RedState Briefing 01/03/2014

Morning Briefing For January 3, 2014 >> Today's Sponsor 1.  Death, Taxes, and Obamacare Democrats plan to make 2014 about the minimum wage. Several news reports suggest the party plans to coordinate with unions to get ballot initiatives going around the nation to raise the minimum wage. They think this will incentivize turn out for them in 2014. It is an admission against interest they think Obamacare is hurting them. It is also foolhardy. Gay marriage initiatives drove Christian conservatives out to vote for President Bush and against gay marriage in 2004. Barack Obama is not on the ballot in 2014. There is no guarantee people will turn out to vote for the minimum wage and there is no guarantee, even if they did, that they’d also vote for a Democrat for Congress who will keep Obamacare. As best the Democrats might try to change the subject, the horror stories about Obamacare will keep coming.  . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 2.  Things Go From Bad To Worse As UAW’s General Shoots New Wife Just when UAW Vice President General Holiefield probably thought things couldn’t get any worse, he goes and accidentally shoots his new wife. Just two days before the New Year, Monday night’s accident marks what must have been a tough two years for the UAW’s vice president in charge of the union’s Chrysler Division. In 2011, General Holifield, was arrested in a domestic ‘incident’ involving his now-ex wife. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 3.  New Year Opens With Big Spending Bang Congress plans to kick off the new legislative session the same way it ended the last one.  They will continue to spend more money. When Congress voted on the Ryan-Murray budget deal before adjourning for Christmas, members were only signing off on the topline discretionary spending figures, not the individual accounts for all the departments and agencies.  They agreed to repeal part of the sequester for the next two years.  Consequently, discretionary spending will increase from $967 billion to an annualized level of $1.012 trillion for the remainder of FY 2014.  Congress will now work on passing an omnibus bill with 12 appropriations bills rolled up in one massive piece of legislation, which will reflect the topline figure in the Ryan-Murray deal. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 4.  Incentives to work Michael Strain at National Affairs has a long article in which he proposes “A Jobs Agenda For the Right.”  Much of his effort is devoted to getting conservatives comfortable with smart, limited macroeconomic stimulus spending, rather than opposing all such spending on principle. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → >> Today's Sponsor Sincerely yours, Erick Erickson Editor-in-Chief, RedState Forward This Email to a Friend Take me to RedState