Freedom and Small Government

With the elections of November 2010, it looks like cap-and-trade will not be passed in the next few years. That is a victory for both freedom and small government. Individuals who believe climate change, or global warming, or worldwide climate disruption should fight for their cause outside of government. Convince people to live differently. Invest your money and time in solving the problem rather than convincing government to solve it. They would do it badly anyways.

In the meantime, I will be focusing on my business. Please follow at http://www.twitter.com/piconsulting or visit Pittsburgh Internet Consulting online.

Get WeinerFacts.com to #1 on Google for Weiner searches

Did you know we could control the internet? Glenn Beck's new comprehensive Weiner facts site is a great resource for weiner lovers everywhere. But its possible we could make sure everyone who searches for the word "Weiner"gets to see WeinerFacts.com on the first page. (Its currently not in the top 100).

How? Well the lib-tards did it a few years back for "miserable failure". If you get a bunch of sites to all link to a site with a single word or phrase, then that page can go to the top of the list. So if we all put a link on the word "Weiner" or "Weiner Facts", then we could move it to the top.

It wouldn't even take a whole lot of Weiner links to get the site to the top. A couple hundred #tcot conservatives on twitter could make an impact. We all have a few blogs and the media will link just out of sheer stupidity. I think it is urgently important that we make sure everyone gets their weiner facts direct from the source.

Help me with a blog post linking to www.weinerfacts.com.

Top Ten Reasons to Oppose This Massive Health Care Bill

10) The Federal Government has a failing post office, failing educational department, cannot run cash for clunkers, and both parties are corrupt. Why would we believe they could do this effectively or efficiently?

9) Non-union workers with "Cadillac" health care plans are taxed 40% on their benefits but Union workers get preferential treatment by the President and their plans are not taxed

8) Tort reform is not adequately addressed causing doctors to continue to prescribe unnecessary tests to cover their a$$ costing billions in wasted time and unnecessary lawsuits

7) New taxes for this bill start immediately yet benefits do not begin for years. These new taxes will further harm the economy and unemployment before any benefits of the program are realized

6) A provision called "Comparative effectiveness studies" will force doctors & insurance companies into procedures recommended by the government rather than innovative cures based on the patients needs

5) Forcing people to participate in modern medicine violates the religions freedom of some groups who believe such things should be left to God and is therefore unconstitutional

4) The "Mandate" for individuals to purchase insurance is unconstitutional and the first time in American history the government has ever forced citizens to purchase anything from a company

3) Adding 30+ million people without any incentives to generate new doctors and nurses from abroad or through education will further exasperate the doctor and nursing shortage

2) As the baby boomers hit retirement, our country is already bankrupt, there is no way we can afford this bill. The idea that this bill reduces the deficit or is deficit neutral is a complete falsehood

1) It forces the federal government to legislate behavior to control federal health care costs allowing them to infringe on your freedom to make healthy OR unhealthy decisions

Funny Climate Change Fraud Video

We have all known for years that climate change or global warming alarm-ism is a complete and total fraud. Any person with common sense can look at the data and see that even if CO2 contributes in some way to warming it has a very minor impact. Similarly using that same common sense you can conclude:

• the scientists models are flawed and incomplete
• the earth is likely to adapt
• if it was a major problem...the proposed "solutions" would not make the tiniest bit of difference
• the disaster's that a slight rise in temperatures could cause have also been completely exaggerated.

This climate change video illustrates the point:

But now on the heels of Climategate our world leaders still try to hammer through their global tax with a global government. Hillary Clinton proposes a 100 billion dollar redistribution of wealth from Western nations to the developing world. They continue to push this back door attempt to tax and control the world government despite the reasonable opinions of true scientists such as AccuWeather's Joe Bastardi or Dr. Bill Gray from Colorado State University. It is clear that us "skeptics" or "deniers" are on the verge of winning the American public to the side of common sense. Then maybe being a good steward of the environment can be non-partisan again rather than a socialist attempt to control capitalism.

The paradigm is shifting. The main stream media continues to lose it's credibility. Where American's lead, the world will follow. If Copenhagen fails, the entire AGW theory may collapse in the next 1-3 years. Please pass on this video from http://www.climatechangevideo.org as a funny way to get the average Joe to take a fresh look at the issue rather than just going along with the PC police.

Thank you!

Uncertainty is the Cause of a National Hiring Freeze

Job losses have eased, yet the unemployment rate continues to grow and people keep leaving the job market. Unemployment is always a lagging indicator, but I predict this time jobs will lag more than normal. The reason is the cost uncertainty that businesses face. Owners, managers, and CEOs are awakening to the realization that many of our fixed cost are not set for the next 2-6 years. This makes us extremely nervous.

As a business owner, the toughest decision to make is when to add an employee. Both involve someone else’s livelihood and either could go badly. When businesses add salary, you have to commit to making the new position successful. That means more than the person’s salary, benefits, tax and other insurance costs. It means a serious investment in training, education, and overhead. With other possible costs coming our way, businesses cannot take that risk. Conversely, opportunities to cut payroll are welcome savings. They give a little “cushion” in case of a rainy day or unexpected downturn. So when an employee takes a new position they are not replaced, instead adding a bit more of a burden on current employees or the business owner.

There are three giant unknowns in the near future for companies. The first is Washingon’s issue du jour, healthcare reform. The second is tax changes and regulations. The final is the most far-reaching and that is a new energy policy such as cap-and-trade. Business owners are split on how they view each of these issues. But no owner or CEO can discount the cost to businesses when these three issues change. Even if a proposal is “revenue neutral” as the buzz word goes, the cost of compliance with the new system reverberates through the economy.

The controversial health insurance reform legislation is topic one. But some facts about the outcome seem clear. A new major health bill is on the horizon which means businesses do not know the renewal cost of current insurance. They also have no idea if they will be allowed to cancel or reduce coverage. Even if a business’s insurance rates stay stable or decrease, you will still have next year’s costs of compliance with the new law. While benefits from the new bill will be in the future, costs are likely to hit sooner as we invest in this major overhaul. Health care costs are a big question mark for small business.

From small businesses to corporations, taxes must always be counted. If not properly managed, your tax burden can stretch any business to bankruptcy. Regulation compliance is also a significant cost. Clearly someone will need to pay more taxes to pay for recent government spending and proposed spending. Whether they tax corporations, individuals, or some type of value added sales tax these costs will need to be accounted for. While politicians will try to steer new taxes towards policy goals and the rich; the broad impact is that industry will sit and watch Washington, DC act. They will ride out a choppy political storm until the waters are calm.

The great unknown is energy costs. As we saw from the recent gasoline spike this has an inflationary effect on everything. Sales plummet as money is spent on energy to keep the world moving. Businesses are hit with higher utilities, higher rent, increased transportation costs, and the crushing blow of less revenue. While cap-and-trade may have laudable goals, the effect on energy cost is certain. They must go up in order to encourage conservation. The point is not to start a debate on global warming, but rather to say that this policy has an impact on the private sector. One of those impacts is that money spent on energy is not spent on payroll.

Since none of these issues will be clear for months or a year, the US economy will remain at a standstill. Businesses sit on the sideline and watch the games being played in Washington. We rout for our interests and even pay to play. But in the end we are mere spectators until the government settles. Then we get to play our game of capitalism again. Until that time, I will be in the cheap seats hoping for an outcome my business can survive.

Cheap Abundant Energy is Your Right!

As an American, freedom is the greatest treasure of our country. It is because of our freedom that we have led the world for generations. Freedom allows Americans to worship anyway they like. We are free to travel to any state, move our family without permission, and free to earn a living anyway we choose. I started my own business and created three full time positions and a part time job starting in 2001. In Today's world, I would never take that risk.

In the news and in discussions, Americans are fearful of losing their freedoms. They talk about the Freedom of speech, gun rights, wiretaps and things of this nature. Many people also fear the freedoms that could be lost with Universal Healthcare. But the freedom that people are not talking about is about to come under attack in the upcoming months. Your freedom to use power and energy as you see fit is about to be infringed upon in a major way.

Americans use energy in two primary ways; first to power our homes & businesses and second to power our cars. The ability to do both in an affordable way allows us to travel, create jobs, and live at our high standard of living. If you raise the cost of electricity or gasoline, you increase the cost of EVERYTHING in your life. From food to diapers to flat screen TVs, every one of them will cost more because these companies’ energy costs will rise. If you raise the cost of energy, the economy will suffer dramatically.

Global Warming alarmists are debating two major pieces of legislation in the back channels of Washington. The first is cap-and-trade. Cap-and-trade will set an arbitrary limit on CO2 emissions and force businesses to buy the right to pollute from other companies or the government. This will raise your gas and electric bills dramatically in the next few years. The second is an increased federal gasoline tax; some "experts" are recommending a tax that places a gallon of gasoline at $4. This raises your travel costs and the shipping cost of all goods and services.

Why are they doing this? Simple, if you raise the cost of energy, people will use less of it. Sounds noble. Using less energy “saves the world” and gets of off foreign oil. Right??

Sure, people will use less energy and less CO2 will be emitted. But at what cost? Americans will buy less consumer goods as they cope with increased energy prices. US companies will lose the competitive advantage of low energy costs. They already have high labor costs, with the increased cost of energy, American companies will not be able to compete internationally. Meanwhile all Americans will be cutting energy usage affecting the travel industry and energy sector. All of this will harm our economy...long before any significant "green jobs" are created.

So how does this affect your Rights and Freedoms? The GOVERNMENT is impeding on your ability to earn a living. They are stomping on your right to travel anywhere in the country. By raising the cost of your energy, they are limiting your wealth arbitrarily. If you want to save the planet, then convince people to use less energy. Invent more efficient technology. But do not tell me that my energy HAS to cost more. Now is not the time to force a shift in our economy. We cannot handle it. There is unlimited energy in this world, there is no shortage. Energy needs to be cheap, abundant, and flow freely in order to encourage growth and innovation. If we do not have economic growth, our deficits will expand to the point of economic collapse. These two policies would insure that collapse.

Jeff Schroeffel

Conservative / Business Owner

…This is a op-ed I wrote and submitted to be published. (It wasnt)

The REAL Undisputable Global Warming Facts

The debate is really over. While you hear all these "facts" about global warming, climate change, and the solutions, Here are my version of the facts that global warming alarmists don't want you to know.

1. Global Temperatures have not risen at all in nearly ten years (http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.C.lrg.gif)
2. Only 5% of the "greenhouse effect" is man-made, less than 1% if you count water vapor (http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html)
3. If China, India, Russia and the developing world do not curb emissions, nothing the U.S. does will mean anything at all. All have ruled out even considering emission reductions
4. Either cap-and-trade or a carbon tax are intended to increase energy prices so that you have to use less, that is the only way they work (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTxGHn4sH4)
5. Since the battery technology does not exist to store solar and wind power when it isn't sunny or windy, any city that relies on this type of power needs backup coal, natural gas, or nuclear plants or be willing to accept blackouts (http://gopplatform08.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-are-gas-and-energy-prices-so-high.html)
6. Cap and Trade means higher energy costs. Higher energy costs means more expensive food, housing, manufactured goods, and services. This bill would be highly inflationary. (Not even to mention all the money we are printing)
7. This will once again be a way to "redistribute wealth" as the government collects these taxes from businesses who are forced to charge higher prices to the middle class, then give back "rebates" in the form of thousands of dollars to the poor
8. The "Green Jobs" that would be created are mostly temporary. While it takes steel workers to make wind-mills, it takes very few people to run a wind-mill once it is running. (http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/2009/04/07/do-green-jobs-cannibalize-other-jobs/)

Well, that is just a few to get you thinking tonight. Suggest more in the comments