The Best Environmental Policy: Economic Growth

According to Matt Ridley, British scientist and journalist (aka The Rational Optimist), economic growth and environmental progress are not incompatible, contrary to the gospel of environmentalists. In fact, Ridley argues, it is precisely because of economic growth, specifically due to our use of fossil fuels, that has led to a measurable "greening" of the planet.

This is worth a look:

Human Sacrifice

Another example of how environmentalism kills (or sometimes just allows children to go blind).

Progressive Green Movement Has Morphed into a Death Cult

Tailgunner Joe - A Real American Hero

Finally, a syndicated columnist has come forward with a defense of Joe McCarthy.

She mentions a book, Blacklisted by History, which I have read twice and would highly recommend. The historical treatment of McCarthy is one of the great frauds of all time.

It's Time to See Joe McCarthy as the Hero He Was

EPA Gone Rogue

Even by the standards of the federal government, the EPA is reaching new heights of absurdity...

Defying Courts and Congress, EPA Increases Mandate for Fuels that Don't Exist

Statistics

Did you know that the rates of violent crime and homicide in the U.S. have dropped by about 50% in the past twenty years?

Or that you are more than three times more likely to be a victim of violent crime in Great Britain than the U.S.?

In the ongoing debate over gun control, a lot of factual data gets ignored.

Choose Your Own Crime Stats

More on Harry

The article below explains nicely why Harry Reid has had no interest in passing a budget since April, 2009... baseline budgeting.

After the stimulus spending, which was supposed to be a one-time deal, all Harry had to do was break the law (by not passing a budget), and let baseline budgeting take over to keep spending at the newly elevated levels.  Far better to do that, from his point of view, than to formally announce to the public, through a budget, that the increased spending was here to stay. 

It's analogous to wiping one's prints off the murder weapon.

Congress, Baseline Budgeting, & Fraud

Harry Reid on the Budget: Not Interested

The article linked below is from February 2012. It is still applicable. It points out that Harry Reid (and Schumer, et al) claim that there is no need to pass a budget because of the Budget Control Act in August 2011, which was part of a debt ceiling deal.

But the Act was not an actual budget, which contains, inter alia, budget priorities and taxing proposals.  It simply set limits on overall spending. Moreover, the Act did not absolve the Senate of the legal requirement to pass an actual budget.

In other words, using the Act as an excuse for failing to pass a budget is pure nonsense.  It will be very interesting to see what unfolds if Republicans follow through on a 3-month debt ceiling increase while making a longer term increase conditional on the Senate obeying the law.  Obama, Reid, Pelosi, et al. will be forced to explain why the Senate's lawlessness is holding up another debt ceiling increase.

Senator Reid on the Budget: Not Interested


P.S. Using an Act passed in August 2011 as an excuse for not passing a budget fails to explain why Reid did not allow passage of a budget in April 2010 or April 2011, as required by law.  What does explain this failure is that Reid is an evil, evil man.

The Iceman Cometh

It seems like every year the global warming crowd tells us it was the warmest year on record, at least somewhere.

Other places, not so much...

China's Coldest Winter in Decades at New Low

Forget Global Warming: Alaska is Headed for an Ice Age

Russians Freeze to Death as Strongest-in-Decades Winter Hits

Double Taxation

The article by Dan Mitchell at the Cato Institute (linked below) is rightly critical of large company CEO's who have supported higher personal income tax rates. Beyond that, if you click the link on "dividends" it will take you to another post by Mitchell. In that post you will find another link to a report by Ernst and Young on the taxation of capital gains and dividends.

It's worth looking at all of this stuff, but if all you do is read the Executive Summary of the report, you will have a better understanding of the current debate on taxes than most folks you know. Most folks have no idea that the integrated rates on capital gains and dividends in the U.S. are among the highest in the world already, and are about to go higher. The result will be a drag on capital formation. There is a lot more to the "fiscal cliff" debate than whether the "rich" should "pay just a little more".

Crony Capitalists Endorse Higher Taxes on Their Small Business Competitors

How to Stop Mass Shootings

Further evidence that liberals refuse to let facts influence their thinking...

We Know How to Stop School Shootings

The Anti-Bernanke

Until a few moments ago, I had never heard of Leszek Balcerowicz. Now I wish like hell he was Fed Chairman. 

It rekindles my dwindling hope to see that there are lonely voices of sanity out there.

Leszek Balcerowicz: The Anti-Bernanke

Refuting Buffet

Warren Buffet has become a darling of the left for his views that higher marginal tax rates are good policy. In a recent New York Times op-ed he claimed that higher rates would have no effect on investment. The article below strongly argues otherwise.


The Grumpy Economist: Buffet Math

Tax Cut Myth

While Obama has told the public repeatedly that the Bush tax cuts "got us into this mess", his own economists say otherwise. Question: is Obama unaware of this data, or is he simply a deliberate liar?

White House data debunk claim that Bush tax cuts caused deficit

Keep Your Powder Dry

Below are some headlines from the Drudge Report on shoppers' behavior on Black Friday. 

 

Now ask yourself: if people will act like this while trying to buy Christmas presents, what will they do in a crumbling economy when loaves of bread are scarce?

 

Gang fight at Black Friday sale...

 

Man punched in face pulls gun on line-cutting shopper...

Shots fired outside WalMart

Shoppers smash through door at Urban Outfitters

Customers run over in parking lot...

Fight breaks out over phones...

Shoplifter tries to mace security guards...

Mayhem at Nebraska mall where 9 murdered in 2007

Men steal boy's shopping bag outside Bed Bath & Beyond

A Recurring Theme

I recall back in 1992, when Clinton was running against Bush the elder, Slick Willie was claiming that the economy was "the worst it's been in 50 years". Must've been pretty bad. Except that it wasn't. The economy had come out of a brief recession and was growing at something like 4% when Clinton won. Of course, the media failed to report on it till after the election.

Then, in 2001, when Bush the younger took office, the media downplayed the fact of a recession that occurred under Clinton's watch had only just ended. Faced with a weak economy, Bush was able to push through the much-maligned tax cuts which, predictably, led to a stronger economy. Now those tax cuts are blamed by the current administration as "the old policies that got us into this mess". And most of the media dutifully and complicitly ignores the fact the federal housing policy is what got us into this mess, not tax cuts.

If exit data from the election is accurate, 53% of voters blame our current economy on Bush. They bought the false narrative peddled by Obama. But this con could not have worked without his media lap dogs.

My point here is that the ignorance of the American voter is willfully encouraged by a left wing media that takes orders from its liberal masters. The article linked below continues this theme. In just 10 days since the election, with Obama safely back in office, we are learning that, surprise!, the economy is actually worse than we were told.

Obama's Economy: What We've Learned Since Re-Election

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