"Stimulus" package by analogy

Heard several analogies, but this one may be the best: "It's like taking buckets of water from the deep end of the pool and pouring them into the shallow end and hoping to make the pool bigger."

Tax relief?

Since those charged with creating the mess that is our tax code should be expected to abide by it (ahem, Mssrs. Geithner & Daschle), here's some ideas on ideas for fixing the tax code. Not, mind you, really fixing it a la FairTax, but just to get it cleaned up a little.

For all members of Congress and the White House (cabinet members and President) and including high-level congressional staffers (chiefs-of-staff, deputies, etc.) who regularly rub elbows with lobbyists.

• Require all of the above to do their own taxes. I could be cruel and say "by hand" but I'll allow TurboTax or other software, but I will require an affidavit (threat of perjury!) swearing the return was self-prepared.
  
• Require an annual IRS audit for all of the above.
  

With all due respect

Just passing along this word:

http://www.cato.org/special/stimulus09/

McD's figures it out

For some time now, McD's had a dollar menu, which for breakfast included an egg-and-cheese biscuit and a sausage biscuit. Since I occasionally do manage to go to work early enough to think breakfast is necessary, I had been getting one of each. Having spent my $2, I would remove the sausage patty into to egg&cheese biscuit, produce a sausage&egg&cheese biscuit, plus a plain biscuit (albeit with a little sausage flavoring) that I could slop some strawberry jelly on. See, the normal price of a sausage&egg&cheese was $2.69, so I was coming out ahead.

This morning, I stopped in for the first time in several weeks, and only after my order was rung up did I notice that the egg&cheese biscuit was not on the $1 menu anymore. Actually, I couldn't see since the menu board at McD's is generally the most stupid layout and hadn't been changed for breakfast yet. Anyway my order was now $2.69. Dammit.

This is the 2nd time this has happened. Double-cheesburgers used to be on the $1 menu, but got dropped. Expecting a $2+tax and getting $5 bill was a shock. McD's had enticed me into their store with $1 menu and by being the only thing open on my way home at 10PM. Wendy's 99-cent menu is stripped bare, and Taco Bell's is similarly down-graded.

Maybe I'll just go home and make myself a chicken-salad sandwich.

[Edit: McDouble has replaced double-cheeseburger. Same sandwich but with 1 slice of cheese instead of two. Apparently dairy (cheese) costs are skyrocketing. Hmm, maybe egg-biscuit is still $1? And Taco Bell's new double-cheesy beef burrito for 89-cents is a great deal as far as I'm concerned.]

Forgive my cynicism

I heartily doubt that President Obama's purported nominee for Commerce, Senator Judd Gregg (Republican of New Hampshire) is being named out of respect for his abilities. I suspect that he is being listed as a cover, since New Hampshire has a Democrat governor. If Gregg is named and accepts (and is confirmed), then the Democrats will likely have a filibuster-proof Senate, since a Democrat will be named to replace the Senator as he vacates his office.

[Edit: Sen. Gregg has stated that he would not consider the nomination if it might tip the balance of power in the Senate.]

More "do as I say, not as I do" from the Dems

With the anticipated tax increases just around the corner now that Democrats control Congress and the White House, it should baffle me that two Cabinet-nominee Democrats have not bothered to pay nearly $150k in taxes between them. And Caroline Kennedy, Hillary's one-time replacement in the Senate, had to withdraw her name, reportedly due to tax issues. I *should* be baffled, but I'm not. The rules don't apply to the Democratic privileged class in a classic double-standard. Can you imagine the outrage if W. had nominated a Republican who owed $100k in back taxes because he didn't claim the lobbyist-provided limo and driver on his taxes?

More irony

The pundits on the Hill and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would not be able to cry foul over the bonuses of Wall Street executives had their companies been allowed to fail. Instead, they were propped up with taxpayer's money, against the express desires of many citizens. Propping up a failed business, then expecting different behavior? I've heard a similar definition for insanity.

There were alternatives, but in the rush to *do something* billions and billions of dollars have gone into this black hole, with no accountability, and certianly no idea as to whether the expenditure has provided *any* positive results.