's Electronic Lobbyist System. During those four years Americans have sent more than 1,214,000 messages, primarily to Congress, through our website.
* We started with only 11,800 subscribers to the Downsizer-Dispatch. In those early days, a good month meant 4,000 Messages-to-Congress sent.
* Today, we have 23,400 members of our Downsize DC Army, and these members are much more intense -- we sent more than 70,000 Messages-to-Congress in June alone.
That amazes us. Our little website was built to test an idea; that educating Congress could be a recruitment tool for building an Army so large that Congress could not ignore it.
Within months of launching we realized the limitations of our little site. We had built a Yugo to run a Grand Prix race. Our supporters wanted us to do various things. We wanted to do yet more. But our "little site that would" just couldn't.
I'm pleased to announce that those limits are gone. Last night, on our anniversary, we launched a brand new website at DownsizeDC.org. I want to encourage you to check it out.
Jim Babka Posted July 15, 2008 11:49 AM (EDT)
July 14, 2008 06:09 PM (EDT)
I receive a regular compendium of news reports about Iran through the good offices of our coalition partner Carah Ong. The news from Iran is very confusing. On the one hand you have the Iranian Foreign Minister making conciliatory sounds, while on the other Iran is trying to convince the world that it has the ability to hit Israel with missiles. What does Iran want, peace or confrontation?
Perry Willis Posted July 14, 2008 06:09 PM (EDT)
