You are currently browsing the USA-wethepeople.com weblog archives for January, 2010.
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Archive for January, 2010
At a recent Obama speech in Tampa, Florida (1-28-10) a familiar scene was played out with the local media and leftist. The media called the protesters “Republican” even though 44% of conservatives are not Republicans. The leftist infiltrated the crowd of protesters gathered to give Obama the one fingered sauté as his motorcade passed.
One of the leftist was a know it all moron with maybe a bachelor’s degree with a couple of his side kicks arguing with Tea Party protesters. He claimed to be a “economist” studying the exotic subject at some college from the great superior state of New York. All us dumb Tea Party people should be thankful for his brilliance and patience to set us strait in our thinking. The great northern liberal helping us dumb southerners with his intellectual brilliance and superior upbringing from the Yankee north lands.
Tampa Tea Party Organizers
His female side kick was arguing with a protester that the United States health care was ranked 37th in the world or some arbitrary rank because the infant mortality rate was higher here than in Europe or Canada. A totally false argument that has been going around in the leftist world much like Global Warming and other propaganda with no overall look at the facts. It is a cherry picked statistic but fails to take into account the real reason for the discrepancy.
In the United States we have large Negro, Hispanic and white trash populations that for some reason like to snort cocaine and other drugs while pregnant. It doesn’t matter how great the health care system is if the baby is born half dead and addicted to drugs. To do a fair study of competing heath care system you would have to eliminate extremes like race and education. A fair comparison would be the white middle 80% population of Europe verses the white middle 80% population of America including all outcomes not just infant mortality rates. If that study was ever done the United States would be years ahead of Europe and Canada.
The Tea Party protester was arguing that the United States health care system was the best and the young leftist was arguing the simple statistic which the Tea Party protester was disagreeing with. I corrected him that the infant mortality statistic was correct but her argument was totally false. She shut up and handed off to the brilliant northerner from New York.
Orlando Tea Party protesters in Tampa
He immediately asked “Do you know who John Maynard Keynes is?” Like this is some secret knowledge only reserved for the elites up north. This really pissed me off. If you have been to college and were paying attention in macroeconomics you probably know Keynes wrote Treatise on Money or The Means to Prosperity which lays out the demand side argument leftist and Democrats love so much. Tax and spend. It has been the only economic policy of our federal government and Federal Reserve (Bernanke 2006) have used since 2007 when the Democrats gained control of the House and Senate. How you liking them results?
What pissed me off was he was asking average citizens this asinine question. Now if only 27.2% of the population have a college degree that pretty much means 72.8% of the population does not know. Why ask the question unless you are looking to show off?
I asked him what “crowing out” was. He didn’t know so I explained “any reduction in private consumption or investment that occurs because of an increase in government spending” or something to that effect. I then asked him who Milton Friedman was and got the brilliant reply “Oh he’s a bad one” or some nonsense. Friedman was the guy who ripped Keynesian economic theory to shreds and won a Nobel Prize for his work in 1976. Suddenly he complained I was talking to loud and he wanted to move on.
Tampa Protesters 1-28-10
Later down the block he and his intellectual elites were arguing again about education and how blacks were not getting the same educational money whites are. I told him there was no correlation between education spending per pupil and results. He came back with “causation and correlation are not related” or some such Cliff Notes crap. Fine he knew what correlation was so I asked him if he knew what regression analysis was. Blank stare. End of argument.
Apparently up in the great educated north they don’t explain regression analysis gives you a correlation or maybe a few. Not exactly the kind of education I would want for my kid. And I am sure in the great elite north they skip derivatives and integrals to find max, min and areas under a curve used in the backward south. Just a guess. I pointed out that in Detroit the per pupil spending was $11,000. A pretty decent sum. More than in those mean evil white kids get in the suburbs. No explanation of the “real” cause. More blank stares and he ran away again.
Finally wanting to leave a positive note I told him Libertarians were opposed to social engineering on the federal level but if a local community wanted socialized medicine let them knock themselves out. Of course I know that freeloaders would bankrupt any community offering freebies and soon they would stop the insanity but I kept my mouth shut.
What really pisses me off about these leftist is they think they are educated. This dude comes into a crowd of average citizens asking abstract economic questions. It would be like a engineer going to a Tea Party and asking “Do you know Newton’s second law?” Or a chemist asking “Do you know Boyle’s Law?” How in the hell is the average person going to know? They don’t. All they know is the federal government and Federal Reserve are taking them for a ride and they want to get off. It doesn’t take a economist to figure out when the government prints money faster than the year before there will be inflation sometime in the future. It doesn’t take a economists to figure out taxing everything that moves concentrates power and wealth in the hands of the government and takes away from families’ ability to feed their children. It doesn’t take a economist to figure out that when the government borrows billions and trillions of dollars there is less money for private companies to borrow. People know Keynesian economics is a failure even if they don’t know the dude that invented this leftist school of economic thought.
The Colts will win their third super bowl title. Of course they won their first in 1971 with a 16-13 win against the Dallas Cowboys with Johnny Unitas, Errol Morrall and Jim O’Brien. Their second came with Peyton Manning in 2007. And now the third title for the franchise.
I know the game has not been played yet but this match up of the overachiever New Orleans Saints against a determined and disciplined foe who has been there reminds me of the old NFC verses AFC days when Pittsburgh, Oakland and Miami dominated the NFC. Now we have Pittsburgh, New England and Indianapolis dominating. Sentimentally I hope New Orleans can win one for the long suffering city but this game has all the makings of a blowout.
Peyton Manning wins second Super Bowl Title
The best chance for the NFC was the Minnesota Vikings and with Bret Favre’s brain fart at the end of the game that hope has vanished. So let’s tip our hats off to the Colts and Peyton Manning. They will play disciplined and Manning will shred up the Saints defense on his way to Super Bowl glory.
I never cease to be amazed at how classless and clueless President Obama truly is. Now he has blatantly added stupidity to the list.
Apparently Barack Obama has not thought out clearly that the pissing off the Supreme Court could cause them to retaliate and listen to any one of the myriad of cases questioning his natural born citizenship.
The bottom line is actually simple. To be “natural born” is a requirement to be President of the US.
One must have parents (both parents) be citizens of the US to fulfill that requirement.
Obama has only ONE CITIZEN PARENT (HIS MOTHER).
Everyone can argue until the cows come home about his birthplace being Hawaii or not … IT DOES NOT MATTER.
Until the Supreme Court clarifies the question about whether The Constitution defines the 14th amendment meaning parent or parents (the documentation in congressional papers states parents) he could be booted from office as an impostor or fraud.
His ambush of the supreme court justices by negatively/inappropriately commenting about the ruling last week that corporations can spend as much money as they want on political campaigns.
During these comments Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito could be seen shaking his head and saying “completely untrue”.
The President has a right to comment and take them to task.
WHEN, WHERE and COMMON SENSE … however should come into play.
Having the facts straight would also be helpful.
I am beginning to wonder if Obama actually learned anything at Harvard or if perhaps Harvard needs to lose its accreditation.
Obama and his crew are so in bed with lobbiest his comments are drop dead funny.
Again I suppose we the people are suppose to be to stupid to recognize that.
Obama has spent 787 billion with faux positive results.
I watched the state of the union address last night (well at least part of it before I had to tune out).
I tire easily of watching “ants in her pants Nanc” chewing her cud.
I was not at all impressed with the throw a hand full of spaghetti at the ceiling and hope something sticks tactic used for this speech. The “glam” has certainly warn off if there ever was any for this US citizen regarding this President.
One could get whip lash trying to keep up with on again off again problem/solution diatribe. Not to mention the expected blame is always elsewhere.
Apparently “we the people” are suppose to be far to stupid to pick up on the FACTS that this NEW ADMINISTRATION FOR CHANGE somehow added to the problem to the tune of 787 billion in stimulus that has FAILED MISERABLY. I am not sure what the President considers this money stimulated … but US jobs certainly was not part of the equation. Perhaps it helped to stimulate the pocket books of his cronies? We have gone from 8% unemployment to over 10%. According to Obama HIS stimulus has saved or created over a million jobs. What kind of HINKY MATH do they teach at Harvard these days?
Personally as a mother and grandmother I was clued in on this “Johnny did it” routine long ago.
So now what?
Well the banks are the problem according to Obama. Oh my gosh he failed to include himself and his henchmen.
What a shock!
In reality banks do what they are suppose to do … take YOUR MONEY and loan (or not) it to others for a fee. I can actually remember when they did all of that responsibly.
That DID NOT include CEO’s getting millions in perks for FAILURE.
What is wrong with contingency clauses in pay contracts that say if your bank goes belly up you DON’T GET PAID?
So where did they go wrong.
Who dropped the ball here?
Who is responsible for the housing bubble (that so many claim caused this catastrophe) and who missed that was in the wings waiting to explode and why?
Ben Bernake perhaps?
Who else?
Let me keep this brief.
Obama owns a good share of the problems we face here in the USA.
He is not going to admit that but the bottom line is “we the people” understand this.
Enter stage right Scott Brown.
If that did not give the Democrats a left to the jaw (wake up call) perhaps they are more brain dead than they look already.
Apparently Obama did not get the message but then he gets to ride the gravy train for 3 more years. He can jack around continuing to DO NOTHING as usual while he looks for the next soapbox to leap upon and slap himself on the back before the public.
So now the solution (according to Obama) is to cap things that have already been raised sky high. Does any of this seem like slamming the barn door after the horse is gone?
How stupid do they think we are?
It turns out apparently not as stupid as they thought. Perhaps there is something to street smarts adding to the faux education’s coming out of the collages today (like Harvard).
Bernake was just confirmed for a second term by the Senate as head of the FED.
Who might be better suited?
I guess the answer is now left for a different day.
The Case against Ben Bernanke‘s Reconfirmation as Fed Chairman
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is up for reconfirmation. He was initially appointed in 2006 and will soon receive a vote in the senate for a second term. He is a trained classical Keynesian economist and studied the Great Depression for this PhD. His actions have been classical Keynesian which believes when the economy is under performing the magic bullet is for the government to increase spending to “fill the full employment gap”. Basically if the Gross Domestic Product at “full employment” is $1,000 and current production is $900 then the government steps in and spends $100 to get the economy back to $1,000 or full employment. Simplistic concept but vehemently opposed by “Austrian” economist who oppose deflating the currency by printing excess paper money and artificial stimulus that will mis-allocate resources towards unproductive uses. Austrian economists argue printing money will create a monetary bubble and inflation similar to the housing bubble. Additionally they argue mis-allocation of resources towards unproductive pursuits do not lead to permanent long term sustainable job or economic growth. So let’s bypass the argument and look at the results.
When Bernanke was appointed in February of 2006 the GDP was about $14.1 trillion. It peaked at $15.3 in 2008 and dropped down to $14.4 and is currently at $14.6.
When Bernanke was appointed in February of 2006 the GDP was about $14.1 trillion. It peaked at $15.3 in 2008 and dropped down to $14.4 and is currently at $14.6.
Clearly after Alan Greenspan mismanaged the Federal Reserve laying the foundation for the housing bubble with a 1% federal funds rate the downturn cannot be blamed on Bernanke. But how did Mr. Bernanke react?
M-1 is the notes, traveler checks, demand deposits and other checkable forms of on demand cash like brokerage checking accounts
Bernanke has increased M-1 money supply. Notice how the money supply jumps from $785 billion when TARP was passed to $860 billion now. A staggering 9.6% in little over a year. This expansionist monetary policy has been going on for decades but has accelerated under Bernanke.
M-2 is M-1 plus savings and time deposits
M-2 Money stock under Bernanke. An increase of 25.5% or an annual rate of 6.5%. Many economists argue for a money supply growth rate of 3% plus or minus 1%. Some argue for the gold standard and virtually zero inflation or “hard money”. Not many support inflationary policies above 5%.
MZM or M-1 + M-2 + M-3 and all money market funds
MZM or all funds combined has increased 38.6%.
And finally the last straw the monetary base. This is what has Peter Schiff, Dan Mitchell and any reputable economist basically freaking out over Bernanke, Bush, Obama, bail outs and stimulus plans. This is a money bomb just waiting to explode. You think the Savings and Loan, NASDAQ and housing bubbles were bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet. When this baby explodes you will see $10 or maybe $20 gallon gasoline. Interest rates will skyrocket and housing will be a cash only business because no one will be able to afford a mortgage. Housing prices in real terms will plummet. Milk will be $10 a gallon. But where is all this money?
The Monetary Base has increased 154% under Bernanke
Where did all that bail out cash go? It’s sitting in banks everywhere. From 45.2 billion to 1,140.5 billion. A 2,400% increase! This is not going to end well.
Total Reserves. Where did all that bail out cash go? It’s sitting in banks everywhere. From 45.2 billion to 1,140.5 billion. A 2,400% increase! This is not going to end well.
To translate the Fed gave their buddies on Wall Street first dibs to the devalued cash so they can get ahead of the inflationary curve and divest themselves from American assets including the dollar. Why would a banker make a loan to a medium sized firm at 5% when they clearly see 10% maybe even 20% interest rates in the not to distant future? The bankers are taking the almost free cash at 0.5% from the federal discount window and loaning it back in short term notes at 3%. Basically all that cash we paid the bankers to get back to making loans is sitting on the sidelines until the banks most likely go bankrupt again and all hell breaks loose or the Fed pulls a magic trick out of its hat. The banks are in a rock and a hard place. Make loans now at 5% and get crushed in the future or try to build up reserves off the spread from the discount window funds. This is why for a lot of economist it would have been better to let the insolvent banks go bankrupt in 2008. All we have done is postpone the bankruptcy to a future date and spent a few trillion in the process. A few trillion that will come back to haunt us with inflation and more taxes at the very time we need less taxes.
Federal investment into the economy has gone up 25% but GDP has risen 3.5% during that same time frame. Spending doesn’t seem to be filling up the “gap” very well.
Greenspan was committing sabotage against the Bush administration and the economy. Maybe he hates Republicans, white guys, who knows? But the destruction he caused was intentional. Greenspan knew exactly what he was doing. Bernanke is more of an accommodating tool used by both Bush and Obama to finance their political objectives. Bernanke is a true believer in Keynesian economics. He may truly believe that he is doing the right thing for the economy. But we don’t need a yes man in charge of the Federal Reserve. Unfortunately it will take a man of iron will and a lot of pain with an intimate knowledge of Milton Freidman and his monetary policies. We need a man who will be the equivalent of a butcher chopping up the carcass of our previous monetary policy and someday reinventing it into something we can all stomach.
Finally the last two nails in the coffin.
Federal tax receipts have gone down 11.5% from 2006. Bernanke, Obama, Bush have all “stimulated” the economy with spending and cash. Is this what we want?
Federal investment into the economy has gone up 25% but GDP has risen 3.5% during that same time frame. Spending doesn’t seem to be filling up the “gap” very well.
Federal tax receipts have gone down 11.5% from 2006. Bernanke, Obama, Bush have all “stimulated” the economy with spending and cash. Is this what we want?
During the same time the federal government Keynesian economic policies have increased unemployment. This unemployment graph is deceptive. It does not count underemployed, illegal immigrants moving out of the United States, and those who have given up looking for work. Most economics think the true number is around 17%.
This unemployment graph is deceptive. It does not count underemployed, illegal immigrants moving out of the United States, and those who have given up looking for work. Most economics think the true number is around 17%.
America has received a strong dose of Keynesian economics quite some time now. Bubbles have been created in the savings and loan financial firms under Bush 41, NASDAQ under Clinton, housing under Bush 43 and now the looming monetary bubble under Obama. All the Federal Reserve and congress do is to kick the can down the road. The bubbles get bigger and the pain harder. We have got to change. Obama is more of the same. Bernanke is more of the same. The pain is coming far worse than today. Bernanke needs to go and a Federal Reserve Chairman appointed who understands where inflation comes from and how to run a responsible banking institution in a manner that will provide a stable currency. That’s it.
No politics, no special deals. Print the money and keep the currency value stable. When that is accomplished then advocate for the repeal of the Federal Reserve and a return to free banking. In a few years from now the public will look at the Federal Reserve and Keynesian economics the same way it views the Vietnam War. A waste of lives and money.
Monday it was full speed ahead for health care.
Today? OH OH “we don’t have enough votes to pass the bill as is”.
Apparently the half-witted Pelosi got a door or doors slammed in her face by those not willing to commit political suicide over what she and Reid are doing behind closed doors.
I have heard people say Pelosi does not have to fear for her seat because San Francisco is SO LIBERAL.
It is true the city by the bay certainly has an overabundance of free loaders who want to be taken care of by the government. However not all Californians are so stupid.
We have all had a wake up call and those heading us for an economic cliff will shortly find the public is not quite ready to follow suit.
The true POLITICAL MACHINE (we the people) have decided to pay attention … leap on a soapbox and let their voices be heard. Maybe NOW Washington is figuring maybe they just better listen.
China’s Economy Grows 10.7% while the US borrows another $1.9 Trillion
Obama and the Democrats continue to plunder the American people to pay their special interest off. Just like King Louis the XVI and Marie Antoinette the anointed one and his court ignore reality and live the high life of parties and travel while the peasants lose millions of jobs.
China reported a staggering 10.7% growth for the 4th quarter of 2009. China is a lender nation. China has a government surplus. America lost 448,000 jobs the last four weeks and 5.9 million are on extended unemployment benefits. Since the Democrats and their Keynesian economic policies were instituted in 2007 the unemployment claims have gone from about 250,000 to a peak of 676,000. The unemployment rate has gone from 4.6% to 10.0%. And this doesn’t take into account the illegal immigrants who moved back to their native lands leaving foreclosed homes everywhere. It also doesn’t include those who gave up and part time workers.
When will the American public learn that taxing and spending doesn’t work? When those extended unemployment benefits run out social unrest will increase. But Barack and Michele will be dining on Arugula and herbs from the Kitchen Garden, honey from the White House Beehive, American wine pairings while the peasants get health care.
Unemployment since the Democrats gained control of the House and Senate
What works is getting rid of the fake corporate tax which is a tax on consumers, stock holders and research and development. Corporate taxes are a scam that politicians inflict on the ignorant and class envy population to please the big corporations and increase revenue to themselves. Big corporations like complex tax codes and high corporate taxes because they can get special deals and loopholes that take a PhD in accounting to figure out. Something the average business doesn’t have access to. High corporate taxes keep the competition limited and the profits high.
Big business also loves regulation contrary to popular opinion because it adds more staffing burden to the medium and smaller companies. Also depending on the regulation it can create oligopolies like we have in the drug industry due to the cost and delays involved in getting drugs approved for the market. This creates high profits for the politically connected and to hell with competition. Cut corporate taxes to zero and the unemployment would disappear in six months if…
The federal government stops spending and borrowing money. The government is like a huge pig devouring all the capital from medium and small business. The federal government is 28% of the GDP and growing as opposed to 19% when Clinton was president. Do we need a Department of Education, Housing and god knows what they have hiding in Washington. Maybe its time to lay off some federal workers and shut down a few departments. We can’t afford it. We are broke.
You can change all the tax codes in the world but if the government hogs all the money you still won’t have a job. Stop spending, shrink government and pay down the debt. It’s that simple. Communism doesn’t work, we know that.
Who will challenge Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Evan Bayh (Ind.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Patty Murray (Wash.), and Russ Feingold (Wis.) who all could be booted from office in the fall?
It will be very interesting to see with the fall of the Mass. senate seat if they are still willing to stand by their man.
Don’t ya have to wonder how much metal is actually poured into each of these people? I have to wonder when survival kicks in or if these people just think they can survive walking a Progressive Plank.
Time for the Tea Party Group, Independents and Libertarians to start stepping to the plate.
Time to form a Tea PARTY?
The Republicans to date have no viable challengers to offer up … not to mention there is little difference between the 2 parties today.
We need new blood!
People who have the GUTS, ETHICS & MORALS to buck (over run and overide) the “established elitist smucks” who have wormed their way into the government core.
For Obama and crew to say it is business as usual?
Have they lost their minds?
Makes one think how much mind they had to start.
It is time to start charging with treason those trampling our constitution.
The outcome for TREASON use to be death.
It’s time we get back to our basic roots on some of these issues.
Those who love a socialist society have plenty of places to move. Those who love a fascist society there is always Cuba or Venezuela.
We wish you well … just don’t come back!
This was just sent my way by email. I do not care if it was a real doctor who wrote it to the President or not.
However it is true and was a “letter to the editor” in
August 29th Jackson, MS newspaper.
This president most likely would not care or pay attention anyway. Progressives are not looking out for the mass they are covering their butts while trying to make everyone think they really want to help and care.
I reprint this email here:
Dear Sirs:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as “Medicaid”! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.
And you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman’s health care? I contend that our nation’s “health care crisis” is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a “crisis of culture”, a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that “I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me”. Life is really not that hard. Most of us reap what we sow.
Don’t you agree?
STARNER JONES, MD
Jackson, MS
With the Scott Brown win in MA the writing is clearly on the wall saying the middle ground is pissed to the max.
Will team Obama, Reid and Pelosi be able to read and understand it?
Doubtful!
Others not quite ready to be led to the impending Democratic slaughter perhaps will take a second look.
A first look and discussion of the secret health care bill would help.
A little transparency perhaps?
I hope this MA upset will send a majority of these health care and cap’ntax supporters leaping overboard like rats abandoning a sinking ship. The question really is … how stupid are they really to continue the support?
Can anyone in Washington still question the intent of the mass and their dissatisfaction with the continued destruction of our economy?
I watched the Brown victory speech.
What I noted was the sincerity he projected.
Quite a stark contrast to what everyone called eloquence from the Obama inaugural address.
Personally I do not think Obama possesses a sincere bone in his body … other than when patting himself on the back for things he fantasizes he has done.