Moody’s Tries to Scare Us

Mark Noonan14 Comments

From Market Watch:

Moody’s Investors Service said late Wednesday it placed the U.S. government’s triple-A bond rating on review for possible downgrade due to rising risk of default. “The review of the U.S. government’s bond rating is prompted by the possibility that the debt limit will not be raised in time to prevent a missed payment of interest or principal on outstanding bonds and notes. As such, there is a small but rising risk of a short-lived default,” Moody’s said…

This is the global Ruling Class circling the wagons – there is absolutely zero danger that a bondholder won’t get paid.  But they are fretful of the precedent – that is, they are worried that we, the people of the United States, will discover that the world won’t end if Uncle Sam stops spending money.  That would be pretty much game over for them…once we see it happen, we’ll probably start making all sorts of demands for spending cuts and that could lead just about anywhere – President Palin, balanced budgets, a revived American economy, bitter-clingers ruling the roost…it is all just too terrible to contemplate.  So, better try and frighten the yokels…Obama did his bit by claiming old people won’t get their SS, now Moody’s is doing it’s bit by claiming that disaster impends.

Don’t buy the scare tactics and the hype – there is no financial crisis for the United States government.  Not yet.  That will come some where in 2015 if we don’t cut spending, not in 2011 if we fail to go further in to debt.  To be sure, there is a danger of a complete economic melt down – but that will be triggered by China and/or Europe, not by us; and there is nothing we can do to stop any of that, though we could make matters much worse by having more debt than we should when the crash comes.  Republicans, conservatives, libertarians – remain calm:  stand firm on principal and all will be well.

ObAMATEUR’s Stimulus Worked??? (Bumped)

tiredoflibbs38 Comments

The Chosen One, The Rockstar, the sort of a god, the one who sends chills up Matthew’s leg, the obAMATEUR has come up with the latest dumbed down talking point for his drones.  Are you ready?  The reason of the state of the economy and the latest down turn, he claims that this is  “evidence” that his stimulus plan worked … because as the “stimulus” is phased out, local governments are shedding jobs.  When in reality, the jobless rate steadily rose after the spendulus plan was passed – so much for the “jobs saved” talking point.

Amazing!

  • We have the worst unemployment picture since the Great Depression because Obama’s stimulus worked!
  • Over two million fewer people are working in private sector jobs in our economy because Obama’s stimulus worked!
  • We are still seeing record levels of foreclosures because the stimulus worked!

The only thing that the obAMATEUR’s stimulus plan is evidence of is that government spending does not induce a climate of economic prosperity, particularly in the private market.  The economy does not thrive when the government is making the economic choices, plus the federal government is taking $0.25 for every dollar the private sector generates.

But it was never obAMATEUR’s goal to boost the private sector but rather to keep unions, government workers and Democrat looters prosperous while non-unionites and the private sector individuals sweat it out.  So look around, America … this, what we are experiencing right now, is proof that the spendulus plan worked!  But which is it, two weeks ago he was saying that “the shovel ready jobs were not as shovel ready as he thought”.

Hmmmmmmm, it seems that the obAMATEUR is not sure himself or he needs new excuses for the coming election year.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan:  More Obama success -from Bloomberg:

The dollar weakened against all its most-traded counterparts as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said policy makers will provide economic stimulus if needed and investor demand for higher-yielding assets increased.

The greenback fell the most in six months versus the euro as Bernanke said central bank is prepared to take additional action, including buying more government bonds, if the economy appears to be in danger of stalling…

If Obamunism worked then the economy wouldn’t be in danger of tanking and the Bernanke wouldn’t be firing up the printing presses.  Hope you all enjoyed the drop in gasoline prices this past month…because that is going to reverse itself right quick if Bernanke carries out his threat.

Boehner: Obama is Like Jell-O

Mark Noonan5 Comments

From ABC:

In a meeting with a small group of reporters in his Capitol Hill office this morning, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, criticized President Obama and White House officials for their lack of resolve in negotiations.

“Dealing with them the last couple months has been like dealing with Jell-o,” Boehner said. “Some days it’s firmer than others. Sometimes it’s like they’ve left it out over night.”

Boehner explained that talks broke down over the weekend because, he said, the president backed off entitlement reforms so much from Friday to Saturday, “It was Jell-o; it was damn near liquid.”

Rather hard to negotiate with someone who’s position continually shifts.  We’ve seen this before – again and again Obama has refused to put his own ideas firmly on the table…meanwhile, however, the business of the country does need to be done, so men and women with more firmness come up with actual proposals, only to see them sink in the morass of Obama indecision.

I doubt there is much left in Obama outside a desire to be re-elected.  He seems to have resigned any semblance of leadership in domestic or foreign policy and is only interested in events in so far as he feels he can use them for personal, political advantage.

It is probably time for us to give up on Obama and negotiations:  pass a bill which raises the debt limit while cutting $1.50 for each additional dollar of new debt and just hand it off to the Senate.  Let them vote it up or down, or amend it and send it back to the House.  We can sit back and wait – we’ll have passed our plan and can reasonably state to the American people that we’re just waiting to see what Reid and Obama come up with in response.

At any rate, there is something wrong – and vaguely un-American – in seeing our Congressional leaders closeted with the President to work out a plan which, presumptively, would be passed through Congress with minimal debate and no real chance to amend…a sort of decree from on high which Congress is supposed to rubber stamp.  Better to just do it properly and let the political chips fall where they may – in the end, if we stand firm on principal while showing our willingness to do the job, we’ll reap the benefit, in my view.

The Effects of Applied Liberalism

Mark Noonan9 Comments

From CNN Money:

Buffeted by high taxes, strict regulations and uncertain state budgets, a growing number of California companies are seeking friendlier business environments outside of the Golden State…

…Companies are “disinvesting” in California at a rate five times greater than just two years ago, said Joseph Vranich, a business relocation expert based in Irvine. This includes leaving altogether, establishing divisions elsewhere or opting not to set up shop in California…

And this is also why, as a nation, we’re seeing a lot of businesses not just fleeing California, but fleeing the nation – when you have high taxes combined with capricious regulations and lawsuits, you just can’t do business.  Especially in a down economy when generating profits is hard, you seek every advantage you can…and if shifting from California to, say, Arizona will cut your costs by 20%, you do it.  You’d be insane not to.

Sorry, liberals, but you can’t successfully manage an economy…you can’t make a rule and a tax for every activity.  You have to, for the most part, just leave it be.  All government can do is prevent fraud and enforce some very basic health and safety regulations…and even in that area, local governing bodies should have vastly more authority than State or federal bodies.  If you are trying to make it fair and make it come out right – by your definition – all you’ll do is mess it up.  California is proof that liberalism is a complete failure – you liberals absolutely govern that State and pretty much have for the past 20 years.  It is your baby – and it is dying of liberalism.

Do You Love Obama?

Mark Noonan41 Comments

If you do, then Stephen Marche has written the article for you – from Esquire:

Before the fall brings us down, before the election season begins in earnest with all its nastiness and vulgarity, before the next batch of stupid scandals and gaffes, before Sarah Palin tries to convert her movie into reality and Joe Biden resumes his imitation of an embarrassing uncle and Newt and Callista Gingrich creep us all out, can we just enjoy Obama for a moment? Before the policy choices have to be weighed and the hard decisions have to be made, can we just take a month or two to contemplate him the way we might contemplate a painting by Vermeer or a guitar lick by the early-seventies Rolling Stones or a Peyton Manning pass or any other astounding, ecstatic human achievement? Because twenty years from now, we’re going to look back on this time as a glorious idyll in American politics, with a confident, intelligent, fascinating president riding the surge of his prodigious talents from triumph to triumph. Whatever happens this fall or next, the summer of 2011 is the summer of Obama…

It is also the summer of unemployment, bankruptcy and increasing risk of war…but no matter.

We’ve seen this sort of thing before:

The celebration of the 70th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin has become a social and political event of great historical significance.

The love of the people for the great leader, the admiration for the titanic activity of Comrade Stalin as a great revolutionary, statesman, general and theoretical genius, has turned this celebration into a powerful show of unity of the Soviet people, the peoples of the countries of peoples democracy, the progressive people of the whole world…

Hate to break it to Marche, but the prodigious talents of Obama led to a crushing GOP victory in 2010 – and may well lead to Obama being booted out of office in 2012.  And here’s the real kicker – our super genius President could easily have avoided all that.  Think back to January of 2009 – all us GOPers were shaking in our boots, worried that we were entering in to 20 years of liberal governance.  One thing we knew for certain was that nationalized health care was a sure thing…the Democrats had the House, the Senate and the White House and could easily put together a plan which would have put the overwhelming majority of the population permanently on the government teat, thus making the task of getting a conservative majority vastly more difficult.  All Obama had to do was use a little finesse – no chance he’d blunderbuss it through like Clinton tried in 1993, right?

Well, turns out Obama’s actions made Clinton’s in ’93 look masterful.  The bonehead turned it over to Pelosi (when he should have turned it over to a bi-partisan panel headed up by McCain) who then crafted something certain to provoke opposition, thus allowing the GOP to regain its footing.  We were cooked on January 20th, 2009…now we’ve got an even money chance of starting a conservative,  Second American Revolution on January 20th, 2013.

But Obama is still the man our liberals claim to love – mostly because they have a weak idea of what “love” means.  In actually, what they have is a servile devotion to their Great Leader and Teacher.  They are on their knees because they want a master, and have found him.  Just disgusting to think that so many people who are my fellow Americans are like that – the fruit of a century of enervating liberalism, and we’ll be more than a century in purging our nation of it.  Fortunately, Obama in actuality have given us our chance to do just that.

Drill, Baby, Drill: For 190,000 Jobs

Mark Noonan5 Comments

From the Daily Caller:

Almost 190,000 jobs could be created by 2013 if offshore drilling returns to pre-spill levels, according to a study sponsored by two oil trade groups, the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API).

The study, conducted by Quest Offshore Inc., found that if permits for exploration and drilling returned to historic levels, and if backlogged requests were granted, 400,000 jobs could be supported across the United States with a GDP increase of $45 billion by 2013…

Because Obama flies from one screw up to another we tend to forget the older ones – in this case, the absurd “permatorium” he put in place in response to the Gulf oil spill.  The chances of a repeat of that particular accident, even if no action was taken, are exceptionally small…and  nearly non-existent if a few, common-sense precautions are taken in that sort of drilling (ie, deep water).  But Obama, true blue liberal that he is, couldn’t pass up the chance to gut America’s offshore oil industry – and so he imposed his permatorium and simply will not lift it (by hook or by crook, he keeps it in place – just by going slow on new permits he puts a hammer lock on it).

While we are all gleeful at the prospect of using Obama’s speech in Brazil (where he stated he hopes America will become Brazil’s best customer), we really do need to break this log jam.  Some means must be found to force Obama to allow us to drill for oil – even if this report is wildly over-optimistic, it would still mean tens of thousands of new, high paying jobs…and jobs which produce actual wealth and which are within reach of regular, blue collar Americans (the American economy can never be a place where we merely write computer programs and shuffle fake money around Wall Street, you know?  Someone has to do some actual work).  Continual pressure must be applied – and ever legislative effort (including the debt deal) should include a legislative end to Obama’s drilling “permatorium”.

It is time for us to start working in the interests of the American people – and I can’t think of a better “step one” than to start drilling for oil.

Blogging Note

Mark Noonan6 Comments

We are aware of the troll who tried to hijack a long-time commenters name – the comments have been deleted and we are going to institute a permanent fix.  Until that is done, we urge caution on the part of all – if someone is going off on a tangent never seen before, it may well be a completely dishonest cretin trying to hijack a name in order to sow confusion.  This is just in keeping with the normal, fascist nature of the left…not interested in debate, they are seeking, instead, to shut it down, lest someone learn the truth.

We thank you for your patience until we’ve got this fixed – and meanwhile, just be cautious and don’t feed the trolls.

Obama to GOP: One False Move and Granny Gets It

Mark Noonan23 Comments

A disgusting scare tactic on the part of the President, but entirely expected:

President Obama on Tuesday said he cannot guarantee that retirees will receive their Social Security checks August 3 if Democrats and Republicans in Washington do not reach an agreement on reducing the deficit in the coming weeks.

“I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, according to excerpts released by CBS News…

Which is entirely BS – Social Security has its own funding mechanism and there is currently more than enough money coming in to it to ensure that the checks go out on the 3rd.  Obama is just trying to scare oldsters in to putting pressure on the GOP – hoping that such pressure will force the GOP to cave in on a debt ceiling increase without any fundamental budget reform.

Now Obama’s cards are entirely on the table – to preserve Big Government is his only goal.  That we are heading towards bankruptcy and renewed recession doesn’t matter.  That we can’t afford tax hikes and must cut spending is unimportant.  What is important to Obama is that the pork he has spread around his constituencies since 2009 continue.  Think about it – we are spending at least a trillion more per year since Obama took office.  We can dispense with that additional trillion and still have all the money we need for social services, defense, etc, etc, etc.  It is just that Obama doesn’t want to give up that extra money he and his Democrats piled on when they held the Congressional majority.  This is the core of Obamunism:  piles of money for everyone who helps elect liberals.

Hold firm, GOP – don’t blink.  Let the Democrats carry Big Government in to 2012 all by themselves.  Even if by some chance the American people choose Obama and his Democrats, then at least we will have gone down fighting for what is right…but my belief is that the majority are seeing through the scam, and we will reap the reward if we hold firm.

The Bravest Marine

Mark Noonan3 Comments

Somewhere up in Heaven, my Dad is saying “Semper Fi”.  You want to date someone who looks like this?

Then all you have to do is join the Marines, go fight a bit in Afghanistan and then grow the biggest, brassiest pair you can imagine…

It worked, too.

This could be the most effective recruiting tool the Marines have ever had – become a Jarhead, date a Hollywood star.  Rather disappointed that one of my fellow squids didn’t think of this…

Obamunism! Cisco to Fire 10,000

Mark Noonan65 Comments

Honestly, liberals, just how is that whole hopey-changey thing working out for you?  Because it is working out just lousy for us.  From Bloomberg:

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), the largest networking-equipment company, may cut as many as 10,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of its workforce, to revive profit growth, according to two people familiar with the plans.

The cuts include as many as 7,000 jobs that would be eliminated by the end of August, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t final. Cisco, based in San Jose, California, is also providing early-retirement packages to about 3,000 workers who took buyouts, the people said…

If printing up bags of money and borrowing like mad worked, then Cisco would not be firing people.  Period.  End of story.  Sit down and shut up, liberals.

Don’t get me wrong here – Cisco is being amazingly asinine; the talent exists in those they are about to fire to build Cisco out of the hole.  But that is not how things work in our Big Government/ Big Corporation world…Big Corporation fires people because it allows one more quarter of profits, Big Government puts them on welfare because it allows one more electoral victory for the Ruling Class.  No one ever thinks that the fundamental problem is the Bigs – and that if we treated them all to a round of tar and feathers, lots of things would work out better.

But, still, liberals – this is your mess.  Your man Obama said that his policies would prevent exactly this:  layoffs.  All that “free” money and all that borrowed money…it was supposed to get things working.  It hasn’t.  It never will.  You’ve failed.