Remember when in 2006 the Demo's made a big deal about "pay as you go" and how the Repubs were guilty of huge amounts of pork barrel spending and that they were going to put an end to it! Well, we have more of the same. You see, in DC money talks. Therefore, regardless who is calling the shots the ones with the most green and the biggest contributions and most effective lobbyist make the rules. American's need to walk up because debt has serious consequences and our children and their children will be paying for our lack of responsible action.
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From AIM.org
NCPA: Congress Grows Pork For Christmas
Farm Bill Produces Bushel of Wasteful Subsides for Wealthy Agribusinesses
DALLAS (December 13, 2007) - After much political wrangling, the Senate began debating a five-year renewal of the federal farm bill that has become nothing more than an entitlement for large wealthy farm operators, according to H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).
"The programs do nothing more than make rich agribusinesses richer, and increase the costs of food to the poor," said Burnett. "The farm program is one of the last bastions of untouched public welfare, with the additional problem that it is welfare for the well-to-do.
"Congress won't limit payments to rich farmers. Worse, they want to fix a problem that doesn't exist by expanding the program to fruits and vegetable growers who have done quite well without subsidies for all of these years."
Burnett points out large, wealthy farms, owned by few people or by corporations, receive most of the subsidies. Smaller, family- owned farms get little or no subsidy and thus cannot compete with corporate farms.
Additionally, there is very little reason to remove free-market forces from the farming industry. Farmers and the agricultural industry should be subject to the same profits and losses experienced by every other industry or business in the U.S.
"Farm subsidies have long outlived whatever usefulness they might have had and should be ended," said Burnett. "If we didn't have such programs, we wouldn't be in the ludicrous position of paying farmers not to farm, to leave fields fallow for environmental reasons -- on many lands, developing the field would not have occurred and would not make continuing economic sense without the subsidy."
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From AIM.org
A Congressional Tax Package to Raise Costs to Consumers
By Paul M. Weyrich | December 13, 2007
These proposals reveal the great contempt the liberal Congressional leadership has for the average American consumer. 
When oil and gas prices are high, hurting consumers and the economy, what does the Democratic leadership in Congress want to do? Raise taxes on oil and gas companies, of course. Nothing could be more logical than to increase the amount of money the Federal Government demands from oil and gas revenue. Oil and gas companies then would pass these taxes on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
The tax package was to be included in the Omnibus spending bill which Congress must pass soon but its future is uncertain. This Thursday morning it fell one vote short of cloture – that is, a motion to end debate. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) was "disappointed" with the result, promising to strip it from the bill and attempt to pass it again separately, according to THE HILL newspaper. Democrats also had to drop a controversial provision that would have required utilities to acquire more of their electricity from renewable energy sources.
Yet Senator Reid said the energy is still "historic" because it would raise fuel efficiency standards in cars by requiring "an automaker's fleet to average 35 miles per gallon."
These proposals reveal the great contempt the liberal Congressional leadership has for the average American consumer. All three of these ideas are hidden taxes which dramatically would raise prices to the consumer. Liberal Congressional leaders may claim they are punishing "big oil," that ever-present boogeyman, and protecting the environment, but in reality they are hurting the poor and the middle class, the former of which they pretend to champion.
Don't misunderstand me: conservation is important. But the radical environmental agenda of many politicians purports to save the environment at the expense of human welfare. It is immoral to place fossil fuels and air quality above basic subsistence for the poor. And increasing the cost of gas, oil and electricity would raise prices on basic commodities such as food, heating, clothes, etc.
If the Omnibus bill passes and is signed into law with the requirements for greater fuel efficiency in cars, be prepared for much higher prices at the dealership the next time you are in the market.
For now, the taxes on oil and gas and the rigid requirements on electricity are on hold, but stay tuned. There is sure to be more to come.
Paul Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation. © This column is the property of the Free Congress Foundation and may not be reproduced without their permission. For comments and inquiries, contact Phyllis E. Hughes at pehughes@freecongress.org. Visit our website at FreeCongress.org.
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