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December 17, 2010 by Chip Wood
[....] No, I’m talking here about some really dreadful books. The ones that helped produce the world’s most ruthless dictators… slaughtered millions of innocent civilians… and created the most misery. A couple of years ago, Human Events (one of my favorite conservative news-weeklies) asked a group of scholars and public-policy leaders to compile a list of the 10 Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th centuries. Each panelist nominated a number of titles. They then voted on all books nominated, with the worst (No. 1) getting 10 points, the next getting nine points and so on down the list. A whole bunch of terrible titles got an Honorable Mention. (Or maybe that should be a Dishonorable Mention.) But here are the Top 10 — the books the scholars credited with causing more harm to mankind than anything else written in the past 250 years. [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/personal-liberty-articles/the-worst-books-ever-written/?eiid=&rmid=2010_12_17_PLA_[EED4034]&rrid=387432349
The Set-Aside Boondoggle
November 26, 2010;
By Heather Mac Donald
Here’s a fat target for any member of the new Congress who wants to make his mark rooting out government waste, fraud, and abuse: minority set-asides. Two major construction companies are under federal investigation for using minority front companies in New York subway and water treatment-projects. Skanska USA and Schiavone Construction Company hired government-designated “struggling” minority sub-contractors that merely wrote checks to other subcontractors hired on their professional credentials; those qualified subcontractors actually did the work. Big surprise. Minority quota programs virtually force companies into deception, since there are not enough competent minority-owned companies to fill the quotas. And when “disadvantaged” companies do actually participate on a project, rather than just acting as fronts, their suboptimal skills can require the hiring of additional workers to oversee or redo the quota employees’ contribution. New York City has long been afflicted with extortion outfits that show up at construction sites demanding payoff money to not sue for an affirmative-action violation.
Government set-aside programs actually require ineffiency in infrastructure projects by demanding that the least competitive contractors be hired to work on them. Success in a contracting business disqualifies a contractor from being designated as a “minority business enterprise.” Only contractors with a net worth below $750,000 and a relatively low annual income may participate. But the bureaucracy required to oversee these programs is reason enough to cut them out, even if they did not guarantee waste in the actual operation of a project. Federal, state, and local governments all have employees on their payroll whose only job is to [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/253950/set-aside-boondoggle-heather-mac-donald
Who the Hell are These People to Decide the Limits of Our Freedom?
November 3, 2010
RUSH: Well, I had a chance to listen to just a little bit of the Obama press conference. Jake Tapper, ABC, asked Obama about the compromise that he might make on extending the Bush tax cuts. Right now, of course, the tax cuts will eliminate, stop for everybody, $250,000 or more, and maybe everybody's taxes will be raised. But believe me, there's no tax cuts on the table. And Jake Tapper said, (paraphrasing) "Would you compromise and say people who make a million dollars a year will not see their tax decrease, tax cut sunsetted?" And I started thinking, where's all this talk of rich equaling $250,000 a year, a million a year, where does all this start? What right does Obama have to sit there and proclaim that people who earn X are gonna be punished with Y, people who earn less than X won't be punished with Y? Do you notice how easy it is to fall into the premise trap that the left sets?
Looked at within the prism of liberty and freedom, as our founding documents spell out, the Declaration, the Constitution, in nowhere in any of our founding documents was it ever said that people earning X would be punished for it. It was never said in our founding documents that people earning X would share a greater burden of funding the [....]
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/content/home/daily/site_110310/content/01125110.guest.html
December 9, 2010 by Bob Livingston
The White House announced late Monday it had reached an agreement with Republicans to extend the current tax rates — also known as the Bush era tax cuts — for two years. To reach that compromise, Republicans agreed to extend unemployment benefits. Under the agreement — which displeased Congressional Democrats who wanted President Barack Obama to stand against tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year —unemployment benefits would remain in effect through the end of 2011 for workers who have been laid off for more than 26 weeks and less than 99 weeks.
In agreeing to extend unemployment benefits, Republicans made a bad deal. Unemployment benefits are paid by businesses as a tax. Money is confiscated from businesses through a Federal tax and distributed by State governments to unemployed workers, many of whom have passed up job opportunities that paid less than they wanted to earn. And many of those workers have given up their job search altogether, favoring instead the “free” money that continues to come their way.
Benjamin Franklin knew that providing for the poor would not help them out of poverty. In a letter he wrote May 9, 1753, Franklin said: [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/franklin-would-have-opposed-extending-unemployment-benefits/?eiid=&rmid=2010_12_09_PLA_[PIZ5010D]&rrid=387432349
Associated Press
December 3, 2010
MIAMI — The mother of a Florida child who was kicked out of his kindergarten class — after the teacher held a vote among fellow students about his disruptive behavior — has reached a $350,000 settlement with St. Lucie County education officials.Federal court documents show the county school board and teachers union agreed to pay the settlement to Melissa Barton and her son [....]
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/12/03/boy_booted_from_class_gets_350000/?camp=obinsite
December 6, 2010
Posted by Ken CohenOn the heels of the Administration’s recent decision to place a de facto moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, we asked readers of today’s Wall Street Journal if they knew how much that decision might cost in terms of lost government revenue.
According to a study by ICF International, expanding domestic energy development in America’s offshore areas could alone generate $1.3 trillion in government revenues over the life of the resource – along with major increases in [....]
http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/2010/12/06/a-trillion-dollar-missed-opportunity-enough-to-pay-u-s-deficit/
Last Week's Polls
- 52% of voters approved of the tax cutting deal between the president and Republicans in Congress
- 46% of all voters expect the winning Tea Party candidates to sell out and become just like other politicians. Only 34% disagree.
- Most Tea Party members expect those candidates to stay true, but 61% of those with no ties to the movement think the Tea Party candidates will become just like other politicians.
- Just 23% of all voters now say the country is heading in the right direction. That’s the most pessimistic finding since January 2009.
- Only 36% think the president is doing a good or excellent job handling economic issues.
- Voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on the economy and on seven out of the 10 most important issues regularly surveyed by Rasmussen Reports.
- Still, consumer and investor confidence remains higher than it was last year at this time.
- Daily Presidential Tracking Poll finds that 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Obama’s performance, while 54% disapprove.
Boiling Down New Tax [PORK] Bill
[....] But there are plenty of other tax perks in the bill, most of which extend breaks already in place. Here’s a rundown:
- Marginal tax rates [....]
- Unemployment benefits [....]
- Estate tax [....]
- Social Security tax holiday [....]
- Making Work Pay [....]
- Alternative minimum tax [....]
- Tax breaks for families [....]
- Marriage penalty relief [....]
- Other breaks [....]
VOLT-A Wise 'Idea' For Government Motors?
Four years after a fanciful "concept car" revealed General Motors' (GM) plans for an electric-powered, plug-in vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt is finally arriving in showrooms. The next challenge will be spotting one on the road.
The Volt is one of the most hyped cars in history and given GM's marketing muscle, that's an achievement in itself. The automotive press is buying it, so far. Motor Trend named the Volt its 2011 Car of the Year, saying that it's a "game-changer" and "an investment in the long-term future of automaking in America." Green Car Journal dubbed the Volt Green Car of the Year, thanks to fuel efficiency that's the equivalent of 60 miles per gallon. That eclipses every major production car except the new Nissan Leaf, an all-electric hatchback that gets the equivalent of 93 mpg. No doubt the gee-whiz Volt will rake in [....]
http://seekingalpha.com/article/242499-chevy-volt-not-a-wise-gamble-for-gm?source=email_stocks_and_sectors
2011: The Year of Trading Dangerously
Market indices around the world continue to climb based on forecasts for economic growth in 2011 that are based on historical trends, philosophy, optimism, need – but not an agnostic view of real world date. Simply put, without an upturn in housing in the US, there can be no meaningful upturn in employment and with an upturn in employment there will be no meaningful economic growth.
First, and Foremost, Housing: The number of new homes being built is at catastrophically low numbers, an annual run rate of less than 300,000 homes per year. In the gold old days - pre Lehman (LEHMQ.PK) – a run rate of one million residential units was a bottom. [....]
Is Housing That Important to Employment? Based on my and other calculations, residential construction contributed 40% of all new jobs in the period 2002-2007. This excludes the number of undocumented workers not found in official statistics. While this number may seem [....]
What About Recent Increases in Consumer Spending? What increases? According to a fascinating analysis by Durban Capital, more than 60% of the growth in consumer spending this year went to one company – Apple (AAPL). No kidding, check out the interview on CNBC. The government is funny about creating numbers and considers healthcare spending [....]
A Jobless Recovery? It Does Not Exist Recovery – or what some economists are calling a recovery – is a wonderful word for a headline. We all want patients to recover; we wall want to recover the wedding ring we left in the hotel room; we all want to recover the passion of young love. The word is dangerous. Recovery, in reality, means moderate to strong economic growth. This growth in the US is dependent on national income that in turn drives consumer spending. Consumer spending is dependent on [....]
http://seekingalpha.com/article/242470-2011-the-year-of-trading-dangerously?source=email_the_macro_view
Til Next Sunday....
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