So, what is going on out there:

The housing bubble hangover, part 2

A booming ‘shadow inventory’ in the housing market is almost certain to bring another wave of falling prices and another round of Federal Reserve stimulus.

Mansion Foreclosures Surge

For those who think all is well again in the world of Richistan, consider the following statistic.

The percentage of $1 million-plus loans more than 90 days delinquent rose to 13.3% in February, half again as high as the 8.6% overall delinquency rate, according to First American CoreLogic, which tracks U.S. real estate and mortgages.

Bankruptcy filings on the rise

It’s tough out there — no jobs, home values plummeting — and Americans are reacting by heading to bankruptcy court.

Bankruptcy filings surged 14% during the first half of 2010, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. Filings totaled 770,117 through June, compared to 675,351 during the same period last year…

Vancouver home sales drop sharply

Vancouver’s housing market slowed considerably in June, with 30 per cent fewer sales than a year ago…

Orders to U.S. Factories Declined in May More Than Forecast

Orders placed with U.S. factories declined in May more than forecast, a sign that manufacturing may be starting to cool.

The 1.4 percent decrease in bookings was the biggest since March 2009…

Data Shows Growth in Asia May Be Slowing

In the latest signs that the rate of growth in the Asia-Pacific region is easing, the Australian central bank kept interest rates steady on Tuesday and a critical economic index in Japan slipped in May…

So, its not just doom-mongering – its just bad out there, and getting worse. And, remember, the data we’re seeing now is really mostly from a month or two ago – when things were supposed to be going splendidly with all the stimulus reaching peak effect. This was supposed to propel us to a stellar second quarter and then keep us all happy and prosperous through quarters three and four. Now, even optimists are talking of measly growth…while others are saying recession by early 2011.

Obamunism didn’t work. No surprise, as its model – FDR’s New Deal – also didn’t work. Learn this lesson if nothing else: THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO MONEY TO STIMULATE ANYTHING. There isn’t a magical money tree, no matter how often Bernanke adds another zero to the Fed’s balance sheet. Money has to be earned, saved and then invested – there are no short cuts. Though, as we found, if you’re willing to be idiots (and we have been, my brothers and sisters) then you can print and borrow your way in to quite an economic crisis…but, eventually, it all has to be paid for.

All we did with the stimulus was move money around from one set of bankrupt books to another. We manufactured some pretend economic growth and are paying for it with a mortgaged future. We staved off collapse for a year, maybe two. That’s all.

When we finally wake up and start thinking, then we have to realize that only hard work and the use of our labor and resources will do it for us. We have to make, mine and grow things – information technology and green jobs won’t do the trick. We’ll have to get our hands dirty, I am afraid.

I really hope we learn our lesson, this time.

Be interesting to see how this comes out – from OneNewsNow:

A California school district has decided in a 5-0 vote to adopt a Bible course that will be available to students in the upcoming school year.

Beginning this fall, high school seniors of the Chino Valley School District will have the chance to enroll in a new course called “Bible as/in Literature and History.”

Envisioned by the board’s Vice President James Na, the class will focus on giving students an understanding of the Bible’s influence in history, literature, religion and politics. It will offer a survey of the Bible, beginning with the historical context of the Old Testament, and then will focus on the New Testament later in the semester. It will also provide students with a historical knowledge of the Middle East…

Given that it is impossible to understand our civilization and our nation without an understanding of the Bible, this tends towards being a good thing – provided the material is dealt with properly. Things like this, when handed over to a public school, do run the risk of coming out badly. But, an honest attempt to instruct the kids on the facts of the Bible is a good thing – and that, in and of itself, will cause fits on the left.

The thing is, most of what the left teaches about what is in the Bible is outright falsehood or, at best, half truth. Actually instructing from it, as a text and even without getting in to the theology of it, “risks” (as it were) the kids getting exposed to Truth – and that is something the left is very intolerant of. They much prefer that the kiddies just get their nonsense about the Bible without ever checking it themselves to see what is what.

We’ll have to see if this (a) really goes forward and (b) if some group like the ACLU files a lawsuit. The times are really changing, however, and this might be a signal for all sorts of good things to come – maybe the kids will even learn American history.

Stranger things have happened.

Tyler Durden over at Zero Hedge nails it:

In case one is wondering why the House Democrats attached a document to the emergency war supplemental bill that “deemed as passed” a non-existent … budget, which basically allows the ruling party to start spending money for Fiscal Year 2011 without the constraint of an actual budget, here is the answer: on June 30, the US closed the books with just over $13.2 trillion in total debt, an increase of $210 billion in one month, or $2.5 trillion annualized. There is just $1.1 trillion left on the ceiling. As we have long been warning, at the current run rate, the ceiling will be breached in under six months, or just around November 2…

You catch that? We’re piling up debt at a rate of $2.5 trillion this year. No, this doesn’t mean that the deficit will be that large, but I bet it will be a heck of a lot larger than was projected early on – and that the 2011 deficit will astound the world. Right now, Democrats are just trying to fix things to last past November 2nd – no stock market crash, no unemployment above 10%. They’ve taken to hiding things as an expedient.

In the long run, I don’t know what they expect – anyone with any sense at all in Democrat ranks has to realize that the piper will have to be paid. There is not much left in the bag of tricks to mask the true state of affairs. There are rumors our there that the Federal Reserve will print a couple trillion more and buy up more bad assets – and that might put off the crash by 6 months or a year, but it only puts it off…and putting it off for a year from now means it hits a short 16 months before the voters judge Obama.

Its all become a rather sick joke, watching all this – one just sits back, laughs grimly and wonders how long they can keep the ball in the air.

Here’s the news report. The allegation from Holder’s racist and tyrannical “Justice” department is that the Arizona law violates the US Constitution. I’ve got $50 for anyone who can find me the provision of the US Constitution violated by Arizona’s law – here is the Constitution. Have at it.

I’ll be keeping my $50, of course – Holder’s claims are as bogus. The purpose of this exercise is to convince a segment of the hispanic population that only Democrats are on their side…and they’d better come out and vote Democrat in droves come this November. The laws of the United States are now conscripted to serve the needs of Obama and his Democrats.

Can’t get these cretins out of office fast enough…

UPDATE: RNC Chairman Michael Steele responds:

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement today:

“It is unfortunate that President Obama and his administration would rather wage a costly legal battle with Arizona than allow the state to take the concrete steps necessary to secure its border. Arizonans are fed up with waiting for the help promised by Washington that never seems to come. The state of Arizona has the right and the responsibility to provide security and stability for its citizens when the federal government fails to do so. Not only will a lawsuit not solve the problem, it is just another instance of hollow, political gamesmanship from a White House unwilling to take the bold action necessary to solve one of the country’s most pressing issues.”

Today is President George W. Bush’s birthday. Feel free to become a fan of his on Facebook and wish him a happy birthday directly.

And, if you haven’t done so yet, you can give to the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Religion of Peace Update.

Slander, 101.

$1,333,333.00: the cost of an Obamunism “green job”.

The rains in Spain may fall mostly on the plains, but the Spanish banks seem set to fall on their bad home loans.

Dogpile on the RNC Chairman: GOProud joins chorus for Steele’s resignation. I agree that his comments about Afghanistan were off the mark – but I’m not ready to go that route at this time.

More on RNC: Lowry opines on his plight.

What am I on about in economics? Here ya go.

Iowahawk strikes again – “When no one is looking, make non-profit organization profitable”

From the Washington Examiner:

…Case in point is Democratic Underground (aka DU), a liberal discussion forum started in 2001 that, up until recently, was united in its hatred for former president George W. Bush. But now that many Democrats have withdrawn their support of Obama, DU responded last week with regulations on how its users may express opinions about the current occupant of the Oval Office and Democrats generally.

It turns out Democratic Underground is a safe haven for all Democrats too faithful to their party to say anything beyond “constructive criticism” of Obama or other Democrats in office. The last thing they need is another voice telling them that maybe Obama should have factored hurricanes into the oil cleanup plans. Oh, and don’t you dare think about calling our president “Barry.”…

Barry would be proud – the kooks at DU now fully understand that with the Cult of Personality comes the Dictatorship of the (leftwing) Blogitariat.

DU is free to make whatever rules they like – freedom of speech does not mean that people can write whatever they want in blog comments. But I do recall the rather vile anti-Bush sentiments expressed at DU on a regular basis and it is a bit surprising that even mild criticism of Obama is being purged. You’d think they’d have tougher skins over there – I mean, once you’ve called the President a war criminal, any other sort of criticism directed at the Chief Executive becomes relatively mild. Even when we were Blogs for Bush, we allowed a wide range of criticism of President Bush to appear on the blog.

The true believers are hunkering down – getting in to mental bomb shelters, ever more disconnected from reality. It’ll make the November results all the more entertaining – always love it when liberals are shocked by election results.

So much for the DNC talking point that ObamaCare is getting more popular:

Sixty percent (60%) of voters nationwide favor repeal of the recently passed health care law, including 49% who Strongly Favor repeal.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 36% oppose repeal. That figure includes 24% who are Strongly Opposed…

The big question: is the GOP really listening? We need to actively campaign on a repeal of ObamaCare. Highlight its horrors and the corruption surrounding its passage, while offering a replacement which will actually put people in charge of their own health care. On this issue as on immigration, the conventional wisdom that the GOP should stay away is wrong – the people are not open to our views, but are actually marching far ahead of where the GOP plan is.

Liberalism thought it has won another 60 years of political dominance in 2008 – that was a crucial error. They could have got it, had they moderated their plans and worked with the center – but, they went flat out and have now discovered that the tilt to the left was in response to GOP failure, not support for liberal plans.

We have to hammer them – every day; liberalism is becoming political kryptonite again.

For all you non-Nevadans out there, we like her for the very reasons the left and the political elite hate her – George Will on Sharron Angle:

… when asked where she was born, she is on message: “I was conceived in Lovelock [Nevada] but — if you’re not pro-life — I was born in Klamath Falls [Oregon].” During her four terms in Nevada’s 42-seat Assembly, many votes were “41-to-Angle.” She wears as a badge of honor having been voted Nevada’s worst legislator, a disparagement she says is always bestowed on a conservative because the voters are members of the press and the political class (the legislators and their staff).

Her favorite legislators? U.S. Sens. Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann…

…Angle is somebody nobody sent. Nobody in the upper reaches of national or even Nevada politics, that is. But voters may not be finished sending her places.

We are entirely realistic. We know she’s not as smooth as Sue Lowden would have been. We know she’s taken controversial positions that we true-blue conservatives cheer but which some might misconstrue (especially with the left deliberately misrepresenting said positions). We know she’s inexperienced in the hammer-and-tongs electoral battle Reid will give her. We know she could lose whereas if we had voted for Lowden, it might have been a walk over.

And we don’t care about that.

She’s one of us. We know that if we get her in to the Senate, she’s going to remain loyal to the principles she proclaims and to the people who elected her. We expect that we’ll be throwing a political hand grenade in to the “collegial” (ie, “corrupt”) Senate. We want a pistol-packing, rural grandma who won’t roll over for career politicians.

And, we think she can win – and win rather handily. Obama and his Democrats claimed they were who we had been waiting for – Sharron Angle really is.

This campaign kinda writes itself, doesn’t it?