Caroline Kennedy, like, you know, thinks it would be, you know, fun to be a, um, U.S. Senator. You know?
Talk about a sense of entitlement! What other person with her lack of knowledge and experience would have the gall to undertake a campaign to get herself appointed to fill a prospective vacancy in the U.S. Senate? She has one “qualification” for the office: her last name is, or was, Kennedy.
And a campaign it is, a media campaign. Instead of making an appointment with Gov. Patterson and presenting her case, she hired a political consultant and launched a media campaign to pressure the Governor into appointing her.
Problem is it backfired. Aside from forgetting to vote, even for the office she aspires to, she also forgot that she can barely speak English. In an interview with the New York Post she said “you know” 235 times in the course of a 41 minute interview, breaking up an otherwise constant stream of “ums”.
When asked by a reporter for the NY Daily News if the Bush tax cuts should be repealed, she replied: “Well, you know, that’s something, obviously, that, you know, in principle and in the campaign, you know, I think that, um, the tax cuts, you know, were expiring and needed to be repealed.”
Will the media savage Kennedy like they did the articulate Gov. Sarah Palin? Will Tina Fey avail herself of such easy pickings to extend her fifteen minutes of fame acquired at Palin’s expense? Don’t, um, you know, hold your breath.
If you know someone who would enjoy reading my blog, please forward it along. Thank you.
Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
A Failure of Government
In his article, “U.S. Woes Open Door for China” (WSJ Dec.23), Gerald Seib asserts that developing nations may be attracted to the Chinese economic model of central government control over “the American model of unfettered capitalism.” Unfettered?
As Seinfeld might say, “It’s fettered alright!” In fact it’s all the ‘fettering’ that is the core of the problem. A dangerous consequence of the ongoing financial mess and ensuing recession is that anti-free market types are promoting the idea that this is all a result of a failure of capitalism. It was not a failure of capitalism. It was a failure of government.
I’m referring to: 1) the Federal Reserve maintaining negative real interest rates for too long after the bursting of the tech-stock bubble, 2) The Community Reinvestment Act which forced banks to make bad loans and 3) Congress’ incompetence in its structure and oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Dems, soon to have nearly absolute control, will inevitably use the “failure of unfettered capitalism” canard to further encumber the free market with increased regulatory burdens. This will only serve to delay the eventual recovery and lead to slower economic growth in the future.
An early portent of this is the appointment of Rep. Hilda Solis as one of the most pro-union Secretaries of Labor ever. She received 3/4ths of her campaign contributions from unions and voted with the AFL-CIO 97 % of the time. She has declared her intention to use her position to increase the power of labor unions.
Ms. Solis is also a supporter of fraudulently named Free Choice Act, which would replace secret ballots in union elections with something called cardcheck. This gives union thugs the opportunity to intimidate workers into signing up for a union in their workplace whether they want one or not.
Let’s hope we don’t see more industries succumb to the same uncompetitive labor policies that have wrecked our steel and auto industries and given us a K-12 education system that consistently puts our kids near the bottom of the developed world.
As Seinfeld might say, “It’s fettered alright!” In fact it’s all the ‘fettering’ that is the core of the problem. A dangerous consequence of the ongoing financial mess and ensuing recession is that anti-free market types are promoting the idea that this is all a result of a failure of capitalism. It was not a failure of capitalism. It was a failure of government.
I’m referring to: 1) the Federal Reserve maintaining negative real interest rates for too long after the bursting of the tech-stock bubble, 2) The Community Reinvestment Act which forced banks to make bad loans and 3) Congress’ incompetence in its structure and oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Dems, soon to have nearly absolute control, will inevitably use the “failure of unfettered capitalism” canard to further encumber the free market with increased regulatory burdens. This will only serve to delay the eventual recovery and lead to slower economic growth in the future.
An early portent of this is the appointment of Rep. Hilda Solis as one of the most pro-union Secretaries of Labor ever. She received 3/4ths of her campaign contributions from unions and voted with the AFL-CIO 97 % of the time. She has declared her intention to use her position to increase the power of labor unions.
Ms. Solis is also a supporter of fraudulently named Free Choice Act, which would replace secret ballots in union elections with something called cardcheck. This gives union thugs the opportunity to intimidate workers into signing up for a union in their workplace whether they want one or not.
Let’s hope we don’t see more industries succumb to the same uncompetitive labor policies that have wrecked our steel and auto industries and given us a K-12 education system that consistently puts our kids near the bottom of the developed world.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Screwing America's Youth
Why aren’t the young people demonstrating in the streets? Their futures are being mortgaged away right before their eyes and they don’t seem to care. Maybe the reason the politicians keep harping on the horrors of global warming is to keep the kids from focusing on the real threat to their futures, out-of-control government spending which is going to erode living standards going forward.
Even before the current recession we were headed toward financial calamity with the concurrence of Medicare and Social Security with the aging of the baby boom generation. Even the stupidest politicians know that this is a slow motion train wreck, but none of them have the guts to blow the whistle.
Bush tried to tackle SS a few years ago but the Dems and AARP launched a misinformation campaign which caused a panic amongst seniors who in turn flooded their Representatives with protests, thereby dooming any chance of reform.
Next we had the financial bailout, which was probably necessary to avoid the risk of a full scale collapse, which would have caused widespread suffering. Now the line is forming: auto companies, insurers, states and cities.
Now Franklin D. Obama is promising a new New Deal with a “stimulus” plan that rivals the National Recovery Administration of the old New Deal. If you want to find out how that worked, read “The Forgotten Man” by Amity Shlaes. But you don’t have to go back that far. Look at the Bush stimulus last year. It hardly increased consumer spending at all.
Stimulus plans are popular with politicians because they show that the pols are caring and are “doing something.” The only problem is they don’t work. (See my Nov. 27 blog, “Bailouts, stimulus & Inflation.”) They do very little to boost the economy, but they increase our National Debt and annual interest burden.
All this money has to be paid back at some point or we keep paying interest on it forever. But, you say, the government can just print more money. Yes, it can and is. But every new dollar created (today they don’t actually print them, they just press a few computer keys) just decreases the value of each and every dollar. That’s inflation.
Investors, mostly foreigners, who we depend on to buy our debt realize that they are going to get repaid in cheaper dollars, i.e., dollars with less purchasing power. Therefore, they demand higher interest rates to compensate for that risk. This increases our interest costs, which increases our taxes and leaves us with less to spend on other things like food, housing, education.
Youth of America, grab some pots and pans and head to the streets!
Even before the current recession we were headed toward financial calamity with the concurrence of Medicare and Social Security with the aging of the baby boom generation. Even the stupidest politicians know that this is a slow motion train wreck, but none of them have the guts to blow the whistle.
Bush tried to tackle SS a few years ago but the Dems and AARP launched a misinformation campaign which caused a panic amongst seniors who in turn flooded their Representatives with protests, thereby dooming any chance of reform.
Next we had the financial bailout, which was probably necessary to avoid the risk of a full scale collapse, which would have caused widespread suffering. Now the line is forming: auto companies, insurers, states and cities.
Now Franklin D. Obama is promising a new New Deal with a “stimulus” plan that rivals the National Recovery Administration of the old New Deal. If you want to find out how that worked, read “The Forgotten Man” by Amity Shlaes. But you don’t have to go back that far. Look at the Bush stimulus last year. It hardly increased consumer spending at all.
Stimulus plans are popular with politicians because they show that the pols are caring and are “doing something.” The only problem is they don’t work. (See my Nov. 27 blog, “Bailouts, stimulus & Inflation.”) They do very little to boost the economy, but they increase our National Debt and annual interest burden.
All this money has to be paid back at some point or we keep paying interest on it forever. But, you say, the government can just print more money. Yes, it can and is. But every new dollar created (today they don’t actually print them, they just press a few computer keys) just decreases the value of each and every dollar. That’s inflation.
Investors, mostly foreigners, who we depend on to buy our debt realize that they are going to get repaid in cheaper dollars, i.e., dollars with less purchasing power. Therefore, they demand higher interest rates to compensate for that risk. This increases our interest costs, which increases our taxes and leaves us with less to spend on other things like food, housing, education.
Youth of America, grab some pots and pans and head to the streets!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Obama's Achilles Heel
I take Obama at his word when he says that he had no involvement with the Ebay auction of his former Senate seat by Gov. Blagojevich, but, knowing what an incestuous swamp Illinois Democrat politics is, I find it incredulous that he and Rahm Emanuel did not know what was going on.
Remember Watergate? “What did he know and when did he know it?” If it comes out that Rahm ’n’ Obama knew about this and did not blow the whistle, they will be starting out with a big ethical cloud over them. The best thing about that would be that it would take some steam out of the scary environmental agenda foreshadowed by upcoming energy and environmental appointments.
Soon-to-be Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Wall Street Journal in September, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” The average household that now spends, say, $2,500 per year on gasoline would see that triple to about $7,500 or more, dwarfing those promised welfare checks known as “the middle class tax cut.”
Combine him with prospective White House energy advisor Carol Browner and you truly have the makings of an economic disaster. She was EPA head under Clinton (not literally, as far as I know) and is an acolyte of AL Gore. Not only does Browner oppose drilling in the outer Continental shelf, but she wants to let the EPA declare that greenhouse gases endanger health or welfare, triggering regulation of them under the Clean Air Act.
The new EPA chief, Lisa Jackson, is a former EPA enforcer and Browner protégé. Together, this team poses a real threat to the future of the US economy and to Americans’ living standards. They either believe that human caused global warming threatens to destroy life on Earth or they pretend to believe it so they can use it as an excuse to give government more power over human activity.
The argument for global warming is based entirely on elaborately constructed computer models. We all know about “Garbage in, garbage out.” The actual data show no warming for the past ten years. But this is not about facts: this is about ideology. The left has always known that you need the threat of a terrifying crisis to persuade people to trade freedom for security. After the fall of Communism, the threat of nuclear Armageddon no longer worked, but along came global warming to save the day for totalitarians.
Energy and environmental policy may well prove to be Obama’s Achilles heel.
Remember Watergate? “What did he know and when did he know it?” If it comes out that Rahm ’n’ Obama knew about this and did not blow the whistle, they will be starting out with a big ethical cloud over them. The best thing about that would be that it would take some steam out of the scary environmental agenda foreshadowed by upcoming energy and environmental appointments.
Soon-to-be Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Wall Street Journal in September, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” The average household that now spends, say, $2,500 per year on gasoline would see that triple to about $7,500 or more, dwarfing those promised welfare checks known as “the middle class tax cut.”
Combine him with prospective White House energy advisor Carol Browner and you truly have the makings of an economic disaster. She was EPA head under Clinton (not literally, as far as I know) and is an acolyte of AL Gore. Not only does Browner oppose drilling in the outer Continental shelf, but she wants to let the EPA declare that greenhouse gases endanger health or welfare, triggering regulation of them under the Clean Air Act.
The new EPA chief, Lisa Jackson, is a former EPA enforcer and Browner protégé. Together, this team poses a real threat to the future of the US economy and to Americans’ living standards. They either believe that human caused global warming threatens to destroy life on Earth or they pretend to believe it so they can use it as an excuse to give government more power over human activity.
The argument for global warming is based entirely on elaborately constructed computer models. We all know about “Garbage in, garbage out.” The actual data show no warming for the past ten years. But this is not about facts: this is about ideology. The left has always known that you need the threat of a terrifying crisis to persuade people to trade freedom for security. After the fall of Communism, the threat of nuclear Armageddon no longer worked, but along came global warming to save the day for totalitarians.
Energy and environmental policy may well prove to be Obama’s Achilles heel.
Monday, December 8, 2008
"Hyporkracy"
I’ve been out of action the past week while the Mrs. & I have been transitioning to our winter refuge in The Foreclosure State, Florida.
On yesterday’s “Meet the Depressed” Obama gave a preview of his post-Presidential career, sit down comedy. With a perfectly straight face he made two irreconcilable announcements. The first was a huge new spending program, the largest since the Interstate Highway project during the Eisenhower years. The second was a message to Congress that “the days of pork-barrel spending are over.”
I can see Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi falling down laughing together on that one. With something like a half-trillion dollars of newly printed money being poured into the trough, the pigs will have a feeding frenzy. Former law professor Obama must have forgotten that the Constitution gives Congress the power to spend. Rare is the Member who will pledge a vote for a spending bill without first having a promise of some “pork” (a bridge, museum, road, park, etc.) for his or her district.
Obama also criticized Bush for not doing more to help homeowners who borrowed money they couldn’t repay to buy houses they couldn’t afford.
“I’m disappointed we have not seen quicker movement on this issue by the (Bush) Administration,” he said, adding, “If it’s not done during the transition it will be done by me.”
However, The Wall Street Journal reported that “Barack Obama’s transition team is resisting Bush Administration overtures to coordinate more on the financial-sector rescue…” The Journal also said, “Treasury staff wanted to brief the Obama team on the various proposals the Fed and Treasury were discussing and to gauge their level of interest in doing something to help homeowners… When (the Bush team) finished outlining their proposals, Treasury staff asked the Obama aides for their impressions. The aides demurred, refusing to endorse any of the ideas. When asked …how they envisioned a foreclosure mitigation program working, they were non-committal…”
Obviously, Obama would rather let desperate mortgagees twist in the wind a while longer than have to share credit with Bush for any relief.
On yesterday’s “Meet the Depressed” Obama gave a preview of his post-Presidential career, sit down comedy. With a perfectly straight face he made two irreconcilable announcements. The first was a huge new spending program, the largest since the Interstate Highway project during the Eisenhower years. The second was a message to Congress that “the days of pork-barrel spending are over.”
I can see Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi falling down laughing together on that one. With something like a half-trillion dollars of newly printed money being poured into the trough, the pigs will have a feeding frenzy. Former law professor Obama must have forgotten that the Constitution gives Congress the power to spend. Rare is the Member who will pledge a vote for a spending bill without first having a promise of some “pork” (a bridge, museum, road, park, etc.) for his or her district.
Obama also criticized Bush for not doing more to help homeowners who borrowed money they couldn’t repay to buy houses they couldn’t afford.
“I’m disappointed we have not seen quicker movement on this issue by the (Bush) Administration,” he said, adding, “If it’s not done during the transition it will be done by me.”
However, The Wall Street Journal reported that “Barack Obama’s transition team is resisting Bush Administration overtures to coordinate more on the financial-sector rescue…” The Journal also said, “Treasury staff wanted to brief the Obama team on the various proposals the Fed and Treasury were discussing and to gauge their level of interest in doing something to help homeowners… When (the Bush team) finished outlining their proposals, Treasury staff asked the Obama aides for their impressions. The aides demurred, refusing to endorse any of the ideas. When asked …how they envisioned a foreclosure mitigation program working, they were non-committal…”
Obviously, Obama would rather let desperate mortgagees twist in the wind a while longer than have to share credit with Bush for any relief.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)