The Radical Hobson Twins

It’s been apparent for some time now that the only thing the Democrats and their mouthpiece media care about is getting Democrats elected. It became nauseatingly apparent during the Bush administration when they celebrated every fallen American soldier in Iraq with moments of silent laughter at the end of daily newscasts. Clearly, they wanted to show the war lost to make Bush (and Republicans) look bad. The economy too was reported to be worse than it was. Revisions upward never received due attention.

The strategy is now being continued. Clearly, every Republican idea for saving the economy, social security and Medicare is demonized by the Left - this, while these same people refuse to propose any remedies of their own. What seems obvious to most of us is that if nothing is done, these programs will default. By opposing every fix, Democrats are inviting bankruptcy on a national scale. Their answer is always ‘tax the rich’ which continues to have a certain popular appeal – never mind that, by raising taxes ever higher, talent and capital will flee off-shore, accelerating our march to fiscal Armageddon – never mind that our nation is already broke, and being kept afloat by smoke on mirrors and by every infinity we can find to define.

The thinking among Democrats continues to be that the end-all is simply to keep getting elected as to afford them a chance to continue feasting at the public troth. Most are unable to see beyond their elections. They don’t understand that, once in office, their job should just be beginning: to represent the people(’s will) and protect our nation.

Republicans - perennial losers - stand green with envy and awe of what the Dems are consistently able to do in their own behalf. Like hungry beggars, they slaver over the crumbs that the Dems leave out for the ones most likely to whore themselves out to traitorous causes.

Senators and Congressmen who get up and grandstand about cutting foreign aid and assistance to the poor are doing so simply to divert attention from their own excesses. The gravy train keeps rolling – certainly not for the genuine poor (who will always be exactly where they are, and who will always be poor; but) – to feather their own political nests.

Don’t look to fancy constructs of conspiracy. Don’t look to various ‘isms’ to explain it. Simply put, we are eating our own. NY-26 has introduced yet another arrow into the Democrat Party quiver. Democrats have discovered that the tea party now is their best friend. By injecting some fake, phony ‘tea party’ member into any election mix, their reservation at the beggar’s banquet is virtually guaranteed.

Reminds of all those so-called ‘democracy’ movements in the Middle East that are being hijacked by the MB. It looks like we’re down to choosing between identical Hobson twins.

Between radical ideology and radical greed, which one would you choose? For my money, I’d be content just to stay home and read about it in the paper the next morning.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Living By The Sword

Good if it were true; that ‘those who live by the sword, die by the sword‘. POTUS’ reaction to the Iranian protesters (if any) should be indicative. Obama also faces revolt - both from the right and from the left. There is no middle. His budget is widely seen as a joke. Money for increasingly heavy-handed IRS enforcement can only serve to annoy. It reflects the mindset of one who continues to believe that taxpayers are not paying enough; that wealth re-distribution, as he envisions it, has not yet reached its full potential.

For the first time, I concede, that this whole revolution thing could be tracking the other way. People appear to have figured out that tactics usually attributed to the Left could also work for the Right. Will the opposition in our Congress be enough to stop Obama’s and the Leftist’s merry-making? Will our state-run media finally come to recognize the damage that is being done to our nation?

When the media flips, the Obama regime is done. The roll-backs can begin unimpeded. …and the prosecutions.

Historians will note that the American Left actually had a chance during the first two years of the Obama administration; that what they failed to do was criminalize Bush policy. It might have worked: send Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al for trial in The Hague and, afterwards, sequester the lot in Guantanamo. Now, that the tide appears to be turning, the Right must not shrink from doing exactly this. There is now more than enough evidence that Obama and Democrats’ handling of affairs went far beyond incompetence. If the Right is to succeed, the Left must be held criminally liable. It would amount to ‘the shot heard ‘round the world’ and the revolution against real oppression could finally begin.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Value vs. Money

Again, this assumes that government can create jobs. Government cannot create jobs. It can create a climate conducive to job creation or it can do the opposite. The jobs government creates are not ‘real’ jobs. They are jobs dependent on political patronage.

Government can insert itself and re-distribute the wealth created by real jobs in the private sector, but it cannot create or re-distribute ‘value‘. The honest money poured into unproductive sectors is money wasted. The tipping point is reached when too much wastage starves the private sector (where value is created) out of existence.

With the rise of autocratic dictatorial regimes at the expense of democracies, it is inevitable that job creation suffers. This political trend has now also taken root in Washington.

America was well known throughout the world as a place where it was still possible to come and make something of oneself. The business climate was considered to be ‘friendly‘. This is changing. High taxes and regulations have virtually ground business in America to a halt. In order to stay in business these days you have to first ingratiate yourself to the party in power and then wait for them to give you your arbitrary allotment of wavers and handouts. It’s called crony capitalism and it never works well.

There’s no mystery as to how capitalism functions and how ‘real’ value is generated. A man goes to work for a firm and receives a salary. His salary is predicated on how much he can be expected to contribute to the firm’s bottom line. If his skills are independent of the firm’s structure, he can eventually go out and start his own business. He will then begin to hire people keeping the same principle in mind: he will pay them a percentage of what they can be expected to contribute to the new firm’s success.

An athlete is paid according to how many people his presence can bring into the stadium. An actor is paid according to how many people his talent can attract to movie theaters. It is their talent that is valuable. The money generated by any such transactions can go up in smoke in an instant. The value of individual talent, skill and perseverance remains. A good actor will always eat.

Not many of us are blessed with outstanding attributes such as John Batchelor’s golden-throated voice and keen wit; or even with the ability to think effectively on our feet. Yet, we too can be a part of the system. We have other, perhaps less spectacular, attributes to deal. And we too, if we apply ourselves, can earn a modest, but secure, living.

Enter big government that blocks all normal processes and throws the whole system into confusion. Now nobody can be secure. The rules change with the political winds. It’s difficult to plan and even harder to trust - and the whole thing breaks down to be replaced by … what?

At this point, it could be anything - a new currency, gold, indentured servitude, work camps. With capitalism discredited, one’s work can no longer save one. Things are apt to become a whole lot more arbitrary and complicated. For one thing, America may soon not have to worry about its immigration problem as opportunity continues to fade; and there won’t be much left to bother blowing up anymore.
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A note about education: Education no longer teaches discipline and skills. Education has become so devalued in America (and elsewhere) that it represents little more than a (hall) pass for entrance into the entrenched elite classes‘ washrooms. Additionally, education nowadays consists primarily of learning to spout political propaganda points.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

To Live Another Day

All this is entirely self-evident. Taxation inhibits economic activity. That’s why one sees the flight of people and businesses from high tax states to lower tax states. As jobs and money flee, the tax base shrinks, resulting in less money flowing into government coffers. It’s difficult to understand why this concept is so difficult to grasp for some people.

‘Democrat ex-legislators’ have just sealed Illinois’ fate. It is not hard to figure out what will happen next. “Wisconsin, here we come!”

Unless, of course, Illinois is so progressive, they feel they are not subject to economic consequences. They would first and foremost blame the economy in general - the loss of jobs (new norm) overall, due to whatever - without necessarily understanding what the word ’economy’ actually means. They would further argue that what is quite obvious in ordinary household budgeting becomes counter-productive when applied to a macro model where increased government spending and higher taxes are the ultimate solution. They would have plenty of company in support of that view from the likes of Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist, to many in the halls of Congress, and in Democrat-controlled State legislatures.

Even more ominously looms the casual wholesale dismissal of economic principles overall; the view that it is and never has been about fiscal policy; that the whole purpose of the exercise is to make things ‘fair’ by re-distributing wealth.

Our current administration has been mounting an all-out campaign to criminalize achievement. Wealth is regarded as some kind of unpardonable stain - and, to some extent, the class warfare narrative has taken hold. If successful, metrics to actually measure economic success or failure would cease to exist. Only one thing would stand in the way of fully implementing the program: neighboring states or countries in which capitalism actually works.

That is why these too have to be destroyed by Federal rules and regulations. It is why Israel cannot be allowed to survive, and why America cannot remain as she once was.
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Read an article this morning in the WSJ by John Eibner and Charles Jacobs, entitled, “Will Freedom Come for Sudan’s Slaves?” about a country that is about to be split in two. Among a whole host of outrages, slavery is still practiced in northern Africa. It is of the most brutal and degrading sort, vividly detailed here.

Earlier this week, I saw a clip of a debate on France 24 about the kidnapping and murder of French citizens in Niger. And yet, we keep our condemnation close to our vests. At no cost must we insult Islamic extremists. They are noble savages, after all. Easier to turn against ourselves and become like them. It is now clear that they won’t necessarily like us any better if we do; but, at least, they’ll presumably no longer be tempted to come across to our shores to raise holy hell. We who have far less experience in the art of intimidation and physical brutality may yet live another day.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Straight Lines

This week we found out (what some of us already knew) that Obamacare will explode the Federal budget rather than save money (as we were told); that repealing it would cost us even more; that all the money in the world would fail to pay for it (along with all the other government programs already grinding our nation to a halt). So, the next step in the puzzle will quite naturally center on raising the debt ceiling once again.

I have a solution: Let’s just set the debt ceiling to quadrillions and get it over and done with. Or, let’s set it to a number that hasn’t even been invented yet; or, let’s set it to infinity and never have to undergo the unpleasantness of budgeting ever again (for as long as we live).

Why not? We now know that Obamacare was never about health; and neither was it (as has now become apparent) about saving money. We’ve been down this road before and have become quite comfortable with it. Tax policy, for instance, also does not seem to be about having sufficient funds to run governments (Federal and state). We’ve long ago managed to crush the life out of the proverbial golden goose. In any number of our states - you know the ones - taxes are so high already that people a fleeing to other states and taking their money with them, much less opening businesses in those afflicted areas most in need of inflating an ever-expanding tax base.

Similarly, science has been elevated to a new level (as some would say “it’s proper place“). The coldest winter anyone can remember is now put down to ‘global warming’ - a virtual treasure trove of carbon credits - and liberally (rhetorically) promoted as such in every college and university of (free) academic standing.

Similarly, it was reported last week that, California ushered in in excess of 700 new laws with the start of the new year. It was suggested that Californians themselves are not even aware of what all these might portend. It may all come to the same end: laws or no laws. Existing laws not enforceable or not enforced. New laws applied selectively and certainly adding to a climate of uncertainty; again, causing a flight to greener pastures particularly by those wishing to escape the choking grip of government regulation which (as has become evident) is out to destroy every last vestige of spontaneity.

We no longer trust each other. Above all, we no longer trust our government; the representatives of which - those young tykes we ourselves put through law school - who have come back telling us that it’s quite alright for us to say that two plus two equals five or any number (as long as it’s bigger than four).

Words too have taken a beating. There’s a whole bunch of them that now pose a personal risk to ourselves (like Limbaugh, Beck and Injun); and, even in private (industry), there are some now charged with exorcizing ‘politically sensitive’ material from books that were once deemed classics.

The word ’enemy’, for example, has taken on a new, much more benign nuance to apply only to ourselves; a nod, perhaps, to a notion that is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds: jihad, popularly defined as the process of self-examination and cleansing - a constant solitary struggle (we are told).

And so it goes. The only ones standing in the way of progress are those fuddy-duddy tea party types who still cling to their religion, guns, and the now thoroughly discarded notion of straight lines.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Laughing Gas

As we face new threats to our economy almost every day, it becomes clear that socialists really don’t much care about it, or even care to understand it. They see it either as some immortal golden goose or as something diabolical that must be destroyed. It remains unclear what would replace it as communists (as well as Islamists) have been pretty much riding piggyback on our financial system as it stands.

I have never heard or read of a viable alternative to capitalism. I guess we’re experimenting with that now. Printing money and joblessness, both seem to play some part in it. Most economists (bar Krugman) agree that this will not end well. Still we persist, seemingly deliberately driving the economy into the ground. I suspect that after everything has been said and done, the basic outlines of capitalism will emerge once again. I just don’t see what else could possibly work.

We’ve gone too far to go back to herding and growing our own food, and bartering for services. People will not accept a communist or Islamic solution, unless forced to do so.

Pol Pot emptied the cities and drove people into the fields. Those needing glasses were summarily shot. Mao had a similar idea when he emptied the hospitals of qualified staff and sent them off to dig ditches. And the Taliban has vowed to burn all medical books.

I don’t believe it will come to that here, but the danger is that fewer and fewer of our people understand the workings of an economy, believing that money is simply manna from heaven and quite unrelated to perseverance, talent and work. Our schools, with few exceptions, are mostly left-oriented. They endlessly preach the evils of capitalism, but refuse to advance alternatives.

That’s why it takes until young people are already working for them to notice the scale of the tax bite they must endure - if they even know enough to look at their deductions.

Similarly, global strategy and defense appear to be barely understood going forward. Anything having to do with the military is distained by popular culture. This is yet another aspect of what has made America great in the past that has come under attack. The fact that it’s raining birds in Louisiana becomes yet another excuse for us to be scratching our heads, blaming Bush, Republicans, Congress, Big Oil (and industry in general), jihadis, China and patriotic fireworks in that order.

Just breaking: “Hundred of thousands fish found dead in the Arkansas River”.Also: “former Pentagon aide found (dead) in landfill; FBI only assisting - not investigating“. Also: “Navy fires Captain Owen Honors over raunchy videos.”

Does anyone understand any of this? Does a self-respecting country really behave this way? Meanwhile, by no means rattle the Chinese cage. They have a choke hold on our debt, after all. They’ll buy whatever they can with it before they prick the balloon and we are left with nothing but laughing gas to defend ourselves.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Watching It Burn

When a car quits running it’s most likely either out of gas or low on oil. If it’s low on oil, adding gas won’t help; similarly, if it’s out of gas, adding oil will do little to get it going again.

A WSJ editorial today reads in part: “Oregon raised its income tax on the richest 2% of its residents last year to fix its budget hole, but now the state treasury admits it collected nearly one-third less than the bean counters projected. The sun also rose in the east, and the Cubs didn’t win the World Series.” and, I might add, Oregon’s economy didn’t improve. It takes both oil and gas for a car to run properly.

Taxes have hit the wall in many states. Raising them, has (at best) had no effect on either topping-off state coffers or on improving the economy. We’ve already drained the oil down to dangerous levels; adding gas (stimulus) won’t help.

Gas represents the government’s power to tax. Oil represents the people’s willingness to keep on working and paying taxes. When either one exceeds or falls short of its optimum level, the economy falters.

Anyone who simply advocates - as Democrats do - that increased taxes will kick-start our economy is ignoring the oil-side of the equation. Similarly, anyone who advocates cuts in spending to the exclusion of other factors is on the wrong track. The economy will not improve unless and until the equation balances.

Tea Parties tend to harp on government spending while our government is harping on ‘tax breaks for the rich‘. Neither one will ultimately succeed in bringing the economy back. It doesn’t take a mechanic to diagnose the problem in Oregon. Those who simply say “it’s the economy, stupid” are missing the point. They’re blaming both gas and oil under the umbrella of the economy not working. It takes a more nuanced approach. Clearly there’s more than enough gas. What’s missing is the oil.

Solution: Ease off on the gas and add oil. [Note to Obama: If the plan, however, is to kill the economy outright, simply to watch it burn, there are other (quicker) options. We could always run it into a bridge abutment. All options remain on the table.]

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Trends

Mr. Batchelor increasingly presents himself as the gold standard of old-time gum shoe reporting. He presents a situation within a neutral frame and proceeds to define the action. If speculation as to a likely outcome is required, he will quote others prepared to take that leap. He himself will steer clear of predictions. This, of course, is in marked contrast to today’s template by which (say) a newspaper views its opinion pages as its heart and soul and allows its bias to bleed over into its reporting.

In this case, JB reports on the most prominent challenge to Obamacare to date. It has gained traction to the point of having become newsworthy. He correctly points out that it’s fate hinges entirely on how the Supremes determine the status of the mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance. If viewed as a tax, government may be well within its rights to proceed; if viewed in terms of the commerce clause, government may have overstepped its reach. JB goes on to correctly point out that the whole matter will likely go to the High Court where a close decision can be expected to close the argument.

That much is indisputable fact. Any speculation about how Obamacare would (or would not) affect the economy or health care in general, would fall outside the purview of an honest broker. At the same time, JB does give us the opportunity to take the plunge. Our own comments are welcomed in an effort to reflect our feelings in any such matters. As these, however, may be based entirely on gut-reflex partisan leaning; wishful thinking, and/or healthy self-interest, they could tend to run afoul of what’s actually out there. We might, for example, point to a recent survey of doctors which predicts that anywhere from 45 to 75% of doctors would walk away from their profession if Obamacare were ever fully implemented. This would bolster our own argument that Obamacare itself is self-defeating, opening up the speculation of why any president would deliberately pursue a policy that is bad for the nation. This is a direction that most people (including JB) will never be reckless enough to take.

By sticking to the straight-and-narrow of reporting, Mr. Batchelor has carved out for himself a niche that is likely far longer-lasting than the resolution of current squabbles and trends.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Is Democracy Dead?

Is democracy dead? That’s the point, isn’t it? If Washington should prove to be dysfunctional, the argument could be made that democracy is dead - rigor mortis; gridlock, anything you want to call it. When government no longer functions, what more can one say? There’s no use pretending it works when it doesn’t.

This ‘compromise’ that’s now under threat of unraveling would effectively saddle Americans with higher taxes they can’t afford. People forced to make decisions about when it’s best to die.

Maybe the death of democracy goes hand in hand with the death of capitalism. The crashing dollar; total reliance on monetized (future) debt. Consumer confidence. “Don’t worry, when things pick up…”

Capitalism relies on some degree of adherence to protocol: balancing budgets; honoring contracts; etc. - much of it thrown out the window to favor those who hate the system anyway; to get them aboard (the green-powered ark, only half built). To be replaced by what? No standards, no constraints; only bounced checks, compensation for services never rendered - relating only to the need for protection.

What would replace democracy/capitalism? Degrees of brutality; of corruption, theft, servitude, illusion. Enter the tyrant, the dictator to make the trains run on time. He then can make the rules any way he wants them - until he too is strung up. Et to, Brute?

No way to run a railroad.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Houston, we’ve got a problem...

Houston, we’ve got a problem! We’ve got the Democrats referring to Republicans as ‘terrorists'. And, far from repudiating such sentiments, the president goes out to echo same by painting Republicans as ‘hostage takers‘.
Sounds like a war (of words). What’s missing here is temperance. Compromise has been swept off the table.

Imagine, Republicans as terrorists! That’s strong medicine to digest. Especially since there are people out there who are actually trying to kill us; and who, we all know, it is now improper to refer to as ‘terrorists‘.

There are only a handful of extremists, we are told. Yet, the most powerful army on earth cannot defeat them. No, they must be accorded rights as if they were (American) Republicans. In fact, they must be elevated above all Americans. They must not be profiled or searched at airports - same as our star-powered political class. While Americans are made to suffer every naked indignity we can think of, are expected to give up a significant portion of their hard-earned income to support enemy outreach (as endorsed by our president), they must also be persuaded to give up their freedoms; their holy places, their prayers and celebrations as not to offend Islam (and, to a lesser extent, atheists).

But every barely functioning state needs an enemy to blame for whatever might go wrong. It’s therefore lucky we have Republicans. These will happily offer their backsides on which to paint concentric circles. Like obedient dogs they will gladly run and fetch; or heel. We can tell them one thing and do another. They will believe lies, never bothering to scratch the surface beneath which we hide our pernicious designs. They’re ever ready to line up for the showers if it guarantees a thorough cleansing - only, we will decide what the definition of ’clean’ is.

Republicans. Poor, hapless saps. We’ve got them by the short hairs; running around like maniacs now, proclaiming victory; convinced that the tea parties have saved them and turned the diabolic Obama away from his original sin. He has heard the cry of the electorate: no more taxes! And now they swoon at the sight of him. “We have won!” they shout from the rooftops. Now we can return home and relax. All will be right with the world.

What will they say when the blessed cuts don’t materialize; when January 1st their paychecks shrink? They’ll blame Congress, of course; they’ll blame the system. Still they’ll take comfort in the fact (as they see it) that Obama is with them now. He too wanted tax cuts. The prodigal son has returned.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

No Trace

The tax issue is important, no doubt. If Republicans end up with some kind of victory here, so much the better. I still have my doubts. In any case, the wrangling in Washington continues to provide high drama - a suitable distraction for what else may be happening that may be equally important and potentially, perhaps, even more so.

I’ve heard it said that Wikileaks amounts to nothing less than an attack on America. (Now follow me on this.) What’s our president been doing about it? Nothing. Barring the suspicion of some who say that he himself is behind it, he’s surely thinking, “How can we exploit this?” Remember, “Never let a crisis go to waste.”

Similar to Obama’s first reaction to the oil spill - to let it go on and watch how bad it can get - his reaction to Wikileaks appears calculated. (The oil spill, by the way, achieved its purpose. Nobody makes hardly a peep about Obama’s 7-year drilling ban.) Now we’re seeing reports that Wikileaks will be targeting the likes of China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela as well. Don’t you believe it! The target was and remains America. America is the one with the bulls eye painted on its hind quarters.

How so? Well, for one thing, nobody is apt to want to talk to us on the record anymore. So, what happens to the Freedom of Information Act if it is agreed that public records no longer be kept for fear of exposure? Discussions and deals between us and other nations would have to be made in secure, smoke-filled rooms and sealed with a word or handshake. No traces left of it after it’s over, no hard copy of what was discussed or agreed to, lots of deniability - in short, no accountability.

We’ll be left in the dark and guessing about what’s happening - a wildly auspicious circumstance for any self-proclaimed tyrant.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Revolution # 9

It’s not about the Euro. It’s about revolution. The Left has seized the day. It will not allow cuts to the welfare state. It does not care about the Euro. It does not care about capitalism. All the Left cares about is bringing down the system which is now teetering on the edge.

As in the U.S., it was the Left that had been pushing for freebies that were essentially unaffordable. There was some semblance of affordability as long as economies kept growing. Now, that the slump cycle has set in, what had seemed affordable, is suddenly unaffordable. To the Left, this is a distinction without a difference. It is not that the ‘educated’ Left could not foresee this. They saw it alright. It was a set-up. It was planned. All they had to do was wait.

The waiting is now over. For the Left it is now time to act; to take to the streets; shout slogans; raise the red flag; do some damage; open some heads. For the Left the worst thing that could happen now is for the economies to recover; for people to go on as before. “Barack will not allow…”

Even recovery is now booby-trapped. All that pent-up demand. All that consumer spending would just show up the Euro (dollar) for what it’s really worth - nothing; or, at the very least, considerably less than what people expect.

Any way you look at it, the Euro is finished. The dollar is over; even though it may appear marginally better off than the Euro. People will not allow themselves to be taxed out of existence - in North Korea, maybe; but not in the West.

Still - taxation or inflation - it all comes out to the same: civil unrest, which will lead to political chaos. Left or Right, it won’t matter. The solutions are the same for both. There will be blood. The revolution is here. The Left has won.

In America, we think the revolution has already happened; that it happened at the ballot box - nice and neat - with the Republicans taking charge of the House. The verdict is already in: NO COMPROMISE; no solution. The old ‘evils’ are beginning to crumble one by one: the Bush tax cuts; the Bush wars; American exceptionalism; global alliances. Revolution is the end. It is here. After that, …who knows?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Metrics Don't Matter

Cracking open today’s WSJ, you’ll find an article entitled “There’s No Escaping Hauser’s Law” by W. Kurt Hauser on its opinion pages. The pull quote reads, “Tax revenues as a share of GDP have averaged just under 19% whether tax rates are cut or raised. Better to get 19% of a larger pie.”

Seems plausible enough. At least, there appears to be enough data to back it up. So, why is our government doing everything it can to keep its heel firmly planted on the neck of business?

The Left’s battle cry remains, “Tax cuts? Who will pay for it?” It implies that there is presently not enough money to pay for government programs. We can agree on least that much. The solution would seem to be growing the pie and thus increasing the revenue stream to government coffers by first and foremost lowering taxes.

Since we refuse to do this, it becomes obvious that for the Left tax revenue is not the issue. Socialism is.

The disagreements we have on this blog are relatively minor. We all share the same basic assumptions. Not so the Left. The Left does not believe in economies; they do not believe in the individual’s right of free expression; they do not believe in success; they do not believe in failure as an option. The Left intends to enforce equality. For this to happen, success must be reduced to failure. Failure is so much easier to achieve. So, failure it is; standards removed; judgment banned.

It took Marx over 300 pages to write “Das Kapital”. It would take me at least that much to refute it. And even so, the Left cannot be converted. Equality is like a religion to them. And it’s taken on aspects of jihad. That’s why the Left refuses to engage (except on its own terms). The Left aims to win. Worldwide communism; worldwide Caliphate.

Anyone who still thinks Obama is in some way deficient is a fool. In the U.S. president’s mind he is succeeding. Brand Obama a socialist or a Muslim all you want. It does not scare the Left. They operate under entirely different assumptions. To them, capitalism’s success is a false success. It is evil. Equality is their one and only goal. Whether it is achieved by forced labor (“Arbeit Macht Frei”), gulag or shariah is all the same to them. Capitalism must be destroyed. It’s a war in which the only outcome can be the domination of one over the other. Metrics don’t matter.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Taxation Is Theft

Truth be told, nobody has any idea of what all lies buried in this toxic landfill we loosely refer to as our ‘economy‘. Even as far back as WWII there wasn’t enough honest money to fight the war. Every metric concerning our debt and spending is bogus. I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would still accept paper money for goods and services rendered. JB is generous when he says this might take years to unravel - try decades or never.

Every dollar in our wallets should have I. O. U. printed on it in large letters. We’ve been drifting, running on fumes for so long and nobody remembers anymore where the anchor is. And, honestly, Obama’s contribution to the whole mess has been minimal. His sole failing was the result of his political bent which caused masses of people to stop working, which then exposed the whole thing as a fraud.

Not capitalism, nor communism, no ism at all can take root on what we’ve managed to build here. It’s turnrd into pure, unadulterated quicksand, this pathetic ponzi scheme; this pitiful house of cards; this colossal failure that has yet to fully reveal itself. Banks are guilty only insofar as they’ve colluded with their political masters of both parties ever since Wilson.

It’s finally dawned on us that we’re dealing with outright theft. Taxation has become theft.

Even the most corrupt and heartless among us would hesitate to enslave certain demographic groups for a second time. And that is just how it’s worked out. To maintain the illusion of impartiality, the plan going forward is to beggar us all.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Gang of Four

JB - All the policy bullet points you list for improving the economy are self-evident to anyone who’s had some brush with economic realities in their lifetimes. We may not necessarily like our boss (who likely makes more money than we do); or the owner of the company we work for, who likely has more money than God and even gets his face in the newspaper from time to time. Nevertheless, we tend to respect these people for their achievements or for their effort to keep their birthright in relative working order. In short, we recognize on which side our own toast is buttered.

There are now legions of people in this country who have no such appreciation, chiefly welfare queens, students, political ops, dropouts, gang members, academics, artists, anarchists, Muslims, and all stripes of community organizers and their various kindred of Cain.

These people regard traditional economic theory as irrelevant at best, or something desperately in need of dismantling at worst. Our president belongs to the latter camp.

So, you can yell and scream and educate, and present all the data you want; it will not have the slightest impact on Obama’s policies. The majority of Americans and Obama speak in differing registers. Do not assume that what you hear from his mouth means the same as if you were to say it. He is the champion of a group for whom “Investor’s Daily” might as well be a Chinese language newspaper.

No doubt, these people too will feel the pinch as the economy continues to collapse. They will not see it as the economy having been mishandled. They will continue to believe that their champion is on the right and righteous path. They will continue to demand their pound of flesh as long as there is even a hint of evidence that the American taxpayer is still alive and kicking.

Palestinians do not look across the border into Israel to see how wonderful it is. They did not respect the infrastructure that Israel had left behind when they withdrew from Gaza. Their immediate reaction - though short lived - was sparked by the delirious joy of victory.

So too it is with Obama’s band of revolutionaries in Washington. ObamaCare was never supposed to work as advertised. It was all a ruse. Nobody there had ever seriously thought it would work. How could they have been serious when they never even read the bill? (It is likely that even the president to this day has not read it.) To those who vociferously supported it, it was enough to pass just anything that would light another fuse under America‘s economic infrastructure. (The rest just caved in to pressure.) They trusted the Apollo Alliance, a left-wing think tank, to get the job done - or at the very least create an atmosphere of confusion and strife.

All this is considered good by Obama‘s gang (of four).

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Man the Water Stations

While the debate rages about how to fix the economy (read today’s opinion pieces in the NYT), things continue to get worse out there, particularly on the jobs front. People are re-entering the job market because they have become desperate. It’s no longer a choice - to work or not to work - it’s become a matter of survival.

Unfortunately, the jobs are no longer out there. They’re over in India, China, the Philippines and elsewhere. Value-based work is fleeing the country, leaving only enforcement-related and administrative (basically government) mandated tasks which themselves face the cleaver as tax revenues continue to fall short of expectations. It’s the classic definition of a downward spiral.

Incredibly, there is a way out. It is to make America business-friendly once again. Europe is trying it - although tepidly - and thus far has had limited success at least in terms of improving the psychological climate that businesses face. The reason that this hasn’t yet happened in America is because at the moment they are freer than we are. Our taxes and regulations are literally choking the life out of us. Add to this, the people’s distrust of government policy overall, and you have the entire country in unison fuelling the tailspin.

Washington has become so toxic, even if the president were to come out tomorrow with a workable plan to solve all the nation’s problems, nobody would pay much attention. For the majority of Americans, Barack Hussein Obama has already torn up his leadership card and thrown it to the wind. We have reached a point where Obama’s government no longer represents us.

How to explain this to people in a foreign country? People tend to assume that countries speak with one voice. If the government, for instance, insists on basing its foreign and domestic policies on the now largely discredited threat of ‘global warming’ while the people themselves have become aware of the hoax, that government can be said to rule against the will of the electorate. The U.S. is not the only nation that has chosen to follow the forked path leading to civil strife. The first fault line to appear, as always, is the one between the classes. The elites have chosen one path, leaving the masses to wander another.

Time to man the water stations in this desert. Many are about to get themselves lost out in the wilds. Great swatches of land have already been ceded to cartel control. It is clear, the American government does not care about Americans. One of the two will fall and there will be blood. In the meantime, maps and survival tips must be distributed.

I open the paper today and read that the Taliban have offered to burn all medical books.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Bubba

One of the hallmarks of totalitarianism is that there is no longer any way to ascertain the truth. Truth is simply what someone says it is. We talk endlessly about the new norm. Joblessness is what it is. Promises are meaningless in that there are no longer any standards by which to measure progress. Words are just words that mean nothing beyond vague intention. It all is simply accepted. There is no debate; no new ideas; no argument.

We see this in the clip above. Jared Bernstein does not seem entirely comfortable with what he’s saying even though he appears to be talking to a wall. As such, he still retains some semblance of a reality in which words count for something. He clearly does not believe that the examples he enumerates are valid. He has been fated only to rise to the level of hack.

POTUS says essentially the same things. But he says them with conviction and aplomb. He either believes what he says or he is a reasonably good actor reading from a script.

We here, in America, have come to simply accept an awful lot of rubbish. We accept high tax rates. We accept corruption. We accept onerous regulation; intrusive searches. It is what it is; it can’t be helped. We accept joblessness; outsourcing; speed limits; fees; etc.

The other day I found myself in Times Square. A bunch of people were gathered under a huge multi-story screen that showed live video of the street below. People were excitedly pointing to themselves on this screen and taking pictures. Surveillance was celebrated as a kind of game. People were waving their arms and pointing to themselves. They were being watched and they felt important.

All this goes beyond Times Square - the Great White Way, as it‘s called. We accept Iran’s nuclear weapon’s program by which, we have every indication, they plan to wipe Israel off the map. As such, we accept genocide. We accept Iran’s mistreatment of women. We accept lashing, stoning, hanging, genital mutilation, abortion. We accept pornography; mosques built on Christian cemeteries; illegals crossing our borders. We accept repeat offenders; DWI killers, suicide plotters, voter intimidators.

We refuse any standards by which to separate good from evil, right from wrong. “It’s all good“, we say. “Whatever.” We need do nothing but clear our minds, think happy thoughts and submit. No standards; no critical thinking ; no logic; no plan. We wear our pants low to make it easier for cellmate Bubba to have his way with us.

Utter Nonsense

What is ‘the economy’? It is us; we, the people. It is we who decide to get up and go to work in the morning, open or expand businesses, hire people… It is we who decide what and where to buy; or whether or not to buy in the first place. What is commonly referred to as ‘the economy’ is actually us.

The markets have now gone up six days in a row. I read somewhere recently that small investors have fled the equity markets in droves. This tells me that there’s no longer any depth to these markets; that it’s become solely a playground for professional hucksters, gamblers, gunslingers and speculators. Expect the markets to continue gyrating aimlessly. Eventually, even the professionals will grow tired and walk away. After that, you can expect to see only government generated statistics with no basis in reality.

The point I mean to make is that WE are what’s happening in this country. As long as we continue to sit on our hands and wait till some competent leadership emerges, our nation is effectively on strike. Revenue flowing into government treasuries is down and falling. Good!

This is another instance in which the vacuous state-controlled media is not doing us any favors. They report we are going into or coming out of a ‘recession‘. This is the wrong way of looking at it. We are on strike! They say, we may be in or heading toward a 'depression' when, in fact, we are depressed by the quality of leadership in Washington and in our States.

It’s been said so often that it’s become easy to overlook, but government does NOT create jobs. Government only creates bureaucracies that wind up costing us money. So when Barack Hussein Obama promises to ‘save’ our jobs, he’s talking utter nonsense.

Will They Have the Guts?

China and America are in the process of trading places. Both are set to experience massive dislocation by significant segments of their populations. There will be blood on both sides. Indications are that the carnage on the American side will be greater primarily because America seems to have lost its identity. China has not. A second factor may play an even greater role: Whereas America seems resigned to continue its march toward atonement and subsequent obligatory punishment for past sins, China in general appears confident that its future remains bright.

Listening to Larry Kudlow, and anyone else who keeps talking about the November midterms as being our nation’s salvation, is starting to get on my nerves. Let me say categorically and unambiguously that the midterm elections - no matter how they turn out - will have absolutely no effect in stopping Obama’s hard left re-distributionist agenda.

Any legislation that a Republican-dominated congress is likely to advance will be immediately struck down by Obama’s veto pen. This would apply to any rollback of existing legislation as well as any legislation that can yet be expected to pass in the ‘lame duck’ session. We’ll be stuck with that. In many ways, the barn door is already wide open and the horses are long gone. There are numerous confiscatory tax increases in our immediate future that will absolutely cripple our already anemic private sector. More will surely be added during ‘lame duck’. Expect ‘cap and trade’ to pass; expect VAT; increased health care costs can be expected to add to our already insupportable deficits. Individual states will begin to default.

Republicans can shout all they want but they will not be able to do anything to change even one iota of the spending, tax policy, and regulations that are already in place. Add to this the fact that the president retains the use of the executive order in all matters; he will continue to make interim appointments and possibly even float a Supreme Court choice. Even if successive SC appointment are not approved for the remainder of this president’s term, it’ll make for devastating headlines, and the Court itself would now consist of eight. Not sure to what extent 4-4 decisions count.

Best of all, when things go wrong, as they surely must, Obama can and will blame Republicans.

Let me put this as delicately as possible: There is only one way we can get back on sane footing. And that is to impeach the president. A Republican congress may actually have the power to do just that. But will they have the guts?

People like Kudlow (which includes most of our media - right, left or in-between) are still assuming that the midterms will send such a powerful message that the White House will have to change course. Think again. Obama does not listen to messages; he does not play at politics in the usual sense. Obama has a dictator’s mentality. It is filled with rage toward any opposition. He will not rest until he sees this country destroyed or bent to his will.

No, my friends, we cannot survive another two years of this. We would end up like the Thanksgiving turkey left in the oven to defrost when someone decides to run the (oven) cleaning cycle without first checking if anything’s been left inside.

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.