Here are four videos that should be shown to every person in the United States from the age of 12 upward. They are well narrated and easy to understand the basic concepts of economics with no bias. Truly amazing and unusual in today’s culture of blame and greed in Washington DC. The videos are presented by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity. Dan Mitchell from the CATO Institute is the moderator.

The first video explains the Laffer Curve and the relationship between tax rates, taxable income and tax revenue. It also dispenses with some myths about the Laffer Curve and economics.

The second video looks at real world evidence of changing marginal tax rates in the United States and other countries.

The third video explains our governments static policy of estimating taxes. Federal government stupidity at its finest.

The final video explains why Keynesian economic policy is so loved by democrats and dictators the world over. Basically this economic policy is used to justify the federal governments theft of wealth from some of it’s citizens and channeling the wealth to the citizens they favor.

Wonderful videos and a big thanks to the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Dan Mitchell, CATO and the Heritage Foundation.

The only area I disagree on is the flat tax as a good alternative to our tax code. The flat tax has been shown to be unworkable in the United States due to the corruption in Washington DC. The fair tax would take power from Washington politicians and is sorely needed as a recipe to fight corruption.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd. George Bush all favor Keynesian economics. The democratic party only seems to know Keynesian economics. Hopefully the people will get the fair tax passed by a massive uprising as the realization these politicians sold them into third world economic status.

And then…

Over the last several days we have heard repeated comments about the PERSONAL SACRIFICES that PUBLIC SERVANTS endure while serving. While there are those who are away from their homes and families for extended times while in Washington or in their states capitols, it appears that the benefits far exceed the alleged personal sacrifices they make.

In fact, SIGN ME UP. Those who know me, know that I am great at making personal sacrifices and putting the interests of others before my own. That fact alone should qualify me for that political appointment that will be converted to a Senior Civil Servant position at the end of “the decider’s administration”.  I will then, always, and forever have the most paid vacation days, the best health care benefits, the most paid federal or state holidays, per Diem’s, job security during an economic Armageddon, and the freedom to perform  less than stellar job performance because I am forever secure in my Senior Civil Service position.

My future is bright, my financial security guaranteed. I can plan for the future, visualize my retirement and the second home that will be available through the “foreclosure” market. All of which was made possible while I was personally sacrificing as a political appointee and waiting to become a SENIOR CIVIL SERVANT.

I BEG YOU! Please allow me to make this personal sacrifice and become the much envied yet much maligned public servant. It would mean THE WORLD TO ME!

I bring this to your attention, because truth be known that many of these appointees, and civil servant employees would never make it in the private sector. Believe ME. THEY WOULD NOT. I have known many such “servants” and their less than stellar work ethic startles me. I have been honest with them and suggested that many of them and their associates would be fired during a probationary period for a variety of inadequacies if they were employed in the private sector. THEY LAUGH UPROARIOUSLY! (It might just be a defense mechanism)

My point in this while seemingly sarcastic, is a sad truth about some Public Servants.  Not ALL, but a prevailing number of them.

For your disgust and reading pleasure is an article from thewashingtonpost.com:

Administration Moves to Protect Key Appointees
Political Positions Shifted To Career Civil Service Jobs

By Juliet Eilperin and Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 18, 2008; A01

Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department’s top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies — including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions — into senior civil service posts.

The transfer of political appointees into permanent federal positions, called “burrowing” by career officials, creates security for those employees, and at least initially will deprive the incoming Obama administration of the chance to install its preferred appointees in some key jobs.

Similar efforts are taking place at other agencies. Two political hires at the Labor Department have already secured career posts there, and one at the Department of Housing and Urban Development is trying to make the switch.

Between March 1 and Nov. 3, according to the federal Office of Personnel Management, the Bush administration allowed 20 political appointees to become career civil servants. Six political appointees to the Senior Executive Service, the government’s most prestigious and highly paid employees, have received approval to take career jobs at the same level. Fourteen other political, or “Schedule C,” appointees have also been approved to take career jobs. One candidate was turned down by OPM and two were withdrawn by the submitting agency.

The personnel moves come as Bush administration officials are scrambling to cement in place policy and regulatory initiatives that touch on issues such as federal drinking-water standards, air quality at national parks, mountaintop mining and fisheries limits.

The practice of placing political appointees into permanent civil service posts before an administration ends is not new. In its last 12 months, the Clinton administration approved 47 such moves, including seven at the senior executive level. Federal employees with civil service status receive job protections that make it very difficult for managers to remove them.

Most of the personnel shifts have been done on a case-by-case basis, but Interior Solicitor David L. Bernhardt moved to place six deputies in senior agency positions with one stroke, including two who have repeatedly attracted controversy. Robert D. Comer, who was Rocky Mountain regional solicitor, was named to the civil service post of associate solicitor for mineral resources. Matthew McKeown, who served as deputy associate solicitor for mineral resources, will take Comer’s place in what is also a career post. Both had been converted from political appointees to civil service status.

In a report dated Oct. 13, 2004, Interior’s inspector general singled out Comer in criticizing a grazing agreement that the Bureau of Land Managementhad struck with a Wyoming rancher, saying Comer used “pressure and intimidation” to produce the settlement and pushed it through “with total disregard for the concerns raised by career field personnel.” McKeown — who as Idaho’s deputy attorney general had sued to overturn a Clinton administration rule barring road-building in certain national forests — has been criticized by environmentalists for promoting the cause of private property owners over the public interest on issues such as grazing and logging.

One career Interior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his position, said McKeown will “have a huge impact on a broad swath of the West” in his new position, advising the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service on “all the programs they implement.” Comer, the official added, will help shape mining policy in his new assignment.

“It is an attempt by the outgoing administration to limit as much as possible [the incoming administration's] ability to put its policy imprint on the Department of Interior,” the official said.

In a Nov. 13 memo obtained by The Washington Post, Bernhardt wrote that he was reorganizing his division because the associate solicitors’ original status as political appointees undermined the division’s effectiveness.

“This has resulted in frequent turnover in those positions, often with an attendant loss in productivity and management continuity in these Divisions, despite the best efforts of the newly-appointed Associate Solicitors,” he wrote.

But environmental advocates, and some rank-and-file Interior officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of hurting their careers, said the reassignments represent the Bush administration’s effort to leave a lasting imprint on environmental policy.

“What’s clear is they could have done this during the eight years they were in office. Why are they doing it now?” said Robert Irvin, senior vice president for conservation programs at Defenders of Wildlife, an advocacy group. “It’s pretty obvious they’re trying to leave in place some of their loyal foot soldiers in their efforts to reduce environmental protection.”

In an interview yesterday, Bernhardt reiterated that he thinks the move is in the government’s long-term interest.

“I believe these management decisions will strengthen the professionalism of the Office of the Solicitor and result in greater service to the Department of the Interior,” he said. “However, the next solicitor and the department’s management team are free to walk a different path.”

One senior Interior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said an incoming interior secretary or solicitor could create new political positions upon taking office and could shift Senior Executive Service officials to comparable jobs within a few months. As a general rule, career SES employees may be reassigned involuntarily within their current commuting area within 15 days, and beyond their commuting area within 60 days, but they retain their lucrative and permanent government posts. When a new agency head is appointed, he or she must wait 120 days before reassigning career SES officials.

Outside groups are trying to monitor these moves but are powerless to reverse them. Alex Bastani, a representative at the Labor Department for the American Federation of Government Employees, said it took months for that agency even to acknowledge that two of its Bush appointees, Carrie Snidar and Brad Mantel, had gotten civil service posts.

“They’re trying to burrow into these career jobs, and we’re very upset,” Bastani said. “Everyone should have an opportunity to apply for these positions. And certainly career people who don’t have partisan bent and have 10 or 15 years in their respective fields should have a shot at these positions.”

Kerry Weems, acting chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said he discourages political staff from moving into career slots. “It typically doesn’t work out for either party,” he said. Even though Weems is a career staffer, he expects to leave the administration when the Obama team takes over.

Alphonso Jackson, who was HUD secretary under President Bush, warned his political appointees not to try to burrow in when the administration changed. But one of his regional directors objected to that flat-out prohibition, according to union leaders at HUD, and has told his colleagues that he has been promised first crack at a career position.

Staff writers Ceci Connolly and Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.

Well! It quite simply does not end. So much for “we the people,” who are not connected or can’t “PAY TO PLAY”. 

So, all you much maligned “servants”, please give us a thought or two and please list your personal sacrifices. I will be the first to applaud and recognize you for such.

STAY TUNED

It has been several interesting days, since Political Bad Boy Blagojevich was arrested for a “political crime spree” that rendered several politicians shocked and awed.   Well!  You say,”shocked and awed”.

Really?

Isn’t that a gross exagerration of what you really felt.

Really?

Aren’t you seriously overstating your reaction?

How could those of us witnessing this, not suffer any of those shocking and compelling reactions?

Those of us who witnessed this via cable news, and are not elected officials, nor are we Federal Prosecutors, thought “so what’s new”?  Why did we not have any of those reactions?   Because it is what we expect. On a regular and ongoing basis. Again and Again and Again.

How would Watergate rate against this? (Suggested by Gov. Blago on Monday, December 8, during an appearance at Republic Window & Door during an employee protest regarding their job loss).

Blago, I suggest you ask former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan or former Special Counsel to the Nixon Administration John W. Dean. They can answer that question for you.

This “stuck as Governor” Bad Boy on a political crime spree makes our days. He inspires us to further our grassroots campaign to end the culture of corruption that is so pervasive in government. When we don’t think we can stand another political spin from the spinners, another ill gotten bailout, another self aggrandizing political statement,  his arrogance, narcissism, and what his co-horts call delusional political reality rears its’ ugly head and the media goes crazy all over again. We thank you!

The spinners start spinning, my head starts spinning, the phones start ringing, the dog barks, and anyone who has ever spoken to this tough guy ”stuck Governor” runs for cover as if they were walking through Baghdad and Blackwater was on patrol.

There is a deafening silence until some artful dodger AKA a high ranking Illinois State official, Senate or House leader throws the media a bone with an artfully prepared statement saying nothing other than that they are  shocked and awed. The tone is set for what should and should not be said, while any and all in the sphere of influence of this man are making and releasing their politically correct and partisan statements. LET’S END THE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND CALL A  SPADE A SPADE. The constituents of Illinois need to immediately call for his resignation AND the Illinois General Assembly must rigorously begin impeachment proceedings. Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is also preparing to go the the Illinois Supreme Court and have him declared unfit to serve.

 The US Senate Democratic Caucus (50 members)  issued the following letter: (from swamppolitics.com)

December 10, 2008

Dear Governor Blagojevich:

We write to insist that you step down as Governor of Illinois and under no circumstance make an appointment to fill the vacant Illinois Senate seat.

In light of your arrest yesterday on alleged federal corruption charges related to that Senate seat, any appointment by you would raise serious questions.

It is within the authority of the Illinois legislature to remove your power to make this appointment by providing for a special election. But a decision by you to resign or to step aside under Article V of the Illinois Constitution would be the most expeditious way for a new Senator to be chosen and seated in a manner that would earn the confidence of the people of Illinois and all Americans. We consider it imperative that a new senator be seated as soon as possible so that Illinois is fully represented in the Senate as the important work of the 111th Congress moves forward.

Please understand that should you decide to ignore the request of the Senate Democratic Caucus and make an appointment we would be forced to exercise our Constitutional authority under Article I, Section 5, to determine whether such a person should be seated.

We do not prejudge the outcome of the criminal charges against you or question your constitutional right to contest those charges. But for the good of the Senate and our nation, we implore you to refrain from making an appointment to the Senate.

Sincerely,

Earlier in the day, the senior senator from Illinois, Richard Durbin, sent a letter to Blagojevich asking him to step down. It was a reversal for Durbin, who just Tuesday said that such calls were premature, and that Blagojevich deserved a full and fair trial on corruption charges. Although even then, he said that the state would be better off with a new chief executive.

Here is that text of that letter.

Dear Governor Blagojevich:

I am writing to ask you to step down as Governor of Illinois. Beyond guilt or innocence, the charges against you raise serious questions about your ability to carry out your duties as chief executive of our state.

I also ask you not to appoint the next United States Senator from Illinois. Because of the nature of the charges against you, no matter whom you were to select, that individual would be under a cloud of suspicion. That would not serve our state, our nation, or the United States Senate.

Legislative efforts to impeach you or remove your ability to appoint the replacement for the United States Senate have been initiated but those options could take some time accomplish. I urge you to choose the path that will be the most beneficial for the people of Illinois and the nation, and resign immediately.

At this moment, I am the only United State Senator from Illinois and within weeks we will begin the next Congress facing unprecedented challenges. Illinois should not be underrepresented in the Senate during this critical time in our history.

I urge you to search your heart and summon the strength to put your state and your nation above any personal considerations.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin

The two errors in Senator Durbin’s request is that first there must be an assumption that he has a pumping heart, and clearly he has no conscience to make a selfless consideration for his state and nation. The appeal was well intended, but stay tuned. I am certain that the Honorable Senator Durbin will yet again have another take on this in a few days as the CLIMATE changes. There must be some sunshine out there. Clearly Gov. Blago thought so on Monday when he invited the world to “tape” his calls both openly and notoriously.

LONG TERM FORCAST: TORNADIC

Public outcry toward Bad Boy Blago and his media friendly wife Lady Macbeth (a media reference) heightens while as public servants they continue to count their personal sacrifices.

No board to be appointed to.

No Secretarial appointment in the new Administration.

No Warren Buffet Foundation to lead.

No SEIU Union to defraud.

Clearly A GREAT PERSONAL TRADEGY at the very least.

I heard one political strategist suggest that if this had been a republican that was arrested, that the Federal Prosecutor and the media would be making a point of emphasizing his party affiliation. Geez, I didn’t think  corruption had a party. I thought it was a state of political being. A characterization. A REALITY, if you will Mr. Spinner. I don’t THINK Patrick Fitzgerald cares about PARTY affiliation when he investigates. Are you suggesting that he does? Some of us don’t give a hoot about what party it is, we care that it happens. REPEATEDLY!!!!

A self serving vote, a tainted dollar, a sold vote, an illegal contribution. It happens! REPEATEDLY!!!

Please all you strategists, review your banter and edit your political “wittisisms” before going on air and exposing us to this idiocy. You look a fool! It irritates CLINICAL THINKERS. We are AWED that you have left personal integrity and decency out of your rhetoric. That you will SPIN THE TRUTH to further your political agenda!  Alas! I am shocked and awed.  

I can deal with the crime spree, I can’t deal with the nonsense by some spinners.