Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The main stream media's double standard continues

On the heels of Hillary's blaming of the US for Mexico's drug war problems comes the news that there is a video out there of Ashley Biden, Joe's daughter, snorting lines of white powder at a house party in her home state of Delaware. Of course you need to go to a foreign publication to get the news. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5998685.ece

Can you imagine the uproar if this was a video of Barbara or Jenna Bush? Remember the incessant drum roll over the fake ID? How about one of Sara Palin's kids? It will be interesting to see how long the left wing media keeps this story quiet.

Global warming hysteria

Freeman Dyson, theoretical physicist and mathematician, famous for his work in quantum field theory, solid-state physics, and nuclear engineering and has spent most of his life at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton has never been know as a friend of Conservatives. He is a lifelong opponent of nationalism and a proponent of nuclear disarmament and international cooperation. However he began publicly stating his doubts about climate change about four years ago. He is among signatories of a letter to the UN criticizing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The letter includes the statements "The average rate of warming of 0.1 to 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade recorded by satellites during the late 20th century falls within known natural rates of warming and cooling over the last 10,000 years" and "there has been no net global warming since 1998".

Among those he considers true believers, Dyson has been particularly dismissive of Al Gore, whom Dyson calls climate change's "chief propagandist," and James Hansen, the head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and an adviser to Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth." Dyson accuses them of relying too heavily on computer-generated climate models that foresee imminent world devastation as icecaps melt, oceans rise and storms and plagues sweep the earth, and he blames the pair's "lousy science" for "distracting public attention" from "more serious and more immediate dangers to the planet."

Now Hansen is attacking Dyson knowing that his gravy train is starting to wooble a little. Of course I pointed out earlier already that Hansen's supervisor at NASA has already largely discredited Hansen and his computer modeling. All the Al Gore driven hysteria is built on erroneous computer modeling. As they say in the computer industry "garbage in, garbage out".

Monday, March 30, 2009

An Idea

Perhaps if GM had to actually answer to it's shareholders about things like executive pay and about whether or not to have long-term fuel efficiency strategy, things could have been different. Who knows, they might have been able to compete with Toyota.
The rules of politics haven't changed just because we have a new President and a Democratic congress and, in the long run, the power of corporations to shape policy won't go away. So why don't we change the rules of corporate governance so that shareholders have more of a say in how much these companies pay their executives and how their behavior affects the air we breath or the water we drink? Is it possible that in the future an average citizen could make a bigger impact voting for the board of directors of AT&T or General Electric than for a congressman? With the aid of Internet efficiencies this could be a reality today.

Big Picture

Does not the idea of our federal government dictating who runs publicly traded companies and dictating their salaries terrify you? It should. It's the end of the free market system which has served this country so well.

Damn

I hate the guy but cannot argue with his plan.

As he started to speak, I said to myself, here it goes, state the problem then demagogue the solution, but it did not happen.

No, I'm not crazy about termination of the CEO but stuff happens.

Now comes the execution which is a whole different ball of wax. If they really carry through on their "threats" and let Chrysler go bankrupt then they get my kudos.

Damn.

God help private enterprise

The same people who run Amtrak, USPS and the BMV now think they can run the automobile industry. Having run several large companies in my career I can honestly state that they are in way over their tiny bureaucratic heads. fasten your seat belts. This is going to get real ugly!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Climate Change

Hey lets put some energy into this one this week.

Is climate change happening?

Is it man made?

Why?

Why not?

What are the best theories for and against each argument?

What are the best sources on the topic?

If climate change is man made what can be done to stop it?

Should it be stopped?

Cap and trade. A necessary evil, a wonderful notion to move us away from petrol based energy or another anti capitalist tool proposed to solve a non-problem the only goal of which is to disrupt and destroy successful societies.

The Civil Heretic - Freeman Dyson - Profile - NYTimes.com

James Hansen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Crichton Is Right! - by Joseph L. Bast - News Releases

Lastly, let's all argue both sides. Should be fun.

Liked the comment to Barney F-- so much, thought I would post.

He called a sitting Justice a homophobe?

Rich, you refuse to admit the truth (unlike us conservatives), your policies of redistribution ruin the economy and many of its citizens. The Democrats search for social justice is poison but unfortunately many believe in its worth. It is also their (liberals) source of power.

So yes, this obnoxious fool and the policies of the left have effected the ruin of our country. And this obnoxious fool, who cannot even show some respect to a Supreme Court Justice gets to be called a diddler. Heck I will even call him queer (in the unusual sense:),

Marks comment are apropos, our truth is that we did not limit spending, and we do need to act like Republicans. But to say that the redistributionist's will do better, especially after the immediate spending orgy of this administration is laughable

I'm back

Gosh, did anything happen while I was gone? Stock market do OK?

For starters on "this week" and MTP Timmy did a good job. There I said it. When I originally supported the TARP process, something like this is what I thought would be done and to be even kinder, I understand why this took a while (and why the previous administration could not get their hands around it either).

But...how untying bank assets requires the socialization of the rest of the economy remains a mystery. The E-mailed question on "this week" said it best, why do we need to spend our children's money to smooth the roads now?

Some articles:

DickMorris.com

E.J. Dionne Jr. - Cutting Deficit Will Require Tax Increases - washingtonpost.com

I would be more supportive of his plans if he told the truth, either we cut spending and realize true entitlement costs or we are going to need to raise taxes on everyone.

He is punting like all those before him. (I did hear Bush say (but not enforce) "limit the growth of spending to 4%") Except, he is in spending hyper drive.

Friday, March 27, 2009

The real Reason Soros is spending huge amounts to destroy The US political and economic system

It has always troubled me why a man like George Soros would be spending so much of his money on extreme left wing causes. This is a man who grew up during the Nazi occupation of Hungary. George was born with the last name of Schwartz. The family changed its name in 1936 from Schwartz to Soros, in response to growing anti-semitism with the rise of Fascism.



He was also a Nazi sympathizer. Soros worked for the Jewish Council, which had been established during the Nazi occupation of Hungary to forcibly carry out Nazi and Hungarian government anti-Jewish measures. In his autobiography, entitled “Soros on Soros,” he blithely describes how as a teenager he helped cart off the possessions of Hungarian Jews after they were sent to concentration camps. Soros wrote that this never bothered him, even though his father was Jewish and he grew up in a Jewish home. He says he has no regrets for his actions. “Somebody would have done it,” he wrote.



Now he is funneling tons of money into extreme left wing organizations that are attempting to stifle any opposition to their views. He has spent millions on the left wing attack group the Center for American Progress, gave millions more to MoveOn.org. during the 2003-2004 election cycle, Soros donated $23,581,000 to various 527 Groups dedicated to defeating President Bush. Soros also pushed for the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 which was intended to ban "soft money" contributions to federal election campaigns. While banning donations to the Democratic National Committee, no such restrictions exist on soft money donations to 527 organizations. As we now know this measure allowed Soros, in effect, to gain control over the Democratic party. Soros has responded that his donations to unaffiliated organizations do not raise the same corruption issues as donations directly to the candidates or political parties. He is a real piece of work! They do, however, allow him to exert enormous control over the Democratic party. After Bush's reelection in 2004, Soros and other wealthy liberal political donors backed a new political fundraising group called Democracy Alliance which aims to support the goals of the U.S. Democratic Party but in reality it appears that his aim is to support his goals.



He has constantly pushed Left Wing causes and socialist views using a few well paid useful idiots like John Podesta to help get his message out. Now we are seeing the ultimate result of Soros's political spending, a President who is championing anti-capitalist and extreme left wing causes.



Soros' writings focus heavily on the concept of reflexivity, where the biases of individuals enter into market transactions, potentially changing the fundamentals of the economy. A current example of reflexivity in modern financial markets is that of the debt and equity of housing markets. Lenders began to make more money available to more people in the 1990s to buy houses. We now know that a lot of this was forced on the lenders by the likes of Barney Franks, Christopher Dodd and groups like ACORN suing banks for not lending enough money to the "disadvantaged". More people bought houses with this larger amount of money, thus increasing the prices of these houses. Lenders looked at their balance sheets which not only showed that they had made more loans, but that their equity backing the loans--the value of the houses, had gone up (because more money was chasing the same amount of housing, relatively). Thus they lent out more money because their balance sheets looked good, and prices went up more, and they lent more, etc. Prices increased rapidly, and lending standards were relaxed. The salient issue regarding reflexivity is that it explains why markets gyrate over time, and do not just stick to equilibrium--they tend to overshoot or undershoot. Hence the genesis of the entire financial crisis nurtured by the same people that he has helped to fund.



We also now know that he has benefited personally by betting against the US economy. “I'm having a very good crisis,” Soros says, quoted by the U.K. Daily Mail. As stocks fell in half, pension funds collapsed and millions of savers watched their 401(k)s founder, Soros made $1.1 billion last year. “It is, in a way, the culminating point of my life’s work,” Soros told The Australian.



As they say you have to spend big money to make bigger money even it it cause the country you live in to collapse. Heck with Soros's money you can probably buy your own country.

Going in the wrong direction FAST

A response to one of our morning Coffee Blogers and he was right on baby


Right on baby...apparently the people of this country do not understand what can potentially happen to all of us...once again you can not get yourself out of debt by spending money you do not have to attempt that goal...it does not work and will not work. What happens when the countries that buy our debt do not buy our debt...only a couple of things can happen and they are not good...1. the cost to have countries buy your debt goes sky hi due to the fact that we would have to pay more interest to that country to convince them to buy the debt...OOPS that costs us more $$$$ 2. If they decided that we are not credit worthy which by the way is not to far off, then we go into deflation...meaning that your money can't buy shit, dollar is not worth shit and we are screwed...hope you like your neighbor because we might all be living with each other. Obama wants total control of the situation, and he truly is an empty shirt that is only good at reading off a prompter...in over his head which anyone to a degree would be in this situation. But his goal along with that bitch Nancy P which I am sure is banging harry reed, want to control the whole situation and make the mass population in this country depend on the government, because once they have you by the short hairs they can control your every move on a daily basis. Why do you think that Tim G. wants more control over business, the media, etc...so that all they have to do is pull your string and you say Yes Sir Mr. Big Government. Wake up America we are slowly being pushed to the end of prosperity, and we have no one to blame but ourselves...Was there greed etc for the last 30+ years...sure, you bet. But going in the opposite direction is not the answer. Look at your own budgets...if you are in debt by 10 grand and you go and borrow 10 grand to pay off the first 10 grand are you out of debt...nope...so tell me how does it work??? By the way if you don't think the government is getting bigger then why are the projections for them to hire 193,000 people...because they have a plan that you are not going to like.
Riegels Rant



Thursday, March 26, 2009

Bold faced lies from the soon to be worst President in history

The introductory ststement from the press conference.

"At the end of the day, the best way to bring our deficit down in the long run is not with a budget that continues the very same policies that have led us to a narrow prosperity and massive debt. It's with a budget that leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest."

Huh! Obama's budget plan multiplies the federal deficit far beyond what it has ever been, in any prior administration. So how is he "moving from an era of borrow and spend"? It's a lie, pure and simple.


"Now, understand that AIG is not a bank. It's an insurance company. If it were a bank and it had effectively collapsed, then the FDIC could step in, as it does with a whole host of banks, as it did with IndyMac, and in a structured way renegotiate contracts, get rid of bad assets, strengthen capital requirements, resell it on the private marketplace.
So we've got a regular mechanism whereby we deal with FDIC- insured banks. We don't have that same capacity with an institution like AIG. And that's part of the reason why it has proved so problematic.
I think a lot of people understandably say, "Well, if we're putting all this money in there, and if it's such a big systemic risk to allow AIG to liquidate, why is it that we can't restructure some of these contracts? Why can't we do some of the things that need to be done in a more orderly way?"
And the reason is, is because we have not obtained this authority."

Huh! Have you ever heard about bankruptcy? In bankruptcy, contracts are renegotiated, bad assets are gotten rid of and good assets are sold into the private sector. That system exists, and would have worked perfectly well for AIG if it were not for the federal government's desire to funnel payments to AIG's counterparties--most notably, European banks--without taking responsibility for doing so. Under Obama's proposal, every time an insurance company becomes insolvent it will be another opportunity to expand federal power.

That is what this is all about. Increasing the elites power in Washington DC. They are forcing tarp loans onto companies that don't want the government money. Why? Give me one good reason besides the power angle. As soon as they get our hard earned money that we paid in taxes into these companies then they can start asserting themselves.

Some more wisdom from the lisping page diddler from MA

How many votes does each Supreme Court justice get?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O17R0J7mnxQ&feature=related

Is this the Baxter method that Jim always refers to?

Now he shows us how one should deal with Left Wing radicals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV_7bEdpjX4&feature=related

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Jim is skiing

Back soon

Rich silly

Of course the O is a socialist

Monday, March 23, 2009

The Nobel Peace Prize scam

http://www.heartland.org/events/NewYork09/proceedings.html

Don Easterbrook makes the basic point that, contrary to the hysterical predictions of the alarmists, the earth is cooling, not warming:
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/assets_c/2009/03/Don_Easterbrook2.033.php

The following compares the correlations of solar activity and CO2 concentration to temperature. It seems pretty obvious where the explanation for fluctuations in temperature lies:
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/assets_c/2009/03/Don_Easterbrook1.017.php

I always knew it was the Sun and not mankind that is causing Global temperature variations.

That is why the Polar Ice Caps on Mars have been slightly melting as well, either that or Martians drive invisible SUVs.

http://powerlineblog.com/archives/assets_c/2009/03/Dennis_Avery4.012.php

Can all of you liberals please explain to me how mankind caused the medieval warming period?

Now our President want to include extensive cap and trade policies in the latest budget based on the so called science from James Hanson, formerly of NASA, who has had his ex boss John Theon state that he should be fired and that hanson's views do not reflect NASA's views.

http://businessandmedia.org/articles/2009/20090311105122.aspx
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/03/12/famed-hurricane-forecaster-william-gray-rips-ams-nasas-hansen-call-media-

Enough already. This nation cannot afford to dump more money into something that is far from proven fact and create more hurdles to business recovery with the cap and trade proposals Obama is putting into his budget.

The newest Banana Republic

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/26/obama-castro-chavez-opinions-columnists_stimulus.html

Can someone please tell Slate their guy won the election

Who said this? Slate misses Bush so much that they are attributing Obama comments to him.

http://www.slate.com/id/2214356/?from=rss

There is hope and change in the wind for Conservatives battling the liberal newspaper dominance

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/zeiger/040730

Trillion-dollar deficits over next decade

So the great Obamamessiah thinks we can print enough money and borrow enough to finance all of his ideas at the same time. The CBO certainly doesn't believe it. I took this from the Seattle Times, no friend of the Republican Party.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008898165_obdeficit21.html

Professor Obama's Ivory Tower

In Riegel's most recent (and excellent) rant the author Star Power wonders, "Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability.."."

Such words and thoughts by Obama are heard frequently and point to the remarkable naivete of such a tough politician. His approach to governing sounds exactly like what you hear from academicians: I can name the problem, I can state the (hypothetical) answer, and therefore, it is just a matter of execution!

When you have lived in the real world and actually tried to make change, as opposed to just talking about change, you learn that "knowing" the answer isn't the hard part. Making it happen is the hard part. I think there is this very important element missing from Professor Obama's resume: he has never been responsible for managing a problem to a successful conclusion in his life (not counting getting elected, where is very clever and very good). It is all theory with him.

I readily acknowledge his oraorical gifts and the genius of his aspirational message. He is a veritable Pied Piper! But he lives in the abstract. Like an academician, he sees what can and (in his mind) should be and imagines therefore that it can be done. Since solutions to all problems are available in his mind, there is no reason he can't tackle everything at once. Hey, I think therefore it can be done is but a simple extension of I think therefore I am.

Did you see his goofy giddiness on 60 minutes, laughing about the bailouts and the constituencies, or lack thereof, for helping banks and the auto industries. It is a mind game with him! People's lives are melting and the fact that people disagree with his solution is literally funny to him! Hey, it's just a game! I've got time for March Madness brackets, I've already thought of the answers for universal healthcare. I've got time for Leno, 'cause if I can just sell my ideas they will come true.

When you can propose running a deficit in excess of 13% GDP one year and in excess of 9% the next year you are playing Texas Hold'em with our future economic well-being and you are going all-in. No person living in the real world would do it! The numbers are so high not because he is trying to avoid a depression. That would cost much less. The numbers are so high because of the massive social programs he is initiating at a time when it is unaffordable.

In Professor Obama's mind it is all possible. But he has shown that he and his staff can't manage effectively the banks or AIG, yet he wants to triple his activity set. His lack of experience as an executive is going to severely injure this country, because "eventually you run out of other people's money." We are headed for deep, deep trouble.

Socialism vs Capitalism written by a Black Author

>
> Back on Uncle Sam's plantation
> Star Parker - Syndicated Columnist
>
>
>
> Six years ago I wrote a book called Uncle Sam's Plantation. I wrote the book
> to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my
> own transformation out of it.
>
> I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas -- a poor America on
> socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.
>
> I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy
> Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS),
> Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8
> Housing, and Food Stamps.
>
> A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all initially
> set into motion in the 1960s, that were going to lift the nation's poor out
> of poverty.
>
> A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the
> government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets
> from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the
> plantation?"
>
> Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created
> monstrous moral and spiritual problems -- the kind of problems that are
> inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to
> others.
>
> The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional
> inner city schools, and broken black families.
>
> Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what
> freedom meant and how great this country is.
>
> I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a
> Republican Congress and signed 50 percent.
>
> I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black
> communities and replacing it with wealth-producing American capitalism.
>
> But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.
>
> Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on
> capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on
> socialism.
>
> Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said,
> "Thank you, Suh."
>
> Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve
> customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to
> get their cash.
>
> There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black
> president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln....
>
> Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And
> maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto
> the plantation.
>
> In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear
> that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short
> term economic stimulus...
>
> "This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a
> strategy for America 's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as
> renewable energy, healthcare, and education."
>
> Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an
> economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place
> "with unprecedented transparency and accountability.."
>
> Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of
> Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.
>
> Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty
> -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or
> improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at
> the causes, not just the consequences of poverty..."
>
> Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families
> are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent homes and out-of-wedlock
> births.
>
> It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move
> onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.
>
> Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?
>
> "The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's
> money."
>
>Riegel

Friday, March 20, 2009

Bush Did It by Victor Davis Hanson on National Review Online

Ha, Ha, Ha

AP News Culpeper Star-Exponent

Just wondering which Baxter method will be used on this important article. Right wing AP writer. Bush's fault. Always exciting to predict, I'm going with Bush this time.

The teleprompter President

Well the so called smartest President ever has demonstrated again that he is totally dependant on others writing what he should be saying for him. He has ably demonstrated that he is talented at reading what someone else has written for him but when it comes to speaking freely without a teleprompter he screws up.
So our President finds time to appear on the Jay Leno show during a crisis. Remember how the media all howled when President Bush would go to Crawford Texas wher he would still be working while on a so called vacation? Obamamessiah must have observed that his numbers were slipping so he thought I can go on Jay Leno and face a few softball questions to show the American public that I am still the great Obamamessiah that they all love. What happens? He puts his foot in his mouth again and has to apologize for the umpteenth time. We should measure his Presidency by how many time he apologizes.

The Media's Double Standard

Shouldn't our current President be treated the same way as our last President was by the MSM? Since Geithner now has stated that the AIG bonus debacle is his fault then that must mean it is Obama's fault. If President Bush was responsible for the actions of the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of LA. I am tired of hearing I didn't know about it from our current President. Enough with the excuses. The buck stops at Obama's desk as President Truman once said. I am waiting for the articles about how the AIG bonus payouts are all Obama's fault. You know it would have been Bush's fault if he was still President. Rich and Terry let's be truly honest about this. You know that what I am saying is a fact.

Pravda attacks Dodd, well sort of

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/nyregion/20dodd.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

Funny thing is that the libs keep saying there is no bias in the media. Can you tell me why this article never mentions the fact that Dodd is a Democrat? Pravda certainly never fails to identify Republicans by party affiliation when they write about them.

AIG Inspired Mob Rule

I am extremely disappointed in the House of Representatives, grabbing their bipartisan pitchforks and passing this fundamentally flawed legislation. Hopefully, the Senate will be the "saucer that cools the coffee" and completely rewrite the crap that came out of the house.

Hopefully, the Chinese weren't watching as Congressman after Congressman berated Ed Liddy for not trying to weasel out of employment contracts. They would wonder if some day the same group will some day be trying to avoid honoring the full faith and credit of the USA. Why not?

If I was Ed Liddy I would have dramatically walked away from my $1 salary and lectured the committee that a deal is a deal is a deal. Contracts were not made to be broken - they were made to be honored and we have courts set up to enforce just that.

The popular outrage is misdirected and no one in Congress (or the Administration) has the balls to say so.

Blinder Opines in WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123751241072091037.html

Hold Them Anyway?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ie2Gewi7L3__bSzBds095stmE88QD971FBSO1

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Baxter Method

Attack the source. Does not matter if the source is correct, in fact especially if it supports a contrary viewpoint, attack harder. Case in point. A columnist, nationally recognized, opines on the changing behavior of the besieged successful, an obvious point which I have personally seen in multiple instances involving successful friends and quite frankly makes sense. Rather than debate the point, heck, lets just call her a right winger.

Billy boy inherited the end of a mild economic downturn and was mostly benefited by the dot.com boom and a general recovery as well as the Conservative takeover of congress. This guy has a mess and his hostility towards the successful is and will further harm the economy.
I'm paying off my mortgage.

Or another Baxter method:

Ignore the facts, attack Bush. The Democrats, promoting their stated beliefs, attempt to promote home ownership without risk (same with health care, union membership, social security or medicare) when confronted with obvious facts and/or results of their beliefs, deny, ignore and blame Bush.

Hoping for better.

To follow: The Terry method.

The AIG lies get more and more unbelievable

Obama and Dodd and Geithner,

See No Evil , Hear No Evil, and Speak No Evil!

Here are some other partisan facts for you to ponder Rich,

After much outrage about the $165 milion in AIG bonuses, it has now come to light that both Senator Dodd and President Obama were the two largest recipients of AIG campaign money. They were the only two politicians that recieved over $100,000, in 2008, from the failing company. Dodd received $103,100 and then Senator Obama received $100,332. AIG gave more than $585,000 to Congressional and Presidential Candidates last year favoring Democrats 3 to 1 over Republicans. So Obama and Dodd together received approximately 35% of the total payout. Are they going to pay it back? Dodd inserted the language thinking it would not come back to bite him. Now he is trying to blame others with his lame denials. He needs to be out the Senate. Doubtful the Republicans could pick this seat up but someone this dishonest, remmber his lies about his favorable treatment from Countrywide on his personal loans, should not be in Congress making laws.

From the AP, certainly not a right wing attack machine, http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/1091850.html

While administration officials insisted Tuesday that neither Obama nor Geithner learned of the impending bonus payments until last week (a gigantic lie especially saying Geithner didn't know), the problem wasn't new. AIG's plans to pay hundreds of millions of dollars were publicized last fall, when Congress started asking questions about expensive junkets the company had sponsored. A November SEC filing by the company details more than $469 million in "retention payments" to keep prized employees. Remember the reason Geithner is the Secretary of the Treasury is because he was the key drafter of the original TARP. He needs to go as well. Worst Treasury Secretary in history.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Democrats get caught lying about AIG

Dodd admits to lying about AIG while earlier displaying outrage at the bonus payouts.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090318/pl_politico/30833

How many other Democrats new about this language slipped into the stimulus package?

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., earlier won passage of a provision this year that they said would have prevented the type of payments now at the center of a storm.

It was dropped without explanation in the final compromise on the economic stimulus measure, replaced by a less restrictive set of conditions backed by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and accepted by the White House.

And accepted by the White House! How many more lies and broken promises are we going to have to endure during this administration? This is change? Looks like the same old crap to me.

Impeach Obama before he makes too big of a mess of things. The man is in over his head and his constant admitting he made a mistake just doesn't cut it anymore. Maybe the White House can attack Rush Limbaugh again to try and diffuse this debacle.

Reminds me of Clinton bombing the pill factory.
Michelle Malkin : "Going Galt": America's Wealth Producers vs. Wealth Redistributors - Townhall.com

Enough. While they take to the streets politically, untold numbers of America's wealth producers are going on strike financially. Dr. Helen Smith, a Tennessee forensic psychologist and political blogger, dubbed the phenomenon "Going Galt" last fall. It's a reference to the famed Ayn Rand novel "Atlas Shrugged," in which protagonist John Galt leads the entrepreneurial class to cease productive activities in order to starve the government of revenue. (Not coincidentally, Rand's novel sales are up and John Galt references punctuated many of the Tea Party demonstrations.) Dr. Smith was inundated with stories like these:
"I have frozen hiring in my firm. … No investments will be made in taxable accounts -- only 401k/IRAs. I am buying silver and gold instead of CDs or stocks with non-qualified money and savings. I have stopped taking new clients, thus freezing my income. I barter more and more. Spend less. I stopped leveraging assets (don't borrow)."

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Congress fully knew about the bonuses before the bailout

Now they are acting all outraged including Obamamessiah. They knew or should have known about the bonuses since they were fully disclosed by AIG. Another example of our great leaders in Washington DC trying to change things because of the appearance. Shame on them! Why don't they for once tell us the truth. I though this new administration of hope and change promised transparency. Obammamessiah's choices continue to point out that he lacks wisdom and common sense. Picking a Treasury Secretary that cannot even prepare his taxes correctly using Turbo Tax is the most glaring mistake. They do not have a legal leg to stand on so now Congress is going to resort to extraordinary means to try to undo thier original error in allowing something to occur before they fully realized what they were doing. Many of the people who received bonuses have already left AIG. Watch the mass exodus that occurs now after this latest Congressional mistake.

http://commonlaw.findlaw.com/2009/03/pres-obama-asks-treasury-secretary-geithner-to-block-insurance-giant-aigs-payout-of-bonuses-but-can-.html
Op-Ed Columnist - The Culture Warriors Get Laid Off - NYTimes.com

Monday, March 16, 2009

AIG YOUR ANSWER PLEASE

AIG it is very simple. Any executives who want to keep their "bonus" go ahead and keep it. You just don't have a job tomorrow.
Where are the perp walks, the handcuffs, the greatest destruction of wealth based on a crooked game to begin with deserves action.
The American Taxpayer now owns 80% of your Company, we get to decide who works there, that is Capitalism isn't it Jim ?

Obama a Socialist?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301899.html

Finally, courage

Cheney said the U.S.-led invasion on March 19, 2003 (March 20, Iraq time) has led to democratic elections, a constitution and the defeat of al-Qaida in Iraq, and undermined Iran's efforts to influence events in Iraq."We have succeeded in creating in the heart of the Middle East a democratically governed Iraq, and that is a big deal, and it is, in fact, what we set out to do," I would ask people — and the press, too — to take an honest look at the circumstances in Iraq today and how far we've come."In a wide-ranging interview, agreed that Obama had inherited "difficult" economic circumstances but rejected efforts to blame the Bush administration."We are in the midst of a worldwide economic period of considerable difficulty here," he said. "It doesn't do just to go back and say, 'Well, George Bush was president and that is why everything is screwed up,' because that is simply not true."—
He also contended that Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Democrats with top positions on congressional banking committees, blocked Bush administration efforts to reform lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "I think the collapse of those two institutions, as much as anything, contributed to the financial difficulties we've been living with since," he said.—Worried that Obama was using the economic crisis "to justify a massive expansion in the government and much more authority for the government over the private sector, and I don't think that's good." Criticized Obama's choice for ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, as lacking experience in the region. Cheney said he didn't support Hill's work in dealing with North Korea on nuclear issues during the Bush administration.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Business Roundtable Lunch

I watched on CNBC today as President Obama gave a speech to the BT and then took questions. I was impressed with how much regard and respect this group gave to our economic commander in chief. He did a great job - I really feel like the adults are in charge and though it may have taken 50 days, this administration is getting it's sea legs.

Much like Clinton, Obama can speak authoritatively on a wide range of subjects. He is very well briefed and obviously, he's interested in the topics. He can also deliver bad news - or disagreement - in a very agreeable way.
 

J.W. Marriott Jr. - Don't Bash Business Travel - washingtonpost.com

George F. Will - Paved With Magnificent Intentions - washingtonpost.com
WSJ.com Economic Forecasting Survey Gives Obama, Geithner Low Grades - WSJ.com

And yet another "O" voter regrets, this time a doctor.

Obama's $80 Billion Exaggeration - WSJ.com

From our friends Terry's outlook.

The Obama Rosetta Stone - WSJ.com

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Another broken campaign promise

So Obammamessiah signs into law the spending bill with over 8000 earmarks on it after promising us he would not allow any more earmarks. This is not a Republican vs Democrat issue. This is an issue about what is right for the country during this crisis. There were plenty of Republicans who voted for this and who inserted their own earmarks. They should be voted out of office as well and they are certainly not conservatives. This is where the rubber meets the road and there were two brave senators from the Democratic party who tried to stand up to the pork parade. I applaud Evan Bayh of Indiana and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin for voting against the bill with all of these wasteful earmarks in it.

It is so disengenous of the White House to make statements like the following:
"I bet many presidents have signed bills that may not meet 100% of their desires," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday.

"This stuff should have been done before Senator Barack Obama became President-elect Barack Obama, and certainly before he became President Obama." Gibbs said the White House would seek "new rules of the road" regarding the appropriations process by which government agencies are authorised to spend tax dollars.

"It represents last year's business," he said. "Although it's not perfect, the President will sign the legislation, but demonstrate for all involved rules moving forward that he thinks can make this process work a little bit better."

The truth is that it is not last year's business. The Democrats refused to do anything on this last year in hopes that Obama would win. They knew that President Bush would not sign it with all of the earmarks on it and they saw this as their chance to move this bill into 2009 and lard it up with all of their wasteful spending. The fact is that this bill covers this year's spending not last years. Just another example of outright mischaracterizations by the new administration that was to be based on transparency, honesty and hope.

I guess by hope he meant "I hope my policies do not bankrupt the coutry" and by change he meant "by the time I am finished the US will change from being a superpower built on capitalism to an ordinary country that is based on European style socialism".

He is already demonstrating that he will be the worst President in history. Probably going to be worse than Jimmy Carter and we are only a little over two months into his Presidency. If the next 46 months are going to be anything like the first two than we are going to be in deep, deep trouble.

Conservative David Brooks Opines

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/opinion/10brooks.html?em

Monday, March 9, 2009

Total takeover, "O" style... from the WSJ

In defense, White House budget chief Peter Orszag wrote on his blog: "If you're a teacher making $50,000 a year and decide to donate $1,000 to the Red Cross or United Way, you enjoy a tax break of $150. If you are Warren Buffet or Bill Gates and you make that same donation, you get a $350 deduction -- more than twice the break as the teacher." This Administration wants to turn even philanthropy into a class issue.
Mr. Orszag revealed the real agenda at work when he pointed out that the money taken from the "rich" would be used to fund such Obama state-run charities as universal health care. The argument is that any potential declines in private gifts, whether to universities or foundations, will be balanced by increases in government grants paid with higher taxes -- redistribution by another means. This is how Europe's welfare state works: Taxes are so high that private citizens have come to believe it is only the state's duty to support cultural institutions and public welfare. The ambit for private giving shrinks.

Opinion: In Defense of Obamanomics-WSJ

President Obama has also proposed a 10-year budget that is faithful to the progressive vision he articulated during his campaign. Laura, can't we just say liberal?

And the strong expansion of the 1900s proves that the tax rates on income, capital gains and dividends in the Obama budget will support rapid economic growth and substantial income gains at the top. Moreover, the higher tax revenues resulting from these rates will reduce the deficit by about $750 billion, bringing it down to an average of 3.9% of GDP over the next 10 years and to 3.1% of GDP by the end of the decade. This conclusion requires suspension of belief, pretending that the dot.com boom never happened as well as the Republican take over of the congress in 1994!

The rising cost of health care per patient not just for Medicare and Medicaid but throughout the health-care system is the principal driver of the government's long-term deficit and debt problems. For more than 40 years, this cost has grown much faster than the overall economy and if the current rate continues, by 2050 Medicare and Medicaid will account for about 20% of GDP, and the national debt will soar to 300% of GDP. The rising cost of patient care is primarily due to lack to patient participation in the cost of health care and the lack of tort reform. Universal coverage will result in rationing of care, it must!

Critics of a cap-and-trade system are correct when they claim it will raise the prices of goods and services whose production and use emit carbon. This is not settled science and to propose disrupting our current way of life at such a time is dangerous. Cap in trade, quite frankly, reminds me of an Enron Scheme, or think MBS.

The real risk lies in the possibility that the economy's recovery starts later and is much weaker than the economic assumptions in the budget. In this case, by no means remote, President Obama will have to adjust his plans while remaining true to his values. In a very few days in office, he has already demonstrated that he has the leadership skills to rise to the challenge. The recovery will start later and be weak. Our liberal bloggers decry President Bush's 8 years, well the "O" term has started! He owns this mess. The country is hunkering down. Cramer has it right, the greatest destruction of wealth ever. The "O" plan is predicated on the affluent willingly being led to slaughter. (No, not overstatement, look at their words and hostility) But, again, there is no dot.com boom, we are in the midst of a huge recession.

Progressive=Liberal=Welfare State=Class Warfare=Continued Recession=Government Control (for our own good)

Opinion: In Defense of Obamanomics - WSJ.com




The Obama Justice Department Adopts the George W. Bush Administration's Legal Stance on Presidential Powers - WSJ.com

Sunday, March 8, 2009

While their may once have been a time when Wall Street could have been considered the engine of American finance, it has become in actual practice little but a high-fashion casino. (Perhaps Bernie Madoff made it too explicit, but in reality his Ponzi scheme functioned for so long, and with so little investigation, precisely because it did operate much as any of the other high-roller operations that it mimicked.) Credit default swaps (at least, as they were implemented) served exactly one purpose, which was to give uninvolved parties a roundabout way to bet large amounts of money on something that was, due to the inherently untangleable mess of the underlying "assets", of unknowable value. Like much of the financial inventions of the last decade or two, it did nothing to stimulate any part of the economy other than finance itself. It created no jobs, except the jobs required to push paperwork from one desk to another. It created no new products, and invented no new technologies, and it gave no money to any party interested in doing either. And America boomed because of it.
That is the nature of the new kind of "finance" that continued to represent a larger and larger share of America's ostensible "prosperity". We have become a nation incapable of effectively making textiles, cars, steel, electronics or other physical things, because those things only allow for a little profit. Instead, we choose to dabble in the strictly theoretical profits of high finance -- imaginary profits on imaginary wealth. Finance became more and more speculatory, and less and less encumbered by physical products, or assets, or services.
And the rich have done exceedingly well for themselves, in that new economy. As for the rest of the nation, the middle class found themselves subjectively in a recession for the entirety of the Bush years. Food prices, gas prices, housing prices -- on every front, it became harder and harder for the middle and poorer classes simply maintain the status quo, and yet none of this counted as recession or poverty, because we simply kept redefining the terms to exclude such unpleasantness.
What did we gain? Ask yourself -- what, exactly, did the nation create during those years? What new projects did America embark on? What betterments did we make to the lives, or health, or happiness of our citizens? What did we do?
The answer is jack-squat

Cramer

We had a banking crisis coming into this regime, but now every area is in crisis. Each day is worse than the previous one for this miserable economy and while Obama's champions cite the stimulus plan, it's really just a hodgepodge of old Democratic pork and will not create nearly as many manufacturing or service jobs as we hoped. China's stimulus plan is the model; ours is the parody.

Terry's Rant

It was GOP "reforms" that set the stage for the current economic crisis. From repeal of the Glass-Steagal act, to bankruptcy "reform" that turns debtors into indentured servants to the bankers, the GOP has been at the forefront of eroding the mechanisms of stabilizattion and regulation that kept the moderated the deep swings of the economy.
The GOP today continues to blame the economic crisis on working people and unions. In the midst of one of the worst economic crises the world has seen since the Great Depression, the GOP continues to advocate that we do nothing: nothing to help the unemployed, nothing to prop up a banking system they pillaged and nothing to stop the looting of our common treasury.
Yes, fair GOP. Look in the mirror. That face you see that looks like Rush Limbuagh really is you.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP73cK3GXdo

I do not agree with the premise of this video.

What the government should not do is start to manage American business. This is a slippery slope.

No, I am not trying to argue that dopes who screwed up should be rewarded. I am arguing that this enables and in fact promotes government control over business. Ask Vegas if they think American business should be allowed to entertain. Do we want the government running Auto companies?
Down another 280 to 6594, one wonders if the man will ever understand that you cannot be hostile to business.

Of course those who are now running the government have no real world experience, just academic theories.

A prediction, a crisis is coming which is going to require more government control and further withering of personal liberty and responsibility. What crisis? Who knows. Just some excuse for more control.

Worst President ever. Ever

Thank God the Conservatives are finding their voice of opposition.
The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Kneale Holds a Small Minority View

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123612000246123253.html
Kneale: Is Obama Out of His Freakin' Mind? - Markets * US * News * Story - CNBC.com
Talked to president Bush the other day. Couldn't get a word in, he just kept laughing and laughing.

"O" = zero = the "O" dow

WAGING WAR ON PROSPERITY at DickMorris.com

Ladies and Gentlemen: As we face and surmount this crisis, let me first express my confidence in the faith, hope and work of the American people. Your charity is constant you will always assist the most unfortunate among us.

To foster our recovery, the goal of this administration is to unleash the talent and energy of the most productive citizens of the world...The American people.

The following program is intended to ignite the economy but will require us to tighten our belts and get back to work.

The following programs will be implemented immediately:

Significant across the board cuts in all government programs to include defense, entitlements and education. We have spent more that we have and now is the time to reduce the size and scope of government. Some of these cuts will be difficult and I call on the American people, through their charity to care for each other.

Elimination of all "earmarks".

10% tax reduction across all marginal tax rates.

Suspension of capital gain taxes on all securities purchased in 2009 and sold after 2010,

Accelerated depreciation of all business purchases up to $500,000

Suspension of the FICA tax for 2009

$1500 per year tax credit for three years for any automobile purchased in 2009, increased to $2500 for any qualified auto with a MPG greater than 45 MPG.

While I am sure that we will soon recover, we need to make sure this never happens again. Tomorrow I am going to direct the SEC to establish close regulations, to ensure that all financial institutions must clear esoteric investment vehicles do not again infect our economic and financial system.