Get free daily email updates

Syndicate this site - RSS

Recent Posts

Blogger Menu

Click here to blog

FlashReport Weblog on California Politics

- Or -
Search blog archive

Katy Grimes

Friday Insanity Wrap Up – Latitudinarian and Far-Fetched News

Should women in the workplace receive paid menstruation leave?

HuffPost Live held a discussion about an actual current topic in employment entitlements: whether women deserve paid “menstrual leave.”

“Do women deserve paid ‘menstrual leave’ for the days when cramps, irritability or more complicated issues like endometriosis distract from the day’s tasks?” HuffPost Live asked. “Menstrual leave is a part of the employee experience in several Asian countries, prompting think pieces on the topic fromRead More

Congressman John Campbell

Defending our Culture

Last week, we discussed the “Second War Between the States”. Without question, this is a war of laws and policies. However, it is much more than that. It is a war over culture.

I am a big culture guy. I think it is the most important factor in predicting the success or failure or any association of human beings. Understanding the culture of a family will tell you much more about that family than will their address, income or the cars they drive. The culture in a company or a non-profit is tremendously influential on how they operate and whether you would want to associate with them or not. We have all probably worked somewhere or at least interviewed somewhere where the company culture was not a fit and we knew it was not a good place for us.

Countries and states have cultures, too. We certainly have long had a very strong and recognizable American culture. The American culture is not English culture or French culture or Mexican culture or Japanese culture. It is uniquely American. And, within our culture, many different “dialects” can be found across the country. But, just like English spoken in Alabama is still closer to English spoken in the… Read More

Congressman John Campbell

Government Shutdown Day 7

Government Shutdown Day 7: It wasn’t a very good weekend for my sports teams. The Kansas City Chiefs won and are 5-0. And, the Boston Bruins are 2-0. But, in car racing and baseball and college football, nothing came out as I wanted. And, my son crushed me this weekend in our NFL fantasy league, although I did win our NASCAR fantasy league this week. Ah, but there is always next weekend.

Such is not the case with the government shutdown. For, as John Boehner now quite famously quipped at a press conference on Friday in response to a question about the president saying he was “winning”, “This is not some damn game!” So, what happens next? What will break the stalemate?

It is quite clear now that this is no longer just about the shutdown and funding the government for the year, but it is also about the debt limit. The Treasury Department has been saying that by October 15th, they would have exhausted all borrowing authority and will be left with about $30 billion in cash. Independent analysts believe that the $30 billion buys them about another 7 to10 days. That gets you until October 22-26. But, those same analysts are… Read More

Congressman John Campbell

President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address

This native Californian was all bundled up to keep warm on a chilly Washington morning on Monday to witness the 57th United States Presidential Inaugural and hear President Obama’s second inaugural address.

To be honest, I was inspired by the address….. ….but, not in the way the president might have wanted.

I’m a big football fan. There’s nothing to bring you to your feet quite like the big touchdown pass. And, that is usually what brings accolades in the annals of football lore. But, just as important, and many times more important, is that tenacious defense. When you don’t have the ball, you count on those 11 defensemen to keep you in the game. Oh sure, they can sometimes get a “pick-6” and score a touchdown. But usually, they just hold the line and keep bad things from happening. The undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins were led by what was dubbed the “no name defense”. They held the line and they were a big part of the only undefeated season in NFL history. As Republicans, we don’t have the ball right now. We may control the House, but we are the minority party in Washington since everything… Read More

Congressman John Campbell

Moral Imperative

I speak often in these pages about things fiscal, financial and economic. Given that I am a CPA and sit on three committees in Congress that deal with money (Budget, Financial Services and Joint Economic), this is to be expected. But, I am not all about money. And, the nation’s problems are not all about money. As big a problem as our debts and deficits are, they are emblematic of deeper and actually more significant moral and cultural issues.

For some time now, we have heard of those who Tom Brokaw dubbed “the greatest generation”, those who sacrificed through a world war to vanquish fascism and imperialism and leave a stronger America for their children. We can go back further to speak of the generation that took the risks to establish this country in the late 18th century or of the generation that fought the Civil War. In each case, said generation sacrificed in order to leave a better and more prosperous country of opportunity for their children.

But, what are we doing now? What will be the legacy of my generation? Our debt and deficit crisis is largely caused by giving ourselves health care and retirement benefits without paying for them.… Read More

Congressman John Campbell

Debt Ceiling Conditions

The president says that we should just extend the debt limit, or cede the authority to him to expand it as he wishes. I’m sure he probably doesn’t think we even need such a discipline at all. He says he will not negotiate on this issue. He says that Congress has already approved all the spending that led to these deficits.

Like on most things, the president is completely wrong.

If credit cards had no limit on them, a whole lot of people would spend without end. The debt limit is like that. It is a discipline that reminds us – “Oh yeah…we’ve just borrowed $16.4 TRILLION. That’s kind of a lot. Maybe we shouldn’t spend so much.” We’ve borrowed 35% ($5.805 trillion) of that since Obama took office. Maybe we ought to think about it before we try to borrow $7 trillion more, which is an approximation of how much more this president wants to borrow in his second term. And, as I understand him, the president won’t negotiate on this. In fact, he has yet to negotiate on anything. No change here. And, as far as Congress already approving the spending….that’s not correct either, Mr. President. Sixty percent of all… Read More

Congressman John Campbell

Update from the “Cliff”

Given Thursday evening’s events in the House, it looks more and more like we may be going over the “fiscal cliff”. Therefore, I wanted to give you an update on what that could potentially mean for you. I also wanted to clarify the total impact of the income tax rate changes that we will face should we go over. These figures, which appeared in my previous “Laptop Report”, have been updated.

The total impact of all the income tax rate changes is estimated to raise revenue of roughly $4.5 trillion over 10 years. The total effect of all of this would be to reduce the deficit by approximately $7.7 trillion over the next ten years according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That means CBO projects an “average” annual deficit of roughly $230 billion if we are over the “cliff” vs. a deficit of about $1 trillion a year if everything is extended.

Again, these projections are based on “static modeling”. That means they do not take into account the economic impacts and the behavioral changes that will occur as a result of what I’ve outlined above. When these tax hikes take place, people will most certainly take actions to… Read More

Congressman John Campbell

Just the Facts, Ma’am: Fiscal Cliff Edition

Just the Facts, Ma’am – Fiscal Cliff Edition: This was the famous, at least to those of us who were alive then, admonition offered by the fictional LA detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, to witnesses who would engage in too much speculation about a crime. Well, I generally give you a lot of my opinion. Every once in a while, though, I give you just the unvarnished facts so that you can draw your own conclusions.

You have probably heard the term “Fiscal Cliff” enough times to make you sick. But, do you really know everything it entails? Below, you will find a comprehensive list of every law that will expire at the end of this year, as well as the result of our returning to whatever the law was before. The accumulation of all of these things has been dubbed collectively by the media as the “Fiscal Cliff”:

• Unemployment compensation will revert from a 73 week maximum to a 26 week maximum. This takes it back to the duration that existed in 2008 and prior. This will reduce spending by approximately $30 billion over 10 years.

• For the past 2 years, there has been a “payroll tax holiday”. For this… Read More

Page 1 of 212