1. Create a favorable public opinion climate for the two holidays [including Spring Festival] and "two meetings" (NPC and CPPCC). Do a conscientious job of channeling [public opinion] on such hot topics as income distribution, the stock market and property market, employment and social security, education and public health and sanitation, and safe manufacturing, explaining the issues and dissolving tensions.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/26/2011 18:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
[Iran Press TV] Though US law prohibits states from declaring bankruptcy, it could be Caliphornia's best option for getting out from under a USD 25 billion budget deficit, analysts say.
Laficornia can't pay its debt without beggaring the citizens. They'll never pay the debts incurred by the lavish promises to public pensions, entitlements and spending. They can't raise taxes much more if at all, as anyone with both sense and money will simply leave the state. They could cut spending but cut it too much and the inevitable Grecian style protests will cause the state to fly apart. So it's either an ordered bankruptcy or an unordered default. Either way both the bondholding class and the entitlement class are ruined. Sorry.
Recent pressures for a change in the bankruptcy law come as Caliphornia's financial future looks even bleaker than it did the previous year, Press TV correspondent reported on Tuesday.
The state's budget deficit continues to increase and the unemployment rate shows no sign of dropping.
Declaring bankruptcy could be the best path for the state to get out of its crushing debt and move toward recovery.
Assuming Jerry and the legislators would use the space to eliminate the debt for real and put the entitlement class on a short leash.
Economists say other Caliphornia municipalities are already taking advantage of bankruptcy protection. The city of Vallejo and Orange County both filed for bankruptcy and are emerging with an improved financial situation.
But some economists say there is a big difference between a city and a state and Caliphornia already has the lowest credit rating in the US.
Caliphornia Treasurer Bill Lockyer has already dismissed the idea of filing for bankruptcy, saying it would limit the state's ability to create jobs and to secure future investments.
Anyone with any sense isn't going to buy a Laficornia bond anyway, Bill.
However, The infamous However... proponents of the bankruptcy option say it will give Caliphornia leverage when dealing with the public employee unions. The state has a massive unfunded pension liability and the threat of bankruptcy might encourage unions to agree to reduce packages.
But economists say bankruptcy would not address the main reason Caliphornia is in financial turmoil.
Republicans are expected to introduce the bankruptcy legislation within the next 30 days. Experts say even if the bill is passed, it would take at least two years before states would be able to file.
Just before, and not after, the 2012 election, please.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There are several duplicitous alternatives to bankruptcy. For example, CA could "privatize" all its pensions, under an impossible formula by which the State might theoretically fund it, but it will collapse well before that would be an issue, taking the pensions with it.
#2
it will collapse well before that would be an issue, taking the pensions with it. What can't be paid, won't be paid. California state pensions are doomed no matter what else happens, unless something unlikely happens. Maybe CA state land will be showered by solid gold meteorites.
#3
Let it go bankrupt and revert to a territory. Then reform it as 3 separate states.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/26/2011 9:43 Comments ||
Top||
#4
What Caliphornia needs is a new electorate. Unfortunately, the trends that have led to the current electorate appear likely to continue until it becomes a banana republic.
#5
AH9418, for giggles had to look that up; going to be generous -kicked it up to $1500/oz- and a bit loose and call it 520 US Tons of gold (in) meteor(s).
#8
California is being held hostage by the public employee and teachers unions (that Brown created during his first run at governor)
They must go.
The state employees MUST be de-unionized.
If this does not occur there can be no solution, No out. None zero nada
Then California will be completely and totally doomed.
At one time California was that beacon of light shining on the hill.
Now you can't even recognize the place.
I weep for my once beautiful State
#13
Legislation has been proposed to loosen the power of the public unions. The unions block any legislation/propositions that come from the voters that are deemed anti-union. The public unions really have a stranglehold on California. Brown will not do anything. He is in bed with all these unions--they elected him. Eric Holder ought to be going after the California public unions and not the mafia in the northeast.
Who's next, and can they learn anything from California's crash?
Most importantly, what happens when the popcorn runs out?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/26/2011 18:57 Comments ||
Top||
#15
then get parents to pay for the education of the children they produce.
That, my dear Bright Pebbles, is a very efficient way to discourage people from becoming parents. The U.S. has viewed educating the next generation as a community investment for the better part of two centuries... and until recently it worked out pretty well.
#16
"Most importantly, what happens when the popcorn runs out?"
Not gonna happen, Bobby - I've got a couple of extra boxcar-loads in the pipeline. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/26/2011 19:18 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Ah the basic, MY subsidy Is more IMPORTANT than your income.
Education is paid for (like all government) by making working people poorer. It's EXACTLY like health-care/treatment rationing, if you can't pay for it, why should someone else be able to afford theirs AND yours?
#18
Ah the basic, MY subsidy Is more IMPORTANT than your income.
If it were about my subsidy, I'd be demanding health insurance, because for the last decade and for the rest of my life, my health care is going to cost a hell of a lot more than most people's educations. And, as it happens, Mr. Wife and I have donated both a great deal of my time (not worth all that much, I admit) and money taken from other lines in our family budget, in order to enable the trailing daughters' community school to provide more to all the students, most of whom are not mine. Whereas in your country, those with means send their children to fee schools, which you-all call public schools, leaving the tax-supported community schools for the poor and the financially disorganized.
No, Bright Pebbles, it's because the intellectual demands of being a citizen are a lot higher than being a subject. If schooling isn't mandatory, poor people send their children off to work as soon as they are able to follow simple orders -- about age six -- so they can increase the family's income instead of being a drain on it. And then their children never learn to read and write -- which means they can be cheated by their employers, and also that they can never learn the history and logic and science necessary to understand when those who would be their political masters are lying to them. In America schooling was not originally aimed at creating better, more skilled employees, but at creating better citizens. By a generation after our Revolution, America had the highest literacy rate of any country in the world, mostly due to community funded schools. As I recall, your Mr Anthony Trollope remarked upon it in his North America.
#19
You seem to start off talking about all the extra time and effort you needed to do to correct a state schools problems. However you seem blind to this being a sign that the state model is NOT correct (perhaps you think you just need to tinker with say banning unions etc).
The most basic fact is this. If you cannot afford children you shouldn't have them, extorting the money for them from people who could afford them is unjust and skews society and also has a dysgenic effect. Taxation merely changes WHO has children rather than the number (OK the wealth reduction caused by tax might reduce the population carrying capacity of the economy).
There's also an iron rule of economics and that's that subsidy lowers quality. Subsidising schools turns them into crèches for lazy parents. The states role should be to ensure that children ARE getting an education, not PROVIDING that education.
I'm not against donation funding, I'm not even against mandatory education (the state is good at forcing people to do things, just not so good at teaching them/healing them/saving for them/inspiring them), I'm against financial pollution (i.e. subsidy) and the state monopoly it tends to generate.
I'd like to see all schools improve to the level of market based ones, and there's only one way to do that. I'd also like to make sure ALL parents are more interested in what their children are learning at school, rather than that they are not at home bothering them (which is what subsidy does).
When parents are involved and interested in their childrens education then the schools results look good, when they don't results are bad. The best way to do this is to treat education like the good it is make all parents pay for their children (because this will be done in a much less wealth/society destroying way than the current system of taxation).
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday night, just hours before the president's State of the Union address, began the legislative process of forcing the House-passed health care repeal bill to the Senate floor for a vote.
Using a particular Senate rule typically reserved for the leaders, McConnell bypassed committee action and put the bill directly before the members, even without the support of the Majority Leader who, for the most part, controls the legislative calendar. It is a procedure that takes a couple of days to ripen before any vote can occur, though even then it could be a fight.
McConnell's Democratic counterpart, Harry Reid of Nevada, has vowed that no such repeal vote will occur, but the Kentucky Republican has stuck to his guns, telling Fox News' Chris Wallace on Sunday, "The Democratic leadership in the Senate doesn't want a vote on this bill, but I assure you we will."
Republicans sticking to their promise. Nice change to see.
WASHINGTON -- Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday.
The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.
Foster's assessment came a day after Obama in his State of the Union message told lawmakers that he's open to improvements in the law, but unwilling to rehash the health care debate of the past two years. Republicans want to repeal the landmark legislation that provides coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured, but lack the votes.
Foster was asked by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., for a simple true or false response on two of the main assertions made by supporters of the law: that it will bring down unsustainable medical costs and will let people keep their current health insurance if they like it.
On the costs issue, "I would say false, more so than true," Foster responded.
As for people getting to keep their coverage, "not true in all cases." "Pass it to find out what is in it", they said. "You will grow to love it", they said. Sounds like what we will do is outright revolt against these idiots that wrote, voted for and passed this crap.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told ABC News that earmarks will return to Capitol Hill despite President Obama's vow in last night's State of the Union to veto any spending bill that includes them.
"I understand it's great for an applause line, but it's really not solving anything to do with the deficit. It's only for show."
"So you're saying that earmarks will be back?" said Karl.
"Of course they'll be back," said Reid. So Reid is saying the President is a lying sack of..., well you know what he means.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/26/2011 16:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
Once thing we can deduce from this whole episode with a great deal of certainty is that Neil Abercrombie is an idiot. People would have been inclined to forget the birther thing if Abercrombie had only had sense enough to keep his mouth shut. Good luck with your new governor, Hawaii.
#7
Fox News has the journalist retracting his claim that his dear friend the governor of Hawaii said any such thing. Someone should clarify which the governor, for the sake of civil discourse.
In the meantime, a number of states will require certified copies of birth certificates be attached to the paperwork of those desiring to be on the presidential ballot in 2012. This will make President Obama's life interesting, should he choose to peruse reelection.
#10
Of course there is a coverup, and I am part of it. Momma Obama was in Seattle in 1962, during the time of the World's Fair. At the time, interracial couples were crossing the border into Canada to give birth, in case they had to escape violence. Obama was born in Peace Arch Hospital, White Rock, Canada. Check it out on your google map. I have seen the records. Hawaii records were faked, because we believe that Obama is so enlightened that anything to put him and keep him in the White House is justified.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] President Barack B.O. Obama on Tuesday faces a US public hungry for jobs, and Republicans eager to oust him, when he delivers his yearly "State of the Union" speech in a tense new era of power-sharing.
Obama steps up at 9:00 pm (0200 GMT Wednesday) to address a joint session of the US Congress and a television audience in the tens of millions in his highest profile shot at defining his reinvigorated, retooled presidency.
Ahead of the speech, Republicans warned they would reject his calls for increased spending on education, research and infrastructure and redoubled their calls for a painful belt-tightening in Washington.
Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor scoffed at the notion that Washington was an engine of "innovation" and said "everything is on the table" when it comes time to slash government spending.
Obama's speech came after he scored a series of year-end wins -- approval of a landmark nuclear treaty with Russia, a compromise tax deal -- following what he freely dubbed a "shellacking" of his fellow Democrats in November 2 elections.
The White House described the "lame duck" session, which also saw Congress vote to lift a ban on gays serving openly in the US military, as a possible model for Obama's political comeback.
"People put aside game-playing and broad bipartisan majorities made progress on behalf of the American people," said front manMinister of Information Robert Washington Bob Gibbs. "It's a pretty good road map."
The front man acknowledged that high-profile staff reshuffles meant a retooled approach to policy but denied that Obama himself had undergone any fundamental change, even as Democrats worried about a rightward shift.
"The president is still the same president that we've had for more than two years," Gibbs said, as polls showed independent voters who abandoned Obama after carrying him to the White House in 2008 slowly coming back to the fold.
Cantor also highlighted the tax deal, which saw Obama buy a tax cut extension for the middle class at the price of abandoning his once firm opposition to extending tax cuts for the richest Americans, as a model.
"The tax deal itself is a great example of how the two sides can work together and I'm hoping that we could do so yet again, especially as it deals with the number one priority, which is jobs and the economy," he said.
The annual showpiece speech, with its repeated ritual standing ovations, offers a president a rare chance to set the political narrative by speaking directly to voters in a way the fractured media climate rarely allows.
Obama is riding new momentum after slowing Republicans following their mid-term election triumph as he tracks toward the centre ground and the independent voters he needs to win for re-election.
The president also made his most direct connection with Americans yet, when his soaring call for civility stilled a row sparked by an Arizona shooting rampage.
Several people connected to the January 8 attack that killed six and left congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life will be guests of First Lady Michelle Obama's box for the address, including the family of nine-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green.
Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta, who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour in September by Obama, soldiers who fought the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, small business owners, corporate executives and students were also among the invitees.
Although the economic recovery is speeding up, many Americans are still struggling, with unemployment at 9.4 percent -- a potential area of political liability for Obama.
The president was also expected to address America's huge deficit in an effort to define the budget and debt debate looming with the Republican-led House, with Gibbs expressing hope for "bipartisan discussion" and collaboration rather than the acrimonious debate of recent months.
Obama was also sure to highlight what his top commanders describe as fragile progress in the war in Afghanistan and note that he is on track to fulfill a campaign promise to pull US troops out of Iraq by the end of this year, as well as defend his historic health care law from Republican repeal attempts.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Barack B.O. Obama's chief adviser on energy and climate issues is stepping down, two White House officials have confirmed.
Carol Browner, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator under former president Bill Clinton, will be leaving the White House at the same time as Republicans in congress prepare to take on the B.O. regime over global warming and the government's response to the massive Gulf oil spill.
During her term, Browner successfully helped to negotiate a deal with American car manufacturers to boost federal fuel economy standards and requiring the first-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles.
She also pushed for billions of dollars for renewable energy in the economic stimulus bill.
The administration has so far fallen short, however, on its key domestic priority of passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill to place a firm limit on the emission of pollutants blamed for global warming.
Just after the November mid-term elections, which gave Republicans a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, Obama admitted the legislation was dead. Republicans have criticised regulations targeting air pollutants as raising the costs of doing business and therefore costing jobs.
One White House official said Monday that Browner was "confident that the mission of her office will remain critical to the president".
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to the AP news agency, said Browner was "pleased" with the clean energy commitment Obama would lay out in his State of the Union address on Tuesday and in his budget request.
It is not immediately clear whether Browner's position will be filled.
Recently, Browner's office came under scrutiny for politicising the response to the massive Gulf oil spill.
The commission set up by Obama to investigate the disaster said that Browner misconstrued the findings of a federal report when she claimed on national television that most of the oil was gone. A White House statement later said that she misspoke.
Browner's office also has been criticised by the interior department inspector general for editing a department document in a manner that implied scientists supported the administration's decision to place a moratorium on deep water drilling.
The commission found no evidence that the change made was intentional, and Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, later apologised for the misunderstanding.
Browner's resignation comes amid a series of high-profile staff changes in Obama's White House, with Bill Daley being appointed as the new chief of staff, and Minister of Information Robert Washington Bob Gibbs, the press secretary, set to depart.
David Axelrod, a close Obama aide and senior adviser, is leaving the White House to focus on Obama's re-election campaign, and both deputy chiefs of staff are also leaving.
Staff members who are considering a change have been told to make their moves now or plan to stay for the remaining two years of Obama's term to ensure continuity.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
she's a commie control freak. The best thing she can do is get out before Issa subpoenas her
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2011 9:01 Comments ||
Top||
#2
It can only be good for the country that she is leaving--unless of course the regime finds some other nut case to assume the position.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Iran Press TV] Though US law prohibits states from declaring bankruptcy, it could be 
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday night, just hours before the president's State of the Union address, began the legislative process of forcing the House-passed health care repeal bill to the Senate floor for a vote.
WASHINGTON -- Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday.
