Can’t Keep Their Story Straight

Two headlines, both from Bloomberg:

Crude Oil Trades Near Two-Day High on U.S. Economy, European Debt Optimism

Asian Stocks Decline on U.S. Economic Concern

And I generally have a lot of respect for Bloomberg’s economic reporting – but, come on!  Which is it?  Are people optimistic or pessimistic?

Honestly, I think it is ultimately a matter of no one really knowing for sure – theories say it should be this, reality is starting to show that it is quite different.   We’re all just waiting at this point – will they pull a rabbit out of the European hat?  Will China manage a soft landing?  Will the US debt be brought under control?  Or does it even matter at this point?  Have things got to a point where no matter what we do, pain is in our future?

I’m of that last view – I don’t think we can avoid some really rough times.  The best we can do with some wisdom and grit is make them bearable while we clear out the mess.  Maybe I’m wrong, but when you get a respected news source with headlines at such variance – and posted just 31 minutes apart – you can be sure that something is screwed up somewhere.

The Right to Work: A Fundamental Freedom

Now when you hear the words “Right to Work”, what comes to mind?

The right to work at any job no matter what age, sex, race, religion, etc. etc.?  Or, as to the liberals, the right to work as long as you belong to a union?

Well it seems to our “friends” in Washington (who claim to want to create jobs) may stop job creation in South Carolina, a Right to Work state.  South Carolina protects workers’ rights not to join a union nor to financially support a union (and their political cronies in Washington).

Boeing is a great American company.  Recently it built a SECOND production line for its 787 Dreamliner aircraft in South Carolina, creating over 1000 jobs there so far.  The other production line is in Washington State.  But the National Labor Relations Board, created in 1935, has taken exception to this decision by Boeing.  Washington state does not support the workers’ rights as does South Carolina.  The general counsel of the NLRB, on behalf of the International Association of Machinists union, has issued a complaint against Boeing, which, if successful, would require it to move its South Carolina operation back to Washington State.  This favorable decision (to the unions) would be an unprecedented act of intervention by the federal government that would appear on its face “un-American”.  But it is an act long in the making, and boils down to a fundamental misunderstanding of freedom.  What is it called when the government controls the means of production?  But I digress…..

It cannot be overemphasized that compulsory unionism violates the first principle of the original labor union movement in America.  Samuel Gompers, founder and first president of the AFL wrote that the labor movement was “based upon the recognition of the sovereignty of the worker”.  Officers of the AFL, he explained in the American Federationist, can “suggest” or “recommend”, but the “cannot command one man in America to do anything”.

Just after WWI, Gompers opposed various government mandates being considered in the capitals of industrial states like Massachusetts and New York that would have mandated certain provisions for manual labors and other select groups of workers: “The workers of America adhere to voluntary institutions in preference to compulsory systems which are held to be not only impractical but a menace to their rights, welfare and their liberty.

Fortunately, there are signs that voters are recognizing the negative consequences of compulsory unionism.  As we have seen in Wisconsin and Ohio, the state legislators have revoked compulsory powers of government union bosses.  Furthermore, the NLRB’s blatantly political and unconstitutional power play with regard to Boeing’s SC plant is sure to strike fair-minded Americans as what it is – a blatant power grab and its ability to determine where private companies can locate.  The attempts by the pResident and the Democrat Congess (before 2010 elections) at passing card-check and eliminating the unionizing secret ballot was another attempt at grabbing power for their special interest group cronies.

All American workers in all 50 states should be granted the full freedom to associate and not to associate in the area of union membership.

Mmmmm, Toasted Obama: My Favorite!

From James Pethokoukis at Reuters in response to Goldman Sachs lowering GDP projections:

…Alarms bells must be ringing all over Obamaland today. Unemployment on Election Day about where it is right now? Sputtering — if not stalling — economic growth? To many Americans that would sound like the car is back in the ditch — if it was ever out. Maybe Goldman is wrong, but economists across Wall Street have been growing more bearish.

And recall that back in August of 2009, the White House — after having a half year to view the economy and its $800 billion stimulus response — made an astoundingly optimistic (PDF) forecast. Starting in 2011, with Obamanomics fully in gear and the recession over, growth would take off. GDP would rise 4.3 percent in 2011, followed by … 4.3 percent growth in 2012 and 2013, too!  And 2014? Another year of 4.0 percent growth. Off to the races, America…

Do take a look at that “astoundingly optimistic” White House forecast – as far as Obama and Co were concerned, the stimulus was going to get us rip roaring in to boom economic times.  It is all there – carefully laid our projections about how wonderful things were going to be.  I can only guess that they really believed it – after all, they were being rather arrogant in their assumptions of 2012 victory back there when questions first arose about the effects of the stimulus.  Only people who really believed in it could have looked at the 2010 data and assumed that 2011 would have 4.3% GDP growth (if we’re lucky – very lucky – we’ll see official growth at 2.5% for the year 2011; which is not nearly enough to get things rolling).  The big question:  do they still believe it?

As Pethokoukis notes at the end of his article, there is still a very short time left for Obama to change course and have a chance at a reasonably good economy for election day, 2012.  But I mean he’d really have to move fast – in the next few weeks we’d have to see serious proposals to cut the tax and regulatory burden on wealth creation for it to have a noticeable positive effect by election day.  Wait until the end of August and it will be too late – the good news would start to roll in around January of 2013, just as we’re swearing in President Bachmann.  But if they are still retaining their faith in the stimulus, then they’ll do nothing and just cross there fingers that some how, some way, what has thus-far failed will start to work in an astounding manner over the next 15 months.

And if that is the case, then the good news is that Obama won’t be re-elected – the bad news is that the economy will be very much worse before we get rid of him.

 

Race Card, Bottom of the Deck: Democrats as Usual

We’re all just raaaaacists for arguing with Obama:

 

For 80 years we’ve watched liberalism slowly bankrupt our nation; now it is crunch time and we must cut spending to save ourselves.  This is just something that happens, and happened while our President happens to be black.  Wouldn’t matter if it was President Hillary up there (though I guess we’d be seeeeexist at that point).

This is a sad, desperate attempt to fire up the liberal base for 2012…poll after poll shows sagging support among the left for the President.  It isn’t that these people will vote GOP in 2012, but they might well decide to stay home…not only costing Obama the White House, but causing down-ballot Democrats to lose, as well.  Pulling out the race card is a sure-fire method of getting liberal foot soldiers back in to the battle…because, remember, your typical white liberal is wracked by guilt.  Figuring that “white privilege” is the source of their wealth and well-being, they are easily swayed by accusations of racism.  This may well help perk them up and get them donating and volunteering again, lest those evil, racist, sexist, homophobic Republicans win.

We can expect a lot more of this as 2012 comes in – and in rising hysteria if Obama’s poll numbers continue to crater.

Obama’s Fat Cat Donors Come Through

The Billion Dollar Man is making his way – and selling himself completely.  From Politico:

About 40 percent of President Barack Obama’s record-breaking $86 million second-quarter fundraising haul came from big-money bundlers, according to a POLITICO analysis of donors listed on Obama’s campaign web site.

No fewer than 27 mega-bundlers managed to collect at least $500,000 for a joint account run by Obama’s 2012 campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

That exclusive circle included marquee fundraisers like Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Hollywood titan Jeffrey Katzenberg, DNC treasurer/personal finance guru Andrew Tobias and former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who was CEO of Goldman Sachs before entering politics.

That group chipped in a minimum of $13.5 million, according to records. In addition, $21.4 million was bundled in amounts of between $50,000 and $499,000…

Thank goodness Obama is fighting for the poor and middle class; if that weren’t the case, all this millionaire and billionaire money would be worrisome.  And we know he’s going after the millionaires and billionaires because he says so – whenever he talks taxes, he’s sure to mention that millionaires and billionaires must pay their fair share.  So, it is amazing that the millionaires and billionaires keep coming through for him…I mean, after all, Obama is promising to tax them more.  In fact, his proposals for taxation always call for hitting those millionaires and billionaires who make more than $250,000.00 per year….

Hey, wait a minute…how many years would you have to work to become a millionaire at $250,000.00 a year?  Four years…if you didn’t spend a dime on anything.  And how many to become a billionaire?  Four thousand years…  You know, now that I think about it, it seems kind of strange that Obama would say a millionaire makes $250,000.00 a year…and downright stupid to think that a billionaire makes that much.  Could it be…?  No!  It couldn’t be that!  It couldn’t be that all Obama is doing is talking about taxing the rich while really taxing the middle class and that is why the millionaires and billionaires are pouring money in to his campaign.  That couldn’t be the case, could it?

To a Liberal, Taxation Is About “Fairness”

If you try engaging in a conversation about taxes with a liberal, you can expect for your conversation to last less than one minute.  This is because the only argument that liberals have about raising taxes is “fairness”.

I just can’t shake this idea that the purpose of taxation is to raise the revenue that is needed to fund the essential and constitutionally appropriate functions of government.  The looting left goes much further with this.  They view the power to tax – the power to seize property from an individual citizen at the point of a gun – as the power to reorder a free society to their ideas and desires.  This is why these social engineers will always start bleating about “fairness” When “progressives” (liberals afraid to call themselves “liberals”) start talking about “fairness”, what small chance you had for a rational discussion is gone, finished and out the window.

Two points:

#1: What is considered “fair” and who gets to define it? 

What would you consider fair?  Most liberals cannot tell you how much the evil rich earn compared to what they pay in taxes.  The answer, by the way, is that the top 1% of taxpayers earn about 20% of the income, yet they pay close to 40% in taxes.  Doesn’t matter.  To your friendly neighborhood “progressive”, that just isn’t enough.  And the fact that almost 51% of wage earners pay no federal income taxes at all?  Is this considered fair?  Should these people be getting a completely free ride?  A liberal will probably stutter and stammer and try to avoid answering the question.  So you give them a break.  “Progressives” also can’t give you specific number on how much the evil rich need to pay in order for our tax system to be fair.  They are just certain that it is more than they’re paying now.  And never forget — it is not for you to determine just how much money you can earn and keep.  That’s up to the government.  Remember that is was our Dear Ruler who said, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”

During obAMATEUR’s press conference earlier in the week, we heard one of the most absurd and dangerous quotes I’ve ever heard from a president.  Here’s the quote:

I do not want, and I will not accept, a deal in which I am asked to do nothing, in fact I’m able to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income that I don’t need, while a parent out there who is struggling to send their kid to college suddenly finds that they’ve got a couple thousand dollars less in grants or student loans.

Asked to do nothing?  Oh .. I see.  So we’re all supposed to be sitting around just waiting for our orders from the Imperial Federal Government.  “What do you want me to do today, Dear Ruler?”  The fact is that the best thing any citizen can do is to strive to be a self-reliant and independent citizen who is NOT running to the federal government for help every day of their life.

But let’s discuss this “I’m able to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income that I don’t need.”    “ABLE TO KEEP?”  Are you kidding me?  That amazing statement belies a belief that everything obAMATEUR – or any other citizen earns for that matter – actually belongs to the government, and it is the political class and government bureaucrats who will decide just how much of those earnings each individual will be “ABLE TO KEEP”.  It is these looters’ belief that your wealth is to be determined by government, not by your own initiative, hard work and good decision-making.  Consider the “DON’T NEED” part of obAMATEUR’s statement.  WHO gets to decide how much of what you earn you “NEED”?  Can anyone make that choice except you?  Well, not in a free society.  But this is the obAMATEUR Society, where government knows how much you have earned, then decides what you “NEED” and then determines what you will be “ABLE TO KEEP”.

Karl Marx would be so proud of Barack Obama.  While obAMATEUR is not a true Marxist, he has Marxist beliefs and leanings.  (The drones will latch on to this one!!! …and ignore everything else.)

#2: Increasing taxes does not mean increasing revenue. 

And the converse is true as well; decreasing taxes does not necessarily mean a decrease in revenue.  The history books show countless examples of tax revenues increasing when tax rates decline (Kennedy did it).   Let’s just take the Bush tax cuts as an example.  These liberals love to scream aboutthe Bush tax cuts costing us billions of dollars!  The fact is that revenues actually increased after the Bush tax cuts went into effect in 2003.  The Heritage Foundation has the facts: “Tax revenues in 2006 were 18.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which is actually above the 20-year, 40-year, and 60-year historical averages.  The inflation-adjusted 20 percent tax revenue increase between 2004 and 2006 represents the largest two-year revenue surge since 1965-1967.”  On a more macro scale, “Since 1952, the highest marginal income tax rate has dropped from 92 percent to 35 percent, and tax revenues have grown in inflation-adjusted terms while remaining constant as a percent of GDP.”  In other words, revenues are not about increasing tax rates … they are about economic growth: producing more and/or creating new tax payers.  Here are some more historical examples for your liberal drones to consider (if they have the courage).  Or even take capital gains taxes.  Historically, as capital gains tax rates dropped, revenues from the tax increased?  Conversely, in the 1980s when the rate was increased to 28%, revenues went down.

So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?  Oh wait!! Somebody did ask this question.  It was Charlie Gibson, who asked that question to Barack Obama in 2008.  Barack Obama’s response: “Well, Charlie, what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of FAIRNESS.”

You can’t argue with logic like that.

Guilty No Matter What

That is our new legal principle, at least at the University of North Dakota:

In a stark demonstration of the failure of campus judicial procedures, the University of North Dakota (UND) has found a student guilty of sexual assault despite the fact that local police refused to charge him with a crime and instead charged his accuser for lying about the incident. Former student Caleb Warner has been banned by UND from stepping foot on any state public campus for three years. Meanwhile, his accuser has been wanted by the Grand Forks Sheriff’s Department for more than a year on the charge of making a false report to law enforcement…

It seems that Uncle Sam – carrying out the liberal mandate – has decided that all colleges receiving federal funds must use a “preponderance of evidence” rather than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for judging such cases.  In this case it does seem that an accusation is “preponderance of evidence” because if there was something beyond the accuser’s statement it is highly unlike that the regular law enforcement agencies would have charged the accuser with lying, even if they lacked sufficient evidence to convict the accused.  Beyond the outrage of what amounts to a kangaroo court convicting the accused there lies the double outrage in the college’s refusal to reopen the case in light of the charge of lying leveled against the accuser.

In the end, this is the result of all that liberal nonsense about political correctness, “hate crimes” and “zero tolerance”.  In their zeal to enforce liberal ideas, the very concepts of truth and justice have been jettisoned.  It will take extreme legal and political pressure to get the college to reverse course…and even if they are in this case, you can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll still go forward trying to enforce the liberal view.

How to fix this?  Simple:  prohibit the federal government from setting rules in colleges.  Go ahead and spend federal money if you like, but don’t go dictating how it is to be spent.  In other words, if money is to be spent it had better just be in the form of bloc grants (best calculated on a per-student basis) which is then dispensed to the colleges to use as they wish…scholarships, new facilities, slush funds for the faculty, what have you.  Better to have the money mis-allocated by some schools than to have all schools come under the thumb of liberal fascism.   Most places would use it properly and those which did would swiftly earn the better reputation and thus draw in more students…and thus more funding.  But get Uncle Sam out of it…all he can do is screw it up, as we see here in this case.

Obama: The People Want Tax Increases

From The Hill:

President Obama on Friday kept up the pressure on Republicans to agree to revenue increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, claiming 80 percent of the public supports Democrats’ demand for tax increases.

“The American people are sold,” Obama said. “The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically.”…

Ok, Mr. President, then have Harry Reid pass a debt deal through the Senate which includes tax increases…get those 53 Democrat Senators on record as doing the will of the people.  After all, if the people are “sold” on it, then the Democrat majority in the Senate should be happy to oblige the people…there can’t be the slightest worry that a Democrat up for re-election in 2012 will vote against because, as you say, the people are “sold” on it.

Time to put up or shut up, Mr. President…don’t ask us GOPers to be the tax collectors for Big Government.  Do it yourself – if you can.

UPDATE:  From Gallup

Might want to re-think that “sold” bit there, Mr. President.

UPDATE II:  We’re all raaaaacists for not raising the debt ceiling.