Update to ‘Both Ways Betsy’ where I criticized Congresswoman Betsy Markey for her latest TV ads.

Referring to the 2008 TARP bailout legislation,  Markey claims in her ad, “Maybe it’s my 20 years as a small-business owner, but these Wall Street bailouts really offend me… No one ever gave me a bailout.”

I reminded readers of the other bailouts that didn’t offend her quite so much because she voted for them. That’s bad enough, but now I find out (courtesy of a reader) that during the 2008 campaign Markey criticized then current Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave for — guess what? That’s right, opposing the TARP bailout — the bailout that she finds so offensive.

In a Wall Street Journal article dated September 24, 2008, Musgrave stood up to the president (and many others in her own party) and opposed TARP. She said at the time:

For years, Americans on Main Street have heard about the lavish excesses of Wall Street. We heard about their mansions, exotic cars and, above all, record profits… Now, the party is over, and the same bankers are asking working families across the country to bear the consequences of their excess and greed. I refuse to burden families already struggling with soaring energy and food prices with bailing out investment banks that made bad decisions.

The WSJ also spoke with Markey who scolded Musgrave, calling her opposition to TARP a “hasty move.”

Ms. Markey called her opponent’s statement a “hasty move” that demonstrated her inability to cooperate on important issues in Washington. ‘A lot of experts are still looking at options, and my opponent has already made up her mind’ she said in an interview Tuesday. Ms. Markey added that, like many in Congress, she wanted changes to the original Treasury Department proposal, such as requiring any rescue bill to include greater market regulation and to protect taxpayer money.

Maybe Markey wouldn’t have voted for the original TARP bailout but not because bailouts “offend” her but because it didn’t go far enough. Let’s send Congresswoman Markey a new pair of flip-flops, she is wearing out her current pair at a rapid pace.

In a video appearance before the Western States Transportation Alliance, Congresswoman Betsy Markey “spends the whole beginning of this greeting talking about potential taxes to pay for spending in a surface transportation bill” reports Who Said You Said, which posted the video.

Markey’s implication that taxpayers aren’t sending enough of their money to Washington begs a couple of questions. First, what has Washington been doing with the money it already has? Let me answer that in part.  A new project of mine, Mothers Against Debt (check out MAD on FaceBook too), reported that the Federal Highway Administration gave Arizona $1.25 million to build special squirrel bridges “so they don’t end up on the menu at the road kill cafe.”

Second, the federal government will spend roughly $3.7 trillion this fiscal year. If infrastructure is a proper function of government, why isn’t Washington prioritizing its budget so that infrastructure gets funded appropriately?  Let me answer that one too, because roads and bridges aren’t a priority for those currently in power.

So let’s clarify all this.  Squirrels are a higher priority than drivers and taxpayers. No wonder our children’s national debt is more than $13 trillion.

Every year I watch the Greeley Stampede Independence Day Parade. Usually, I am half of the broadcast team for 1310 KFKA. This year, Scooter McGee took my place so I could simply enjoy the parade from the comfort of the mobile studio. Because I didn’t have to broadcast, it afforded me the great luxury of observing the crowd as onlookers watched the parade. And as I have done for the last few years, I provide my parade observations:

First, it was held on Saturday, July 3, to accommodate Sunday religious services, which I think is a kind gesture but it’s odd having the 4th of July parade on July 3rd. This really messed up my internal calendar.  Today, feels like Sunday instead of Monday.

Second, it’s still boring. I’ve been critical of the Stampede parade in the past because it is sterile.  A few years ago, the Stampede Committee put a stop to the traditional water gun fights.  They also put a stop to throwing candy and politics.  As a result, the parade is dull and one dimensional.

There is one thing that really struck me — how they received elected officials, candidates for office and their supporters. The reaction seemed to reflect the mood of a country that has little faith in its political institutions as the economy continues to falter.

When the Democrats, including Congresswoman Betsy Markey, Denver Mayor and gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper, and senatorial candidate Andrew Romanoff, passed by my spot, there was no booing, hissing, clapping, cheering or jeering. There was nothing — just erie silence.  The only attention they got was when my colleague George Gray briefly interviewed all three for the parade broadcast.

Last year , Markey was met with silence as well.  But this was different.  It seemed directed at the entire political class. I have no idea if they got the same reception along the rest of the parade route but it was nothing but silence from my position.

In this very conservative community, Republicans didn’t fare much better. There were polite claps but not the usual cheering.

This tells me that candidates, especially incumbents, will have to work a little harder for every vote.  This is a tough crowd.

Colorado Democrat State Party Chair Pat Waak is simply glowing over the new jobs report that caused the stock market to tank today.  In the press release posted below, Waak claims that hundreds of thousands of mothers and fathers “here in Colorado and across the county were able to return to the workplace after a period of unemployment.”

Perhaps she missed the memo that most of the 431,000 jobs created were temporary Census Bureau jobs. But everyone else read it.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 323 points, suffering its third largest decline this year and closing below 10,000. And at 9.7 percent, the unemployment rate is still well above the stimulus projected rate of 8 percent. Chances are it will go up again once the census jobs are complete.

She goes on to urge Republicans to join Democrats as they continue to expand government payrolls at the expense of the private sector. I doubt she will get many takers.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:

Grace Lopez Ramirez
(303) 623-4762 x112 Office
(303) 877-8173 Cell
glramirez@coloradodems.org

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Waak’s Statement on May Job Numbers

DENVER — Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the May jobs report.  In that report, the Bureau announced that 431,000 jobs were created last month, including 41,000 private-sector jobs.  As a result of that job creation, the unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent.  As those numbers illustrate, national job growth is now a continuing trend, stemming in large part from bold Administration actions including the Recovery Act, tax credits for working Americans, extended unemployment benefits, and hiring incentives.  Those actions are putting money into the pockets of middle-class Americans and fueling economic recovery and job growth.  Over the next several weeks and months, President Obama and Democrats in Congress will seek to build on those efforts with additional recovery legislation, including by extending unemployment benefits for several more months, providing critical assistance to states, and expanding job-creating tax credits.

In response to the news on May’s jobs numbers, Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak issued the following statement:

“Today’s job numbers tell the story of the good news that echoed last month through hundreds of thousands of American households as mothers and fathers here in Colorado and across the country were able to return to the workplace after a period of unemployment.  Although our national unemployment rate remains far too high, we are beginning to emerge from the catastrophic recession of the last two years.  Even as we do, President Obama and Democrats remain committed to doing everything possible to promote continued economic growth and job creation.

“It is simply not possible to replace the 8 million jobs lost in the economic fall-out of the recession overnight.  However, today’s numbers illustrate that our country is now moving in the right direction, in large part due to the decisive actions taken by President Obama and Democrats in Congress to promote economic recovery.  We have come a long way from one year ago, and our economy continues to improve.  Gov. Ritter is taking aggressive steps to help Colorado regain economic health and restore economic growth and opportunity throughout Colorado. Companies continue to relocate to and expand in Colorado.

“In the coming weeks and months, Democrats in Washington will work to solidify that improvement.  I hope that Republicans in Congress can finally be counted on to put away their destructive economic policies of the past and join with Democrats in cementing positive growth.”

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So how much did you pay in taxes?  Want to send government a message besides just your check?  Then find a Tea Party near you.  Check out the list below and join in the fun.  I hope to visit Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins so I can be among friends and promote the Independence Institute’s petition gathering process to defend Colorado from ObamaCare.

I would love to go to a Tax Day Tea Party in Lamar or La Junta.  If you are headed that direction, please follow up with details.

Denver - 10:00 am to 1:00pm
Colorado State Capitol
200 E Colfax
http://www.hearus-now.org/taxday2010.html

Colorado Springs - 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Acacia Park (downtown)
http://www.theconstitutionalisttoday.com/come-to-the-tea-party/

Fort Collins - 5:00pm to 7:00pm
Washington Park
301 Maple Street (behind City Hall)
http://www.NorthernColoradoTeaParty.com

Loveland - 4:00pm to 6:00pm
South Shore of Lake Loveland
http://www.loveland912project.org/home

Estes Park - 11:30am to 1:00pm
Bond Park (downtown)

Grand Junction - 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Lincoln Park (12th and North Ave)

Pueblo - 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Pueblo County Courthouse Steps

Woodland Park/Teller County - 2:00pm to 5:00pm
Lions Park - Gold Hill North
Corner of Hwy 67 X 24

Montrose – 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm
Old Courthouse
South First Street

Montrose (yep, there are 2 in Montrose) - 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Corner of Main & Townsend

Delta (This one is on Saturday, 4/17) 10:00 am- 12:00 Noon
Delta Courthouse

La Junta - 3:00pm to 5:00pm
Santa Fe Plaza
More info: Kathy and Betty - 719.853.6683 or 719.384.2473

Lamar - 4:30pm
In front of Courthouse

Greeley - 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm

Greeley Post Office, West 10th Street

www.greeley912.net

While asking for his party’s nomination for  candidate  for Sheriff at the Weld County GOP caucus on Saturday, Sheriff John Cooke received three standing ovations.  It’s understandable why. Crime rates and response times are down in the nearly 4000 square miles that make up one of Colorado’s largest counties.

During his speech Cooke held up a copy of the Denver Post and told the delegates that he serves them and not those in Denver or at the state capitol. He referenced a an editorial that took him to task for saying he will encourage his deputies to use their discretion when enforcing the new enhanced emissions area, which requires nearly all Weld County residents to pay $25 to get an emission test when getting license plate tags renewed.

Cooke told the Post:

I’ll tell them [deputies] to use their best judgment and not necessarily write that ticket….It’s already affecting the poorest people in this community, and I would rather have the person going to work rather than trying to run around and come up with $800 to fix his car.

Older vehicles are most likely to fail, thus hurting those who can’t afford late model cars.  The new law will cost Weld County residents millions of dollars at a time when the County can least afford it.  Weld County still is grappling with the collapse of New Frontier Bank and the second highest unemployment rate in Colorado.

Cooke and others including Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway do not support the new law and argue it will hurt the least among us and that Weld County’s air already is clean.  Working with the oil and gas industry, which spent some $30 million, Weld County is in compliance — within the allowable limits for ozone pollution.  Denver merely wants our clean air so it can comply with new EPA standards. From the perspective of Weld County residents, Denver needs our clean air and we have to pay for it.

Memo to the Post editorial board: if you drive even one mile-per-hour over the speed limit and law enforcement sees you and doesn’t ticket you, that officer is using his “best judgment.”

As much as the delegates applauded Cooke for all of the above, his staunch support for the Second Amendment brought down the house. He believes it is the right of every individual to protect himself, his family and his property.  The loudest and longest standing ovation came when he said, “I haven’t and won’t put the name of any concealed weapons permit holder into a statewide data base.  It’s none of the state’s business…”

As a conservative, I was proud to be on the stage with him along with State Senator Scott Renfroe, Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner, Firestone Police Chief David Montgomery all of whom spoke on the Sheriff’s behalf.

As John’s wife, I understand why they cheer him. I love him too.

Delegates gave him what he asked for — their support and the nomination.

Thanks to Complete Colorado for leading with this story from CNN: 33 states out of money to fund jobless benefits.  Colorado is one of them having borrowed $186 million from the federal government.

So let’s get this straight — a state that is required to have a balanced budget borrows from the federal government, which is already over $12 trillion in debt.  Colorado’s unemployment rate is rising, but at 7.7 percent it is still lower than the national average of just under 10 percent.  Maybe the state just couldn’t cut those road trips to Beaver Run Resort.

Question is who will pay for it? For taxpayers it doesn’t matter if the money comes from the state or the federal government.  It still comes out of our pocket.

Columnist Peggy Noonan is a master of language and understanding human nature.  Her most recent Wall Street Journal column suggests what we, as average taxpaying Americans, would like to hear from those who played roulette with our money and lost big.

“Let’s be real. This is what happened the past 10 years. You, for political reasons, both Republicans and Democrats, finagled the mortgage system so that people who make, like, zero dollars a year were given mortgages for $600,000 houses. You got to run around and crow about how under your watch everyone became a homeowner. You shook down the taxpayer and hoped for the best.

“Democrats did it because they thought it would make everyone Democrats: ‘Look what I give you!’ Republicans did it because they thought it would make everyone Republicans: ‘I’m a homeowner, I’ve got a stake, don’t raise my property taxes, get off my lawn!’ And Wall Street? We went to town, baby. We bundled the mortgages and sold them to fools, or we held them, called them assets, and made believe everyone would pay their mortgage. As if we cared. We invented financial instruments so complicated no one, even the people who sold them, understood what they were.

“You’re finaglers and we’re finaglers. I play for dollars, you play for votes. In our own ways we’re all thieves. We would be called desperadoes if we weren’t so boring, so utterly banal in our soft-jawed, full-jowled selfishness. If there were any justice, we’d be forced to duel, with the peasants of America holding our cloaks. Only we’d both make sure we missed, wouldn’t we?”

Sadly you won’t find that in the official record because it was never spoken. But Noonan is correct it “would be a kind of breathe of fresh air.”   We’ve got a better chance of proving anthropogenic global warming than hearing that kind of raw honesty.

Here’s what we really heard this week when former Citibank CEO Charles Prince testified in front of the Financial Inquiry Commission and explained why we are experiencing the worst economy since the Great Depression. A commissioner asked Prince if he knew why American homeowners experienced a 30 percent decline in property values, Prince responded:

Yes, we haven’t had such a decline “since the Great Depression.” The reason is before the crash there was “a bubble.” There was too much “easy money.” Then the bubble popped.

With that kind of insight, it is no wonder that Citibank was granted $45 billion in taxpayer bailout funds.  Meanwhile a beautiful and historic home right next to mine has lost nearly 50 percent of its value.

Veronisque De Rugy, senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and my newest hero, warns in her latest article, “Starting in 2012, the cost of the debt as a percentage of GDP will explode from a mere 1.8 percent of GDP to more than 30 percent of GDP in 2082.”

She goes on to explain what this means for her daughter Juliette:

To give you an idea of what this means, if I get to retire at 65, in 2035, the cost of debt will have more than tripled from 1.8 to 7.5 percent of GDP. And by the time my daughter Juliette retires, in 2070 (assuming that she is still allowed to retire at 65) the cost of the debt will have reached 23.8 percent.

What does that mean in dollars?

To put these numbers in perspective, Edmund Andrews writes in the New York Times that this means an additional $500 billion a year in interest payments in less than 10 years, which is ‘more than the combined federal budgets this year for education, energy, homeland security, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.’

If you are worried about your child’s future, please get MAD and join Mothers Against Debt.  Be on the lookout for announcement from MAD.

Check out the Big Red Calculator, the only calculator that accommodates trillions and the official calculator of MAD.

 ”An unimaginative failure. That’s the best way to describe the results of the Long Term Fiscal Stability Commission. Instead of courageous, outside-the-box thinking that would improve state government and provide fiscal stability, the commission indulged the same tired argument that government has to tax and spend more.”

That’s how State Rep Cheri Gerou, Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway and I begin our opinion editorial about our experience on the Long Term Fiscal Stability Commission.  After 11 full days of meetings, the message was we must grow government nearly $1900 per year for every Coloradan.  Read the full text at the Independence Institute Web site.

There seems to be a lack of creative, outside the box thinking from our elected officials and leaders and taxpayers foot the bill.  The fiscal note for the commission was more than $27,000.