Blue Mass Group

Great read from a MarketWatch columnist on the spending spree that wasn’t.

Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree.

As would-be president Mitt Romney tells it: “I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno.”

Almost everyone believes that Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending, an “inferno” of spending that threatens our jobs, our businesses and our children’s future. Even Democrats seem to think it’s true.

But it didn’t happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.

Even hapless Herbert Hoover managed to increase spending more than Obama has.

Read the whole thing.  Also noteworthy: the second- and third-lowest rates of spending growth in the last 30 years belong to President Clinton’s first and second terms, respectively.  Remarkable.

As promised, here’s a thumbnail of my epic post on the proposed new billboard regulations and how Massachusetts will soon go from having among the strongest billboard regulations in the country to among the worst.    Enjoy!

1.   We’re Losing the Current Electronic Billboard Ban.   After conducting a pilot program on the safety of electronic billboards with Clear Channel, the Office of Outdoor Advertising is proposing its first set of (seriously lacking) regulations for electronic billboards. However, per the federal agreement between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Federal Highway Administration adopted pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 93D, Section 7, electronic billboards are currently prohibited in Massachusetts “except those giving public service information such as time, date, temperature, weather or similar information”. Before the OOA can adopt these new regulations they have to get the legislature to rescind the federal agreement that sets forth the electronic billboard ban.  Given that federal highway funds are tied to the agreement, a rescission is unlikely, and the OOA should enforce the electronic billboard ban.

More evidence that Obama is the most gifted politician of our generation. Here he neatly transitions the entire Romney campaign, using their own claims, into an effort for the 1%, with him representing the remaining 99% of the electorate.

“I think it’s important to recognize that this issue is not a, quote, distraction. This is part of the debate that we’re going to be having in this election campaign about how do we create an economy where everybody from top to bottom, folks on Wall Street and folks on Main Street, have a shot at success, and if they’re working hard and they’re acting responsibly, that they’re able to live out the American dream. Now, I think my view of private equity is that it is – it is set up to maximize profits and that’s a healthy part of the free market. That’s – that’s part of the role of a lot of business people. That’s not unique to private equity, and as I think my representatives have said repeatedly, and I will say today, I think there are folks who do good work in that area, and there are times where they identify the capacity for the economy to create new jobs or new industries. But understand that their priority is to maximize profits. And that’s not always going to be good for communities or businesses or workers.

“And the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, Governor Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. He’s not going out there touting his experience in Massachusetts. He’s saying,’ I’m a business guy and I know how to fix it,’ and this is his business.

“And when you’re president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. Your job is to think about those workers who get laid off and how are we paying them for their retraining? Your job is to think about how those communities can start creating new clusters so that they can attract new businesses. Your job as president is to think about how we set up an equitable tax system so that everybody’s paying their fair share that allows us then to invest in science and technology and infrastructure, all of which are going to help us grow. And so, if your main argument for how to grow the economy is, ‘I knew how to make a lot of money for investors,’ then you’re missing what this job is about. It doesn’t – it doesn’t mean you weren’t good at private equity, but that’s not what my job is as president. My job is to take into account everybody, not just some. My job is to make sure that the country is growing not just now, but ten years from now and twenty years from now.

“And so, to repeat, this is not a distraction. This is what this campaign’s going to be about, is: what is a strategy for us to move this country forward, in a way where everybody can succeed? And that means I’ve got to think about those workers in that video just as much as I’m thinking about folks who have been much more successful.”

Dear lefty Obama haters/skeptics, or those convinced that the Democrats are worthless: Please consider this alternative scenario.

Had the filibuster not applied, the United States would have a market-based system to control carbon emissions, which would limit the damage from global warming, vitalize the clean technology sector, and challenge other large polluters like China and India to do the same. The new health care law would have a public option. Children of undocumented immigrants who served two years in the military or went to college could become US citizens. Women paid less than their male colleagues because of their gender would have broader legal recourse against their employers. Billionaires would not be able to manipulate the political system from behind a veil of anonymity.

via Taking on the F-word – Boston.com.

I suppose you can blame Harry Reid et al for the continuation of the filibuster; however, considering that a GOP takeover of the Senate is well within the realm of possiblity, the Affordable Care Act would be much easier to repeal, much less Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Think on it.

More from the picture worth more than 1,000 words department. This graph is from the Sentencing Project with the red annotation added by the Transform Drug Policy Foundation.

Republicans in the House have approved a budget that allocates $3.7 billion more than the Pentagon is seeking. This just underlines the fatuousness of GOP claims that they are concerned with deficit spending and that the federal government doesn’t have money. Time:

The House has approved a $643 billion defense-spending bill for 2013 that’s $3.7 billion more than the Obama Administration, and its Pentagon, is seeking. That’s just about the same amount the Congressional Budget Office estimates the House bill’s push for an East Coast missile shield will cost over the next five years.

It’s amazing that a country without money can consider building a missile shield against a threat that doesn’t exist.

True, we’ve already invested billions building such a West Coast system against the threat of a North Korean missile attack, so why shouldn’t we build a mirror system on the other side of the country to protect its denizens from attack by the Iranians?

The House proposal “postures our Armed Forces for potential future threats,” says Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the armed services committee. “Despite a tough fiscal environment, we have provided our Armed Forces with the tools they need to win the war today and deter against the wars of tomorrow.”

[Cross-posted from the ProgressMass blog.  Like ProgressMass on Facebook and follow on Twitter.]

What did we learn about Republican Scott Brown this week?  (Or, more accurately, what did we already know about Republican Scott Brown that he just re-confirmed for us?)

·    Republican Scott Brown just can’t quit JPMorgan Chase, and they love him right back!  But Brown really doesn’t want to talk about it.  After all the backroom deals Brown has secured for his Wall Street benefactors, it’s no wonder he’s one of Wall Street’s favorite Senators.

·    Republican Scott Brown’s campaign can’t seem to decide if his super-secret New York fundraising committee is a whole bunch of people he refuses to disclose or if it’s just one man he’s willing to identify.  He might want to get his story straight.

This picture may be worth more than 1,000 words. A helpful list of Scott Brown’s votes to slow the Massachusetts economy and expand the deficit by maintaining discredited Bush-era Republican economic policies is here.

This photo is courtesy of Brett Jelenek, who is creating onsite video and photo recordings of events in Chicago.  It was taken on May 18, 2012 according to Brett.  I call it “A Warm Chicago Welcome” or “You shall not pass.”

Not only were there premptive warrantless arrests, but folks were shuttled about in unmarked cars, held for as long as 48 hours, and according to Attorney Deutsch (see link to his embedded interview, here) all charges are fabricated and provocatuers planted phony “evidence.”  Pretty strong statements.  So if you are hearing that three “terrorists” were arrested, understand that this is more likely than not media hype to justify the actions of CPD (Chicago Police Department), FBI, and Homeland Security in Chicago.  One of the fellows arrested is an EMT student, all of them bunked at the home of a young guy who was brewing beer long before they came to Chicago.

I love the National Lawyer’s Guild Press Release.  You should all read it here..  Don’t expect to find it in the Boston Globe, after all.  Don’t expect these pictures of the huge military presence in Chicago to show up in the Globe, either.

I was laid off from my job as a software engineer in January, and I went back to work selling solar power systems for a local firm called Second Generation Energy, LLC. I prefer this line of work to writing systems for the 1%!

Last year, I wrote a post here at BMG about the economics of solar power – the situation has changed, and some innovative financing options have made it even more desirable to go solar here in Massachusetts. As usual, we are leading the way, showing the rest of the country how to spur investment in renewable energy technologies!

A couple of weeks ago, I took the company Prius for a drive through a neighborhood in Brimfield, MA, which had been devastated by killer tornados in June of last year. While no single unusual weather event can be traced directly to climate change, patterns of unusual weather certainly can be, and these torndos are part of a pattern of crazy weather we’ve had in the northeast these last few years. The winter of 2010-2011 saw so record setting snowfall, but this past winter saw almost no snowfall, except for a freak blizzard around Halloween! Floods, hurricanes, killer tornados – as Charley noted a few weeks ago, think of Jose Canseco’s biceps and his use of steroids, it’s highly unlikely that you would see the one without the other. We are, today, experiencing wild weather swings and climate change is the culprit.

The damage is still evident – play the short video below to see some of the after effects still in evidence today:

The strong Massachusetts billboard regulation legacy will come to a swift end if proposed new regulations by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Office of Outdoor Advertising (the “OOA”, not to be confused with the OAAA, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the billboard industry lobby) are enacted.

The Legacy

Efforts to regulate billboards in Massachusetts first became formidable in 1918.   Recognizing the strength of the billboard industry it sought to regulate, the Commonwealth adopted Article 50 to the Massachusetts Constitution for the purpose of regulating outdoor advertising.  “Advertising on public ways, in public places, and on private property within public view may be regulated and restricted by law”.

Applicable laws were enacted soon thereafter in 1920, setting forth standards for sizing, setbacks and the consideration of the public interest.  The mechanism by which the Commonwealth would regulate the billboards and signs would be the issuance of licenses for billboard operators and revocable permits for the billboards themselves. State regulations were eventually adopted.  Cities and towns may further regulate and restrict billboards and signs, so long as the regulations are not inconsistent with the Massachusetts laws and regulations.

Romney Courts Hispanic Vote With Animated Sombrero-Wearing Parrot

Daniel Kurtzman:

“President Obama and Mitt Romney both gave commencement speeches over the last few days. Obama was like, ‘You can be whatever you want to be,’ while Romney was like, ‘I can be whatever you want me to be.’” –Jimmy Fallon

“This week investors will be able to buy shares of Facebook stock for the first time ever. It’s great – now you can lose all your money in the same place you lost all your time.” -Jimmy Fallon

“Mitt Romney said marriage should be between one man and one woman, the way it has always been – with the exception of all of my relatives in Utah, my dad who was born in Mexico, my great-grandfather who left the damn country to get away from one-man, one-woman marriage. Other than that I’m a strict conservative on the subject.” –Bill Maher

“I don’t know what it’s like at your salon, but at mine, isn’t the guy cutting the hair the gay one?” –Bill Maher

“There is something indicative about his character because it seems like Mitt Romney was kind of a bully. This was not the only bullying thing he did. He also took poor kids’ lunch money – oh, I’m sorry, that’s his present-day economic policy.” –Bill Maher

“This has become quite a story; the Washington Post reported that Mitt Romney, while in high school, bullied a gay classmate. Did you hear about this story? In his defense, Romney said that he didn’t know the kid was gay; he just thought he was poor.” –Jay Leno

“Today Mitt Romney apologized for holding down Michele Bachmann’s husband and cutting his hair.” –Jay Leno

UnNews:

Elizabeth Warren destroys the universe

“Funny. She doesn’t look Jewish.”
~ Mitt Romney

Massachusetts, The Macrocosm — This past month Republican Senator of Massachusetts’ Scott Brown criticized election opponent Elizabeth Warren for claims of Native American heritage. While one might assume that this less a noteworthy story than an election year news filler bollocks, it is, in fact, the End of the World As We Know It™.

Borowitz:

A Letter from Mark Zuckerberg About Facebook’s IPO

Tomorrow is Facebook’s IPO, and I know what some of you are thinking. How will Facebook be any different from the dot-com bubble of the early 2000’s?

For one thing, those bad dot-com stocks were all speculation and hype, and weren’t based on real businesses. Facebook, on the other hand, is based on a solid foundation of angry birds and imaginary sheep.

Second, Facebook is the most successful social network in the world, enabling millions to share information of no interest with people they barely know. …

Finally, if you invest in Facebook, you’ll be far from alone. As a result of using Facebook for the past few years, over 900 million people in the world have suffered mild to moderate brain damage, impairing their ability to make reasoned judgments. These will be your fellow Facebook investors.

With your help, if all goes as planned tomorrow, Facebook’s IPO will net $100 billion. To put that number in context, it would take JP Morgan four or five trades to lose that much money.

One last thing: what will, I, Mark Zuckerberg, do with the $18 billion I’m expected to earn from Facebook’s IPO? Well, I’m considering buying Greece, but that would still leave me with $18 billion. LOL.

Friend me,

Mark

Hoping for Knockout Punch, CIA Sends JP Morgan Execs to Infiltrate Al-Qaeda: Terror Org Posts Huge Losses

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – In a covert mission designed to destroy what remains of al-Qaeda, the CIA has been infiltrating the terror network with executives from JP Morgan Chase, the banking giant. …

Pressed about the covert mission, CIA Director David Petraeus confirmed today that it had been a resounding success, telling reporters, “If you’re serious about putting someone out of business, there’s no one better than these JP Morgan guys. One of them can do more damage than a thousand drone strikes.”