Obamunism! Confidence Drops Like a Rock

Mark Noonan5 Comments

From Gallup:

Americans’ economic confidence plunged to -53 in the week ending Aug. 7, a level not seen since the recession days of March 2009. This deterioration coincided with the final wrangling over the U.S. debt ceiling and Standard and Poor’s downgrade of the United States’ debt rating. Economic confidence is now far worse than the -43 of two weeks ago and the -34 of a month ago.

The 429 point gain by the Dow was the theater of the absurd…and it’ll be back down soon because, let’s face it, the Fed keeping interest rates as near zero for two more years is an admission that the recession will last at least two more years.  The people are right about this – the economy is bad, and getting worse.

The Big Government Failure – California Edition

Mark Noonan26 Comments

From Bloomberg:

California faces “drastic” cuts to universities, schools and social programs if revenue continues to trail budget forecasts, the state controller said after July collections fell short by about 10 percent.

A series of “triggers” written into the most-populous state’s $86 billion general-fund budget would cut spending on universities, home care for seniors and the disabled, libraries and other programs if revenue falls $1 billion short of plan. A $2 billion gap would mean a seven-day cut in the school year and an end to busing subsidies…

The reason I bring this up is to point out that Big Government always gets it wrong.  When faced with having to cut spending or pretending that enough money will come in, Big Government will invariably opt for pretending…or, lying, if you want to be strictly accurate.  We here in Nevada have the same problem – though on a much smaller scale – where our budget was “balanced” because we’re pretending that we’ll have a big increase in revenues (anyone driving around Las Vegas can see that we’ll be lucky if revenues don’t crash through the floor…things are just lousy out here, and Las Vegas accounts for the majority of Nevada’s revenues).  We also have this problem – on a much larger scale – nationally, where our recent budget deal was predicated upon projections of revenue which are laughably optimistic (remember, official projections are based upon official data which indicates we are officially in economic recovery mode).  This means that, just like California, we can expect revenues to fall short of what we predict, and thus we’ll have a larger deficit than expected.

The dishonesty of Big Government is endemic – there is nothing it can do but lie because the basic concept is false.  You can’t make the majority – or even a large minority – of people happy, free, safe and prosperous if you are trying to do it by government action.  You can certainly enrich a Ruling Class of politicians and their crony-capitalists, but you can’t do anything worthwhile for most of the people.

This is because no government, no matter how well disposed, can ever figure out what people need, nor what people want.  Government can play a role in assisting people who have determined, on the local level, what they need but they can’t command results from on high.  There just isn’t – and never can be – sufficient knowledge for such results.  The lies we see in the budgeting process are just one part of it…you can also see it every time some Big Government booster speaks of a grand plan.  Remember, we have a Department of Education because our education was bad in the 70’s and the Department was supposed to figure out what education needed and wanted and fix everything up.  How has that worked out?   Just apply that same standard to all Big Government activities and you’ll get the same result.

Dismantling the beast of Big Government is a necessity – it is the only way we can restore freedom and prosperity in our nation.  And the sooner we get at it, the better.

Poll: Majority Against Obama’s Re-election

Mark Noonan27 Comments

From USA Today/Gallup:

…a majority of Americans, 51%, say President Obama doesn’t deserve re-election; 47% say he does…

Not a good sign for a man seeking re-election.  And do click on the above link for a State-by-State breakdown of Obama’s approval rating.  Here’s the important bits:

Obama’s approval is at 53% in California; 52% in Minnesota; 54% in Vermont…and only 54% in Illinois!

If the election were held today, Obama would be crushed…now, is it likely to get better, or worse, for him by November of next year?

Recall Day in Wisconsin (Bumped)

Mark Noonan55 Comments

Forgot about that, huh?  Well our corrupt union bosses and assorted lefties didn’t – and today is the day when the long-suffering people of Wisconsin will decide if the left gets crushed or is given a mild reprieve.  If the GOP retains its Wisconsin Senate majority by even one seat, then that is a gigantic loss to the left, which has poured body and soul in to this effort.  If the GOP loses the majority, then it will be a minor set back for us and will be a tonic for the left.

It won’t, however, alter the dynamic.  This is the offest of off-year elections and, as I said, the left has been pouring it on.  Turnout will be key, and it is a complete mystery as to who will actually show up to vote.  There is some polling out there and from what I’ve read, most of it shows the GOP hanging on to the majority, with at 1 or 2 seat loss.  If, after a  massive effort, the Democrats come up short, it will demonstrate conclusively that their brand is fatally damaged, much as the GOP brand was by August of 2005…but even a win for the Dems here won’t be any sort of indicator that the left is resurgent…they will have won, by extreme effort, a narrow victory in a State long friendly to their views.

UPDATE:  Over at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey notes that Democrats have downgraded their expectations….from a “six for six” sweep to a hope to win “two or three”.  The news last night that Walker’s reforms will save Milwaukee a bag of money couldn’t have come at a worse time for liberals…essentially, the liberals of Wisconsin are fighting against that and in favor of the sort of policies which resulted in our debt downgrade.

UPDATE II:  As of 8:57 pm Pacific, the GOP has held three, the Democrats have taken two…the last race to be called will decide the Senate majority…or perhaps not; if the Democrats win tonight, they still have two up for recall next week and the GOP would have to win only one of them to regain the Senate majority if they lose it by one tonight.

At best, the left will have spent $20 million to win three State legislative seats; and a win which will in no way alter the dynamic of 2012.  Good job, lefties!

UPDATE III:  Hot Air reports that of the total votes cast tonight, the GOP has won by 52% to 48%…these same districts were carried by Obama 53% to 46%.

UPDATE IV:  Twitter reports indicate the GOP has won four of the six and thus retains Senate majority.  Not confirmed … but as Donks are already screaming voter fraud, we can call it “almost confirmed”.

UPDATE V:  From what I can tell, though the AP refuses to report it, the GOP has, indeed, won four of the six…and it would be just double extra cool if we beat the two Democrats next week.

The Government-Subsidized Riot

Mark Noonan71 Comments

At least one leftist is understanding what is happening in Britain:

…This is not a political rebellion; it is a mollycoddled mob, a riotous expression of carelessness for one’s own community. And as a left-winger, I refuse to celebrate nihilistic behaviour that has a profoundly negative impact on working people’s lives…

…There is one more important part to this story: the reaction of the cops. Their inability to handle the riots effectively reveals the extent to which the British police are far better adapted to consensual policing than conflictual policing. It also demonstrates how far they have been paralysed in our era of the politics of victimhood, where virtually no police activity fails to get followed up by a complaint or a legal case. Their kid-glove approach to the rioters of course only fuels the riots, because as one observer put it, when the rioters ‘see that the police cannot control the situation, [that] leads to a sort of adrenalin-fuelled euphoria’. So this street violence was largely ignited by the excesses of the welfare state and was then intensified by the discombobulation of the police state. In this sense, it reveals something very telling, and quite depressing, about modern Britain.

The only thing left out is my contention that the British people have resigned the right of self defense.  Swaddled in the welfare State, set upon by professional gripe-mongers, oppressed by political correctness and disarmed by law, the British people are just sheep for the slaughter…complete victims whenever the barbarians decide to strike.  If they tried this in the United States, there would be return fire – and in most jurisdictions, the law would back the honest citizens in the use of force.  Can anyone seriously imagine this sort of thing going on in, say, Texas?

This is the perfect storm of welfare and Big Government…some people so mollycoddled (excellent word, that) that they just don’t care how much they destroy; figuring it is their right to take what they want (all that class warfare talk does have an effect, ya dig?) and that the government (which owes them, right?) will fix it all up.  On the other side, people who still retain a sense of decency stand aside and let the rioters destroy because they’ve been conditioned to think that law enforcement is a matter only for the police; they have forgotten that the police are delegated by the people to defend the community, but the actual defense of the community lies with the people.

The only way out of this is for some citizen of Britain to shoot a rioter, and then have a jury refuse to convict.  That would save Britain…anything else will just be a band aid on a dying society.

Sarah Palin Proves She’d be a Better President

Mark Noonan35 Comments

A long article on her Facebook page says all that needs to be said – do read the whole thing.  Here’s the crux of the matter regarding our debt:

… we need to get serious about our deficit. No more accounting gimmicks. No more cuts in “out-years” that never materialize. The permanent political class in D.C. might be fooling themselves with these Enron-like accounting games, but they’re not fooling the world’s capital markets. And we don’t need any more happy talk from the White House about “investing” in solar shingles and really fast trains. The White House shouldn’t even bother floating these new spending programs. We can’t afford them. Period. We need to stop this deficit spending, balance our budget, repeal Obamacare, cancel all unused stimulus funds, and reform our entitlement programs. We have to have an adult conversation about our spending commitments; circumstances have changed, and we must adapt. I know none of this will be easy, but, “thick” or not, the average American outside the D.C. politico bubble knows that we no longer have a choice! We will have entitlement reform and a balanced budget; it’s just a matter of how. We can do it ourselves in a calm, methodical, and responsible manner, or we can wait for the world’s capital markets to ram it down on us. Let’s be responsible and do it ourselves. And let’s get serious about reducing the size of government across the board and rooting out waste. How many more reports (that today are destined to merely gather dust on the shelf) do we need about duplicative and unnecessary programs before we actually do something about government waste?…

The whole thing is clear and concise and lays out the problem – fearlessly stating truths that Obama turns away from.  Obama would prefer to carp about “millionaires and billionaires” and have his minions try to make “TEA Party downgrade” go viral…but a real President will face the facts and propose changes which will solve the problem.

I don’t know if Sarah Palin will run – but if she does and obtains the nomination she’ll beat Obama in a landslide for the simple fact that she tells the truth and Obama doesn’t.

The Obama Downgrade

Mark Noonan27 Comments

Instapundit has a small round up of disappointment among liberals about Obama, and has this to say:

It’s as if, in some sort of national spasm of carelessness and self-deceit, we elected a guy entirely unqualified by experience or personal characteristics to the single most important office in the land, to serve during a period of unusual troubles that he was not equipped to address.

And now liberals are starting to realize that things aren’t getting better and that Obama will be their standard-bearer in 2012.  They’ve already lost the House, lost massively at the State level and will probably lose the Senate next year…and Obama is the guy who will symbolize the whole party.  This is not looking good for our liberals.

To be fair to Obama, a President McCain may have made a lot of mistakes, too.  McCain might also have bought the siren song of government spending and money printing.  But there is this difference we can see – McCain is a man of long experience in practical affairs and would have seen by the end of 2010 that it wasn’t working…that something different needed to be tried, and having a fund of conservative and libertarian beliefs, he would have opened his mind to those who proposed a different course.  Obama can’t do that – he lacks the knowledge to see an alternative to the liberal worldview he imparted in college.  It may well be that Obama has never read a single, conservative book; that he’s never listened to a conservative thinker; his whole idea of us might really be summed up in his “bitter clingers” remark…and you don’t go to “bitter clingers” in search for ideas.  But where do you go, then, when your liberal ideas have failed?

This triumph of hope over experience we had in 2008 is now on auto-pilot.  Incapable of changing course for lack of intellectual ability to see a different course, it is only concerned with the mechanics of re-election…give a speech, have a fund-raiser; lather, rinse, repeat.  There will be no change until after the election – rumor has it that Bernanke might print up a bag of money to sustain the market (that is why it is up to much so early)…and so complete collapse might hold off for a while, perhaps even until after the election.  So, this may be it – Obama is downgraded – from “Hope and Change” to “Prolonged Situation” and we get to keep our fingers crossed that nothing bad happens for 15 months, because we’ve got a President who is incapable of dealing with it.

 

Gold Hits $1,750 an Ounce

Mark Noonan1 Comment

From Bloomberg:

Gold futures exceeded $1,750 an ounce for the first time as the global rout in equities and commodities deepened on concern the economic slowdown will worsen after Standard & Poor’s cut the U.S. credit rating.

Gold for December delivery in New York advanced 2.5 percent to a record $1,756.80 an ounce and traded at $1,752.60 at 1:17 p.m. in Melbourne. Immediate-delivery gold rose as much as 2 percent to $1,754.63, also an all-time high…

Meanwhile, the Asian markets are getting slaughtered (Hong Kong was down more than 7% at one point, but it has bounced back a bit), while London looks for a bad day, partially fueled by the increasingly out of control riots.

What will happen tomorrow?  Beats the heck out of me…could be that stocks will surge a bit as some people figure they’re beat down enough and its time to buy.  Could be that Bernanke will announce right at market opening that he’s firing up the printing presses.  Could be that it drops another 500 points in the first hour.  We’ll have to just see.  But as I keep saying – even if we dodge this bullet, we won’t dodge them all…the crash is coming, because there is simply too much debt.

Riots in Britain

Mark Noonan34 Comments

From Reuters:

Rioting and looting spread across London on Monday as hooded youths set buildings and cars ablaze, smashed shop windows and hurled bottles and stones at police in a third night of violence in Britain’s worst unrest in decades.

Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his holiday to fly home to tackle the violence, which appeared to be led by youths alienated by years of underemployment which left them feeling marginalized even before the economic downturn…

Marginalized youth?  Certainly – but also a civilization which has lost the will to defend itself.  70 years ago the people of London would have known what to do with people who – regardless of grievance – are really just using the incident as cover for a rampage of looting…they would have beaten them down.

It would be different if these people were trying to do something – if, that is, they were trying to conduct a revolution.  Overthrow Parlaiment, set up a Republic…heck, re-establish absolute monarchy.  Something, anything…but all they are doing is burning things and stealing.  And the Brits are just wringing their hands over it…and even if the British people wanted to do something about it, they really can’t:  Britain’s gun control laws have ensured that if ever some thousands of people want to loot and pillage, there is no way for the citizenry to stop them.

It is such a sad end for a once-great nation.  Keep it in mind – and don’t let it happen here.