I like baguettes and France but I don't want America to become France or Europe. I fear it is.
Monday, December 31, 2012
I want Vous..
...to be dependent upon your country.
I like baguettes and France but I don't want America to become France or Europe. I fear it is.
I like baguettes and France but I don't want America to become France or Europe. I fear it is.
Monday, December 17, 2012
So which party is committed to diversity again?
Nikki Haley, Republican Governor of South Carolina just named Tim Scott to replace Jim Demint in the Senate. It just so happens that Tim is black.
It's funny, Republicans are derided as the 'white' party and the party of 'racists' yet with the very notable exception of President Obama people of color are much better represented at the top of the Republican party than the Democrat party.
Let's review the bidding, Republicans have:
The only two asian governors - Bobby Jindal, LA, Nikki Haley, SC
The only two latino governors - Brian Sandoval, NV, Susanna Martinez, NM
Two of the three latino senators - Marco Rubio, FL, Ted Cruz, TX (Robert Menendez of NJ is the other)
The only black Supreme Court justice - Clarence Thomas
And now the only black senator - Tim Scott, SC
Of course almost all black and latino Congressmen are Democrats which provokes a thought: Minority Democrats almost always have their own Congressional districts and demand that someone of 'their' race hold the seat. The result is that most minority Democrats end up being relegated to their particular racial ghetto (again, President Obama is the sterling exception). They don't need 'outsiders' to get elected and they focus on 'their' people's needs. The result is that they don't build the relationships, coalitions and reputations necessary to succeed in statewide politics where you must reach across racial, cultural and geographic lines. There are exceptions such as Keith Ellison of MN but they are few and far between.
By contrast minorities in the Republican party almost always come up through the mainstream path. There is no minority ghetto so to succeed, they must build relationships and alliances across all racial and cultural lines. This is much better preparation for high office than the Democrat's racial ward heeler model.
Incidentally, this is the model that Barack Obama followed - he was State Senator to a mixed race district, was then elected US Senator of all of Illinois. His one foray into the racial ghetto resulted in him being crushed by Bobby Rush.
It seems to me that to the extent that minorities assimilate and no longer live in their own neighborhoods they become much less Democrat. Thus it is in the Democrats' electoral interest to keep minorities isolated and focused on their racial or ethnic 'differences'. We saw a lot of this sort of rhetoric in the last election - Dems 'waving the bloody shirt' to Latinos, Blacks, Feminists, Gays, etc. They have to do that because a high level of group solidarity is necessary to get 95% of a racial group's vote - or 75% for that matter. And nothing builds group solidarity like the fear of the 'other'.
In this case, what's good for the Dems is not good for the country.
It's funny, Republicans are derided as the 'white' party and the party of 'racists' yet with the very notable exception of President Obama people of color are much better represented at the top of the Republican party than the Democrat party.
Let's review the bidding, Republicans have:
The only two asian governors - Bobby Jindal, LA, Nikki Haley, SC
The only two latino governors - Brian Sandoval, NV, Susanna Martinez, NM
Two of the three latino senators - Marco Rubio, FL, Ted Cruz, TX (Robert Menendez of NJ is the other)
The only black Supreme Court justice - Clarence Thomas
And now the only black senator - Tim Scott, SC
Of course almost all black and latino Congressmen are Democrats which provokes a thought: Minority Democrats almost always have their own Congressional districts and demand that someone of 'their' race hold the seat. The result is that most minority Democrats end up being relegated to their particular racial ghetto (again, President Obama is the sterling exception). They don't need 'outsiders' to get elected and they focus on 'their' people's needs. The result is that they don't build the relationships, coalitions and reputations necessary to succeed in statewide politics where you must reach across racial, cultural and geographic lines. There are exceptions such as Keith Ellison of MN but they are few and far between.
By contrast minorities in the Republican party almost always come up through the mainstream path. There is no minority ghetto so to succeed, they must build relationships and alliances across all racial and cultural lines. This is much better preparation for high office than the Democrat's racial ward heeler model.
Incidentally, this is the model that Barack Obama followed - he was State Senator to a mixed race district, was then elected US Senator of all of Illinois. His one foray into the racial ghetto resulted in him being crushed by Bobby Rush.
It seems to me that to the extent that minorities assimilate and no longer live in their own neighborhoods they become much less Democrat. Thus it is in the Democrats' electoral interest to keep minorities isolated and focused on their racial or ethnic 'differences'. We saw a lot of this sort of rhetoric in the last election - Dems 'waving the bloody shirt' to Latinos, Blacks, Feminists, Gays, etc. They have to do that because a high level of group solidarity is necessary to get 95% of a racial group's vote - or 75% for that matter. And nothing builds group solidarity like the fear of the 'other'.
In this case, what's good for the Dems is not good for the country.
1930s Redux?
Outside of the US, the Great Depression ended rather quickly. In fact, the term 'Great Depression' is a particularly American historical artifact. The depression was made particularly 'Great' in the US because of the radical and in many ways flawed response that the Fed, FDR and the New Deal Democrats made to what was a garden variety, albeit deep recession.
Now we find out that the rest of the world is recovering from the 'Great' Recession while the US isn't. For the first time in history, the US has fallen out of the top ten in the Legatum Worldwide Prosperity Index.
Coincidentally, the current White House occupant made historical accounts of FDR's reign of error mandatory reading for his appointees when he started his term.
What did that 'cat say about History repeating itself? Welcome to Farceworld.
Now we find out that the rest of the world is recovering from the 'Great' Recession while the US isn't. For the first time in history, the US has fallen out of the top ten in the Legatum Worldwide Prosperity Index.
Coincidentally, the current White House occupant made historical accounts of FDR's reign of error mandatory reading for his appointees when he started his term.
What did that 'cat say about History repeating itself? Welcome to Farceworld.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
America's New Ruling Class
Those of you who read this blog regularly know that my greatest concern is the Federalization and corresponding 'felonization' of more and more of American life. I believe the Federal ability to print money along with the transformation of a minimalist Federal government into a maximalist administrative state have done enormous damage to our Federal Republic and are the key reason why the country is bankrupt and adrift.
But one could argue that the result is democratic - if the people want the Federal government to do all these things then who am I to object? Of course the people are sovereign only so long as the Constitution functions. And according to the Founders, the keys to the functioning of the constitution was Federalism, the separation of powers and the tendency of ambition to check ambition.
But Federalism is gone. One third of the typical state's spending (up to half for some) is now provided by the Feds and over two thirds is governed by them. Education, healthcare, transportation, and social welfare policies are effectively dictated at the center upon pain of loss of funding. Federalism for most things other than legalized Marijuana is dead and getting colder by the minute.
What about the separation of powers? The rise of the administrative state has resulted in a defacto replacement of rule by elected magistrates with rule by unelected bureaucrats. The Federal structure was designed to be a minimal, slow moving government, to the extent that a prescriptive administrative state could have even been conceived, it was intended to be delivered by the states. The result of jury rigging the latter to the former has been an incredibly expensive and ineffective kluge where the legislative and executive often gridlock themselves and each other. This has allowed the bureaucracy to do what it wants subject to the approval of the unelected judiciary making much of the government practically independent from its elected 'masters'. And rule by bureaucrat has increasingly moved from defacto to dejure. With the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection and the Independent Payment Advisory Boards (CFPB and IPAB) Democrats have created powerful agencies able to ban any service or company in their ambit. Under law these agencies are not subject to Congressional oversight, cannot be abolished and get their funding independent of the budget. So much for separation of powers.
Relying on ambition to check ambition to protect our interests is looking increasingly grim as well. Look at the summary of who controls the 'commanding heights' of our government below. I could create a much more detailed list that includes key business leaders and the media but it wouldn't really change the picture much. After WWII elite colleges, principally the Ivies and a few others like Chicago and Stanford began deliberately skimming the 'richest' intellects in the nation and world. These intellects came to the institutions, intermarried and are now sending their children to them.
Most nations have ruling classes that are close knit, go to he same educational institutions and intermarry. The English have Oxbridge, the French have the Haute Ecoles and so on. The genius of the United States has been that the process of immigration and the fragmentation into 50 sovereign states broke up the ruling classes and let many new people rise to the top. But through the elimination of Federalism, the expansion and centralization of most state wealth and power into a single unitary state and the focused efforts of rich universities, this democratic process has been reversed.
Because as Murray and Herrnstein in the Bell Curve pointed out, intelligence is partially heritable, the actions of the elite universities serve to concentrate and distill a 'cognitive elite' that is through breeding, socialization and the advantages of immensely expensive tax subsidized educations are increasingly able to seize more and more of the commanding heights of our society.
And increasingly this process is deliberate and hereditary. A naive elite screening process would result in the most talented regardless of their race or ethnicity being admitted into the 'golden circle'. However as Ron Unz recently demonstrated in his brilliant The Myth of American Meritocracy, elite universities deliberately penalize talent that is not currently part of the power elite (Asians) and aggressively promote less talented cohorts that are descended from the current power elites (Jews).
This results in elites across the ideological spectrum that have more in common with each other than with their ideological allies out in the provinces. Look how this works in practice. Take for example the recent surprise ruling by Chief Justice John Roberts (JD, Harvard) on the Affordable Care Act. Justice Roberts essentially corrected Congresses' homework and then gave it an 'A' for the corrected version. He did so according to the pundits because by not ruling on the law (as opposed to his revised version of the law) he was protecting the 'credibility' of the Supreme Court. One might ask from who? Certainly not the majority of the population that was opposed to the ACA, nor the majority of states who had sued to stop it. No, Justice Roberts concern was with his credibility among his peers in Washington. His peers from Harvard, Yale, Princeton.
So every time a lefty votes for a new Federal program like health care reform than runs roughshod over the states and every time a teabagger votes for more national 'security' like Homeland Security or intensifies the "Drug War" they hand more levers of power to this small and increasingly concentrated power elite.
And I don't think recreating the inbred, self interested anti-democratic power elites of Georgian England was what the founders had in mind. Do you?
SURVEY OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROVENANCE OF OUR POWER ELITES - Past and Present
But one could argue that the result is democratic - if the people want the Federal government to do all these things then who am I to object? Of course the people are sovereign only so long as the Constitution functions. And according to the Founders, the keys to the functioning of the constitution was Federalism, the separation of powers and the tendency of ambition to check ambition.
But Federalism is gone. One third of the typical state's spending (up to half for some) is now provided by the Feds and over two thirds is governed by them. Education, healthcare, transportation, and social welfare policies are effectively dictated at the center upon pain of loss of funding. Federalism for most things other than legalized Marijuana is dead and getting colder by the minute.
What about the separation of powers? The rise of the administrative state has resulted in a defacto replacement of rule by elected magistrates with rule by unelected bureaucrats. The Federal structure was designed to be a minimal, slow moving government, to the extent that a prescriptive administrative state could have even been conceived, it was intended to be delivered by the states. The result of jury rigging the latter to the former has been an incredibly expensive and ineffective kluge where the legislative and executive often gridlock themselves and each other. This has allowed the bureaucracy to do what it wants subject to the approval of the unelected judiciary making much of the government practically independent from its elected 'masters'. And rule by bureaucrat has increasingly moved from defacto to dejure. With the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection and the Independent Payment Advisory Boards (CFPB and IPAB) Democrats have created powerful agencies able to ban any service or company in their ambit. Under law these agencies are not subject to Congressional oversight, cannot be abolished and get their funding independent of the budget. So much for separation of powers.
Relying on ambition to check ambition to protect our interests is looking increasingly grim as well. Look at the summary of who controls the 'commanding heights' of our government below. I could create a much more detailed list that includes key business leaders and the media but it wouldn't really change the picture much. After WWII elite colleges, principally the Ivies and a few others like Chicago and Stanford began deliberately skimming the 'richest' intellects in the nation and world. These intellects came to the institutions, intermarried and are now sending their children to them.
Most nations have ruling classes that are close knit, go to he same educational institutions and intermarry. The English have Oxbridge, the French have the Haute Ecoles and so on. The genius of the United States has been that the process of immigration and the fragmentation into 50 sovereign states broke up the ruling classes and let many new people rise to the top. But through the elimination of Federalism, the expansion and centralization of most state wealth and power into a single unitary state and the focused efforts of rich universities, this democratic process has been reversed.
Because as Murray and Herrnstein in the Bell Curve pointed out, intelligence is partially heritable, the actions of the elite universities serve to concentrate and distill a 'cognitive elite' that is through breeding, socialization and the advantages of immensely expensive tax subsidized educations are increasingly able to seize more and more of the commanding heights of our society.
And increasingly this process is deliberate and hereditary. A naive elite screening process would result in the most talented regardless of their race or ethnicity being admitted into the 'golden circle'. However as Ron Unz recently demonstrated in his brilliant The Myth of American Meritocracy, elite universities deliberately penalize talent that is not currently part of the power elite (Asians) and aggressively promote less talented cohorts that are descended from the current power elites (Jews).
This results in elites across the ideological spectrum that have more in common with each other than with their ideological allies out in the provinces. Look how this works in practice. Take for example the recent surprise ruling by Chief Justice John Roberts (JD, Harvard) on the Affordable Care Act. Justice Roberts essentially corrected Congresses' homework and then gave it an 'A' for the corrected version. He did so according to the pundits because by not ruling on the law (as opposed to his revised version of the law) he was protecting the 'credibility' of the Supreme Court. One might ask from who? Certainly not the majority of the population that was opposed to the ACA, nor the majority of states who had sued to stop it. No, Justice Roberts concern was with his credibility among his peers in Washington. His peers from Harvard, Yale, Princeton.
So every time a lefty votes for a new Federal program like health care reform than runs roughshod over the states and every time a teabagger votes for more national 'security' like Homeland Security or intensifies the "Drug War" they hand more levers of power to this small and increasingly concentrated power elite.
And I don't think recreating the inbred, self interested anti-democratic power elites of Georgian England was what the founders had in mind. Do you?
SURVEY OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROVENANCE OF OUR POWER ELITES - Past and Present
Postwar Presidential
elections to Reagan:
'48 High School beats Columbia
'48 High School beats Columbia
'52 USMA beats Northwestern
'56 USMA beats Northwestern
'60 Harvard beats Duke
'64 Southwest Texas beats High School
'68 Duke beats LSU
'72 Duke
beats Dakota Wesleyan
'76 USNA beats Michigan,
'80 Eureka beats USNA
'84 Eureka beats
Minnesota.
Presidential elections since Reagan:
'88 Yale beats Harvard
'88 Yale beats Harvard
'92 Yale beats Yale
'96 Yale beats Kansas
'00 Yale beats Harvard
'04 Yale beats Harvard
'08 Harvard beats Naval Acadamy
'12 Harvard beats Harvard.
Goldman Sachs
Early Goldman Sachs: Jewish wise guys without college educations or CCNY.
Goldman Sachs now: Top Harvard, Yale, Princeton graduates with the modern equivalent of ‘sand’
Early Goldman Sachs: Jewish wise guys without college educations or CCNY.
Goldman Sachs now: Top Harvard, Yale, Princeton graduates with the modern equivalent of ‘sand’
Fed
Paul Volker Harvard
Alan Greenspan NYU
Ben Bernanke Harvard
Paul Volker Harvard
Alan Greenspan NYU
Ben Bernanke Harvard
Supreme Court 1970
2 Harvard
2 Yale
1 Columbia
1 William Mitchell
1 Alabama
1 Howard
1 Northwestern
2 Harvard
2 Yale
1 Columbia
1 William Mitchell
1 Alabama
1 Howard
1 Northwestern
Supreme Court 2012
5 Harvard
1 Columbia (but attended Harvard)
3 Yale
5 Harvard
1 Columbia (but attended Harvard)
3 Yale
With legal weed, belief that we live in a computer simulation is exploding
"Oh dude, this is blowing my mind. You mean we might live inside a simulation that some other dude is running on his laptop? Dude, how can we test this?"
Well funny you should ask: check this out.
Well funny you should ask: check this out.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
California in death spiral
This is what happens when you're in a death spiral - you raise taxes and revenues go down. But just wait, Californication is coming to a Federal Office near you.
Despite Tax Increase, California State Revenues in Freefall
California State Controller John Chiang has announced that total state revenue for the month of November 2012 fell $806.8 million, or 10.8%, below budget.
QE3, QE4, QE5...
....pretty soon we're talking about some serious inflation here. Keep printin' Bennie, you'll blow the dollar up sooner or later. Then we can begin to get rid of our Kleptocratic Federal state.
QE4 is here.
QE4 is here.
Muy Incompetento
Somehow I've started getting Spanish language ads on line. Dunno how - I'm in St. Louis (or is that San Luis?) and the articles are in English (or is that Ingles).
Attaboy Doubleclick! (Amuchacho Dobleclic?)
Attaboy Doubleclick! (Amuchacho Dobleclic?)
Farmers are thieves: Sugar example
They wouldn't be if politicians didn't enable them. This one is actually (partially) Reagan's fault. The Gipper gypped us all. Well except for the Farmer-theives.
So if you see a farmer thank him: for ripping you off.
So if you see a farmer thank him: for ripping you off.
I think he means PRINT
When the government buys its own paper it isn't 'spending' it's 'printing'. And it should be a property crime. It certainly is much worse than burglary or drug convictions that carry ten year sentences. But of course our Federal Government is the biggest property criminal of all time. And its property crimes will lead to murder and mayhem on a global scale. So most accurately: Our Feds are stone cold killers.
Federal Reserve to spend $45B a month to buy US bonds
Federal Reserve to spend $45B a month to buy US bonds
So if the Left 'won' the electoral war, why are they so busy losing the peace?
Michigan's Right to Work vote is the fourth major defenestration of union power in recent history (Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Oklahoma). Something that a decade ago 'could not happen' is happening all the time.
The big blue states are bankrupt and their economies stink. They are increasingly among the poorest states in the nation and the middle class are fleeing them in record numbers.
Government employment is falling and with 'entitlements' scheduled to eat larger and larger proportions of the pie, are likely to plummet even faster and deeper.
The media is undergoing downsizing after downsizing with Newsweek evaporating into the ether and even the NYT facing eventual bankruptcy.
The Academy's unsustainable bubble is popping as we speak with evil portents for academic employment and wages. Teacher's unions have never been held in such low regard and are on the defensive everywhere.
These sectors are the shock troops for leftist causes and Democrat politics. They are where the money, the foot soldiers and the propaganda come from. They are all in full and furious retreat.
So if the Left 'won' the electoral war, why are they so busy losing the peace?
The political future of America is a lot more complicated than the pigmentation, facial structure and genital counters would have us believe.
All in all, the news puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step. Faster, please.
The big blue states are bankrupt and their economies stink. They are increasingly among the poorest states in the nation and the middle class are fleeing them in record numbers.
Government employment is falling and with 'entitlements' scheduled to eat larger and larger proportions of the pie, are likely to plummet even faster and deeper.
The media is undergoing downsizing after downsizing with Newsweek evaporating into the ether and even the NYT facing eventual bankruptcy.
The Academy's unsustainable bubble is popping as we speak with evil portents for academic employment and wages. Teacher's unions have never been held in such low regard and are on the defensive everywhere.
These sectors are the shock troops for leftist causes and Democrat politics. They are where the money, the foot soldiers and the propaganda come from. They are all in full and furious retreat.
So if the Left 'won' the electoral war, why are they so busy losing the peace?
The political future of America is a lot more complicated than the pigmentation, facial structure and genital counters would have us believe.
All in all, the news puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step. Faster, please.
Civil war in Detroit? Who could tell?
Related: IowaHawk: “I’ve now become oddly accustomed to fat violent paramilitary thugs attempting to take state capitols by force.”
UPDATE: John Steakley emails: “Civil war? So violence, decay, despair, filth and chaos in the streets while innocent people flee as fast as they can? In other words, Hoffa threatens that Detroit will look like . . . Detroit.”
HT Instapundidt
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The voters choose but it's consumers and businessmen who decide.
And their decision is a contrary one.
Upon Obama's victory consumer confidence collapses:
Upon Obama's victory consumer confidence collapses:
And Small business confidence collapses:
According to a Gallup poll, American small-business owners became extremely pessimistic about their future prospects following the presidential election. After hitting a nadir in mid-2010, optimism had been growing steadily over the past two years. But in the last month, that positive trend has reversed.
According to a Gallup poll, American small-business owners became extremely pessimistic about their future prospects following the presidential election. After hitting a nadir in mid-2010, optimism had been growing steadily over the past two years. But in the last month, that positive trend has reversed.
Note at the first link the commentary: the mainstream press managed to hide the largest consumer confidence miss versus expectations in history in the footnotes. Can't have any bad news, wouldn't be good for the cause.
In 1937 after FDR won reelection, businessmen, bureaucrats and union thugs all realized that the New Deal regime was here to stay. The result was a depression within The Depression where all of the gains of the previous three years of ten percent annual growth were given back. History seems to be repeating itself.
Fortunately there are no gains in the last four years to give back. But that could just mean that we will sink deeper into the swamp that is Obamunism.
This is what happens in a taker's revolution. Just ask Argentina. Or great grand-dad.
Forweird!
Doha: Some Green Activists "close to despair"
Where will their cushy sinecures come from if this gig runs off the rails? The horror. Here.
Scratch an Obama Supporter CEO and you find a fascist
Obama Council of Economic Advisors Chairman and GE Jeff Immelt on how china is 'working'. Boy if we could just have a government as powerful and unconstrained as China's Jeff could make a lot more money.
Union Thugs Assault
Unions: can't live with them and can't get rid of them. Vote Right to Work.
Update: Union thugs used knives.
Update 2: Union thugs protested police presence before they began their assaults. Gotta get the cops away just in case they might enforce the law or something. Not surprising unions and the mafia go together.
U
The video shows numerous union representatives engaging in violent, illegal conduct. Their faces are clearly identifiable. I hope they will be prosecuted, and sued.
And will President Obama condemn this violent behavior?
To ask the question is to know the answer.
Update: Union thugs used knives.
Update 2: Union thugs protested police presence before they began their assaults. Gotta get the cops away just in case they might enforce the law or something. Not surprising unions and the mafia go together.
U
The video shows numerous union representatives engaging in violent, illegal conduct. Their faces are clearly identifiable. I hope they will be prosecuted, and sued.
And will President Obama condemn this violent behavior?
To ask the question is to know the answer.
Is California a Mad Max Sequel?
With the bankruptcy of the oh so compassionate and controlling state comes a collapse in the rule of law. But Mad Max was entertaining while California is just pathetic.
Stay tuned for the Californication of America.
Forweird!
Stay tuned for the Californication of America.
Forweird!
Racist Collusion? You Be The Judge
Great cover story from the American Conservative on The Myth of American Meritocracy. Here's the money chart. Can you see any pattern of racist collusion among our most 'egalitarian' and 'compassion' filled institutions? And that is far from the most shocking finding - read the whole thing to find out.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Obami seek to reframe thuggish reelection victory
Seldom if ever have incumbent Presidents sunk so low to win reelection. Now the post - election revisionism is happening. It was those lovable internet geeks, not corrupt Chicago brass knuckles that did it. Yeah, that's the ticket.
It won't work. Obama is a Chicago Alinskyite thug. Always was, always will be. And he will be remembered as the most incompetent President since James Buchanan flailed as the Union split. More here.
It won't work. Obama is a Chicago Alinskyite thug. Always was, always will be. And he will be remembered as the most incompetent President since James Buchanan flailed as the Union split. More here.
Good news! People are losing hope for 'green' energy
We need to stop valuing things for one attribute. And start evaluating things for their overall contribution to our society. Rewarding 'green' things with massive subsidies resulted in both economic and environmental degradation. Stop the corporatism. More here.
I'm not sure Kafka could keep this one straight
San Francisco's institutional racism has become so convoluted that you need a scorecard to keep track of who is screwing whom. It is the inevitable outcome of the multi-culti corporatist state. And it leads to internecine mayhem. Jimmy Taranto has the story here.
Stop moaning. If you don't like it don't fly. Simple.
The above was a response to my post about TSA abuses. It's a wonderful non-sequitur. Let's imagine some other uses of the stop moaning logic.
To the black man in 1950s Missippi: "Stop moaning, if you don't like it move. Simple"
To the Jew in Germany: "Schtopp moanink, iff you don'e like it mooff. Schimple"
We are a democracy and a nation of laws. Presumably the People rule the government workers. When the government rulers abuse their position they must be chastised.
The anonymous commenter above is either a TSA Goon or a "good German".
Pathetic.
To the black man in 1950s Missippi: "Stop moaning, if you don't like it move. Simple"
To the Jew in Germany: "Schtopp moanink, iff you don'e like it mooff. Schimple"
We are a democracy and a nation of laws. Presumably the People rule the government workers. When the government rulers abuse their position they must be chastised.
The anonymous commenter above is either a TSA Goon or a "good German".
Pathetic.
Stagnation is the new normal
Louis Woodhill explains why stagnation is the new normal:
On November 6, Obama won a second chance to turn the economy around, by defeating clueless conservative Mitt Romney. So, what is Obama's plan? His plan is more of the same. More of Ben Bernanke's "quantitative easing", more tax increases, and even more regulations. Oh, and don't forget the $50 billion in additional "stimulus" spending Obama wants.
Part of Obama's new normal involves ignoring the staggering difference between the president's promises and the actual results delivered.
Obama's $842 billion in stimulus spending was supposed to get the unemployment rate down to 5.2% by now. The actual unemployment rate in November (calculated at the labor force participation rate assumed for the stimulus plan) was 10.8%. This is not only more than twice as high as the level promised, it is higher than the 10.4% rate (calculated on the same basis) that existed when Obama signed the stimulus bill into law.
So, is there any hope for the working class, and for jobless Americans that want to join the working class? As things stand right now, no, there isn't. Here's why.
Right now, America is about 14.7 million jobs short of full employment. To create one average job, someone has to invest about $200,000 in nonresidential assets. Therefore, to create the additional jobs we need, someone would have to invest an additional $3.0 trillion or so in the U.S. economy.
If an additional $3.0 trillion had been invested by the private sector during Obama's recovery, 3Q2012 GDP would have been $1.5 trillion, or 9.5%, higher than it actually was. Real GDP growth during those 13 calendar quarters would have averaged 5.11%, rather than the 2.21% actually achieved. By way of comparison, real GDP growth averaged 5.67% during the first 13 quarters of the Reagan recovery.
Coming out of a severe recession, a sustained period of fast economic growth has been normal for America,. However, under Obama, slow growth and high joblessness has become the new normal.
OK, so, who happens to have $3.0 trillion lying around, plus the knowledge and skills required to invest it wisely to create sustainable jobs? The poor? The middle class? The government?
No, the investment required to transform America's stagnant jobs picture can only come from the people that actually have the money, as well as the demonstrated ability to manage capital investment. In other words, it would have to come from the hated and reviled "one percent".
Obviously, "the rich" are already investing all that they are willing to invest under the current structure of incentives. Obama's plan is to do everything he can to make investment even less attractive for "the one percent" than it is now. This is why economic stagnation has become the new normal.
A good measure of the driving force for "the rich" to invest in job-creating nonresidential assets is the Real Dow, which is the Dow Jones Industrial Average divided by the price of gold.
A rising Dow reflects a flow of capital into productive assets. A rising gold price indicates that capital is moving into inflation hedges. The Real Dow, which is the ratio of the two, reveals the balance between the competing investment options available to "the rich".
The jobs picture will not improve until and unless the Real Dow begins a sustained rise. Unfortunately, the Real Dow ended November at 7.61. This is down by 16.6% since Obama's so-called "economic recovery" began, lower by 23.6% than when Bush 43 left office, and down by a staggering 80.6% since we last enjoyed full employment (in April 2000, under Bill Clinton).
So, if you are waiting for an improvement in the employment picture, watch the Real Dow, but don't hold your breath.
There will have to be big changes in policy before the jobs situation will improve significantly. Essentially, Obamunism would have to be supplanted by Reaganomics. America would have to move to a strong, stable dollar, lower taxes (especially on savings and investment), and cost-effective regulations.
As things stand, the American people can look forward to more years of economic stagnation, as well more years of pretending that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Don't worry if your kids graduate from college, only to move back home and play video games in the basement. It's just the new normal.
Obamunism: I like that.Green Stockmarket Index Falls 98%
Stein's law: When something can't go on it won't. And 'green' energy is a joke that has gone stale after being told far, far too many times.
Thursday, December 06, 2012
The impressive thing about Barack Obama is his ability to move public opinion...
...in opposition to whatever he's promoting. Attaboy Barry. I've got a list of other things I'd like you to start pitching.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
La trahison des clercs est la punition des clercs
According to Joel Kotkin, the Obama fiscal cliff proposal is a boomerang heading straight for his mostest special, bestest friends.
Couldn't happen to a sweller group of.....clercs.
Couldn't happen to a sweller group of.....clercs.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
The best (and worst) states to make a living
Moneyrate.com has an annual survey where they calculate the after taxes, cost of living adjusted income for all of the 50 states to figure out which offer the best and worst prospects for making a living. It produces some striking findings. Here's the article.
Perusing the list (see below) leads to some rather interesting discoveries: First, Virginia leads the nation in real disposable income - no surprise given its proximity to the richest city in America, but Maryland, which is even more of a creature of the Feds is 23rd, some $7000 below. Perhaps the VA 'burbs are tonier?
And the dichotomy between the two Megastates: Texas at no. 3 and California at no. 44 is truly shocking. California is hanging out at the bottom with all of the other cracker states like Mississippi, West Virginia, Vermont? Rhode Island? Hawaii? while the Lone Star state is eating brie and sipping Chardonnay (from California, natch) with the likes of Washington and......Utah? Well maybe non-alcoholic wine will have to do.
It's also interesting to note that a lot of 'flyover' states inhabited by us yokels like Oklahoma and Tennessee have higher standards of living than the denizens of New York or New Jersey or even Connecticut (I guess Christmas in Connecticut ain't what it used to be).
But probably the biggest shocker is Illinois - bankrupt, horribly governed, it still is one of the best earning states in the nation. Which goes to show that there's a lot of ruin in a city. I mean Chicago, because south of the Windy city Illinois is increasingly a smoking, pot holed ruin.
Ignoring Virginia as an outlier or as I would put it: an out-looter, the top ten seem to coalesce into two groups: Old, stagnant industrial states like MA, IL, MI and booming growth states like WA, TX, CO, UT. The former are exporting lots of people to the latter. For example, in 1970, TX and IL both had 11 million people and Illinois was much richer. Today they are tied in incomes and TX has 27 million to IL's 12 million. And what's even more shocking is that a huge proportion of TX workers are recent immigrants from less developed countries. TX and IL are tied, but TX has done a much better job of providing opportunities to many more new and non-white people than much more 'compassionate', 'socially responsible' states have. Oh, and Texas is also much younger, which if adjusted for, would make its achievement even more striking.
And California, what can we say about poor, celebrity and tech billionaire cursed CA? Despite having a similar scale and demographics to TX as well as incredible natural advantages, it has done horribly for its people. This has some rather sobering implications on a national basis because CA is the most representative 'leader' state for the Progressive political persuasion. Ostensibly from a policy perspective, huge, diverse, immigrant rich California is where the Democrats want to take the nation, their New Jerusalem. By contrast, equally huge, diverse, immigrant rich TX is the most representative 'leader' state for the Conservative-Libertarian persuasion. Theoretically, it's where the Republicans want to take us.
The defensive liberal will say: hey! wait a minute, why can't the progressive future be Washington State? Sorry, like Utah, Washington state's demographics are utterly unrepresentative of the nation. The US' future is the CA, TX and FL present. Therefore to see alternative policy visions of that future, you should look at those states.
So, which bus would you rather get on? The Houston Rocket? Or the Tijuana Trolley?
Cost Adjusted Wages by State
Perusing the list (see below) leads to some rather interesting discoveries: First, Virginia leads the nation in real disposable income - no surprise given its proximity to the richest city in America, but Maryland, which is even more of a creature of the Feds is 23rd, some $7000 below. Perhaps the VA 'burbs are tonier?
And the dichotomy between the two Megastates: Texas at no. 3 and California at no. 44 is truly shocking. California is hanging out at the bottom with all of the other cracker states like Mississippi, West Virginia, Vermont? Rhode Island? Hawaii? while the Lone Star state is eating brie and sipping Chardonnay (from California, natch) with the likes of Washington and......Utah? Well maybe non-alcoholic wine will have to do.
It's also interesting to note that a lot of 'flyover' states inhabited by us yokels like Oklahoma and Tennessee have higher standards of living than the denizens of New York or New Jersey or even Connecticut (I guess Christmas in Connecticut ain't what it used to be).
But probably the biggest shocker is Illinois - bankrupt, horribly governed, it still is one of the best earning states in the nation. Which goes to show that there's a lot of ruin in a city. I mean Chicago, because south of the Windy city Illinois is increasingly a smoking, pot holed ruin.
Ignoring Virginia as an outlier or as I would put it: an out-looter, the top ten seem to coalesce into two groups: Old, stagnant industrial states like MA, IL, MI and booming growth states like WA, TX, CO, UT. The former are exporting lots of people to the latter. For example, in 1970, TX and IL both had 11 million people and Illinois was much richer. Today they are tied in incomes and TX has 27 million to IL's 12 million. And what's even more shocking is that a huge proportion of TX workers are recent immigrants from less developed countries. TX and IL are tied, but TX has done a much better job of providing opportunities to many more new and non-white people than much more 'compassionate', 'socially responsible' states have. Oh, and Texas is also much younger, which if adjusted for, would make its achievement even more striking.
And California, what can we say about poor, celebrity and tech billionaire cursed CA? Despite having a similar scale and demographics to TX as well as incredible natural advantages, it has done horribly for its people. This has some rather sobering implications on a national basis because CA is the most representative 'leader' state for the Progressive political persuasion. Ostensibly from a policy perspective, huge, diverse, immigrant rich California is where the Democrats want to take the nation, their New Jerusalem. By contrast, equally huge, diverse, immigrant rich TX is the most representative 'leader' state for the Conservative-Libertarian persuasion. Theoretically, it's where the Republicans want to take us.
The defensive liberal will say: hey! wait a minute, why can't the progressive future be Washington State? Sorry, like Utah, Washington state's demographics are utterly unrepresentative of the nation. The US' future is the CA, TX and FL present. Therefore to see alternative policy visions of that future, you should look at those states.
So, which bus would you rather get on? The Houston Rocket? Or the Tijuana Trolley?
Cost Adjusted Wages by State
1. Virginia $43,677
2. Washington $43,662
3. Texas $42,816
4. Illinois $41,865
5. Colorado $40,490
6. Michigan $40,421
7. Wyoming $39,745
8. Utah $39,250
9. Delaware $38,802
10. Massachusetts $38,793
11. Tennessee $38,700
12. Minnesota $38,571
13. Ohio $38,364
14. Georgia $37,930
15. Pennsylvania $37,858
16. Indiana $37,181
17. Florida $37,145
18. Nevada $37,078
19. Kansas $37,008
20. Missouri $36,919
21. Nebraska $36,882
22. Wisconsin $36,588
23. Maryland $36,416
24. Arizona $36,314
25. Oklahoma $36,251
26. Alabama $36,205
27. New Mexico $35,813
28. Louisiana $35,727
29. North Dakota $35,642
30. Kentucky $35,520
31. Idaho $35,192
32. New Hampshire $35,173
33. North Carolina $35,064
34. Alaska $34,914
35. Iowa $34,845
36. New York $34,074
37. Connecticut $34,017
38. Oregon $33,788
39. Arkansas $33,763
40. New Jersey $33,623
41. South Dakota $33,121
42. South Carolina $32,645
43. West Virginia $32,297
44. California $31,459
45. Rhode Island $31,353
46. Montana $31,256
47. Mississippi $31,178
48. Vermont $30,433
49. Maine $29,703
50. Hawaii $22,394
I think he means 'spin out of control'
The translation from Obamese to regular English is tricky some time:
Clearly they don't listen to Warren Buffet
Don't these well paid captains of industry know anything? I'm sure 'ol Warren will set 'em straight. From the WSJ:
Top U.S. Firms Are Cash-Rich Abroad, Cash-Poor at Home
We are so screwed #99
From Bill Gross' latest screed. Just about says it all, doesn't it? An no, I don't know why it's the Bible that tells him so...
Millionaires Flee Millionaire's Tax - Clearly they didn't listen to Buffet
How can this be? Don't they listen to Warren Buffet? The political types wrote the right runes on the right magic hard drives didn't they? After that the toffs just lined up for their shearing, right? I mean 'presto chango' right? I am so confused. I thought supply side economics was 'voodoo' - or was that 'doodoo'?
Wall Street Journal editorial, Britain's Missing Millionaires: Income tax Rates Rise but Revenues Fall:
A funny thing often happens on the way to soaking the rich: They don't stick around for the bath. Take Britain, where Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs service reports that the number of taxpayers declaring £1 million a year in income fell by more than 60% in fiscal 2010-2011 from the year before.That was the year that millionaires became liable for the 50% income-tax rate that Gordon Brown's government introduced in its final days in 2010, up from the previous 40% rate. Lo, the total number of millionaire tax filers plunged to 6,000 in 2010-2011, from 16,000 in 2009-2010.The new tax was meant to raise about £2.5 billion more revenue. So much for that. In 2009-2010 British millionaires contributed about £13.4 billion to the public coffers, or just under 9% of the total tax liability of all taxpayers that year. At the 50% rate, the shrunken pool yielded £6.5 billion, or about 4.4%....
Obama rejects his own commission's recommendations
BHO really does believe he's invincible, doesn't he? As a counter offer to the Presidents risible sally the Republicans proposed implementation of the Simpson Bowles plan which if you recall was developed at the direction of....BHO.
Read Rules for Radicals and you'll understand this President's MO. After all he used to lead training sessions to create shiny new radical agitators.
Read Rules for Radicals and you'll understand this President's MO. After all he used to lead training sessions to create shiny new radical agitators.