Wondering what Obama Care actually is?  Me too.  This simple, but very funny, video from the Independence Institute helps explain why I don’t want it.

The mystery is over.  Congresswoman Betsy Markey paid back her environmental leftist supporters such as the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund voting yes on the country’s largest tax increase in history.  The massive cap and tax global warming bill rammed through by Speaker Pelosi will cost the average 4th CD family of four nearly $4000. 

Markey’s spokesman Ben Marter told the Denver Post that the Congresswoman would do what was right for the 4th CD.  She’s got some explaining to do.

Governor Bill Ritter and the environmental left have done it.  Colorado’s oil and gas industry is a thing of the past.

Oil and gas executives ranked Colorado dead last among states where they are likely to invest their companies’ money,  according to the Fraser Institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  

The Denver Business Journal reported that that the Fraser Institute survey rated Colorado near the top in oil and gas investment in 2007 but now it is dead last among the states, and 81st overall among all international jurisdictions.  Mozambique is a more attractive investment than Colorado.

Oil and gas executives cited Ritter’s new regulations governing oil and gas drilling operations as the reason for the dramatic drop in Colorado’s investment allure.

The survey quoted an unnamed executive saying that in Colorado, “operational, legal, and air quality rules and regulations are being instituted at a dizzying pace. It is hard to keep up with as an operator. Most of the regulators instituting and enforcing these new rules have little or no experience in the industry and do not understand operations. Often they cannot answer questions or help, even with their own rules.”

While Colorado is dead last among states, several in our region were in the top ten including Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and Oklahoma.  

Oil and gas was a huge industry in Colorado .  According to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, oil and gas drilling in Colorado is a $23 billion industry.   To put the economic devastation brought on by Ritter and the enviro-left, check out the following facts:

• More than 70,000 Coloradans have jobs because of the oil and gas industry, with an average salary 32 percent higher than the state average.

• The responsible development of oil and gas resources in Colorado contributes in excess of $135 million to state coffers, nearly 90 percent of state severance taxes.

• Seven of the nation’s 100 largest natural gas fields and two of its largest 100 oil fields are located in Colorado.

• Colorado’s Piceance Basin holds the second-largest proven natural gas reserve in the country.

• The nation’s proven natural gas reserves have increased every year for a decade, jumping another nine percent last year.

• More than one-fourth of the United States’ coalbed methane production occurs in the Centennial State.

• Colorado ranks sixth among the states in natural gas production and eleventh in crude oil production.

• Thirty-six of Colorado’s 64 counties actively produce oil or natural gas.

• Colorado has an estimated one trillion barrels of oil in shale — an amount nearly equal to Earth’s entire proven oil reserves.

• Three of every four homes in Colorado are heated with natural gas, compared to the national average of just over half of homes.

• Three-fifths of Colorado’s natural gas is exported to meet demand in other states.

• With an estimated 21,850 billion cubic feet of dry natural gas, Colorado has 9.2 percent of the nation’s supply, and 6.1 percent of liquid reserves.

What type of leader kills a $23 billion industry?  Answer:  one that is beholden to the environmental left. 

I’ll repeat my prediction: no way in hell he wins Weld County in 2010.

I’ve asked repeatedly for Congresswoman Betsy Markey’s position on what the Wall Street Journal calls the largest tax in American history — the global warming bill that Speaker Pelosi is forcing through the House right now.  I’ve sent at least three emails this week asking her office how she intends to vote.  So far, no response. 

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a position.

According to leftist Denver Post columnist Susan Greene, Markey has “pledged support” for the bill.  According to listeners, Markey’s Washington DC office says she is undecided.  While her Greeley office says she is leaning towards supporting the bill.

So far, she has at least three positions none of them being NO.

If she votes in favor of a bill that the Heritage Foundation says will cost the average family of four nearly $4000 per year and kill jobs, including thousands in Colorado’s 4th CD, she will have some serious explaining to do if she expects to be re-elected.

“Why does Ritter hate Weld County?” I haven’t see that sign yet but it is a reasonable question.  Among some elected officials the belief is that Governor Bill Ritter has declared war on Weld County.  We are starting to see the crippling effects of Ritter’s new oil and gas regulations.

Property taxes on oil and gas provide 40 percent of the revenue for Weld County’s annual budget.  Last week on my show, Weld County Assessor Chris Woodruff predicted that because of the new regulations, coupled with lower commodity prices, revenue from the oil and gas industry could be off by as much as one third in 2011 and 2012.  Oil and gas companies, along with their high paying jobs, say they are headed to states where the business climate is more friendly.

As bad as that sounds for Weld County, the Kersey school district will be in even worse shape. According to Chris, the district’s budget is 85 percent oil and gas property taxes.  Maybe the Platte Valley School District can install windmill to make up for the the looming budget gap.

Thanks to Governor Ritter and his environmental policies, Weld County is seeing high paying jobs go to other states and its tax base rapidly eroding.  Ritter won Weld County in 2006.  He won’t win it in 2010.

New Frontier Bank made the front page of yesterday’s Wall Street Journal with an article titled “Town’s Friendly Bank Left Nasty Mess.” 

What is left out of the article is just how bad the economic impact will be.  Good and bad loans will be packaged and sold for pennies on the dollar to large investment firms or hedge funds.  According to the FDIC, the terms of the original loan remain in place unless borrowers are as little as one day late on one payment. That note may get called in.  Can’t pay? Tough.  You aren’t negotiating with your local banker anymore.   Loan managers may begin foreclosure and sell off the assets.  From what I understand sale of bundled loans will begin later this summer.  We will begin to see the fallout by the end of 2009.  So much for our late year recovery.

Denver gets our water. We get  property devaluations, dried up farm land, double digit unemployment and a depressed tax base.  Despite how bleak that picture looks, we will recover.  It may take 3 to 5 years but we will recover.

Something to keep in mind, bank regulators audited NFB loans every six months and never found a problem with them until the end of 2007 when the economy was headed south.   NFB complied with new regulations but the economy continued to tank. 

According to bank insiders, at the end of 2008 NFB applied for $42 million in TARP funds but Governor Bill Ritter would not sign a letter of recommendation so FDIC Chair Shelia Bair wouldn’t approve the request.  A request to Ken Salazar to intervene got little response during last fall’s busy campaign season. 

Also according to those involved in negotiations, the FDIC nixed a plan that would have brought in much needed capital from an investment group out of Boulder.  News reports say that the deal “fell through” but some of parties involved insist that is not the case claiming the FDIC targeted NFB for closure.

Question number one: If NFB had been approved for the TARP funds, would that have improved the bank’s balance sheet enough to weather the current recession?  In other words, would $42 million in taxpayer dollars have saved the $670 million that it now is costing to fix the mess? 

Question number two: If the FDIC hadn’t stopped the sale of NFB to the Boulder group, would NFB have been able to survive — saving taxpayers millions and Northern Colorado from the pending economic devastation.

I do not support bailouts.   The worst thing about them, is that the government gets to pick winners and losers.  Clearly, Northern Colorado has been tagged a loser.   It’s also clear that those in charge underestimated the pain of closing NFB versus keeping it afloat with TARP money.  We are in uncharted waters.  In my opinion, neither the FDIC, Governor Ritter (he signed the closure order), nor our congressional delegation (Congresswoman Markey and Senators Benett and Udall) ever grasped the magnitude of the situation.  The economic multiplier effect will be in the billions of dollars.  This is our economic tsunami.  

The collapse of NFB will be the biggest issue in Northern Colorado (especially the 4th CD) of the 2010 election.

For those who want to skewer NFB management, I understand your anger but I don’t want to use them as a poster child for why the FDIC should shutter all community banks.  NFB isn’t the only one (and there will be more).  Community banks are imperative to economic growth in small communities that don’t have connections to national financial institutions.  I think this quote from Windsor Mayor John Vazquez sums it up perfectly, ”At community banks it’s not all about performance and projections…It’s about belief in the individual, the guy you sit next to in church.”

Below average graduation rates.  Below average CSAP scores.  Above average pay for teachers.  And Greeley Evans District 6 school board wants a mill levy override to raise an additional $16 million in taxpayer dollars.  They are supported by a citizens committee and the Greeley Tribune.

Neither group demands to see where or how the school district is spending the money it has right now.  If Greeley Evans District 6 wants more cash, then it should have the common decency to show taxpayers/stakeholders how their money is spent. 

That won’t happen.  In fact, District 6 school board member Bob Stack  was part of the massive K-12 education lobby that testified against SB 57 Public School Financial Transparency Act.

Colorado Spending Transparency (COST), another blog to which I contribute, has the perfect motto for this campaign: No taxation without information!

Where is summer?  A cold, damp weather pattern has dominated Northern Colorado since before Memorial Day weekend.  According to Long Range Expert Joe Bastardi, this is no surprise.  Bastardi predicts that “areas from the northern Plains into the Northeast will have a ‘year without a summer.’”

In addition, the weather pattern has brought more intense thunderstorms.  Just last weekend a young man from Evans died from a lightning strike.

Makes me wish for the days of global warming.

It expensive to micromanage the lives of all Americans but we must have the cash since we allow, even encourage, overnment to do it.  Join the Independence Institute for an intellectually powerful panel event on the cost of nannyism.  Below is the press release, schedule of events, cost and how to RSVP.  I will be there!

 For Immediate Release
June 5, 2009
Contact: Jon Caldara, president, jon@i2i.org or 303-279-6536

Think tank to host nanny panel at former Playboy Club: Nationally recognized civil libertarians to gather for symposium at Denver’s Warwick Hotel

Golden, Colo. — An all-star panel of civil libertarians will gather on Friday, June 19, for an event titled ATF/Freedom Underground.

During the event, panelists and participants will discuss the cost and philosophy of nannyism as well as strategies for combatting government encroachment into everything from boardrooms to bedrooms.

Independence Institute president Jon Caldara quipped, “It’s amazing how much time the government spends micormanaging our lives. It even tells us what type of lightbulbs we have to use in our bedrooms.”

The list of panelists reads like a Who’s Who of civil libertarians including Radley Balko, theagitator.com, from Reason, David Martosko of the Center for Consumer Freedom, Andrew Breitbart from Breitbart.com and Big Hollywood, syndicated columnist and author David Harsanyi, Jordan Lipp, of the Colorado Civil Justice League, Andrew Boucher of Boucher Strategies and NoCoPolitics.com, and David Kopel and Linda Gorman of the Independence Institute.

The panel event will be held at the former Playboy Club, the Warwick Hotel, 1776 Grant St, in downtown Denver. The $95 cost includes lunch, panel and dinner. Special pricing for media and legislators is available by visiting the ATF/Freedom Underground Web page. A schedule of the panel event is provided below.

The Independence Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research organization based in Golden, Colo.

Governor Bill Ritter vetoed SB 180 which would have allowed collective bargaining for firefighters despite the will of local voters.  This is great news for Fort Collins and Weld County voters who, on multiple occasions, have defeated collective bargaining for first responders.

I have been critical of Governor Ritter but in this case he was right and it probably will cost him.  I give him credit for supporting local control. 

That’s more than I can say for several No CO legislators who voted against the will of their constiuents in order to appease union contributors.  No CO legislators voting yes: Reps Randy Fischer, John Kefalas, Jim Reisberg and Sen Bob Bacon.  According to Follow the Money, these four legislators received over $112,000 from labor unions during the last election cycle.

I guess what unions want is more important than what voters want.