It is interesting to compare Obama's speech announcing his implementation of the Bush withdrawal on victory agreement with the Iraqis to his and VP Biden's prior predictions that the Surge would fail:
UPDATE ONE: It is also interesting to compare the Marines' stoic response to Obama above with whooping it up with Dubya below:
The military loved Dubya not because he was a war hero, but rather because he gave the troops their due.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
From Bad To Worse
USA Today provided an outstanding breakdown of the new Obama budget with a nifty interactive chart that allows you to run your cursor over the years to find out the spending, taxes and deficits from Reagan through 2010. Gateway Pundit created the two screenshots of the chart below showing the last Bush budget compared to the first Obama budget:
Of note, you can see three distinct periods of spending on this chart - (1) The Reagan/Gingrich period where the spending increase was on a slow trajectory upward and did not exceed the growth in the economy, (2) The overspending of the Dubya Administration notching the trajectory upward with still moderate deficits, and (3) the insane and unprecedented spending spree and deficits of new Obama Administration.
We have gone from the bad spending of the Bush era to the far worse recklessness of the Obama era. Indeed, this is so bad, that we may soon be looking at the Bush profligacy as the good old days of fiscal prudence.
Of note, you can see three distinct periods of spending on this chart - (1) The Reagan/Gingrich period where the spending increase was on a slow trajectory upward and did not exceed the growth in the economy, (2) The overspending of the Dubya Administration notching the trajectory upward with still moderate deficits, and (3) the insane and unprecedented spending spree and deficits of new Obama Administration.
We have gone from the bad spending of the Bush era to the far worse recklessness of the Obama era. Indeed, this is so bad, that we may soon be looking at the Bush profligacy as the good old days of fiscal prudence.
The Obama Market Death Watch - How It Compares To History
January in the Obama market was the worse since 1896 and February the worse since 1933.
Change without hope.
Change without hope.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Better Economic Growth Through Debt
The charts below from the Obama budget assume that the exponential growth in Obama government debt will lead to Reagan Boom-like growth:
Meanwhile, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag brings the gospel of better living through debt to Fox News' Neil Cavuto:
Hell, Obama is inspiring me to max out my credit cards to enhance my own personal economic growth!
UPDATE ONE: As usual, Ramirez skewers the subject:
Meanwhile, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag brings the gospel of better living through debt to Fox News' Neil Cavuto:
Hell, Obama is inspiring me to max out my credit cards to enhance my own personal economic growth!
UPDATE ONE: As usual, Ramirez skewers the subject:
Lies, Damn Lies And The Obama Budget
Despite Mr. Obama's claims that we are in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and things will get much worse before they get better, the Obama budget assumes :
In short, Team Obama is predicting twice the economic growth than everyone else in order to claim :
Additionally, the "$2 Trillion in savings" Mr. Obama claimed in his speech to Congress are not budget cuts at all. Half of his "savings" are actually tax increases. The other half involve completely fictional savings by not fighting a war in Iraq over the next decade and instead following the redeployment plan required in the preexisting Bush SOFA treaty with Iraq.
The Obama plan is such a categorical bald faced lie that the best liberal NPR reporter Mara Liason could say was that the budget was "not completely false" because some of the Medicare numbers appeared to be correct.
The question is how long can Obama continue to tell whoppers until the voters catch on?
The administration predicted that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, will shrink by 1.2 percent this year but will grow by a solid 3.2 percent in 2010. That growth would be followed by even stronger increases of 4 percent in 2011, 4.6 percent in 2012 and 4.2 percent in 2013.
By contrast, the consensus of forecasters surveyed by Blue Chip Economic Indicators in February predicted that the GDP will fall by a larger 1.9 percent this year and then increase at weaker rates of 2.1 percent in 2010, 2.9 percent in 2011 and 2012 and 2.8 percent in 2013.
In short, Team Obama is predicting twice the economic growth than everyone else in order to claim :
As a result, the unemployment rate at the end of President Barack Obama’s term in 2013 will be just 5.2%, according to the White House. The rate currently sits at 7.6%, and many economists expect it to climb past 9% before the recession ends. A report Thursday showing jobless claims at a 26-year high supports the more pessimistic forecasts, at least in the short run.
Meanwhile, the White House assumes a much slower rate of consumer price inflation than private sector economists between 2010 and 2013.
That mix of strong growth and low inflation makes Obama’s task of halving the deficit by the end of his first term easier.
Additionally, the "$2 Trillion in savings" Mr. Obama claimed in his speech to Congress are not budget cuts at all. Half of his "savings" are actually tax increases. The other half involve completely fictional savings by not fighting a war in Iraq over the next decade and instead following the redeployment plan required in the preexisting Bush SOFA treaty with Iraq.
The Obama plan is such a categorical bald faced lie that the best liberal NPR reporter Mara Liason could say was that the budget was "not completely false" because some of the Medicare numbers appeared to be correct.
The question is how long can Obama continue to tell whoppers until the voters catch on?
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Obama Market Death Watch - Budget Edition
The markets tried to rally today, but took another dive as investors sorted through the Obama budget and did not like what they saw.
We are now down to Dow 7182.
UPDATE ONE: Especially hard hit were health care insurance and pharmaceutical stocks, as investors heard of Obama's plans to slash compensation for their services to Medicare and Medicaid.
We are now down to Dow 7182.
UPDATE ONE: Especially hard hit were health care insurance and pharmaceutical stocks, as investors heard of Obama's plans to slash compensation for their services to Medicare and Medicaid.
Promises Made, Promises Broken
Remember this Obama promise repeated throughout the campaign?
Well, Obama's first budget proposes the largest expansion of government spending in history - raising government spending to $3.6 Trillion in FY 2010.
Don't say we conservatives and libertarians did not warn you Obama was lying through his teeth during the election.
Well, Obama's first budget proposes the largest expansion of government spending in history - raising government spending to $3.6 Trillion in FY 2010.
Don't say we conservatives and libertarians did not warn you Obama was lying through his teeth during the election.
The Obama Taxman Cometh
I have repeatedly warned that Obama was lying about not intending to raise taxes on all of us to pay for his Trilions of dollars of new spending and his first budget proves the lie.
The Obama budget is proposing a massive new carbon tax in the form of a cap and trade system where the government will tax businesses for the right to emit carbon. These taxes will in turn will all be passed onto us in the form higher prices for electricity and nearly every other good and service.
This is on top of the massive new tax on cigarettes enacted earlier in the month to finance the SCHIP government health care program.
Just wait, there will be may more taxes coming very soon to finance the rest of this spending spree.
UPDATE ONE: As the Wall Street Journal notes, even if you confiscated every dime earned by those who fall into the top tax bracket, there would not be enough money to pay for Obama's spending:
UPDATE TWO: ABC's indispensable Jake Trapper breaks down the $1 Trillion in new taxes over the next decade Obama currently proposes on the top income tax bracket and business (not counting the yet unenumerated carbon tax). The business taxes will flow right through to the entire citizenry in the form of higher prices.
The Obama budget is proposing a massive new carbon tax in the form of a cap and trade system where the government will tax businesses for the right to emit carbon. These taxes will in turn will all be passed onto us in the form higher prices for electricity and nearly every other good and service.
This is on top of the massive new tax on cigarettes enacted earlier in the month to finance the SCHIP government health care program.
Just wait, there will be may more taxes coming very soon to finance the rest of this spending spree.
UPDATE ONE: As the Wall Street Journal notes, even if you confiscated every dime earned by those who fall into the top tax bracket, there would not be enough money to pay for Obama's spending:
President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it. On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end "tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans," and he promised that households earning less than $250,000 won't see their taxes increased by "one single dime."
This is going to be some trick. Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can't possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama's new spending ambitions...
A tax policy that confiscated 100% of the taxable income of everyone in America earning over $500,000 in 2006 would only have given Congress an extra $1.3 trillion in revenue. That's less than half the 2006 federal budget of $2.7 trillion and looks tiny compared to the more than $4 trillion Congress will spend in fiscal 2010. Even taking every taxable "dime" of everyone earning more than $75,000 in 2006 would have barely yielded enough to cover that $4 trillion.
Fast forward to this year (and 2010) when the Wall Street meltdown and recession are going to mean far few taxpayers earning more than $500,000. Profits are plunging, businesses are cutting or eliminating dividends, hedge funds are rolling up, and, most of all, capital nationwide is on strike. Raising taxes now will thus yield far less revenue than it would have in 2006.
UPDATE TWO: ABC's indispensable Jake Trapper breaks down the $1 Trillion in new taxes over the next decade Obama currently proposes on the top income tax bracket and business (not counting the yet unenumerated carbon tax). The business taxes will flow right through to the entire citizenry in the form of higher prices.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Did You Ever Wonder What Fiscal Responsibility Looks Like?
The day after President Obama promised us "fiscal responsibility," the projected deficit just hit $2 TRILLION as the Dem Congress enacted the largest increase in discretionary spending since the 70's:
Chart provided by Red State.
Did anyone else laugh out loud when Obama blamed the deficit on Bush last night?
Chart provided by Red State.
Did anyone else laugh out loud when Obama blamed the deficit on Bush last night?
The Prophet Of Hope Brings Despair To The Land
Obama has succeeded in scaring the hell out of the country.
CNN polling says that three out of four of us are afraid of where our national economy is headed. However, this fear is not from our own personal experience, because three out of four of us also think our own personal economy is just fine.
One of the supreme political ironies of the new administration is that the prophet of hope has convinced half of the country without troubles to despair.
Perhaps, this is why Gallup has Obama polling with higher negatives than Dubya did one month into his administration - first alienating the GOP and now Indis during the past week.
CNN polling says that three out of four of us are afraid of where our national economy is headed. However, this fear is not from our own personal experience, because three out of four of us also think our own personal economy is just fine.
One of the supreme political ironies of the new administration is that the prophet of hope has convinced half of the country without troubles to despair.
Perhaps, this is why Gallup has Obama polling with higher negatives than Dubya did one month into his administration - first alienating the GOP and now Indis during the past week.
Obama Channels Hoover
Back before the election, I warned:
Apparently our new President does.
Starting October 2010 (the start of FY 2011), Mr. Obama's new budget calls for a 12% raise in the top income tax rate from 35% to 39.6% and a 20% reduction in the deductions this group can take, driving their effective tax rate higher. It is unknown whether the proposed budget will also punish investment by raising the capital gains taxes as Obama threatened during the campaign.
These new punitive taxes should hit just after we are supposed to start emerging from the recession.
As regular as clockwork, Barack Obama promises at every speech and debate that he will only raise taxes on those who earn more than 200,000 annually to pay for the larger government he claims will create jobs and lift the economy out of recession.
In 1932, Herbert Hoover applied the same prescription for economic recovery, raising taxes on only those who made $1 million or more. The result? Unemployment surged from 16% to 24% and the GDP fell by 13.4%.
Do we really want to follow this prescription for economic suicide again?
Apparently our new President does.
Starting October 2010 (the start of FY 2011), Mr. Obama's new budget calls for a 12% raise in the top income tax rate from 35% to 39.6% and a 20% reduction in the deductions this group can take, driving their effective tax rate higher. It is unknown whether the proposed budget will also punish investment by raising the capital gains taxes as Obama threatened during the campaign.
These new punitive taxes should hit just after we are supposed to start emerging from the recession.
The Obama Market Death Watch - Address to Congress Edition
As has been the case when Obama was elected, inaugurated and any time he spoke of his plans in the past, the market tanked again today after Obama's address to Congress making the absurd promise to simultaneously increase spending by Trillions of dollars, give a tax cut to 95% of the nation and to cut the debt we are passing onto our children by half.
The Dow futures had fallen about 70 points overnight after the address and then plunged further this morning when it was disclosed that sales of existing homes plunged as owners are waiting to see whether The One will give them our money to bail them out.
The law of unintended consequences is why government central planning has always failed in the past and why Obama's flirtation with socialism will fail again.
As of this posting, we are down to Dow 7208.
UPDATE ONE: Despite a valiant attempt at an afternoon rally, the Dow fell by another point and a quarter to 7270.
UPDATE TWO: Oh, that explains what killed the afternoon stock market rally:
Look at the stock ticker to the right fall as Obama speaks on his economic plans.
The Dow futures had fallen about 70 points overnight after the address and then plunged further this morning when it was disclosed that sales of existing homes plunged as owners are waiting to see whether The One will give them our money to bail them out.
The law of unintended consequences is why government central planning has always failed in the past and why Obama's flirtation with socialism will fail again.
As of this posting, we are down to Dow 7208.
UPDATE ONE: Despite a valiant attempt at an afternoon rally, the Dow fell by another point and a quarter to 7270.
UPDATE TWO: Oh, that explains what killed the afternoon stock market rally:
Look at the stock ticker to the right fall as Obama speaks on his economic plans.
One Of Obama's "Responsible" Borrowers
CNN features a California bus driver who bought an $800,000 home she knew she could not afford and is now demanding that Obama spend your money to help pay her mortgage:
I faithfully pay my mortgage on a $250,000 home and Obama wants me to help this woman pay for an $800,000 home?
My reaction cannot be printed in this family forum.
UPDATE ONE: Even the pro Dem AP cannot let Obama's wild lies about his mortgage bailout proposal go un-factchecked:
The analogy of the fire department is inapt. The damage is already done to the home values. You do not take tax payer money to rebuild a house burned down by the negligence of an owner any more than you should bail out negligent borrowers.
How about foreclosing on people like the bus driver and encouraging the responsible and the creditworthy to buy the foreclosed homes?
I faithfully pay my mortgage on a $250,000 home and Obama wants me to help this woman pay for an $800,000 home?
My reaction cannot be printed in this family forum.
UPDATE ONE: Even the pro Dem AP cannot let Obama's wild lies about his mortgage bailout proposal go un-factchecked:
OBAMA: "We have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and refinance their mortgages. It's a plan that won't help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values."
THE FACTS: If the administration has come up with a way to ensure money only goes to those who got in honest trouble, it hasn't said so.
Defending the program Tuesday at a Senate hearing, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said it's important to save those who made bad calls, for the greater good. He likened it to calling the fire department to put out a blaze caused by someone smoking in bed.
"I think the smart way to deal with a situation like that is to put out the fire, save him from his own consequences of his own action but then, going forward, enact penalties and set tougher rules about smoking in bed."
The analogy of the fire department is inapt. The damage is already done to the home values. You do not take tax payer money to rebuild a house burned down by the negligence of an owner any more than you should bail out negligent borrowers.
Similarly, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. suggested this month it's not likely aid will be denied to all homeowners who overstated their income or assets to get a mortgage they couldn't afford.
"I think it's just simply impractical to try to do a forensic analysis of each and every one of these delinquent loans," Sheila Bair told National Public Radio.
How about foreclosing on people like the bus driver and encouraging the responsible and the creditworthy to buy the foreclosed homes?
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Say What?
Team Obama struggling to figure out how The One can simultaneously increase spending by Trillions of dollars, pledge not to raise taxes on 95% of the nation and reduce the debt we pass onto our children:
Speaker Pelosi took the Obama logic in the right spirit - she appeared to be blitzed.
Hat tip to Instapundit for the image.
Speaker Pelosi took the Obama logic in the right spirit - she appeared to be blitzed.
Hat tip to Instapundit for the image.
Americans Can Do Anything
After the mind bending spectacle of President Obama simultaneously pledging to save our children from a mountain of debt, while demanding literally Trillions of dollars of new spending and pledging that 95% of the nation will not see a tax increase to pay for this spending, Governor Bobby Jindal's GOP response was a breath of clarity and fresh air. Team Obama promised that the President would give us a Reaganesque speech, Bobby Jindal actually delivered one. Here are the highlights:
UPDATE ONE: Unfortunately, Jindal's delivery of the speech does not come close to doing justice to the text. Apparently, he froze during his star turn:
UPDATE TWO: Jindal bounced back this morning with a far better effort on The Today Show:
To solve our current problems, Washington must lead. But the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you -- the American people. Because we believe that Americans can do anything.
That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families, cutting taxes for small businesses, strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers, and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers.
These plans would cost less and create more jobs.
But Democratic leaders in Congress rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history -- with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest.
While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a 'magnetic levitation' line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called 'volcano monitoring.' Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, DC.
Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line and saddle future generations with debt.
Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have, on things we do not need? That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did. It's irresponsible. And it's no way to strengthen our economy, create jobs or build a prosperous future for our children...
Republicans want to work with President Obama. We appreciate his message of hope -- but sometimes it seems we look for hope in different places. Democratic leaders in Washington place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you -- the American people.
In the end, it comes down to an honest and fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government. We oppose the National Democrats' view that says -- the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, and empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs.
In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear -- because our party got away from its principles. You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust -- and rightly so.
Tonight, on behalf of our leaders in Congress and my fellow Republican governors, I say: Our party is determined to regain your trust. We will do so by standing up for the principles that we share -- the principles you elected us to fight for -- the principles that built this into the greatest, most prosperous country on earth.
A few weeks ago, the President warned that our nation is facing a crisis that he said 'we may not be able to reverse.' Our troubles are real, to be sure. But don't let anyone tell you that we cannot recover -- or that America's best days are behind her.
This is the nation that cast off the scourge of slavery, overcame the Great Depression, prevailed in two World Wars, won the struggle for civil rights, defeated the Soviet menace, and responded with determined courage to the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The American spirit has triumphed over almost every form of adversity known to man -- and the American spirit will triumph again.
We can have confidence in our future -- because, amid today's challenges, we also count many blessings: We have the most innovative citizens --the most abundant resources -- the most resilient economy -- the most powerful military -- and the freest political system in the history of the world.
My fellow citizens, never forget: We are Americans. And like my Dad said years ago, Americans can do anything.
UPDATE ONE: Unfortunately, Jindal's delivery of the speech does not come close to doing justice to the text. Apparently, he froze during his star turn:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
UPDATE TWO: Jindal bounced back this morning with a far better effort on The Today Show:
Porkulus - The Sequel
On the same day they cheered The One when he called for a return to pay as you go budgeting, the congressional Dems have submitted a $410 Billion discretionary spending bill which features an 8% spending increase over last year and several thousand ear marks for pet projects to be paid for with yet more borrowing. In the spirit of bipartisanship that marks the Dem House, no amendments will be permitted to Porkulus II.
Guess who the Dems in this photo are laughing at:
Meanwhile, in the category of "If I didn't laugh, I would have to cry," Hill staffer Tom Jones is twittering a list of the ways Congress is wasting your money. Here are a few highlights:
Guess who the Dems in this photo are laughing at:
Meanwhile, in the category of "If I didn't laugh, I would have to cry," Hill staffer Tom Jones is twittering a list of the ways Congress is wasting your money. Here are a few highlights:
ok - this $1M earmark is just funny. "City of North Pole for wastewater system improvements project" darn elves.
about 1 hour ago from TwitterFox
$480K in #pork for "Urban Horticulture" p.85 http://is.gd/kGnY Will more daisies make Chicago beautiful?
about 6 hours ago from TwitterFox
2 earmarks for $200K of #pork to study "Chronic Wasting Disease" - sadly neither study to occur at U.S. Capitol. p.80 http://is.gd/kGnY about 6 hours ago from TwitterFox
"Brown Tree Snake Management in Guam" perennial outragous #pork is back http://is.gd/kGsj p.79 @ http://is.gd/kGnY
about 6 hours ago from TwitterFox
oh bother $1.762M earmark for "Honey Bee lab" p. 75 http://is.gd/kGnY #pork about 6 hours ago from TwitterFox
$200,000 for “Tattoo Removal Violence Prevention Outreach Program,” pg. 283;
Maine lobster earmark in the omnibus, pg. 173;
$5.8 million earmark for the “Ted Kennedy Institute for the Senate…for the planning and design of a building & an endowment,” pg. 232;
National Council of La Raza, $473,000 earmark from Sens. Bingaman and Menendez, pg. 212.
White House Promises Obama Will Give Reaganesque Speech Tonight Before Congress
Politico reports:
Perhaps, that is why the markets have taken a break from their post Porkulus free fall today. Dow 7163 as of this posting. [UPDATE: Actually, the markets appear to have reacted to fed chairman Bernanke's prediction of a recovery by the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010.]
However, it will take more that parroting Reagan's rhetoric to convince the markets Obama has a clue. Reagan mapped out a specific plan and explained how that plan would work. All Obama has given to date is platitudes mixed with scare talk about the economy. Let's see if he can pull a 180 only a day after he made a fool out of himself claiming to be a champion of fiscal responsibility.
President Barack Obama won’t speak until prime-time, but his aides fanned out to the morning shows Tuesday morning to talk up his first speech before a joint session of Congress. And the word they used to preview it: “Reaganesque.”
“The president believes very clearly that we have to be honest with the American people about where we are,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“He will,” Gibbs said, “tell the country that we’ve faced … greater challenges than the ones we face now, but we as Americans always meet those challenges. But in the Reaganesque words, there are always better days ahead.”
Perhaps, that is why the markets have taken a break from their post Porkulus free fall today. Dow 7163 as of this posting. [UPDATE: Actually, the markets appear to have reacted to fed chairman Bernanke's prediction of a recovery by the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010.]
However, it will take more that parroting Reagan's rhetoric to convince the markets Obama has a clue. Reagan mapped out a specific plan and explained how that plan would work. All Obama has given to date is platitudes mixed with scare talk about the economy. Let's see if he can pull a 180 only a day after he made a fool out of himself claiming to be a champion of fiscal responsibility.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Have The MSNBC Groupies Lost Their Leg Tingles Along With Their 401Ks?
Today, President Obama played the citizenry for complete fools by demanding "fiscal responsibility" just days after pissing away $1.2 Trillion dollars by signing the Porkulus bill and then said the way to cut his record setting deficit in half was to increase the efficiency of the medical profession by borrowing another hundred billion dollars a year to spend on national health care.
Even the Obama groupies over at MSNBC are losing patience with Team Obama's utter ineptitude. The tingle that used to run up Chris Matthews' leg is disappearing as fast as his 401K is turning into a 101K in the tanking Obama stock markets.
In Meltdown on MSNBC: The Leg Tingle Is Gone?, Jim Geraghty at NRO reported on the festivities on Chris Matthews' Hardball today. Here are a couple highlights, but go read the entire post at the link:
Even the Obama groupies over at MSNBC are losing patience with Team Obama's utter ineptitude. The tingle that used to run up Chris Matthews' leg is disappearing as fast as his 401K is turning into a 101K in the tanking Obama stock markets.
In Meltdown on MSNBC: The Leg Tingle Is Gone?, Jim Geraghty at NRO reported on the festivities on Chris Matthews' Hardball today. Here are a couple highlights, but go read the entire post at the link:
Howard Fineman of Newsweek... "Despite [Obama's] high approval rating and obvious intellect and goodwill, he hasn't quite yet seemed to convey the sense that he knows the way forward and that he can get us there . . . I thought the first fifteen minutes of this [fiscal responsibility] show were devastating. Not that Jim Cramer is the only person they have to convince, but they have to convince people that they know what they're doing, that they're not just feeling their way forward."...
Matthews: "I thought 8,000 was the floor, and it looks like 6,000 is the floor. People are angry, I'm getting angry."
Jindal vs. The Porkulus
Jindal vs. The Porkulus is not a fair fight. This is a pig roast.
It will be fun to hear Jindal rebut The One after his State of The Union speech.
The Obama Market Death Watch - Part II
Since the Porkulus was enacted, the Dow had taken a swan dive of over 1000 points from 8280 to 7245 as of this posting.
UPDATE ONE: The Dow ended up today at 7115, down 1165 since the Porkulus to where we were back in December 1996.
UPDATE ONE: The Dow ended up today at 7115, down 1165 since the Porkulus to where we were back in December 1996.
Are Five States To Blame For The Home Foreclosure Crisis?
Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute offers a fascinating op-ed noting that the foreclosure crisis is primarily centered in five states - California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Michigan - and those states generally share two problems - gross overpricing of residential real estate and high unemployment rates.
As he himself notes, Reynolds' theory is imperfect. Real estate was not overpriced in Michigan, but rather the market is falling of its own accord because of a migration from this awfully mismanaged blue state which has been in recession for a decade. Conversely, unemployment is not particularly high in Arizona, which appears to have been caught in the California real estate bubble. Finally, there is a chicken and egg problem with unemployment and foreclosures - did the foreclosures cause construction industry unemployment or did the unemployment cause the foreclosures?
Rather than a Foreclosure Five, we appear to a have a Foreclosure Four Plus One. The foreclosure crises in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida are primarily due to overpriced housing coming back to Earth while Michigan real estate is simply a victim of an economy being destroyed by unions overpricing its goods and services.
Even so, these facts would appear to put the lie to Mr. Obama's claim that this is a national crisis and undermine the rationale for compelling the rest of the country to subsidize the economic pathologies of these five states.
As he himself notes, Reynolds' theory is imperfect. Real estate was not overpriced in Michigan, but rather the market is falling of its own accord because of a migration from this awfully mismanaged blue state which has been in recession for a decade. Conversely, unemployment is not particularly high in Arizona, which appears to have been caught in the California real estate bubble. Finally, there is a chicken and egg problem with unemployment and foreclosures - did the foreclosures cause construction industry unemployment or did the unemployment cause the foreclosures?
Rather than a Foreclosure Five, we appear to a have a Foreclosure Four Plus One. The foreclosure crises in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida are primarily due to overpriced housing coming back to Earth while Michigan real estate is simply a victim of an economy being destroyed by unions overpricing its goods and services.
Even so, these facts would appear to put the lie to Mr. Obama's claim that this is a national crisis and undermine the rationale for compelling the rest of the country to subsidize the economic pathologies of these five states.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
New Depths Of Appeasement: Somalia Edition
Is there an Islamic fascist of whom The One does not approve?
The features of Obama's presidency have started to become clear before the end of his first 100 days in office, upon which traditionally the performance of the new US President is assessed...While in Somalia, Sheik Sharif Ahmed of the Union of Islamic Courts [UIC] has become the new President of Somalia, the UIC was viewed as a terrorist organization by the Bush administration, but is viewed as moderate by the new US Obama administration...Obama gave his blessing to Sheik Sharif Ahmed's appointment as President...
Obama Nationalization Of MSNBC To Serve As State News Network Confirmed
MSNBC's Morning Joe show will broadcast from the White House for three hours on Tuesday morning featuring Obama consigliere David Axelrod providing pre Obama speech spin... er, reporting. No word yet on whether The One himself will appear to provide chills up the legs of the Morning Joe hosts and announce the nationalization of the failing leftist network.
Mr. Obama's New Budget Math
I tell you one and one is three, I am the cult of personality
- Living Color
Mr. Obama has apparently decided to invent a new budget math to demonstrate that he is actually a fiscal conservative.
Obama New Math Principle #1: Don't count the Trillion Dollars in spending from bills you were not permitted to read.
Team Obama claims that it will cut the federal deficit "in half" to $533 Billion by 2012, which apparently assumes a $1.06 Trillion Dollar budget deficit this year. Right.
Reality: The CBO projected a $1.2 Trillion dollar budget before Obama's Porkulus bill, S-Chip health care expansion and bank bailout. The actual 2009 deficit is projected to be around $2 Trillion, which does not include Obama's plan to pay for national heath care. Thus, Mr. Obama is really claiming that he will cut his projected 2009 $2 Trillion dollar deficit by 3/4ths to $533 Billion by 2012 - decrease of $1.467 Trillion. (As a point of comparison, Mr. Bush's 2008 recession deficit was "only" 438 Billion.)
Obama New Math Principle #2: The numbers appear reasonable when speaking in percentages of GDP.
The premise is that Obama will raise federal taxes from 16% to 19% of GDP and lower spending from 26% to 22% of GDP.
United States GDP was $14.2646 Trillion at the end of the 2008 fiscal year. Let us generously assume that the GDP growth of the second half of the Obama term will be larger than the loss of GDP during our current recession and the 2012 GDP is 2% larger for a total of $14.5499 Trillion.
The proposed Obama annual tax increase is about $436.5 Billion.
The proposed Obama annual spending decrease is about $582 Billion.
Both would be new records for the federal government in terms of percentage of GDP and actual amounts of money.
Obama New Math Principle #3: We will only tax the rich and big business.
Mr. Obama plans to raise this $436.5 Billion in new tax revenues by increasing the top income tax bracket from 35% to 39.6%, the top capital gains tax bracket from 15% to 20% and the tax for large estates from 0% to 45%. Additionally, he promises a variety of unspecified tax increases in business.
Let's take a look at the pools of taxes into which Obama plans to dip. In 2008 , Individual income tax receipts (including capital gains) = $1.25 Trillion, and corporate income tax receipts = $314.9 Billion. When increased by 2% as we did for GDP, these tax receipts in 2012 should be $1.275 Trillion and $321.2 Billion, respectively. However, the pool of individual income taxes paid by top earners is about 40% or $510 Billion.
Reality: The 2012 income tax receipts for the rich will be $510 Billion and for corporations will be $321.2 Billion for a total of $831.2 Billion. Obama's proposed $436.5 Billion tax increase would constitute a 52.5% increase in tax revenues from these categories of income taxes! The proposed return to the Clinton income tax rates for the highest earners would not even begin to raise this kind of money. The only way Obama can increase taxes by $436.5 Billion is to come after the rest of us.
UPDATE: Then again, some of the socialists in the Dem Party like Jerry McNerney (D-CA) are openly talking about confiscating the income of top earners with a 90% top income tax rate.
Obama New Math Principle #4: We can cut spending without cutting any program except for the war against terror.
Mr. Obama promises to cut $582 Billion in spending. Furthermore, Mr. Obama is apparently calculating that all of the $1.2 Trillion dollar Porkulus will expire by 2010 and none of it will become part of the baseline government spending. Right.
Obama starts off by increasing spending by offering to provide health insurance for everyone for a very conservative cost of about $100 billion per year.
So now, Mr. Obama is promising to cut $682 Billion from other parts of the budget. Where is this money going to come from?
Well, Team Obama states that they will cut, but not eliminate, the $190 Billion we spend annually on the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Let's assume that we can save 60% or $114 Billion by 2012. We have now offset the added cost of Obama Care and still have to cut another $568 Billion.
Team Obama claims that they will save money by lowering administrative costs in Medicare and Medicaid. However, Mr. Obama's promise to cut spending another $568 Billion roughly equals the amount spent on both programs combined!
Reality: Under a Dem Congress, most of the Prokulus will be added to the baseline as a permanent spending increase of probably around $300 Billion per year, Obama Care will most likely cost at least double the conservative estimates for another $200 billion per year and the interest on the debt will soar another $100 billion per year to pay for all this borrowing. On the credit side, we might save $114 Billion per year by shifting the war from Iraq to Afghanistan at a smaller scale and probably a negligible amount of net savings from the adoption of electronic medical records. If he can get away with it, Obama will probably follow the EU model for financing an enormous welfare state and gut national defense. Look for Obama to declare victory in the War on Terror, withdraw most of our forces from the Middle East and start hacking away at the defense budget. In short, spending will soar everywhere except national defense by 2012.
- Living Color
Mr. Obama has apparently decided to invent a new budget math to demonstrate that he is actually a fiscal conservative.
Obama New Math Principle #1: Don't count the Trillion Dollars in spending from bills you were not permitted to read.
Team Obama claims that it will cut the federal deficit "in half" to $533 Billion by 2012, which apparently assumes a $1.06 Trillion Dollar budget deficit this year. Right.
Reality: The CBO projected a $1.2 Trillion dollar budget before Obama's Porkulus bill, S-Chip health care expansion and bank bailout. The actual 2009 deficit is projected to be around $2 Trillion, which does not include Obama's plan to pay for national heath care. Thus, Mr. Obama is really claiming that he will cut his projected 2009 $2 Trillion dollar deficit by 3/4ths to $533 Billion by 2012 - decrease of $1.467 Trillion. (As a point of comparison, Mr. Bush's 2008 recession deficit was "only" 438 Billion.)
Obama New Math Principle #2: The numbers appear reasonable when speaking in percentages of GDP.
The premise is that Obama will raise federal taxes from 16% to 19% of GDP and lower spending from 26% to 22% of GDP.
United States GDP was $14.2646 Trillion at the end of the 2008 fiscal year. Let us generously assume that the GDP growth of the second half of the Obama term will be larger than the loss of GDP during our current recession and the 2012 GDP is 2% larger for a total of $14.5499 Trillion.
The proposed Obama annual tax increase is about $436.5 Billion.
The proposed Obama annual spending decrease is about $582 Billion.
Both would be new records for the federal government in terms of percentage of GDP and actual amounts of money.
Obama New Math Principle #3: We will only tax the rich and big business.
Mr. Obama plans to raise this $436.5 Billion in new tax revenues by increasing the top income tax bracket from 35% to 39.6%, the top capital gains tax bracket from 15% to 20% and the tax for large estates from 0% to 45%. Additionally, he promises a variety of unspecified tax increases in business.
Let's take a look at the pools of taxes into which Obama plans to dip. In 2008 , Individual income tax receipts (including capital gains) = $1.25 Trillion, and corporate income tax receipts = $314.9 Billion. When increased by 2% as we did for GDP, these tax receipts in 2012 should be $1.275 Trillion and $321.2 Billion, respectively. However, the pool of individual income taxes paid by top earners is about 40% or $510 Billion.
Reality: The 2012 income tax receipts for the rich will be $510 Billion and for corporations will be $321.2 Billion for a total of $831.2 Billion. Obama's proposed $436.5 Billion tax increase would constitute a 52.5% increase in tax revenues from these categories of income taxes! The proposed return to the Clinton income tax rates for the highest earners would not even begin to raise this kind of money. The only way Obama can increase taxes by $436.5 Billion is to come after the rest of us.
UPDATE: Then again, some of the socialists in the Dem Party like Jerry McNerney (D-CA) are openly talking about confiscating the income of top earners with a 90% top income tax rate.
Obama New Math Principle #4: We can cut spending without cutting any program except for the war against terror.
Mr. Obama promises to cut $582 Billion in spending. Furthermore, Mr. Obama is apparently calculating that all of the $1.2 Trillion dollar Porkulus will expire by 2010 and none of it will become part of the baseline government spending. Right.
Obama starts off by increasing spending by offering to provide health insurance for everyone for a very conservative cost of about $100 billion per year.
So now, Mr. Obama is promising to cut $682 Billion from other parts of the budget. Where is this money going to come from?
Well, Team Obama states that they will cut, but not eliminate, the $190 Billion we spend annually on the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Let's assume that we can save 60% or $114 Billion by 2012. We have now offset the added cost of Obama Care and still have to cut another $568 Billion.
Team Obama claims that they will save money by lowering administrative costs in Medicare and Medicaid. However, Mr. Obama's promise to cut spending another $568 Billion roughly equals the amount spent on both programs combined!
Reality: Under a Dem Congress, most of the Prokulus will be added to the baseline as a permanent spending increase of probably around $300 Billion per year, Obama Care will most likely cost at least double the conservative estimates for another $200 billion per year and the interest on the debt will soar another $100 billion per year to pay for all this borrowing. On the credit side, we might save $114 Billion per year by shifting the war from Iraq to Afghanistan at a smaller scale and probably a negligible amount of net savings from the adoption of electronic medical records. If he can get away with it, Obama will probably follow the EU model for financing an enormous welfare state and gut national defense. Look for Obama to declare victory in the War on Terror, withdraw most of our forces from the Middle East and start hacking away at the defense budget. In short, spending will soar everywhere except national defense by 2012.
Friday, February 20, 2009
New Depths Of Appeasement Continued
After reportedly approving the imposition of Sharia on the Pakistani tribal regions bordering Afghanistan in order to appease the Taliban, the Obama State Department congratulated "the civic and participatory spirit of the millions of Venezuelans who exercised their democratic right to vote" in removing constitutional safeguards stopping Chavez from becoming President for life.
Then, to the horror of the human rights community, Sec State Hillary added that the Obama administration would not let Chinese human rights violations get in the way of working with the Chinese dictatorship. This should not be surprising. After all, Obama needs the Chinese to lend us the Trillions of dollars he plans to spend expanding the US government.
It appears that the era of liberation Reagan began and Bush continued is now at an end with the election of Obama. Not much hope for the world's oppressed in this change.
Then, to the horror of the human rights community, Sec State Hillary added that the Obama administration would not let Chinese human rights violations get in the way of working with the Chinese dictatorship. This should not be surprising. After all, Obama needs the Chinese to lend us the Trillions of dollars he plans to spend expanding the US government.
It appears that the era of liberation Reagan began and Bush continued is now at an end with the election of Obama. Not much hope for the world's oppressed in this change.
The Obama Market Death Watch
The Dow since inauguration of The One courtesy of Drudge:
The Dow has plunged 150 points lower since this graphic. You can track the vital signs of your 401K at Google here.
UPDATE ONE: Everyone who owns a 401K, all aboard the Obamanomics Scream Machine roller coaster. The Dow has now plunged to 7299 as financial sector stock turns to toilet paper on rumors that Obama will nationalize the banks.
Mr. President, get on TV and reassure the markets you are not a complete brain dead socialist before we relive 1929.
UPDATE TWO: What do you know? The White House pulled their heads from their hindquarters and assured the markets that Obama was not going to nationalize the banks and the free fall stopped for the moment. Dow 7345. Hopefully, they will draw the right lesson from the damage they have been causing.
The Dow has plunged 150 points lower since this graphic. You can track the vital signs of your 401K at Google here.
UPDATE ONE: Everyone who owns a 401K, all aboard the Obamanomics Scream Machine roller coaster. The Dow has now plunged to 7299 as financial sector stock turns to toilet paper on rumors that Obama will nationalize the banks.
Mr. President, get on TV and reassure the markets you are not a complete brain dead socialist before we relive 1929.
UPDATE TWO: What do you know? The White House pulled their heads from their hindquarters and assured the markets that Obama was not going to nationalize the banks and the free fall stopped for the moment. Dow 7345. Hopefully, they will draw the right lesson from the damage they have been causing.
Obamanomics: A Dual Threat To Our Retirement
Obamanomics can be summed up as government borrowing and spending on steroids on the theory that the government can buy goods and services with that borrowed money more efficiently than private business. As I have noted previously, the failure of this theory in the United States during the New Deal and in Japan during its recent "lost decade" does not exactly inspire hope in Obamanomics change.
However, Obamanomics does pose a dual threat to our retirement.
First, Obamanomics makes it less likely that the government will be able to finance social security.
Because there will not be enough workers to pay to provide Social Security to the Boomers when they retire, the Social Security ponzi scheme will run out of money sometime in the next couple decades. Raising taxes to cover the shortfall would cripple the economy and actually reduce social security tax income. Likewise, it is unlikely that the politically powerful Boomer demographic would accept benefit cuts.
That left the probability that Uncle Sugar would simply use the federal credit card to pay off social security and hope for the best down the road. However, Obamanomics is maxing out the federal credit card with unprecedented trillions of dollars of borrowing for as far as the eye can see. This borrowing and spending spree strongly resembles that of 1950s Argentina, when their man of hope and change, General Juan Peron, literally bankrupted the country within a decade.
Many millions of us of saw the trouble with Social security coming down the road and sought to invest to provide for our own retirement. However, Obamanomics is making that alternative less likely by the day.
Investors took a look at the years of Depression that followed the New Deal and the lost decade of recession that followed Japan's version of Obamanomics - along with their concurrent bad stock markets - and are selling short on Obamanomics. After already taking a substantial hit during the banking crisis, the markets have plunged an additional 2000+ points and continue to dive to heaven knows what bottom. I have moved out of the markets into cash, but those of you like my wife who are stuck in 401Ks are losing their nest egg by the day.
Unfortunately, I fear that I will also lose money even if I stay in cash because all of this borrowing and spending is spiking the money supply and threatening our first serious inflation since the Carter Stagflation.
In sum, Obamanomics is threatening the viability of both Social Security and investing as retirement options.
Time to start paying attention folks. Its your future on the line.
UPDATE ONE: The Obama markets continue their post Porkulus diving to 7366 as of this posting. This resembles the multi day free fall after Obama was elected last November.
UPDATE TWO: Interestingly, the Chicago Tea Party on CNBC (where the floor of the Chicago markets erupted in boos and cat calls when asked what they thought of Obamanomics) was the top subject on the hard left Air America when I was driving home from court yesterday. The AA host actually assured all 200 of her viewers that this was just sour grapes by former "Masters of the Universe" and that folks simply have to get used to not making money on their investments anymore.
Now, in normal times, one could dismiss this drooling lunacy as simply fringe rantings. However, Obama has actually added Air America to the White House Press Corps and recently held a private meeting at the White House with Air America and the hard left internet nutroots. It appears that a United States presidential administration may actually share these fringe views.
BTW, the Dow is now down to 7335 as of this posting.
However, Obamanomics does pose a dual threat to our retirement.
First, Obamanomics makes it less likely that the government will be able to finance social security.
Because there will not be enough workers to pay to provide Social Security to the Boomers when they retire, the Social Security ponzi scheme will run out of money sometime in the next couple decades. Raising taxes to cover the shortfall would cripple the economy and actually reduce social security tax income. Likewise, it is unlikely that the politically powerful Boomer demographic would accept benefit cuts.
That left the probability that Uncle Sugar would simply use the federal credit card to pay off social security and hope for the best down the road. However, Obamanomics is maxing out the federal credit card with unprecedented trillions of dollars of borrowing for as far as the eye can see. This borrowing and spending spree strongly resembles that of 1950s Argentina, when their man of hope and change, General Juan Peron, literally bankrupted the country within a decade.
Many millions of us of saw the trouble with Social security coming down the road and sought to invest to provide for our own retirement. However, Obamanomics is making that alternative less likely by the day.
Investors took a look at the years of Depression that followed the New Deal and the lost decade of recession that followed Japan's version of Obamanomics - along with their concurrent bad stock markets - and are selling short on Obamanomics. After already taking a substantial hit during the banking crisis, the markets have plunged an additional 2000+ points and continue to dive to heaven knows what bottom. I have moved out of the markets into cash, but those of you like my wife who are stuck in 401Ks are losing their nest egg by the day.
Unfortunately, I fear that I will also lose money even if I stay in cash because all of this borrowing and spending is spiking the money supply and threatening our first serious inflation since the Carter Stagflation.
In sum, Obamanomics is threatening the viability of both Social Security and investing as retirement options.
Time to start paying attention folks. Its your future on the line.
UPDATE ONE: The Obama markets continue their post Porkulus diving to 7366 as of this posting. This resembles the multi day free fall after Obama was elected last November.
UPDATE TWO: Interestingly, the Chicago Tea Party on CNBC (where the floor of the Chicago markets erupted in boos and cat calls when asked what they thought of Obamanomics) was the top subject on the hard left Air America when I was driving home from court yesterday. The AA host actually assured all 200 of her viewers that this was just sour grapes by former "Masters of the Universe" and that folks simply have to get used to not making money on their investments anymore.
Now, in normal times, one could dismiss this drooling lunacy as simply fringe rantings. However, Obama has actually added Air America to the White House Press Corps and recently held a private meeting at the White House with Air America and the hard left internet nutroots. It appears that a United States presidential administration may actually share these fringe views.
BTW, the Dow is now down to 7335 as of this posting.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Chicago Merchantile Exchange Tea Party
CNBC's Rick Santelli on the floor of the Chicago Merchantile Exchange was asked about how the markets view the Porkulus Bill and Obama's mortgage bailout. Santelli went off on a "We're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" tirade, eviscerating the Obama spending spree and the insane notions that we will get 50% economic growth from added government spending and the idea that those of us who pay our mortgages should also pay the mortgages for deadbeats who no longer want to pay theirs. What made this segment really interesting was that the traders on the floor of the exchange gave him a standing ovation and added their own yelled comments.
As this segment aired, the stock market continued its post Porkulus losses and is now down below 7500 as of this posting.
Watch the entire video clip here:
Highlight quote - Santelli turned to the traders in the pits and asked:
Hat tip to Drudge.
As this segment aired, the stock market continued its post Porkulus losses and is now down below 7500 as of this posting.
Watch the entire video clip here:
Highlight quote - Santelli turned to the traders in the pits and asked:
"This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? Raise their hand.
[Instead of raising their hands, the traders booed lustily]
President Obama, are you listening?"
Hat tip to Drudge.
Creating The Next Lost Generation Of Government Dependents
The Cato Institute reports:
Much of the "stimulus" bill is devoted to a backdoor undoing of one of Washington's greatest achievements of recent years - welfare reform.
One of the most important changes of the Clinton-era reform law was replacing the individual entitlement to welfare with a block grant to the states. In the old system, the more people a state signed up for welfare, the more money it got from Washington. The block grant broke this link, creating an incentive for states to help people become self-supporting.
But, as The Post's Charles Hurt has reported, slipped into the stimulus bill is a provision establishing a new $3 billion emergency fund to help states pay for added welfare recipients, with the federal government footing 80 percent of the cost for the new "clients."
Plus, the bill would reward states for increasing caseloads, even if the growth came because the state had loosened its requirements for recipients to work.
This is radical change. States that succeed in getting people off welfare would lose the opportunity for increased federal funding. And states that make it easier to stay on welfare (by, say, raising the time limit from two years to five) would get rewarded with more taxpayer cash. The bill would even let states with rising welfare rolls still collect their "case-load reduction" bonuses.
In short, the measure will erode all the barriers to long-term welfare dependency.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
New Depths Of Appeasement?
George Bush went to war with the Taliban to bring freedom to Afghanistan.
If Britain's The Telegraph is accurate, it appears as if Barack Obama is rolling back freedom and agreeing to the reimposition of medieval sharia law in order buy "peace" from the Taliban:
I pray this article is wrong. If not, America is turning from the shining beacon of freedom to a cowardly ally of barbaric tyranny.
If Britain's The Telegraph is accurate, it appears as if Barack Obama is rolling back freedom and agreeing to the reimposition of medieval sharia law in order buy "peace" from the Taliban:
American officials have privately backed Pakistan's "Sharia law for peace" deal with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley despite publicly criticising it as a "negative development".
The deal, under which Sharia law will be introduced in the Malakhand and Kohistan districts of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province if Taliban militants end their armed campaign in the Swat Valley, has been met with alarm by Nato chiefs and British and American officials.
Nato fears the deal would create a new "safe haven" for extremists, said a spokesman on Tuesday night, while a statement from Britain's High Commission in Islamabad said: "Previous peace deals have not provided a comprehensive and long-term solution to Swat's problems. We need to be confident that they will end violence, not create space for further violence."
President Barack Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan voiced the greatest concern about the strength of Taliban militants in Swat as he ended his first visit to the region since taking up his post.
"I talked to people from Swat and they were, frankly, quite terrified. Swat has really deeply affected the people of Pakistan, not just in Peshawar but in Lahore and Islamabad," he said, while a Defence Department official described the deal as a "negative development".
On Tuesday night however, US officials in Islamabad privately backed the deal as an attempt to drive a wedge between Swat's Taliban, which is focused on its demand for Sharia law, and the al-Qaeda-linked Taliban led by Baitullah Mehsud, the notorious commander who controls much of North and South Waziristan and other tribal areas along the Afghan border.
While they expressed fears that the deal might yet be sabotaged by some Swat Taliban militants who support al-Qaeda, they said that if successful, the deal would break up the alliance between the two groups, which has caused alarm throughout Pakistan and in Washington.
I pray this article is wrong. If not, America is turning from the shining beacon of freedom to a cowardly ally of barbaric tyranny.
Now The Guy's Got Barry For A Partner
From President Obama's speech laying out his bailout plan for homeowners defaulting on their subprime mortgages:
In short, banks that the government partially nationalized when they took bailout money now have Barry Obama for a partner. First, the Clinton Administration trashed the lending standards and sued banks to underwrite sub prime mortgages to the Dems' non-creditworthy constituents. Now, Barry is strong arming the banks to pay for new sweetheart mortgages for the non-creditworthy, who unsurprisingly have defaulted on their previous subprime mortgages.
Back in December, I predicted : We apparently can look forward to the Chicago machine version of the scene from the movie Goodfellas, where the gang leader Paulie makes a loan to the Bamboo Lounge, becomes Sonny Bamboo's partner and then proceeds to loot the lounge and run it into the ground.
Let's substitute Barry Obama for Paulie in the Good Fellah's script:
We now have a Mafia government. Change indeed!
My plan establishes clear guidelines for the entire mortgage industry that will encourage lenders to modify mortgages on primary residences. Any institution that wishes to receive financial assistance from the government, and to modify home mortgages, will have to do so according to these guidelines - which will be in place two weeks from today.
If lenders and homebuyers work together, and the lender agrees to offer rates that the borrower can afford, we'll make up part of the gap between what the old payments were and what the new payments will be. And under this plan, lenders who participate will be required to reduce those payments to no more than 31 percent of a borrower's income. This will enable as many as three to four million homeowners to modify the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure.
So this part of the plan will require both buyers and lenders to step up and do their part. Lenders will need to lower interest rates and share in the costs of reduced monthly payments in order to prevent another wave of foreclosures...
In short, banks that the government partially nationalized when they took bailout money now have Barry Obama for a partner. First, the Clinton Administration trashed the lending standards and sued banks to underwrite sub prime mortgages to the Dems' non-creditworthy constituents. Now, Barry is strong arming the banks to pay for new sweetheart mortgages for the non-creditworthy, who unsurprisingly have defaulted on their previous subprime mortgages.
Back in December, I predicted : We apparently can look forward to the Chicago machine version of the scene from the movie Goodfellas, where the gang leader Paulie makes a loan to the Bamboo Lounge, becomes Sonny Bamboo's partner and then proceeds to loot the lounge and run it into the ground.
Let's substitute Barry Obama for Paulie in the Good Fellah's script:
Now the guy's got Barry for a partner.
Any problems, he goes to Barry.
Trouble with the bill? He can go to Barry.
Trouble with the cops? Deliveries? Tommy? He can call Barry.
But now the guy has got to come up with Barry 's money every week, no matter what.
Business bad? Fuck you, pay me.
You had a fire? Fuck you, pay me.
The place got hit by lighting? Fuck you, pay me.
Also, Barry could do anything. Especially, run up bills on the joint's credit. Why not? Nobody's gonna pay for it anyway...
And, finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out.
We now have a Mafia government. Change indeed!
Stepping Back From The Precipice Of Constitutional Crisis
In one of the worst decisions of the modern era, five members of the Supreme Court in Boumediene v. Bush invented a constitutional right for wartime foreign enemy combatants to obtain civilian court habeas corpus review of whether they are properly being held as prisoners of war. Worse still, the Court strongly implied that judges conducting habeas corpus review can establish the rules for holding POWs that Articles I and II expressly granted to the elected branches.
Building on this newly assumed power to set the rules for POWs, District Judge Ricardo Urbina held that courts exercising habeas corpus review over foreign POWs can also assume the power of the elected branches to determine which foreign aliens can be admitted into the United States, ordering that 17 Chinese Muslims detained at Gitmo be transported into the United States and released into our population.
In Kiyemba v. Obama, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals today stepped back from the precipice of the constitutional crisis created by the judiciary arrogating the constitutional powers of the elected branches. The appellate court recognized that the Constitution grants the power over immigration solely to the elected branches and reversed Judge Urbina's order releasing terrorists into the United States.
The question is whether the Bomediene Five on the Supreme Court will take the case and further arrogate the constitutional powers of the elected branches to itself.
SCOTUSBLOG provides its usual excellent review of this matter here.
Building on this newly assumed power to set the rules for POWs, District Judge Ricardo Urbina held that courts exercising habeas corpus review over foreign POWs can also assume the power of the elected branches to determine which foreign aliens can be admitted into the United States, ordering that 17 Chinese Muslims detained at Gitmo be transported into the United States and released into our population.
In Kiyemba v. Obama, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals today stepped back from the precipice of the constitutional crisis created by the judiciary arrogating the constitutional powers of the elected branches. The appellate court recognized that the Constitution grants the power over immigration solely to the elected branches and reversed Judge Urbina's order releasing terrorists into the United States.
The question is whether the Bomediene Five on the Supreme Court will take the case and further arrogate the constitutional powers of the elected branches to itself.
SCOTUSBLOG provides its usual excellent review of this matter here.
Haven't They Heard About Hope And Change?
The worldview of the Dem isolationist left is that foreigners in general and Muslims in particular do not like the United States and Americans because we act like cowboys by using the military to do awful things like freeing 50 million Muslims from Taliban and Baathist tyranny. If the US would only fire Bush and elect The One, a child of a Muslim who is willing to apologize for America and listen to their concerns, that everyone would love us again.
As with most fantasies, reality has a pesky way of intruding, as Sec State Hillary discovered during her travels to Muslim Indonesia:
What the naifs on the isolationist left do not realize is that the Islamic fascist movement really does hate our freedoms and democracy and wishes to subjugate the world under Sharia:
As with most fantasies, reality has a pesky way of intruding, as Sec State Hillary discovered during her travels to Muslim Indonesia:
What the naifs on the isolationist left do not realize is that the Islamic fascist movement really does hate our freedoms and democracy and wishes to subjugate the world under Sharia:
Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad, who signed a controversial peace deal with the NWFP government on Monday, said he hated democracy and wanted supremacy of Islam over the entire world.
“From the very beginning, I have viewed democracy as a system imposed on us by the infidels. Islam does not allow democracy or elections,” he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur in an interview held a few days before the government accepted his demand of enforcing sharia in the region. “Had the government accepted our demands in 1994, we would have not seen the violence we are seeing today,” he added. Sufi Muhammad’s son-in-law, Mullah Fazlullah, has fostered the violence in the name of Islam.
Not Just No, But Hell No!
It appears like the GOP is beginning to grow a spine.
The former growth state of California has turned into a typical declining blue state whose government imposed cost of living is driving its citizens to flee to other states. During the fat Bush years, California enormously expanded the size of its government. However, now that the business cycle has turned against the California grasshoppers, rather than tightening its belt, the Dem government wants to impose a $14 billion dollar tax increase on its citizenry.
Like a good RINO, the California Senate GOP minority leader, Dave Cogdill, acquiesced to the Dem tax increase in the name of bipartisan compromise. However, the conservative rank and file rebelled - first by refusing to provide the last needed votes to enact the tax increase and now by replacing RINO Cogdill as minority leader with the conservative Dennis Hollingsworth to lead the rebellion.
This reminds me of how the House GOP in the 90s replaced their RINO leader with Newt Gingrich and took the House for the first time in two generations.
If you want the voters to view you as a principled party, you first need to demonstrate that you have and follow principles.
The former growth state of California has turned into a typical declining blue state whose government imposed cost of living is driving its citizens to flee to other states. During the fat Bush years, California enormously expanded the size of its government. However, now that the business cycle has turned against the California grasshoppers, rather than tightening its belt, the Dem government wants to impose a $14 billion dollar tax increase on its citizenry.
Like a good RINO, the California Senate GOP minority leader, Dave Cogdill, acquiesced to the Dem tax increase in the name of bipartisan compromise. However, the conservative rank and file rebelled - first by refusing to provide the last needed votes to enact the tax increase and now by replacing RINO Cogdill as minority leader with the conservative Dennis Hollingsworth to lead the rebellion.
This reminds me of how the House GOP in the 90s replaced their RINO leader with Newt Gingrich and took the House for the first time in two generations.
If you want the voters to view you as a principled party, you first need to demonstrate that you have and follow principles.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Not Much Hope In This Change
As President Obama is flying out here to Denver, Colorado to sign the greatest borrow and spend bill in human history, investors are fleeing the markets in favor of gold out of fear of inflation:
I sold my last stocks this morning. I had hoped that Obama's economic team would have curbed the Dems' destructive appetites, but I was wrong.
The markets have crashed 2000 points since Obama was elected, with spikes downward whenever he or his team speaks on the economy.
The only hope I have left for my retirement is that the voters give the Dem Congress the heave ho in 2010 and Obama his pink slip in 2012.
This could get really bad.
"People are concerned that all the things the government is doing is not only not going to help a lot but it could actually create more problems in the long run," said Denis Amato, chief investment officer with Ancora Advisors in Cleveland. "I don't think people are convinced that stimulus is the right answer here and they are worried that they are not really laying out the right details about what they are going to do about the banks, which is the ultimate problem."
I sold my last stocks this morning. I had hoped that Obama's economic team would have curbed the Dems' destructive appetites, but I was wrong.
The markets have crashed 2000 points since Obama was elected, with spikes downward whenever he or his team speaks on the economy.
The only hope I have left for my retirement is that the voters give the Dem Congress the heave ho in 2010 and Obama his pink slip in 2012.
This could get really bad.
Monday, February 16, 2009
First Principle: Verify The Data
The first principle in science in general and statistics in particular is to establish the validity of the data with which you will be working. The chart below shows the data sets from surface temperature readings on the left and satellite temperature readings on the center and right:
It only takes a moment to realize that the surface readings are at substantial odds with the two satellite data sets, showing a far steeper temperature rise over time and missing the recent cooling altogether. This discrepancy begs the question of which data sets are accurate.
There have been no challenges to the validity of the satellite data sets of which I am aware. However, the surface data sets have been repeatedly shown to have significant errors caused by the elimination of thousands of Soviet stations, taking readings in urban heat sinks, and using enormous bad data batches.
Until the GISS cleans up the ground temperature readings to eliminate these problems, one would be wise to rely upon the satellite data sets.
UPDATE ONE: One of our posters who is a member of in good standing in the Manmade Global Warming Church of the Apocalypse, the Right Rev Al Gore presiding, referred us to a post at 538.com as proof of manmade global warming. The post offers the two following graphs consisting only of the questionable surface readings:
This chart provides us with the slow warming trend from 1881 to 1971. You will notice that the world had been warming long before man added any substantial CO2 to the atmosphere as we pulled out of the Little Ice Age that ended the century before this chart. Once the automobile and industrialization took hold in the 20th Century, the temperature trend on this chart largely flattens and fluctuates up and down by less than 0.2 degrees Celsius even though CO2 levels rose during the entire period.
The second chart shortens the time period to 1925 through 1973. To start, this chart is based upon data that has since been corrected. The high temperatures shown in the 40s on this graph should be in the 30s.
Once corrected, this chart is an excellent example of the complete non-correlation between manmade CO2 emissions and global temperatures. Most of the high temperatures were during the 1930s when industrial and auto emissions were reduced by the Great Depression while the temperatures were lower during the 1970s after Europe had re-industrialized and we started to see 2-3 car families.
Yet, the 538.com poster actually believes that these charts somehow support the manmade global warming faith. Unreal.
It only takes a moment to realize that the surface readings are at substantial odds with the two satellite data sets, showing a far steeper temperature rise over time and missing the recent cooling altogether. This discrepancy begs the question of which data sets are accurate.
There have been no challenges to the validity of the satellite data sets of which I am aware. However, the surface data sets have been repeatedly shown to have significant errors caused by the elimination of thousands of Soviet stations, taking readings in urban heat sinks, and using enormous bad data batches.
Until the GISS cleans up the ground temperature readings to eliminate these problems, one would be wise to rely upon the satellite data sets.
UPDATE ONE: One of our posters who is a member of in good standing in the Manmade Global Warming Church of the Apocalypse, the Right Rev Al Gore presiding, referred us to a post at 538.com as proof of manmade global warming. The post offers the two following graphs consisting only of the questionable surface readings:
This chart provides us with the slow warming trend from 1881 to 1971. You will notice that the world had been warming long before man added any substantial CO2 to the atmosphere as we pulled out of the Little Ice Age that ended the century before this chart. Once the automobile and industrialization took hold in the 20th Century, the temperature trend on this chart largely flattens and fluctuates up and down by less than 0.2 degrees Celsius even though CO2 levels rose during the entire period.
The second chart shortens the time period to 1925 through 1973. To start, this chart is based upon data that has since been corrected. The high temperatures shown in the 40s on this graph should be in the 30s.
Once corrected, this chart is an excellent example of the complete non-correlation between manmade CO2 emissions and global temperatures. Most of the high temperatures were during the 1930s when industrial and auto emissions were reduced by the Great Depression while the temperatures were lower during the 1970s after Europe had re-industrialized and we started to see 2-3 car families.
Yet, the 538.com poster actually believes that these charts somehow support the manmade global warming faith. Unreal.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Chinese Communists Lecture Dems On Free Markets
Courtesy of Ace of Spades, get the irony of this:
Perhaps, it is no longer the Chinese who are the communists.
UPDATE ONE: And so is the ex KGB Russian strongman Putin:
Bizarro world.
BEIJING —
Measures in a $789 billion U.S. stimulus package that favor American goods are a "poison" that will hurt efforts solve the financial crisis, an editorial by China's official news agency said...
"History and economics have told us, facing a global financial crisis, trade protectionism is not a solution, but a poison to the solution," the editorial said...
Protectionism was a key concern of weekend meetings of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Rome. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner assured G-7 finance ministers on Saturday that the stimulus package would not violate the United States' commitment to free trade.
Xinhua's editorial said protectionist measures taken during the Great Depression of the 1930s caused trade wars, hurting international trade.
Perhaps, it is no longer the Chinese who are the communists.
UPDATE ONE: And so is the ex KGB Russian strongman Putin:
Bizarro world.
When President Jack Cried Wolf...
Last week, President Obama claimed that the recession will turn into "a catastrophe" if the Porkulus bill was not enacted immediately enacted by Congress. "The time for talk is over. The time for action is now," cried Obama.
Indeed, the Dem congressional leadership claimed there was not even enough time for Congress to actually read the bill before voting the less than 24 hours after the 1100 page bill was published.
However, now that Congress has given the President his Trillion dollar government expansion, the White House now tells us all of Mr. Obama's panic mongering is no longer operative and we should give the Porkulus plenty of time to work - maybe years:
President Jack has cried wolf once. Let's see how many times he gets away with crying wolf before voters wake up to the fact that he is a liar.
Update One: Anyone remember these lies on the campaign trail?
Of course, that was then and this is now.
Indeed, the Dem congressional leadership claimed there was not even enough time for Congress to actually read the bill before voting the less than 24 hours after the 1100 page bill was published.
However, now that Congress has given the President his Trillion dollar government expansion, the White House now tells us all of Mr. Obama's panic mongering is no longer operative and we should give the Porkulus plenty of time to work - maybe years:
President Barack Obama's aides warned Americans on Sunday not to expect instant miracles from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill he will sign this week, but said it would help eventually.
Obama is due to sign the bill passed last week by Congress in Denver on Tuesday. It was the first major legislative victory of his young presidency, which could rise or fall with its success or failure.
"There will be signs of activity very quickly," David Axelrod, the White House senior adviser, said on "Fox News Sunday." "But it's going to take time for that to show up in the statistics. The president has said it's likely to get worse before it gets better."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs used similar language on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"I don't think there's any doubt that we've seen this economy has gotten worse just in the last few months. The acceleration in job loss probably means that this economy is going to get worse before it gets better," he said.
President Jack has cried wolf once. Let's see how many times he gets away with crying wolf before voters wake up to the fact that he is a liar.
Update One: Anyone remember these lies on the campaign trail?
Of course, that was then and this is now.
While Manmade CO2 Emissions Soared, Global Temperatures Dropped
AP reports:
In sum, manmade CO2 emissions have nearly quadrupled during the past decade. Thus, under the manmade global warming theory, the atmospheric temperature increase we saw in the 1990s should be rapidly accellerating.
However, what do the actual temperature measurements find?
Here are the global temperature trends from 1998 to 2008 as measured by the two satellite databases without the problems of being located inside urban heat sinks like surface measurements:
Ooops! Rather than increasing, atmospheric temps have been flat or falling since the peak in 1998.
However, does this inconvenient fact give global warming fantacists pause? Not according to the Washington Post:
Not a single mention of the actual temperature trends. None. Rather, this "scientist" simply assumes against all evidence that CO2 = atmospheric warming.
Based on these baseless assumptions, the Dem Porkulus bill has just pissed away about 112 billion dollars on subsidies and tax rebates to encourage the use of far more expensive "green energy" alternatives.
Carbon emissions have been growing at 3.5 percent per year since 2000, up sharply from the 0.9 percent per year in the 1990s, Christopher Field of the Carnegie Institution for Science told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"It is now outside the entire envelope of possibilities" considered in the 2007 report of the International Panel on Climate Change, he said. The IPCC and former vice president Al Gore received the Nobel Prize for drawing attention to the dangers of climate change.
The largest factor in this increase is the widespread adoption of coal as an energy source, Field said, "and without aggressive attention societies will continue to focus on the energy sources that are cheapest, and that means coal."
In sum, manmade CO2 emissions have nearly quadrupled during the past decade. Thus, under the manmade global warming theory, the atmospheric temperature increase we saw in the 1990s should be rapidly accellerating.
However, what do the actual temperature measurements find?
Here are the global temperature trends from 1998 to 2008 as measured by the two satellite databases without the problems of being located inside urban heat sinks like surface measurements:
Ooops! Rather than increasing, atmospheric temps have been flat or falling since the peak in 1998.
However, does this inconvenient fact give global warming fantacists pause? Not according to the Washington Post:
The pace of global warming is likely to be much faster than recent predictions, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems, scientists said Saturday.
"We are basically looking now at a future climate that's beyond anything we've considered seriously in climate model simulations," Christopher Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Field, a member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said emissions from burning fossil fuels since 2000 have largely outpaced the estimates used in the U.N. panel's 2007 reports. The higher emissions are largely the result of the increased burning of coal in developing countries, he said.
Unexpectedly large amounts of carbon dioxide are being released into the atmosphere as the result of "feedback loops" that are speeding up natural processes. Prominent among these, evidence indicates, is a cycle in which higher temperatures are beginning to melt the arctic permafrost, which could release hundreds of billions of tons of carbon and methane into the atmosphere, said several scientists on a panel at the meeting.
The permafrost holds 1 trillion tons of carbon, and as much as 10 percent of that could be released this century, Field said. Melting permafrost also releases methane, which is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
"It's a vicious cycle of feedback where warming causes the release of carbon from permafrost, which causes more warming, which causes more release from permafrost," Field said.
Not a single mention of the actual temperature trends. None. Rather, this "scientist" simply assumes against all evidence that CO2 = atmospheric warming.
Based on these baseless assumptions, the Dem Porkulus bill has just pissed away about 112 billion dollars on subsidies and tax rebates to encourage the use of far more expensive "green energy" alternatives.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Carter Foreign Policy On Valium
Lest anyone get carried away that the Obama regime represents the second coming of the Scoop Jackson hawks because it has not repudiated many of the Bush exercises of executive power, it appears that Obama has:
1) Lifted sanctions against the Syrian and Iranian terror regimes, including a lifting of sanctions against companies that are assisting Iran in their quest for nuclear weapons;
2) Announced it is returning to the Clinton policy of appeasing North Korea for the appearance of abandoning its nuclear weapons program, but not destroying its current nukes. After all, appeasement worked so well stopping North Korea from building nukes the first time around;
3) Abandoning missile defense in Europe after Russia paid off Azerbaijan to shut down our primary supply route into Afghanistan.
Change predicated on hope?
1) Lifted sanctions against the Syrian and Iranian terror regimes, including a lifting of sanctions against companies that are assisting Iran in their quest for nuclear weapons;
2) Announced it is returning to the Clinton policy of appeasing North Korea for the appearance of abandoning its nuclear weapons program, but not destroying its current nukes. After all, appeasement worked so well stopping North Korea from building nukes the first time around;
3) Abandoning missile defense in Europe after Russia paid off Azerbaijan to shut down our primary supply route into Afghanistan.
Change predicated on hope?
The House GOP Held
Despite spin from the Dem media of GOP defections, the entire House GOP again voted against the Porkulus Bill, joined by the same 7 Dems and one additional Dem who voted present, undoubtably a commentary on Obama's lack of involvement in shaping the bill.
You Dems own this - lock, stock and $2 Trillion dollar deficit.
UPDATE ONE: Interesting background from the Washington Post on the vote:
UPDATE ONE: Rep. Aaron Schock's Speech on the House floor:
You Dems own this - lock, stock and $2 Trillion dollar deficit.
UPDATE ONE: Interesting background from the Washington Post on the vote:
House Republicans were unanimous in their opposition when the first version of the bill came through the chamber, despite a full-court lobbying campaign by Obama and top administration officials. And just as Obama's considerable lobbying effort did not work in turning any Republicans around on the first vote, his efforts at persuasion fell short again today, even after the bill was trimmed slightly to attract a handful of Republican votes in the Senate...
One Republican who was definitely not persuaded was Rep. Aaron Schock, the freshman Illinois lawmaker whose profile has grown exponentially over the last week because of the stimulus debate. Schock's Peoria-based district includes the headquarters of Caterpillar Inc., the site of a much-publicized visit from Obama yesterday. During the event, Obama singled out Schock for attention.
"Aaron's still trying to make up his mind about our recovery package," Obama said, after asking Schock to stand up. "He has a chance to be in the mold of Bob Michel and Ray LaHood. And so we're, we know that all of you are going to talk to him after our event, because he's a very talented young man. I've got great confidence in him to do the right thing for the people of Peoria."
That may seem like a lot of pressure for a 27-year-old freshman -- Schock is the youngest member of the House -- but it wasn't enough to swing his vote. On the House floor today, Schock said that not a single Caterpillar employee had come up to him at the event and asked him to support the stimulus bill, but more than 1,000 had called or written asking him to oppose it. And in the end, he decided that the bill smelled worse the longer he studied it.
"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself," Schock said, quoting a previous occupant of his House seat -- Abraham Lincoln.
As for the Democrats, seven voted against the measure -- Reps. Bobby Bright (Ala.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Parker Griffith (Ala.), Walt Minnick (Idaho), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Heath Shuler (N.C.) and Gene Taylor (Miss.). All except DeFazio voted against the bill the first time, on Jan. 28, when a total of 11 Democrats voted no. Most of the seven are Blue Dogs and believe the bill was too big and too fiscally irresponsible to support, given the size of the current national deficit and debt.
A slightly larger sign of Democratic unrest came earlier this morning on the vote for the rule governing debate on the stimulus package. Rule votes are nearly always party-line affairs and are considered important loyalty tests by the leaders of both parties, regardless of how members might vote on the underlying bill. But 21 Democrats voted against the rule for the stimulus bill, more than double the number that defected on the rule when the measure first passed back in January, and far more than would usually defy their party leadership on such a tally.
UPDATE ONE: Rep. Aaron Schock's Speech on the House floor:
Who Do You Trust More To Determine Your Economic Future - Yourself Or Obama?
In a rather clever poll, Rasmussen found:
This pretty much sums up our ideological divide. Conservatives think they are smart enough to run their own lives like adults and liberals consider themselves intellectual children requiring guidance from the state. What is shocking are the number of children we have in this country masquerading as adults who exercise the franchise.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of U.S. voters trust their own judgment more than President Obama’s when it comes to the economic issues affecting the nation.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) trust the president more in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure whose judgment is better...
Indicative of the partisan split is the fact that 71% of Republican voters say they trust themselves more than the president when it comes to dealing with the economy, while 59% of Democrats have more confidence in Obama. Among voters not affiliated with either party, 55% trust themselves more, and 33% have more faith in the president.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of liberals trust Obama more versus 70% of conservatives who feel the opposite way. Moderates are evenly divided.
This pretty much sums up our ideological divide. Conservatives think they are smart enough to run their own lives like adults and liberals consider themselves intellectual children requiring guidance from the state. What is shocking are the number of children we have in this country masquerading as adults who exercise the franchise.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
A Midwinter Night's Dream
The Dem Politboro is scheduled to publish the spending bill to stimulate the Proletariat sometime late tonight, start "debate" on the bill no one has been allowed to read at 9:00 am tomorrow morning and vote on it in the afternoon.
The Dem Politboro has made it known to the Dem Supreme Soviet that they are to vote yes on the bill they were not permitted to read and trust that the Party leadership has the best interests of the Proletariat at heart.
The Dem Bolsheviks have notified the GOP Mencheviks that their participation in the Supreme Soviet is not required.
Indeed, one has to wonder how much longer Mencheviks will be tolerated at all. Former Premier Clinton has joined Komrades Stabenow and Eshoo from the Supreme Soviet in calling for the liquidation of Menchevik talk radio to achieve fairness by silencing Trotskyites Limbaugh and Hannity.
The only Menchavik on the Politboro, Komrade Gregg, was purged today for declining to be a team player and supporting Premier Obama's agenda of stimulus hope and census change.
UPDATE ONE: When I woke up this morning, I discovered I was not dreaming at all...
The Democrat Party Shows It Has No Use For Democracy
The reason I use the term Democrat Party rather than Democratic Party is because this organization wants nothing to do with the public scrutiny and debate of genuine democracy.
The "stimulus bill" was completely reworked by a small group of Dem leadership without consulting their caucus or the GOP and has now doubled in size to 1434 pages.
The Dem leadership just released this monstrosity an hour ago and expects their troops to simply vote for it this afternoon without reading or debating it.
If you think you can read the entire 1434 page bill and call your Representative with your take before the vote, you can find the current iteration of the bill here.
However, the Dem leadership is reportedly still adding more to the bill so what you are reading will very likely change.
I will not hold my breath for the avalanche of criticism from you Dems who criticized as un-democratic Bush legislation that was dissected, debated and amended for months before being enacted.
UPDATE ONE: The final version of the Porkulus Bill will not be published until late tonight so no one can read it. Debate on the bill no one except the Dem leadership has read will begin tomorrow at 9:00 am. A vote on the bill no one has read is scheduled for the afternoon.
Is this the United States or the old USSR?
The "stimulus bill" was completely reworked by a small group of Dem leadership without consulting their caucus or the GOP and has now doubled in size to 1434 pages.
The Dem leadership just released this monstrosity an hour ago and expects their troops to simply vote for it this afternoon without reading or debating it.
If you think you can read the entire 1434 page bill and call your Representative with your take before the vote, you can find the current iteration of the bill here.
However, the Dem leadership is reportedly still adding more to the bill so what you are reading will very likely change.
I will not hold my breath for the avalanche of criticism from you Dems who criticized as un-democratic Bush legislation that was dissected, debated and amended for months before being enacted.
UPDATE ONE: The final version of the Porkulus Bill will not be published until late tonight so no one can read it. Debate on the bill no one except the Dem leadership has read will begin tomorrow at 9:00 am. A vote on the bill no one has read is scheduled for the afternoon.
Is this the United States or the old USSR?
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Do You Feel Stimulated?
In order to make room for billions more in more pork, the Dems meeting in conference without those pesky Republicans have agreed to scrap Obama's promised tax rebate checks of $500 per worker and $1000 per working couple for a $13 reduction in your weekly withholding taxes in 2009 dropping to $8 per weekly in 2010.
Hot damn! Now I can afford two Mickey D's value meals a week in 2009 and one more a week in 2010. THAT should really goose the economy!
In exchange for that incredibly generous gift from our new government, each of our households gains another six grand in debt to pay for the Porkulus Bill plus interest. Such a deal!
If my credit card company put a $6000 balance on my account for charging a couple dozen happy meals over the next two years years, the company would be facing criminal charges. However, when our new Dem government runs up our national credit card, its called hope and change.
Heaven knows, I am hoping for some change in 2010!
Hot damn! Now I can afford two Mickey D's value meals a week in 2009 and one more a week in 2010. THAT should really goose the economy!
In exchange for that incredibly generous gift from our new government, each of our households gains another six grand in debt to pay for the Porkulus Bill plus interest. Such a deal!
If my credit card company put a $6000 balance on my account for charging a couple dozen happy meals over the next two years years, the company would be facing criminal charges. However, when our new Dem government runs up our national credit card, its called hope and change.
Heaven knows, I am hoping for some change in 2010!
Reckoning
The 47-41% Dem lead in the Rasmussen generic congressional ballot preference poll on election eve has collapsed to a 40-39% statistical tie no as the Porkulus Bill is being exposed.
If the voters only knew then what they know now.
If the voters only knew then what they know now.
Porkulus Bill Spends $300+ Million On Green Golf Carts
The NY Post reports:
Hillary smiles and gleefully waves goodbye to your money while riding green golf cart:
Your tax money at work.
The $838 billion economic stimulus bill that passed the Senate yesterday contains $300 million for the government to purchase a fleet of "green" cars.
But the money won't just go to buy fuel-efficient hybrids such as the Ford Escape or Chevy Volt.
The cash also can be used to purchase "neighborhood electric vehicles."
The NEVs, which resemble streamlined golf carts, scoot at up to 25 mph, operate on battery power and can be plugged into 110-volt outlets for charging.
They are sometimes used at hospitals, college campuses and retirement communities, and can cost around $8,000 each. They don't produce carbon emissions.
The House-passed version of the stimulus provides even more money for federal car purchases - $600 million. The pot of money also specifically includes the NEVs...
The provision gives a 10 percent tax credit off the price of specified "low-speed" vehicles costing up to $40,000, for a total cost of $3 million...
"Americans who aren't lucky enough to get a piece of the stimulus pie will at least be able to rest comfortably at night knowing that the guy who just fired them is gonna get a tax break on his new golf cart," fumed one Senate GOP aide.
Hillary smiles and gleefully waves goodbye to your money while riding green golf cart:
Your tax money at work.
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