ICYMI roundup

Due to some unexpected conflicts yesterday, I did not get a chance to do a blog post, so here is an In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) roundup:

*  Republican members of the Energy and Commerce Committee Responded to the Obama Administration's EPA proposal to kill jobs and eliminate energy supplies:

Republican members pushed back strongly this week against EPA’s new proposed rule regulating greenhouse gases for new coal plants. In a hearing Wednesday with EPA Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy, Republican members of Subcommittee on Energy and Power blasted the administration's actions to shut down coal-fired power generation in the U.S., arguing that it is yet another example that the president's promise of an 'all of the above' energy strategy rings hollow, putting both jobs and affordable, reliable energy at risk.   Read more...

*  Sunday was April Fool's Day, but this is no joke - and it's gone mostly unreported in the lame street media.  As of April 1, the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world:  39.2%.  Our companies now have a distinct disadvantage with their foreign competitors.  And in a global economy, the United States is now less attractive to companies looking for a new plant or facility. 

And really, even God only asked for 10%, why should the government take more than a third of all profits?  That's money that would have gone to investors, shareholders, owners and used to spur the economy to produce more - or money that would have gone to additional wages and benefits for workers. 

People who think government deserves more in taxes forget the unseen - the greater amount of economic good the money would have generated if it had stayed in the economy rather than be diverted to government for such things as a teapot museum (which failed, btw) or cowgirl hall of fame.

*  From the 'people-who-live-in-glass-houses' file, President Barack Obama has decided to criticize the Republican budget passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.  However, Obama's own budget failed to get a single vote.  Republicans didn't vote for it, which isn't a surprise.  But no Democrat voted for it either.  And this is the second time he's submitted a budget that couldn't get a single vote.

Furthermore, the Senate, which is required the Constitution to do a budget, hasn't passed one in 1,069 days.  That's just a mere 26 days short of three years!  Dereliction of duty is too kind a term for this kind of failure.  And hypocrisy is too kind a term for what the President is doing, but that's part of the plan:  tear apart what the other guy is doing instead of doing something yourself.

*  On the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case, some deliberate fraud by the news media has come to light.  NBC is investigating itself over a doctored playing of the call Zimmerman made to the police on the night of the shooting.

NBC's "Today" show ran the edited audio of George Zimmerman's phone call to a police dispatcher in which Zimmerman says: "'This guy looks like he's up to no good … he looks black."

But the audio recording in its entirety reveals that Zimmerman did not volunteer the information that Martin was black. Instead, Zimmerman was answering a question from a police dispatcher about the race of the "suspicious person" whom Zimmerman was speaking about.

A transcript of the complete 911 call shows that Zimmerman said, "This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about."

The 911 officer responded saying, "OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?"

"He looks black," Zimmerman said.

The abridged conversation between Zimmerman and the dispatcher that NBC ran on March 27 has been blasted by media watchdog groups as misleading.

And then there is ABC News which originally ran a story about video that supposedly showed no injuries to Zimmerman, as he claimed.  But yesterday, after they 'enhanced' the video, they changed their story, saying the video clearly shows the gash the on back of Zimmerman's head.  You'd think, before going forward with a story portraying Zimmerman as lying about his injuries, they would have 'enhanced' the video to be sure.

Now how many people do you think are going to rely solely upon the first stories reported, rather than the actual facts that have now come out?

*   Still think spending by the government isn't the problem and that it needs even more taxes? If Uncle Sam had won the MegaMillions jackpot, he'd be able to pay 1/250th of 1% of the U.S. debt.  Sobering thought, isn't it?

*  Student loan debt has now exceeded $1 trillion - more than credit card and auto loans.  But there is an alternative:  SoFi - Social Financing. 

The $1 trillion US student loan market is broken. We are here to offer an innovative approach. We are using the power of social communities to transform the industry. SoFi connects students and alumni through a dedicated lending fund and an original social community. SoFi provides an approach where students, alumni and schools all benefit. Alumni earn a compelling double bottom line return, students receive a lower loan rate than their private or federal options, and both sides benefit from the connections formed. Schools access a new, stable, low cost funding source that doesn't cannibalize giving while building accountability to their students and alumni.

SoFi is ‘where social meets finance.’ And we believe we have produced a better student loan – a true student loan solution.

SoFi was founded by a group of Stanford Graduate School of Business students in 2011. The team's motivation is to transform the financial services landscape using social: SoFi defines social as community-oriented, scalable and where participation is commensurate with value.

Just think - private individuals meeting a market need and all without the involvement of government.