"This increase is actually part of a federal plan, with the money geared at covering health-insurance for low-income children. While the increase wasn't supposed to happen until April 1st, prices are already jumping as manufacturers prepare to pay their own tax.

The key behind the jump is a federal excise tax of $1.00 on tobacco products slated to hit April 1st. That money is expected to help pay for the expansion of SCHIP. But prices are spiking now as manufacturers prepare to pay a floor tax due on April 1."

“Wilbur said it's directed at federal mandates such as the No Child Left Behind education law and the recently approved economic stimulus act.

The education law ordered states to adopt new standards for student achievement but never provided the money to meet the goals, Wilbur said.As for the stimulus plan, "money coming in from the stimulus is going to have all kinds of strings attached," Wilbur said.

He said that entices states to become dependent on the federal funds, pressuring states to accept federal rules they wouldn't pass on their own."Basically, it's like economic crack," he said.” 

I don’t know if this is the answer for getting the Federal government to back down a little on the control they seem to exert over every facet of our lives, but it might be a start.  I wish more states would look at this bill and use it to get the government to back off. 

I know that a few years ago when the Federal government wanted all the states to pass helmet laws for motorcycles Iowa did not and lost a bunch of Federal funding for infrastructure.  Money is the catalyst for many of the bills that are passed and for some that fail to pass. 

Right now we are seeing individuals who just want the Federal government to go away, not become a bigger entity.  Fox News did a feature the other night on how many government jobs have been added to some states payrolls to comply with the Federal mandates to receive bailout money.  Iowa added 300 government jobs.  If I remember correctly around 65% of all jobs in Iowa are considered government jobs.  So that would mean that there are only 35% of working Iowan’s paying for the government workers salaries.  That doesn’t work out to be a good percentage, does it?

Link

Well the bailout talk at first was sort of funny with all the applications posted on the internet for regular people applying for a little of that money, but now it has gone way beyond the time for giggling.  Trillions of dollars to bail out businesses that are in sad financial states because of their own business practices.  Wow, who knew you could make bad business decisions and then have the government come riding in and give you a hand out.  Where did the concept of hard, honest work for a buck go?

We have a small business and I would bet that the government could care less whether we survive these present economic hard times.  We are too small for anyone to care whether we are still here in business tomorrow.  And I find myself growing bitter about the idiots who have sucked up the big bucks for years getting my tax money to bail them out when I would probably be hard pressed to get a business loan right now.  Thankfully we are pretty much debt free, but like many small businesses we also do not have much put away for a hard patch; we are hanging on hoping everything goes ok and we make it through another month with the bills paid.

In our business if we had made some of the decisions the companies that are getting bailed out have made we would just be out of business and looking for jobs somewhere else.  I would not expect government or any other entity to come in and give us money to keep going (trust me this would be a nice concept at times).  It just doesn’t happen in the world I reside in.  I wonder at times what universe does this happen in; and how did we all get transported to that universe?  Please transport us back to the US that encourages self-supporting individuals instead of encouraging individuals to look toward the government to cover their mistakes.

Obama’s world tour appears to be over for now.  Now he is recounting his time in Europe and the Middle East as transcending country lines and healing the world.  He is no longer a mere candidate but instead a symbol of something more, greater than just a US political wannabe. 

 "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it."
  -- H. L. Mencken 

“This is the moment the world has been waiting for.”  In Obama style he has announced the coming of a new world order with him as the new symbol of hope and change.   Apparently Mr. Obama does not realize how sarcastic and cynical the people of the US have become in the last decade.  We spend more money on gas than groceries right now, but Obama is only surprised that gas prices rose so fast not that they rose this high?  The government is taking fundamental freedoms away from ordinary individuals and Obama wants to take more away and raise taxes to fund socialists programs?   

Obama was a community organizer in Chicago, so how has Chicago gotten so much better from his community organizing?  These words, and yes words count, are straight out of some of the old community organizing books.  Some of the phrasing is from Social Psychology books on group think.  Are the people of the US smart enough to see through this bullshit?   

This whole political season is making me tired.  The political sites repeat and rephrase the same rhetoric over and over.  The same posters defend their candidate and position with the same tired rebuttals.  I see no hope or change for the future, just more of the same political entitlement.  Political office holding is not about social advancement of the masses it is all about power.  And apparently there are some high profile individuals who want Obama in power to advance their own political agenda.  Who are these individuals?  A junior Senator does not reach this level in the political playing field unless powerful individuals want him there.  Who is pulling the strings?  Obama would like to compare himself to JFK but I would rather compare whoever is behind Obama to Joe Kennedy; doing anything to get his player elected.