Here’s a story that is bound to bring a smile to Conservative faces: Progressive pizza shop that tried to pay fair wages (as defined by Progs) goes out of business. And, yes, reading it you can see the utter silliness of Progressive thinking. But what isn’t being noticed is, in my mind, the most important thing: the Progs are trying to gin up $15.00 an hour jobs out of $5.00 an hour jobs because they cannot see other types of jobs.
A Progressive sees things like “lawyer”, “professor”, “community organizer” and says, “hey, what great, well-paid jobs!”, while also realizing that not everyone is cut out to be such…but they have to do something, right? So, $15.00 an hour for making pizza. But is it any better on the right? Not really – most on the right also don’t see any jobs but the sort of jobs they know about…and if you can’t get them, well, to bad, so sad. This has the benefit of not stupidly believing that a pizza slicer can make $15.00 an hour, but it has the drawback of not having any sort of $15.00 an hour job for average folks out there. A bit of a shift in understanding is required.
In 2015 (the most recent year I can find any numbers on), the United States consumed 132.8 million metric tons of steel. In that same year, the United States produced 78.9 million metric tons of steel. Do the math and you can see we imported 53.9 million metric tons. The American steel industry has been operating for some years now at about 70% of capacity. What can we get from this?
1. We produce a lot of steel.
2. We can produce a lot more steel, even without building more plants.
3. We import a lot of steel.
4. Given how much we use, there is clearly a massive market for steel.
5. Given that we do produce quite a lot of it, we can make steel profitably.
So, if we use that much steel and we can make that much steel at a good enough profit to justify making steel, why do we import any steel, at all?
Right now, a steel worker makes a bit more than $20 an hour. Not a bad wage. Given that we import 40.58% of our steel, it stands to reason that we can employ a very large number of additional people making steel at $20.00 an hour. It also seems to me that figuring out a way to boost American steel production is a much better way to provide better wages than to either ignore the problem (as the right mostly does) or to demand that burger-flippers get paid near-steel industry wages (as the left stupidly demands). Do keep in mind, this is just talking about steel workers – but steel is made of things like iron and coal and a host of other materials that have to be produced, refined and shipped…all jobs that, also, pay more than burger flipping and which are clearly profitable industries in the United States because we already do them at a profit.
I’m sure the answer is varied for why we don’t. Our tax policies are insane. Our regulatory policies even more so. We allow foreign producers to dump their product on our market because our investor class has a vested interest in high profit margins on their overseas investments. We have environmentalists going nuts over any sort of productive activity. We have upper class twits who don’t want dirty industries anywhere near them. On and on like that – but we must cut that all out. If you want to see the future of America, think of it as 150 million welfare bums, hooked on drugs, sitting around while Progs “fight for 15” and Conservatives write another article about how great free trade is. Unless, that is, we find a way. Just do it – there’s a way to get the United States not only producing the 132.8 million tons of steel we use, but also exporting an additional 100 million tons. Don’t tell me it can’t be done – it can be done. It already is being done…and if it isn’t being done in sufficient volume to employ every single American in a well-paid job, then it is simply because we’re preventing it from happening.
Blogs For Victory 
I am just hoping to find a career in the handicapped minority transgendered lesbian sexual harassment therapy support industry.
One of the most profoundly offensive statements I’ve ever hear come out of a Liberal’s mouth is, “there are just some people who can’t handle freedom and don’t deserve it.” It was so long ago that I don’t remember who said it, just that it had an impact on how I feel about such people. And it doesn’t really matter who said it, as I’d wager the majority of Leftists subscribe to it. The Left feels much the same way about jobs. All they have to do to garner electoral support from those people who don’t have the mental or physical skills to perform a meaningful job is legislate an artificially high wage for people with no skills and no ambition. And, of course, the whole thing is a self-fulfilling prophesy in that the Left controls the education system that pumps such people out by the millions.
I think Mark is being a little overly critical on the progressive prescription for jobs. According to Nancy Pelosi, not only was the ACA going to create thousands of good paying jobs, it was also going to allow thousands more to quit their job and write poetry.
And now for your daily chuckle, I present famous Native American with high cheek bones Elizabeth Warren:
“Anyone wants to understand the difference between Democrats and Republicans – let me put it right here. One party in America thinks its OK to knock 25 million people off their health care coverage and run up health insurance rates for everybody else – and one party thinks health care is a basic human right.”
It’s about time AG Sessions did something positive or at least got credit for doing something positive.
I am surprised we haven’t heard about the past administrations unscrupulous behavior re: the IRS in any of the major media. Odd.
/sarc
Wasn’t there the same kind of illegal use of the IRS against political opposition during Bill Clinton’s terms? I don’t remember the details, and it kind of got lost in the echoing silence of the Complicit Agenda Media, but I seem to remember some very questionable investigations and audits by the IRS.
I think – guess, really – that there is more going on behind the scenes than we suspect. Trump does seem to have got a hammer lock on the leaks which plagued him early on. I note that most big decisions come out these days unheralded.
In the end, “lock her up” wasn’t something Trump could realistically start on January 20th. Bunch of reasons why, not least that Obama hold-overs were everywhere and would likely deliberately make a hash of any investigation. I’m wondering what we might see in a couple months…lots of things coming out, now, which form the basis for appointing a Special Counsel to, say, investigate all foreign influence in the United States…and that’s a catch-all which would lead to a lot of people (not all Democrats) going to jail.
I never had a problem with letting Trump and his people do housecleaning and lining up ducks in a nice row before taking any action.
Back to foreign influence in American politics. Johnny Huang, anyone? Buddhist nuns meeting with Al Gore? (On a taxpayer-funded trip, BTW) Chinese busboys donating tens of thousands of dollars? Panic in the White House as American intelligence agencies might be comparing notes on their various discoveries, leading to the infamous “wall” set up by Jamie Gorelick to prevent such agencies from sharing info. That whole Chinese election-funding thing never did get traction in the press, surprise surprise. But I’ll bet the Clinton success in keeping this under wraps led to a certain degree of confidence in Hillary, thinking she could pull it off, too.
Another theory I heard today is that, just perhaps, Mueller has an ounce of credibility…and if he’s going where the evidence leads him on Russian influence, it will wind up at Hillary’s door.
Hard to imagine Mueller having any credibility, regarding his leading an investigation into illegal or even suspect Russian activities, given his prior coverup of illegal Russian activities. Unless he had fully apprised Trump of his past and Trump went ahead with his appointment, I’d say Mueller has no credibility at all.
Mueller is nothing more than a deep state partisan – fire him. And as I type this, the MSNBC panelists are debating why Ted Cruz is not more offended by Trump’s attacks on his father. Mika wondered if “Cruz was even human and had any emotion”….. and such is the state of the progressive media. They have reduced themselves to emotionally charged 12 year old children. Unbelievable.
And Rep. Adam Schiff is quite possibly the worst person in America ….. with no neck.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/10/benghazi_liar_schiff_now_lies_about_uranium_one.html
Mika is a tool, led around by her emotions and unhampered by intelligence.
Intelligent people realized that the jab at Cruz’s father was a feint, an effort to get Cruz to respond. Cruz was too smart to fall for it. Mika, not so much.
What she, and her fellow Libs, crave is the cheap thrill they get from playing “Let’s you and him fight” while they sit back and hope for blood.
Speaking of tools…….Adam Schiff.
Schiff is quite possibly the most partisan hack politician currently in DC, and that’s saying a lot. I think Democrats are running scared. Everyone is now realizing that when Democrats control Washington – foreign countries, special interests, and the Clintons are the only ones who benefit.
More good news on the economic front. IIRC, Obama never had an entire year at or above 3% and only had a half dozen or so individual quarters at or above 3% in 8 years.
Bush II didn’t either. If it keeps going like this Trump will be as successful as Clinton.
I was wrong he did have 3.8 in 2004. But overall not so great.
And your point is…..?
That Bush was almost as bad as Obama?
Have you weighed the overall effect of the Bush years vs the Obama years? Or do you just like to do a quick, meaningless snapshot and then preen over what you think is a brilliant comment?
Or do you want to revisit the devastating impact of the Clinton-era regulations that led to, as in created, the housing bubble and its inevitable collapse? It’s been gone over so many times, one might think that even a dedicated Lefty like you would be a little leery of its specter rising once again, now that it has faded into the shadows, eclipsed by so many other Liberal disasters.
……a dedicated Lefty like you would be a little leery of its specter rising once again,
Leftists have no shame, no capacity to retain relevant information, nor the intelligence to critically analyze the issues. They are the modern day political equivalent of Pavlov’s dog. When the Democrats ring the bell, they emote.
You would think that as blatantly corrupt, dishonest, incompetent, and ineffective as the Democrat party has been over the last 10 years, that some of them might wake up …. but no. They are useless idiots.
I take that back, the Democrats in PA, WI, OH, etc. woke up last November and elected Trump, so not all is lost. Just Fielding
Cluster, you often point out insanity and vileness on the part of the Left. This is a great example of both: emphasis mine
………………..
An article published on the San Francisco Chronicle’s sister-site on Wednesday offers justification for the increased number of death threats to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, saying the threats “make a warped sort of sense.”
Mark Morford’s column was originally headlined, “Why do so many people want the E.P.A.’s Scott Pruitt Dead?” It goes on to answer that question.
“Shall we sum up? Scott Pruitt, the pallid, oily anti-environment corporate shill beloved by the least palatable humans in the corporate world, is getting a lot of death threats, up to five times more than any E.P.A. head in history.
They are, perhaps, coming from scientists. They are, perhaps, coming from environmental advocates, or teachers, or peace activists, or lovers of life and humanity and nature, or distraught mothers, worried that Pruitt’s actions will, quite correctly, endanger the lives of their children. They are, most likely, coming from Mother Nature.”
……………..
This shows both insanity and vileness. Morford seems to think it sane to allege that the actions of Pruitt “…will, quite correctly, endanger the lives of their children…” And he seems pretty comfortable with the vileness of thinking that threats to kill Pruitt “make a warped sort of sense”.
But this is not all we need to know about Morford, because when The One We Have All Been Waiting For was president, Morford was all about bleating sentiments of spirituality (though NOT that “coweringly religious” kind, of course…) and peace and love and a higher state of being. Such as, he hastens to inform us, the kind of super duper wonderfulness examplified by Obama, someone who could “help us evolve”, someone who speaks “not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul”.
Now if the name Mark Morford sounds vaguely familiar, you might remember him for the viral “Obama is an enlightened being” column that was passed around quite a bit on the right.
“Here’s where it gets gooey. Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul.”
Mark’s evolution to a higher spiritual being doesn’t seem to be going so well. Unless the outcome of the evolution is supposed to be hating your political opponents based on some New Age beliefs.
But that too is the left. The real left. The one you don’t see on TV. The one that doesn’t show its face in public.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/268249/obama-lightworker-columnist-returns-defend-calls-daniel-greenfield
So loony, on so many levels, but on all of them reeking of that uniquely Leftist combination of smugness and hatred.
As the regulars here know, I’m generally not one to make predictions of a political nature, but, IIRC, when the Russia collusion meme ramped up following the election, I said the Democrats should be careful what they wish for. At the time I think it was probably more wishful thinking on my part than prognostication, but that doesn’t make the direction things seem to be going any less satisfying.
I remember your take on that Spook, and these are the pitfalls for those who “doth protest too much”.
I feel like I live in an alternate universe than the one the media and the establishment occupy. Here is an exchange between David Gergen and Anderson Cooper re: possible indictments by Mueller:
COOPER: “David, how serious is this for the Trump Administration?”
GERGEN: “Well, it certainly looks like the dam is starting to break now, Anderson, after a long while. I think we’re going to be in expense suspense over the next couple of days until we know exactly what charges are. If the charges relate to collusion or conspiracy against the United States, as Carl just pointed out, or if they’re about money laundering, that’s going to send a shudder through the warehouse. Because what that would suggest is: two things, first of all, the president has been wrong there’s nothing to this. There’s actual probable cause to believe in Mueller’s mind that in fact crimes were committed. And in that zone — and there’s much better chance of flipping somebody if that’s — if that’s the area where the evidence has taken them.
“On the other hand, if you say it’s a Manafort and he’s indicted for some illegal money trafficking he had personally some time ago, that suggests they got very little on the question of collusion and on money laundering. I think a lot depends on what charges are, as in addition to. If it’s money laundering or if it’s collusion I think Jeffrey and Carl are right. There’s going to be a big effort to flip whoever it is that’s indicted.”
Conspiracy against the United States? Do you mean like arranging a deal where large amounts of cash are given to a private foundation and an ex president in exchange for 20% of our countries uranium stock?
Collusion? Do you mean coordinating with a foreign government to compile manufactured information damaging to a POTUS candidate?
Illegal money trafficking? Do you mean funding the DNC via the Podesta Group?
Mueller is a hack. A partisan hack. An empty suit. He has zero credibility as does Gergen and Cooper, and folks if the Clinton’s and their cabal which include Mueller, Comey, Lynch, Powers, Rice, Obama, etc., get away with the crimes they have committed, we may need to all take up arms against this government.
And I think we all remember the incompetent partisan slave Comey preening in front of the podium as he detailed all of the illegal and deceptive actions taken by Hillary Clinton as it pertained to her use of a private server and email system, and then concluded that “no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges”. For Christ’s sake, she LIED to the FBI on several occasions.
If those are not prosecutable charges, then nothing is. The establishment and the media all need to be torn down. Time to cleanse.
“…a shudder through the warehouse…”? “…conspiracy against the United States…”? Huh? In what way, even in the deepest bowels of the fever swamp, could an effort by Trump, even if proved, to find dirt on Hillary be construed as ….conspiracy against the United States…” even if he used Russian sources? There was a record of Hillary working with Russia, from the embarrassing “RESET” fiasco to Russian donations to the Clinton Foundation to Bill suddenly getting half a million dollars an hour to speak in Russia (and by the way meeting personally with Putin) to the uranium deal and so on. If you want to learn dirt about people, you talk to people they have done business with. Duh.
But Hillary Clinton is not “the United States”. She is just a politician, a corrupt and dishonest politician. I know the fawning Left see an attack on her as an attack on the nation, but that’s because they are stupid.
These people are so caught up in their own befuddlement they don’t seem to even try to make sense any more. This is such a circular, chaotic mess of words it is hard to figure out what he is trying to say, other than to come down on all possible sides of the issue while trying to sound profound.
Anyone else notice how the news cycle changes, sometimes turning on a dime? Throughout the summer the anarchist, BLM, Antifa movements were in the news daily. The last couple months, not so much. I was curious, so I Googled “are BLM and Antifa movements dying down?” Check out the dates of the last articles on the subject.
That’s because it’s not a news cycle. It’s a leftist agenda masquerading as news. If it were truly news, we would be hearing about the 3% GDP growth, the downturn in illegal immigration, the destruction of ISIS, and Catalonia wanting independence for starters.
Re: Antifa, BLM, etc., I think those movements have been discarded by the ruling elite already having served their purpose. Anyone who actually thought the ruling class cared about black lives, or anti fascism, is a fool. Those movements were manufactured and designed to disrupt, divide, and create a chaotic environment and uncertainty. The left feeds off of chaos. “Never let a crisis go to waste.”
Here’s the reality behind the media. I knew there had been significant consolidation in the last 20-30 years, but had no idea it was this dramatic.
Holy Smokes. That’s a media establishment that is actually more dangerous than the political establishment. They have just as large of a bully pulpit and are unelected. Yikes!
I didn’t know the numbers but the effect has been clear for a long time now. That is why I refer to the Complicit Agenda Media—they are no more mainstream than Antifa, just more insidious.
And yes, “media” is THEY. Plural. A medium, such as radio, IS. Media ARE.
How does this guy still have a job???
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin used every Democratic buzzword in the book to dismiss the mounting revelations about the Clintons and Russia.
Why in the world would anyone even give him even 2 seconds worth of attention?
http://dailycaller.com/2017/10/27/toobin-dismisses-clinton-scandal-with-democratic-talking-points-video/?utm_campaign=thedcmainpage&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social
Why in the world would anyone even give him even 2 seconds worth of attention?
Someone whose very existence revolves around confirmation bias? Just a guess.
The desire for independence and autonomy is spreading like a wild fire:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/872311/Catalonia-referendum-Spain-independence-European-Union-map-autonomy
People around the globe are wanting more accountable and local governance and this is a movement desperately needed at a time when the global elites are doing everything they can to centralize power. Carpe diem
Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia will take down a memorial marking the pew where Washington sat with his family, saying it is not acceptable to all worshipers.
“The plaques in our sanctuary make some in our presence feel unsafe or unwelcome,” leaders said, a reference to the fact that Washington was a slaveholder.
“Some visitors and guests who worship with us choose not to return because they receive an unintended message from the prominent presence of the plaques.”
Yet these same people over look the human trafficking and sex slave trade that results from open border policies. They also fail to acknowledge the personal enslavement that many minority inner city children are trapped in as a direct result from progressive Democrat policies. And I also recall an article I read the other day stating that slavery world wide is at an all time high. But don’t let facts get in the way of virtue signaling.
Misplaced anger and ignorance sums up the progressive movement.
Wow. Seeing a plaque with the name of our first president on it makes someone feel “unsafe”?
An “unintended message”? If there is any message associated with the plaque, it is that the father of our nation believed in God and the value of worship, and we all know how offensive that is.
You nailed it, Cluster, when you identified the hypocrisy and stupidity of these fragile people, who can get all twitchy about a name on a plaque but continue to support and enable programs and policies that continue forms of slavery on into the 21st century.
Maybe the spineless appeasers of this church ought to just shut it down and close the doors, as its very EXISTENCE is “not acceptable” to many.
And I wonder just how many “visitors and guests…choose not to return” because they get the heebie-jeebies from being in a place where our first president once worshiped. I have a feeling the real number is really close to zero, but it’s a lie that can’t be proven false so it stands. I guess the real question is how many actual members of the church feel. Shouldn’t they be the ones whose voices count, not some transient troublemaking snowflake activists?
I wonder how many “visitors and guests” attend services at the church precisely BECAUSE of the knowledge that Washington worshiped there. I guess they don’t count.
I can’t imagine it as a place where Christian dogma is honored.