I like this guy:
It sound like Rep Ryan has been brushing up on his Milton Friedman:
Poor old Phil, had his butt handed to him by Milton Friedman.
An extra big tip O’ the hat to Flopping Aces for the Paul Ryan vid.
Charles Krauthammer has a an intersting column that contains this glimpse at a potential second Obama term that will send a chill up any conservatives spine.
Act One is over. The stimulus, Obamacare, and financial reform have exhausted his first-term mandate. It will bear no more heavy lifting. And the Democrats will pay the price for ideological overreaching by losing one or both houses, whether de facto or de jure. The rest of the first term will be spent consolidating these gains (writing the regulations, for example) and preparing for Act Two.
The next burst of ideological energy — massive regulation of the energy economy, federalizing higher education, and “comprehensive” immigration reform (i.e., amnesty) — will require a second mandate, meaning reelection in 2012.
The article continues to discuss how Obama is planning to follow Bill Clinton’s re-election playbook from 1996. Obama’s calculation is that he can spend 2011 and 2012 running for re-election against Republicans in Congress (and George W. Bush, he can’t help himself) much the same way Clinton used Newt Gingrich and the Republicans for successful re-election bid in 1996.
While I agree that much of the political landscape is looking a lot like 1994, there are several key differences between today and 1996.
The Economy:
The Economy is in the tank and will remain in the tank for the foreseeable future with only anemic growth at best. Increases in employment always follow growth in the economy and as the Clinton campaign famously said “its the economy, stupid.” Persistent high unemployment will make it a difficult environment for incumbents to run in.
Bill Clinton:
Another difference between then and now is Bill Clinton. Clinton was a political opportunist without a strong ideology while Obama is a hardened ideologue committed to pushing an agenda that an overwhelming majority of Americans reject.
In 1995, Bill Clinton was still, for the most part, a likable guy in the eyes of most Americans. The Lewinsky scandal didn’t break until 1998. Today, Obama is proving to be not very ingratiating.
Bob Dole & Ross Perot:
The GOP selected a weak candidate in Bob Dole to run against Clinton in 1996. Even though Dole was a weak candidate he was able to carry 19 states, 159 electoral votes and 40.7% of the popular vote. If Ross Perot didn’t siphon off 8.4% of the popular vote, conventional wisdom says Dole could have won in 1996. A stronger Conservative candidate would have carried that election.
Conservatives have been stung enough by the GOP running weak candidates. Tea Party activists are pushing hard for good, solid candidates that grass root Conservatives can enthusiastically support. Of course, nothing is preventing the upper levels of the GOP from picking another re-tread candidate.
The Stakes:
The stakes are much higher today. The Progressives have managed to get a foot hold in their climb toward a single payer health care system and set the stage for massive tax increases through the trillion dollar stimulus bill. Conservatives need to be informed, engaged and avoid becoming overconfident.
The 2010 election is far from being in the bag.
Conservative men in Washington need to step it up. Via The Politico:
The House Administration committee, which usually takes days to approve something of this nature, approved Bachmann’s request to create a House Tea Party Caucus in a day. It will certainly give the national movement a more official voice within the House Republican Conference.
Bachmann, already a hero within the tea party, sent a letter to House Administration Chairman Robert Brady (D-Pa.) Thursday to register the House Tea Party Caucus to serve as an “informal group of members dedicated to promote Americans’ call for fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution and limited government.” (emphasis added)
This is exactly what Americans are looking for after a healthy dose of runaway government.
Extra big tip O’ the hat to Ace
I found this great web site that covers and photographs classic and custom motorcycles called Bike EXIF. Be sure to check it out.
On To the links…
Cops Handcuff, Jail 8-Year-Old Autistic Girl For Tantrum
MSM Deathwatch: The Case for Government Control Obliterated
The free flow of information exposes the failures and tyranny of any statist system. Since Marxism, Fascism, and “progressivism” are all based on lies to install them, and more lies to maintain them, control of information is absolutely essential to perpetuate them.
Dude, where’s my property tax cap?
A Justice McNamara Dispatch: Juuuuuust a bit outside!
We all remember Bush going to the rubber in Yankee Stadium and throwing a strike. We also all remember Obama throwing like a girl.
Quick question…do you think Sarah Palin would throw a better pitch than Obama? Hmmm…thats a close one. Prince Harry, a damn aristocratic Englishmen who was going to throw it like he was playing cricket, with a straight arm, nevertheless figured out how to throw and threw it like a man
Exploding the myth that Bush tax cuts caused the deficit (Great minds think alike… Not that I’m a great mind- but its nice to be in good company)
One of the biggest errors I see in many economic analyses can be summed up in one word – static.
Right To Work Legislation As A Good Start
I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible.
Milton Friedman
Greenspan, in a telephone conversation after his Bloomberg TV interview was taped, said his position is that all the expiring Bush tax cuts should end, for middle-class and high- income families alike.
Ending the cuts “probably will” slow growth, Greenspan, 84, said in the TV interview. The risk posed by inaction on the deficit is greater, he said.
“Unless we start to come to grips with this long-term outlook, we are going to have major problems,” said Greenspan, who led the U.S. central bank from 1987 to 2006. “I think we misunderstand the momentum of this deficit going forward.”
Deficit Difficulty
Greenspan said reducing the deficit is “going to be far more difficult than anybody imagines” after “a decade of major increases in federal spending and major tax cuts.”
The economic recovery recently has shown signs of slowing with June growth in private payrolls below forecasts at 83,000, and retail sales declining for the second straight month. Federal Reserve officials trimmed their forecast for economic growth during a June meeting, according to minutes released yesterday.
Of course, Democrats will run with this statement from Greenspan to push the idea we need higher taxes. But, there is another side to this equation. It is called spending cuts.
If you think government spending is going to help the economy, here is a short video from Milton Friedman:
LG Chem, a division of South Korean industrial giant LG, is constructing a new plant in Holland, Michigan to manufacture lithium ion batteries for the electric vehicle (EV) market.
Obama was on hand to take credit for the $151.4 million Federal grant used to help construct the facility. An excerpt of his remarks:
Because we did, shovels will soon be moving earth and trucks will soon be pouring concrete where we are standing. Because of a grant to this company, a grant that’s leveraging more than 150 million private dollars, as many as 300 people will be put to work doing construction and another 300 will eventually be hired to operate this plant when it’s fully up and running. And this is going to lead to growth at local businesses like parts suppliers and restaurants. It will be a boost to the economy of the entire region.
If electric vehicles are going to be such a money maker, and Michigan is such a great place to do business, why does LG Chem need a $151.4 million grant to construct a EV battery plant? It’s not like LG Chem is a small start-up and is short on cash. Per LG Chem (just the division’s) 2009 sales brochure:
At LG Chem, we have been partnering to meet the needs of customers for more than 60 years now. Since our founding as Lucky Chemical Industrial Corporation back in 1947, we have grown to become a global player in the chemical industry with annual revenues of over KRW 13.7 trillion and more than 13,000 employees worldwide.
13.7 trillion South Korean won = 11.3984 billion USD.
The LG Chem division has annual sales of over $11 billion and for a well run company of that size a $300 million investment is not a huge deal. Furthermore, if the EV market is going to live up to its hype, you would think companies such as LG Chem would be paying Michigan for the rights to construct lithium ion battery plants.
Lastly, it doesn’t seem very efficient to spend $151,000,000 to create an expected 300 jobs:
another 300 will eventually be hired to operate this plant when it’s fully up and running.
That works out to $503, 333 of tax payer money to create 1 job. Not a good return on investment.
Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.
Milton Friedman
There has been a noticeable push back from many Democrat / Liberal quarters working to rationalize the reckless spending that Obama and the Democrats in Congress* have been engaged in.
Not to be left out, the liberals at the GOOD blog have linked to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (aka a liberal group pushing for higher taxes) new widget they call the budget simulator. The crew at the GOOD blog offer this granola of wisdom:
Right now, the United States’ federal debt is about 66 percent of GDP. It’s projected to grow to 100 percent by 2022, and keep growing thereafter. Fixing it should be easy, right? We just raise the gas tax. Or let the Bush tax cuts expire. Or maybe we just cut those expensive entitlements.
Well, the peanut gallery can now give it a try.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has a simulator (some are calling it a “game”) that will let you run through a list of major programs and decide which to cut. Your goal: Lower the debt to 60 percent of GDP by 2018.
Some choices are easy (do you want to “Eliminate Certain Outdated Programs”? Sure!) but most are not. Who wants to end school breakfast programs? And many choices that would help reduce the debt—passing a cap-and-trade bill or raising the corporate tax rate—would be hard to do politically anyway.
The conclusion from the granola crowd is that “this balancing the budget thing is tough.” However, the reason this is difficult is they are doing a static calculation and not factoring increased economic growth due to tax and spending cuts.
The budget calculator and GOOD blog post are designed to fire up the liberal Democrat base to demand that we send more of our money to Washington for increased ‘services.’ To reinforce this message, the CFRB is planning to send its leftist skewed results from it web calculator to Congress as evidence that we the people want higher taxes.
You can try the goofy CFRB calculator here. And to help explain the Laffer Curve and how to look at our economy as a dynamic system check out this video from the CATO Institute:
*Pelosi and Reid have been in charge of Congress since 2007.
Frequent commenter, excellent writer and always interesting Matt, from Conservative Hideout 2.0, has put together a series of posts outlining the damage the new ObamaCare legislation is going to inflict on we the people.
Read it and weep:
