PolifrogBlog

There is no free in liberty.


.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Of Exponential Charts and How Often the Debt Limit has Been Raised...

polifrog



A perfect chart by which to ring out the month from ZeroHedge:


Nah, there's no problem. We have Keynes in our back pocket.




out

You're Gonna Pay! Gets Permanent Real Estate...

polifrog


Wilson Getchell has earned permanent real estate on my sidebar with "Your Gonna Pay,".

Fiscally Responsible Punk Rock Music

and

Monkeys on cocaine.

out

Paul Krugman - Blind to Patterns and Blinded by Keynes...

polifrog


We all know Will Smith. Successful. When asked about the source of his success one of his answers has been his reliance on being able to recognize patterns of success and jumping on. For instance: before Men in Black Smith recognized that up to that point over half of the top 10 grossing movies had, as he put it, "creatures". When given the opportunity to star in Men in Black he relied on his recognition of a pattern of success when accepting the role.

Will Smith:

No. I do not believe in getting trapped in a pattern when you recognize the pattern. The child-actor are obvious. I am kind of a student of the patterns of the universe. When my partner, James Lassiter, and I came to Hollywood, I said, "I want to be the biggest movie star in the world." We observed that of the top ten movies of all time, ten were special effects or animation. Nine were special effects or animation with creatures. Eight were special effects or animation with creatures and a love story. So we made Independence Day. When you see the , you just try to put yourself in the position to get lucky.


Not all of us are as proficient as Will Smith in recognizing patterns to jump on to or off of, though.

Krugman had this to say via Huffpost:

"From the perspective of a rational person -- in other words a progressive -- we shouldn't be talking about spending cuts at all now," Krugman said during a roundtable discussion on ABCNews' This Week With Christiane Amanpour. "We have 9 percent unemployment. These spending cuts are going to worsen unemployment. It's even going to hold the long-run fiscal picture because we have a situation where more and more people are becoming permanent long-term unemployed."

When is a Keynesian wrong? The answer is never, as they are the economic back beat to Climate change.

Apparently there are no conditions under which either theory is falsifiable even when patterns of failure emerge...

Simple questions:

::Why is it that the recession in the early 30's became the great depression after Keynesian expansion?

::Why was there a recession in 37 (until recently a recession second only to the Great Depression in severity) after years of enacting Keynesian solutions?

::If WWII was an example of Keynesian success why was it immediately followed by the recession of 45 at the war's end?

::If Japan executed one of the greatest Keynesian experiments in modern history then why do they languish in a perma-recession.

::If the US invested it's own round of Keynesian based solutions beginning in 2008, then why does the US seem to be entering it's own perma-recession in the same way that it did during the great depression and in the same way that Japan has?

::If Keynesian Theory is intended to "kick-start" an economy out of recession, why was there a greater rate of growth after recessions prior to the use of Keynesian solutions?

Keynesian solutions have racked up an impressive pattern of extending recessions. Only the most credentialed among us can pass off the stupidity of arguing otherwise otherwise as intellectual thought.




out

You're Gonna' Pay!

polifrog



There is nothing wrong with conservative art, so how about some Sunday morning punk...

A Powerline 100,000 prize entry.

Or maybe some folk:


Also a powerline entry.




out

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Democrats and Their Golgafrinchan Like Economic Solutions...

polifrog



Upon adopting the leaf as a form of currency Golgafrinchans suffered tremendous inflation. Their solution was to begin a campaign of burning their deciduous forests.

Bloody Idiots.

:::

Spend first then find the revenue; idiotic, but it's the the foundation for Democrat paradigm through which political power is maintained. Now in their effort to maintain the flow of easy debt dollars in the face of monetary reality Democrats suggest burning forests:

Democrats recognize that they have a paradigm to protect, one that is based not on spending other people's money, but the dollars of subsequent generations ... debt ... on giveaways in exchange for political power.

In a climate of, as they claim, lower taxes, it is all they have left and they have gone as batty as the Golgafrinchans in defense of their debt spending.

All the while the desire for a balanced budget is labeled "extremist".



out

Friday, July 29, 2011

Rep. Brad Miller Considers Raising His Odds of Remaining a Rep. to 50%...

polifrog



RollCall:

Miller told Roll Call that he thought a primary between him and Price would be “very unlikely,” but he stressed that the 4th “includes a lot of very familiar territory for me."

"It would be a district that I would be very pleased to represent. I would love to represent my hometown as well as the town I live in now,” said Miller, who was born and grew up in Fayetteville, in the 4th under the new lines.

...

Miller said the new 13th “does not include much of the district I’ve represented or what has been my political base, where I draw support and votes.” He noted Price “has represented more of the new 13th than I have represented.”


Two points:
  • the redistricting process has considerably reduced Miller's chances of retaining his seat in the 13th
  • map 2 of the redistricting process put Miller's current address in 12 term Democrat David Price's 4th district thus giving Miller a tolerable excuse to run against one of his own
It is only rational for Miller to entertain raising the probability that he will continue warming a seat in Congress from from near zero to around fifty percent. Self preservation.

So, was redistricting map 2 a favor to Miller?




out

Jon Stewart Skewers the Bystander and Chief...

polifrog



But does he?
How do you read a clown?





out

Our Unhealthy Government Dependent Market ...

polifrog


CNBC:
First-quarter output was sharply revised down to a 0.4 percent pace from 1.9 percent.
Why do we believe the Commerce Department?
How can they be off by 1.5%?
Placebo numbers harm confidence.

Recall that Q2 came in at 1.3%.
How well will that reading hold considering Q1 was off by 1.5%?
Negative growth?

::::

And the Boehner bill fails it's vote last night, the market falls; the Boehner bill is amended and is scheduled for new vote and the market ... jumps.

market

A sick system.

Update:
I had problems posting this and forgot the H/T.
(H/T ZeroHedge for the chart)
Sorry.



out

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Gulf Between Observation and AGW Models Widens...

polifrog



Forbes:
NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.

...

In addition to finding that far less heat is being trapped than alarmist computer models have predicted, the NASA satellite data show the atmosphere begins shedding heat into space long before United Nations computer models predicted.

...

In short, the central premise of alarmist global warming theory is that carbon dioxide emissions should be directly and indirectly trapping a certain amount of heat in the earth's atmosphere and preventing it from escaping into space. Real-world measurements, however, show far less heat is being trapped in the earth's atmosphere than the alarmist computer models predict, and far more heat is escaping into space than the alarmist computer models predict.

When objective NASA satellite data, reported in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, show a "huge discrepancy" between alarmist climate models and real-world facts, climate scientists, the media and our elected officials would be wise to take notice. Whether or not they do so will tell us a great deal about how honest the purveyors of global warming alarmism truly are.








out

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Mass Manipulation Via the Deflation Monster...

polifrog


With the many examples of hyperinflationary currency destruction and a history replete with not one example of currency destruction via hyperdeflation we continue our endless, flirtatious dance with inflation.

I understand the undeniably rational arguments that deflation is imminently dangerous as well as I understand the theoretical concept of a circle. The problem I have is that neither seem to exist in reality. Deflationary spiral theory strikes me as a theory in search of a reality.

Where is an example in history of this so feared mythical deflationary spiral? There is not one.

But for examples of hyperinflation we have:
Angola (1993), Argentina (1981), Austria (1922), Belarus (1999), Bolivia (1985), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992), Brazil (1994), China (1948),Danzig (1923), Georgia (1994), Germany (1923), Greece (1944), Hungary (1922), Hungary (1945), Isreal (1970's), Krajina (1993), Mexico (1980's), Nicaragua (1980's), Peru (late 1980's), Philippines (1940's), Poland (1922), Poland (1989), Romania (1990's), Taiwan (1948), Ukraine (1994), Yugoslavia (1999), Zaire(1992), Zimbabwe (2005)

But we are told that:
The problem with deflation on a wide scale (not just with one class of consumer goods) is that it leads to a highly unstable economy. If consumers expect that prices will fall, they put off purchases, which decreases demand and can cause prices to fall further, decreasing demand, rinse and repeat. (Dave Ribar)
Why do they force this irrational fear?
Why do we believe it?

The reality is that people can not forever delay the purchase of needs; people need things and will buy them when a floor in pricing is found.

It seems odd to me that we are being asked to be more fearful of a deflationary spiral than an inflationary spiral. We are being asked to consistently dabble in inflation which has no real upward ceiling aside from currency destruction so as to avoid a deflationary event which almost everyone admits has a floor.

This strikes me as an awfully risky strategy for a nation, however it does lend "the few" tools to by which macro economic manipulation may be attempted.deflation monster




out

Smokin' In the Boy's Room or Breaking Bad?

polifrog



MyFoxDC:
State Police Sgt. Andy Perdue said Monday that traces of the drug were found in the ducts, principal's office, hallways and bathrooms of the Boone County Career and Technical Center. Perdue says the teacher admitted he smoked meth with the principal in the principal's office.

The principal and a teacher smoke meth in the principal's office.

I wonder if they will loose their jobs.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Plainly Pained by a Planless President...

polifrog


Poor Carney, caught between a bystander of a president and a suddenly ballsy press.

Show us the President's plan...





out

A Blasphemous Use for Keynesian Theory...

polifrog


It seems that if, as Keynesians argue, the economy suffers as a result of government spending cuts during contractions then Keynesian logic would dictate that tax cuts commensurate with those cuts in government spending during contractions would be in order.




out

Monday, July 25, 2011

Impressing the Fiscal Reality of Delayed Fiscal Coherence...

polifrog



We have lived under a broken debt funded system so long we no longer recognize a functioning system when we see one.

Our representatives are in power to reconcile needs and wants with our fiscal ability to meet those needs and wants. Doing so is difficult. That difficulty combined with cheap borrowing costs has lead to an over reliance on debt rather than doing the hard work of reconciling fiscal incoherence.

What we see today, the hard and messy work of reconciling fiscal incoherence, is healthy. One party understands that, the other does not and requires the coercive fear of limited debt availability to reign in their unreal dependence on other people's money, or more accurately, another generation's prosperity.

No, it is not simple; impressing reality on the irrational rarely is.



out

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Discordant James Protzman of Blue NC

polifrog


James Protzman
, BlueNC:

Reading this post today, everything finally clicked into place. I finally understand the Christianists, though it makes my head want to explode.

No, it's not about the Tea Party assassin in Norway. It's about Tea Party dominionists in Florida who want to loosen environmental restrictions that protect ocean animals. These god-fearing Christian soldiers are proud to say: "We cannot elevate nature above people," explained Edna Mattos, 63, leader of the Citrus County Tea Party Patriots, in an interview. "That's against the Bible and the Bill of Rights."

We have such fools here at home, those in favor of turning North Carolina's beaches into concrete bunkers. Those who want to give zygotes the same exalted status as living humans. Those who believe mercury is an essential ingredient for North Carolina rivers. Those very same partisan whores who believe elected officials should choose their voters instead of vice versa.

This Sunday I wish I was a schizophrenic militant Christianist too. Then I could pray to god that all these arrogant assholes would rot in hell.

To which I replied:

The statement:

I finally understand the Christianists.

and the statement:

Then I could pray to god that all these arrogant assholes would rot in hell.

are contradictory. You do not understand Christians.

and:

It is contradictory to define life as not life.

Those who want to give zygotes the same exalted status as living humans.

If there were only one polar bear and that polar bear were a "growing clump of cells" within its recently deceased mother would it be a life worth saving? Unfortunately I am unable to use humanity in this example due to the devaluing humanity has suffered from the left.

and:

Those very same partisan whores who believe elected officials should choose their voters instead of vice versa.

Elected officials are by definition chosen by their voters. To state otherwise is contradictory:

:::::

James Protzman replied by not only deleting my comment, and banning me, but labeling my comment as "intolerable".

Sorry for the deletion, but on this particular day in right wing hell, your words rose to the level of intolerably obnoxious. I have blocked your account.

Feel free to re-register as a real person with a real name and I will consider allowing you the privilege of participating in this community.

His house, his rules. OK.
I'll miss the exchange.

However, James Protzman's incongruity extends beyond the simple bending of logic via word. James Protzman's incongruous nature leads him to delete innocuous comments like mine above while tolerating the truly intolerable with an attaboy wrist-slap.





polifrog

Thursday, July 21, 2011

More Keynsian Cowbell--Automatic Stabilizers...

polifrog


In another example of Keynesian solutions resulting in the flatlining of American prosperity, American poverty was falling until the war on poverty and those much loved "automatic stabilizers" kicked into action.



polifrog

A Little More On That Watabe Tree Incident For the Dems Known as Redistricting ...

polifrog



'Nother short post, links really.
The New redistricting map.

And a clearer description of the NC Dem's Watabe Tree incident.
WashingtonPost:
Unlike the state GOP’s first proposal, though, this one puts McIntyre’s and Miller’s homes into other members’ districts. Furthermore, it would make both McIntyre’s and Kissel’s even more Republican than before.

...

The new map also would likely force McIntyre — perhaps the toughest of the four targets for Republicans to defeat — to move into the new 7th to run for reelection. And Miller, who is drawn into Rep. David Price’s (D-N.C.) district, would also face a tough reelection decision.

In the end, the map appears to be even better for the GOP than the first map proposed (details on that map here), concentrating more Republicans into the vulnerable Democrats’ districts while putting more Democratic voters in non-competitive districts.

Republicans said they made the changes in response to concerns raised by Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) that his majority-black district may not meet the requirements set forth by the Voting Rights Act. Because of this, Butterfield’s safe Democratic district would become even more Democratic than the first proposal, allowing Republicans to put even more of their voters in other districts.

Heh.

Watabe tree 7 min in:







out

Redistricting Map 2....

polifrog



polifrog


RedState:

When the first North Carolina redistricting map came out at the beginning of July, Democrats of course bawled like stuck calves.

...

But then something interesting happened: Rep. GK Butterfield (D, NC-01) started complaining. Rep. Butterfield is a beneficiary (along with Rep. Mel Watts of NC-12) of the racial gerrymandering system set up in response to the Voting Rights Act; and he made some rather pointed objections to the first map, arguing that it ‘disenfranchised’ some of his former constituents by moving them into majority-white districts. North Carolinan Republicans thought about it – and must have decided that they agreed, because they went into the maps again and redrew both Butterfield’s and Watt’s districts to make them more in line with the VRA’s perceived guidelines.

Presented without comment; presented without time to do so.
Well, a small comment:

You mustn't go near a watape tree. They grab you.





out

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

You mustn't go near a watape tree.

polifrog


RedState:

When the first North Carolina redistricting map came out at the beginning of July, Democrats of course bawled like stuck calves.

...

But then something interesting happened: Rep. GK Butterfield (D, NC-01) started complaining. Rep. Butterfield is a beneficiary (along with Rep. Mel Watts of NC-12) of the racial gerrymandering system set up in response to the Voting Rights Act; and he made some rather pointed objections to the first map, arguing that it ‘disenfranchised’ some of his former constituents by moving them into majority-white districts. North Carolinan Republicans thought about it – and must have decided that they agreed, because they went into the maps again and redrew both Butterfield’s and Watt’s districts to make them more in line with the VRA’s perceived guidelines.

Presented without comment; presented without time to do so.
Well, a small comment:

You mustn't go near a watape tree. They grab you.




out

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Another $50 Billion for Bank of America ?

polifrog



Business Insider:

Bank of America is tanking again, as firm may need $50 Billion in fresh capital.
Is this bank still to0 big to fail when it is not one of many?
Their best bet would be to tread water as long as possible in hopes of a second Keynesian leg down in hopes of further shifting risk to all of us.

Moral Hazard.




out

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Left's Regressive Shakedown of Small Business...

polifrog




Sean Corrigan, chief investment strategist at Diapason Commodities Management, CNBC:
Link
"The privileged few clustering around the Treasury Secretary and the Fed have eaten everybody else's lunch," Corrigan said.

Sounds pretty good so far, huh? Well, the article continues:

One key sticking point lies in raising taxes on higher earners, which many Republicans object to.

"If you want to preserve some kernel of the free market, you can't have corporate welfare socialism and then expect all the austerity to fall at the bottom of the pile," Corrigan said.

See the head fake?

We are lead to believe that the bottom of the pile is "the poor" or the half of the US that does not pay taxes. Of course no one is suggesting we raise taxes on "the poor". The discussion centers on whether or not to raise" taxes on higher earners" when many of those "high earners" are small business owners.

The real "bottom of the pile" if taxes are raised on high earners will be America's small businesses who are forced to support "corporate welfare socialism" in the financial sector.




out

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Can He Crack Rarely, even a gibber his own?

polifrog


Connie Mack Berry,
No words of his own

Connie Mack Rarely,
a thought of his own

Connie Crack Barely,
wit of which he own

Can He Quack Lightly,
gibberish his own?

Poor Connie Mack Berry,
throw the man a bone...   

BlueNC

out

Friday, July 15, 2011

Good Times...

polifrog



Reuters:
Black men are half as likely to die at any given time if they're in prison than if they aren't, suggests a new study of North Carolina inmates.

When does liberal failure become apparent to a liberal?


Update: Once again welcome DailyPundit readers

out

The Path from Evil is Fraught With the Darkness of Self Recognition...

polifrog



Sam Spagnola sarcastically titles a recent post Suddenly a Broken System in reference to the NC redistricting process. He is right to note that there is nothing suddenly wrong in the NC redistricting process. Unless, of course, you are a liberal in search of a cudgel.

There is no doubt that the NC redistricting process has created another gerrymander only this time under conservative rule , but there is also no doubt that the gerrymander is the product of a racially based redistricting process created by democrats, a process that conservatives must abide by.

Why?


Unfortunately the Supreme Court found that the Voting Rights Act trumps the NC Constitution's firewall against gerrymandering.

NCGA :

Under the State Constitution, Senate and House districts must consist of contiguous territory. By tradition, the contiguity requirement also has been applied to Congressional districts. Contiguity means that all parts of a district must touch. The district must not have any detached parts.

Since the 1980's democrats in the NC House and NC Senate have abused the Voting Rights Act so as to break the NC firewall against gerrymandering. In so doing they broke NC's redistricting process. The current republican NCGA is forced to abide by that broken democrat process. That the results are unpleasing to democrats I hope enlightens them to basic racism in the process they crafted, a racism they chose to ignore due to the political gains they received from the process.

But therein lies the common ground, though. The belief that racism is evil. If as a result of being at the receiving end of their own redistricting process democrats recognize that their redistricting process is evil due to its racially based roots, then it seems to me that we can all agree that the process itself needs to be changed.

Unfortunately for democrats the path from evil is fraught with the darkness of self recognition.



out

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Mitch McConnell Mulligan?

polifrog



McConnell:
Republicans will not be reduced to being the tax collectors for the Obama economy.






Not bad for a mulligan.




out

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Rep. Brad Miller (NC-13) Gets One Right...

polifrog


Brad Miller:
...it is important that the American people know that their government is acting on their behalf, not on behalf of powerful financial institutions. It is important that the public and Congress be able to assess whether the enterprises settled claims that would limit taxpayer losses on a tough, arm's length basis, rather than providing another indirect subsidy to the banking industry.

Unfortunately there is nothing Miller can do to rectify his support in transferring $13 Trillion (according to PBS) of the citizenry's wealth to financial institutions. Nothing.

H/T Zero Hedge

FHFA BoNY Settlement Final

Monday, July 11, 2011

Thaddeus McCotter Interview

polifrog




Thaddeus McCotter (promise to keep the spelling correct going forward) high quality interview in video on Flashpoint (sorry, no embed). Although locally done the topics are national.

This is a 10 minute interview covering whether he is seriously running, domestic economic policy and Middle Eastern foreign policy. These will be favorites the coming political season. Unfortunately the discussion avoids McCotter's unfortunate support for the Auto Unions.

Currently McCotter seems best known for his press tag line ... "little known", but the first debate will change that.

Intelligence, Wit, Confidence.



out

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Did Brit Hume Just Compare Operation Fast and Furious (Gunrunner) to Watergate?

polifrog



He does smell a puddy cat ... He does!



Stench...




out

Using Keynes to Remedy the Inequity of Rising Standards of Living Between Generations...

polifrog



Today Dr. Brod gave us the generational redistibutionst's argument for Keynesianism:

Economists have generally pointed out that given steadily rising standards of living, what would really be inequitable would be leaving no debt to future generations (which is the core point of Queenan's article).

In most cultures leaving a stronger, wealthier tomorrow to subsequent generations would be a source of pride.

Only in liberalism would such success be a source of envy.

How best to remedy the inequity of the rising standards of living that benefit unborn generations?

Keynes and its generational redistribution, of course. Diminishing tomorrow for today through debt.

The result being the uniform equity of no rising standard of living across generations. Heck, we know it works, just look at Japan and it's success with Keynesian sourced generational redistribution otherwise known as Japan's 20 year recession.

Ultimately arguing for Keynes' generational redistributionist qualities is an admission of Keynesian born economic stagnancy and failed growth policy.


Bugs can be features to the socialist.
Insidious.



out

Why Not Rob the Future of its Higher Standard of Living?

polifrog



Dr. Brod: (UNCG Economist)

Why not leave our children and grandchildren with debt? Why do they get to be the special generation with no debt? Has helicopter parenting progressed so far that we can't even run a deficit to save the economy? Why do our hearts ache more for future generations than they do for the millions of people who are unemployed right now?

Why?

Because it shifts real loss to subsequent generations for the mirage of a repaired economy today. As Dr. Brod has said in reference to the recession of 1937 which was second only to the current recession in severity after the Great Depression:

...what we saw in the 1930s is that fiscal stimulus worked while it was tried, and didn't work when it was pulled back.

In other words we traded real debt for no lasting gain. Keynes failed, FDR failed. The nation suffered.

We saw it again with the conclusion of WWII which was followed not by boom but by bust in the recession of 1945.

And in the most glaring example there is Japan which continuous the feel good Keynesian stimulus that has resulted not in boom, but a full generation of economic stagnancy. In Japan we see firsthand the real loss that was transferred to the unborn when Japanese leaders chose Keynesian solutions.

Those unborn are now young adults enduring the fiscal abuse metered out by elders who asked themselves:

Why not leave our children and grandchildren with debt? Why do they get to be the special generation with no debt?
and chose poorly.



Update:
Welcome Daily Pundit readers...


out

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Boomer Generation-- No sacrifice, But a Whole Lotta' Suck...

polifrog



Flipped past another Woodstock retrospective today.

When has the boomer generation ever known sacrifice?

The Hippies are, and have been "The Man" for some time now. The national debt problem is their pig, but they refuse responsibility for it. Firmly ensconced in moral relativism they selfishly support choice over life, they choose debt over thrift, they choose "The Man" over liberty, and they push poverty on all generations, but their own.

The majority of the boomer generation never gave a thought beyond their own peers. First rejecting the thrift, success and sacrifice of the greatest generation then engorging themselves on a combination of free love, consumerism, and me-ism made possible by the very sacrifice they rejected.

They found no satiation; not in art, not in chemicals, not in communes, not in their incessant self aggrandizing through the media, not in new age nonsense. They are lost in an endless maze of perpetual selfish desire unable to find contentment.

Now with the bill for all their excess firmly on the table, they pass on their last chance at finding contentment through meaningful sacrifice as they pass that bill to subsequent generations.

Once a child, then a hippie, now the man -- perpetually living off the plate of another.

Where once churches and community helped the down trodden we now funnel that help through a soulless government.

Where once we had a melting pot we now have cultural Balkanization.

Where we once had the crisp suit of moral certitude we now have the tie-dyed confusion of moral relativism.

Never before has our country suffered a more worthless, selfish, shiftless, horrible, or gluttonous group of malcontents so intent on shifting their individual responsibility to society at large and beyond than our aging boomer generation who refused all sacrifice.

Thanks for the suck Hippies.
You truly are --- The Worst Generation.
Say no to Woodstock...



out

Paul Ryan Buys Wine While Others Get a Lot of Whine -- Heh....

polifrog




Erick Ercikson:

What happens when a whiney drunk liberal economist runs to a whiney lefty former journalist hard up for a story of something on something to salvage her reputation? You get salacious nonsense like this from Talking Points Memo.

Horror of horrors, a possibly drunk and possibly crazy left-wing economist Rutgers named Susan Feinberg, and her husband who she probably calls her partner, saw Representative Paul Ryan and two other economists drink a $300 bottle of wine.

And all the lefty economist got was whine.

So she whined to Susan Crabtree, a former reporter turned lefty hacktivist, to write up a whine list lamenting Paul Ryan and friends daring to use . . . wait for it . . . no seriously, wait for it . . .THEIR OWN DAMN MONEY to buy the wine.


Nanny leftist...






out

Friday, July 8, 2011

Keynesians in Search of a Success Story in WW2 Find Only Their Argument's End...

polifrog



I find it interesting that when one asks for an example of Keynesian solutions having pulled our nation from recession we are never referenced to any of these recessions ...

recession of the early 2000's
recession of the early 1900's
recession of the early 1980's
recession of the mid 1970's
recession of the late 1960's
recession of the early 1960's
recession of the late 1950's
recession of the mid 1950's
recession of the late 1940's
recession of 1945
recession of 1937

Many were relatively small and presumably more manageable but they are all ignored.

No. One is almost ritually taken back to the Great Depression to find proof of Keynesian success. But was the Great Depression a Keynesian success?

Under Hoover government expanded by around 30% (Keynesian before Keynes was chic); the recession continued. Under FDR there was a tepid recovery but further Keynesian meddling likely produced one of the worst recessions in the period from the Great Depression to today, the recession of 1937.

With over a decade of Keynesian solutions attempted from 1929 to 1941 the lasting result was a structural recession. Keynesian solutions had stalled the economic cycle at the worst possible point and what had once been a recession had garnered the status of The Great Depression.

Enter WW2.

(It is interesting to recognize that sometime in the past 20 years a shift occurred such that references to Keynesian success lead less frequently to the Great Depression than they once did and more frequently to WW2. This, I believe, represents the slow recognition that Keynesian solutions failed to usher our nation from the Great Depression.

As a result Keyneians now more frequently turn to the argument ending contention that WW2 represents a Keynesian success story.)

Lets assume for a moment that WW2 was a Keynesian success. That Keynesians now rely on WW2, a wartime economy in which Government spending accounted for over 50% of GDP, as an example of Keynesianism pulling America from the grip of recession shows how far Keynesians will stretch to find a single success story. Really, Keynesians now argue with a straight face that recessions should be fought with the equivalent of not just wartime spending but World War spending when no such response was needed in recessions prior to the Great Depression.

Of course, I question if even WW2 was a successful Keynesian experiment. If stimulus spending is intended to prime our economy as Kenynesians argue, then how does gearing industry for war help? The recession of 1945 answers that for us. It does not. At the war's end all the priming of the pump represented by WW2 resulted in ... wait for it ... the 1945 recession, not a Keynesian boom.

Just imagine the state of our nation after the recession of 1945 had we not had a world of devastation to sell our wares to, a world that payed not just for our goods, but for the retooling of all that industrial wartime "stimulus" more accurately described as bad investments for a peacetime economy. Imagine if those broken nations had not been there to make our war debt manageable by offing us their markets. Imagine the state of our nation after the recession of 1945 had we been required to compete with even one functional industrial economy or if our cities and towns had been brought to the waste of theirs.

When being asked to believe that WW2 represented a Keynesian success, I am being asked to believe that Keynesian solutions require us not only to raise national spending to over 50% of GDP, but that we must also destroy the industrial capabilities of friend and foe alike, destroy their infrastructures, destroy their homes and cities, kill off a large part of their workforce, have them kill off a large portion of our workforce, and then have them pay for retooling our economy so that we may sell them goods, climb back from recession and give Keynes a pat on the back for a job well done.

Really? We have to do all this to make Keynesianism work? Really?

If it takes rehashing WW2 for Keynesianism to work, I want no part of it. And when Keynesians have only WW2 to rely on as an example of a Keynesian success story, they have lost their argument.




out

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Redistributing Wealth From the Poor for the Greater Good is Still Socialism...

polifrog


In all fairness where I am about to go has nothing to do with the article referenced but a portion of the article does dip into a topic of interest; the scope and morality of socialism:

... in 1994 with the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which opened the American-Mexican border to more economic activity. To encourage foreign investment in Mexico, its government started to strip Indian landowners of a long-held legal protection from privatization. The resulting conflict awakened ethnic tensions that dated back centuries, and spurred a populist support of indigenous heritage.

What interests me here is that the Mexican government recognized a social benefit for Mexico in increasing foreign investment. Whatever the merits, Indian landowners retained legal protection from privatization that hindered much needed foreign investment. Mexico's solution was to strip the Indian landowners of those legal protections that stymied foreign investment for the greater good of the state.

It seems to me this redistribution of "wealth" from the poor (rights of the poor were removed) for the greater good.... is socialism. All but the most socialist of us would rightly recognize this as a wrong. However, many of those individuals who see it as wrong to redistribute wealth from the poor for the greater good see no wrong in redistributing wealth from the productive for the greater good. But if all individuals are inherently equal then where is the morality in treating the poor differently from the productive?

The extreme socialist, of course, has the answer; that the greater good is always moral and that there is no wrong in redistributing wealth from the poor.

The moderate socialist, though, chooses to completely deny that redistribution of wealth from the poor for the greater good is socialist. They prefer, instead, to lay blame on those who benefit; corporations are for them the usual bogyman and, of course, the perennial favorite, America.

The fairer and more moral answer is to understand that socialism is fundamentally immoral and therefore no morality may be gleamed from it.







H/T to Ed Cone for referencing the linked article.
out

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Christina Romer Accurately Labels Our Keynesian Attempt at a Recovery as a "Growth-less Recovery"...

polifrog



Remember those green shoots? They were the result of Keynesian stimulus spending and revealed themselves to be no more than a blip in GDP. Although there is no doubt that stimulus showed up in GDP measurements, there was no organic economic growth as a result of that stimulus spending.

Christina Romer, former Chair of White House Council of Economic Advisers, correctly recognizes that Keynesian solutions result in what she calls a "growth-less recovery".




Thank you for the term...





out

Chris Matthews, I Hate to Tell You This, But You Sound Like an Idiot When You Argue Deficits Follow Receipts...

polifrog


Chris Matthews does not get it.

Deficits follow spending (deficit spending sound familiar?) and spending follows receipts, but Chris Matthews believes deficits result from receipts.



The man seems to believe Greece deficit taxed their way into oblivion.




out

Duke Power Applies for 15% Inflation Hike, Keynesians Observe No Inflation...

polifrog



Charlotte Observer:




Duke Energy filed Friday for an overall 15 percent rate hike, its largest such request in North Carolina in at least 20 years.

...

N.C. residential rates would go up 17 percent, adding $19 to the average $97 monthly bill. Commercial and industrial rates would rise 14 percent.

The Keynesian and statist view is that there is no inflation, of course they remove energy and food from their statistical representations of the data.

Keynesians bending reality through statistics...




out

Bill Whittle - Bending the Politicization of Hollywood...

polifrog




Offered with no commentary:






out

Monday, July 4, 2011

On This Fourth...

polifrog


A theocratic state adopts one religion to the exclusion of all others including atheism. By contrast, an atheocratic state excludes all religions with the exception of atheism (a faith in no god). Theocratic states and atheocratic states are the same in that they are based on exclusion and ultimately purges. We are familiar with the examples of theocratic states but less so of atheocratic states. Atheocratic regimes would include Cuba, China, the Soviet Union as well as much of Europe and increasingly the United States.

Had theocracy, freedom of thought, speech, worship, and atheism not found common ground on which to coexist there would be no Fourth of July. Our founders would have turned their backs on one another before setting pen to parchment.


With the Founder's guidance the US was once an example of governance that avoided both theocracy and athocracy. We were a nation in which no groups were disenfranchised to the benefit of a single group and instead all groups were allowed in the public square despite creed, color, religion et cetera. Some of these took longer to acheive than others; there is no compelling argument to drop others.




On this Fourth we should remember the inclusive government that has been lost to atheocracy.








Edited for clarity.


out

Two Videos For the Fourth...

polifrog





and




It is our country, no theirs.



out

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Thaddius McCotter - No Faux Rock Star...

polifrog


With Both Hands:





President Barack Obama plays a Rock Star, but he has no chops. Going on three years of Air Guitar Hero In Chief, perhaps it is time to listen to one who took the time to learn how to play. Here is Thad McCotter doing Norwegian Wood:






A little reality would go a long way right now/


out

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Michigan Court Rationalizes the Irrational and Uses Equal Protection to Strike Down Law Requiring Equal Rights...

polifrog




OK, Michigan passes a law in 2006 that forced University of Michigan and other state schools to revise their admission policies such that race could not be a consideration in acceptance process.

Unfortunately the court found that treating people equally violates their equal protection:
In a 2-1 decision, the judges ruled that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Monty? Python???
Ministry of the absurd.





out

Joy, Joy. Failed Keynsian Shovel Ready Laughs...

polifrog





Note the joy in stalling the economic cycle at the worst possible moment.

The Freedom From Regulation Test...

polifrog


If you can not pee off the back porch or preferably when the need strikes anywhere in the yard while mowing, then you are not free from regulation.




out

Friday, July 1, 2011

Redistricting and The Meaningless NC Constitution

polifrog


The Senate Redistricting Committee and the House Redistricting Committee have made public their proposed US Congressional districts map.

The NC Constitution requires these districts to be drawn along county lines as a hedge against gerrymandering; the federal government requires districts to be drawn along racial lines. Unfortunately it has been deemed by the Supreme Court that federal racial requirements in districting trump state constitutional requirements. There is no Tenth Amendment; there are no droids here. The result is the freedom to gerrymander effective representation into non existence via district 12, district 4 and all transgressions of county lines.

What we have here is a map of federalism in decline.




It appears I won't be updating my sidebar.

On the other hand, the 13th is drawn such that Brad Miller's socialist representation will likely come to an end in 2012.

A conservative, hopefully Tea Party leaning, candidate will likely find a new home in the 13th.



Edited for clarity.
out

So, That Wisonson Union Battle ... Results are Trickling in...

polifrog



Lets take a look at a liberal disaster with the help of Byron York who, of course, does what the rest of the media can not:

Wednesday, school officials put in place new policies they estimate will turn that $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. And it's all because of the very provisions that union leaders predicted would be disastrous.

...
Now, the collective bargaining agreement is gone, and the school district is free to shop around for coverage. And all of a sudden, WEA Trust has changed its position. "With these changes, the schools could go out for bids, and lo and behold, WEA Trust said, 'We can match the lowest bid,'" says Republican state Rep. Jim Steineke, who represents the area and supports the Walker changes.


Work rule changes mean teachers teach 6 instead of 5 periods a day as well as having to be in school for 40 hours a week rather than 37.5.

The changes mean Kaukauna can reduce the size of its classes -- from 31 students to 26 students in high school and from 26 students to 23 students in elementary school. In addition, there will be more teacher time for one-on-one sessions with troubled students. Those changes would not have been possible without the much-maligned changes in collective bargaining.


Give me some more of that new- age liberal disaster!






out

Obamafuscation of Taxes...

polifrog



Vid by Mary Katharine Ham:



H/T Legal Insurrection:
In his rather “prickly” press conference on Wednesday, President Obama made it sound as if tax increases (or, to use the Democrats’ language, “cutting spending in the tax code”) were part of a last resort at trimming the deficit as the federal government reaches its $14 trillion debt ceiling. He even referred to “tax breaks for corporate jet owners” (see here for background on the absurdity of that language) as “tough decisions”:
He's right, tax cuts were never last ditch.




out

Obama Defined by Inaction...

polifrog





Does he see golf as a photo-op?



out

More Thaddeus McCotter...

polifrog


Not sure how I missed this speech (just under 30min in 3 installments):



Self Evident truths as opposed to moral relativism.
H/T hotair



out

Jamaicans Nostalgic for Colonialism...

polifrog


Powerline...
When Jamaica became independent from Great Britain, residents of the Cayman Islands, which until then had been administered as part of the colony of Jamaica, were given a plebiscite in which they voted to remain a British colony rather than join Jamaica in independence. The rest is history.





out

Good News From USAToday -- Thaddeus McCotter to Run...

polifrog



USAToday

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich. will launch his presidential campaign on July 2, making him the third sitting member of the House to run for the White House in 2012.
Raising the caliber of debate .




Big Bore.