Impeachment Process

I am compelled this morning to share a few thoughts on the reality of what is taking place with the impeachment inquiry. I find it very disconcerting that many Republicans of the House of Representatives find it their job to promote and act on behalf of the Executive Branch. You might ask why I find this disconcerting. Let me explain further on this singular point.

Our government functions with three (3) named and, four (4) branches that are responsible to hold each other in ‘check and balance’. Those branches are:

1. Congress: The Congress of the United States consists of the; House of Representatives and the Senate. 
   1. Congress is impowered by Article 1, Section 1, “All Legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States…”
   2. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 5, “..and have the sole Power of Impeachment.”
   3. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 7, “The Senate shall have sole Power to try all Impeachments…”
   4. Article 1, Section 5, Clause 2 states: “Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings…”
2. Executive Branch:  The Executive Branch is responsible for the enforcement of the Laws of the United States. The President of the United States, who’s responsibility is to ‘..affirm…preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” (Article II, Section 1, Clause 8)

1. Article II, Section 4, “The President, vice-President and all civil Officers of the United States, Shall be removed from office for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

3. Judicial Branch:  The Judicial Branch has a very limited role in cases of Impeachment. 
   1. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 6; “..When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside…”
4. The Fourth Branch of government not directly numeralized but fully implied throughout the document is clear that the citizenry and the Free Press are responsible to hold all Government Actors accountable to ‘oath and affirmation’.  Written and signed law to protect a person(s) identity in which great harm or irreparable damage to a person witnessing a crime and testifying on the actions of, criminality of, or harm to the public, was created for just such purposes based upon the premise that ‘equal protection of witnesses must be offered to control corrupt and powerful individuals, organizations and government itself.
5. We come now to ‘witness protection’. The 108th CONGRESS, 2d Session, H. R. 5107, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, September 21, 2004 voted affirmatively in favor of this bill. The vote so all are aware was 393 yea, 14 nay in the House
   In the Senate the vote was
   Specifically, this bill states as follows:
   Sec. 3771. Crime victims’ rights 3771. Crime victims’ rights 

1. Rights of crime victims
2. A crime victim has the following rights:
3. The right to “be reasonably protected from the accused.”
   *“H.R. 5107 — 108th Congress: Justice for All Act of 2004.” http://www.GovTrack.us. 2004. November 19, 2019 https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/108/hr5107

4. The Bill HB 5107 was signed into law on October 30, 2004 by then President Bush (43). 

Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 (S-20),  5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(8)-(9), Pub.L. 101-12

Which passed in Congress (Senate 54/43) This was signed into Law by President Bush (41) 

This bill has been revised and updated repeatedly. Most recently is was reauthorized 

So why all the blather here: 

This is not a reality TV show my friends. This is serious, this is national security, this is what is called, ‘holding every American accountable to the same legal standards, No one is above the Law’

Firstly, I would like to point out that the whistleblower is protected by the law above. A national law that was passed by a near majority of congress.

Secondly, this case is not about the a ‘whistleblower’, it is about Patriotic American’s performing their duty as prescribed by ‘law’ and by personal rules of their departments and offices, i.e. NSC, Dept of State et.al. 

Thirdly, this inquiry is not about Vice President Biden nor his civilian son.(in a court of law, this line of discussion would have been stricken) as ‘not what the case is about”.

Fourth, this case is strictly about the President of the United States using coercion, bribery and/or undue influence in an effort to extract a specific ‘investigation’ into a citizen that happens to be the leading candidate in the upcoming election for the Office of the President of the United States.

Fifth, there is NO Difference between Quid-Pro-Quo and Bribery. In fact, they are the same. “You do something for me, I’ll do something for you”. In this exact case that Quid-Pro-Quo is: if you investigate, we will release your funds. The ‘funds’ become and are the Bribe. This is straight forward, ‘Do me a favor…’ 

Sixth, The President attacks stating he/Giuliani was working to quell “corruption”. The previous corruption was removed under the previous administrations work, new presidential elections and the so-called Corrupt Prosecutor and former President were removed. So why would the Ambassador of Ukraine need to be removed when they were already handling the corruption.

So, moving forward. So, all are clear, Congress has the full right to Make ALL Laws deemed necessary. Not the President! The President is NOT the Boss, The President is Not in Charge of making laws, The Executive Branch is in charge of enforcing the laws of the United States as referenced in #2 above. The Office of the President is one-third of the Government, it is fair to characterize the President is the nation’s fascilator. He guides the nation via the laws as written.

Congress: The Speaker of the House is third (3^rd) in line of progression to replace the President or the Vice President if they are removed, incapacitated, unable to perform duties or die. There is questionable concern whether this process is subject to review based up the National Security Act of 1947 and subsequent amendments. 

As noted above, the House and Senate chose their rules of conduct. I am including the link here ( https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HMAN-115/pdf/HMAN-115.pdf )so you may do as I have, read the rules, understand the rules, and know that if you do not like the rules (as a congress-person) you have the right to ‘re-write portions, sections, departmentalize as you choose and submit to the full house amendments to change. 

These rules as provided, are the same rules that are being used for this Presidential Impeachment Inquiry. Let it be known that these are the same rules that were put in place for the Benghazi Hearings, these rules are the ‘Rules of Congress’. To say they are ‘unfair’, to say ‘we have no voice’, to say ‘we have no right’ is patently false. These are the rules that were selected, supported and voted upon under Speaker of the House- Paul Ryan and the Republican Majority. 

Congress Does not have the Power to Impeach. Congress has the duty of Inquiry to determine if facts are sufficient to proceed to Impeachment through trail in the Senate. Think of what is taking place as that which occurs at the local level of judicial proceedings, (that of a Grand Jury).

I find it totally wrong of those in Congress, whether Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or whatever, for elected representatives to defend or attempt to prosecute a sitting President. The duty of a congressperson is to investigate the facts to determine if illegality or violation of law occurred. To attack, demean or insinuate that a witness’s credibility is somehow skewed because of political leanings simply is demeaning, rude and not of the intended purposes. 

The purpose of the inquiry is to investigate allegations of wrongdoing on the part of another branch of government. Party Politics has no place in this action. What we have observed in this hearing as well as three previous hearings is political partisanship and the total lack of “Representation” of the civil government and the citizens of the nation. What we have observed firsthand is elected Congress-men/women acting in concert to obstruct the intent of the hearings and to demonstrate partisanship in NOT upholding their constitutional oath of office to uphold the Constitution. 

The continued attempts to ‘OUT’ the whistleblower are again another direct attempt to NOT uphold constitution or the laws of this United States. The support and legal place of these laws are stated above, see all item #5 and then refer to item #4.

So once again, please understand that the Impeachment Inquiry taking place is purely to verify the allegations of officials within our United States Government that have observed inconsistency’s within approved US guidelines and rules of engagement. By codified law, the Congress is required to do so. 

Once Congress completes the Inquiry, it is then the responsibility of the Committee overseeing the Inquiry to say: ‘yes, the allegations as submitted by government officials through the proper processes “have been /or have Not” met the burden of substantiation and, ‘we the Committee on XXX recommend the following charges; 

Count 1 of Indictment, and then listing of any subsequent Counts to follow…

 be brought forward to the full House of Representatives for a vote to proceed to Impeachment of XXX. 

If approved by the House, then it moves to Trial in the Senate where the Chief Justice presides. (see item #3)

At this point, this is where you the citizen participates and notify your Senators and Representatives of your thoughts and opinions.

Lastly the Senate will vote (see item #1c) 

This is how the process works in a brief summary using the current matters before the Senate. 

I have tried to be brief; I have merely provided the facts of how our system works without a litany of boring details that would most likely not be reviewed anyway. 

I hope this helps you to better understand what is taking place and how our Constitutional Government works.

Regards:

Abbasse

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August 2018 Update

Welcome to our Home Page Blog. This is the place we share information and update the community with all that is going on.

Many changes are taking place. Trees have been trimmed back to be less invasive during heavy weather. They no longer hang over the roofs, balconies, or pose an opportunity to crash through windows.

Our first kayak rack is operational.  A second one will be added in the next few months. Gary Muhs in Maintenance is able to build them at a much lower cost than we could purchase. They are anchored in the ground to prevent movement in heavy weather.  As with anything, there is always a potential for theft. Please secure your watercraft.  The association is not responsible for any vandalism or theft of private property.  We will be looking into the cost to add a surveillance security system throughout the property as an additional security level to all residents and guests.

Other future projects include:

• a basketball arena with a quarter-court arrangement within our tennis court area;
• a couple of barbeque units. Many would like to grill but according to Association rules, National Fire Code and reasons put forth in our insurance policies they are not allowed within our individual units. These will be placed in communal areas.  With this comes the requirement that everyone must clean up after themselves and follow rules of use.
• By-laws are being updated and that process will begin very soon.
• Annual Meeting will be coming up very soon, watch your email and this page for ongoing news.
• We will be opening discussions upon the needed Structure, Concrete and Deck issues before us.

Vandalism and malicious mischief continue to be an issue in the pool area.  Damage was done and needless to say cleaning and disinfecting was in order. This harmful activity is a violation against all of us as owners.  PLEASE if you witness strange behavior please report it to me or call 911.  The Board WILL PROSECUTE anyone defacing, demeaning and/or damaging Canaveral Bay Property.

We would like to return the hours of use to 7:30am till 8:30pm. This cannot happen with the current problems we are experiencing. We are looking at changing the keyed entry to a pass-card system along with a surveillance security system.  This will allow the Board to monitor and know that ONLY Canaveral Bay Residents are using our facilities.

So, in conclusion, please note this is our 2^ndnewsletter, our first website, and we are here to serve our membership of Canaveral Bay. Our finances are improving and our reserves are adequate barring the structure matters. The Wind Mitigation reports are almost complete, a few more photos are needed demonstrating compliance with Florida Law. This should be complete and available here on the website by month end.

The Grounds are looking superb, Gary has been busy, painted and updated the fire water lines, the waste receptacle areas have been clean and stained, the electric/phone risers have been cleaned and are in process of painting. Trees trimmed, grass mown, the Mangroves are cut and clean.

 

Contriving Smart

Contriving Smart 12/25/2014
As we approach the end of 2014 we might consider looking at one of the major mis-steps that I made throughout this past year. I had forecast a major increase in hyper-inflation beginning in July of 2014 and continuing into 2015. All of the flags were present.
The Federal Reserve ignored the drought conditions of the Southwest, they ignored the sell-off of cattle in south and west. The Federal Reserve also continued to look the other way at foreclosures, even though they slowed down, they were still occurring at alarming rates through the first two quarters, they refused to include the pricing of petroleum and food staples in inflation numbers presented to the public to maintain their lower expectations of an inflation number of 2.5%.
As these costs to the public were rising, in general, food staple costs rose 7 to 12 percent in 2014. Petroleum crude oil barrel prices were stagnate at $111.54 throughout the year. This equates to an average gasoline cost of $3.48 (not including State Sales Tax) per gallon to the consumer at the pump. Now, looking at back at this price in July as I had forecast, and looking at to today’s pricing of $1.99, add that amount back into the pocket of every American pocket and look at what it can do to spur growth in our local, state and national economy. It has the ability to make me look very foolish and very Wrong!
So, my concern in my evaluation was, “Al, what did you miss? What sign, what flag was hidden from you that you missed? You were in London when China sign the Banking bill to open their new bank by-passing the US, shutting out the US Dollar as the Reserve Currency. What did I miss? This was huge, China was opening banks around the financial centers of the world and denying the US Reserve Capital income in the hundreds of billions of dollars that could have a devastating financial impact upon our economy and send us in to a spiraling inflationary cycle as “I” was predicting……
Well, I figured it out, I resolved the mental crisis, I got it a few weeks ago, I observed it, I knew, I just did not take its full weight into consideration. It happened On March 17, 2014, with President Obama issuing Executive Order 13661. Within the order, the President virtually wages economic war upon Russia’s Petroleum Industry and its Ruble, the order states in brief:
“..14 defense companies and individuals in Putin’s inner circle, as well as imposed targeted sanctions limiting certain financing to six of Russia’s largest banks and four energy companies. We have also suspended credit finance that encourages exports to Russia and financing for economic development projects in Russia, and are now prohibiting the provision, exportation, or reexportation of goods…”
The order goes even further and attacks the Russian Federation’s ability to develop and bring petroleum to the global market by sanctions in stating ;
“..exploration or production for deep-water, Arctic offshore, or shale projects that have the potential to produce oil in the Russian Federation, or in maritime area claimed by the Russian Federation and extending from its territory, and that involve five major Russian energy companies…”
This singular action in conjunction with the other G-7 nations of placing these sanctions upon the Russian Federation set the wheels in motion for a global economic rebound that benefits those of wealth and trickles down to the masses like snowflakes on a Christmas day.
So you may ask, “Al, give me a break, how does this impact US/Global gas prices and improve our economy…”?
Well over the period of a few quarters, it has demonstrably impacted us very heavily in this manner and history proves it. In the fall of 1991, then President George Bush (41) along with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan created roughly $240 billion in bonds in an effort to buyout the Soviet Union as part of a broader program of ending the Cold War via an attack of the economy on the former Soviet Union. Hind sight shows, President George H.W. Bush had initiated a number of related covert operations to takeover certain sectors of the Soviet economy such as: “energy companies, banks, suspended credit finance, prohibiting the provision of exportation, collapse of the ruble, so Moscow faces the specter of depression…”.
At this time Vladimir Putin was KGB and very good friends with former CIA Director, former Ambassador to China, former Vice President of the United States , still Oil Tycoon, and the then, Current 41st President of the United States George Bush. He helped with the overthrow of Chairman Gorbachev and to put Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in prison in early 2003. This allowed for them to take control of the vast oil, gas fields and reserves of the then Soviet Union allowing Exxon-Mobile and Chevron Texas to take very sizable controlling interests of these resources through some very shady price fixing arrangements involving various shell companies, financing agents from locations such as: Cyprus, Isle of Man, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, and other offshore tax havens.
BY taking control of these highly productive wealth centers, President Bush (41) and Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan were able to virtually liquidate the financial center of the Soviet Union within one (1) year. They reduced the Ruble value by over 80%, drove the Soviet economy in to a spiraling hyer-inflationary state, thus bankrupting their military economy by effectively removing the very resource that allowed them to move and transport product, “Petroleum”.
Today, this is exactly what the Obama Administration is doing in conjunction with the G7 powers. They are effectively waging economic warfare upon the Russian Federation under the guise of the Ukraine incident.
The benefit to the world is that by attacking the Russian Federation Oil & Gas Industry, it simply lowers the global price of petroleum by inserting a glut of petroleum into the reserves. In other words, we have an oversupply in the demand equation. This implies directly that prices must go down to maintain a competitive environment.
The people win by default (temporarily for the time being, “trickledown effect”) by having lower prices and more disposable income in their wallets for the time being. The smart person will use this money to pay-off or reduce debt load as opposed to spending on wanton desires or be hooked into holiday spending.
I will have more on this topic in the coming days and weeks. But I wanted share my mis-step, clear the air and let you know what is taking place and not be mislead by the wild storied that the “Economy is finally making a comeback”!! This is far from the truth. Inflation is still with us.
Prices have risen in 2014 on average 7%. FritoLay prices are up almost 20%, Dairy 12%, Canned Goods 13%, Produce 18%, until December Petroleum was steady at $3.22 (depending upon State Sales tax), Property taxes were rising at 5%, and Savings were a mere $0.02. Wow, but, banks still charged upwards of 15% to 18% on credit cards, 8% for car loans, 4.2% for home loans and foreclosures continued but at a lesser pace, but they were still happening, the news media just did not cover them as well.
Lastly everyone is talking about how well the market is performing (NYSE). It is performing well, over 18,000 points!!! Yeah, for the very wealthy, BOO for the 79% of the population that is not in the market. That is correct, How many of you actually “personally own stock? How many you buy or sell stock yourself? Not IRA’s or Mutual Funds, 401k’s, but personal stock ownership? That is what I am referring to. The market is paying big to those able to personally participate, and it is not the small investor that is making out so well, most of the small investors are breaking even or losing according to ‘smash reports’. The big Investor is the winner right now. And, Win he/she is. Do not be misled by the media on this. Unless you understand the market, players, who, and where the growth of the market is taking place, do not get sucked in.
It appears that most of the gains are going to those that know about what is taking place with the Russian Federation and the Gas and Oil Industry, Certain Financial Sectors and of course the everlasting Military Industrial Complex. But, if you do not know who is getting what contract, you do not know who’s stock to purchase in advance (something called ‘legal insider trading’)………..
This is what is going on. Beware of false flags. We are in a false bubble right now. The sanctions are working exactly as the G7 hoped. The only thing that will change this is if China props up Putin’s Federation. I have observed stranger things. If China needs petroleum, they might do it. But, our economy is not on the rebound, this is only a band aid and Congress has nothing to do with it. Congress may however mess it up if they are not careful.
Al

Thoughts for October 08, 2014

Thoughts for October 08, 2014

Was there a setback on October 07, 2014? US stocks took one of their most precipitous drop since July, a 275 point drop, not pretty, but with a steady vertical trend over the past 60 days many would consider this a minor adjustment. I have stated since July 01, 2014 that the market would shift upward due to midterm elections and that both parties would do all in their powers to put the brightest face on the economy that they could to make their respective party appear to look good in light of, a really ‘crappy economy, that has been perpetuated by an equally lousy Congress, that has failed at every juncture to do its job, and has maintained a dismal approval rating of less than 12% as reported by  Real Clear Politics as of September 29, 2014.

It is no coincidence that it happened on the same day that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its outlook for next year’s global economic growth. The IMF cut its forecast for global growth to 3.3% in 2014 down from 3.4% and lowered its 2015 forecast citing regional weaknesses including Europe and potential geopolitical risks of the Middle East. The Eurozone economy is genuinely struggling, investors are extremely anxious about how this will affect large US enterprises. Even the Germans who have appeared to be in control of their economic dominion , have demonstrated weak metrics recently which tends to make everyone in the European Union queasy.

On the home front, HP first announced its redesign / restructuring plans in 2012. Those plans included the lay-off of more than 25,000 workers. But, then at that time, HP would cut 27,000. By June of this year, it had doubled the target, to 50,000, with 36,000 employees already gone.

On this Monday past, it bumped up the new layoff target, yet again, to 55,000. Even so, HP remains an enormous employer, with over 330,000 employees worldwide, and that means that when HP reorganizes itself, it will likely make even more cuts. However, when we look at the US employment, we must be concerned with how many American jobs will be lost and be concerned with America first!

As I originally pointed to back in July is that after the midterms, watch for rapids inflation, (hyper-inflation) it has already begun. Frito-Lay has increased prices in September by as much as 20%, Produce has risen by as much as 14%, in general food costs for the past 90 days have increased an average of 5.83%. The Federal Reserve will not include these numbers in their inflationary figures as demonstrated in Janet Yellen’s commentary before the Senate in July/August hearings. Fuel prices are being kept artificially low. Why? Midterm Elections! On October 7, 2014, national news reported (ABC news) that winter heating fuel prices would be rising ‘very high’ in comparison to last year, which is very curious to me. I find it curious as we are not fighting any war in Iraq or Afghanistan so our US military fuel consumption should be lowered by over 250 million barrels per month. So would cost go up if consumption is down?

Here are some thoughts on the current economy for you to give consideration. Please look at all your candidates carefully. This election is important. Parity in both houses is important, when one house is dominated by one party whether at state level or federal level, nothing is ever accomplished. Parity forces both sides to talk with each other, to work in the interests of the people, not their own agenda’s.

Lastly, if you think multi-millionaires / billionaires are going to represent the best interests of those that make $38,000 per year, think again……… but who am I but a humble economist…………………. (Unproofed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_D-uijGVew

http://www.kidsnotceos.com/school-district-cuts

The Honorable Darrel Issa

May 04, 2014

 

To:          The Honorable Congressman Darrel Issa                    

               2347 Rayburn House Office Building;                                           

               Washington, DC   20515                                                                              

Congressman Issa,

I am not a constituent of your district, but I am a constituent of congress. We have serious matters before our nation. As a Political Scientist and Economist the most serious issue before our nation is the upcoming ‘continuing resolution’. The Congress with which you serve, the same as that of my Congressman Justin Amash, have wasted valuable time and scarce economic resources on such issues as Benghazi by attempting to link former Secretary of State Clinton to some obscure linkage that she , provided military instructions of a “stand-down order” is simply disgraceful to the military and our government.

I would believe you have read, (possibly participate in ‘Closed Door’ congressional testimony) of Admiral Mullen and Ambassador Pickering last June which support the position that: “..”We found no evidence whatsoever that [Clinton] was involved in security decisions” about the compound in Benghazi, Mullen told investigators. “She did not have such a role,…”

That being said, I implore you in the name of the American Public with which you are sworn to serve, to take advantage of the power of your committee and its resources and Reform the budgetary process that will force OUR/Your Congress to do its job and create an operational budget that achieves and meets the needs of the American people and this nation within the time frame as designed by the founding fathers and create an end to ‘continuing resolutions’that defy economic logic.

One of the greatest dis-services our congress has done to this nation over the past two congressional sessions is its lack of financial guidance. Without a budget in place that provides a road map to direction of achievement of goals, our nation flounders and the Federal Reserve reaps the rewards of our treasury through untold amounts of interest collections and private asset attainment. Over eighty percent of American’s suffer from the loss of asset wealth of their property values that have plummeted from the banking scandal of 2008 and the cover ups of collusion and banking fraud that was perpetuated upon the American public.

Lastly, the most disgraceful of all acts, the Department of Defense and its failure each year to balance its own budget and demonstration of hundreds of billions and even trillions of dollars of write-offs of losses that go unaccounted. As reported by then Secretary Rumsfeld on September 10, 2001 the unaccounted for $2.3 trillion and the previous year of over $1 trillion dollars. I shall offer one of the reports that I have followed from 2006 here for your review in short:

Sustained Improvement in Federal Financial Management Is Crucial to Addressing Our Nation’s Financial Condition and Long-term Fiscal Imbalance

March 1, 2006, Government Accountability Office (formerly Government Accounting Office)

http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06406thigh.pdf – Official .pdf version of 2005 report summary on GAO website

                http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-06-406T – Non-.pdf version

GAO is required by law to annually audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government. Until the problems discussed in GAO’s audit report … are adequately addressed, they will continue to … hinder the federal government from having reliable financial information to operate in an economical, efficient, and effective manner. For the ninth consecutive year, certain material weaknesses in internal control and in selected accounting and financial reporting practices resulted in conditions that continued to prevent GAO from being able to provide the Congress and American people an opinion as to whether the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government are fairly stated in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Major impediments to an opinion on the consolidated financial statements continued to be (1) serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense. The federal government’s fiscal exposures now total more than $46 trillion, representing close to four times gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal year 2005 and up from about $20 trillion or two times GDP in 2000.

I find this ongoing exacerbation of Benghazi fruitless and of zero benefit to the American Public when YOUR Committee is charged with upholding Constitutional validity and these most important issues have gone ignored, covered up and swept under the table in the name of political gamesmanship.

My students ask me day in and day out “why are we not addressing these most serious of issues?” I cannot answer then except to say “party politics”. I am tired of that answer. I demand more, I expect more. You are the Committee Chairman, you set the agenda, please share with me what to tell my students and those that I publish with your answer to the serious nature of our nation’s most delicate of problems and why you chose to not focus your reform matters on issue that HELP the American Public as opposed to creating divisive issues that impact only a specific political agenda?

Respectfully,

Albert S. Abbasse

Political / Economist

THE NEFARIOUS CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS MISSED BUDGET DEADLINES Unprecedented Disrespect for the Constitution of the United States

Speaker of the House Boehner, Minority Leader Eric Cantor and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan have all failed America in their leadership of the United States House of Representatives. Under their leadership, Congress has not passed a budget since 2010. What has been passed are “Continuing Resolutions,” resolutions that do no more than perpetuate the financial deficit that they insist is due to the failings of the administration. Under the leadership of Speaker of the House Boehner, a stream of Continuing Resolutions has been passed in place of Legislative Budgets for FY 2011, 2012.
Current Congressional leadership has implemented the Continuing Resolution over seven times. A recap of those actions as published by National Priorities demonstrates extreme prejudice toward the rule of law. (Dana, 2011)
PL 111-242, Oct 1 – Dec 3, 2010
PL 111-290, Dec 4 – Dec 18, 2010
PL 111-317, Dec 19 – 22, 2010
PL 111-322, Dec 23, 2010 – Mar 4, 2011
PL 112-4, Mar 5 – 18, 2011
PL 112-?, Mar 19 – Apr 8, 2011
PL 112-10 July 26 – 2012 “..This joint resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Continuing
6 Appropriations Resolution, 2012’’.
It is extremely important to understand that Congress is completely and ultimately responsible for the Budget of the United States. As stated in the Constitution of the United States,
“..No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time….” Article 1, section 9, clause 7
Congress may write all of the Public Acts it so wishes. Public Acts such as “The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921”[BAA of 1921] require the President of the United States to
“..submit his budget request for the upcoming fiscal year no later than the first Monday of February…”
The BAA of 1921 created the Bureau of the Budget (called the Office of Management & Budget, or OMB); by design, it was sequestered within the Department of the Treasury. This provided immediate access of the Executive Branch to the full budgets of all governmental units. Also, arising from this was the General Accounting Office (GAO) which functioned as the Congressional unit’s point of access. The Act, however, placed certain restrictions upon each branch such as the aforementioned. A series of fiscal power grabs occurred over the 20th Century. Franklin Roosevelt, in 1933 and 1939, issued the Executive Reorganization Plan, which provided more, let us say, “Leeway” in budget appropriations. Richard Nixon changed the name to Office of Management and Budget through Executive Order 11541. The order required all department, agencies and cabinets to direct their individual budgets through the OMB for review and approval.
In 1974, Congress was not too happy with the way the Executive Branch swiped such a controlling interest in the budget. Congress passed the Federal Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Realigning the priorities of Congress with a centralized approach; the creation of the new Congressional Budget Office (CBO), with particular deadlines that each branch of government must fulfill to present a timely budget to reduce the deficit was enacted. As history has proven, this has failed to work out well for neither branch, nor the people of the nation.
There are many more examples of the changes and modifications to this process such as the following:
The Economic Recovery Tax Act (1981)
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings: The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act (1985) This was subsequently overturned by: The Supreme Court, Bowsher v. Synar case (92 L. Ed. 2d 583. The SCOTUS ruled this a violation of the separation of powers
The Emergency Deficit Control Reaffirmation Act of 1987 to repair Gramm-Rudman
Budget Enforcement Act of 1990
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993
Each of the above pieces of legislation attempted to do certain things. The first of which was congressional reinsertion of legislative leadership; the second, to restore some sort of order to a very serious and contentious problem. The budget was becoming time consuming, unmanageable and unpredictable. Budget planning became a titan of divisiveness – the only thing either party or the Executive Branch could agree upon was the three arenas of discretionary spending: more defense spending, more domestic spending and more foreign aid.
The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 was intended to create opportunity of balancing the budget. It was called a “Pay as You Go” program. New programs had to be paid for or other programs would be deleted. “Pay as You Go” was controlled by the Executive Branch, for the most part, when goals were not attained. This program would be a precursor to the current rage of ‘Cap and Trade.’ To obtain a new program when available funding was not present, a swap could be created between units, agencies, departments, etc., to appropriate the monies.
“Firewalls” became the rage of the 1990’s. Firewalls were legislated into place to halt spending at specific points. However when the legislative or executive branch tried to affect, they found they could not take from one of the three distinct arenas because that surplus had to be applied to the debt of the nation.
One of the major avenues to reduce spending was the attempt to institutionalize a process called “sequestration.” Under the BEA-1990, the Executive Branch controlled sequesters. So if a budget deficit goal, or the ‘cap,’ was exceeded upon a particular program, the President could invoke sequester. The difference between then and now is that with “firewalls” of today, sequestering may occur within the firewall and automatically invokes budget cuts across the spectrum of the budget to achieve the desired maintenance of that budget.
It is very clear that within the constraints of the Constitution which branch of government is responsible for the budget’s preparation and the process. As each branch jockeys to obtain more power for itself, we have concerns and issues such as we have had for the past five administrations. With the advent of political party strength, each party has attempted to, through legislation, advance Presidential Powers and require the executive branch to take the lead on the national budget.
This, however, is very detrimental to separation of powers, to each branch and to the citizen constituent. The reasoning is quite simple: If the legislature does not want to do their job, wishes to write legislation to give those responsibilities over to another branch (the Executive Branch), they should pass an amendment, using the amendment process, to eliminate the legislative branch, thereby appointing the Executive Branch to the position of King/Queen which was one of the reasons why the constitution was written… to not allow for a Royalty/Totalitarian national leader that would control the Revenues and expenses of the nation.
The question now before the people is how to repair the damage done. How do the people interfere with a l¬egislative branch that chooses to ignore the demands of the people, demonstrates a loyalty to specific interests within the nation and brazenly puts American economic interests in peril?
Congressman Ryan of Wisconsin stated in 2012:
“The decision to delay the release of his budget again could not come at a more precarious moment for our fiscal and economic future…”
As demonstrated above, the President is not required to submit a budget. The President is required by Public Law to “…submit his budget request…” The intent of the law is to have the President share his intent and direction – within the constraints of budgetary requirements – to further allow a smooth transition of economic resources that meet the needs of the nation. Congressman Ryan failed to inform the public that no matter who is at fault, no matter who is mistaken, no matter who is right, Congress is ultimately responsible to complete the budget based upon the “Rule of Law” which happens to be the Constitution of the United States.
For Congressman Ryan, and his fellow congressional members, to continue to deride the President about the deficit (which has been reduced by $2.7 trillion, according to Marc Goldwein, CRFB’s senior policy director) is simply drama and deflection.
Speaker of the House Boehner, Minority Leader Eric Cantor and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan have all failed America in their leadership of the United States House of Representatives. They have failed to uphold the duties they pledged to support. Through their nefarious actions, they have created the fiscal cliff with one simple intention: to place an attack on Social Security, Education and those unable to defend themselves. They obfuscate Public Acts but fail, at the highest level, to follow and enforce the “Rule of Law” of our Constitution of the United States.

Impact of the 2001-2003 Bush Administration Tax Relief Acts of the Fiscal Cliff

The Bush administration brought the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act in 2001 (EGTRRA 2001), they brought the Job and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA 2003). These two actions were heralded as being the best opportunity to spur growth in a sagging (sic) economy. He took office in January 0f 2001, he had a $450 billion budget surplus; the economy was stable but was showing some signs of slowing. This in and of itself was not bad after eight steady years of growth, the US and the world had to catch up. This is simply part of the market fluctuation of ebb and tide. The Bush 43 administration did not want to have anything to do with a decline of the economy; they wanted fast and furious growth.
The Relief Act of 2001 was designed to give the wealthy a hefty payday, a tax reduction of 4.9%. The graduated tax rate in 2001 for the wealthiest in the nation was 39.9%. This reduction would total approximately $2.5 trillion over the period of the administration. Another way to view this, the wealthiest in America earned $250 billion dollars a year at the tax payers’ expense. The President argued that there would be a $5+ trillion budget surplus during his administration and the money should be returned to the people. He just happened to give the biggest share back to the Wealthiest 5%. He further argued that the tax cut would stimulate the economy and grow jobs.
The attacks of 9/11 further created a drain on the economy. The response of the administration was to increase defense spending (Military Industrial Complex) by 107%, and Increased the number of economic regulatory governmental employees by over 91,000. This was to take a very sweeping toll upon the American economy causing severe deficits to follow.
Then in 2003 with a further sagging economy, the administration needed to shore up the tax reductions of 18 months earlier. They needed to fix and modify the loopholes and allow for off-shoring transactions, further the need to reduce tax effects on dividends and capital gains.
These two acts, along with slurry of other misguided steps by the Bush administration created the bellwether of actions to come that Neo-Conservatives would care little for. Two unfunded wars, ongoing tax reductions that benefited the wealthiest of this nation, an onslaught of deregulation of financial organizations all tied to offer the opportunity to obtain private government contracts that assured the payroll and ‘profits’ that big commerce could not obtain upon their own. These government contracts were paid from our government’s treasury.
The last and most important point to clarify is that the Bush Era tax relief efforts were designed with a “Sunset Date”. Sunset Dates are written into legislation for a few different reasons. One is to allow legislation to be used for a specific temporary purposes, such as; stimulating the economy, directing
So how did we get to the “Fiscal Cliff”?
The Fiscal Cliff as it is termed was fabled about 20 months ago when the President and Congress could not come to an agreement on raising the ‘Debt Celling’. This was in part related to a few other matters such as: allowing the Bush (43) era, EGTRRA 2001 and JGTRRA 2003 tax relief programs to expire, and also the spending cuts which will be implemented should they not agree on legislation to resolve. The term itself was coined by Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve when he was addressing the potential of severe economic strife for the nation of Congress did act in a responsible manner.
So as we now know, Congress and the President are still, extremely separated on direction, economic policy and what is in best interest of the nation and the people. The debt ceiling issue will continue to be a wrangling point, but it will be used in hostage taking manner, similar to positions that the Congressional Leadership has tried to apply in previous negotiations.
It is my opinion, and there are others that agree with my position, that Social Security is one of the golden rings that the GOP wants for the very wealthy bankers and elite investors within this nation. If they (GOP) are able to wrest control of the future Social Security Investment for “Wall Street”, well they will make profits of unimaginable growth at the expense of the people and also ‘Privatize’ guaranteed investment funding by the American Treasury for “ever”.
But, the battle over the fiscal cliff was made very clear by the GOP this month, they announced very clearly that they are ‘working for the wealthiest’ in this nation. They negotiated solely on behalf of the wealthiest to not return to pre- 2001-2003 tax rates. Even though the rate was returned on those earning above $450,000 the reductions and modifications of the EGTRRA and JGTRRA are still in place and, they, (the wealthiest) still have greatly reduced their taxable liability through those legislative changes.
I do not foresee any improvement in negotiations for the future. I envision much more stalemate, gamesmanship and inaction by the Congress. We have observed Europe’s growing financial crisis. We have observed first-hand the failures of deregulation of financial institutions, waste of public funds on so called privatization, under-capitalization of lending projects for not properly valuing and inflating of costs, lack of “Economic Growth” , removal of liquid capital (cash) from global markets, and lastly the biggest failure of all; severe budget austerity. You may only cut so much before you strangle an economy and by all appearances, that is what is taking place in Europe and the United States. Keep people poor and working to survive and they will not cause problems and leave the wealthy alone to do their financial thing without encumbrance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush#cite_note-bushregulation-103
http://taxfoundation.org/article/how-much-did-bush-tax-cuts-cost-forgone-revenue
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/07/03/GOP-Eyes-Arcane-Budget-Rule-to-Help-Crush-Obamacare.aspx?source=taboola#page1
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1811
http://www.ombwatch.org/node/2848

Quick review of Romney Energy Policy

Response_Romney_Energy_Plan

Global Monetary Policy

Editorial response to:”Right to work is right for America”

This response has been distributed to papers from Maine to Iowa.

James Sherk of the Heritage Foundations editorial:

http://www.limaohio.com/articles/work-77438-right-union.html

Editorial response to: Right-to-work is right for America by; James Sherk,l Heritage Foundation, Jan.2012

By: Albert Abbasse

The Holland Sentinel News dated January 11, 2012, included an article by James Sherk, published through the Heritage Foundation. My research revealed that this same article appeared in several northern regional papers within a span of three days, including newspapers such as the Pittsburg (PA) Tribune, the Youngstown News, Maine Today, and my personal favorite, “The Gulf Today”. The Gulf Today is printed in English in the United Arab Emirates, which made me wonder why a wealthy Arab nation would even care about the Right to Work issue in the USA? Upon further investigation, I discovered that James Sherk is employed by the Heritage Foundation of Washington DC and that his articles are distributed by the McClatchy-Tribune Informational Service, a global distributor of various news reporting and publishing services for the Heritage Foundation.

To my personal dismay, this same article had made its way throughout many Midwest TV stations, newspapers and other publications, appearing as a full battle dress effort to support Indiana House Bill 1028. During my research review however, I noticed only one name on the first three pages of the search files, that being, James Sherk. He apparently now is the voice for the Heritage Foundation’s position supporting Right to Work Legislation in all 50 states.

A quick history of the issue of Right to Work goes back to 1965 when a major legislative issue before the 89th Congress was the repeal of section 14(b) of the Taft Hartley Act. Section 14b simply allows states to determine for themselves if they will be a “Right to Work” state or not. In its most simplistic of form, the very depth of the issue is voluntary v. compulsory unionism (or as commonly termed; Open v. Closed Shop). There are many sides to every (any) position. However, one thing that is very conspicuous in our form of American Government is; the power of “checks and balances”. Corporations have Boards of Director, CEOs, Presidents, and Managers etc., all in positions to make sure everyone is performing their assigned duties. They even have Independent auditors review their operations to assure that everyone is performing their duties in accordance with the; Rules or those “checks and balances”.

Then, there are legions of workers that have united across this great nation to assure that all employees are afforded; “due process”( another hallmark of American Governance) in the workplace so that inappropriate actions such as arbitrary terminations, unequal pay between men and women and dangerous work environments in the workplace do not occur.

However, there are business operations that simply do not have unions or audits. They all work just fine for the most part because of something called competition in the workplace. The unionized workshop fairly negotiates community standard living wages, healthcare, safe work environments, and due process clauses that allow workers to directly interact with management to resolve issues that impact quality and output.

That is what “Stakeholders” should do, and the workers within the commercial enterprise are the biggest stakeholder. A commercial enterprise is only as stable as the workforce that helps that enterprise be successful. Commercial businessmen in non-union stakeholder facilities understand that to compete for qualified labor; they must meet the ongoing competition by offering competitive working wages, fringe benefits and working conditions.

Union stakeholders negotiate based upon what the financial health of the commercial enterprise allows. They do not ask nor negotiate contracts outside of that which the operation has in disposable income as that would not be in their best interests either. Wage negations for example run from 1 to 3.5% of wages over the course of a contract. The union stakeholder works to make the commercial enterprise as successful as possible as their very livelihood is what is at stake; the workers truly are the major stakeholders of any operation. They provide a check and balance against the operation to ensure that profits, improvements and growth are maintained.

US Supreme Court Justice, Louis D. Brandeis stated:

“The union attains success when it reaches the ideal condition, and the ideal condition for a union is to be strong and stable and yet to have in the trade outside its own ranks an appreciable number of men who are non unionist. Such a nucleus of unorganized labor will check oppression by the union as the union checks the oppression by the employer.”

Union membership is simply the right of workers to band together to protect the basic rights of hours to work, equal pay, fair health care (a healthy worker does not miss work time), due process in the work place, and most importantly, it allows the workers a voice as the largest of stakeholders within the operation.

The last and most important item of so-called Right to Work laws is the overturning of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. This act is the flagship of worker equality; it established the Federal Minimum Wage, employment of minors, interstate regulations, workplace discrimination, age discrimination, exposure of workers to toxins, and of course, all worker safety activities. Are you sure, that you, as a stakeholder may trust your employer to continue to provide this level of protection? without any oversight of what and how it operates? the very enterprise that you are the major stakeholder, that they will hold ‘best work practices’ as a priority?

Mr. Sherk spent 15 paragraphs attempting to sell Americans a false bill of goods. When we view the laws of the 22 Right to Work states in comparison with the 28 states that operate under the 1938 “Fair Labor Act”, we see vast differences. One is that the average worker in a Right-to-work state earns approximately $5,300.00 less. Those same states also have a rate of workplace deaths which is 51% higher, compared to states where unions may advocate on behalf of workers.

One other point that Mr. Sherk should understand; union dues are not paid to union officials” or bosses. Union dues are paid to fund the union organization. Union officials “are democratically ELECTED” by the employees to represent them; each member votes for his or her choice of leaders just as we democratically elect Representatives and Senators.

Mr. Sherk denounces the ability for workers to negotiate working contracts, but apparently approves allowing an outside agency representing potential or current CEO’s negotiate wages, bonuses, health care, vacation time without any worker input. He apparently advocates that CEOs, CFOs and Board of Directors may vote themselves salaries and benefits which are upwards of 20 to 50 times what the median worker earn.

A 2006 Gallop Poll asked the following questions:

Do you approve or disapprove of labor unions? 58% of Respondents “Approved” of Unions.
Only 19% of respondents were union members.

Do you think labor unions mostly help or mostly hurt “The US economy in general”.
54% of respondents opined that “Unions” help.

My last response is this; Supporters claim ‘right to work’ laws protect employees from being forced to join unions. Don’t be fooled—federal law already does this, as well as protecting non-members from paying for union activities that violate their religious or political beliefs. This individual freedom argument is a charlatan charade. Union members MUST sign annually what is called a “check-off card” if they chose to contribute to a Political PAC and how those funds are provided with name, address, phone number and employer. Corporations do not, they only need write the check, period.

When the first statement to you is an untruth, you are unlikely to find legitimacy in the rest of their statements. The article I respond to demonstrates the reality of that proposition.