Tomorrow, July 4th, I will not be posting.
Happy fourth everyone!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
2.34
Today is the end of 2.34 centuries since the Declaration of Independence was published in Philadelphia. Right now, our republic is threatened by enemies, both internal and external. This is nothing new. For my entire life, the USA has faced enemies of some sort. Nuclear armed Soviet and Chinese Communists have given way to soon-to-be nuclear armed Islamic terrorists. Inside the country, intolerance based upon race or religion that was repugnant to the ideals of the USA has been replaced by large groups who want to do away with those ideals all together. The strange thing for me, however, is that for the first time in my life, the dangerous groups actually control the government. It is not new for Democrats to control the federal government. It is new for them to try to change the essential nature of our society.
The United States was founded on the concept that each individual is endowed by the Almighty with inalienable rights. These are rights that are held by the individual, not by the group to which he or she belongs. This are rights which are inalienable -- the state cannot take them away. These are rights which allow the individual to make his or her own way in the world and to succeed or fail based upon the effort put forth. For a long time, the USA has struggled to give each person equal opportunity.
Now, we are being pushed into a world where equal opportunity is to be replaced by equal outcome. Officials in positions like Speaker of the House say things promoting this agenda. Nancy Pelosi extolled Obamacare by pointing out that workers could now give up their jobs and become artists or musicians without fearing the loss of healthcare. After all, society (meaning the government) would provide.
It has been competition in ideas and in the market place that has made the USA the world's greatest country and economy. It has been hard work and struggle that has allowed individuals to move up the economic ladder quickly in ways that are almost unknown in other societies. It has been these outsized benefits that can be rewarded to anyone that has made us great. Now, Obama and the Obamacrats want these to be gone. The wealthy who already pay the bulk of taxes in our society are made the enemy. They have too much. they need to be taxed more. And the individual is to be regimented to the will of the government. No longer are we to be free to do as we please and reap the benefit or suffer the consequences. No, the incentives of the private enterprise system and individual liberty are to be erased is some supposed effort for the common good which actually results only in the concentration of power in the hands of a few who supposedly know better than the public what is good for the public.
If anyone actually believes that the government knows better than the public what is good for the country, I suggest that you take a close look at how the government is handling the oil crisis in the Gulf. Bureaucrats run amok! Each bureaucrat is protecting his own turf rather than looking for the common good. No proof of life jackets on the ships removing the oil? -- No problem -- just stop all oil removal. Idiocy triumphs in the name of the commmon good.
I only hope that in the next part of the life of this country we are able to move away from the dangerous dalliance with collectivism and back to the basic truths that has made this country great.
The United States was founded on the concept that each individual is endowed by the Almighty with inalienable rights. These are rights that are held by the individual, not by the group to which he or she belongs. This are rights which are inalienable -- the state cannot take them away. These are rights which allow the individual to make his or her own way in the world and to succeed or fail based upon the effort put forth. For a long time, the USA has struggled to give each person equal opportunity.
Now, we are being pushed into a world where equal opportunity is to be replaced by equal outcome. Officials in positions like Speaker of the House say things promoting this agenda. Nancy Pelosi extolled Obamacare by pointing out that workers could now give up their jobs and become artists or musicians without fearing the loss of healthcare. After all, society (meaning the government) would provide.
It has been competition in ideas and in the market place that has made the USA the world's greatest country and economy. It has been hard work and struggle that has allowed individuals to move up the economic ladder quickly in ways that are almost unknown in other societies. It has been these outsized benefits that can be rewarded to anyone that has made us great. Now, Obama and the Obamacrats want these to be gone. The wealthy who already pay the bulk of taxes in our society are made the enemy. They have too much. they need to be taxed more. And the individual is to be regimented to the will of the government. No longer are we to be free to do as we please and reap the benefit or suffer the consequences. No, the incentives of the private enterprise system and individual liberty are to be erased is some supposed effort for the common good which actually results only in the concentration of power in the hands of a few who supposedly know better than the public what is good for the public.
If anyone actually believes that the government knows better than the public what is good for the country, I suggest that you take a close look at how the government is handling the oil crisis in the Gulf. Bureaucrats run amok! Each bureaucrat is protecting his own turf rather than looking for the common good. No proof of life jackets on the ships removing the oil? -- No problem -- just stop all oil removal. Idiocy triumphs in the name of the commmon good.
I only hope that in the next part of the life of this country we are able to move away from the dangerous dalliance with collectivism and back to the basic truths that has made this country great.
Worth Repeating
Here are two paragraphs from an article in the Wall Street Journal about why the Obama Administration is causing the clean up in the Gulf to go so poorly and slowly.
"First, the Environmental Protection Agency can relax restrictions on the amount of oil in discharged water, currently limited to 15 parts per million. In normal times, this rule sensibly controls the amount of pollution that can be added to relatively clean ocean water. But this is not a normal time.
Various skimmers and tankers (some of them very large) are available that could eliminate most of the oil from seawater, discharging the mostly clean water while storing the oil onboard. While this would clean vast amounts of water efficiently, the EPA is unwilling to grant a temporary waiver of its regulations."
So here we are two and a half months after the disaster with news that Miami and the East Coast of Florida will be fouled next and the stupid fools in the adminsitration have not yet figured out that removing 99% of the oil from the water is a big improvement over keeping their ragulations in place and removing much less. someone with half a brain (if they exist) in the Obama Administration has to step up and get this regulation waived. There are already ships in the Gulf or on their way which could remove almost all of the new oil that gushes out daily. They cannot act without approval from Washington, however.
Of all the things that Obama has ruined, I cannot forgive him for ruining the environment in the Gulf. He and his administration have turned a disaster that could have been contained into one that will have an impact for decades. I cannot understand why there is not more outcry over this.
"First, the Environmental Protection Agency can relax restrictions on the amount of oil in discharged water, currently limited to 15 parts per million. In normal times, this rule sensibly controls the amount of pollution that can be added to relatively clean ocean water. But this is not a normal time.
Various skimmers and tankers (some of them very large) are available that could eliminate most of the oil from seawater, discharging the mostly clean water while storing the oil onboard. While this would clean vast amounts of water efficiently, the EPA is unwilling to grant a temporary waiver of its regulations."
So here we are two and a half months after the disaster with news that Miami and the East Coast of Florida will be fouled next and the stupid fools in the adminsitration have not yet figured out that removing 99% of the oil from the water is a big improvement over keeping their ragulations in place and removing much less. someone with half a brain (if they exist) in the Obama Administration has to step up and get this regulation waived. There are already ships in the Gulf or on their way which could remove almost all of the new oil that gushes out daily. They cannot act without approval from Washington, however.
Of all the things that Obama has ruined, I cannot forgive him for ruining the environment in the Gulf. He and his administration have turned a disaster that could have been contained into one that will have an impact for decades. I cannot understand why there is not more outcry over this.
Friday, July 2, 2010
How would Obama know
Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech on immigration in which he announced the following: "There are those who argue that we should not move forward with any other elements of reform until we have fully sealed our borders. Our borders are just too vast for us to be able to solve the problem only with fences and border patrols. It won't work."
My question: How would Obama know? since he became President, Obama has not done anything to improve the enforcement of the border. The fence that had previously been approved by Congress was stopped. No new border agents were added. The number of employers arrested for hiring illegals is dow over 85% from the last year of the Bush administration. National Guard troops were ordered with great show to the border, but none of them has actually gone there and the orders require that when and if they arrive, they will not try to stop illegal entry. In short, Obama has not tried to carry out his responsibilities to control the border.
This is yet again an instance where Obama just says something that is not true and acts as if his statement resolves the whole matter. The man has no shame. He also has no competence or talent besides using a teleprompter. About a year ago, there was a parody on the web with regard to TOTUS or Teleprompter of the United States being in charge of the government. At the time I thought it was just funny. Now i realize just how truthful and scary it is.
My question: How would Obama know? since he became President, Obama has not done anything to improve the enforcement of the border. The fence that had previously been approved by Congress was stopped. No new border agents were added. The number of employers arrested for hiring illegals is dow over 85% from the last year of the Bush administration. National Guard troops were ordered with great show to the border, but none of them has actually gone there and the orders require that when and if they arrive, they will not try to stop illegal entry. In short, Obama has not tried to carry out his responsibilities to control the border.
This is yet again an instance where Obama just says something that is not true and acts as if his statement resolves the whole matter. The man has no shame. He also has no competence or talent besides using a teleprompter. About a year ago, there was a parody on the web with regard to TOTUS or Teleprompter of the United States being in charge of the government. At the time I thought it was just funny. Now i realize just how truthful and scary it is.
The statistics game
Here we go again. first there were claims that the government was manipulating the employment numbers by hiring, firing, hiring, firing, and hiring census workers to triple or quadruple the number of jobs "created". Now we have the anomaly of today's unemployment report: the numbers of unemployed went up substantially, but the unemployment rate went down. Strangely, with the students graduating from college in May being added to the workforce in June, the Government says that the number of people looking for work actually declined during that month. since there are fewer in the workforce, the rate went down by 0.2%
The truth is that the main number from this morning's report is the creation of just over 80,000 jobs in the private secrot of the economy. That number is best described as paltry in the context of the "recovery" that the Obamacrats are celebrating with "Recovery Summer". In may respects, Recovery Summer is akin to "Clean Beach Day" in Louisiana. There is no real recovery yet, just like there are no clean beaches on the Gulf. Both conditions are directly the result of incompetence by the Obama Administration. Just think where we would be now if the stimulus funds had actually been used for true stimulus rather than for payoffs to Obamacrat insterest groups. Just think where the beaches would be if Obama had paid attention to the spill when it first happened (or even a month after it first happened).
I am really sick of the games and spin that come from Washington. Someone who tells the truth would be great. Someone who both leads and tells the truth would be even better.
The truth is that the main number from this morning's report is the creation of just over 80,000 jobs in the private secrot of the economy. That number is best described as paltry in the context of the "recovery" that the Obamacrats are celebrating with "Recovery Summer". In may respects, Recovery Summer is akin to "Clean Beach Day" in Louisiana. There is no real recovery yet, just like there are no clean beaches on the Gulf. Both conditions are directly the result of incompetence by the Obama Administration. Just think where we would be now if the stimulus funds had actually been used for true stimulus rather than for payoffs to Obamacrat insterest groups. Just think where the beaches would be if Obama had paid attention to the spill when it first happened (or even a month after it first happened).
I am really sick of the games and spin that come from Washington. Someone who tells the truth would be great. Someone who both leads and tells the truth would be even better.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
More lies from the President
Today, President Obama blamed "politics" and "posturing" for the failure to complete passage of a comprehensive immigration reform. According to obama the fault lies with Republicans. Obama ought to be ashamed to say something this stupid.
First, Obama says we cannot deal with the problem by building fences and securing the border. That statement indeed is politics. Simply put, Obama does not want to do his sworn duty and control the border. As a result, he is leaving the border open so that he can keep up a drumbeat for the need for comprehensive "reform". Why? so Obama and the Obamacrats can cozy up to those in the Latino community who see border enforcement as dicrimination against them (which it is not).
There is no reason why the feds could not shut down the border. It would not take much to cut the flow by a large percentage. Completion of the double border fence and enforcement of short term incarceration for those caught coming across has worked in other sectors of the border. For example in the Yuma sector in Arizona, illegal crossings were cut by 94% when these measures were put in place. If they were also indtroduced in the rest of the border in Arizona, we could see a cut of 75% or more in the number of illegals coming across.
Obama also said he wants laws that would make it illegal to employ those who are here without permission. This is not political, it is nonsense. The law already exists, but the feds have stopped enforcing it at all during the Obama administration. Bush was not great with enforcement, but since Obama took over, the number of arrests is down by 88%. There is essentially no enforcement effort from the feds. The lack of enforcement is not due to Republicans -- it is strictly a plan by the Obamacrats to ignore the law to gain votes from Hispanics.
First, Obama says we cannot deal with the problem by building fences and securing the border. That statement indeed is politics. Simply put, Obama does not want to do his sworn duty and control the border. As a result, he is leaving the border open so that he can keep up a drumbeat for the need for comprehensive "reform". Why? so Obama and the Obamacrats can cozy up to those in the Latino community who see border enforcement as dicrimination against them (which it is not).
There is no reason why the feds could not shut down the border. It would not take much to cut the flow by a large percentage. Completion of the double border fence and enforcement of short term incarceration for those caught coming across has worked in other sectors of the border. For example in the Yuma sector in Arizona, illegal crossings were cut by 94% when these measures were put in place. If they were also indtroduced in the rest of the border in Arizona, we could see a cut of 75% or more in the number of illegals coming across.
Obama also said he wants laws that would make it illegal to employ those who are here without permission. This is not political, it is nonsense. The law already exists, but the feds have stopped enforcing it at all during the Obama administration. Bush was not great with enforcement, but since Obama took over, the number of arrests is down by 88%. There is essentially no enforcement effort from the feds. The lack of enforcement is not due to Republicans -- it is strictly a plan by the Obamacrats to ignore the law to gain votes from Hispanics.
Mourning in America
In a piece in The New Republic, Stephen Rose writes about how the economy is set to roar in the near future. It is, Rose claims, Morning in America as Ronald Reagan put it. More likely, however, it is Mourning in America. The economic portents are not good.
Rose claims that four things indicate fast growth is coming. One is the rise in inventories. Inventories were cut when the recession first hit. Rose says that the rise in inventory figures means that businesses realize that more inventory is needed to handle the growth that is on the way. Somehow, I do not think so. Inventories rose because they have gone back to more normal levels. The fear of a depression and total economic collapse is mostly gone, so busineses are getting back their normal inventories. Indeed, this rise in inventories fueled much of the anemic growth in the private sector that actually has taken place since the bottom of the recession.
A second indicator of good things to come, according to Rose, is the rise in investment. Rose looks at the rise in the level of investment since the first quarter of 2009. Not surprisingly, investment is up from that level since the date chosen is the bottom of the panic following the financial crisis. Once it became clear that the entire economy was not going to collapse, some investment came back. More important, however, is the difference in investment between the last quarter before the recession began (4th quarter of 2007) and now. This shows no big rise in investment -- just the opposite is true. Normally, a vigorous recovery would promote massive investment. The fact that the economy cannot generate investment as high as the level just before the crash (a point when the expansion was many years old and tired), means that there is no big expansion coming. Rose is simply slanting the statistics to prove his predetermined conclusion.
Hopefully, the economy will continue to grow. A sputtering, wheezing sort or stagnant growth is the most likely. Personally, I hope Rose is correct and I am wrong, but I do not think there is much chance of that.
Rose claims that four things indicate fast growth is coming. One is the rise in inventories. Inventories were cut when the recession first hit. Rose says that the rise in inventory figures means that businesses realize that more inventory is needed to handle the growth that is on the way. Somehow, I do not think so. Inventories rose because they have gone back to more normal levels. The fear of a depression and total economic collapse is mostly gone, so busineses are getting back their normal inventories. Indeed, this rise in inventories fueled much of the anemic growth in the private sector that actually has taken place since the bottom of the recession.
A second indicator of good things to come, according to Rose, is the rise in investment. Rose looks at the rise in the level of investment since the first quarter of 2009. Not surprisingly, investment is up from that level since the date chosen is the bottom of the panic following the financial crisis. Once it became clear that the entire economy was not going to collapse, some investment came back. More important, however, is the difference in investment between the last quarter before the recession began (4th quarter of 2007) and now. This shows no big rise in investment -- just the opposite is true. Normally, a vigorous recovery would promote massive investment. The fact that the economy cannot generate investment as high as the level just before the crash (a point when the expansion was many years old and tired), means that there is no big expansion coming. Rose is simply slanting the statistics to prove his predetermined conclusion.
Hopefully, the economy will continue to grow. A sputtering, wheezing sort or stagnant growth is the most likely. Personally, I hope Rose is correct and I am wrong, but I do not think there is much chance of that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)