$280,000 champagne tower at Obama fundraiser with Jay-Z and Beyonce in Manhattan night club | Mail Online

 

 

Evidently, Mitt Romney was wrong. Some of the 47% that currently support the President’s re-election efforts are NOT soley earning their money on the government dole. Although, I suspect that Jay-Z is a minority-owned enterprise, and that might get him some government set-asides…

 

President Barack Obama attended a fundraiser at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Manhattan that featured a champagne tower of 350 bottles worth $105,000 – more than twice the median household income of an American family.

The tower of $300-a-bottle Armand de Brignac Brut Gold, known as ‘Ace of Spades’ because of its label, is a permanent fixture at the club.

‘It’s floor-to-ceiling gold bottles in the entire space,’ a 40/40 representative told the New York Post. ‘It’s beautiful—breathtaking. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in.’

The median income for an American family was $51,413 in 2011.

via $280,000 champagne tower at Obama fundraiser with Jay-Z and Beyonce in Manhattan night club | Mail Online.

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Honey, You didn’t build that…

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Erskine Bowles — Obama’s Selection For Deficit Reduction Planning — Praises Ryan – Pans Obama

Evidently, the Democratic Chair of the Bowles-Simpson Deficit Reduction Committee feels that Paul Ryan is more serious, more informed, and more bi-partisan than the Commander-in-Chief. Glad to see that there are still a few adults left on the Left…

From Yahoo News:

A video of former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles began circulating in conservative news outlets today. In the clip, the Democratic co-chair of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform gives high praises to Paul Ryan’s budget plan.

“I’m telling you, this guy is amazing. I always thought I was OK with arithmetic. This guy can run circles around me,” Bowles tells a class of students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“He is honest, he is straightforward, he is sincere. And the budget he came forward with is just like Paul Ryan. It is a sensible, straightforward, honest, serious budget and it cut the budget deficit just like we did by four trillion dollars.”

The video was shot on September 8, 2011, but was just uploaded to YouTube yesterday. What’s striking is that not only does Bowles, a former U.S. Senate candidate from North Carolina, praise Ryan’s effort, but he is also highly critical of the budget offered by President Obama. More from the video:

“The president came out with his own plan. And the president, as you remember, came out with a budget. And I don’t think anybody took that budget very seriously,” Bowles continues.

“The Senate voted against it 97 to nothing. He therefore, after a lot of pressure from folks like me, he came out with a new budget framework. And in that budget framework, he cuts the budget by four trillion dollars over twelve years. And, to be candid, this four trillion dollars cut was very heavily back-end loaded. So, that if you looked at it on a ten-year basis and compared apples to apples, it really was about a two and a half trillion dollar cut.”

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Leadership versus politics – Ryan versus Geithner

In a very brief interchange, VP Candidate Paul Ryan spells out the difference between Republican leadership and Democratic political junk…

“Leaders are supposed to fix problems,” Mr. Ryan lectured Mr. Geithner, demanding the White House offer a new proposal to tackle rising health-care costs. Mr. Ryan said the White Houses approach to the deficit would bring on a “European-style debt crisis.”

“We are not coming before you today to say we have a definitive solution to that long-term problem,” Mr. Geithner said. “What we do know is we don’t like yours.”

via For White House and Ryan, Deficit Became Personal – WSJ.com.

In other words, the White House has no solution, they just want to throw rocks at everyone else. That is what has become of the Left. Pitiful. Really pitiful.

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Food Stamps – Clinton – Bush – Obama

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Drilling – Clinton – Bush – Obama

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Unemployment — Clinton – Bush – Obama

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Small Businesses Hesitant to Hire, Say the Economy Is Off Track – Council on Small Business

As the owner of a small business with at least 2 openings that, under normal circumstances, I would like to fill, the following survey results come as no surprise to me. 59% say the fiscal cliff will have a direct impact on them and almost 3 out of 4 think that the healthcare law will make hiring more difficult. As the Vice President said, “It is a big f***ing deal.” — Yep, depression era unemployment is a big f***ing deal… Thanks, Mr. Veep. I’m so glad that now that he has received his marching orders, Governor Markell is supporting it.

Only one in five small businesses expect to add employees in 2013 and 82% think the national economy is on the wrong track, according to the U.S. Chamber’s fifth quarterly small business survey released today.

“Washington’s policies are not meeting our country’s fiscal challenges and are prolonging uncertainty among small businesses,” said Dr. Martin Regalia, the Chamber’s chief economist. “Washington can restore confidence for small businesses in this country by  addressing the fiscal cliff, removing regulatory barriers, increasing energy production, and starting over on bipartisan health care legislation.”

The poll of 1,225 small business owners, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that nine out of ten small businesses are concerned about Congress’ ability to reach consensus on expiring tax rates and other business provisions coupled with sequestration cuts—the so-called “fiscal cliff.”  59% say failure to address the fiscal cliff will have a direct impact on their company’s growth.

Of the small businesses surveyed, 72% said the health care law will make it harder for them to hire.  Specifically, they will scale back their workforce to avoid triggering the employer mandate and cut back on full-time workers.

78% of small business owners are looking for government to “get out of the way,” noting that decisions in Washington impact their business. Additionally, 96% believe it is important to vote for a candidate that supports free enterprise.

“We need a change in Washington in order to stimulate economic growth and create jobs,” said the Chamber’s Senior Vice President and National Political Director Rob Engstrom. “Small business owners cannot afford more of the same failed policies.”

via Small Businesses Hesitant to Hire, Say the Economy Is Off Track – Council on Small Business.

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Delaware Not So Friendly Small Business State – Part II

From CNBC:

Category	Score	2012 Rank	2011 Rank
Cost of Doing Business	152	32	31
Workforce	135	36	19
Quality of Life	112	49	48
Infrastructure & Transportation	173	27	40
Economy	171	19	22
Education	107	31	26
Technology & Innovation	70	40	32
Business Friendliness	122	19	1
Access to Capital	41	30	35
Cost of Living	14	37	35
OVERALL	1097	43	36

ECONOMIC PROFILE

• Governor: Jack Markell (D)
• Population: 907, 135
• GDP (per capita): $63,159
• Number of S&P companies: 2
• Top corporate tax rate: 8.70 percent
• Top individual tax rate: 6.75 percent
• Gasoline taxes/fees: 23.0 cents
• Bond Rating/Outlook: Aaa/Stable
• SAT scores (average): 1455/2400
• Degree Granting Institutions (colleges/universities): 11

Sources:  Census Bureau (2011), Standard & Poor’s (2012), Tax Foundation (2012), American Petroleum Institute (2012), Bureau Labor Statistics (2011), National Center For Education Statistics (2011), Moody’s (2012), CNBC

 

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Delaware Not So Friendly Small Business State

It has long been rumored that Delaware is a “Business friendly” State, especially with the “Businessman” Governor, Jack Markell. If you are Dupont, Bank of America, AstraZeneca, or a “green” company backed by venture capitalist, John Doerr, then, yes, Delaware is business friendly. But what if your just an average small business or average entrepreneur trying to make it in Delaware? From Thumbtack.com:

• Overall Friendliness – C
• Ease of starting a business – D+
• Hiring costs – A-
• Regulations – B
• Health & Safety – C-
• Employment, labor & hiring – A-
• Tax Code – A+
• Licensing – A-
• Environmental – D+
• Zoning – D
• Training Programs – F
• Networking Programs – D

 

• Current Economic Health – 22nd
• Optimism About the Future – 32nd
• Growth Rate Last Year – 22nd

Because we’re friendly for incorporation services, we are able to outsource ~50% of our State’s tax revenues. So, we have a good business tax & licensing policy. If it weren’t for those legacies (that can be traced back to over 100 years ago), we’d be in the bottom half of the Country. No wonder our Optimism is so poor. Good thing they didn’t rank our public schools…

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