Beshear's "Weekend at Bernie's" policy

Looks like Gov. Beshear sat around all week trying to think of something to make a YouTube video about and could only manage to re-float a flat, two week old trial balloon.

Now you see them, now you don't

Tuesday night, President Barack Obama said this:

"But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime."

Friday morning, Stateline.org reports this:

"On climate change, the administration figures the federal government will collect $646 billion between 2012 and 2019 for carbon credits. That plan assumes Congress would be able to pass a nationwide “cap-and-trade” system quickly, likely by the end of this year. Obama cabinet officials told governors last weekend they hope Congress passes a law by this summer."

"The nationwide limits on carbon dioxide pollution would apply to all sources of the problem, including cars and trucks."

I didn't see Obama deliver the "one single dime" line on television. Was he wagging his finger?

But maybe he is going to lean on the "see your taxes increased" as justification for hidden costs of the cap-and-trade (or cap-and-tax) scheme.

Ron Paul's son may run for Senate from KY

Congressman Ron Paul's son Rand is going to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Jim Bunning if Bunning ultimately decides not to run, he said Thursday night.

"We will need a conservative to run against that liberal David Williams," Dr. Paul, 46, a Bowling Green opthamologist, said.

"Bunning has been treated unfairly," he said. "It's been his finest hour within the last year or so with his votes on the bailouts."

"David Williams has given up the ghost on the budget. He didn't even put up a fight on raising taxes."

Welcome KY Politics readers!
Welcome Daily Paul readers!
Welcome Ron Paul Forums readers!

Stop feeding them...

... and the Left turns to eating each other.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman isn't happy with the bank bailouts that the rest of us aren't happy with either:

"Obama and Geithner say things like,"
"If you underestimate the problem; if you do too little, too late; if you don’t move aggressively enough; if you are not open and honest in trying to assess the true cost of this; then you will face a deeper, long lasting crisis."
"But what they’re actually doing is underestimating the problem, doing too little too late, and not being open and honest in trying to assess the true cost. The actual plan seems to be to keep the banks semi-alive by implicitly guaranteeing their liabilities and dribbling in money as necessary, all the while proclaiming that they’re adequately capitalized — and hope that things turn up. It’s Japan all over again."
"And the result will probably be a deeper, long-lasting crisis."

As funny as it is to see President "Nationalize It All" catch hell for not nationalizing fast enough, the rest of us need to keep making the case for less government intervention so the private sector can pull us out of this downturn. Just like it always does.

Eliminate these middle men

Why in the world are we trusting a bunch of bureaucrats who can't balance their own books with picking our winners and losers in the corporate welfare game?



If we are going to credit "incentives" with bringing the factory and "creating" jobs via bureaucratic decree, doesn't it make more sense to lower taxes for everyone and see how much better the market can do at creating growth?

How's your new hope and change going?

It's funny how every time a bunch of politicians get together and claim a grand victory for bipartisanship, what really happens is that the taxpayers get hammered and the ranks of principled lawmakers just gets smaller.

Nevertheless, it's disheartening that, with all their wheeling and double-dealing in Frankfort, they couldn't manage to even give a hearing to a bill that would merely require a 24 hour waiting period on tax and spending bills.

I know several Kentucky groups are working up tax and wasteful spending protest rallies. If you know of one, please mention it in the comments section.

Otherwise, stay tuned for at least one big announcement tomorrow on this site.

Drinking our way to prosperity

The Hartford Courant reports Republicans in Connecticut want to solve their state's overspending problems by expanding drinking hours in casinos. With a $1.35 billion projected deficit, what's next, a 2500 drink minimum?

Fortunately for Connecticut, cooler -- Democratic -- heads seem to be prevailing.


Can't wait till Kentucky's good-time crowd in Frankfort gets wind of this one. In our new era of bipartisan cooperation, there is no telling what we might get when the good old boys start mixing booze, late nights, and gambling.

Obama, the flesh-eating zombie?

When President Barack Obama talked about curing cancer last night, I couldn't help thinking of the movie "I am Legend" in which a cancer cure kills almost everyone and turns most of the survivors into cannibal zombies.


Does eating people pay prevailing wage, Mr. President?

Beshear spins for Big Ed and Big Health

Gov. Steve Beshear went on the Leland Conway radio show in Lexington to explain why he raised taxes and raided the state employee health fund. Here is what he said:

"We had some priorities that if at all possible we needed to maintain. And one was in education and the basic funding formula for our schools. I think everybody felt that it was just a requirement that we continue the effort that we're making to improve the education system. We had public safety issues that people felt were a priority as well as the healthcare safety net for our most vulnerable people."

In other words, he wanted the money to expand programs with a poor efficiency track record. Great.

I wonder if Senate President David Williams' answer will be any better.

Bad news, Bishop

Fayette County Detention Center Director Ron Bishop has been trying for two and a half years to get rid of federal whistleblower Cpl. John Vest.

For some strange reason, Bishop thought he had his big chance recently when a career small time criminal busted in Vest's home, only to be thrown to the sidewalk and chased off by Vest.

The criminal went downtown and filed assault charges on Vest. Bishop seemed to think this would allow him to fire Vest legitimately after trying repeatedly to do so illegitimately.

But the charges against Vest were dismissed with prejudice Tuesday.

Bishop has failed repeatedly in his efforts to escape from a big civil lawsuit that also has Mayor Jim Newberry and candidate Teresa Isaac sweating.

Mr. Obama, tear down your campaign web site!

As President Barack Obama addresses the nation tonight, it might be worthwhile to look at some of the promises he made before the election that didn't make it passed his first bill.

Bunning: Williams owes me $30,000

Senator Jim Bunning said KY Senate President David Williams came to him last year and asked for financial help for the campaigns of Sen. Jack Westwood and Sen. Ken Winters. Bunning said he got a promise the money would be repaid.

"David Williams owes me $30,000," Bunning said.

Who are you and what did you do with KY Senate President David Williams?

A month ago, we had a Kentucky state Senate determined to hold the line on taxes and a House minority that usually showed evidence of a spine.

Or so we thought.

Now, we have an army of tax raisers. And don't you dare call the tax raisers tax raisers or one of the tax raisers will let you hear about it.

House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover is someone I have always liked and respected. This is probably about as confrontational as he is going to get in defense of his bad votes.

But now Senate President David Williams is going to come to my county this weekend to a Lincoln Day dinner. This comes after raiding the employee health fund of $50 million and raising taxes that, a month ago, I would have sworn that he understood wouldn't solve anything. It's easier to make the case, in fact, that the tax increases and the health fund raid may make things worse because, as in the case of the federal bailout that is on the way, the money has already been spent. Having failed to discipline ourselves this time, how much worse do you think it will be next time around?

Williams has also filed a bill to take executive branch power away from the executive branch and entrust it to the legislative branch. Can't imagine why anyone other than Greg Stumbo would think that is a good idea now.

Where's the rest of the cavalry?

Secretary of State Trey Grayson has just issued the following statement in support of Senator Jim Bunning:

"Recent news reports change nothing about the US Senate race as I am concerned," Grayson said. "Senator Bunning is a friend and mentor. As I have mentoned before, if he were to decide not to run, I would be keenly interested in the race. Senator Bunning has said that he is running, and I take him at his word. I am not planning a primary."

Mr. Tax Raiser, where are you?

Casey County Republicans report Taxpayer Protection Pledge breaker Sen. Vernie McGaha failed to show up for last Friday's Lincoln Day Dinner.

Wonder if any other Senate Republicans are getting nervous about keeping their speaking engagements?

Thank you, Uncle Albert

This looks like a great idea. The Organizer-In-Chief wants us to "thank" our representatives for voting for the latest bailout scheme for those running our state and local governments into the ground.

I think I will do just that.

Just wondering

When Rep. Ben Chandler ran for governor in 2003, he refused to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, calling it a stunt. When he ran for Congress the following year, he quickly promised never to vote for a tax increase. He has broken that promise many times.

It will be interesting to see if Sen. David Williams signs the Taxpayer Protection Pledge prior to running for the U.S. Senate.

David Williams running for U.S. Senate

(2/23 10:30 am update: Williams denies making calls to members of the House and says he will make a statement about his plans soon.)

State Senate President David Williams is making calls to members of the state House drumming up support for what had been only a possible run for the United States Senate seat currently held by Sen. Jim Bunning.

Hmmmm....

Same as the last corruption

Please help spread the word about this.

Apology to Rep. Joe Fischer

In one of my other day jobs, I write for the Bluegrass Policy Blog. It was just brought to my attention that I left Rep. Joe Fischer off a list of legislators worthy of appreciation for voting in the best interests of taxpayers.

Sorry, Rep. Fischer. I fixed it here.

Having it both ways in Frankfort

Don't let President Barack Obama see this.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear offers some sensible advice to Kentuckians about managing their personal finances (below), but if we all follow it and stop financing our lifestyles with debt, jobs will be lost. Like in the car industry and the government sector.

And we know Pres. Obama is all about saving, and "creating," jobs.

Can't get criminals away from Lex. jail

Disgraced, audited, and mail order educated former Lexington jail administrator Don Leach has been calling the Fayette County Detention Center to tell his buddies how to get Lexington taxpayers to pay them to go to upcoming American Jailers Association conferences.

Hey Don: what do you think about Teresa Isaac running for mayor again?

Why do we let this stupidity persist?

Kentucky's practice of providing health insurance benefits for retired state and local government workers under 65 has to go.

Kentucky's $8.9 billion in unfunded health insurance liabilities for public retirees can't be made to go away quickly, but the practice of offering these benefits should be phased out as soon as possible.

The Commonwealth ranks 8th in the nation in per capita unfunded health insurance liabilities for public retirees. That is especially bad when it is considered that we are 42nd in per capita income and that all of the states with higher unfunded liabilities have more money than we do.

In other words, we are the single most unprepared state in the nation in terms of ability to dole out overly rich benefits to public employees. But we are doing it anyway.

Funny neither of the major newspapers in the state picked up on this story this week right after we raided the same fund of $50 million. But I guess we should be used to it by now.

SC Governor calls a spade a spade

Here's yet another reason to wish Kentucky had another state's governor.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is the reason Pres. Barack Obama's bailout of the cities and states included a provision essentially prohibiting governors from refusing to accept the "stimulus" money. South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn slipped that into the bill when Sanford was trying to explain that it was a bad deal for everyone.

Now, Clyburn says Sanford is against wasteful spending because he hates black people:

""The governor of Louisiana expressed opposition. Has the highest African-American population in the country. Governor of Mississippi expressed opposition. The governor of Texas, and the governor of South Carolina. These four governor's represent states that are in the black belt. I was insulted by that," Clyburn said. "All of this was a slap in the face of African-Americans. It had nothing to do with Governor Sanford.""

Sanford's response, through a spokesman, was fantastic:

""Representative Clyburn is no stranger to playing the race card, because he has no defense for the runaway spending and the deficits contained in this so-called stimulus bil that will hurt our economy. Spending money at the federal level that we do not have represents a future tax increase on all South Carolinians, regardless of their color - and in the process of doing so, he's ripping off everyone he claims to represent.""

Our own Gov. Beshear is eagerly awaiting the money with no apparent concern for the future.

Uh, no

It's not hard to blame Republicans in power since 2000 for giving us Democrats who make insane stuff like this our new reality.

What a dying political career looks like

Someone in Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry's office wanted to see if his recent Fox News appearance garnered any good press.

Google says no.
Newberry still hasn't announced his plans for re-election. Hope this helps. Then he can concentrate on fending off a certain lawsuit.

Where is Ben Chandler today?

Rep. Ben Chandler doesn't want you to know he is quietly urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to call up a bill that would force unionization on private businesses.

President Barack Obama campaigned hard for so-called card check legislation, his ACORN buddies are on board, and the union officials who fund Chandler's campaigns are counting on his support.

Everyone else? Not so much.

Here is video from a card check debate between Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan and Kentucky Club for Growth Chairman Warren Rogers.



In other news, Chandler was against the bailouts before he was for them.

Someone has to say it

"Kentucky isn't like California."

How many times has a Bluegrass state native heard that? It used to be a putdown of Kentucky since, years ago, everything cool happened in California first and then we got it about ten years later.

But then California started going for every new left-wing crackpot idea under the sun. They have greened themselves, and taxed themselves, and spent themselves to the edge of fiscal disaster. Being unlike California has become a badge of honor.

Maybe, just maybe, circumstances are about to put us in a position where we go back to looking up to California again.

Now the only thing standing between Californians and the largest state tax increase in history ($14 billion and counting, tax increases are never "enough") is the state's small group of Senate Republicans.

We had a similar opportunity come up in Kentucky last week, but we aren't like California.

And now, California Senate Republicans have ousted their caucus leader for going along with the tax increasers. California big spenders are going to have to get with the cost-cutting program, it appears. And the sooner they do, the better. But we aren't like California.

Indeed, we aren't. More of our Senate Republicans went for the tax increases and the pension raid last week than went against them. Whisperings of efforts to run primary opponents against Republican taxers and raiders are starting to be heard.

Stay tuned...

Kiss that money goodbye!

The Louisville Courier Journal reports the Kentucky Department of Education will receive a $305 million federal bailout.

The schools' MUNIS accounting system is such a mess no one is going to be able to account for this money. That should stimulate someone to action in Frankfort or Washington D.C., but I'm not holding my breath.

"More bail, please"

Automotive News reports that Chrysler wants another $2 billion of your money. I sense a recurring theme here.

And, of course, our politicians are watching.

UNBELIEVABLE update: make that $2 billion for March. And another $2.6 billion in April. Up to a total of $30 billion. Nancy Pelosi says she is hopeful.

Words fail me...

Here is a link to a video in which the GM CEO talks about returning the company to profitability.

Watching California, thinking Kentucky

The budget fireworks in California took a positive turn Tuesday as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has started the major downsizing of government he should have done months ago.

One single Republican vote in the state Senate is all that stands between the nation's biggest state and the nation's biggest tax increase. Should that resistance hold, spending cuts and Obama bailout funds will have to make up huge deficits.

Federal bailout funds prevent much of the forced spending discipline that would do California a world of good. To a much lesser extent, that ship has already sailed for us in Kentucky.

Of course, we will be back having this same argument again very soon in Frankfort. Will it be deja vu all over again, perhaps? Hope not.

Let them eat stock certificates

General Motors is expected to announce Tuesday that their survival plan includes taking more taxpayer money, making fewer cars, and paying off their bonds with soon-to-be worthless stock.
From Automotive News:

Real progress won't begin until after the deal involves paying off union officials with blank pieces of paper.

I have a question, Mr. President!

Just got my invitation in the mail for the Jessamine County Republican Party Lincoln Day dinner at 6 pm February 28 at Equestrian Woods in Nicholasville.

Senate President David Williams is the featured speaker.

After last week's votes to raise taxes and raid the state employee health fund of $50 million, this could be a very interesting event indeed.

Admission is $30 per person.

Up with hemp, down with Mountain Dew?

The most popular post on Bluegrass Policy Blog is about a bill to make hemp production legal in Kentucky.

Check out the action in the post's comments section.

At the same time, the most popular post on Kentucky Progress is about making Mountain Dew illegal in Kentucky.

Lexington's own "Trial of the Century"

This summer, Lexington will endure an unusually long federal criminal trial city officials don't want you to know anything about.

The Lexington jail inmate abuse trial starts June 8 and is scheduled to last three weeks.

This suggests former Mayor Teresa Isaac and current jail Director Ron Bishop may have been mistaken when they said on television that there was nothing to this story.

Presidential irony

I wish it were funnier that America has a president whose name and image inspires spam email scam artists.

This isn't even the first time. Won't be the last, either.

Beshear gives Kentucky an Obama

Gov. Steve Beshear borrowed the rhetoric of Pres. Barack Obama yesterday in congratulating himself for his smoke-and-mirrors fix of Kentucky's government spending problem:

Just last Saturday, Obama was saying the same thing about his bailout of the cities and states:

This is what Republican leaders in the Kentucky House and Senate have signed up with? Unbelievable.

If you liked Tax Jam 2009, just wait

The Kentucky Senate voted this morning to raise taxes and to raid the public employees' health fund of $50 million.

Can't imagine where the raid idea came from, since a mere seven months ago the Senate majority seemed to have a pretty good handle on the dire situation in public employee benefits. But the tax increase train never had to leave the station.

If the people behind the tobacco and alcohol industries had only realized that this wasn't about being unfair to the people who make, distribute, and consume their products, their opposition may have been more effective.

These tax increases and the health fund raid won't provide "enough" money to hold back future tax increases and smoke-and-mirrors transfers. Too bad the tobacco and alcohol folks never seemed to realize that the issue wasn't about just them, but was about the size of government all along.

Text messaging is best

Tax raisers in the state Senate are currently one vote short on HB 144. Will your Senator fall into the big government trap?

9:37 AM Update: They just came back in. Wonder who folded?

Senate, don't be as cynical as the House

The theme for this week in Frankfort has been politicians saying one thing and meaning another. A bipartisan Gang of 11 House members betrayed a pledge to their constituents to never support a tax increase. That same Gang also joined 54 fellow House members in tossing aside their seven month old promise to stop making the public employee benefits debacle worse.

Then it was House Budget Chairman Rick Rand's turn.

"We felt it was important that we let the citizens of Kentucky know," he told his Budget Committee, "that everything would be on the table: all cuts, any potential revenue measures, and anything we could do to bring this budget into balance."

Then, presented a commonsense amendment by Rep. Joe Fischer to stop forcing Kentucky taxpayers to pay excessive union wages for public construction projects, Rand spit the bit. Fischer's measure didn't even get a vote. Others tried the same thing on the tax increase bill with the same result.

Unless the Senate's intention is to simply join their friends in the House in raising taxes, they should restore Fischer's amendment and remove the Health Fund raid in HB 143. It also hardly makes sense to allow Beshear to restore funds to prior spending cuts as the bill does with borrowed money. You remember how overextending got us into this mess, right?

Come on, guys. This is ridiculous.

Barack Obama wants us to trust him

Kentuckian in exile Caleb Brown of the Cato Institute wonders why Pres. Barack Obama is playing "hide the details" with his big bailout bill:

"If this legislation is such a good idea, why don’t we get to look at it?"

Seems Obama is disappointing some who thought he was serious when he promised to, you know, not be so secretive about important stuff.

Will Kentucky rob Peter and Paul both?

Federal governments all over the world are printing "stimulus" money faster than grass runs through a Kentucky Derby champion. In Frankfort, politicians are breaking promises just as fast.

It's about to get worse.

Part of the deal to "raise revenues" for the state is, apparently, agreement to allow Gov. Steve Beshear to raid the public employee fringe benefits accounts of $50 million.

Just to get us through this temporary problem. Until the next one, of course.

Whatever happened to this guy?

House fails to hold the line on taxes

House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover delighted Frankfort's big spenders this afternoon by not only voting for higher taxes, but also making a floor speech in favor of higher taxes.

The bill passed 66-34. It now goes on to the Senate. President Pro Tem Katie Stine has pledged to oppose the tax scheme.

Bellying up to the wrong table

House Budget Chairman Rick Rand, speaking in favor of a tax increase bill, just repeated the fiction about everything being "on the table" in the effort to balance the state budget.

If that were true, we would have repealed prevailing wage, ended corporate welfare and sales tax exclusions, dropped out of the Master Settlement Agreement, fired some political appointees, and called it a day.

Smart if true

Gov. Steve Beshear's reputation for meaning what he says isn't the best. Nevertheless, this sounds good:

"I am looking forward to starting work with my colleagues in the legislature on a longer term solution to the challenges confronting us. We will need to discuss how we create a tax system that is not only equitable, fair, and responsive to the changing nature of the global economy, but also keeps Kentucky competitive with surrounding states."

Ending taxes on corporate income and exclusions from the sales and use tax would be a nice start. Getting out of the corporate welfare game completely and repealing prevailing wages show a seriousness for the kind of reform Kentucky really needs.

Time for a Kentucky stimulus task force?

Now that Virginia is a blue state, they must feel obligated to set up web sites asking for citizen input on spending their Barack Obama bailout money.

So they did just that.

Can Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear be very far behind?

Get ready to wave bye-bye to Senate majority

Tonight's blow out loss in the state Senate special election combined with the compromise (read: cave in) on tax increases tells me Kentucky Republicans have gotten tired of having a seat at the table.

What else should anyone expect from a sell-out of principles?

Some good friends won't like this, but get ready to lose a lot more elections if the Senate decides not to hold the line on taxes.

Jim Bunning speaks

Sen. Jim Bunning said today the eligibility for full Social Security benefits should quickly be pushed from age 67 to 70. He said just doing this would put Social Security on "a sound financial basis until 2075."

He also advocated lowering cost-of-living raises for Social Security recipients.

Asked about the bailout bill currently before Congress, Bunning repeated that it was a step toward socialism and that most people understand that and oppose the bill.

"About 95% of my calls are against the bill and the other 5% are from mayors and government employees in Kentucky," Bunning said.

Bunning also mentioned a recent poll showing him ahead of all potential Democratic rivals. He said the results were closer than they should have been because the polling was completed during the ice storm, when much of western Kentucky was without power.

He said that he plans to run his own poll the first week of March.

Assume a woodshed...

... and watch the Cato Institute take President Barack Obama there!

Another $1.5 million down the drain

A Lexington Herald Leader news reporter went to a political press conference and came back a believer in very questionable, big government spin.

Continuing the recent trend of turning the Lexington paper into a one-sided blog, no opposing viewpoints to this cheerleading were provided.

Click here to read one.

Latest bailout recipient: Dan Mongiardo

Media types can't help noticing Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo has been twittering out status updates via government press release very rapidly since he announced his campaign for United States Senate.

Your latest contribution to his campaign is copied below. Seems that if we were serious about cutting state spending, Mongiardo's political aspirations would be going under the knife.

KY Club for Growth opposes tax hike

Brian Richmond, president of Kentucky Club for Growth, says he is adamantly against raising cigarette and alcohol taxes to fund bloated government in Kentucky, but that if taxes have to go up conservatives should get something in return.

"They should give us, at the very least, a two-year moratorium on prevailing wage," Richmond said.

Kentucky would save $130 million or more a year by repealing prevailing wage policies on public construction projects. Of course, working out a deal like this would involve trusting Gov. Steve Beshear.

If this is pragmatism, we're in big trouble

President Barack Obama made a silly statement Saturday while complaining that nearly two-thirds of the electorate wants off his bailout train.

The Associated Press came to the rescue with their informed take on his comment:

""We can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, sounding a note of pragmatism that liberal followers rarely heard on the campaign trail."

What?!?

If a trillion dollar bailout that no one really thinks will help the economy is an indication of what we can expect from the Obama Administration, then it sure would be nice if the media watchdogs would at least make him make sense about it.

Obama here rips to shreds a famous Voltaire quote that is most often translated as "the perfect is the enemy of the good." That means, of course, that holding out for perfect solutions sometimes prevents putting to work solutions that may be good enough.

But Obama's questionable "stimulus package" is not absolutely necessary. That's why we are so opposed to it. And the Associated Press weighing in with their opinion that his plan is somehow pragmatic doesn't do much for their credibility either.

Gouging saves lives in Kentucky

National media folks watching Kentucky dig out of the latest ice storm noticed the heroic -- and well-compensated -- efforts of a man Gov. Steve Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway would burn at the stake for anti-Nanny State heresy.

Beshear and Conway haven't gotten the attention they so richly deserve for barking at the moon about prices when hard-working Kentuckians are trying to survive natural disasters.

If more people took the time to understand freedom rather than running for the quick soundbite, we would have better public policy discussions in Kentucky.

Thanks to Kentuckian in exile Caleb Brown for passing along the latest from Washington D.C.

Bunning economics plan makes more sense

Bailout opponent Sen. Jim Bunning today suggested via a floor amendment improvements to the increasingly unpopular spending bill Pres. Obama wants.

Bunning's plan would allow individuals greater ability to deduct investment losses.

Bunning said:

"Since the peak of the market in the fall of 2007, investors have lost $7.5 trillion in wealth. More than half of this amount is held in taxable accounts."

"If we do not adjust the limit, taxpayers will be unable to deduct real economic losses from their income tax, and this will result in higher effective tax rates."

"Two respected economists have recommended my amendment as a way to stimulate the economy. In an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Let’s Stimulate Private Risk Taking,” economists from Harvard University and the University of Chicago wrote that my amendment would stimulate risk taking by reducing the downside of new investments and increasing the upside."

Further, Sen. Bunning advised removing significant corporate welfare provisions from the bill:

"My amendment also reduces the cost of this bill by about $2 billion, because I am also striking a remarkable provision that for the first time would allow corporations to use tax credits, even if they have no income. This is nothing more than corporate welfare and Soviet-style industrial policy."

"Never before has this body endorsed a refundable tax credit for corporations. This one costs a staggering $10.9 billion. It’s bad policy, and the money should be spent on broad-based tax individual tax relief that will stimulate our economy."

A hundred million here, a hundred million there

Two witnesses to the Senate Education Committee meeting Thursday came away with different numbers but the same story about the state's massively wasteful CATS school testing program.

Lexington Herald Leader education reporter Ryan Alessi reported:

"Sen. Dan Kelly, R-Spingfield, also said the CATS test has been sucking up too much valuable classroom time as the state spends $17 million per day on public school instruction. With 10 days of preparation, 10 days of testing and 10 days for mentally-spent students and teachers to recover, that's nearly a half-billion dollars lost, he said."

And Bluegrass Institute education analyst Richard Innes got this:

"At one point, Senator Dan Kelly outlined the full costs of CATS public school assessments, including the opportunity costs of instructional days lost to both administer the tests and conduct all the overly focused test preparation that we hear about so often. Kelly’s bottom line cost for CATS -- $700 Million."

Either way, Senate Bill 1 would get rid of the CATS program.

Will 69 million voters fall for this, too?

Just got a junk email from a bank invoking the Obama bailout scam and offering, fittingly, a scam VISA card with the false hope that "if Congress is willing to bail out Corporate America to the tune of a trillion dollars, why not have our sponsor try to help you!"

Interestingly, the reality of this "help" is somewhat less compelling than the hype. If you didn't catch it, a "secured" credit card is no credit card at all. It's a debit card just like the one any bank will give you for no cost when you open an account.

It gets better. The fine print reveals a $99.95 "one time" processing fee. Dig a little more, though, and you find this:

Amazing. So, the punch line on this helpful card is that you send in your money and the bank pretty much just keeps it. For example, say you send in $300 to open an account. The value of the account is immediately $200.05. The next two fees drop you down to $106.05. Then if you are stupid enough to use the card, as soon as you swipe it you start paying 19.5% interest on your own money.

Jim Newberry needs your call

The missing videotape that's part of the latest episode in the Lexington jail scandals has been located, according to a source inside city government, but continues to be hidden by city officials.

Please take a minute to call Mayor Jim Newberry and tell him to have the entire January 27 Budget and Finance Committee meeting posted to the city's web site.

His phone number is 859-425-2255.

10:30 UPDATE: The Mayor's office just called and promised to fix the problem. Thanks very much if you called. Either way, though, hang on to that phone number.

Take it like a man

Congress expands SCHIP, Kentucky loses

Gov. Steve Beshear has made a big deal out of signing up children for government health insurance and the U.S. House of Representatives just helped him waste our money even faster.

From the Cato Institute:

"SCHIP’s great expense stems from the fact that in many cases, it simply enrolls children who were already insured privately. Economists Jonathan Gruber and Kosali Simon estimate that out of every ten children added to the SCHIP rolls, six already had private coverage. Only in government is a program deemed to “work” when it covers four uninsured children for the price of ten."

If Gov. Beshear were really serious about putting Kentucky in position to grow when the economy recovers, he would consider encouraging Kentuckians to get off SCHIP rather than trying to get them on:

"One thing SCHIP does accomplish is to discourage work. SCHIP and similar programs create enormous disincentives to climb the economic ladder. A single mother of two earning minimum wage in New Mexico who increased her earnings by $30,000 would find no change in her net income: She would pay an additional $4,000 in taxes and lose $26,000 in SCHIP and other government benefits, according to data compiled by the Urban Institute for the federal government."

Read more here.

Obama bailout needs a bailout

As American support for President Barack Obama's $900 billion bailout plan drops precipitously, a group of Republicans are fighting back against Obamanomics:

Thanks for standing up against this, Sen. Bunning.

It will be no surprise to see the mainstream media full of news stories about how critical this bailout is. But one thing I didn't expect was to get two emails from the White House press office today inviting me to two different press conference calls about the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." Tomorrow Melody Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council will speak to "Southern reporters" at 1:30 and then at 2:30, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will be on at 2:30 talking to "Midwest Reporters."

What they lack in substance, they probably more than make up for in outreach.

Will KY legislators approve voter initiatives?

Kentucky House Minority Whip David Floyd has filed a bill sure to catch the imagination of active citizens across the state.

House Bill 217 would allow individuals to collect petition signatures to change either state law or the state Constitution via voter approval and without any action by the General Assembly.

Before you start buying clipboards, though, HB 217 first has to pass both the House and the Senate by three-fifths votes this year, go on the 2010 ballot, and recieve a majority vote of the electorate.

I'm not aware of a similar bill in Kentucky in recent years. It will be interesting to see what kind of treatment this gets from our legislators.

Bunning was against bailouts; still is

While many in Congress are figuring out their fiscal principles on government bailouts by sticking their fingers in the air, stalwart Sen. Jim Bunning has been a notable exception. In a press conference today, he described the battle he fights today:

"There is no will to bite the bullet and reduce the spending. They are already talking about another trillion dollars for the banks. If I were a banker in Kentucky, I'd be very concerned that the federal government is going to nationalize the banks and take control of all the banking industry across the country."

Bunning also said he thought the Dow Jones Industrial Average, currently near 8000, would hit 6000 before it hits 9000.

Did Don Leach lose another consulting gig?

The graphic below shows a California-based visitor to this blog who seems to know something about the ongoing federal investigation into criminal activity at the Fayette County Detention Center.

Donald Leach is a former administrator at the Lexington jail who was a subject of a recent city Budget & Finance Committee meeting, documentation of which seems to have disappeared.

(Click image to read it)

This story just keeps getting better.

Bipartisan opposition to corporate welfare

Very interesting article in The Wall Street Journal today about how some states are expanding taxpayer-funded incentive deals for companies despite lacking evidence that the approach is worth the investment.

The article includes this salient passage:

Kentucky shows every indication it will continue to play the sucker's bet that state officials can really pick our economic winners and losers.

If Kentucky called a unilateral cease fire on the corporate incentives battlefield, we would very likely have less of a fiscal problem on our hands. At the very least, state "economic development" officials should have to demonstrate the return on investment for their handiwork. The fact that they don't shout their results from the rooftops speaks volumes, doesn't it?

How about a colorblind natural disaster?

A North Carolina think tank stuck its tongue in its cheek over the weekend and asked why President Barack Obama hates the white people in Kentucky. The question isn't any more ridiculous than the persistent nonsense about former President George W. Bush hating all the black people in Katrina-struck New Orleans, but the following point from John Locke Foundation is worth considering:

"It is the iron law of Katrina: The federal government, marginally competent in the best of times, assumes super-human powers in times of natural disasters. Ergo, any lack of relief is the direct result of a lack of compassion, probably racially motivated, on the part of the occupant of the White House."

Of course, there is no danger of the mainstream media picking up on an "Obama lied while Kentuckians died" screed. They understand he is busy fixing the world's economy.

And speaking of racism, Obama now wants to keep the Yellow Man down. Or something (click to expand):

More Left Coast activism headed our way?

An effort in California to make health insurance premiums more "fair" for women looks like just the kind of bad idea that would attract Gov. Steve Beshear.

Current law allows individual health insurers in both California and Kentucky to charge higher health premiums for women than for men. It's nothing personal; it's just that women tend to cost more to insure than do men.

California wants to level the playing field, which just means men will be charged more for the same coverage.

In much the same way that the effort to force Kentucky car insurance companies to stop charging higher premiums for people who exhibit certain irresponsible behaviors merely penalizes everyone else, activism here is a bad idea.

When insurance companies don't pay claims their policies require them to pay, government intervention is wholly appropriate. But legislating fair premiums isn't going to magically start working now, just because some politicians have good intentions.

Thanks to InsureBlog for the tip on this one.

Some hope for Kentucky public education

In a surprising Friday afternoon move, Kentucky's education bureaucracy gave House Democrats permission to vote for higher math standards in Kentucky schools.

Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence Executive Director Robert Sexton gave the official green light.

"Senator Dan Kelly has introduced Senate Joint Resolution 19," Sexton said, "aimed at revising the state’s mathematics content standards and related assessments based upon National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommendations. I like this legislation because it starts to move Kentucky toward fewer, clearer, and deeper standards."

Now we need to take similar steps for English and science instruction.

Day five of Newberry videotape scandal

Still no word from the city of Lexington about where they hid the thirty minutes of embarrassing video of Fayette County Detention Center Director Ron Bishop catching flak for just a tiny bit of the problems relating to his mismanagement of the city jail.

Also, there can be no doubt that Lexington's fearless watchdogs in the mainstream media would be all over this if they weren't covering for Newberry.

It's the same story again and again.

Ohio Gov. Strickland: move to Kentucky

Funny quote about proposed education reforms by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in yesterday's Cincinnati.com:

"Earlier in the day, Strickland took a hard line on one of the most radical ideas - adding almost a full month to the school year. If new teachers are unhappy with a longer school year in Ohio, or his proposed four-year resident-training requirement, he said they are welcome to work in other states such as Kentucky."

""... If a teacher says, 'I'm going to teach in Kentucky instead of Ohio because the school day or the school year is longer in Ohio,' I would say to them, 'Move to Lexington or Louisville or Hazard," Strickland said."

Must be some pretty good stuff in that Ohio reform proposal, right?

Not so fast, says Bluegrass Institute education analyst Richard Innes:

"What Ohio’s situation really shows is the deplorable lack of decent education research to guide policymakers about what really does work in education. That problem has seen Kentucky chasing expensive education fads since 1990. Sadly, it now it looks like the same lack of data to support intelligent education choices is going to wreck havoc on the north side of the Ohio River."

Get more of Mr. Innes' analysis here.

Wonder how much this job pays?

The image below shows site reader data of this blog captured from a Lexington city government computer.

I think I liked Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry better when he was blocking this site from the view of on-the-clock employees.

Will Democrats be "racists" now?

The Republican National Committee appears to be about to elect Michael Steele to a two-year term as chairman.

Democrats will be dismissive and may well avoid, at least for the most part, the usual slurs a conservative African-American usually gets from the left.

Steele and the Republicans get to claim they are ready to move in a new direction.

We certainly need a viable alternative to the new regime in Washington. It will be interesting to watch.

Pull down one charade, put up another

Remember last November when the Louisville Courier Journal sent three reporters out to find substantial support in the Kentucky Senate for raising taxes?

They "found" it, but it just didn't pass the smell test. This passage from Bluegrass Policy Blog sums it up:

"The "substantial" support includes twenty Senators who said they would either vote for, consider, or not rule out a cigarette tax increase."

"In other words, there is insufficient support in the Senate for a cigarette tax increase."

Reality is slowly setting in:

A noncommittal answer from a politician is the same as a polite "no." The big tax increase parade to save the state from spending cut doom just isn't going to happen. Accept it and get ready for a combination of smallish spending cuts that solve nothing and massive borrowing we can't afford.

Tape erasing scandal belongs to Newberry

A full 24 hours since a report surfaced of erased videotape testimony in the ongoing Fayette County Detention Center scandals (here, here, here, and here), Lexington officials have neither responded nor provided the missing tape.

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry shouldn't be allowed to hide from this one. Also, Councilman Kevin Stinnett, who chaired the meeting with the erased tape, has not returned a phone message from Wednesday.

Lessons about Rocky Mountain moochers

A report on Colorado's health insurance market suggests the much-repeated claim about government health insurance lowering healthcare costs is about as solid as the case for bigger government bailouts expanding failing government programs:

"This suggests that aside from gorging the coffers of those who want dysfunctional government health care programs expanded in order to crowd out all private medical arrangements, the massive SCHIP and Medicaid expansions in the pork-filled stimulus package will also raise costs for responsible people who pay for their own health care and health insurance."

More details here.

These are, of course, the same kind of reforms being brought to Kentuckians by our own Gov. Steve Beshear as fast as he can round up our money.

Didn't Richard Nixon try erasing tapes, too?

Online viewers eager to see Lexington Councilman Ed Lane blister Fayette County Detention Center Director Ron Bishop for his bad audit yesterday will be disappointed to see someone at the city edited out half of the Budget & Finance Committee meeting.

Missing is the half of the meeting in which Bishop was brought in to speak.

Wonder who would have done such a thing?

See it for yourself here. The first thirty minutes of the tape is full of commercials. Then the meeting starts at that point and the video ends mid-sentence at the one hour point.

Jack Conway's predatory rhetoric

Gov. Steve Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway had a big time last fall calling gasoline retailers nasty names when worldwide oil demand caused prices to increase.

Given real-world concerns over possible supply disruptions and shortages in the wake of this week's ice storm, Conway is at it again. While some hot air might do us a little good, Conway's is at least good for one laugh:

Someone please buy Jack Conway a thesaurus before he tries to run for the U.S. Senate. Predatory pricing occurs when retailers seek competitive advantage by lowering retail prices below cost.

I'm assuming that's not what he meant to say.

Prichard should get out of the kitchen

The last thing Kentucky can afford now is clinging to the status quo, especially in cases where it has proven to be ineffective and counterproductive.

Enter the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, the chief protector of failed bureaucratic education policies that have held Kentucky back for decades.

The Bluegrass Institute's education analyst Richard Innes congratulated the Prichard folks for coming out of hiding to debate their policy positions a week ago when they started their own blog.

But now they appear to not be posting his comments. Bad form, Prichard. Here is my attempt to smoke them out:

Withstanding criticism of your ideas is hard work. And what kind of watchdog organization prohibits comments about unethical conduct? Could it be that Prichard just isn't up to the task of defending its practices?

They really don't have a clue, do they?

The following email just arrived from someone trying to help Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) run us into the ground even faster.

Read it. They are actually giddy about the money they get to spend.

God bless Jim Bunning.

If Sen. Mitch McConnell is upset with Sen. Jim Bunning for being right about the federal bailouts, he should say so. From the Lexington Herald Leader:

Stick it in his ear, Jim!

Rightsizing Knoxville

One Knox County, Tennessee commissioner has the right idea.

Knox County and Knoxville are facing growing pension deficits and County Commissioner Paul Pinkston suggests the county should sell the nursing home it owns.

What is a county doing owning a nursing home, anyway?

This is terrific. I know this isn't an ideal time for anyone to be selling off assets, but the principle is more important here. Getting government tenacles out of people's lives is worth taking a bath on a few assets.

Kentucky and its cities and counties should be taking notes.

By the way, a great quote from Knoxville Mayor Mike Ragsdale:

"We're going to have to be creative and do things more differently than we have in the past."

More differently, indeed.

Why Beshear might make Obama mad

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich famously embarrassed President Barack Obama, so Obama had him written out of the state bailout plan. Here is the language from the "stimulus package" bill:

Some have interpreted this to mean that if Blago isn't ousted, Illinois doesn't get the money. But that is not correct. Maybe if the "or" were an "and," but the way this is written it simply means the legislature would control the spending decisions rather than Blago, if he is still around.

Given Gov. Steve Beshear's hesitancy to make decisions in a timely manner on most things, maybe he will tick off Obama and get the same deal for Kentucky. I sure don't want to see Greg Stumbo and David Williams fighting over how to spend borrowed federal tax dollars, but Beshear might find this a handy way to take the pressure off himself.

Can Edye Dabney dance?

Lexington's joint airport strippers and jail phone account scandals may be about to grow a third leg now that the Fayette County Detention Center is refusing to account for their "recreation" budget with the YMCA of Central Kentucky.

Meanwhile, jail officials are skirting the hiring freeze in Lexington as well as city job posting ordinances by sneaking Acting Assistant Director Edye Dabney into a permanent position.

I'm sure Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry's spokeswoman Susan Straub will tell any members of the media who call that none of this is true.

More proof Kentucky turning into France

This should help make the case for cutting out state welfare for Kentucky newspapers. Specifically, Kentucky must immediately stop forcing government agencies to buy newspaper advertising for public announcements. As a fine example of what this kind of cronyism can lead to, France is pulling out all the stops to bail out their dead tree media:

Thanks to Andy Roth at the national Club for Growth (not to be confused with the Kentucky Club) for passing this along.

Dead Chinese student roils Lexington jail

Federal investigators appear to be digging deeply into Fayette County Detention Center Corporal Charlotte Trotter's role in the suspicious death of a University of Kentucky doctoral student named Dong Zhang back on June 22, 2004 at the jail.

FCDC Director Ron Bishop doesn't want you to know about this. Neither, one assumes, does the Lexington Herald Leader.

(Also, I'd really like to know why college students all over the world are coming to this site via Google to read about Dong Zhang. Will someone please tell me?)

Are Beshear and Newberry on same page?

The World Equestrian Games is shaping up to be a massive taxpayer soaking.

Even if the 2010 event in Lexington goes well, it will be much more expensive than we are being lead to believe. If it gets ugly -- and it looks pretty ugly now -- it will be very embarrassing as well as costly.

We need some public assurances that organizers know what they are doing. Maybe we should get Gov. Steve Beshear and Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry in separate rooms and see who gives up the other one first.

Finally, an optimist!

Don't let them fool you: opportunities are plentiful in a recession. Fortunes will be made buying distressed assets from distressed owners. Stronger manufacturers and service providers will emerge as inefficient ones find other things to do better.

And, on the flip side, big-government politicians will use general feelings of uncertainty to increase their own power.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford will have none of that, though. He says he is actually having fun right-sizing government in the current environment.

From Stateline.org:

Changing the world one tweet at a time

People keep telling me twitter.com is the next big thing on the internet and I'm not at all sure they are wrong.

If you twitter, you can follow me here. Or at least you can click on the links. You might want to follow this one as well.

Will media miss this story, too?

If someone affiliated with free markets, smaller government, or conservative causes like lower taxes and less government spending provided evidence that supported an opposing point of view, the mainstream media would be all over it.

But what would happen if a University of Kentucky professor concluded from an academic study that school choice innovations such as private school vouchers, charter schools, and special needs scholarships would improve education in the state?

See for yourself.

Where's outrage for gun gouging?

In today's Frankfort State-Journal, Mike Sloan, the owner of Mike's Guns, Archery, and Pawn, is quoted saying that as the threat of an Obama presidency became increasingly likely gun sales skyrocketed and prices of weapons and ammunition increased.

This news comes on the same day Attorney General Jack Conway announced the results of his ridiculous gasoline price gouging investigation.

Unsurprisingly, the laws of supply and demand for gasoline -- and the subsequent government saber-rattling -- get all the attention.

Go figure.

As Minnesota zigs, Kentucky should zag

Politicos in Minnesota are talking about a bill likely to be filed in coming days that would automatically provide public assistance recipients moving to that state from other states the same benefits they received in their previous home.

Sounds like a great way to speed up the financial destruction of a state, doesn't it?

With the growing possibility of Californians on the dole fleeing a state unable to make cash assistance payments, doesn't it make sense that Kentucky should do something to protect itself from another influx of people with their hands out?

I mean, if we try to fit too many people on a life raft, we risk drowning everyone, don't we?

Another weak excuse goes down the drain

Can't find a job? Then you might want to go ahead and start a business.

Secretary of State Trey Grayson just made getting started a little easier by allowing new business owners to file state paperwork for a new business on the internet.

"This new service will save companies time and money," Grayson said. "By tearing down the bureaucratic red tape of state government, we hope this will encourage other entrepreneurs to start their businesses in Kentucky."

All you have to do is come up with a great idea for a new business, click the "FastTrack" button on here, and get to work.

That way, eventually, you won't have to worry so much about the state blowing up its unemployment fund or the welfare recipients escaping California or Illinois to come raid your state tax dollars.

Cover your own Newberry, please

A link to this post has been burning up the email circuit. It sparked an interesting conversation last night. First, this came in from a Lexington television reporter:

Minutes later came this response from a reader in San Diego some central Kentuckians will recognize (click the image to expand it):

Are we ready for school vouchers?

As Frankfort politicians play their high-stakes game of chicken between spending cuts and tax increases, it's at least worth mentioning that school vouchers could save a lot of money.

And vouchers would likely improve educational outcomes in Kentucky more than just about any policy change.

Here's the latest from The Manhattan Institute:

Read the rest here. I'm open to better ideas. Anyone?

Still throwing rocks at government watchdogs

House Speaker Greg Stumbo has expressed openness to killing the Kentucky Department of Education's discredited CATS program.

This would put him on the same side of the issue as Senate President David Williams.

But protectors of the status quo have, instead of making a case for the efficacy of their programs, made a habit of taking potshots at The Bluegrass Institute and anyone else who dares to threaten their base of power.

Take, for instance, this anonymous jab at The Institute on The Prichard Committee's new blog.

The Bluegrass Institute has tried for years to engage KDE sycophants like Prichard Committee in a meaningful debate.