Waxie and Stupie

 

Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak have ordered Randall Stephenson, the Chairman, President and CEO of AT&T to appear before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to explain why AT&T announced that they will take a $1 billion (that’s $1,000,000,000) charge against earnings to pay for their precious baby, Obamacare.

Now, whenever Waxman is involved, you can’t discount the likelihood that this is a veiled threat and an invitation for him to launch invective through his enormous, upturned nostrils at someone. 

 

But if you read the letter Waxie and Stupie sent, it almost reads like they are surprised at AT&T’s action.  Like they never thought this could happen.  It reads to me like they they never heard of the difference between static analysis and dynamic analysis; that is, static assumes that nothing else changes in the data set while dynamic attempts to account for all possibilities.  Or, as it is more commonly known, “The Law of Unintended Consequences”, a term that seems to have first occurred to these two dopes for the very first time in this letter.

Beginning with the third paragraph of this letter, let’s look at just how stupid these two are:

 

• That first sentence in the third paragraph is our first clue of their stupidity.  They talked themselves into believing this turd would lower costs for companies. 
• The second sentence is where they begin to question AT&T’s own analysis, disbelieving that AT&T knows its own numbers and how changes in the law will affect them.  Waxie and Stupie don’t name the independent analyses that they are referring to, but I’m betting none of those looked specifically at AT&T.  Probably just looked at a broad swath of fake numbers. 
• The third sentence points out that the CBO projects a 3% decrease in average premium costs by 2016, conveniently leaving out what will happen in the intervening five years and implying that AT&T should keep their costs artificially high in the interim while awaiting this earth-shattering savings that is headed their way.  I also would be willing to guess that, if the CBO projected a savings, they said that the decrease will be 3% less than it would have been without it.  That is, not 3% less than it is now but 3% less than the normally-expected increase would have been.  Waxie and Stupie aren’t thinking dynamically here, they are assuming that everything else stays the same, nor do they or the CBO have the slightest clue about what other business expenses AT&T anticipates coming their way.  For instance, AT&T is in a notoriously capital-intensive business, requiring a huge annual investment in upgrading their network to accommodate the Jesus Phone for the millions of hipsters who voted for Obama. 
• Finally, the last sentence in this paragraph points out that the Business Roundtable “asserted…that health care reform could reduce predicted health insurance cost trends…”.  Emphasis mine.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda, douchebags.  Ideology, meet the real world.  This statement also suggests that maybe the Business Roundtable was looking at the data dynamically when they used the c-word, but Waxie and Stupie chose to only take into account what they wanted to hear.  Had the Roundtable said that it would reduce costs, that would point to static analysis.  But they didn’t say that; they are business people and are well acquainted with the Law of Unintended Consequences.

The second page of the letter is where the threat is issued.  “Give us a data dump for our accountants to dive into and then send us everybody with a title above Vice President for all of your subsidiaries.”  This, too, displays the idiocy of these two morons.  AT&T has 281,000 employees and who knows how many subsidiaries.  I hope AT&T rounds up the hundreds of VPs that they must have and sends them all to this hearing.  It would be a great display of just how big the economy is and how little Waxie and Stupie understand about what they and the Dems are screwing around with.  But the business cost of doing that would be prohibitive, especially with the Dems yanking cash out of their company as fast as they can.

Powerline speculates that companies didn’t mention these repercussions sooner for fear of being retaliated against.  But companies are thinking dynamically, knowing that whatever Congress does they can adjust.  To a point.  It’s the dumbasses like the Dems who think that whatever they do doesn’t otherwise affect the economy.  When companies unload people over this, the CEOs will be vilified by the Left, but all they are doing is responding rationally, something the Left is entirely unable to do. 

My own opinion?  We will all soon be independent contractors and off the payroll.

I Blame Tom Delay

 

And, to a lesser degree, Newt Gingrich.  And W.  And Trent f’n Lott.  Damn them, it is their fault that we are about to flip socialist. 

Why these guys?  It all started with this, Delay’s “K Street Strategy”.  This is where the fiscal irresponsibilty, corruption and appearances of corruption began.  The K Street Strategy, in a nutshell, consisted of Delay twisting the arms of the K Street lobbying firms to send the vast majority of their money to Republicans and to even remove Left-leaning lobbyists from their positions and replace them with more Right-leaning types.  In return, the lobbyists and their clients got what they wanted.  It was vote-buying in it’s most bald-faced form; a scorched-earth strategy and the earth has been fucking scorched to shit right now.

This strategy led to a surfeit of money in Republican coffers and then to assholes like Ted f’n Stevens and his goddamned Bridge to Nowhere.  And it was this effect that so thoroughly discredited them as fiscal conservatives to the point that we elected a Socialist and allowed the even more Socialist Pelosi, Waxman, Markey and so on to take the reins of government.

The article linked above appeared in the Washington Post, co-written by David Maraniss and Michael Weisskopf in 1995.  They were never more prophetic than when they wrote this, emphasis added:

“Yet money is also the source of increasing tension among House Republicans that could ultimately weaken them, if not tear them apart. The conflict, in essence, is between ideology and populist reform. One wing wants to collect as much corporate money as possible to sustain and expand the revolution. Another wing fears that this will disillusion voters who brought the Republicans to power to change the traditional ways of doing business in Washington. Gingrich stands in the middle aware, people around him say, that his tenure could depend in part on his ability to resolve the conflict.”

Newt, Newt, Newt.  You blew it.  If you saw the tension here and let it go unimpeded, you laid the groundwork for yours and America’s demise.  All those Lefty nutbags back then hated you because they thought that you would ruin the country, and they were right for the wrong reason.  The country is about to take a road that it cannot return from.  The nutbags wouldn’t be orgasming today over Obama had you simply put your foot down on this activity and set the tone then that Republicans should hew to the principles of fiscal conservatism that is so important to conservative voters.  And then along came W with an allergy to the veto pen and here we are.

Folks, it’s gonna be a long, slow descent into European-style malaise.  We get to watch China, Asia and Brazil take center stage on the world now. 

Watch now, once this crap passes on Sunday, as hiring by private companies goes nowhere.  Companies have been waiting to see what would happen with this and other bills and the only conclusion they can come to now is that their costs are going to permanently and unalterably increase.  No CEO in his right mind would take on added costs in this environment.  Get ready for permanent 10 to 12% unemployment.  We won’t have jobs, but we’ll have health care.

I wonder if I can get my congressman to put provisions for nutrient ingestion in the bill?

Well, I Feel Better Now….

 

….because Timmy said it would be OK.  Sometimes, I think these clowns that we have in office don’t know basic math.  Apparently, we can grow the national debt to insane levels while revenue drops and, if you believe our Treasury Secretary, it won’t change our credit rating.  Even though the people who create credit ratings said it would.

Look at this, and weep:

 

That was as of 10:20 AM EST, Feb. 7, 2010.  Go here to get an update; it’s changing really fast.  You may need a welder’s mask to protect you from all the red ink you will see on that page.

I understand the allure and the principle for a government to borrow money.  Like any other organization, it is a way to leverage your way into spending money on things that you would not otherwise be able to afford.  Sort of like sub-prime mortgages.  And governments, particularly the US government, can borrow money so cheaply that it is like crack cocaine for a self-aggrandizing egomaniac.  Why pay for something today when you can borrow the money and pay it out over time with inflated dollars?  Because it results in the image you see above. 

There are things that a person should borrow money for and it’s a short list; to buy a home and to get an education.  It’s not a good idea, but most of us borrow money to get a car.  That’s it; those are the only loans a person should have.   A government doesn’t need a house and you clearly cannot educate a government; Lord knows we have all tried.  Instead, the federal government has a clearly laid out set of items it should provide and they can be found in the Constitution; the defense of the country, facilitating interstate commerce, the judicial system and so on.  Most of what we pay for is not mentioned in the Constitution.  The Left likes to use the “promote the general welfare” phrase from the Constitution to justify whatever it is that they are freaking out about at any given moment, ignoring the fact that having, say, Social Security doesn’t really improve the general welfare.  It improves the welfare of those who are eligible for it, at the expense of those who must pay for it.  See here for more ideas on what parts of government need to be reduced or eliminated.

My 1 year old nephew owes over $40,000 right now and he still craps his diapers.  By the time he turns 18, at the rate this mess is going, that number will be far into the 6-digit range, maybe even 7 digits.  He will never catch up.  WE will never catch up.

Maoist Fashion [UPDATED]

 

This is too easy, sometimes.  Here is a photo of White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett that landed in my inbox this morning from Politico. (article here)  Is that a Mao jacket she is wearing?

 

Pretty close.  Here is the original:

 

Does anybody really know what Jarrett does?  Her title is Senior Advisor.  So, what is her area of expertise?  I know she’s President Obama’s best buddy, blah, blah, blah.  But what, exactly, is she good at?  Military affairs?  Economic matters?  Education?  Union relations?  O originally wanted her to be in his cabinet (Can’t remember what for.  Health and Human Services?), but that didn’t fly so now she is in the kitchen cabinet.

Read the opening two paragraphs from the Politico piece:

“White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett vowed that President Barack Obama will keep up his aggressive outreach to the business community, even as the president steps up his attacks against irresponsible players on Wall Street and in the insurance industry.

“Business is really not a partisan issue,” Jarrett said in an interview for POLITICO’s new video series, “Inside Obama’s Washington.” “What I hear from the business community all the time is that they want a strong economy. That’s a goal that the president shares. They want to create the kind of environment in this country where they feel secure about investing and building for the future, and that’s completely consistent with the president’s objective to create jobs.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31805.html#ixzz0djCXQhqf “

President Obama is making an “aggressive outreach” to the business community?  He disparages business at every opportunity.  A recent poll showed that 77% of investors view him as anti-business.  He wants “to create the kind of environment in this country where they feel secure about investing and building for the future, and that’s completely consistent with the president’s objective to create jobs.”?  Really?  Really, Valerie?  OK, let me help you.  This afternoon, have the President make the following announcement.  He will probably need the teleprompter so he doesn’t choke on the words:

“In view of the continued economic strains the country is under, I have decided to suspend pursuit of health care reform.  Also, I will be putting on hold any further discussion on the cap and trade bill.  I recognize that businesses view these initiatives as additional costs and until we determine that businesses can absorb these additional costs, we will halt our efforts.”

His all-important popularity will soar, markets will rise and businesses will pick up the pace.  Try it, Valerie, you’ll like it.

UPDATE:  So I went back to trash the article out of my inbox and got another look at the headline that came in with the picture and it struck me as funny to see that picture of Jarrett with this headline:

 

Mao nationalized private business in China. She wants us to believe that she, and Obama, understand how to support business.  My ass.

Country Poised to Prosper in 2010

 

Tax cuts, particularly for businesses, rolling out this year are expected to give dramatic boost to the economy.

Great news, if you live in Germany.

I love to see real world examples of economic theory.  We’ve all been part of a huge demonstration of the forces of supply and demand since Hurricane Katrina as the price of oil and gas has gyrated up and down the spectrum.  People bitch and moan about the price for a gallon of gas and I, being the weirdo I am, study them and try to suss out their decision process.

If you will recall, right after Katrina, the gas pipelines that supplied us here in North Carolina were shut down.  Immediately, the price went from about $1.80 or so to as much as $5 in some places.  I had filled up the day before because I had to drive to Burlington in the morning, about 90 minutes away.  Gas that morning as I left town was still about $1.80.  When I rolled into Burlington, prices were up around $4.50.  I switched to a news channel on the radio and heard what was going on and immediately pulled in to the nearest gas station to top off.  (Of course, they were telling everyone not to do that, but I drove for a living then and some places were already out of gas, so I couldn’t risk not having gas.)  The gas station was no busier than it ever was and that was what was so interesting to me.  People either didn’t need gas or were so shocked by the increase that they muttered to themselves about getting ripped off and drove on in search of cheaper gas.  The latter point was proven to me as I was filling up.  A little ol’ blue haired lady pulled in behind me.  She sat up so she could see over the car door and I watched her study the price on 3 or 4 pumps as she looked for a lower price, each time shaking her head.  Eventually, she left the station.  She didn’t understand that we were not in a position to shop for cheap gas, we had to worry more about getting gas at all.

Which brings me to an observation that I have made and it is that we, as a country, have lost our survival instinct.  We are so cosseted, so far from having to make decisions about food, water and shelter (and transportation) that we cannot even recognize when one of those things is about to disappear.  Because these things are so easy to come by in America, we do not really get too agitated when our property is threatened.  Kind of like it is now by our congress.  Yes, people are pissed off and we are all supposedly poised to vote the bums out.  The town halls of last August were a thing of beauty.  This is a thing of beauty:

But in the end, we have to take action.  Obama and the congressional Democrats are clearly ignoring us.  They seem the think that they are only there to represent the nutroots and not the whole country.  We must keep the pressure on them, we must be unrelenting.  We cannot take our eyes off of them, not for one minute, because they will duck into a smoke filled room and pull off some shit.  They’re doing it right now on health care.  They’ll pay at the polls next time around, but we have to make them pay every day between now and then.  Write them, email them, call them.  Do not back down.

Back to Germany.  The critics there are going after Angela Merkel, as could be predicted.  Merkel has cut individual taxes, among other things, though not by a whole lot.  I am not conversant with the German economy, so do not know if they are in as bad a way as we are.  I assume so, since the whole world is pretty much in the shitter right now.  But this is a perfect chance to see the theories of Hayek and Friedman played out against the theories of Keynes.

I wish we were getting the Hayek/Friedman treatment.  Germany will recover quicker than we will.  Just watch.

Wanna Know Why the Economy Is Still In the Ditch?

Robert J. Samuelson, writing in the Washington Post nails it in the last paragraph of today’s column (emphasis is mine):

 

Obama can't be fairly blamed for most job losses, which stemmed from a crisis predating his election. But he has made a bad situation somewhat worse. His unwillingness to advance trade agreements (notably, with Colombia and South Korea) has hurt exports. The hostility to oil and gas drilling penalizes one source of domestic investment spending. More important, the decision to press controversial proposals (health care, climate change) was bound to increase uncertainty and undermine confidence. Some firms are postponing spending projects "until there is more clarity," Zandi notes. Others are put off by anti-business rhetoric. The recovery's vigor will determine whether unemployment declines rapidly or stays stubbornly high, and the recovery's vigor depends heavily on private business. Obama declines to recognize conflicts among goals. Choices were made -- and jobs weren't always Job One.

 

If you are not familiar with Samuelson, you should read him.  He is always clear, concise and accurate in his economic assessments.  He shows little if any bias, staking his positions based on solid data, not opinion.

So today, we have President Obama hosting a “jobs summit”.  This is a Potemkin village of a summit, put together for show.  He has already said that nothing will happen in the area of job creation until next year.  Of course not, Mr. President.  Because you waited until December to think about the issue.  This incredible prioritizing of issues will cost him re-election more than any other of his actions.  Somehow, it was more important to prop GM up, dive into health care, play with cap and trade, diddle around with bringing the Olympics to Chicago and pass a $787 billion porkulus bill that nobody can figure out exactly how many jobs it has “saved or created”>

OK, I’ve called him out on this clusterfuck he has made of things.  Here is how I think he should have prioritized things from the time that he took office:

• 1.  Address Afghanistan
• 1a. Take over and sell off the big zombie banks.  Get the bad stuff out so that the good stuff can grow.We’ve spent trillions in porkulus, bailouts and so forth.  $1.9 trillion is pretty close to the number, I believe, without trying to chase down the correct number.  Adjust that to $1.5 trillion to be conservative.  Instead of using that money to prop up banks and crappy car companies, buy up the bad assets of those companies and then sell them off, over time, for whatever they can get.  This, of course, is what TARP was supposed to be for in the first place.  This economy is languishing now because nobody knows what to do with all those empty houses and full car lots.  If the bad actors (GM, Lehman, etc.) go out of business, well, then too bad.  Obama has socialized the loss.  Bullshit.
• 1aa. Cut taxes, especially business taxes.  Right now, an estimated $13 trillion in corporate profits is held offshore in order to avoid the 35% tax rate that companies would have to pay if they brought that money home.  That money could have been repatriated with the stroke of a pen by signing a tax amnesty bill that would either eliminate that 35% or reducing it to some much lower lever.  Instead, we went and borrowed trillions when we could have had just as much capital brought in for zero cost.  No interest at all and even gain some tax revenue if that rate were lowered to say, 15%.  This was proposed by a Texas Congressman, but since he had an R next to his name, it wasn’t considered.
• 2.  Go collect undeserved nobel peace prize*, because those assholes were gonna give it to him no matter what he did. 

Had he done this, he would have utterly disabled the Republican party by co-opting their notions for running the country.  And he would have won over a large part of the Republican base in so doing.  And, oh yeah, he would have saved the country a Depression.

*Never capitalized here.

UPDATE:  He’s having this summit without his critics, otherwise known as people who might have some better ideas.  Jeez.  Somebody needs to remind him of how the Hegelian dialectic works.

Unprecedentedness

Hey, if you’re going to do something that hasn’t been done before, you might as well raise the bar really high; like, doubling the previous record.  This would be the equivalent of Usain Bolt running the 100 meter race in 4.79 seconds.  President Obama has doubled the budget that even George W dumped on us.  He’s done this in just eight and a half months in office.  He’s already spent one-fifth of the total that Bill Clinton spent in his entire eight years in office.

To be fair, spending comes from Congress, though they are often acting on a President’s demands.  One of the most dangerous times for our freedom and financial safety comes when we have stupidly managed to give one party control of Congress and the White House.  We did this with W and have done it again with O and the result is ruinous.  An economy in collapse, trust in government shattered, a country ideologically split.  I told everybody I could back during the election, when it became clear that Obama would win to go ahead and vote for him but to vote Republican for Congressional and Senate seats in order to emplace a forceful opposition to Obama.  (This was pre-blog, so not on the record anywhere; you’ll just have to take my word for it.)

So now we have a leftist President handing off the heavy lifting to the even more leftist Nancy Pelosi and the dweebish Harry Reid.  Obama sets the course and Pelosi and Reid push the spending through to advance their agenda and they seem to have little to no understanding of how the real world works out here.  They are finally making noises about juicing job creation but amazingly, they think that they can do that by raising taxes and heaping the health care entitlement onto the backs of business.  If the health care bill passes, we will get to see another spike in the unemployment rate and it will be permanent this time as businesses either leave the US or retrench in such a way as to function on lower revenues and with less staff.

Callous Children.

The Pelosi/Reid Deception

 

The deception is that their proposed health care plan will begin collecting taxes in 2010 but not provide any benefits until 2014, despite the urgent pleas that we have to do something right now because Americans are hurting!  This will go unnoticed by the vast majority of American people; all they will understand is that the bill passed and now they don’t have to hear any more about it.  The depth of the deception is made clear by this chart that I stumbled across here (click to embiggen):

 

 

The timing of the increases is no accident.  There is no increase at all in 2010, during the Congressional midterm elections.  There is no significant increase in 2012, when Obama stands for reelection.  There is a huge acceleration in 2014, half way into Obama’s 2nd term (if there is one) but things really get cranked up in 2016 as Obama enters the home stretch of his final term in office.  Presumably, he will be leaving a mess for his successor to clean up, since this whole plan and its ridiculous cost virtually assures a stagnant economy and job market for the foreseeable future.

I really don’t know what they are thinking.  I wish just one of the three, Pelosi, Reid or Obama, had ever met a payroll so that they could understand what they are doing to us.  For a good example of what these government imposed higher costs do to a small business (hell, to any business), read this article that the AP ran yesterday.  This is how Atlas shrugs:

 

• Chuck Ferrar, who owns a liquor store in Annapolis, Md., expects to pay $9,000 in unemployment taxes next year, up from $3,000 this year. Health care costs for his employees will rise by $8,000, or 17.5 percent. "When you start adding this up, it turns into real money," he said. "If I lose an employee through attrition, I will not replace him. You can't afford to do it."

• Sam Schlosser, owner of Plymouth Foundry Inc. in Plymouth, Ind., said his unemployment tax bill could double next year. Revenue at the family-owned company, which makes iron castings for machine parts, has fallen about 50 percent, he said. In case of higher taxes, his company may have to consider layoffs, he said.

• Marjorie Feldman-Wood, president of Al's Beverages in East Windsor, Conn., which makes soda fountain syrup, said higher taxes would make pay raises less likely. Connecticut is borrowing from the federal government, and employers fear the state will have to raise taxes soon to repay the loan. "There's only so much money at the end of the day," she said.

Callous children.

At the Point of a Gun

 

This is an example of how oppressive government can be.  Rather than correct whatever conditions are present here in the U.S. that caused people to move money offshore, the government chose instead to take a foreign-based bank to court and essentially strong-armed them into surrendering their centuries old business model that relied on discretion and privacy.

The U.S. has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world and one of the highest personal tax rates and headed markedly higher soon.  In fact, U.S. tax rates are confiscatory, designed to take money from the politically disfavored and redistribute it to the politically favored.  It is no wonder that companies and individuals are hiding assets; we have created this ravenous monster in Washington that takes any spare change that is laying around and devours it.  Run afoul of it and face prison so that Nancy Pelosi can have enough money on hand to fund whatever nonsense strikes her fancy.

We Are Sucking Hind Teat to the Boomers Once Again

Health care reform, in keeping with politicians propensity to pick favored constituencies at the expense of others, is purely a pander to the Baby Boomers.  We have a giant glob, 77 million of them, of Boomers that are currently retiring and just in time comes His Wonderfulness to offer to them health care for the rest of their days.

Technically, I am a boomer.  The Baby Boom ran from about 1949 to 1964 and I was born towards the end of that time frame, but the biggest chunk of them were born and came of age in the early to mid-60’s when I was just a kid.  Realistically, I have spent my whole life picking up the leavings of the goddamn Boomers.  They hold the best jobs, they will get the full measure of their Social Security benefits, they sucked up all the market capital then destroyed several trillion dollars’ worth of it and now they are poised to help themselves to 20 years’ more time of perpetuating their scorched earth lifestyles.  They will roar through the system, taking everything with them and leaving a mess in their wake.  And if you don’t believe that, take a look at the current value of your home.  If you are under the age of 50, think about whether or not you will see your Social Security benefits sliced before you retire, in favor of maintaining benefits for those who are about to retire or have already retired.  Think about the current value of your 401(k)’s and how long it will take to recover, if ever.  Think about working until the day you die.

So, we must fight the health care proposal and cap and trade and bailouts and demand the shrinking of the federal government.  If I’m tilting at windmills here, so be it.  But if you are under the age of 50, you better think about storming the gates of Congress.

A Modest Proposal

Here is a proposal, to send a message to the bastards.  Here is a link to IRS form W4.  For January of 2010, under-withhold your taxes.  In fact, fill out the form so that you have exactly zero taxes withheld for the month of January.  You can do this by claiming 10 or 12 dependents and little, if anything will be withheld.  Then, in February, change your withholding again to your normal rate, plus the amount you would have normally withheld in January, spread over the remaining 11 months of the year.  Let’s send a message to the dirtbags up there that we have had enough.  The only thing they want out of the producers of this world is money; take it away.  It’s the only way we will ever get their attention.  Don’t get your asses arrested; pay your taxes, but let’s put a little hitch in the cash flow up there.  Atlas needs to shrug a little.

Spread the word; if you don’t, who will?

"Obama says he's looking at any way to create jobs"

Except lowering business taxes.

Or personal taxes.

Or the cost of hiring someone.

Or lowering minimum wage.

Or minimizing regulations.

Or simplifying the tax code.

Or keeping the Bush tax cuts in effect.

Or actually spending the ridiculous "stimulus" money.

But other than that, He's hard at work looking for ways to create jobs.

Those Nasty, Selfish Rich People!

And they're not even webbernet rich:

Levines donating $9.3 million for scholarship: "(By David Perlmutt, dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com) Leon Levine, the Charlotte businessman and philanthropist whose family foundation has come to the rescue of many cash-strapped charities in recent months, is sharing more of his wealth - donating $9.3 million to UNC Charlotte.

Levine's contribution, the largest academic gift in UNCC's history, will be used to create a merit scholarship that school officials hope ultimately will achieve the same prestige as the Morehead-Cain at UNC Chapel Hill, Park at N.C. State and Benjamin N. Duke at Duke.

The new scholarship program will begin in fall 2010, UNCC Chancellor Philip Dubois said at a news conference today.

Plans call for 15 Levine Scholars to be named.

Levine founded Family Dollars Stores in 1959 and built it into one of the country's largest discount retail chains of more than 5,000 stores. His Leon Levine Family Foundation is one of the most active in the state.

In recent months, his and wife Sandra's generosity has been felt at nonprofits at a time when they are strapped for money and their services are needed the most.

Levine, who never graduated from college, has been generous to education and research before.

In 1991, he gave $10 million to Duke University to help build a $80 million research complex, now called the Leon Levine Science Research Center.

In 2002, the Levines gave the initial $5 million to Central Piedmont Community College for its $10 million endowment campaign, which awards 5,000 yearly scholarships to needy students. Last month, his foundation announced that it was advancing to CPCC $300,000 of a $2 million gift it was set to begin paying in 2010. The school will use the money to provide 150 classes and serve 3,000 students that it would otherwise have turned away because of budget cuts.

It's been a remarkable 12 months for UNCC.

Last September, Dubois recommended the school field a football team, though plans have been scaled back substantially after a fundraising campaign stumbled in the troubled economy.

In April, the university broke ground for a planned 12-story, $50.4 million Center City Building in uptown's First Ward. Construction began a month later on the cantilevered midrise at Ninth and Brevard streets that will houe the Belk College of Business MBA program - among other graduate and continuing education offerings.

The building will overlook a 4-acre park and launch the development of a 22-acre urban village by Levine Properties."

I count $26.3 million given away in this article alone. We better tax this gentleman more, since he must still have something left.

Well done, Mr. Levine.