Quote of the day.....

"There has never been in a situation in my lifetime where a guy increases the debt by 40%, GDP growth is on the way down, Food Stamps are up, millions more are unemployed -- and to accomplish this we spent $4 trillion."

-Howard Davidowitz-

From here.

Thought of the day.....

"Reckless Endangerment" utterly deflates the perceived history of the 2008 crash. Yes, there was greed -- when is there not? But it was government distortions of markets -- not "unregulated capitalism" -- that led the economy to disaster."

From here. Government intervention oin functioning markets changed behavior and created a gigantic economic dislocation.

The coming apocalypse of the end of the US government....

Identified here, in this fine scolarly piece, many terrible things may happen....

Beltway policy experts begin living by own wits; after 45 minutes there are no survivors.

Roving bands of outlaws stalk our streets, selling incandescent bulbs to vulnerable children.

Unregulated mohair prices at the whim of unscrupulous mohair speculators.

NPR news segments no longer buffered by soothing zither interludes.

Breadlines teeming with jobless Outreach Coordinators, Diversity Liaisons, and Sustainability Facilitators.

Cowboy poetry utterly lacking in metre.

General Motors unfairly forced to build cars that people want, for a profit.

Chaos reigns at Goldman Sachs, who no longer knows who to bribe with political donations.

Mankind's dream of high speed government rail service between Chicago and Iowa City tragically dies.

Sesame Street descends into Mad Maxian anarchy; Oscar the Grouch fashions shivs out the letter J and the number 4

No longer protected by government warning labels, massive wave of amputations from people sticking limbs into lawn mowers

New York devolves into a dystopian hellscape of sugared cola moonshiners, salty snackhouses and tobacco dens.

At-risk Mexican drug lords forced to buy own machine guns.

Chevy Volt rebate checks bounce, stranded owners more than 50 miles from outlet.

WH communications office reduced to sending talking points to Media Matters via smoke signals and log drums.

Potential 5-year old terrorists head to boarding gates ungroped.

Defenseless mortgage holders forced to live in houses they can actually afford.

Without college loan program, America loses an entire generation of Marxist Dance Theorists.

Embarrassing state dinners, as Obamas are forced to downgrade from Wagyu to Kobe beef.

President Obama places tarp over Washington Monument to conceal from Chinese repo men.

With the Dept of Ed shuttered, national school quality plummets to 1960s levels.

Anthony Weiner is forced to pay for own sex addiction therapy.

Displaced teenaged policy wonks organize under Supreme Warlord Ezra Klein.

Nation's freeway exits croweded with desperate bureaucrats waving 'will regulate for food' signs.

State Department diplomacy becomes 38% less diplomatic.

WH holds rummage sale Rose Garden; all HOPE merchandise, styrofoam Greek columns 95% off.

In Defense of Capitalism & Human Progress: The Debt Crisis and the Fiscal Leviathan State by Richard M. Ebeling

Even in days long gone, economists and philosophers warned of the dangers of the leviathan government. The critical question that I ask, is what right do others have to seize your property and give it to themselves or others? It is not just coercion its is subjugating the liberty of the individual to the nebulous needs of the unknown others...

This is, of course, what the famous 19th century French free market economist, Frederic Bastiat, referred to as legalized plunder. The government, instead of acting as a protector and guardian of each individual’s right to his life, liberty and honestly acquired property, becomes the most powerful and intrusive violator of people’s liberty.

The government’s concentrated, monopoly power over the use of physical force is far greater and far more dangerous than even the worst of any private individual or private group that attempts to plunder and abuse innocent individuals in society. But equally important, government is the only user of force in society that widely succeeds in indoctrinating and persuading the large majority of the people under its jurisdictional control that it is “just” and “right” that it plunder one part of the population for the privileged benefit of another portion of society.

I listened the Obamessiah the other day explain that the needs of the country require shared sacrifice and then 10 seconds later he said that taxes will not be raised on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. This is 'shared' sacrifice?

We no longer have a government that even knows its place in American society, it cannot be relied upon for self control and it has its grimy little fingers in nearly everything that we do. Time for a real change otherwise it will all end badly.

In Defense of Capitalism & Human Progress: The Debt Crisis and the Fiscal Leviathan State by Richard M. Ebeling

The global warming problem.....

NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.

Oh no. If global warming is not a problem, then what other religion can Europeans devise?


Yahoo! News

Shocking statistics on European government expenditures......

The top 10 global central government expenditures are all European countries and all of these all spend more than 50% of the total output of their economies. This means that 50% of all resources are government directed and the private economy output comprises less than 50% of the total economy....

Here are the WCR’s top 10 state spenders: (1) Ireland, 66.1 per cent of GDP; (2) Denmark, 58.9 per cent; (3) Finland, 56.3 per cent; (4) France, 56.2 per cent; (5) Sweden, 54.5 per cent; (6) Belgium, 53.9 per cent; (7) Austria, 52.9 per cent; (8) Italy, 51.4 per cent; (9) Netherlands, 51.2 per cent; (10) Britain, 51.0 per cent.

Europe’s increase in public-sector spending, of course, can’t be sustained. Most top-spender countries will be compelled to cut back. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria says bluntly: “They have no choice.” If they continue to dispense two-thirds of their respective economies, chances are they’ll live with near-zero economic growth.

If they live with near-zero growth, they’ll need to commandeer more GDP. In this spiral, they’ll never have enough GDP, never enough growth.

The typical Democrat looks to Europe for guidance but these nations will fail. Its only a matter of time. From here.

The doctor knows.......

A doctor from Israel says: "In Israel the medicine is so advanced that we cut off a man's testicles, we put them into another man, and in 6 weeks he is looking for work."

The German doctor comments: "That's nothing, in Germany we take part of the brain out of a person, we put it into another person's head, and in 4 weeks he is looking for work."

A Russian doctor says: "That's nothing either. In Russia we take out half of the heart from a person, we put it into another person's chest, and in 2 weeks he is looking for work."

The U.S. doctor answers immediately: "That's nothing my colleagues, you are way behind us....in the USA, about 2 years ago, we grabbed a person from Kenya with no brains, no heart, and no balls....we made him President of the United States, and now...the whole country is looking for work."

Some academic work on the sub-prime crisis....

There is some interesting academic work being produced on the financial collapse of 2008. This article deals with the inside/outside theory, i think that one that is most believed by leftists, and the bubble theory, one that is probably most likely as the operative problem in 2008.

Where the article does not delve, is the government's intervention in the housing market for many many decades, its intervention in changing the rules for sub-prime lending from the 1990's on and the forcing of the GSE's to buy significant amounts of these mortgages that were normally outside of their mandate. I think that all of this were contributing factors to the bubble.

Article here.

Most Voters Fear Debt Deal Will Raise Taxes Too Much, Cut Spending Too Little

Duh....

finds that 62% of Likely U.S. Voters are worried more that Congress and President Obama will raise taxes too much rather than too little in any deal to end the debt ceiling debate.

People know that Washington is a like a heroin addict that will lie, cheat and steal to get more of your money, money is the heroin to Washington. They cannot help themselves.

The national debate is correct. Spending at the national level is just too high and will continue to grow without serious work to cut this to more manageable size. However, the Democrats solution to every problem is raise taxes, particularly on the 'rich'. But taxes on a small sliver of society will never generate the kind of revenue that Washington argues it does. $1 or spending cuts is $1 of reduced spending. However, $1 of tax increases assumes that individuals and businesses do not adjust their behavior but they do.

The nation already saddled with the highest business taxes and one of the most progressive tax systems in the developed world, is being asked to double down on this system. Why should it work any better than it does now if these are increased?

Most Voters Fear Debt Deal Will Raise Taxes Too Much, Cut Spending Too Little

Disunited: Are Our States Moving in Separate Directions? - Ronald Brownstein and Scott Bland - NationalJournal.com

This opinion piece by political writers Ronald Brownstein and Scott Bland delves into the question of polarizing politics impacting the states and their legislative agendas. Who is surprised that in conservatively controlled states that hostile unions are being impacted by legislation that specifically affects them. I surely think that its about time that governors and the legislatures of these states finally take long overdue action.

However, by comparing them to hard left blue states and their inaction and then implying that states are becoming more divided is simple nonsense. As implied in the piece's title, 'moving in separate directions' is what we should have always been expected and encouraged as the states are the true arbitrators of rights. Since Lincoln, we have been centralizing national power and the 150 years since has seen a destructive move towards national decision making and a portfolio of economic policy being largely centrally planned in Washington instead of locally where it would probably be more effective. This kind of single solution problem solving was neither the conceptual framework that the founders considered nor one that is found in successful natural states. As one considers that in nature, Darwinian survival of the fittest, is a central plank of secular hostile to religion Liberal policy it also can be applied to the 50 states as some will be successful in their economic and social interventions and some will not.

I, for one, applaud the states being more independent and I would also applaud and support a breakaway state that loosens the federation and economic directive emanating from an overbearing Washington.

Disunited: Are Our States Moving in Separate Directions? - Ronald Brownstein and Scott Bland - NationalJournal.com

The case for lower marginal rates.....

a. "It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now ... Cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus." ~ Nov. 20, 1962, president's news conference

b. "Lower rates of taxation will stimulate economic activity and so raise the levels of personal and corporate income as to yield within a few years an increased – not a reduced – flow of revenues to the federal government." ~ Jan. 17, 1963, annual budget message to the Congress

c. "In today's economy, fiscal prudence and responsibility call for tax reduction even if it temporarily enlarges the federal deficit – why reducing taxes is the best way open to us to increase revenues. It is no contradiction – the most important single thing we can do to stimulate investment in today's economy is to raise consumption by major reduction of individual income tax rates." ~Jan. 21, 1963, annual message to the Congress: "The Economic Report Of The President"

d. "Our tax system still siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power and reduces the incentive for risk, investment and effort – thereby aborting our recoveries and stifling our national growth rate." ~ Jan. 24, 1963, message to Congress on tax reduction and reform

e. "A tax cut means higher family income and higher business profits and a balanced federal budget. Every taxpayer and his family will have more money left over after taxes for a new car, a new home, new conveniences, education and investment. Every businessman can keep a higher percentage of his profits in his cash register or put it to work expanding or improving his business, and as the national income grows, the federal government will ultimately end up with more revenues." ~Sept. 18, 1963, radio and television address to the nation on tax-reduction bill

Economist Arthur Okun was the economic architect of this policy. But its also important to understand that marginal tax rates were outrageously high at 91% and there were tons of built in tax avoidance schemes that diverted resources to investments that were not particularly productive. Remember that people respond to high marginal tax rates by changing their behavior and also respond to the potential higher rates and change their behavior in anticipation of higher rates..

The Theology of Social Security

Very interesting that as government is on the eve of failing to deliver and defaulting on the benefits promised to those that paid into the system for a lifetime, that we read of how churches intervened 70 years ago to support the leviathan and sold their souls to the devil of government in return for the false promises of monetary security. As i have been arguing for years, government largess in the traditional portfolio of the family, neighbors, and churches have destroyed the need for these traditional American institutions and have left these functions to an overreaching and incompetent replacement, the American government. We find that the vision of Roosevelt supported by Liberals and unfortunately by churches as such....

The position advocated by Roosevelt would be the exact opposite of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson—the two men largely responsible for the ideas and writing of the U.S. Constitution.

What is disturbing when reviewing the history of this time is how many Christian ministers defended the actions of government as fulfilling Holy Scripture's mandates to care for the poor, provide for parents in their old age and give to those who ask of you.

Ministers advocating taking the seemingly easy path but at the same time reducing the portfolio and necessity of community centered institutions such as churches themselves, set the nation on a path of self destruction as troubled and needy people no longer looked to their neighbors, communities and churches but to the faceless government that no one knows nor sees....

With this shift of thinking, the state began to function in roles once reserved for the church—to the detriment of any who would question the legitimacy of the legislation on theological grounds. The same reception awaits those in the modern day who seek to resist any "progressive" social policy in any way for fear that they will be branded as uncaring or un-Christian in their ideas.

Now after allowing this leviathan to take over traditional responsibilities, it has continued to devour the social fabric of traditional conservative American life, where access to pornography including that of children, abortion on demand, the embrace of non-traditional lifestyles such as homosexuality are now the service clients of the leviathan.

We can take it back, and the upcoming failure of the devils vision 70 years ago and the subsequent infection of this vision on American life, will produce challenges but not ones that can break the human spirit but that can strengthen it. As the false god of government fails, we can and will rebuild the institutions that made America the greatest nation, the best place to work and raise a family and one where people unabashedly worship their creator.

The Theology of Social Security

Leave it to Jeff Foxworthy to make it clear.

Jeff Foxworthy on Muslims:

1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to liquor.
You may be a Muslim
2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.
You may be a Muslim
3. You have more wives than teeth.
You may be a Muslim
4. You wipe your butt with your bare hand, but consider bacon unclean.
You may be a Muslim
5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.
ou may be a Muslim
6. You can't think of anyone you haven't declared Jihad against.
You may be a Muslim
7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.
You may be a Muslim
8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.
You may be a Muslim
9. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least four.
You may be a Muslim
10. Your cousin is president of the United States ..
You may be a Muslim
11. You find this offensive or racist and don't forward it.
You may be a Muslim

Good Things

National treasure Thomas Sowell argues that too much of a Good Thing is bad. The recent economic downturn that was principally caused by a collapse in housing is one of the Good Things that was and still is a target of American public policy.....

One of the things that have ruined our economy is the notion that both Democrats and Republicans in Washington pushed for years, that a higher rate of home ownership is a Good Thing.

The absurd and misguided notion that somehow governments can divert resources from one productive use to another should have been one of the lessons learned in the recent economic calamity. But those American people that consistently support the Marxist Obamessiah and Utopian wealth redistribution still have a strong grip on the American psyche and I think that this is likely to continue until the pain from government intervention is so great that it is finally recognized as the culprit to our economic problems and we extricate ourselves from the Leviathan's deadening grip.

Good Things

When Capital Is Nowhere in View - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily

This is a wonderful piece of writing and I suggest it as must read if you have spare time. Link below.

The existence of grinding poverty in Haiti will be impossible to overcome since it is the completely rotten central government that has created this environment and this tragedy can only end when the central government and its authority is eliminated(note here that I say elimination not change of). Governments function not only to adjudicate rights and provide services that only a government can provide but also create an environment where the fruits of people's labor flow to the individual themselves. Governments are charged and must support, as the United States founding fathers contemplated, the natural rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (originally protection of individual property) in order for the people of a nation to prosper.

As this writer communicates, in Haiti (as well as what I observed in Africa when I lived there) governments are nothing more than vehicles for those in power to enrich themselves through the use of the ruling law. If one is successful in these kind of places, one can be assured that some level of government, whether it is the lowly local policeman or up to the national leader, that these people will make the fruits of a successful person's labor and accumulation of capital their own through coercion or thuggery.

There are tragic lessons to be learned in Haiti and African nations where governments there loot the product of their own people's labor. I see similar sitiation developing as the tentacles of this evil have gripped and now embedded into the social fabric of the United States as evidenced by those in political positions thinking that they are entitled to the product of other's labor and wealth....

The answer has to do with the regime. It is a well-known fact that any accumulation of wealth in Haiti makes you a target, if not of the population in general (which has grown suspicious of wealth, and probably for good reason), then certainly of the government. The regime, no matter who is in charge, is like a voracious dog on the loose, seeking to devour any private wealth that happens to emerge.

This creates something even worse than the Higgsian problem of "regime uncertainty." The regime is certain: it is certain to steal anything it can, whenever it can, always and forever. So why don't people vote out the bad guys and vote in the good guys? Well, those of us in the United States who have a bit of experience with democracy know the answer: there are no good guys. The system itself is owned by the state and rooted in evil. Change is always illusory, a fiction designed for public consumption.

"The state strikes only when there is something to loot."

This is an interesting case of a peculiar way in which government is keeping prosperity at bay. It is not wrecking the country through an intense enforcement of taxation and regulation or nationalization. One gets the sense that most people never have any face time with a government official and never deal with paperwork or bureaucracy really. The state strikes only when there is something to loot. And loot it does: predictably and consistently. And that alone is enough to guarantee a permanent state of poverty.

Now, to be sure, there are plenty of Americans who are firmly convinced that we would all be better off if we grew our own food, bought only locally, kept firms small, eschewed modern conveniences like home appliances, went back to using only natural products, expropriated wealthy savers, harassed the capitalistic class until it felt itself unwelcome and vanished. This paradise has a name, and it is Haiti.

Tyranny takes many forms but the end result is almost always the same. It creates poverty, it creates a government centric connected class of wealthy and it is all allowed to exist through the 'legitimate' function of government. These governments have overstepped their useful functions and now are using coercion and threats to strip value from its citizens for what they or some other group of people deem to be important. It shows that without strong boundaries to government functions and constraining counterbalancing forces, governments tend towards tyranny and self interest. Even Marxist Black Liberation Theology recognizes the evil of government as Rev. Wright preached; Governments lie, governments change and governments fail. I add that governments steal and governments take what is not rightfully theirs.

From lessons learned and actions to be taken in order to mitigate the risks associated from governments that overstep their legitimate functions are as follows;

First, do not allow governments to seize individuals property for any purpose excepting those that governments are solely capable of such as national defense. Even in these legitimate functions, we have to be diligent that resources used are limited even for these legitimate purposes;

Second, that we recycle government. In other words, we break it down to nothing and rebuild it to ensure liberty. The founding fathers created the constitutional convention to do just this. But also, the people have the power to eliminate overly enthusiatic intervention by governments;

Third, arm yourself and your family. Governments will be unable or unwilling to to take what is not rightfully theirs if they think that people will resist. Americans have the right to arm themselves not just to defend oneself against intruders to their property or safety but also arm themselves against a government tyranny;

Fourth, those that are inclined, are able to work within the system to effect the necessary elimination of unwanted government intervention. Others, outside of the system, need to resist government in every form sometimes even against legitimate functions.

Governments that have overstepped their legitimacy, I argue, have no legitimacy in anything that they do. One has to be steadfast in one's resistance to creeping government intervention. One must not allow and are obligated to resist even those interventions that appear to be worthy if they fall outside of government portfolio of obligations since rarely do governments limit themselves to such simple interventions. All that governments do has to be resisted excepting those functions that clearly fall into the legitimate portfolio of government functions.

When Capital Is Nowhere in View - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily

Its no surprise to me what-so-ever that the center of the Neanderthal world was France, Spain, Germany and Russia....

Furthermore, recent research has shown that modern humans bred with Neanderthals and I hypothesize that this probably mainly took place where the Neanderthals lived, in France, Spain, Germany and Russia. This goes a long way to explain modern European attitudes towards the world and others. The rise and embrace of Eco-Paganism in Europe is just a return to their roots of Neanderthal life and the animist worship rituals of early humans.....

Neanderthals, whose ancestors left Africa about 400,000 to 800,000 years ago, evolved in what is now mainly France, Spain, Germany and Russia, and are thought to have lived until about 30,000 years ago. Meanwhile, early modern humans left Africa about 80,000 to 50,000 years ago. The question on everyone's mind has always been whether the physically stronger Neanderthals, who possessed the gene for language and may have played the flute, were a separate species or could have interbred with modern humans. The answer is yes, the two lived in close association.

Also, we find that the French, Germans and Russians are not very friendly to others probably since their suboptimal genetic mix with Neanderthals probably predisposes them to this kind of anti-social behavior.

Quote of the day.....

The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest, their holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody's afraid of the government and there's no need soft peddling it, it's the truth. It is the truth. And that's true of Democratic businessman and Republican businessman, and I am a Democratic businessman and I support Harry Reid. I support Democrats and Republicans. And I'm telling you that the business community in this company is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he's gone, everybody's going to be sitting on their thumbs.

-Steve Wynn, businessman-

From here.

Lost muslim kid.....

A young Muslim kid can't find his mother in the supermarket.

The store attendant says 'What does your mother look like?'

The kid says “How the fuck should I know?”

So, the debt limit problem is a race issue according to the whacky Sheila Jackson Lee.....

“I do not understand what I think is the maligning and maliciousness [toward] this president. Why is he different?…In the minority community, that is the question that is being raised. Why is this president being treated so disrespectfully? Why has the debt limit been raised 60 times? Why did the leader of the Senate continually talk about his job is to bring the president down to make sure he is unelected?….I am particularly sensitive to the fact that only this president — only this one, only this one — has received the kind of attacks and disagreement and inability to work, only this one…. Read between the lines.”

This nonsense is being spewed out by a member of congress. I think that all of congress should be embarrassed by this nonsense. So, I ask then, why should we respect these people? Here we go as the racecard has already been thrown on the table. She claims that since the president is black in color, that people are disrespecting him. Really? She also claims that this is the only one that is attacked on this issue. Not true. This is just nonsense since Bush was brutalized in 2006 over this very same issue. And as the Obamessiah said then as Senator from Illinois....

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

Leadership failure, leadership failure, leadership failure...... The Democratically controlled Senate has failed to pass a budget for 2 years now. The Obamessiah's feckless and irresponsible February budget was defeated in a senate vote 98-0 not one Democrat could support it indicating how utterly absurd it was.

So, what about this racially based disrespect that SJL is claiming? How about in 2006 when the Senate voted on a debt ceiling increase (the same one that prompted the Obamessiah's comments above)? It passed 52-48, Every single Democrat in that chamber voted against it. So, it became political and how maybe itssssss POLITICAL? Here. So was this racially based? No, but if its a black man in the mix, then according to these idiots it is racism. In some respects, it is racism, but the racism is her racism.

Just for the record.....

To think that:

1. It is simply stupid to think that the United States problem with debt is solved by raising the debt ceiling. Its like thinking that not being able to service a maxed out credit card is solved by getting another credit card.

2. It is simply stupid to think that the current occupant of the White House is intelligent enough and capable to navigate the treacherous waters of this world. We have one of the most naive and idiotic persons ever to sit in that position and we should be ashamed of being so stupid to put this poor soul there.

3. It is simply stipid to think that the government is capable of not only understanding the problems that we face but theat they have anything other than suboptimal solutions to these problems. The US government has gotten so big and cumbersome that it can no longer do the job of a government and now flailing around risking the destruction of what made the nation great int eh first place, allowing the people to think, create and prosper.

This is probably one of the most idiotic pieces that I have seen over the debt ceiling impasse.....

But it wonderful ideological stuff for frothing at teh mouth Democrats, here.

Headline of the Day.....

"Editorial: Obama Exposes Social Security's Big Lie"

Social Security is more like a scam than a big lie. But it definitely is a political football too. There has been more Republican bashing by Democrats surrounding Social Security than almost any other program.

For those of you gullible people think that there is some guarantee implied or that the benefits that you have paid from money earned by your work are somehow your property or actually owed to you, please see this sad fact.....

Turns out, this "guarantee" is a lie.

In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled that workers do not have a legal right to their Social Security benefits. Congress can cut them any time it wants, which it's done several times. And, because there are no ownership rights, if you die the day you retire after making a lifetime of payments into Social Security, your heirs get nothing.

From here. Most of you, particularly if you are younger, will probably never receive anything from this demographic indulgence.

But furthermore, what about this trust fund or the actual taxes that are collected from everyone's paycheck? Well, the trust fund actually does not really exist. If it did exist, then why wouldn't the payments be made? Also, what happens to the funds that are collected on Social Security taxes? Well, they go to the treasury and not really into some kind of social security account. They are actually general funds in the treasury.

But the most insidious aspect of this scam called Social Security is as we read above, you are not actually legally entitled to this benefit, it can be arbitrarily reduced or eliminated and as the Obamessiah argues, IT WILL NOT BE PAID UNLESS THE NATION BORROWS (RAISING THE DEBT CEILING ALLOWS FOR MORE FUNDS TO BORROWED) SO SOCIAL SECURITY IS ACTUALLY BEING PAID FROM ISSUING DEBT. How utterly awful is that?

Obama warns Cantor: 'Don't call my bluff' in debt-limit talks - TheHill.com

The Obamessiah's whole term in office has been a bluff. But to warn someone not to call one's bluff is simply inexplicable.

When has someone so insanely incapable gotten so far? I think that its purely due to his skin color. Kind of like affirmative action that has infected the bloodstream of the nation. Elect a black man to absolve oneself of the national sin of slavery. Its preposterous but the only rational explanation.

Of course, the nation is in the best of hands with these clowns. Irrespective of what happens with these debt negotiations, the country's credit rating will be downgraded and eventually the country will default on its obligations.

Obama warns Cantor: 'Don't call my bluff' in debt-limit talks - TheHill.com

Deficit Reduction Plan Is Realistic - Economic View - NYTimes.com

One of the idiotic subsidies that just has to go is the mortgage interest deduction. It used to be that all interest was deductible for personal income tax calculations but this deduction was partially taken away leaving just the mortgage interest. As this economist points out....

One major tax expenditure that the Bowles-Simpson plan would curtail or eliminate is the mortgage interest deduction. Without doubt, many homeowners and the real estate industry will object. But they won’t have the merits on their side.

This subsidy to homeownership is neither economically efficient nor particularly equitable. Economists have long pointed out that tax subsidies to housing, together with the high taxes on corporations, cause too much of the economy’s capital stock to be tied up in residential structures and too little in corporate capital. This misallocation of resources results in lower productivity and reduced real wages.

Moreover, there is nothing particularly ignoble about renting that deserves the scorn of the tax code. But let’s face it: subsidizing homeowners is the same as penalizing renters. In the end, someone has to pick up the tab.

Any time you subsidize something, you get more of it. But this means that people engaging in this economic activity change their behavior and this diverts resources away from other uses. So, you get more housing but at the cost of other goods and services. Eventually, this subsidy is arbitraged away and this leads to higher prices, more debt and potentially more volatility of prices as we have seen since 2007.

Deficit Reduction Plan Is Realistic - Economic View - NYTimes.com

Review & Outlook: Taxes Upon Taxes Upon . . . - WSJ.com

With around a $1 trillion (these things are always calculated over 10 years) of new taxes embedded in the atrocious and hostile to the country's working, saving and investing public Obamacare, the idiot-in-chief is now try to jam another $1 trillion in new taxes onto people. Democrats solution to every problem, tax. Particularly tax one small sliver of society that already carries most of the burden of personal income taxes so that the rest of the nation thinks that they are getting something for nothing.

Now that central government expenditures, comrades, have risen to 25% of GDP from the typical 19% of GDP over the past 30 or so years, doesn't it seem as if the bulk of the problem has come from excess spending and diverting resourses from savers and investors to government flotsam?

I would be a supporter of one of the 50 States that declared itself a free state and refused to engage with this government any longer.

Review & Outlook: Taxes Upon Taxes Upon . . . - WSJ.com

Think about this.....

Fathom the hypocrisy of a Government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured...but not everyone must prove they are a citizen.

-Attributed to Ben Stein, entertainer, com mentor and economist-

Quote of the day....

[W]hen you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work, and your laws no longer protect you against them, but protect them against you. . . you may know that your society is doomed.

-Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand-

America's Troubling Investment Gap - WSJ.com

When the central government is hostile to investors and those that profit off of investment of capital, you will get less of it. In the case of the US, it is a lot less. Threats of higher taxes, deadening regulations and a government bent on punishing those to the create new products, invest, hire people and profit from these activities will drive investors away and drive internal investors offshore.

America's Troubling Investment Gap - WSJ.com

Quote of the day.....

Today, Independence Day is generally observed by shooting firecrackers, eating hotdogs and hamburgers, and drinking beer. These are all worthwhile activities -- in these Bloomberg-prudish times, they even serve to annoy the nannyists, which is always worthwhile.

Remember that Democrats and your friends at the nannystate know so much better than you do what is good for you. Resist this. I feel like drinking a glass of pure trans-fats to celebrate my Independence.

Sunday Reflection: Three things you can do for liberty | Glenn Harlan Reynolds | Columnists | Washington Examiner

Happy July 4th.....

Today we celebrate the great human experiment in liberty. We look back to a remarkable group of men and remember and celebrate how they had the foresight to create one of the most successful nations in history. And it was not successful due to the machinations of government but to the limiting of government that unleashed the animals spirits that are an integral part of being a human. People around the world look to the US as a leader in proviing opportunities that unleash the imagination and capabilities of people. Unfortunately, as of late, the USA has now been toying with socialism and the ultimate confinement of human abilities and imagination that this entails. My hope for this day, is that the nation reconsiders this misguided path and gets back on its track of embracing liberty and ending the destructive embrace of reducing liberty in the name of equality of outcomes, a typical socialist ideal.

Wisconsin Democrat Party Spokesman Calls For Violence Against Republicans, Used To Write For The Washington Post And The Onion » American Glob

Typical Democrat's call to violence against their political opponents. Its a continuing saga of explainable violence but a belief in the opposite. Most Democrats feel justified in using violence while accusing Republican of exactly what they are guilty of.



Remember when the Left called the shooting of Congressional Representative Giffords the fault of Republicans and the right? Oh yea, or the Tea Party? Its really unbelievable. And will we hear the cries of foul from the pacifists in Democrats? We haven't yet and I will not hold my breath. Democrats thrive on violence, its part of their DNA, from unions to explaining away violence perpetrated by minorities.

Wisconsin Democrat Party Spokesman Calls For Violence Against Republicans, Used To Write For The Washington Post And The Onion » American Glob

The country is in the best of hands...

When I worked on Wall Street, we used to call it management by walking around. Now we have an example from a fellow that has never managed anything. Now its management by not even being there.



The Chauncey Gardiner presidency.