Forget “Drill, baby, drill.” Make that, “Perfora, bonita, perfora.”
Perforaremos! (Wikipedia)
OUTRAGEOUS! Democrats Plan To Take 401K!
October 31, 2008
From SibbyOnline.com, October 27, 2008. FEDUPEDITOR SAYS: Democrats are taking advantage of the economic downturn to grab people’s 401K (if this passes) and put them toward Social Security. If this happens, the leverage will be to value the plans back when they were close to their highest value before the drop but then all deductibility will be gone AND value will only grow at 3% a year… hardly outpacing inflation! Read more:
House Democrats, looking for a way to have government take over more aspects of our lives, recently heard testimony on a plan promoted by Teresa Ghilarducci [clueless], a professor at the New School of Social Research in New York, “on her idea to eliminate the preferential tax treatment of the popular retirement plans.”
In place of 401(k) plans, she would have workers transfer their dough into government-created “guaranteed retirement accounts” for every worker. The government would deposit $600 (inflation indexed) every year into the GRAs. Each worker would also have to save 5 percent of pay into the accounts, to which the government would pay a measly 3 percent return.
The topic is also covered in an article in Workforce Management. The Democrats’ plan would target “the $80 billion in annual tax breaks that 401(k) investors receive.” In essence, the 401k would lose the benefits that make it popular including the “employer-matching” feature upon which so many average Americans rely..
Read the rest of the story here.
This is already happening in Argentina! Read what the Moring Bell said about a similar plan to what Democrats are proposing:
This week Argentina’s leftist president, Christina Kirchner, announced she would move forward with her plan to seize the nation’s private pension funds. Kirchner claims government seizure of the funds is needed to protect Argentinians from the global market crisis. But most observers believe her real motive is to use the $30 billion in seized assets to ease the massive debt obligations her leftist spendthrift government has run up. The move is unprecedented even by Argentina’s past socialist standards. Leftist icon Juan Peron called the nationalization of private pensions “theft” in a 1973 public address.
But desperate times call for desperate measures. And Kirchner has eagerly pointed to the unprecedented state interventions in the economy by the U.S. and Europe to help justify her policies. The proposed plan has already sunk Argentina’s markets and sent the Peso to new lows. But how does all this affect you? Enter liberal chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Rep. George Miller [Clueless] (D-CA).
Earlier this month, Miller held a hearing on how the market crisis has hurt retirement savings plans. Miller wants to allow Americans to trade in their 401(k)s for guaranteed government bonds. Fair enough. So far he isn’t forcing anyone to do anything. But then Miller also added this : “With respect to the 401(k), it appears to be a plan that is not really well-devised for the changes in the market. We’ve invested $80 billion into subsidizing this activity. … [W]e have to start to think about in Congress of whether or not we want to continue and invest that $80 billion for a policy that is not generating what we … say it should.” In other words, Miller believes government owns the money you put into your 401(k) every month, and that it is considered government “spending” when he lets you keep that money. As a result, Miller wants to eliminate $80 billion in tax-savings “rich” Americans receive by investing in their 401(k)s.
But you’re not rich, you say. Well, unfortunately, you don’t get to decide whether or not the IRS considers you rich. Congress and the White House do. And Barack Obama and Joe Biden have been steadily lowering the bar on the definition of who is rich and who isn’t. In July, Obama claimed those who made more than $250,000 a year are rich. Then in an ad called “Defining Moment,” released earlier this month, that definition was lowered to those making more than $200,000 a year. Then in an interview last week, Biden lowered the bar even further, saying an Obama administration could only promise not to raise taxes on “people making under $150,000 a year .”
Like his leftist ally in Argentina, Obama has a laundry list of new spending priorities that are guaranteed to drive up the federal debt. Altogether, Obama is promising at least $4.3 trillion of increased spending and reduced tax revenue over the next 10 years. He’s going to need to take money from someone to make up that shortfall. As Kirchner showed, that someone is you..
TAXES! How Much Is Enough?
October 30, 2008
Joe the plumber was innocent enough when he was approached by Obama while playing catch in his front yard. Since then, his life has been anything but normal. With news agencies trying to dig up dirt on the guy, it seems they are ignoring the initial question. What are Obama’s tax policies going to do to him if he tries to buy this plumbing business from his boss?
Sounds fair enough. We all want to know what Obama’s tax policies will do to us and our economy. My accountant assures me we will be fine, but so what? If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. My gut tells me his tax plan will hurt business and stifle creating wealth in the guise of “evening the playing field.”
Has anyone noticed how the numbers keep changing too? First it was $250,000 and you were rich. Then it was under $200,000 and you would receive a “tax cut” (read welfare). Then the other day Joe Biden had it down to $150,000. Which is it? My point is this. Why do they get to decide how much I need to run my business, feed my family and take my vacations? And what business is it of theirs?
Instead of being a uniter, it appears that Mr. Obama is a divider who is promoting class envy. So much for the Messiah complex. Instead of bringing people together (other than those who already love him) he is showing people that what he is is a socialist. How else can it be defined when you take money from one group of people and decide to give it to another group?
My disagreement isn’t that he plans to give it to anyone. He just says he is. Look at all the social programs we have now. I went on the Internet and looked at the list which may be found at:
http://gwbweb.wustl.edu/Resources/Pages/socialservicesresourcesintro.aspx
If you don’t fit into one of those categories, you probably aren’t breathing. There are well over a hundred separate categories for which a person can get help. It’s insane. And we wonder why our national debt is in the trillions of dollars? People like to say we’re spending too much on the war, that’s why we’re in debt. If there is anything the constitution says we CAN spend money on it is national defense. It doesn’t say a word about art therapy!
Speaking anecdotally, we decided not to hire an intern from the school to career partnership program this year because we are not sure how long we could keep her independent contractor status, and who knows what tax implications will befall our already struggling business if we have to provide the health care that Obama has promised. How many other businesses has this happened to?
Writing Just To Be Writing
October 30, 2008
Hello again,
As the nation moves toward the election, we see the gasoline and oil prices dropping. It’s not in the news other than that gasoline prices per gallon is going down. Normally I’d be happy about this. I am, but very suspicious about all the California ballot initiatives that are geared toward alternative energy. That’s fine if it really is the right solution, but my car does not run on wind or solar, so it’s hard to see the rationale.
Proposition 1A is the proposition that we build a high speed rail system… What will it solve? End gridlock, save energy by taking cars off the road. My problem with this solution is that it is a government solution rather than a private solution. The push is it will create many construction jobs and many more permanent jobs. Do you know how to read this? Government Union jobs. History shows us this. In the Bay Area, we have BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit – another rail system), Golden Gate Bridge District, Muni (Bus system), and on and on. Problem is, who will use it? We’ll see if it passes.
Proposition 7 is promoted as an environmental bill. It will probably pass. It promotes the use of alternative fuels to petroleum products. I have these questions. Will it cost more to produce these alternatives than it does to refine petroleum? Do we get better mileage from ethanol (for example) than gasoline or do we have to burn more to get the same miles? Do these fuels burn that much cleaner that it will make a difference? Afterall, they are still using the same internal combustion engine and catalytic converters, right?
California Proposition 7, would, if approved, require California utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025. In order to make that goal, levels of production of solar, wind and other renewable energy resources will more than quadruple from their current output of 10.9%. It will also require California utilities to increase their purchase of electricity generated from renewable resources by 2% annually to meet Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements of 40% in 2020 and 50% in 2025. California’s current law governing the amount of fuel that utility companies must purchase from renewable resources requires an RPS of 20% by 2010.
Another question is this. These are mandates from government that may or may not have achievable results. What if it can’t be done? Then what happens?
All electric utilities (including municipally-owned utilities) will be required to provide half of their electricity from solar and clean energy facilities by 2025. Current law requires the state’s investor-owned utilities (Edison and PG&E, for example) to reach 20 percent renewable energy by 2010.
What is it with the term renewable energy? Either energy is renewable or it is not. If gasoline is not renewable, then neither is solar or wind. Once it’s used it’s converted and changes characteristics. All fuels do that. But “renewable” implies it can be reused and is better!
There are more, but you get the idea. California is lost. That’s why we are planning to leave the state in a couple of years. The state is losing jobs every day because of the restrictions being placed on them. Taxes are going up, and the politicians just keep spending without checks and balances. If you want to see modified socialism, come to California. There are probably other places, but I don’t want to speak beyond my experience.
COMING SOON! We’re Branching Out.
October 26, 2008
Thanks to the fact that elections have pushed gas prices off the front page, the price of oil has gone so low that OPEC has threatened to reduce output and that the drilling ban has expired, we have decided to expand our site.
Up until now we have focused on energy and what we can do to take action to lower prices. I feel we have failed in part. We will be around to ramp back up once the election is over. (If Bush and Cheney were controling the oil prices, wouldn’t you think they would be driving prices up right now to win the election for the Republicans???)
Nancy Pelosi has promised to reintroduce drilling ban legislation once they OWN the house and senate which will push gas prices higher… We will be here to pick up the colors and start marching again. However, we are going to start on taxes as a second issue. We intend to show you how many stealth taxes have been foisted on us through our phone bills, our garbage bills, our energy bills, our cost of gasoline per gallon, so that what used to be just income taxes and capital gains taxes, is now EVERYTHING taxes! We’re FED UP with the FEDS!
So starting soon, we will have 2 tabs, ENERGY and TAXES. Watch for the change. We welcome your input.
FedUpEditor
Cuba Says, “Perfora, bonita, perfora!”
October 24, 2008
Cuba gets it. From the Wall Street Journal, 10/17/2008:
Cuba says it is sitting on more than 20 billion barrels of offshore oil in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s more than double what the U.S. figures Cuba has, and would represent more oil than the U.S. has in reserve, according to the BBC. If true—and if the reserves can be recovered—that would turn Cuba from a big oil importer into one of the world’s 20 biggest exporters.
It wouldn’t much help presidential candidates’ plans to reduce U.S. dependence on Mid-East oil, though. Due to the existing embargo, U.S. firms will be shut out of any Cuban oil exploration projects, and any future exports. In the meantime, Spain’s Repsol and Brazil’s Petrobras are leading the charge to tap the deep-water finds.
Cuba’s state oil company says it came up with the number by extrapolating from U.S. surveys of existing Gulf of Mexico fields, and adding Cuba’s insider knowledge of its own waters. Cubapetroleo says exploratory wells should be drilled by the middle of 2009, and production could come on line within three years.
Irony of ironies—in a communist economy accustomed to chronic shortages of everything from meat to electric power, Cuba’s running up against another, market-driven shortage this time: There aren’t enough deep-water rigs available to start serious oil production any sooner.
Oil Prices As They Relate To Gasoline
October 23, 2008
We had a recent conversation with our favorite API contact, Jane Van Ryan. Our question was this:
As prices for crude oil have dropped by over 50% from their highs a few months ago, why haven’t gasoline prices reciprocated? I know we touched on this before in that they are not directly related, but if we want to get drilling started back up, it seems logical to make some correlation. I also would like to hear API’s take on what the media is calling the inevitable landslide of a Democrat President (Obama), a Democrat controlled House and Democrat controlled Senate. It is almost certain they will propose NEW legislation to outlaw domestic oil exploration, for the most part.
The official reply was this:
Let me take your questions in reverse order:
First, we don’t comment on the candidates or make predictions about any election. However, we have heard that some elected officials have indicated they will seek to re-impose the offshore drilling moratoria when Congress returns to Washington in mid-November. During an economic downturn, it would be counterproductive to prevent the expansion of energy exploration and production. Offshore energy production could be a much needed economic stimulus. It would generate well-paying jobs and create a cash flow of billions of dollars into the US Treasury.
Regarding gasoline prices, it’s important to note that the price of gasoline at the pump never climbed as high as oil prices during the summer price spike. As a result, they don’t have quite as far to fall. Gasoline prices have dropped very quickly, though. In fact, our president and CEO told a reporter the other day that no one in the industry has ever seen such a precipitous fall.
According to AAA, the nationwide average price for gasoline on Wednesday, Oct. 15, was $3.084/gallon, which was the lowest price since February 19. In fact, AAA says gasoline prices have dropped every day for the past 29 days, and during the eight days prior to Wednesday, prices had dropped more than 3.5 cents a day. AAA also reported that California had the fifth most expensive gasoline in the country on Wednesday, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. California’s air quality standards require a different formula for gasoline than anywhere else in the country, and California’s fuel taxes are higher than in many other states, too.
There are many factors that influence the price of gasoline, but the biggest one is the price of crude oil. Here’s a link to several graphs and charts that should be helpful to you:
http://www.energytomorrow.org/ViewResource.ashx?id=601 Please look at pages 1, 2 and 8. They will show you that the crude oil accounts for 72 percent of the price of gasoline; gasoline prices did not keep pace with oil prices during the spike and; gasoline prices are falling in line with oil prices. Please feel free to use these graphs in your blog.
Americans Say “No” to Google’s Energy Plan
October 17, 2008
From Center for Individual Freedom, 10/07/08:
More than 25,000 letters sent to Congress reject Internet giant’s $4 trillion boondoggle
The Center for Individual Freedom today announced that its activists and supporters have flooded Members of Congress with more than 25,000 letters during the past week expressing outrage over an expensive, dubiously beneficial energy plan being peddled by Internet titan Google.As outlined in its proposal, the company is calling on the federal government to spend $4.4 trillion in U.S. taxpayer money on alternative fuels in an effort to completely eliminate our nation’s use of fossil fuels. However, the only thing that’s “green” about Google’s plan is its ignorance on energy issues.
Country Music Star Aaron Tippin Performs Pro-Drilling Song to Support Energy Independence
October 17, 2008
From Center for Individual Freedom, 10/17/08:
It has been less than a month since Congress announced that it will not push for the extension of the offshore drilling ban and already consumers are feeling some relief at the pump. As many argued, including CFIF, lifting the offshore drilling ban is the first step toward an affordable energy independent future for America.Even without the ban, it will be some time before drilling begins off our coastlines as the government must first approve the requisite leases. This process could take months or even years, and may be deemed moot should an anti-drilling Congress and President revisit the ban after the elections.
That’s why the “Drill Here, Drill Now” campaign victory will be short lived unless Americans continue to pressure our nation’s leaders to support energy independence, which means drilling for oil on American soil and offshore, and to pursue viable alternative energy sources, including nuclear.
In a powerful collision between pop culture and politics, platinum-selling recording artist, songwriter and producer Aaron Tippin’s new song, “Drill Here, Drill Now,” sums up how many Americans feel, including Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin [hero], who has Tippin [hero] performing the song at campaign events.
Recently, Mr. Tippin joined CFIF’s Renee Giachino to discuss energy independence, the campaign to “drill here, drill now,” and perform his pro-drilling song on air.
Read more and listen to the interview now.
DirtyElection.com Blog
October 13, 2008
http://dirtyelection.com/drill-baby-drill-democrats-concede-on-offshore-drilling/democrat/
UC Davis Forum to Explore California’s Leadership in Energy Efficiency
October 10, 2008
Since 1974, California has held its energy use per person nearly constant, while U.S. per capita consumption overall has jumped about 50 percent. Why the difference?
Energy experts, including those who helped create California’s unique policies, will discuss California’s efforts over the past 30 years to promote efficiency – and how those lessons can promote a more efficient future as the cost of energy generation keeps rising – at a conference entitled “The Roots of Energy Efficiency and How California Changed the Way the World Uses Energy.”
The conference is hosted by the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center in partnership with Chevron.
Conference presenters and participants include:
· Dan Sperling, director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and professor of civil engineering and environmental science and policy;
· Alan Meier, associate director of the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center and senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory;
· Ralph Cavanagh, senior attorney and co-director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s energy program;
· Bob Foster, architect of the Warren-Alquist Act and mayor of the city of Long Beach;
· Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute chairman and chief scientist, and an experimental physicist educated at Harvard and Oxford universities;
· Michael Peevey, president of the California Public utility Commission and chairman of the board of the California Clean Energy Fund: and
· Arthur Rosenfeld, member of the California Energy Commission
Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 pm.
Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, University of California, Davis
Contact: Sylvia Wright, UC Davis at (530) 752-7704 or e-mail swright@ucdavis.edu or Kimberly Beman, of Chevron at (925) 842-2581.
