And, contrary to our current ruling party’s (Democrats) operating fiscal paradigm, there are no money trees out there.  If you want a thing, you have to find a way to pay for it.  The trouble is, of course, that if you don’t particularly want a thing you may have to pay for it anyway, particularly when the people who do want it (Democrats) happen to have one of their own as Governor of Missouri.

These three paragraphs come to the heart of the matter, I think.  Bear in mind that Governor Nixon’s (D) overall goal is that there be less power usage, which sounds marvelous until you contemplate the implications of a population that’s increasing faster than power production.  If you don’t want to increase power supply, and you can’t control the population, the only way to manage the situation is to set up conditions where individual expectations of fair-share power are lowered to a level that equals the supply.  We have an adjective to describe that condition.

It’s ‘poor.’

Usually, regulators allow utilities to recoup the cost of building power plants or buying more power to meet customer demand. Recently, the Missouri Public Service Commission began allowing some utilities to pass along to customers the cost of programs that reduce demand for electricity.

For example, the commission last week approved a program in which St. Louis-based AmerenUE can offer credits to businesses that voluntarily shut down or scale back their electricity use during peak demand. AmerenUE will be able to recoup the cost for the program that starts Thursday by increasing the rates it charges business customers.

[snip]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that energy-saving programs offered by utilities will add about 3 percent to the average electricity rates. But it says customers who participate in the programs could save 10 percent to 20 percent on their energy bills, and even those who don’t participate might save if utilities don’t have to buy more energy or build new power plants.

(Bolding mine)

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Promoted from diaries - Moe Lane

Last week, Missouri’s Democrat Governor Jay Nixon was accused of attempting to buy off his political opponents with the promise of lucrative jobs within his administration. It was a brazen attempt to put a ‘for sale’ sign in the halls of government.

Nixon recognized that one of his legislative priorities was failing, and instead of compromising with the Republican-led legislature, he apparently sent two high-level staffers to the Capitol and to offer freshman representatives government jobs in return for their votes on his bill.

It went down like something out of the Sopranos:

Rep. Anne Zerr, R-St. Charles, and Rep. Chris Molendorp, R-Belton, both said later they were pulled off the floor by Nixon’s deputy chief of staff, Dustin Allison. Zerr and Molendorp, both freshmen, said Allison told them: “The governor likes to reward people who share his views.” Zerr said Allison told her he was “prepared to make a deal right now.”

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Just got off the phone with Roy Blunt. He was calling about the Department of Homeland Security report and called it “stupid.”

He said he is pretty offended by it and we “cannot let the government get away without paying a price in public opinion,” which, he said, is really about all the Obama administration cares about right now.

He said Missouri made the same mistake claiming that Ron Paul and Bob Barr supporters, among others, needed to be monitored. Then, he said, “the feds have now madd the same stupid mistake.”

Missouri’s Governor, like the Obama administration, tried to blame the outgoing Republican administration in Missouri, but just as Congressman Blunt’s son noted, neither he nor George Bush would ever have let something like that get out of government.

This is all the Obama administration.

“People protesting taxing and spending is offensive to taxers and spenders. But it is really outrageous that the taxers and spenders would put people on a watch list because they want to restrain government spending,” Congressman Blunt said.

I totally agree and hope we continuously remind people that the Obama administration believes that people who want the government to operate within the parameters of the constitution are considered extremists.