FederalRepublic.net

I don’t usually write about France, or any country besides the United States, but this is clearly an example of political backbone:

President Sarkozy of France is on the verge of a breakthrough in his ambitious plan to wean his country off the restrictive working practices he believes stand in the way of national prosperity.

Yesterday, the strike of rail and subway workers that has crippled France for nine days was clearly crumbling, as workers began returning to work in large numbers and union branches conceded that support for the dispute is collapsing.

“We think a dynamic of return to work has begun,” Julie Vion, a spokeswoman for France’s state-owned railroad network, SNCF, said.

If Sarkozy can stare down the socialist elements in his country and WIN, why can’t Republicans in Congress do the same in a center-right country?

*And the crickets chirp…*

It seems like the Congress is still obsessed with the idea that price gouging is to blame for higher gasoline prices…

The House today voted, 284-141, to pass a bill that would make gasoline price gouging a federal offense.

-Snip-

The legislation would give federal authorities the power during presidentially declared energy emergencies to investigate and prosecute anyone selling fuel at a price that is “unconscionably excessive” or “indicates the seller is taking unfair advantage unusual market conditions.”

The White House contends that the definition of gouging is vague and would make the law difficult to enforce. The administration also questioned the need for the legislation, noting that many states currently have price-gouging laws.

For the last three years, I’ve heard the same rhetorical nonsense from Congress when it comes to gas prices. The problem is NOT price gouging! Here are a few suggestions for Congress about how to deal with high gas prices:

Open ANWR and additional federal lands to drilling
Allow more refinaries
Allow more nuclear power plants
Cut gasoline taxes
Cut taxes for oil companies
Repeal laws regarding mandatory blends
Quit appeasing Iran and actually do something about the threat its Islamic nutcases present to the world

The above are common sense steps to deal with high gasoline prices. Unfortunately, many in Congress aren’t listening.

Additional reading…

*Update: I have a problem with how the legislation is worded; it seems some sellers could be penalized if the price of their gasoline…

indicates the seller is taking unfair advantage unusual market conditions.

If this legislation is actually signed into law with language as vague as the language above, I guarantee we’ll see more situations like this in our country:

A service station that offered discounted gas to senior citizens and people supporting youth sports has been ordered by the state to raise its prices.

-Snip-

But the state Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection says those deals violate Wisconsin’s Unfair Sales Act, which requires stations to sell gas for about 9.2% more than the wholesale price.

Oh how I love socialist price controls and vague legislation.

From Breitbart.com:

President George W. Bush was set Monday to flesh out a plan to slash US “addiction” to foreign oil by cutting gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years, the White House said.

“The president will make an announcement about his directing the administration to take action to implement his ‘20 in 10′ plan to reduce the nation’s addiction to oil,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

“He will announce his latest efforts to ensure that the nation is taking aggressive steps to reduce gasoline consumption,” he told reporters.

-Snip-

The US leader wants Congress to pass legislation setting fuel economy standards that would result in quintupling the current consumption of renewable and alternative fuels to 35 billion gallons (133 billion liters) by 2017.

I’ve said it before in my State of the Union liveblog and I’ll say it again - this is a sure way to help tank the economy. It seems that politicians don’t know how laissez-faire economics should work. It’s called “hands off,” not “let us legislate our will on the market.”

The problem in this country is that too many politicians are either worried about the risk of affecting the habitat of caribou in Alaska or want to legislate high prices away. However, additional legislation and red tape is almost always a hindrance to the market, driving up prices or making it inherently more difficult for companies to distribute or promote their products and services. How about we open up ANWR to drilling, reduce gasoline taxes, reduce the required blends of gasoline, and build more oil refineries for starters. Enacting additional legislation requiring auto makers to make vehicles more fuel efficient is just asking the consumer to pay higher prices on vehicles. Hell, it’s not like auto makers aren’t having a tough time these days anyway. Additionally, taxing oil companies on their profits at a higher rate is another incentive for the price of gas and other oil-based products to rise nationwide, causing even higher amounts of inflation.

In my opinion, President Bush is completely wrong here.

Be prepared to pay more for EVERYTHING you buy:

The Democratic-controlled House voted Wednesday to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, bringing America’s lowest-paid workers a crucial step closer to their first raise in a decade.

The vote was 315-116, with more than 80 Republicans joining Democrats to pass it.

Fox News has the latest…

Yet again, Democrats have shown me they are NOT the party of economic success. Thanks more making my hard earned money worth less than it already is.

Over at Rightwingnews.com, John Hawkins posted a particular comment on his article “There Is No “Trickle Up” Effect Caused By The Minimum Wage.” Take a look at what one employer will go through if the Democratic Congress signs a minimum wage increase into law:

Real life here. I plopped down $215,000 to buy Tumbleweeds Bar and Grill. If the minimum wage is increased I’ll have to lay off all my hostesses. I don’t believe liberals have ever had to make payroll. My business has to gross $78,000 a month just for me to take home $700 a week. Since we’re always teetering on that number an increase in the minimum wage would hurt me bad. Unless of course libs think I’m rich with my salary of $36,400 take home pay a year.

I don’t think they have any idea how much us small businesses are already taxed, retail sales tax alone is over $5,000 a month. I have to match all 34 of my employees taxes which is around $3,800 every two weeks.

I’d like to hear from the libs why, since I took all the financial risks am I supposed to make less money? If this minimum wage increase is signed into law there will be 7 college/high school girls out of a job at my place.

Sad isn’t it? Instead of Congress getting a high off temporary passions for the poor, I wish its politicians would use reason and economics to justify economic legislation. A minimum wage increase will just make everyone increase prices and take more money out of your pocketbook (including those under the poverty line).

In my eyes, the following article shows a mindset that is a contributing factor to the total failure of the Bush Administration and the 109th Congress to reform immigration policy. A pizza chain in Texas will soon accept the Mexican Peso for sales of its food products:

Starting Monday, patrons of the Dallas-based Pizza Patrón chain, which caters heavily to Latinos, will be able to purchase American pizzas with Mexican pesos.

Restaurant experts and economists said they knew of no other food chain with locations so far from the Mexican border offering such a service.

“We’re trying to reach out to our core customer,” Antonio Swad, president of Pizza Patrón Inc., said Friday.

Read more at Dallas Morning News 

While I can see a distinct market advantage here, the question arises, “What happened to the practice of using American currency in America?” In my opinion, this is the same category of tragedy as seen in mid-2006, when thousands of illegal aliens took to the streets in protest of potential American immigration reform with Mexican flags in hand and other isolated incidents, including a Mexican flag being raised at a high school and a post office.

Here’s an idea for consumers who intend to pay physical pesos for goods in the United States - go to a bank and exchange your pesos for American dollars!

Environmentalist whackos in the Congress are at it again. As reported by the AP, a bill to permanently protect ANWR from oil drilling was submitted in the House on Friday:

Legislation introduced in the House on Friday would make the oil-rich 1.2 million-acre coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a permanently protected wilderness and end repeated efforts to open the area east of the Prudhoe oil field to energy companies.

“The consensus is that there should not be drilling in the refuge, so the logical next step is to pass legislation which turns it into a wilderness,” Rep. Edward Markey, chief sponsor of the legislation, said in an interview.

Let’s hope this ridiculous idea is killed in committee. If we are to get off our dependence on foreign energy, Alaska is a great place to start! Democrats, as usual, have no clue.

Read more

Captain Ed over at Captain’s Quarters has a great article about how a minimum wage increase this year by Dems will actually hurt the poor and cause inflation. An excerpt:

…They’re distorting a market for a short-term political benefit that will do nothing to raise the standard of living for the people they supposedly want to help. Arbitrarily raising the prices of services and goods in a marketplace causes inflation, not an increase in real value. They’re forcing consumers of labor to pay more for the same service, from which they will get no increased benefit — and that means that they will have to pass the costs along to the consumers of their goods and services, all through the distribution chain.

Whose money is getting given away? Yours and mine, and all 479,000 minimum-wage workers, that’s who. i can absorb the incremental loss of buying power, but the people at the bottom rungs cannot. If they’re lucky, all that will happen is that their buying power will remain the same as it was after a short period of adjustment. More likely, some of their jobs will get eliminated as businesses have to support the cost increase in some other fashion than price hikes.

Captain Ed is awesomely correct in his assessment of possible results driven by a minimum wage increase. It’s an all too familiar example of why government needs to get out of the economy and how Americans need to get informed about their government.

Related: Say “No!” To Dems’ Agenda

When I heard the Democrats had taken control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, I immediately lost my appetite. I couldn’t eat my breakfast and the headache I had earlier got worse. Now that Democrats have their “mandate” from the American public, not only will my appetite suffer, but so will my wallet.

Democrats propose the following:

A boost to the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage would be the first since 1997. Democratic leaders have proposed raising it in stages to $7.25 an hour.

The attempt to raise the minimum wage to help the poor is an absurd idea at best. Not only does this increase the amount of dollars employers must pay out to workers, but it takes away natural incentives to hire new employees, increases supply costs, and decreases capital to invest back into business. Price increases will then trickle through the market, triggering inflation and increased unemployment. Sooner or later, the market will hit equilibrium and the same problems Democrats tried to solve with a minimum wage increase will show its ugly head again. This isn’t a conservative scare tactic, it’s simple economics.

…Democrats eager to keep their promises to pass several pieces of legislation in the first 100 hours of business, including…stem cell research funding.

While I don’t see an inherent problem funding stem cell research, Democrats insist the stem cells of study should be embryonic in nature. There are other sources of stem cells besides dead fetuses, including bone marrow and umbilical cord blood. Democrats thus far have not shown they have the capacity to understand that killing a fetus is the same as killing a human life. It’s murder, plain and simple.

Nearly seven of 10 adults, 69 percent, favor the government taking steps to make it easier for people to buy prescription drugs from other countries, where some medicines cost significantly less than in the U.S.

Like many in the United States, I too wish prescription drugs cost less. However, a large cause for outrageous costs is too much government involvement. Instead of promoting market-based and private approaches to medical care, government bureaucrats tie the American public down with needless regulation and paperwork. The movement in Washington is not to give healthcare back to the people, but to strap the people with higher taxes to pay for universal coverage. Just look at John Edwards’ campaign. Anyway, healthcare is NOT a right and according to the U.S. Constitution, purely a state issue.

The Democratic Party agenda has been said to be centrist; its early attempts at legislation will be bills that most of the American public can support. While it may be true that many Americans can see a good side to Democrats’ agenda, the real truth is that their policies will leave nothing but a gap in real Congressional leadership and a hole in your pocketbook.