Ken's Comments

Democrats are the masters of "projection."  In the language of politics, projection means you take your own characteristic and "project" it onto your opponent.  Remember the kid's game of saying "I know you are, but what am I? when someone criticizes them.  There are so many examples of Democrats doing this but today we'll talk about Democrats and affordability. What are Democrats to do to win back the House and possibly the Senate in 2026?  Simple, apply the tactic of "projection" and blame Republicans and Trump for higher prices and claim they, the Democrats, are the party of "affordability." It's comical because when we evaluate which party made the cost of living less affordable on a national scale, it's the Democrats.  During the years of the Biden Administration, which we'll define as January 2021 to December 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that prices for all items were 15.77% higher, or roughly 5% yea...

During 2024, we saw a great example of the different philosophies of our political parties. Kamala Harris proposed $25,000 loans to small businesses and assistance to black men wanting to get into the marijuana business.  While running for President, Kamala Harris proposed increasing taxes on business and "the rich."  After the election, Senator Elizabeth Warren suggested a way to reduce the deficit is for rich people to return the money given to them by the Government with the Trump tax cuts.  To address housing issues, Kamala Harris proposed building 3 million new homes.  The Mayor of Denver put an initiative on the ballot to raise taxes to help people with rent assistance.   Donald Trump on the other hand proposed reducing regulations, reducing the tax burden on businesses, and eliminating taxes on hard work with his no tax on tips and no tax on overtime proposals.  To address housing issues, Montana's legislature in the last session provided a prop...

After posting the case against Hillary, folks challenged me to be positive and make the Case FOR Trump.  Challenge accepted. Let me start by saying I'm not a Trump Fan.  Of the 17 people who ran for the Republican nomination, Trump was about #13 on the list.  That said, we have four candidates for President and we have to vote for one.  So here goes, the case for Trump. 0. Repealing Obamacare - forgot this on the original list and it's way to important to put at the bottom and I'm too lazy to renumber.  Donald Trump will work to repeal Obamacare.  The program is starting to crater.  Premiums are growing at rates of almost 20%.  Less people are enrolling.  Unexpecting citizens are getting hit with surprise tax penalties even if they do have coverage. Hillary Clinton will not repeal Obamacare. Advantage Trump. 1. He'll get things done - Everyone complains that Washington is broken.  Nothing can get done. Who better to change th...

After posting the case against Hillary, folks challenged me to be positive and make the Case FOR Trump.  Challenge accepted. Let me start by saying I'm not a Trump Fan.  Of the 17 people who ran for the Republican nomination, Trump was about #13 on the list.  That said, we have four candidates for President and we have to vote for one.  So here goes, the case for Trump. 0. Repealing Obamacare - forgot this on the original list and it's way to important to put at the bottom and I'm too lazy to renumber.  Donald Trump will work to repeal Obamacare.  The program is starting to crater.  Premiums are growing at rates of almost 20%.  Less people are enrolling.  Unexpecting citizens are getting hit with surprise tax penalties even if they do have coverage. Hillary Clinton will not repeal Obamacare. Advantage Trump. 1. He'll get things done - Everyone complains that Washington is broken.  Nothing can get done. Who better to change th...

If Democrat insiders - examples: Hillary Clinton, her campaign, Democrats who want her to win, President Obama and his supporters, and the Liberal media types who support them - really cared about the poor wouldn't they be talking about all the people out of work who have fallen off the Unemployment rolls?  Wouldn't they be saying the unemployment problem is much worse than the unemployment rate reported by the Government?  Wouldn't they be mentioning the fact that the employment levels in the US are lower than they have been in quite some time? If they really cared about the poor, wouldn't they be concerned about the number of people who are employed but who are holding lower paying jobs or who have to take a second job to make ends meet?  You might say arguing for a $15 minimum wage is an attempt to address that problem and that has a modicum of legitimacy.  My counter argument is two-fold.  First I'd rather they were proposing ideas to create better pa...

The corporate tax rates in the U.S. are the highest in the industrial world.  The tax code is ridiculously complex.  Business decisions are made half based on what is good for the business and half based on what enables the company to reduce taxes. Is it any wonder that companies are leaving America to evade taxes?  Companies are using a process called inversion to transform themselves from American companies to foreign companies, moving to countries with lower taxes. The ones that aren't leaving are investing money made off shore into plants and R&D in other countries because taxes on bringing the money back to the US make that impossible. So what do you do to stop this exodus?  Well Hilary Clinton's idea is to make the tax code worse not better.  She wants to create a penalty to deter companies from leaving the US. Gee whiz.  Great idea.  Don't take the simple approach of making the tax code simpler and lowering taxes.  Oh no, keep...

A very interesting story from the NY Times about the crisis looming ahead thanks to the Bush / Obama economic recovery plan. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/business/23rates.html?th&emc=th Essentially, the Bush / Obama economic recovery plan is a lot like taking out an adjustable rate mortgage with really low teaser interest rates. When interest rates go up, the Federal government is going to be slammed. The NY Times - not what I'd call a conservative news outlet - article has a quote estimating that interest payments on the money we've borrowed will be as much as $700 billion per year in the future. That is as much as we spent this year on the economic stimulus bill and we will be paying that each year. Now, just to review, what is Bush / Obama economic recovery plan? It involves spending lots and lots of money that the Government does not have including: Economic stimulus - $400 billion under President Bush if I recall correctly, repeated by President Obama at a higher ...

I was moved to post my thoughts on President Obama's economic policies in order to, in some small way, counter the comments of pro-Obama media persons. Specifically, Janeane Garofalo ranted (I believe on MSNBC) that everyone who opposed President Obama is a racist. She said a lot of other things derogatory about such opponents too -- tea-bagging, rednecks I think was another term used. Paul Begala, a CNN commentator, said on the Don Imus radio show that everyone who opposed President Obama's tax policies were unpatriotic. He added a variety of other derogatory comments as well. Well, if not wanting to see a return to the economic conditions that existed during the period of 1979 to 1982 makes me a racist or unpatriotic, then so be it. Unfortunately, pro-Obama commentators don't seem to want to discuss rational arguments, they just want to resort to name calling. p.s. Page back to my discussion of what is a conservative point of view if you wonder why I say "Pro-Obama...

I am very concerned that the President's policies are going to lead this country into more serious economic problems than we have today. This is not to say that all aspects of the Obama Administration's policies are wrong. However, the fundamental premise of these policies is wrong. I have not heard anyone in the Obama Administration admit the difficult truth that the economy is changing nor does it seem that the goals they are pursuing reflect that. If the economy does not recover along the lines they project, then the massive expenditures being made will come home to roost in the former of significant inflation. The Obama Administration has called for spending massive amounts of money over the next few years. These amounts will raise the national debt to staggering new levels. Some of the things they are spending on are good ideas -- green technology, improving the environment, more mass transit, supporting Amtrak. All of these are good ideas. However these are merely...