Cartoon of the Day

Dodd-Frank: Worse than most people know

The following article on Dodd-Frank makes clear that the intent of the Act is the effective nationalization of the financial sector, just as the goal of Obamacare is the nationalization of health care. Unfortunately, I suspect that most voters think Dodd-Frank is merely designed to rein in those greedy bastards on Wall Street.

The Election & Dodd-Frank: This Act puts the entire U.S. financial system at the mercy of unelected regulators

Game Changer?

Turns out that diplomats in Libya made repeated requests for more security, and the administration turned them down. No wonder the administration has repeatedly lied about the attack on the consulate.

Maybe this will convince independents that Obama is in over his head...

Obama Administration Denied "Repeated Requests" for Increased Security in Benghazi

Health Care Costs

The data on the cost of Obamacare is coming in. It doesn't look good, although it was entirely predictable.

And it's going to get worse.

Another Broken Obama Promise: The Healthcare Cost Monster Emerges

Climate Realism

Following is a nice summation from a warming skeptic...

Climate Realism

 

Zero Tax Rate

Given the demagoguery from the left on the low effective tax rates paid by Romney, the following article is worth reading. Dan Mitchell argues that the tax rate on capital gains should be zero. I agree, but explaining the concept to those for whom class warfare is more important than good tax policy and economic growth will be a tough sell.

The Wall Street Journal's Primer on Capital Gains Taxation

We're No. 18!

 Those of us who believe that economic freedom is the key to prosperity will be dismayed, though probably not surprised, by the following:

U.S. Plummets to 18th in New Economic Freedom of the World Rankings

Trade

Regarding trade, Obama (and most other politicians) has it exactly backward.

Classic 1978 Milton Friedman Lecture on Trade

QE3

The Federal Reserve Bank announced a few days ago that it would begin implementing another round of pumping money into the economy, i.e. buying $40 billion of mortgage bonds per month till further notice. This is called Quantitative Easing, or QE. This particular round is called QE3, because the Fed has already tried QE1 and QE2. It's sort of like a doctor putting the paddles on a patient's chest and yelling "Clear!"

The implementation of QE3 suggests that QE1 and QE2 did not have the desired effect of pulling the economy out of the shitter. Isn't this an example of Einstein's dictum regarding insanity, i.e. repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result? Or is it simply an attempt by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to keep the economy on life support long enough to get Obama reelected?

Memo to Politicians: Stop Trying to Fix It

One of the reasons the economy is down the shitter is that government doesn't know when to leave things alone, and therefore repeats the same old mistakes. The usual cycle is as follows: 

 

1) Free (or relatively free) markets make a mistake, which happens from time to time.

 

2) Rather than let relatively free markets correct those mistakes and punish those who make them, which markets are uniquely qualified to do, politicians decide they must do something, presumably to justify their existence.

 

3) Politicians enact regulations which they claim will fix the problem that markets would have fixed anyway.

 

4) Politicians pat themselves on the back and tell voters they're looking out for the little guy.

 

5) Since regulatory bureaucrats are not smart enough to anticipate all the issues that may arise in a complex economy, and since regulations distort market signals, and since the regulated entities are usually pretty good at figuring out ways around the regulations, more problems arise.

 

6) Politicians then have to fix the problems that they essentially caused by not letting markets work in the first place.

 

7) Go back to step 1 and repeat.

 

 

The following is worth a read. Here's one nugget I especially like: "...capitalism without bankruptcy is like religion without hell."

 

Dodd-Frank: Pimps for Fannie and Freddie 

Doing Nothing

What if we had a recession and no one did anything?

Thomas Sowell: An Economic 'Plan'?

How Soon We Forget

What do you get when you combine 1) a willing accomplice to revisionist history in the form of the mainstream media, and 2) the incredibly short memory and ignorance of the American public? Answer: the surreal specter of Bill Clinton posing as an economic policy genius. And getting away with it. The fact is that Clinton was a major architect of the 2008 economic collapse.

Housing arsonist Clinton now portrayed as heroic firefighter.

More on GM

More on the democrats' claims about Obama saving GM...

Although not mentioned in the article below, a new report is out which concludes that GM is losing as much as $49,000 for every Chevy Volt it sells. Only a government-run business could think that such a business model is sustainable.

The Democrats' GM Fiction

Saving Detroit

We have heard a lot from democrats, especially during their convention, about how Obama saved the auto industry from bankruptcy, which the evil Romney would have allowed to happen. This story has become perhaps the central theme in the narrative about Obama's successful stewardship of the economy. But as the article below points out, Americans have a remarkably short memory. Chrysler and GM did in fact go through managed bankruptcies, as Romney suggested they should. The difference is that Obama wasted a lot of taxpayer money before it happened, and screwed secured bondholders in the process so he could help out the unions.

I pass this along in case one of your liberal friends tells you that Obama is the auto industry savior he claims to be.

Obama DID let Detroit go bankrupt.

Section 1504

While the country was sleeping, Section 1504 of Dodd-Frank has been put into effect. It will come as no surprise that Section 1504 is a lousy deal.

I would wager that if you asked every friend you have if they know about 1504, not one would have a clue. This is not an indictment of your friends, because most of mine wouldn't know, either. I didn't know about it till today.

My point is that there is so much going on that gets little attention that even those of us who follow these things have a hard time keeping up with how thoroughly we're being screwed. Yet most voters would doubtless consider themselves to be well informed.

Question:  If Obama was merely stupid, wouldn't the law of averages dictate that some of his decisions were in the best interests of the country?

Obama's Oil & Gas Folly

Not His Brother's Keeper

After lecturing us about being our brother's keeper, this is not a story Obama wants people to hear.


I hope the Romney campaign produces an ad with George Obama saying, "Barack, my brother, why won't you help my sick son? Please, I beg you. By the way, I found your birth certificate. Should I just stick it in the mail?"

How I became George Obama's "brother."

Investor-in-Chief

Here's a quiz...

Under what circumstances would you not care if you owned 500,000,000 shares of stock where your break even point was $53 per share and it just closed at $20? Answer: when you bought the stock with other people's money.

Hell, you might even brag about what a good investment it was!

Is GM already on track to go bankrupt - again?

Common Sense on Outsourcing

It's too bad that the vast majority of voters will never read the following article. It's tougher for politicians to demagogue to a well-informed group of people.


What Politicians Don't Know About Outsourcing

How Obamacre Affects Jobs

More circumstantial evidence that Obama wants more people dependent on government...


Thanks to Obamacare, Small Businesses Plan on Eliminating Jobs Before 2014

Welfare Reform Reform

One of Bill Clinton's signature achievments was Welfare Reform, signed into law in 1996. Its success in getting people off welfare was so apparent that Clinton himself has crowed over the years about what a great thing it was. He neglects to mention that Republicans essentially dragged him into signing the Act, but why quibble.

One of the key provisions of the Act involved requirements that welfare recipients either be working, looking for work, or preparing for work. No longer. Obama has issued an edict that allows states to waive work requirements, basically taking the guts out of the Act. 

 

This is disturbing on two levels.  First, it would seem that Obama is actively trying to put more and more people on welfare. This apparent desire to create more dependence on government can also be seen in the administration's push to have more people sign up for food stamps, going so far as to recommend "food stamp parties," where people play games while being recruited to join the program. 

 

The second disturbing element is that the edict flagrantly ignores the language in the Act. Congress passed a law, Obama takes issue with some part of it, so he simply changes it.

 

I'm starting to wonder if the Cloward Piven strategy is alive and well at the White House.

 

For more on this...

 

Obama turns back the clock on welfare reform.