Sunday, April 24, 2011

Those Nefarious and Evil Oil Speculators

As President Obama launches faux investigations of oil price-fixing (helpful tip for Democrats: pricing is dictated by a phenomenon called 'supply-and-demand', an economic principle that has guided pricing since the dawn of human trading activity), his Chavez-like rhetoric has targeted greedy "speculators".

It turns out that in this matter, like so many others, the President must ignore facts, logic and reason. Because national oil companies control nearly 95% of all petroleum reserves.

It is easy to show that Obama's attack on the oil companies is baseless. To begin with, what do "subsidies" have to do with high gas prices? I assume that by "subsidies" Obama means that there is still some oil company income that the government doesn't tax. But the effect of a tax break is to lower prices, not raise them. On the other hand, the government does raise the price of gasoline, very significantly, by levying massive taxes on gasoline at both the federal and state levels. In fact, the government profits much more from the money you pay at the pump than any American oil company does...

Many people do not realize that the American oil companies are relatively minor producers on the international scene. Because of our restrictive drilling policies, they do not have access to substantial quantities of oil in the ground. They are major refiners, but relatively small producers of crude oil. The largest American oil company, Exxon-Mobil, barely registers in terms of control over supplies of crude oil...

...It is too bad that demagoguery isn't a useful product. If it were, the Obama administration could add materially to our GDP.

That's a hell of a good point.

The kind of horses*** this administration manufactures would prove exceedingly useful in promoting organic gardening, like FLOTUS' "health eatin' garden" at the White House.


Larwyn's Linx: The Constitutional politics of the TEA Party movement

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 Constitutional politics of the TEA Party movement: ProWis
Obama Visits the S(lush) F(und) Bay Area: Zombie
Your daily dose of Allen West awesomeness: WZ

Obama driving brutal work schedule: WZ
Hollywood Calls for 5 and 1/2 More Years of Obama: Malkin
Obama Charms Left Coast: Politico

The Europeanization of America: GoV
MI Jury finds that Muslims can't control themselves: Patterico
Dear Rolling Stone: RSM

Economy

Obama's Policies Driving the Speculators He Rails Against: Ace
Dollar's Decline Speeds Up, With Risks for U.S.: WSJ
California’s Bond Rating Equals F-Minus Grade: Cal Watchdog

Left Upset Ryan’s Budget Plan Not Raising America’s Ire: RWN
It's Now Illegal to Relocate to a Business-Friendly State: Bruce
Welfare handouts aren't fair – and the public knows it: Telegraph

Climate & Energy

Brilliant! Smartest President Ever Claims That Eliminating Fuel Subsidies Will Lower Gas Prices: GWP
$6.00 A Gallon. Count On It.: Ace
Just in Time for Earth Day, Washington State Sucker-Punches Electric Car Buyers: Driscoll

The Chinese Role Model Collapses on the Progressives: AT
Earth Day or Green Indoctrination Day?: NewAm
“Don’t Talk To Someone Who’s Not Even A Climate Scientist”: RWN

Media

The MSM and The Narrative Style: Driscoll
Andrew Sullivan Gets Punked: Ace
Hilarious! Howard Fineman Blames Republicans For Obama’s Plummeting Poll Numbers: GWP

The heckler’s veto: variations on a theme: ProWis
Beck to Huck: “If you are this thin-skinned it might be best to stay on the sidelines with Michelle Obama”: WZ
Guest Post: Our Only Hope - You: ZH

Has Ryan Really Ruled Out Running?: Ace
The First Birthers Were Progressive Democrats: BigGovt
As Even More Protesters Are Killed In Syria, Washington Post Calls US Inaction Shameful: RWN

Over 50% of Dems Believe Bush Was Involved in Carrying out 9/11: WZ
Hateful Atrocity as Transvestite Beaten by Christian Fundamentalists. Oh, Wait …: RSM
Interview with Doug Ross: PunditPress

World

The Globalists’ Takeover of Argentina is a Blueprint for America: NoisyRoom
Happy Easter Commie Style: Chinese Police Detain ‘Illegal Church’ Members: WZ
Why is China spending billions in the Caribbean?: GlobalPost

John McCain Has a Lot To Answer For on Libya: PJM
Syria firing on funerals/protests: RedState
We’re doing what, now? Buying our warplanes from Brazil?: RWN

SciTech

NASA's Wondrous Views of Earth: CNet
Why You Should Care About the iPhone Location-Tracking Issue: Wired
A Simple Weight-Loss Plan That Worked: Instapundit

Cornucopia

Happy Easter!: WZ
Going to New York? Watch out for Mormon Terrorists!!: Cube
TSA Airport Screener Charged With Distributing Child Porn: WZ

Image: Wired
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Yes, We're Still Looking for Marizela

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Alex Merk: U.S. Is 'Headed for a Fiscal Train-Wreck'

The invaluable Chris Martenson interviewed Axel Merk last week and was kind enough to post the transcript. The latter is president of Merk Investments, which operates a handful of mutual funds specializing in currency arbitrage.

Merk's statements -- while not altogether surprising -- should send shivers down the spine of any American concerned with this country's future.

...One of the things [Bernanke] has said is that one of the great mistakes during the great depression was to tighten too early, and as a result we deepened then the great depression or had the second leg downward and so he does not want to do that and he wants to err on the side of inflation...

...Right now, I have been arguing that the Fed can get away with murder. And what I mean by that is that because this money does not really stick anywhere. All this money printing – yes, it shows up in the excess reserves in the banking system but not all of it causes significant inflation. We see it in food and in energy but it takes a while for it to trickle through...

...we have Bernanke who has explicitly stated last August in his Jackson Hole speech, he wants to have inflation move higher, and then he was upset that the market did not endorse him and he started QE2. He wants inflation expectations to move higher. He needs to have the price level more higher so that people are bailed out from their mortgages who are underwater. And in the early 80’s when Volker said he was going to contain inflation, people did not take him seriously and it took a while. Well now, Bernanke says he wants high inflation; it is the same thing happening all over. The market did not take him seriously and by all means we will get higher inflation and at some point the markets will realize Bernanke was dead serious.

...of course we have seen inflation in food and energy go up... In the rest of the world where we have exported our policies, we gets riots, revolutions and other things happening because the citizens are more disgruntled and you can oppress your people but if you do not feed them, they will start a revolution.

...in the short term we see Japan has for example: a very high budget deficit, a huge amount of debt, those numbers are not very relevant in the short term. But what matters a great deal is the sustainability of the deficit, and in the US the math simply does not work. And if anybody who looks at those numbers knows we are heading towards a fiscal train wreck. Now politicians know that as well - some of them still think that you can tax the rich and be able to somehow solve these problems. It simply does not work with the math. And so what we have to do is we have to tackle entitlements. We have to tell people that they have to work longer and by the way when social security was first introduced, it was set at above the average life expectancy age, we have to have people have skin in the game in healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid...

...as far as the dollar is concerned, it is that sustainability of the deficit that people are concerned about and we still have time, but the time is going to run out within a few years.

...think about what would happen if we were to raise rates to 4-5% and indeed countries like Portugal, they scream for help from the European union because their cost of borrowing was going to something like 5% and it has gone beyond that since. But still 5% is not that high, at the same time if you look at the municipal bond market in the US, some people are saying well, the interest service payment for the municipalities is not all that high. Well yes, because they are paying only 1-2% on the interest. Let that go up, let the Fed tighten and suddenly let that debt servicing double for those municipalities and then we are going to have very serious problems.

...But one of the challenges of having low interest rates for an extended period is that you encourage everybody to take debt, and not just consumers but also government and municipalities. So what happens is we have a far greater interest rate sensitivity and that means we are far less shock-resistant be that on the consumer side if you lose a job or be that on, just on the government side. And all the budget projects by the way, by the CBO are based on the current interest rate environment and it is just unrealistic to think that that is going to continue forever...

...[in the U.S.] if we are going to get interest rates to 4% or 5%, that would push us right back into a very severe recession, probably depression.

To try the quick executive summary: the unprecedented deficit spending of the Obama administration has put U.S. policy-makers in a box. They can't lower interest rates any further. If they raise rates, they will likely set off a global depression.

Put simply: there's a reason my Dad always told me 'there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.' Unchecked deficit spending is like a ticking time bomb. And the American people -- not the powerful policy-makers -- will be the victims.


Hat tip: Tyler Durden.

Predictable: Obama begins Chavez-like attacks on Oil Companies

Where have we heard this kind of rhetoric before?

The White House has joined congressional Democrats in targeting oil companies with criticism for nearly $4 per gallon gas.

President Obama lashed out at oil companies -- and the tax breaks they get from the government -- for a second day in a row on Thursday and again in Saturday's address... “Four billion dollars of your money are going to these companies at a time when they’re making record profits and you’re paying near record prices at the pump,” the president said at a Nevada town hall. “It has to stop.”

Obama also announced a Justice Department task force that will probe whether speculators and traders are to blame for the high prices.

Of course, these types of attacks appear to be more typical of third-world dictators than U.S. presidents. Just last year, Hugo Chavez blamed "the speculator" for causing food price inflation and he's demonized oil companies for years.

Chávez said [the currency devaluation] moves should not spur price increases, and on his Sunday radio and television address promised to punish those who do.

“There is no reason for anybody to be raising prices,” he said, calling on citizens to “publicly denounce the speculator” and promising to “take over any business, of any size, that plays the bourgeoisie speculation game.”

* * * * * * * * *

In his never-ending search for scapegoats, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is quick to point the finger ... Instead of Big Oil, this time he's hounding oil services companies, which do drilling, exploration, and other important work for state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

...Last time Chávez picked a fight with foreign oil companies, prices for Venezuela's heavy crudes were heading for record highs.

I don't know about you, but isn't it at least a tad discomfiting that the speeches of Chavez and Obama could be confused for one another?

Oh -- and then there's this: Mr. Peabody, please set the Wayback Machine to July of 2008, when the ludicrous Ken Salazar -- now Secretary of the Interior -- insisted that Democrats would continue to block drilling even if gas hit $10 a gallon.

Mitch McConnell (R-KY): "What is the definition of an emergency? Maybe it is $7.50 a gallon? Therefore I renew my consent request with the following modification... that the implementation date that triggers the modification would occur when the price of gasoline reaches seven dollars and fifty cents a gallon."

Ken Salazar (D-CO): "I... I... object".

MM: "Mr. President, I renew my request with the modification that the trigger be ten dollars a gallon at the pump."

KS: "I object."

* * *

We have enough oil to satisfy American needs for at least the next 100 years, but Democrats won’t let you have it. They’d rather you pay $10 per gallon at the pump and watch food prices increase 250% rather than agree to drilling. If you don’t want $10 per gallon gas, vote Republican.

And it's not just the Democrats' hatred of drilling.

It's the Obama administration's suicidal deficit spending that has resulted in unprecedented inflation of commodity prices.

The costs of silver, gold, oil, gas and food (above) have skyrocketed over the last two years.

Since Barack Obama took office, the policy of quantitative easing has touched off a monumental wave of inflation.

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.


Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.

Photos: How the XM25 Individual Airburst Weapon System ("Punisher") Works

Coolness.

A complete family of ammo is planned, including armor-piercing, anti-personnel, airburst and point-impact non-lethal rounds.

The HEAB round is a 25mm cartridge with fore and aft explosive warheads, and a mid-body airburst fuse... An operational firing scenario would involve the following: by viewing through the fire control display, the combat user puts the red-dot aim-point on the target, pushes the "Lase" button, realigns the aim-point on the target, and fires...

The range is automatically communicated upon firing to the chambered 25mm round -- and stored in the fuse logic.

Upon muzzle exit, the intelligent fuse, using a turns-counting approach, determines the distance traveled and bursts precisely over the engaged target at the programmed range.

...It leaves the enemy no place to hide.

The entire video is at StrategyPage. And Fox News has a slideshow.


Today's Health Tip [Papa B]



Larwyn's Linx: The Public Flunks Obama

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 Public Flunks Obama: Surber
Donald Trump’s eminent-domain empire: Malkin
Asked if She Won, Kloppenburg Offers Long, Awkward Pause: VS

National Day of Incitement and Intimidation: NR
'We Can't Just Let the Rich Relax, Count Their Money': GWP
Green and White... But Mostly White: Snapped

Economy

Feds Made $125 Billion in 'Improper Payments' in 2010: CNS
Behind the Obama Labor Board’s Bashing of Boeing: LUR
WI school employee caught threatening gas station: Malkin

We Call It ‘Rationing,’ Obama Calls It an 'IPAB': PJM
Geithner's goof undermines the dollar: Post
Ack! This hotel has horrible bedbugs! Or…does it?: Tatler

Economic Terrorist Still Working at SEIU: RWN
When government is pathologically hostile to business: Bookworm
Gasoline and Dollars: Supply and Demand: AT

Climate & Energy

Earth Day co-founder killed, composted girlfriend: iOTW
Greenpeace Admits Coal Power a Job Creator: RWN
Happy Vladimir Lenin's Birthday Earth Day: the religion of environmentalism: BlogProf

Take Your Earth Day and Shove It! : Zilla
Study: Push for Cap and Trade Failed Despite Friendly Media, Corporate Cash: NB
Green Fakers – The Gorey Details Of An Inconvenient ClimateGate: iOTW

Media

The Feminist Left’s Dramatic Reaction to Wonkette’s Mockery of Trig Palin: RWN
Tea Party David Vs. Two-Headed Goliath: AT (Marcus)
Melania Trump Takes On Behar: “I Had to Show My Birth Certificate”: GWP

Busted… Soros-Funded Think Progress Caught Pushing Bogus Backlash Story: GWP
Say, Exactly Where Did “Birtherism” Start?: RWN
Actual Yglesias headline: ‘Koch Industries Says Its Political Activities Are Motivated By Profit’: Tatler

Obama embraces scattershot lie tactic: Bookworm
Breitbart Challenges MSNBC's Bashir to Take a Lie Detector Test: NB
My Journey to Conservatism: AT

Special Pleadings*: Western Rifles
To Dine As Slave: TL in Exile
Dynamic Duo Land in Tampa: JOdysseus

World

The Human Right Not To Be “Offended”: Steyn
Exclusive: Video from Syria’s ‘Great Friday Uprising’ (Content Warning): PJM
Terrific… Our New Libyan Rebel Allies Filmed Beheading a Libyan Soldier: GWP

The Truth About Iran’s Support of Arab Terrorists: PJM
Ulterior Motives: Snapped
Wikileaks Document: Chinese Company Is Selling Chemical Weapons Equipment to Iran: GWP

SciTech

ASUS EeePad Transformer review: AndroidCentral
Facebook's two-factor authentication announcement raises questions: Sophos
Tech jobs boom like it's 1999: USA Today

Cornucopia

An Analysis of the Wonkette-Trig Palin Controversy, In Terms a Wonkette Reader Can Understand: IowaHawk
Engineering: Hopes versus Reality: Imgur
Now You See It And Now You Don’t: iOTW

Image: iMaksim.com (via iOwnTheWorld)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Allen West Build His Political War-Chest for 2012

Friday, April 22, 2011

Don't Raise the The Debt Ceiling: Consider it Federal Spending 'Cap-and-Trade' for President Obama

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

Of course, the Democrats are using the debt ceiling debate to spread fear, doubt and uncertainty. Because that's what Democrats do. Walter Cruttenden uses precision and candor to debunk their lies.

Listening to the dire warnings of President Obama, Treasury Secretary Geithner and the messengers of Big Government the American public lives in fear of what might happen if the debt ceiling is not immediately increased. We hear three recurring themes: we could relapse into economic crisis, interest rates will rise, and the US will lose credibility in the international investment community. But are these warnings true? Absolutely not!

In short, Cruttenden observes that:

• America doesn't hit the debt ceiling on a hard-and-fast date. The country can shift payments for months by prioritizing interest remittances over other bills.

• Fewer bonds issued will very likely mean interest rates drop as a phenomenon unknown to Democrats known as "supply-and-demand" kicks in.

• The only loss of credibility in the markets will occur if a serious effort to reduce the deficit doesn't begin now.

I propose a compromise of sorts, which I believe is my awesomest idea ever. I call it Debt Ceiling Cap-and-Trade. Democrats can begin slashing government to stay under the debt ceiling. If they need extra cash flow, try slashing the Department of Labor's budget by, say, 80%.

The Branding Is Simple: No More Blank Checks


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

Those days are over.

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

Let the Democrats Pick the Spending Cuts


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

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

Democrats are free to pick any combination of programs that allow them to pay the bills. They get to choose. If they want to keep the interest payments on their mammoth deficit spending going, they need to begin slashing to find the money.

And the country benefits all around.

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

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


How Outsourcing to China Cost Fellowes, Inc. $100 Million [Richard McCormack]

By Richard McCormack

Thousands of American companies that have moved production to China to take advantage of cheap labor might want to consider a case study that is unfolding for a U.S. manufacturing company. Fellowes Inc., one of the world's largest makers of office and personal paper shredders, is witnessing the destruction of its business, as its large Chinese manufacturing plant has been shut down by its joint venture manufacturing partner.

The company's Chinese joint venture firm has barred 1,600 employees from entering the plant, stolen all of its proprietary manufacturing production equipment and forced the venture into bankruptcy. The contracts Fellowes signed with its Chinese production company meant nothing. For Fellowes, there is no such thing as rule of law in China.

The Itasca, Ill.-based company has lost $168 million worth of business and is no longer able to produce personal shredders for the world market. It has taken its case to Chinese courts, to no avail. It has pleaded with members of Congress and federal agencies, with no results.

Fellowes entered into the joint venture in China in 2006 with a company called Shinri to build a factory in southern China to manufacture inexpensive shredders. Shinri is part of a large holding company called New United Group owned by the Zhou family. Fellowes and Shinri produced shredders bearing Fellowes' brand and incorporated Fellowes' proprietary product and process technology. The shredders were produced exclusively for sale to Fellowes and its subsidiaries. Under the agreement, Fellowes owned the tooling and intellectual property used to manufacture the shredders in the factory. The joint venture manufacturing facility had 120 Chinese suppliers.

"For over three years, this engagement resulted in a very productive relationship, with Shinri manufacturing and shipping our goods to Fellowes' locations throughout the world," says James Fellowes, a third-generation chairman and CEO of Fellowes Inc. "Shinri enjoyed a 100 percent-plus return on investment for each of the years and this return on investment was always paid on time."

But in 2009 everything changed when the leadership of the Chinese company shifted to another Zhou brother. Over the next year, the Chinese company "gradually attempted to usurp control [of our operations] in direct violation of the joint venture agreement," Fellowes told a recent hearing of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. "Shinri methodically imposed unreasonable requirements on Fellowes in an effort to extort more profit and ultimately control the global shredder business in direct violation of our contract."

Shinri insisted that Fellowes assign its 100 percent-owned tools to the joint venture. It required that Fellowes assign 100 percent of its engineering capability and its 100-percent owned Chinese sales division to the joint venture. It told Fellowes it must increase its prices immediately by 40 percent. It told Fellowes that it had to unilaterally contribute over $10 million to the joint venture and if it didn't "then Shinri would close down our operation as the legal representative of the joint venture," says James Fellowes. "When Fellowes refused these illegal demands Shinri proceeded to destroy our business."

Starting on August 7, 2010, Shinri started to obstruct shipments of shredders from the factory, forcing the joint venture to stop production. "It placed security guards and trucks at the gates to prevent the entrance of our people, the shipment of our goods and the transfer of our wholly owned assets," says Fellowes. "They expelled Fellowes' appointed management personnel at the facility and they illegally detained Fellowes' injection molded tools. This ultimately led to the bankruptcy of the joint venture."

James Fellowes immediately flew to Changzhou to meet with Chinese government officials. "They sympathized with our plight but they were either unable or unwilling to force our Chinese partners to open our factory or facilitate a purchase of the joint venture by Fellowes. The cumulative impact of these actions is an economic loss totaling over $100 million to Fellowes."

Fellowes has recently learned that Shinri is planning to compete directly against it in the shredder business using Fellowes' custom molding tools "that represent the embodiment of Fellowes' engineering investment and intellectual property," says the company CEO.

The court in China has gotten involved: It has initiated proceedings to liquidate the joint venture and auction the assets "to satisfy the debts of the joint venture" -- suppliers who are demanding that unpaid invoices be paid, according to Fellowes. "The sale of Fellowes' tooling and our finished goods inventory to anyone other than Fellowes would be a direct violation of our intellectual property rights. The immediate release of our tools is of great concern for us today. We have been restricted from these tools for eight months and that has greatly hampered our ability to recover."

Fellowes wants to bring these tools back to the United States so that it can re-establish a manufacturing operation in Illinois. It is "working around the clock to retool our products and bring up new factories," says Fellowes. "We hope the U.S. government will act to protect the rights of American companies like ours."

After James Fellowes' testimony, subcommittee chairman Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) said that he has been involved in Chinese trade issues for a decade, and there is a growing number of similar cases involving American companies. "I see China going backwards," Manzullo said. "I have never in my life in any Congress seen so many complaints over outrageous stealing of intellectual property and making a folly over the rule of law. They are going in the opposite direction based upon the complaints coming in."

There have been plenty of Chinese officials who have gone to law schools in the United States, Manzullo noted. "They know the rule of law. They are just not interested in enforcement because they don't have the same principles of private property that we do. It's an entirely different culture."

Manzullo said another company in his district, Aqua-Aerobic Systems Inc., a wastewater treatment firm, had a similar experience in China. That company was in the process of installing a wastewater treatment plant in China "and somebody there locally stole everything, even wiped out their website," Manzullo said.

"At one time, we had a working relationship with the Chinese embassy" in Washington, D.C. Manzullo said. "We no longer do. We have written five letters to the ambassador of China. Each time, he has refused to answer those letters. Before, with prior ambassadors, we have asked them to come into the office. With the case of Aqua-Aerobics, we showed them the evidence and the Chinese government became actively involved in that litigation with our Commerce Department. The litigation ended up favoring the American company. . . If the ambassador from China wants to just blow off members of Congress, which he has been doing over the last several months, that to me is no indication of a breath of fresh air going through that country."

American companies would do well to remember that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a totalitarian, communist dictatorship that has only partially immersed itself in capitalism's waters.

Which is why tech companies that rely upon China for essential parts and assembly services -- i.e., Apple among them -- should keep their eyes open.


Hat tip: R.F.

Nissan Invents a New Niche: the Luxury SUV Convertible

You've got to give them points for creativity.

Nissan's admittedly unusual new convertible--the drop-top Murano CrossCabriolet--has an equally unusual aspiration... Nissan Division anticipates the vehicle will draw buyers not from the brand's normal mass-market competitors, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, but from the luxury world of BMW, Audi, and Volvo.

...The convertible crossover, which will retail for $47,300 with shipping when it goes on sale next month, hopes to woo buyers of the Lexus RX crossover, BMW 3 series, and Audi A4... Those are normally the hunting grounds of Nissan's luxury sister brand, Infiniti. But there is little that's normal about the new Nissan model...

...Nissan Motor designers altered the Murano's four-door body into a two-door body to give it adequate rigidity to sport a convertible top. The result is a stylishly large four-passenger convertible with standard leather seats...

...Unlike a low-to-the-ground convertible roadster, the Murano is 66.2 inches tall with its top up. With 20-inch wheels, it has a step-in height of nearly 16 inches.

I suspect this is a real automotive niche -- after all, what's a soft-top Jeep Wrangler when it comes right down to it? -- but this may not be quite the right vehicle.

If I were putting together a convertible SUV, I'd probably start with something like a Toyota FJ Cruiser and add a simple drop-top.


Larwyn's Linx: To Retire Our National Debt, We Must Retire Obama

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

To Retire Our National Debt, We Must Retire Obama: DLim
IPAB: The Acronym for Death Panels: RWN
Obama’s Pen: The Most Powerful Branch of Government?: PJM

Re: When the President Does It, It Isn’t Illegal: NRO
Obama’s $3 million S.F. dinner — the complete guest list: Tatler
Ensign quits: Good riddance: Malkin

Obama: Mistakes? Ummm... No, Not Really. Why Do You Ask?: Ace
A little good news from the border: RWN
DHS to Conduct Multi-State Earthquake Drill: Malkin

Economy

GDP and Tax Revenue In One Easy Lesson: Ace
Obama now telling companies where they can locate factories: Barone
Sen. DeMint: "Administration Acting Like Bunch Of Thugs": RCP

Tea Party Mayor Announces Layoffs of Detroit Teachers: BlogProf
Drug Industry Furious After Obama Reneges on Deal: FoxNation
Obama switches from scorn to pity: Freddoso

Climate & Energy

Time to Cut Energy (the Department of Energy): Foundry
CFL's: not just for mercury poisoning anymore!: Troglopundit
For many in Louisiana, the real disaster of 2010 wasn't the oil spill but the drilling moratorium : NOLA

The hidden tax: regulations costs U.S. $1.75T: DC
Obama: Gas Prices are High Because Climate Change Deniers Refuse to Tackle Global Warming: Malkin
Polls on the Environment, Energy, Global Warming, and Nuclear Power: AEI

Media

Breitbart to Bashir: 'You're Insinuating I'm Racist Which is What MSNBC Does to Conservatives Every Day': NB
Wonkette Thinks It’s Okay To Mock Trig Palin. Bulletin: It’s Not: Colmes
Liberal Nut Cynthia Tucker Has a Change of Heart, Now Favors ObamaCare Death Panels: WZ

Thank you, John.: Arctic Patriot
NY Times Shields Disgraceful Goldstone Report Claiming Israel Targeted Civilians: NB
The Obama 2012 website’s ‘issues’ page is…blank: DC

The Traveling Obama Show: AmSpec
Your Taxes Paying Government Union Members NOT to Work: RWN
Kloppenburg Might Be Certifiable . . . But Not as the Winner of a Wisconsin Re-Count: WZ

Rising Gas Prices Linked to Obama Drilling Ban in Just 1% of Evening News Stories: MRC
Huckabee Whines and Lies at the Same Time: Beck Called Me a “Nazi”: WZ
Three economic charts to blow your mind: RWN

World

How Russia Makes Universal Coverage Work: Cato
Fidel Castro 'Resigns': Big Peace
Andrew Klavan: How to Behave During an Islamic Massacre: Tatler

Islamophobes in Michigan Assert Muslims More Violent Than the Rest of Us: Jawa
Somali Taliban "Execute" Man for "Crime" of ... Converting to Christianity: Jawa
Libyan Surface to Air Missiles in Al Qaeda’s Hands: DefTech

SciTech

50% Of Apple’s Revenue Now Comes From The iPhone: Crunch
Microsoft boosts cash compensation for employees: CNet
Review: T-Mobile G2x (Optimus 2X): Crunch

Cornucopia

Could You Pass Harvard's Entrance Exam From 1869?: Ace
Deposition hints Cubs may have thrown 1918 Series: Trib
This is part of what Obama has spent almost $2M to hide... you decide...: Power Hour

Image: Gateway Pundit.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: MichelePAC - for Conservatives!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Scapegoating 101: Obama Rips 'Speculators' and Greedy Capitalists for the High Oil Prices That He Intentionally Created

As the full impact of his massive budget deficits and senseless drilling bans are felt, President Obama has attempted a classic maneuver: deflection.

Instead of investigating fraud and corruption at banks, and instead of questioning the Fed's policy of US dollar debasement, and instead of pondering the role his administration's budget deficits have on the price of commodities, Team Obama Targets Oil Traders and Speculators...

...The first rule in scapegoating, of which president Obama is a renown grand-master, is to quickly point the finger at someone else before everyone figures out where the finger should be pointed.

Bear in mind that traders and speculators probably are pushing the price of oil higher. I cannot quantify "how much" but open interest in commodity futures by speculators is at or near peak levels. Moreover, hedge funds and pension plans have plowed into commodity ETFs. These actions have an upward, yet unquantifiable effect on price.

The root cause of this mess however, is massive, perpetual, and ever-increasing budget deficits in conjunction with the Fed's explicit policy of US dollar debasement.

As a result of those forces, it is perfectly natural for traders and speculators to bet against the dollar and on hard assets like gold, silver, and oil, even though the trade may become overly one-sided, as it is right now.

Thus if Obama wants to point a finger, he should point a finger at himself, at Congress, and at the Fed, not at traders and speculators.

But he won't.

Barack Obama wants higher energy prices. I mean, this is the same man who said that the cost of energy would "necessarily skyrocket" under his 'cap-and-trade' policies.

He predicted it. He wanted it. He's got it.

He is to blame. Not "speculators". Not capitalism. Him. Obama.


Quote o' the Day Award Winner: Allen West

Interviewed on The Laura Ingraham Show, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) wins our coveted Quote o' the Day Award.*

On Michelle Obama's military outreach campaign:

"I think it's part and parcel with the fact that you heard the president announce his campaign, getting that kicked off, and of course you have to try to go out there and garner votes from what is a very conservative group of individuals--that's the United States military...

...60 percent of [military] fatalities in Afghanistan have occurred under his [Obama's] presidency... if this was the Bush administration, the media would be screaming bloody murder. But, of course, once again we see the 'Get Out of Jail Free' pass for President Obama."

On Austan Goolsbee's remark that S&P made a "political judgement":

"They don't want to hear the truth. ... They're so used to having the cheering, adoring mainstream media that is nothing more than their own cast of cheerleaders, much the same as an episode of Glee, and that's what they appreciate more than having real individuals sitting back and assessing this economic situation...

...What you continue to see is a third world dictator-like arrogance, that's what I saw in that speech [by Obama] last week. And look, Laura, to borrow a phrase from Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the chickens are coming home to roost...

...This whole talk about shared prosperity--that really gives me the goosebumps because I'm starting to believe that a community organizer is nothing but a low-level socialist agitator.

Wow.

We need more leaders like Allen West. These are statesmen (and women) who truly do speak truth to power. They stand for liberty against an out-of-control administration that can't or won't abide by our nation's highest law.

As an aside, how does a Bachmann-West ticket sound? Or a West-Bachmann ticket? Or a Palin-West ticket? You get the picture.


* At last check, QOTD winners receive two snow tires and a year's supply of Rice-a-Roni ("The San Francisco Treat").

Report: White House Bullied Standard & Poor's in an Attempt to Cover-Up America's Rapidly Deteriorating Fiscal Condition

“That’s why today, I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.” --President Barack Obama, February 2009



When Standard & Poor's (S&P) notified the U.S. Treasury Department that it was considering an unprecedented move -- lowering the outlook on America's debt -- the Obama administration's first response was... to cover it up. Somehow this doesn't come as much of a surprise given the administration's affiliation with the likes of Trumka, Holder, La Raza, Stern, and Alinsky.

The Obama administration privately urged Standard & Poor’s in recent weeks not to lower its outlook on the United States — a suggestion the ratings agency ignored Monday, two people familiar with the matter said.

Treasury Department officials had been discussing with S&P whether the ratings agency should change its outlook on the United States to “negative” from “stable,” an indication that the country could lose its crucial AAA rating in coming years over its soaring debt levels...

Let me guess: the White House threatened to revoke S&P's coveted status as a federally accredited rating agency (also known as an "NRSRO"), which could devastate the company.

A cover-up is to be accepted from the Obama White House. After all, this kind of dishonesty is par for the course for President Obama. Remember, this is the same charismatic demagogue who claimed over and over that passing Obamacare would "lower premiums for each family by $2,500 a year."

It's no surprise that the White House would try to hide its poor stewardship of the public fisc in order to continue its perverse policies that have only made the problem worse.

It would at least be consistent. As we noted last Tuesday, the administration is reportedly engaged in a disinformation campaign to cover up the depth of the burden that's been dumped on American families.

The fiction is found on the White House's Federal Tax Receipt website. It says a family of three earning $50,000 a year pays a mere $19 in interest on the national debt.

...As Neil Munro of the Daily Caller has reported, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that interest payments cost the federal government $414 billion in 2010, "or $4,140 for a family of three, or 218 times more than the White House website shows."

Kudos to Standard & Poor's for standing up to the White House.

As The Financial Times put it:

S&P’s decision to downgrade the outlook on US sovereign debt from “stable” to “negative” for the first time in its history is like hearing a smoker cough and telling them that cigarettes give you cancer.

The warning can have two results. It may encourage the smoker to quit. Or their cold may get better and so prompt them to ignore alarmist advice from friends in future.

These F.T. authors are so quaint. They think President Obama is interested in saving the economy. I've got two Columbia professors who say otherwise.

There is only one word to describe the Obama administration: lawless.


Hat tip: Investors Business Daily.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama’s crooked campaign cash-o-matic machine

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Nation

Obama’s crooked campaign cash-o-matic machine: Malkin
Environmental Red Tape Used to Prevent Border Defense: RWN
Obama skips visiting tornado-ravaged south for fundraising: NiceDeb

Reagan Democrats: 'Tea Baggers' or MSNBC Viewers?: Coulter
AZ border agents confirm 'no apprehension of illegals' policy: Lone
Executive Order may cut off funding to Obama's opponents: AT

Has the GOP surrendered on the debt ceiling?: AT
Kloppenburg requests recount in WI Supremes race: Cubachi
Is There Nothing That Obama Can't Do?: SDA

Economy

Clinton Tax Rates and Gingrich Spending Levels: AT
Socialist Teachers Discuss Indoctrinating Public Schoolchildren: Noisy
Bipartisan opposition to Obamacare's Death Panel Board: WZ

Federal Borrowing May Hit Debt Limit in a Week: CNS
Economic déjà vu from 1937 and 1938: DHB
Oil Crisis Just Got Real: China Cuts Off Oil Exports: ZH

Climate & Energy

Times Tough In Gulf One Year Later…Because of Obama: RWN
Red Flag of Earth Day: Noisy
Say, What’s The Deal With The $20 Billion BP Slush Fund?: RWN

Obama's Energy Lunacy: PJM
Apparently, American Teens Knowledge Of Climate Change Hoax Sucks: RWN
EPA Releases Global Warming Rap Song … Hilarity Ensues…: WZ

Media

Can anything Think Progress says about the Kochs be believed?: Tapscott
Papa John's Pulls Web Ads From Wonkette As Site's Editor Continues to Defend Disgusting Post: YWL
Unfettered capitalism? Where?: BSF

NY Times: Why, Yes, Military Spending Should Be Cut To Reduce Debt: RWN
Context Can Wait: CBS News Won’t Release Entire Obama ‘Hot Mic’ Recording: Malkin
Another Democrat That Hates the US Constitution: RWN

Obama's Apologists: AT
Liberals attack Paul Ryan because his father died young, resulting in survivor benefits: WashExam
Businessman Steve Wynn Warns Neil Cavuto the Middle Class Is Under Attack by This Government: WZ

World

Iran, Nukes, and China's Inroads to the Middle East: What's Next Mr. President?: Kahlili
Mounting Evidence of Rebel Atrocities in Libya: PJM
Muslim: “want to live under sharia law, go back to the hellhole country you came from”: Creeping

SciTech

A Warning to Iphone Users: Patterico
Obama jabs Republicans at Facebook town hall: CNet
Google shutting down most of Google Video, urges you to back up your greatest hits now: Engadget

Cornucopia

The Best Quotes From ’100 Simple Secrets Of Happy People’: RWN
Corsi's 'Where's the Birth Certificate?' Hits #1 on Amazon: Dollard
Election Insurance for WTF: Cube

Image: Gateway Pundit
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: MichelePAC!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tipping Point: Government Cash Handouts Now Top Tax Revenues

If this isn't a harbinger of bad times, I'm not sure what would qualify.

U.S. households are now getting more in cash handouts from the government than they are paying in taxes for the first time since the Great Depression.

Gee, I'm not a math major, but that sounds... how you say in English? ...unsustainable to me.

Households received $2.3 trillion in some kind of government support in 2010. That includes expanded unemployment benefits, as well as payments for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and stimulus spending, among other things... But that’s more than the $2.2 trillion households paid in taxes, an amount that has slumped largely due to the recession, according to an analysis by the Fiscal Times.

Mission Redistribution... Accomplished!

Also, an estimated 59% of the 308.7 million Americans in this country get at least one federal benefit, according to the Census Bureau, based on 2009 data. An estimated 46.5 million get Social Security; 42.6 million get Medicare; 42.4 million get Medicaid; 36.1 million get food stamps; 12.4 million get housing subsidies; and 3.2 million get Veterans' benefits.

And the handouts from the government have been growing. Government cash handouts account for a whopping 79% of household growth since 2007, even as household tax payments--for things like the income and payroll tax, among other taxes--have fallen by $312 billion.

We have incurred massive deficits under the aegis of "Stimulus" that failed to stimulate anything other than public sector union jobs.

We have seen an unprecedented expansion of the welfare state, which is, as the author observes, "a tough feeding trough to take away from voters."

Social Security and Medicare are poised to implode like a twisted Ponzi scheme of such scale that the housing crisis looks like a pothole in comparison.

And, finally, we're headed for an inevitable downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt should conservatives not win the day against Democrats and RINOs.

For if we conservatives do not succeed, our system, our civil society, will remain stable... until it doesn't. And then, somewhere, Cloward and Piven will beam as the most magnificent society ever seen on the face of the Earth begins to crumble.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Arabs Introduce National Anthem for New PLO State [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

The 1967 “borders” the PLO claims it wants the “international community” to recognize now is another way of saying the “borders” the Arabs flatly rejected in 1948, 63 years from today.

That makes this rockin’ anthem the perfect choice for their new imaginary state.

And the perfect choice for the imaginary 'peace process'.

Diagnosing CBS News with Bipolar Disorder

Dammit, Jim, I'm a blogger, not a doctor -- but I've diagnosed CBS News with all the symptoms of Bipolar disorder. On the one hand, CBS scooped the entire media establishment with its aggressive and groundbreaking reportage of "Project Gunrunner".

Damning, newly-obtained emails show that a key gun shop owner made explicit concerns in writing last year in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ “gunwalking” scandal.

Starting in late 2009, ATF allegedly directed an undetermined number of Phoenix-area gun shop owners to go ahead with sales of thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to suspicious buyers...

... Insiders claim ATF knew the buyers were connected to Mexico’s drug cartels, but let the guns “walk” onto the street anyway in a misguided attempt to obtain intelligence... Investigators from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) obtained the emails this week.

The ATF's stonewalling on Gunrunner has become so obvious that Rep. Darrell Issa today threatened to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings, which could result in fines and jail time for officials.

So while CBS has done yeoman's work on Gunrunner, it simultaneously appears to be censoring a recording of President Obama that could further damage his reelection hopes.

Last weekend, His Presidency Barack Obama was captured making potentially offensive comments to a group of big money donors who had paid large sums of money for special access to His Presidency.

We observed that CBS only released “selectively edited” moments from the raw tape. We know how much the mainstream media values complete and full disclosure of recordings of this nature, so we found it curious, to say the least, that there was not one drop of intellectual curiosity from these guardians of media purity regarding the content of the full recording.

Maybe CBS’s motive has nothing to do with protecting His Presidency from potential embarrassment. Perhaps, like Nixon before them, CBS accidentally erased the portions of the recording that they have not released. Anything is possible, right?

Alas, no. John Romano, Publisher of the blog “Yes, But, However!” has confirmed with CBS’s Mark Knoller (via Twitter) that CBS has decided that they are not going to release the complete recording.

@yesbuthowever Why haven’t you released all of the audio of President Obama’s “donor meeting”? If you have please link?

@markknoller This is my third request. Why will you not release the full audio of Obama’s donor conversation?

@markknoller My editors decided against it.

People can speculate as to what their motive is, but we suspect that they do not want to jeopardize their White House access leading into campaign season by being the ones to release the audio of His Presidency referring to Americans as "slugs."

I tweeted Knoller to ask if he'd heard the entire tape and whether he could summarize the president's remarks.

My jaw will drop to the floor if I get a response.


Larwyn's Linx: Gunrunner - ATF ignored warnings, DOJ ignores requests

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Nation

Gunrunner: ATF ignored warnings, DOJ ignores doc requests: Malkin
Arizona Prospering After SB 1070: RWN
Allen West Unloads on Obama: JWF

Why wasn't Hamas-linked CAIR cofounder prosecuted?: Jihad
The Anti-War Movement and Democratic Political Fans: Volokh
Islamic Honor Killing in Kentucky?: Jihad

Economy

Ex-SEIU Hack Named to Investigate Union Corruption: BigGovt
Fiscal Conservatives Go After Donald Chump: OTB
Jerry Brown's Sweetheart Deal for Corrections Unions: AmPower

Union Pay Chart o' the Day: Malkin
Chump Trump: Ryan's Plan Too Extreme: Ace
Life Expectancy 'Handouts'; Post-Retirement Work: Blumer

Even S&P Gets It: We’re Broke: IBD
Misdirected Death Threats: The "New Tone's" Innocent Victims: Malkin
MI Teachers' Union Sets Up Recall Front Group: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

A roadmap for America's energy future: Nunes
Global Warming Advocates Receive a Chilly Reception from the Supreme Court: Foundry
Why it seems that severe weather is “getting worse” when the data shows otherwise: WUWT

Obama: Don’t Blame Me For Rising Gas Prices After I Did All Those Things To Drive Them Up: RWN
Who can you trust? Or how one Leftist may be breaking free of the Goebbels’ school of Leftist lying: RWN
Charles Manson Endorses Global Warming Hoax: MB

Media

Conservatives hit Beck for taking content without attribution: DC
It’s Deja Ted All Over Again: Driscoll
'Amazon.com Is Doomed!': Power Line

Unprecedented: Liberal Media Dares To Wonder: Did Obama's Plan To Not Have A Plan Speech Backfire?: Ace
Reactions To Obama’s Town Hall, Today: NiceDeb
Obama Tells Kids GOP Will Reduce Deficit “On Your Backs”: GWP

Republicans Need To Learn How To Play The Game On Social Security & Medicare: RWN
Emerging liberal meme: We gotta stop being so gosh-darned ‘tolerant’!: Toldjah
CAIR’s Strong-Arm Tactics in the Cradle of Liberty: PJM

An Interview With Andrew Breitbart: RWN
50 Percent Dissaprove of Obama's Performance; 37 Percent 'Strongly' Dissaprove: WklyStd
Donald Trump Falters on Question Over Privacy, Abortion: LifeNews

World

Steyn: America Doesn't Do Anything Small And If It Does Socialism...: Ace
Wake Up, Critics: Here’s Obama’s Grand Plan: PJM
The Globalists' Takeover of America: NoisyRoom

Nigeria Demonstrates How Muslims Lose Elections: MB
So What Happens If Christians Start To Behave More Like Muslims?: RWN
Venezuela, China Build Ties: NoisyRoom

SciTech

Moonbat Tech: Saving Gaia by Turning People Into Garden Manure: MB
Twading: The Twitter revolution comes to the financial markets: Bloomberg
Tablet sales may hit $75 billion by 2015: CNN Money

Cornucopia

View to a Kill: MOTUS
Progression of Boston Marathon Records: Kedrosky
Aroldis Chapman hits 106 mph on radar: Cincinnati

We Will Not Go Down Without a Fight: MB
The 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 is the world’s angriest refrigerator: Jalopnik
Obamandius 2012 Slogan Art Contest: CBullitt

Image: BarkingCrayon.com
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