What if Steve Forbes Had Won the Election? – TCS Daily
What if Steve Forbes Had Won the Election?
Sigh. I never did like that “compassionate conservative” language.
Oct 19 2008
Global warming reduction: at what cost?
Bjorn Lomborg asks, why cut one 3,000th of a degree? That’s about how much difference Britain’s proposed policies will make, while costing ENORMOUS sums of money. Key graphs:
Oct 13 2008
Last chance for McCain
Dick Morris thinks there is still time for the public to become aware of the terrible alliances (not mere associations) Obama has had in the past, and still has, if the market settles down and stabilizes just a bit.
A man whose spiritual adviser is Wright, whose financial backer is Tony Rezko, and whose first major employer was William Ayers might not be a good choice for president. But for these associations to loom large enough in our consciousness to impact our vote, the market has to settle down so we can hear the campaign over its din.
Oct 10 2008
Obama’s tax cut: what he doesn’t mention
So: in ALL of Obama’s discussion of his plans to raise taxes on only the top 5% in income, and “cut” taxes for the other 95%, how much have you heard about his plans to allow the expiration of the Bush tax cuts?
Does he mention those tax cuts were across the board, so that EVERYONE who paid taxes got a tax cut?
From where I sit, letting a tax cut expire is about the same thing as raising taxes.
By the way, does Obama ever mention that, historically, when taxes are CUT, including on the investors, entrepreneurs and employers (i.e., that top 5%), revenues to the US Treasury actually go UP (allowing more entitlement spending, if you’re so inclined… sigh)? Does he ever explain why he wants to RAISE taxes on the highest tax payers, when that behavior is virtually certain to LOWER revenues to the Treasury, thus limiting the ability of the government to provide the services socialists demand? Does he admit that raising taxes on the economically active top 5% will affect their economic activity, causing them to take fewer risks, invest in less business activity (all of which creates jobs), move more of their economic activity to other countries, etc.? Can Obama point to any instance in human history where a tax raise CAUSED people to be more economically active, and therefore created economic growth? (Don’t confuse correlation with causation when you start looking for examples of this, if you’re so inclined.)
Has he explained why it’s better for the “working class” to get a tax cut (or just an outright check for $1000 or so from the government for the 40% who pay no income tax) than it is for the same people to have a secure job in a growing economy? And the great probability that his tax raise on the top 5% will SLOW or STOP growth altogether, especially in the current economic situation? That his tax raise on the employer class is going to cause fewer jobs, because the money that would have supported more workers will go to the government, or employers will simply manage their situation to reduce activity in the USA, and thus reduce tax liability?
Has Obama ever explained why HIS socialist leaning plans will work in the USA, when they’ve essentially failed in other nations, and are being replaced by more privatization?
Has he ever mentioned that the tax on US business is among the very highest in the world, already? Has he ever mentioned the fact that when taxes are raised on business, they either cut jobs, or raise prices, or both?
Well…. probably not.
Oct 07 2008
Leeches are good for you. Really.
Imagine if you took vitamins in moderation, ate a healthy diet, exercised regularly, and got enough rest. Now, imagine you have gotten ill, due to exposure to something that has challenged your immune system, or some unexpected toxic exposure.
Imagine someone who told you that your good habits are what made you sick, that you’ve overdone all that health stuff, and you need to develop a few new vices and ease off the healthy lifestyle. Imagine that person never mentioned the possibility of bacteria or virus as the cause of your illness, and when it was pointed out as the likely reason, simply denied that germs or toxic exposure have anything to do with being sick.
What would you think of the judgment of someone who gave you the following advice?
1) You should stop eating a healthy diet. Eat more fat, salt, sugar and alcohol. And preservatives. You need preservatives.
2) You sleep too much. Watch TV a couple extra hours each night, and still get up at the same time in the morning. That’ll help.
3) Forget the supplements. Vitamins and minerals are overrated, and may be hurting you. You should smoke or something.
4) When you get well, for pity’s sake knock off the aerobic exercise and weight-lifting. You’ll do yourself a mischief.
Is this making sense to you? Or would you suspect that maybe your friend owned stock in a tobacco company, or had a Twinkie franchise? Or maybe just hated you?
Oct 05 2008
Capitalism tried and found guilty for the crimes of socialists
I should probably stop quoting Mr. Bidinotto so much, but his analysis is simply dead on target. After reviewing the history of the current financial meltdown (that’s what happens when you play with something as radioactive as cheap financing for bad credit risks with a short half-life in the name of equality), he opines:
Now, what’s Congress’s answer to all of this?
To nationalize the bad loans — thus formalizing the taxpayers’ obligation to underwrite the rampant irresponsibility that led to this mess in the first place.
The welfare state established the basic moral principle we now see in all its ugliness: that responsible taxpayers are to be sacrificial servants of the irresponsible — that they are to buffer the irresponsible from the destructive consequences of their actions, by absorbing that damage themselves.
But now, we are adding the following amendment to this premise of moral cannibalism: that the greater and more destructive the irrationality caused by others, the more immediate and pressing is the taxpayers’ moral duty to absorb the harm onto themselves.
Continue reading “Capitalism tried and found guilty for the crimes of socialists”
Sep 30 2008
MESS, the new economic foreign policy
Russia’s economic prospects were looking up when the price of oil was in continuous ascent. But it’s stock exchange has lost enormous amounts in the last year or so. Which suggests a new strategy: instead of MAD (mutually assured destruction), the old Cold War stalemate, we should try MESS (mutual economic strategic starvation). We have more food than they do. Let’s destroy their economy by merely crippling ours. Maybe that’s the reason for the inexplicable congressional inertia for the last few years regarding Fannie and Freddie. It’s all part of the conspiracy to beggar Russia.
Russian stock indexes sank Tuesday despite the federal market regulator ordering a two-hour trading halt in anticipation of massive fallout from the rejection of a bank bailout in the U.S. Congress.
It sort of gives a new meaning to starving your enemy into submission.
Sep 29 2008
House of Ill Repute: Meet Madame Pelosi
Elections have consequences, and one of those is that Pelosi bears responsibility for the financial bill’s defeat
And then there’s this extra commentary.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the number two House Democrat in authority (behind only Speaker Nancy Pelosi), in defending his party from responsibility for the defeat of the financial stability bill today, delivered the all-time lamest excuse I’ve ever heard (my transcription from video on the PBS NewsHour; boldface mine):
“No Democrat that we could get to vote for the bill didn’t vote for the bill.”
Behind that tortured double-negative is a tautology. This is empty double-talk, delivered by the dishonest, intended for the gullible.
UPDATE following here:
Sep 23 2008
Home loans for illegals: a personal aside
Michelle Malkin :: Townhall.com :: Illegal Immigration and the Mortgage Mess
It’s no coincidence that most of the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure wave — Loudoun County, Va., California’s Inland Empire, Stockton and San Joaquin Valley, and Las Vegas and Phoenix, for starters — also happen to be some of the nation’s largest illegal alien sanctuaries. Half of the mortgages to Hispanics are subprime (the accursed species of loan to borrowers with the shadiest credit histories). A quarter of all those subprime loans are in default and foreclosure.
Read the whole thing. It is both stunning and a bit chilling.
Continue reading “Home loans for illegals: a personal aside”
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