Capitalism

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Entitlements - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - John Boehner - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Nanny State - President - Progressives - Republicans - Stimulus - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Insulting Fiscal Cliff Proposal Lauded as ‘Strategic Move’

December 3, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

“Insulting.” That is what conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer termed Obama’s “plan” to prevent the federal government from falling over the fiscal cliff. But to the Old Media establishment, Obama’s insulting plan lacking in specifics was a brilliant “strategic move” that will force Republicans to “offer a counter proposal,” despite the fact that, going back to Paul Ryan’s Road Map, the GOP is the only side offering many specifics in this debate thus far.

Before Election Day, President Obama made vague comments about implementing 2.5 dollars in cuts for every dollar of spending increases, but he never really clarified what that meant in real terms, never saying exactly what he would cut. But at least before the election he gave lip service to cuts. This week, though, now that he is safely re-elected, he sent Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to the GOP leadership to offer a plan that had no specifics, no cuts, and huge spending hikes.

Even more idiotic, Obama wants another stimulus of $50 billion!
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Obama’s Insulting Fiscal Cliff Proposal Lauded as ‘Strategic Move’”

Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Progressives - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

The Lies The SEIU Tells Its Members

December 2, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This week the SEIU sent out an email to its members hoping to drum up some hate against the fast food chain Wendy’s. The email not only had one outright lie, it was also a sad example of how stupid unions think their members really are.

The email starts out as if it is from a Wendy’s employee named Joshua Williams.

Mr. Williams may or may not really exist, but the union created a video featuring a person claiming to be this Williams fellow, so maybe he’s real and maybe he isn’t. But that isn’t the obvious lie. The obvious lie is in the email’s very first paragraph. The SEIU has been trying to unionize the fast food industry.

Last year, the CEO of Wendy’s took home $16.5 billion dollars while I barely scraped by on $16,000.

The email then goes on to suggest that the fast food industry needs to be unionized so that… oh, I don’t know … maybe so that guys like Mr. Williams can be the ones to take home “$16.5 billion dollars,” or something? Yeah, we all understand that a burger flipper takes exactly the same skills as the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation. It’s just the same, of course.

Whatever.

But let’s look at the claim of this “Mr. Williams,” if he really exists.
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The Lies The SEIU Tells Its Members”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Entitlements - Ethics - GOP - Government - Jobs - Keynesian - Liberals - Nanny State - President - Progressives - Republicans - Senate - Stimulus - Taxes - Utah - Warner Todd Huston

Sen. Orrin Hatch: Obama Fiscal Proposal ‘Classic Bait and Switch’

December 1, 2012 by

Senator Orrin Hatch (R, Utah) delivered the GOP weekly address and it was a damn good one.

He pulled no punches and laid it out straight that Obama lied when he ran for re-election and perpetrated a “classic bait and switch” maneuver.

Transcript:

“Hi. I’m Senator Orrin Hatch from the great state of Utah.

“The holiday season is upon us: a time when families come together to celebrate and reflect on another year gone by—and another one set to begin.

“But this holiday season is different: as the clock ticks down towards the New Year, nearly every single American is facing the real prospect of what’s called the Fiscal Cliff.

“If we don’t act by the end of the year, 28 million more families and individuals will be forced to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, 21 times as many farmers and ranchers will be hit with the death tax, and the average middle-class family would see their taxes go up by at least $2,000.

“Economic leaders have told us that if we don’t act, our nation will fall into another painful recession—pushing unemployment back up over 9 percent, threatening our children’s ability to get a good paying job, and putting seniors’ retirements at risk.

“The President has said he wants a so-called balanced approach to solve this crisis. But what he proposed this week was a classic bait and switch on the American people—a tax increase double the size of what he campaigned on, billions of dollars in new stimulus spending and an unlimited, unchecked authority to borrow from the Chinese. Maybe I missed it but I don’t recall him asking for any of that during the presidential campaign. These ideas are so radical that they have already been rejected on a bipartisan basis by Congress.

“Fresh off his reelection, the President has an obligation to first steer us away from the fiscal cliff, and second, to tackle our $16-plus trillion debt, that is driven by our runaway entitlement programs, so our country doesn’t reach this dangerous crossroads ever again.

“But we’ve seen an utter lack of leadership from President Obama, and his allies on the left have shown little—very little—to no willingness to tackle real, structural entitlement reform. There is no manner of tax hike that can save Medicare or Medicaid—these programs can only be fixed with real reforms that go to the heart of how they work.

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Sen. Orrin Hatch: Obama Fiscal Proposal ‘Classic Bait and Switch’”

Business - Capitalism - Computers - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Inernet - Jobs - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

Futurism: GE Plans Automated Internet Notices from Failing Products

December 1, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

General Electric has its eye on the future and the manufacturing giant feels the future will take the form of an “industrial Internet” that will alert both users and the manufacturers when products are breaking down or coming to the end of a life cycle. This will mean that GE will be able to fix or replace products before they even break down an idea that might curtail downtime as airplanes, trains, power generators and the like can be repaired before any actual trouble arises.

In a new report touting its “industrial Internet” system, GE claimed that even a 1 percent increase in efficiency by avoiding downtime will pay big dividends. As The Wall Street Journal’s Rachel King reports, this industrial Internet, “has the potential to add $10-$15 trillion to global GDP by 2030… According to the report, a 1% increase in efficiency generated … can mean savings of $30 billion in aviation, $66 billion in power generation and $63 billion in healthcare over 15 years.”

Supporters say that the constant updates generated from equipment over such an industrial Internet will help engineers and scientists better understand their products and improve safety and efficiency on into the future.
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Futurism: GE Plans Automated Internet Notices from Failing Products”

Associated Press - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Entitlements - Ethics - Government - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Medicaid - Medicare - Nanny State - Obamacare - President - Progressives - Regulation - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

AP Touts ‘Non-Partisan’ Study Saying Obamacare Great for States

November 29, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press has done it again, pushing on readers a “study” by purported “nonpartisan” organizations that aren’t nonpartisan at all. This one claiming that Obamacare is a “good deal for states.”

The AP notes that this “report” by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute says that Obamacare is good for the states because it picks up the largest amount of healthcare costs through its Medicaid expansion.

Expanding Medicaid to cover about 20 million more low-income people will cost over $1 trillion nationally from 2013 to 2022, said the joint report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute. But the analysis found that states will pay just $76 billion of that, a combined share of roughly 7 percent. The feds will pay the other $952 billion.

But what of these two groups? Are they really “nonpartisan”?
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AP Touts ‘Non-Partisan’ Study Saying Obamacare Great for States”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Entitlements - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Nanny State - President - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Beware The Zombie Congress

November 28, 2012 by

Congress has reconvened for a “lame-duck” session, in which the walking dead (members who won’t return next year) have a post-mortem chance to leave their mark on the nation’s policy — a budget that never got passed, and an agreement on how to avoid the fiscal cliff and Taxmageddon, and several treaties awaiting ratification by the Senate.

Business - Cable - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Free Trade - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Media - Progressives - TV - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Penn & Teller Says Wal-Mart Hatred is Bulls**t!!

November 23, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Penn & Teller are bombastic and foul of mouth… well, let me restate that. Penn is while Teller is not, but that is only because in the act Teller never speaks. But, bombast aside, the pair are great libertarians and in this case they are 100% right about how illegitimate Wal-Mart hate is.

Remember, this is not safe for work. It has foul language. But Penn & Teller are dead on right.

Right on. Wal-Mart hate is stupid.

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chuck Busch - Constitution - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Mitt Romney - President - Republicans - Taxes

Thanks Mitt

November 23, 2012 by

-By Chuck Busch

I want you to know that I greatly appreciate the effort and sacrifice you made in seeking the presidency. I have been a supporter of you since the 2008 election and always believed you had a lot to offer the people of this country. History took a strange turn in 2008 and it would seem that the country got started down a wrong path that will now take extraordinary efforts to reverse. In the final analysis we have to accept that God is still on the throne and he will use whatever circumstance for His redemptive purposes. If I didn’t believe that, we would all have reason for despair.

You were an excellent candidate and ran a superb campaign. It was encouraging to hear someone articulate sound economic and national policies as well as you did. I believe you and Paul Ryan won the debate season hands down with factual and sensible proposals delivered in a confident and professional manner. As you reflect on the last year’s whirlwind events, please do not second-guess your message of limited government or think that you could have done anything different to affect the outcome. The Republican Party should make no change to its 2012 platform or compromise on social, cultural and economic issues. The contrast between the “paths” of the two parties could have not been made clearer.
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Thanks Mitt”

Alexander Hamilton - Ben Franklin - Business - Capitalism - Declaration of Independence - Democracy - Founders - Government - History - Holiday - James Madison - Jobs - John Adams - Revolutionary War - Sam Adams - Slavery - Thanksgiving - Warner Todd Huston

What We Are Thankful For

November 22, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like most conservatives, I felt Election Day was the end of the United States of America. I am not convinced going forward that it isn’t, either. But on this day of giving thanks for what we do have, it would be a mistake not to be grateful for the things with which we have, in our good fortune, been blessed. There are things that we should and must be thankful for.

What are those things? What should we be thankful for? Well, certainly there are all manner of things we should be thankful for as individuals. Our loved ones, friends, perhaps our health and good fortunes. But, as a nation, there are many things to be thankful for, even if those things seem fleeting. Granted, there are many things other than what I list below that we should be thankful for. I have no intention of claiming this list is comprehensive.

So, first and foremost, as a nation we should be thankful for our founders’ vision of a nation created on the premise of self-government, freedom and liberty.
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What We Are Thankful For”

Business - Capitalism - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Free Trade - Holiday - Jobs - Thanksgiving - Warner Todd Huston

There’d Be No Thanksgiving Without the Profit Motive

November 22, 2012 by

-By Lawrence W. Reed

“The worst crime against working people,” so said Samuel Gompers, “is a company which fails to operate at a profit.”

Gompers, of course, is known by the history books as the father of the labor union movement in America. He was founder of the American Federation of Labor. It may seem incongruous for such an important labor figure to say such a thing about profit, but Gompers appreciated something back then that perhaps a few of today’s labor leaders don’t. An economy without profit is an economy in deep, deep depression.

Profit and the self-interest motive behind it were under relentless attack not so long ago. The radicalism of the 1960s was dead set against them, laying most of society’s ills at the feet of greedy, profit-hungry and selfish capitalists. Anti-profit sentiment was even more popular in Europe and Africa, where it helped boost the socialist agenda and a wave of nationalizations.

In more recent years, however, a better understanding of profit has taken hold in surprising places. Communist China started implementing it in the late 1970s as an incentive for moribund state industries and previously prohibited private enterprise. And in my files is an English translation of an article that appeared in a most unlikely place. Here’s a key excerpt:
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There’d Be No Thanksgiving Without the Profit Motive”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Cap and Trade - Capitalism - Climate Change - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Electric - Energy - Environment - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Nanny State - Natural Gas - Oil - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Medium Protest Over XL Pipeline

November 20, 2012 by

-By CJ Ciaramella

[Ed. Note: These are the self-destructive lunatics we are facing with these enviro-Nazis, folks. They are highly organized and well funded and they win because the rest of us just sit on the sidelines and do nothing.]

Between 1,000 and 1,500 protesters streamed past the White House Sunday to demand President Barack Obama reject the Keystone XL Pipeline, the latest in a series of vocal demonstrations against the project.

“Hey Obama, we don’t want no climate drama,” the protesters chanted as they hoisted an inflatable mock pipeline above their heads in front of the executive mansion.

The pipeline project would stretch across eight states, running from the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas.

“This is the first fight in a long time that got the environmentalists out in the street and we’re gonna stay there,” author Bill McKibben told the crowd at a post-march rally.

Environmentalists say the pipeline would be a “game over” moment in their fight against climate change should it be approved…

Read the rest at The Washington Free Beacon.

Banks - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - New Jersey - Newspapers - Progressives - Warner Todd Huston - Washington Post

Washington Post Softens Criminal Actions of Dem. Corzine in MF Global Fraud

November 19, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In its November 15 print version, The Washington Post published a story about the criminal financial malfeasance of former Democrat Governor and MF Global Chief John Corzine. But, the Post seemed to have trouble properly identifying Corzine as a Democrat not to mention that it buried the story deep in the paper.

Corzine was the subject of a report this week issued by the House Financial Services’s oversight subcommittee that, while it stopped short of calling Corzine’s actions outright felonies (the committee is leaving that determination to prosecutors), the report raised deep concerns about the magical disappearance of $1.6 billion in investor’s money.

If Corzine were a Republican, who doesn’t believe that The Washington Post would have made sure that the story of the release of this report would have been front-page news? But, no, this story was buried back on page A18.
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Washington Post Softens Criminal Actions of Dem. Corzine in MF Global Fraud”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Free Trade - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Media - President - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - Washington Post

Obama’s Failed Recovery: This Graph Should Scare You

November 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is something one wishes the Washington Post bothered to tell us before the election, but, yes, the chart below proves that Obama has utterly failed to aid in our economic recovery.


Click on chart to see more

In other words, you’re not imagining it: This economic recovery has been a big disappointment relative to what the United States has usually experienced after a recession. Growth has been 9 percent below what was seen in past recoveries on average in its first three years. The CBO report tries to disentangle where that underperformance is coming from and its answer is deeply unsettling: The U.S. economy just isn’t as good at growing as it used to be…

Read the rest at the Washington Post’s Wonkblog.
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Obama’s Failed Recovery: This Graph Should Scare You”

Anti-Americanism - Business - California - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Progressives - Unemployment - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

In Harsh Economy, Union Demands Put Crimp in Businesses Across the Country: Recent Stories Surrounding California Grocer

November 16, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The biggest union news this month is the pending closing of the Hostess Brand snack cake corporation, a company that has been an American mainstay for decades with such products Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies. As with the Hostess case, unions repeatedly prove that they’d rather destroy a business with absurd demands and strikes than work with management to keep the company alive in these tough economic times.

Another Illustration of the continued and alarming trend of unions destroying the businesses they work for with absurd contract demands is going on in California, the state with the worst economy and one of the worst business climates in the country.

Recently Raley’s Family of Fine Stores, a north central California-based grocery chain, and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) reached an agreement over a strike that had workers walking the picket lines for nine weeks. Naturally, the company put a brave face on this agreement but both the strike and the agreement have put a strain on the company that can’t help it survive in this horrid economic climate.
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In Harsh Economy, Union Demands Put Crimp in Businesses Across the Country: Recent Stories Surrounding California Grocer”

Business - Capitalism - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Free Trade - Warner Todd Huston

(VIDEO) I Pencil: Classic Video Explaining Free Markets

November 15, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This was created by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CPI) and is based on I, Pencil, a famous essay by famed economist Leonard Read. This is a great video that everyone should watch, but it’s especially apropos for young people.

Do you know how to make a pencil? You don’t, do you? As Read explained in his original essay, no single person on earth does. The pencil, like most modern wonders, is the end product of an intricate chain of human activity that spans the globe. There is no mastermind dictating the making of a pencil; not even the CEO of a pencil company could tell you exactly how to make one. It takes the little bits of know-how of thousands of individuals—loggers in California, factory workers in China, miners in Sri Lanka, and everyone in between—to bring an ordinary wooden pencil into being. By trading their skills and labor for wages, these individuals each bring the pencil a step closer into being.

This is the miracle of the free market. People who are strangers to each other—who might even hate each other if they ever met—are cooperating every day to produce goods that others want, need and enjoy. Markets compel men and women to voluntarily arrange themselves into efficient patterns of production through the pursuit of their individual self-interests. Without this constant spontaneous cooperation, the modern wonders of our world would not exist.

CEI President Fred L. Smith, Jr. said:

“Throughout my career, I’ve sought new and better means of communicating classical liberal ideas to people of all political persuasions. This year, I am stepping down as president of CEI so that I can continue this undertaking full-time as a policy analyst. It was with great pleasure that I shepherded the production of I, Pencil during this transition. Leonard Read’s original essay continues to be one of the most poignant free-market narratives I’ve ever come across. I’m proud of CEI’s film adaptation of Read’s work, and I’m very hopeful it will successfully bring classical liberal ideas to new and diverse audiences.”

If you know any teens, get them to watch this video. It is well worth their time.
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(VIDEO) I Pencil: Classic Video Explaining Free Markets”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Nanny State - Policy - President - Progressives - Regulation - Taxes - Unemployment - Warner Todd Huston - Welfare

Foodstamps Surge to All Time High, Biggest One Month Growth Ever Recorded

November 13, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Obama administration has finally released its report on the number of Americans on foodstamps. This report was released nine days past its traditional release date and just coincidentally days after the election. Shockingly, those numbers show that Americans on foodstamps is at an all time high. Worse the report shows the highest one month jump ever.

You may recall that just before the election, the Obama administration announced that Hurricane Sandy was going to delay the release of October’s jobless numbers. Many watchers of politics were suspicious about the possible delay in the release of October’s unemployment figures since the proper release date was to come just before the presidential election. While the unemployment report was ultimately released on schedule and before the election, now we find out about another report, the foostamp report, delayed for nine days after its traditional release date. This report was also supposed to have been released before the election.

This report is devastating, so maybe we now know why it was delayed?
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Foodstamps Surge to All Time High, Biggest One Month Growth Ever Recorded”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Health - Jobs - Liberals - Obamacare - President - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Papa John’s Pizza to Cut Worker’s Hours Due to Obamacare

November 12, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

John Schnatter, CEO of the Papa John’s pizza chain, has announced that now that President Obama has been re-elected and it is obvious that Obamacare is here to stay, he will likely be forced to cut back worker’s hours because of the cost of the federal government’s take over of our national healthcare.

Provisions of Obamacare state that workers that work 30 hours a week or more will be automatically considered full time and must then be included in their company’s healthcare insurance program. Common practice currently maintains that the eligibility threshold for health insurance is a 40-hour work week, so this will cost businesses exponentially more for workers that work over 30 hours a week. The higher cost associated with this change is forcing many businesses, especially those in the food service industry, to consider limiting workers to less than 30 hours a week.

In essence, implementation of Obamacare will cut the weekly take home pay of millions of low wage workers by forcing companies to cut worker’s hours.
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Papa John’s Pizza to Cut Worker’s Hours Due to Obamacare”

Banks - Business - Capitalism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Law - Liberals - Progressives - Regulation - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Cyber-Theft from Our Nation’s Banks a Growing Threat

November 12, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

We are all suffering from the mistaken idea that our money is “safe” after we put it in a bank. The fact is your money is at risk every day as it sits in your bank or with your financial services provider. It isn’t necessarily because those institutions will waste it, misspend it, or invest it badly. It’s because of the newest yet the oldest financial problem, bank robbery.

Now, it isn’t that we have to worry about a resurgence of the old fashioned way of robbing banks. Criminals aren’t stealing millions by running into bank lobbies and making frightened cashiers empty out tills into pillow cases. No, the problem is the new, self-styled cyber-criminal using the Internet to steal millions from banks, and often the theft happens days before the bank is even aware it occurred.

Cyber-theft is a growing and dangerous problem. Unfortunately, many banks and other financial services haven’t taken enough measures to stop or even detect these thefts until it is too late. Worse, in many cases banks and financial services are telling account holders — that would be you and me — that the loss is irretrievable and, well, you are just out of luck. The cash is gone and there’s nothing that can be done about it.
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Cyber-Theft from Our Nation’s Banks a Growing Threat”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Nanny State - NBC - President - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

CNBC: We’re Probably Headed to Another Recession… NOW They Tell Us?

November 9, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Two days after the election, CNBC published a dour report on the economy. Shockingly, CNBC is predicting that the U.S. economy is likely headed for another recession.

CNBC so helpfully tells us that, now that the election is behind us, the light in our economic tunnel could be a “freight train.” Gee, it sure would have been nice to know that before the election, wouldn’t it?

Slowing corporate profits, the remnants of Superstorm Sandy and the ramifications of the “fiscal cliff” in Washington are expected to result in at least two quarters of slow or no growth that could make investing even trickier than it was during the ups and downs of 2012.

But that isn’t all. The bigger problem we are now told, is that the economy never achieved “escape velocity” in order to get past the low growth rate we have been experiencing.

The economy, CNBC says, never got to the point where we’ve had enough growth to withstand the sort of shocks that a Hurricane Sandy or a continued or renewed bad business climate would wreck upon it.

Obama didn’t fix a thing, it turns out.
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CNBC: We’re Probably Headed to Another Recession… NOW They Tell Us?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Nanny State - President - Progressives - Socialism - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

(VIDEO) Fiscal Cliff: Unless we Act, We Are About to See an American Collapse

November 8, 2012 by

What is the fiscal cliff? And how does the fiscal cliff affect you?

Warning: Illinois is America’s future unless there’s a dramatic turnaround. We now have Democratic super majorities in both houses and the Governor’s mansion. We are the worst state in the nation in unpaid pension debt with a recent 67 percent income tax hike.

Video courtesy of Turning Point USA.

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - Washington Post

Washington Post Jubilant at ‘Oct. Job Growth’ Then Says ‘Unemployment Rate Flat’

November 5, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Just before Election Day, the Washington Post is super excited about all that “job growth” for October. Yet the paper goes on to note that the “unemployment rate is flat.” So, which is it, Washington Post? Are we to be jubilant that there was job growth in October, or is the unemployment rate flat?

Regardless, the Post tries to have it both ways as it gives Obama cover even as it ultimately notes that there really wasn’t much improvement in jobless figures for October. In fact, the Post almost admits that its report is intended to help Obama right in its first paragraph.

The U.S. jobs market in October sustained its slow trudge toward better times, the government reported on Friday, in the last major report card on the economy before the presidential election.

Ah, that “slow trudge toward better times.” But is it? Despite all the happy talk sprinkled through the article, the Post is forced to note that much of this “good news” is closer to treading water as opposed to any “slow trudge toward better times.”

For instance, the Post notes that the unemployment figures remained “essentially unchanged” and didn’t really get much better because more people are now putting themselves back in the job market. So, new jobs didn’t really keep pace with the number of job seekers.
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Washington Post Jubilant at ‘Oct. Job Growth’ Then Says ‘Unemployment Rate Flat’”

Anti-Americanism - Banks - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - John Boehner - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - New York City - President - Progressives - Republicans - Senate - Stimulus - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Jonathan Chait, NY Magazine: Obama The Best Prez Evah!

November 3, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Jonathan Chait has made his choice for 2012. Unsurprisingly, it’s Obama. But wait, there’s more. Chait decided to tell us exactly why he chose Obama in a recent column for New York Magazine and his reasons makes his endorsement one of the great howlers of the year. Chait tells us that Obama is one of the greatest presidents of all time. “Yes, Great,” he reiterates.

To start with, Chait distances himself from the hopey-changie set saying that even though he was one of Obama’s earliest supporters he was never one of those mind-numbed Obamabots that thought Obama was a messiah that would “change everything.” Chait is no fool, see?

But, despite that he claimed not to be an Obama zombie, Chait goes on to make it appear that he did, indeed, fall for all the rhetoric because in reviewing the last four years, Mr. Chait sees nothing but great success from President Obama.

“Obama’s résumé of accomplishments is broad and deep, running the gamut from economic to social to foreign policy,” Chait assures us before launching into a dubious assessment of all those “accomplishments.”

Chait’s column is quite long, so I wont go into every claim he makes, but there are a few that are just blatant for the rose colored glasses Chait seems to be wearing while writing his column.

For one, Chait feels that Obama’s banking “reforms” were somehow middle of the road efforts, neither left nor right. He praised Obama for taking ideas off “think-tank shelves” and in a “frenetic burst of activity” he “made many of them happen all at once.”
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Jonathan Chait, NY Magazine: Obama The Best Prez Evah!”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - Jobs - Joe Biden - Liberals - Mitt Romney - Paul Ryan - President - Progressives - Republicans - Taxes - Unemployment - Warner Todd Huston

Yale University Economic Model Gives Election to Romney

October 31, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Based on his economic election model, Yale University economist Ray Fair predicts that GOP nominee Mitt Romney will pull out a sparse victory in November.

Fair’s model successfully predicts the winners of every election but two since 1916. The two, the 1960 election of John Kennedy and the 1992 election of Bill Clinton, are the only ones his economics-based electoral prediction model gets wrong.

Fair uses several economic indicators in his model to determine winners. Those factors include the per capita growth rate of the gross domestic product, inflation, and the number of quarters that the GDP grew more than 3.2% during the incumbent’s term.

But even Fair’s model predicts a race that is within his margin of error. Obama could still pull this out despite an economy that argues against his re-election.
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Yale University Economic Model Gives Election to Romney”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Climate Change - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Environment - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Unhappy Global Warming Was Missed at Debates

October 30, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama has for the most part stayed away from the subject of global warming during his campaign for re-election. The President has only infrequently broached the subject on the campaign trail, but on Friday, October 26, in an interview with MTV, Obama delved into climate change more than at any other time to date during the campaign.

The President told MTV that he was “surprised” that global warming didn’t come up during the debates and warned that “we’re not moving as fast as we need to” in order to head off the problems he perceives will soon befall the planet.

Obama said global warming is a “critical issue” and that the subject presents a “huge contrast” between himself and GOP nominee Mitt Romney. “I am surprised it didn’t come up in one of the debates,” the President said.

As The Hill notes, however, even as the President assured the MTV audience that he felt the issue was important and that he wanted to talk about the subject during the debates, he never took the time to mention the issue himself during his encounters with Romney.
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Obama Unhappy Global Warming Was Missed at Debates”

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Looking Back: Jobs Down, Poverty Up Over Last Four Years‏

October 29, 2012 by

From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, Illinois 6th District)…

This week, I’d like to share a chart with you that details the national decline in employment and prosperity the United States has experienced since 2008. In the last four years, the number of Americans out of work, living in poverty, and receiving food stamps has grown at an alarming rate.

The numbers are stark: the policies of the last four years have not worked, but the good news is this does not have to be the “new normal.” The House has passed multiple bills to create an environment where small businesses can grow and hire, and our economy can get back on track.


Click on image to see larger version

Chart from: U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means

Sources: Department of Labor payroll and household surveys; Census Bureau poverty data; HHS TANFdata; Social Security Administration SSI/SSDI 2008 and 2012 data; and Department of Agriculture data. *CY 2008 average, unless otherwise noted. **Most recent available data.

http://roskam.house.gov/