NC Media Watch

Oh my, Obama had better have a really great jobs plan

Russ Steele



I am hearing rumors that “The One’s” jobs plan is just more stimulus spending. His basic political philosophy will not allow him to do what really needs to be done, lower taxes, reduce small business regulations, put the EPA in a coma, turn on California water, and start drilling for oil in the US.  We can drill and grow our way out of the econmic hole we have dug for ourselves, but first we have to put the EPA in a political coma.

Finally, A Republican candidate with a strong opinion on AGW

Russ Steele

It is on every radio station news update.  Texas Gov. Rick Perry does not believe that climate change is caused by human activity. He even goes farther in New Hampshire today, when he stated that scientists are using phony climate change data to make a buck.

"A substantial number of scientists manipulated data to keep the money rolling in," said Perry.

This statement was reported by  the New Hampshire Union Leader editor Drew Cline in a tweet. Before that, Cline quoted Perry saying, "I do believe the issue of global warming has been politicized."

More can be found at TMPDC

I have to agree. There are billions of tax dollars being spent to study anthropogenic global warming. If scientist were to admit warming and cooling is a natural processes, and the most that CO2 emissions double can warm the planet is about 1.5 Fº, the government's global warming money tree would die. To protect their grants and money tree, scientist continue to promote the myth of AGW and the need to stop it by controlling CO2 emissions. Details on CO2 emissions here.

On the other hand, the RINO Mitt Romney believes the world is getting warmer and that humans are contributing to that pattern.  Just like I could not bring myself to vote for Meg Whitman because she would not take a strong position against AGW, I will not vote for Romney should be become the GOP Candidate. God for bid.  While Perry may not be the perfect candidate, he would take action to bring the EPA under control, and put an end to job killing regulations. If Perry is elected we can get back to drilling for gas and oil and shut down the bird shredders that are wiping out the American Eagle, and create jobs in the process.

Prop 23 Update: Lost another one, moved to Texas after 42 years in CA

Russ Steele

The Orange County Register has the story: Manufacturer moves to Texas after 42 years in O.C.

EDM Laboratories Inc., founded in Orange County in 1969, has moved to Corpus Christi, Tex. because California taxes and fees are too high, said owner Mike St. Amand.

Here some cost details from the article:

“The main thing that was getting tough — and I think this is true of every manufacturing company in California — is the state charges sales tax on leased equipment,” he said. “If you leased $1 million in equipment, you’d pay $25,000 a month in lease payments and then pay $1,900 a month in sales tax. Most states don’t do that.”
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Plus the county charges property tax on the equipment, which many states don’t charge, he added.

“My company truck registration cost $600 a year (in California) and $85 in Texas,” he continued. “My car insurance is less here. Gas is 50-cents-a-gallon cheaper. Electricity cost me $3,000 a month in California; last month running the air conditioning full time it cost $800.”

These are the challenges that are facing every California Company. It is not wonder that companies are leaving the state.

 H/T to a regular readers for providing a link to this stroy.

Over e-mail transon: Want to kill jobs, hire government regulators

 Russ  Steele

A regular reader sent me a link to this chart in the Investor Business Daily.



I thinks that it is self explanatory.  The more government regulators that are hired, the more friction created for businesses large and small. These business are the real job creators, and they are being constrained by more regulators at all levels of the federal state government. 

Yet again, another green business throws in the towel

Russ Steele

Here is another green business that cannot succeed in the US.

Solar module manufacturer Solon Corp will lay off 60 local workers as it shuts down its production facility in Tucson, the company said Monday. Solon, part of German-based Solon SE, said it will seek lower-cost sources of solar modules for utility and commercial photovoltaic systems in Asia.

Tucson Sentinel, 15 August 2011

Obama promise of green jobs was more rhetoric than reality.

Marketing insight from "The One" -- Gas Prices are going up

Russ Steele

President Obama has some guidance for US auto makers.

The country’s automakers should ditch their focus on SUVs and trucks in favor of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, President Obama said Monday.

“You can’t just make money on SUVs and trucks,” Obama said during a town hall forum in Cannon Falls, Minn. “There is a place for SUVs and trucks, but as gas prices keep on going up, you have got to understand the market. People are going to try to save money.”

I wonder how it is that "The One" knows gas prices are going to continue to go up, up and up? 

Prop 23 Update: Oh No! Not another Green Company down the tubes

Russ Steele

Another one of Obama's green pets files for bankruptcy.  Details in the Boston Herald here.

Evergreen Solar Inc., the Marlboro clean-energy company that received millions in state subsidies to build an ill-fated Bay State factory, has filed for bankruptcy.

Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March and cut 800 jobs, has been trying to rework its debt for months. The company announced today it is seeking a reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and also reached a deal with certain note holders to restructure its debt and sell off certain assets.

Now you can see why investors are turning way from renewable energy.  These companies are build on a soft government subside foundation, a foundation that is crumbling in real time while we watch.  Run Bertha, Run

Yea, this should turn out really well?

Russ Steele

According to the Sac Bee Capitol Alert:  Low-income advocates to urge boycott of Amazon.com

Advocates for the poor will urge Californians today to boycott Amazon.com until the online retailer begins collecting sales taxes. Representatives of the Health and Human Services Network of California will hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. on the Capitol's north steps asking state residents to close their Amazon.com accounts until the company stops fighting a law intended to force online retailers to collect California sales taxes.

Representatives of the Health and Human Services Network of California will hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. on the Capitol's north steps asking state residents to close their Amazon.com accounts until the company stops fighting a law intended to force online retailers to collect California sales taxes.

Sorry, folks I just joined the Amazon Cloud and I am not giving up my account so that the Democrats in Sacramento have more money to waste on job killing legislation.

Prop 23 Update: Renewable Energy Money Pit is Almost Empty

Russ Steele

During the Prop 23 vs AB-32 debate conservative bloggers warned the once the subsidies ran out the corporate interest in wind and solar would decline and than vanish. This morning P. Gosslin at The NoTricksZone blog has a English tranlation of a German language article in the German Technology Review.

The article starts with this introduction:

Companies of the finance-intense sector of renewable energy are getting their supply of cash cut off. Investors are opting for lower risk projects.

Gosslin's post continues: 

Almost everywhere globally governments are scaling back programs that support renewable energies.”
And so it’s only normal that venture capital companies are now opting out. Investment strategies are changing. Technology Review writes:

Germany, Italy and Spain are reducing subsidies, in America the money from the 2009 stimulus package is slowly running out.”

According to Technology Review, people want quicker returns and less risk. Well who doesn’t? Technology Review writes:

During the last years many finance companies began, however, to invest in long-term projects with high capital requirements. That only worked mainly because they were able to expect subsidies from the state. Thus hundreds of millions flowed into start-ups in solar technology, which first had to build expensive plants to get the technology ripe for the market. The profits came later, if at all.”

Now the state subsidies are shrinking and new startups will have little chance of competing against the already established companies – too risky. The bubble has nowhere to go but to implode. So watch the politicians soon scramble and start blaming “speculators” and “greedy finance companies” for the mess they themselves created, and then start calling for more financial regulation.

It is no wonder that Al Gore has "gone postal" his dream of huge profits have collapsed along with the flight of investors. We warned this would happend, but the proponents of AB-32 assured voters that it would not happen.  Now what?  Obama is killing coal power, the EPA is trying to stop the development of shale gas with the banning of proven drilling techniques, and now investors are running from renewables. One has to ask, What Now? 

Obama Hack Attacks Perry's Record - Fact Check in the Thinker

Russ Steele

Jeffrey Folks compares California and Texas in his article,  Obama and the Perry Miracle.

On Friday David Axelrod argued that Perry's record of job creation in Texas was not what it seemed.

Yes, Texas has created more jobs over the last decade, while Perry has been governor, than any other state.  For several of those years, in fact, it has created more jobs that all the other states combined.  But, Axelrod insisted, Perry should not get any credit for that accomplishment.

After all, Texas is an oil-producing state.  In fact, it is the largest oil and gas producer in the country.  And, yes, Texas also benefits from the presence of large military installations.  So it was more or less inevitable that Texas, with its oil production and military installations, would add jobs and enjoy strong economic growth during the past decade.

Just like California. California?  Yes, California is the third largest oil and gas producing state, right behind Texas and Alaska.

California is also host to some of the nation's largest military installations.  There are, in fact, 32 military bases in California, including Edwards AFB, Travis AFB, Vandenberg AFB, Camp Pendleton, the Presidio of Monterey, Fort Irwin, and the San Diego and Coronado naval bases, the largest naval installations on the west coast. By contrast, there are only 15 military installations in Texas.

California is also home to some of the largest aerospace and high-tech contractors in the nation. Rockwell International, Lockheed, and Northrop, major defense contractors, are all located in southern California.

What California lacks is the kind of political leadership that will attract new business. Economic growth in California -- one can hardly call it "growth" -- has been stagnant or worse over the past decade. In 2008-2009 GDP growth in the state was minus 2.2%.  Along with a stagnant economy comes high unemployment.  In June 2011, the states's unemployment rate stood at 11.8%. That same month the unemployment rate in Texas was 8.2%, well below the national average of 9.2%.

You can read the rest Folks' article here. Gov. Rick Perry has been the most successful American governor in living memory, and the White House is scared.  Obama is killing jobs and Perry is creating jobs.  The question is,  could California be creating jobs also if we had Rick Perry style of leadership in the state?