Podcast 290

Southwest Light Rail. News that Minnesota Speaker of The House Kurt Daudt says the House will not consider funding for the Southwest Light Rail, leads this midweek update from the Bob Davis Podcasts. SWLR has caused headaches for the Minneapolis Park Board, Bicyclists, Residents of Western Suburbs, Mayors, City Councils and legislators since its inception, and it isn’t even built yet! Despite the fact that light rail does not carry more passengers than buses, doesn’t spur development without expensive subsidies, and doesn’t generate employment beyond construction crews (which is a small swath of the working population and short term) the unelected Met Council and transportation ‘activists’ plan as many as twenty of these light rail projects, with the Southwest Light Rail central to the overall plan. Moreover, media coverage of how the state funds transportation projects is very confusing. Senate transportation chair Scott Dibble wants to add a wholesale gas tax which some report could add as much as twenty cents to a gallon of gas, which is projected to raise almost a billion dollars, add a license fee increase and then borrow 576 million for ‘roads and bridges’. What’s the other 800 million plus a year for? And let’s not forget the transportation amendment, passed a few years ago, which generates God knows how much in revenue. Is there a sinkhole someplace where this money goes? Oddly enough people who a month ago were touting the lower gas prices as acting economically as a ‘tax cut’, now advocate raising the federal gas tax. Hint, there is plenty of money if they would just dedicate all of the money raised in gas taxes for roads and bridges. Furthermore, what about Obama’s trillion dollar stimulus? Wasn’t that for roads and bridges too? New economic numbers this week has the media touting the ‘booming’ Obama economy, and leftwing commentators laughing at Republicans for spinning the good news, bad. But, there are still some questions about employment, central bank policy, and worrisome signs. 2.5 to 3.5 percent GDP growth is good, but wages are not increasing and some say, this isn’t enough to sustain the growth. Don’t get too cocky. The Bob Davis Podcasts provoked a lot of reaction in Podcast 287 regarding tea party politics in Minnesota, chiefly that rhetoric does not win elections, or force politicians to do your bidding. Almost as proof is a new poll of registered republicans in Iowa. If there is a grassroots tea party movement, the poll doesn’t show it. Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush lead a field of GOP candidates in the first primary state. Shockingly, the White House says journalists should be careful what they say, since it might provoke attacks against US military personnel and in his role as Commander in Chief, President Obama might have to shut down journalists who write stories jihadists don’t like, or satire that might make them attack. Not making this up. And you wonder why the President didn’t go to Paris. Finally, the IRS head continues to bitch and moan about the lack of funding for the agency, saying fewer audits are in store, and they may not be able to collect taxes …The Nation Rejoices! Sponsored by Baklund R&D.

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Podcast 286

Speaker Boehner. US Speaker of The House Boehner has survived a challenge from so called ‘insurgent conservatives’ to replace him. According to some reports this was the strongest effort to replace a sitting speaker since the 1860’s. As many as 24 Republican members voted against the Speaker. ‘Insurgents’ are unhappy with the Speaker because they do not feel he fights for principles. Freedom Works had urged its followers to write, call and email their Congressmen to vote against Boehner. Once again so called Conservative Insurgents across the country are learning an important lesson about politics. That would be money talks, you know what walks. Whatever you want to call them; Tea Party, Liberty, Insurgent … until this group commands a political machine that actually holds real political power, these kinds of demonstrations (or stunts as some call them) will continue to be just that. When you have the power, you win the vote. Nice try though. There is a lot of snark on this story, which ignores the fact that the insurgent movement — people who actually think our legislators should govern from principle rather than expedience — is growing in strength, contrary to reports of its demise. Meanwhile, what is the agenda for so called ‘moderate’ Republicans in Congress? Make changes on the margins? ‘Restore’ faith in the IRS? Vote tax breaks to teenagers? Really? There are rumors the Keystone Pipeline will come up for a vote soon. As usual all the ‘journalism’ concentrates on the GOP majority in the Senate as being ‘filibuster proof’. This isn’t the question. The question is whether the House and Senate can muster the two-thirds majority needed to override an almost certain Presidential Veto, unless moderates cram all sorts of goodies into the bill. If you want to use email, your phone or write a letter to someone in the government, you might try send a letter to the FCC to demand it does NOT reclassify the Internet as a Utility. The last thing the world needs is regulation and taxation on the Internet. How expensive will Obama Care be in 2015? Aside from some who are now earning more than they did when they qualified for ACA subsidies in 2014, having to pay those subsidies back (yes, it’s true), copays and insurance fees are increasing so much and so quickly the Harvard Professors who supported and demanded the ACA pass, are now protesting those same copay and insurance increases! For Thee, not me, these perfumed princes and princesses are saying. That’s why we trust their positions on other political issues so much. Meanwhile, as the US makes nice with Communists in Cuba, they’re cracking down on dissidents sending thousands to jail. Same thing is happening in China and North Korea. One thing about Maoists, they don’t like dissent. And what happens when a Chicagoan rides his bike to the Police Station to report a theft? Sponsored by Baklund R & D.

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Podcast 177

Malaysian Flight 17 shot down over the Ukraine. Get ready for a weekend of recriminations and wild statements in the rush to judgement. What are the main facts you need to know? “The thing on the border with the children” is turning out to be a liability for the President and Democrats. New polling data shows most Americans want these illegal aliens, cute as they are, returned home. Will the border crisis help, or hurt democrats at the voting booth in November. US companies moving abroad to avoid high corporate taxes in the US? What’s a president to do? Easy! Make it illegal! Then make it retroactive. Oops, the Medtronic execs who just moved to Ireland will have to move back to the US. What would be easier? How about lowering the US corporate tax rate to a level competitive with Ireland, and Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Maybe then companies would move here! In what is certainly to be viewed as bad news for the ‘Warmists’, the NOAA reports there are no sunspots right now. This is a condition usually associated with solar minimums and … wait for it … cooling periods! Maybe that is why there has been no warming for 17 years. Sponsored by Baklund R & D.

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