Michele Bachmann Ends Year With Less than 2000 Cash On Hand

Blue Stem Prairie has the story. The 3rd district donors will be more interested in helping Erik Paulsen stay in office. It will be interesting to see what next quarter's report will show.

Does Michele Bachmann Approve of Government-Subsidized "Pep Rallies"?

Strib: As for Cooper, he makes no apologies for TCF's Colorado retreat, noting that employees need a "pep rally" in times of economic duress. The employees, who stayed at the Silvertree Hotel, got awards, watched the Super Bowl and sang karaoke. Cooper said he sang "Sweet Georgia Brown" in front of his co-workers. "In this time," he said, "it's really important to get people wowed up and enthused in terms of where we're going." The pep rally was in Aspen... not Minnesota. Bill Cooper moved out of Minnesota because he didn't want to pay taxes here. Bill Cooper was the former Chair of the MN GOP and a big donor to right-wingers like Bachmann.

"Bachmann's Economics Sound Like Revisionist History"

LTE in the Strib: Not content with saving us from an array of "disloyal" congressmen who have "anti-American views," Rep. Michele Bachmann has now assumed the role of economist to save us with tax reform (cuts) "The perils of spending like it's 1929" (Opinion Exchange, Jan. 30). Real economists concur with Nobel economist Paul Krugman when he says that, " when it comes to economic stimulus, public spending provides much more bang for the buck than tax cuts." Bachmann states that the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) and the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (FHLB), implemented by President Herbert Hoover, were "dismal failures." Actually, the RFC gave substantial aid to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, farm mortgage associations and other businesses. It was enhanced by the New Deal and helped ease the pain of the depression. The RFC was continued in World War II, and it played an important part in making the United States the "arsenal of democracy." The FHLB increased the supply of money available to local institutions that made home loans, served them as a reserve credit resource and reduced the foreclosure rate. As to the $11 trillion national debt that Bachmann laments, 90 percent of the $10 trillion increase since President Reagan took office, occurred while Reagan, Bush I and Bush II were in office. And the two big tax cuts implemented by Bush II served only to increase that debt. To learn from "the mistakes of history," one must first know the history. ROLF E. WESTGARD, ST. PAUL Here's Paul Krugman: