Peter Koelliker replied to comment from John Batchelor

I take it you have watched Trump’s show. I have not. Therefore, your references to his show escape me. I base my assumptions on what I do see: Trump Towers in New York and Trump Casino in Atlantic City.

Given our current economic conditions, his claim that he still has enough money to manage a presidential campaign also speaks volumes. In addition, I hear what he says. I have heard nothing, since embarking on his quest for the presidency, with which I disagree. What he said previously, is of no importance to me since it was not said as one who would hoodwink the public in a political sense. From now on, I will pay attention.
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It is now generally accepted (mostly by conservatives) that raising taxes does not necessarily translate into more revenue for the government; that, in fact, what the government collects is likely to stay the same as a percentage of GDP no matter what the tax rate is. This is not fantasy. It can be documented by historical example. Therefore, the emphasis should be on growth.

If our problem is that government does not have enough money to pay its bills – as we are told – then lowering taxes across the board would seem to be a significant part of the solution. Yet current policy makers insist that we go in the opposite direction.

There should not even be an argument about this. The same percentage taken out of a smaller pie will result in reduced intake by the treasury and vice versa. The fact that we cannot agree means that something else is at stake: social engineering in the form of the redistribution of American’s wealth as to achieve total equality (both domestic and globally).

Our politicians are loath to tell us of their true intent; our universities fail to educate. So we are sent out into the street to protest the mere possibility that our neighbor makes a dollar more a week than we do. This is considered ‘unfair’. Everyone should have the same after all. The next step is for all of us to start wearing matching uniforms.

It bugs me no end when politicians use this canard to bat around. Why don’t they just tell us outright that they want to make us all the same, discard all pretense of actually balancing the budget and raise the debt limit to infinity? This way, all of us would be cured of the compulsion to compete and concentrate on simply staying alive.
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“How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here”

--Pink Floyd

Thinking Outside the Box

It has been noted that if the Chilean mine collapse had happened in the U. S., the trapped miners would have died. After a suitably scripted period of rhetoric and hand-wringing, Obama would have imposed an immediate moratorium on all mining operations, and appointed a committee to propose a series of new regulations; and another to determine ways of exacting damages (fees) for the government to exploit. Such assessment is an obvious slap at our current administration and can obviously never be substantiated . It nevertheless is based on what we have come to know about our leadership thus far - thinking strictly inside the (wrong) box.

It’s the same with our current fiscal problems. Our government’s only solution appears to be beggaring the dollar (as in printing more money). This policy is sure to cause dislocation worldwide. It is likely to hurt us even more than others by making things more expensive, killing jobs even further, and reducing our influence abroad.

Some say that this is actually what Obama wants to happen. If it is so, he’s on the right track. If not, he’s barking up the wrong tree. The only thing that can turn things around in the U. S. is not mere smoke and mirrors; but a single-minded emphasis on growth. Growth is the only sane way of absorbing our debt. Yet every policy proposed by this administration so far, without exception, has been is anti-growth. Go figure!

In order to stimulate our economy, we have to, first and foremost, bring back confidence. This would involve primarily an all-out political effort. We have to convince the business community that the government is not out to destroy it. We have to erase uncertainty by stating in plain English what government policy toward business across the board will be going forward. We have to make investment in American businesses attractive. We have to improve the business climate to attract the best minds along with capital from overseas. We have to quit punishing success. We have to reduce taxes. And we have to stop bad-mouthing capitalism.

To turn our economy around, it will require bold, decisive action. This is what Obama promised us during his campaign for the presidency. Thus far, we have seen only small thinking; tinkering on the margins and all of it wrong. Perhaps he’s aware of the Vedic parable which claims to show that ‘every act of ours reverses itself in its results‘. But I doubt it.

When Shankaracharya (Hindu theologian; 8th or 9th Century), was still young, he decided to renounce the world and become a wandering monk. Monks are never allowed to return home. When his mother died, none of her relatives came forward to cremate her body. Shankaracharya then decided to break his oath. As his mother’s body was too heavy for him alone to carry to the pyre by the river, he is said to have cut it up into portable pieces.

He was a man credited for his ability to think outside the box in search for solutions

He would later be credited with the revitalization of Hinduism which had become corrupt and ineffective and Buddhism was rapidly gaining ground. He established four mutts (monastic schools), one in the north, one in the south, east and west of the sub-continent. These still exist today.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

We Will Soon Find Out

Larry Kudlow seems finally to have understood (by his comment that ‘POTUS will go Left for his new economic team’) that Obama couldn’t care less about the economy. The question remains: How far left will he go? Will he go all the way to spark a communist revolution in this country? I suspect so. What better way to achieve it than to precipitate complete economic collapse?

The price of gold on the upswing is not so much a consequence of gold becoming more valuable. It is rather an indication of the dollar depreciating. Pretty soon we could be taking whole wheelbarrows of money to the supermarket to buy a loaf of bread. Don’t you think this would end in social upheavals of the kind this nation has never seen? Don’t you think that this would pulverize the foundations of every institution in this country, reduce them to dust to be blown away by the wind? POTUS would remain the only functioning authority over the ruin of a once great nation.

When Argentina suffered through its period of severe inflation in which the price of common products rose every day, the people themselves pegged the value of commodities on the value of a gallon of fuel. Money became irrelevant. Gas stations in effect became banks.

‘Growth recession' is an oxymoron. There is either growth, or there is recession. The two terms are mutually exclusive. POTUS himself is the one who continues to talk this nonsense. By it, he hopes to gain time to perfect his economic nuclear program. We’re all slow to figure it out. POTUS is banking on it. The majority of us still refuse to believe that the man we elected president would actually do this to us. Meanwhile, every day our economy wanes. The trigger will activate when the promise of new leadership will release all our pent up demand. By that time the guts of the system will have been so totally wrecked. Stepping on the gas will cause the economic engine to explode. …and then, nothing. The old car will stall, never to move another inch.

Already we see the signs of what’s coming. Investors in large numbers have abandoned stocks. Money and jobs are leaving the country. Bonds are shaky. Real estate is collapsing all around us. The last refuge is gold. What comes after gold? Nobody knows. Chaos, perhaps. The abyss. We’ve never been there before. Increasingly it becomes apparent that we will soon find out.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Let's Do the Math

Let’s do the math. Many people were shaking their heads when Obama last week announced that his top priority is now the deficit. After a full year of profligate spending, he suddenly decides that the deficit is (or will be) a problem. Is the president schizophrenic? No. There is a plan. Obama is doing exactly what he said he would do: re-distribute America’s wealth.

He has appointed - not one, but - two commissions to study the deficit. No doubt, they both will declare that the only way to solve the deficit problem is to raise taxes (on everybody). Obama will declare to the nation that the findings of these commissions make tax hikes inevitable - that it would be absolutely irresponsible for him to ignore these findings - that the U.S. economy would simply collapse without tax hikes. Even Republicans would have to go along with it if they wished to escape the wrath of the American people for a collapsing economy.

Seems a plausible argument, never mind that increasing taxes is certain to keep job creation and, hence, sustained economic recovery at bay for decades to come. Though, the president could claim (as he does) that, without his policies, jobs currently held were actually ‘saved’ (by him) and that the overall economy would be even worse.

Republicans must resist the temptation to focus on the deficit. They must focus on growth. Taxation, even at present levels, kills growth. And growth is the only bullet we have left to keep our economy from totally collapsing.

Republicans must keep in mind Obama’s priorities which do not include job creation or saving our economy. His ultimate aim is to re-distribute the wealth of America; to take from those who have traditionally had and give to those who have not. This is the socialist model that has historically consistently failed wherever it’s been tried.

Raining Stones

American public opinion moves at a glacial pace, especially in relation to the frantic speed at which the Obama administration is working to remake America. Larry Kudlow has always been a good egg. I was disappointed early on when I heard him applauding Obama’s lip service support of capitalism. But Larry too has come around, now stating categorically that Obama’s economic plan will not work.

This is where most American opinion resides at the moment. Americans seem to be okay with that. They are resigned to the waiting for the opportunity to change the political landscape in the next couple of election cycles.

What most Americans are still failing to grasp is that what they see as a failure of policy since Obama’s been in office is DELIBERATE! Kudlow continues to hold out hope that the Obama administration, seeing the error of its ways, will re-tool and try some pro-growth policies, like tax cuts. When I hear Kudlow saying this, I want to just reach in through the radio, grab him by the shoulders, shake him awake and shout, “It’s deliberate; you fool! Obama’s aim is precisely this. He wants to implode the economy; he wants to crush the dollar. He’s a Marxist! The people around him are Marxists. They were picked by Obama because they are Marxists. This is not a smear; it’s not mud-slinging. It’s the way it is. They are Marxists. And their aim is to destroy America’s economy, all during Obama’s first term. Everybody knows it now on some level. They know it in Maine; they know it in Oregon, and everywhere in between. Even the Marxists among us are having second thoughts for they are about to achieve what they have always thought was merely a pipe dream."

The strength of a nation can be directly linked to its people. Destroying the economy of any nation automatically plunges it in to civil strife. This is the starting point for the Marxist societal re-ordering which Obama envisions.

Obama is obviously not the only one determined to bring this about. He has many very smart and patient supporters. It might be said that Obama is only the figurehead – the mouthpiece – for all those who have been planning for this moment for generations. They’ve been meticulous in their preparation. They’ve undermined our educational system; they’ve re-written our history; they’ve taken control every institution that would have held them in check: the media, academe, entertainment, etc. They’ve effectively neutralized any challenge to themselves from a corrupt political class. All that remains is to ignite the people to anarchy.

Right now, it resembles a Japanese Kabuki play where all the action happens at the end. Nothing has happened yet, but the fuse has been lit. As I see it, when the time comes for Obama to run for re-election, the polls will show the opponent way ahead. The markets always predict the future. They will be encouraged by Obama’s poor showing in the polls. Consumers will spring to life, as will investors. A turn-around? No. A trigger!

By that time, the money supply will have been flooded with so much worthless paper; inflation will set in big time. This will grind the entire economy to a halt – like sawdust in the crankshaft of a car. Civil strife ensues. Martial Law is declared. We go from there.

I’m not saying that it’ll work. But that is plan A. I am convinced of it. Public option, this or that, is merely a distraction, designed to overwhelm the system; to deflect; distract - to once again get us to scratch our heads, when it starts raining stones, and ask, "How the hell did this happen?"