How We Spent Our Summer of Recovery

The Times reports on the Summer of Recovery:

Vacation Travel Recovers, but Frugality Is Focus
By CHRISTINE HAUSER

Vacations have become a luxury for many Americans trying to make ends meet in this economic downturn, but there are signs that people are slowly, even timidly, on the move again.

...The pent-up demand is starting to filter through, though it is more a trickle than a flood. With it, analysts said, comes a new level of austerity as vacationers search for frugal ways to get away by juggling their finances, taking shorter trips and even staying with relatives. 

...People are traveling with “one hand firmly clasped to their wallets,” said Henry Harteveldt, a market researcher for Forrester Research. “The comments I get are that generally business is better, but no one is popping Champagne corks,” he said.

I want to salute the Times' discipline and restraint here.  Just a few days back that they ran a story about the Obamas taking flak for their vacations to Martha's Vineyard and Spain.  Yet today they heroically resisted what must have been a mad desire to take an obvious cheap shot at the President.

They are better men (and much better women!) than I.

Comments

[Threadkiller]

Threadstarter.

[bgates]

You're as good a woman as any man who writes for that paper, TM.

[bgates]

The pent-up demand is starting to filter through, though it is more a trickle than a flood.

There's just something about August going into September where everyone on vacation gets all wee-weed up.

[MayBee]

heh.

Counting the time here, Mr. Obama will have vacationed for 48 days as president, or nearly seven weeks, according to Mark Knoller, a longtime White House correspondent for CBS News who keeps records on the vacation days of presidents. At this point in his presidency, George W. Bush was midway through a 27-day stay at his Crawford ranch that would bring his time there to 115 days — or more than 16 weeks.

I don't begrudge any President a change of venue. And I wonder what counts as "vacation" here. Are they talking about physical location of the President? If so, how do you count completely unnecessary trips around the country to make speeches, or a speech in Cairo followed by a day of touring pyramids? Is that considered work, where a meeting with Putin IN Crawford is vacation?

Obama's problem is the luxeness of his travels- Hawaii, Martha's Vineyard, Hawaii, Martha's Vineyard, the financial times we are in, and the hypocrisy of his fingerpointing at "fat cats".

[Rick Ballard]

Don't you mean "In addition to his being a stinking commie, Obama's problem.. etc."? I believe America to be far safer with Sir Shanksalot on the 12th tee than in the Oval Office.

Go out and play, BOzo. America wants you on the links. Permanently.

[Porchlight]

and even staying with relatives.

Whoa. Getting crazy there. No one ever did that before September 2008.

[matt]

as the airlines hose their customer base and the TSA cavity searches America, they wonder why people have cut back on vacations.

[Rick Ballard]

MayBee,

Can the Obamas actually spend much time at "home" in Uncle Tony's house? I don't think that particular stench will air out.

[PD]

as the airlines hose their customer base and the TSA cavity searches America, they wonder why people have cut back on vacations.

Easy solution: Drive.

Say, I think I will. To Vail. Next month. With my sweetie!

Mmmm.

[bgates]

At this point in his presidency, George W. Bush

had seen the unemployment rate - which peaked at 6.3% in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble and the most devastating terrorist attack in history - decline to 5.7%.

At this point in his presidency, George W. Bush

was about to become the first President to see his party increase the size of its majority in the House since FDR's first term.

At this point in his presidency, George W. Bush

had begun to lay the groundwork for a Congressional authorization for the use of military force in Iraq, which would eventually pass with over 2/3 support in both houses.

At this point in his presidency, George W. Bush

had submitted 2 budget proposals to Congress, which were $3,200,000,000,000 less than the 2 budget proposals Obama has submitted.

[Danube of Thought]

...analysts said...

Good enough for the New York Times. It's news, it can never be disproved, and it can never be proved.

Oh, for a few moments of cross-examination...

[MayBee]

Rick- Ha!
Before he took office, Obama had said he planned to bring the family back to Chicago every six weeks. The truth is, his home probably really is in too urban a setting to make that very pleasant for the neighbors.

[Clarice]

Think how much you can rake off by becoming a soi-disant expert available to tell reporters whatever they want to hear to support their opinions and write them up as "news", DoT.

I'm thinking Scam Experts Incorporated. I'll make you our general counsel.

[Threadkiller]

S cam
E xperts
I ncorporated
U think it has been done before?

[Danube of Thought]

For my usual hourly, Clarice, I stand ready to opine on anything without attribution. The rate quadruples if you want to use my name.

[MayBee]

Do we have to pay you double if we make you plural?

For example: "The retired attorney and the war veteran we interviewed for this article agreed with our voter from California..."

[Clarice]

where's Sylvia? I need someone smart to check my math.
4X$0=$ 0

I think we can afford that,DoT.

[narciso]

that's the zero property, but you're just tempting fate now, clarice 'beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice,"

[daddy]

Just catching up.

Was better said by Clarice on another thread but isn't it interesting that on the Anniversary of Doctor King's famous speech wherein he said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character", that some of the MSM has chosen to describe the hundreds of thousands people attending a rally where Dr King originally gave that speech, as "White People."

Guess they didn't get a copy of Dr KIng's speech.

And truth be told, by describing them as "White People" they are in fact trying to describe "the content of their characters."

[Comanche Voter]

Hey the Obamas are "holding on to their wallet" too as they vacation. A good chunk of the cost is paid by you and me.

[MarkO]

Usually, I require the expert to opine as I direct, especially if paid. Otherwise, what's the point?

Unpaid experts are hardly even billable hours.

[daddy]

Alaska Absentee Ballot Brouhaha Update:

But not much of one. The ADN has a new story: ">http://www.adn.com/2010/08/28/1429399/absentee-ballots.html?pageNum=1&&&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Container"> More accusations made in close Senate race, but besides saying there are now "23,472 ballots to process, with more coming, and the first count set for Tuesday," little else of news. Basically it recaps the Fagan Talk Show call-ins which I commented on from my Taipei hotel room, so that wasn't hard to do.

There is this: "Miller campaign spokesman DeSoto said NRSC is apparently now sending Mike Roman, who worked on the 2008 ballot recount for then-Sen. Coleman, to Alaska to work for Murkowski." Murkowski's campaign manager Bitney, says he personally requested this Mike Roman guy. "Roman is founder of ">http://www.electionjournal.org/new-about-page/"> Election Journal...which calls Roman a veteran political consultant and private investigator."

According to the printed denials from Joe Miller, Lisa Murkowski's Office, Lisa Murkowski's Campaign and the NRSC, they have all denied that they are making the calls. If that's true, then I think this Private Investigator Roman guy might be worth looking at, since from the callers, some say they have been told the guys on the phone asking questions have said that they are a non-political organization, and in the case of caller Ryan, something like a "Research Information Group." The phone numbers of the incoming calls are apparently intentionally unknown and unidentified.

FWIW, Newsmax on Friday reported that ">http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/TeaPartyPalinMurkowski-Miller/2010/08/27/id/368588"> "Sarah Palin's personal attorney, Thomas V. Van Flein of Fairbanks, has entered the fray on Miller's behalf:"

"On Thursday, Van Flein wrote a letter to Gail Fenumiai, the state’s elections director who will oversee the counting of absentee ballots, asking that a Murkowski campaign observer, Bonnie Jack, be "disbarred" from future election activities.

"As you are aware," Flein wrote Fenumiai, "based on the eye witness accounts of your staff and the Miller Campaign team present, Ms. Jack used confidential voter information outside the voter observation confines and called a voter to resurrect a disqualified ballot."

So that's about it. Don't know if this ugly thing has legs, but if so I think Roman's the guy to start asking questions of next. The Tuesday count ought to be interesting and the local Dem's and the ADN certainly seem energized.

[Pops]

The Republicans, id they were smart would be PUSHING the facts to Obama that it was his fellow Democrats who took over Congress that caused the economic turn-down, not Bush.

How hard is it to say on these talking head shows - THE PRESIDENT FORGETS THE ECONOMY WAS FINE UNDER BUSH AND A REPUBLICAN CONGRESS, IT WASN'T UNTIL THE OVER SPENDING, OVER REGULATING LEFT GOT CONTROL THAT THE ECONOMY WENT INTO A TAIL SPIN.

The President can tried to blame Bush all day long, but it was Congress that had the real affect on the economy.

[Jack is Back!]

According to RecoverySummer.Com, the authorized website of the Department of Tourism and Excursions of the Obama Regime, over 4.5 million vacations have either been created or saved. In a gripping and telling story of one such vacation saved, the website points out the incredible events surrounding the Turnipseed family of Ogelthorpe, Georgia. Ben Turnipseed, had been out of work for 116 weeks and had exhausted his Federal and State benefits. If it had not been for a Second Harvest food bank, he and his wife, Cindy and their 3 children, Ben, Jr., Corky and Sunny would be without a healthy lunch. While at the Second Harvest food bank, a couple in line behind them told them about the Explore The Gulf Region vacation grants being made available to people who have been unemployed more than the statutory limited 99 weeks. The Turnipseed family jumped at the opportunity to spend 2 weeks in Panama City, Florida, on the same beach that President Obama took recent refuge and swim in the same oil depleted and cleansed waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Under these grants, part of the $26 million Save our Teachers and Medicaid stimulus program passed by Congress, they were able to give to their children the fun of driving go-karts, eating cotton candy (sugar free per government guidelines recently established by the office of the First Lady) and playing Kadima on the beach. Ben Turnipseed noted, "without President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid, we would be spending another summer in our home town eating Big Boys and mowing the yard." The program is expected to expire on September 6th, Labor Day, the traditional end of summer. According to the White House, there is not expected to be a statement from the President regarding the success of the program for he is scheduled to play golf at the Army Navy Club. But spokesman, Bill Burton, indicated that Vice President Biden, back from his vacation in the Hamptons, will offer remarks between 1 and 3pm that day.

[Extraneus]

Apparently that would be in bad form, Pops, not to mention racist.

Vote Pops for RNC Chairman.

[centralcal]

Oops just posted this on the wrong thread, but Clarice's Pieces are up this morning. She comes to us from the Georgetown Rathskeller.

LUN

[narciso]

Well, Mike Roman, well he's 'mostly harmless' as we saw in the Coleman/Franken case, but that it does show that the NRSC is 'acting stupidly' again, the vaccuum salesman is very
apt, since we are 'getting hosed' You're on fire this week again

[Extraneus]

Excellent column, Clarice. Great premise and tone. Nice whack on Karen Hughes, too.

[Clarice]

Thanks for the update, daddy, and thanks Extraneus.

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice,

In your opinion, is an "industrial filter salesman" more qualified than a "community organizer"?

[centralcal]

Somebody's knocking should I let him in
Lord it's the devil would you look at him

From The Hill:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) said on MSNBC's "Hardball" that as conservative activists rallied on the National Mall, Democrats would be trying to stress to voters that theirs are the policies taking America forward.

"You mentioned the 200,000 that may or may not be on the Mall tomorrow," the congresswoman told host Christ Matthews. "The 200,000 people that matter tomorrow are the 200,000 activists who are going to be knocking on doors tomorrow for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's National Day of Action.

"We will do 200,000 door knocks tomorrow all across America, Chris, because our grass roots engine is second to none."

Nobody knocked on my door here in Blue California. How about you guys in other states?

[Clarice]

JIB..Man, that's a hard one,,Qualified for what?

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice,

I want to add the following at LUN. You may want to save for a future "Pieces". Don't forget Zakat. Bubu and his friends will be thrilled to learn of this minor law of Sharia. Of course, the "moderate" Muslim will forgo number 7 on the list and substitute Park 51.

[Captain Hate]

You know things are bad when I have to look closely to determine what JiB was a spoof or a lift from the likes of the NYT.

O/T This has been the weekend of no sleep for me. On Friday I drove Mrs H to Cincy for the opening of a photography show she was in and drove back, getting home after 12:30 and then wondering why I stunk so bad at basketball yesterday @ 7:30 am. Then last night at 2am by a bat flying around which I was able to swat down and toss out once we got it confined to one room. It would be nice to have a boringly quiet evening tonight.

[Captain Hate]

"What JiB" wrote at 7:57

[Threadkiller]

"We will do 200,000 door knocks tomorrow all across America, Chris, because our grass roots engine is second to none."

Now that is what you call "A knock-knock joke!"

[bunkerbuster]

If the president is a communist, doesn't that mean we actually lost the Cold War?

[Clarice]

NY Post reports mosque developer Gamal owes over $200,000 in taxes which could void his purchase deal (this must be 200k day). The Post also reports that Gamal will need permission of the MTA to build his project because there are two MTA lines that run under the building--and he hasn't got the MTAs permission.

What do you suppose are the over-under odds on the mosque being built, possums?

[DebinNC]

The voters in Philadelphia woke up to some unwelcome news this morning about umpteen damage suits they'll be forced to pay. Hope this helps Toomey and dents Fast Eddie's influence in Nov..

[DebinNC]

Dallas, TX door knockers may be asked about Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson awarding local scholarships to relatives who don't even live in her district. Her voters won't care, but other Dallas News readers, hopefully, will.

[DebinNC]

AP says Obama intends to correct the perception that Bush handled Katrina better than he handled the BP spill with a speech/visit to NO today which barely rates one paragraph in the local paper whose Katrina coverage won two Pulitzers.

[Jack is Back!]

The fact that we are spending so much time on Katrina just tells me that this is the politics of remembrance. Not of the brave actions of the national guard, citizens, General Honore and others but of Bush and Brownie and the whole character of the blame game. Obama, the magnificent, who has never in his life made a mistake (because he votes present) has come not to praise the city, the Saints, the ones who stayed or came back and rebuilt it but rather to bury Bush with a legacy tombstone.

[Clarice]

The problem for him, JIB , is that more people now consider his work on BP worse than Bush' on Katrina and his going there shows he has nothing more than Blame Bush in his puny quiver and reminds them of his consistently awful executive performance.

[Rick Ballard]

He's just marking the shift from Non-Recovery Summer to Total Failure Fall.

[narciso]

Yes, and what has he done in the last two years, how much stimulus funds went to the levees, or rebuilding the housing stock, or anything else of note, we'll leave his mishandling of the other golf crisis, see what
I did there, for now

[rse]

JIB=

That's precisely the point I have been making about all the Katrina coverage.

By the way, Obama is speakin again to the country's schoolchildren on Sept 14.

Get 'em young.

Good questions:

1) Which statements strike you as fantastic on their face?

2) Which statements struck you as manipulative? How?

3) Does the speech make you want to giggle or point fingers at those giddy students who wore Obama T shirts to school in Fall 2008 and January 2009?

[Clarice]

The sound you hear is me stealing more of Rick's work..THWUP

[Jack is Back!]

A small confession: I still get the New York Times Sunday edition. I cringe even reading the Sports section, which always seems to find either a racial angle to exploit or one in which a player was saved from scourge of drugs and crime perpetrated by corporate greed or something that rhymes with that. I always have to read the Magazine's interview by Deborah Solomon since even after more than 18 months, she still finds ways to bring W into her dribble. This Sunday she is interviewing Craig Fugate, the Director of FEMA (of course this fits the politics of remembrance narrative). And as a result I just found a new appreciation for this guy.

DS: Your predecessor, Michael Brown, became a symbol of mismanagement when President Bush praised him for doing "a heck of job" after the storm hit.

GF: Mike Brown is a lot things, but he wasn't this two-headed monster that they made him out to be. You're not really fixing the problem if you blame just one person.

Of course not but it helped to elect Jindal and get rid of Nagin. By the way, she even gets him to admit he is a democrat (appointed by Jeb Bush to be the Florida emergency services director in 2001).

You see having a party affiliation makes you more qualified to be FEMA director than if you didn't. I am surprised she didn't ask him if he was Muslim.

[RichatUF]

Clarice get pieces at AT. Couldn't make it to the rally-something came up at the last minute-but am hoping to be at the 9/12 event.

Rick-

Total Failure Fall. Excellent. Did you see the Krugman blog about the weakening recovery being predicitable because the Obama Administration hasn't spent enough?

[Gmax]

By the way the latest Alaska Poll by PPP (D) puts Murkowski in 2nd place even in a three way race.I think we are looking at a new Conservative in the Senate, unless Murky figures out a way to Franken the election.

[PD]

Total Failure Fall. Excellent. Did you see the Krugman blog about the weakening recovery being predicitable because the Obama Administration hasn't spent enough?

That's nothing compared to the predictability of Krugman saying more gov't spending will fix up the problems that gov't spending has thus far exacerbated.

[PD]

unless Murky figures out a way to Franken the election.

That would cement her status as a Democrat.

Of course, her antics so far indicate that she's more interested in being elected at any cost than in principle, so she's perfect for that party.

[RichatUF]

I thought that Krugman wrote an editorial a while back that predicted that the Obama "recovery" would be strong (as strong as the Reagan Recovery) because of the depth of the recession. TM had a thread that compared the Reagan Recovery to other post war recoveries which showed that it was an outlier (much stronger than previous recoveries).

My memory might be faulty though (and I am being constantly distracted) because Krugman has been saying for a while now that the "stimulus" wasn't big enough.

[narciso]

My colleagues on the other blog, not moi of course, have taken to call her "Veruca Salt"
after the character from the Willy Wonka film

[cathyf]

Just to toss this out there, but I think "Epic Fall Fail" has a certain ring to it too.

[rse]

Or "Epic Fail Fall".

[bgates]

Nobody knocked on my door here in Blue California. How about you guys in other states?

Actually, yes.

It was two girls, aged maybe 6 and 8. "Hi, would you like to have your car washed? We're washing cars today." (Younger girl shows handmade sign saying 'Car Wash'.) "It's a dollar."

Mrs bgates, a soft touch for little girls and free enterprise if ever there was one, forks over three bucks. "OK, thank you. We're at the pink house up the street that's for sale." (Older girl shows a hand drawing of a pink house, captioned 'For Sale'.) You can bring it up there, or we can wash it here if you want."

"Great!" says I, "It's the white car across the street."

"Oh, could you bring it up to the our house? Because we're not allowed to be in the street."

I rue not getting a contract that spelled out these details beforehand, but Mrs agrees to bring the car to them, so they head on down the street.

15 seconds later, another knock:

"You forgot to take this:" (Younger extends handmade sign coupon entitling bearer to one 'Car Wash'.) I take. "Also, that was our last one? So we're going to get started washing the cars. So can you bring yours over, like, now?"

So the wife and the car go a couple houses up the street, where the wife, with a bit of assistance, washes her car. While there, she learns that the kids are fundraising for their school. The school didn't ask them to. They just decided it would be a good thing to do. "We'll make sure the money gets to the school," says the mom.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

What else can Krugman say? Domestic macro is outside the niche he carved for himself and there are no pseudo-Keynesian formulas which have a deflator for complete dishonesty and incompetence on the part of the government. "Epic fail" certainly fits as a description of this administration. It also fits as a description of current economic "thinking". I believe it hits the Pigovians just about as hard as the pseudo-Keynesians. It's almost as if the exposure of very low character in very high places can't be papered over with money.

[Jim Miller]

JiB - Solomon may have asked the FEMA director about his religion. Those "interviews" read as if she were asking one question after another, but they aren't conducted that way. Instead, she asks a bunch of questions, not necessarily at the same time, and then chooses the ones she wants for the column. (I believe they aren't always in even in order.)

(In my opinion, what she does is deceptive, but I'm picky about such things.)

[Danube of Thought]

Let's be sure we get the talking points straight: GDP growth went to 5.0% in Q4 2009 because of Obama. Then it went to 1.6% in Q2 2010 because of...Bush?

[RichatUF]

Rick-

True, but it'd be nice to see Krugman pull an "opposite day", just too keep the column and blog fresh. I'm not sure how the Obama Administration is going to go forward policy wise either with a GOP congress-he doesn't seem like much a triangulator and he seems a bit shocked his policies have been failures (or maybe he hasn't been told). Hard to believe that 2011-2012 could be real "epic fails".

[hit and run]

DoT:
Let's be sure we get the talking points straight: GDP growth went to 5.0% in Q4 2009 because of Obama. Then it went to 1.6% in Q2 2010 because of...Bush?

Well.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31924749/>July 14, 2009:

With four simple words - "Give it to me!" - President Barack Obama took possession of the economy.

He "took possesion" during the quarter in which the US economy rebounded to GDP growth (1.6%). It was the following quarter that we saw 5% growth.

Since then 3.7% and now 1.6%. All along,Obama has dutifully instructed us that the economy is "heading in the right direction".

So that's the direction Obama considers the right one?

Oh,and I'm predicting a post at Geraghty's tomorrow with a chart that depicts this state of affairs. I'm prophetic like that.

[RichatUF]

DoT-

Pretty much. "Failed policies of the past" and all that...

I haven't seen the Dems really go all out and push the Bush card though. They ought to campaign on allowing all the Bush tax cuts to expire. Get Obama to barnstorm the country with a Bush piñata and "Recovery Summer" banners.

[PD]

They ought to campaign on allowing all the Bush tax cuts to expire.

Coupled with continuing the Pelosi/Reid claim that allowing a tax cut to expire isn't "really" a tax hike. That one really resonates with taxpayers.

[Danube of Thought]

And they can boast pridefully of their stimulus and their healthcare legislation.

[Pofarmer]

So, is anybody making predictions? Had a talk with a buddy today. He was saying "I think it's about time to be buying some rental real estate." Me? NOooooooo, and I launch into the home sales numbers, GDP numbers, unemployment numbers, durable goods numbers, stock market, yada yada yada. I dunno, am I just being to negative? How much down is there under there?

[bunkerbuster]

Po: I'd have thought you were repenting at leisure. Stocks are up 30% since the day Obama took office, as measured by the s&P 500. I wonder what happened to Rick and Mel the other day when they were so sure the GDP number was going to crater. Uncle Ben ate their lunch! The life of a wingnut trader must be a hard one...

[daddy]

Po,

I am getting out of debt as priority number 1.

Would like to hear what the financial boys think.

[bunkerbuster]

I'd wager few, if any, identity conservatives are troubled by the fact that Red states take in more in federal money than they contribute, while Blue states pay in more than they get, on average. In America, the latte-sipping socialist god-haters, while they are not preening, spitting on veterans and making conservatives feel small, are earning money that ultimately goes to subsidize the whining losers in red states, who are so poorly informed, they think THEY are the ones paying out…

The report shows that of the 32 states (and the District of Columbia) that are "winners" -- receiving more in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes -- 76% are Red States that voted for George Bush in 2000. Indeed, 17 of the 20 (85%) states receiving the most federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Red States. Here are the Top 10 states that feed at the federal trough (with Red States highlighted in bold):

States Receiving Most in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:
1. D.C. ($6.17)
2. North Dakota ($2.03)
3. New Mexico ($1.89)
4. Mississippi ($1.84)
5. Alaska ($1.82)
6. West Virginia ($1.74)
7. Montana ($1.64)
8. Alabama ($1.61)
9. South Dakota ($1.59)
10. Arkansas ($1.53)
In contrast, of the 16 states that are "losers" -- receiving less in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes -- 69% are Blue States that voted for Al Gore in 2000. Indeed, 11 of the 14 (79%) of the states receiving the least federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Blue States. Here are the Top 10 states that supply feed for the federal trough (with Blue States highlighted in bold):
States Receiving Least in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:
1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)
LUN

[Captain Hate]

Is it asking Axelrod too much to send us trolls that know how to link things?

[boris]

Anything involving the immumerate troll bubu and numbers is not likely valid.

Possibley relevant questions ... where do the rich people live? Where is the food grown? Are rich taxpayers subsidizing food growers?

If bubu really had a problem with that bubu would be libertarian. Bubu is not libertarian so bubu is just being a troll as usual.

[jimmyk]

bubu doesn't like to link to the actual studies he cites, because then we can see how flimsy they are.

As for this one, who knows, but it seems that lefties can only see things through the prism of self-interest. The idea that conservatives might want a smaller government and don't actually give a damn about "federal dollars" that come to their states is beyond these idiots' grasp.

I'm guessing that a lot of this federal spending is either on the military (which benefits everyone whether they appreciate it or not), or because of federal ownership of land, which is more extensive in the red states but counter to the will of the people who live there.

[narciso]

Well Alaska for one, is 70% government owned, and as we are well aware, the Feds keep the state locked down against further development.
In terms of pork, when Stevens was no longer
in charge, the beneficiary of earmarks ended
up being the President's own state of Illinois, I'm sure that's a coincidence

[hit and run]

States Receiving Most in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid

Hmmm...

ND - Senators: Conrad (D), Dorgan (D); 1 US Rep (D)
NM - Senators: Bingaman (D), Udall (D); 3 US Reps, all (D)
AK - Senators: Begich (D), Murkowski (R), 1 US Rep, (R)
WV (!?!?*) - Senators: Carte (D), Rockefeller (D); 3 US Rep, 2 (D), 1 (R)
MT - Senators: Baucus (D), Tester (D); 1 US Rep (R)
SD - Senators: Johnson (D), Thune (R); 1 US Rep (D)
AR - Senators: Lincoln (D), Pryor (D); 4 US Reps, 3 (D), 1 (R)

That's 22 Democrats and 6 Republicans for those keeping score at home.

-----------------------
* At this point rumors that the West Virginia state legislature is considering drafting a bill to rename the state to West Byrdistan remain unconfirmed.

[Rick Ballard]

H&R,

Congratulations on being linked by Geraghty and having your chart show up on The Campaign Spot.

[hit and run]

Thanks,Rick.

That Geraghty guy is swell.

[pagar]

Good Chart H&R!

[MayBee]

Yay Hit!

[Danube of Thought]

Great one, Hit. And good catch on the 22-5 count--if I had a dirty mind, I would think that might have something to do with the distribution of federal largesse.

The Obama folks are going to have to figure out what it was that happened after December 31, 2009 when GDP was expanding at an annualized rate of 5%. Something caused it to go to 1.6% six months later. Lemme see...Bush!
Yeah, that's it--Bush!

[Danube of Thought]

The infallible NY Post calls our attention to a prominent Mohammedan slumlord:

He's the religious leader of the planned, controversial Ground Zero mosque -- but across the Hudson, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is known as an alleged slumlord. At buildings in Union City and Palisades Park, where Rauf reportedly got tax dollars to renovate low-income apartments, tenants yesterday said their gripes about their lousy housing conditions have been ignored. "Why doesn't he help the tenants he has before he builds a new place, claiming he wants to help people?" said a disgusted Jamie Barillas, who lives in a Rauf-owned apartment at 2206 Central Ave. in Union City.

But he's a bridge-builder.

[Porchlight]

Nice work, Hit!

[Ignatz]

--In America, the latte-sipping socialist god-haters, while they are not preening, spitting on veterans and making conservatives feel small, are earning money that ultimately goes to subsidize the whining losers in red states, who are so poorly informed, they think THEY are the ones paying out…--

I just love it when liberals talk dirty; they reveal their true colors.
Bubu, you poor hopeless moron, you do realize don't you that the phemomenon you describe is almost entirely a result of the policies you tell us are of the utmost moral necessity and good; the progressive income tax code and social welfare programs?

It is a fact of life that rural areas tend to have lower incomes and urbanized areas have higher ones, so given your left wing moralizing intrusion into the economy it is inevitable that the transfer you describe exists. In fact when any left wing moron like you brings this issue up you are stating quite clearly that you despise the poor and less fortunate and you hate and resent having to help them.

If you want to stop subsidizing the whining losers, you know, the victims of corporate greed and racism that you claim you care so much about then you'll need to abandon your irrational politics and join those of us you constantly defame in attempting to dismantle this worthless welfare state you and your ilk have constructed.

For now you're just standing with the urban billionaires and complaining about the Shirlie Sherrod's of the world scrounging for the crumbs from their tables.

[Ignatz]

Turning from the ignoramus, here at RealClearMarkets, is a nice column on social security. I happen to think SS should be abolished in it's entirety and is unconstitutional but at least the guy defines it as what it is; a welfare program and wealth transfer from young to old and very often from working poor to retired rich.

[MayBee]

In fact when any left wing moron like you brings this issue up you are stating quite clearly that you despise the poor and less fortunate and you hate and resent having to help them.

Yeah, Ignatz, I never get it when liberals whine about that. Isn't that what they vote for, time after time?

The other ridiculous part of that, of course, is that states don't pay income taxes. It's a fake breakdown on the Federal Taxes Paid side.

[Danube of Thought]

Your link is a must-read, Iggy. And profoundly depressing, because we're too far down the road to get any sort of fix.

[MayBee]

Also important-

Jimmy Fallon hit it out of the park last night.

[Porchlight]

It's quite simple. bubu approves of wealth transfer to voters in blue states, but resents wealth transfer to voters in red states.

[boris]

Not a very "nice column on social security" IMO ...

To those who say "I paid into Social Security for years and all I want is what I'm entitled to," I reply, "You've been robbed - get over it."

That is a crock.

The same could be said about investors in T bills. Their investment is not sitting in some vault somewhere, it was spent. SS is a much worse investment than T-bills would have been with the same dollars but the guv has no less obligation to honor one over the other. Just try "the debt problem can be solved by simply cancelling T-bill and other government investment obligations".

[Dorothy Jane]

I made picnic lunches and dinners all the way to and from my vaca. We did not go out to dinner ven once - cooked at the cabin. Only expenditures: two nights on the road (to and from) gas and some groceries as we brought staples from home (syrup,ketchup paper towels etc). Spent under $700. Drove 1071 miles to Wisconsin from NC and back again.

[DebinNC]

Congrats, hit!

Tapper: “We know he needs to be out there to talk about the economy next week,” a White House official told ABC News, acknowledging the need for the president to talk about the issue on the minds of Americans in the midst of a schedule packed with events focused on other priorities. “We haven’t yet figured out the way he’s going to do that.”

I wonder if that guy's job will be saved? I also wonder if trying to distract the public from its economic concerns with Katrina, leaving Iraq, Mideast peace talks events will hurt Obama more than help? It should, but he did get elected so who knows?

[Danube of Thought]

The brilliant Mark Helprin has a wonderful column on the Mosque of Triumph in the WSJ today (I'd link to it but I think a subscription is required). Here's a taste:

Mosques have commemoratively been established upon the ruins or in the shells of the sacred buildings of other religions—most notably but not exclusively in Cordoba, Jerusalem, Istanbul, and India. When sited in this fashion they are monuments to victory, and the chief objection to this one is not to its existence but that it would be near the site of atrocities—not just one—closely associated with mosques because they were planned and at times celebrated in them.

[Danube of Thought]

More Helprin:

Building close to Ground Zero disregards the passions, grief and preferences not only of most of the families of September 11th but, because we are all the families of September 11th, those of the American people as well, even if not the whole of the American people. If the project is to promote moderate Islam, why have its sponsors so relentlessly, without the slightest compromise, insisted upon such a sensitive and inflammatory setting? That is not moderate. It is aggressively militant.

Disregarding pleas to build it at a sufficient remove so as not to be linked to an abomination committed, widely praised, and throughout the world seldom condemned in the name of Islam, the militant proponents of the World Trade Center mosque are guilty of a poorly concealed provocation. They dare Americans to appear anti-Islamic and intolerant or just to roll over.

[jimmyk]

The same could be said about investors in T bills.

I agree, Boris. SS obligations are pretty much like other government obligations, even if legally the benefits can be cut.

I would like to see SS gone in a generation, replaced by something privately run, but we can't just cancel the benefits. The trick is to phase it out by age: Everyone over 55 gets what they were promised, below that you get something less, but with the ability to substitute a private pension plan and reduce your contribution. The younger you are the bigger the cut in both benefits and contributions, so that 18-year-olds are basically off the hook.

[Porchlight]

Dorothy Jane,

Good for you. We skipped vacation this summer but next summer I want to do it your way (TX to Minnesota). For better or for worse, there is nothing like a long drive to make a family feel like a family. ;)

At the risk of sounding hopelessly old-fashioned and reactionary, I remember when a soda pop at the gas station was a treat only allowed on vacations. To this day, the occasional first sip of a can of Sprite or Dr. Pepper will transport me back to those days.

[rse]

DOT-

Is that the same Mark Helprin who wrote the wonderful novels Freddy and Fredericka and A Winter's Tale?

So good if anyone is looking for a marvelous read.

[DebinNC]

Drudge is giving Obama a hard time this morning

[rse]

Po-

One of our funniest family memories was being in the middle of nowhere on a country road near the Bay of Fundy and we all saw something black dart across the road.

Next is the worst smell imaginable basically bursting the senses. We all started giggling at the same time as we each realized what a skunk must actually smell like.

Before that skunks were just a cartoon image.

I hope I still remember my kids hearty instantaneous laughter from those moments when I cease to remember much else.

[Porchlight]

rse,

Memories from those drives do survive a long time. I remember some truly surreal stuff, including - no joke - a downed plane on the side of the highway in Indiana. I had to ask my dad a year or so ago if that was really true or if I just imagined it. He confirmed it was true.

We were also in the station wagon driving through Ohio on vacation when it was announced on the radio that Elvis had died. Remember it as clear as day.

[jimmyk]

rse, that's the same Mark Helprin. His novels aren't my cup of tea, but I know a lot of people who agree with you.

[Porchlight]

Is that the same Mark Helprin who wrote the wonderful novels Freddy and Fredericka and A Winter's Tale?

I believe it is, although I often think "Mark Halperin" when I see his name in print.