Rent-Seeking:

The expenditure of resources in order to bring about an uncompensated transfer of goods or services from another person or persons to one’s self as the result of a “favorable” decision on some public policy….Examples of rent-seeking behavior would include all of the various ways by which individuals or groups lobby government for taxing, spending and regulatory policies that confer financial benefits or other special advantages upon them at the expense of the taxpayers or of consumers or of other groups or individuals with which the beneficiaries may be in economic competition.

Rent-Seeking:

In public choice theory, rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent, (i.e., the portion of income paid to a factor of production in excess of that which is needed to keep it employed in its current use), by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. One example is spending money on political lobbying in order to be given a share of wealth that has already been created.

And while the first blast at Rent-Seeking Walmart’s new stores has petered out, it is an EXCELLENT, encapsulated example of Rent-Seeking by those waving the Union Label.  There are those in DC that will do anything to keep out the Big Box stores, especially Walmart.  The Unionistas claim that Walmart doesn’t pay it workers well enough (er, then why do they work there?  but that’s for another post).  So, the Biz-Haters and the Unions wanted to have a “living wage” restriction placed upon Walmart via the Large Retailer Accountability Act that would have put their entry level labor costs 25% over the competition:

The bill would require retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more and operating District stores of at least 75,000 square feet to pay their employees a “living wage” — no less than $12.50 an hour in combined wages and benefits. The proposal includes an exception for employers who collectively bargain with their employees, and existing employers have four years to come into compliance under the law.

Notice the store size (only Big Boxers).  Notice the corporate sales limit (er, Walmart is WELL north of that).  OK, that would be fair – if a town has decided what it’s “look and feel” is to be, so be it.  But notice the “Rent-Seeking”:

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The Pentagon just issued back to back $7 billion dollar awards, $14 billion total, that’s $14,000,000,000.00, for…wind and solar projects. ($7 bill here, and another $7 bill there.)

This must be the change we were looking for.  After the Department of Energy wasted close to a trillion on green energy boondoggles, a majority of which have failed, gone bankrupt, or into hiding, and producing nothing with your hard earned dollars but debt, and not even those good middle class American jobs we kept hearing about, it was time to put the shovel in some other government departments hand.  Enter the DoD.  And who better?  But what about the Sequester?

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“The Tea Party has had it with Republican leaders, abandoning the GOP in stunning numbers at a time when mainstream leaders are arguing for immigration reform and support for an attack on Syria.

A new Pew Research Center poll provided to Secrets on Wednesday found that just 27 percent of Republicans who agree with the Tea Party approve of Republican leaders in Congress. A whopping 71 percent disapprove.

…The job rating of GOP leaders among Tea Party Republicans has fallen 15 points since February, from 42% to 27%. Disapproval has risen from 54% to 71% over this period. There has been no similar decline among Republicans who do not agree with the Tea Party.

This internal dissent contributes to the lower job ratings Republican leaders receive from the public. The survey, conducted Sept. 4-8 among 1,506 adults, finds that just 24% of the public approves of Republican leaders’ job performance, while 33% approve of the job of Democratic congressional leaders. “

It is clear that there is a feeling amongst TEA Party folks that Obama / the IRS / DOJ / Democrats took advantage of the fact that TEA Party groups tried to “do the right things / follow the rules” in the process of obtaining tax-exempt status for donations (which would have led to more political speech and activism).  There has been little done in reign in those in the IRS responsible for bringing political bias to bear in the most feared department in the Federal Government. Now knowing the targeting done to them by those in the Federal Government who hold Progressive / Big Government political views, their dander is now up.

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Former NH State House Rep. Robert Kingsbury passed away recently.  On the whole, his brief contribution to liberty was well regarded.  But like anyone who dares set foot in the game, there were instances where he presented some ideas that caught the eye of his liberal opponents.

I didn’t know him, so I can’t comment about his age or clarity in this role he chose to take so late in life, but I did see the “obituary” at Misecellany: blue and I’d question just about everything they appear to be focusing on with regard to Kingsbury.

First, they suggest that having something a Republican did, reported on Think Progress, is making “National headlines.”  The Think Progress article gives a hat tip to Working America Blog–(no kidding, who?) both of which reference the Concord Monitor.  There are bathrooms in Manhattan that have more flushes in a day than the Monitor has subscribers.  I’d hardly call that making ‘National headlines.’   National headlines?  More people would have seen it scrawled on that bathroom wall.

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Does he think us that stupid that we have forgotten that Al Qaeda turned airliners into bombs?

(H/T: Liberal Logic 101)

I think I prefer this one – a rememberance of a true “move forward” against those same Al Qaeda

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A while ago, a Muslim group called  AMPAC, announced a “Million Muslim March” in DC on 9/11 (reformatted, emphasis mine):

The American Muslim Political Action Committee is hosting what it hopes will be a gathering of one million people in Washington, D.C., on the 12th anniversary of 9/11 to urge the government to reveal “the truth” about the attacks.  “We want to hold President Obama accountable for his empty promises of creating a transparent government,” march organizer Isa Hodge told U.S. News. “What exactly have we spent all our money, lost lives and taken lives for? The entire record of the 9/11 Commission has never been released.” Protesters will also denounce “FBI traps,” “illegal tapping and surveilling of Muslim Americans” and “media propaganda making the word terrorist synonymous with Muslim,” he said. The march was announced as the “Million Muslim March” earlier this year, but its name has since been changed to the “Million American March Against Fear,” according to Hodge.

Yeah, the name was changed (er, whitewashed) due to the bad PR they got when it was announced (I remember a big blow out for them when a representative went on Hannity).  Then the bikers caught wind of it and a group called “2 Million Bikers to DC” sprang up – many of them vets who fought Islamic Jihadis in Iraq and Afghanistan (and other “kill ya if I tell ya” places).  They knew what this march meant – and got a tad cross over it.  Their response?  Well, I reviewed some of the comments and they are not Politically Correct (yeah, some folks would have a cow over them).  In fact, some would call it hate speech.  And try to stop them from going (after all, the Left cannot tolerate any dissent).

And they did – the National Park Service, that is – and the reaction is shown below (love that “Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children” logo on the right hand side, aka “we take no crap from no one ’cause we already put our lives on the line for the USA”):

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Democrat House Rep Stephen Shurtleff might best be known to you as the guy who tried to repeal stand your ground in the Granite State (Just search him on the Grok and bathe in the cool refreshing cascade of link love heaped upon the man).  Seems he had another bill we did not talk about, that got kicked around and is now coming up for air in a full committee work session tomorrow (yes, 9/11) in L.O.B room 204.

The full Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will meet to discuss HB 675, a bill to authorize license plate scanning cameras in New Hampshire.

What is remarkable about the bill, and what it attempts to allow, is that just a few years ago in 2007 the majority Democrat House and Senate, and then Democrat governor Lynch, passed and signed into law, a bill prohibiting the use of these very things.

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This picture appeared in my news feed this morning, above which was the name of US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (OFA- NH).  She was looking for folks to tell the GOP to stop the obstruction.  No specifics mind you, just the regurgitation of There were thousands of comments.  Most of the ones I saw were not supportive of flattering.  But in my quick scan I did not see the response I though should have been given, so I added a few remarks of my own.  (paraphrasing)

• Perhaps Senator Shaheen could tell us when the Senate will stop obstructing the budget process?
• Since Senator Jeanne Shaheen was elected the federal budget and the total deficit have almost doubled.  What is the GOP Obstructing.
• Since Senator Jeanne Shaheen was elected congress has delegated most of its authority to the executive branch.

Now,  I’ve got my own caption for that picture….

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