Economy/Finances

Business - Cable - Capitalism - Economy/Finances - Fox Business Network - Journalism - Media - Media Bias - TV - Warner Todd Huston

Fox Business Network’s Dobbs Wins Demo For 11 of Last 12 Weeks

December 6, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Lou Dobbs has been enjoying an awful lot of success these days over at Fox Business Network. I’ve reported about the solid performance that Lou Dobbs Tonight has earned and this week we get yet another great ratings success for the program.

Dobbs 7PM program has scored multiple ratings wins over rival Larry Kudlow on CNBC and according to Neilsen numbers, Lou Dobbs Tonight beat Kudlow by 65 percent in last week in the demo.

Lou Dobbs has taken top marks for 11 of the last 12 weeks. He has also come out on top in 20 of the last 48 total weeks.

This is pretty good considering that Dobbs and FBN is the veritable newcomer on the block compared to the long standing CNBC programming.

With all the success that Lou Dobbs has built in 2012, next year ought to be quite interesting.
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Fox Business Network’s Dobbs Wins Demo For 11 of Last 12 Weeks”

Americans for Tax Reform - Barack Obama - Budget - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Entitlements - Ethics - GOP - Grover Norquist - House of Representatives - John Boehner - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Policy - President - Progressives - Regulation - Republicans - Senate - Stimulus - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Norquist: Obama’s Failed Fiscal Cliff Ideas Like a ‘Seinfeld Episode Where No Learning Takes Place’

December 5, 2012 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Grover Norquist worries that Obama is like a bad episode of Seinfeld and might prove unable to learn from his past mistakes pushing us over the fiscal cliff whether we like it or not.

This is what Norquist, chief of Americans for Tax Reform — evangelist for the no-tax pledge that so many Republicans have signed — said in an intimate conversation today during which he laid out some ideas on how to push this debate back in our direction.

In a call with only a few conservative bloggers, Norquist laid out the problems we are facing and then went into some of the specifics, the ins and outs of negotiations, and laid out one idea that could help better inform Americans on just what the heck is going on in this debate.

The first thing of interest the ATR chief said was that we should avoid a grand budget bargain that settles everything at once. Instead, Norquist argued to continue the process of having repeated continuing resolutions. Over the last several years, instead of having a full budget passed by Congress, the House has been making do with short-term budgets called continuing resolutions (CR). These CRs fund the government for months or even weeks instead of a full fiscal year.

For his part, Norquist felt that we’ve gotten far better deals and advanced the spending cut/tax cut ball much further with the CRs than we ever could with a single, year-long budget. He also noted that the GOP had a huge amount of power by having control over the debt ceiling and would be stupid to allow the president to take that from them as he’s proposed doing.
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Norquist: Obama’s Failed Fiscal Cliff Ideas Like a ‘Seinfeld Episode Where No Learning Takes Place’”

Barack Obama - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Politico - President - Progressives - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Politico Just Realized Progressives Have Gripes About Obama

December 5, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now that Barack Obama has been successfully re-elected, The Politico has miraculously discovered that some progressives are not exactly thrilled with the most left-wing president in American history. The lefties want more, says Politico. But, is this turn about really that sudden?

In a lengthy December 2 piece, Politico lays out the left-wing voices in the “progressive media” that have lately taken to criticizing the president for not leaning far enough to the left. If not criticizing, exactly, perhaps a more fitting word is they are “encouraging” Obama to take up the left-wing policies he’s given lip service to but not pushed too hard to implement.

The absurd aspect to Politico’s piece is that the Internet newser seems to think this criticism is all new. One has to wonder why Politico has paid no attention to the far left’s criticism until now? Perhaps Politico wanted to make it seem as if the left was united and had no qualms over Obama but now that he’s safely re-elected, it is Politico, rather than the far left, that finds it is safe to criticize the president?
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Politico Just Realized Progressives Have Gripes About Obama”

Associated Press - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Entitlements - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

AP’s False Claim That ‘Some’ Democrats Open to Entitlement Cuts

December 4, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a November 28 article, the Associated Press tried to give cover to Democrats by insisting that they are somehow divided over cuts in entitlements to help solve the “fiscal cliff” problem. But the truth is, Democrats are united against these cuts, not divided.

In its piece headlined, “It’s Not Just Taxes: Benefit Cuts Divide Democrats,” the AP attempted to demonstrate a “division” that doesn’t exist by citing two Democrats that meekly offered to consider cuts to entitlements.

It’s not just about taxes. There’s another big obstacle to overcome as Congress and President Barack Obama work to skirt the fiscal cliff: deep divisions among Senate Democrats over whether to consider cuts to popular benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

This is flat out absurd. There are no deep divisions among Democrats over cuts to these programs. In fact, just the opposite.

This tall tale goes on to present the weak claims of “considering” cuts to these programs uttered by Senator Max Baucus (D, Montana) and Kent Conrad (D, N.D.). But one, Conrad, is retiring and the other has no support from his fellows — especially Democrat leadership — for the idea.
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AP’s False Claim That ‘Some’ Democrats Open to Entitlement Cuts”

Barack Obama - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Nanny State - Regulation - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Media Ignores Obama Admin’s Effort to Define ‘Poverty’ Upward

December 3, 2012 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mickey Kaus has alerted readers to a change in the way the federal government figures the poverty line and that new way so alters the formula that we will never be able to show any improvement in rates of poverty going foward. Worse, the new formula stops measuring strict want and instead measures a more vague “inequality” of income.

The Obama administration has reinvented the poverty formula and is now calling it the “supplemental” poverty line.

“‘New’ is not necessarily ‘improved,'” Kaus dourly notes.

As Kaus explains, the old formula was based on, “the level that bought a minimal market basket of food in 1963-4, adjusted for subsequent inflation and multiplied by three.” The goal was to measure what level of income could afford basic survivability in the current economy, giving a base line of income that could meet basic human needs.

But the new formula is more complicated and “deceptive” to boot.
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Media Ignores Obama Admin’s Effort to Define ‘Poverty’ Upward”

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”

Budget - CNN - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Policy - Progressives - Regulation - Taxes - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

CNN: Now Pushing for a Gas Tax Hike

December 2, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Talks between the White House and GOP leaders in the House of Representatives are on everyone’s mind and solutions and ideas are coming fast and thick from many corners of Washington. But CNN thinks it has the way to fix it all: raise the gas tax.

Dishonestly portraying “some experts” as offering a new fix to the fiscal cliff, CNN explored the idea of hiking the federal gas tax because, CNN says, the current 18.4 cents per gallon is “not enough.”

“As lawmakers race to negotiate a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff,” CNN urgently reports, “some experts say one tax increase should be on the table: a gas tax hike.”
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CNN: Now Pushing for a Gas Tax Hike”

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’”

Associated Press - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Entitlements - Government - Journalism - Media - Nanny State - Progressives - Regulation - Stimulus - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Stupidity: Govt. Says Unemployment Compensation CREATES Jobs!

December 1, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is why no one in government lives in the real world. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said this week that extending unemployment creates jobs Good lord, if these idiots truly believe this garbage, we need to nuke Washington D.C.!

The AP is reporting that the CBO is saying that extending unemployment for another year will “add 300,000 jobs to the economy.”

Naturally, the left-wing idiots we call Democrats think this is all great.
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Stupidity: Govt. Says Unemployment Compensation CREATES Jobs!”

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”

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

The Hill: It’s The Spending, Stupid

December 1, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a very business-like manner The Hill published a report that ought to warm the hearts of all fiscally responsible Republicans and, perhaps, give hope that GOP Speaker John Boehner will hold to his pledges on taxes during theses fiscal cliff talks with the White House.

On November 28 The Hill reported that Speaker Boehner (R, OH) quickly shot down the tax balloon floated by Representative Tom Cole (R, OK) who recently proposed that the House go with Obama’s idea of passing an immediate extension of the current tax rates for the middle class.

As The Hill further notes, Boehner and the rest of the GOP House leadership are sticking with their own pledge to make sure any fiscal cliff solutions are tied to spending cuts.
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The Hill: It’s The Spending, Stupid”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Nanny State - Policy - President - Progressives - Rights - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Economy Makes Criminals Out of Pennsylvania Family, Lose Their Children

November 30, 2012 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s unemployment rate is the worst continuously down trend seen since The Great Depression. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and, subsequently, lost their homes to foreclosure. One Pennsylvania family, faced with Obama’s destruction, tried to move to another state where they hoped to see a better life but instead of finding opportunity they had their children stolen from them by the state and were turned into criminals.

After losing their home to foreclosure, the Detjen family rented a moving truck, loaded their meager possessions on board, and decided to try and head west to greener pastures. Of course, the problem was that the tiny cab of the truck could not hold the couple and their seven children.

So, the Detjen’s bundled up five of their children in winter clothing and sat them in the cargo hold of the moving truck and then set out for California.

Some nosey citizen, however, called the jackboots on the Detjens because, as the law stands, having riders in the cargo hold of a moving truck is illegal.

Naturally, the cops swooped down on the Detjens as they plied one of Indiana’s highways on their way west. The couple’s belongings were impounded, the truck jacked to the police impound lot, and, naturally, their children were taken away from them by those oh-so-concerned drones from the department of Children and Family Services.

In that ages old American way, this beset upon family was trying desperately to start life anew by bundling up the family and moving to where they think might be greener pastures. But in this age of Obama, this family was instead turned them into criminals.
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Obama’s Economy Makes Criminals Out of Pennsylvania Family, Lose Their Children”

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.

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Entitlements - Ethics - Government - Health - Jobs - Law - Liberals - Obamacare - President - Progressives - Regulation - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

College Professors Lose Hours Because of Obamacare

November 27, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of my favorite stories this week is the college professors at Pennsylvania’s Community College of Allegheny who’ve had their hours cut because of the costly requirements of Obamacare.

One of Obamacare’s changes to general business practices is to make people who work 30 hours or more a “full time worker.” For generations that magic number was 40 hours a week. But now that Obamacare is forcing this change to what is considered a full-timer, businesses across the country are forced to change policies and cut the hours of employees to 25 hours per week.

This is what happened at CCAC. Part time professors, teachers, and other staffers will be cut to 25 hours a week so that these part time workers will remain part time workers and will, therefore, be ineligible for healthcare.

Naturally, some folks are mad. They think the evil taskmasters in charge of the school are violating the “spirit” of Obamacare. United Steelworkers representative Jeff Cech, who has been trying to unionize the college staff, is all upset, too.
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College Professors Lose Hours Because of Obamacare”

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.

Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - NPR - Progressives - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

NPR Thinks Hostess Closing With 18,000 Jobs Lost is Funny

November 20, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The news that Hostess Brands is on the verge of shutting down is a major story across the country this week but NPR found humor in the fact that up to 18,000 employees could be losing their jobs.

What was so funny? On its radio show, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, NPR decided to look down its nose upon the products Hostess makes and, in turn, its customer base.

During its November 17 broadcast, host Peter Sagal introduced a segment on the Hostess story listing the company’s products at the end of which he added “Fudge Puppies, Fat Crammers, and Lard Bursts.”

That wasn’t all the guffawing the hosts indulged. Mo Rocca wondered if Hostess were liquidated it might be “neon-colored,” and Faith Salie introduced Chris Christie to the mix to which Peter Sagal went on to impersonate the New Jersey Governor.
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NPR Thinks Hostess Closing With 18,000 Jobs Lost is Funny”

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 - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - NBC - President - Progressives - Taxes - TV - Warner Todd Huston

NBC: Obama is ‘Genial’ Republicans Still Meanies

November 18, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Old Media has found its narrative for Obama’s first press conference since March and the first since his re-election and that narrative can be boiled down simply to this: Obama helpfully Reaching Out, Republicans still mean as snakes.

After the presser was through, several Old Media outlets — one being Reuters — set the tone with a positive spin for Obama and a negative one for Republicans. NBC also followed this Old Media template.

In the hours after the presser ended, NBC News filed a series of reports that portrayed Obama in a positive light. One report saw NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd gushing over the President’s appearance.

“It was a loose, confident, and at times aggressive President Obama….He even extended an olive branch and encouraged growing common ground between the two parties….he was genial and even reflective,” Todd said on Wednesday’s Nightly News.

Naturally, Todd found that the only thing that sullied Obama’s wonderful presser was the “negative comments” by a coterie of Republican Senators that held their own press conference that same day announcing their desire to investigate the disastrous Benghazi incident and confirming their resistance to any thought that UN Ambassador Susan Rice might become our next Secretary of State.
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NBC: Obama is ‘Genial’ Republicans Still Meanies”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Illinois - Liberals - Progressives - Regulation - Rights - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Today’s Stealth Tax Story

November 18, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the many drags about owning a home in the suburbs rears its ugly head around this time a year. Raking leaves is awful drudgery, everyone knows, and here in the middle of November, I’ve already put it off for several weeks longer than I should have. But as I was raking I realized that I was living a stealth tax imposed on me by my local government.

You know how it goes, I’m sure. Fall arrives and those millions, no billions, of those darn leaves fall from their proper places on your trees’ outstretched branches and in their magnanimity lay there for you to rake up and dispose of.

In many towns across America these nuisance leaves are raked into piles and a match is put to them. Homeowners simply burn them to get rid of them. But in many towns, there is a law against disposing of your yard waste by burning. My town is one of the latter.

So, what are you required to do if you can’t burn them? You must spend hours raking your leaves into piles and then you must stuff them into large paper bags that can be bought at local stores.

And there is the hidden tax. It is an “unfunded mandate,” if you will. You see, my city has forced me to waste my money buying these big paper bags and, worse, waste my time stuffing leaves into them.
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Today’s Stealth Tax Story”

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”