RedPlanetCartoons

See the rest of this cartoon at the American Spectator blog.

ABC News: Social Security spends $700,000 on Phoenix conference

PHOENIX — A Social Security Administration motivational management conference held at a high-end Valley resort last week cost $700,000, the SSA told the ABC15 Investigators.

Costs for the conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa included airfare, hotel entertainment, dancers, motivational speakers, and food, an administration official said.

A spokesperson outside the SSA’s Phoenix office declined to comment…

Social Security trustees said in May the program will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, and the program’s trust fund will be depleted by 2037.

Jack Kelly: Looking Down on Palin.

What do Janet Napolitano, Kathleen Sebelius and Jon Huntsman have in common? All were governors who resigned this year to pursue other opportunities, and did so without a peep of criticism from journalists or their fellow pols for “quitting” on the peoples of Arizona, Kansas and Utah, respectively.

I write not to belabor the news media’s double standards with regard to Democrats and Republicans, or between other politicians and Sarah Palin. I want to highlight an observation made by Princeton Professor Angelo Codevilla:

“The distinctions between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, are being overshadowed by that between what we might call the ‘Court Party’ — made up of the well-connected … who see themselves as potters of the great American clay — and the ‘Country Party’ — the many more who are tired of being treated as clay,” Mr. Codevilla wrote in National Review Online.

Ms. Napolitano, Ms. Sebelius and Mr. Huntsman weren’t criticized for resigning to pursue other opportunities because the other opportunities they’re pursuing are in government — as secretary of homeland security, secretary of health and human services, and ambassador to China, respectively.

In the Court Party, the only thing more important than holding public office is seeking a higher one. Barack Obama in effect quit his day job as a U.S. senator (while still drawing his paycheck) for two years in order to seek the presidency. Mr. Obama drew little criticism for this, mostly because what he did was so commonplace. Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain did much the same thing.

And in the Court Party, the only place to be is at Court.

The rest of this cartoon can be seen at the American Spectator blog.

Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR Fighting to Keep Sponsors, Fans and Dollars Coming In

At the Speedway: Empty grandstands, empty suites

Daytona International Speedway saw this economic storm on the horizon and decided to close its backstretch grandstands for the Coke Zero 400.

“Projecting our numbers out, we knew we could get everybody on the frontstretch and they would have a better experience,” Daytona president Robin Braig said.

“We will try this at least one year or until our attendance starts picking back up,” he added later.

The Speedway was not caught in GM’s money squeeze. The track hammered out a deal — cash, cars and trucks — with the automaker in January. GM paid its contract before the bankruptcy.

“At this point, we have all of our (GM) vehicles on site; we have all the support they promised us,” Braig said. “We have no issues with this event. Right after this event, they will have fulfilled their contractual obligations to us for the year.”

Almost every racetrack that has hosted a Cup event this season has seen empty grandstand seats…

Race teams: Missed payments, cutbacks

Richard Childress Racing was supposed to get a $2.5 million quarterly payment from GM, but there was no check in the mail.

“I don’t know really what all is going to happen,” Childress said last weekend. “We’re going to have to make cuts like everybody in the sport or in the business.”

GM cut all its support of NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck series teams in the first week of June. Among those on the hit list was JR Motorsports, a Nationwide team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“We’ll try to do the best we can to cover the void that will create,” Earnhardt said. “Chevrolet is going through some very challenging times. I had a true understanding that this would be coming down the pipe and they would have to make some adjustments.”

Race teams are powered by marketing dollars from corporations. Some of the nation’s largest companies use the NASCAR arena to advertise their wares. There is considerable concern about sponsorship renewals among competitors.

“Look at the country,” driver Clint Bowyer said. “Look at the world, for that matter. Everybody is struggling. All of corporate America is struggling and when you look at our sport, we rely on corporate America more than any other sport out there.”

Jamie Dupree goes through Cap and Trade with a fine-toothed comb:

- under this bill, the Secretary of Energy would pay money to retailers that get rid of older appliances and machines that use extra energy.

In the same section, the bill lays out “Premium Awards” that would be paid to the manufacturers of new energy efficient appliances.

From what I can make of the legislative gobbledygook on page 479 of the bill, it looks like the feds would pay the manufacturers of “Superefficient Best In Class Products” for each unit that they produce.

* $75 for each dishwasher
* $250 for each clothes washer
* $200 for each refrigerator or refrigerator-freezer
* $250 for each clothes dryer
* $200 for each cooking product
* $300 for each water heater

Now I don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that if you pay enough of those awards, that is going to be a big chunk of change in Fiscal Years 2011, 2012 and 2013, which is when the awards would be paid out.

How much money are we talking here? Well, the entire section relating to super efficient appliances would get $600 million for FY 2011, 2012 and 2013 - and then “such sums” as may be necessary in the future.

The bill specifically says that “no less” than 40% of the money in those first three years shall be for “Premium Awards for Development and Production of Superefficient Best-in-Class Products.”

I just can’t make this stuff up.

More.

And more.