On bending in the right direction

Congratulations to the US Congress for bending the budget (and President Obama) in the right direction. We are still piling trillion upon trillions of dollars onto the national debt, but we've taken a small step toward reversing the trend: domestic discretionary spending will drop 4 percent this year, after having grown 6 percent in 2008, 11 percent in 2009, and 14 percent in 2010.

It's a start. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Why we can't abolish the National Endowment for the Humanities

“The mean-spirited bill, H.R. 1 … eliminates the National Endowment of the Humanities, National Endowment of the Arts. These programs create jobs. The National Endowment of the Humanities is the reason we have in northern Nevada every January a cowboy poetry festival. Had that program not been around, the tens of thousands of people who come there every year would not exist.” -- Harry Reid, U.S. Senate majority leader. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

$3 billion here, $3 billion there!

The blowtorch above is the Pratt & Whitney engine for the USAF's new F-35 multi-role fighter--and as of this week, its only engine. Budget-cutting Republicans joined Obama-supporting Democrats to kill a rival engine project from General Electric, saving an estimated $3 billion over the life of the project.

Speaking of budget cuts, National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Corp, and their affiliated stations are engaged in a full-court press to defeat an attempt to cut their budget. (Note the annoying fact that to the extend that they are taxpayer-subsidized, it is the taxpayer who's paying for this lobbying effort.) Hey guys, they're crying--it's only half a cent a day per American! But if you can't cut the small stuff, how are you ever going to cut the big stuff? After all, $3 billion here and $3 billion there--pretty soon it adds up to real money. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Um, he did what?

It's hard to be a Republican! Because New York Congressman Christopher Lee sent this buff photo (the one on the right, that would be) to a woman he met on Craig's List, he has now resigned from office. “Will someone prove to me not all CL men look like toads?” the woman asked, and Mr Craig obliged. Crikey, wouldn't you, if you could suck in your gut and flex your muscles like that? Certainly he looks better stripped to the waist than he does on the job (left). Plus he can use his smartphone to send photos! Seems to me that we need more people like Mr Lee in Congress, not fewer. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

$160 million here, $160 million there, pretty soon it adds up to real money

Barney Frank famously wanted to "roll the dice" a bit more with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the taxpayers are still cleaning up the mess from that particular crap game. Today the New York Times reports that we've picked up a $160,000,000 bill for defending the mortgage agencies' former executives in their various trials for fraud. That's right: one government agency investigates crooks, and another pays their legal expenses. But cheer up: we won a victory of sorts: three of the crooks returned $31,400,000! It would have been cheaper to buy them each a retirement home. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

If unemployment is getting worse, we should raise taxes, right?

Reports the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON – In a surprising setback, the nation's unemployment rate climbed to 9.8 percent in November, a seven-month high, as hiring slowed across the economy.

The report was a reminder that the economic recovery is proceeding more slowly and fitfully than many economists had expected. It is likely to push lawmakers before year's end to pass an extension of long-term unemployment benefits, which expired this week.

No mention of taxes! Apparently it escapes the wizards at the Associated Press that if you raise taxes on the hiring class, you'll get less hiring. (You'll also get less work, but that's a much more subtle result.) Could it be? -- could it possibly be? -- that hiring slowed precisely because small businessmen feared their taxes would go up on January 1?

Congress meanwhile thinks this is a great moment to raise taxes, at least on the more favored members of society, who are also the ones running the businesses that aren't hiring anybody this month, thanks all the same! Of course the vote is mostly a symbolic nod to the "progressive" left of the Democratic party, since such a bill has almost no hope of passage in the Senate. But it does show how desperately some people would like to reprise the 1930s, when the Roosevelt administration took a financial panic and turned it into an eight-year Depression. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

We gave you laws; why don't you respect us?

New York's Mayor Bloomberg, who is thrilled by the prospect of a mosque and Islamic cultural center next door to Ground Zero, got rich by creating a financial news network. The Bloomberg.com website published a wonderful headline and "news" story the other day:

Congress Enacting Most U.S. Laws Since '60s Gets No Respect
The 111th Congress returned to Washington this week with a record of legislative achievement that rivals President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society.” Voters may show their thanks by throwing lawmakers out of office.

To which one is inspired to answer: Yes! Exactly! Of course the humorous aspect is that the Bloomberg journos take it as a given that the more laws Congress passes, no matter how destructive to our liberty and our prosperity, the more Congress is to be applauded. Do you think they'll ever figure out that the poll ratings aren't despite the legislation, but because of it? Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Carpe per diem

The Wall Street Journal this morning has a followup on its March expose of Congressional chiseling on per diem travel allowances. In an era of trillion-dollar deficits, the money isn't even a rounding error, but the reactions of the Congressfolk are worth reading. My favorite is Texas representative Solomon Ortiz: if not for the chance to pocket a few extra dollars, he says, "you could never get many members traveling." A paid vacation, transportation in Air Force planes, and concierge service provided by the military: they pale beside the $25 a day in pocket money that one can collect by touring Kabul. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

'It is without similiarity whatsoever'

The New York Times has done a great service in sussing out nearly a dozen more lawmakers (some now happily retired) who have set up memorials to themselves along the lines of Charles Rangel. Among them:

* The Daniel Inouye chair at the University of Hawaii, subsidized by a shipping line

* The James Clyburn program at South Carolina State University, subsidized by builders of nuclear power plants

* The Mitch McConnell fund at the University of Louisville, subsidized by a military contractor

The way this works: instead of soliciting a bribe, or even a campaign donation, I set up the Daniel Ford Institute of Warbird Studies at the University of New Hampshire, and watch the money roll in, as the NYT explains:

Education officials involved in creating these centers said they had been amazed at how quickly they had been able to raise money for programs named for a sitting member of Congress. At the University of Hawaii, $1.6 million was donated in the first month of fund-raising for the endowed chair honoring Mr. Inouye and his wife, a record for the university. More than 25 of the donors — government contractors, banks, insurance and telecommunications companies — gave at least $25,000, far more than would be permitted in a single year of campaign contributions. An aide to Mr. Inouye said the donations had no influence on his legislative positions.

Of course I will never let $100,000 from Boeing influence my vote on the acquisition of tankers for the U.S. Air Force, nosirree bob! As a spokesman for Mitch McConnell told the NYT: "It is without similarity whatsoever" to the Charlie Rangel situation.... Well, here's a clue for the next senator or congressman who wants to build an endowed monument to himself and is pondering the similarities: you aren't worth it. None of you are worth it. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

a rare public embarrassment

Much to my surprise, the House of Representatives has actually brought charges against the lovable but corrupt Charles Rangell, the Adam Clayton Powell of today. The Gray Lady is surprised as well: in today's paper, David Kocieniewski terms the event "a rare public trial of the Democratic Congressman this fall, a potential embarrassment for the Democratic leadership during the election season." How funny! Congress does something right for a change, and that's an embarrassment? I'm impressed that the House has that much sense of shame. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Pain is pain, he says

The nation's chief tax writer will face a Congressional inquiry for, among other things, not paying his taxes in full. Isn't that a hoot? Perhaps the Secretary of the Treasury will appear as a character witness. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Mini Super Tuesday

Well, I was delighted to see Arlen Specter sent into retirement. He was a political opportunist of enduring skill: in 1965, as a registered Democrat, he ran and won as a Republican; in 2009, as a Republican senator with no hope of being renominated, he changed parties again in hopes that Democrats would be more likely to buy his wares.

So there's a mean satisfaction in seeing the turncoat trounced. Beyond that, I don't see much hope for Republicans in what the media have been calling Super Tuesday. The problem for the out party has always been that, no matter how distasteful voters find the incumbents, an election is never about the U.S. Congress--it's about the candidates. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Lapses? Oh, say it ain't so!

The Gray Lady has a rather ungracious headline this morning: Lapses Allowed Suspect to Board Plane. Good grief. My own reaction was: For once, the U.S. government has done something right! The folks at the New York Times must really live in a world of privilege and ease, if they think that catching a would-be mass murderer in two days is anything less than a splendid bit of copperdom. Good on the New York police, good on the FBI, good on the computer system that allowed the Feds to see that their man was sitting (in coach, I hope) on an airplane still at the gate.

Personally, I would feel somewhat reassured if the Congress took up legislation requiring individuals paying cash for their seats to wait seven days before flying. Heck, I don't even pay cash at McDonald's! Anyone peeling off hundred-dollar bills for an airplane ticket is surely worth a second glance. But I doubt it will happen. More likely, the Congressional reaction will be to hale some hapless cops and airline officials before a public hearing and berate them for their lapses. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

And who will protect us from our protectors?

Charles Schumer is a United States Senator from New York. He announced on Sunday that he had "personally contacted officials at American Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue, United Airlines and US Airways, and secured commitments from all five companies" that they wouldn't impose fees for carry-on luggage.  Imagine that! The courage! The senator was spurred into action by an off-brand outfit, Spirit airlines, which plans to charge $45 to use the overhead bins.

"In the last week we have gained tremendous momentum in our effort to keep carry-on bags free," said Schumer. "We have begun to put the brakes on runaway and out-of-control airline fees. I am pleased some of the major carriers have responded to our efforts and have agreed not to charge for something that has always been free."

Could anyone other than a Washington politician be so stupid--so disconnected from reality--as to believe that the overhead bins are free? Next thing you know, he'll try to send a suitcase home on a flight on which he holds no ticket. "Just put it in the overhead bin, son."

Listen, Mr. Schumer, it's this simple: you pay for the little extras when you buy your ticket. When the airline has to sell tickets so cheaply that it loses money as a regular thing, then it starts charging for the extras--like lunch and checked bags. Hey, Ryan Air has a surcharge if you pay with a credit card! This is called a business model.

The senator's mindset reminds me of the news story I read the other day, in which a community was in such bad shape that it had to cut back some "free" services, explaining that they were paid for by taxes for the most part, "though some of them are funded by government grants." We live in a world where town officials think that government money doesn't come from taxes, and where U.S. senators think they can tell airlines what they can do with their overhead bins. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

We do not anticipate that Guam will tip over

I really do have projects more pressing than watching YouTube videos, but this performance by Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson ought to be seen in every civics class in the land. (Do we still have civics classes in our highschools? If not, this is the place to begin.) Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

On being elite

Sarah Lyall has one of those delightful gotcha! stories in the NYT this morning: 'Elections Looming, Tories Put Posh Foot in Mouth'. It seems that Sir Nicholas Winterton, a Conservative MP, doesn't think he should have to ride coach class with the peasants. How impossibly elitist! As Ms Lyall, in the Gray Lady's best non-judgmental prose, puts it: the Tories must shed 'their old chilly image as a stuffy bastion of the elite, the mean-spirited, the entitled and the clueless.'

But half a mo', as the lower classes in England used to say--what American Congressman would ever dream of traveling coach? Or by train, for that matter? Or by public transport, if you rank high enough? Take that gang in the celebratory photo below: It wasn't so long ago that Nancy Pelosi was demanding a larger military jet to speed her travels between Washington and California--one that wouldn't have to stop to refuel midway. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

On kicking through the door II

She did it. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

On spinning the vote

Joshua Keating has a wonderful piece in Foreign Policy online about how the media will spin this weekend's vote on ObamaCare. If Nancy Pelosi succeeds in kicking it through the Congressional door (see below), not only will the government have claimed a fresh new slice of our earnings and our lives, but the punditocracy will have a fresh new "narrative" about the world. 

To stick to the subject of this blog, here's how Mr. Keating sees the media story on Iraq if the bill passes: "The withdrawal of U.S. troops continues on schedule, violence is way down, Iraq's sectarian conflicts are being worked out in Parliament rather than in the streets, David Petraeus is the greatest U.S. miltary commander since George Washington." And if ObamaCare fails? No problem! "The election was marred by fraud, none of the major political disputes have been resolved, the insurgency is biding its time, the U.S. military faces a choice between remaining in Iraq for decades or watching a sectarian bloodbath erupt as it pulls out."

And so it is for Gitmo, global warming, Rahm Emanuel, and other issues of the day--though not a word about Mr. Obama himself. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

The view from Capitol Hill

Senator Harry Reid, 5 March 2010: “Today is a big day in America. Only--only 36,000 people lost their jobs today, which is really good." An even better day will be when Mr Reid loses his. Blue skies! – Dan Ford

Keep the change, Congressman!

The contemptible folk who write our laws (and who now want to determine whether, like President Obama, the rest of us are eligible for a virtual colonoscopy) have a particularly unpleasant habit of jetting about the world at the taxpayers' expense. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal wrote about the small-change aspect of these junkets. It seems that the Congressperson gets a per diem allowance, ranging from $28 in Kabul to $214 in Tokyo, to pay for his or her meals. (Actually, it ought to be the other way around: $28 in Tokyo, $214 in Kabul, to encourage the cheapskate Congressfolk to visit the city more important to America's near-term future.)

If you don't spend the money, of course, you're supposed to return it to the Treasury. The Journal managed to find one Congressman who does just that, so two cheers for Senator Arlen Specter, once a Republican, now a Democrat, who has returned $8,500 of the $25,000 per-diem money he was given for 11 trips over the past five and one-half years. But he seems to be the exception. More typical is Representative Solomon Ortiz, a Democrat, who not only doesn't return the leftover money but doesn't think he ought to: "If that was the policy," he told the Journal, "you could never get many members traveling."

I wonder if Mr Ortiz's Texas constituents could get away with arguing that line to the IRS when they fudge on their expense accounts? Blue skies! -- Dan Ford