People, Get Ready
Posted on July 11, 2008
There is an interesting story in the National Journal today about Democratic planning for the eventual ascension of Barack Obama as President.
Charlie Rangel, who backed Hillary Clinton in the primary, was licking his chops when he talked about the ambitious agenda that he will pass and that Obama will sign. He didn’t talk specifically about his plans to raise taxes on investors, on small business owners, on income, on senior citizens, but he doesn’t really have to tell us about these plans. We all know those tax increases are coming.
Coincidently, there is a nice story about Rangel in the New York Times today about him hogging four rent control apartments in one of the nicest buildings in Harlem. As the Times puts it, “Some Congressional ethics experts, while saying it appear legitimate for Mr. Rangel to have one rent-stabilized apartment, question whether his acceptance of the additional units may violate the House of Representatives’ ban on members’ accepting gifts of more than $100. They suggest that the difference between what Mr. Rangel pays for the second, third and fourth apartments and what a new market-rate tenant would pay – some $30,000 – could be considered a gift because it is given at the discretion of the landlord and it is not generally available to the public.”
Rangel has cut a sweet deal for himself, manipulating out-dated rent control laws to benefit his own interests. Perhaps that is a metaphor for what Rangel and the Democrats will do when they get to run the government without any pesky Republicans looking over their shoulders.
Labor unions do expect some of these sweetheart deals from unbridled Democratic control of the Congress. Their top priority is to stop all of that oversight of their pension funds and their political activities from the Labor Department. Big Labor hates to disclose what it is really doing with its member’s money.
Trial lawyers also expect some relief. They hate tort reform. They want more litigation, not less litigation. They want more fighting, not less. They want more class-action lawsuits, because they want more action.
Education lobbyists also will look forward to the relaxing of educational standards that will surely result from the Democratic takeover. The Teachers’ unions don’t want to be accountable. They want a free ride.
Not enough attention has been paid to what exactly will happen if the Democrats get the chance to run everything again. The higher taxes that will be paid, the more spending that will be wasted, the less accountability for schools and Big Labor.
Joe Biden said, in regards to the Vice Presidential slot, that he would have a tough time working for somebody else, saying, “I made it clear to him and everybody else, I never worked for anybody in my life. I got here when I was 29. I never had a boss. I don’t know how I’d handle it.”
I am sure Biden’s constituents would be happy to hear that he hasn’t been working for them for the last of couple of decades. Apparently, he has been working only for himself.
Rangel obviously buys into Biden’s conceit. They are the bosses, and the people work for them.
This is what we have to look forward to when Democrats get their chance to run everything.