Posts
At Least Get The Big Lie Right
by John Ransom,
townhall.com
December 2, 2012
Donjindra wrote: We're running huge deficits. Of course our tax bill will go up. It should go up. Do "conservatives" think there's a free-lunch? That money grows on trees? Apparently so. - Merry Christmas: This Tax Increase is for You, America
Dear Comrade Jindra,
OK, so now liberals are worried about the deficit? And you guys are lecturing the rest of us about fiscal responsibility and how money is created?
Typical tough talk from a group that can’t even pass a budget, yet alone balance one.
Here’s a good idea: Have your messiah present a plan to Congress that balances the budget, right now, not after the passage of time and some mythical increase in GDP created by “voodoo” tax increases on everyone.
Because Obama’s newest plan is basically the same, old plan he had last year- and the year before- that even Democrats wouldn’t vote for…not one vote.
“Even after granting all the phony spending cuts and similar gimmicks in Obama’s budget of last February,” writes Heritage’s J.D. Foster, ”federal debt held by the public rises by $8.5 trillion over the next 10 years without the tax hike and by $7.7 trillion with the tax hike. Expressed another way, [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/12/02/at_least_get_the_big_lie_straight/page/full/
Student Loans [...] Back To Debt
by "Political Calculations,"
townhall.com
December 1, 2012
James Pethoukoukis notes the skyrocketing ratio of student loan debt to household income, the currently spiking default rate on student loans, and wonders if a new federal government bailout is in the works:
See where this is heading? When you take into account America’s burgeoning bailout culture and the rising political power of younger voters, it’s no surprise that Citigroup thinks taxpayers might end up riding to the rescue:
Taxpayers already (or will) indirectly subsidize both the housing and healthcare sectors by covering GSE losses and paying for a healthcare system that pays out more than it receives in revenues. If the continued misalignment of educational resources ultimately leads to government “forgiveness” of student loan debt, it will simply be one more example of fiscal subsidies for a narrow demographic.Citigroup estimates that writing off defaulted student loans would cost $74 billion, though such a move might nudge other borrowers to strategically default in hopes of a bailout of their own.
We have a very easy solution for this scenario, which [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/politicalcalculations/2012/12/01/transforming_student_loans_from_taxes_back_into_debt/page/full/
Following 'Glorious Leader' Over The Cliff
by Morgan Brittany,
townhall.com
December 3, 2012
Well here we are again; same story, different day. Here is another crisis that our glorious leader and illustrious Congress have brought us to. Isn’t it predictable that nothing ever gets done in Washington until the eleventh hour and then it is hastily put together and doesn’t really solve anything anyway?
This fiscal cliff nonsense is just the latest chapter where Congress and the President try to make themselves look relevant. Predictably this is all being blown out of proportion by the media and now that we are only 30 days and counting from a “so-called” disaster, the heat is on.
Turn on any news channel and you hear the same thing. Obama wants a tax rate hike on the wealthiest two percent, the Republicans say no. The Republicans want cuts to entitlements, the Democrats say no. Blah…blah…blah. How long has this storm of hot air been flying around? I’m thinking over a year and a half.
Instead of each side coming out and saying the same thing over and over, causing the stock market to rise and fall on promises of a deal why don’t the Republicans just call Obama’s bluff and walk away from the table?
The media, Obama and the Democrats are brainwashing everyone into believing [....]
Debbie Wass'ername Schults Greatest Hits
by John Fund,
nationalreview.com
December 3, 2012
Republicans think they got a bit of good news this morning with the announcement that President Obama has asked Debbie Wasserman Schultz to continue as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. The Florida congresswoman will now lead the party through the 2014 mid-term elections.
No one doubts that Wasserman Schultz is a tireless fundraiser. Her office says she participated in 885 events in 170 cities in 31 states during the last 18 months. “She’s a leader for women, and the grassroots love her,” a senior Democratic adviser told Politico.That’s all true, but Republicans believe “Debbie will remain Debbie” and provide them with an ongoing catalogue of bizarre statements that will be politically useful. Take some examples of her greatest hits from her tenure to date:
In August of this year, she was forced to admit on CNN that changes to Medicare in Representative Paul Ryan’s budget would not actually affect people over age 55. “After trying for the better part of four minutes to suggest that those who are senior citizens today would lose their coverage, Wasserman Schultz finally admitted that wasn’t true,” The Atlantic magazine reported.Also in August, the DNC chairwoman appeared on Fox News Sunday and was asked about an infamous Priorities USA ad which dishonestly implied that Mitt Romney was responsible for a woman’s death from cancer. Pressed on whether the ad was appropriate, Wasserman Schultz claimed she had “no idea of the political affiliation of folks affiliated with the super PAC.”The next day, she spun 180 degrees on CNN when asked about that statement: “Of course I know that the Priorities USA is a Democratic-affiliated super PAC,” she cheerfully acknowledged. “The point I was trying to make was the ad was produced by a separate organization, an organization that we don’t coordinate with and we have nothing to do with.”
“We own the economy,” she declared at a breakfast sponsored by Politico in June 2011. “We own the beginning of the turnaround, and we want to make sure that we continue that pace of recovery.” The economy, she said, “has turned around” since President Obama took office, leaving many reporters who [....]http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/334627/debbie-wasserman-schultzs-greatest-hits-john-fund
Justice? Not In Chicago!
by John Ransom
townhall.com
December 6, 2012
In 2004, a nephew of Chicago’s then-mayor Richie Daley got into an altercation off of Rush Street, the Windy City’s alcohol-fueled playground for revelers and romancers. Taunts were thrown, obscenities exchanged, and in an instant, a kid from the suburbs, David Koschman, who was just 21 years old at the time, fell backwards, his head making an audible thump as it contacted the street.
A friend says that he was unconscious before he hit the ground
According to witnesses R. J. Vanecko, a current Daley nephew and a former college lineman who weighed in a 230 pounds and stands 6-feet-3, either punched or shoved Koschman, who was 5-feet-5, 125 pounds, outside a bar after both had been drinking. Koschman never regained consciousness. He died from injuries 11 days later after his mother removed him from life support.
For eight years the Chicago police couldn’t find enough evidence, the Cook County State’s Attorney couldn’t find enough evidence, and the Illinois State Police couldn’t find enough evidence to indict Vanecko with a crime. In fact, they could be barely trusted to investigate it as a crime. Somehow the felony file on the case ended up missing. True: They couldn’t find the file. Still can’t.
Oh, no. Not in Chicago! [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/12/06/justice_not_in_chicago/page/full/
Moving On Up
by 'The Editors,'
nationalreview.com
December 5, 2012
Republicans have for years paid too little attention to the need to strengthen economic mobility in America, and to address the challenges of middle-class families. The Romney campaign talked sporadically about helping the middle class but mostly failed to make the case that his agenda would promote the interests of Americans beyond the boardroom. At times, most notably of course in Romney’s deeply misguided dismissal of 47 percent of Americans as hopeless moochers, the campaign even radiated a powerful disregard for the middle class — an unfortunate attitude that, if the demographics of the Romney electorate in exit polls are any guide, helped to defeat it.
It was heartening, therefore, to find two of the Republican party’s rising stars, Romney’s former running mate Representative Paul Ryan and Florida senator Marco Rubio, extensively discussing economic mobility and the middle class this week. The venue was Tuesday night’s annual dinner of the Jack Kemp Foundation, an organization established to champion the legacy of perhaps the greatest economic-mobility conservative of them all. Ryan was the keynote speaker, and Rubio received the foundation’s annual award. Both took the opportunity to call on their fellow Republicans to emphasize the promise of conservative ideas for working families and the poor. [....]http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/334890/moving-editors
Businesses Cutting Hours [....] obamaKare
by Amy Payne,
heritage.org
December 6, 2012
It seems that every day now brings another business owner in the news talking about cutting workers’ hours or making other cost-cutting moves in anticipation of Obamacare’s impact in 2013.
Here are just a few of the business owners’ comments on the health care law:
- “We’ve calculated it will [cost] some millions of dollars across our system. So what does that say—that says we won’t build more restaurants. We won’t hire more people,” Zane Tankel, chairman and CEO of Apple-Metro, which runs 40 Applebee’s restaurants. >> Tweet this quote
- “There’s no other way we can survive it, because we think it will cost us 50 cents a sandwich. That’s just the actual cost. If you have 40 or 50 employees at a restaurant, and the penalty is $2,000, and you’re going to pay $80,000 or $100,000 penalty, there goes the profit in your restaurant.”—Jimmy John Liautaud, founder of Jimmy John’s subs, who said he was considering cutting workers’ hours to come in under the Obamacare mandate threshold. >> Tweet this quote
- “It’s a great concept. We want to have everyone insured. The problem is, who is going to pay for it and how are we going to accomplish this?” — John Metz, who operates roughly 40 Denny’s locations and five Hurricane Grill & Wings franchises in Florida, Virginia, and Georgia, and has said he may have to add an Obamacare surcharge to his menus. >> Tweet this quote
- “New unit construction will cease if we have to allocate moneys for that construction to the [Affordable Care Act]. And building new restaurants is how we create jobs.” — Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/12/06/morning-bell-businesses-cutting-hours-bracing-for-costs-of-obamacare/?roi=echo3-13944293268-10516148-e84677953905966b1dfd4014a26e69e3&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
The De Gaulle Gambit
This article first appeared in the Dec. 18, 1962, issue of NATIONAL REVIEW.
by Otto von Habsburg,
nationalreview.com
December 18, 1962
After his colossal victory in the election of November 18/25, Charles de Gaulle bestrides France as no individual leader has done since the fall of Louis Napoleon. The century-long game of musical chairs, which seated a new government every nine months on average, has ended. A French regime now rests on a solid majority in the Assembly instead of a patched-up coalition. President de Gaulle is master in his house.
Because this is so, and because France historically as well as geographically is at the core of Europe and the West, it becomes more necessary than ever for us to estimate correctly the nature and aims of the policy de Gaulle is so relentlessly pursuing. France and de Gaulle have been widely criticized [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/nroriginals/?q=YmVjODA3ZTE4ZWU0NDllNmI3MzgxMzJiZTY4NmY4MDY=
U.S. Debt--In $100 Bills
Video
exposeobama.com
December 8, 2012
http://youtu.be/iTBODoBaCns
http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/12/08/video-us-debt-visualized-in-physical-100-bills/
Upper-Income Spending; Worst November Ever
by Mike Shedlock,
townhall.com
December
With the generally upbeat spending reports on black Friday and cyber-Monday, Gallup paints a different point of view in its most recent poll that shows U.S. Consumer Spending Holds Steady, Consistent With 2011Americans' self-reported daily spending averaged $73 in November, essentially on par with September and October. It is also similar to the $71 Americans spent last November and slightly higher compared with November 2010 and 2009 -- but still much lower than in November 2008.
November 2012 vs. November Prior Years
[Chart]
U.S. Upper-Income Spending Sees Worst November on Record
Upper-income Americans' (defined as those making at least $90,000 per year) self-reported daily spending was lower this November -- an average of $113 -- than in any November dating back to 2008. Upper-income spending has been trending downward since September, although the decline has not been large enough to drag down the overall spending figures.
[Chart]
[....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2012/12/10/gallup_reports_upperincome_spending_worst_november_ever/page/full/
the Muslim Brotherhood’s ‘Torture Chambers’
by Tiffany Gabbay,
theblaze.com
December 10, 2012
A chilling report recently published in the Egyptian newspaper, al-Masry al-Youm, reveals that the torture chambers once utilized by the Hosni Mubarak regime to tamp down protesters are being put to the same if not greater use by the country’s new, self-proclaimed dictator, Mohammed Morsi.
Despite the Obama administration and worldwide media’s insistence that the election of the Muslim Brotherhood leader was a watershed moment for democracy in the Middle East, it would seem those hopes are on a rapid downward trajectory as reports of savage beatings and brutality against Egyptian protesters, abound.
This disturbing revelation came to light just days ago when an al-Masry al-Youm reporter, with the help of a Brotherhood-owned and operated television station, was given an exclusive tour of the torture chambers. While one might think the decision to grant a journalist access to such a chilling look into the way the Muslim Brotherhood treats its critics as counter-intuitive, it makes perfect sense. After all, what could possibly ever serve as better warning for those even thinking of resisting Morsi’s push for a totalitarian regime based on sharia law than to [....]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/egyptian-reporter-given-a-disturbing-look-inside-the-muslim-brotherhoods-torture-chambers/
Ashley Judd Mulls Senate Run
The anti-coal, pro-abortion Democrat might be a gift to Kentucky Republicans.
by Katrina Trinko,
nationalreview.com
December 10, 2012
This Christmas, Kentucky Republicans should ask Santa for an Ashley Judd Senate bid in 2014. The actress — who conspicuously has not ruled out a run, and who issued a statement last month saying she was “very honored” by the consideration — is attracting plenty of buzz as a potential Democratic candidate in the Bluegrass state. Although she currently lives in Tennessee, she spent much of her childhood in Kentucky, attended the University of Kentucky, and remains an ardent fan of the school’s basketball team, the Wildcats. In 2010, she earned a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard, and she has become increasingly politically active in recent years.
Despite her attachment to Kentucky, Judd has a long track record of statements and positions that are more California than Kentucky. In an interview this week with radio station WMAL in Washington, D.C., Kentucky senator Rand Paul dismissed Judd as “way damn too liberal for our country and our state.” Judd “hates our biggest industry, which is coal,” Paul said. “So I say, good luck bringing the ‘I hate coal’ message to Kentucky.” [....]http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/335189/ashley-judd-mulls-senate-run-katrina-trinko#
Taxing The Poor
by Dr Thomas Sowell,
creators.com
December 11, 2012
With all the talk about taxing the rich, we hear very little talk about taxing the poor. Yet the marginal tax rate on someone living in poverty can sometimes be higher than the marginal tax rate on millionaires.
While it is true that nearly half the households in the country pay no income tax at all, the apparently simple word "tax" has many complications that can be a challenge for even professional economists to untangle.
If you define a tax as only those things that the government chooses to call a tax, you get a radically different picture from what you get when you say, "If it looks like a tax, acts like a tax and takes away your resources like a tax, then it's a tax."
One of the biggest, and one of the oldest, taxes in this latter sense is inflation. Governments have stolen their people's resources this way, not just for centuries, but for thousands of years.
Hyperinflation can take virtually your entire life's savings, without the government having to bother raising the official tax rate at all. The Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1920s had thousands of printing presses turning out vast amounts of money, which the government could then spend to pay for whatever it wanted to pay for.
Of course, prices skyrocketed with vastly more money in circulation. Many people's life savings would not buy a loaf of bread. For all practical purposes, they had been robbed, big time.
A rising demagogue coined the phrase "starving billionaires," because even a billion Deutschmarks was not enough to feed your family. That demagogue was Adolf Hitler, and the public's loss of faith in their irresponsible government may well have contributed toward his Nazi movement's growth.
Most inflation does not [....]
http://www.creators.com/opinion/thomas-sowell/taxing-the-poor.html
Part 3 MAY follow....
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