DAVID BROOKS and THE LOST DECADE

Posted on September 27, 2011 | Leave a comment
David Brooks

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Give the devil his due and the devil’s domain too.  When they’re right, they’re right.  David Brooks has an excellent Op Ed piece in today’s New York Times.  The title belies the content.  The article is better than its label.

Brooks points out that “Roger Altman, a former deputy Treasury secretary, is arguing that America and Europe are on the verge of a disastrous double-dip recession”.  Republicans and Democrats are stuck in their own one cure solutions.  Democrats say government needs to spend more to jump start the economy. They always say that.  Republicans say the government needs to tax less and get out of the way, and then the recovery will begin.  They always say that.

Brooks is more disposed to the idea of throwing out the bath water, throwing out the baby, throwing out the tub, throwing out the towels, the soap, the powder, the whole ball of wax.  Then he would start anew with a flat tax.  He doesn’t say it but he describes it.  Brooks would give the whole international banking and monetary system the Ron Paul treatment and start from scratch.  But he calls it the holistic approach.  Read it if you want to see David’s solutions.

[David, did I read you right?]

Roger Altman, a former deputy Treasury secretary, is arguing that America and Europe are on the verge of a disastrous double-dip recession

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Posted in Economy, Opinion, Political philosophy

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WASHINGTON D.C. vs. THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA

Posted on September 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

The United States is suing one of its united states for enforcing laws that United States law requires be enforced.  Got it? Yesterday, author Katie Pavlich began a story in Townhall with this:

Earlier today, I had the privilege of sitting down with National Sheriff of the Year Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu to discuss his reaction to Operation Fast and Furious and his ongoing fight against ruthless drug cartels. After our conversation, it became clear the Obama Administration is fighting him with lawsuits and by arming the very cartels he and his deputies are trying to combat in the Arizona desert.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is fighting what he describes as the most ruthless criminals in North America, on American soil in Southern Arizona. In his county, cartels use look-out posts, or “spotters,” to detect and move around law enforcement, and shootouts with cartels members are a normal occurrence.

Katie’s headline asks “but Whose Side is Obama On?”  We have the answer and it’s not pleasant.  Play the video.


Pavlich also points out that the U.S. government paid — correction — you and I paid for many of the guns in the hands of the drug cartel.  Read about it here.

(Hat tip to Denis for the video)

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Posted in Political polemics, Videos

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RANDOM THOTS on WARREN BUFFETT and PALESTINIAN SUPPORTERS

Posted on September 27, 2011 | 2 comments

Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett’s salary is $524,000.  That would put him squarely in the 35% tax bracket; however he chooses not to pay it.  Instead he peals off some of his Berkshire Hathaway stock and gives it to his Buffet Foundation.  The market value of the shares qualifies as a charitable contribution which he can deduct from his taxable income.

The maximum deduction he can take in any one year is 30% but that’s not 30% of his salary; it’s 30% of his adjusted gross income.  We don’t know what that is because he won’t release his tax returns.  So we don’t know how much of his income he protects from being taxed by the money he gives to his foundation.

What he is doing may not be all that bad but we wish he would be up front about it.  By giving directly to charitable causes through his foundation, Buffet is avoiding the middle man, the U.S government.  There is much abuse in the foundation world but there is no indication of it in the Buffett Foundation.  He, not the government, decides where the money goes, what to support and what not to support.  The bureaucratic slippage is less and, presumably, none of the money is lost to corruption.

By the way, Mr. Buffett did not say he paid less tax than his secretary, as we often see quoted.  What he said was he pays at a lower rate.  His secretary could pay at a lower rate too, if she gave 30% of her income to charity.

The Palestinian cause
Israel gives Palestinians a voice in the Israeli government.
Not one single Arab nation gives one single Jew a voice in their government.

Thousands of suicide bombers have killed thousands of Jews.  They blow people to bits in public markets, schools and on buses.  In some cases they target children intentionally.
Have you ever heard of as much as one Jewish suicide bomber killing one Palestinian?

If the Arabs laid down their arms, there would be peace.
If Israel laid down its arms, there would be no Israel.

Palestinians teach their children that mass murder, even of non Jews, is an honorable act provided that some Jews are included in the intended death toll.


–0O0–

It is hard to conceive how an honorable person can lend support to such atrocities, regardless of the cause.  And please don’t tell me you support the cause but not the tactics.  That’s not possible.  Lending support to the cause while theses tactics are being employed encourages continuation of the tactics.

Palestinian supporters, you have blood on your hands.

 

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Posted in News, Opinion, Randoms

GALLUP – RECORD 81% DISSATISFIED WITH CURRENT GOVERNMENT

Posted on September 26, 2011 | 1 comment


Results of a Gallup poll released today show that a “record-high 81% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being governed…”.

What can we infer from that?  First, a large number of people who voted for Obama are sorely disappointed.  That’s the price they paid, the price we all paid, for their not doing their homework.  Admittedly, it was a task that required some self study, not one easily resolved by watching the evening news and reading an occasional newspaper.  However, when a candidate for President of the United States launches his political career from the home of a virulent unrepentant anti-American terrorist and takes as his beloved mentor and spiritual leader a black liberation theologist like Jeremiah Wright, doesn’t that call for doing some homework before voting for him?

Secondly, can we infer that the President has little chance of winning a second term?  No we cannot.  We might if the election were to be this November rather than the next.  A year and a month are like an eternity in politics.  Community organizers know how to work up a crowd and this community organizer was very good at his job.  His tools are class warfare, stoking envy, channeling rage, appealing to liberal guilt and of course, race.  His techniques are covered in Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. 

That is a formidable arsenal.  Barack Obama wants what he sincerely thinks is best for his own people and for his vision of a better America.  He is a deeply dedicated man.  The President is a powerful fundraiser and a strong campaigner.  Never discount such a person.

 

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Posted in News, Political polemics

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT

Posted on September 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Dear Mr. President,

Here is my plan for fixing the economy.

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.  Pay each of them 1 million dollars tax free severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire.
Forty million new job openings – Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a house or pay off their mortgage.
Housing Crisis fixed.

3) They MUST buy a new American made car.
Auto Industry fixed.

4) They MUST travel abroad and talk quietly in restaurants.
The reputation of Americans in Europe fixed.

You put 535 million dollars into just one corporation, Solyndra, and it didn’t create a single positive job.  In fact, Solyndra was responsible for 1,100 negative jobs when your friends closed up the shop after they got the money.  My plan creates positive jobs and will pay for itself by taking millions off the unemployment rolls, turning them from tax receivers to tax payers.  (Don’t do the math.  The President doesn’t.  Why should we?)

If more money is needed, have all the members of your administration and Congress pay their taxes.

Sincerely yours,  a man over 50

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Posted in Satire

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FREEMAN IS LOOKING THROUGH RACE COLORED GLASSES

Posted on September 24, 2011 | 1 comment

Black actor Morgan Freeman had this exchange on the Piers Morgan show: (click here for the video)

FREEMAN: Mitch McConnell. Their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term. What’s, what does that, what underlines that? “Screw the country. We’re going to whatever we do to get this black man, we can, we’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here.”

PIERS MORGAN: But is that necessarily a racist thing?

FREEMAN: It is a racist thing.

PIERS MORGAN: Is it not Republicans, wouldn’t that say that about any Democrat president?

FREEMAN: No…

Early in his presidency, Barack Obama promised his stimulus bill would bring down unemployment.  He warned unemployment could rise as high as 8% if his bill did not pass Congress.  It passed quickly and easily.  Unemployment soared to over 9% and is still there.  Particularly hard hit are black Americans with rates over 20% in some districts.

Obama promised the first thing he would do is close Gitmo.  Gitmo is still open.  He promised to bring all of our troops home quickly from Iraq.  Troops are still there.

Obama promised unprecedented openness in government.  He said he would open the doors wide for CSPAN to cover debates on every important issue and then he shut them out of coverage on the health care bill.  We got less openness, not more.  Obama promised he would require every bill presented to him to be published on the internet for 5 days of public comment before signing it.  And then even Senators and Congressmen weren’t given copies of the bill, if they were Republicans, until 3 days before they had to vote on it.

When Barack Obama assumed office the country was dangerously in debt.  Instead of proposing steps to bring the debt down to safe levels, he campaigned incessantly for dramatic increases in spending to the point where our credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history.

Obama submitted a budget that was so out of line with realities that not even one single Democrat would vote for it.

He has alienated our friends, coddled our enemies and pointed out our shortcomings in speech after speech made abroad.  Black Caucus members have recently expressed their dissatisfaction with the President.

Mr. Freeman, don’t you suppose, just suppose, that some people might object to Obama’s presidency, not because of his color, but because of what he has done?

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Posted in Economy, Opinion, Political polemics, Videos

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EXPLAINING BERNANKE’S TWIST

Posted on September 21, 2011 | 2 comments

When an economy needs a little boost, the lowering of interest rates spurs consumer big ticket buying and encourages businesses to expand by lowering the cost of anything that is financed.  However, with short term interest rates already near zero, this tool is no longer in the Federal Reserve’s toolbox.  So Bernanke’s move is to lower long term rates in the hope that that will encourage companies to expand and consumers to increase their purchases of automobiles and homes. That’s the Bernanke Twist.

Tell me, with short term rates near zero and long term rates at 1.94%, the lowest in more than a half century, how much more likely is it you will buy a car if long rates go from 1.9 percent to perhaps 1.7 percent?  How much more likely is it the owner of the tire store in your neighborhood will open another outlet now that he can borrow for a few pennies less?  None. 

Corporations are not lacking money.  Consumers are not holding back because of interest rates.  The Fed is pushing on a string — again.  It is not the cost of money or the lack of money in the system that is holding back a recovery.  It’s executive government policy that’s crippling the economy.  The tire shop owner may be ready and anxious to open another store, but first he must know how much it will cost to take on the new employees.  He also needs to know what the latest regulations are and how much it will cost to comply with them.  But none of this is knowable given the complexities of Obamacare and the vagueness written into many of the new laws.  So we sit.

What this country needs is not a good 5 cent cigar or lower interest rates.  What this country needs is a presidential election year.  Let’s hope the voters don’t make the same mistake twice.

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Posted in Economy, News, Opinion, Regulation

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THE LATEST IN PERSONAL TRAVEL

Posted on September 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Airbus 380 seats 853 passengers in all economy class configuration.  Here’s a jet aircraft that doesn’t even seat one.  But its fast.

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A FEW YOUNGSTERS STAGE “DAYS OF RAGE”

Posted on September 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

Headline. September 19, 2011

Police Set Barricades as ‘Days of Rage’ Protesters Target Wall Street

Rile them up, stir up some anger, get them mad at someone then boldly tell them that you are the answer.  It doesn’t matter who.  It doesn’t matter what.  It’s not about solving any problem; it’s about gaining power.  It’s in Saul Alinsky’s book, Rules for Radicals.  It’s the Chicago style of government.  Even more, it’s the Obama style of government.  He knows no other.

Fortunately, enough of the American people see it for what it is.  Those that don’t, never will.  Police estimated today’s ragers numbered about 350.  Have no fear; it’s not enough to get a community organizer re-elected.

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Posted in News, Opinion

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CHUCK SCHUMER FOR PRESIDENT

Posted on September 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Democrat’s dilemma – go in 2012 with an apparent loser or give up the race card and draft Hillary.  The race card is pretty well played out.  It’s gone from an Ace to a Ten, or maybe a Jack at best.  Drafting Hillary would be the Democrat’s best chance, but what if Hillary declines to run?  Who is up next?  Chuck Schumer.

Sen. Schumer can bring in all of those NY State electoral votes.  He has the stridency that appeals to the party base and the NY sophistication which appeals to the party elites.  Whoever runs, it is beginning to look like it is not going to be Barack Obama.  The man has been a disaster for the economy, has dealt a crushing blow to blacks and has been a great disappointment to socialists who thought their day had finally come.

A day is like a year in politics.  But party strategists must make their decision now.  And now it looks like the Democratic candidate will be a sacrificial lamb.  Hillary isn’t the type to volunteer for a slaughter.  If not Schumer, then who, Al Sharpton?  (That was a joke).  How about Al Gore?  He won once before.

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Posted in Humor, Political polemics

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