Category Archives: Progressives

Another bad idea brewing in Europe

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As pointed out previously, bad ideas that begin in Europe tend to find there way over here. And this is a bad idea that Democrats (especially one Barack Hussein Obama) will love. The financial transaction tax:

A new report, launched in Brussels on Monday by the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, shows that – contrary to what the finance sector’s paid lobbyists have been insisting – a European financial transaction tax (FTT) would boost growth in Europe by at least 0.25%,  raise the revenue to combat poverty and climate change at home and abroad, and help re-balance the economy by making long-term investment more worthwhile than short-term, high frequency trading. This new report by noted economists Prof Avinash Persaud and Prof Stephany Griffith-Jones comes on top of revised estimates from the European Commission who originally produced some of the data that fat cat financiers pounced upon. The Commission’s original impact assessment was based on a flawed model which shows all taxes as harming growth, whatever the revenues are used for, but misunderstandings of what the impact assessment showed were used to create concern among progressive politicians and abused by people opposed to the tax all along to justify their position (even though the same people shed few tears over the impact on growth of measures they support like increased VAT or cuts in public services.)

Right…

The EU will regulate the economy is such a way as steer money in to long-term investment more worthwhile rather than short-term, high frequency trading. What could go wrong (other than making it difficult for publicly traded companies to raise capital through the sale of stock i.e. trading)?

Tim Worstall, my favorite economist, described this lunacy perfectly:

What are these people smoking?

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

China not participating in EU’s delusional airline carbon tax

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I wonder how long before the EU global warming hoaxers cave:

The European Union scheme to charge airlines for carbon emissions has led to a dispute with China, which announced Monday that it was forbidding its airlines to pay the new fees.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement on its website that the rules “contravene the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and international civil aviation regulations.”

Since January 1, all airlines are required to buy certificates for the carbon dioxide they emit through landings and takeoffs in the European Union. Airlines that fail to comply face fines and may even be banned from landing at airports in the EU.

The China Air Transport Association (CATA) estimates that the EU scheme will cost Chinese airlines some $120 million in the first year alone, and that the amount could triple by 2020.

The dispute comes at a sensitive time for the EU, which is wooing China, a major holder of foreign reserves, to invest in bailout funds to help tackle the euro debt crisis. Chinese and EU leaders are due to hold a summit next week.

Ironic that it is the Communist Chinese who are cutting through the economic / global warming nonsense Europe and the United States are embracing.

Video: Self-described internationally acclaimed personal financial expert touts Obama economy

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Really Suze?

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Yep, get ready for a steady diet of this delusional nonsense until November 6th.

Via Newsbusters:

Did I mention this came from a self-described “internationally acclaimed personal financial expert?”

I guess this “internationally acclaimed personal financial expert” doesn’t know that as we only have one month of data, there is no average yet. You do need at least two pieces of data to have an average.

Also eluding this “internationally acclaimed personal financial expert” is that Obama’s only been in office for three years – or does his campaign year count towards him doing “so much?”

With math skills such as these, how’d you like Orman managing your personal finances?

No, I wouldn’t let Suze Orman within 5 miles of my wallet.

Global warming… I mean climate change… Is so 2009

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According to a study released by the U.K government shows a sharp decline in public ‘concern’ in global warming. Sorry. Climate change.

Via The Mail (UK):

The number of people willing to alter the way they live in the hope of making a difference to global warming fell by around 10 per cent last year.

There was also a sharp drop in those who regarded themselves as ‘fairly concerned’ about climate change.

The figures, released by the Government yesterday, suggest that doubts about global warming have been growing since the summer of 2009.

This was before the damage inflicted on the cause by the ‘Climategate’ scandal later that year, in which leading scientists were accused of manipulating data to support the case of man-made climate change.

The credibility of global warming and concern about halting it appears to have been affected by the succession of three cold winters between 2008 and 2010.

The study also shows that there is a growing skepticism about green energy as well.

More recently, doubts about the efficiency of wind turbines and the high costs of the Coalition’s drive for renewable energy have seen enthusiasm for the cause dwindling.

Fewer than two thirds now say they are at least ‘fairly concerned’ about climate change or that they are prepared to do something about it, figures published by the Department for Transport said.

While it is good to see people waking up, there still is a significant (nearly two thirds) portion of the British population is still on board with the global warming fraud / hoax.

An extra big tip O’ the hat to Tom Nelson for high lighting the article.

Scary Graphs: Why I don’t feel like I’m getting ahead

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If you ever get the ‘I’m not getting ahead’ feeling, the following graphs from the National Inflation Association will help explain why you feel this way.

The median American family was earning over $100,000 per year in today’s dollars during the 1970s.

The average American has been earning less per hour (adjusted for real inflation) and seeing a decline in their standard of living since the early 1970s after we left the gold standard.The Dow Jones divided by the price of gold. After the inflationary crisis of the 1970s, the Dow/Gold ratio bottomed at 1

There has been a whole lot of inflation happening over the past few decades, and as the above graphs illustrate, the average American has been losing ground in real purchasing power.

So, if you here the “hey, the DOW is over 1300 so the economy is back and Obama is great” spin, remember the above graphs. And these graphs as well.

Markets don’t fail… Politicians on the other hand…

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When you see nonsense such as this:

Democrats call for broader investigation into banks’ foreclosure processes

…….

Meanwhile, Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asking him to bring high-ranking executives from the nation’s biggest mortgage banks to Capitol Hill testify about foreclosure abuses.

“Rather than using its substantial investigative powers to protect American consumers from the abuses of banks, the committee has focused instead on attacking the new agency created by Congress to protect these same consumers,” Cummings wrote.

Miller said the settlement won’t likely include enough relief for those who are underwater on their mortgages. He and Brown said they don’t yet know what mortgages are subject to the settlement because negotiations are ongoing.

Remember, markets don’t fail.

But markets don’t “fail.” They respond rationally, quickly and often brutally to conditions as they find them. If they see a shortage of supply or an excess of demand, they’ll drive prices higher. Conversely, excess supply or falling demand drives prices lower. If you’re looking for villains, examine why supply is constricted or inflated or why demand is stifled or encouraged. But don’t blame the markets for responding accordingly.

Politicians, on the other hand, do.

For example, the onset of the financial crisis three or four years ago was largely due in the US and the UK to excessive demand for mortgages from people who couldn’t afford them. In the US, this was driven by government mandates to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do just that – pump up demand for housing. In the UK, tight restrictions on construction limited supply to a market that quite rationally came to believe home ownership was a sound substitute for more productive investment.
In both cases, the bankers’ cost of funding was distorted by deliberately low official interest-rate policies, the implicit knowledge they wouldn’t be allowed to fail and lax competition enforcement that led to the likes of Royal Bank of Scotland swallowing up competitors. The logical response by the markets was to divert money to housing, just as the politicians wanted.

How could anyone think government is going to solve this, or any other economic mess, when the government created the mess in the first place.

I’m sure the Germans really love buying electricity from France.

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Solar power is not cutting it in Germany because the 1.1 million solar systems in Germany have generated almost no electricity for weeks. Via Der Spiegel:

The only thing that’s missing at the moment is sunshine. For weeks now, the 1.1 million solar power systems in Germany have generated almost no electricity. The days are short, the weather is bad and the sky is overcast.
As is so often the case in winter, all solar panels more or less stopped generating electricity at the same time. To avert power shortages, Germany currently has to import large amounts of electricity generated at nuclear power plants in France and the Czech Republic. To offset the temporary loss of solar power, grid operator Tennet resorted to an emergency backup plan, powering up an old oil-fired plant in the Austrian city of Graz.

I’m sure the German public loves the idea of purchasing power from the Czech Republic.

And France. I’m sure the Germans really love buying electricity from France.

The Spiegel story continues.

Solar energy has gone from being the great white hope, to an impediment, to a reliable energy supply. Solar farm operators and homeowners with solar panels on their roofs collected more than €8 billion ($10.2 billion) in subsidies in 2011, but the electricity they generated made up only about 3 percent of the total power supply, and that at unpredictable times.

The distribution networks are not designed to allow tens of thousands of solar panel owners to switch at will between drawing electricity from the grid and feeding power into it. Because there are almost no storage options, the excess energy has to be destroyed at substantial cost. German consumers already complain about having to pay the second-highest electricity prices in Europe.

Makes sense doesn’t it? Sink $10.2 billion of tax payer money into a green energy scheme that drives up costs and makes you more depended on foreign sources of energy?

Sounds familiar. 

Much like Frederic Bastiat’s classic “broken window” economic model

You can almost hear Art Laffer saying “I told you so”

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After 67% tax increase, Illinois continues to be in a precarious fiscal position.

Topinka says this is extremely disappointing, since a year ago, the state sharply increased income taxes (by 67 percent) and corporate taxes.

“After the largest tax hike in our history, the state continues to be in this precarious fiscal position with persistent payment delays, and frankly, the situation is unlikely to significantly improve in the near term,” she said.

You can almost hear Art Laffer saying “I told you so.”