Sunday, April 11, 2010

Al Gore AWOL as China's Pollution Eviscerates the Earth

While Al Gore tries to earn his second billion dollars perpetuating the warmal colding grift in the U.S., China's prolific polluters have somehow escaped his scrutiny.

Half a year ago, a chemical plant in Hunan Liuyang was shut down after a "cadmium pollution" incident began killing off plant life. The event received national attention. Reporter Fang Qianhua visited the site and filed a shocking report illustrating the ravaging effects on local agriculture.

July of this year my partner Yang Xiaohong and I went to Liuyang in Hunan province together to cover the incident of cadmium pollution.

Centered at Xianghe chemical factory which was the source of the cadmium pollution, the fields within 1.5 kilo-meter radius were seriously polluted with cadmium.

At the time, the amount of the cadmium content in majority of the villagers’ body seriously exceeded the standard level.

Some of them were very young babies. Apart from this, large tracts of contaminated farmland and crops were too horrible to look at.

Those once familiar fruits and vegetables in the field became grotesque and disfigured beyond recognition, making people feel nausea and fearful when looking at them.

November of this year I once again returned back to the polluted areas to investigate and found many farmland were deserted, rarely seen crops.

However after walked through many villages we could still see some remaining fruits and vegetables in the corners of the deserted fields.

Because they were never cleared away, after a few months of pollution they have become more deformed, more shocking.

In order to find crops suitable for the photo shoot, I went there 4 times to couple of the villages to look for those polluted vegetables. To me, these deformed and sick fruits and vegetables are like a group of special patients.

Al Gore, Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were unavailable for comment as they were jetting about the country drumming up support for increased Statism.


Fail in 90 Seconds: The Obama Economic Track Record

For your review, the Obama administration's economic track record in 90 seconds can be described as follows (I can also summarize it in one second, if necessary: "teh FAIL")...

 FAIL: The "HAMP" mortgage modification program, designed to save homeowners from foreclosure? Out of 651,000 "trial" modifications, zero (that's none) have turned into a permanent repayment plan.

 FAIL: The "Cash-for-Clunkers" program cost taxpayers between $20,000 and $45,000 per vehicle purchased.

 FAIL: The "Stimulus" program, which cost $787 billion and was rammed through Congress using the premise that, without it, unemployment would not pass 8%, has resulted in 10.2% unemployment and 17% "under-employment" (U-6). The tab will be paid for by your children and grandchildren.

 FAIL: The $60 billion bailout of GM and Chrysler -- abrogating bankruptcy law with payoffs to various union bosses -- is an utter and complete failure. The businesses are unsustainable without a massive restructuring, including dramatically retooling union contracts.

 FAIL: The bailout of AIG, orchestrated by the then-head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) Timothy F. Geithner, "wasted billions" of taxpayer money according to the inspector generator of the TARP program. The initial $85 billion rescue failed, forcing the Fed to pay above-market for the swaps it acquired. The result? "There is no question that the effect of the FRBNY's decision - indeed, the very design of the federal assistance to AIG - was that tens of billions of dollars of government money was funneled inexorably and directly to AIG's counterparties," according to the inspector general. In fact, the terms of the plan were so flawed that the Treasury Department had to dole out an additional $40 billion to AIG just weeks later. For his part in the debacle, FRBNY chairman Geithner was rewarded with a Secretary of the Treasury role by President Obama.

These are the economic qualifications of President Obama and his Congressional sycophants; the masterminds who are plotting their takeover of another one-sixth of the economy: socialized medicine. Come to think of it, those quals are even worse than the average Democrat president, though not by much.

Larwyn's Linx: Lindsey Graham, Schumer Set to Introduce Amnesty Bill

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

Lindsey Graham, Schumer Set to Introduce Amnesty Bill: GWP
Rancher’s killing stirs immigration debate: WashExam
Voicemails Expose Left’s Racism: Crowley

‘It’s the Constitution, Stupid’: Moran
Cuomo's Not a Lock: Riehl
'Spittlegate' and Its Consequences: Cashill

Economy

Debt Denial: DC
Recovery? Then why do things keep getting worse?: EOTAD
The Deadly Tax on Medical Innovation: PJM

The unsustainable federal income tax gap: Hot Air
Tax Day only bitter for the suckers who pay: Steyn
SEIU Refuses To Accept The Truth: LogMon

Obama: Interns for me but not for thee: Hot Air
Public-Sector Unionism Is a Bad Deal for America: FireEng
Projecting the Budget: ZH

Climate & Energy

Al Gore Protest at Duke University: Randy
UN may use 'ecocide' as crime like genocide; 'Could be used to prosecute climate deniers': Guardian (UK)

Media

Guess How Many People Pay To Read Local Newspapers With Paywalls?: Insider
Eternal Islamic Enmity toward the Jews: AT
That Was One Revealing Campaign Commercial: Riehl

'No One I’ve Met is Looking for a Handout': JWF
The Crisis by Thomas Paine: AmDigest
Unleashing my inner libertarian: AlterNet

World

A Plane Crash Changes Poland: AT
A Great Friend of the United States, Freedom, and the Jewish People: LegalIns
Palestinian Authority Celebrates Those Who Turned Christianity's Holiest Shrine into a Military Bunker: BRubin

Why Won’t Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) Come Clean about the Dar Al-Hijrah Fundraiser?: BigGovt
World more dangerous with Obama's nuke policy: WashExam

SciTech

Planned Parenthood opposes laws that make it a crime for people not to tell partners they have HIV: BlogProf
Are Robots Alive?: Discovery
Probe Of Apple-Google Hiring Collusion Gains Steam: Insider

Cornucopia

Why I own an M1 Garand Rifle: A Human Right
Cheaters Run on Overdrive: LA Times

Today's Larwyn's Linx Sponsored By: Halt the Assault

QOTD:

Yesterday brought an email from Nita Chaudhary of MoveOn.org, which is raising money for a new ad campaign: "Republicans are on a rampage to repeal health care. It's time to fight their misinformation with the truth. We're launching a big campaign to make sure voters know how health care reform will help them and put the Republican lies to rest."

This reminded us of another fund-raising email, from last December. It urged us to sign a petition: "America needs real health care reform--not a massive giveaway to the insurance companies. Senator Bernie Sanders and other progressives should block this bill until it's fixed."

That petition was from MoveOn.org! Of course, the bill was not "fixed." The Senate approved it on Christmas Eve, with Sanders voting "aye." It became law last month when the House followed suit... Now MoveOn is raising money to defend a law it called "a massive giveaway to the insurance companies." How dumb does it think its backers are? That was a rhetorical question, because apparently they are very dumb: As we write, the group claims to have raked in more than $183,000 from its latest pitch. -- James Taranto


Saturday, April 10, 2010

Photo Essay: Hitler learns that all of the copies of his bunker video weren't destroyed per his orders

Dammit, I'm gonna keep flogging this one until someone says it's funny!

I got carpal frickin' tunnel syndrome from all of the cutting and pasting, for heaven's sake!


New York: 90% Want Public Sector Union Workers to Forego Raises

Gee: is a 9-to-1 ratio statistically significant?

Nearly 90 percent of respondents to this week’s RBJ Daily Report Snap Poll say the state’s union workers should forgo 4 percent raises... Faced with a deficit of more than $9 billion and a late budget, [Gov.] Paterson asked union members who work for the state to forgo the raises, which took effect April 1... non-union state workers have gone without scheduled raises for the past two years.

The leaders of New York’s public employee unions rejected his call, saying Paterson has been unwilling to listen to union ideas for saving money—in particular, reducing the state’s hiring of private contractors... Unions represent more than 100,000 state employees. The 4 percent raise adds an estimated $400 million to New York’s annual payroll costs.

Prediction: New York's public sector unions will fight the taxpayer tooth-and-nail. In doing so, everyone will lose including the rank-and-file government worker.


Related

Set the Wayback Machine to 'Depression Era', Mr. Peabody!
New York's Unions Organize Circular Firing Squad
Poetic Justice: DemCare Will Erase Health Care Benefits for Million of Union Members Starting in Just Nine Months

Truth In Advertising: License Plate Edition


Related

Preview of Coming Attractions: EPA Imposes Death Sentences on Thousands of Americans
Tango: your future car if the EPA gets its way
New 2010 American Auto Models to Meet the EPA's 35 MPG Edict


Hat tip: TAG.

Bank for International Settlements: Brace for Impact

The adjective 'sobering' doesn't do the latest Bank for International Settlements (BIS) working paper (PDF) justice. The executive summary of the paper, which is entitled The future of public debt: prospects and implications, concludes with a recommendation that is certain not to be heeded by the current administration.

Our projections of public debt ratios lead us to conclude that the path pursued by fiscal authorities in a number of industrial countries is unsustainable. Drastic measures are necessary to check the rapid growth of current and future liabilities of governments...

Introduction

2008's historic financial meltdown led to industrialized countries taking on an unprecedented amount of public debt. According to the OECD, public sector debt will top 100% of GDP in 2011 for all industrialized countries. This level has never been seen during peacetime.

Worse, these projections ignore the "off-the-books" obligations -- Social Security and Medicare, for example -- which are many times the size of the documented debt. Given the aging of key demographics in these countries, "there is no definite and comprehensive account of the unfunded, contingent liabilities that governments currently have accumulated."

The current interest rate environment is, in historical terms, exceptionally low. The question BIS grapples with is a critical one: given governments' traditional unwillingness to implement tough frugality measures, when will investors begin demanding higher interest rates that correspond to the real risks associated with out-of-control spending?

When this occurs, the game is up. Higher interest rates to higher debt levels, which lead to higher interest rates, and so on. The question is when, not if, we enter that particular vortex.

The facts

The acceleration in accumulated public debt should be of tantamount concern, according to BIS.

A key fact emerging from the table is that over the past three years public debt has grown rapidly in countries where it had remained relatively low before the crisis. This group of countries includes not only the United States and the United Kingdom but also Spain and Ireland..

...overall fiscal balances have been deteriorating sharply – by 20–30 percentage points of GDP in just three years. And, unless action is taken almost immediately, there is little hope that these deficits will decline significantly in 2011. Even more worrying is the fact that most of the projected deficits are structural rather than cyclical in nature...

Table 1 points to a rather stunning fact: by 2011, U.S. public debt will have increased from 62% of GDP to 100% in just four years. When measured against the other countries in the table, the U.S. will move from seventh highest debt load to fourth, trailing only Japan, Italy and -- drum roll, please -- Greece.

Even more concerning is the fact that the fiscal policy of increased spending unhappily coincides with accelerating -- and unfunded -- spending tied to social programs for the elderly. In the case of the U.S., Social Security and Medicare represent huge expenditures that will increase dramatically as the baby boomer generation retires en masse.

Further compounding the problem is the rise in per capita health care costs in all industrialized countries -- including those with completely socialized delivery of medical services.

A 2007 study -- one of the few that attempted to estimate the total debt situation for seven major countries -- and determined, on average, that each country would have to improve their spending-to-revenue ratio by 4.5% of GDP to make good on their debts. The U.S. was far worse than average -- and, remember, this is 2005 data -- because it required a roughly 7% of GDP budget fix. In today's dollars, that would mean cutting about a trillion dollars in spending annually (or bringing in a trillion more revenue). The situation is far more dire today.

The future public debt trajectory

BIS also attempts to do 30-year projects for the debt/GDP ratio for a dozen major economies: Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

...in our baseline scenario, conventionally computed deficits will rise precipitously. Unless the stance of fiscal policy changes, or age-related spending is cut, by 2020 the primary deficit/GDP ratio will rise to 13% in Ireland; 8–10% in Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States; and 3–7% in Austria, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Portugal. Only in Italy do these policy settings keep the primary deficits relatively well contained – a consequence of the fact that the country entered the crisis with a nearly balanced budget and did not implement any real stimulus over the past several years.

...in the baseline scenario, debt/GDP ratios rise rapidly in the next decade, exceeding 300% of GDP in Japan; 200% in the United Kingdom; and 150% in Belgium, France, Ireland, Greece, Italy and the United States. And, as is clear from the slope of the line, without a change in policy, the path is unstable.

...Seeing that the status quo is untenable, countries are embarking on fiscal consolidation plans. In the United States, the aim is to bring the total federal budget deficit down from 11% to 4% of GDP by 2015... [but the] consolidations along the lines currently being discussed will not be sufficient to ensure that debt levels remain within reasonable bounds over the next several decades.

...An alternative to traditional spending cuts and revenue increases is to change the promises that are as yet unmet. Here, that means embarking on the politically treacherous task of cutting future age-related liabilities. With this possibility in mind, we construct a third scenario that combines gradual fiscal improvement with a freezing of age-related spending-to-GDP at the projected level for 2011. The blue line in Graph 4 shows the consequences of this draconian policy. Given its severity, the result is no surprise: what was a rising debt/GDP ratio reverses course and starts heading down in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. In several others, the policy yields a significant slowdown in debt accumulation. Interestingly, in France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States, even this policy is not sufficient to bring rising debt under control.

Given that, BIS asks the question: just what level of spending reductions would be necessary for these countries to achieve economic stability?

For the U.S., 8.1% of GDP must be either cut or found in revenue. In today's dollars, this represents roughly $1.2 trillion -- coincidentally, that's roughly the total amount of the Democrat Stimulus and Omnibus spending packages of 2009.

Each and every year, for the next five years, the U.S. must rein in spending by this amount. And the longer it is put off, the more painful it will be.

Worse still, BIS asserts that interest rates are certain to rise for all of these countries as investors demand higher risk premia. The implications are brutal: as higher amounts of public debt come due, ever larger percentages of an economy's production are dedicated to servicing debt.

The confluence of these factors imply increased taxes, which suppress the prospects for real economic growth. According to BIS, taxes crowd out productive private capital.

Not only that, but a vicious cycle soon emerges: "a persistent slowdown in the rate of economic growth."

The vortex of debt sucks the life from the private sector and reduces economic vigor and opportunity.

Conclusion

BIS offers several important takeaways:

• The fiscal problems facing the U.S. and other industrialized countries are far worse than they appear.

As frightening as it is to consider public debt increasing to more than 100% of GDP, an even greater danger arises from a rapidly ageing population. The related unfunded liabilities are large and growing, and should be a central part of today’s long-term fiscal planning.

Unfortunately, today's Democrats are ignoring the looming disaster and -- worse still -- ladling on a brand new and completely unaffordable entitlement.

• Second, the amount of debt that must be financed is outrageously high -- and interest rates are certain to rise as reality confronts bond investors.

• Third, the persistently high levels of debt will severely harm the private sector, which reduces the prospects for long-term growth and recovery. As the debt/GDP ratio approaches the 100% limit, economic instability becomes a distinct possibility.

• Long-term fiscal imbalances (spending far beyond one's means) "pose significant risk" to the entire monetary system. Rampant inflation -- perhaps even hyperinflation -- are possible outcomes as debt is monetized (money is printed to "purchase" the debt) or inflation is outright encouraged by a government that wishes to reduce its real outlays.

Sensible measures -- like raising minimum ages for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits -- are required in short order. The importance of the November elections -- and restoring fiscal sanity to the country -- can not be overstated.


Global Warming: Two Photos That Prove It's a Scam

Gee, that Arctic sea ice really seems to have thinned out over the last thirty years. Not.


Another warmist in the Arctic: GE sponsors 15-year-old on polar trip... Shortly after twice reporting a temperature of -34 C, he suggests that the ice is “falling apart” around him.

Parker Liautaud, 15 years old, is reporting on his progress skiing his way to the North Pole. He has made his goal to become the youngest person to ski to the North Pole, and to use that attempt to bring greater awareness to the urgent environmental issues of the arctic.

And more importantly for his purpose of letting the world see the ravages of global warming on the arctic - There was a lot of open water today. It really shows what’s been going on in the Arctic – it’s falling apart. Right now we’re camping on this patch of old ice, but all around us is open water, broken and thin ice. To our north there’s a massive pan of very thin ice. Everything is freshly frozen, if not open.


Twitter / Parker Liautaud: Temp -34, Windchill -42. W ... Temp -34, Windchill -42. We did about 11 Nm today, it was a really good day. We have about 35 Nm left, and about 5 before we’re half way. 3:00 PM Apr 4th via API [His previous tweet also reported a temperature of -34]

...I always like to encourage young minds in science, but this is just a glorified field trip with a guide. What a bunch of suckers GE is for paying for such an expedition.

The ice from Cryosphere Today looks better than 30 years ago.

GE is anything but a bunch of suckers, Anthony. They appear to be little more than crony capitalists, taking advantage of the new swing to Statism by the Democrats in power. They're doing so using nationalized health care and the environment, for starters.

And, in the case of global warming climate change, not only is it economically disastrous for the United States, the entire concept is a shameless scam designed to -- surprise! -- redistribute wealth.

The satellite photos tell us everything we need to know.


Hat tip: American Digest and TAB. Linked by: Tom Nelson. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: 'No such thing as a pro-life Democrat'

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

'No such thing as a pro-life Democrat': RWN
The GOP Prepares for War in New Orleans: Moran
Palin takes on Obama and Dems: Moran

The Pfleger-ization of the Catholic Church: Malkin
More Teabagger Death Threats: Protein Wisdom
Congress is derelict on Black Panther Case: Times

Economy

The Liberty to Achieve: AT
The End of Trust: Hanson
Greece: 6% Coupon For 3 Years?: Denninger

Bernanke: The Lies Continue: Denninger
Cali Budget Meltdown, Mega Housing Analysis Edition: DHB
CA Muni Bonds: Worse Than Kazakhstan: Mish

Climate & Energy

Weather Satellites: Al Gore is full of s***: TAB
Soylent Greenbacks: CBullitt
Meeting the EPA's decrees: RWN

Media

Sorry, Ladies: You're Destroying the Family!: Ameristroika
Howard Dean: The Bet's Off on Incumbency: AT
Abuse of Power? Change.org pushing Discovery to drop Palin's show: BlogProf

At the Movies with 'Queers for Palestine': Zombie
Best Quotes from Ann Coulter's 2009 Columns: RWN
Another Motherhood-Hating, Traditional Gender Role-Attacking, San Fran Liberal: RWN

In Exposing ACORN ‘Lies,’ Madcow Leaves Truth On Cutting Room Floor: BigJournalism
John McCain's no maverick -- but he is a sore loser: Salon
Canada's Coulter Conundrum: Free Speech: Steyn

World

If We Europeanize, Europe Is in Trouble: Goldberg
Tragedy Upon Tragedy As Polish Leadership Killed: LegalIns
Greek Debt Crisis Flares Anew: Times

The Naivety and Radicalism of Barack Obama Readily Seen in the START Treaty: Virtuous
'I’m Tired Of Hearing About The Holocaust': Maggie's Farm
Qatari flight scare diplomat on Qaeda visit: Maktoob

SciTech

PC Security Tips for Corporate Executives: eSecurity Planet
How to make a subtitled video of Hitler freaking out (Tutorial): YouTube
Adobe Flash evangelist: 'Go screw yourself Apple': CNet

Cornucopia

Obama Regime Appoints PitchingPrompter: Feed Your ADHD
Friday Stupid: Smoking Hot Celeb Chimes In On California’s Fiscal Woes: RWN

Today's Larwyn's Linx Sponsored By: St. Louis Tax Day Tea Party Event– April 15th in Clayton


Friday, April 09, 2010

Set the Wayback Machine to 'Depression Era', Mr. Peabody!

It's another Obama record!

With tax day fast approaching, it's worth discussing the current state of revenues in the United States. Last year, revenue collection hit a 60-year record low of 14.8 percent of GDP -- which was enough to pay for only 60% of what we spent...

Overall, the income tax is quite progressive -- the top fifth of earners pay over 90% of taxes and the top percentiles pays 36%. In 2009, these earners paid income taxes equal to 13% and 18% of their incomes, respectively. By comparison, the average effective income tax rate is 8%, and nearly half of all taxpayers had no (or negative) net income tax burden at all. Payroll taxes are far flatter, and in fact are regressive on the top-end since workers pay no Social Security payroll tax on income over $107,000.

Whether the tax code should be more or less progressive is an open question, depending what one believes to be the appropriate distribution of income and the extent to which they want to use the tax code (or public policy more generally) to get there.

Distributional issues aide, though, most experts believe the current code is in many ways broken. The complexity of the code makes tax preparation costly in terms of time and money; hundreds of deductions, credits, and exclusions narrow the tax base and distort behavior; and higher than necessary corporate and individual rates tend to discourage work and investment, while reducing international competitiveness. Meanwhile, we still have no solution for dealing with the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is "patched" each year so as not to hit middle-class earners. And at the end of 2010, all of the 2001/2003 tax cuts are scheduled to expire.

Of course, one way to achieve some level of fiscal sanity is to outlaw public sector unions; fire the EPA, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Education, the Department of Labor and a few other useless agencies; and downsize Congressional staffers to one apiece.

And there is only one fiscal roadmap I've seen that really seems achievable.