Free Republic

Former President George W. Bush, outlining plans for a new public policy institute, on Thursday said America must fight the temptation to allow the federal government to take control of the private sector, declaring that too much government intervention will squelch economic recovery and expansion.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is giving a jolt to the futuristic "smart" electric grid, hoping to more quickly bring America's power transmission system into the digital age. President Barack Obama, during a visit to a solar energy facility in Arcadia, Fla., is announcing Tuesday that he is making available $3.4 billion in government support for 100 projects aimed at modernizing the power grid. The projects include installing "smart" electric meters in homes, automating utility substations, and installing thousands of new digital transformers and grid sensors.

I was thinking about what the cost of Universal Health Care would be if Obama got his way. Analyzing Medicare might provide some answers. There are about 40 million people on Medicare. The Medicare budget is $420 billion, or about $10,500 per recipient. Persons on Medicare pay about $97 a month in premiums taken from their Social Security checks. The net Medicare budget is then $420 billion - $46 billion (from premiums) = $374 billion in Medicare taxes. In 2006 there were 138 million people who filed income tax. They each paid 2.9 percent of their earned income (1.45 x...

In case you haven't noticed the federal debt increase has been on a tear this this year... no end insight.

I looked up the ratings of all of the US House and Senate members and did a mini-analysis on them;I used ACU (American Conservative Union - conservative) ratings, and ADA (Americans for Democratic Action - liberal)ACU ratings by party: Percentage of Republicans with 100 percent ACU ratings in 2007 -- 26.40 Percentage of Republicans with 90 percent or more ACU in 2007 -- 56.29 Percentage of Democrats with 0 percent ACU ratings in 2007 -- 52.80 Percentage of Democrats with 10 percent or less ACU in 2007 - 81.82 ADA rating by party: Percentage of Republicans with 0 percent ADA...

WASHINGTON – The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town. Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury Department to cut them a piece of the largest government rescue in U.S. history. The betting is that many with their hands out will be successful, especially with financial markets in a stomach-churning dive and predictions the economy is about to tumble into a deep recession.

WASHINGTON – Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse. In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI's chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain's campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September.

Dear Senator McCain, Sir, YOU CHOSE a visit to a wind-farm in early summer 2008 to devote an entire campaign speech to the reassertion of your belief in the apocalyptic vision of catastrophic anthropogenic climate change - a lurid and fanciful account of imagined future events that was always baseless, was briefly exciting among the less thoughtful species of news commentators and politicians, but is now scientifically discredited.

Mad Men and the Bank Failures It's possible to wreck a recovery through policy. In my Bloomberg columns, I've tried to write about how the hybrid model of banking -- half public, half private -- does damage to our economy. "Moral hazard" is such a starchy phrase we instinctively hate it but it is the right one to describe the bailouts and guarantees. The series MAD MEN is a great example of guys widening their own [moral hazard].

Organizing in neighborhoods has taken two paths that reflect historic dichotomy between integrationist and nationalist strategies. Many top conununity leaders collaborate on urban issues through city's grasgroots network, forging multi-racial coalitions, while others take black nationalist approach, looking only within the African-American community for leadership and resources. ...and Barack Obama, 773-684-4809, whose work to empower blacks has included his law practice, community organizing, philanthropy and most recently electoral politics: he is a candidate for state senate. Chicago is national center of black nationalist thought and organization. Chicago is home base for African-American Muslim organizations. Muslims have been visible forces for...

From the passed bailout bill S-1424; TITLE I - Troubled Assets Relief Program SECTION 110 b. HOMEOWNER ASSISTANCE BY AGENCIES. 1. IN GENERAL.To the extent that the Federal property manager holds, owns, or controls mortgages, mortgage backed securities, and other assets secured by residential real estate, including multifamily housing, the Federal property manager shall implement a plan that seeks to maximize assistance for homeowners and use its authority to encourage the servicers of the underlying mortgages, and considering net present value to the taxpayer, to take advantage of the HOPE for Homeowners Program under section 257 of the National Housing...

Below is a table of income tax distribution from 2005, and the floor of the income for each income level. Top Top Top Top Top Bottom Item Tax Year 1 percent 5 percent 10 percent 25 percent 50 percent 50 Percent Pct of All Income Taxes Paid 2005 39.38 59.67 70.30 85.99 96.93 3.07 Income floor for bracket 2006 392,643 153,866 109,441 65,084 32,261 < 32,261 My rhetorical question for Democrats; What is the end goal for who pays what percent of the nations income taxes? Is the Democrat talking point of "tax breaks for the rich" a real issue...

Unbelievable video of Bush promoting zero down loans for minorities....

Anyone who caught even a sliver of Tuesday's hearings in the U.S. Senate on the proposed Treasury bailout of the mortgage-backed securities market knows the current financial crisis is far from over. Suddenly all sorts of previously unthinkable catastrophes seem possible.

McCain expands lead with slight shift in polls.

As I continue the promotion of my new book, "None of the Above," the No. 1 question I get from interviewers is whether the selection by John McCain of running mate Sarah Palin has changed my mind at all about the two major-party candidates.

A secret video of the current happenings in the Obama war room, of election strategy. (Humor) Inside the Democratic Party War Room

FAIRBANKS -- Just before 5:30 p.m., long lines had formed for Alaska residents to get through security and into a fairly full hangar at the Alaska Republican Party's welcome home rally for Gov. Sarah Palin, who is due by 7 p.m.

HR 3036, the No Child Left Inside Act (chief author John Sarbanes, Democrat, MD), gives states and schools incentives (federal grants) to conduct "environmental education" programs within existing classes. This means that when children are enrolled in history, literature, math or science, during some of their class time, they will actually be schooled in "environmental education" instead of academic subjects.

When Senator John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate two Fridays ago, the first-term governor and would-be vice president was a complete stranger to the vast majority of Americans. But, as we soon found out, she had already charmed not just her fellow Alaskans and a devoted University of Colorado at Colorado Springs undergraduate student--the one who launched "Draft Sarah Palin" early in 2007--but also some of the most influential members of D.C.'s conservative establishment. Who were her earliest boosters in the chattering class, and how did they fall so hard, so fast?