Saturday, January 23, 2010

Obama Issues Fatwa on 34% of U.S. Economy

America's critical industries -- and, by extension, tens of millions of jobs -- are in the cross-hairs of President Obama and his Democrat cohorts. Consider the following statements:

Obama on 'Face the Nation', September 2009: "...Insurance companies, drug companies are gonna have to be ponying up, partly because right now they're receiving huge subsidies from folks... they're making huge profits on it, Bob. I mean, let's take the Medicare HMO programs that are being run by insurance companies. It's estimated by everybody that they're overcharging by about 14 percent. This amounts to about $177 billion over 10 years. About $17 billion a year, $18 billion a year. That's just going to pad their profits..."

But: "Health Insurance Companies Rank #86 By Industry Profit Margin, Earning $98 on Average Per Policy"

Obama Health Care Town Hall, August 2009: "...right now drug companies are fighting so that they can keep essentially their patents on their brand-name drugs a lot longer. And if we can make those patents a little bit shorter, generics get on the market sooner, ultimately you as consumers will save money..."

But: "Pharmaceutical companies must make a profit to stay in business. Some charge that drug companies make significantly more profits than companies in other industries. In fact, the profitability of drug companies is in line with other major industries. The research-based pharmaceutical industry also pays more taxes than other industries and reinvests more of its profits in research and development than other industries... [and] 98% of doctors said patent rights were very or somewhat important as an incentive for drug production."

Obama town hall meeting, 2008: "...[I want] to repeal some of these tax breaks for these oil companies. But I want to do more than that. I also want to go after their windfall profits, take a segment of those profits..."

But: ""...The average net profit margin for the S&P Energy sector, according to figures from Thomson Baseline, is 9.7%. The average for the S&P 500 is 8.5%. So yes, energy companies are more profitable than many others...but not by an inordinate amount. ...Google, for example, reported a net profit margin of 25% in its most recent quarter. Should we have an online advertising windfall profit tax? ...At the end of the day, we shouldn't emulate Venezuela of all places and slap higher taxes on oil companies just because crude is around $120 a barrel. In free markets, there are times when many companies do well and others will not."

Obama speech on the the Economy, January 2010: "...I won't stop fighting to protect you from the kinds of deceptive practices we've seen from some in the financial sector... We're going to have to do more this year to make sure that banks are responsive to folks who are working hard... I won't stop fighting to make sure there's accountability in our financial system. (Applause.) I'm not going to stop fighting until we have jobs for everybody..."

Jobs for everybody? Jobs for everybody???

The industries that Obama endlessly demagogues, even without considering secondary partners, suppliers and customers, represent more than 34% of the entire U.S. economy and tens of millions of jobs.

And yet Obama continues to lead a Democrat Jihad against them; against their employees, suppliers, customers and shareholders. In fact, every single man, woman and child in this country has a stake in these industries. And yet Obama degrades them; attacks them relentlessly along with his sycophants, surrogates and operatives.

In July of 2009, the American Thinker's Randall Hoven offered excerpts of a speech by the president of the Communist Party of the USA, Sam Webb (hat tip: Mark Levin):

...we can envision winning a Medicare-like public option and then going further in the years ahead... We can visualize passing tough regulatory reforms on the financial industry, which brought the economy to ruin... the expansion of union rights becomes a real possibility... [as does] a second stimulus bill...

...we elected President Obama and a Congress... [and] ...socialism is our objective...

The Right Wing, the American Medical Association, the pharmaceutical and insurance companies have drawn a line in the sand on health care.. restructuring is imperative. The old economic model that rested on bubble economics, cheap labor, financial manipulation and speculation, deregulation, capital outsourcing, environmental degradation, and so forth, has to be replaced by a new model...

A more jaded observer might ask whether Webb is an uncredited speechwriter for President Obama. Put simply, it is clear that Obama has declared a crypto-Marxist Jihad on tens of millions of private sector jobs.

But the American people are growing increasingly angry -- and the Democrat Party is doing to be on the receiving end of that fury in November.


* By the way, is that title politically incorrect? I've gotten a little desensitized by all of the Marxist propaganda disseminated by the Democrats and state-run media, so it's hard for me to tell.


Linked by: Patriot Room. Thanks!

800 years of economic history scream at Democrats to stop the fiscal insanity; Obama, Pelosi and Reid yawn

Warning: if you've just eaten, you may want to read this article a bit later.

"This time is different."

Such is the warning of popular delusions relayed by John Mauldin, who carefully reviewed the evidence presented by economists Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff in their new book This Time Is Different.

"...highly leveraged economies, particularly those in which continual rollover of short-term debt is sustained only by confidence in relatively illiquid underlying assets, seldom survive forever, particularly if leverage continues to grow unchecked..."

Reinhart and Rogoff analyzed 800 years of economic history, including 250 financial crises in 66 countries. They looked for patterns, similarities and differences. Put simply: this time is not different. Their prediction, to paraphrase Mister T, is simple: Pain.

An excerpt of their summary expands upon Clubber Lang's word of wisdom.

"The lesson of history, then, is that even as institutions and policy makers improve, there will always be a temptation to stretch the limits. Just as an individual can go bankrupt no matter how rich she starts out, a financial system can collapse under the pressure of greed, politics, and profits no matter how well regulated it seems to be. Technology has changed, the height of humans has changed, and fashions have changed.

"Yet the ability of governments and investors to delude themselves, giving rise to periodic bouts of euphoria that usually end in tears, seems to have remained a constant... we have come full circle to the concept of financial fragility in economies with massive indebtedness. All too often, periods of heavy borrowing can take place in a bubble and last for a surprisingly long time. But highly leveraged economies, particularly those in which continual rollover of short-term debt is sustained only by confidence in relatively illiquid underlying assets, seldom survive forever...

"This time may seem different, but all too often a deeper look shows it is not."


Mauldin tacks on some excerpts from the latest quarterly newsletter from economists Van Hoisington and Hunt, who also reference This Time is Different.

At $3.70 of debt for every dollar of GDP, U.S. debt is excessive... the unwinding of [these elevated] debt levels results in prolonged economic distress...

[Regarding the Democrats' 'Stimulus' program:] ...government actions, even involving sizable sums of money, are far less helpful than they appear... 'Infusions of cash can make a government look like it is providing greater growth to its economy than it really is.'

...It has been more than a year since the Federal Reserve began a massive expansion of Federal Reserve Bank credit, from $1 trillion to $2.2 trillion, flooding the banking system with reserves. This unprecedented action naturally raised inflationary fears since it was assumed that this was the beginning of a monetary creation process which would eventually lead to job and income growth, excessive expenditures, and finally massive price increases.

[Regarding the Democrats' continued hamstringing of the private sector:] ...[the] very first step toward an inflationary cycle has to be to get the monetary aggregates expanding vigorously. That cannot be accomplished with the Fed "printing money", i.e., adding more reserves into banks that cannot or will not make loans. The reason this process has not begun (and will not for a time) is [that no] one needs to borrow, or has the resources or balance sheet to borrow, and banks are busily writing off bad debt.

Despite the concurrent developments of little money growth and declining loan growth... the fear nevertheless remains that an inflation surprise might be just around the corner. The reason to discount this notion is that excessive debt has contributed greatly to a flat, or perfectly elastic aggregate supply curve. A country's inflation is determined by the interaction of aggregate supply and demand.

[Democrats have yet to learn the maxim that "Central planning never works":] ...Whether the supply curve is in a flat, normal, or upward sloping position depends on the extent of excess resources in the economy. Today it is obvious that the U.S. economy has plentiful excess resources, so any increase in demand will result in little price change. This will be the case until our unemployment rate of over 17% (the U6 measure) drops by a considerable amount and we begin to use our factories well above our current 68% utilization rate.

Thus, our current economic circumstances guarantee there will be no surprise inflation...

[Democrat policies are thereby crushing the real economy:] ...The consequences of excessive debt are already painful at the household level. The civilian employment to population ratio, a highly important barometer of the average household's standard of living, fell to 58.2% in December, the lowest reading in 26 years and down from a peak of 64.7% in April of 2000... Thus, the standard of living has worsened as the debt to GDP ratio has marched steadily higher. With debt to GDP still rising, a further deterioration of the standard of living is inescapable.

[And the history books demonstrate that everything the Democrats are doing is wrong:] Deficit spending only provides a transitory boost to the economy. It initially raises GDP, as it did in the second half of 2009, but then the effect dissipates and later is reversed, as financial resources available to the private sector are reduced.

...In a separate research study Rogoff and Reinhart write, "At the height of Japan's banking crisis in the 1990s, repaving the streets in Tokyo became a routine exercise. As a result, Japan's gross (government) debt-to-GDP ratio is now nearly 200% and a drag on what once was a vibrant economy."

Our present high deficit situation suggests that taxes will rise (including those of state and local governments), depressing economic activity further. In addition to the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the Obama administration is proposing substantial taxes on financial institutions to pay for the cost of the financial bailout. Since the tax multiplier is high, this will reinforce the drag on economic activity from the lagged effects of deficit spending.

For decades, and to this day, Democrats have ladled entitlement program on entitlement program, bureaucracy upon bureaucracy, debt upon debt until the whole American economy is wobbling on its foundation.

Democrats coerced, bribed, lied and intimidated various constituencies to enact the New Deal (which was originally ruled unconstitutional), the Fair Deal, the Square Deal, Great Society, the War on Poverty, the Community Reinvestment Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Fannie, Freddie, the Stimulus Package, and hundreds of unionized bureaucracies, agencies, offices and other groups of lifetime government employees -- most voting Democrat -- in a relentless pursuit of an utterly unconstitutional expansion of the federal government.

Every one of their programs has failed. Every one. And they are about to touch off a catastrophic implosion. The modern Democrats are not smarter than a fifth grader, certainly not one who has read and understands the Constitution and The Bill of Rights.

The Democrat Party must be politically destroyed in the next series of elections if we are to return fiscal sanity and constitutionality to the federal government. We must politically crush the party of economic insanity before it's too late.


Linked by: Linkiest and Ed Driscoll. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Schumer wants a hearing on the First Amendment

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Schumer wants a hearing on the First Amendment: Toldjah
Freedom of Speech: How Quaint: Denninger
The Left’s Freaked Out Reaction To SCOTUS: Ace

‘Filibuster Reform’ Heading To Senate: S&L
How the Left Spins Scott Brown's Victory: PJM
Race Profiteers: I'm Conservative and Proud: AT (Marcus)

Beware of McCain Regression Syndrome: Malkin
Obama's Suckers: AT (Lewis)
Five Memes Destroyed by Scott Brown’s Victory: PJM

Unions Sign On To Obama’s Penalizing of Banks: RWN
After MA, Liberal Bloodletting Will Continue: Hanson
My Massachusetts District Didn’t Learn A Thing: Parks

Economy

Feds out of money: Obamacare is their new bank: BigGovt
Obama's Jihad Against Banks: PJM
77% Of Investors: Obama Anti-Business: S&L

Cali Democrats: Single-Payer Will Solve Everything!: Malkin
Did Tim Geithner Just Get Fired?: Insider

Climate & Energy

Move Afoot in the Senate to Can EPA CO2 Regs: PJM
James Hansen's Venusian vision of Thermageddon: CBullitt
Boxer: Warming Legislation Might Not Happen for Six or Eight or Ten Years: BMW

Hansen endorses book which calls for 'ridding the world of Industrial Civilization': Depot
NASA: No Increase In CO2, Global Warming A Sham: RWN
Detroit homeless expected to power their building on exercise bikes: BlogProf

Media

Museum of Science & Industry White House model chock full o’crazy: HillBuzz
HillBuzz versus Whomever: Riehl
Kos Says ‘Teabaggers’ and Republicans 'Who Hate Brown People’ Will Put the Brakes on Immigration Bill: CNS

Evidently, He Wasn’t The One He Was Waiting For: Driscoll
Strap-On's crocodile tears over SCOTUS campaign finance decision: AT
Ohio Paper Catches Obama Sock Puppet's Letter Campaign: GWP

Jon Stewart Mops the Floor with Strap-On: Fausta
Paul Krugman: The Brain of a Liberal: Greenroom
Reflections on Sundance: Mirror

WaPo’s Kurtz Cops Out on Press Failure to Pursue Enquirer’s Edwards Affair Story: BizzyBlog

World

Obama administration says “Taliban must take legitimate role” in Afghanistan: GWP
How An Ill-Conceived Minimum Wage Hike Destroyed The Samoan Economy: Insider
Reward, Punishment, Gitmo and Al Qaeda: GM's Place

Hugo Chavez Blames Haiti Destruction on US Earthquake Machine: GWP
Britain raises terror level threat to 'severe': Times
Saudi court to review controversial marriage of 80-year-old to 12-year-old girl: Maktoob

SciTech

Would You Have Spotted the Fraud?: Krebs
The First American Twitter Revolution: LegalIns
If you only watch one airborne laser test video this year, this is it...: Ace

Cornucopia

GOC's Amazing Odyssey Part 1: Denny
GOC's Amazing Odyssey Part 2: Denny
Guide to Asian Emoticons: YouTube

I’ll Take a Beer With My Whopper?: Verum Serum
Jake 1996 - 2010. Good boy, Jake. Rest in peace, boy.: Pupista

Friday, January 22, 2010

Tolerance: Sharia Court reviews 80-year-old's marriage to 12-yr-old girl

Sounds like a review of this case would take, oh, nearly as long as last Wednesday's Seinfeld episode:

A Saudi court is to review the controversial marriage of an 80-year-old man to a 12-year-old girl, who claims she was forced into wedlock, amid growing outrage over the continued practice of child marriage, UAE daily Gulf News reported on Wednesday.

The elderly man paid the girl’s father a dowry of 85,000 riyals ($22,649) for her hand in marriage, but the mother is contesting the union and has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC).

...The Saudi government has pledged to set a minimum age for marrying, but as yet no restrictions have come into force.

In a case that stirred an international outcry in late 2008, an eight-year-old Saudi girl was sold into marriage with a man in his 50s by her father in exchange for dowry money... The girl's mother challenged the marriage in court but it was upheld twice by a judge until the parties eventually agreed to a divorce in an out-of-court settlement.

Islamic sharia law, the foundation of the Saudi justice system, has no prohibition on child marriage.

Reminds me of West Virginia.


President Obama weighs in with a critical observation on the Middle East peace process: "Dude, this is really hard!!"

Dan from New York:

To: Fools rush in Dept.
cc: So little time, so many fiascos Dept.
bcc: Rahm Emanuel

Obama: I misjudged this two-state solution stuff


Jan. 21, 2010

[Israeli] Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met US Mideast envoy George Mitchell Thursday night, a few hours after Time magazine published an interview with US President Barack Obama in which he admitted that he erred during his first year in office by raising too high expectations of a Middle East breakthrough.

"I'll be honest with you, this is just really hard," Obama said when asked about the Middle East. For all his administration's early engagement in the conflict, he acknowledged, things were not where he would want them to be.

"This is as intractable a problem as you get," Obama said. "Both sides - the Israelis and the Palestinians - have found that the political environment, the nature of their coalitions or the divisions within their societies were such that it was very hard for them to start engaging in a meaningful conversation. And I think that we overestimated our ability to persuade them to do so when their politics ran contrary to that."

Dan observes that this is simply another case of the Chosen One getting everything backwards: "You don’t try this stunt until the last year of your last term, when you have nothing to lose - not the other way around."


Costello calls to buy a computer from Abbott

Papa B sent this one in.

ABBOTT: Mega-Computer, can I help you?

COSTELLO: Thanks I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.

ABBOTT: Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou.

ABBOTT: What about Windows?

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look at the windows?

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT: Software for Windows?

COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT: I just did.

COSTELLO: You just did what?

ABBOTT: Recommend something.

COSTELLO: You recommended something?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: For my office?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let's just say I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?

ABBOTT: Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: Word in Office.

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?

ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue 'W'.

COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue 'w' if you don't start with some straight answers. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO: What's bundled with my computer?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT: One copy.

COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money?

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(A few days later)

ABBOTT: Mega-Computer, can I help you?

COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?

ABBOTT: Click on 'START'...........................


The Timeless Wisdom of E.J. Dionne: Screw the will of the people -- ram Obamacare down citizens' throats!

With a lede that will soon prove timeless, General E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post just penned the Democrat equivalent of the Gettysburg Address.

His troops: Congress. His battle-cry: socialized medicine must pass. His game plan: a strategy worthy of Sun Tzu.

There is no question that Democrats have looked weak in responding to the Massachusetts election.

Weak? They're Gumby, dammit.

The notion that they would just shelve health care after all they have put into it... paints a portrait of a party that, to say the least, lacks persistence and conviction. But there is a good reason behind all the confusion.

That the American people reject socialized medicine? That they despise Marxism? That they flip off the agenda of the radical sixties washouts, to the extent that Massachusetts -- Massachusetts! -- just elected a conservative Republican Senator to fill ? Ehm, no. Dionne is on a different page.

The core problem is that the House Democrats no longer trust the Senate Democrats... That’s why there is resistance in the House to the most straightforward solution, which is for the House to pass the Senate health-care bill and send it to the president, and then to use the reconciliation process (which requires only 51 votes in the Senate) to pass the changes in the bill that House and Senate negotiators have agreed to -- or, at least, as many of those changes as is procedurally possible. They can’t get all the changes into law that way, but they could get a lot of them.

Dionne could be this era's Montesquieu. Apart from the fact he doesn't believe in representative government. Nor Democracy. Nor the Constitution. They -- according to the WaPo's version of John Locke -- are anachronisms.

The strategy must be 'Ram the bill through' at all costs! Full speed ahead -- no matter the rules of the Senate, It. Must. Pass.

So here’s an idea, I have been told reliably, that leaders of both Houses are considering: The House would pass a version of the reconciliation bill containing the various amendments and send it to the Senate. The Senate would change it slightly (in ways that the House agreed to), which would require the House to vote on it again. Only after it got the revised reconciliation bill would the House take up the Senate bill. The House could then pass both bills and send both to the president. Problem solved, health-care passes, and we move on.

Sounds simple! Errr... what was that again?

One slight problem, Cicero of the Post: Democrats in districts not in the following zip-codes...

...are frickin' toast. Stick a fork in their backs, because they. Are. Done.

Not all the difficulties with this scenario have been worked through, and it is not a slam dunk.

Genius. Dionne is the Patton of the Leftist crypto-Marxist state-run media, only without the tanks, the cojones or the brains.

For one thing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces a revolt on her left against passing the Senate bill without changes. Some may still have to be persuaded to make sure it gets the votes it needs. There are also some House Democrats from moderate-to-conservative districts who are wary, after Massachusetts, of voting for a health-care bill, period. And there are a lot of procedural issues that need to be ironed out.

Aside from those minor quibbles, Obamacare is just a few short days from passing.

Nonetheless, for those (and I’m one of them) who believe in health-care reform -- and who think the Democrats would be committing suicide if they gave up on health care now -- it’s heartening to hear that serious people are making serious efforts to get a health bill through. In a pinch, I think that enacting the Senate bill into law without changes is far preferable to passing nothing... Can they do it? The answer to that question depends in part on leadership from President Obama. Can he do it?

E.J., don't doubt our President. He capped unemployment at 8% with the $787 billion Stimulus Package. He brought the Olympics back to Chicago. He reined in lobbyists, special interests and the trial lawyers. And he kept America safe from Jihadist attacks.

What could possibly go wrong?


How do you hide an elephant?

I chose a few favorites from the How do you hide an elephant? contest at the always entertaining (but neither SFW or PC) b3ta boards:









Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a winner!


Larwyn's Linx: Obama assesses Obama

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Obama assesses Obama: Pundette
Supreme Court decimates McCain-Feingold: Malkin
NAACP head blames MA loss on 'Taliban' GOP: GWP

ACORN Filmmakers Sued in Federal Court: BigGovt
DOJ refuses to release docs in Panther case: Times
Scott Brown won the Charles Sumner Seat: Grand Old

DC Proves Gun Control Laws Work - For Criminals: RWN
Supreme Court Protects First Amendment Rights: BigGovt
What independents want: limited government: PJM

A Warning for the Next Scott Brown: LegalIns
Specter to Bachmann: Act like a lady: Hot Air
Bachmann on Specter: GWP

Economy

The Real State of the Union, 2010: AT
Dems want $14.3T debt ceiling!: BlogProf
Obama's OFA: We're Not Socializing Fast Enough: Powers

SEIU blows $1M of members' money, blames GOP: RWN
Since Brown won, let's destroy Wall Street: Ace
Debt Reduction Commission: Another Show: AT

Climate & Energy

Climategate: CRU was but the tip of the iceberg: AT
'Scam!': Euro Parliament Member Rips Global Warming Fraud: Breitbart
Actually, Weather Is Climate: PJM

The AGW lies continue unabated: TAB

Media

Christiane Amanpour Gets Tortured With Enhanced Truth From Marc Theissen: RWN
The Revenge of the Brightest and Best: Power Line
Sell Me on Patrick Hughes: Ace

It's All About the Bagging: Texas Rainmaker
The Left’s Palinization of the Brown family: Malkin
One Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: BMW

Great News: Light-Skinned President With No Negro Dialect to Campaign for Harry Reid: Powers
Does Obama owe his presidency to a 'lying sack of crap'?: TAB
Tolerance: Scott Baio Gets Death Threats For Posting Unflattering Photo of Michelle O on Twitter: JWF

'The World Bids Farewell to Obama': JWF

World

The Three Stooges Meet Al Qaeda In "UNDIEGATE" : Wolf
Dennis Blair Slaps His Head and Exlaims "Duh!": SIGIS
Hugo Chavez: Circling the Drain: PJM

Administration Undercuts Afghanistan Security Effort: Riehl
Army recruiter assailant admits: yes, it was Jihad: TAB
Muslim Brotherhood Cleric versus Palestinian "President": A Case Study of Islamism versus Nationalism: RubRep

SciTech

Amazon vs. Apple: Good News for Writers?: PJM
Google sees fourth-quarter revenue, earnings rise: CNet
Can Microsoft Buy its Way Out of Irrelevancy?: Fool

Cornucopia

Kevin Smith reviews Jersey Shore: Time
He's Dead, Jim!: Ace

CABLE NEWS RACE
TUES. JAN. 19, 2010
ELECTION NIGHT

FOXNEWS HANNITY 6,809,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 6,399,000
FOXNEWS O’REILLY 5,228,000
FOXNEWS BECK 3,446,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 3,338,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 3,241,000
CNN KING 1,681,000
CNN COOPER 1,508,000
CNN BROWN 1,308,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,274,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,236,000
CNN BLITZER 1,135,000
CNNHN BEHAR 845,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 798,000


Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Financial Regulation Lie

Politicians in Washington keep telling us that it is the financial system that needs regulation.

What Washington won't tell you is that the greatest risk to our economic system lies not with Wall Street. It lies with the federal government's catastrophic debt -- and the wounded U.S. dollar -- inflicted upon us by the very same politicians scapegoating the financial services industry.

About half of the federal budget must be paid for by borrowing money from foreigners, primarily from China. This behavior has frightened global investors and severely weakened the dollar.

Last June, the Congressional Budget Office warned that the "federal budget is on an unsustainable path -- meaning that federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy... [and] Rising costs for health care and the aging of the U.S. population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly..."

"... Large budget deficits [will lead] to more borrowing from abroad and less domestic investment, which in turn would depress income growth... The accumulation of debt would seriously harm the economy. [Or] if spending grew as projected and taxes were raised in tandem, tax rates would have to reach levels never seen in the United States [95%]."

Yet the same federal bureaucrats who decry the financial system are themselves addicted to spending far beyond their means. But why would they care? They will be long gone by the time their bills will come due.

Dichotomy: outside the U.S., the "biggest story in the world economy is the continuing fall of the U.S. dollar" (Wall Street Journal); while inside the U.S., the mainstream media gleefully markets the proposition that that Congress' "Baucus Bill" is cost-neutral.

Even before the health care bill becomes law, $9.3 trillion of new deficit spending was added to the national debt. The Baucus Bill supposedly gets its cost neutrality by slashing Medicare ($400 billion) and raising taxes on health care insurance premiums (another $400 billion).

But the mainstream media forgot to tell you that even the CBO doesn't trust its own numbers! The head of the CBO wrote Baucus, telling him that -- if Congress failed to cut Medicare (highly likely, given seniors' voting habits) -- the new entitlement would add catastrophic new debt to the federal budget.

But even if the numbers were real, the illogical thinking is shocking. President Obama told us that passing health care reform was central to a healthy economy. The Democrats proclaim victory with supposed deficit neutrality while our current "unsustainable" deficit grows like a devastating form of cancer.

Instead of just starting with cuts to Medicare and adding insurance taxes -- thereby cutting the 10-year deficit by $1 trillion (including interest) -- the Democrats are attempting to nationalize 20% of the economy as a payoff to the SEIU bosses who contributed $27 million to Obama's 2008 campaign.

Helping a few million uninsured people get access to health insurance is a noble goal, but not at the expense of permanently destroying the United States economy. Adding entitlement programs while we can barely crawl out of the current deficit hole is suicidal behavior.

Washington must:

• Slash federal spending on needless programs
• Begin to raise the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security
• Starting offering optional, private savings accounts to young people to eventually replace the dying Medicare and Social Security programs

The Soros- and union-funded Democrats are so far out of touch with the principles of our founding that they represent a completely anti-American movement. John F. Kennedy -- he of the tax cuts and strong national defense -- would be as reviled in the modern Democrat Party as Joe Lieberman. It's up to Republicans to lead the way.



Based upon: Tony Blankley's "Washington Is Nuts" via Mark Levin.

Today's Word Jumbler



Enlightened: Our Friends the Saudis

Please don't feed the barbarians.

Saudi schoolgirl gets 90 lashes for cell phone: "A Saudi court has sentenced a 13-year-old Saudi schoolgirl to 90 lashes and two months in prison after she was caught with a mobile phone equipped with a camera. The girl, who has not been named, is sentenced to 90 lashed [sic] in her school in front of her classmates followed by two months in detention."

Raped Filipino Worker Faces Lashing after Miscarriage in Saudi Prison: "GMA News TV (Philippines) reported today [that] a Filipino worker who was raped in Saudi-Arabia this August and jailed for it... now faces lashing before being released... The form of Sharia law applied in Saudi Arabia sentences woman who have had sex out of wedlock – even in cases of rape – to prison and lashing."

The Saudi Lash: "Who, exactly, is it the misogyny-frenzied brutes in charge of administering 'justice' to the Saudi distaff side are protecting—and from what? When they condemn a woman who’s been gang-raped to 200 lashes for 'having sex outside marriage,' or give a destitute 75-year-old widow 40 lashes for engaging in 'prohibited mingling' by receiving charity from two young male relatives... what do they believe they are doing?"

Consequences be damned: Ryan says Democrats will try to jam socialized medicine through using reconciliation

The Corner reports that the Democrat powers-that-be remain committed to a kamikaze attack on the American people (hat tip: Hot Air).

...House Democrats are planning to use the budget-reconciliation process in order to pass Obamacare. “They’re meeting with each other this weekend to pursue it,” says Ryan. “I’ve spoken with many Democrats and the message is this: They’re not ready to give up. They’ve waited their entire adult lives for this moment and they aren’t ready to let 100,000 pesky votes in Massachusetts get in the way of fulfilling their destiny. They’ll look at every option and spend the next four or five days figuring it out.”

If the Democrats pass a health-care bill through reconciliation, it means they would need only 51 votes in the Senate for final passage. To start the process, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) would need to bring a new health-care bill to the House budget committee with reconciliation instructions, with the Senate doing the same. “They’d have to go back to the beginning of the process,” says Ryan. “They’d need to affix reconciliation instructions to a new bill.” Doing so, he says, wouldn’t be too hard. “There’s nothing we can do to stop this from a technical standpoint, since all they need is a simple majority vote and our ratio on the committee is terrible. What [Republicans] can do on the budget committee is pass resolutions for the Rules committee to insist on certain changes in the bill and create a ‘vote-a-rama’ atmosphere.”

For all the paeans Democrats have paid to bipartisanship since Brown's election, their real message for the American people is clear: swallow whatever the hell we want to shove down your throats.

If reconciliation happens, Ryan predicts that the Democrats will still have a hard time pulling it off. “There are Blue Dog Democrats out there who are more survivalist than ideologues. One or two switches could be a game changer. The question is whether Democrats will continue to follow Pelosi off the cliff. After Massachusetts, the Democrats are quickly realizing that even if the president comes in to stump, and you get all the union support you need, it’s still not enough to get you elected.”

Hot Air says Ryan's message is hard to square with a late-breaking AP report that says the chances of a health care bill passing are between slim and none.

Though reeling from a political body blow, House Democrats rejected the quickest fix to their health care dilemma Thursday and signaled that any agreement on President Barack Obama’s signature issue will come slowly, if at all... Democrats’ hopes of settling on a strategy by the weekend seemed to fade, as lawmakers struggled to comprehend the drawbacks of every option...

Some lawmakers said it will take time for congressional Democrats, who huddled repeatedly Thursday, to realize how limited their options are. “People are at various levels of the seven stages of grief,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.

Put simply: I'd trust Paul Ryan over the AP any day of the week. Come to think of it, I'd trust the wino in the 7-11 parking lot more than the AP.


Radio Silence: Air America Bankrupt -- I Blame Global Warming

The Hill offers an epitaph for the troubled radio network that could never get the ratings of, say, sonograms or airport radar.

Liberal radio network Air America has gone bankrupt and will cease live programming, the company told employees today.

"The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a 'perfect storm' in the media industry generally," Charlie Kireker, chair of Air America Media, wrote in a letter to employees.

Air America was founded in 2004 as a liberal response to conservative dominance of the radio airwaves. In five years it has served as a platform for a number of liberal talkers that have moved on to prominence, including now-Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.

Pointing to Franken and Madcow as "prominent" graduates of the Air America network is somewhat akin to claiming a thigh rash as a "prominent" anatomical feature.


American Prospect's Paul Waldman Engages in D-Bagging: Hilarity Ensues

Oh, criminy. I think I just wee-weed myself. Couldn't control the belly laughing and... accidentally let go. I couldn't help it! I was reading The American Prospect and...

The startlingly brilliant Paul Waldman -- writing at the ominously named TAPPED blog -- blames the loss in Massachusetts on Democrats not being socialist enough.

No, seriously.

While I go change, check this out:

Republicans have been working very hard to convince them that the teabaggers screaming about socialism represent more than a small minority of the country (they don't), and that the current voter discontentment doesn't really have much to do with the economy – which would mean that your average independent voter will still be determined to throw the bums out even after the economy recovers.

But that's not the wave Democrats should be worried about right now. The most important political event of this week wasn't Scott Brown's victory in the special election, it was the reaction of Democrats. They were caught totally unprepared, and as a consequence had no coordinated message to deliver about what it meant. Instead, one Democrat after another came to the cameras and acted as though the Republicans had just won not one, but 20 seats in the Senate, and were now in control. It was a parade of pathetic, cowardly losers, reinforcing every argument their opponents made and going out of their way to proclaim their surrender.

What the Democrats in Congress and the White House need to understand is that there is a wave of disgust spreading through their supporters that is so powerful, if they don't stop it soon, it will doom them.

...[These] people who had – and still have! – historic majorities in Congress, yet act as though they're powerless. If Democrats can't show their supporters that they have some spine, those supporters won't be supporters anymore. This fall, they will decline to vote in huge numbers, and a bad midterm election will become a catastrophe. This is a moment of real crisis for Democrats when it comes to their base of support. And I've seen precious little evidence that they realize it.

Democratic cowardice is an old story – not long ago, I wrote a whole book about how they might get past it. And for a while, it looked like they would. Congressional Democrats stood up for themselves, and won back control in 2006. Then the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008 ran a brilliant campaign. They seemed to grasp that it's not enough to have the right policies - you also need to demonstrate to the public that you are strong and principled. But now it's as if we've turned back the clock, and they've forgotten everything they seemed to learn in those years.

Full speed ahead, Democrats! The great and mighty Paul Waldman -- who apparently wrote a book once -- has spoken!

Stick to your principles, Democrats: ignore the taxpayers, demolish the Constitution, crush free enterprise and nationalize more industries! Tax, spend and tax some more!

Elections be damned! Republicans be damned! Paul Waldman knows best. And you, not being a book author-slash-Prospect blogger-slash-political genius -- are powerless to resist.


Hat tip: Texas Rainmaker.

Guess Who Calls the American People "Sour Swing Voters"?

Gee, I wonder what dinosaur media outlet these Politico reporters came from? Answer at the end of the post. Brian emails a question -- and an answer.

Can you guess how someone would have to vote for The Politico to refer to them as "sour swing voters"?

If you guessed "against Democrats," give yourself a big pat on the back. And then sit back and enjoy the hackery!

(I'm hammering @politico on Twitter over this transparent insult, and would encourage y'all to do the same!)

Ride, my minions: ride like the wind!


* Many of the key Politico hacks were rescued from the DC Titanic Washington Post.