Archive for February 2009
Physicist Tells Congress Global Warming Fears “Mistaken”
Physicist Tells Congress Global Warming Fears “Mistaken”: “Award-winning physicist Dr. Will Happer coined the phrase ‘CO2 famine’ and branded claims about man-made global warming as ‘mistaken’ today at a Congressional hearing.
“
(Via Digg.)
Carbon Audacity
The ever-widening recession apparently will not delay the Obama Administration’s plans to mandate carbon reductions.
Last week, the administration’s two most senior decision-makers on climate change stated that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will declare that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a pollutant endangering human health within the legal meaning of the Clean Air Act. White House climate czar Carol Browner and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that EPA will make this ‘endangerment finding’ to coincide with the two-year anniversary of the 2007 Supreme Court ruling driving EPA’s decision.
Ms. Browner claimed that this decision would actually help the deteriorating economy by providing the legal clarity needed for investment in carbon mitigation. What happened to EPA’s recent economic analysis of carbon cuts, predicting annual declines in America’s Gross Domestic Product, millions of lost jobs, and 50-150 percent increases in energy prices within 10 years?
The silver lining the administration sees in exorbitant carbon mandates imposed on a recessionary economy: federal revenues from the sale of carbon allowances. Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, acknowledged that the administration’s budget includes the government’s sale of carbon allowances to generate billions in new federal revenues – potentially $300 billion a year according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.
President Obama has consistently advocated auction of even the initial allowances in a carbon cap and tax/trade schemes. This means a power plant would have to purchase federal approval merely to keep operating at current levels.
Legislation creating this colossal carbon tax would be the biggest tax increase ever, surpassing in real dollars the 1942 law providing funds for World War II. If included in budget reconciliation bills – which cannot be filibustered – it would only require 50 votes in the U.S. Senate.
The EPA’s legal endangerment finding on CO2 is key to this policy. The EPA decision would unleash the onerous regulatory scope of the Clean Air Act. Although Browner said the initial regulations would not be too broad, courts are unlikely to give EPA this leeway. Throughout the 30-year history of the Act, environmental organizations have used the courts successfully to compel EPA action. Steadily expanding air quality rules have arisen far more from court rulings and out-of-court settlements than legislation.
Recall that an endangerment finding is connected to the EPA’s blueprint for economic disaster issued last July, the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Regulate Greenhouse Gases. The Bush Administration declined to make the finding whether CO2 is or is not a harmful pollutant but agreed to issue the Notice – apparently a quid pro quo with EPA. A most unusual administrative action, the White House issued and simultaneously condemned the Notice in an accompanying memo signed by five Cabinet secretaries.
An odd preface for his own action, former EPA Administrator Steve Johnson noted that using the Clean Air Act to regulate CO2 ‘could result in an unprecedented expansion of EPA authority that would have profound effect on virtually every sector of the economy and touch every household in the land.’
EPA’s long-expected endangerment finding is anything but bland news. Once made, the force of federal law mandates the regulation of a mind-boggling scope of human activity. The legal debate about global warming will be over at the stroke of a federal bureaucrat’s pen. The Obama Administration will then have the leverage to design whatever carbon tax it prefers.
The Supreme Court ruling behind EPA’s actions did not dictate that CO2 be declared a pollutant. The 5-4 ruling required that EPA merely make and reasonably justify an endangerment finding, one way or the other. The Bush Administration avoided this formal decision evidently because of irresolvable disagreement between EPA career staff and the White House.
Al Gore, the world’s most celebrated global warming alarmist, repeatedly preaches that carbon cuts of the magnitude needed to ’save’ the planet will require a ‘total transformation of our economy.’ If the first few weeks are any indication, let there be no doubt in the Obama administration’s willingness to use carbon policy as a major tool in such a mission.
Kathleen Hartnett White is Director of the Center for Natural Resources at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin. White is the former Chair of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
“
(Via Dallas Blog RSS Feed.)
DA Watkins Segregates Students on School Visit
DA Watkins Segregates Students on School Visit: “
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins loves to speak about his accomplishments and the fact that he’s the first African-American to be elected as the leading prosecutor for the County. He considers himself a bold fresh leader of the modern-day civil rights movement and wants to be recognized as a trail-blazing black political figure for the state of Texas. Nevertheless, he’s not a man to shy away from visiting schools and speaking inside racially-segregated classrooms.
“
(Via Dallas Blog RSS Feed.)
Freedom Network: OK to teach sixth-grade public school students about condoms
Freedom Network: OK to teach sixth-grade public school students about condoms: “
On Feb. 24, the Texas Freedom Network, a group seeking to reduce the influence of Christian conservatives on Texas politics, held a news conference to release a study decrying the influence of abstience only sexuality education programs in Texas public schools. (We post a copy of the study here.)
“
(Via Dallas Blog RSS Feed.)
Eighty Seven Percent of Housing Value Loss* in Just Four States
Eighty Seven Percent of Housing Value Loss* in Just Four States: “
President Barack Obama told a joint session of Congress earlier this week that his administration has a plan to prevent mortgage foreclosures for millions of Americans. In fact, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proudly says that it is shoveling money out the door as fast as it can.
Yesterday, researchers at the University of Virginia took an in-depth look at just where foreclosures are happening. It turns out that 87 percent of foreclosures housing value loss is taking place in just four states–California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada. According the press release describing the study:
“
(Via Dallas Blog RSS Feed.)
CNBC’s Rick Santelli Enjoys Stardom for his Rant
CNBC’s Rick Santelli Enjoys Stardom for his Rant: “
Last week, CNBC’s Rick Santelli ranted on TV in which he bemoaned that ‘the government is promoting bad behavior’ with President Barack Obama’s mortgage bailout plan that clearly resonated with many Americans, making him a viral video star and drawing a White House rebuke.
The Chicago Tribune reports that, ‘only during the weekend, however, was it occurring to him that his newly raised profile – part Howard Beale, the fictional ‘mad as hell’ anchorman, part Howard Jarvis, the anti-tax champion of fiscal responsibility – might be parlayed into other opportunities.
“
(Via Dallas Blog RSS Feed.)
Obama: You’ve Been ShamWowed!
Obama: You’ve Been ShamWowed!: “This picture pretty much sums up Obama’s plan to steal more money from the rich (and working) to give to the not as rich (and mostly not working) in this country.”
(Via UrbanGrounds.)
Obama’s Team Tasked w/ Saving Detroit Drive Mostly Imported Cars
Obama’s Team Tasked w/ Saving Detroit Drive Mostly Imported Cars: “In other words, the guys that Obama has hired to facilitate the bailout of Detroit’s automakers don’t even drive the crap that comes out of Detroit these days — but they expect the rest of us to do so.”
(Via UrbanGrounds.)
ACORN and the Sandlers: Part II of IV
ACORN and the Sandlers: Part II of IV: ”
Last week while President Obama was announcing an ambition plan to aid foreclosure victims, ACORN launched a national campaign that seemed to target the administration. Oddly enough, last week a secret meeting was held atthe DC Federal shakedown headquarters for ACORN located at 739 8th SE in Washington, DC that lasted most of the day. In attendance were top ACORN management staff and officials from either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Of course, 2008 was not a stellar year for either ACORN or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Dave Barry hilariously offers a bit of satire to explain the latter’s fall in his year in review:
‘January: … in what some economists see as a troubling sign, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac invest $12.7 billion in Powerball tickets.
September: The federal government is finally forced to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after they are caught selling crack at a middle school.’
ACORN’s meeting signals some troubling prospects for most Americans, especially after its most recent partnership with Herb and Marion Sandler, formerly of Golden West. According to donor records the Sandlers have provided ACORN Housing and other affiliates millions upon millions of dollars (this does not even include the money for ‘voter registration’ given to Project Vote). The Sandlers have also provided training and support to ACORN field operations. A December 2006 report details the Sandlers involvement in restructuring ACORN after the intense scrutiny and investigations that followed the 2006 elections.
Structure
Herb and Marian Sandler provided generous support for an outside review of ACORN Field Operations and related activity in order to allow us – with help! – to assess our infrastructure requirements and needs. Many of the recommendations were based on common sense conclusions rooted in fundamental efficiencies to Field Operations, including increased centralization, streamlined and direct management accountability, upgrades in training, recruitment, and placement, among other suggestions…
We continue to be highly engaged in puzzling out some of the programs, including examining structural issues around management operations, departmental organizations, and other areas with institutional importance and support. We also are still working with the Sandlers to come to an understanding of where they may be willing to support increased field capacity.
ACORN will tell you that there is nothing wrong with this relationship and of course, that may be true. However, it is interesting to see the way Well Fargo was attacked by ACORN at the same time that Golden West, operating under the name World Savings, was underwriting ACORN Housing loans.
ACORN National President Maude Hurd announced ACORN’s lawsuit against Wells Fargo in front of the company’s Los Angeles offices
ACORN continued our national campaign, started in 2003, to change the predatory lending practices of Wells Fargo, one of the largest subprime lenders in the U.S. In addition to a full menu of rallies and demonstrations, ACORN used some of the tactics that successfully forced Household Finance to reform its practices. First, we appealed to Wells shareholders by working with Responsible Wealth to file a shareholder resolution at Wells’ annual meeting that called for executive compensation to be tied to efforts to end predatory lending within the company. Second, ACORN filed three lawsuits against Wells, two national lawsuits in California and one class action lawsuit in Illinois. Finally, filed complaints and met with a number of state and federal regulators. In Louisiana, the Attorney General issued Wells a civil investigative demand, while in Maryland the Human Rights Commission is officially investigating the company.
Wells Fargo apparently refused to bow to ACORN’s demands for money at first (as detailed in a previous blog.) According to donor records the Sandlers paid on time and regularly, and this incentive led ACORN to apparently choose to turn a blind eye to what Elizabeth MacDonald called:
‘
‘…a mom and pop shop that went berserk rubberstamping reckless loans for the worst of California’s borrowers, as the country’s biggest purveyor of the option ARM, which lets borrowers set which payments they want to make, in many cases, interest-only payments on no-doc loans.
These ARMs are the worst of the lot, and they are now adjusting to higher rates, providing an economic effect that is the equivalent of the levees breaking in New Orleans.‘
Ed Lasky’s article in the American’Thinker illustrates the role of Herb and Marion Sandler in the subprime meltdown.
Herbert and Marion Sandler, a New York lawyer and Wall Street analyst respectively, bought a small California thrift in 1963 and built it into GDW — one of the largest thrifts in the nation. The company’s business was built on adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs. These were mortgages offered at low ‘teaser’ rates that ratcheted upward as interest rates increased. They were often sold aggressively to unsophisticated home buyers who did not comprehend the vast financial risks they were taking, or who assumed that housing prices would rise high enough to provide a profit to them when they sold their houses. They were targets for lenders peddling mortgages that should have been stamped with a skull and crossbones, for these were among the most seductive and dangerous types of mortgage.
Lasky goes not to note that groups like ACORN ‘might also have played a role in the expansion of such mortgages to borrowers who may have lacked the ability to repay the loans.’ According internal documents, ACORN Housing often used income that was considered ‘under the table’ in order to qualify its applicants for loans. Lenders like World Savings and Bank of America were long time partners who seemed to also benefit (at the time) from these subprime loans.
An October 4, 2008 sketch on Saturday Night Live described the Sandlers as ‘people who should be shot.’
The controversial sketch is available here.
This is not news to anyone who has been keeping up with the current financial meltdown, but to the average American and for the ACORN members who are being trained to go out and forcibly stop foreclosures, it is glaring news. While Obama is touting a $65 a month increase for America’s workers, ACORN is priming the pump for federal ‘black gold.’ ACORN appears to be challenging Obama for their piece of the pie, either through the stimulus or the foreclosure package. Either way it is now up to the Administration to stand up to a bunch of thugs who are currently under criminal investigation in almost 15 states.
The next installment will review the ever complicated relationship between the Sandlers, ACORN, the Democracy Alliance and the Center for Responsible lending. Stay tuned.
‘
‘
‘
“
(Via The Next Right.)
Spending the stimulus
Spending the stimulus: “In the many debates about whether the federal stimulus bill will, indeed, stimulate the economy or merely increase government spending, there is agreement on one issue. To offer any stimulative effect to the increasing economic malaise, the spending needs to be swift and economically strategic.
Consider to whom this task of rapidly spending almost a trillion dollars of taxpayers’ money goes: massive, chronically inefficient, and slow-moving federal bureaucracies. The scale of the purely administrative task is unprecedented. The entire plan hinges on unwieldy bureaucracies turning on a dime to approve contracts and grants. Consider the scale of the challenge for only one agency: Department of Energy (DOE). This agency’s total annual budget is now $25 billion. The portion of the stimulus bill going to DOE is $40 billion. Among federal agencies, DOE is known for exceptional delays and cost overruns. The Government Accounting Office has DOE on its ‘high risk’ list for waste, fraud, and mismanagement. Most of DOE’s current budget goes to oversight of the nation’s nuclear stockpile and research. Now it is to be a shrewd money manager. The new Secretary of the Department, Nobel Prize winning physicist Steven Chu, recognizes the stakes of DOE’s new challenge. He was recently quoted as saying its new role necessitates a radical transformation of the agency. ‘We’ve got to do it. Otherwise it’s just going to be a bust,’ he recently commented. Not comforting! Hell, in fact, will freeze over before huge government bureaucracies act quickly, decisively, and prudently as wise investors of taxpayers’ money. Giving these bureaucracies billions with the directive to spend fast is a recipe for waste at best and fraud at worst, whereas tax reduction is immediately stimulative and requires no ‘assistance’ from bureaucracies. - Kathleen Hartnett White
