A draft transportation alternative to Plan ’13 From Outer Space

So Virginia’s tax-hike cheerleaders want those of us who opposed this fiasco to present a transportation alternative. Ok. Here goes…

1) Privatize all subdivision roads with existing HOAs. Inform subdivision without existing HOAs that their roads will be privatized in one year and they have that long to create an HOA or maintenance covenant among the homeowners.

2) All secondary roads are downloaded to local governments, along with the requisite percentage of as tax revenue needed to maintain them.

3) Repeal the sales tax increases (including the internet tax) and local tax increases

4) With localities in control if their own roads, the Commonwealth Transportation Board can be abolished

5) If 1-4 results in a revenue shortfall, raise the gas tax as needed, matched with a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the state income tax

6) Localities may create regional compacts for transportation maintenance or construction, but not have the state impose them from above. Members of the NVTA and HRTF have two years to affirm their willingness to remain members or they will be removed (re-opt in, rather than opt-out).

7) The Medicaid expansion used to win the Dems over on the tax hike is repealed.

The result? A transportation network that is more flexible, more accountable and closer to the people, with a pro-growth economic policy to boot.

Is this perfect? Probably not, as I just came up with it while picking up breakfast. Can it be improved? Probably.

Is it better than Plan ’13 From Outer Space? Absolutely.

The tax revolt grows….

Yesterday, Susan Stimpson, Pete Snyder, and E.W. Jackson, and Grover Norquist all came out against the tax hike fiasco.

Since then, they have been joined by Corey Stewart, Steve Martin, both Attorney General candidates (Rob Bell and Mark Obenshain), the Family Foundation, the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, and of course, several of us in the blogosphere.

Syrian jihadists split off from anti-Assad opposition (which is now much better and more worthy of help)

Over six years ago, I  called for Syria to be liberated. I repeated that call two Aprils ago. Since then, however, I have kept silent, mainly due to concern that the fall of the Assad regime would notin fact be anything close to liberation, due to al Qeadites in the anti-Assad rebellion. While I still believe Assad must go, I wasn’t sure about his would-be successors.

That changed dramatically this week when the Wahhabist wanna-bes split off to form their own “Islamic state” crew (Long War Journal):

Fourteen jihadist groups based in the Syrian city of Aleppo, a hub of fighting during the nearly two-year old rebellion against the regime of President Bashir al Assad, have banded together to reject the newly formed National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. Instead, the 14 groups, which include the Al Nusrah Front, an al Qaeda-linked terror group behind at least 35 suicide attacks in Syria in the past 11 months, have called for the establishment of “a just Islamic State,” according to a statement released on the Internet two days ago.

Now, assuming this division holds, the NCSRO looks a lot better.

Moreover, now is the perfect time to encourage NCSRO to steer completely clear of Al Nusrah et al. That means coming to their aid ASAP – on the condition that the al Qaeda crew is frozen out.

While one can understand the amusement at watch al Qaedists battle Tehran’s proxies, that doesn’t mean we should let one of them win. Now we have a chance to defeat both of them. I say it’s a chance we must take.

Of all the excuses for a tax increase I’ve ever heard…a UN invasion? Really?

When it comes to local elected officials and revenue, experience has taught me that it is flat out dangerous to get between them.

The latest exhibit comes from Lubbock, Texas.

There, County Judge Tom Head (in Texas, the County Judge is the equivalent to the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors) is asking for a property tax increase in order to fund…an insurrection against a re-elected President Obama.

What’s that? I can’t be serious, you say? Read for yourself (FOX34, h/t Kevin Williamson):

Lubbock County Judge Tom Head and Commissioner Mark Heinrich went into great detail Monday night on FOX 34 News @ Nine about why it is necessary to raise the tax rate by 1.7 cents the next fiscal year.

. . .

Judge Head said he and the county must be prepared for many contingencies, one that he particularly fears, is if President Obama is reelected.

“He’s going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the UN, and what is going to happen when that happens?,” Head asked.

“I’m thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we’re not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we’re talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy.

“Now what’s going to happen if we do that, if the public decides to do that? He’s going to send in U.N. troops. I don’t want ‘em in Lubbock County. OK. So I’m going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say ‘you’re not coming in here’.”

That’s right. Judge Head is using fear of a U.N. invasion to justify raising taxes. They really will resort to anything to get more of your money.

Cross-posted to Virginia Virtucon

It’s Time to End LIBOR

As most of America waited for the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare, and then reacted to its judicial transformation into Robertscare, the rest of the world was watching a major financial scandal unfold. It’s roots were in London, but Wall Street played a critical role.

The scandal surrounded LIBOR – the London InterBank Offered Rate. Since the mid 1980s, several major banks have been answering the following question from Reuters: “At what rate could you borrow funds, were you to do so by asking for and then accepting inter-bank offers in a reasonable market size just prior to 11 am?” (Telegraph, UK). Reuters then drops the top four and bottom four rates, and averages the rest. The result is LIBOR.

At first, it might look like this version of a self-selected opinion poll, one ripe for manipulation and chicanery. In this case, the first impression is dead on. Up to 20 banks involved in setting the rate are under suspicion for fixing the rate (Daily Mail, UK). One bank, Barclay’s, has admitted to having a role in fudging the rate. More may follow.

In Britain, this is a major political scandal, as most of the rate fudging occurred under the previous Labour government. Strangely enough, no one is asking the more fundamental question: why is LIBOR still in use?

While everyone can acknowledge that a fudged rate is a problem – and that LIBOR is particularly prone to this sort of thing – we have to ask why this sort of thing is necessary when rates based on actual transactions are “on the offer.” Back to the Telegraph story:

At the same time, Libor’s importance has been undermined by other measures of lending costs, namely Eonia and Sonia, which track overnight swap rates and are based entirely on the actively traded market for interest rate swaps.

Supporters point out that Eonia and Sonia barely flickered when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in mid-September, having priced in for several months the funding problems of the banking sector. By contrast, Libor spiked before plummeting as central banks flooded the financial system with money.

Given that Libor’s spike was one of the panic triggers in Washington, it should be clear by now that this outdated indicator’s time has gone.

With friends like these . . .

During the 1980s, much was made of the massive Soviet military. Not quite so well known was the fact that the personnel were badly demoralized and the economy behind it was a complete mess unable to sustain a decent force (the non-nuclear material was also less than meets the eye).

The Obama campaign will probably be upset that I’m comparing it to the USSR, but incompetence like this forces my hand. As the Daily Caller, notes, this was Obama’s own campaign head – David Axelrod - who framed the race thusly:

The choice in this election is between an economy that produces a growing middle  class and that gives people a chance to get ahead, and their kids a chance to get ahead, and an economy that continues down the road we’re on.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Meanwhile, in France . . .

President Nicolas Sarkozy, running for re-election, had the good sense to note that France had “too many foreigners” and pledge to cut their numbers by almost half (BBC).

Unfortunately, he was talking about immigrants, not Eureaucrats.

I have never, ever, backed an unambiguous left-wing candidate for head of state or head of government in any country. Sarko is sorely tempting me to break the pattern with Francois Hollande.

Cross-posted to Bearing Drift

Will this be the year free speech dies in Australia?

“Elections matter.” We hear that over and over again (and a few of us actually say it), but most Americans largely ignore it. Even many active in politics discount the upcoming November (on the assumption they’re going to lose) in favor of future elections. We now have clear, unadulterated evidence of just how important elections are in Australia.

The current government there – a Labor “minority” government in Parliament that relies on the Greens and left-wing independents to maintain a one-seat edge in the lower house – has imposed a carbon tax despite promising to voters in 2010 that it never would. Now, in a desperate attempt to stave off relentless criticism for their ineptness and deceit, the Laborites put together a press inquiry that has essentially called for the end of free speech Down Under.

Labor never talked about killing freedom of speech during the campaign – but I’m guessing you knew that already.

Among the other interesting notes:

• The Media Inquiry – which would like to regulate all newspapers, broadcaster, and bloggers who get more than 55 hits a day (Andrew Bolt) – acknowledges that most of the push for its regulatory drive came from Avaaz.org – a leftwing international advocacy group co-founded by Moveon.org and Res Publica, a group of mostly international bureaucrats that includes none other than Tom Perriello as one of its heavy-hitters (I can’t wait to bring up his role in this totalitarian nonsense the next time he ever tries to grace a ballot with his name).
• Amidst the various supposedly horrific problems with a free press . . . the Media Inquiry singled out skeptics of global warming alarmism for particular scorn (Bolt again), and it didn’t take long after the Inquiry released its report that a Labor Minister openly expressed hope he could muzzle Bolt (who is a well-known skeptic, and has had great fun pointing out some of the alarmists’ biggest whoppers).

In other words, the international left wing has dropped its guard, and American lefties are now egging on their Australian brethren to silence opponents in the name of their doubly-reinforced, waxed, and super-shiny bubble, what they term “good government.”

That this is happening at all is bad enough; that Americans have a hand in it – however indirect – is despicable.

Cross-posted to Bearing Drift

The EU’s latest solution to its debt crisis: Shoot the messenger

Now that the ratings agencies have come around to notice that eurozone nations’ debt isn’t worth the paper on which it’s printed, the Brusselian Empire has responded by . . . threatening the agencies (Telegraph‘ UK):

The EU authorities are attempting to muzzle free opinion, first by threatening Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P with vague retribution, and then by drafting restrictive laws to prevent them from publishing unwelcome messages.

It is financial repression, pure and simple. The same will be done to the press in due course. Then to you, dear reader.

. . .

But let us be clear. The EU itself brought this about by declaring war on the very investors needed to finance the vast borrowing needs of the European project. By baying for the blood of bankers and “speculators” (ie pension funds and the like who bought Greek, Portuguese, and Irish debt in good faith), Chancellor Merkel has set off capital flight and raised the spectre of defaults. Her specific demands for “burden-sharing” by Greece’s private creditors (and therefore Portugal and Ireland next) have changed the landscape. The agencies have no choice at this stage. Their job is signal default risk.

The ECB has warned tirelessly that attempts to punish investors in this fashion would back-fire horribly, set off a fresh contagion, and potentially spiral out of control. This is where we are today as Club Med bond yields go haywire again. Governments need to love and caress bond-holders, not spit at them.

. . .

What should have been done is obvious. The EU’s bail-out fund should have been given powers mop up the bonds of countries in distress on the open market at a hefty discount (as the ECB suggested). Investors would have suffered condign losses, and the EU could have given Greece debt relief by retiring bonds with no net loss to European taxpayers.

This elegant solution was blocked by Germany because it was seen as a slippery slope towards a Transfer Union, and might have violated the Grundgesetz. (In a sense the Germans are right, but you shouldn’t join a currency union in the first place if don’t realize that it implies fiscal union.)

As good as this piece is, the author (Ambrose Evans-Pritchard) makes one critical mistake: the idea that the European Central Bankcan simply retire sovereign debt is more dangerous than “elegant”. It would be a de facto default, with all the banks if Europe forced to pay for it.

In reality, the ECB only has one choice: devalue the euro for the sake of the south. Default can’t be localized, as it would lead to several French banks screaming for a taxpayer bailout. Since it’s France, they’ll get it, meaning the only difference between Paris and Athens is about 12-24 months. This is the nature of multinational currencies: in the end, they’re only as strong as their weakest member nation.

The eurozone will learn that the hard way. In the meantime, they will make things worse by going after the ratings agencies. The market does not take kindly to governments restricting information in order to hide bad news (it slowed down foreign investment in China dramatically). Expect investors to steer clear of Europe in favor of North America – especially if a debt-ceiling-spending-cut deal is reached.

Bismark’s wisdom still reigns.

Cross-posted to Bearing Drift

Wiki-whoops! Documents reveal more Saddam Hussein-al Qaeda ties

The organization that was supposed to expose and delegitimize the Wahhabist-Ba’athist-Khomeinist war released more evidence justifying its most controversial theatre (Iraq).

From the Weekly Standard:

A former Guantanamo detainee “was identified as an Iraqi intelligence officer who relocated to Afghanistan (AF) in 1998 where he served as a senior Taliban Intelligence Directorate officer in Mazar-E-Sharif,” according to a recently leaked assessment written by American intelligence analysts. The former detainee, an Iraqi named Jawad Jabber Sadkhan, “admittedly forged official documents and reportedly provided liaison between the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Oh dear. That’s definitely not the headline for which Julian Assange was hoping during the massive document dump.

Cross-posted to Bearing Drift