Nutter's Washington

Sarah Palin: Bus Tour has a flat tire

Memorial Day has come and gone. The country celebrated the old and the young who have served the country in uniform and those that have fallen. Over the holiday weekend, families and friends gathered to share food, swim, perspire in the heat wave, and attend parades and other events. However, it seems I could not get away from the bizarre news coverage of Sarah Palin. There she was on cable news, in newspapers and talk radio. Sarah Palin on a motorcycle in Washington DC as part of the Rolling Thunder, Sarah Palin in front of this and that. Sarah Palin in front of some grotesque bus with her family driving around professing this was a family vacation. Enough! This is like some television reality show gone bad. Re-runs of Gilligan’s Island has more appeal.

Ethanol, Gasohol and Tax Subsidies--Time-to-Go

There is so much news and events out there, it almost makes my head explode. I wanted to write something about the recent remarks of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on the Federal Debt limit. His politically misread of the situation and cavalier attitude on federal spending is astounding. However, I am attracted to the news that the federal tax credit for ethanol- one of the more egregious and biggest boondoggles of all time-- is seriously on the chopping block.

I am interested in ethanol because as a Congressional staffer I was deeply involved in creating the initial boost for the industry. The Federal ethanol subsidy can be traced back to the Energy Tax Act of 1978. Senator Robert Dole (R-KS) supported by a few others on the Senate Finance Committee spearheaded legislation to help the ethanol industry and at the same time help agriculture. For the good Senator, it was always about agriculture whether it was Commodity Credit Corporation credits, food stamps or child nutrition. Had to keep those farmers in business. Of course, there were also the two oil shocks and the disastrous energy plans of President Carter, to push the support along. 

What are we paying Congress to do? Work? Vote? Anyone? Anyone?

I was speaking with a few senior Senate Staff members yesterday about the upcoming schedule for the next few months in this the First Session of the 112^th Congress of the United States. Since the Memorial Day recess is near-a type of benchmark in the Congressional year-I was wondering what all these guys have been doing for the past five months. What have we been paying (or borrowing more) for? What have been the results? I know I have been showing up at work everyday, working hard.

The view of the Senate is interesting with a more or less consensus the Senate has done nothing and intends to do nothing. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) appears to be taking a “Minimalist” view. By my rough count the Senate has taken 74 actual votes so far this year in 53 days in session since January 5^th. The Senate was only in session for 5 days in January, a whopping 8 days in April. The other months must have been frenetic.

Position Wanted: U.S. Presidential Applicants

Established political party seeking applicants for Leader of the Western World. Need to be 35 years of age and a United States citizen. Should be of moral character, relatively scandal-free, able to read teleprompter, and give a nifty salute. Must live in designated housing, good starting salary and benefits. Use of helicopter, airplane and weekend resort included. Apply to Republican National Committee, Washington DC.

 The Presidential election is November 2012. The county will decide to renew the contract of the current occupant or give a 4 year deal to someone new. Seems like a pretty choice job. Should be lots of serious applicants.

Federal Deficit, Debt Ceiling and the Grand Canyon

The MasterCard of the United States Government is hitting its limit.  Unless the Federal debt ceiling is increased, the government will no longer be able to “charge it”. It is a very serious problem but what is amazing is that no one is really taking it seriously. The current debt limit is $14.294 trillion dollars. The limit was reached yesterday. It was last increased from $12.394 trillion in February 2010. The debt limit or debt ceiling sets the maximum amount of federal debt the U.S. government can incur by law. The Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917 instituted the debt limit, and Congress has raised the cap seventy-four times since 1962, ten times in the past ten years. The increase in Federal debt in this 10-year timeframe is scary and dangerous with the Obama Administration’s spending and deficits without peer. Forty percent of Federal spending comes for new borrowings. Try that out in your budget, Mr. Taxpayer.

Increasing the debt limit does not enlarge the nation's financial commitments, but allows the government to pay obligations already in place. Under normal circumstances, the government is able to incur new debt to finance annual deficits. However, the debt limit places a cap on borrowing, requiring congressional approval for any increase from this statutory level.

Perp Walk for Big Oil

It looked like a bad episode of Law and Order yesterday when the heads of five gigantic oil companies took the perp walk into a Senate Committee on Finance hearing, These titans of industry should have put a coat over their heads and had their hands tied with those little plastic bands. I was waiting for Assistant District Attorney McCoy to take up the microphone rather than Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

To reduce the deficit the Democrats seem to want to raise a few billion by skinning Big Oil or at least these 5 companies. Another pelt on the floor next to the pellet biomass burning stove. The benefit of attacking Big Oil-carrying the baggage of high gas prices and high profits-is it creates a nifty diversion from many of the conditions caused by these very policymakers, such as a collapsed dollar, incredible deficits, environmental regulations, bans on leasing and drilling and endless list goes on. 

Kicking the Taxes out of Big Oil

Phil Jackson, the now former coach of the professional NBA Lakers, said with his retirement, we would not have him to kick around anymore. Not to worry, Phil. We always have “Big Oil” to kick around. We can beat them up, berate them, and blame them. Big Oil. It sounds oozing. According to critics, Big Oil has been on the receiving end of federal largess from the days of old man Rockefeller. Tax breaks galore. Tax preferences. Favoritism. Ripping off the consumer without any remorse. Did I mention pollution and climate change?

The Administration and many Congressional Democrats are after Big Oil again. The ultimate boogeyman. Of course, it is all politics but it is interesting to know what they are seeking to do. What are the horrendous tax breaks? How are they special?  A complete proposal is not ready to examine in detail but it appears Democrats have identified five large companies: BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron and Conoco Phillips as their targets. Their proposals would end a series of tax advantages and increase government coffers about $4 billion a year to be used as the Congress deems fit. Let’s see $4 billion out of a $1.65 trillion anticipated deficit for this year. Bold thinking!

Stalag on the National Mall

Gasoline prices. Gigantic oil company profits. Foreign tax credits. Intangible drilling costs. These were going to be the topic today with the Congressional Democrats seeking to make political hay by berating large oil companies and a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee later this week to examine the taxation of these behemoth companies. However, I noticed something in Washington today that is even more outrageous.

I was driving down Constitution Avenue along the National Mall this morning, a slow but lovely drive past the Federal Reserve with its two guards out front, the Lincoln Memorial with the huge pensive Linky inside, the Reflection Pool, site of many an historic gatherings.  What did I see? The National Mall is all being fenced off. There are incredibly long lines of wood fences. The fence must be 10 feet high. The fences looks like they were intended to keep Seal Team Six at bay. 

Tax Trigger? Debt Trigger? The Dead Hand Solution

The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing Wednesday to consider “budget trigger” proposals as a preferred way to reduce the current federal deficits and national debt. The Trigger is essentially a mechanism to set budgetary limits tied to specific measures of the economy. A limit would be set and if reached would trigger an automatic response.  There would then be an automatic across-the-board reduction in spending, an increase in revenue or some combination thereof.

These automatic, mindless responses are akin to a dead hand on the throttle and reflect the lack of political determination to address the debt issue. These proposals are a smoke screen, an excuse, a ruse, misguided policy, ineffective, an abrogation of responsibility and just plain old deceptive.

Venom for the Tea Party

While the country basks in the revenge of killing bin Laden, I noticed something else in the news. -Two United States Senators railing about the Tea Party. It was not the usual political dribble but nasty stuff. Listening to these sad sacks, you would think all people associated in some way with the Tea Party or its beliefs are the progeny of Rosemary’s Baby. It was all the insults without the Donald Trump profanity.

The essence was something to the effect that these “Tea Party People” are morons, cannot think for themselves and are ruining the country. They all wear those grey uniforms with the crooked cross, jackboots and beat up minorities for fun. Being in the Tea Party is being a “hater”. Venom was dripping from the fangs of each one of these gentlemen. It was not just the two distinguished members of the world’s most deliberative body held different views from your average Tea Party Joe. It was personal. Under most circumstances, this kind of nonsense rolls off me as I have heard most of the political insults and descriptions out there. I make disparaging comments on this or that, that person or this person from time to time. Shame on me.  However, these separate episodes stuck me as being beyond the pale, symptomatic of political meanness.