Handshake

So… what is Clinton thinking?

No Clue

Wow.

Just how bad was it?  Romer admitted that no one at the White House understood the fundamentals of this recession, and how they just assumed it would behave like previous recessions.  And it might have done so, had the Obama administration applied the policies that alleviated previous recessions, especially those that Ronald Reagan used to pull the US out of a decade-long stagnation slump where high inflation eroded the buying power of Americans.  Instead of cutting taxes (especially capital gains taxes) and reducing regulation to entice new investment, Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats chose to chase a government takeover of health care, a massive tax on energy production that would penalize expansion and growth, and expanding the jurisdiction on Wall Street of the same agencies that had watched the collapse come and did nothing about it.

Romer, however, still hasn’t got a clue why a one-time expenditure of government funds didn’t make things hunky-dory:

MPD Seeks To Follow Law

Well, it’s a start.

Milwaukee police officers who retire to Arizona and Florida can easily get permits to carry hidden guns in those states, just like most other residents.

Soon, hundreds of former MPD officers in Wisconsin also could be able to carry concealed weapons, under a federal law that allows retired officers to be certified annually and carry their guns in any state.

The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act was passed in 2004, and many other Wisconsin law enforcement agencies have been certifying their retirees to carry guns for years.

So after six years, MPD will finally get around to implementing the law.  But they will do so with onerous regulations. 

Retirees would have to pass the same firing range testing as active officers, using MPD-approved guns, and sign waivers that would clarify the city has no liability for any later use of the guns by the retired officers.

In addition, either Tobin or Flynn could revoke a retiree’s certification for any reason, Tobin said, and only retirees who are residents of Wisconsin can apply.

The certification procedure will cost $100.

Administration Blocks Importation of M-1s

Garands and Carbines, that is:

The South Korean government, in an effort to raise money for its military, wants to sell nearly a million antique M1 rifles that were used by U.S. soldiers in the Korean War to gun collectors in America.

The Obama administration approved the sale of the American-made rifles last year. But it reversed course and banned the sale in March – a decision that went largely unnoticed at the time but that is now sparking opposition from gun rights advocates.

A State Department spokesman said the administration’s decision was based on concerns that the guns could fall into the wrong hands.

“The transfer of such a large number of weapons—87,310 M1 Garands and 770,160 M1 Carbines—could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes,” the spokesman told FoxNews.com.

“We are working closely with our Korean allies and the U.S. Army in exploring alternative options to dispose of these firearms.”

Concerns that the guns could fall into the wrong hands?  Like the roving bands of criminals who prefer a heavy-ass rifle that kicks like a small mule?  Or criminals who go for the lighter carbine and it’s weak-ass, non-standard, expensive ammunition?

Why can’t they just be honest and say the real reason—“we don’t like guns”?

These guns are of great interest to collectors because they’re historic.  It’ll be a shame when the administrations comes up with its inevitable solution and scraps ‘em.

French Railway Company Faces Opposition For Transporting Jews to Nazi Camps

Do they have a point?

ORLANDO, Fla. – The French national railway’s hope to bid on the first high-speed tracks in the United States is running into resistance from Holocaust survivors because of the company’s role in transporting Jews to Nazi death camps.

[...]

“Why does this company deserve my tax dollars when they cooperated with the Nazis and let their trains transport people to be murdered?” said Goldstein, 71, who lives in Boca Raton.

SNCF stands for Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais. The company has argued that it had no control over operations when France was under Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1944 and was under orders to transport Jews to death camps. The firm also has said the French government has made an apology and offered reparations, although survivors contend the company itself has never made such amends.

“We plan to have a full disclosure of our records and complete transparency,” said Peter Kelly, an American-based attorney for SNCF. “The fact is many railway workers were killed by Nazis, many were bullied and the company was under control of an occupied government.”

The Fundraiser That Wasn’t

Oops.

The Wisconsin Republican Party is blasting Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett for a fundraiser with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that never happened.

The state GOP sent out a press release Wednesday saying Barrett hosted a “super secret” fundraiser with Pelosi on Tuesday night but didn’t want to admit it. Their release showed drawings of Pelosi handing Barrett a bag of money.

Problem is, there was no fundraiser. Spokesman for both Barrett and Pelosi confirmed to The Associated Press that it didn’t occur.

Republican Party spokesman Andrew Welhouse says he thought the fundraiser happened because he heard about it on Milwaukee talk radio.

Fewer Illegal Aliens

Good!

The number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in two decades — decreasing by 8 percent as the sour economy dried up jobs and increased enforcement made it harder to sneak across the border with Mexico, a new study finds.

Much of the decline comes from a sharp drop-off in illegal immigrants from the Caribbean, Central America and South America attempting to cross the southern border of the U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center, which based its report on an analysis of 2009 census data.

K-12 Bailouts

Some school districts’ bailouts aren’t so much.

Lakeland Union High School, for instance, is getting $45. MHLT is hauling in $28. In these parts, Arbor Vitae-Woodruff was the big winner - it gets $125.

Washington County Gets a New District Attorney

Yep.

A longtime West Bend prosecutor has been named district attorney for Washington County by Gov. Jim Doyle.

Mark Bensen has worked in the Washington County office since 2001 and was named deputy district attorney last year by District Attorney Todd Martens. Martens was named to the circuit court bench this year by Doyle, creating the opening for a successor.

Bensen will take office immediately for a term lasting until 2013.

Shifting taxation

My column for the Daily News is online.  It’s called, “Shifting taxation.”  Here’s a snippet:

Now we get to this year. The clear message is that the Washington County sales tax is no longer a temporary measure to meet immediate concerns. Instead, it’s a permanent fixture of our tax structure to be used by the Washington County Board for whatever purpose they deem expedient at the time.

  What’s the lesson? A tax levied for whatever purpose will continue in perpetuity irrespective of the original justification for the levy.

UPDATE: The following is the West Bend School District Response:

Dear Owen,

I read your article regarding the penny solution.  In your article you do not
mention a specific school district advocating for the penny solution.

I did want to clarify that in the West Bend School District legislative platform the
penny solution is not being recommended.

The Board too understands that the penny solution does not solve the fundamental
issues that cause the issues with binding arbitration for salaries, benefits and
mandated retirement requirements.  The platform basis is to change the laws that
create the issues and not layer funding sources that continue the current
requirements.

Sincerely,

Pat Herdrich

No More Throwing Away Electronics

You know what this means...

Beginning Wednesday, a long list of electronic equipment is banned from Wisconsin landfills and incinerators, under a new state electronics recycling law.

Devices on the banned list include televisions, cell phones, computers and monitors, keyboards, printers, scanners and fax machines, as well as DVD players, VCRs and DVRs.

The coming months will see all sorts of electronic equipment dumped on roadsides.  Human nature is human nature. 

Phantom Voters

This kind of stuff undermines confidence in the integrity of our elections.

State officials spent the last 16 months trying to clean up information for 777,500 people who registered to vote between January 2006 and August 2008. They have verified information for most of those people, but data still does not match for about 66,500 voters.

There are only about 6 million people in Wisconsin.  That’s a helluva a lot of “voters” who we can’t verify exist.

Obama Seeks Scape Goat

Yep.

President Barack Obama acknowledged Monday that the economy continues to struggle and too many Americans are still struggling to find jobs.

He also took Republicans to task for what he said was partisan politics that are standing in the way of passing a bill aimed at helping small businesses.

The bill “has been held up by a partisan minority that won’t even allow it to go for a vote,” Obama said in brief remarks on the economy from the White House Rose Garden. Obama spoke shortly after meeting with his economic advisers.

Let’s see… Obama and his fellow Democrats control the presidency and the entire Congress by large majorities.  They took over GM and Chrysler.  They passed a massive stimulus bill and spent it according to their will.  They passed banking regulations.  On and on and on… and the reason that the economy isn’t recovering is because the Republicans oppose this one bill?  Even though the Democrats still hold large majorities and could pass it in a heartbeat? 

Obama’s excuses for his failed leadership would be laughable if the consequences weren’t so dire for so many unemployed Americans. 

New “Diversity” Regulations Coming

This is “financial” reform?

The recently enacted financial reform legislation tries in numerous ways to change how Wall Street companies and their federal regulators act, but a little-noticed provision aims for something potentially more difficult and controversial — altering how they look.

To promote diversity in the largely white, male world, the new law requires each of the 30 federal financial agencies and departments, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and all 12 Federal Reserve banks, to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.

Those offices will work with vaguely defined powers to boost diversity at their agencies and the companies they regulate, and to increase federal contracting opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses. Banks and other financial firms determined to have failed to make “a good-faith effort to include minorities and women in their workforce” could lose their government contracts.

And once again, the uncertainty is killing businesses.

If the legislation is interpreted broadly, the diversity requirements could reach down to subcontractors who provide food or janitorial services — something not required under current rules, said Jon Geier, an employment law expert at the Paul Hastings law firm.

“My clients are wondering what more will they have to do?” he said. “I can’t tell them yet. It could be substantial. It could be a paper tiger.”

Uncertainty

This pretty much sums it up.

“We’ve been operating for the last year and a half in conditions of perfect uncertainty,” said David J. Ward, president of Madison-based consulting firm NorthStar Economics Inc., adding that he has never before seen such economic doubt in his 45 years as an economist.

“Do you know what the estate tax rate is going to be next year?” he asks. “Do you know what the corporate income tax rate is going to be? Do we know what the personal income tax rate is going to be? Do we know any of a number of other issues? The answer is we don’t. And until we resolve that, the economy’s going nowhere.”

So as the political parties snipe at one another with midterm elections approaching, the nation’s gross domestic product is stumbling along at a 1.6% annual growth rate, according to figures released Friday. And the national unemployment rate is holding well above 9%.

“They’re not going to hire a lot of new people until they have a better sense of the direction the economy is going,” Ward said.

Good business people can find a way to earn money in any market, but they have to know the rules of the game.  We’re in a place now where things have been changing so fast and so arbitrarily that nobody knows what the rules will look like in 3 months, 6 months, 2 years, etc.