Kansas Liberty reports in the post Huelskamp announces a run for Congress: “[Kansas State] Sen. Tim Huelskamp, the veteran Fowler Republican, has announced he’ll pursue a seat in the U.S. Congress for 2010.”
I think he’d make a great United States Congressman.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal (Governors Against State Bailouts), the governors of Texas and South Carolina argue against bailouts: “It is also taking our country in a very dangerous direction — toward a ‘bailout mentality’ where we look to government rather than ourselves for solutions.”
Unfortunately, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius doesn’t agree. She’s very much on the gravy train. In fact, she’s driving. As reported in the Kansas Liberty article Bailout-mania spreads to the states, “Sebelius leads call for hand-outs from the new Obama administration.”
In consideration for a bailout, Congress and the incoming Obama administration insist that the auto industry present a plan for survival of their companies. That sounds reasonable — until you consider that the auto companies must already be operating on a plan, and that plan isn’t working. How can they be expected to come up with a new plan in just a few weeks?
Then, any plan will have to undergo the scrutiny of Congress. I, for one, have absolutely no confidence in the ability of Congress to evaluate a plan for the revitalization of the American automobile industry. Although congressional leaders, it seems to me, are quite eager to give it a try.
That leads to real danger that we face. If Congress and the Obama administration approve a bailout, they’re going to insist on close oversight of the auto companies. In effect, this industry will come under the control of the federal government. And how many people want to buy a car designed and built under those conditions?
ARRA News Service reports on a Zogby poll and links to a video that illustrate the poor job the national news media did covering the recent presidential campaign. The video is interesting although a little repetitive. The poll results are something else, though. Zogby found that 86.9% thought that Sarah Palin said that she could see Russia from her “house,” even though that was Tina Fey who said that.
A Wichita Eagle story (Development speaker touts power of cash) reports on an economic incentive expert’s evaluation of our state’s effort.
(It’s revealing to learn that an accounting firm has someone with the title “regional leader of credits and incentives,” whose duty, evidently, it is to help companies figure out which state’s incentives are most valuable. Actually, since the title is “leader” there’s probably a whole department of people doing this.)
The problem with Kansas, according to this speaker, is that we grant tax credits to companies instead of outright cash. That puts our state at a competitive advantage compared to states that are willing to write checks upfront.
The subsidies offered can be staggering. It’s estimated that a Mercedez-Benz plant in Alabama cost that state over $150,000 per job created.
We should stop this competition among the states based on their willingness to spend taxpayer money to lure companies. As it is unlikely that any state will be willing to unilaterally stop this on their own, we need legislation at the federal level that will end this tremendous transfer of taxpayer funds to a few select companies.
Then, states can start competing on things that really matter, like a lower tax climate for everyone.
My friend Leslie Carbone has endorsed Chuck Baldwin for president. I’d been decided on Bob Barr for some time, but Leslie’s got me thinking.
By Alan Cobb, Americans For Prosperity — Kansas. From The Topeka Capital-Journal, Saturday, November 01, 2008
On Oct. 1, Congress did nothing. And we at Americans for Prosperity — Kansas applaud it. By not acting to renew it, lawmakers allowed the ban on offshore drilling and oil shale recovery to expire.
This first step, albeit a baby step, toward reducing our nation’s reliance on foreign oil by permitting U.S. companies to explore and drill for oil along our coastlines and in our western states will help reduce energy costs and increase energy security.
Congress doing nothing about offshore oil drilling Oct. 1 may just be the biggest something lawmakers have done to date in crafting the comprehensive energy policy so badly needed by our nation. When Congress continues its work on energy it is critical it again does nothing to raise energy taxes or create new ones.
Let me borrow from the medical community for a cautionary message to Congress: First, do no harm. Although Congress must take action if we are to get the energy reforms our nation so badly needs, it must act with care to first do no harm, either by reinstating drilling bans or by repeating the energy tax faux pas of the 1980s.
“Soon this depressing campaign will be over, and we can reflect on what we learned from our two-month introduction to Sarah Palin. Clearly, it is more than we would have ever wished to know about ourselves.”
“First, there turns out to be no standard of objectivity in contemporary journalism. … Second, there does not seem to be much left of feminism any more. … Third, from the match-up of Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, we discovered that our media does not know anything about the nature of wisdom — how it is found or how it is to be adjudicated.”
As the quotes above reveal, it’s not a pleasant picture at National Review Online: An Instructive Candidacy: What Sarah Palin taught us about ourselves.
Be sure to view all four parts. It’s very good. Click here for part one.