Difficult Times For Delaware 2014

Pushing the data of the Moody’s Analytics regarding Delaware being the only bad risk in the country, some other illuminating factors emerge.  The revenue data taken from our tax receipts over the past two years, portends to ever decreasing departmental budgets state wide in 2013 and 2014.

This problem will be compounded further, by this fourth quarter competing with the largess of last fourth quarter.  If you remember, incomes were very high in December 2012, as a lot of capital gains were cashed in to beat the tax increase beginning in 2013.  There was a huge flood of tax revenue that pushed up estimates, both in personal and corporate income taxes.  The December revenue was 23.3% higher than December 2011.

That largess won’t be coming in this year and we will have to deal with the difference.

Second, due to impingements to our economy, our tax revenue will be under last year.

Delaware employment is growing slowly.  Yet there are only 18 states with a total unemployment (U6) higher.  As a result, personal income tax revenue is down.  This was compounded by a tax decrease recently given to the top 1% of earners. Passage of this tax rate decrease, means those who were the only people actually gaining income, will now, not be paying any of their increases into the treasury, as is being required of everyone else.

Across the nation, total state tax revenues first quarter 2013 rose 6.8%.  Across the nation state income taxes grew 18.4%, state corporate taxes grew 9.4%, and state sales taxes grew 5.5%  ….  Delaware does not have a sales tax.

Only 6 states had declines in personal income tax that same quarter.  Delaware led the pack as having the largest decline at 15.8%. States less shy about raising taxes, California and New York had the highest gains.  $6.3 billion and $1 billion respectively.  Incidentally as correctly predicted by the kavips economic model, both economies are thriving.

Based on withholding data, Delaware’s amount withheld dropped from a 9.3% increase in last quarter 2012, to a 2.0 increase in first quarter 2013, both over the previous year.  At the outset, the potential exists for a loss of that 7.3% difference in fourth quarter 2013.

The wealthy pay in the form of estimated payments.  They don’t use withholding.  The average estimated payment’s percentage increase over 2012, was 12.2%.  However the 4th quarter payment was a jump of 23.3% over the fourth quarter of the previous year.  Meaning the average of the previous 3 quarters was a negative or -3.7% from the year 2011.  Only that windfall of the fourth quarter, driven primarily by federal tax changes, gave Delaware its positive increase in estimated payments for 2012. Bottom line.  We were lucky. First quarter 2013, they are up 7.9% in comparison.

Corporate tax.  Overall across the nation, corporate tax increased by 9,4% this first quarter of 2013 over the same quarter last year. 30 out of the 46 states that have corporate income taxes showed increases. 16 of them were double digit increases.  Virginia suffered the largest decline: $87 million.  New York showed the biggest gain:  $239 million.

Tax Revenue is directly related to economic growth.  Growing economies increase personal income taxes and sales taxes as income gets spent. Delaware’s economy is estimated by the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia for the three months prior to June 2013, to lie between the growth rates of 0.1% and 0.5%.

Take the first quarter of 2013.  It is a harbinger of things to come….  In Delaware, the amounts collected Jan-March.

• Personal income tax:  2012 = $411 million   2013 = $346 million …. drop of $65 million or -15.8%
• Corporate income tax: 2012 = $65 million    2013 = $73 million …. increase of $8 million or 12.3%
• Total with other (fees) included:  2012 = $956 million  2013= $883 million…. drop of $73 million or -7.6%….

Our current state budget is running $73 million in the red based on actual versus revenue projections.  And this does not even include the fourth quarter drop off. Delaware was one of only 5 states capturing less personal income taxes in 2013’s first quarter than in 2012. Rhode Island, Indiana, Utah, West Virginia were its team mates. Delaware lost $65 million (-15.8%); West Virginia was second losing a comparative paltry $21 million. or -5.4%.  The others:  Rhode Island -$13 million (-6.4%); Indiana -$5 million (0.5%); Utah -3 million (0.6%)

It was estimated that over the year Delaware’s tax decrease would cost the state $70-80 million.  if averaged per quarter, that would be $17 to $20 million lost to the state every 65 working days.

One would conclude that a big part of Delaware’s state revenue problem is a direct result of that tax break we handed over to the top percent of Delawareans…. There are 15 states with higher top marginal tax rates than Delaware.  All but one of them (Idaho) are showing better growth than Delaware.  The belief that lower taxes creates jobs and better state economies does not agree with reality experienced by other states on a daily basis.

Again, the national economy as a whole is looking better.  Delaware is looking like the exception.  After the Great Recession the national total of state revenues dropped for 5 consecutive quarters. The national total of all state’s revenues has since grown 13 consecutive quarters…

The same criticism that applied to Obama after the Obamacare vote, applies now to Markell after the SB 165 vote.  Instead of trying to fix something that was working fine, one’s attention should have been spent on all that which isn’t (working fine)….

Recommendations for 2014:

Go to multiple tiered tax rates:

• 10% on $1 million or more
• 9% on $500,000 or more
• 8% on $250,000 or more
• 7% on $125,000 or more
• 6.75% on $60,000 or more

• Spend most of our money on Delaware’s people.  Hire empty positions. Keep the money here in state as much as possible.
• Cut out from budget most consulting fees for out-of-state entities.
• No hiring of outside specialists or corporate buddies.
• Add more teachers, firemen, policemen where needed.
• Push for building an offshore wind farm; override all Pepco’s objections.

Looks Like The Deep Wins Out Over The Blue

The deep blue sea… How often have we heard that? So which of those adjectives are the more predominant, which of those words carries the most descriptive weight? A conundrum?

Not if you add the word “water” to each of those descriptive adjectives…. as in”

Deepwater
Bluewater

Still puzzled? Add the noun “wind”

Deepwater Wind
Bluewater Wind….

The Washington Post reports a deal has been struck and the first Offshore Wind Farm, (which was to be Bluewater Wind 5 years ago), is now going to be Deepwater Wind off Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Rhode Island will now become the center for wind farm technology on the East Coast. If Delaware ever gets to this point, and one would think Markell would have been on top of this one, we will now be buying all our stuff from Rhode Island and importing it down the East Coast on barges, instead of vice versa.

The wind kinda of went out of Delaware today.

Delaware Homeland Security Conducts Top Secret Test On New Chase Vehicle

Please read Steve’s reports on Delaware’s offshoot of Homeland Security here, here and here….

We are getting our money’s worth with this bunch, that’s for sure… I wonder when they’ll let civilians drive it? I think the monster mile would be a good test track for civilians to get the opportunity….

Can you imagine seeing this thing pass you on the Delaware Memorial Bridge and at the apex it goes sailing off into the sky? What will they think of spending our money on next…

(I want one btw. )

Remembering The Past….. Comment Rescue…..7/2009

In a discussion about global warming, one John Galt gave this piece of enlightenment….  this is dug up here for historical reasons and it is well worth remembering the arguments of the  past as we now investigate such problems as raising taxes, protecting social security, and increasing labor participation against the same faulty reason….

It is a walk down memory lane, accompanied by knowing we were right on the issue of global warming, and Republicans were very, very, very, very, very,  very…. wrong….

 

=======================================================================================

by John Galt  July 17, 2009.

Dear  Frieda:

All of your claims are wrong and you know it or your an idiot.

Global temperatures peaked in 1998, a fact that contradicts the assertion that man’s continued pumping of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is making the planet hotter. This was not predicted by the climate models that say we’re headed for a warm period.

Nor can anthropogenic global warming be explained when introduced into the argument is the fact that 1934, when far fewer carbon-spewing machines existed than we have today, is the hottest year on record.

Global warming alarmists invested heavily in convincing everyone that 1998 was the hottest year and 2006 the third warmest. After correcting for faulty data, NASA had to backtrack.

At the same time NASA made the correction, it also reported that six of the top 10 hottest years are from a period before 90% of the 20th century growth in carbon emissions occurred

Researchers at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center admitted that “sensor drift” in the satellite monitors used to measure sea ice caused them to underestimate the extent of Arctic sea ice by 193,000 square miles. That’s a significant area roughly the size of California.

In a column titled “In 2008, a 100 Percent Chance of Alarm,” New York Times columnist John Tierney exposes the Chicken Littles for what they are — opportunists and alarmists who in this new year “will bring you image after frightening image of natural havoc linked to global warming.” Inconvenient truths and scientific fact will be ignored.

A case in point cited by Tierney was when Arctic sea ice last year hit the lowest level ever recorded by satellites. It was hardly a blip in Earth’s geological history, but Tierney noted how “it was big news and heralded as a sign that the whole planet was warming.”

Less dramatic and newsworthy was the announcement that the same satellites also recorded that the Antarctic sea ice had reached the highest level ever. But then, polar bears allegedly drowning and icebergs breaking away are good theater.

We’re told the Larsen B ice shelf on the western side of Antarctica is collapsing. It is warming and has been for decades. But it comprises just 2% of a continent that otherwise is cooling.

In the same week Gore received his Nobel Peace Prize, the respected scientific journal Nature published a paper you probably didn’t hear much about. It concluded that global warming had a minimal effect on hurricanes.

In fact, after Katrina, hurricane watchers have had trouble getting as far as the letter “K”.

“The last couple of years have humbled the seasonal hurricane forecasters,” says Max Mayfield, a former director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The 2007 season was the third calmest since 1966. In 2006 not a single hurricane made landfall in the U.S.

As for temperature, Tierney reports how British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would make 2007 the hottest year on record. After 2007 was actually lower than any year since 2001, the BBC still proclaimed: “2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend.”

That must be why in January 2007 some $1.42 billion worth of California produce was lost to a disastrous five-day freeze. A few months earlier Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designed to, uh, help cool the climate.

In 2007, Australia experienced its coolest June ever. The city of Townsville underwent its longest period of continuously cold weather since 1941. Johannesburg, South Africa, had the first significant snowfall in a quarter-century.

But for greenies, it doesn’t matter what the weather actually is or what the data actually show. It’s all caused by global warming. As Canadian Greenpeace rep Steven Guilbeault explained in 2005: “Global warming can mean colder; it can mean drier; it can mean wetter; that’s what we’re dealing with.”

Let me make this as simple as possible. Greenhouse gases makes up 2% of our total atmosphere. Of that 2%, 3.62% is CO2 and of that 3.4% is caused by man, yes only 3.4% of all CO2 is man made, the rest is made by nature. Man made CO2 makes up .000024% of the atmosphere.

If they were this wrong on global warming, can they possibly be right on anything?   Can someone tell me why we even listen to them anymore when they whine?

For the most awesome replies…. it is here….. 

Just When You’ve Mastered “The Electric Slide”, Get Ready For “The Global Shift”

We knew this but it  is now being published… and so it is in the news.

The world is getting warmer… and we can now predict our climate by looking at map at 300 miles south and guessing what our weather will be from that…

Just as plate tectonics and  Darwin’s origin of the species were able to lay the groundwork of reason  for explaining puzzling observations, this simplifies what to expect from global warming rather startlingly.

Texas is now  what we alway thought of when we considered the weather of Mexico; Oklahoma is now West Texas; Kansas is now Oklahoma; Nebraska is now Kansas; South Dakota is now Nebraska, North Dakota is now South Dakota: Southern Manitoba is now North Dakota…..

If  West Texas had 3 days of rain, now Oklahoma is getting 3 days of rain;  If it snowed 12  times in South Dakota, it is now doing the same in North Dakota… and so on.

So, to predict our heat, rain, winters, etc, our guide would be North Carolina.  Longer growing seasons,  some winters with no snow, hot summers…

However due to Global warming, the East Coast has a caveat.  An anomaly so to speak  and actually some relief from the North Carolina summer heat we would normally expect….

With the unprecedented melting of the Arctic and Greenland icecaps dumping its excess into the Labrador Current, that cold water drops South hugging the East Coast shoreline all the way down to North Carolina’s Outer Banks where it finally becomes neutralized…   Therefore even though we have hotter air masses, the colder ocean temperatures creates a buffer against Global warming off the entire northeastern US.

Europe, Japan, and Alaska all experience  the same mitigating effect, although with both Greenland and the Arctic Icecaps melting into the Labrador, the US East Coast gets a stronger volume of cold water.  Call it our icy shower effect….

Once melting stops and the currents dry up, we return to the North Carolina scenario of the twentieth century….

Chart Courtesy of NOAA

So, we in Delaware really get the best climate on the East Coast.    Warm winters, little or no snow, and cool breezy summers….. as well as a longer growing period, and… less dependence on fossil fuels for winter heating.

Gee, global warming isn’t so bad for Delaware after all….  Oh, the rising seas?  There you go again… Why did you have to spoil the rosy picture I was painting?

 

Hot, Hot, Hot….

2012 is a record breaking year.. We guessed because the ice melt was the largest ever recorded, and broke the old record a month before the melting season ended. Right now, summer in the other half of the world, is breaking records in Australia. They even had to put a new color on the temperature chart to show temperatures over 50 degrees C…..

If you look at this global temperature list, and add 2012 to the top,(the authors have not already), you see a point I’ll drive home.

Out of the eleven hottest years ever recorded, ten have occurred since 2001…. Which means only one of the top ten hottest years, 1998, was not in the past decade…

Here is the scary part. A 3 degree rise, was deemed to be cataclysmic. The US rose 1 degree last year…. As the chart shows, up till now, rises were in the tenths of a degree.

2012 just blew everything right out of the water.

And as mentioned last summer a tongue of ice cold Labrador current penetrated the Gulf Stream, and almost turned it away from Europe; wow, that would really change things over there

And you know who is to blame? People in the Caesar Rodney Institute who said global warming was a hoax, and the Republican party of the United States of America, who prevented all proper actions that could have minimized the extent, from seeing the light of day…

So be nice. The next time someone says they are a Republican? Say: “Oh, gee thanks again for ruining the world.”

I’m sure it will make their day….

Wind Credit Extended

The House and the Senate agreed Tuesday to extend a 2.2 cent per kilowatt-hour credit for wind power production through this year as part of the “fiscal cliff” deal. It also changed the incentive to let wind projects earn the credit if under construction — rather than in service — by the end of the year. Letting the credit end would eliminate 37,000 jobs. AWEA in December proposed extending the credit for this year and then ramping it down to end after five more years.

Time to get busy, Delaware.

Photo Courtesy of Google right click for full image.

Hope and Dreams

I remember choosing between Bill Clinton and George Herbert Walker Bush.   It was tough.  I like competence and usually support it when I find it.  George HW Bush, was one of the best when it came to the Foreign Service.   His four year reign will be mostly remembered as being one where nothing really happened here, even though cataclysmic changes were erupting all across the world stage.   (The real hero of these four years should be Brent Scowcroft.)

But the Soviet Union collapsed, and threw Europe in a turmoil.  Nuclear warheads had no one watching them. Tienanmen Square changed China forever as it abandoned the Maoism of old and opened itself to Western Development.  Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.   Noreiga thumbed the USA.

But at home, it was all like in a newspaper story, far away.   Most people didn’t even notice.   That is competence.  Of course he  is probably the most experienced president we’d ever put into the Oval Office.  He intimately knew the halls of the House of Representatives from the inside.  The knew all the quiet meeting places in the Senate; he knew what being Senator was like.  He knew the ins and outs as the head of the nations entire party apparatus.  He had the skills on how to deal with China, having been America’s envoy there before.  He knew the accumulated intelligence required and the requirements necessary to obtain it.  He knew the Oval Office from the inside, having been second in command for 8 years straight.  There never was anyone more prepared to run America.

He was stabbed in the back by his own party.  The very one that is running against America now.  For you see,  Bush had inherited  Ronald Reagan’s nemisis:  his deficit, which is something todays Republicans conveniently forget when they glowingly praise Ronald Reagan for growing wealth and prosperity.  He put it all on the nations credit card.

This Bush was determined to use his bipartisanship and people skills to steer Congress to pay down the debt.  But, as it always happens.  Republicans back then, wanted no new taxes and to cut out necessary programs.  Democrats wanted to raise taxes and keep necessary programs.  There was an impasse.

George Bush decided to take the exact middle.  He would cut, and raise taxes too.  If you are really old, you may remember he had run for the Republican Nomination, on “read my lips; no new taxes..”  He was going back on his Norquist pledge.  Democrats then in the majority,  forced the tax rates to rise.   The Republicans then said “Fuck you President,” and Republicans tanked the President’s proposal that did both, and would have reduced the deficit by half a trillion dollars!

This petty Republican move, forced Bush to scramble and the only option without Republicans, was to accept the Democratic plan of increased taxes and increased spending.   The deficit didn’t shrink.  And Republicans, once again ran this nation into the ground, to try to get another Republican elected.

Clinton won instead.  He passed a tax increase that Bush didn’t.  And unbelievably, the deficit began to shrink, and shrink, and shrink.   No one had ever expected to see that in their lifetime, but there is was.  Smaller, smaller, and smaller….  The secret is raising taxes.  Oh, and by the way, the very day after the tax bill was passed by Congress, with Al Gore casting the tie breaking vote, the stock market took off and never looked back, rising over 300% until it began to appear possible that a Republican, George W  Bush might actually beat Al Gore and at that exact point,  the market collapsed, only coming out of its decline  as America began borrowing to fund the munitions making required after the Iraqi War.

It was just like what Republicans did with the Debt Crises last  August.  Every time they act irresponsibly, the US begins its slide towards a recession.

The parallelism of these two event in history, teaches us that we can’t have hope and change until we have zero Republicans.

Don’t believe me?  Look at the stock market.  When Romney looks like he could win, or at least the threat of him winning even appears it could be possible, America takes it’s money out of the stock market.  Bain Capital does too,  Stocks fall in price as  the selling goes off the charts.   But just this summer, during that period where  Romney seemed to do nothing right, and everything forward hinged on the first debate,  and it was obvious that we were going to have a Great Democratic Spring, the money poured into the market and prices gained.

Then the debate.  Since Romney won, and Obama lost that debate,  that very morning, everyone tried to get out again; the price slid 300 points.  All because it was apparent that Romney did so well that he might actually pull it off.

You see, no one trusts Republicans with their money.  Certainly not the America people.

Look at the campaigns of Obama versus Romney.  Obama has 4 million people who said this race is life or death, and have contributed to his campaign.  That is a record number btw.   Romney counts  $100 million coming in from just 5 people.  That’s 40% of all the money he’d risen as of  September 1st.  As an aside, if elected, who do you think Romney is going to listen to?   You?   Ha, ha, ha… 🙂

So, the real problem we have, is that anyone will say or promise anything until after the wedding.  Then, once the deed is done,  the truth comes out.  It’s that way with elections.   You cannot take gifts from somebody and then totally ignore them.   I’ve seen it done by girls in high school, but that is about it.  Later in years, they pay the price for their heartlessness of their late teen years.  But mature people know that quid pro quo is a requirement of adulthood.  It just is.  Whether from your mother, your spouse, you children, your friends, your boss, your subordinates, your buddies, if they give you something, you are supposed to give them something back….

That said, one must look at who Obama, supported by 4 million middle class people,  and Romney, supported by 5 upper class billionaires, are owing this presidential run….

If you are a billionaire, then Romney will be good for you.  If you aren’t and policies that benefit billionaires stick You with the bill, than a Romney victory is something you had better fight against.

Same with Obama.  If you are middle class, and policies that benefit the Middle Class also benefit you, then Obama is the only choice you can make.  Sorry,  the other candidates all copped out.

Most experts agree that if the Republicans had been a non player these past four years, the economy would now be roaring.  But when you have one team tearing apart the motor of economic recovery, and the other team trying to build it, progress is going to be slow.

If you just take a second to look over these charts, you can see that as soon as it appears that a Republican might win, the stock market slides downward for three years, until a massive spending program is created off of borrowed money.  Pay attention to Reagan’s impact his first year, and George W. Bush’s.  As soon as each  Republican became the front runner, both killed investment.   Only one Republican bucked the trend.  George HW. Bush.  And the Republican Party ground him up and threw him out as a result.

If you want a better life, you cannot get it from Republicans.  It never has happened.  It always gets better under a Democrat.  If you want a surprise, check out Jimmy Carter? 

And money always trumps people, doesn’t it?  If someone pisses you off, but they are your money, money usually decides the outcome.  When we have to choose between people and money, money always wins. …  Simply because we are human.

There is so much money just waiting for the green light that says… Republicans are gone forever….  Once that moment even appears to be imminent,  watch out!  This economy is roaring back…..   Because, it always does under Democrats.  Always.  It always fails under Republicans …. well not always.  George HW Bush, well, I guess it is still true.  He was sunk by the same Republican Party that is currently intent upon sinking the Obama administration, and you too, if you let them.

If you love America.  Wipe them out.  If you have service men and women in your family.  Support them and what they were fighting for;  wipe out Republicans.  If you have a grandfather or grandmother who fought in World War II.  Honor them.  Wipe out Republicans.  If you truly love America, you will not only vote Democratic, but you will make it your life mission these next twenty four days, to persuade every Republican to do the same.   Otherwise your expressions of  love,… are just hollow words……

America! America!
God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for heroes prov’d
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country lov’d,
And mercy more than life.

“For more than self their country loved”…….  It is time our generation answers the call.   Releasing the locked up economic power is the most important thing we can do right now for our country.    We have to make Republicans go away…  As long as they hang around, gumming up the works, at it’s best… America can and will only reach mediocre levels.

Make them go away.   Tell your friends, you neighbors, your countrymen.  America is a great nation.  It can be that way again, if we only do one single thing…

You already know what that is.

The Lesson Is? Republicans Can’t Win As Republicans. They Cloak Themselves As Democrats

It’s time I put this in perspective.

Here are the news feeds.

A Different Romney Wins The Debate.
The Family Intervenes and Pushes Stuart Stevens Out of Inner Circle
Titians of Finance to Fight for Raising Taxes

Coupled with the opinion polls, what is happening is very obvious.

Americans support Democratic middle class values, they abhor the wing nuts of the Republican Party.

The opinion polls tell it all. While Romney was campaigning to see who could be the most conservative, he did very poorly against the Democrats when polled. Americans far preferred “the imploders” at first, people more mainstream in appearance, like Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorium, .. that is until they became familiar with their values…

It is not coincidental, that the last two Republican presidential candidates were the ones with the most LIBERAL credentials. Because America accepts those credentials. What America rejects, is slash and burn Conservative policies, that require no personal freedoms to individual Americans, whether it is economic, vaginal, religious, or political. Everyone is expected to conform to a very narrow norm.

So we now have a Republican who did exactly what he said early during the primaries. He shook the Etch A Sketch and is now running as the Liberal Governor of Massachusetts.

“I will not give a tax break to the top 20%.
There will be no tax cut on the top one percent.
I will not get rid of Roe versus Wade. Abortion is here to stay.
I will not put religion into government. Government is Government. Religion is Religion.
I will not nuke Iran.
I will not cut one penny from government spending.
I will support the rapid growth of wind farms and solar energy.
I will not cut 716 million from Medicare, even if it IS in my economic plan.
I never proposed $5 Trillion in Tax cuts.
I will not cut spending. I will raise it by 2 Trillion Dollars.
Government is too small. I will grow government to make it better.
I will not stop women from getting abortions.
I will not stop the removal of God from government….
Homosexual marriage is not really that bad after all, as long as they LOVE each other and it’s not just sex.”

These were all in the debate. It was a different Romney speaking. Why? Because as a conservative he was losing. As a conservative he was out of touch with America. As a conservative HE WAS IN THE MINORITY WITH MINORITY VALUES.

As Conservatives long expected, Romney is a liberal. They know it. Really? How does anyone expect a Mormon to support Pat Robertson and the 700 Club? You do it out of expediency; not a genuine shared system of belief….

But the point of this is not about Romney. It is about Conservatism. Conservatism fails, and simply for that reason alone, it is not upheld by a majority of Americans.

Which means, to win, one has to be a Liberal Republican… Just look at the polls. As soon as the Liberal Romney comes out of the closet, the polls get real tight….

But, as we saw with Bush W. You may run as a Liberal, but when you get in, it’s the Conservatives who take over. Two wars, a pharmacy company bailout, and regular government operation, all which were financed by our grand children’s future payroll deductions. They get to make less money so today’s Republicans can take it all.

In other words, to be a Republican President, you have to “trick” yourself into that position.

So, America, I know it sounds nice now, but over and over and over you have said, no that is not what we want.

What we do want, is someone who will do what we want, when they get into running America. let’s take the last president for example. Obama got us out of a recession in record time. One that was far worse than the Great Depression to some extents. Obama saved the American Automobile Industry. To do so he had to drive hard bargains against all parties . Obama killed Osama Bin Laden. America got what it paid for when they voted Obama.

Why change horses in the middle of the stream, especially when the other horse is heading back in the other direction? The wrong direction according to almost all Americans?

Romney knows that backwards direction leads to ruin. That is why the new Romney pushed the campaign message- minder outside the inner circle, and why Romney is now currently running for women’s rights. for the secularization of government, for the complete protection of the environment, for the elimination of greenhouse gases, and for the increase of taxes on the wealthy. That is why Romney is doing better in the polls….

Conservatism is truly dead.

Wind: Uhhh, Could Use Some Now…..

From Aaron Nathans of the News Journal…..

NRG/Bluewater Wind got good news on a different front Monday, as the federal government moved one step closer to issuing the developer a lease on a tract off the southern Delaware shore.

The Department of the Interior announced it would open a 30-day public comment period on the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of offshore renewable-energy projects off Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia.

If the department determines no significant impact off Delaware, it will move forward with Bluewater to sign the lease, said its president, Peter Mandelstam. He said he hopes to secure the lease by the end of the year.

Once a lease on these ocean blocks has been secured, construction permits can begin. Or better put: Bluewater can proceed with more detailed environmental reviews to try to get a construction permit.

And to those of us who marshaled the deal in 08, here is a reminder of how time flies… Bluewater faces a September deadline to exit the Delmarva contract or pay $2.75 million, money it would get back if it successfully completed the wind farm.

The following concern has also been noted in the Federal overview of the project. Construction will take place near an area off Delaware, where ships typically anchor. Wind development should be avoided in that area, the U.S. Coast Guard has argued.

The anchorage area, off Delaware Seashore State Park, sits on the outer edge of Bluewater’s proposed development area.

Every time I pay my electric bill to Delmarva, I sigh, knowing that had wind gotten underway faster, I’d be paying 60% less…….