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

Saturday, November 17, 2012

TURBOTAX-CHALLENGED TREASURY SECRETARY: Let's just eliminate debt ceiling to ensure smooth road to collapse

When the founders warned of men without virtue, they had the likes of Tim Geithner in mind:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. “absolutely” should get rid of the debt ceiling as soon as possible... “It would have been time a long time ago to eliminate it,” Geithner told Bloomberg TV on Friday. “The sooner the better.”


...Hey, you know what else isn’t a tenable strategy for the country? Spending a trillion dollars we don’t have on a counterproductively bloated bureaucracy, every year.

I understand what Geithner is getting at, of course — the playing chicken and flirting-with-breaching the ceiling, which we’re slated to hit again this February/March, isn’t good for our financial resume. Just abolishing the debt ceiling, however, isn’t the conversation we need to be having — and it’s jaw-dropping that our credit rating is even in this kind of jeopardy. The conversation we need to be having is how to drastically reduce the amount of debt we’re annually incurring, and it’s a conversation that Democrats are persistently ignoring in favor of piddling, economy-damaging tax hikes...

Precisely what America needs: a Treasury Secretary -- who cheated on his taxes -- advising America how to incur even more debt. Classic.



Friday, November 16, 2012

NOT KIDDING: The Most Terrifying Obama Quote Ever

The hubris of this president truly knows no bounds:

Speaking to reporters Wednesday in the East Room of the White House for the first full-fledged press briefing since March, President Obama was asked if he would be willing to accept closing tax loopholes and limiting deductions instead of a tax rate increase on Americans making over $250,000 per year. Mr. Obama responded: "When it comes to the top 2 percent, what I'm not going to do is extend further a tax cut for those who don't need it."


As the president concluded remarks on upcoming "fiscal cliff" negotiations with Congress, he said: "Are we going to hold the middle class hostage?" The implication by Mr. Obama is that the wealthy are holding the middle class "hostage" if they are allowed to keep money they legally earned, but "don't need."

Consider:

A married couple -- an attorney and a nurse who together earn $280,000-a-year -- with a special needs child and $150,000 in student loans...

Another couple -- who own a dry-cleaner, work 75-hour weeks, and gross $350,000 while employing four others...

A single, biomedical engineer -- who earns $225,000-a-year and spends her spare-time working on a breakthrough medical device because she wants to build her own company...

They are all members of the "top 2 percent"...

And they don't need the money! They don't need it, because Obama believes he is entitled to confiscate it and then redistribute it to his favorite constituencies! His campaign bundlers, union bosses, crony capitalist pals, and eco-Statists... they all deserve it more than the people who actually toiled, sweated, and earned it.

Have you ever heard such a thing from a president?

Terrifying. Outrageous. Un-American.

And without an election to worry about, I believe we will see Mr. Obama unleash his inner Alinsky. And it will take a well-deserved impeachment to stop him.


Thursday, November 15, 2012

FORWARD! HOPE! CHANGE! Illinois Youth Called a "Lost Generation" as Unemployment Reaches Record Levels

How much more misery will Illinois' beleaguered "middle class" tolerate before throwing out the Democrat bums who led them into this rat-hole?

Quite a bit more, if history's any guide.

The 2012 Illinois legislative drive to increase the state’s minimum wage



Illinois is tied with Connecticut and Nevada having the fourth highest minimum wage in the country at $8.25 an hour. Illinois’ rate is a dollar higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 and the highest in the Midwest... most states adhere to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

In short, each time the Democrat masterminds try to engineer society, they fail. Miserably.

The Great Recession and the post-recession years have hurt all Americans, but one group particularly hit hard has been teens. From 2002 through 2007, before the recession, an average of 37.08 percent of Illinois teens aged 16 to 19 were employed. The unemployment rate averaged 16.2 percent, with a low in 2006 of 11.5 percent.


...The average unemployment rate for those 16 to 19 years old increased by a stunning 8.15 percentage points, to a recession and post-recession average of 24.35 percent. The unemployment rate more than doubled from 2006-11. The unemployment rate peaked in 2010 at 26.9 percent, a 15.4 percentage-point increase from its low of 11.5 percent in 2006. And as the job market worsened, the average hours teens worked per week fell from a pre-recession average of 8.3 to a recession and post-recession average of 6.65, a 25 percent drop...

"For three decades, we've sought to solve the problems of unemployment through government planning. And the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan." --Ronald Reagan


Americans still free to use money as weapon against Progressives

...at least, so far.

FROM: Totally Evil and Greedy Tea Party Activist
TO: Comrade Red Square posing as Capitalist Running Dog
SUBJECT: The Campaign to Defund and Defeat Democrats

Don't do business with anyone who supported Obama!

AMERICANS CAN NOW DETERMINE WHERE TO SHOP AND SPEND THEIR MONEY

Election Cycle political donations, as reported by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Shopping

  • Price Club/Costco donated $225K, 99% went to Democrats
  • Rite Aid donated $517K, 60% went to Democrats
  • Magla Products (Stanley tools, Mr. Clean) donated $22K, 100% went to Democrats
  • Warnaco (undergarments) donated $55K, 73% went to Democrats
  • Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia donated $153K, 99% went to Democrats
  • Estee Lauder donated $448K, 95% went to Democrats
  • Guess, Inc. Donated $145K, 98% went to Democrats
  • Calvin Klein donated $78K, 100% went to Democrats
  • Liz Claiborne, Inc. Donated $34K, 97% went to Democrats
  • Levi Straus donated $26K, 97% went to Democrats
  • Olan Mills donated $175K, 99% went to Democrats
  • WalMart donated $467K, 97% went to Republicans
  • K-Mart donated $524K, 86% went to Republicans
  • Home Depot donated $298K, 89% went to Republicans
  • Target donated $226K, 70% went to Republicans
  • Circuit City Stores donated $261K, 95% went to Republicans
  • 3M Co. Donated $281K, 87% went to Republicans
  • Hallmark Cards donated $319K, 92% went to Republicans
  • Amway donated $391K, 100% Republicans
  • Kohler Co. (plumbing fixtures) donated $283K, 100% Republicans
  • B.F. Goodrich (tires) donated $215K, 97% went to Republicans
  • Proctor & Gamble donated $243K, 79% went to Republicans

Spirits


  • Southern Wine & Spirits donated $213K, 73% went to Democrats
  • Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons (incl. Beverage Business and considerable media interests) donated $2M+, 67% went to Democrats
  • Gallo Winery donated $337K, 95% went to Democrats
  • Coors & Budweiser donated $174K, 92% went to Republicans
  • Brown-Forman Corp. (Southern Comfort, Jack Daniels, Bushmills, Korbel Wines, Lenox China , Dansk and Gorham Silver) donated $644 K -- 80% went to Republicans

Hungry?


  • Sonic Corporation donated $83K, 98% went to Democrats
  • Triarc Companies (Arby's, T.J. Cinnamon's, Pasta Connections) donated $112K, 96% went to Democrats
  • Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (chicken) donated $366K, 100% went to Republicans
  • Outback Steakhouse donated $641K, 95% went to Republicans
  • Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) donated $133K, 87% went to Republicans
  • Brinker International (Maggiano's, Brinker Cafe, Chili's, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Crazymel's, Corner Baker, EatZis) donated $242K, 83% went to Republicans
  • Waffle House donated $279K, 100% went to Republicans
  • McDonald's Corp. Donated $197K, 86% went to Republicans
  • Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, Bahama Breeze) donated $121K, 89% went to Republicans
  • Heinz Republicans $64,000 Democrats $21,300! John Kerry's wife's company!!!

Traveling and/or dining


  • Hyatt Corporation donated $187K of which 80% went to Democrats
  • Marriott International $323K, 81% went to Republicans
  • Holiday Inns donated $38K, 71% went to Republicans

END OF TRANSMISSION

This email once again proves that money is the root of all evil.

Fortunately for us, the businesses marked in blue prove Comrade Lenin's words, "The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."

They will be hung last.


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

CARTOON O' THE DAY: One's Born Every Minute

Uncle Ben emails us the latest from the finest political cartoonist of the modern era:



Related: "Fiscal cliff? We're headed for collapse, schmucks!"


WHY TRY TO TEACH LIBS CONCEPTS THEY'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND? Instead, stop working, relax, and play "Stash-o-Cash", the Obama Slot Machine!

Class warfare. The progressive income tax. Single-payer health care. All of these progressive policies come straight out of the Communist Manifesto and each is destined to end up just as successfully as their predecessors in the Soviet Union, Cuba and North Korea.

But, hey: why try to teach a progressive something he, she or it will never comprehend? Instead, stop working, relax, and play "Stash-o-Cash" - the Obama slot machine!

...in celebration of Barack Hussein Obama's re-selection as President of the United States, I present "Stash-"O"-Cash", an entertaining 3-reel slot machine. If you've had your work hours cut, lost your job, been forced into early retirement, or become house-bound because of rising living expenses, why not take a break and watch some "accomplishments" of Obama's first presidential term fly by as you try to match symbols on the pay line? Play long enough and you may even see the elusive "Stash-O-Cash Jackpot!" or even the equally-elusive "SUPER 'Blame Bush' MEGA-JACKPOT!".


And, don't worry about getting a free payoff or keeping track of your winnings: The Government will take care of that for you!

Hey, since we're headed for fiscal collapse anyhow, why not have fun along the way?


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

HEY, BOEHNER AND KRISTOL: Yes, by all means, let's go back to the Clinton-era tax rates!

I want to address the rocket scientist RINOs typified by House Speaker John Boehner and commentator William Kristol, both of whom have expressed a willingness to "compromise" with Democrats and raise taxes on "millionaires". And by "millionaires", they of course mean any individual making over $200,000 and any family making over $250,000. And, as everyone knows, a substantial number of these folks are small business owners, who account for roughly half of all the jobs created by small business.

I would like to unleash a rant on these two, but first, please read this item spotted while surfing the web.

I’m a California Republican (I know, masochistic, right?) and the local talk radio is full of small business owners calling in and discussing their plans.

One man, owner of a trucking firm in Ventura — 75 employees, $6 million payroll — discussed how even as times have been tough over the last few years, he’s made it a point to make his payroll, even dipping into his own savings.

He was walking by the breakroom and heard some of his employees snickering about the election and they had wanted Obama to stay President to make sure the rich pay. He then thought “what am I putting myself at risk?" He then went and canceled his order for six new trucks (approximately $600,000 worth of an order) and is planning to layoff 20 or more people.

What Mr. Kristol and Mr. Boehner don't understand -- aside from basic arithemetic, logic, history and reason -- is that small business doesn't need to tighten its belt. Government does.

But why, asks the President, can't we go back to Clinton-era tax rates? That seems reasonable, right?

Oh, sure. We can go back to Clinton-era tax rates.

Just as soon as we go back to Clinton-era housing prices.

And Clinton-era college tuition prices.

And Clinton-era health insurance premiums.

And Clinton-era state, local and property taxes.

You starting to get the picture, geniuses? Democrats are never satisfied! Never! In good times and bad, government grows like an enormous, metastasizing tumor, eroding our liberty and eating away at our private property rights.

Democrats tamper with housing prices (see: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and they destroy the housing industry. They back student loans, making it easy for colleges to raise tuition prices far faster than the rate of inflation. They nationalize health care for the elderly, indigent (and now, everyone) and health care prices skyrocket.

Democrats grow the government. That's what they do.

In other words, Democrats constantly try to evade the very Constitution they took an oath to uphold! They incessantly evade the very document that was explicitly designed to check their own corrupting ambitions!

And accomplices like Boehner and Kristol don't have the common sense to even figure out that they are being played. In fact, guys like this aren't real Republicans. They are Democrats Lite. They're a slightly watered down version of the Marxist Left; they are so addicted to the concentration of power in Washington that they can't even see the diminishing circle of liberty -- a veritable noose -- tightening around our collective necks.

Boehner, Kristol, Rove, and the rest of these Democrats Lite must be ridiculed at every turn. They must be mocked. They need to be shunned. And they need to be cast out from the real Republican Party.

They're not statesmen, they're not thoughtful, and -- worst of all -- they're not leaders. They are useless and they need to be ignored.


Monday, November 12, 2012

MUST READ: We Have Lost

Spotted at Denny's Place, a guest post by Casey:

Dear Friends:

The most productive people, the small business owners, the entrepreneurs and the honest wage earners of America are so demoralized right now I am not sure we will recover as a country. We have lost the most important election of our lifetime and did so after giving our best effort, spent the most money ever and working the hardest we have ever worked. The very people that America needs the most to generate a real recovery now have the least motivation to do so and worse, lack the confidence necessary to even justify the effort.

We opposed a foe who was so obviously incompetent, corrupt and inept in leadership we really expected a landslide victory and a redeeming mandate to return the nation to conservative values. Instead what we got was a harsh slap in the face by an American public telling us it is not like us and it no longer believes in what we believe in.

As a country we are hopelessly divided by a malignant polarization approaching that which divided us prior to the Civil War. Our side will not march in the streets, but the rebellion, protests and resistance will be just as determined -- though more subtle. The American can-do spirit, our optimism, our traditional dependence on our own ingenuity is now mere kindling on the advancing flame of an insidious yet steadily advancing socialism.

Those of us who create real jobs, invest our capital, our fortunes and take the risks to build America, feel betrayed. The fundamentals of honest effort and hard work rendering the rewards associated with capitalism seem now like a cruel joke. We are now a targeted enemy not to be governed but coerced into submission by a lazy, corrupt, vindictive, arrogant government that is out for revenge, redistribution -- and to add a final insult -- one we believe is too morally bankrupt to lead.

The usual safeguards for a democracy found in a vibrant, independent press have lost any semblance of objectivity and instead have joined a side. What used to be principled, independent reporters have morphed into dishonest pundits spewing a disgustingly relentless partisan bile that neither informs nor educates. They are shallowly manipulated by the political marketers to the point that their words lack meaning. The "fourth branch" of government has become nothing more than an empty cathode ray irradiating a mind-numbed audience like a repetitive Beavis and Butthead rerun.

We have elected a President who not only feels we did not work for what we have, but feels we do not deserve it either. Had it gone the other way, Obama supporters would have torched America. Instead they will now legitimately consume it by gnawing at the soft underbelly of what was once her prosperity. Our Judeo-Christian culture -- that those on the left revile and call "extreme" -- now has as much relevance as a three-minute YouTube video.

Fighting for God and Country has now a new meaning, they will fight for Obama-Bucks, work the system, because this President gave them the right to do so.

C.W.

P.S. For starters, my next car(s) will be built, at a non-union plant, located in Lincoln, Alabama.

Denny adds, "My two BMW's were both built in South Carolina. I will never purchase an American car built by the UAW."

I agree. For starters, anything built by a union here in America should be ignored. If they're at war with us, we need to return the favor.


Hat tip: Wanda.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

CONGRATULATIONS, DEMOCRATS: An Open Letter

Dear Democrat Party,

Congratulations on Tuesday's victories.

Congratulations on the new tax hikes that will restrain the economy next year as the Bush tax cuts end and the myriad dictates and fees imposed by Obamacare begin. We are already seeing companies downsize or flee and investors begin to bail out of the stock market. Rest assured that your tactics of class warfare will ultimately succeed just as well as they have throughout the world for the last two centuries.

Congratulations on giving us an excellent preview of what lies ahead with your stewardship in the Golden State, where Global Economic Analysis says -- after the various statewide ballot initiatives and elections -- "Prepare for the Demise of California".

Congratulations on solidifying your plan to borrow 40 cents of every dollar we spend, with no credible plan to address the gap. It reminds me, most recently, of the run-up to Argentina's currency crisis.

Congratulations on successfully appealing to voters with crude, brutish messages of personal gratification, thereby finalizing your blueprint for America's economic downfall.

Congratulations on making Alexis de Tocqueville's predictions of 1835 come to pass, in that the United States appears to have entered the final phase of the transition from a Constitutional Republic to Despotism.

Congratulations on carefully avoiding the biggest fiscal problems we face, from entitlements to a debt-to-GDP ratio that has long since passed the historic danger zone. As an aside, if I were you, I would be preparing your families with near-term (under five years) plans for economic upheaval and possible societal unrest. I say that not because I desire anything of the sort, but because we seem to have reached a tipping point where more citizens want free contraceptives and EBT cards than believe in the American dream.

Congratulations on your historic control of the media. By withholding and obscuring the facts behind the Benghazi scandal, Operation Fast and Furious and the numerous green energy scams that enriched President Obama's campaign bundlers, you have ensured that a clueless electorate can be counted on to vote for giveaways in every election.

And, finally, congratulations on ensuring that no one in Washington -- including the feckless, old guard Republican leadership -- expresses the least bit of concern that we have long since passed the historical Rogoff-Reinhart tipping point of debt-to-GDP that spells inevitable economic doom.

Well done. Enjoy your victories and remember: As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

Sincerely,

Doug Ross

Friday, November 09, 2012

FREE DEMOCRAT PLANTATION CARDS FOR EVERYONE: You may know them as "EBT"

Free food stamps -- eh, I mean, EBT Cards -- for everyone!


As economist Milton Friedman observed, "You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state."

At least not without a societal collapse, that is.


BUY FREE OR DIE: A Conservative's Buying Guide to Automobiles

I had planned on producing something like this, but The Morlock Revolt beat me to it

Buy Free or Die: Conservative's Buyer Guide: Automobiles


We can no longer be passive in our buying decisions, brands that we have known and trusted for years have chosen sides and chosen to lead our country in to socialism. This is the first post in a series to highlight which companies and states contribute to the decline of our American project that was started in 1776... we need to show these entities that we will not be sending our money to fund our own destruction.

The Autoworkers' unions in the United States are one of the largest contributors to the Democrat Party. The AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka said that he would like to have the Card Check legislation enacted in Obama's new second term. This would make labor unions almost impossible to stop, they would be present in every section of the country's economy. As such I am focusing this first post in the Conservative's buyers guide to Automobiles made in the United States... ...Any future automobiles that I buy will be from the list I have provided that are labeled non-union. Democrats suck and so do unions. Carry on.

If the unions are going to fight the taxpayers, then we are going to fight the unions.


In the past, I have owned a Chevy, a Mercury, a Chrysler, and a Cadillac.

But from now on my money will go only to companies that promote capitalism.

I look forward to Morlock's next buying guide.



Thursday, November 08, 2012

CONGRATULATIONS, DEMOCRATS: More Than 45 Companies Go Galt, Announce Mass Layoffs

Dan from New York:

You voted for it, you got it. And the early results are just trickling in.

Boeing Announces Big Layoffs in Defense Division - Reuters


Vegas Employer: Obama Won, So I Fired 22 Employees - CBS


For me, yesterday’s election didn't change a thing. I'm still at the old stand providing you the latest 411 on the decline of America, the end of Israel and the collapse of Western Civilization. Stay tuned. It’s going to be a sight to see!

Oh, and then there's this:



My guess is many of these management teams were hoping against hope for Republicans to win the Presidency and the Senate -- and that they would begin unwinding the insane complexity represented by Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and other oppressive regulations that are poised to strangle job creation.

But a billion dollars of 90 percent negative advertising convinced the gullible half of the country that Mitt Romney killed someone's wife, that he was a vulture capitalist who outsourced jobs to Timbuktu, and that Paul Ryan rolled Grandma off a cliff.

As the Bible says: As ye sow so shall ye reap.


PHOTO: 2015 in Obama's America

The economy is set to collapse under monstrous debt and runaway inflation but don't worry, kids: your government will be there to give you free condoms.


And soup, if you're lucky.


Thursday, November 01, 2012

CHART: Yo, Johnson -- How's that "Great Society" workin' out for ya?

Not too well, if both quantitative and qualitative measures are to be trusted.

Majority of Americans Say Government Spends Too Much on Welfare


Welfare spending has been growing for decades and is at a record level, approaching $1 trillion annually. Putting that amount in perspective, if the cost of welfare were converted to cash, it would be five times the amount necessary to pull all poor Americans out of poverty. Yet under President Obama’s plan, welfare spending is on track to keep climbing...


...Such low confidence in government welfare may be due to the fact that despite massive rates of spending, the number of Americans considered “poor” has stayed roughly the same. Instead of eliminating poverty and promoting self-sufficiency, welfare has led to government dependency. Today, roughly one-third of the U.S. population—100 million—receives some type of welfare aid.

The vast majority of government programs don’t require work for able-bodied recipients. Tragically, the Obama Administration has been whittling away at the very few programs that have included a work requirement, gutting work requirements from the 1996 welfare reform law and suspending work requirements in the food stamps program.

This course of dependence is not helpful to the poor, and it’s not helpful to taxpayers. The American people know this, too. The vast majority—84 percent—say that work for able-bodied adults should be a requirement to receive welfare.

...Work requirements led to the successes of the 1996 welfare reform. Within just five years of the law’s implementation, which inserted work requirements into the largest cash assistance welfare program, welfare rolls dropped by half. Child poverty rates plummeted, and employment rates among low-income individuals climbed.

Work requirements should be applied to the rest of the government’s 80 welfare programs. The food stamps program, which has seen massive growth in spending and participation rates during the last decade, would be a good place to start...

But don't worry: facts, logic, reason, history and a track record of unmitigated failure never dissuaded a "progressive".



Friday, October 26, 2012

HISTORIC: Obama Economic "Recovery" Just as Bad As It Feels

Please sit down. I know this news will come as a shock.

In a previously off-the-record interview with the Des Moines Register, President Obama argued that the economic recovery he's overseen isn't as bad as his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, claims... "In many ways, because of the actions we took early on, we're actually ahead of pace in the typical recovery out of a recession like this," Obama said...


...But the data are clear that Obama's economic recovery — which started in June 2009, five months after he was sworn in — has been worse than any recovery since the Great Depression.

Overall economic growth has been slower in this recovery than in any of the previous post-World War II recoveries, according to the Minneapolis Fed, using data from Bureau of Economic Analysis...

Fancy that: Obama... eh... misspoke again.


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

BANNER O' THE DAY: Welcome to Tampa, Mr. President

Via @StopBarry2012:



OF COURSE NOT: Obama Has 'Absolutely' No Regrets For Ignoring Economy During His First Term

As if you needed more proof that Barack Obama cares for only one thing -- amassing more and more power over you, the individual -- I simply point to this interview with the Des Moines Register. It was originally off-the-record, perhaps because of his comment about ignoring the economy, but the Register was able to shame the campaign into removing the embargo through a very public lashing.

The Obama campaign has finally released the transcript of his endorsement interview with the Des Moines Register--and it is clear why they were reluctant to do so: the President says he has "absolutely" no regrets about ignoring the economy during the first two years of his term, when Democrats controlled Congress.
Here is the key part of the exchange:

Q: Yes, that begs a question from us, Mr. President. Some say you had a super majority in your first two years and had this incredible opportunity, but because of what you were talking about, as you were running, you had to go to get Obamacare done. Do you have any regrets taking on some of the economic issues, some of the issues that we're talking about for your second term, that when you had the chance, so to speak, during your first -- do you have any regrets that you didn’t do that at that time?


THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely not, Laura. Remember the context. First of all, Mitch McConnell has imposed an ironclad filibuster from the first day I was in office. And that's not speculation. I mean, this is -- it’s amply recorded. He gave a speech saying, my task is to defeat the President. So we were able to pass emergency action with the stimulus, but we had to get two votes from Republicans...


Obama's response is misleading. Republicans made no such filibuster threat at the outset of his first term. He refers to remarks made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in late 2010, not in late 2008 or early 2009. Republicans in fact attempted to work together with the then-popular Obama before being rebuffed ("I won").

In addition, as journalist Bob Woodward points out in The Price of Politics, McConnell's remark about his "top priority" being to deny Obama a second term was taken out of context (McConnell had stressed a desire to work with Obama if he changed his approach). Even MSNBC ... felt compelled to apologize on the air for misreporting McConnell's remark. Obama has no such scruples, and simply repeats the lie as an excuse.

You mean Obama lied?

I'll alert the media.

Meanwhile, the president has released his jobs plan after just four short years, and I'm guessing it could really turn things around. Or it could just be another useless campaign gimmick loaded with dozens of lies about the economy accompanied by glam photos of Obama.


Exactly which it is I'll leave as an exercise for the reader.



Tuesday, October 23, 2012

BOOM: What a real recovery looks like

I'd somehow missed this open letter from Investors Business Daily to FLOTUS ("Memo To Michelle: What A 'Huge Recovery' Looks Like"), but happened upon it thanks to a review of the comprehensive story rolodex at Instapundit:

Michelle Obama recently described this recovery as "huge." Maybe she forgot what decade it is. The Reagan recovery in the '80s was huge. But the one her husband's policies have given us? Not so much.
Indeed, had Obama's recovery merely been average, there would be about 8 million more people with jobs today, and the GDP would be $1.2 trillion bigger.

If you want to see what a really huge recovery looks like, take a look at the one President Reagan oversaw. He entered office in January 1981 amid an economy mired in malaise, with inflation out of control, unemployment high and rising, a decade-long energy crisis and sky-high interest rates...

...But Reagan's combination of permanent, across-the-board tax cuts, deregulation and domestic spending restraint helped produce a massive recovery.

Obama, in contrast, has gone in almost precisely the opposite direction — temporary, targeted tax cuts; huge new spending; vast new regulations — and he threatens more of the same, plus a $1 trillion tax hike, if he were to get a second term.

Indeed, in last night's debate, Obama has promised just that: more crony capitalism in the form of "green energy" programs and more failed Stimulus for "roads and bridges". Einstein's definition of insanity applies perfectly in this situation.


Monday, October 22, 2012

MARC FABER: Reduce the Size of Government by 50 Percent

Rut Roh.

The debt burden in the U.S. and other Western countries will continue to increase, Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report told CNBC on Monday, leading to a “colossal mess” within the next five to 10 years.

“I think the regimes will try to keep the system alive as it is for as long as possible, which means there’s no “fiscal cliff,” there’s a fiscal grand canyon,” Faber told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Faber argued that the political systems in place in the West would allow the debt burden to continue to expand. Under such a scenario of never-ending deficits, the Western world would rack up huge deficits.

One day, the system would break, he said.

“Eventually, you have either huge changes occurring in a peaceful fashion through reforms, or, usually, through revolutions,” he said. The U.S. is getting closer to such a revolution, he said, as is Europe.

“I think the timeframe would be within five to ten years you have a colossal mess … everywhere in the Western world,” Faber said. “I think the deficit here (in the U.S.) — irrespective of who is in the White House — will stay above a trillion dollars per annum for at least as far as the eye can see.”

Bureaucracies in the U.S., as well as Europe, are far too big, he said, and are a burden on the economy.

“My medicine for the U.S. is: Reduce government by minimum 50 percent,” he said. “The impact would be immediately an improvement in the economy.”

With the current bloated leviathan, 50 percent is what I call a good start.