Illegal Immigration: The Very First Business Bailout

     With the immigration debate heating up and more Americans than ever starting to demand that our government do their job I got to thinking about the one argument that is so often used by the proponents of illegal immigration:  They are only doing jobs that Americans will not do.

     Like most arguments from liberals (to include squishy republicans) this argument sounds good on face value until you dissect it and realize that only part of the statement is true.  Illegal immigrants take work at far below what an American would do the job for undercutting the labor market.  So in reality the argument should be, illegal immigrant do jobs for less than what Americans would do them for.

     Once I figured this part of the argument out I started to look deeper into the entire economic issue.  When we look at how much money we make each year it is in pay and benefits not just pay.  The same could be said about the illegal alien.  Sure they do not get paid much from the business they work for, but what about the benefits they receive from the state and federal government at the cost to the taxpayer?  In most states they can receive welfare, free medical care, free food (i.e. food stamps), and free schooling in the form of public education for their children.  This leads to school overcrowding, a burden on our healthcare system, and a constant call by politicians to raise our taxes to continue to pay for it all.

     Realizing that this has lead me to think of the lack of upholding our immigration laws by our elected officials and illegal immigration in general as the very first government bailout of businesses.  We are subsidizing businesses in the form of benefits for workers that they hire for pennies on the dollar.

     Now I know that if they had to hire Americans to do these jobs they would have to pay more and pass the costs onto the consumer, but which would you rather pay, the $5 for a head of lettuce in a grocery store or the cost of the generous benefits package we are paying through taxation for illegal aliens?

One More Reason to Worry About the New Health Care Law

Here is just one more example of why we do not want government controlled healthcare.  From Fox News:

 

Last month, a decorated Gulf War hero received a letter from the Veterans Affairs Administration that said: We are working on your claim for menstrual disorder.

There was just one problem: The claim was submitted for fibromyalgia.

Make that two problems: The claim was submitted by Glenn McBride, a 40-year-old man from Roanoke, Va., who most definitely does not get menstrual cramps.

It’s a bad sign when your health insurance provider can’t figure out which gender reaches for the Midol. (Hint: it’s the one without the prostate.)

The Department of Veterans Affairs is notorious for bungling health care benefits, and its Roanoke regional office, which handled McBride’s claim, has long been considered among the worst.

In September 2009 a surprise inspection found the office was collapsing under the weight of its own bureaucratic incompetence. Literally.

Its filing system — floor-to-ceiling stacks of overfilled file cabinets and loose claims folders — weighed twice as much as the building’s structure allowed, threatening the lives of everyone inside. Inspectors also found missing and improperly filed, stored and processed claims, among other problems. The regional office was ordered to overhaul the health care processing center completely.

By last month, six months later, there should have been some improvement. Instead, McBride received a letter that included this perplexing request for additional information:

“On the VA Form 21-4138, Statement in Support of Claim you sent on October 8, 2009, you included menstrual disorder. Please specify what you intended to claim for this condition.”

Click here to see the VA’s menstrual letter.

McBride, whose 14 years of Army service included a combat tour with one of the most highly decorated units during Desert Storm — and did not include any complaints about menstrual cramps, so far as he can recall — insists this was not just a clerical error. He says it’s one more example of the VA ignoring or messing up claims in order to avoid paying benefits.

“If the VA does not actually recognize the request, they do not have to give the award,” he said. “Sort of like a perverted form of ‘See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil.’ Most people just throw up their hands in frustration and walk away at this point. That is the VA’s plan.”

The VA, asked to comment about McBride’s complaint, issued a statement in which it said:

“The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) mission is to be an advocate for Veterans. VA has a responsibility to assist Veterans during the claims process. Part of that duty is to include all possible issues that a Veteran references in his or her initial claim package. VA regrets any confusion that Mr. McBride’s claim may have caused. VA Regional Office employees have reached out to Mr. McBride to clarify the confusion, determine the types of issues he wants to claim, and identify any outstanding concerns that he may have.”

Jim Strickland, a veterans advocate who writes a regular health care benefits column on VAWatchdog.org and has his own benefits-related Web site, said he wasn’t at all surprised to learn of McBride’s “menstrual” letter. “There are 57 regional offices and every one is operating in total chaos and in crisis,” he said. “Full frontal mass chaos. Every day.”

Contacted in the middle of the week, Strickland said he’d already received two e-mails from veterans who were mailed the records of other veterans. And he provided his most ridiculous example of a nonsensical claims letter, one that managed to try to collect debt and to discuss overpaying the same debt — at the same time.

For Gulf War veterans who fought during a certain time period, certain health conditions are considered presumptive, meaning that such a high percentage of that group has been diagnosed with the condition it’s presumed that it was caused by military service, and coverage is automatically granted. Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, is a presumptive one for McBride.

Because of his years of experience dealing with the VA, McBride likes to provide as much information as possible when he submits claim forms. (He also gets a signed and time-stamped receipt upon delivery.) When he sent in his claim for fibromyalgia, he typed clearly at the top of the form: “This form is an official request for SERVICE-CONNECTION for FIBROMYALGIA.” He included an extract of a VA “fast letter” regarding presumptive conditions — basically providing the VA with its own policy on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. “Menstrual disorder” is included in the VA’s list of symptoms.

“The VA just breezed right through the facts and settled on the obscure,” McBride said. “The Roanoke office clearly hasn’t changed.”

Strickland says the problem at the root of letters like McBride’s is a bonus structure paid out to VA claims employees.

“The more work, the better the bonus is,” he said. “It’s strictly volume, not quality driven. There is no accountability whatsoever.

“The art of the Teflon Jacket has been perfected at our VA. They are really totally invulnerable to your criticism.”

When the editor of VAWatchdog.org posted an April Fools Day joke — “VA DOCTOR TRIES TO GIVE PROSTATE EXAM TO WOMAN VETERAN (April Fool); VA physician: ‘Nobody told me the patient was a female. How the hell was I supposed to know that?’” — McBride sent in his “menstrual” letter.

It was posted on the same site under the heading, “Today’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? award goes to the VA’s Roanoke, Virginia Regional Office.”

The site’s editor describes the award:

“Every now and then we get a story about the VA that just can’t be. But, it is! Because, remember, we’re not dealing with regular people … we’re dealing with the VA. That’s when we throw up our hands and scream at the sky:

“‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?’”

Which is longhand for: WTF

  

As a disabled vet myself I too have had my share of run ins with the disability claim service.  I am still trying to figure out how the heck I can get them to reopen my case as I was discharged from the military in 2006 for knee injuries I received in Iraq in 2004 (non-combat by the way, just clumsy on my part).  The VA awarded me a total of 40% disability.  10% from scare tissue from surgeries and 30% for severe migraines.  I received 0% for my knees which is why I was told after nearly 11 years in the military I could no longer serve.  I do not know about you, but that makes me want to say Whiskey Foxtrot Tango too.

 

I’m BACK!!!!

I have been away for far too long and appreciate all the emails I have recieved asking for more.  It has just been a busy time in my life with school, work, and family that I took a hiatus for a bit, but I am back and ready to go!

Obama Cites Re-Hiring of 25 Police Recruits as Proof the Stimulus is Working

I saw this and nearly laughed out loud.  Fox News.com has a story posted about stagnant or lower wages to be expected (no surprise there) that had this little tid bit in it:

While aknowledging an “astounding” number of job losses in February, President Obama told critics of his $787 billion economic recovery plan Friday that it is saving jobs and said, “I know we did the right thing.” He suggested that critics talk to 25 police recruits in Ohio’s capital city who owe their jobs to stimulus spending and “talk to the teachers who are still able to teach our children because we passed this plan.”

I knew it would only be a mater of time till the Libs tide the stimulus into the “it’s for the children” mantra.

Here is more of Obama’s fuzzy math at work:

News that 651,000 jobs were lost in February brings to “an astounding 4.4 million” the number of jobs lost since the recession began, Obama said. 

But Obama touted the 114th police recruit class as proof that the stimulus plan, which drew scant Republican support in Congress, is paying dividends.

Now I am no mathematician, but if we have lost 4.4 million jobs since the begging of the recession and he cites the 25 police cadets that have been rehired (the story states that they were laid off in Jan before they could even start patrolling) then according to his own words he still has a net loss of 4,299,975  jobs.  Now I know he mentioned teachers too, so lets add in all the teachers who became unemployed last year, which is 185,000.  You would still have a net loss of 4,114,975 jobs.

Yet Obama said this stimulus package would create or save between 3 to 4 million.

So President Obama, not only has your stimulus bill not saved or created the 3 to 4 million jobs you claimed it would, but it continues to loose jobs and now will cause wages to go down.  Why is this so, because this bill is not and never was a stimulous bill.  It was a pork laden product wrapped in a socialistic agenda.

I urge everyone to attend the closest Tax Day Tea party you can and tell these pompus fools running Congress and the White House that we the people still own this country and like our forefathers before us we will stand up for our rights and demnad to heard!!!

The Fight for America’s Economic Soul‏

I received this email from the Freedom Foundation.  It is pretty good and has some good links with information and an entrepreneurial contest:

In her classic novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand describes a battle for the soul of the U.S. economy. The nation’s “producers” work hard, innovate, and create prosperity, while the “looters” and “moochers” live off of the work of others.  Sound familiar?

Atlas Shrugged was written over 50 years ago, but the battle at the heart of that story is still raging today. In fact, things are turning for the worse as the Congressional “looters” hand out seemingly endless bailout to growing list of “moochers” from Wall Street, to Detroit, to your neighbor who bought a house he couldn’t afford.

We are in danger of forgetting that American prosperity is built on hard work and innovation, not taxes and government spending. Now, as we face a recession and financial panic, is the time to remember that our system prospers from private action, not public handouts.

That’s why FreedomWorks is launching a new project to celebrate and reinforce the role that entrepreneurs play in our society and having the “I am an Entrepreneur” competition.

We want to call attention to the good work and solutions from people in all walks of life who innovate, initiate, and create. The people about whom Ayn Rand said: “Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.”

At this moment in history, America needs to look to entrepreneurs, not government, as providing the solutions to today’s challenges.

Unfortunately, our political leaders seem to have lost confidence in America. John Maynard Keynes, the Depression-era economist, is back in favor as Congress grapples with the economic crisis (which was created largely by government subsidies for housing and debt, but that’s another story). Keynes was a leading proponent of government intervention in the economy, and it is Keynesian logic that Democrats are using to justify their federal deficit of $1.5 trillion—a deficit nearly equal to all federal spending in 1996!

Keynes also offered misguided ideas about taxing entrepreneurs, writing:

“Thus we might aim in practice…at a scheme of direct taxation which allows the intelligence and determination and executive still of the financier, the entrepreneur et hoc genus omne (who are certainly so fond of their craft that their labor could be obtained much cheaper than at present), to be harnessed to the service of the community on reasonable terms of reward.”

Keynes is saying that government should raise taxes on determined entrepreneurs, because they will do the work anyway and the government can take a larger share without deterring their activity.

Keynes is right to recognize the passion of entrepreneurs, but his solution to “harness” them with exceptional taxes is wrong. It is wrong morally and it is bad economic policy—clearly higher taxes reduce risk-taking and discourage hard work.

This is dangerous logic, especially at this time.  Yet we see the same idea resurfacing in Barack Obama’s proposals for higher payroll, income, and capital gains taxes on the “wealthy”.

It is time to stand up and defend private enterprise and initiative. If you agree that the battle for America’s economic soul is entering a new phase, I’d like to invite you to join our Entrepreneur Circle and participate in our “I Am an Entrepreneur” video and essay competition.  Please click here to find out more.

I hope you’ll join us in this important effort to fight the looters and moochers.

Sincerely,

Dick Armey

P.S.  In addition to participating in our “I am an Entrepreneur” competition, do you want to do more to encourage people to pursue the freedom-enhancing path of entrepreneurship?  If you or someone you know is an aspiring entrepreneur, there is valuable guidance, inspiration and wisdom from master entrepreneurs at www.ActonGuides.org.

Another Day, Another Nominee Withdraws

The Treasury department is sure having a tough time filling any of it appointed positions.  So far not one of Geithner’s nominees have been seated and today we see that another “expected” nominee withdraws.

Foxnews.com notes that:

Annette Nazareth, a former senior staffer and commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission, withdrew after several interviews and vetting of her financial history, a person familiar with Nazareth’s decision said.

Oh and what did Chriss Dodd have to say about all this:

At a Senate hearing Thursday about failed insurance giant American International Group Inc. — which has received four separate bailouts totaling more than $170 billion — Sen. Chris Dodd said he had asked Treasury for someone to appear, but that no one was available.

“I am not pleased that we don’t have someone here from Treasury to explain what their role in this is,” Dodd said.

So Dodd, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs,, has no idea what the Treasury departments role is in the bailout of AIG, but we as Americans are supposed to feel confident that everything will be ok?

Geithner also had his nominee for the undersecretary of international affairs, Caroline Atkinson, has withdraw her name.

But it is not just Geithner who is still having problems.  Obama nominee for the Surgeon General post, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has withdrawn his name also.  Foxnews is reporting that Dr. Gupta withdrew over:

Gupta had misgivings about the offer from President Obama

It would be interesting to know what these misgivings were.

Another Congressional Plan That Will Help Kill The Economy

I was listening to AFN radio yesterday when they annoucned that Congress plans on trying to give more authority to the FDA to regulate Tobacco.  the idea is that by regulating tobacco the FDA would be able to eliminate harmful products that people use ona day to day basis.

I see a multitude of problems that will stem from this kind of legislation other than the obvious “nanny state” mentality it brings.

The propsed plan would include a ban on menthal and cnady flavored cigars (i.e swisher sweets).  Both of these products are very popular amongst people from all walks of life.  By banning these two products I forsee at least three major issues.

First, by banning these products that sell quite well you will ultimately end up eliminating (not creating) a huge job market in the manufacturing sector.  Now these products wills till be able to be sold worldwide.  This could lead to the manufacturing plants being moved overseas which would also reduce the jobs manufactionring non-menthal cigarettes also.

Second, banning these products could very well lead to organized crime like the nation saw during the prohibition of alchol.

Thirdly, where is the lost tobacco tax revenue going to be made up?

I am a former smoker and I choose to quit on my own for reasons that were my own.  I do not need the government telling me what I can and can not do.  If we allow the government to start telling us how to live our lives where will it stop?  Will they come for our guns next under the guise that guns are too dangerous for the average citizen to carry, will they force us to eat a set government controlled diet to battle the obiseity problem in the US?  Once we allow the government to start to take control of our lives they will not be happen till they have complete control over our lives and this is precisely what our founding fathers fought valiantly to stop.

Baghdad Nights

As many of you know, I am back in Iraq. I got back on Friday and a couple of days latter I saw an article in the Stars and Stripes entitled “Baghdad Nights”.  It appears that the security situation has improved so much around the international zone (green zone) that night clubs are starting to open.  What is more amazing is that soldiers are heading of base to go to them.  Here is some of the excerpts of the story:

Club manager Salah Hassan said Thursday’s visit was not exceptional.  “The Americans come here four or five times a week” he said.

“Everyone is having a good time.” said Spc. Eric Cartwright as he watched his comrade do the chain dance..  “No one is scared about what ‘s going to happen to them.  This is a good sign.”

This club, as well as others, are popping up on Abu Nawas Street.  This used to be the happening club district in Baghdad during the 70′s and remained that way until Saddam, trying to appeal to religious Iraq’s for needed support, closed them down in 1994.

Of course I think this one quote from an Iraqi sums it all up:

“We never expected that such a day will come in Iraq.” gushed Hussein Sheba.

So much for the doom and gloom “we cant win in Iraq” crowd.

How Much Will The Market Drop Tomorrow After Obama’s Speech Tonight?

Since Obama has taken office the market has dropped roughly 26% of its value (aproximately 2500 points).  One of the common things noticed by people is that everytime Obama speaks the market drops.  With this being a trend I thought it might be fun to do a poll on how much you think the market will drop tomorrow or if it will actually make gains.

More Fear Tactics From The Global Warming Crowd

Foxnews.com has this story:

CAPE TOWN, South Africa —  If we don’t deal with climate change decisively, “what we’re talking about then is extended world war,” the eminent economist said.

“Somehow we have to explain to people just how worrying that is,” the British economic thinker said.

His audience Saturday, small and elite, had been stranded here by bad weather and were talking climate. They couldn’t do much about the one, but the other was squarely in their hands. And so, Lord Nicholas Stern was telling them, was the potential for mass migrations setting off mass conflict.

 

But wait there’s more: 

 

But if negotiators falter, if emissions reductions are not made soon and deep, the severe climate shifts and sea-level rises projected by scientists would be “disastrous.”

It would “transform where people can live,” Stern said. “People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people would have to move if you talk about 4-, 5-, 6-degree increases” — 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

And that would mean extended global conflict, “because there’s no way the world can handle that kind of population move in the time period in which it would take place.”

Melting ice, rising seas, dwindling lakes and war — the stranded ministers had a lot to consider. But many worried, too, that the current global economic crisis will keep governments from transforming carbon-dependent economies just now.

So to sum it up if we do not bow at the alter of global warming we are looking at the apocalypse as we know it (gasp!)

Of course what would a global warming story be without a bit of hypocrisy:

Stern, author of a major British government report detailing the cost of climate change, was one of a select group of two dozen — environment ministers, climate negotiators and experts from 16 nations — scheduled to fly to Antarctica to learn firsthand how global warming might melt its ice into the sea, raising ocean levels worldwide.

 If the world’s nations act responsibly, Stern said, they will achieve “zero-carbon” electricity production and zero-carbon road transport by 2050 — by replacing coal power plants with wind, solar or other energy sources that emit no carbon dioxide, and fossil fuel-burning vehicles with cars running on electric or other “clean” energy.

It seems to me that Mr. Stern should be practicing what he preaches.