Monday, April 11, 2011

How Groupon Got Its Start: a Lesson for Entrepreneurs

Groupon, according to Forbes, is the fastest growing web company in history. Which, given the competition of Netscape, eBay, Yahoo, Google and Facebook, is nothing short of astounding. The company launched less than three years ago and its headcount has grown from seven employees to 3,000 around the world.

The idea man -- 30-year old Andrew Mason -- dropped out of grad school at the University of Chicago to tackle the project. But it's original intent had nothing to do with group buying. And therein lies the lesson.

While [working weekends as a programmer], he developed PolicyTree.org, a site that sought to simplify political debate about the Iraq war by presenting various policy perspectives in flow-chart form. This earned him a scholarship to the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy in 2006. A mere three months later, though, he dropped out when Mr. Lefkofsky offered him $1 million in angel capital to keep working on the site.

After struggling to cancel a cell phone contract later that year, Mr. Mason became interested in collective action. In an early interview with a tech blog, he attributes the basic Groupon concept to “an overactive sense of vengeance,” wondering, “What if we just got everyone on the web who had this problem to refuse to abide by (cell phone companies') terms and just basically stop paying their bill?”

Thus began ThePoint.com, a group-powered site whose goal was “solving all the world's unsolvable ideas.” In an oft-invoked story that demonstrates Mr. Mason's quirky personality, he initiated a campaign on the Point to raise $10 billion to enclose Chicago in a dome that would shield the city from cold weather. (The plan raised $250,000 in pledges, but because it fell short of it goal—or didn't “tip,” in Groupon parlance—no one actually ponied up.)

But Mr. Lefkofsky eventually began pressuring the Point to make money, and Mr. Mason noted that people were using the site to organize discounted group purchases. Groupon launched in November 2008...

This is a common theme for many successful companies.

Forced to execute a strategic shift midstream because of changing market conditions, they evaluate the current state of their laboratory. That evaluation asks a fundamental question: what do people like best about my current offering -- what do they use most, and why are they using it?

The laboratory approach -- if a company is in the right place at the right time -- allows multiple ideas to incubate, one of which could address an unmet need. Filling that need quickly requires excellent decision-making and execution, to be sure. In other words, good old fashioned management discipline.

But the germ of the idea is something that can only be validated in the lab environment, something that no amount of accounting and finance expertise can predict.


2012 Ad [Papa B]



Larwyn's Linx: It Ain't Bachmann Who's the Phony

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

Nation

Michele Bachmann is not a 'phony': RightScoop
Copious Quantities of Casuistry: OTB
CA legislators get CCW permits, little people out of luck: Bee

Key Gunrunner figure cooperating with Congress: Sipsey
TSA follies: See SPOT fail: Malkin
Confessions of the Oklahoma City Bomber: AT

Palin: There Is No True Debt Limit for Politicians: C4P
John McCain: Citizens Shouldn’t Interfere in Politics: Cato
The Student Loan Scam Revisited: Mish

Economy

You're kidding me, right?: Steyn
What a Joke: Hayek
We Must Think Beyond the $38 Billion: AT

Inflating Our Way to a Government-Controlled Economy: AT
California on the Razor's Edge: Hanson
Silver, Gold Prices Deliver Terrible News for America: AT

Climate & Energy

Don’t Forget: Rockstars At Eco-Tard Woodstock On Tax Day: CBullitt
Climate Morons To March On D.C. On April 18th, Confront “Climate Criminals”: RWN
Wind power being poisoned by massive government subsidies: BlogProf

Media

Progressives ponder why tea party is kicking their butts: Hot Air
Moonshine Mulshine of the Star-Ledger: Lord
Susannah Breslin on Blog Marketing and Hustle: AmPower

Schadenfreudedowd: Driscoll
The new, improved border fence (as seen by a liberal Berkeley professor): IHTM
Barack Obama: Recalling the Wild Praise of 2008: BRubin

A Well-Executed Con Job: Wehner
I Get Emails: It’s Those Billionaires Who Are The Real Enemies!: RWN
ABC's George Will: 'Ryan is 8 Years Younger Than Obama But Vastly More Experienced' With Budgets: HyScience

World

Palestine is Genocide: Sultan Knish
Hamas: How Dare That School Bus Take a Road IDF Uses: Jawa
A letter to progressive U.S. Jews: These are your people: Burston

Russia Wants That ‘Re-Set’ Button Connected to More Than Just the Relationship: Malkin
Westerners obsess over destruction of one book, ignore destruction of actual human lives: Creeping
Beijing police halt unapproved church service: MyWay

Responsibility to Protect: Belmont Club
Obama's Fort Hood Jihadist: AT (Geller)
Maher: Islam Only Religion That "Kills You When You Disagree With Them": RCP

SciTech

Huge Asteroid to Pass Near Earth in November: Instapundit
Sunday Book Thread: Donald Knuth: Ace
Sunday Discussion Question: Why Isn’t This Car in the U.S.?: FavStocks (Blumer)

Cornucopia

The H-Word: C&S
Meanwhile, the Diligent Fringe Keeps Digging: iOTW
This Week in Auto-Motivators: RWN

Image: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: MichelePAC needs your support!

QOTD: "The Republicans' concession makes it clear that:

* Obamacare will not be defunded.
* The EPA will not be blocked from regulating carbon.
* The NLRB will not be stopped from forcing an end to secret ballots in union contests.
* Medicaid will not be block granted and turned over to the states.
* Welfare spending will not be cut nor work requirements imposed.
* The FCC will not be stopped from regulating talk radio.

In short, we have accomplished nothing by our hard work in 2010.

Except we have learned a lesson.

And the lesson is this: We need to purify our party and purge it of the likes of John Boehner and all those Congressmen who vote for the budget sellout. The Tea Party must take the lead in this purifying fire. We must not let the RINOs win!" --Dick Morris

Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Painfully Obvious Need for Government Employment Benefit Reform

James M. Hohman, writing at Michigan Capitol Confidential, offers the best illustration yet of "The Obvious Need for Government Employment Benefit Reform."

Public-sector compensation has been a matter of intense public debate in Michigan. On one side are public-sector employees fighting to keep union privileges, and on the other are those trying to lower the cost of government. But as a simple matter of fiscal prudence, any spending item that increases at a faster rate than the means to pay for it needs to be explored. For state and local governments, there’s no bigger area that needs exploration than government employment benefits.

Average benefits per employee at state and local governments (including public schools) increased 34 percent from 2000 to 2010, adjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

In contrast, inflation-adjusted personal income fell 5 percent, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product fell 12 percent, and the inflation-adjusted pay, earnings, dividends, interest and rental income of Michigan residents fell 18 percent...

...Without a long look from policymakers, the state is resigning itself to unsustainable increases.

The average government employee earns benefits that are more expensive than the private-sector average. Bringing those in line with private-sector averages would save the state $5.7 billion.

Only the mathematical illiterates holding the reins of the Democrat Party think this sort of thing is sustainable.

Which is why they are as much an anachronism as the telegraph or the encyclopedia salesman.


Plouffe: Obama 'will not rest until he sees the long-term deficit reduced'

Okay, I'm paraphrasing.

"Later this week the president is going to speak about his approach to long-term deficit reduction," Plouffe said on CNN... "He's going to be clear about the type of deficit reduction we need in terms of dollar amounts, over what period of years..."

The White House advisor did not offer specifics of the president's plan, but he said that all options were on the table... "Obviously you've got to look everywhere; it's got to be a balanced approach. Every corner of the federal government has to be looked at here," he said.

Last week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) introduced the GOP's budget blueprint for fiscal 2012... The ambitious legislation, which has virtually no chance of being approved in the Senate, reduces 10 years of deficits by $1.649 trillion compared to the status quo, and balances the budget shortly before 2040.

Let me be the very first to predict that Obama's efforts at deficit reduction will be about as successful as a Nissan Versa's ability to stop the Sendai Tsunami.

The Democrat Party is the federal bureaucracy. Any attempts to slash the latter mortally wounds the former. And remember: the public sector union bosses spent tens of millions of dollars electing Obama in 2008.

And he's counting on the unions to pony up hundreds of million in 2012.

So there's as much chance of Obama slashing the size of government as there is Michael Moore begging off a second helping of mashed potatoes.


Update: An anonymized commenter wins our coveted Comment o' the Day Award.

This will be very predictable. Obama will spend all week looking at polling to determine what he can get away with saying. He will then stand up and make a speech, littered with references to himself, green energy, green jobs, and absolutely wild lies about the cost of Obamacare. He will claim he is the polar opposite of what he is. He will close by bashing the obstructionist and dangerous Republicans who want crazy things like smaller government and less spending.

He will have given no specifics. Then he will play some more golf.


Hat tip: Michelle Malkin. Linked by: Campaign Spot. Thanks!

Perfect: Arab League to ask U.N. for 'No Fly Zone' in Gaza as Hamas Uses Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Missiles on Israeli School Buses

Did you know that over the last several weeks, Hamas' bloodthirsty terrorists have launched dozens of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel including one that targeted a school bus with a laser-guided anti-tank weapon?

Arab League Chief Amr Moussa said the organisation will ask the UN to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza, which Israel has pounded with air strikes in response to rocket fire... "the Arab bloc in the United Nations has been directed to ask for the convention of the Security Council to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza and impose a no-fly zone."

Israeli and Palestinian officials were on Sunday floating a ceasefire to end fighting in the coastal strip where Israeli air strikes have killed at least 18 people since Thursday.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of an even stronger response if more rockets are fired from the Palestinian territory controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas.

The flare-up came after an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza hit an Israeli school bus on Thursday, wounding two people, one of them critically.

After the outcry, a spokesman for Hamas said that the terrorist attackers didn't realize the school-bus "carried children".

The true details behind the attack on the school-bus are outrageous.

The Kornet missile used by Hamas in the attack has a warhead capable of penetrating the armor of a modern tank. A school bus stood no chance against this advanced weapon. Though it hit the rear of the bus, it injured the driver and young passenger in the front. It was a miracle that the dozens of other children who had disembarked only minutes before were not killed, in what could have been the worst large-scale massacre of Israeli schoolchildren in years.

The targeting of the school bus constitutes a war crime, one that should be condemned by the international community. The attack on a civilian target was undoubtedly a deliberate act. In contrast to the usual mortar and rockets, which are low-tech weapons, an advanced and accurate Kornet missile was deployed. This laser-guided anti-tank missile always hits the specific objective chosen by its operator.

Curiously, news of the school-bus attack hasn't been widely reported by America's doddering dinosaur media, presumably because it further damages what remains of the president's shamble-ridden "legacy" in the Middle East. The executive summary of which will likely be "facilitating the rise of a new Caliphate."


Hat tip: Earl.

The United States is a 700-lb. man stuck in his bed

Mark Steyn likens America and its staggering debt to a man so obese he is dependent upon others to feed him and service his waste.

I always enjoy those stories that crop up periodically on the local news where some 700lb guy who can’t get out of bed needs to go to hospital and the fire department has to slice off the second-floor clapboards and framing to winch him out of there. When you’re 50lbs overweight, it’s worth laying off the pasta and desserts. When you’re 500lbs over, you just lie there and wait for someone else to keep the chow coming – the Chinese, Japanese, Saudis, Russians… Hey, what difference does it make? And if the bed sores get too bad the Beijing Fire Department will be there to saw the wall off and get you outta there. After all, it’s in their interest, right?

A Baltimore reader sent me his guide to crisis management in advanced democracies:

Phase 1) A crisis is coming. But we still have time. There’s no need to act yet.
Phase 2) Yes, a crisis is coming. But we still have time. There’s no need to act yet.
Phase 3) We’re out of time. There’s no reason to act, because it’s too late.


Much of the political establishment is officially in Phase Two – sure, this stuff is a problem but not until 2080, 2060, whenever – but substantively in Phase Three.

Tyler Durden illustrates the issue with what he describes "the only charts that matter".

The federal budget is seriously, seriously out-of-whack.

The debt ceiling will be breached in the next month or two.

And, ominously, "for the purists, ... another chart, this time showing the continuing persistent deterioration in the budget due to mandatory spending. The question is where, absent someone discovering teleportation or some other revolutionary technological invention, will the paradigm technological step up allowing for a surge in revenues, come from."

And these are the important deadlines for the fiscal battles yet to come.

Does the House leadership possess the mettle to save America from fiscal calamity? Or will it allow the country to die, stuck in its chair, as it negotiates fiscal trivialities?


Larwyn's Linx: Boehner's Bargain: Conservative Victory?

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

Nation

Boehner's Bargain: Conservative Victory?: RSM
It's No Deal, It's a Sellout: Morris
A Good First Step; FY2012, Here We Come: Ace

The GOP did just fine: Lifson
Thomas Lifson Is Wrong On Boehner's Deal: Riehl
Budget: Tea Partiers Should Stop Whining and Learn Politics: RWN

Saturday Night Card Game: LegalIns
On the Budget Deal: Inadequate: Virtuous
The Aftermath: Booman

Economy

Fed subsidies equal $932 per abortion: Surber
Pathetic: Kimball
Actually, the budget cuts are enough: Tatler

Inside the biggest GAO scandal you never heard about: Exam
NLRB Hit with FOIA Requests over Google Ads: BigGovt
When Will Fed-Created Melt-Up Turn Into a Meltdown?: Minyan

Climate & Energy

EPA's days as 'rogue agency' are numbered: Tapscott
I Blame Global Warming: Coolest March since 1994: BlogProf
Climate “Scientists:” Did We Say Ice Free In 2013? We Meant 2016. Our Bad!: RWN

Media

It is the House of the Great Contempt: Driscoll
The Right’s Missing Organizational Machinery: Stranahan
Mark Levin Talks Budget Deal: Cavuto

Is the president off his meds?: Surber
Here’s a quote that resonates with me today: RWN
Fundamental Transformation? Andy Stern Speaks Out Against Checks and Balances: Blaze

Not So Much in the News: Our 'Bizarro World Military Operation' in Libya: NB
Distracted President: I Only Play Golf So Much Because I'm Virtually a Prisoner In Service of You: Ace
Matthews dotes on Obama's 'winning', 'little boy smile': Breitbart

World

Egypt Failure Update: Riots in Tahrir Square: Ameristroika
Good News: Obama Regime Spending $20M in Taxpayer Money to Remake Sesame Street In Pakistan: WZ
'Islamophobia' hearings shaped by radical Palestinian: WND

61 Arrested At Paris Rally Against French Full-Face Veil Ban: WZ
Kickass Open Letter to the World: iOTW
One Million Israelis in Bomb Shelters as 75 Bombs Rain Down: Where is the Outrage?: Uncov

As Iran Goes Nuclear, U.S. Does Nothing: IBD
I Can Spend a Lifetime Trying To Figure Out Progressives: iOTW
President of Former Muslims United Tangles With Democrat Over Muslim Hate: WZ

SciTech

In praise of failure: Wired
Flying quadrocopters herald rise of the machines : SMH
AT&T/T-Mobile merger to get Senate hearing: MacWorld

Cornucopia

What if Moses had Facebook?: Aish
Obama Says...: DittoRush
Bureaucracy Is a State of Mind: MfrTech

Image: Sad Hill News ("Sad Hill News has 'Near Miss'")
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Still looking for Marizela

QOTD: "A caller to my Westwood One show said Nancy Pelosi... is a Bond villain who should be named 'Pelosi Galore'... Nancy Pelosi is thicker than a Charlie Sheen pre-nup. That woman is bats*** crazy -- I guarantee you that woman sleeps upside down." --Dennis Miller

Saturday, April 09, 2011

Attention John Boehner and Eric Cantor: Moreballstra™ Can Help!



Debt Jumped $54 Billion in 8 Days Leading Up to the 'Historic' Obama-Boehner Budget Deal That Cut $38 Billion

To illustrate just how unserious last night's budget deal was, consider that the debt climbed more in the last eight days than the entire amount of the extreme 2011 cuts ("extreme" is the word the Democrat Caucus told me to use).

The federal debt increased $54.1 billion in the eight days preceding the deal made by President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio) to cut $38.5 billion in federal spending for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, which runs through September.

That's right: even crediting the $38 billion in cuts, the deficit increased more than $15 billion over the last eight days.


Genius!

And what goodies did the Republicans get for their courageous bluster?

Democrats knocked off most of the controversial policy riders that House Republicans had included in H.R. 1, the package of spending cuts that passed in February, including one on funding Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion services.

"We also prevented this important debate from being overtaken by politics and unrelated disagreements on social issues," the president said in his morning address.

Republicans, however, won the inclusion of a rider to expand the District of Columbia’s school voucher program and to authorize a Government Accountability Office study of a financial oversight board established by the Wall Street reform bill.

That's right: they didn't de-fund Obamacare. They didn't get a straight up vote on reducing the EPA's power. They didn't de-fund Planned Parenthood.


Oh: but they did get school vouchers in the District of Columbia.

Winning!


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Michele Bachmann: GOP Old Guard Suffering From Embarrassing Case of Testicular Shrinkage

Just received a personal email* from Michele Bachmann expressing disappointment and consternation regarding the pathetic budget deal agreed to by the doddering GOP old guard.

Early this morning, I joined with 27 other Republicans in opposition to the continuing resolution brokered by President Obama and Congressional leaders. While millions of Americans expect Congress to make significant efforts to address our nation's fiscal problems, the deal that was made leaves us with a paltry $36 billion in cuts and fails to defund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood...

...This continuing resolution is a disappointment and ignores the mandate given to us by voters in November. Keeping in line with my promises, I will continue to oppose any continuing resolution or budget plan that does not defund Obamacare or make significant cuts in government spending, and I will not yield in this effort.

Good for you, Michele. We have your back.

Mark Levin asked the question last night (MP3): how in the hell are the Republicans going to stand up to the lunatic left on the issue of raising the debt ceiling -- or the 2012 Ryan budget -- if they can't even follow through on their promises to cut $100 billion from the current budget by shutting down part of the enormous federal government for a few days?

I have an adjective to describe these pathetic old bulls in the Republican Party: sackless.

And I have a message for them: we are going to overwhelm the legacy Republican Party with Constitutional conservatives (note: not "Tea Party extremists" like the Democrat caucus has instructed you to say) in 2012 and kick your asses out of the House leadership positions.

You act like back-benchers; therefore, you will be transformed into back-benchers.

And another thing: Michele Bachmann** has more guts in her left pinky than all of you have combined.


Update: Allen West for Speaker of the House, Michele Bachmann for President.


* As did a few hundred thousand other folks.
**: You can support MichelePAC here.

Critical Medical Update

Papa B sends us this critical medical update.

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Heart only good for so many beats, and that it... Don't waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speed up heart not make live longer; that like say you can extend life of car by driving faster. Want live longer? Take nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does cow eat? Hay and corn. What are these? Vegetables. So, steak nothing more than efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef also good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And pork chop give 100% recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine. That means they take water out of fruity bit; get even more goodness that way. Beer also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: If you have body and you have fat, ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Cannot think of single one, sorry. My philosophy: No Pain... GOOD!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU NOT LISTEN!!! Foods fried in vegetable oil. How getting more vegetables bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only do sit-ups if want bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: You crazy? HELLO... Cocoa bean! Vegetable!!! Cocoa bean best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming good for figure, explain whale.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

and...

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies:

1. The Japanese eat very little fat
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

Executive Summary


Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.


Larwyn's Linx: Shutdown Averted! Historic Spending Cuts?

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

Nation

Shutdown Averted! Historic Spending Cuts?: AnBlkCon
Not a Big Enough Fight: Bachmann
Thaddeus McCotter Gets the Led Out on House Floor: Malkin

Obama lectures Americans about 'living within our means': GWP
Louise Slaughter Escalates the Projection: MB
Dem Jim Moran tells Vet 'Sit Down or Leave!': Fox

Economy

Ryan Says Democrats Flee 'Adult Conversation' on Budget: Mattera
Too many bureaucrats who are paid too much: Mish
Gov’t Union Chief Says Working for Gov’t is Like ‘Slavery’: RWN

Mexican Trucks Inch Closer to U.S. Highways: BMW
The Basic Truth Behind The Scenes On The Budget: RWN
NLRB rejects Hyatt's secret ballot challenge to union: Exam

Thank You Wisconsin Voters!: Bruce
Boehner Wins: Historic Spending Cuts, No Shutdown: Events
Would You Buy a New Car From This Man?: Taranto

Climate & Energy

Climate Morons Discuss Mounting Primary Challenges And Collecting Scalps: RWN
The Obama-Gaia Energy Partnership: PJM
Wind Power: It’s Even More Useless Than You Thought: RWN

Media

War Is No Excuse For Forgetting One's Manners by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC): IowaHawk
Ezra Klein: A dead child is a cheap child: LibertyP
The Detroit Free Press has a fever, and the only prescription is more mass transit!: BlogProf

The Descent of Evil Over America: NoisyRoom
Sen. Grassley: "A government . . . which acts above the law, undermines the rule of law." : Sipsey
'Islamophobia' hearings shaped by radical Palestinian: WND

World

I Choose Freedom: Zilla
Losing in Libya?: RSM
Does the new DNC chair follow the J Street line? Um, no.: JRubin

The Limits of Forgiveness: JoshuaPundit
Dispatch: China's First Aircraft Carrier: Stratfor
Sen. Kirk questions Sec. of the Treasury Timothy Geithner: Senate Appropriations Subcommittee

Turkey plans to violate Israeli land, sea, airspace: Jawa
Newspaper yanks ad after Muslims complain about strapless women pictured with conquered site: Creeping
Muslim Father Slits Daughters Throat 28 Times To ‘Uphold Family Honor’: BigPeace

SciTech

Here's an Unlike.ly Tale: Gadhafi Does Swimming.ly on the Internet: WSJ
Flash use dips at top Web sites since November: CNet
"Yes, Social Media Does Pay Off," A New Report Says: Insider

Google Registers A Bunch Of Music And Cloud Related Domain Names: Crunch
The History of Web Browsers Infographic: Minyanville
BlackBerry confusion surrounds looming shutdown: CNN

Cornucopia

Doswell Family Chosen to be “Sad” Photo Prop for Government Shutdown : Doswell
Fortifying Yourself And Your Home Against Crime: Martenson
Shopping Helps Keep Old People Alive Longer: Study: Consumerist

Image: Last Kiss, Inc. via iOwnTheWorld.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help MichelePAC Elect Conservatives to Congress

QOTD: "Clearly, [Mitt] Romney’s got to do something to shore up his support among segregationists, or this could spell serious trouble for him in the crucial Mississippi presidential primary." --Robert Stacy McCain

Friday, April 08, 2011

Newsreel 2012

Universal International News, in conjunction with the Obama administration, presents Government Newsreel number 903.

Under cover of darkness, GM's top secret new vehicle -- the 2012 Buick Bureaucrat -- arrives at the New York Auto Show. Powered entirely by green energy sources, this beautiful head-turner hits a top speed of 200 feet per minute. With wind-powered air-conditioning standard, nothing says luxury like a Bureaucrat!

Not to be outdone, Chrysler's luxurious Dodge Deficit offers a unique eight-door design, which means your entire family will arrive in style at the soup kitchen.

Good news at the National Healthcare Service: President Obama has promised to airlift hundreds of doctors from Cuba later this month to address the long lines in hospitals. Government officials have also promised to address a few scattered complaints that undocumented citizens are receiving priority access to health care.

And more positive news on the economic front: the rate of unemployment increases has slowed, moving from 17.1% to 17.4%, a tenth-of-a-percent less than analysts had predicted! Proof positive that QE Nine is working!

As for financing the $45 trillion national debt, great progress this week as leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China have agreed to meet next month in Beijing. Topic one will be answering President Obama's request to buy $12 trillion in new debt.

Blackouts continue to plague the industrial Northeast as wind production farms have missed their quotas for the third month in a row. The Department of Energy promises to find new green energy sources by 2013 that should help alleviate the troublesome outages.

The velvet cloak of night did not stop President Obama from introducing his new volunteer corp uniforms. The new cadre combines elements of ACORN, Organizing for America, Change.gov, the SEIU and Americorps into a single, cohesive unit! First job on the list: internal national security to ensure safety for all Americans!

Lastly, a well-deserved comeuppance for hate-speech specialists Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds. The right-wing extremists were convicted last week of 800 counts of inciting hatred and violating FTC blogging rules; their punishment: 20 years in Leavenworth. Hate-mongers beware: expect internal security forces to be knocking on your doors shortly!

Join us next week for more approved news stories, only from Universal International News, the patriotic channel!

Good News: Dallas Fed Chief Says U.S. in 'Budgetary Death Spiral'

Earlier today, Dallas Federal Reserve Chief Richard W. Fisher had some blunt words for the Democrats in Washington. Put in terms even a liberal can understand: without dramatic budget cuts, this country is headed for a complete economic collapse.

Think Road Warrior without the amenities.

There cannot be robust direct investment in the United States without confidence in the nation’s ability to reverse its budgetary death spiral, especially the inexorable accumulation of national debt and unfunded liabilities of Medicare and Social Security. [Ed: Oh, you mean the programs Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and the execrable Kris Van Hollen are trying to destroy?]

...The need to break the back of that spiral is as dire now as was the need for Paul Volcker to break the back of inflation in the 1980s. Those who are leading the charge to restore fiscal sanity, be they Republican or Democrat [Ed: Democrat? Sir, where is a Democrat arguing for 'fiscal sanity? Show me just one!] , will no doubt recall the personal vitriol hurled at the then-Fed chairman; they should steel themselves against it. They should remember that, as a result of his steadfast determination to press on with exorcising inflation, Mr. Volcker is today among the most respected living Americans and widely considered an exemplar for public servants worldwide.

The lying, scheming, demagoguing Democrats could care less about America's future. Their craven lust for power dominates any concern for America's economic future, for our troops, or for anything that can help strengthen America.

Too harsh, you say? I beg to differ. Consider the counsel from Obama's former top economic adviser: Christina Romer: A Weaker Dollar Is Good For America.

With unemployment still near 9% and the "real" unemployment rate at 15.7%, "we can't afford not to do more," Romer [says]. It's a "mistake" for the Fed to end QE2 in June as planned, Romer continues. "The evidence is it's been very effective. I don't understand why we'd be dialing back that tool."

Despite the recent rise in Treasury rates, QE has been effective at lowering long-term rates, she says, citing academic research such as a new report from the NY Fed entitled: Large-Scale Asset Purchases Were Effective at Lowering Borrowing Rates.

Lower rates encourage corporations to make investments and individuals to borrow, "which tends to encourage spending which puts people back to work," Romer says.

More controversially, Romer lauds QE for helping to weaken the dollar. A weaker dollar makes U.S. goods more competitive overseas, boosting exports and GDP growth, and ultimately hiring. While that's true, she seems to overlook the impact a weak dollar has on ordinary Americans in terms of falling buying power and punishment for savers and those living on fixed-incomes.

Gee, ya think?

Romer's counsel is the kind of sage advice that helps guide the destructive policies of the Left.

The charts above help us compare the costs of silver, gold, oil, gas and food, respectively, over the last two years or more.

Since Barack Obama took office, the policy of quantitative easing (or, as I like to call it, Xeroxing Currency) has helped the price of key commodities skyrocket. While our delightful bureaucrats in Washington insist that inflation "is under control", a quick drive to the gas station helps us refute that propaganda.

Americans' costs for energy and everything it helps produce and move -- most importantly, food -- is dramatically increasing. This hidden tax on seniors, "the poor" and "the middle class" is the direct result of Barack Obama's policies of record-setting deficit spending and restricting our access to energy.

And the pain has only just begun. Remember in 2012.


As shutdown looms, President Obama could pay the troops with a stroke of a pen, just as Reagan and Clinton did. But he won't.

President Obama appears far more concerned with paying welfare recipients -- who receive checks during a federal shutdown -- than with our warriors serving around the globe. Because Obama is going to withhold military pay during the shutdown, something that neither Presidents Reagan or Clinton permitted.

During the last government shutdown, in 1995, troops continued to receive their paychecks...

...During the 1995 shutdown, the Clinton Administration followed the OMB guidance issued during the Reagan Administration. The Obama Administration, it seems, is tacking a different direction.

Let me be clear, the guidelines proposing to hold military paychecks are, according to the news reports, draft guidelines. It is possible the Obama Administration has abandoned these punitive guidelines. And, even if they implemented these guidelines, military personnel would most likely eventually receive their pay, once a budget agreement is reached. But, why even change the policy and subject our military to partisan political battles?

Why?

Because Barack Obama is a creature of politics, not leadership.

The President is withholding pay for our military while ensuring welfare recipients get their checks on time. Which is all you need to know.


Larwyn's Linx: The Democrats' Shameful Rhetoric

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

Nation

The Democrats' Shameful Rhetoric: AT
DeMint: Dems want shutdown to distract from their failures: Cubachi
With Shutdown Looming, Obama Plans Weekend Getaway: GWP

Bombshell in WI as race swings to Prosser: Malkin
Declaring Victory: Ace
What Wisconsin's Judicial Election Means: AT

ACORN Guilty Again; Obama DOJ Still Won’t Investigate: JW
Bachmann to donate pay to military during shutdown: Freddoso
'Justice Kagan's First Dissent': Althouse

Economy

Attack of the Cash Register: Belmont
Nancy Pelosi’s ‘Starving Seniors’ Math Just a Little Off: Malkin
Am I making something of nothing or is this outrageous?: Bookworm

Illegal Aliens: Swamping America's Welfare System: RWN
Senate, Obama to Blame for Partial Fed Shutdown: Foundry
Obama buddy and union hack Trumka insists he's 'winning': WZ

Climate & Energy

Obama: Get Used to High Gas Prices: Instapundit
Obama: If You're Not Rich, You're S.O.L.: Line
Obama promised higher energy costs. He wasn't kidding: Tapscott

The California Green Debauch: Gilder
Obama On Gas Prices: Let ‘Em Eat Cake: Hayride
GOP Rejects Dem’s Global Warming Junk Science Bill: GWP

Media

Left Wing Media Matters Claims Vote Fraud Charges in WI Baseless--When They Thought Dem Won: VARight
Ann Barnhardt, Culture Hero: Kimball
Unexpected Racists: Blacks, Hispanics Less Supportive Of Obama: Ace

NY Times Notices That Using Food As Fuel Is Not The Best Of Ideas: RWN
Michele Bachmann: “I Think I Got President Obama’s Fortune Cookie Tonight”: GWP
Race Hustler: Budget Battle is American Civil War All Over Again: WZ

The Greatest Press Conference of All Time: Hot Air
ABC Locates Victims of Shutdown That Hasn't Happened Yet, Pleases President Obama: MRC
Levin blasts Obama for not funding troops: RightScoop

World

Hamas Is Moving Toward War With Israel: BRubin
Does America Have a De Facto State Religion?: Driscoll
Janet Napolitano: Borders Are Safe So Just Ignore Mass Graves Found In Mexico, Near The Border: SHN

Ahmadinejad: ‘A Mideast Without Israel and America Now Possible’: PJM
Mission Creep in Libya -- It Has Begun: RWN
Historic Day: Israel’s Iron Dome Defense System Intercepts Gaza Terror Rockets: GWP

Group Says Spies Have Found Secret Iranian Nuclear Facility: Dollard
GOP Freshmen Senators Led By Marco Rubio Pledge Support For Israel: WZ
Geert Wilders’ PVV Party Announces Fitna 2 Will Be About “The Barbaric Life And Sick Mind Of Mohammed”: WZ

SciTech

Law Firms Under Siege: DarkReading
Review: 2011 Chevrolet Volt: Autoblog
Real Life And Antibiotic Resistance: RWN

Cornucopia

Trump: I Have Investigators in Hawaii…’They Cannot Believe What They’re Finding’: BIN
Displace-Tra Can Help: Ingraham
Breaking: Obama 2012 Campaign Poster!: RWN

Image: Ace o' Spades
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Drop a dime on MichelePAC


QOTD: "Democrats are going out of their way to hurt our military... with the stroke of a pen, President Obama could ensure that America's warriors are paid during a government shutdown. Reagan did it. Clinton did it. Obama won't do it." --Mark Levin (MP3)

Thursday, April 07, 2011

'What I did for summer, fall, winter, and spring vacation'

Via Sad Hill News, remember when President Obama observed that "it would be so much easier to be the president of China".

Really?

President Obama also found time to hit the links as the massive disaster unfolded in Japan, so it's not fair to say he's unfocused.

His daily calendar proves it.


Is this the calendar of a man concerned with the budget, the shutdown of the government, our troops, unemployment or high gas prices?

Is this the calendar of a man concerned with anything other than enjoying the perquisites of office? Oh -- and I'm not cherry-picking. I went back, day by day, through this week and the week prior.









Does the Obama daily calendar strike you as representing a man concerned with unemployment? Or the budget shutdown and its impact on the troops? Or the yawning budget deficit? Our our bleeding borders and a nascent civil war in Mexico?

His own calendar paints Obama as a lazy ideologue, one concerned more with campaigning, enjoying the trappings of office, and demagoguing his political opponents.

Oh.

Right.


Update: FAA sets up no-fly zone for Obama's planned trip to Williamsburg.

The even newer Obama 2012 banner ads are here!