Why is the Senate in the Tourism Business?
By Mary Theroux • Thursday September 10, 2009 1:28 PM PDT • 3 Comments
The Senate yesterday voted to charge international travelers a $10 fee to help pay for a new nonprofit corporation that would promote tourism in the United States. See here.
A reasonable person could be forgiven for wondering why the Senate is even bothering with such minutiae, as well as questioning the economic wisdom of such legislation, fraught as it is with unintended consequences to other sectors of the economy, possible retaliatory fees for U.S. travelers, etc. But, once again, scratch the surface and there’s a perfectly rational (political) explanation:
In backing the legislation, Democrats were also looking to give Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a boost as he seeks a fifth term representing the state of Nevada.
Tags: Bailouts, Budget and Tax Policy, Business, Government subsidies, Politics, Transportation 
Why ... Tourism?
Tourism is merely a tool... for leverage.
The community organizer in chief is organizing America to fulfill his agenda... which he has not yet articulated... explicitly... other than to say that his vision is to ‘transform’ America... whatever that means.
However, some of us know what that implies, and the adviser/czar cadre that Pres. Obama has drawn into his inner circle probably also understand what ‘change’ and ‘the system’ and ‘transform’ mean.
Some of Glenn Beck’s questions are pertinent re: why?
Think of the Glenn Beck Fox News segment from Aug. 24, 2009, ‘The Cloward-Piven Strategy In A Nutshell,’ as Pres. Obama’s philosophical ground-zero.
What is the ‘Cloward-Piven Strategy?’
Overwhelm the statist welfare system so it becomes a multi-trillion dollar ‘crisis’ (similar to the New York bankruptcy, when Rudy Giuliani mentioned Cloward and Piven by name) and it implodes... and build it up again... without a constitutional amendment or even a constitutional convention... because the good of the commune demands immediate response.
Some Glenn Beck questions -
... Can we survive this debt? If yes, how?
... Why the rush on health care reform, cap-and-trade?
... Our unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is close to $100 trillion.
... Is there any way to pay for these programs without bankrupting America?
... We are in so much debt, why spend more borrowed money on cap-and-trade and health care programs before we stop the flow of red ink?
... We are in so much debt, why spend more borrowed money on cap-and-trade and health care programs before we stop the flow of red-ink?
... The stimulus package funneled billions of dollars to ACORN. How does giving billions of dollars to ACORN stimulate the economy?
... Bush said he had to abandon free market principles in order to save them, how exactly does that work?
... If politicians aren’t writing the bills and aren’t reading the bills, do they have any idea what these 1000 page plus bills actually impose on the American people
... Why would you [Obama... Congress] want to overwhelm the system?
... Is using the economic crises to rush legislation through congress what Rahm Emanuel meant when he talked about “not letting a crises go to waste”?
PS Independent Institute. Just a marketing thought. (No, I’m not in advertising or marketing).
If you had pertinent YouTube videos relative to your topics, that might be a draw for future visitors to your blog and also to Liberty Tree. (Just a thought as I visited your sites today.)
Art Telles | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
A 50 Year Old Cartoon...
Hi again Independent Institute –
To clarify my previous comment about a ‘draw for future [and return] visitors to your blog’...
After watching your 6 minute video at the top right of your blog home page, which is relevant to your blog and also old news, and a few minutes of ‘Ivan Eland on Obama’s First 100 Days Part 2 of 3′ on your YouTube page, which is 1/3 of a conference that will be soon forgotten, I thought that I should clarify what I meant...
Everybody likes to be entertained... in quick bites, 3 to 10 minutes long.
This 10-minute 50-year old cartoon is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago... and is as current as ‘change’ and ‘transform’ America and ‘stimulus money’ from the government and Glenn Beck on Fox News the past 2 weeks.
Who knows... with changing topical YouTube videos to draw visitors back and that take only a few minutes to watch, what would that do to the bottom line?
I don’t know, just a thought... and I had the time and inclination to mention it on this 9-11 memorial, not service, day.
Art Telles | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply