Soak the Rich: Chevron

Great news, Sherrod Brown enthusiasts! The next corporation in the S&P 500 by market cap is Chevron, another eeeevil oil company. Let’s get right to business filling Washington’s $1.62 trillion budget deficit by making Chevron pay its fair share!

Now Soaking: Chevron Corporation

• CEO John S. Watson’s compensation is listed as $3.43 million. Watson has been a Chevron executive since 1998, so he’s got more than enough money. His $3,430,000 can be put to much better use funding federal make-work programs.
• Chevron’s income statement lists $12.919 billion in corporate income taxes for 2010. Doubling that paltry number will give Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama another $12,919,000,000 for the spending programs that have been such a roaring success since Obama’s historic inauguration.
• Chevron’s new contributions will reduce the 2011 U.S. budget deficit from $1,620,000,000,000 to $1,607,077,570,000.

A capitalist would ask whether raising Chevron’s taxes will, in turn, increase the price of oil & natural gas – and by extension, everything connected to energy & transportation. Stupid capitalist! Why don’t those guys realize big-government leftists like Sherrod Brown have things well in hand so long as free markets – blech! – don’t get in the way? Dramatically raising taxes on Chevron also won’t hurt the people holding Chevron’s 2 billion outstanding shares of stock, nor the corporation’s 62,000 employees.

We, The People who support Sherrod Brown’s fiscal policies, hold these unhinged assumptions to be self-evident.

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted at that hero.

OEA Squeezes Ohio Teachers a Little Harder

The Ohio Education Association (OEA) has a good thing going: the union takes dues from teachers – whose plight is the OEA’s reason for existing – to elect their bosses and pay their own salaries. Their own salaries tend to be... generous.

Based on the tepid liberal responses I’ve seen to this bold hypocrisy, OEA pay indicates one of two things:

1. Tireless teachers’ advocates paid market rate.
2. Nothing. There’s nothing to see here at all.

Leaving aside the hilarity of union advocates suddenly concerned about anything’s “market rate,” I’ve yet to come across a decent excuse for the OEA paying the average union employee $40,000 more than the average teacher. The OEA’s entire sales pitch is underfunded children and impoverished educators, for Pete’s sake! It’s like paying a chauffeur $96,000 a year to complain about your car loan.

Other adorable public union facts: if you suggest that teachers paid $75,000 could take a 10% pay cut to avoid firings and program reductions, the left will attack you. Mention union reform in a room of Democrats, Socialists, and Communists, and you’d hear the same miserable arguments from all quarters. Essentially, any reduction in the speed of the taxpayer gravy-train brings such a flood of liberal tears, they can scarcely identify rich people to tax. Mathematics be damned, liberals care!

In light of all this, Saturday’s OEA decision is no shock:

The Ohio Education Association will assess active members $54 apiece and support-staff members $25 to generate $5 million as fuel for a referendum to repeal the state’s new collective-bargaining law.

The decision was made yesterday by about 1,000 delegates attending the teachers union’s Spring Representative Assembly at Veterans Memorial.

Read that again: the most union-friendly teachers got together and agreed all teachers should pay the union more. Because teachers are underpaid. Also unsurprising is this endorsement from America’s most liberal senator:

Speaking at the OEA meeting yesterday, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown urged teachers to rally for the referendum campaign and “make this personal.”

“You can talk all the statistics you want, but tell your personal story. Tell people why you’re a teacher,” the Ohio Democrat said.

The union has to make this personal, because if numbers are treated like numbers the OEA is sunk. So, to tell the story about how difficult it is to be a teacher, the union is going to take another $54 from every teacher. Maybe if they shriek and flail wildly enough, people will ignore numbers like the ones in my chart above.

Senate Bill 5 is and has always been about restoring power to the taxpayers. Since that power currently resides with the unions, Ohio can look forward to another $54 per teacher being spent on the state’s most mathematically-challenged smear campaign this side of Brown for Senate 2012!

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted at that hero.

Columbus Dispatch to Ohio Democrats: You had your chance. You punted.

Last week was another step forward in putting Ohio's budget back on a path of sustainability. The Ohio House, with minor changes, passed Governor Kasich's proposed budget. They solved the problem of the $8 billion shortfall, and they did it without raising taxes.

Of course, the Democrats are crying foul and denouncing the budget with all of the usual class warfare canards, as usual.

Hey, remember when I said this?

Democrats had their chance to fix the budget. They controlled the Governor's office and the Ohio House. They could have done this their way.

They. CHOSE. Not to. They put a band-aid on the situation instead.

And NOW they want to kick and scream and complain about how its being done, when they refused to lead?

Unbelievable.

This past weekend, the Columbus Dispatch pretty much said the same thing.

Former House speaker and now House Minority Leader Armond Budish criticizes the painful cuts included in Kasich's budget proposal.

But those cuts are necessary precisely because Budish and former Gov. Ted Strickland didn't do their job - truly balancing the state's budget - when they controlled the governor's office and the House two years ago.

Faced with a vast gulf between revenue and what they wanted to spend, Budish and Strickland should have been the ones making budget cuts in the 2010-11 budget.

...

Budish disagrees with Kasich's priorities, he says. When he was speaker of the House, Budish had every opportunity - the duty, in fact - to set the priorities he now claims to stand for.

Had he led a charge to reset government spending to align with the resources available, he could have influenced the future more to his liking. He didn't.

Of course there are cuts. Cuts were mandatory. The law says Ohio can only spend what it will collect (thank goodness). Nobody likes to make cuts in services. But it was time to be grownups, show leadership and get the job done right.

Weeks ago, when Kasich unveiled his budget proposal, I also said this.

This is the kind of leadership we needed on the budget 2 years ago. Thankfully, we have someone now who isn't afraid to talk to us like adults and make the hard choices.

The CD agrees with me on that one, too.

Dealing with hard problems instead of kicking them down the road is leadership.

Normally, I'd say that I couldn't have said it better myself. But this time, I actually already did. Ha! Seriously, though, go read the entire column.

Congratulations to Governor Kasich and the Ohio House. On to the Senate!

Follow Bytor on Twitter

Cleveland Schools paying millions in unused sick and vacation pay...while they close schools and lay off hundreds

Add this one to the growing stack filed under "You have got to be kidding me".

The Cleveland City Schools are a mess. They have been for years. Just recently, they faced a deficit of tens of millions of dollars, and were forced to lay off 643 teachers and close 7 schools.

Guess where a large chunk of that budget shortfall went? It went to pay retiring teachers and administrators for unused sick time and vacation time that they had been saving up. Almost nowhere in the private sector will you find an employer where you are expected to be paid for...er, simply not getting sick and showing up to work.

Ah, but there is a magical place created by public employee unions. Not only do you get paid for showing up and doing your job, but later, you get to demand extra pay for all those times you didn't get sick, and still had the fortitude to go to work. That is, its magical until you realize who that employer is, and who is footing the bill for it. It's you.

Welcome to collective bargaining, my friends.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Municipal School District, scratching for every penny, could use the nearly $5 million paid to employees who have retired since last summer.

Records show that 269 employees cashed in that amount of accumulated vacation and sick leave since the fiscal year started July 1. Topping the list are two administrators who each collected about $83,000, one after working in the system for four years.

Nearly 70 percent of the employees picked up at least $10,000 in what the district calls severance; more than 40 percent received $20,000 or more.

They call it severance?

Now, where I come from, severance is what a company pays you after they've laid you off. This isn't severance. This is legalized robbery. Oh, don't worry wingnuts, the liberals say. "Public employers won't give away the store. We don't need limits on collective bargaining."

Tell that to the parents whose kids' school was just closed. They pay their taxes. They work hard at their private sector jobs, where when it comes to their vacation time, the policy is "use it or lose it." Now they watch as hundreds of teachers retire and cash in on enough unused sick and vacation time to buy a new car. Tell that family that if they think PEU collective bargaining has gone too far, than darnit, they must hate the middle class!

Think its just the Cleveland schools? Think again.

The Cleveland school district is not the only government agency paying for sick and vacation time. For example, the Columbus school system, Ohio's largest, has paid more than $2.9 million to 220 employees this fiscal year.

State and local government workers in Ohio who cashed in sick time last year received an average of $17,000, according to the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions.

So, the rule of thumb seems to be, that if you're being paid by your fellow citizens, you should get to demand a big payout for all those times you didn't get sick.

Here's one thing that that, to me, is infuriating. The very same people who are losing their jobs partly because of unreasonable contract terms such as this, are the same people who are "standing united" against Senate Bill 5. The same people go to the school board meetings and yell "Shame on you!". It's ridiculous. Do they want to be paid with a check that bounces?

I wonder if any of them would give up their banked sick time in order to save another teacher's job. Doesn't sound like any of them would, because its their right, you know. Standing united, indeed.

Follow Bytor on Twitter

Soak the Rich: General Electric

Though General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt holds the dubious title “Barack Obama’s Favorite Businessman,” GE is too big a corporation to go un-soaked. For every unmarketable green-energy product GE peddles to federal bureaucrats, there’s another bad, profitable wing of the company. On behalf of Senator Sherrod Brown, let’s help Washington’s favorite conglomerate spread those profits around!

Remember the pit we’re working to fill: an estimated 2011 deficit of $1.62 trillion. Fiscal wizards Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama have made it clear that revenue – not spending – is to blame, and “revenue” in government-speak means “taxes.” As wealthy Democrats have told us time and again, it’s easy to bring in enough revenue if you merely start with The Rich!

Now Soaking: General Electric

• CEO Jeffrey Immelt’s compensation is listed as $7.69 million. Immelt has been an officer on the GE board since 1989, so he’s got more than enough money. His $7,690,000 will help fund entitlements and porky make-work programs.
• GE’s income statement lists $1,050,000,000 in income taxes for 2010. That isn’t nearly enough (recent news stories describe the actual outlay as even less), so let’s go ahead and double it. An extra $1.05 billion from GE will help Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama continue the Keynesian spending that has been so successful these past few years.
• GE’s new contributions will reduce the $1,620,000,000,000 deficit to $1,618,942,310,000 – a shadow of its former self!

Not to worry: doubling GE’s income taxes won’t cause undue harm to the corporation’s 287,000 employees or the holders of its 10.6 billion outstanding shares of common stock. It also won’t increase the price of any of the products GE helps design, build, or deliver. We, The People who support Sherrod Brown’s fiscal policies, hold these leftist conceits to be self-evident.

As General Electric seems eager to prove, crony capitalism is a racket all politicians can take part in – which wouldn’t be so bad, except for the capitalism part. When Washington picks marketplace winners and losers, there are still losers. But when leaders like Sherrod Brown get involved in tax policy and act as if markets don’t exist, everybody wins!

Full disclosure: I was a GE stockholder until I sold my shares (at a considerable loss) after last month’s dividend payout. Crony capitalism ultimately outweighed conglomerate hedging in my book.

Cross-posted at that hero.

The Week of the Teleprompter Ninja

by new contributor Revoltaire

Last week started off as a huge week for liberals, progressives, Democrats, and Obamamaniacs. After almost fifty years, Barack Obama had finally produced his birth certificate, and, with the help of the snarky Seth Meyers, had humiliated Donald Trump at the White House correspondents dinner last Saturday night. Then, on Sunday night, word broke that U.S. special forces had succeeded in hunting down and killing Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

And, cue the Frank Sinatra music, Obama had done it his way. Rather than leveling the reportedly heavily fortified compound with an airstrike, he’d decided (which apparently took some time since he was first told about the compound in August) to use special forces and take bin Laden out during a night-time assault. A photo was released of the White House Situation Room, where, we were told, members of the administration watched the raid in real time. There he was, Crouching Tiger, alone in the corner of the room, watching on the monitor the justice that his iron will was dispensing. The SEAL team on the monitor was merely an extension of him. During an intense firefight, our special forces had shot and killed the man responsible for the September 11th attacks. We lost a chopper, but none of our brave personnel.

The scalpel-rather-than-machete approach that the President was so proud of had worked. The word “gutsy” was being passed around the mainstream media like ecstasy at a rave. But we were culturally sensitive too, disposing of bin Laden’s body at sea, after a respectful ritual in accordance with Muslim tradition, we were told. Obama’s air of political invincibility seemed to be returning. I mean, it was just liberal Democrat heaven. Like Ben and Jerry’s had come out with a new flavor or something. Barack Obama was, once again, the teleprompter ninja.

So, the Pakistanis were upset. Screw ‘em! Bin Laden was right under their noses for the better part of a decade. Obama was feeling so cavalier, a couple of times he even referred to the country as “Pakistan,” the way Americans pronounce it, rather than “Pokishton,” like he was imitating the Babu Bhatt character from Seinfeld. Obama’s approval numbers received a 10 to 15 point jolt in some polls. Democrats once again began washing their cars, so that their neighbors could see their 2008 Hope and Change bumper stickers. The View co-hosts Joy Behar and Barbara Walters even said that we might as well skip the 2012 election. Some Republicans were considering it. The Weekly Standard’s Steve Hayes predicted that Obama’s success in taking out bin Laden would be a problem for Republicans down the road.

But then some cracks began to appear in the Osama-Obama narrative. Multiple sources confirmed that Bush-era enhanced interrogation techniques had been instrumental in getting the information used to find and kill bin Laden. In addition, despite early indications to the contrary, the administration wasn’t going to release any photos of the operation or the terrorist leader’s body. He’d been shot in the head, and the photos were too graphic to be released. More importantly, we were not going to “spike the football” in victory, because we did not wish to inflame the passions of those who would apparently not already be inflamed that we’d just killed their leader. But, many conjectured, wouldn’t this fuel conspiracy theories that bin Laden was still alive? No, the administration told us, and there’d be no memorial to draw fanatics since the body had been disposed of at sea, in a ritually pure manner, or course. But what about the fact that most Muslims hate Al Qaeda, as they frequently kill Muslims too? Still no. Apparently they needed to be paternalized even though the sensitive liberals in our government do not hold stereotypical views of other cultures.

Then some senators who’d said that they’d seen photos of bin Laden’s body confessed that the photos were fakes. Bin Laden’s walled compound was found to be dilapidated, and largely held together by mold. Reports surfaced that no one living in the compound was armed with anything more lethal than a squirt gun. They said that the terrorist mastermind had been shot while cowering in the corner, or taken into custody, then shot shortly thereafter. Some media figures re-examined Obama’s announcement that bin Laden had been “captured and killed.” Reality sunk in on the far fringes of the left: this was a presidential ordered execution.

Shortly thereafter, CIA Director Leon Panetta admitted that there was no video of the bin Laden mission, as there had been a gap larger than the one in the Watergate tape in the feed from Abbottabad. People began to re-examine the photo from the situation room. Speaking of cowering in the corner, why the windbreaker? Had Obama been sailing with John Kerry earlier that day? Rumors circulated that what the group was actually watching in the photo was a rousing game of Halo 3 in which Helen Thomas was wiping the floor with Jay Carney.

Religious scholars chimed in on bin Laden’s burial. Where in the Koran does it say that it pleases Allah when mujahidin leaders are executed about 700 miles inland, then wrapped in a bedsheet and dumped into the Arabian Sea like a large piece of chum? They might as well have wrapped him in pancetta. Some radicals have already renamed the Arabian Sea, where bin Laden’s body was reportedly dumped, "Martyr's Sea." So much for placating them. Why didn’t we have NASA, which has been reconfigured as a Muslim outreach program, use the last space shuttle mission to
jettison’s bin Laden’s body into space?

By the time we got to Thursday’s photo op at Ground Zero, the Obama administration seemed to be on its heels. Not only had George W. Bush declined an invitation to attend, so had Bill Clinton. Yes, you remember, Mr. “I Feel Your Pain,” with the pouting lip and the crocodile tears. The same man who went from guffaw to sob in one step while exiting the Ron Brown Memorial during his presidency, felt that this event might be . . . overreaching?

At Thursday night’s Republican debate, while acknowledging the President’s role in bin Laden’s death, each of the candidates took Obama to task for his foreign policy failures. “What the hell?” the liberals were thinking. “They’re acting like they won over 60 house seats in the last election or something!” On Friday, word came out that unemployment was back up to 9.0%, and a quarter of those who found work last month did so at establishments displaying golden arches. And the balloon continued to float back down to earth.

In an attempt to not just spike the football but do an end-zone dance, Obama attended another photo op at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, to thank the troops, he said, especially those that were closely involved with the bin Laden mission. Despite the President’s words of gratitude, his message about the war in Afghanistan remains that he’s pulling the plug in July. We can obviously trust the Pakistanis to fight Al Qaeda.

Obama and his most vehement supporters (MSNBC) may think that getting bin Laden makes him some type of foreign policy guru. Gwyneth Paltrow thinks she’s a Country singer. But at the end of this roller coaster week, there are two things that all thinking people should be able to agree on: Osama bin Laden is dead, and Barack Obama is beatable.

Soak the Rich: Week 1 Progress

As part of a somber, earnest effort to support the 2012 re-election campaigns of Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama, I’ve begun tackling the only flaw in modern liberalism: who’s gonna pay for it? Starting at the top of the S&P 500 index – that’s a big list of bad companies, for those of you with Master of the Arts in Community Organization degrees – I’ve already wrung some extra cash out of The Rich who live to keep The Middle Class down.

Because the ticket to a successful entitlement state is soaking the nation’s wealthy to the appropriate degree, this is an important endeavor. What have we accomplished so far?

This week we soaked Apple and Exxon Mobil, currently the two largest corporations in the S&P 500 by market capitalization. By doubling each company’s corporate income tax burden and taking 100% of CEO compensation, we’ve taken great strides toward funding the programs Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama know we need!

Grand Accomplishments

• Fiscal year 2011 US budget deficit reduced from $1,620,000,000,000 to $1,593,832,330,000
• Annual deficit reduction as a percentage of the current total: 1.615%

Unintended Consequences That Won’t Occur

• None of the corporations’ combined 133,000 jobs will be lost
• None of the funds or individuals holding the corporations’ combined 5,924,800,000 shares of common stock will be ruined
• Domestic and foreign lenders will not stop investing in American companies or entrepreneurs
• Talented workers and business leaders won’t flee the country
• Other corporations won’t relocate overseas

Things That Won’t Get More Expensive

• MP3 players, laptops, tablet PCs, mobile phones, or software for any of the preceding
• Gasoline, plastics, or natural gas

Here’s the simple fact crazed conservatives forget: the federal government should control everything. If Apple or Exxon raise prices in response to higher taxes, the government can penalize them – or shower stimulus spending & tax exemptions on their competitors. If Apple or Exxon fire employees, reduce dividends, or move jobs overseas, the government can penalize them further still. There are any number of ways heroes like Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama can bridge the gap between free markets and fair markets!

In one short week, we’ve made what the Democratic Party’s budget wizards might call “Progress.” Some small deficit remains, but there are many other fat-cats who don’t contribute enough to America’s nationwide, knee-deep safety net. Rest assured, dear leftist brothers; they will be soaked.

Cross-posted at that hero.

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Repeal Senate Bill 5! Do you want fries with that?

Please welcome Revoltaire, a new contributor to 3BP. -Bytor

Re: Good Jobs and Strong Communities Rally

To: Patricia Frost-Brookes, Ohio Education Association President

I am a college senior who will be graduating in a few weeks, and tonight I attended Stand Up for Ohio’s Good Jobs and Strong Communities Rally at the Ohio Statehouse. I totally agree with the speakers at tonight’s rally, that Governor Kasich’s budget is wrong for Ohio. After such an inspirational evening, I am just writing to show my support for your efforts to resist Kasich’s budget cuts and to repeal Senate Bill 5. This is the right thing to do to ensure the standard of living for Ohio’s families, to improve the quality of Ohio’s schools, and to stand up for Ohio’s schoolchildren. I’m also writing because I need a little help finding a job.

I’ve asked some veteran teachers for leads on jobs, but they haven’t been able to help me. They explained that the right-wing nut-jobs who control the statehouse are ruining my future. I asked those teachers if any of them were going to retire soon, but they told me that times were hard, and that trying to live on only ninety-six percent of their current salary for life would be draconian. One of them felt sorry for me and let me earn some money waxing his Range Rover. Some critics say that allowing school districts to get rid of older, ineffective teachers would actually open up job opportunities for me, since districts could hire three of me to replace one of them. But I don’t believe them. I am standing with you and my OEA brothers and sisters to fight for Ohio’s working families.

I’ve checked out Ohio Department of Education Job Board, but most of the openings there are at “community schools.” That means those awful charter schools, where the teachers aren’t unionized, don’t get automatic pay raises, and can get fired for incompetence. No way: none of that for me. Still, it seems weird that those schools are hiring when all of the public school districts I know are laying people off. I couldn't quite understand why, so I called the chairperson of the Education Department at my college to see if she could explain it to me.

It was really hard to reach her because she’s on sabbatical this semester, so she’s hanging out in her vacation home in Vermont. When she did finally return my call, she told me that because of Governor Kasich’s policies, teachers all across the state were losing their jobs. Sure, he hasn’t even been in office four months yet, and his policies are just at the very beginning stages of implementation, but it’s clearly his fault. My chairperson gave me the name of another professor here in town who’s looking for a gardener, but I have a lot of allergies. She also reminded me that, when I do get a job, I need to take every chance I get to push social justice and gay marriage. I told her not to worry: I’d make Sean Penn proud.

I was really hoping that a lot of the school issues on Tuesday’s ballot would pass and ignite the teacher job market, but that wasn't the case. I don't understand how taxpayers can be so greedy when everyone I’ve met in the field of education is so selfless. I’m extra disappointed that I won’t be in the classroom next year because, during student teaching, I came up with this really cool lesson on high-speed rail. But Governor Kasich ruined that too. Maybe, if I could find a state where high-speed rail has been successful, I could apply for a job there.

Until then, I guess I’ll be working at McDonald’s. I thought that they’d be hurt by the recession too, but, when I applied there recently, the manager told me that, since they got that waiver from Obamacare, they’d be able to stay in business.

I just wanted to again thank you and all of the dedicated OEA members for looking out for me, just like you’re looking out for Ohio’s families.

Ohio teachers union urging members to integrate unionism and progressive politics into math class

The Buckeye Institute has put up a copy of the Ohio Education Association's monthly newsletter, and it has to be seen to be believed. (The link also points to their most recent analysis of Senate Bill 5, which is also a must-read.)

They come right out and say, "it's essential that they not only become teacher unionists, but teachers of unionism. We need to create a generation of students who support teachers and the movements of teachers for their rights."

Really, OEA? What about creating a generation of students that isn't failing math, reading and science?

Speaking of math, the OEA believes that even mathematics should have their progressive views included in the lesson. Math! They encourage Ohio teachers to teach "Radical Math". I wish I was making this up, but I'm not.

They actually lament that the math textbooks out there...I can't even believe I'm typing this...aren't political enough!!

Good math isn't the same as good politics!
There are several good math textbooks (although there is much debate over which these are) that have great ideas about group work and skill development, and are set inside larger contextual problems, but have nothing political in their material.
Good politics isn't the same as good math!
It's easy to think that a unit or lesson is a great one just because it covers important issues.

The article actually continues with a new section, "How to integrate social justice into a math class." How best to accomplish this? Take a look at some of their suggestions.

One good way to design a project or unit is by partnering with a community-based organization and do a project on their behalf. For example, find a group that wants to learn about how the community feels about an important community issue (ie. pollution, police presence, affordable housing). Your class could survey the community and present the results to the organization.

...

Identify the math concept/skill you want to teach, and download this chart to think about social issues that could help students understand this skill.

...

A larger question students should be asking is: "What are the problems my community is facing, and how can I use math to understand and address them?" But more specifically, pick a question that will guide the math and give focus to the unit. For example: "Which neighborhoods in our city have the highest rates of incarcerated youth, and what can we determine about the economic and demographic make-up of these communities?" or "Does race play a factor in who is getting mortgage loans in our city?". The question should have both a mathematically and social component to it.

Unbelievable.

The OEA also encourages teachers to use a website with 10 year old children that "aims to inform children (grades 4-7) on current news and world events from a progressive perspective and to inspire a passion for social justice and learning." What sort of educational stories do they have for your kids?

How about "Bush Wanted Abroad"? Or here's a good one. Global Warming Causes Snow.

My favorite story that the OEA thinks is appropriate for teachers to indoctrinate our children with? Free Bradley Manning.

The teacher's unions are engaged in the wholesale destruction of our education system. When you hear the always depressing statistics of how poorly our public schools perform in the world, now you know the main reason why. It's because the teacher unions are solely interested in their own power and their own extreme left-wing politics.



Remember these math lessons that the OEA wants to push on your kids the next time you see a teacher at a protest holding a sign that falsely claims "IT'S ABOUT THE CHILDREN!"

Bytor on Twitter

Hilliard Begs for Bargaining Reform

The Dispatch reports that, by an unofficial margin of 8,204 to 6,284, the Hilliard City School District (HCSD) ballot issue failed yesterday. The 6.9-mil permanent property tax hike was billed as necessary to avoid cuts to educational and extracurricular programs in one of the state’s best districts. What sort of cuts did we vote for by turning down Issue 7?

The $3,890,279 list of possible reductions includes:

• eliminating 51.5 administrative, certified and classified positions;
• reducing 247 classified positions;
• eliminating all middle school athletic programs;
• eliminating gifted instruction;
• eliminating fifth grade band and strings programs; and,
• eliminating transportation services for field trips, daycare services and FOCUS (gifted) shuttles.

As proof HCSD is serious about controlling spending, the district offers the following:

Since 2008, Hilliard City Schools has cut more than $6.5 million from its budget. These reductions consist of:

• pay freezes for all employees including administrators, teachers and support staff;
• elimination of five and delayed implementation of one administrative positions;
• eliminating 54.5 teaching positions including K-12 teachers, K-5 guidance counselors, K-5 unified arts teachers, school psychologist, adaptive physical education teachers and some gifted teachers;
• elimination of 55 classified positions including noon aids, some high school hall monitors and some district repair technicians;
• reduced 11 preschool aides from five to four days per week;
• not filling two high school positions;
• reduced stipends and extended days;
• elimination of some programs;
• reduction of central office and building budgets;
• more efficient energy pricing and consumption; and,
• decreasing transportation costs by increasing the number of group stops.

Can you spot what’s missing from both the past and planned cuts? That’s right: salary reductions. Though HCSD is willing to cut services, fire employees, and ask for a massive tax hike on the district’s property owners, the local branch of the Ohio Education Association (OEA) renders an obvious solution impossible.

Hilliard City Schools could save $3.9 million per year without firing a single employee or cutting a single service. In 2010, 517 of 1,975 employees were paid between $75,000 and $100,000. What if we rounded down and assumed each was paid not a penny more than $75,000? What if we then cut pay for each of these 517 employees by 10% and left them struggling to survive on $67,500 a year?

75,000 x 0.10 = 7,500
7,500 x 517 = $3,877,500

Easy as falling down, we’ve saved Hilliard taxpayers nearly as much as the cuts proposed by Superintendent McVey. That’s without even touching McVey’s $158,241 salary, or the salaries of the other 23 HCSD employees paid in excess of $100,000 in 2010. What if we also took 10% from these employees, assuming each was paid no more than $100,000?

100,000 x 0.10 = 10,000
10,000 x 24 = $240,000

To be sure, a 10% pay cut is drastic, but it’s for the children. If the affected employees care more about their pay than about the students whose academic and extracurricular programs the district is willing to cut, they’re welcome to look elsewhere for jobs paying $67,500 – $90,000 with lengthy summer and winter vacations. HCSD will no doubt have a wealth of applicants for the vacated positions, given central Ohio’s unemployment rate.

As of 2010, more than 27% of HCSD employees were paid $75,000 or greater. The latest Census Bureau fact sheet – from 2008, and certainly higher than the 2010 figures – pegs median household income in Franklin County at $51,246. A fourth of HCSD’s employees are paid bushels more than the county’s median household… yet when the budget is tight, teachers are fired and services cut instead of trimming salaries. What no market could ever sustain, the union forever demands.

Something to keep in mind during the union media blitz against Senate Bill 5! If you’re still not convinced, take a look at OEA pay and political spending. Lest you assume OEA is an anomaly, check out pay and political spending in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted at that hero and Columbus Tea Party.

Dems "enraged" at Kasich salaries, ignore similar salaries in their own party.

Not that double standards are anything surprising from this group, but here is another example.

Back in January, the lefty blogs in Ohio thought they had a story of "biblical proportions" (their own words) about Kasich, who hadn't even been sworn in yet.

Biblical proportions, eh? Wow. What secret skeleton had they found in Kasich's closet? Was he having an affair? Did he cheat on his taxes? What coup had they discovered that rivaled the parting of the Red Sea? Are you ready for this!?

They revealed Kasich's diabolical plan to...er...supposedly pay his staff more than Ted Strickland did. Yeah.

In a massive coup for the blogosphere of Biblical proportions, Joseph from Plunderbund obtained through a public records request the salaries of GOPer Gov.-elect John Kasich’s top staffers and guess what? Kasich is planning on paying his staff WAY more than Gov. Strickland did.

EARTH SHATTERING!

After they were done congratulating each other and slapping one another on the back, the Dispatch did an analysis, and found that, no, Kasich's overall staff doesn't make more than Strickland's did.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is living up to his promise to spend less money on employees than did former Gov. Ted Strickland - but by only 0.5 percent, or about $38,500.

The key for the new GOP governor: Kasich is projecting to hire four fewer staff members and save more than $171,000 on salaries from the previous administration, according to data from the Kasich administration and the Department of Administrative Services.

Still, they needed something to be outraged over. These are liberals we're talking about, remember. Without seething anger and total outrage to fill their lives, they'd be absolutely miserable. So, they expressed their shock at the salaries some of Kasich's staff would earn.

Strickland’s Communications Director Keith Dailey, for example, currently makes $89,003. While Kasich’s Scott Milburn is getting a bump to $120,000.

Press Secretary Amanda Wurst currently makes $69,992. Rob Nichols will get $90,000.00.

But the big boost is for Chief of Staff.

Strickland’s Chief of Staff John Haseley makes $122,990/year but Kasich’s incoming Chief of Staff Beth Hansen is going to receive $170,000. This is more money than every cabinet member but 3, more than the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, more than the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, Speaker and Senate President!

And while John Keeling doesn’t appear to be on the list yet (it’s still very incomplete), Jai Chabria is.

For his long-time friend and the second half of his two man office at Lehman, John Kasich made up a brand new position: Special Assistant to the Governor. And a brand new salary as well: $145,000.

And yes, they're still at it. They're rearranging numbers and doing everything they can to make it look like some sort of evil scheme is in the works, and that they were right back in January.

Seriously. The Strickland administration left Ohio with a giant $8 billion hole, and these characters are spending all this time and energy trying to make some sort of case over 0.01% of the state budget. (A rough rounded estimate, folks. $5 million staff out of a $50 billion budget.)

Good grief, people. I understand their obsession with SB5. They are completely, 100% bought and paid for by the unions, so that issue is a matter of survival to them. But this salary issue is ridiculous. Especially when you look at the staff salaries of other Ohio elected officials, which is exactly what the Plain Dealer did recently.

Check out some of the salaries of Democrats working for Democrat Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald.

Matt Carroll (D)
Position: Chief of staff
Salary: $140,000

Majeed Makhlouf (D)
Position: Law director
Salary: $130,000

Larry Benders (D)
Position: Development director
Salary: $160,000

Ed Jerse (D)
Position: Regional collaboration director
Salary: $107,500

Gerald Fuerst (D)
Position: Clerk of courts
Salary: $75,860

Rick Werner (D)
Position: Human services director
Salary: $117,873

Bonnie Teeuwen (D)
Position: Public works director
Salary: $120,000

Elise Hara (D)
Position: Human resources director
Salary: $125,000

Joseph Gauntner (D)
Position: Deputy chief, human services
Salary: $132,308

Nathan Kelly (D)
Position: Deputy chief, development
Salary: $98,000

Norberto Colon (D)
Position: Deputy chief, justice
Salary: $98,000

Sharon Cole (D)
Position: Deputy chief, operations
Salary: $92,019

Nicole Dailey Jones (D)
Position: Communications director
Salary: $85,000

John Kohlstrand (D)
Position: Press secretary
Salary: $83,000

OMGZ!!1!!1!!1
BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS!!

Now, personally, I couldn't care less what these folks make. But I thought it might interest you to find out that for some high-level positions, the governor's staff doesn't make salaries that are out of line with their counterparts in other government bodies, Republican or Democrat.

But since they want so badly to compare Kasich's staff with Strickland's staff, I'll indulge them. Remember when we talked about how the Strickland administration couldn't follow the simple procedure of appointing people to state posts?

Last month, it was discovered that Board of Education member Martha Harris was never confirmed by the Senate. Why? Did the Ohio Senate not approve her appointment? Was she not qualified?

None of the above.

The Ohio Senate never even considered her appointment, because Ted Strickland's office never sent the paperwork to the Senate.

Oops.

...

Four more people, including two from the Cleveland area, sitting on various state boards or commissions could soon be kicked out of their positions.

Republican Gov. John Kasich's office on Thursday sent letters notifying them that there are no records showing they were ever properly confirmed to the board or commission they were appointed to under former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.

Guess what? Last week, it was revealed that even MORE people are getting screwed by Ted's bumbling administration, long after he left office.

Paperwork glitches have tied up six pardons acted on by former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland right before he left office.

The administration of current Gov. John Kasich (KAY'-sik) says in five of the cases there's no official documentation that a pardon was granted. The Columbus Dispatch reports the sixth person received his pardon but it's not official because the wrong first name is on the papers.

And these jokers want to obsess over Strickland's staff versus Kasich's? I bet those folks who lost their jobs and their pardons wish that Ted had hired competent people instead of the bargain basement folks he apparently had working for him.

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Soak the Rich: Apple

Sad to say, propping up America’s entitlement programs will require sacrifice from CEOs and corporations of all stripes. Even good hipster corporations like Apple will need to pay a “fair share” determined by capitalism-hating leftists. If Apple’s executives think the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world is enough, they’re in for a rude awakening!

Remember the depth of the fiscal hole the US government is in: a projected 2011 deficit of $1.62 trillion. You might say excess spending is to blame... if you’re a fascist right-wing nut! Excess spending is not the problem, because Senator Sherrod Brown and President Barack Obama have said so. No, America’s balance sheet is crooked because of greedy CEOs and corporations. Let’s redistribute some wealth!

Now Soaking: Apple

• CEO Timothy D. Cook’s compensation is listed as $58.19 million. Timothy has been an officer on the Apple board since 2002, so he’s got enough money. His $58,190,000 will help fund entitlements and economic “stimulus” programs.
• Apple’s income statement lists $4,527,000,000 in income taxes in 2010. That’s not nearly enough, but let’s be generous and simply double it. $4.527 billion more from Apple will help Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama continue the Keynesian spending that has been so successful these past few years.
• What was a $1,620,000,000,000 deficit has been trimmed to a more manageable $1,615,414,810,000 deficit.

Not to worry – doubling Apple’s income taxes won’t cause undue harm to the corporation’s 49,400 employees or the holders of its 924.8 million outstanding shares of common stock! Increasing Apple’s taxes by more than 1/4 of the corporation’s net income also won’t increase the price of laptops, MP3 players, or anything else. Burgling 100% of CEO Timothy D. Cook’s pay will not send the nation’s business leaders fleeing for safer shores.

We, The People who support Sherrod Brown’s fiscal policies, hold these leftist conceits to be self-evident.

Cross-posted at that hero.

Dennis Kucinich might be leaving Ohio to stay in Congress

We've talked before about how Ohio is losing two Congressional seats. For several reasons, the consensus is that Dennis Kucinich's seat is going to be eliminated.

First, the GOP will be in complete control of redistricting. A Democrat held seat will definitely be one of the 2 seats to go. Two, Cleveland has lost a LOT of population, and Dennis' district is western Cuyahoga County. Three, the other Cleveland area seat is held by Marcia Fudge, the state's only black representative. That means she is safe, and he district will have to grow.

The word on the street is that Betty Sutton's 13th district to the west will be combined with Dennis' 10th, and that the two would face off in a primary a year from now. Whoever won in this hypothetical matchup, it would be good news for NE Ohio conservatives. We either rid Congress of Dennis the Menace or Betty the Pelosi puppet.

How does it get better than that? If Dennis leaves Ohio altogether. My friends, sometimes dreams really can come true.

Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich may be considering a move. The eight-term Cleveland congressman is rumored to be interested in moving out of Ohio to seek re-election to Congress from Washington State’s new 10th district.

According to Kucinich’s communications director Nathan White, “After people found out that Congressman Kucinich’s district could be eliminated or substantially altered in congressional redistricting by the Ohio Legislature’s Republican majority, Congressman Kucinich received requests from people in twenty states, including Washington State, encouraging him to move and run in their area.”

Dennis has been spending a lot of time in Washington. He's been holding fundraisers there. He marched in a Seattle parade to promote rights for illegal aliens. Speaking of aliens, Washington is where "he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind" from a UFO at Shirley MacLaine's house. So he obviously has a soft spot for the state.

When asked for comment, Kucinich's office isn't denying the rumor at all.

"Congressman Kucinich appreciates the interest expressed in his public service. As he has repeatedly said, he fully intends to remain in Congress; he just doesn’t know in what district he will run. In the meantime, he is devoted to serving Ohio’s 10th district as it currently stands."

Or, put another way, Dennis will do anything to remain in power. But I'm not complaining. If it means Dennis would move 2000 miles away from Ohio, more power to him.

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Soak the Rich: Exxon Mobil

If you’re looking to squeeze more dollars out of private industry fat-cats – and what Progressive isn’t! – Exxon Mobil is a perfect candidate. Exxon’s currently top dog in the S&P 500 index by market cap, in addition to being a ravager of the planet and a generally non-patriotic corporate beast.

Here’s what we’re working with: a projected 2011 US budget deficit of $1.62 trillion. That means the federal government is spending $1.62 trillion more than it’s taking in. Excess spending is not the problem, because Senator Sherrod Brown and President Barack Obama have said so. No, the trouble with America’s balance sheet lies with greedy CEOs and corporations. Let’s redistribute some wealth!

Now Soaking: Exxon Mobil

• CEO Rex Tillerson’s compensation is listed as $21.48 million. Rex has been an officer on the Exxon board since 1999, so he’s got enough money. Rex’s $21,480,000 will help fund entitlements and economic “stimulus” programs.
• Exxon's income statement lists $21,561,000,000 in income taxes in 2010. That’s not nearly enough, but let’s be generous and simply double it. $21.56 billion more from Exxon will help Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama continue the Keynesian spending that has been so successful these past few years.
• What was a $1,620,000,000,000 deficit is now a mere $1,598,417,520,000 deficit.

Not to worry – doubling taxes on Exxon won’t cause undue harm to the corporation’s 83,600 employees or the holders of its 5 billion outstanding shares of common stock! Doubling taxes on Exxon also won’t affect the price of gasoline or anything else, and taking 100% of CEO Rex Tillerson’s pay won’t send the nation’s business leaders fleeing for safer shores. We hold these leftist conceits to be self-evident.

It also helps that essentially everyone (I’m including myself here) is terrible at visualizing big numbers. Leftist budgeting works by taking in tons of money, spending tons and tons of money, then shaking down “the rich” for tons more. Billions, trillions… it all works out, right?

Tons - (Tons + Tons) + Tons = Balanced Budget!

Cross-posted at that hero.

[Updated 05-03-2011 to specify that the second bullet point is from the company's income statement. I didn't look at write-offs or anything else to determine income tax; just pulled the number from the income statement.]

Soak the Rich: Patriotic Millionaires

When it comes to debt, the United States government is in deep. How can we afford the vast welfare state that makes America great? Senator Sherrod Brown and President Barack Obama have this bold idea...

The projected 2011 budget deficit is $1.62 trillion – with a T – if you believe the extremist anti-government crusaders in the White House Office of Management and Budget:

The Heritage Foundation’s 2011 Budget Chart Book has plenty more charts filled with “numbers” and “math” and every kind of capitalist propaganda. Dedicated Progressives should ignore the lot of it… but you knew that already!

A group we can trust is Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength. They are good millionaires, as proven by their lobbying for increased taxes. Unfortunately, since we’ve got a $1,620,000,000,000 hole in fiscal 2011 alone, the chubby-cats on the Patriotic Millionaires bandwagon won’t make much difference.

Consider this: in 2009, 7.8 million American households had a net worth of $1,000,000 or more. That’s a much broader target than the folks making a million in a single year, and it’s guaranteed to include families outside President Obama’s arbitrary definition of “wealthy.” Most are Americans who have worked and saved for decades and already pay thousands in federal income tax each year. Still, we could take a cool $100,000 from every millionaire household… and it would cover less than half this year’s deficit.

This won’t do. Not only would it produce too little revenue, 7.8 million households equals too many voters for Senator Brown and President Obama to alienate. That’s why a serious soaking of the rich requires serious fat-cats – like the CEOs taking home tens of millions a year and the S&P 500 corporations who employ them. We’ll get started next week!

Meanwhile, one thing about the Patriotic Millionaires hoopla confuses me. If you’re desperate to give the government more money, why not just do it? The United States Treasury has an online form for donations to reduce the public debt. If the Patriotic Millionaires stand by this proud message:

WE SHOULD PAY MORE,
WE WANT TO PAY MORE…

...then seriously, gang. Pay.gov. Go wild.

Cross-posted at that hero.

Public Union Tail Wags Dog

The Ohio Education Association (OEA) and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have no convincing arguments, but Ohio’s public unions also have no shortage of defenders. Let’s review…

• OneOhio Now: A coalition of unions, community organizers, and leftist think-tanks
• Proud Ohio Workers: An AFSCME boycott-protection racket
• We Are Ohio: An OEA front group
• Join the Future: Another OEA front group
• Policy Matters Ohio: A Progressive think-tank funded by the unions
• ProgressOhio: Another Progressive think-tank funded by the unions
• Innovation Ohio: A Progressive think-tank founded this winter to fill Ohio’s gaping demand for Progressive think-tanks
• Every Democrat in the state – Millions in AFSCME and OEA donations have nothing to do with their unanimous support

In short, the self-styled champions of Ohio’s middle class who demand powerful public unions are the unions themselves and the political groups reliant on union cash. They are professional class-warriors who increase the cost of government for a living, blaming "the rich" for Ohio’s structural imbalance between revenue and spending.

They lack even a shadow of credibility.

Data (view source worksheet) from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and US Department of Labor.

Politicians excel at creating mechanisms whereby a privileged few are shielded from fiscal reality by an even more privileged fewer. Public unions are a textbook case of this, and no amount of posturing from the unions or their allies in the Ohio Democratic Party should obscure that fact. Union bosses capitalize on a market for demonizing markets, and get rich by prying money from the working people they claim to represent.

Make no mistake: the full alphabet soup of unions and their comrades want to raise Ohio’s taxes. That’s the “moderate” alternative to the sort of spending cuts Governor Kasich and the General Assembly have suggested. If you’re a union boss pulling down six figures – or a union member covered by Jurassic tenure protections – a tax increase would be a good deal. If you’re anyone else, the even more stifled business environment that would result should worry you far more than the unions’ hollow class warfare routine.

Cross-posted at that hero.

Ken Blackwell appears to be inching closer to a Senate run

In the past week, we have seen more evidence that former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is seriously considering a run for the GOP nomination to take on Senator Sherrod Brown.

A few weeks ago, we reported on Blackwell's good performance in a couple of polls, winning both of them. And Ken also fared best in head-to-head matchups against Brown.

If the election for U.S. Senate was held today, and the only candidates running were Ken Blackwell and Sherrod Brown, for whom would you vote?

Blackwell 32.2%
Brown 45.0%
Undecided 22.8%

The results against Brown are not encouraging, but Sherrod can't be too comfortable sitting at 45%, either.

And in the same matchup against Brown, Tiberi and Mandel fared much worse than Blackwell, getting 20.8% and 21.4%, respectively.

Then, last week, we shared an email that we received from Senator Jim DeMint's PAC, that indicates that the well-funded, tea-party backed group would definitely be aiming to replace Sherrod Brown with a conservative candidate during this cycle.

I'm confident that a courageous, constitutional conservative can defeat Sherrod Brown, and I'm confident we will have one to support in this race. But we need to start banking resources now to defeat him.

Ohio is a swing state so winning won't be easy or cheap. Voters in the Buckeye State need to know what Sherrod Brown has been doing in Washington. They need to know that he routinely votes for more government at the expense of their jobs and their freedoms.

Last week, Roll Call told us that Ken Blackwell has already contacted DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund, and also the NRSC, about a 2012 race against Brown.

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R) has reached out to both the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) operation to talk about a bid against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) as part of his continued interest in the race.

Encouraged by recent polls that show him leading the GOP field, Blackwell told Roll Call this week that he is still actively considering a bid against Brown — but it will be several weeks until he makes any kind of formal announcement about his intentions.

First, the SCF. There is no doubt in my mind that Ken Blackwell is a conservative that DeMint would endorse. He's correct on all of the right issues. He's unwaveringly pro-life. He's not just pro-2nd amendment, he's on the NRA Board. He's an unquestionable fiscal conservative, recently pushing for a balanced budget amendment.

The same can also be said of Josh Mandel, however, as I have discussed before. The SCF does make endorsements in primaries for open seats. But if it's between Mandel and Blackwell, I think they may hold off for a while. Endorsing one would mean campaigning against and using their resources against another solid conservative, a position I don't think they want to be in.

As far as the NRSC goes, I'd be surprised to see them endorse someone in the primary. They ended up with a lot of egg on their face after endorsing Charlie Crist, angering a lot of their base. They won't do that again anytime soon (I hope).

The third group in the mix is going to be the biggest hurdle for Ken Blackwell, and that's Ohio's GOP establishment. I'm telling you right now, they will be behind Josh Mandel. The relationship between the ORP and Ken Blackwell is cool, at best.

Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine told the Columbus Dispatch party leaders would be willing to discuss a Senate bid with Blackwell, but he questioned whether Blackwell could overcome his 2006 drubbing in the governor's race.

"This will be a tough election cycle, and he needs to show how 2012 will not be 2006," DeWine told the Dispatch.

Blackwell has responded to DeWine, and tweeted that indeed, 2012 is not 2006. He also reminds DeWine that he has already supported another candidate who lost big in 2006, namely, DeWine's own 2nd cousin, Mike DeWine. Mike DeWine is the very Senator who lost his seat to Sherrod Brown, getting drubbed at the polls just like Blackwell did.

If you aren't familiar with what Blackwell is referring to, Dave Yost entered the race for Attorney General long before Mike DeWine did. Once DeWine did enter the race, Yost mysteriously decided to run for Auditor instead. The ORP then gave their full endorsement to Yost and DeWine, even though there were still other candidates in the two races. Although they deny it, this was clearly orchestrated by the ORP. The fact that the two DeWines are related made it even more fishy. In the end, the GOP swept every statewide race, so perhaps all's well that ends well.

I've expressed the same concerns about Blackwell's loss in 2006, but he makes a good point. With lots of bad news out of Iraq, that was a wave election for Democrats. They took over the Senate and the House that year, plus won every statewide office except for Auditor. Blackwell also had another handicap with former GOP Governor Bob Taft hung around his neck, who finished his term with popularity somewhere in the 20s.

If Mike DeWine could come back from that loss to win statewide, why can't Ken Blackwell? He has certainly won statewide before. And if the ORP could get behind Mike DeWine after his 2006 pounding, why couldn't they get behind Ken Blackwell as well?

Ken says he will make an official announcement in May. Kevin Coughlin has also filed paperwork to enter the race, but realistically, this race would be between Blackwell and Mandel. The bad news is that that is one tough choice for an Ohio conservative to make. The good news is, that no matter who wins, our challenger to Sherrod Brown would definitely be somebody we can get excited about.

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Soak the Rich? I'm IN!

Earlier this month, fellow Miami alum Paul Ryan and his Path to Prosperity budget wrecked conservatism as I know it. Ryan wants to make America more competitive by renovating the welfare state and reducing taxes! This is a bad idea, because everyone knows America’s greatness is rooted in entitlement programs and progressive taxes on The Rich.

As every leftist reaction to Congressman Ryan’s plan proves, class warfare is a central component of today’s illiberal “liberalism,” and government redistribution a vital plank in the Democratic Party platform. If you’re poor, the government should decide what you deserve and see that you get it. If you’re rich, the government should decide what you need – and see that you don’t get more. Consider Senator Sherrod Brown’s whinging after voting for some measly spending cuts:

But as we take our next steps in reducing the deficit we must look at the entire budget and not just the small slice devoted to spending on programs like education and workforce development. And we must reject the proposal put forth by House Republicans that would cut Medicare to give extra tax cuts to millionaires.

It’d be one thing if Ohio’s shamefully stupid Democrat senator said things like this regularly, but he’s got company from a somewhat more powerful liberal named Barack:

There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. And I don’t think there’s anything courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill. That’s not a vision of the America I know.

Mary Katharine Ham and David Burge (with later help from Bill Whittle) demolished the illusion that higher taxes on the rich will keep the nation’s entitlement programs humming, but math doesn’t deter Sherrod & Barry. Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis (among many, many others) trashed the president’s budget “framework,” and The Wall Street Journal explained again that it’s impossible to fund the welfare state by hiking taxes on the wealthy. No matter. If the welfare state cannot be beaten, it must be joined!

Were I still a capitalist swine, I’d say the Democrats who live by promising endless goodies will have to find the cash somewhere; either they’re too clueless to realize The Rich can’t cover the tab, or they’re lying through their teeth. Fortunately, my senator and president have cleared the dark fog of mathematics from my eyes: let’s find some fat-cats to soak!

This post marks the start of a series. To assist Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama in their re-election campaigns, I’ll be listing selfish companies and individuals who should be “encouraged” to better support America’s entitlement spending. With luck, this will be as effective as the help I offered Bob Etheridge in 2010!

Cross-posted at that hero.

Kaptur and Fudge going on "hunger strike" over 1% spending cuts

Evidence that Democrats don't give a crap about the massive debt crisis this county has, part #324.

Remember the deal to cut $38 billion in spending from the FY 2011 budget? A cut of about 1% of total federal spending? Well, some of the spending hogs in Congress still think cutting even 1% is too much, including my representative, Marcy Kaptur, and Cleveland Congresswoman Marcia Fudge.

Former Dayton congressman and U.N. World Food Program Ambassador Tony Hall has been fasting since March 28 to protest proposed House of Representatives budget cuts that he says would disproportionately harm the poor.

Twenty-eight Democratic members of Congress, including Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights and Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, have agreed to join Hall in fasting for a day between now and Easter.

“I’m proud to stand with my colleagues here today, joining in this fast,” said Marcy Kaptur. “I fasted yesterday. I’m very proud of my colleagues.”

Unbelievable. What has to happen before people like this realize that we can't keep writing checks for TRILLIONS that we don't have? Maybe when our credit gets downgraded, they will see the light!

Oh wait...

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Chris Redfern's latest attack is just plane stupid

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman and Buckeye State Pirate Chris Redfern has opened his mouth again. And as usual, it had nothing to do with helping Ohioans or improving the state, just another pathetic attempt to twist the governor's every waking move into some lame political attack.

The Dayton Daily News came out with a silly hit piece about Kasich's increased use of the state planes.

Gov. John Kasich’s entourage for a 144-mile trip from Columbus to Cleveland last month was so large his office used two state-owned planes to transport the group, costing taxpayers $2,199.50.

In his first 81 days in office, the Republican Kasich used the Hawker-Beechcraft King Air planes for 16 in-state trips and four out-of-state treks at a total cost of $31,400. By comparison, former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland spent $31,849 on plane travel during his first 13 months in office.

Never missing an opportunity to put his diarrhea of the mouth on display, get a load of what Redfern says about the two planes owned by the state for its governors to use to travel around Ohio: The governor should stop using the planes to travel around Ohio.

“I think we ought to sell the damn planes,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said. “The governor loves privatization. He ought to drive down to Port Columbus Airport and fly coach like the rest of us.”

Ridiculous. The plane is there for the governor to do his job. Ohio is a large state. No matter who the governor is or what party they belong to, that's exactly what the planes are there for. For the governor to use in pursuit of the state's business.

Brian Tucker of Crain's Cleveland Business agrees.

The only people who care about this are those who intend to criticize Gov. Kasich for one reason or another. Frankly, I'm impressed with how much he has traveled the state for a variety of reasons. A governor should be visible to the people he governs, and if that means taking the state plane because of schedule demands — well, isn't that why we have them?

We should expect the news media — in their critical watchdog role — to blister the governor if he was jetting around the state for personal reasons, but that doesn't appear to be the case. But to write this story, and then let the state Democratic Party chair say something as useless and partisan as "He ought to drive down to Port Columbus Airport and fly coach like the rest of us" is nothing more than transparent political sniping.

Not only is it the stupid political hackery that we're used to from Redfern, it would actually cost the state more money if we followed his suggestion.

So it cost $2200 to fly the governor and a number of his staff to Cleveland. The DDN piece mentions that for this particual trip, the group was large enough that they used two planes. Since each plane can carry 10 passengers, lets conservatively assume that there were 10 people in the group total.

That comes out to $220 per person, round trip. That's a bargain, folks. Go do a search on a round trip commercial flight from Columbus to, er...Cleveland. They start at $800. And for all the traveling that a governor has to do, Redfern would have him sitting around in commercial airports for hours, several times a month? Yeah, that's an efficient use of the governor's time, not to mention his staff!

Finally, would Redfern have us believe that during Ted Strickland's entire 4 year term, he never traveled with the governor on the state plane? I don't have the actual data on this, but I would be shocked if Chris never did.

Tucker concludes his piece with this comparison between the two governors, and their attention to Northeast Ohio.

I only wish Ted Strickland would have used the planes a bit more and been in Northeast Ohio the way his successor has been. And, while I'm in the wishful mood, can't people stop trying to make political points in useless ways?

Irrespective of party, Ohio's governors should be visible to the electorate. They need to be talking to the people across this state, learning firsthand about the particular challenges facing them. We have state-owned planes to make productive use of any governor's time.

I hope they all follow Gov Kasich's lead in the future.

Ya know, judging by their underperformance in Cuyahoga County last November, I bet Ted Strickland and Chris Redfern secretly wish they had used those planes to visit Northeast Ohio more often, too.

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