Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts

Friday, January 21, 2011

'Is GE betraying its customers and its country?'

General Electric is one of America's most storied companies. Founded in 1892, the global conglomerate has over 300,000 employees and business units that are involved in every aspect of industry, from finance to light bulbs.

In the process, however, GE has become emblematic of crony capitalism with its deep and intricate ties to the Democrat Party and the Obama administration in particular.

At Daily Finance, Peter Cohan describes how GE's recently announced aviation deal in China endangers America's economic and national security interests.

How GE Is Arming China to Compete With Boeing -- and America

General Electric (GE) plans to sell its aircraft electronics to Chinese companies, and if you don't have a problem with that, maybe you should. After all, China just flight-tested a prototype stealth fighter, it continues to build up its military -- and we can only hope it's not planning to expand its territory in ways that threaten the U.S.

But if China does decide to get aggressive with the U.S., GE will have provided it with the aircraft technology it will be using.

According to The New York Times, GE is signing a deal to sell avionics technology -- electronics that control an aircraft's basic in-flight operations -- to Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (CACC), which aspires to build commercial and military aircraft. GE will do this through a joint venture with a Chinese company, Aviation Industry Corp. of China (Avic). Avic makes avionics for CACC and for China's military -- including its stealth fighter.

Cohan, a Babson College professor, believes "GE [is] betraying its customers and its country" because China represents a $400 billion market for its aircraft products by 2030.

Cohan believes that Crony Capitalists like GE's senior management are "making the decisions that will determine America's fate."

This is a discomfiting thought indeed -- and General Electric's shareholders need to make their voices heard before this deal is a fait accompli.

Infomercials for Socialized Medicine


This isn't the first time that GE has appeared to have a dramatic conflict with the best interests of the American people. Consider its actions related to socialized medicine -- better known as Obamacare -- and its advocacy efforts of same.

Remember that GE Capital -- another unit of General Electric -- received approximately $140 billion in taxpayer funds in 2008 as part of the initial financial bailout.

Which makes it curious that the Obama administration earmarked another six billion in GE funds (or are they taxpayer funds?) to a new GE firm called Healthymagination.


Healthymagination's advisers include Tom Daschle, Barack Obama's initial nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services.

At a recent conference, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt claimed that America's economic crisis was not simply an economic crisis. It was instead a "reset", where companies that intersect with government will "prosper... and people who don't understand that will get left behind."

Immelt, a member of Mr. Obama's economic recovery advisory board, went on to say that, "The intersection of government and business will be changed, maybe for a generation."

The business case behind Healthymagination hinged on nationalization of the health care industry. Computerization of health care records is not only a vaunted component of the Obama stimulus package, it is also a $75 to $100 billion business over the next ten years.

Coincidentally, Healthymagination just happens to be building a health care record management system.

Oh, and did I mention NBC? It was involved, too. In 2009 Health Imaging reported that the GE-owned media conglomerate -- something out of the movie Rollerball -- would also do its part.

• NBC Universal and NBC News would air more than 5,000 televised reports annually on health and wellness.

• MSNBC would launch a new, daily program dedicated solely to health information... in addition to medical issues it would also examine health policy.

The plan was simple: the media would broadcast pro-Obamacare propaganda; government would enact policy "by popular demand"; and the chosen corporation would profit at taxpayer expense.

As Andrew Wilkow observed, "Healthymagination states its target dates for the completion of its various initiatives as 2015, well into a second Obama term. This means GE will have a deep financial interest in Mr. Obama's re-election; a fact that will no doubt be reflected in its media divisions. It will certainly be interesting to see if the left-wing watchdogs howl, or if they will conclude this is an acceptable level of collusion between the White House and a multinational conglomerate."

The sale of NBC to Comcast may have thwarted those plans, but the plans themselves were downright disturbing.

It's up to shareholders to call GE CEO Jeff Immelt on the carpet


What GE appears to be engaging in is not capitalism: it is an unholy alliance of governmental and corporate interests that thwarts the national security and economic interests of the American people to benefit a chosen few senior executives and politicians.

GE's shareholders must rebel against these un-American -- and, frankly, anti-American -- activities. GE is a national institution -- but its recent activities smack of pure, unmitigated evil.


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons: Demanding That Insurers 'Cover Pre-Existing Conditions' Is Just More Demented Nonsense

The Democrat Party and its public relations arm -- legacy media -- are out pitching a new meme in their efforts to save Obamacare. This week's ploy: "an Obama administration study ... that says as many as half of all Americans under 65 have a pre-existing condition that could threaten their access to health insurance."

Starting in 2014, Obamacare would prohibit insurers both from denying coverage and hiking premiums for those with "pre-existing conditions."

In reality, nine of ten people who apply for health care coverage in the individual market are accepted--and programs like Medicaid and SCHIP cover the vast majority of the rest.

Dr. Jane Orient is an executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. She has described why "insuring a pre-existing condition" is both nonsensical and impossible.

The disagreeable truth—a relentless law of economics—is that you can’t insure a pre-existing. If you wreck your car, State Farm pays only if you had the insurance policy before the accident. If you don’t have insurance, your options are to take the bus, walk, ride a bicycle, get help from friends or family, or come up with money to buy a new car from some source other than a car insurance company.

People would very much like the “right” to buy insurance that would cover their pre-existings, without restrictions or waiting periods. But the same folks don’t much like the idea of paying for other people’s pre-existings—or even for their sicknesses. So the healthy ones often switch into a new policy that gives them an enticing low rate if they pass the underwriting. Then those who can’t switch see their premiums go up rapidly. This is called the “death spiral.” Is it the wicked insurance companies’ fault? Or human nature?

You might naturally feel sympathy toward a person who finds out that he has a costly and fatal condition like AIDS. But what if he doesn’t tell the life insurance company about the pre-existing as he buys a million-dollar policy for the benefit of his partner? Is it wicked of the insurer to rescind the policy because of fraud? Or should the government force the company to pay—until it goes bankrupt, and leaves all of its subscribers without coverage?

...As soon as the government forces people to pay a premium for other people’s pre-existings, they are likely to object to what they—quite reasonably—see as a rip-off. Hence the need for more force: the individual mandate.

Some people don’t see the connection, and think we can keep that popular provision on pre-existings, and delete the rest. We can’t.

...Forcing insurers to cover pre-existings without allowing enormous premium increases will bankrupt them. Perhaps driving private insurers out of business is the real agenda. However, imposing a “solution” that multiplies costs bankrupts everybody.

Those who are counting on that single payer hovering in the background need to remember that the government is already bankrupt—a very dangerous pre-existing condition.

The most popular provision of ObamaCare may also be the worst. The whole Act needs to be repealed.

It's pretty clear that Democrats never had any intent of allowing private health insurers to survive.

Obamacare has nothing at all to do with health care. It's about control. Punishing enemies and rewarding friends. It's about a Soviet-style form of government that has as its core the destruction of the Constitution and of your rights.


Monday, January 17, 2011

Scoop: I reveal the 'secret financiers' behind the Tea Party before the shocking exposé by RawStory and John Podesta!

The troubled crackpots at RawStory appear to have quite the journalistic coup. They claim that the progressive media will, at the end of the month, reveal the "secretive billionaire family that finances the so-called Tea party movement."

Gee, and all this time I thought the Tea Party was a grass-roots movement inspired -- in part -- by an on-air diatribe by CNBC's Rick Santelli.

Actually I'm going to scoop the leftists -- who seem to have forgotten about George Soros, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, various former and current Goldman Sachs partners and a myriad other mega-rich Democrat Party backers -- and reveal the real financiers of the Tea Party.

It's all of these guys:

If you needed further proof that the Left is delusional -- and I'm certain you don't -- RawStory's 'scoop' should seal the deal.


Related: Jennifer Rubin exposes the race card lies of ThinkProgress, "owned by the Center for American Progress (run by John Podesta)". But I'm sure that's just another grass-roots organization of patriotic Americans.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin and The Tatler. Thanks!

Good News: Evil Health Insurers Will Be Penalized by All-Powerful Federal Bureaucracy for, And I Quote, 'Unreasonable Rate Increases'

Any resemblance to Venezuela is strictly intentional.

The long-awaited proposed HHS regulations for dealing with "unreasonable rate increases" were released Dec. 21, and health insurers will soon face greater scrutiny than they have ever faced before. Starting July 1, any planned rate hike of 10% or more in the individual or small-group market must undergo extensive review...

...insurers would have to publicly disclose not only the increases and the rationale for them, but lots of other information, including the salaries of their executives...

...HHS would have subjective criteria it could use to determine that a state’s review processes are not effective, and that means HHS would take over the review itself. In addition, states (and perhaps HHS) could bar carriers deemed to be unreasonably raising premiums from participating in the new insurance exchanges...

...Overall, HHS’s new filing requirements are so extensive for planned hikes of 10% or more, and the potential for adverse publicity is so enormous, that some insurers may choose to back off even from hikes that are needed and warranted...

Not only will the Department of Health and Human Services hold the power of life and death over you -- the individual -- but it will also determine which private insurance companies live and die.

The Department of HHS has the power to reward and punish; to enrich its political allies and bankrupt its enemies; to deny health care services or permit them; to play God.

And that is why Democrats jammed through a monstrous bill that purports to be "health care reform". No one read the bill. No one knows exactly what it will do. But they knew enough, namely that it will grant unlimited, God-like power to a select few political hacks.

Like Venezuela. Or the old Soviet Union. That's the 'change' the drones voted for in 2008.


Sunday, January 16, 2011

Work for Illinois 5 Years, Pay in Zero, Get $130,000 Pension

The current posse of statist Democrats must have missed math class -- for 80 years in a row.

Work for the State 5 Years, Pay in Zero, Get $130,000 Pension...

Work for Yourself 45 Years, Pay In $260,000 Get $28,000 Social Security


Anybody see a problem here?

This is what happens when you live in a state with no accountability, no transparency and massive political malfeasance. You and I are in effect tax slaves whose purpose in life is to work and pay exorbitant taxes so the elitist politically connected public employees can live in luxury when they retire - on our dime of course.

The person from the first line of the title is Dr. Renee Hartz, a thoracic surgeon hired by the University of Illinois to teach surgery. I am only guessing about what she actually did because records of her activity are very limited. In a Freedom of Information Act request I asked for her contract or offer letter outlining her job responsibilities plus pay and benefits included in her job offer. Despite pay totaling $567,479.10 per annum from 1991 to 1995 there were no records related to her hiring.

Of course, this delightful stewardship of the taxpayers' hard-earned dollars probably has nothing to do with this:

Meredith Whitney: 50 to 100 counties and cities could default in 2011
Financial analyst Meredith Whitney recently warned that a muni bond crisis "is the largest threat to the U.S. economy." She is noted for predicting the 2008 Wall Street meltdown months in advance.

...state and local tax revenues remain well below pre-recession levels, with some cities and counties flirting with bankruptcy. Emergency federal aid to the states runs out this spring. Public employee retiree costs are a fast-growing problem. And the federally subsidized Build America Bonds program expired Dec. 31, making munis a less attractive investment...

I will make one prediction: if 'Helicopter' Ben Bernanke tries to monetize municipal debt, all hell is going to break loose.


Saturday, January 15, 2011

Liberals: Democrat Party will split if Obama tries to prevent the collapse of the entitlement Ponzi schemes

The Soros-controlled, far left wing of the Democrat Party is warning President Obama against trying to save Social Security.

The battle lines are forming within the Democratic Party over the charged question of reforming Social Security in the days leading up to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

Liberals, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and labor unions, such as the AFL-CIO, AFSCME and SEIU, have taken a firm stand against cutting Social Security benefits... They are still reeling over the deal Obama struck with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in December to extend almost all of the Bush tax cuts and chop the Social Security payroll tax for one year by 2 percentage points.

Back in the little land we like to call Reality, a Mish reader created several sobering graphs that represent the impending collapse of the Social Democrat schemes that would make Bernard Madoff blush.

Here is a chart I created using budget projections from the CBO. The main point is from now until 2020, we could eliminate 100% of all federal non-defense discretionary expenditures and still run a deficit.

US Federal Revenues and Expenditures 2000-2020

I went back to the data after getting into one too many arguments with people who claim that we can solve our budgetary problems by eliminating government "waste" - the programs that study the sex lives of jellyfish and that sort of thing - without real cuts in entitlement programs.

Entitlement Spending Growth

Unless the Budget Fairy waves her magic wand, it's not going to happen.

The Democrats' Utopian schemes are imploding as we speak -- in California, Illinois and New York. And, soon, coming to a Social Security and Medicare recipient near you.

All over the world, the Fabian Socialist welfare states are collapsing.

And despite all this, despite history, facts, logic and reason all aligned against their agenda, the Obama Democrats press on, hastening the collapse of an economic system they view as 'unfair'.

Bernie Sanders has nothing to worry about.


Best Idea Ever: Debt Ceiling Cap-and-Trade

Bumped & Updated!

America is about to hit its $14 trillion debt ceiling at which point the country's credit card is maxed out. Republicans need to do two things: they must brand their efforts to cut government spending and they must also force radical cuts upon an out-of-control federal government. We have no choice if we are to save this country -- and rest assured Democrats aren't going to play nice.

So we'll negotiate a compromise of sorts, which I believe is my awesomest idea ever. I call it Debt Ceiling Cap-and-Trade. We'll negotiate a deal wherein Republicans will agree to raise the ceiling as long as a set of future cuts are signed into law.

The Branding Is Simple: No More Blank Checks


The branding is as simple as it gets. For too long, the taxpayers have been robbed blind by politicians willing to borrow from generations yet unborn to fund their various entitlement schemes, pork and pet projects.

Those days are over.

Whenever a Democrat tries to tar a Republican as cruel or heartless, the response is concise and honest: No more blank checks.

Let the Democrats Pick the Spending Cuts


I call this part of the plan 'Debt Ceiling Cap-and-Trade'. We conservatives are nothing if not tolerant, so we'll let the Democrats pick their spending cuts. But they must choose from our list.

And since Democrats love Cap-and-Trade, we'll let them determine which of their delightful programs get slashed and which survive. Here are their choices:

Since Nancy Pelosi's House of Representatives added more than $5 trillion in new deficits, we'll use that figure as our minimum (we'll call it the 'cap', just for fun). Each trillion will be represented by a "point".

Democrats are free to pick any combination of programs that total up to 5 points. They get to choose. If they want the debt ceiling raised, they have to get to 5.

And the country benefits all around.

Seriously -- this is my bestest idea ever. Pass it on to your friends and family members. If we don't lay down the law now, when will we?

And the branding is simple enough even for a RINO to understand. No more blank checks!


Business as Usual: the Administration's Economic Sabotage of the Private Sector Continues Apace

So much for 'civility'.

Data-point #1: Fearing that the outcome of secret-ballot elections in the workplace would overwhelmingly reject unionization, the National Labor Relations Board has issued a threat to sue four states. Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah all have state constitutional amendments that force unions to use secret-ballot elections to reduce the possibility of voter intimidation by -- who'da thunk it? -- union thugs. And the NLRB objects to the use of the secret-ballot.

Of course, only 86.2% of South Carolina voters approved the secret-ballot amendment last November, which means it's perfectly reasonable that the Obama administration's hand-picked union hacks should be able to overrule the people.

Data-point #2: In an effort to commit energycide (a self-inflicted strangulation of the economy by restricting access to energy), the Environmental Protection Agency just shut down the largest mountaintop mining project in the history of West Virginia. Logan County's 2,300-acre Spruce No. 1 mine had its permit revoked by the federal agency.

The administration's unelected, unaccountable and largely unknown anti-energy 'masterminds' have effectively crushed a large swath of the state's economy in one fell swoop.

Data-point #3: The most powerful agency in the history of the United States government -- by dint of its control over one-sixth of the economy and its power of life and death over every American -- has begun to issue its hundreds of thousands of pages of rules and regulations. The Department of Health and Human Services is in the process of defining how every health insurer will operate down to the tiniest level of detail.

The long-awaited proposed HHS regulations for dealing with “unreasonable rate increases” were released Dec. 21, and health insurers will soon face greater scrutiny than they have ever faced before. Starting July 1, any planned rate hike of 10% or more in the individual or small-group market must undergo extensive review, either by the state involved or by HHS itself. And insurers would have to publicly disclose not only the increases and the rationale for them, but lots of other information, including the salaries of their executives...

...In what could be one of the most far-reaching effects the health reform law will have on insurers, HHS in late December unveiled proposed regulations for dealing with “unreasonable rate increases.” On first glance, it may appear that HHS is deferring to the states. But a deeper look reveals HHS would have subjective criteria it could use to determine that a state’s review processes are not effective, and that means HHS would take over the review itself... HHS’s new filing requirements are so extensive for planned hikes of 10% or more, and the potential for adverse publicity is so enormous, that some insurers may choose to back off even from hikes that are needed and warranted.

We used to call these kinds of things "Soviet-style price controls."

Price controls led to the seventies oil shock, the collapse of the Soviet Union, food shortages in Venezuela, and hyperinflation in Argentina, to name but a few.

And these controls are certain -- certain! -- to lead to the death of health insurers and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. That much we can predict without a shadow of a doubt.

For that is the intent of the Obama administration: a complete collapse of the free-market economy and a resulting takeover of every industrial sector by an all-powerful central government, which Democrats will control.

And if you doubt me, please answer the following question: where is an iota of evidence that President Obama is concerned with jobs?


Friday, January 14, 2011

'Listen, we f***ed up. We lost the economy.'

Gee, this seems surprising:

Home foreclosures in 2010 top 1 million for first time


Banks seized more than a million U.S. homes in one year for the first time last year, despite a slowdown in the last few months as questions around foreclosure processing arose...

First time jobless claims rise in week


The U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday first-time claims for jobless benefits rose by 35,000 last week, pushing back above 400,000 claims...

S&P, Moody's Warn On U.S. Credit Rating


With attention focused on sovereign-debt worries in Europe, two major credit-rating firms reminded investors again that the U.S. has debt problems of its own...

..."The warning on the U.S. rating is well-founded," said Brian Yelvington, chief fixed-income strategist at Knight Capital. "However, it will probably fall on deaf ears until the peripheral Europe story plays out."

Moody's Investors Service said in a report on Thursday that the U.S. will need to reverse the expansion of its debt if it hopes to keep its "Aaa" rating.

Illinois hikes taxes 67% and the fastest lie in history


Tax insanity in Illinois is now official. Governor Pat Quinn signed off on a 67% hike in personal income taxes and a 46% hike in corporate taxes the moment the bill hit his desk... ...The Daily Herald notes that On the campaign trail, Gov. Pat Quinn told voters he'd veto any income tax hike that would raise Illinois' rate over 4 percent.

I believe this is one of the fastest proven lies political history.

Aren't Democrat-controlled social Utopias kewl?


The Economist: Dudes, don't believe the scare tactics--the U.S. won't default if the debt ceiling isn't raised

At Reuters, Felix Salmon observes that The Economist has weighed in on the political football called 'raising the debt ceiling' with a decidedly unique view.

The US won’t default, even if the debt ceiling stays


Greg Ip makes a very important point today, which I haven’t seen made anywhere else*: even if the US debt ceiling isn’t lifted, that doesn’t mean the government will default.

In any given month, the government’s income dwarfs its debt-service obligations, which means that the government could simply pay all interest on Treasury bonds out of its cashflow. Greg hasn’t run the numbers on principal maturities, but I’m pretty sure that they too could be covered out of cash receipts—and when that happened, of course, the total debt outstanding would go down, and we wouldn’t be bumping up against the ceiling any more.

The point here is that the government has enormous expenditures every month, and debt service constitutes an important yet small part of them. If the debt ceiling weren’t raised, it stands to reason that just about any other form of government spending would get cut before Tim Geithner dreamed of defaulting on risk-free bonds.

Some of those spending cuts could be implemented almost invisibly. For instance, Social Security runs a surplus for the time being; it invests that money in special non-marketable Treasury securities, which count as Treasury debt. If the Social Security trust fund accepted instead just some kind of promise of a top-up at a later date, that could save billions of dollars right there...

...But maybe the smartest thing for Geithner to do would simply be to stop paying the salaries of members of Congress and their staffs...

In other words, at least in the opinion of Ip and other experts, the U.S. has virtually no chance of defaulting on its obligations.

Which makes the incessant shrieks of the Democrats and legacy media ring all the more hollow.

And, as it turns out, only about 71% of the American people oppose raising the Pelosi debt ceiling.


Related: Let's Play 'Debt Ceiling Cap-and-Trade'!. Hat tip: C.B.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Let Me Welcome Everybody to the Wild, Wild West--a State That's Untouchable Like Elliot Ness

"Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west... A state that's untouchable like Elliot Ness...
The track hits ya eardrum like a slug to ya chest... Pack a vest for your Jimmy in the city of sex...
We in that sunshine state with a bomb ass hemp beat... the state where ya never find a dance floor empty"
-- California Love


California's budget deficit is $25 billion and the preliminary budget for the coming year doesn't even come close to addressing the gap.

The preliminary budget looks to cut $12.5 billion in spending and seeks to maintain current revenues with a likely ballot measure that will hit in June...

...over 41 percent of state revenues come from the personal income tax. Now logically you can figure out on your own that with less people working and many working in lower paying jobs that this line item will shrink (and it has)...

...[The] projections [at right] have always been much too optimistic and that is why California has always faced reoccurring budget shortfalls. Each year serves as a baseline and rarely allows for any variance in terms of facing a contraction. Now if the state is hauling in money then problems can be plastered over and the tech and real estate bubbles provided this cover for many years. That cover is no longer available.

So you have to wonder where this money is going to come from. You can cut but is there any appetite for additional taxes? We will find out in June when it is put to a vote...

...I’m amazed how little coverage has been given to the California employment market. California is in the midst of the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression but rarely do you see anyone talking about this. This isn’t some kind of monthly aberration but the unemployment rate has shot off the charts since 2007.

Right now, Illinois is in the midst of raising the personal income tax 66% -- from 3% to 5%. Consider a working couple that makes $100,000 a year combined. The state hike represents $167 a month taken right out of their pockets.

But the top income tax rate in California is already nearly three times that of Illinois; and still lawmakers can't come close to making ends meet.

The Democrat welfare state is failing in both states with public sector workers retiring at age 55, picking up generous pensions with lifetime salaries and full health care coverage. And these proposed hikes don't come close to addressing the pension liabilities that will crush states like Michael Moore sitting on a souffle.

In the midst of this madness, state bureaucrats are still foaming at the mouth advocating suicidal policies that will further decimate the civil society.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau has come out swinging over the shooting spree that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people, linking it to Arizona’s “discrimination against undocumented persons” and a “climate in which demonization of others goes unchallenged and hateful speech is tolerated.”

In a campus-wide e-mail message, Birgeneau said: “It is not a coincidence that this calamity has occurred in a state which has legislated discrimination against undocumented persons.”

He added that “this same mean-spirited xenophobia played a major role in the defeat of the Dream Act by our legislators in Washington, leaving many exceptionally talented and deserving young people, including our undocumented students, painfully in limbo.”

In other words, despite billions of dollars spent each year by citizens to support the state's three million or more illegal immigrants -- who tax the medical, welfare and prison systems to the breaking point -- Dr. Schmuck believes that more open borders are the answer.

And rather than act as voices of reason, legacy media outlets like The Los Angeles Times are doing their level best to market the illusion that still more tax increases are a necessary evil. Mike Shedlock disagrees.

I just took the interactive LA Times California Budget Balancer exercise...I vehemently protest.

This was a blatant effort to force people into accepting a need to raise taxes. To balance the budget I made every possible program cut offered. It was not enough. To balance the budget I had to raise sin taxes and gas taxes.

Shedlock asks the very same fundamental questions that all overtaxed Californians must be wondering:

• Where was a proposal to privatize the prison system using non-union labor?
• Where was the proposal to eliminate prevailing wage laws?
• Where was the proposal to eliminate defined benefit plans for all government workers?
• Where was the proposal to virtually privatize every conceivable government job to the private sector?
• What about programs that could be eliminated entirely?

Where indeed? The problem is that Governor Jerry Brown is still 'Moonbeam', the failed Governor of days past, who can't or won't wage a serious war with the unions. Chris Christie he ain't.

His predictable failure sets the stage for very serious pain in the future.

Unless Brown finds a unicorn to defecate nuggets of solid gold, California is certain to experience massive upheaval, up to and including civil unrest. I hate to say it, but I believe it to be true.

Because the liberal-dominated politicians and bureaucrats take the status quo for granted -- even though the status quo is about to collapse.


Sunday, January 09, 2011

15% of America's oil supply just shut down thanks to major pipeline leak while Obama's pointless drilling moratorium continues

Thanks to the policies of the no-drill Democrats, we will likely see gas prices hit new 52-week highs within the next few weeks.

Operators of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, shut Jan. 8 while a leak is repaired, can’t say when the pipeline that carries 15 percent of U.S. crude oil output will be flowing again.

The shutdown has forced oil companies including BP Plc to suspend 95 percent of production from the North Slope area. The system, an 800-mile network crossing the northernmost U.S. state, was closed at about 8:50 a.m. Alaska time Jan. 8, operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. said in a statement... Oil futures in New York jumped as much as 2.2 percent to $89.98 a barrel, advancing for the first time in three days.

Meanwhile, the president's pointless oil drilling moratorium continues, endangering tens of thousands of jobs, billions in revenue for energy firms and America's national security. Some Texas oil men are considering leaving the U.S. and investing in Israel instead.

I wonder if President Obama's $13-a-week "tax cuts" for the middle class will compensate for $4-per-gallon gas?


Friday, January 07, 2011

Curious, yet entertaining: President Obama claims credit for disastrous unemployment report

The official unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was released earlier today. True to form, President Obama immediately grabbed TOTUS, found some cameras, positioned himself in front of them, and started claiming credit.

President Obama today called the job numbers released this morning “positive news”... The numbers showed a drop in the nation’s unemployment rate to 9.4 percent in December.

“Overall, the decline in the unemployment rate is positive news, but it only underscores the importance of us not letting up on our efforts... We know these numbers can bounce around from month to month, but the trend is clear,” Obama added, noting that this marks 12 straight months of private-sector job growth for the first time since 2006. “The economy added 1.3 million jobs last year, and each quarter was stronger than the previous quarter, which means that the pace of hiring is beginning to pick up.”

The president said they are seeing “optimistic” economic forecasts for the year ahead, in part due to the tax cuts package he signed into law last month, including a payroll tax cut for workers and tax breaks to encourage investment, innovation and hiring in businesses.

Back in the little land we like to call "Reality", the situation is dire.

The reported unemployment rate fell a substantial .4% to 9.4%. However, much of that that gain is a statistical mirage. The BLS reports a whopping 260,000 people dropped out of the work force. As a result the [labor] participation rate fell to a new low of 64.3%.

In short, the percentage of Americans participating in the workforce fell to an all-time low. And this depressing statistic helped artificially slice the unemployment rate.

Bear in mind, were it not for millions of people allegedly dropping out of the labor force over the last year, the unemployment rate would be over 11% right now...

The official unemployment rate is 9.4%. However, if you start counting all the people that want a job but gave up, all the people with part-time jobs that want a full-time job, all the people who dropped off the unemployment rolls because their unemployment benefits ran out, etc., you get a closer picture of what the unemployment rate is... 16.7%. Moreover, both the official rate and U-6 would be much higher were it not for huge numbers of people dropping out of the workforce.

Things are much worse than the reported numbers would have you believe.

Not to worry, folks -- President Obama, with all of his vast private sector experience, is on the job.

What could possibly go wrong?


Warning: do not show this chart to progressives, lest their heads explode into thousands of tiny pieces of shrapnel and hurt others

The invaluable People's Cube:

My Favorite Progressive Talking Point in Jeopardy


I heard a very well versed progressive woman say this very thing...in a Houston book store.

"If it weren't for the Iraq War, we would have enough money for health care and other programs and there would be no deficit."

For years, we had it as a solid gold talking point. In my opinion, it was our number one talking point, but now, I'm sad and concerned--we progressives are always sad and concerned, don't you know?

Only now, I came across this very disturbing chart showing the war spending in comparison to all other spending...

What! I said. This cannot be. No! No! No! The war spending in this chart appears minuscule. What will we do if the masses get a look at this chart? Keep it to yourself, and don't e-mail this post to anyone.

My, my, my.

This certainly destroys a few progressive talking points.

Just don't mention that nearly every Democrat voted for the Iraq War and then pretended Bush lied for purely partisan purposes. Because that would really blow their minds.


CBO: Repealing Obamacare would slash the budget deficit, save seniors' lives and resurrect Elvis. Not necessarily in that order.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to score the proposed repeal of Obamacare using real accounting. By that I mean they omitted the Democrats' double-counting gimmicks, "doc-fix" frauds and similar Ponzi-style sleight-of-hand. The result was stunning.

The Congressional Budget Office, in an email to Capitol Hill staffers obtained by the Spectator, has said that repealing the national health care law would reduce net spending by $540 billion in the ten year period from 2012 through 2021. That number represents the cost of the new provisions, minus Medicare cuts. Repealing the bill would also eliminate $770 billion in taxes. It's the tax hikes in the health care law (along with the Medicare cuts) which accounts for the $230 billion in deficit reduction.

Oh, and look at this.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California just filed to increase individual premiums up to 59%.

But I'm sure that's Bush's fault too, Nancy.

I thought President Obama said that if we liked our health care plans we could keep them. That our premiums would go down an average of $2,500 per year. And that all pre-existing conditions would be covered (even though that doesn't even apply to Medicaid and the VA today!).

The lies that this administration and Congressional Democrats told in order to slam this bill into place -- with no one bothering so much as to even read the bill -- will go down in history as one of the most egregious crimes ever against the American people.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Photo o' the Day

Even The Washington Post was wondering why ex-Speaker Pelosi couldn't stop smiling. Dana Milbank put it bluntly:

It was the same joyless perma-grin - really, a grimace with upturned corners of the mouth - that came to define Pelosi during her four years in charge of the House: an expression meant to connote her warmth and sincerity that too often conveyed the opposite...

...As speaker, her record was mixed. She had many major legislative achievements, particularly in the past two years, but she also led her caucus off an electoral cliff, in part because she forced members to take damaging votes on policies that didn't have a chance of passing the Senate.

In her four years as minority leader, by contrast, Pelosi's effectiveness was seldom questioned as she tripped up the majority with her relentless opposition. "If people are ripping your face off," she said before winning the majority in 2006, "you have to rip their face off."

Curious choice of metaphors.

With all the work that's been done over the years, that perma-grin may be cemented on for life.


Tuesday, January 04, 2011

John Boehner to Harry Reid: Here's a lemon to suck on for a while. Oh -- and you're welcome.

Tea Party conservatives still consider the GOP's "old guard" leadership on probation, but this kind of thing is promising.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner's office (R-Ohio) pointedly vowed on Tuesday to push ahead with legislation repealing healthcare reform... [responding] to a letter sent by the Senate's top five Democrats, vowing to block a House bill repealing healthcare reform, with a terse, 65-word note...

Senators Reid, Durbin, Schumer, Murray and Stabenow:

Thank you for reminding us – and the American people – of the backroom deal that you struck behind closed doors with ‘Big Pharma,’ resulting in bigger profits for the drug companies, and higher prescription drug costs for 33 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D, at a cost to the taxpayers of $42.6 billion.

The House is going to pass legislation to repeal that now. You’re welcome.

- Speaker-Designate John Boehner’s Press Office

The note comes in response to a letter released on Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) office, in which the Democrats promise to block a bill repealing benefits within the healthcare law.

I like what I'm seeing thus far. Negotiation? Hell, no.

There must be no negotiation with the Cloward-Piven Statists who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then promptly dismissed and ridiculed it.

They and their anti-American movement must be demoralized, dismantled and politically crushed.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the comedy stylings of Shecky Green and Nancy Pelosi!

She just flew in from San Francisco* and, boy, are her arms tired!

Coming from the most radical and fiscally destructive House Speaker in American history -- who added $5 trillion in new deficits in just four short years -- this is comedy gold.

At her final press conference as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, "Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go."

...When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the national debt stood at [$8.67 trillion]. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi's Speakership on December 22, 2010 the national debt was [$13.9 trillion] - a roughly $5.2 trillion increase in just four years. Furthermore, the year over year federal deficit has roughly quadrupled during Pelosi's four years as speaker, from $342 billion in fiscal year 2007 to an estimated $1.6 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2010.

With no end in sight.

Remember, folks -- try the roast beef special. And don't forget to tip your waitresses!


* On a military jet, no less!

Sunday, January 02, 2011

The Tea Party Conservatives Came to Washington to Chew Bubblegum and Kick Ass. And They're All Out of Bubble Gum.

I really like the sound of our guys on the Sunday talk shows.

Let's start with Rep. Allen West (R-FL) on Fox News Sunday.

Q: Then, in November, you said -- and here's the quote -- "that this liberal, progressive, socialist agenda... this left-wing, vile, vicious, despicable machine that’s out there is soundly brought to its knees..." Tyrannical? Socialist? Despicable? Is it really as bad as that?

A: "I think it is... when you look at the nationalization of so much of our production: the automobile industry, the health care industry, the fact that we had an amendment in the health care law that allowed the federal government to take over education, when you look at the fact that we are creating more victims and making more people dependent upon the government... when you look at the incredible debt and deficits that has occurred over the last two fiscal years, we're going in the wrong direction...

...This liberal-progressive agenda is the antithesis of who we are as a Constitutional republic."

I really, really, really like Allen West.

As for some of the other highlights, Darrell Issa probably kerploded a few progressives' heads today by calling the Obama administration corrupt.

Issa ... clarified that when he previously said during a radio interview that Obama "has been one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times," he was referring to the Obama administration and not the president himself.

"In saying that this is one of the most corrupt administrations, which is what I meant to say there," Issa said, "when you hand out $1 trillion in TARP just before this president came in, most of it unspent, $1 trillion nearly in stimulus that this president asked for, plus this huge expansion in healthcare and government, it has a corrupting effect..."

...He also took aim at the national health care overhaul, which he said is "expanding Medicaid mandates that have been at least tentatively ruled unconstitutional," and at the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which he called "$800-billion worth of walking-around money."

Oh, and Michelle Bachmann laid a rhetorical beatdown on the loathsome White House adviser Austan Goolsbee who had earlier warned Republicans against 'playing chicken' with the national debt ceiling as it could raise questions about America's ability to repay its debts. Uh, schmuck: S&P and other rating agencies have already raised questions, thanks to your insane spending policies.

In an entertaining but ultimately not very informative roundtable, guest host Harry Smith brought Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), Debbie Wasserman Schulz (D-Fla.) and Rep.-elect Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) together for a chat that frequently degenerated into the guests talking over each other. Bachmann said the Republicans would introduce a "clean" bill to repeal the new health-care law. Kelly said he hopes that incoming GOP freshmen, many of whom are backed by the tea party, can force the government to live within its means like people in the "real world..."

Both Bachmann and Kelly said they opposed raising the debt ceiling.

Anthony Weiner went on to shriek like a little girl -- or maybe that's his real voice, I wouldn't know -- that failing to raise the debt ceiling would "shut the government down."

Say, Anthony, let's try it for a month and see if anyone notices. We've got a Department of Education that doesn't educate anyone; a Department of Energy that tries to restrict our access to energy; a Department of Labor that helps promote unemployment; etc.

So let's give it a shot for a month or two. I think we'll all be amazed how little we miss the enormous federal bureaucracies that seem to exist only to torment us.


Hat tip: Rowdy Roddy Piper in 'They Live'.

Is this the worst name for a road race ever?

Given the precarious state of the economy, does having a financial institution sponsor a road race called a "bank run" give anyone else the willies?

Marketing dudes: how about the "Fifth Third Bank Race to Defeat Hunger"? Or -- whatever?

But "Bank Run"? Seriously?