Wow, This is a Revelation!

Don't look now, but the White House is forecasting higher budget deficits than first calculated:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/White-House-forecasts-higher-rb-15199396.html?sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode

Well no s**t Sherlock! Jeez, does this come as a surprise to anyone? I could have told you that the deficit was going higher than first forecast, and I am going to make a bold prediction here that it is going to go up from here. All right, I understand that the economy is slowing and there are going to be lower tax revenues and some higher social costs - that I get. What doesn't make sense to me is that the President and Congress are choosing NOW to try to institute a bunch of dips**t liberal policies that are going to cost us a fortune! Hey guys, how about getting things back on track to where we are generating some revenue and reducing some costs somewhere BEFORE you attempt your expensive social (socialist) experiments that are going to put us in an even deeper hole - and have about a one in 7,600 chance of actually working without creating an even bigger social/financial disaster? Hmmm, if I lose my job and have to take a 50% pay cut, should I contemplate buying a new house and asking my fellow unemployed neighbors to eat at my kitchen table every night too? Should I stand at a fuel pump and fill up every tank that rolls through if the person tells me that they can't afford to fill their SUV on their own?

I may be disgusted with the government right now, but here is what really gets my goat. Whenever some stupid, politically motivated, outsized spending bill comes up now, the excuse that I hear from the President and Congress is that its to help the economy or because the prior administration spent a lot of money and left a mess, blah, blah, blah. At least come clean - you are pushing some stupid left wing social movement to entrench yourselves deeper in power. The other thing that is irking me is that people all over are piling up on the rich and capitalists as being these evil guys who deserve to be taxed into oblivion. Citizen Zane is far from rich, and I do think that the prior administration gave the wealthy a few too many breaks, but without the people who take risks and generate large amounts of income that we all enjoy as employees and fellow taxpayers, we are going to choke the goose who lays the golden eggs. Hey lazy rich-hating moron, go out and make your own money. You are not entitled to your neighbor's wealth because he/she is successful. Stop embarrassing yourself - Citizen Zane.

Dick Chooses the Windbag???

Sorry, the actual content of this post is not nearly as exciting as the title implies. As all three of my faithful readers know, my purpose for this blog is to toss all incumbents out of Congress. However, this article just made me want to gag so I threw it up here (literally).

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-cheney-limbaugh11-2009may11,0,6685850.story

Here we have Republican heavyweight Dick Cheney saying that he would prefer to have Rush Limbaugh lead the party over Colin Powell. Hey Richard, are you out of your F***ing mind???!!! I'm trying to think of who in the nation I would vote for over Powell. Hmmm...Michael Bloomberg...I'm still thinking...nope, can't come up with anyone else. Who's the Libertarian candidate in '12? When Powell says, "Trust me." I do. I didn't think it could get any dumber out their for the GOP, but they consistently exceed my expectations - Citizen Zane

Smack in the Fannie

I have heard some on the far left argue that its is capitalism to blame for our current economic disaster and that a turn toward socialism is actually a good thing. Well this story ought to set them straight - well except that they are COMPLETE MORONS to begin with.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fannie9-2009may09,0,3211158.story?track=rss

I argue that Fannie Mae and her buck-toothed sister Freddie Mac are two of the biggest causes of the financial melt down. How, Dearest Citizen Zane, you may ask? I'll explain. You know all of those really stupid loans that were handed out to people who couldn't afford them? The ones that were supposedly forced upon them by predatory lenders? Well, no sane lender is going to give $400,000 to someone too irresponsible to pay it back. Step in the government and their little friends Fannie and Freddie. They will buy those bad loans from the original lender and hold them so that the borrowers, who have no business buying homes that they cannot afford, can get into houses!!!! Its a wonderful idea if you are a liberal. Lots of 'deserving' people who otherwise would not enjoy the benefits of home ownership can have a neat new house! However, the downside to any liberal make-us-all-equal program: now we are looking at as much as $400 Billion in taxpayer money to bail Fannie out of all of those bad loans.

This is the problem with letting the government get mixed up in capitalism. They tend to allocate resources toward their political agendas rather than sensible choices. And Congress is now budgeting trillions more to be wasted??? I remember our excellent public servant Barney Frank proclaiming to all that Fannie was financially sound. And this nitwit is a big gun on the Senate Banking Committee!!! If Citizen Zane had looked into Fannie's books, I would have screamed bloody murder. I saw recently that Barney Frank was blaming the Bush administration for Fannie Mae not being solvent because of a bunch of deregulation. Can you imagine the uproar if Bush would have cut off sub prime loans to the poor? Maxine Waters would have been screaming from one end of the weekend to Thanksgiving. She said that Fannie was good too. Sure Alfred E. Bush wasn't minding the store, but c'mon Barney & Maxine, accept some responsibility! If I lived in Taxachusetts, I would vote his stupid ass out. I wish I still lived in Cali so that I could vote against Maxine too.

So now, I read that the Senate is now working on a national health insurance plan:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090509/ap_on_go_co/us_health_overhaul_public_plan

Now I for one understand that the nation's medical care delivery system is ridiculous, but I can tell you right now what is going to happen if the politicians decide to run it. Click on that first link and read about Fanni Mae again. Citizen Zane would much rather leave the health care industry to Wal-Mart. Think I'm joking? Read this:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/InStoreClinicsBoostWalMartsHealth.aspx

My guess is that if the government took over the health care system, we would be rationing care, have the bored and hypochondriach contingent overusing the system, and probably cost the tax payers at least three times the amount per visit that they could pay Wal-Mart to handle the same job. Hmmmm, maybe they could put Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, and Donald Rumsfeld in charge of the whole thing too. Just food for thought - Citizen Zane

$17 Billion Down, $1.183 Trillion to go!

Wow, two posts in a row where I have to apologize to the President. He is showing fiscal restraint that would make Herbert Hoover proud. Thanks to an anonymous reader, I got a hold of this gem:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/06/white-house-official-obama-cut-programs-save-b-budget/

I know, I know...Fox News. Well, I'll just concentrate on the quotes. This from the President..."All across this country, Americans are responding to difficult economic times by tightening their belts and making tough decisions about where they need to spend and where they need to save," Obama said Thursday as he unveiled the details.
"The question the American people are asking is whether Washington is prepared to act with the same sense of responsibility," he said. "I believe we can and must do exactly that." Holy cow, I didn't make that up. Washington is going to spend wisely - the President even said so himself. He's backed up by Democratic Rep. John Spratt, chairman of the House Budget Committee..."While the Congress is unlikely to agree with all the changes proposed by the administration, the process and the resulting proposals are a step in the right directions, and a sign of fiscal discipline." It is a step in the right direction, like step one in a stroll from Idaho to Naples, Italy. Fiscal Discipline??? Cutting $17 Billion off of a $1.2 Trillion deficit is not exactly my idea of fiscal discipline - sort of like Imelda Marcos taking back two pair of shoes.

Call me a cynic, but methinks that the Spender-in-Chief is feigning some fiscal responsibility. The crazy thing is that his cuts are going to annoy some entrenched spending projects enjoyed by some members in Congress. Let's see how this august body reacts. Here's a bet that they give the President his moment in the sun and the media falls into line and proclaims him a careful spender of our money. I'm a careful spender too. I'm going to pay my credit card balance off this month. Match that Imelda - Citizen Zane

I Owe the President and Congress an Apology!

Yes, even Citizen Zane is wrong on occasion. Here I have been pounding our honorable elected officials about the stimulus money being wasted and such, when suddenly, I came across this article that proves that jobs are being created as a result.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30522222

It seems like counties, towns, and other government organizations need to hire help to handle the paperwork involved with securing a spot at the government trough. This newly created job mentioned in the article has inspired me to do my part to keep the ball roling. I plan to pay myself to mow my backyard this Saturday. That will create a new job too! Everyone, get off your lazy arses and get out and create some new jobs just like me! With all of our newfound production, we will have this economy back and rolling in no time - Citizen Zane

Can We Make Taxes Voluntary???

Have you ever gone to dinner with a bunch of co-workers who know that the company is going to be picking up the tab? You will never spot a happier group of people. The last time my company got together for dinner on the boss's dime, it reminded me of the U.S. Congress in action. Bottle after bottle of expensive wine and imported beer, appitizers for everyone, more alcohol, steaks and chops, another bottle of wine, and then dessert. I think that Heineken actually sent us a thank you card afterward. It didn't help that the boss couldn't make it and would have no idea about who ordered or spent what. It made me sick.

If the pigs at that trough had actually been footing the bill themselves, how many bottles of $6 beer whould ol' Billy Bob have consumed? Yep, zero. That's like Congress. If their own states actually had to foot the bill for their largess, do you think that they would be spending us into oblivion? I have a solution for this freeloader problem: when congress wants to appropriate additional spending for some pie-in-the-sky project, the tax payers should have the option to vote on whether or not they would individually like to contribute to that project and their tax returns would be adjusted accordingly. Basic national defense, infrastructure (no not diverting infrastructure money to pet projects), and other essentials are mandatory, but everything else optional. Do you think that Jimbo Spender would propose useless pork-barrel projects if the tax payers had to approve individually? Me neither. The other benefit to this plan would be that all of the noble liberals could fund their silly utopian dreams and all of the conservative wing-bolts could pay for military action in the third world. Barbara Streisand can afford to cover Citizen Zane's health insurance. Maybe I'll move into her guesthouse too.

Now here's the secret.................We do have that power!!!! Yep, it is WE THE F**KING PEOPLE who still have power over Congress, though barely. We just have to USE it. Vote every last one of them out and send a message that WE are mad as hell, and we aren't going to take it anymore - Citizen Zane.

So Goes California, So Goes the Nation

Although I now live in New York, I still consider California to be my home state and I plan to have my ashes spread accross the sand traps at the Los Verdes Golf Course (where I spent about half of my time when I played there) when I expire. Its often said of California that it sets the trends for the rest of the nation. If this is true, then this article from Forbes does not bode well for all of us.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/27/worst-cities-jobs-opinions-columnists-employment-opportunities.html

Although the article is about the worst cities for jobs, the author adds an editorial on the gross stupidity of the state's government that I felt like I had written myself. It should be manditory reading for all people who blindly vote Democratic. In case you have been living in a cave, California is now facing a budget crisis due to a multibillion dollar deficit that dwarfs the state budgets of all but a few other states. Here is the problem: The far left has taken total control over the state and implemented top notch liberal policies that have drained the state's coffers and driven away business. The lefties are supported by state employee labor unions, environmentalists, and the most dangerous of all, liberal elitists like Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, and Dianne Feinstein. Yeccchhhh, I cringe when thinking about that troika - I suppose hell would be if I were locked in the same room with them all for eternity. If I go OJ and kill someone, I expect that they will be wearing lingerie too.

You know all of that stimulus money that is supposed to go to create jobs and for investments? Well California is going to suck a bunch of that off to keep the state workers fat and happy. In return, they will continue to vote Democratic for life. Poor Arnold over in Cali is like the Little Dutch Boy with his muscular finger in the Dike trying to hold the state legislature back from turning the state into Soviet Union with better beaches. I just give thanks that Arnold kicked Gray Davis's useless ass out of the Governor's mansion before Mr. Davis could throw any more money to the state workers. I have some good friends who work for the state and they have his picture framed up on the wall for diverting so much money their way.

Here is where I get into big trouble, but I think that what I am about to say is the truth. State workers are bankrupting every state in the nation. California is an extreme case, but here is my case: State workers retire in their fifties or early sixties with most of their salary intact for life, plus super generous health benefits. My parents were both state employees and together they make six figures and have health insurance - retired for 10 years now. They are both in good health and should last another 10 years easily. This means that the state is paying them about $2 million in salary, and probably another $300K in medical in retirment for NOT working. That's $2.3 million!!!! Anybody have that left in the 401(k)? Here's news: neither do the states. Now multiply my parents by a couple of million and you start to understand the scope of the State budget crisis epidemics roaring through the land. Now consider how productive state workers tend to be...did someone say DMV? Boy this rant is getting off topic in a hurry.

Anyway, take a look at what is happening in California and you get an idea about where the rest of us are headed. I think that liberals are nice, well-meaning people, but their absolute stupidity with what is realistic as they build their liberal utopias is absolutely mind boggling. We saw what happened when a bunch of right-wing policies got stuffed down our throats all at once and I shudder to think what would become of us if the religious right came to power (full disclosure: Citizen Zane attends a very conservative Christian church, but he doesn't think that Sunday School should be manditory for non-believers). Instead of healthcare debates we would be kicking Darwin out of the textbooks. Even with that, I admit that the liberals scare me worse. With our representitives holding on to these ridiculous ideologies rather than looking for pragmatic, balanced policies that might actually work, they will continue to run the country into the ground. They have to go -ALL of them. Citizen Zane