Free Republic

The government inadvertently offered people who wanted a duck something altogether different. The Fish and Wildlife Service isn't going to remedy the error because doing so would cost too much. That's according to this wire service report, "Gov't Error Sends Callers To Sex Line: People Hoping To Order Duck Stamps Greeted By Phone-Sex Line Due To Printing Mistake": People calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are instead greeted by a phone-sex line, due to a printing error the government says would be too expensive to correct. The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers, so...

In 2007 this subsidy cost the American taxpayer $300 million, and it’s projected to cost the American taxpayers $600 million next year,� said Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz. The scam — as Shadegg and others call it — is known as “splash and dash.� It stems from an existing $1 subsidy for every gallon of biodiesel fuel blended with regular diesel in the United States. Here’s how it works: Biodiesel is produced abroad using South American sugar cane or Asian palm oil and shipped to the United States, where it’s blended with just a “splash� of regular diesel. A typical tanker-load...

BRUSSELS: Picking a new trade fight with the United States, the European Union on Thursday accused U.S. producers of biodiesel of benefiting from subsidies that threaten to put European producers out of business. Biofuels are bitterly contested because of allegations that they raise food prices and do little to fight global warming. But they are also a big business, with sales of about €8 billion, or $12.3 billion, annually in Europe. EU trade officials say European producers are at risk because of a tax credit that is granted to American exporters. The commission said it would begin a formal anti-dumping...

Lawmakers, including many Republicans, voted to spend more than half a trillion dollars last month - signaling what's in store for taxpayers if Democrats win additional seats in Congress this November. The spending spree included a whopping $300 billion farm bill, loaded down with subsidies for millionaire farmers and pork-filled provisions that won the support of 100 House Republicans who voted to override President Bush's veto. The squandering also includes a fat-filled $250 billion supplemental bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, plus $52 billion in tuition benefits for veterans and other domestic expenditures that passed the Senate by a...

WASHINGTON - President Bush vetoed the $300 billion farm bill on Wednesday, calling it a tax increase on regular Americans at a time of high food prices in the face of a near-certain override by Congress. It was the 10th veto of Bush's presidency. But since it passed both houses of Congress with veto-proof majorities, his action will likely be overridden. The president calls the legislation fiscally irresponsible and says it gives away too much money to wealthy farmers, yet his criticism didn't faze lawmakers from both parties who voted for increased crop subsidies, food stamps for the poor and...

Most politicians have been swept up by the notion the U.S. could supply a good portion of its energy needs from Midwest farms, instead of from unfriendly regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere. In December, Congress overwhelmingly passed, and President Bush signed, a new energy bill dramatically raising renewable fuel mandates. But that consensus will be open to debate in the presidential election with John McCain as the GOP standard bearer. He’s one of the few politicians who oppose handouts to the ethanol industry.

The Empire Strikes Back With Massive Attorneys’ Fee Request in CityNorth Case Clint Bolick, Goldwater Institute, April 24, 2008 While the Goldwater Institute’s legal challenge to the CityNorth subsidy moves to the Court of Appeals, one issue remains before the trial court that upheld the subsidy. Not content merely to demand $97.4 million of taxpayer money, the developers now are seeking hundreds of thousands more for their attorneys’ fees—from the Goldwater Institute. The City is, too. Rather than using the same huge in-house legal department that negotiated the deal, the City hired a high-priced private firm to defend it. The...

Sophistry from the Superior Court : Ruling on CityNorth amends the state Constitution Without A Vote by the People Robert Robb, Goldwater Institute Daily Email, April 08, 2008 The Superior Court decision upholding the massive subsidy Phoenix gave CityNorth is an exercise in legal sophistry. Judge Robert Miles held that there were considerable public benefits from the building of the shopping center, and so there wasn't a violation of the state Constitution's gift clause. There is not, however, a public purpose or benefits exception to the gift clause ban. It states that no Arizona government "shall ever give or loan...

When the upscale stores—Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom and other magnets for affluent shoppers—open their doors at the CityNorth “urban village” being built here, Phoenix taxpayers will be there, sort of. They are providing a $97.4 million subsidy to the Chicago-based developer of the 144-acre project that will include residential, office and hotel facilities. The subsidy—allowing the developer to keep sales taxes collected up to $97.4 million—might, however, violate the state constitution. Represented by the litigation arm of the Goldwater Institute, six taxpayers who own small, unsubsidized businesses say the subsidy violates three constitutional provisions.

Maybe it’s a good idea. A music-themed amusement park in Eloy just might work. True, the park would be in the desert between Tucson and Phoenix with a limited available work force and limited infrastructure for large numbers of visitors. Still, there have been surprises before. Who could have predicted Branson, Missouri? But, the developers of Decades Music Theme Park want a big favor from the state. They want their park to be a “Theme Park District.” This would be a mini government agency with the ability to issue tax-free government bonds. The bonds would be paid off with a...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration and major financial institutions are close to agreeing on a plan that would temporarily freeze interest rates on certain troubled subprime home loans, according to people familiar with the negotiations. An accord could reassure investors and strapped homeowners, both of whom are anxious as interest rates on more than two million adjustable mortgages are scheduled to jump over the next two years. It could also give a boost to the Bush administration, which is facing criticism for inaction amid the recent housing turmoil. The plan is being negotiated between regulators including the Treasury...

The City of Phoenix's $97.4 million subsidy to a developer to build the lavish CityNorth Project-we've dubbed it the Taj Mah-Mall-was based on the developer's estimate that it would need more than $100 million to break even on the deal. This is called a "feasibility gap"-but the credibility gap is even wider. The city's own independent consultant estimated the feasibility gap at only $25 million. The bottom line is much worse. Two experts hired by the Goldwater Institute in our constitutional challenge to the CityNorth subsidy have demonstrated that the developer will reap a huge profit even without the subsidy,...

Oro Valley's recent decision to yield its status as Arizona's subsidy capital didn't come a moment too soon. The first report for two sales-tax rebate subsidies awarded for Oracle Crossings Center and Steam Pump Village are in, and the results are predictable. The first project forecast sales of $106 million over the last two fiscal years, which would have generated $2.12 million in sales tax revenues; but instead produced $35.5 million in sales and only $441,000 in sales tax revenue. The second projected sales of over $26 million and tax revenue of $525,000, and instead produced sales of $2.1 million...

Jakki Pettitt’s letter (“Waveyard would give Mesa identity”, Sept. 27), aptly recognizes the importance of a city to develop an identity and personality with time. As a Mountain View High School graduate and Mesa resident, I can wholeheartedly relate to the frustration of Mesa’s lacking flair. It also brings to light however, the underlying debate: is it the place of Mesa’s city government to give away $20 million of taxpayer-owned assets to create said identity? The answer is no. A drive by deserted Riverview, a project that consumed $80 million in city funds, quickly dispels any notion that taxpayer money...

SACRAMENTO — California homeowners are rejecting new rebates for solar power equipment, saying the state has made installing the rooftop panels far more costly than expected. As a result, Public Utilities Commission reports show a decline of 78% in rebate requests in the first three months of this year, compared with last year, and the solar installation industry says it is threatened with collapse across much of California.

The federal government would buy a lot more fruits and vegetables under the Bush administration's farm-bill proposal, planted Wednesday. Gratifying farmers in states such as California and Florida, the administration wants to increase specialty-crop spending by billions of dollars in coming years. The money would pay for school lunches, more trade help, additional research and more. "I think the proposals in the specialty-crop area will be very, very well received," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said. Other proposals, though, may be nipped in the bud. The administration, for instance, says it wants to stop paying crop subsidies to the 80,000 richest...

I don't know how many State of the Union Addresses since 1973 have pledged commitment to energy independence, but to quote Jim Ignatowski when he was asked how many different illicit drugs he had ingested in his lifetime, it's "exactly a lot." It was still a surprise, however, when our current President touted ethanol last week citing the sustainability myth as just one of its many indisputable virtues. Science aside, the numbers on ethanol are staggering. Today, the federal subsidy stands at 51 cents per gallon. The most optimistic projections regarding the effects on greenhouse gases are estimated at 5%,...

Democrats have long attacked President Bush for the historic tax cuts he ushered through Congress during his first term and have promised to reverse at least some of them. But among their top priorities when they take over Congress next month is passing a permanent tax cut of their own. Included in their "Six for '06" platform that they say helped them win majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats promised to: "Make college tuition deductible from taxes, permanently." Their tax cut promise is neither an election-year gimmick, Democrats say, nor a reversal in their long-standing opposition to Mr. Bush's...

EADS poised to launch A350 as Boeing trade row intensifies The Guardian (UK) 11/20/2006 Author: David Gow EADS, owner of Airbus, will this week or next give the go-ahead to launch the new A350 wide-bodied jet and could call in promised government loans to fund the €10bn (£6.8bn) programme. Any decision to reactivate "launch aid" from Britain, France, Germany and Spain would inflame a long-running dispute between the EU and the US. Last week the US formally submitted its written complaint to the World Trade Organisation about illegal subsidies to Airbus.

THE bonds of marriage should be reinforced with satin, lace and a truckload of Federal Government cash, a Melbourne fashion retailer said today. Gail Lee, managing director of clothing business Leethal Fashion Accessories, has called for the Federal Government to subsidise half the cost of sexy lingerie to keep the zing in Australian marriages. With about 40 per cent of Australian marriages ending in divorce, Ms Lee said a woman wearing sexy lingerie would spice up a flagging marriage and dissuade wayward partners from straying. "Financial difficulties have many marriages under pressure and, if there are arguments and problems, they...

Suddenly, China dominates steel industry The Charleston Gazette (W.VA) 07/23/2006 By Author: Paul J. Nyden Today, China has the world's largest steel industry. In fact, the world's most populous nation now produces more steel than the next four largest producers combined: Japan, the United States, Russia and South Korea. Chinese mills make 31 percent of the world's steel. Between 2000 and 2005, Chinese steel production grew by 170 percent, from 126 million metric tons to 349 million metric tons. China's steel exports quadrupled between 1998 and 2005. Steel imports flooding into the United States doubled between 2000 and 2005. The...

Tech Stuff: Ethanol Promises   1   2   3   4   5   6   7 Farm-raising our own energy independence: Could it happen? BY PATRICK BEDARD July 2006 You will be hosing ethanol into your gas tank. You will. It’s the law. The 551-page Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed last August, includes many sops to a blur of special interests, but one single provision rang the bell for automakers, greenies, and farmers, and for a broad coalition of ordinary motorists who were hoping for something, anything, to bring down gasoline prices; starting in 2006, the average gallon of “gas” will contain 2.78-percent...

The largest and most technologically sophisticated companies in the world rarely surrender to the competition and admit they have made a poor decision about what to produce. That’s why the leak of Airbus’ latest product plan is so significant. A state-supported Europrestige standard-bearer is grappling with the realities of the marketplace: the opinions and desires of customers really matter. There is both good news and bad news here for fans of competitive capitalism. We are still far from seeing a newfound devotion to the teachings of Adam Smith among the continental Europeans who seek to challenge American dominance of high...

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy opened the six-day meeting by urging nearly 6,000 delegates from the Geneva-based trade body's 149-member countries to be "bold, open-minded and prepared to take some risks." The Hong Kong meeting originally was meant to draw up an outline for a global treaty by the end of 2006 to lower or eliminate trade barriers in agriculture, manufacturing and services. But negotiations got off to a rocky start as delegates from poorer countries accused the European Union, the United States, Japan and other wealthy countries of offering insufficient cuts to their agricultural tariffs and farm subsidies. Farming accounts...

Apec 'to warn EU on trade talks'   Europe appears increasingly isolated on agriculture World trade talks will fail unless the European Union makes fresh concessions, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) nations are expected to warn. Reports say Apec leaders, meeting in South Korea, will issue the warning in a joint statement later this week. Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer has already said the success of the World Trade Organisation talks now rests with Europe. Europe is under pressure to increase cuts on farm subsidies and tariffs. French pressureBoth the US and leading developing nations such as Brazil have...

The federal government wants to pay for some U.S. residents to be able to watch television -- the only question is how much. The Senate's budget bill, which passed last week, contains a $3 billion subsidy for owners of televisions that are not ready to handle the eventual transition to digital television. The House budget bill, which ran into trouble Thursday but which will be on the floor this week, contains slightly less than $1 billion. Both bills set a date when broadcasters must return their current licenses and instead broadcast a digital signal on a different part of the...

(11-01) 17:31 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Half of government farm payments over the past decade have gone to just 22 of the 435 congressional districts, according to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group. The group wants the federal government to cut payments to large farm operations and revise provisions that allow some to collect millions of dollars a year in subsidies. The Senate could vote on the issue this week. "The whole system is tilted to a handful of big farm operations, and everybody else comes up short," said Ken Cook, the group's president. "We were surprised at the...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A House Commerce Committee draft bill sets a Dec. 31, 2008, deadline for the transition to digital from analog television signals - three months earlier than legislation approved by the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday. The House Commerce Committee is expected to mark up its version of the digital-TV bill later this month. The legislation, details of which were obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, also sets aside nearly $1 billion to conduct a consumer education campaign and fund a subsidy program for consumers with analog TV sets to purchase digital converters so that they don't lose...

The House on Wednesday rejected a big proposed cut in Amtrak subsidies that would have led to major cutbacks in rail service. By voice vote during debate on a spending bill that covers Amtrak's budget, the House approved an amendment by Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, to add $626 million for Amtrak. That would bring Amtrak's budget to its current level of $1.2 billion. The Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee had proposed spending $550 million for Amtrak and eliminating 18 routes, including every cross-country run and all long-distance trains outside the Northeast corridor. Those routes include the famed City of New Orleans...

I am in favor of space access: the sooner the better, the more the better, and, especially, the cheaper the better. Here are some policy options that I have ranked according to the benefit/cost ratio. 1. Encourage other nations to sell their launches at marginal cost instead of just for “government launches” as espoused in the U.S. Space Transportation Policy (STP). Russia has surplus ICBMs. We should be grateful they are beating their swords into plowshares. We should encourage them to harvest their surplus equipment for cash to worthy Western buyers who want access to space so that they do...

In the worst case of scientific fakery to come to light in two decades, a top obesity researcher who long worked at the University of Vermont admitted yesterday that he fabricated data in 17 applications for federal grants to make his work seem more promising, helping him win nearly $3 million in government funding. Eric T. Poehlman, a leading specialist on metabolic changes during aging, acknowledged that he altered and made up research results from 1992 to 2002, including findings published in medical journals that overstated the effect of menopause on women's health. Under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors

WASHINGTON (AP) - A pitch by European aircraft maker Airbus for a $600 million U.S. plant drew representatives from 35 states Tuesday - including at least nine with ties to archrival Boeing Co. Officials from Washington state - where Boeing assembles 737s, 747s, 767s and 777s - were among those attending the informational session hosted by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., parent company of Airbus. France-based EADS, has said it plans to open a U.S. manufacturing site within a year, with hopes of building a refueling tanker to compete with the Boeing 767 for a multibillion dollar Air...

Kim Jong-il's 'useful idiots' in the West By David Scofield The term "useful idiots" has been widely used over the years to describe apologists from Western democracies who could be counted upon to offer slavish praise despite obvious evidence of the egregious system they supported. During Joseph Stalin's reign of terror there was the infamous Walter Duranty, a correspondent for the New York Times who in 1932 won the Pulitzer Prize for his glowing prose praising Stalin and the communist utopia he was building. Duranty chose to ignore the malice of the regime, the brutality of Stalin's forces and the...

WASHINGTON -- In the heat of the presidential election, President Bush declared his support for a taxpayer-funded milk support program coveted by dairy farmers in the battleground states of the Upper Midwest. But Congress did not act on Bush's call, and now that the election is over, the program faces an uncertain future. The Milk Income Loss Contract program, or MILC, expires Sept. 30, and will have to compete for scarce dollars at a time when Congress is trying to chip away at the budget deficit. The program was included in the 2002 farm bill. It pays dairy farmers cash...

WASHINGTON - District of Columbia leaders announced an agreement Monday night that they said would bring the deal to move the Montreal Expos to Washington back from the brink of collapse.

The future of winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners was cast into doubt last night after the Government refused to rule out major cutbacks after the election. The Telegraph has learnt that, on current spending plans, the winter fuel budget will drop by nearly £1 billion in the first full year after the General Election expected in May. That would mean payments, which this winter will be as high as £300 per household for the oldest pensioners, would collapse to a flat rate of £150 in two years. Mervyn Kohler, of Help the Aged, said last night that the...

Kweisi Mfume recently announced his departure as NAACP President, and not a moment too soon. His tenure has been a disaster for the storied civil rights organization, driving it deeper into liberal irrelevance. But that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be defended against the current IRS probe of its tax-exempt status. Back in October the NAACP was informed that it may have violated a law that prohibits charities, churches and other nonprofits from engaging in partisan activities. Under Mr. Mfume and chairman Julian Bond, the group has accused President Bush of being at war with black America; compared Republicans to...

Having been burned in the early 1990s by a grand prix race that went bust, the mayor of Denver had one instruction for his staff three years ago when it came to negotiating for a new race in another part of town. ``Fine,'' Kevin Magner, who oversees the race for the city's public works department, recalled the mayor, Wellington Webb, saying. ``But under no circumstance would we put any money into this.'' Unlike the deal Mayor Ron Gonzales cut last month with promoters of a similar race that backers say will draw more than 100,000 people to downtown San Jose...

I posted this note yesterday and it generated a range of replies. I can understand that there are people out there who support farm subsidies from the perspective of their own narrow self-interest. Fine. But it puzzles me that these people can call themselves conservatives. If you support free markets, small government and low taxes, how can you support a system that spends $180 billion on subsidies, mandates what can or cannot be grown and requires massive government regulation? How can people oppose welfare and socialized medicine and then turn around to support the welfare of farm subsidies and socialized...

I know it's an old report, but I can hardly find any discussion of this matter on these boards. Farm subsidies are the single biggest remaining example of socialist central planning in the US. And just what do we get for the $180 billion we are spending? Don't start the "no farm, no food" chant -- it's like "four legs good, two legs bad". The vast majority of farm subsidies go to rich individuals and corporations; subsidies do little to guarantee our food security. We could guarantee a minimum income to all farming families for a fraction of what we...

Chewing On Suburbia Early Balk Pushed Arlington Out Of The Game By Michael Neibauer Arlington, you blew it. Virginia's almost certain loss is a burden your weak knees must carry. After years of teasing, the long suffering three-sport town of Washington now looks like it could, maybe, perhaps, possibly, be the future home of Major League Baseball's Montreal Expos. And Arlington, it could, perchance, conceivably, have been you. You were the knight in shining armor, likely the one hope for Northern Virginia to win a baseball team over its neighbor. You have the location, the easy access to public transit,...

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - As Major League Baseball officials met Wednesday with backers of a northern Virginia ballpark for the Montreal Expos, a second key lawmaker said he opposes a plan to finance the stadium with bonds backed by the "moral obligation" of the state. Senate Finance Chairman John Chichester (R-Stafford) said a private business like a baseball club should not benefit from the state's moral obligation bonds, which have traditionally been used for local water quality projects and other public works....

In a ribald display of corporate-welfare envy, Boeing and rival Airbus publicly hauled out each other’s aerospace tax breaks last week at the biennial Farn­borough, England, air show and bickered over whose was bigger. Airbus’ billions in European subsidies were rapped as unfair by Alan Mulally, Boeing’s commercial airplanes boss, who referred to Airbus as his “subsidized competitor.” Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard said the subsidies are in fact loans that must be repaid; meanwhile, Boeing gets billions in un­reimbursed U.S. subsidies—especially Pentagon research funding—and billions more in assorted state aid. That includes the $3.2 billion tax “incentive” given to...

VIENNA, Va. (AP) -- The head of the group trying to bring a major league baseball team to northern Virginia said he will end his efforts if major league baseball doesn't pick a new home this year for the Montreal Expos. The Expos were bought by the other 29 teams before the 2002 season. Baseball failed to meet deadlines in 2002 and 2003 on finding a new home for the team, which has struggled to draw fans in Canada. Baseball officials say they hope to decide by mid-July on where to move the Expos for 2005.... Virginia's legislation to fund...

WASHINGTON - Northern Virginia has one year to get a Major League Baseball team within the next year or it will lose a substantial amount of state funding. A House Finance subcommittee voted not to extend the Virginia Stadium Authority's right to certain income and sales taxes through Jan. 1, 2008, which means the right to those taxes will end Jan. 1, 2005. While the matter still goes to the full Finance Committee Wednesday, the full committee is not likely to go against the subcommittee's recommendation. "The legislature is basically telling us we have one year to move a Major...

The Founding Fathers of Insider Trading by Thomas J. DiLorenzoby Thomas J. DiLorenzo To this day, the U.S. government has not provided a clear legal definition of insider trading. This allows the feds to engage in periodic witch hunts against unpopular business people such as Martha Stewart, the purpose of which is to divert the public’s attention away from the government’s own failed policies and blame it all on "capitalism." But there is a particular type of insider trading – political insider trading – that has been clearly understood for generations. Because this kind of insider trading involves politicians...

The newest member of the Senate Rules Committee says he does not support a stadium finance bill that would be used to lure the Montreal Expos to Portland.... "I don't believe in state funding of baseball stadiums," Fisher said Tuesday.... Baseball's relocation committee will brief owners next week in Boston. Northern Virginia and Washington D.C., considered Portland's main competitors, are waiting on Major League Baseball for the go-ahead before securing ballpark financing, but other plans for the 2004 season are in the works. Monterrey, Mexico, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, have offered to host the full 81-game season home schedule...

PHILADELPHIA - The versatile turkey has been chopped, pressed and processed into foods as diverse as burgers and bacon. Now a Long Island entrepreneur wants to put a turkey in your tank. Brian S. Appel, chief executive of Changing World Technologies, has developed a process for cooking and pressurizing waste turkey parts - and lots of other things - into a golden liquid that can be refined into heating oil, diesel fuel or gasoline. He has attracted the attention of former CIA Director James Woolsey, who says the process can reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. An adviser to Appel's...

<p>As D.C. officials deal with a projected revenue shortfall in excess of $50 million and the need to cut spending by nearly $70 million more before the end of this fiscal year, Mayor Williams is working hard to fashion a tax package that would provide as much as $275 million for a new baseball stadium. This is a bad idea being pursued at a very bad time. It doesn't have to be this way.</p>

<p>How to say it: Your columnist is a hopeless idealist? A naive optimist? Perhaps both, for I wrote a piece in this space last September praising the Bush administration for its effort to return U.S. agricultural policy to, in the president's words, a "market-driven approach." Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman had issued an excellent report that questioned the fundamental concept of farm subsidies. It examined the impact of subsidies and concluded that "government intervention distorts markets and resource allocation, produces unintended consequences, and spreads benefits unevenly. We cannot afford to keep relearning the lessons of the past."</p>