Washington can not be trusted to fix itself

The following article appeared in the "Hernando Today" newspaper here in Florida today. It was written by my favorite congressman, Rich Neugent....... We need more in Congress and the Senate like him.

By Rep. Rich Nugent

Ladies and gentlemen, your federal government is failing you and it is critical that you speak up about it.

Generations of politicians – from both parties – have avoided their responsibility to this nation. They have put short-term wants before the country’s long-term needs. The cumulative effect of this is a national debt that is now larger than our entire country’s economic output.

Both parties are responsible for it. Period. And it’s important that all Americans are honest about that. We cannot afford to postpone fixing the problem because of a desire to blame others. And that will be our choice this week when the House of Representatives votes on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

This is the first time Congress has considered such an amendment since it came up one vote short of passing in 1997. As you would expect, there are people in Congress today who were here in ’97. Some who supported it then are voting against it now.

It’s not because of any trickery or fine print. This Balanced Budget Amendment is what they call a “plain vanilla” version. It requires that Congress pass a balanced budget unless, in the case of a national emergency such as a war or natural disaster, three-fifths of Congress vote to temporarily waive the requirement to cover the cost of that emergency.

I’m not sure what those former supporters have seen in the last fifteen years that would give them confidence that Congress is capable of managing the taxpayers’

money responsibly. I certainly haven’t seen anything to give me that confidence.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the crux of the issue. Everyone would like to believe that Congress can be trusted to manage the country’s finances, but the facts scream otherwise. And it’s not just the facts of the last few years, or the last ten years, but rather it is the facts of the last hundred years.

Your government has been making promises to you at every turn with borrowed money and borrowed time. And after many years, we have started running out of credit and have certainly already run out of time.

Our choice today is whether we change the course of the country’s history or not. It’s a choice of whether we will guarantee our children a country they can afford to keep. And it is a choice about whether we want to control our own destiny or have it determined for us.

The President opposes this amendment and I submit to you that any member of Congress, Republican or Democrat, who joins him is continuing a decades-long record of failing to lead. They are continuing the status quo. Washington, D.C. cannot be trusted to fix itself. You must fix it and that starts with demanding that your leaders balance the budget once and for all.

Sincerely,

Rich Nugent

Member of Congress

Government Restrictions on Small Busnness's Growth

Being a small business owner for most of my adult life, I am especially sensitive to the hurtles that small business owners are subjected to in order to grow and survive. These hurtles become astronomical during an economic climate as we face today.

During the forty some years that I have been involved in various businesses, I have always been frustrated at how the government has continuously held me back due to many taxes, fees and ridiculous requirements and restraints.

My local congressman, Richard Nugent, gave his views on this subject in his “Situation Report” that I received today. I would like to share this with you.

Dear Friends,

  Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in an awards ceremony at the local UPS facility (United Parcel Service).  They were recognizing two of their drivers who have had no safety infractions or accidents of any kind after twenty-five years of driving for the company.

They asked me to speak at the event, so in preparation, I did a little research on UPS’s history.  As it turns out, it’s a pretty fascinating story.  I won’t get into the whole thing (UPS is over a hundred years old), but I do want to tell you about one chapter that I think is really instructive for where our economy is today.

In short, since its creation in 1907, UPS has been a pioneer in that industry.  Basically, they invented it.  In the early days, they were couriers running packages on foot around San Francisco, using bicycles for longer trips.  They were so efficient and reliable that demand grew pretty quickly and before long, they started buying a fleet of Model Ts. 

Year after year, demand for the company’s services kept growing and they wanted to expand their business.  But up until the 1950s, they’d mostly focused on delivering goods from retail stores to customers.  They’d kept themselves busy inventing conveyor belt systems for sorting and filing technology for tracking packages, but the better they got at their job, the more people wanted to use them.

In particular, individuals also wanted to be able to ship packages to other individuals.  Imagine Grandma wanting to safely send little Timmy a Christmas present in Iowa.  She couldn’t do it.  UPS could help.  But when UPS made the decision to enter that business, they were blocked by regulations from the federal Interstate Commerce Committee.  In short, UPS would have been in direct competition with the United States Postal Service and that wasn’t to be allowed.

The company wasn’t giving up though.  They spent the better part of the next thirty years fighting the federal government just for the right to deliver packages.  Finally, in 1975, UPS finally got the right to deliver door-to-door across America.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the drivers we were recognizing got a job with UPS just a few years after those regulations were taken down.  This isn’t to say that there is no place for regulations in our country (clearly the banks and others got away with things a few years ago).  But I do think it says a lot about the damage that frivolous, duplicative, and unnecessary regulations can do to job creation in this country.

UPS was blocked for thirty years – thirty years -  for no reason whatsoever, from becoming the world-leading American company that it is today.  Think about the thousands and thousands of people who are employed in this country who wouldn’t have been if the ICC hadn’t backed down in 1975.  Beyond that, think about all of the small companies all across this country who could not exist if they could not ship their goods to customers all across the country using a service as reliable and efficient as UPS.

Make no mistake about it, regulations like the one that blocked UPS still exist today.  It’s hard to know what we’re missing out on by not taking a closer look at the red tape we’ve got on the books.    All I know is, with double-digit unemployment in our area, and folks struggling to put food on the table, we don’t have a choice about ignoring impact of regulations on jobs.

One of the first things we did upon coming into the new Congress was to pass legislation requiring an inventory of all regulations and putting in new checks for any proposed regulations that would have a “major impact” on economic growth meaning more than $100 million cost across the nation.  The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee set up a website where small business owners could register their opinions about what regulations they can and cannot live with. 

It doesn’t come as any surprise that the compliance costs for federal and state regulations is more than four times more expensive per employee for small businesses than for large companies.  And since small business create two-thirds of all net new jobs in this country every year, that’s not a small drag on job creation, it’s a wet blanket that is suffocating a lot of small firms out there and some right in our area. 

As always, let me know what you think about all of this.  If you know any small business owners personally, or have a chance to chat with one when you visit their store, encourage them to reach out to me.  If I know the specific things that are holding their companies back, more than likely I can do something about it.  It’s plainly clear we can’t afford to have small businesses struggling when they should be growing and hiring more workers.  This economy will never recover without them.

Sincerely,

Rich Nugent

Member of Congress

Arthur Laffer makes a lot of since!

Newsmax ran this article today, and I think Laffer makes a lot of sense. I felt compelled to share this. Let me know what you think.......

Laffer: Obama Must Use Reaganomics to Save Economy

Wednesday, 10 Aug 2011 05:32 PM

By Martin Gould and Kathleen Walter

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The only way President Barack Obama can solve the nation’s economic woes is to adopt “common-sense” Reaganomics, the policy’s architect Arthur Laffer claims in an exclusive Newsmax interview.

Laffer said the White House called him in the spring and asked him to speak to Obama’s former Council of Economic Advisors’ chairman Austen Goolsbee – and he had told him exactly the same thing.

“Reaganomics would fix any economy that’s in the doldrums,” Laffer said. “It’s not a magic sauce, it’s common sense.

“You’ve got to get rid of all federal taxes in the extreme and replace them with a low-rate flat tax on business net sales, and on personal unadjusted gross income. That’s number one.

“Number two, you have to have spending restraint. Government spending causes unemployment, it does not cure unemployment.

“Number three, you need sound money. Ben Bernanke is running the least sound monetary policy I’ve ever heard of," Laffer said.

“Number four you need regulations, but you don’t need those regulations to go beyond the purpose at hand and create collateral damage. The regulatory policies are really way off here.

“And lastly you need free trade," Laffer said. "Foreigners produce some things better than we do and we produce some things better than foreigners. It would be foolish in the extreme if we didn’t sell them those things we produce better than they do in exchange for those things they produce better than we do.”

In the interview the veteran economist said Standard & Poor’s was quite right in downgrading the U.S. credit rating – in fact it should have done so far earlier.

The agency had no choice and if the other agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, don’t do the same they won’t be doing their jobs, said Laffer, who gave his name to the Laffer Curve which demonstrates that the maximum amount of government revenue does not come at the point of maximum taxes.

“If you had a company that had revenues of $2½ million and expenses of $4 million, with no change in sight, $1½ million in losses each year as far as the eye can see and it had already borrowed $10 million, what would you rate that company? I surely wouldn’t rate it AAA.

“That is the U.S. situation today," Laffer said. "Taxes are about $2½ trillion, government spending is about $4 trillion and we have about $10 trillion in net national debt. I don’t see that as being a AAA country.

“If the S&P and the others were doing their jobs correctly, they should have downgraded a long time ago.”

Laffer said he has no doubt the country will win its top rating back, but only when economic policies are completely turned around. He said President Barack Obama’s administration’s only economic plan seemed to be to expand government ownership of the means of production.

“They have nationalized the health care industry pretty extensively. They’ve done that with home building as well. They’ve tried it with the auto industry as well. So they have moved very, very deliberatively and purposefully toward extending the government ownership of the means of production.

“That to me, if you read the tealeaves, is what they are doing. It is not what they are saying they are doing, but that is what they actually are doing.

“People don’t work to pay taxes, people work to get what they can after taxes. It’s that very private incentive that motivates them to work. If you pay people not to work and tax them if they do work, don’t be surprised if you find a lot of people not working.”

Laffer said the current economic woes started to form under President George W. Bush but have been made worse by Obama’s policies.

“There’s a wedge driven between wages paid and wages received and that wedge is the tax/government spending wedge,” he said.

“That wedge has grown dramatically in the last 4 ½ years…under W and a Republican administration and…under Obama. Bipartisan ignorance has led us to this very disastrously desolate state.”

Laffer had high praise for the role the tea party has played in bringing the problem of the deficits to the fore.

“The tea party is not the problem, the tea party may well be the solution,” he said. “They are critical to the future of the country in a positive way. They are the only fiscally sound people I know out there all the time.

“I don’t know that I would go as far as they go on a lot of issues but I surely respect their movement very much.”

And he said any one of the group of Republicans vying for the party’s nomination for the White House would make “ a great president.”

“Tim Pawlenty is spectacular. Newt Gingrich knows more about issues than anyone you’ve ever seen. Michele Bachmann is out-of-sight wonderful,” he said.

“Rick Perry is second to no one in this stuff. If you look at Herman Cain, he’s phenomenal.

“Oh and (Jon) Huntsman was a great governor of the state of Utah and is a phenomenally experienced intellectual competent man.

“When you look at the Republican candidates, you see a group of people who are absolutely outstanding in attributes.”

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My Sixty-Eighth Birthday Party



Part of the Gang



Although my birthday was July 27^th (Wed.), we planned a birthday party with my daughters on Saturday July 30^th. Three of my daughters came to Lakeland for the party, as well as Dodie’s youngest son, Joey, his wife, Renee and fourteen-month-old son, Wyatt. It was a thrill for me to get three out of my five daughters together at the same time.

I was in charge of the steaks; everyone else shared the load for the balance of the menu. I grilled fourteen Rib eye steaks on the grill. I have a large grill with five burners, and almost did not get them all to fit on.

Kathy, Marcene, Renee & Kim






Dan & Marcene Cooking Breakfast Sunday Morning

Wyatt Walking Ginger



Dodie Preparing her 'Country Cole Slaw'

The Grandkids Cody, Conner, Hailey, Allee & Tori 

We all ate way too much, but it was a great party. I couldn't have had a better Birthday! We decided that we are going to do it again next year, and try to get all five daughters there.

On Our Way Home

We left Dead Lakes County Park this morning, after staying there for over a week. We really enjoyed our stay. It was quiet and peaceful.

We arrived at Econfina River Resort around 3:30 pm, with time left in the day to kick back and relax. Knowing that it was 5 O’Clock somewhere (as Jimmy Buffet would say) I fixed myself a Bloody Mary. Life is good.

If you look closely at the picture of our motor home, you'll notice the "Sun Screen" that I installed the other day. Everyone needs one of these. It is absolutely great! I picked it up at Camping World before leaving on this trip, but didn't get around to installing it until the week at Dead Lakes. It helps tremendously to shade the patio area, it keeps a lot of the rain from coming in under the awning, and actually creates a Ventura effect that causes any air circulation to intensify through the under awning space. A word of caution, though..... I put the awning out after arriving today, along with sticking the two stakes into the ground, with bungee cords, then went in and activated the automatic leveling jacks. While the jacks were leveling the coach, we heard a loud bang..... When I went outside, both stakes had popped out of the ground. I found the stakes and one of the bungee cords a good twenty feet out from the motor home. I have yet to find the second bungee cord.

We will be leaving here in the morning, and driving to Port Richey. We are staying over there, in order to visit with Dodie's sister, Louise.

Congratulations Atlantis Space Shuttle and Crew

At 5:57 A.M. this morning, Atlantis’ last flight came to an end as its wheels touched down on the tarmac at Kennedy Space Center.

It was the 135th mission for the space shuttle fleet, which altogether flew 542 million miles and circled Earth more than 21,150 times over the past three decades. The five shuttles carried 355 people from 16 countries and, altogether, spent 1,333 days in space - almost four years.

After months of decommissioning, Atlantis will be placed on public display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex. Discovery, the first to retire in March, will head to a Smithsonian hangar in Virginia. Endeavour, which returned from the space station on June 1, will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

NASA's five space shuttles launched, saved and revitalized the Hubble Space Telescope; built the space station, the world's largest orbiting structure; and opened the final frontier to women, minorities, schoolteachers, even a prince. The first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, became the oldest person ever in space, thanks to the shuttle. He was 77 at the time; he turned 90 this week.

I remember during the 60’s, when the Apollo program was in process, leading up to the Apollo 11 mission when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit. Five later Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. In these six Apollo spaceflights, 12 men walked on the Moon.

I was fortunate to have been directly exposed to the Apollo era, since my first wife’s parents lived in Cocoa, Florida. We met a number of the NASA executives involved in the program during cocktail parties, etc. Also, my in-laws owned a dress shop on Cocoa Beach. Their shop was directly across the street from Ramon’s Surf, an upscale restaurant and lounge frequented by the Apollo astronauts and engineers. As a result, I met a number of the key players in the Apollo program.

Note: Some of the facts I have listed above in regard to the Space Shuttle are compliments of Huffpost AOL News. Also, I obtained some facts pertaining to the Apollo missions from Wikipedia.

Obama's Burthday Bash......

I try not to push my political beliefs, but I felt compelled to share this article with you......

Obama Plans Pricey Birthday Bash on Default Day

Saturday, 16 Jul 2011 01:25 PM

By Martin Gould and Abigail Walls

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As America’s poorest wait for Social Security checks that may never come on Aug. 3, President Barack Obama will be out celebrating a milestone birthday at a party where tickets cost up to $35,800 each.

Obama has chosen the first day of the potential default to throw his 50th birthday bash, combining it with raising money f or next year’s election. His actual birthday is Aug. 4.

Republicans are slamming the decision to have the party as “insensitive.”

“This really shows how unserious he is,” Republican Rep. Joe Walsh, a fellow Chicagoan, tells Newsmax exclusively. “I realize it’s his birthday, but he is a president who has said he doesn’t know if social security checks will go out that day.

“If that’s the case, I cannot believe he will be having a big party that very day.”

Obama said on Tuesday that he cannot guarantee that social security checks will go out from August 3 unless a deal can be reached on raising the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit. “There may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,” he told CBS’ Scott Pelley.

Unless the deal is reached, government services across the board will be cut and in many cases closed down.

“My first thought was that he will have to fly to Chicago before the third because I can’t imagine airports will be open,” said Walsh. “And he’ll have to have a huge supply of candles because the lights are going to go out.

“I am amazed he will be able to have a party at all.”

Walsh said he hopes to be in Chicago on Aug. 3 himself to be with his family in case the calamity that Obama has warned about comes to fruition. “I just doubt I’ll get an invitation to the party,” he said.

Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson is expected to perform at the birthday bash at the historic Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. The event will be one of the president’s biggest fundraisers of the year. Publicity literature featuring a red, white and blue Happy Birthday logo has already been produced.

The event will be “multi-tiered,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The Hudson concert would cost $50; admission to the party $200; a premium seat $1,000; a souvenir photo with the president $10,000; and VIP seating and dinner with Obama $38,500.

Another GOP Congressman, Louie Gohmert of Texas was incredulous about the timing. “That’d be as crazy as setting up golf games in the middle of going after Osama bin Laden,” he said. “I’m sure he wouldn’t do something like that – or maybe he would.”

Obama has been leading contentious talks all week with leaders of both parties in the House and Senate to avoid the August 2 deadline. On Friday he warned of financial “Armageddon” if a deal cannot be reached.

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