Tuesday, December 04, 2012

CHEERY: The Debt Dam Bursts In Two to Four Years

Economic writer Robert Wiedemer's assessment matches those of former House Ways and Means chief Chris Carter and Paul Ryan: we have two years -- four years at the outside -- before the federal government's Ponzi scheme implodes.

...this dollar bubble and this government debt bubble – will burst. It is not as if it will not burst for 15 or 20 years. We say it is somewhere in two to four years. You need to be prepared for it.

The debt will always be funded as long as the Federal Reserve stands willing to buy all the bonds that the government sells. At some point, that creates inflation: that pushes up interest rates. The Fed will fight those interest rates going up. At first, they can do it. They just print more money. That keeps interest rates down, but ultimately that inflation will force them up. We cannot just pull the money out and raise interest rates now; it's going to pop the real estate and stock bubbles.

What is going to happen is the Fed is going to lose control of those interest rates. When you print too much money, it gets you control short-term, but it is a recipe for losing control long-term. With those interest rates going up, what is going to pop? The stock market and real estate bubbles. All of that is what kicks off the big problem going forward. Normally you would say the bond market is going to be the problem, but I would tell you that it is actually going to be more stocks and eventually even real estate combined. Then ultimately, the bond market starts to go down, and down quickly once it starts.

When the dam finally breaks, it will break quickly. Literally, it is in a matter of months or certainly no more than a year once it really starts to go.

You get very, very high inflation. We could have stock market holidays and things like that.

The big difference between now and the depression is that the government is also in trouble at this point. We are really not going to have a huge failure until the government kind of comes to its wits' end. It will, but it comes as a last massive orgy of money printing to try to save everything - unlike anything you have seen yet. QE1, QE2, QE3 is nothing like what the Fed has to do when this thing starts to fall. They have to print, buy, and buy, and buy, and try to keep up the falling house. They will not be able to do it, but that will be the reaction.

Then at some point, it is not going to work and the whole thing goes.

As Mark Levin observes, the only bright spot is that the progressive kooks are going down the tubes along with the rest of us.


Chart: Wikipedia.


BRUTAL PHOTO: Protesters in Egypt Slam Obama

This photo, posted by @Bushpir8, depicts Egyptians who are simply delighted at the Obama-supported "Arab Spring":


Is the rationale for President Obama's embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood just a crazy conspiracy theory -- or is it so sane that you just blew your mind?


Larwyn's Linx: Fiscal Cliff Debate Is About the Size Of Government, Not Taxing 'The Rich'

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Fiscal Cliff Debate Is About Size Of Government, Not 'The Rich': Sowell
Forum: The Fiscal Cliff – Let It Happen Or Grand Bargain?: Watcher
The Purge of House Conservatives Continues: RS

Why I'm Enlisting In Andrew Breitbart's War: Breitbart
Conservatives need to use better tactics and language: Kuznicki
Obama Aide: With These Republicans, There’d Still Be Slavery: Beacon

I am Thankful for John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy: RS
Pressure Coming From Below: Loudon
The Reasoning Behind Allen West: Scoop

Economy

Let's Have a Depression Now: Pelerin
GM Channel Stuffing WTF!?: ZH
ObamaCare’s Magical Premium Tax: Cato

The 1930s All Over Again?: Brenner
Obama Should Return To Clinton-Era Spending Levels: IBD
Fed President Promotes Political Lies: Denninger

Who's Not Bargaining in Good Faith?: Samuelson
Obama: I am the law: Exam
I'll See Your Economic Collapse and Raise You National Demise: Duke

Scandal Central

State Department Spent 4.5 Million for Embassy Art, Had No Money for Benghazi Security: FPM
The $2 Billion Stimulus Disaster You've Never Heard About: MenRec
Since Election Day, Obama has golfed more times than worked on Fiscal Cliff deal: IHTM

Media

An open letter to Bob Costas and Jason Whitlock: DPU
Thinned-Skin President Taunts Kid Rock For Supporting Romney, Tells Him I'm Still Here: WZ
Why some people voted Democrat: CDN

Don't Care Any More: Zilla
Embarrassment to mankind Keith Olbermann says Iraq veteran and amputee ‘embarrasses the military’: Twitchy
Seven Black Teenagers Attack 1 White Teenager And Beat Him Senseless: HySci

The 50 Best Conservative Columnists Of 2012 (4th Annual): RWN
Left-Wing Media Plans to Get Tough on Obama: AIM
Bloody new photo of Trayvon Martin's killer released: Trib

Columnist Who Inspired Bob Costas Drops New Bomb: 'The NRA Is the New KKK': NB
The 7 Pieces of Advice by Trotsky for Obama, found in the 1934 Chicago Tribune: Hideout
Leftist Idiots Barricade Themselves Inside Keystone XL Pipe in Texas: GWP

World

Hungarian Parlimentarian Calls For “List Of Jews” To Be Compiled: NoisyRm
10 Lies About the Israel-Hamas Conflict: IPT
Judge off Hood case; Hasan shave order tossed: ArmyTimes

Video: Assad Moving Chemical Weapons: WorldThreats
The ITU treaty could be bad news if unchecked: RS
Gun Control Debate Erupts on Hannity: Blaze

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

2012 Social Media Report: Users Spend 58% More Time on Social, App Usage More Than Doubles: Marketingland
A Third of Young Adults (and Some Bloggers You Know) Use Social Media in the Bathroom: Mashable
Autonomy Foes Circling to Poach Customers: Channelnomics

Cornucopia

We Honor Artistic Expression: MOTUS
Tire Irons and Handcuffs: The Sheik Returns: Primordial Slack
Time For Bernanke To Retract His Sworn Testimony To Congress: ZH

Image: Twitchy
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: The Objective Standard

QOTD: "In a Bloomberg story titled, appropriately enough "Treasury Scarcity to Grow as Fed Buys 90% of New Bonds" we read that "the Fed, in its efforts to boost growth, will add about $45 billion of Treasuries a month to the $40 billion in mortgage debt it’s purchasing, effectively absorbing about 90 percent of net new dollar-denominated fixed-income assets, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co." Actually that's incorrect and it is more like 100%. What is however 100% correct is what the bolded means in plain language: it is now accepted that the Fed will outright monetize all gross US issuance. Let us repeat this sentence for those who just had flashbacks to Adam Fergusson's "When money dies." The Fed is now monetizing practically all net new debt...

...What Bernanke implicitly, and in one week explicitly, has announced is that it now takes $85 billion in monthly Flow injection from the Fed just to keep the market from collapsing." --Tyler Durden

Monday, December 03, 2012

NIELSEN'S LATEST: State of the Media--The Social Media Report 2012

Some interesting snippets from Nielsen's annual recap:

• The top social networks in terms of users...


• The phenomenal growth of mobile...


• And the implications for customer service...


Marketingland has the synopsis.


BRUISED AND BATTERED: Gee, I wonder why we never saw this photo of George Zimmerman before?

Uhm... it's quite, eh, curious that this photograph was never released before.

A color photograph of George Zimmerman with a bloody, swollen nose taken on the night he shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin last February was posted on the Internet on Monday by Zimmerman's legal defense team.

...On February 26, Zimmerman, who was a neighborhood watch volunteer, shot and killed 17-year-old Martin who was walking to the home in Sanford where he was staying with his father.

Zimmerman's murder trial is set for June 2013.

Zimmerman claims he shot Martin in self defense during a struggle.

"Does it really show what happened that night to George? Yes," O'Mara said... O'Mara told Reuters that prosecutors in May had given him a grainy black-and-white photocopy of the image which was taken in the back seat of a Sanford police cruiser. O'Mara said he received the digital image from prosecutors after repeated demands by his office and he posted it Monday on Zimmerman's defense website.

Al Sharpton and Touréyonce hardest hit.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

JUST PERFECT: John Boehner Purges Conservatives From Prominent Committee Spots

John Boehner is the Speaker of the House thanks to Tea Party and Constitutional conservatives. But instead of embracing the principles of the base that put him in power, he has purged anyone who doesn't agree with his feckless leadership.

Speaker John A. Boehner initiated today a small purge of rebellious Republicans — mostly conservatives — from prominent committees; it’s the latest instance of the Ohio Republican’s clamping down on his fractious conference.

The decisions were made by the GOP Steering Committee at a Monday meeting, which reviewed a spreadsheet listing each GOP lawmaker and how often he or she had voted with leadership, three sources said.

Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona and Walter Jones of North Carolina were booted from the Financial Services Committee. Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas were removed from the Budget Committee... According to a source, Schweikert was told that he was ousted in part because his “votes were not in lockstep with leadership.”

All of the lawmakers other than Jones were rebellious right-wingers. Huelskamp and Amash, for instance, both voted against the budget proposed by Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin in committee and on the floor, because it did not cut spending fast enough. They also voted against the current continuing resolution that is funding the government through the end of March.

...The decisions came as a major surprise to Republican members. When first contacted about the changes, several of the lawmakers’ offices said they had not yet been notified.

Complete classlessness. As Jimmie Bise, Jr. observes:

This sort of move — summary dismissal from important committees for which you leak to the press before you notify the affected members — is a big, fat backhand to the face, a reminder that John Boehner is in charge of the GOP House caucus and not we upstart conservative Tea Partiers... It’s what happens when a besieged leader wants to secure his position to hold off a siege. Make no mistake, conservatives have gotten very close to positions of real influence inside the ranks of the professional Republicans and that just won’t do. And so, a purge of the problem children who believe conservatism is more than a suit you put on to gull the rubes during an election year.

Here's my advice: Don't give a single penny to any official Republican organization. Not a cent to the RNC. Not a nickel to the NRSC. Not a dime to the NRCC. Not a quarter to Karl Rove's idiotic "grassroots" fund, American Crossroads.

Instead, give your money and support to conservative candidates directly and to organizations proven to support conservative principles like Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund.


KEWL: BadBlue T-Shirts for the Discerning News Connoisseur


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It's as fresh as the oven-baked biscuits Mama used to make.


IT EXPLAINS ALOT: The Confidence Fairy

Zero Hedge commenter TruthInSunshine has a perspective worth sharing. He explains why no one in a position of power will speak the truth about the financial wall -- not cliff -- that the economy is headed for:

No government agency or business association spokesperson is ever going to speak of the truth of how bad things are in the present, unless they have no choice because incontrovertible proof has already been released to the masses that would otherwise and obviously demonstrate their insincerity.

As long as "official datum" as published by the various governmental and quasi-governmental agencies/bodies allow governmental and business association spokespeople to understate the severity of our real economic crisis, they will, whether Democrats, Republicans or the chief economist for The National Association of Realtors.

No governmental employee (and especially no politician) will voluntarily relay how dire things may be (again, given a backdrop of "official" statistical datum that is inaccurate and relatively misleading they can fall back on) because they wouldn't want to upset the apple cart, cause further distress or even panic amongst the populace or within the "markets," and no business association spokesperson, whose very jobs entail, at least in significant part, a public confidence-building role, will do anything to further dampen the confidence that ... hope remains amongst potential consumers of their products (e.g. would a spokesperson for the NAR really come out and say that existing homes are selling quickly because inventory is being artificially constrained by GSEs and federal reserve policy and also due to federal reserve monetary policy that has a huge % of listed homes being purchased by investors for cash in an attempt to produce yields in a yield-starved economy - BECAUSE of federal reserve monetary policy? What impact would that have on the confidence of conventional, prospective existing home purchasers, who might then realize there is no true present price discovery and that another leg down is more than possible?).

In other words, they lie because our economy is dependent, in quite a large degree, on an illusion that is often referred to as the "confidence fairy."

If those people who still have the means to purchase a particular service or good feel confident about the security of their own jobs and the current & likely future state of the economy, they're more apt to go ahead and dig themselves into more debt or pay cash to purchase that service or good, regardless of the accuracy (and realism) of their "confidence level."

Conversely, if they don't feel confident about the security of their own employment situation and/or the current and likely future state of the economy, they're more apt to refrain from purchasing that good or service, and save instead, in preparation for what may lay ahead.

And this is why, without exception, throughout history, the masses do not understand there is a crisis until well after it has already begun, and they've already committed to many purchases, indebtedness and other forms of dis-saving, that they wouldn't have committed to had they known accurate information sooner.

Hence, the "confidence fairy," which governmental employees, politicians and business spokespeople all actively perpetuate in their own methods and by various tactices, is a serial and mass killer of efficient markets and rational economic behavior (as it severely distorts essential economic information that is relied upon by economic and market participants)

As Monty Pelerin so succinctly puts it, "21st Century politics sees no need for truth."


Larwyn's Linx: Cliff Dwellers

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Cliff Dwellers: Feldman
When did government ever regulate us into efficiency?: Patterico
Massive Anti-Obama Rally Planned for Inauguration Day: MMN

To Hell With It, Let’s Jump Off the Fiscal Cliff: RWN
Obama’s Now Borrowed More Than All Prior Presidents: CNS
Obama Goes Powergolfing with Bill Clinton: Dossier

Men Find Careers in Collecting Disability: Barone
Rahm Emanuel Slams Netanyahu: GWP
Coast Guard member killed in confrontation with smugglers: KABC

Economy

The Imperial Presidency: Implications for Job Growth: Cantor
End Runs Could Tame Obama: AT
How to Survive in Washington, D.C. on $3,835,616 Dollars a Day: WyBlog

Why Warren Buffett is in Favor Of High Tax Rates: P&F
Paying Mitt Romney's Taxes and Other Liberal Illogic: WyBlog
Hippienomics: CDN

Scandal Central

Sustainable Development: Agenda 21 explained: Scoop
The Red Line Iran Already Crossed: Iran Murdering U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistran: Mauro
Judge Jeanine Pirro Tackles the Latest BenghaziGate news: Nice Deb

Climate & Energy

The Plans for the Second Term Are Beginning to Leak Out: Elephant

Media

Bob Costas And Jason Whitlock Trash The 2nd Amendment: HayRide
Iraqi refugee arrested for bombing Arizona Social Security office with IED, media silence ensues: Tatler
Grover Norquist wants fiscal cliff talks on TV: RedAlert

Bob Costas, NBC Exploit Tragedy to Attack Americans’ Constitutional Right of Self-Defense: Tatler
NBC Sports hits a new low: ProWis
President Obama honors Rosa Parks anniversary with picture of... himself: Twitchy

Policing the Schutzstaffel: NoisyRm
The Good Wife: Conservative Version: DTG
Michelle Obama's Speech on Changing America's History and Traditions: Saving Common Sense (2010)

World

Obama Administration Silent After Egyptian Constitution Restores Slavery: Events
For Sale on Saudi Facebook: Abdul, the Castrated Black Aftrican Slave: GWP
Hillary Clinton Accuses Israel of Lacking Generosity and Empathy with “Oppressed” Palestinians: GWP

Surprise: Obama punts the 'Palestinians': Matzav
Smart Power: Egypt Hurriedly Passes Islamist Style Constitution: Cove
Thousands attend anti-Nazi rally in Hungary to protest lawmaker's call for screening of Jews: Fox

Internet meeting spurs controversy: PC World
IMF Confirms: China Heavily Overinvesting: Mead
Ethnic cleansing in the Middle East: Matzav

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

The Fate Of The Free Internet Goes Up For Vote In December: WebProNews
Paint it black—How Syria methodically erased itself from 'Net: Ars Technica
Is Facebook Becoming Irrelevant?: SocMedToday

Cornucopia

My 30 Favorite Tweets From November: Hawkins
The Ultimate Sniper Rifle - No Skill Required: CMR
So I Just Got Off The Phone With Dan Riehl: Glob

Image: Thousands Attend Anti-Nazi Rally in Hungary After Lawmaker’s Chilling Anti-Semitic Remarks
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Dan Riehl

QOTD: "So what lessons should Republicans learn from the 2012 election? I don’t think anyone other than me has thought to ask this question, as Republicans tend not to be very analytical. But I think the answer is pretty obvious when you look at the failure of their presidential candidate this year and the one in 2008: Republicans need to stop nominating right-wing extremists like John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Obviously, the two most recent Republican presidential candidates were far too extreme to the right to be elected by the American public. They were constantly seen in the company of numerous Republicans and conservatives (one was even seen hanging around Sarah Palin) and often praised them instead of denouncing them. Also, they reveled in the racism of the Republican Party (especially in their racist stance on taxes) and sometimes said positive things about Republicans’ stances on social issues. And worst of all, they were actually opposed to the election and reelection of the first black president and occasionally even criticized him.

So it’s no wonder that so much of the country was absolutely repulsed by these people. By reading any news source like the New York Times, you could see how terrified the average person was of having those extremists elected. If the Republican Party doesn’t want to continue being hated, it needs to finally give up on its right-wing radicalism exemplified by McCain and Romney and plan to have in 2016 a perfect candidate who will not be so offensive to Democrats." --Frank J. Fleming

Sunday, December 02, 2012

THE "STUPIDITY" OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR: The Left's Other Economic Straw Man

Writing at The Reformed Broker, Joshua Brown correctly dismisses the Left's incessant calls for economic "fairness", but then ensnares himself in another field of rhetorical quicksand: the "stupidity" of corporations and the private sector.

...the economy isn't fair and you can make a pretty strong case that it's gotten less fair, but that fact alone will never sway those in power...

...So instead of lamenting the lack of fairness, let's talk about the stupidity of this hollowing out of the middle class in this country, year after year, with bought and paid for legislation and preferential tax treatment.

Henry Blodget demonstrated last night how, while corporate profits have never been higher, the wages paid to workers at these same corporations have never been lower. While corporate profit margins just hit a 70-year high, have a glance at wages as a percentage of GDP:


Corporations haven't magically learned a new secret to profitability, they've just found a workaround to the need for a living wage in this country. F*** it, someone else's problem.

Yes, Joshua: corporations have all -- in concert -- decided to screw the "middle class", whoever that may be. It's not the insane, ever growing number of regulations from hundreds of government entities that grow like weeds in good times and bad. It's not takeovers of entire industries -- like health care -- with countless repercussions as diktats and fiats emanate from unelected, faceless bureaucrats. Corporations certainly couldn't be husbanding resources to prepare for the unknown, could they?

And, oh my: 54 percent of jobs are created by small businesses, not large companies. How is it that they, too, appear to have conspired to screw "the middle class"?

...the stupidity of having such an obviously unbalanced economy is the more important discussion we should be having right now. The corporations are every bit as vulnerable to the disappearance of the middle class as the middle class is itself.

They've managed around this issue thus far with an increasing emphasis on exports (now responsible for half of the S&P 500's sales and profits) as well as systemic and legally-sanctioned overseas tax evasion. Consider that Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009 and paid zero Federal income tax (you want to laugh, they actually got a rebate of $256 million). GE earned $14 billion in 2010 and also paid zero in Federal income tax. Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have each set up offshore subsidiaries which they use as payment conduits so as to keep their profits shielded from the IRS.

But offshoring of profits and the export of goods and services won't sustain these corporations forever. At a certain point, native companies within the developing world will nudge our adventuring multinationals aside (China's already building its own version of Wall Street). And when that happens, Corporate America is going to turn around and be horrified by the devastation in its own backyard.

So, Joshua, why have these corporate entities set up offshore tax shelters? Could it be because they are incented to do so, thanks to populist -- and destructive -- corporate tax policies and (in the case of GE) crony capitalism?

And concerning Exxon Mobil, could it also be that we already pay an incredible rate of taxation on every gallon of gas, which -- by the way -- hits the middle class, and poor, and the rich equally?

Well, you enormous f***ing idiots, you fired all your customers. You've spent the last decade or so suppressing wage growth in the name of "creating shareholder value" and now even your shareholder base is disappearing.

You allowed wages to stagnate for a decade and made every decision you could in the service of nudging the quarterly profit higher, thinking less of the yearly profit and virtually nothing of the long-term viability of your business.

No, Joshua: you are dead wrong.

I have an Almanac from 1929. It is fascinating. As you flip the pages, you see dozens of pages of advertising representing hundreds of different companies. Perhaps one-half of one percent of these companies are still alive today.

No, Joshua: companies (and individuals) are trying to survive an out-of-control government that is leeching more and more money from every corner of the economy, issuing ever more onerous regulations, and wreaking administrative havoc with bills like Dodd-Frank and PPACA that have yet to be fully fleshed out.

Companies are terrified of a federal government that has grown like a cancer, decade after decade.

See, Joshua: we already have a structure that will work for all Americans. We have a precious and priceless framework our predecessors bequeathed to us called "The Constitution".

It attempted to limit the powers of a centralized federal government because it knew that "absolute power corrupts absolutely".

And so it is we have arrived in November of 2012: with an unconstrained central government, borrowing and printing money that will never be repaid in pursuit of a collectivist ideology that has no blueprint, no design, and no endgame that can be shared with the citizenry.

It confiscates ever more money from the private sector, recycles it through thousands of inefficient bureaucracies, and then sends the remainder to its favorite constituent groups to aid in its reelection efforts.

It micromanages our lives and regulates every aspect of the private sector. It tells us what kind of light bulbs we can buy, how much mileage our cars must get, how much water can flow through our shower heads, and how big a pond can be in our backyards before it turns into a "protected wetland".

The federal government is the world's biggest borrower, its biggest lender, its biggest health insurer, and runs the biggest retirement system. And every time it has touched any part of our economic system, it has bankrupted or destroyed it.

The system is going to collapse, just as it is collapsing in Europe today, just as it did in Argentina a decade ago, and just as it did in the Weimar Republic. And the tragedy -- the travesty -- is that we were blessed with a system of Constitutional government that was explicitly designed to prevent all of this madness.

Corporations are terrified of the federal government. And those ostensibly running things, our politicians -- with the exception of a handful of plain-spoken folks demonized as "extremists" -- have largely surrendered to the corruption endemic to an unconstitutional, centralized government that, each and every day, pushes us closer to tyranny.

That, Joshua, is the problem: the world's biggest corporation called the federal government.


SWEET: Apple Files Patent for Wireless Device Charger

Wouldn't this be nice?

Truly wireless charging, it's a tech utopia we all long for. Sure, we're getting there, but it still requires contact, which is only slightly better. If places like Starbucks starts putting pads in their tables, hooray, but it's a far cry from a real charging zone. A recent Apple patent outlines just that, the wireless charging dream we've all been dreaming.

In a patent application published a few days ago, "Wireless Power Utilization in a Local Computing Environment," Apple is filing for some tech that looks like wireless charging heaven. Using near-field magnetic resonance, Apple aspires (in theory) to create a wireless charging dome that reaches out up to a yard from the source, powering anything nearby with NFMR resonator circuits in them. Mice, keyboards, phones, remotes, whathaveyou. It's a dream come true.

That said, the eccentric genius Nikola Tesla is reported to have demonstrated wireless power transmission in 1891, but it has somehow eluded all attempts at practical implementation since.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com/Tech.

IT'S AN OPEN BORDERS EXTRAVAGANZA! 14 Illegals Bail Out of SUV During Routine Traffic Stop

Aren't the Democrats' open borders policies funtastic?

What police say began as a traffic stop eastbound on Interstate 40 on the west side of El Reno has resulted in the arrests of 13 people, according to officers.

Police said the SUV was following a tractor-trailer too closely, with less than a car length between them, resulting in the stop. When the driver handed an officer a driver's license issued in Mexico, the officer asked the driver to step out of the car.


Canadian County Sheriff Randall Edwards told KOCO Eyewitness News 5 that 13 illegal immigrants, along with the driver, jumped out of the vehicle and fled. After a search that lasted much of Tuesday afternoon and included Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers, sheriff's deputies, the state Agriculture Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and K-9 units, 13 people were taken into custody...

"I couldn't fathom that they had gotten that many people in that car," said Cody Palmer with the Canadian County Sheriff's Department.

Three of those arrested are women. The driver of the car was also an illegal immigrant and police say he will face 13 counts of human trafficking.

But I'm sure the driver was licensed and insured -- and that all of the passengers had been buckled in before the traffic stop.

If you had lost a family member in a traffic accident caused by an illegal alien -- an all too common phenomenon in the era of Obama -- you'd probably have a far different view of open borders than the typical Democrat pol.


KIM KARDASHIAN WATCH: The Side of Bahrain She Won't Be Visiting

In our semi-annual celebrity update:

Kim Kardashian had only just touched down in the Kingdom of Bahrain before declaring it the prettiest place on earth...


...Of course, that was before police reportedly fired tear gas to disperse 50 or so angry protesters demonstrating against Kardashian’s visit to the country to promote her Millions of Milkshakes shop.

I wonder if Ms. Kardashian is aware that slavery -- yes, slavery -- is still alive and well in Bahrain:

Scars of severe beating were clear on the chest and shoulders of Salma Bijoum, three months after she fled the home of her abusive employer. Now, the domestic helper is waiting for a court decision to be able to return to her family in Haidarabad.

Bijoum, 35, tasted all kinds of cruel treatment and humiliation at the hands of her employer’s wife during her 45-day stay. She was beaten and kicked on regular basis for no obvious reason. She was beaten for not cleaning the house well, for sitting on the carpet and for drinking cold water. She neither got adequate meals nor a salary. Then came the day she decided to run away: she was asked to sweep the floor using a broom but she could not as her arms had become so swollen from beating. When she declined, the lady of the house beat her with an iron rod. She bled.


The case of Bijoum is not rare in a country where many employers violate the human rights of their domestic helpers. Abuse includes bad language, deprivation from basic requirements like proper accommodation, meals, rest time and monthly wages. Others are insulted, beaten, sexually harassed and raped, according to statements by domestic workers and police records.

Foreign domestic workers in Bahrain represent 4.2% of Bahrain's total population of 1.1 million people. They live in closed houses, making it nearly impossible to penetrate these places to see how they live, or whether they get their full legal rights...

When Bijoum escaped her employer's residence screaming for help, the driver of a labor transport vehicle took her to a police station.

Bijoum is considered lucky. Sings of abuse and torture have to be fresh and clear to constitute evidence of torture. Moreover, the driver who dropped her off at the police station, called a journalist who published a story on her plight. This gave her case publicity, which in turn generated public pressure.

“We should work according to our employer’s will, whenever he so wishes, without a day off," said Bijoum. "This is the slavery of the Third Millennium.”

I wonder how pretty Bahrain is from the perspective of a slave?


INTERESTING: "The Main Problem With Republicans"

Dark Water Retreat:

The main problem with the Republicans is that they are perpetually uncool. Although some take comfort in the glow of self-righteousness and condemnation of those who are not worthy, the Republican Party has little to offer the citizens of the United States. Even the once strong point of having solid economic principles they purportedly endorse, this idea seems to be no-more as evidenced by the economic liberal choices of president they continue to select. I mean, really? McCain and Romney were planning to get the country back on sound economic ground? Instead of being economic stalwarts of fiscal responsibility, they seem to be socialist lite… That is, ”only half the socialist calories of the other brand!”


What they are doing is doubling down on is the social issues that piss people off. Republicans are on the wrong side of these issues and they represent a black eye that history will not remember fondly. Most voters don’t understand fiscal and economic policy. They just don’t. What they do understand is that they have a relative or friend that is gay. They do understand that they have a relative or friend that smokes an occasional joint. They do understand that they have a relative or friend that is an immigrant. They do not like watching family friendly entertainment all the time. People are turned off by the self-righteous holier-than-thou attitude that Republicans continue to put forth. While not considering the many fine people they are disenfranchising, the Republicans seem to be more than willing to water down sound financial principles of which everyone would benefit. We only have one shot in this world and if we are going to be labeled as ”sinners” we might as well (as said by Billy Joel): “we would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints because the sinners are much more fun.”

We have our work cut out for us. As Trevor Loudon reminds us, the next four years are going to be disastrous unless Republicans stand for something basic, primitive and real: America.

• Diverting money from the military to social spending will be a huge part of the agenda. After all, a strong US military is the major block to world revolution.

• The push will be towards universal socialist healthcare and an economy wrecking Financial Transactions Tax.

• Ending poverty through massive re-distribution will be a big focus… capitalizing on the 50th anniversary of DSA founder Michael Harrington‘s famous book “The Other America,” which helped to launch Lyndon Johnson’s catastrophic and completely counter productive “War on Poverty” in the mid-1960s.

• Students will be manipulated with promises of loan forgiveness. There will be a huge push for immigration reform. DSA leader Eliseo Medina, a leader of the movement, has openly boasted that this will mean eight million more Democrat Party votes.

Until conservatives and Republicans realize that they are opposing a Marxist dominated party, they are destined to a series of defeats on the way to political oblivion... [Democrats are no longer] the party of Truman or Kennedy, but the party of Marx, Lenin, Alinsky and Gramsci.

...Republicans are no longer fighting old line Democrats. They are effectively battling D.S.A, the Communist Party and the labor unions. The Democrats are simply a front for the Marxists.

These people play dirty, and they play for keeps.

We're Americans. We don't give up. We don't give in to thugs. And we need leaders who won't give in either. Who will stand tall in the face of existential threats to this country.

We need Republicans who can speak eloquently about what the future holds under the collectivists in the Democrat Party, about the failures of big government, and about liberty. Liberty is cool. Liberty is inclusive. Liberty appeals to all ages, races, religions, colors and backgrounds.

We need Republicans who can give voice to liberty and who will politically offer no quarter to the progressives who seek to destroy this great land. That will appeal to the old and the young, the rich and the poor, women and men, and anyone else who dreams of a better future for themselves and subsequent generations.



Larwyn's Linx: Obama Depicts Republicans as Kidnappers--Says don’t let the GOP hold middle class tax cuts "hostage"

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Obama: Don’t let the GOP hold middle class tax cuts "hostage": Malkin
Conservatives vs. the GOP : Fund
Sen. Hatch: Obama fiscal proposal 'classic bait and switch': Hill

Reid site scrubbed of '05 comments opposing filibuster changes: Blaze
Obama Votes “Present” On Palestinian Funding: Cove
Germany to Register Gun Owners in International Database: DC

Economy

FAIL: Collecting Disability Becomes A Career Choice For Men: IBD
IDIOCY: CBO says unemployment compensation creates jobs: Publius
Liberal Democrats: Higher rates for wealthy 'just the beginning': Hill

$165K, job security, 11 weeks vacation: NOT GOOD ENOUGH: ProWis
French minister: we're just nationalizing industries like Obama: Ace
Obama family 'costs taxpayers $1.4BILLION per year': Daily Mail

Scandal Central

Save a Life, Mr. President — Deport Unlicensed Drivers: RWN
This Unserious White House: WSJ
Obama proposes $1 trillion student loan bailout: Breitbart

Climate & Energy

16 years without warming: Watts
Ethanol: List of Mandate’s Victims Keeps Growing: Foundry

Media

See No Evil: Beacon
Victoria Toensing: Pro-Choice Republicans Must Come Out of the Closet: Ace
ACLJ: United Nations Vote Backing Palestinians Threatens Israel & Peace: RWN

The Conservative Dilemma: Camp o' the Saints
Joe Biden Makes Black Woman Push Shopping Cart During Costco Visit: Waznmentobe
Just Another Mickey Mouse Argument on Copyright Law: ChicagoBoyz

Remembering Some of Those Who Said the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt Wasn't a Threat to Democracy: NB
As usual, the Times blames Israel: Matzav
Cut off* NPR & PBS in return for higher tax rate on “wealthy”?: GayPatriot

World

Arab Spring Film Awards: Steyn
Hillary Slams Israel For Approving Construction Of New Homes In Jerusalem, West Bank: WZ
NHS "death pathway" isn't just for old people: Pundette

If Iran tries to attack, Israel will reportedly target its missiles before they get off the ground: Times of Israel
US will build $100 million nuclear bunker near Tel Aviv: Hayom
Iran stations defense staff at North Korea military site: JPost

Obama to Treat Terror as Crime, Not War: Breitbart
The Trouble With Susan Rice: WSJ
Introduction: a Call to Cryptographic Arms: Cryptome: Assange

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Why Did Google Buy BufferBox? Because The Entire Mail And Package Delivery System Is Broken: Crunch
Windows 8 uptake: More like Vista than Windows 7: CompWorld
Newly Developed MRI Scan Shows Twins Fighting Inside The Womb: Mediaite

Cornucopia

Fun Facts About the 50 States: New Jersey: IMAO
This important message brought to you by…PBS!: MOTUS
Kim Kardashian starts a riot!: Daily Mail

Image: Virtue Has No Value
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Federale

QOTD: "One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results." —Milton Friedman

Saturday, December 01, 2012

The evil Bush tax cuts in one graph

Let's take a look at federal spending versus its receipts from the last two years of Bill Clinton, all eight years of G. W. Bush, and four years of Barack Obama:

George W. Bush and supporters of the tax cut said federal revenue would go up after passing the cuts and it appears it did...


In fact, federal receipts reached Clinton-era levels without Clinton-era tax rates in 2006, not long after all the cuts went into effect (passed in 2001 and 2003, they were tweaked with in 2005)...

In other words, tax cuts grow revenue to the government.

That said, the next time Democrats take facts, logic and reason into account when setting policy will be the first time.


THE END: Three Must-See Charts

Icecap Asset Management, via (who else?) Tyler Durden:

...Since WWII, the Americans, Japanese, British and Europeans have spent way more money than they owned. But that was okay because the money they borrowed wouldn’t have to be repaid until some far away day in the future.

Unfortunately the future has now arrived and today, the next generations of Americans, Japanese, British and Europeans have all plunged into a deathly debt spiral... Today it is no coincidence that the Americans, Japanese, British and Europeans have all set interest rates as close to 0% as possible. Also today, it is no coincidence that the Americans, Japanese, British and Europeans are all printing money...


...The crash of 2008 wasn’t simply due to an overheated American housing market – this was just the one of many final straws. In fact, those dark days of just a few short years ago were the culmination of years of too much spending and too much borrowing, and then trying to sweep these stresses under a money printing rug to be forgotten...

...The excesses of today were not accumulated over a standard 3-5 year business cycle, but rather the excesses accumulated over 60 years of fortuitous, kicking-the-can-down-the-road policies by governments and central bankers...


...Now, the “save the day” strategy of cutting interest rates can work for a really long time – well, at least until there are no more interest rates left to cut. Unfortunately – with close to 0% rates everywhere, the World has reached that day.

In addition to cutting interest rates, Keynesian economics also believes that to really save the day, governments should combine cutting interest rates with deficit spending... The belief is that when the economy slumps, lower interest rates will encourage private investors to borrow, hire and spend again, but in the meantime governments should fill this spending lull by building new bridges, roads and sidewalks...

...Keynesians want you to believe that although cutting interest rates, running deficits and excessively borrowing didn’t exactly work out as planned – this last great hope of money printing should work.

We of course have our doubts. Like Friedrich Hayek, we believe the only way for the global economy to recover is for governments to dramatically reduce their interference in private markets. As long as central banks and governments continue to influence interest rates, lending, and employment - private capital will not return.

Instead of living in a World where economic success is rewarded, we now see a wave of new Western World governments who support taxing success to reward those who failed...

...the one point we hear no one pondering aloud is exactly what happens the moment the Americans decide (or are forced) to stop printing money.

...For those who don’t quite understand the effects of money printing, you just have to know that during the last year the Americas had a $1 trillion deficit – meaning the government spent $1 trillion more than what they collected in taxes. In a normal World, people and countries have to borrow the $1 trillion to pay the bills, but not the Americans.

Only in America does money grow on trees. And, in this case of the $1 trillion that was needed to fund the deficit, Ben Bernanke and the US Federal Reserve will print about $480 billion...


...The real concern and balancing act facing Mr. Bernanke and his Keynesian team is what happens to private capital the moment it is announced that money printing will stop, or if over night interest rates were to rise.

At that moment, make believe becomes real believe as private capital once again gets to play in the real World. And in the real World, private capital will demand to be paid given the amount of real risk that is present.

Two things will happen. For starters some of the private capital will simply leave to find a new home in other countries or markets. In addition, the price of money (ie. interest rates) will increase but not just for US government treasuries and bonds – but across the entire credit spectrum...

...To understand the importance of this concept, you just need to know that currently the average interest rate paid by the Americans on their debt is 2.56%. This equals $417 billion/year. If long-term rates were to double to 5%, the cost of funding this mess rises to $834 billion or 6% of GDP...

...the ill-fated exercise of following Keynesian economics to kick the can down the road will continue once again. The World has already seen the failure of the Keynesian approach of continuous interest rate cutting, deficit spending and tax cuts.

The bad news is that the money printing option embraced today will not create a different outcome.


AWESOME: EPA-mandated "green" fuel likely to damage auto engines

And even Government Motors is complaining about the ongoing eco-lunacy of the Obama EPA.

AAA urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt sales of gasoline with higher ethanol concentrations Friday, contending the fuel blend causes engine damage not covered under most auto warranties.

EPA says that cars made in the model year 2001 and later can handle E15, the fuel blend made up of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent petroleum...

General Motors vehicles model years 2012 and newer, as well as 2013 model-year Ford vehicles, permit use of E15. Still, GM spokeswoman Sharon Basel said the automaker agrees with AAA [and] said EPA was being "irresponsible" by permitting the use of E15 without evaluating the fuel's effects on the entire car.

"We have the same opinion, the same view as what AAA has so eloquently put in their release," Basel told The Hill on Friday.

AAA noted BMW, Chrysler, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen do not cover damage from E15 under their warranties. Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo have said E15 damage might void warranties, according to AAA.

If we had adult leadership in Washington, the EPA would receive a 90 percent budget cut. Essential services only. All of the other bureaucrats, regulators and useless, Statist hacks should be required to get real jobs, so they can see how we peons live under their senseless, maddening dictates.


Image: Examiner.

LAUGHINGSTOCK: The Washington Post Commits Suicide

Is there anyone on either side of the aisle that takes The Washington Post seriously?

That's a rhetorical question.


"Obama takes a hard line on debt"?

"Obama takes a hard line on debt"?

"Obama takes a hard line on debt"?


Here's the real debt that Barack Obama and the Democrats have created since January of 2009, depicted in red.

You see that tiny little sliver of green? That's Obama's proposal - to generate about $80 billion by raising taxes on "the rich".

That's what The Washington Post calls "a hard line on the debt."

This egregious deficit spending cannot be sustained much longer: two, three years tops, according to former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, before the system begins to unravel.

We are headed for a societal collapse. We are headed for runaway inflation, a collapse of the currency, and civil unrest... in that order. We are seeing it break out in Europe now, we saw it in Argentina a dozen years ago, and we saw it in the Weimar Republic before the rise of Hitler.

Inevitably, the laws of economics overtake the politics.

And The Washington Post is led by people so criminally dishonest and so infected with partisan greed that they are willing to lie -- boldfaced -- to the American people time and time again, as the country prepares to walk off the real economic cliff.


Photo of headline: @EmilyMiller.

Larwyn's Linx: White House Increasingly Comfortable With Cliff Dive

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Report: White House Increasingly Comfortable With Cliff Dive: Breitbart
6 Fixes to America’s Fiscal Crisis: Foundry
Land of the Free? Think Again: CDN

Gen-X Taxpayers, Forced to Sit at the Kids' Table: RCP
Will Obama Stop Kicking the Can on Entitlements?: Foundry
Obama to GOP: My $1.6T Tax Proposal Isn't "Complicated": Pavlich

Kindly Note the Impending Bankruptcy: Steyn
Obama Leaves Homeland Unprotected: AmSpec
Liberty University Set to Challenge ObamaCare in Court: AIM

Economy

Here We Go, The Left Now Calling 401k Plans ‘Subsidies’: LoneCon
A Fair Share of Taxes?: RS
Stimulus Funds African Genital Washing Study: JW

Bailout for Nationalized Student Loans on the Way: MB
Here Come the Looters for Your Retirement Account: MB
Farage On What The Nobel Peace Prize Means To The EU: ZH

Does HHS Have Authority to Tax Health Premiums in Exchanges?: Cato
SoCal strike: shippers leave, retailers beg Obama for help: Malkin
Generation X is Being Screwed by Obama: Glob

Scandal Central

Malkin: Time to IMPEACH Obama and Hillary for Treason, Dereliction of Duty, Cover Up Lies: RR
Rep. Adam Smith: Benghazi will be the Biggest Cover-up in History: Fox
Billions Wasted On Faulty Obamacare Digital Health Record Experiment: JW

All the President’s Enemies Lists: Driscoll
Fast & Furious Guns Found in New Mexico: Breitbart
ATF Officials Involved with Fast and Furious Fired or Demoted?: Nice Deb

Climate & Energy

An open letter to the U.N from climate skeptics: Watts
It isn't surprising that the modern envirowacko movement was launched by a huge lie: CEI
Californians Seeing Big Utility Rate Hikes Thanks To Renewable Energy Mandate: SAB

Media

The Democrat Party: Slavery, Secession, Segregation and Socialism: AllAm
World’s Youngest Blogger: I May Have To Get Medieval On Boehner: RSM
Boehlert’s Nemesis @BethanyBowra Now Takes Sandra Fluke to the Woodshed: RSM

Young, Hispanic conservatives write manual for the GOP: RedAlert
White House Data Debunk Myth Bush Cuts Built Deficit: IBD
Judge won’t order removal of anti-Islam YouTube video at center of Benghazi debate: DC

World

Canada: We Will Not Let The Jewish People & State Of Israel Stand Alone: WZ
Bin Laden Computer Had Tons of Gay Porn, Wikileak Documents : Jawa
Muslims Pressing for Blasphemy Laws in Europe: Gatestone

Abbas’ jihadist UN bid: Hayom
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on U.N. Move to Recognize Palestine as an Observer State: NoisyRm
The Professional Complainers of Islam: GoV

Obama and Mexico's Socialist President-Elect Forge Amnesty Pact: Shark
NHS "death pathway" isn't just for old people: Pundette
Gun-Running Out of Libya: WinterSoldier

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Romanian hackers busted with half a MILLION credit cards from Australia!: Sophos
See the New ‘Intelligent’ Rifle That Claims to Give You a Perfect Shot Every Time: Blaze
Find a Workout Buddy Stronger Than You to Keep Yourself in Shape: LifeHacker

Cornucopia

What a Conservative Candidate Would Say: Hideout
Picture of missing aspiring lingerie model from Colorado appears on Vegas escort ad: Fox
An American History Lesson for Europe: Sargent

Image: Report: White House Increasingly Comfortable With Cliff Dive
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Right Wing News

QOTD: "As for the rights of the Jewish people in this land, I have a simple message for those gathered in the General Assembly today. No decision by the U.N. can break the 4,000 year-old bond between the people of Israel, and the land of Israel." --Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu