Sunday, December 04, 2011

Bumper Sticker o' the Day


Hat tip: Ray.

Can you guess what the 'worst-run states in America' award-winners have in common?

The financial website 24/7 Wall St. analyzed the worst-run states in America. Can you guess what the worst three states have in common?

48. Michigan
> State debt per capita: $2,963 (21st lowest)
> Pct. without health insurance: 12.4% (18th lowest)
> Pct. below poverty line: 15.7% (15th highest)
> Unemployment: 11.1% (3rd highest)

Michigan has arguably suffered more than any state in post-industrial America. The state is one of just four with a credit rating of AA-, although its debt per capita is actually below average. The state ranks among the worst in the country for violent crime, unemployment, foreclosures and home price decline.
Source: (September, 2011): From the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2010, the percentage of residents 25 or older with a high school diploma

49. Illinois
> State debt per capita: $4,424 (13th highest)
> Pct. without health insurance: 13.8% (23rd lowest)
> Pct. below poverty line: 13.1% (25th lowest)
> Unemployment: 10% (10th highest)

Illinois has fallen from 43rd last year to the overall second-worst run state in the country. The state performs poorly in most categories, but is worst when it comes to its credit rating. Illinois has a credit rating of A+, the second worst given to any state, behind only California. The state has been on credit watch since 2008 because of budget shortfalls and legal challenges against then-governor Rod Blagojevich.

50. California
> State debt per capita: $3,660 (21st highest)
> Pct. without health insurance: 18.5% (8th highest)
> Pct. below poverty line: 14.5% (tied for 21st highest)
> Unemployment: 11.9% (2nd highest)

California has moved down one slot on from last year to earn the title of the worst-run state in the country. In the fiscal year 2009, the state spent $430 billion, roughly 14% of all the money spent by states in that year. Compared to its revenue, the state spent too much — California had the 10th lowest revenue per person, and spent the 15th most per person. California is the only state in the country to be rated A-, the lowest rating ever given to a state by S&P. Despite the huge amount the state spends each year, conditions remain poor. California has the second-lowest percentage of adults with a high school diploma in the country, the second-highest foreclosure rate and is tied for the second highest unemployment rate in the U.S.

What they have in common is this:

• Decades of unchecked Democrat control at every level of government

• Massive, bloated, public sector unions that are intertwined with the Democrat Party and demand increasing percentages of the economy; they have but one aim: to enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayer

• Sanctuary cities that attract illegals, programs that offer easy access to welfare payments and government subsistence programs, high rates of single-parent families, and therefore high levels of urban crime

You would think that someone in legacy media would actually analyze this data and report on it, but then again, I've always been a dreamer.


In 1939, Eric Ambler Described the Obama Regime

Eric Ambler was the father of the modern espionage novel. In his 1939 work Cause for Alarm, Englishman Nick Marlow -- an engineer and salesman of machine tools used to make armaments -- finds himself trapped in prewar fascist Italy. Police, corrupt officials and spies are searching for him; he is on the run along with an associate well-familiar with the world of espionage and clandestine operations. That associate describes the lay of the land to Marlow, who believes himself an innocent wrongly accused of aiding Italy's enemies.

My friend, when you're above the law, when you are the law, the phrase about ends justifying means has a real meaning. Put yourself in their place. If you felt that the state which you worshipped above your God was endangered by the life of one insignificant man, would you hesitate to have him shot? I can tell you that you wouldn't.

That's the danger of Fascism, of state-worship.

It supposes an absolute, an ego-centric unit. The idea of the state is not rooted in the masses, it is not of the people. It is an abstract, a God-idea, a psychic dung-hill raised to shore up an economic system that is no longer safe. When you're on the top of that sort of dung-hill, it doesn't matter whether the ends in reality are good or bad. The fact that they are your ends makes them good--for you.

Isn't that an apt phrase to describe today's radicalized Democrat Party and its sycophants in legacy media?

They are state-worshipers. Government can do no wrong, despite copious amounts of history, facts, logic, reason and common sense that would say otherwise.

Their religion is the state. And, for them, the ends always justify the means.


Larwyn's Linx: Herman Cain: Wasted Potential

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Nation

Herman Cain: Wasted Potential: Sunshine State Sarah
Destination Iowa: The Intersection of Preparation and Opportunity: RSM
The Romney Electability Myth: Wolf

Circling the Drain: R.I.P., Democrat Party (1828-2012): CFP
Romney’s flatline: Behind the Gingrich surge: Podhoretz
Bachmann Endorses Harrington to Defeat Wasserman-Schultz: Shark

Economy

Three Charts Which Say There's No Recovery: Virtuous Republic
Gun Sales Huge on Black Friday: Surber
Stern Idiocy: AmSpec

"Somebody needs to pay for all my children": ProWis
Donald Berwick's Replacement Has a Troubling Past: AmSpec
Choking on Obamacare: Will

Top 10 Barney Frank Offenses: HE
A slow bank run is already taking place in Europe: Economist
Occupy SF Launches Its Own... Bank?: Zombie

Gunrunner & Energygate

Friday’s Fast & Furious Fallout: Fatal Falsehoods From Feds?: Lane
Obama’s Global Godfather dragged in with the CH2M Hill scandal tide?: CFP
Solyndra saw staff "mutiny" before Obama visit: Reuters

Climate & Energy

Climategate 2.0: A Sequel As Ugly As The Original: GWPF
Climategate 2.0 Roundup: Ace
Suppression of climate debate is a disaster for science: Wente

GM Admits Volt is a Dud, Sales Will Be 30% Below Estimate: VS
Team ugliness – a call to get a skeptic's PhD thesis revoked: Watts
Berg Says He Doesn’t Trust The EPA’s Assurances On Fracking: SAB

Media

Caught on Video: Democratic Congresswoman Does Crossword Puzzle on House Floor: Blaze
White House needs to come clean on Elena Kagan and the Affordable Care Act: WaPo (Lamar Smith)
High School Student Fights Bachmann on Gay Marriage Stance at Town Hall Meeting: Blaze

Shedding a bit of light on the current political continuum: ProWis
I Hope You're Prepared, Really: Denninger
Newtspeak Deconstructed: Pundette

The Men from La Washington: Constitution Alley
Politico on Solyndra: Take Your Pick!: WaPo
Herman Cain: 'I Am Suspending My Presidential Campaign;" Will Endorse Candidate Who Is Not Obama: CNS

World

Can Israel Survive A Second Obama Term?: Legal Insurrection
Egypt's Descent: Steyn
SecDef Panetta shows how the Obama Administration is Selling Out Israel…and US Interests: BRubin

The Rise of the Fifth Reich?: Mead
Obama Fundraiser and Ambassador Blames Israel for Anti-Semitism: WS
China’s Carrier Seen From an Airliner: DefTech

The Next WikiLeaks Bombshells?: RWN
U.S. Must Understand 21st-Century Combat: Allen West
Before and After Photos of Iran’s Destroyed Missile Base: DefTech

Sci-Tech

Carrier IQ Unfairly Targeted, Researchers Say: TPM
Silicon Valley's Incubator Glut Is Real: AtlWire
Nasdaq's Lax Security Made Exchange an Easy Target for Hackers: Wall Street and Tech

Cornucopia

Fast, Furious and FUBAR: MOTUS
More Military Dogs Show Signs of Combat Stress: NYT
Criminally Reckless: C&S

Image: DragonLaffs
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help protein wisdom celebrate a DECADE OF FO-SHIZZLE

QOTD: In a 2008 campaign speech, our Dear Ruler proclaimed: “I'll make our government open and transparent so that anyone can ensure that our business is the people's business. No more secrecy. That is a commitment that I make to you as president.”

...this shouldn’t come as a shock, based on the history of the Obama administration thus far. Did you know that the federal government’s 35 largest agencies actually decreased the number of fulfilled FOIA requests by more than 12,400?

How’s this for irony: “The Obama administration censored 194 pages of internal e-mails about its Open Government Directive,” according to the Associated Press." --Neal Boortz

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Top Five Way to Intimidate Obnoxious Drivers

5. Bullet holes. Nothing says you mean business like bullet holes. Before leaving on your commute, shoot 20 or more holes through non-critical areas of your car. This will intimidate other drivers and they will part like the Red Sea before Moses. (Important: make sure to use a .40 cartridge or higher; anything smaller is difficult to see in low light)

4. Dress like a Zombie. If someone pisses you off, jump out at the next stop light... and make sure fake blood splurts out of your mouth.

3. Armor your car like Humungus' command vehicle in Mad Max. Extra credit for having an insane assassin with a red mohawk come along for the ride.

2. Cow-catcher. A cast-iron cow-catcher attached to the front of your beater says you're serious about going places. And the ladies really dig 'em.

1. Flamethrower. Nothing says get the f*** out of my way like igniting a 90mph stream of molten naphtha.

Can you tell I had a lousy commute this evening?


Update: Todd sends a pic of his car during his L.A. days.



Holder DOJ Releases its List of the 10 Most Wanted Right-wing Extremists

Civilian Internal Security Force * * * CONFIDENTIAL BULLETIN


[10] Neal Boortz: Prolific promoter of dangerous ideas such as the "FairTax" and "Tea Parties". Boortz commands an immense radio audience and frequently appears on television while shamelessly preaching heretical, extremist views such as changing the tax code and reducing the size of government bureaucracies.

[9] Hugh Hewitt: The former child star ("A Christmas Story") has grown up to become the reported leader of the far right-wing Northern Alliance, host of a syndicated radio program and television commentator. Do not approach without electronic warfare support as Hewitt is known to use social media at the drop of a hat.

[8] Andrew Breitbart: Internet savant who controls a powerful digital media empire, he should be considered armed (with an iPad) and dangerous.

[7] Glenn Reynolds: (AKA "Instapundit") mass purveyor of right-wing propaganda and linkage; performs "blogging" at rates that can only be called dangerous. His family members are also "bloggers" and may be considered equally radicalized.

[6] Sean Hannity: one of the few rightwing extremists who is fluent in all types of mass media; from radio to television to the Internets. He has become even more radicalized since his partner of many years quit (Alan Colmes). Colmes was reportedly a calming force and tempered Hannity's extremism. Without that balancing influence, Hannity is said to have become a cheerleader for extremist views like flat taxes and "smaller government".

[5] Rush Limbaugh: Said to command an army of right-wingers approaching 40 million. Do not approach without RPGs and other heavy weapons.

[4] Michelle Malkin: Right-wing extremist who is not easily pigeon-holed or stereotyped; appears on television and radio; in newspapers and on the Internet. Despises corruption and, unlike Joe Biden, does not utilize a comb-over as a disguise. Evangelizes radical concepts such as "secure borders", "strong national defense" and "fiscal responsibility for government." Therefore, do not approach without overwhelming superior force.

[3] Mark Levin: Highly dangerous and said to be the intellectual leader of many right-wing extremists. Known to openly flaunt radical documents such as the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and Bastiat's "The Law". Skilled in multiple forms of martial arts and once registered his feet as lethal weapons.

[2] All Veterans: Veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to right-wing extremists. President Obama's Civilian National Security Force is concerned that right-wing extremists (hereafter referred to as "wingnuts") either are veterans or will attempt to recruit veterans.

[1] Larwyn: no details are available regarding this shadowy figure, who is said to be a hidden force behind right-wing extremism. A national task force has been assigned to determine the identity of this individual.




Remember, CONTACT the Civilian Internal Security Force (or NBC if the line is busy) should you identify any of these individuals. DO NOT ATTEMPT to engage in a political debate yourself as you WILL lose and will likely suffer severe psychological damage.


Someone finally invented a word to describe the Obama presidency

Via DragonLaffs:

Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Chilling Chart From Yesterday's Reported Drop in Unemployment: "6,278,000 people are unaccounted for"

Mike Shedlock and one of his readers dissect the propaganda that was yesterday's 'positive' unemployment report.

...If you look at the average labor force growth from 1948 to 2007 of 1,579,000 the labor force should have expanded by 6,316,000 2008-2011. Instead the labor force expanded by a mere 38,000!

Thus, 6,278,000 people are unaccounted for in the unemployment numbers based on historical averages... The unemployment numbers using this historical trend method show the following numbers for November in these years:

Unemployment Rate Adjusted for Population Growth

2007 4.7%
2008 7.3%
2009 11.7%
2010 12.4%
2011 12.2%


I am sure it is just coincidence, but it is interesting to note that the flat lining of the labor force began in earnest with the Obama administration.

Six million people missing. Six million gone from the labor force.

Hopefully you won't hate me and -- not to trivialize the real thing in the least -- but I can't keep myself from thinking that President Obama is the architect of an economic holocaust.


Excellent News: Your Federal Government Training IT Workers In Asia and Europe... So They Can Outsource American Jobs

Gee, but there's nothing to cut!

U.S. Supports the Development of the IT Sector in Kyrgyzstan


The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development’s Local Development Program, will for the first time conduct a roundtable in partnership with IT experts from Kyrgyzstan. The roundtable will take place on November 29, at 15.30, at the Park Hotel (87 Orozbekova str., Bishkek).

In other words, your tax dollars are helping to strengthen the technology sector in Asia.

This comes on the heels of last year's news that the U.S. is training thousands of foreign workers as potential outsourcers of American jobs.

U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers


Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $36 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia...

...Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs...

...USAID is contributing about $10 million to the effort

USAID is also funding an effort in Armenia to train IT workers for additional outsourcing of American jobs, though it won't say how much it's spending there.

Criminal stupidity or naked malevolence: which is it?


Larwyn's Linx: Late Friday Fast and Furious Document Drop

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Nation

Late Friday Fast and Furious Document Drop: Nice Deb
The 1% of the 1%: Moonbattery
Three Tales of Newt: Wolf Howling

Obama and the Return of ACORN: IBD
Obama's Opaque Transparency: Boortz
The Hardest Working Man in Show Business: AmDigest

Jail Cells for Corzine, Soros, Waters, Frank, Pelosi, No One: Ransom
How Newt Gingrich Saved the Internet: Ace
Gingrich is the president America needs: : Walker

Economy

Andy Stern: In Praise of Communist China: Moran
White House: Bad economy still Bush's fault: Exam
Obama crony, Hyatt seek to slash workers' health care: Marathon

What the drop in unemployment means for Obama’s reelection: Peth
"The future is known. It’s the past that keeps changing.": MoneyRunner
Calif Prison Realignment Is a Charade: CityWatchLA

Gunrunner & Energygate

LightSquared, The FCC and the Law Firm That Represented Solyndra: Ace
Fast and Furious Whistleblower Punished, Participants Rewarded: Moonbattery
Issa Wimps Out: Times

Climate & Energy

Top Science Journal Challenges Green Carbon Assumptions: Mead
Obama administration is targeting Ohio's shale gas: Mandel
Lights Out: Daily Bayonet

HuffPo Warmist Says We Should Declare A War On The Weather: RWN
One Way The EPA Could Ruin Christmas: Looking Spoon
Leaked Emails Raise Questions About NYT’s ClimateGate Coverage: Commentary

Media

How Did Obama’s Stimulus End Up Paying a Rich Hollywood Director to Produce a Web Video Show?: Tatler
The Herman Cain Problem: ushanka
Clinton Crony, "Journalist" George Stephanopoulos Convicts Herman Cain On-Air: NB

NBC's Andrea Mitchell Agrees: America One Of World's Most 'Socially Unjust' Societies: NB
Donald Trump to Moderate GOP Debate: Malkin
The Accused: Boston Globe Style: Glob

Brace yourself like a man, Tim Tebow!: JPA
Horror in Knoxville update: Retrials granted after discovery of drug-abusing judge: Malkin
A strangely desperate new Obama campaign speech: Urgent, dramatic, about him: IBD

World

The Real War in Iran: Glick
The Donkey Is Dead: Sultan Knish
Krauthammer: Obama has done more to undermine Israel’s position in the world than any other president: Scoop

Menendez Blows Up Over Administration Opposition to Key Iran Sanction: Commentary
Corruption and Islamism in Egypt: Spengler
Muslim Anti-Semitism and the Arab Spring: Sultan Knish

Taking Candy From a Baby: EU Referendum
Blame Canada: Daily Bayonet
China’s economy is rosy only if you don’t mind that it’s shrinking, corrupt and deadly: Bookworm

Sci-Tech

The Reality of 3D-Printed Body Parts: AtlWire
Open source offers an answer to the CarrierIQ spying controversy: ComputerWorld UK
TV ownership declines for first time in Nielsen history: EW

Cornucopia

I was almost killed yesterday and no one cares.: FMFM
Gilding the Lily Since 2008: MOTUS
Waiting for Not-O: AmDigest

Image: Obama - The Anti-Israel President
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "The ironic thing is that I present to networking people all the time and one of the things I talk about is network security. The comment that resonates with them is "Network security is great in order to keep people out of your network. But what do you do with those who already have access to your network? What if the problem is someone is supposed to have access to your network?" To a certain extent this is what the Carrier IQ story feels like. Carriers already have access to your device so you wouldn't think something to this level that would violate that trust. Carriers are PROHIBITED from listening in to your phone calls without a warrant. Law enforcement cannot look at your phone records without a warrant. Now a piece of software on your phone can send your habits, phone calls and SMS strings to a PRIVATE 3rd party? Very troubling indeed." --Jason Bautista

Friday, December 02, 2011

The only unemployment chart you need to see today

Courtesy of Calculated Risk -- via Business Insider -- comes a chart that helps illustrate the real unemployment situation.

This is why the situation seems so dire. Why people are walking around in a daze. Why your neighbors are worried and glum.

Forbes editor Vahan Janjigian explains

...the unemployment rate has been very high for quite some time. If you look at the U6 figure [Ed: now 15.6%], which includes people who are working part-time, the underemployed because they can’t find a full-time job, or people who have simply given up looking for work; that figure is always extremely high.

But there is another figure I like to focus on. It is called the participation rate. That figure has really been plummeting... Now this figure is never 100%, because, of course, there are some people who are capable of working who aren’t working. An 18-year-old who is in school, for example, is not going to be working. Someone who chooses to be a stay-at-home mom or dad is not going to be working, or somebody who is 65 years old and retired but is capable of working is not going to be working.

So in a healthy economy, we would expect this figure to be somewhere above 70%. It is currently down at 64%, which means that there are a lot of people who cannot find jobs—they want to be working, they can’t find jobs.

With that context in mind, please consider these headlines:

No matter how the dying, legacy media tries to spin it, no matter how the administration twists arms at the Bureau of Labor Statistics to make things look rosier, the facts are clear:

The American economy is dying under this President.


Absolute Must Watch: The Anti-Israel President

You'll get chills watching this.

Click here to pass it on.


Via: Right Scoop.

King warns of 'spiral' into systemic economic crisis and... weakened banks

The governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, offered some disturbing and silly remarks to the public today.

Eurozone woes have created “an exceptionally threatening environment” as falling government bond prices, eroding confidence and asset fire sales threaten to “spiral” into a systemic financial crisis, the governor of the Bank of England has warned... King urged the UK financial system to continue building up capital against an “extraordinarily serious” situation it had not created and could not solve.

“The crisis in the euro area is one of solvency not liquidity. And the interconnectedness of major banks means the banking systems and economies around the world are all affected. Only the governments directly involved can find a way out of this crisis,” he said.

Underscoring their concern, Sir Mervyn and Hector Sants, head of the Financial Services Authority, revealed that the watchdog was allowing UK banks to dip into their liquidity buffers when they encountered funding squeezes.

Far be it from me to second-guess a genius like Sir Mervyn, but doesn't alerting the public to potential shortages of liquid capital at retail financial institutions risk, er, bank runs?


The Weekly Standard's Droll New Parody Section

The bastion of big-government Republican, cocktail-circuit, anti-Tea Party "thought leadership" is a little-read magazine known as The Weakly Standard. Its wit is so incisive, so rapier-like, that it must warn readers ahead of time when it's deploying a devastatingly funny new "parody".

Oh, my.

Whew. Let me catch my breath.

And now you know why the WS is John Boehner's favorite periodical.

Now, if I were running the Parody section for Kristol, et. al., my version of the ad would look like this:

Attention, RINOs: we are trying to nominate a man or woman who can save this Republic. Get focused, schmucks.

Oh. And just one other question: was Bill Kristol's celebration of the "Arab Spring" earlier in 2011 supposed to be part of the nascent Parody Section?


MF Global investors saved by Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. Oh. Wait... uhm. No, they weren't.

Remember how Sarbanes-Oxley regulations were supposed to prevent more Enron-style disasters? SOX compliance, as it is known in the industry, cost businesses tens of billions and drove many companies from going public.

Instead of spending the money on innovation, hiring salespeople, expanding production facilities, or creating new marketing, service and distribution capabilities, companies spent those funds trying to achieve compliance with largely useless government dictates.

But remember: we don't have enough regulations.

MF Global proves Enron-era accounting lives on


The off-balance-sheet accounting methods that Enron and Lehman Brothers made famous in their epic failures years ago have a modern-day poster child: MF Global... Like its predecessors, the bankrupt brokerage formerly run by Jon Corzine took advantage of an accounting maneuver to keep certain financial obligations off its books, making the firm look less indebted and thus less a risk than it really was.

On Thursday, Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told a committee of Congress the SEC was investigating the accounting treatment that helped mask MF Global's exposure to risky foreign sovereign debt.

The fact that MF Global was able to use the technique highlights how off-balance-sheet moves are evolving as quickly as new accounting rules intended to stop them. Earlier this year, the Financial Accounting Standards Board changed its rules to bar an off-balance-sheet loophole that had helped Lehman Brothers get into trouble in 2008.

Reuters' analysis is: of course! We need more regulations!

So how are all of those millions of pages of existing regulations working out for investors in Jon Corzine's firm?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: every thing this enormous, extra-constitutional federal bureaucracy touches turns to crap.


Related: Weird coincidence: Obama bundler Corzine got a range of regulatory "gifts" before his firm collapsed

Larwyn's Linx: For Democrats, Politics Trumps Human Trafficking

Have a news tip or great story? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

For Democrats, Politics Trumps Human Trafficking: Foundry
Pelosi Dismisses Catholic Bishops as ‘Lobbyists’: CNS
Romney Campaign Unprepared For Gingrich; Still Fretting Perry: Ace

A Weak Defense of an Illegal Fix to an ObamaCare Glitch: Cato
GOP 2012 Analysis: Why Newt’s Likely To Win: RWN
Herman Cain News Roundup: Nice Deb

Economy

How the NLRB Helped the Unions Shakedown Boeing: Exam
Angriest Democrat in Congress pretty angry at Obama: Hot Air
Andy Stern's Demented Vision for America: WSJ

Crony Capitalists Occupy DC: NRO
Thanks, Obamacare: Get Ready for "Targeted Dumping" of Coverage: Hall
Fannie, Freddie Spend $640,000 on Conference: WSJ

GM Channel Stuffing Surges To All Time Record: ZH
Labor Secretary: Unemployment Payments Decrease Unemployment: Malkin
Average Foreclosure Time Sets New Record: CNBC

Gunrunner & Energygate

Another Obama bundler benefits from DOE loan: Exam
FBI Criminal Informant Complicit in Brian Terry’s Death (PJM Exclusive): Owens
Judicial Watch Sues Obama Administration to Obtain Solyndra Records: JW

Climate & Energy

Government Motors Offers To Buy Back All Chevy Volts: WZ
U.N. Agency That Deals With ‘Green Energy’ and ‘Green Industry’ Loses Another Major Funder: CNS
Fun Fact of The Day: Obama Averaging One Fundraiser Every Five Days In 2011: WZ

Media

What’s missing from the Top Tweets of 2011 list?: Malkin
Chris Matthews Even More Unhinged Than Usual -- Breaks Media Bias Meter In Process: Ace
Gingrich Instructs Team Not to Blast Fellow Candidates After Word Romney About To Attack: WZ

Dead Movement Walking: Top Six Signs the Left And Mainstream Media Have Hung Occupy Out to Dry: BigGovt
Obama: My Daughters Are “Going To Be Successful Even If America As a Whole Is Not”: WZ
New Gun Company Advertisement Compares Obama to Hitler, Stalin: CBS Washington

Michelle Antoinette slips out of WH to dine on swordfish sliders and 'edible chocolate sculpture': Exam
Christie Blows Any Chance for National Political Ambitions: War On Guns
Kermit The Frog On CNN “Newt Is From The Swamp”: Glob

World

Obama Lost Egypt?: Ace
Arab Spring: Islamists Make Huge Gains in Egyptian Elections, Begin the Slaughter of Coptic Christians: GWP
'Perhaps it's the hand of God?': Cold Fury

Guadalajara Body Dump Heralds Spread of Massacres in Mexico: Borderland Beat
Tijuana Drug Tunnel Linked Mexico to US: Borderland Beat
RJC Bars Ron Paul From Presidential Debate, Saying He's Too "misguided and extreme": Reason

Air Force Extends Secret Space Plane’s Mysterious Mission: Wired
Pentagon Preps Afghans for Trillion-Dollar Treasure Hunt: Wired
Jailed Afghan rape victim freed but 'to marry attacker' : BBC

Sci-Tech

Mini-Nukes, Flying ‘Terminators,’ and 8 More Air Weapons That Will Blow You Away: Wired
Researcher’s Video Shows Secret Software on Millions of Phones Logging Everything: Wired
Carrier IQ tracking iPhone customers too, hacker says: CNet

Cornucopia

Target Probably Has Everything You Need: Ace
Miniatur-Wunderland: World’s Largest Model Railroad is 1,300 Square Meters of Amazing: Marfdrat
Miley Cyrus, Occupier Poster Girl: Malkin

Image: Michelle Obama's Mirror (MOTUS)
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: 'Most people say, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." I say, "Where there's smoke around a conservative, there are journalists furiously rubbing two sticks together."' --Ann Coulter

Thursday, December 01, 2011

"The United States is quickly becoming a post-industrial, neo-Third World country"

It's truly sad what Statism has wrought.

The U.S. workforce has declined by approximately 6.5% since its year 2000 peak to roughly 58.2% of working age adults and the U.S. now suffers chronic unemployment of 9.1%. Although the workforce grew in the 1980s and 1990s, as dual income families became the norm, the size of the workforce is shrinking due to a lack of economic opportunity...

...Officially, long-term unemployment is 16.5% and the ranks of the long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) include 5.9 million, 42.4% of those unemployed. However, prior to the Clinton administration, unemployment measures included workers who are now no longer counted as part of the workforce. Using the more accurate pre-Clinton criteria, unemployment exceeds 22%, only 3% below the worst point (24.9%) of the Great Depression...

...if household income is adjusted for inflation, most American families have grown significantly poorer over the past ten years. In 2010, for example, real median household income fell 2.3%. Although the average wage has risen steadily in nominal terms, dwindling purchasing power is a reality for most Americans. When adjusted for inflation, the wages of most Americans have not kept up with the Consumer Price Index (CPI)...

...Although CPI is sufficient to illustrate declining real wages, CPI does not measure the cost of living in a realistic way. According to economist John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics, CPI systematically understates inflation...

...The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as “food stamps,” serves 45.8 million households as of May 2011. The program now feeds 1 in 8 Americans and nearly 1 in 4 children...

The United States is quickly becoming a post industrial neo-Third World country. Partly as a consequence of worsening unemployment and lack of economic opportunity, falling real wages and household incomes [and] growing poverty, the U.S. government faces a historic fiscal crisis.

...Barring fundamental reforms or a hyperinflationary collapse of the U.S. dollar (due to the fiscal problems of the U.S. government), the deterioration of the U.S. economy will continue and accelerate. As the U.S. economy continues its decline, public health, nutrition and education, as well as the country’s infrastructure, will visibly deteriorate and the Third World status of the United States will become apparent.

Only one question remains: when will Democrats stop embarrassing themselves by blaming Bush?

After all, they've controlled Congress for five freaking years and the Presidency for three.

And. Things. Just. Keep. Getting. Worse.


Hinde Capital: Future "transfer[s] of gold will take place at much higher prices"

Remember when Anthony 'Tweet My' Weiner was attacking legitimate gold retailers like Goldline?

He said it was because they were allegedly ripping off consumers, but the real reason was to silence popular conservative pundits like Mark Levin and Glenn Beck by intimidating their advertisers. Stalin-esque, eh?

So how's that $700/oz. gold look now, Weiner?

Because gold's tracking over $1,700/oz., there's an argument to be made that it's risen too far, too fast.

That doesn't appear to be Hilde Capital's opinion, however:

GOLD ADOPTION RATES LOW


Gold investor holdings stands at $2.0 trillion (Nov 2011), 0.96% of Global Financial Assets (GFA). In 2000 gold holdings were worth $227 billion, or 0.2% of GFA, but this isn’t the whole story...

• Today 0.2% would be worth $1.45 trillion ($1800 troy oz. Au) or 0.7% of Global Financial Assets (GFA).
• Therefore new investment gold only provided 0.26% increase in % gold holdings.
• In 1968 to 1970 % gold holdings of GFA = 5%, to attain this % at current values of gold ($1,800), $10.4 trillion dollars need to be invested...
• $10.4 trillion is equivalent to 5.8 billion troy oz at $1,800 or 1.2 x gold ever produced.
• 5.8 billion troy oz. is 3.6 x known gold reserves (based on US Geological Survey).
• Clearly not only is public ownership miniscule, but to return to the 70s % holdings requires too much gold than these prices can handle.
• This transfer of gold will take place at much higher prices.

From their lips to Bernanke's ear.


Saudis fear there will be ‘no more virgins’ and people will turn gay if female drive ban is lifted

That's not even my headline: that's the real thing from London's Daily Mail:

Repealing a ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia would result in ‘no more virgins’, the country’s religious council has warned.

A ‘scientific’ report claims relaxing the ban would also see more Saudis - both men and women - turn to homosexuality and pornography.

The startling conclusions were drawn by Muslim scholars at the Majlis al-Ifta’ al-A’ala, Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the King Fahd University.

Their report assessed the possible impact of repealing the ban in Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed behind the wheel... [and] was delivered to all 150 members of the Shura Council, the country’s legislative body.

The report warns that allowing women to drive would ‘provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce’.

Within ten years of the ban being lifted, the report’s authors claim, there would be ‘no more virgins’ in the Islamic kingdom.

And it pointed out ‘moral decline’ could already be seen in other Muslim countries where women are allowed to drive... The astonishing report comes after Shaima Jastaniya, a 34-year-old Saudi woman, was sentenced to 10 lashes with a whip after being caught driving in Jeddah.

Well, it was a 'scientific' study and therefore, like global warming, the matter must be settled.


Today's Non-Sequitur

Papa B refers us to this Wiley gem:


More Non Sequitur here.